Scientists are hoping a network of backyard volunteers who spent the summer counting fireflies can help them determine if the luminous insects are in a decline. About 700 volunteers from across the nation counted fireflies in their backyards, local parks and meadows and also noted their color and flash patterns. The volunteers then entered their observations into an online database that’s central to the Firefly Watch program sponsored by the Boston Museum of Science. Scientists are worried by reports from the public that they are seeing fewer fireflies each summer, possibly because of habitat destruction from suburban sprawl. About 5,100 people from 42 states and four other nations have taken part in Firefly Watch’s online effort since it debuted in May 2008...more
Alright! I can't wait for urban backyards to be declared critical habitat.
Fly swatters and fly and mosquito spray will be outlawed.
The Western Watersheds Project will claim backyard pets transfer distemper and other harmful diseases to fireflies.
The Wildlands Project will want "fly corridors" between backyards and school playgrounds.
The United Nations will designate city parks and football fields as Biosphere Reserves.
The Native American Urban Tribes will claim many of the backyards are sacred sites.
Land & Water Conservation funds will be used to acquire backyards.
Interior Secretary Salazar will announce that fireflies are a "keystone species" and are negatively impacted by global warming, necessitating immediate "collaborative" action.
In return for Backyard Habitat Management Plans, Salazar will sign agreements with homeowners to allow inadvertent "takes" of fireflies.
The Center for Biological Diversity will sue Salazar for violating NEPA, the APA and the ESA...and win.
The Dems will be bewildered when they discover a disproportionate number of backyards with fireflies are owned by minorities and the economically disadvantaged, meaning the ESA itself violates their concept of "environmental justice".
The Repubs will scream and holler and hold hearings...then do nothing.
And in an interview with MSNBC President Obama says he hopes the American public will understand "there are no fireflies in Muslim backyards."
Yes, I just can't wait.
And forgive me Lord, but I hope city sewer plants are declared prime breeding ground for fireflies.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
NM senators support illegal immigration super highway
When New Mexico's Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall introduced S.B. 1689 in September 2009, immigration was barely a blip on the public's radar. Over the last year, other issues such as stimulus spending, health care, and cap-and-trade have stolen the spotlight. Their harmless sounding bill, which makes land in New Mexico part of the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Landscape Conversation System, received virtually no attention. Now that immigration is in the spotlight as non-border states mimic Arizona s controversial immigration law, polls show that the majority of the public wants to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. S.B. 1689 will disappoint that majority. Unless people speak up, this New Mexico bill will sail through on a professional courtesy to Sens. Bingaman and Udall. In southern New Mexico the proposed Organ Mountains Desert Peaks Wilderness National Conservation Area sets aside a long north/south strip of land just miles from the border that contains all the elements that make it perfect for the movement of both human and drug trafficking: wilderness/de facto wilderness safe havens; east /west highway access; rugged and complex north/south mountain and drainage orientation; and high, strategic points of observation...more
Calif. School Named for Al Gore May Be Toxic for Students
A new $75 million campus dedicated to “environmental themes” has been named for former Vice President Al Gore (and Rachel Carson who championed environmentalists’ campaign against the use of DDT, a chemical used to fight off malaria-carrying mosquitos). The Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences is scheduled to open its doors for a new school year on September 13, but classes may be delayed unless excavation crews can successfully remove and replace toxic dirt on the premises. The LA Times reports: Construction crews were working at the campus up to the Labor Day weekend, replacing toxic soil with clean fill. All told, workers removed dirt from two 3,800-square-foot plots to a depth of 45 feet, space enough to hold a four-story building. The soil had contained more than a dozen underground storage tanks serving light industrial businesses. Additional contamination may have come from the underground tanks of an adjacent gas station. A barrier will stretch 45 feet down from ground level to limit future possible fuel leakage. Groundwater about 45 feet below the surface remains contaminated but also poses no risk, officials said...
It will be toxic in more ways than one.
It will be toxic in more ways than one.
