Western Turf Wars

"Western Turf Wars-The Politics of Public Lands Ranching" by Mike Hudak is being touted as a must read for all who are interested in what is really going on behind the scenes with our public resources.

One reader stated, "We knew it was bad, we just didn't realize how bad!"

"The horrendous damage done to millions of acres of fragile public lands in the arid West by overgrazing livestock has been documented in a number of books, media articles, and scientific journals in recent years. Less often told is the real story about the ultimate cause of this devastation of our public heritage: the blatant and unconscionable wielding of political influence on the part of too many agency officials, politicians, and stockmen (and women) to keep those numbers (and damage) at unsustainable levels."

-Brock Evans, president, Endangered Species Coalition;

1981 recipient, Sierra Club's John Muir Award;

vice president for national issues, National Audubon Society (1981-96);

director, Sierra Club's Washington, DC, office (1973-81),

Northwest representative, Sierra Club (1967-73)

Western Turf Wars- The Politics of Public Lands Ranching offers this summary for the interested reader-

"Reality on the range is something quite different. Today, as in the past, western ranching degrades, even destroys, millions of acres of wildlife habitat on public lands. Scarce water supplies are threatened. Fragile ecosystems endangered. This environmental destruction continues in spite of numerous laws and regulations intended to make the management of livestock grazing ecologically sustainable. Why do such environmental impacts persist? Are the laws inadequate? Are the agencies incapable of enforcing the laws? Are the management techniques ineffective? And what role does the livestock industry, and ranchers themselves, play in the management?"

"Seeking answers to these and many other questions, Mike Hudak traveled throughout the West speaking with former employees of wildlife and land-management agencies, and citizens who have long advocated for better management of our public lands. Western Turf Wars is a compilation of these accounts—testimonies that reveal how and why the management agencies have failed to protect our public lands."

For more information or how to order Western Turf Wars-The Politics of Public Lands Ranching go to: http://www.westernturfwars.com/