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tlement.” Moreover, he says, the program encourages ranchers to raise more livestock than the land can support. The result, he reported recently in Rangelands, a technical journal of the Society for Range Management, is degradation of large tracts of arid grassland.
Under the rules that govern the feed program, ranchers receive funds when they report that grass growth on their land his fallen at least 40 percent below normal. Eligibility for the program ends when a board composed of local farmers and ranchers determines that feeding is no longer needed. Payments are based on herd size and on grass shortfall, so a rancher who overstocks and degrades his range is actually rewarded by the program.
Mr. Holechek’s research indicates that, on average, New Mexico’s ranchers graze livestock at 25 percent above the moderately sustainable
94.8%