For more than a century, Cindy Domenigoni's family maintained a Winchester, California, ranch with what she calls "a wide diversity and abundance of species and wildlife habitat." But once the endangered Stephens kangaroo rat was discovered there, the federal government forced the family to idle 800 of their acres without compensation. "Our family's good stewardship was rewarded by the loss of our land and a financial impact of over $400,000." The family was also forbidden to use farm equipment to build firebreaks, which resulted in an inferno that torched 25,000 acres, 29 homes, along with the rodents themselves.

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