Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cows versus trout in the Eastern Sierra

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trout-grazing-20110925,0,4939371.story

For more history, analysis and pictures:

http://www.tucalifornia.org/cgtic/GTCAssessmnt&Strategy9-04.pdf

http://rangenet.org/trader/GTWmonitoring0305.pdf

And, for what it's worth:
ECONOMIC VALUE OF GOLDEN TROUT FISHING IN THE
GOLDEN TROUT WILDERNESS, CALIFORNIA
http://www.publiclandsranching.org/htmlres/PDF/CalTroutEconomicReport.pdf

Dale B. Dalrymple

Great information and pertinent to any wilderness experience. It's interesting that I teach my 16 year old daughter to camp away from water sources and to appropriately dispose of personal waste (or carry it out). The backcountry meadows are no longer appropriate places to graze commercial cattle. The economics make no sense when compared with the loss of the wilderness experience.

I wish I could run livestock at that price,$1.35/month per head. That sounds like a good deal to me. I spend more than that per week feeding scratch to my free range chickens per head. Somebody is getting a great deal on the use of public land.

I would rather look at a rainbow trout and not see any domesticated animals in the wilderness, thats my vote.

Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia sp. are recognized as severe pathogens capable of producing life threatening disease in animals and humans. Both parasites produce resistant stages that are passed with the feces of infected hosts. Transmission occurs either by the direct fecal–oral route or through ingestion of contaminated food or water.

Giardiosis is the most frequently diagnosed waterborne human disease in the USA. This fact, coupled with large-scale outbreaks of infections with waterborne Cryptosporidium sp., has focused attention on the identification of sources of contamination for these parasites in the environment.

Giardia duodenalis is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite that has emerged as a significant opportunistic human pathogen.
The estimated overall point prevalence of G. duodenalis was 19.1% in cattle... http://www.biomedcentral.com/1746-6148/5/37
This study suggests one out of five cattle (including those who range free in Sierra) host some form of Giardia. This coincides with lower but similar Giardia percentages found in other stock livestock – mules – 7 – 10%.

Deer are also suspect carriers with findings showing 3 - 7.1% of the deer population acting as Giardia hosts but still nothing compared to the high percentages another study found Giardia in cattle (approximately 6–82%) in North America. http://vdi.sagepub.com/content/11/1/65.full.pdf
Beaver are also known hosts but even though water creatures, their numbers are small in most lower Sierra environments.

Conclusions: Giardia cannot survive freezing temperatures.
“Evidence shows that freezing destroys cysts. Like cryptosporidia oocysts, Giardia cysts cannot maintain their shell integrity through freeze/thaw cycles” http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=1542. As our Sierra reaches below 0º for months on end, either the Giardia scare is a myth or something man induced is assisting in spreading the disease. Cattle and mules (and their affinity to drop their biscuits near water) seem the most likely suspects.

It's important that you let Inyo National Forest people how you feel about these grazing allotments. they're considering whether to renew them RIGHT NOW!! So write to them.... info is on INF web page somewhere. Squawking here won't help - writing letters ASAP to Inyo might. Renewal is for 10 years! Speak now...

I personally was surprised when making my first trip to Horseshoe Meadow to see several cows grazing in the meadow. It was also really weird to hear them mooing all the way to Trail Pass. It was annoying that they were always heard, even when camping there that night I went to bed to the sound of mooing cows. Totally weird.

Interesting topic. I took a group of boy scouts and parents out this summer. Between the weather and the fire, our route had to be changed several times. We went out over Cottonwood Pass and did a loop through Big Whitney Meadow, Tunnel Meadow etc. and back over Trail Pass. We saw cattle and evidence of cattle along the whole trip. At one point approaching trail pass we filtered water from a stream where there was a herd a half mile or so upstream of us. Had we any water options, I would have passed.

Seems kind of silly to be on the kids to stay on the trail when there are hoof prints and dung everywhere. Hard to clear a campsite in some areas.

We did see Golden Trout and almost no people, so except for the cattle, it was a great trek and well suited to the younger boys and less experienced adults.

Here's an irony. Travel to the Swiss Alps or the Italian Dolomites and one of the big attractions of the hikes and staying in the huts is getting to see all of the cows grazing amongst some of the highest meadows in Europe. I guess the difference is that you are not really in wilderness but along the edge of ancient villages and their pasture lands, where one of the great memories is waking up to the sound of the bells clanging around the cows necks. One great difference is that being able to stay in huts with piped waters takes away all of the water contamination issues.
Then again, perhaps none of this territory can be described as true wilderness, not even the highest peaks with their patchwork of trains, lifts, and places high up on a mountain to sit down and get served a drink.

I dont eat COW nor drink milk for health and enviro concerns.
There are so many reasons not too,this is yet another.
I am not vegetarian however and do eat fish,chicken and lamb.