Questioning Forest Service’s grazing-water policy
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the May 1 Sacramento Bee.
Sometimes you wonder if the U.S. Forest Service knows who its employers are.
One of those moments came Sunday, with Tom Knudson’s report on how cattle poop has contaminated alpine creeks and lakes in portions of the Sierra Nevada where the U.S. Forest Service allows livestock grazing.
The report noted testing of Sierra waterways by Robert Derlet, a former director of the UC Davis Medical Center. Through methodical testing that the Forest Service won’t do itself, Derlet found worrisome levels of E. coli in lakes and creeks where grazing is allowed. By contrast, lakes in national parks where no cattle are around were relatively pristine, with no sign of E. coli.