b'On the Open Range with Richard ShawBy Bob Roloff,The Arizona DuuudeYou can follow Bob on Facebook.A fter 29 years of living in the valley of the sun,property with impunity. More seriously, I decided to move to a place not so busy. So Idangerous livestock collisions on roads moved to a place more open, Black Canyon City,and highways are not uncommon. In Black north of Phoenix on I-17. It happens to be located inCanyon City, for example, there have been an area designated as open range." Since Novemberapproximately two accidents per month in 1988 I have shared my yard with rabbits, quail, doves,recent years, including at least one fatality. and an assortment of birds I supply water and feed to. The Arizona state bird, the cactus wren is a regularThe short definition of open range refers visitor, and yes javelina pass by too. to areas (not otherwise restricted) where livestock is free to graze. In concept, it Cattle are also my regular visitors. When opening myis a version of the commons a practice door in the morning I\'m not surprised to find cows,introduced to America in Colonial times, some with a cute calf by their side, and an occasionalwhereby livestock owners - which was bull in my front yard. I don\'t chase them off, althoughpractically everyone in early timescould they keep requiring me to repair my redwood fence.turn their livestock loose to graze on The fence is just for looks, so I do leave open places forpublicly owned (government) land. Today, them to come and go. I grew up on a farm in southernthe Boston Commons is a famous cityRichard Shaw, co-owner Wisconsin before moving to Arizona in 1959. So itpark with its origins in this practice. This reminds me of being back there. relatively limited practice of grazing onof Rock Spring\'s Village, the commons in the East was expandeda retired attorney and an But what exactly is open range?" To explain it I wentenormously when millions of acres of landsavid western historian.to Richard Shaw, co-owner of Rock Spring\'s Villageacquired with the Louisiana purchase and located next to Black Canyon City. Shaw is a retiredwar with Mexico in the West was opened attorney and an avid western historian. What follows isup to livestock grazing after the Civil War, his explanation. in the late 1860s. Early on, the millions of acres of available, cost-free, grazing land offered plenty of roomgenerally provided that property owners had the To Arizona Urbanites, the term open range soundsfor everyone to profit, with few conflicts. However, asduty to fence out roaming livestock, rather than like either old west ranching slang or a reference tosettlers began to migrate west and stake out homesteads,requiring ranchers to fence in their cattle. In the the film starring Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner. Tothe smaller ranches and farms created small islands inbeginning, this approach had a logical foundation. many in the livestock industry, it means their animalsthe ocean of open ranges. If, in an area of a few hundred thousand, or million are free to graze wherever they please, including youracres of (government) land, a few dozen homesteads back-yard herb garden. However, to homeowners inConflicts and litigation ensued when farms lost theirbegan farming, the burden on the open (free) unincorporated rural Arizona, it means 1,000-poundcrops or water resources to free-roaming herds ofrange livestock growers to fence each one was animals can freely roam the streets and damage yourcattle, and open range laws written. These lawsdisproportionate to the burden of each homestead owner of fencing out roaming livestock. Moreover, since there were commonly several ranchers in anThe Arizona Duuude\'sarea, it was impractical to identify which rancherregular visitors! would be responsible.The livestock industry grew rapidly as the demand for beef grew in the East. Cattle drives to delivery points in Kansas over open range peaked in the mid to late 1880s estimated counts of millions while fortunes were made by large operations like Chisholm. However, the boom days did not last. The cost and complexities of 100,000 head cattle drives, range depletion, landowner conflicts, reduced demand for beef, catastrophic losses in the northern plains from the freezing winter of 1886-7, and perhaps most significantly the introduction of barb wire fencing brought a close to the almost unlimited form of open range as practiced in the early days. As a testament to change, one of the largest ranches in history, the 3 million-acre Texas XIT ranch fenced out all other livestock in the 1890s, which created great conflict with other ranchers (historic water sources, access through, and of course a lot of grass that once was open range). Today, the only pure open range left anywhere is for wildlife. All wildlife belongs to the State, and fencing does not apply- hence the road signs, watch for elk, or deer, or donkeys, etc.In Arizona, not much has changed concerning open range regulation. The basic rule is everywhere is open range, unless specifically excepted. This means that property owners have to fence out (with a proper continued on page 13ArizonaRealCountry.com January 2021 11'