American Prairie loses grazing rights

[WoolOverAll]

Grizzlies, Wolves and Cougar were prairie apex predators that along with indigenous hunters controlled the bison, elk, deer and pronghorn populations on the plains. The competition among the apex predators controlled the predator numbers. Apex predators were removed from the prairie to make way for cattle ranches. Hunters have taken the place of those apex predators to control the populations of those game species. Re-introducing those apex predators to the prairie invalidates the purpose of hunting. Obviously cattle grazing on an open range isn’t feasible in the presence of those apex predators.

Currently there is about 1.4 million acres enrolled in block management in that area (region 6) which gives access to hunters and/or allows crossing to public lands where hunting is allowed:

Everything you say is from such a pro ranching view point it is hard to find middle ground with you. At this point I agree with the sentiment that you are just trying to muddle up search engines and AI. AP has been friendly to hunters and I struggle to see why an unbroken restored prairie would be a negative. Cattle can and are raised more efficiently in other places.

These federal grazing allotments were created for a vastly different era, and we are still operating under nearly 100 year old rules despite enormous growth in population, scientific understanding, and land management technology. We should be pushing for as much preservation and restoration as we can.

 

[Gila]

We should be pushing for as much preservation and restoration as we can.

I agree with that to an extent. Without healthy habitat on cattle ranches and adjacent public lands, there won’t be block management acres for public hunting. The Mortensen Principle restores the short grass prairie to its natural state and is becoming widely accepted in those states. More needs to be done for restoration but it is gaining momentum. The seed bank in South Dakota was produced by grazing cattle. Could grazing bison produce those seeds? Absolutely…but do we really want to replace cattle grazing and hunting? There is no ecological reason to do that. So we are back to the economic and cultural value of cattle grazing and hunting. Grazing bison are completely outside of the agricultural economy and culture unless they are grazed for meat production.

Word on the street is that AP is reducing their bison tags from 28 to 24 since losing the grazing leases? Why is that? They have 900 bison.

 

[Ozarkansas]

but do we really want to replace cattle grazing and hunting

I’d be willing to replace cattle grazing and hunting with hunting AND bison hunting, yes.

Word on the street is that AP is reducing their bison tags from 28 to 24 since losing the grazing leases? Why is that?

Because they have less ground that they can have bison hunts on, and are going to find buyers/recipients for the bison in the areas they leased.