Cows Versus the Golden Trout

Louis Sahagun writes in the Los Angeles Times about the ongoing dispute over how best to protect the California golden trout, and its impact on local ranchers, some of whom have been running cattle in the areas important to the species’ survival for over a hundred years.

“‘I want the wilderness to stay cow-free forever,’ said Todd Shuman, a Sierra Club member. ‘Cows are not wild. They don’t belong in a wilderness. They are a weedy species — exotic, invasive and destructive.’  But ranchers insist that grazing is compatible with high-country ecosystems.”