Range Wars 1

 Wally Butler, range specialist for the Idaho Farm Bureau, says there’s a range war out West. And unless you live in Idaho or Nevada or any other Western state you probably have no idea what’s happening or why should you care. But wherever you live in America you should care because sooner or later it will affect you.?This range war isn't about water rights or ranchers against homesteaders or big ranchers versus small ranchers. It’s between ranchers who have worked the land raising cattle and sheep for over a century and environmental lawyers whose stated goal is driving them off the very land they need to survive and prosper. This time the weapon of choice isn’t a Colt .45 or a Winchester rifle, it’s the lawsuit.?So what's the issue?

 There are more than a quarter of a billion acres of public lands in the West. For over century a system has been in place to allow cattle and sheep ranchers access to portions of this land so that their animals can graze during certain times of year. Over the years there have been bitter disputes between ranchers and environmentalists over whether this practice should continue. Butler gives an example of how the environmental side goes to the press with a skewed picture…literally:  “When those groups take a photo of a stream crossing where the cattle do work down the banks on a 10 foot wide strip because they have to have a place to cross and drink, but there’s miles of stream that’s healthy and they don’t tell the rest of the story, that’s a pretty biased deal.”

 Butler says that environmental lawyers in this war are mercenaries. That story tomorrow