Ranchers Have Been Paying for Conservation

Ranchers Have Been Paying for Conservation

In today’s Bozeman Daily Chronicle an opinion was published by a Belgrade, MT resident titled, “Everyone must be required to pay for conservation.” Essentially, the opinion was of the nature that the legislature did not devote enough money for the conservation of nongame wildlife. Perhaps that is true but the letter struct a deeper message with me. I extracted a message from the letter that suggested that conservation is only funded by anglers and sportsmen and that the general public should have to pay more.

Ranchers, who are tax paying members of the general public seem to rarely get a fair shake in the eyes of the environemental, conservation and sporting community for doing good conservation work. Media outlets like the Bozeman Daily Chronicle who often print opinions like the aforemention one will rarely recognize or report on the stewardship successes of ranching. As a result, the general public has a limited understanding of what ranchers do that is healthy for the land and the ecosystems which inhabit the Montana landscape. Ranchers are managing 65.2 percent of Montana’s agriculture land. Out of a total of 61.3 million acres. If the lands are not managed properly then the ranchers cannot sustain. Here are two examples of what the ranching and livestock community are doing to pursue good conservation. Visit www.undauntedstewardship.com and www.environmentalstewardship.org I hope media outlets like the Bozeman Daily Chronicle can begin to research sites like these and write positive stories about the ranchers being good stewards to the land and working to protect the non game species that inhabit the land. Ranchers are already paying for this conservation on their own with very little media recognition.