Out West, it’s easy to miss the most destructive industry on public lands. Across vast tracts of public land, there are no drilling rigs, no clearcuts, no mines gouging the earth. Just cows. Quietly grazing—or more accurately, degrading—millions of acres of land that belong to all of us.
Taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing is one of the most widespread and least regulated uses of federal public lands. For over a century, the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service have permitted private ranchers to graze cattle and sheep at heavily discounted rates, even as extensive scientific research has documented the resulting ecological damage.
And the harm is everywhere.
Cattle trample streambanks, muddy water, destroy riparian vegetation, and smother with silt the spawning gravels that salmon and cutthroat trout depend on. They strip native grasses that sage grouse need for nesting cover, create conditions for invasive cheatgrass to spread, and fuel the very wildfires ranchers blame on anything but their own herds. They displace elk, mule deer and pronghorn, push grizzlies from critical habitat, and draw wolves into conflict zones—where they’re then gunned down by the state. They trespass into closed allotments, wildlife refuges, and sensitive habitats where they’re not permitted to graze—places they’re banned from by law, but enter anyway because often ranchers refuse to abide by the rules.
Public lands grazing is a slow-motion ecological disaster. And for too long, it’s gone unchallenged because it’s hard to track. The damage is diffuse. Remote. And conveniently ignored by the very agencies charged with protecting these lands.
That’s where Cow Pie Pal comes in.
We created this app to give the public a tool to document what federal land managers won’t. It’s simple. Free. And built for the field.
Whether you’re out hiking, hunting, fishing, or just enjoying public lands—bring Cow Pie Pal with you. It’s your new companion for documenting what doesn’t belong out there: cows in Wilderness areas, water troughs in streambeds, or trampled riparian zones in places that should be protected. And if you can find an exclosure where cattle are fenced out, document that too, because it’s important to establish the natural baseline without livestock damage.
Here’s how it works:
Download the ArcGIS Survey123 app from your phone’s app store.
Open it without signing in.
Paste this link into the search bar: https://arcg.is/0irPyK
Use the form to record grazing impacts—up to 5 photos, notes, and your GPS location.
Submit the survey from the field or save it and send it later when you’re back online.
Every submission helps us build a public record of abuse.
We’ll use your entries to map grazing damage, track illegal trespass cattle, and identify patterns of agency failure. This data will support legal action, policy reform, and public pressure campaigns to take back our lands from an industry that treats them like a private feedlot.
This isn’t just about cow pies. It’s about extinction. Collapse. And the rot that comes when public lands are handed over to private interests with no accountability.
If you’ve walked past a degraded spring, seen a hammered allotment, or come across cattle where they shouldn’t be—Cow Pie Pal is your tool to say: not anymore.
Brilliant! Thank you! I live in Colorado and it is soooo hard to push back against ranchers who won't let their cattle graze and ruin their own land but are happy to give up the rest of the landscape to destruction. CO is a fence OUT state, meaning ranchers don't have to keep their cattle fenced in, but if you don't want cattle grazing on your private land you are required to build a fence to keep the out. You can see the destruction everywhere. There is a solution to this.
Brilliant idea. Cattle grazing on public lands has always been a huge problem. Imagine the difference it would make if were all vegetarians or at least weren't so addicted to beef and pork. Free range chickens wouldn't create such a mess