Disagreements over free range for ranches have been going on for over 100 years. The land that is being fought over was what is now known as "the Wild West."

The land had plenty of grass, water, and soil. Slowly, environmental, economical, social and political changes came to the land, followed by the land laws. Trespassers soon came to the grasslands of the west, and through laws, they relocated the current residents (the American Indians) to specified areas (reservations) and took over their land to be used for raising livestock. The heads increased as the ranchers realized the amount of profit that could be made. Many range wars arose, as each rancher wanted more land to raise more livestock. Due to the major increase in the size of herds, the grasslands soon were becoming depleted in both vegetation and water. Various cattlemen associations were formed thinking that they would solve the problem. Lands soon became either private or public. These desert ranchers got permits to run their livestock on public lands, but had no regard as to what damage the cattle can and quite often do.

There still seems to be problems in the "Wild West," mostly over grazing on pubic lands without regard to the law. When a rancher's grassland is gone the livestock turn to "the other side of the fence," which is quite often someone’s orchard. Unless things are taken seriously, it will continue. The laws that are written need to be enforced or made stronger to cover both the private and public lands.