Kelley Weston & Jeremy Greenberg

Kelley Weston & Jeremy Greenberg, a photo by Semester in the West on Flickr.

Kelley Weston & Jeremy Greenberg
President & Office Director, respectively; Western Watersheds Project
Corral Creek, near Ketchum, ID
September 4

Kelley Weston is the president of the board for Western Watersheds Project. Western Watersheds uses litigation to advocate for the end of livestock grazing on public lands. Kelley and his colleague Jeremy Greenberg took us to different grazing allotments outside Ketchum, Idaho. Every grazing allotment on federal land has what is called an allotment plan, which dictates what condition the land should be in at the end of the grazing period. Western Watersheds collects data in areas where allotment plans are not being followed and uses them in lawsuits, relying on the language of the plans and environmental laws to make their case against grazing on federal land. Ranchers are a minority in the West, yet they hold a lot of political influence, and benefit from government subsidies and extremely cheap grazing permits. The Western Watersheds Project is working to hold government agencies and ranchers alike accountable for environmental regulation and degradation.

By Eric Niehaus

Photo of the Day, September 4

Photo of the Day, September 4, a photo by Semester in the West on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
An incised channel runs through a grazing allotment on public lands. Lead by members of Western Watersheds, the students heard the argument that grazing on public lands should be abolished altogether.
Photo by Molly Hayes.