[Cdt-l] Fwd: Cattle Dung Trail (was: Cattle Divide Trail )

[ks1007 at aol.com]

whoaaaaaaaa cowboy - back off some


el coyote
Keith
Deming, NM



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Dixon <dixon2mk at gmail.com>
To: cdt-l <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tue, Feb 9, 2010 5:11 pm
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Cattle Dung Trail (was: Cattle Divide Trail )


If you only saw 2 instances of overgrazing in New Mexico you either weren't in New Mexico or you don't know how to identify the effects of overgrazing. I agree that there would be no CDT through much of New Mexico without the windmills and pumps used to water cattle, but that has nothing to do with overgrazing. Equally, consuming beef has nothing to do with overgrazing. Overgrazing has to do with the long term change in native species composition in fragile desert ecosystems, destruction of riparian areas and stream banks, erosion, and spread of invasive species. I doubt you have the ability to assess any of these from a simple walk through of the country. Go where you want with your opinions about cattle and development of the western US, but it sounds like the myth of the cow and the cowboy lives on in your mind.


MD



_______________________________________________
dt-l mailing list
dt-l at backcountry.net
ttp://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/cdt-l/attachments/20100210/3e963408/attachment.html