Southern Arizona is no place for cows. The saguaro forests, dry washes, sporadic rainfall, and high temperatures make the environment inhospitable for livestock, but heaven knows it hasn't stopped any livestock operators from trying. We're here to change that.

Western Watersheds expanded into Arizona in the spring of 2007 by hiring Erik Ryberg, attorney, to start tackling public lands grazing. In September, Greta Anderson, a botanist, came on board to assist. Together, this team in Tucson is planning to ensure that unsustainable grazing in the hot deserts, and on the desert National Monuments, ceases to threaten species, ruin soils, and denude the landscape.

Arizona is not dissimilar from other western states that have been propping up a dying industry with funding. On just one forest, the Tonto NF, the ranchers have received $3.5 million dollars (including $20,000 a year just for signing on) to build water developments and better distribute cows. The backstory, though, is more ominous- cows were pulled off the Tonto in 2002 after drought and the lands haven't healed enough to restock without this massive infrastructure. We are finding ways to challenge the appropriateness of this landscape manipulation, including a legal challenge of the administrative process that is being used.

The drought, while problematic for the landscape, is beneficial for the buy-out. We’re teaming up with the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign to pursue voluntary relinquishment opportunities on the Ironwood Forest National Monument, an area so marginal for grazing that many operations consist of paper cows only. The resource management planning process is underway for this and other National Monuments in Arizona, and we fully intend to engage in agency planning, in addition to waving the carrot of incentivebased retirement.

Because the lands of Arizona are just too fragile to sustain grazing, and because many of the imperiled species in the Sonoran Desert are directly and indirectly harmed by livestock grazing, we have high hopes that a little bit of pressure will bring a lot of change.

Greta Anderson is WWP’s Arizona Director. She lives in Tucson.