The irony of Jesse Jackson's stripped SUV
Add Jesse Jackson’s ride to prominent vehicles being stripped in Detroit. Following the embarrassing news that Mayor Dave Bing’s GMC Yukon was hijacked by criminals this week, Detroit’s Channel 7 reports that the Reverend’s Caddy Escalade SUV was stolen and stripped of its wheels while he was in town last weekend with the UAW’s militant President Bob King leading the “Jobs, Justice, and Peace” march promoting government-funded green jobs. Read that again: Jackson’s Caddy SUV was stripped while he was in town promoting green jobs. Add Jesse to the Al Gore-Tom Friedman-Barack Obama School of Environmental Hypocrisy. While preaching to Americans that they need to cram their families into hybrid Priuses to go shopping for compact fluorescent light bulbs to save the planet, they themselves continue to live large. “We need an economy that creates employment that can't be shipped overseas,” the Green Rev wrote for CNN about the march. “Home-grown American labor will be installing windmills and solar panels. A green economy is not an abstract concept.” Well, its certainly abstract to Jesse...more
'Climate migrants' projected to flood U.S.
Climate change in Latin America — and the accompanying drought, flooding and desertification — is likely to drive increased illegal migration across the Mexico-U.S. border in coming years, according to a report. Worsening economic conditions, spiraling social tensions and growing political instability will drive greater numbers to make the dangerous journey to the United States in the long term, according to the American Security Project, a bipartisan nonprofit research group focused on national security threats. While migration might be down in the short term, in the long term the "United States is likely to see an increase in migrants all across the southern border due to climate change and its follow-on effects," said the report's author, Lindsey Ross, a scholar at the American Security Project...more
The ASP press release accompanying their report says:
Dr Jim Ludes, the Executive Director of ASP said: “This report highlights the consequences to the United States, and especially the communities and law enforcement agencies along America’s southern border, of not tackling climate change.” He went on to note: “Climate change is a crucial issue facing the United States that needs to be addressed now. We can no longer put our heads in the sand. It has real, tangible consequences.”
I'm no scientist, but I certainly understand the political message behind this report: conservatives, either get behind cap and trade and other global warming initiatives or see our country over run by "climate migrants".
When I look at the Board of Directors for ASP and see it has dems like Gary Hart and John Kerry, and repubs like Christine Todd Whitman, you might say I'm a wee bit suspicious of their agenda.
The ASP press release accompanying their report says:
Dr Jim Ludes, the Executive Director of ASP said: “This report highlights the consequences to the United States, and especially the communities and law enforcement agencies along America’s southern border, of not tackling climate change.” He went on to note: “Climate change is a crucial issue facing the United States that needs to be addressed now. We can no longer put our heads in the sand. It has real, tangible consequences.”
I'm no scientist, but I certainly understand the political message behind this report: conservatives, either get behind cap and trade and other global warming initiatives or see our country over run by "climate migrants".
When I look at the Board of Directors for ASP and see it has dems like Gary Hart and John Kerry, and repubs like Christine Todd Whitman, you might say I'm a wee bit suspicious of their agenda.
