Range magazine a tiny but growing voice in Western land disputes

CARSON CITY, Nev. - As conflicts persist over Western land disputes, one small publication is committed to showing the world that cowboys are not the bad guys.

"Range, The Cowboy Spirit on America's Outback," touts itself as "the leading forum for divergent viewpoints in the search for solutions that will halt the depletion of a national resource - the American cowboy."

Its glossy pages and color photographs extoll the romanticism of the West, and lighthearted features relate the humor of people who ride in the saddle and have gained longevity despite a lifetime of eating beef.

There's a serious side, too: the magazine has become a lightning rod for criticism because it often targets federal bureaucrats and "enviros" - forces editor C.J. Hadley believes threaten the existence of America's western heritage.

"I can appreciate you having a slant that is pro-rancher," wrote one man in a letter to the editor canceling his subscription. "It is the attitude that all ranchers are salt-of-the-earth land stewards and all others are misguided fools that I can stomach no longer."

Still, even those who take exception to the magazine's often provocative tone support its mission - sharing views on how ranchers can make a living while maintaining harmony with the environment.

Though its main audience is ranchers, the magazine's ultimate goal, Hadley said, is to educate city dwellers on the toll federal laws and regulations have on people who've lived off the land for generations.

"It's not just public lands grazing that's the problem," Hadley said. "It's the endangered species, it's wetlands, it's taking lands out of production, out of multiple use. ... It's the heavy hand of the government without good science."

A registered Democrat and former dues-paying member of the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the Audubon Society, Hadley blames problems in the West on environmentalists and politicians who put plants, animals and aesthetics ahead of people.

The magazine was conceived in 1989 as a brochure for members of Congress "to show our lawmakers that cowboys were not the bad guys," Hadley said.

From that, the nonprofit Range Education Foundation was formed in 1991 and "Range" magazine grew to a quarterly circulation of 150,000, available at select newsstands in all 50 states, France, Italy and Austria.

While the magazine makes no apologies for it's pro-ranching slant, it does provide a forum for other opinions on Western land issues.

"C.J. is filling a niche that I don't know anyone else is filling," said Dan Dagget, a Flagstaff, Ariz., environmentalist who has had several articles published in "Range" over the years.

"Without it, a lot of voices wouldn't be heard," he said.

Courtney White, executive director of the Santa Fe-based Quivira Coalition, said he has mixed feelings about "Range." The coalition brings together ranchers, environmentalists, public lands managers and others to find ways for cattle and sheep to coexist with a healthy environment.

"I think it's a useful forum for a discussion of the grazing debate," White said. "It reaches a broad audience. I respect C.J. for attempting to reach different audiences."

But White said the magazine's often-inflammatory tone is misplaced and distracts from the overall goal of building a consensus.

One issue likened a Nature Conservancy executive to a "cutworm on a green tomato." Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, a frequent "Range" target, appears in headlines as "Bah Babbitt" or "Babbitt in Wonderland."

"I find that stuff unnecessary," White said. "We don't need to fight anymore. There's enough middle ground ... that both preserves the ranching culture and the environment."

From Hadley's standpoint, compromise is unattainable until ranchers get the same considerations as endangered species and other concerns that threaten their survival.

"When you come to the table to try to form consensus, you will find ... the only ones who have anything to give away are the people who are on the land already, which are the cowboys and sheepherders. Which is why ranches have been going down in record numbers; families have been destroyed," Hadley said.

"The ranching community is frustrated. They're poor. They're desperate and they have no place to go," she said. "And they cannot give up anymore. They cannot. Their survival seriously is in question."

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