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Jeff Douglas's avatar

Can the evictions be undone? Is anyone in the present administration willing to look at the data?

Gee, I remember not that long ago we were chided to “listen to the science.”

More’s the pity.

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Keely Covello's avatar

There are a couple of lawsuits against the Park Service, one by a local ranching family. Also hoping to get this in front of the new administration. But I'm not sure if it's too late. I'm sure some of the ranchers are ready to be done, they've dealt with so many years of harassment and targeting at this point I can't blame them. Unless there's a sea change at NPS, living with a hostile landlord has proven pretty miserable for these folks.

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Meat and Grief's avatar

Allan Savory, Khory Hancock in Australia, and many other scientifically-minded ecologists are utilizing grazing animals to do things like restore grassland biodiversity, reverse desertification, and improve soil life. It's a proven science that can only be done with proper management by humans. Letting nature "re-wild" is one of the slowest recovery methods that ultimately can lead to loss of biodiversity altogether, which is what these "environmentalists" fail to see.

It's a shame that the Parks service in California is run by politics more than actual evidence. I'm expecting to see more of this in the future. Hopefully, grassroots journalists and methods like regenerative agriculture/permaculture can shift the narrative into something that makes more sense. The old guard belief of blaming grazing animals needs to be rethought. It's just being co-opted right now by people with too much money that keep wanting to make more.

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Katherine Lee's avatar

Fabulous information here!! Everyone hates on the term 'monocropping' and yet those agencies are going to rely on a single grazing species to do the work! Each species adds its own impact to the process- their tooth structure, digestive juices, hoof pattern; with just Elk and rotated contracted grazing done once a year (if money abides) the landscape is poised to decline.

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