Save the Light Bulb
Dear John Boehner, Ted Poe, and Members of the incoming 112th Congress, If you do only one thing in your time in Washington, and frankly I hope you do only one thing given your propensity to expand government (other than eradicating Obamacare), it is this: SAVE THE LIGHT BULB. People may not realize it, but one of the first acts of the Democratic Congress in 2007, was to ban the light bulb effective in 2014. Seriously. Now, you may say that this is an exaggeration, and it is a bit, but the incandescent light bulb is the light bulb of choice for millions of Americans. It turns on instantly, it can be tossed in the trash without summoning a hazmat team, and is cheap. The compact fluorescents cannot be treated that way and cost more. Likewise, we are forced to deal with China for every purchase...more
Here is Rep. Ted Poe's 2008 floor speech on compact flourescent light bulbs:
Here is Rep. Ted Poe's 2008 floor speech on compact flourescent light bulbs:
Endangered or not, wolf killings set to expand
Government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removals of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal's endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota. Various proposals would gas pups in their dens, surgically sterilize adult wolves and allow "conservation" or "research" hunts to drive down the predators' numbers. Once poisoned to near-extermination in the lower 48 states, wolves made a remarkable comeback over the last two decades under protection of the Endangered Species Act. But as packs continue to multiply their taste for livestock and big game herds coveted by hunters has stoked a rising backlash. Wildlife officials say that without public wolf hunting, they need greater latitude to eliminate problem packs. Montana and Idaho held inaugural hunts last year but an August court ruling scuttled their plans for 2010. "As the wolf populations increase, the depredations increase and the number of wolf removals will increase. It's very logical," said Mark Collinge, Idaho director for Wildlife Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture branch that removes problem wolves, typically by shooting them from aircraft. At least 1,700 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. There are more than 4,000 in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. New populations are taking hold in Oregon and Washington, and wolves have been sighted in Colorado, Utah and New England. Some of the most remote wilderness habitats are becoming saturated with the animals. As a result, packs are pushing into agricultural and residential areas where domestic animals offer an easy meal...more
2 coyote attacks in 1 hour in NYC suburb; tot hurt
A teen and a toddler have come face-to-face with a coyote in two separate incidents within about an hour in a New York City suburb. The toddler's father took her to get medical care, but the teen was unhurt. Authorities say a coyote lunged at the teen boy shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday in Rye Brook. About an hour later, the 2-year-old girl was attacked near her home about two miles away. In June, the town of Rye — about 3 miles from Rye Brook — had two coyote attacks within four days. A 3-year-old girl playing in her backyard was jumped from behind by a coyote, and a 6-year-old girl was mauled by two coyotes. After those attacks, authorities in Rye urged parents to keep their kids inside on summer evenings. Rye Brook is about 30 miles northeast of Manhattan. AP
HT: Outdoor Press Room
HT: Outdoor Press Room
Animal Activists Use Oil Spill to Push for Wildlife’s Day in Court
According to the American Bar Association, a number of organizations have recently tried to sue under the Endangered Species Act on behalf of sea turtles who have died in the Gulf. In federal court, the groups sued to force BP into halting controlled burn operations meant to stem the spread of oil. In early July, BP and the Coast Guard agreed to allow environmental scientists to “observe” burn efforts to ensure the turtles would be removed from danger. In addition, the ABA reports that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has called on the attorneys general of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to prosecute executives of BP on animal cruelty charges. ”The oil leak represents an example where tremendous pain and death are brought to individual animals,” Michigan State University law professor David S. Favre says. ”The law penalty has no easy way to deal with these individual deaths,” he says. This is something animal activists want changed and some are pushing for new laws that would extend legal rights and protections–usually reserved for humans–to animals. One of these activists is President Obama’s “regulatory czar” Cass Sunstein. Sunstein has come under public scrutiny in the past for his controversial views surrounding “rights” for livestock, pets and wildlife. “[T]here should be extensive regulation of the use of animals in entertainment, scientific experiments, and agriculture,” Sunstein wrote at the University of Chicago in 2002...more
Seven Myths About Green Jobs
While governments around the world pour taxpayers' money into a whole range of supposedly win-win "green investments", this paper finds that these waste resources and reduce economic growth without necessarily protecting the environment...more
The study is by a British think tank, but the following was interesting:
Another distortion on behalf of the greenies.
The study is by a British think tank, but the following was interesting:
“Green investment” isn’t even a reliable way to improve the environment, the study finds. Steel is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries, yet the United Nations Environment Programme counts steelworkers as having “green jobs”, because steel is needed to make wind turbines.
Another distortion on behalf of the greenies.
