You may have seen “Don’t bust the crust!” signs in national parks in the Southwest. Physical disturbances like these are as deadly to biocrusts as the clear-cutter’s saw is to an old-growth forest.
We can use Blind Canyon as a lesson in recognizing the signs of overgrazing, so that when you come across devastation like this when you’re out hiking, biking, or birdwatching, you can report the damage and do your part to defend the land instead of turning a blind eye.
For the past 6 years, the 47-acre Price Spring Exclosure has offered a rare glimpse of what public lands can look like when cattle aren't chomping down and trampling fragile vegetation. But now, six years of slow steady growth has been erased.
For years, retiring grazing permits has served as a common-sense, market-based solution for protecting some of the west’s most delicate public lands. A rancher's near death experience serves as an example of how and why these retirements work.
High Country News writer Krista Langlois trekked above 11,000 feet in the La Sal Mountains to understand what is at stake with a fast-expanding herd of exotic mountain goats of concern to both the Forest Service and the Grand Canyon Trust.
