Despite the rough-hewn path to justice, Dennis Parker persevered to make things right

People who are not responsible for the care of cattle and horses tend to dismiss them as “things” that have no feelings, no value as individuals, no cause for concern, and therefore not as individuals that anybody can love. Horses are only dumb beasts of burden that throw people off their backs. Cattle all look alike and are easily herded, because they are stupid. Radical environmentalists preach that cattle cause global warming, eat the land bare of its worth, and produce meat that is poisonous to humans. Mankind has no right to use the range to raise livestock at all. Even ordinary people who have no environmental agenda would rather see homes built on ranch land and range water used to tinkle and splash in ornate fountains, to grow grass on golf courses, and to cool the carcasses of sunbathers.

The regard that cattle ranchers have for their land and livestock approaches the esteem they have for their children. How could they not love the animals that give their lives for them? How could they not treasure the land that nurtures them? They have known the animals under their care since the day they were born. The same families have husbanded the same cow country for generations. They know every trail so well that they never get tired of riding them. They watch for and recognize the smallest changes that have occurred on the trails since the last time they rode them.

Even ranchers who have survived with the same herds and country for generations know how it hurts to lose their land and livestock. Any rancher who hasn't lost all his land and livestock at least once has at least lost big pieces of them. Because of their dedication to a way of life that assures them that they would be fools to do it for the money—even when everything goes well, every year is a fight against drought, disease, and a changing market. When they go completely bust, they always have to start again, even if it's afoot with one bred heifer on leased pasture they have to fence themselves.

There is a heroic quality that all stockmen share, whether they raise cattle, sheep, reindeer, or brave bulls. They'll humble themselves most of the time, but sometimes that's not enough, and they fight.

This story is about Dennis Parker, a cowman's fighter who by rule of law and his knowledge as a biologist went to battle against elitist environmentalists who used their own philosophy under cover of law to try to drive cowmen out of existence. Dennis Parker was born Sept. 18, 1951, in Petaluma, Calif., to Dwayne “Bud” Parker and Polly Lombardi Parker. As a child, Dwayne Parker survived the Utah Orphan Train that was filled with orphans and children of destitute families and sent out to work for room and board with ranchers and farmers in Utah and Arizona after the stock market crash of 1929. He also served as a ranger in the Pacific during World War II. His mother's parents immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s and settled in Iron River, Mich., where the father worked as a miner. Both families moved to Petaluma in the 1940s, where Polly met Dwayne...

Find the rest of this exciting article and more by
subscribing to American Cowboy magazine...

<< BACK TO MAIN PAGE