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>for example the desertification in the west is due to cow and sheep ranching No, the west was a desert long before ranching. I'm not sure what you meant here

>for example the desertification in the west is due to cow and sheep ranching No, the west was a desert long before ranching. I'm not sure what you meant here but I think you'll need to be a bit more specific or provide a reference to what you're talking about.

zackmorris 8y ago
In fairness, it's not well known - but - you are actually the one that's wrong in this case. The loss of biodiversity is pretty staggering in the west, especially in the high desert country of the northwest in states like Idaho, Oregon and Washington. It's not so much about precipitation but loss of biodiversity. For example where I was born, there was a 10 foot tall sagebrush forest covering most of southern Idaho a century ago. There were streams every few miles with more than enough fish and wildlife to support thousands of Native Americans. That's all been replaced with cheatgrass as far as the eye can see and a 5-10 foot drop in the water table so all high desert streams are essentially gone and the area can no longer support life. Rodents, cats and even people have contracted the plague: https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/elmore-county-plague-case-is-the-first-human-case-in/article_dec04b76-e495-5991-a149-33ca14c81d69.html https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/elmore-county-plague-c... This was mostly due to widespread cattle and sheep grazing on public lands. Livestock ate all of the native vegetation so the topsoil ran off: https://www.uexpress.com/new-republic/2015/2/6/the-cowboy-and-the-desertification-of https://www.uexpress.com/new-republic/2015/2/6/the-cowboy-an... Many groups like the Snake River Alliance and Idaho Conservation League work to reduce overgrazing but in conservative states like Idaho it's a constant battle with state and local governments. The BLM tends to cater more to ranchers and big agribusiness companies like Simplot than to conservationists. I could write for pages about this but will just leave this link as a starting point: https://www.google.com/search?q=idaho+high+desert+conservation+groups https://www.google.com/search?q=idaho+high+desert+conservati...

zackmorris 8y ago

In fairness, it's not well known - but - you are actually the one that's wrong in this case. The loss of biodiversity is pretty staggering in the west, especially in the high desert country of the northwest in states like Idaho, Oregon and Washington. It's not so much about precipitation but loss of biodiversity. For example where I was born, there was a 10 foot tall sagebrush forest covering most of southern Idaho a century ago. There were streams every few miles with more than enough fish and wildlife to support thousands of Native Americans. That's all been replaced with cheatgrass as far as the eye can see and a 5-10 foot drop in the water table so all high desert streams are essentially gone and the area can no longer support life. Rodents, cats and even people have contracted the plague: https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/elmore-county-plague-case-is-the-first-human-case-in/article_dec04b76-e495-5991-a149-33ca14c81d69.html https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/elmore-county-plague-c... This was mostly due to widespread cattle and sheep grazing on public lands. Livestock ate all of the native vegetation so the topsoil ran off: https://www.uexpress.com/new-republic/2015/2/6/the-cowboy-and-the-desertification-of https://www.uexpress.com/new-republic/2015/2/6/the-cowboy-an... Many groups like the Snake River Alliance and Idaho Conservation League work to reduce overgrazing but in conservative states like Idaho it's a constant battle with state and local governments. The BLM tends to cater more to ranchers and big agribusiness companies like Simplot than to conservationists. I could write for pages about this but will just leave this link as a starting point: https://www.google.com/search?q=idaho+high+desert+conservation+groups https://www.google.com/search?q=idaho+high+desert+conservati...