Seeing is Believing

This is a gallery of photos used in the various posts on the main page of The Right Way To Be Green. They are displayed here to make the case quickly and dramatically in pictures that Liberal Environmentalism doesn’t make ecosystems healthier, restore natural function, save endangered species, etc. In some cases it does just the opposite. See for yourself.
The Verde River 1975—grazed, wide, shallow, gravelly, and warm, ideal habitat for large numbers of spikedace and other warm-water native fish. The Verde River 2008, grazing has been removed from this area for 15 years, and the river is narrow, tree-shaded, mud-bottomed, deep, and cool, and there are no spikedace
   

Small portions of the Verde continue to be grazed. Today, they look surprisingly like the river did when it was good spikedace habitat.

The Drake Exclosure, central Arizona, managed as a "World Without Us" since 1946.
A sedge meadow on the Verde River in Arizona—a true desert oasis: a source of stability and habitat in a land of extremes.

  A sedge meadow being “protected.” Livestock (cattle) have been removed to eliminate the damaging effect they allegedly have on riparian habitat and, therefore, on the native fish that live in the river. As a result, trees ungrazed by cattle have begun to invade the meadow. 
A sedge meadow being “protected” from livestock (cattle) to eliminate the damage they allegedly cause to native fish habitat. As a result, trees have invaded the meadow and caused it to erode
               
         The end results of protection
            

 

Another part of the Verde that is unprotected (continues to be grazed under good management) and remains underoded and healthy

 

The Drake Exclosure, central Arizona, managed as a "World Without Us" since 1946.
The Drake Exclosure, central Arizona, “protected” from human use since 1946.
Just outside the Drake Exclosure, where the land has continued to be used for grazing, firewood cutting, off-road road recreation, etc. there is a healthy stand of native grasses, forbs and shrubs. Inside the Drake Exclosure looking out toward the healthy land outside. Photo taken the same day as the photo to the left.