More than a few of these animals are abandoned by the suburban owners who could no longer afford them. Ft. McDowell Indians have never had much in the way of stock; particularly since they have opened casinos.
These animals are tearing up the vegetation and terrain along the Salt River to a major degree and their removal bothers only the bleeding heart namby pamby, Bambinazis, and stupid. Facts is facts.....
I agree. It takes many many acres to support just one of these animals in that environment. The area that has the most vegetation is along the river, so of course the animals naturally head there to eat. If there isn’t enough feed for them all, they absolutely do destroy the riparian areas, eating anything, including small trees, just to survive. When the vegetation along the river is gone, the water table drops, and it turns into a dry wash, which gets even worse each time a flash flood flows through, now that there isn’t any vegetation to slow the water down.
Grazing domestic livestock in dessert areas is not a lucrative business. I haven’t been to that area of the Salt in a long time. Has Tamarisk taken that area over?
Just to be fair, I’m generally not very supportive of the Forest Services efforts either. ANYTHING perceived to be non-native, including horses, is seen as taboo and must be removed at all costs in their view. According to Agenda 21 plans I’ve seen, eventually these environazis intend to set aside areas that even humans will be banned, unless of course you are ‘special’, that is, either a wildlife biologist or someone with a forest service rank.