Custodians of Precious Rangelands

Thanks to your reporter Leslie Earnest for her recent story alerting Times readers to an ill-conceived proposal to “moove” cattle from Laguna Canyon (“Biologist Says Laguna Cattle Should Vamoose,” Dec. 16). Hopefully the article will inspire more opposition to the plan.

Cattle grazing is good for the environment. The controlled management of livestock benefits the range environment by promoting plant vigor and diversity, aerating the soil and scattering seeds. It’s the wilderness equivalent of mowing the lawn and pruning shrubs.

The Bureau of Land Management and the Society for Range Management have studied the improvements and each has declared that, thanks in large part to ranchers, public rangelands are in better condition now than at any time this century. The abundance of wildlife on these lands is further testimony to the quality of cowboy care. Since 1960 alone, the antelope population on public land has increased 112%; moose herds, 476%; and elk, a remarkable 782%.

Ranchers and the livestock they manage are conscientious custodians of our precious public rangelands, and the evidence continues to flourish throughout the West.

JIM CONNELLEY, Mountain City, Nev. Jim Connelley is chairman of the National Cattleman’s Assn. public lands committee.