The last cowboy....or is it fish?

There is perhaps nothing more iconic about the west than a cowboy.  But there is also perhaps no bigger myth.  In fact much of the history of the west is about the inexorable decline of this economic system and way of life.  Barbed wire, farming, and eventually an industrialized food system long ago made the cowboy as profession an obsolete anachronism, even as the cowboy as symbol became the fundamental narrative that defines much of the culture of the west.  But we still have lots of cows, and a few actual cowboys that run some of them on the open range. This range is largely owned in trust by the people of the United States via the federal government .  The government ended up owning the land largely because (with the exception of cattleman looking for summer forage and the native Americans who were forcibly evicted from it), not many people cared about  it.  Most of it is unsuitable for more intensive forms of agriculture, is a long way from anywhere, and lacks reliable sources of water.  However, these lands are some of the most beautiful parts of our country, and they  have also become a refuge for many plant and animal species that have been crowded out from more urbanized and farmed places.  These lands have also increasingly become a cherished place for urbanites to hunt, fish, and otherwise enjoy the outdoors.  In some cases cows and these other uses are incompatible.  Negotiating these conflicts is tricky and is usually far more about sociology and culture than about ecology or even economics.  The history of cattle and the open western range is a long and fascinating one.  The latest flare up of this long simmering conflict is described in  this recent LA Times story..  There have probably been thousands of similar stories written over the last 200 years.  What largely caught my eye about this one was that it is about a place that I spent some time in and love.  But it also got me thinking  that these types of resource conflicts are probably only going to become more frequent and more bitter as the world's resources become increasingly coveted by different folks with different goals and aspirations.