Obama Administration Reverses Course, Forbids Sale of 850,000 Antique Rifles
The South Korean government, in an effort to raise money for its military, wants to sell nearly a million antique M1 rifles that were used by U.S. soldiers in the Korean War to gun collectors in America. The Obama administration approved the sale of the American-made rifles last year. But it reversed course and banned the sale in March – a decision that went largely unnoticed at the time but that is now sparking opposition from gun rights advocates. A State Department spokesman said the administration's decision was based on concerns that the guns could fall into the wrong hands...more
Scientist's Firing After 36 Years Fuels 'PC' Debate at UCLA
A longtime professor at UCLA, told that he would not be rehired because his "research is not aligned with the academic mission" of his department, says he's being fired after 36 years at the prestigious school because his scientific beliefs are "politically incorrect." But UCLA says Dr. James Enstrom's politics have nothing to do with its decision. Enstrom, an epidemiologist at UCLA's School of Public Health, has a history of running against the grain. In 2003 he wrote a study, published in the British Medical Journal, in which he found no causal relationship between secondhand smoke and tobacco-related death – a conclusion that drew fire both because it was contrary to popular scientific belief and because it was funded by Philip Morris. Now Enstrom says his studies show no causal link between diesel soot and death in California – findings that once again set him far apart from the pack and put him in direct conflict with the California Air Resources Board, which says its new standards on diesel emissions will save 9,400 lives between 2011 and 2025 and will reduce health care costs by as much as $68 billion in the state. Enstrom questions the science behind the new emissions standards, and he has raised concerns about the two key reports on which they were based – exposing the author of one study as having faked his credentials and the panel that issued the other study as having violated its term limits...more
Song Of The Day #399
Ranch Radio forgot Swingin' Monday last week, and since many are here after a long weekend, we'll give you a Triple Whammy of up tempo tunes to get your week started.
Today we'll feature Kina Lankford and her 10 track CD Copenhagen Kisses.
Looking at the three songs, the first is something I've spent many hours trying to prevent, the second has happened many times and the third just swings.
The tunes are Peeling Labels, Copenhagen Kisses, and Songs About Saturday Night.
Today we'll feature Kina Lankford and her 10 track CD Copenhagen Kisses.
Looking at the three songs, the first is something I've spent many hours trying to prevent, the second has happened many times and the third just swings.
The tunes are Peeling Labels, Copenhagen Kisses, and Songs About Saturday Night.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
Just about perfect
by Julie Carter
In my book, fall is about as perfect a season of the year as any of the four.
It is the time when all things that make cowboys, rednecks and assorted combinations thereof the very happiest.
At the ranch, it's payday time. Cattle buyers resurrect from out of nowhere and all eyes, ears and cell phones are on the markets.
Whether the crop is yearlings or fresh-weaned calves, every year is a new episode of "let's make a deal."
The blooms on everything green, nurtured by summer rains and sunshine, are at their peak of beauty.
Flowers abound both in the yards and thanks to the rains this year, also in the fields and on the hillsides.
While your cowboy might not be big on posies, I guarantee you he's happy with the tall grass and practically gleeful over the fat cattle lying in that grass, bellies full and hides licked slick.
The camouflage corps have their binoculars focused and their weapons of choice tuned while they dream dreams of the perfect hunting season(s).
Let a hint of crisp slip into the morning air and hunters everywhere trade in their hammocks and barbeque tools for game calls and camping gear.
Cattle trucks start rolling down the highways between the ranches and the wheat fields or feedlots.
Every small-town café has a parking lot periodically filled with flatbed pickups pulling stock trailers along with other pickups loaded with 4-wheelers, coolers and all the trappings of a Cabela's made-to-order hunting camp.
Here in the Southwest, throw in the smell of roasting green chiles to complete the fall ambiance and life is just about as perfect as you can get it.
If that isn't enough to paint a picture of the best of the year, add to the mix some pre-season football that seamlessly morphs into a regular season of high school, college and professional games.
Whether football is your "thing" or not, the onslaught of sports-mania permeates the air, unsurpassed by anything including politics.
Neighbors helping neighbors to get all the fall cattle work done is a jewel in the crown of ranching.
Calendars are full of marks on dates for the ranch up the road, the ranch down the road and another one an hour or so away.
