TV Reviews : ‘The New Range Wars’ on TBS Targets Damage Caused by Cattle Grazing

“Oh give me a home / where the buffalo roam / And the deer and the antelope play. . . . “

But get rid of the cattle first.

That might be a popular sentiment after the airing of the National Audubon Society special, “The New Range Wars” (at 7 p.m. Sunday on TBS cable, and Aug. 6 on PBS). It’s also why two pro-cattlemen organizations, the National Inholders Assn. and the Multi-Land Use Alliance, raised a storm of protest over the program, followed by Ford Motor Co. removing its sponsorship. Too controversial, Ford explained.

Actually, this Peter Coyote-hosted report on the ecological effects of cattle grazing on Western public lands is too fair-minded for such treatment. Coyote tells us that he grew up on a ranch, steeped in the cowboy myth (the film shows a clip of John Wayne telling his buddies, “Some day, this whole land will be covered by good beef”). He talks to several ranchers who explain how they tend and preserve the grazing land they’ve bought in public auctions. Not all the cowmen here wear black hats.

It’s clear, though, that the fragile Western grasslands ecosystem cannot long withstand the enormous stress of the vast cattle herds. The spread of desertification is the most dramatic sign of the land’s degradation; more subtle is the disturbance to the natural cycle in which birds, predators, plant life, soil and watersheds all play a crucial role. Never mind that the voice-over spew of statistics isn’t footnoted in any way: The film itself shows more than enough visual evidence of the terrible toll of a century of high-volume beef production.

That public-land grazing fees, as the report claims, are 80% less than those on private lands is the result of a political decision in Washington to subsidize the cattle industry. Perhaps this element, more than any other, is what peeves industry critics. An established fair-market value for the public lands--more than the declining consumer demand for beef--would drive many cattle ranchers out of business.

This being an Audubon Society production, the environment receives more airplay than the Washington politicians responsible for the current price-support system.

The pressure for subsidy removal seems to be gathering steam, though, foreshadowing epochal changes for the American West. If so, “The New Range Wars” may be the last.