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69 U. Colo. L. Rev. 633 (1998)
Public Rangeland Reform: New Prospects for Collaboration and Local Control Using the Resource Advisory Councils

handle is hein.journals/ucollr69 and id is 657 raw text is: PUBLIC RANGELAND REFORM: NEW PROSPECTS FOR COLLABORATION AND LOCAL CONTROL USING THE RESOURCE ADVISORY COUNCILS TODD M. OLINGER We can almost say that everything that was then is not now, and everything that was not then now is. -William Manchester' INTRODUCTION Amidst booming population growth and a social and economic transformation that has led some to herald the coming of the New West, the arid rural lands beyond the 100th meridian of the United States continue to be home to the Old West. Possibly no more enduring symbol of the Old West remains than the ranchers who have worked on the range for well over a century. For many, these men and women are stewards of the land on which they operate, a well-spring of the West's core values, and the last barrier to the suburbs, strip malls, and condominiums that are rapidly spreading across the western range. To others, the ranchers are welfare cowboys, surviving on public subsidy and decimating grassland and riparian ecosystems with overgraz- ing; a numerically small but politically formidable interest group that is hell-bent on destroying the West.2 As might be expected, the disputes between environmental- ists and ranchers are often heated. For example, in 1994, a fed- eral wildlife biologist met with ranchers in New Mexico to discuss grazing cutbacks necessary for the protection of an endangered species.' After the meeting, an anonymous rancher told the bio- logist, If you ever come down to Catron County again, we'll blow your.., head off.'4 Catron County also passed ordinances mak- 1. SHERM EWING, THE RANCH: A MODERN HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CATTLE INDUSTRY 4 (1995). 2. BERNARD DEVOTO, THE EASY CHAIR 254 (1955). 3. See Charles McCoy, U.S. Agency's Plan to Trim Grazing Rights Sparks Laws-and Lawlessness, WALL ST. J., Jan. 3, 1995, at Al. 4. Id.