The next time you see any part of what's left of our country's agriculturally and ecologically important rangelands -- either desert, prairie, savanna, or forest type -- being degraded and fragmented by human activities and development, please keep in mind the following realities:

1. Each and every day thousands of acres of what's left of our country's agriculturally and ecologically important rangelands are converted into tame pastures, irrigated farms, feedlots, packing plants, ranchettes, rural housing, churches, convenience stores, parking lots, freeways, airports, sport stadiums, manufacturing plants, and other types of human development, and the American people call it making "progress"
   
   
2. Each and every time a piece of agriculturally and ecologically important rangeland is lost to human development, our country's supply of ecosystem goods and services needed for human survival is reduced to what our country's remaining rangelands can provide... or, in other words, our country's per unit carrying capacity of plants and animals, which includes humans, is reduced to what our country's remaining rangelands can support
   
   
3. Each and every time our country's supply of ecosystem goods and services needed for human survival is reduced, more people will, at some point in time, be condemned to a life of poverty, malnutrition, famine, disease, anarchy, immigration, and fighting for existence.
   
   

Please keep in mind that staying quiet on this issue is as dangerous as Humpty Dumpty sitting on the fence.

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