Those days will be dedicated to the time-honored custom of "neighboring" -- where the work and the fun, and there is always some of that, is shared with folks that know you'll be there when they need an extra man, horse and help.
Now is the time for all good men ... and horses, dogs, kids and ranch wives ... to rise to the call of long hours, dusty corrals, sunrises that bless the "waiting on daylight" mornings, rattling trailers, ready ropes, the smell of sage and cedar, hot coffee poured from a campfire pot and the camaraderie of cowboys working a vocation they wouldn't trade for anything.
The life is not all that glamorous or romantic, but it does have an intangible something that anchors men's souls to the land.
Whether they own it or hire on to be part of it, it transforms an occupation into a belonging and an existence into a passion for living.
Julie, steeped in fall nostalgia, can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
by Julie Carter
In my book, fall is about as perfect a season of the year as any of the four.
It is the time when all things that make cowboys, rednecks and assorted combinations thereof the very happiest.
At the ranch, it's payday time. Cattle buyers resurrect from out of nowhere and all eyes, ears and cell phones are on the markets.
Whether the crop is yearlings or fresh-weaned calves, every year is a new episode of "let's make a deal."
The blooms on everything green, nurtured by summer rains and sunshine, are at their peak of beauty.
Flowers abound both in the yards and thanks to the rains this year, also in the fields and on the hillsides.
While your cowboy might not be big on posies, I guarantee you he's happy with the tall grass and practically gleeful over the fat cattle lying in that grass, bellies full and hides licked slick.
The camouflage corps have their binoculars focused and their weapons of choice tuned while they dream dreams of the perfect hunting season(s).
Let a hint of crisp slip into the morning air and hunters everywhere trade in their hammocks and barbeque tools for game calls and camping gear.
Cattle trucks start rolling down the highways between the ranches and the wheat fields or feedlots.
Every small-town café has a parking lot periodically filled with flatbed pickups pulling stock trailers along with other pickups loaded with 4-wheelers, coolers and all the trappings of a Cabela's made-to-order hunting camp.
Here in the Southwest, throw in the smell of roasting green chiles to complete the fall ambiance and life is just about as perfect as you can get it.
If that isn't enough to paint a picture of the best of the year, add to the mix some pre-season football that seamlessly morphs into a regular season of high school, college and professional games.
Whether football is your "thing" or not, the onslaught of sports-mania permeates the air, unsurpassed by anything including politics.
Neighbors helping neighbors to get all the fall cattle work done is a jewel in the crown of ranching.
Calendars are full of marks on dates for the ranch up the road, the ranch down the road and another one an hour or so away.
Those days will be dedicated to the time-honored custom of "neighboring" -- where the work and the fun, and there is always some of that, is shared with folks that know you'll be there when they need an extra man, horse and help.
Now is the time for all good men ... and horses, dogs, kids and ranch wives ... to rise to the call of long hours, dusty corrals, sunrises that bless the "waiting on daylight" mornings, rattling trailers, ready ropes, the smell of sage and cedar, hot coffee poured from a campfire pot and the camaraderie of cowboys working a vocation they wouldn't trade for anything.
The life is not all that glamorous or romantic, but it does have an intangible something that anchors men's souls to the land.
Whether they own it or hire on to be part of it, it transforms an occupation into a belonging and an existence into a passion for living.
Julie, steeped in fall nostalgia, can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
Wilderness’ Economic Revolution – Catron County
Editor's note: I was recently critical of the article Report: Wilderness areas good for economy. Now comes Mr. Wilmeth to tell us how Wilderness has affected Catron County.
By Stephen L. Wilmeth
In the summer of 1922, America’s famous conservationist, Aldo Leopold, was assigned duties on what had become the Gila National Forest. He fought fires there and he saw enough of the Gila River drainage and eastern Arizona’s Escondido Mountain area that his vision for wilderness was solidly formulated. In 1924, he coauthored an administrative plan and the Forest Service, without Congressional approval, engineered the first wilderness area in the United States. The Gila Wilderness was created.
