Range Wars: Ranching and Pest Eradication on British Columbia's Interior Plateau
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RANGE WARS: RANCHING AND PEST ERADICATION ON BRITISH COLUMBIA’S INTERIOR PLATEAU by John Thistle B.A., University of British Columbia, 2000 M.A., University of British Columbia, 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2009 © John Thistle, 2009 Abstract Range Wars examines the social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of pest eradication in western North American grasslands in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Using the semi- arid interior plateau of British Columbia as a case study, I discuss two closely related ‘wars’ waged by ranchers and grazing officials against creatures they considered pests. In the first part of the thesis, I focus on the ecological problem of grasshopper ‘plagues’ and the ways in which a campaign organized to eradicate them worked to expose and exacerbate economic inequities among immigrant cattle ranchers. Next, I recount a ‘war’ with ‘wild horses’ that also served to dispossess aboriginal people and discredit their competing claims to land. Both campaigns aimed to accommodate cattle in increasingly degraded grasslands, but ultimately the problem of range degradation went unsolved. By focusing on the broader social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of pest eradication, the study provides new perspective on North America’s environmental past. ii Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... iii List of Figures.................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................v Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................1 Part I: Grasshoppers...........................................................................................................36 Chapter 2: Grappling with Grasshoppers...........................................................................37 Chapter 3: What is Overgrazing?.......................................................................................64 Chapter 4: The War with Insects .......................................................................................85 Chapter 5: Enduring Problems.........................................................................................112 Part II: Wild Horses .........................................................................................................154 Chapter 6: Worse than Worthless Animals......................................................................155 Chapter 7: The Biogeography of Dispossession..............................................................174 Chapter 8: The War on Wild Horses................................................................................210 Chapter 9: Conclusion......................................................................................................236 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................247 iii List of Figures Figure 1.1: Study area..........................................................................................................2 Figure 1.2: Fraser River south of Churn Creek....................................................................5 Figure 1.3: Physiographic map of Interior Plateau ..............................................................7 Figure 1.4: Cross-section of Fraser River at Pavillion.......................................................12 Figure 1.5: Cross-section of Thompson River...................................................................13 Figure 1.6: Cross-section of grasslands .............................................................................15 Figure 1.7: Cross-section of ponderosa pine forest ...........................................................16 Figure 1.8: Cross-section of interior Douglas fir forest.....................................................17 Figure 1.9: Gang Ranch and Indian Reserves....................................................................24 Figure 1.10: Ranches and cattle, 1893...............................................................................26 Figure 1.11: Financial Records, Western Canadian Ranching Company..........................27 Figure 2.1: Sketch of hopper dozer....................................................................................44 Figure 2.2: Grasshoppers of British Columbia ..................................................................48 Figure 2.3: Ranches and reserves, middle Fraser River.....................................................57 Figure 2.4: Gang Ranch properties on the Interior Plateau ...............................................59 Figure 3.1: Gold Rush Cattle Trails...................................................................................67 Figure 4.1: Ranches and reserves, Nicola Valley ..............................................................86 Figure 4.2: Grazing Fees....................................................................................................99 Figure 5.1: Depleted grassland, Riske Creek...................................................................118 Figure 5.2: Range degradation, Riske Creek ...................................................................119 Figure 5.3: Overgrazed range, Riske Creek.....................................................................120 Figure 5.4: Crested wheatgrass........................................................................................122 Figure 5.5: Dense growth of Kentucky bluegrass............................................................123 Figure 5.6: Exclosure, Nicola Valley...............................................................................124 Figure 5.7: State and transition model .............................................................................125 Figure 5.8: Overgrazed range and exclosure, Riske Creek..............................................127 Figure 5.9: Overgrazed range and exclosure, Riske Creek..............................................128 Figure 5.10: Overgrazed range and exclosure, Riske Creek............................................129 Figure 5.11: Overgrazed range and exclosure, Riske Creek............................................130 Figure 5.12: Overgrazed range and exclosure, Riske Creek............................................131 Figure 5.13: Depleted lower grassland ............................................................................135 Figure 5.14: Cheatgrass ...................................................................................................136 Figure 5.15: Bark-beetle problems ..................................................................................140 Figure 5.16: Bark beetle problems...................................................................................141 Figure 6.1: Rest-rotation grazing plan .............................................................................170 Figure 6.2: Climax model of range succession................................................................172 Figure 7.1: Ranch property and reserves, middle Fraser River .......................................175 Figure 7.2: Ranch property and reserves, Nicola Valley.................................................176 Figure 7.3: Open Grassland .............................................................................................179 Figure 7.4: Bunchgrass ....................................................................................................181 Figure 7.5: Commonage, Indian Reserve Commission, 1878 .........................................184 Figure 7.6: Biogeography of an upland ranch .................................................................192 iv Acknowledgements It gives me great pleasure to thank everyone who helped with this project. At the top of the list is my partner, Raquel Larson. I am deeply grateful for her love, patience, and unwavering support for this project. My name is on the title page, but this is her achievement too. I would also like to thank my parents, John and Sharon, as well as my brother Steve for their support over the years and for all the ways they helped me to complete this project. Brad, Tracy and Abbey Green are our best friends and I want to thank them as well for their support and encouragement. I would also like to thank my adviser Graeme Wynn. I can’t imagine a better adviser than Graeme, and I am very grateful for all the ways he encouraged this project and helped me to see it through to completion. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Matthew Evenden, Doug Harris, and Joseph Taylor, for their excellent advice during the drafting of this dissertation, as well as cartographer Eric Leinberger who made several excellent maps. Cole Harris deserves special thanks. Cole was not part of my PhD committee but our many lunchtime conversations about British Columbia influenced my thinking about this project in ways too numerous to mention. I’d also like to thank the staff at the