The New Eco Moooovement

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Some environmentalists regard these arguments as a thinly veiled attempt to create positive PR for the embattled cow at a time when various interests are battling it out in Washington over a hike in public land grazing fees. Although they agree that light grazing can be beneficial, they argue that overgrazing—and grazing cattle in places where they don't belong—has been standard practice in the region since the 1800s. "I don't deny that Savory grazers have revolutionized [ranching]," says Dan Heinz, a grazing consultant for several environmental groups. "But they also need to realize that extended rest can have benefits, too."

On another front, environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy have begun working with ranchers to fight a common enemy: suburban sprawl. They want to preserve large open tracts of land, which they consider critical corridors for migrating wildlife. In the process, they hope to create models for monitoring and managing grassland ecosystems on ranches, using such strategies as "grass banks," where ranchers can graze their cattle while allowing overgrazed areas to restore themselves.

Such a partnership could be good news for the American rancher, who, if overgrazing continues, could find himself relegated to Marlboro ads and coffee-table books. After all, the primary threats to ranching no longer come from meddling Washington regulators but from overused land that can no longer produce sufficient forage for grazing herds. Those ranchers who work to keep the entire ecosystem healthy may be the ones who survive in the long run.

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