In 1964, Congress finally enacted wilderness legislation. In that year, the Wilderness Act was passed and signed. The Gila Wilderness was officially designated, but the federal agency administration regarding wilderness management had been evolving and eliminating private rights endeavors for over 20 years.
The Gila Wilderness was true wilderness in every sense. It fit the vision of Leopold where stewardship of land was part of the underpinning of the concept. Mr. Leopold wrote extensively about a wilderness being the domain of the horseman, where all other means of entry had been halted by sheer physical barrier, and where a two week pack trip would never cross the same set of tracks. In the case of the Gila as in the Leopold writings, the presence of the stewards on horseback would become forever part of the lore of the wilderness when their references to places and or recollections of events would become permanent names of physical features.
The majority of that original wilderness designation occurred in Catron County. Catron County encompasses 6,928 square miles of land area in the southwestern quarter of the state. With a population of 3,443 in 2009, its population is less than one person per square mile. With all the recent discussion by Senators Bingaman and Udall and the various EarthFirst! influenced groups touting the economic benefits of additional wilderness designation in southern New Mexico, it is time to review how the Gila Wilderness, the so called “Yellowstone of the South”, has affected the economy of Catron County.
If wilderness designations positively affect local economies, Catron County should surely demonstrate such cause and affect results. The county, with its depleted historical industries of logging and ranching, depends heavily on the industrial and job growth of conditions directly affected by Forest Service and wilderness management relationships.
There are a number of places to start, but the one that meets the most obvious chronologically correct start is the population of Catron County. If wilderness promotes economic growth, Catron County should have experienced some growth increase from 1960 to 1970 since the Gila Wilderness was officially designated in 1964. Catron experienced a decrease of population of 21% in the decade of the ‘60s.
Fast forward to this decade and that trend is in play again. The population is down 3.6% from 2000. The most recent employment growth index, a real gauge of economic trend, is down 1.4%. For a matter of reference, the final quarter 2009 unemployment was 11.4%. Permanent jobs are not being created in Catron County and it can be argued that they have not been since wilderness was created.
Healthy economies normally attract young people and yet statistics indicate that the population of Catron County is much older than the general population of New Mexico. The Catron County dynamic for folks older than 65 is 189% of the New Mexico average comparison. Youth, calculated for ages under 18, are 63% of their New Mexico counterparts. Consider those statistics. Those results suggest that the folks of age are nearly double the state averages and the numbers of youth are about half the state average! The County is aging and youth must leave to find jobs, and they have for years.
If income is the measure of economic boost from the Gila Wilderness to the County, the statistic shows that Catron County median income is 67% of that of New Mexico’s which ranks only 81% of the national average.
How about retail sales? Catron County’s income generates retail sales of $1,304 per resident year versus the state number of $9,880 for all residents in New Mexico.
These statistics could continue, but the truth is Catron County is a poor, rural county that faces catastrophic financial difficulties. It has no real permanent wealth. It has been devastated by federal agency policies that have contributed directly to the collapse of its historical industries, and it is too poor to protect itself further from such ravages.
If there is a perfect model to forecast pure wilderness contributions to economic growth, it is Catron County. It is only there that the impact of wilderness and federal land agency management is manifested against a very limited private industry counterpart. It is also there that elected state and federal leadership, funded by environmental groups, have pressed forward with a comprehensive environmental agenda. The wolf reintroduction is only the most recent of a series of historical affronts to its citizenry.
Could it be that Catron County has been for years the new tribal reservation of our age? It is there that those from afar dictate what is best for its residents. It is there that organized management of the commons is all encompassing. It is there that the voices and deeds of its citizens are suppressed by state and federal leadership that seem to be in an ever tighter lock step with the absentee environmental movement.
There is, though, something in Catron County that some special leader must recognize. It is there that the model of modern wilderness must be reinvented . . . or the West is in a much bigger dilemma than can be imagined.
Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. He is an advocate of honest human character, limited government, and self reliance. He also believes that the real Gila story has yet to be told.
