Rancher Doesn’t Like It, but He Sees Changes, and People, Coming

Seated next to a crackling fire, Gary Overson tugs at his cowboy hat and shoots a stream of tobacco juice into a brass spittoon.

“I’m a prejudiced son of a gun. I love cattle,” he drawls. “I’ve been here all my life and I don’t want to see any changes. But there is goin’ to be changes. People are comin’.”

Overson is a throwback to a bygone era when Americans worked the land seven days a week and nearly everyone ate beef. He runs the largest cattle ranching operation in the treacherous East Mojave Desert and looks every bit the part. On a recent Sunday afternoon, he wore cowboy boots, dusty blue jeans and a silver bolo tie.

The desert locals cherish the blue-eyed Overson as a real-life Marlboro Man. Raised on the same OX Ranch that he now owns, the 53-year-old Overson has no formal education past the eighth grade, no interests beyond his cattle and no desire to retire early.

But Overson has good reason to fret about his livelihood: He is one of eight ranchers in the East Mojave threatened by recent proposals to protect the desert.

Congress has determined that cattle grazing damages the desert’s delicate ecosystem. Environmentalists contend that ranching operations contribute to the decline of the threatened desert tortoise and numerous plant species, in addition to leaving cow chips strewn across the desert floor.

Under the desert bills initially introduced in Congress in the mid-1980s, the remaining 11 East Mojave ranches were to be phased out within a decade. Most of these cattle operations are family-owned. Overson has a son, Clay, who runs the Granite Mountain Ranch and a brother, Tim, who runs the Valley View Ranch. Three other ranches are operated by the Blair family.

The legislation was revised recently after congressional staffers visited Overson on his OX Ranch. The aides returned to Washington with a message for legislators: Let Overson spend the rest of his lifetime as a rancher. As a result, the House bill that passed in November allows ranchers in the East Mojave 25 years before they would be forced to sell their property to the federal government.

“You can understand where he is coming from,” said Kathryn Lacey, an aide to Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), who visited Overson. “Most people are interested in making money. That doesn’t motivate him at all. He likes working cattle, he likes riding his horse and he likes the desert.”

But ranchers like Overson realize their operations are under siege.

In November, the investigative arm of Congress urged lawmakers to consider discontinuing livestock grazing in the hot desert. A study by the General Accounting Office found that cattle ranching causes long-term environmental damage while failing to generate adequate grazing fees to meet government management costs. Several recent attempts by Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.) to win congressional approval for higher grazing fees have failed.

In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a study to determine whether cattle are contributing to the demise of the desert tortoise. The findings could lead the government to ban cattle grazing in prime tortoise habitat such as the East Mojave.

“This idea of a slow death doesn’t seem like the American way to me,” Overson said. “They are cutting your throat. There is no other way to say it. What in the hell is wrong with preserving a cattle ranch?”

Overson regards the desert tortoise issue as a hoax.

After a heavy rainfall, he said, he counts as many as 40 tortoises on the road where puddles form as cars whiz by at 70 m.p.h. “We’re not worried about that but we’re worried about my cows stepping on one,” he said.

Then there’s the appearance. “Have you seen a desert tortoise? Who would want one? They’re so damned ugly anyway. They should have left with the damned dinosaur.”

Overson began working on the OX at age 11, and his lifelong ambition was to someday acquire the ranch. After running cattle in Arizona, he returned to the East Mojave in 1969.

“I had 99 cows, one bull, three saddle horses and a brand new wife,” he said. “I built all this up myself.”

Today he operates four ranches, including the OX, and 3,500 head of crossbred cattle--by far the largest operation in the East Mojave. His 7,000 acres of privately owned land includes Caruthers Canyon, one of the most scenic parts of the East Mojave, where 273 species of flowering plants flourish. Overson leaves the canyon unfenced and open to explorers.

“I think this is the most beautiful place in the world,” he said. “I don’t know nothin’ else.”

Overson leads a simple life. He is out of the house by 6 a.m. every day and spends much of his time maintaining more than 100 miles of water lines spread across the desert for his cattle and other wildlife. He also tends a stable of 20 saddle horses, moves his cattle between low- and high-desert country and butchers beef for his meals.

When Overson rounds up and brands his calves, visitors pull their cars off the road and gawk. “People don’t even know this lifestyle exists other than in the movies,” said Gerald E. Hillier, Bureau of Land Management district manager for the California desert.

Overson shakes his head in amazement that his land could turn into a national park.

“It’s so stupid I can’t believe it. It’s just a land grab. I mean, let’s be real. What are tourists going to do? They can’t fish or swim. They can’t ride their motorcycles. You’re gettin’ rid of cattle for what? So people can come out here and have their picture taken in front of a tree?

“If anyone loves the country, it’s a rancher. . . . It’s how he makes his livin’. It’s home. He’s not goin’ to damage it. I don’t tear up the country. In fact, I clean it up. I’m here with it every day. The American public doesn’t realize it but ranchers have been shepherds of the land for a long time.”