The following photographs were taken 9/27/03 while on a Sawtooth Group outing to Independence Lakes on the Sawtooth National Forest. The Independence Lakes are a major recreational area and southern Idaho’s only high-mountain, glacial-cirque lakes. The Independence Lakes are supposed to be closed to grazing. The Sawtooth Group did the outing as a trail run. From the moment our running shoes hit the trailhead in the campground until we topped out at the highest lake, cow damage and fresh manure were our constant companions. In the twenty minutes it takes to cover the distance from the lower lake to the campground we encountered over 80 cows; if we had not been running we probably would have seen even more. This is an area that is closed to grazing.

The following photographs were taken 9/27/03 while on the Sierra Club outing.

This cow is also utilizing the lakeshore at the third highest lake. There were several cattle present.

These cattle are between the second and lowest lakes.

This is the meadow above the first (lowest) lake. Note the pedestal effect occurring on trees; notice the trampled condition of the meadow, lack of standing biomass, bare earth (in a wet meadow) and cow manure. Soil lost from the meadow ends up in the lake, as does the cow manure, contributing to the eutrophication of these high mountain lakes. These are lovely lakes, in a glacially carved, granite cirque. The presence of cows damages the experience for the backpackers who plan vacations in the area.