I enjoy meeting ranchers. They love the land, have strong values, work ethics and a sense of humor. They produce beef, a high quality, satisfying food.

Ranchers have legitimate fears, like going out of business with higher costs and shrinking beef sales. There is growing interest in plant-based diets and protecting biodiversity. Many question the use of our public lands for grazing. Ranchers may need to make changes to survive.

Some conservatives talk about conservation as if it’s a dirty word. Yet there are conservation-minded farmers and ranchers who care about healthy lands and wildlife, and will try new methods on the lands they use. It’s hard to be a conservative conservationist when there is no conservative pathway to achieve conservation goals, like healthier landscapes and less pollution.

If you spend time on the land, it’s plain how much native plant life has diminished, with a decline in many wild animals resulting. Overgrazing by livestock, deer and elk is often the cause. Our public lands do need help. We aren’t exactly “doing a great job.”

Without wolves, and more intense management by ranchers, the grazers hang out like bar flies around stream banks, causing severely degraded streams, with fewer birds, fish, etcetera. Around Yellowstone, since wolves returned, there are still plenty of elk. They don’t linger near streams now. Their cautious instincts have returned. Stream banks have improved dramatically, with sapling trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses again. This brings back fish, birds and small animals.

Mary Grayson

Ignacio