Re: Alternative strategies to overgrazing
Gib Cooper (bambugib@harborside.com)
Thu, 2 Nov 1995 09:06:27 -0800
>
>To:JULIE ELFVING <ELFVING.JULIE@epamail.epa.gov>
>From:bambugib@harborside.com (Gib Cooper)
>Subject:Re: Alternative strategies to overgrazing
>
>>I heard on NPR this morning a piece about environmental groups
>>in New Mexico, I think it was, bidding on state (not Federal)
>>grazing leases in order to prevent what they consider overgrazing
>>and abuse of the land. They were especially targeting stream
>>corridors, which are among the most vulnerable areas in arid areas.
>> The land would be left "unused". (That is, unused by cows.) The
>>piece went on to air varying views of this strategy. Some oponents
>>were concerned about loss of livelyhood for graziers; others
>>expressed concern that there would be a loss of income from those
>>lands, and therefore a loss of money flowing through the already
>>poor local economies. I'd like to hear what you think about this
>>strategy as a means to protect fragile western range lands? as a
>>negative impact on rural communities? as...?
>
>2. Riparian improvement
> Many streams and rivers in the Pacific Northwest affected
>by logging,
>livestock, and other human activities. Natural resource agencies and
>private landowners are revegetating miles of these disturbed water courses.
>On public lands the goal is to replant the areas with native species. Some
>landowners want to replant private riparian areas with bamboo. Bamboo would
>create a beneficial environment for aquatic life by cooling the water with
>shade and providing food for fish. A strip of bamboo alongside a stream
>would buffer the riparian zone from cattle and other livestock. Bamboo
>rhizomes knit and hold the fragile stream bank soils from flooding and
>erosion. Landowners would be growing a marketable crop of bamboo poles,
>plants and bamboo shoots.
>
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