Is Mountain Biking the Biggest Threat to New Wilderness Designations?

calicamper

Expedition Leader
How much big W wilderness is truly open to livestock grazing? I'm genuinely curious. I had always thought that the majority of grazing rights took place on federal or state land that had a lesser designation (National Forests, BLM, ect.).

As for letting animal compete naturally....for better or for worse, we as a society are well beyond the point where we can simply let nature take its course. Management is needed, whether it be for getting rid of a harmful invasive species, propping up a fragile/vulnerable species or managing a population that is growing too fast and adversely affect other populations.

I like wilderness. But I'm also realistic about the fact that our modern society needs raw resources to survive (food, minerals, wood, fuel). Every time I hear someone champion a cause about shutting down this or that resource extraction or livestock industry, I understand that to be a euphemism for 'let's outsource our resource extraction to some other country who's environment we don't care about.'
Dixie National Forest is massive! The number of free range cattle is impressive! Hikers and bikers got nothing on cows. I haven’t had so much cow ******** on my truck since I worked on a cattle ranch. And I was just driving a major scenic route between Bryce and Capitol Reef. That was two weeks ago. I’m still washing cow crap off my rig.
 

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