Sunday, December 03, 2006

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

The kid in the Farmer Brown hat

By Julie Carter

Cowboys are generally good ol' boys but they are also fairly set in their notions about certain things. They pride themselves in being able to read cattle and read each other when it comes to quality and skill.

Dan had seen twelve summers and was spending his school vacation working for his grandpa on the Matador Ranch in northwest Texas. His grandpa was a top hand and had worked on the historic, sprawling, short-grass ranch since he was a kid himself.

Grandpa had two sons who were "going down the road" trying to make their living in the rodeo arena. They were good enough to win their entry fee money back and a fair amount of walking around money with fast times in the calf roping events around Texas.

These pretty-fair ropers were Dan's uncles and they were coming home July 4 to enter the big calf roping at Post.

Dan was doing a man's work and had a man's string of horses assigned to him. However, since he was the last "man" hired, he hadn't gotten the best pick of ranch horses from the herd.

In his string was a big, tall rawboned gelding - heavy-made indicating some Percheron blood somewhere not too far back in his lineage. Dan decided he would make the perfect calf roping horse.

Every day after evening chores, Dan would practice his calf roping. He and his new good horse had gotten adequately quick and accurate. Dan was ready for his pro-rodeo uncles to come home.

When the uncles were getting ready to head to the rodeo, they invited Dan to tag along. He'd been waiting for that very moment.

He appeared that morning in a sparkling white T-shirt, some well-experienced Wranglers and his work boots. Topping off this glory was a brand new straw hat he'd bought with his last paycheck. The hat was not your typical George Strait model but more along the lines of a Farmer Brown version.

The pro-rodeo uncles looked him over and said, "Good grief, boy, we're goin' to a roping - not to hoe cotton."

Dan smiled. He had a plan and thought he looked just right for it.

In the usual behind-the-chutes competition assessment, the calf ropers looked each other over and began estimating what kind of a fast time it would take to win the event judging by the look of those entered up.

Dan ambled by in his long-legged, double-jointed style with his new hat pulled down tight and leading his extra-large feather-legged horse. The serious ropers didn't even give him a passing glance.

Every roper, except Dan, had made their run - giving it their best shot. Those that did well were already mentally spending the prize money. But there was one more cowboy to go.

Dan settled his big horse in the roping box, shot out as the barrier snapped back, threw a deadly loop, flew off his horse like a cat, flanked the calf and applied a lightning-quick wrap and hooey. Throwing his hands in the air, the clock stopped and the crowd went wild.

When the dust settled and the crowd quieted down, the announcer gave Dan's time. He not only won the event, he had set an arena record.

There wasn't a whole lot of talk about cotton farming on the way home that evening.

Marty Robbins made the "Cowboy in the Continental Suit" famous, but to this day when ropers gather for a cool one at the Chute One watering hole in Post, Texas, there is still talk about the kid in the Farmer Brown hat.

© Julie Carter 2006



A Million Here; A Million There; Soon, We're Into Real Money

By William Perry Pendley

In 1998, ranchers in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming were told by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), they had to give up 238,000 acre - feet of water annually to "save" species along the North Platte River in Nebraska. Not that they had anything against the ESA - listed fish and birds, covetous FWS bureaucrats, or downstream Cornhuskers; but, to ensure their economic survival, they needed the water themselves. Their ancestors had long ago put that water to "beneficial use" growing crops and watering livestock; therefore, they had the right to use it in perpetuity. There must be a better way, thought the ranchers.

The ranchers learned that the U.S. Forest Service had reported that as much as 396,000 acre - feet of new water could be generated annually if the Forest Service increased the timber harvested from the national forest land that surround the ranchers and serve as the watershed for the North Platte River —more than enough to meet the purported needs of the Nebraska species. Even though the new water could be generated without any diminution in water quality, the Forest Service rejected the ranchers’ proposal, rejoining that it had no obligation to comply with the ESA.

The ranchers sued in Wyoming federal district court arguing that: the federal government said federally protected species needed more water; the federal government could meet those water needs by harvesting more timber — all the while protecting water quality, creating both jobs and revenue, and ensuring forest health; thus, the federal government should be required to generate that water and leave private landowners alone.

Scores of federal lawyers — for the Forest Service, the FWS, and the Department of Justice — jumped into the case raising a host of defenses, prime among them that the Forest Service had no obligation to take action to save species. Environmental groups intervened, not to demand that the Forest Service protect species, but to defend the agency against any requirement that it fulfill its primary job — as ordained by Congress — of harvesting timber and providing water supplies. Undaunted, the ranchers spent $50,000 gathering evidence, such as an expert report that environmentally sound timber harvesting would yield 249,000 acre - feet of new water annually to the benefit of the downstream species.

Then, in 1999, five weeks before trial, the federal judge dismissed the case. It was not "ripe," he ruled, because Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska were negotiating on how, by 2001, they could agree to cough up the water the FWS demanded and, the Forest Service was revising a forest plan and might, when it made its 2001 decision, agree with the ranchers to harvest timber to provide water for the species. In 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit agreed that the matter should be left to the "experts." Meanwhile, federal - state negotiations and Forest Service planning continued.

Days ago, five years after the district court envisioned, the three-state agreement went final. The cost: a whopping $317 million; $157 million will be paid by U.S. taxpayers, the rest by the three states in cash, land, and water. The water yield: 130,000 to 150,000 acre - feet annually, short of the 238,000 acre - feet the FWS said the species needed and far less than the 249,000 to 396,000 acre - feet of water that would have been generated had the ranchers' courtroom pleas been heeded. As to the Forest Service experts, in December 2003, two years after the district court assumed, they rejected, without any detailed consideration, recommendations by the ranchers, the State of Wyoming, and others to increase timber harvesting and maximize the water yield.

Thus, a win - win proposal, which would have generated more than enough water for the species, created jobs and revenues, preserved forest health, and secured local economics, at no additional cost, was rejected. In its place is a multi - million dollar scheme that creates losers all around, beginning with those ranchers in Colorado and Wyoming.

William Perry Pendley is President and Chief Legal Officer at the Mountain States Legal Foundation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Even for a lawyer, the willful omission of information here is appalling.
The increased water from cutting more trees has real world upstream impacts.
The long term reliability of such a source is questionable.