Mike Hudak
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Websites
Biome Books
Public Lands
Without Livestock
mikehudak.com
List of Presentations
"Vegan
Rainbow" is a weekly 1-hour interview radio show
co-hosted by Mike Hudak that focuses primarily on animals, environmental conservation and social
justice. Audio files of the shows are provided online in mp3 format
for downloading.
Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching
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Profession or Area of Expertise
Director, Public Lands Without Livestock a project of International
Humanities Center; photographer, lecturer, writer.
Personal Statement
I'm a former computer industry researcher now devoting my efforts to
environmental advocacy. I received the doctorate in Advanced Technology
(specialization in Computer Science) and a bachelor's degree in
Mathematics from the State University of New York at Binghamton (now Binghamton
University), as well as a master's degree in Computer Science from Northwestern
University. My doctoral and subsequent industrial research focused on
the development of adaptive, artificial neural systems and their
application to signal analysis. (See my article
about Restricted Coulomb Energy Classifiers for an example of this work.)
During 1993-94 I was the Binghamton (NY) Regional Coordinator for the Beyond
Beef Campaign which mobilized grassroots support in favor of McDonald's
offering a vegetarian burger at all its North American outlets.
In 1997, after several years of observing livestock impacts while hiking
on western public lands, I undertook an intensive study of livestock
production both by reading and by travel across the West--travel that
currently totals more than 18 months.
Between February 1998 and May 2000 I gave 45 photographic presentations to
groups, chapters and committees of the Sierra
Club throughout 20 states in an effort to rally support for the Club
opposing public lands ranching. I also wrote several articles
for Internet display as well as for publication in Sierra Club group and
chapter newsletters. By the summer of 2000 I'd obtained resolutions from
15 chapters and 22 groups representing 37% of the membership calling for
the Club's opposition to commercial livestock grazing on federal public
lands.
From June 1999 to May 2000 I was also a "resource person" to the
Sierra Club's Grazing Task Force. In this capacity I was privy to actions
of Club entities as they pertained to the Club's grazing policy. For
example, I learned in December 1999 that the Club's National Board planned
to consider revising the grazing policy at its May 2000 meeting. When, in
early May, the Board chose to postpone discussion of the grazing policy
until its September meeting I concluded that I needed to immediately begin
qualifying a member ballot initiative as an alternative to Board action.
Otherwise, were the Board to approve a weak policy at its September
meeting or to further postpone action, it would then be too late to
qualify such a ballot initiative for the next year's Club election.
Consequently, I called for the qualification of a ballot initiative in
support of ending commercial livestock grazing on federal public lands. My
efforts alone resulted in obtaining roughly 600 of the 1,307 signatures
the initiative needed to qualify. Dozens of Club activists obtained the
rest.
Simultaneously with gathering signatures on the ballot petition, I chaired
a Sierra Club subcommittee that advocated the Club's adoption of
conservation policy in support of ending commercial livestock grazing on
federal public lands. (Read the policy
proposal that our subcommittee issued for consideration by the Club's
Board at its September 2000 meeting.)
Negotiations in which I participated at the September 2000 meeting led to
the grazing
policy adopted by the Club's Board of Directors at that time. Despite
weaknesses in this policy I thought it sufficiently strong to enable the
Club to support a national campaign advocating either the voluntary or
mandatory retirement of federal grazing leases with financial compensation
to ranchers. As such, I gave the agreement my tentative support and called
for the withdrawal of the ballot initiative for the following year. Some
Club members with whom I'd worked on the petition drive disagreed with my
views and completed qualifying the initiative which was subsequently
defeated by more than a 2-to-1 margin in the 2001 election.
Despite the new policy's potential weaknesses I am nevertheless gratified
that one of its provisions, not available under the previous policy, has
been used to good advantage by some of the Club's groups. (See, for
example, Glen
Canyon Group, Utah Chapter.) The policy has also allowed Club
endorsement of the National
Public Lands Grazing Campaign's federal legislation that would provide
compensation to ranchers who voluntarily relinquish their federal grazing
permits.
In the years since adoption of the Sierra Club's current grazing policy I
have continued my investigations of western grazing allotments and to
write articles,
to develop Internet photo
essays and to speak
at a variety of organizations throughout the United States about
unsustainable ranching practices on America's public lands.
Awards and Affiliations
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By and About
Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching
Under
the hood of public rangeland management: a book review of "Western
Turf Wars"
Review/Trailer - Western Turf
Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching (2007)
RealPlayer
Google/Flash
MySpace/Flash
Videos by Mike
Hudak: During 2003 and 2004 Mike Hudak interviewed grassroots
activists and former government personnel about the management of
livestock on public lands in the United States. The videos are based on
those interviews.
"Mad
Cow" One More Sign of a Dysfunctional Ag Industry. Sierra
Atlantic, Spring 2004, Vol. 31, 6.
Book Review: Welfare
Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West, edited by
George Wuerthner & Mollie Matteson, Island Press (2002). VegNews,
27/28:46, January/February 2003.
Public Lands Ranchers: Heading for the
Last Roundup? VegNews, 25:12-13, October 2002
Our Federal Public Lands: Wildlife Habitat or Cattle
Pasture? Satya, 7(10):17-18, June 2001 (917 words)
Our public lands: Wildlife habitat or cattle pasture?
Reprinted from Animal Free Press, Spring 2001 (499 words)
Our Federal Public Lands: For ranchers or wildlife?
The VivaVine, April/May 2001
Commercial
Livestock Production on Federal Public Lands: Environmental Destruction
at Taxpayer Expense. June 29, 2000
Why
the Sierra Club Should Adopt a Policy Opposing Commercial Livestock
Grazing on Public Lands. Reprinted from Canyon Echo,
newsletter of the Grand Canyon Chapter (Arizona) Sierra Club, May-June
2000
Comments on livestock articles
in Sierra magazine March/April 2000
Deficiencies of Sierra Club Policy Code 10.5 "Grazing On The Public
Lands" (Adopted September 12, 1992) and Arguments for the Adoption of
a Provision Opposing the Grazing of Domestic Livestock on Federal Public Lands.
February 27, 2000. Policy was replaced at the September 23, 2000,
meeting of the Sierra Club's national board.
Pro-Livestock Industry Propaganda
Disseminated by the Sierra Club. Originally published in Rio
Grande Sierran, newsletter of the Rio Grande Chapter,
November/December 1999
To Graze or Not To Graze?
Originally published in Chesapeake, newsletter of the Maryland
Chapter, Sierra Club, September/October 1999
"Winning
the War for the West" critique of article by Perri Knize, The
Atlantic Monthly, July 1999
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