By Stephen L. Wilmeth
In the summer of 1922, America’s famous conservationist, Aldo Leopold, was assigned duties on what had become the Gila National Forest. He fought fires there and he saw enough of the Gila River drainage and eastern Arizona’s Escondido Mountain area that his vision for wilderness was solidly formulated. In 1924, he coauthored an administrative plan and the Forest Service, without Congressional approval, engineered the first wilderness area in the United States. The Gila Wilderness was created.
In 1964, Congress finally enacted wilderness legislation. In that year, the Wilderness Act was passed and signed. The Gila Wilderness was officially designated, but the federal agency administration regarding wilderness management had been evolving and eliminating private rights endeavors for over 20 years.
The Gila Wilderness was true wilderness in every sense. It fit the vision of Leopold where stewardship of land was part of the underpinning of the concept. Mr. Leopold wrote extensively about a wilderness being the domain of the horseman, where all other means of entry had been halted by sheer physical barrier, and where a two week pack trip would never cross the same set of tracks. In the case of the Gila as in the Leopold writings, the presence of the stewards on horseback would become forever part of the lore of the wilderness when their references to places and or recollections of events would become permanent names of physical features.
The majority of that original wilderness designation occurred in Catron County. Catron County encompasses 6,928 square miles of land area in the southwestern quarter of the state. With a population of 3,443 in 2009, its population is less than one person per square mile. With all the recent discussion by Senators Bingaman and Udall and the various EarthFirst! influenced groups touting the economic benefits of additional wilderness designation in southern New Mexico, it is time to review how the Gila Wilderness, the so called “Yellowstone of the South”, has affected the economy of Catron County.
If wilderness designations positively affect local economies, Catron County should surely demonstrate such cause and affect results. The county, with its depleted historical industries of logging and ranching, depends heavily on the industrial and job growth of conditions directly affected by Forest Service and wilderness management relationships.
There are a number of places to start, but the one that meets the most obvious chronologically correct start is the population of Catron County. If wilderness promotes economic growth, Catron County should have experienced some growth increase from 1960 to 1970 since the Gila Wilderness was officially designated in 1964. Catron experienced a decrease of population of 21% in the decade of the ‘60s.
Fast forward to this decade and that trend is in play again. The population is down 3.6% from 2000. The most recent employment growth index, a real gauge of economic trend, is down 1.4%. For a matter of reference, the final quarter 2009 unemployment was 11.4%. Permanent jobs are not being created in Catron County and it can be argued that they have not been since wilderness was created.
Healthy economies normally attract young people and yet statistics indicate that the population of Catron County is much older than the general population of New Mexico. The Catron County dynamic for folks older than 65 is 189% of the New Mexico average comparison. Youth, calculated for ages under 18, are 63% of their New Mexico counterparts. Consider those statistics. Those results suggest that the folks of age are nearly double the state averages and the numbers of youth are about half the state average! The County is aging and youth must leave to find jobs, and they have for years.
If income is the measure of economic boost from the Gila Wilderness to the County, the statistic shows that Catron County median income is 67% of that of New Mexico’s which ranks only 81% of the national average.
How about retail sales? Catron County’s income generates retail sales of $1,304 per resident year versus the state number of $9,880 for all residents in New Mexico.
These statistics could continue, but the truth is Catron County is a poor, rural county that faces catastrophic financial difficulties. It has no real permanent wealth. It has been devastated by federal agency policies that have contributed directly to the collapse of its historical industries, and it is too poor to protect itself further from such ravages.
If there is a perfect model to forecast pure wilderness contributions to economic growth, it is Catron County. It is only there that the impact of wilderness and federal land agency management is manifested against a very limited private industry counterpart. It is also there that elected state and federal leadership, funded by environmental groups, have pressed forward with a comprehensive environmental agenda. The wolf reintroduction is only the most recent of a series of historical affronts to its citizenry.
Could it be that Catron County has been for years the new tribal reservation of our age? It is there that those from afar dictate what is best for its residents. It is there that organized management of the commons is all encompassing. It is there that the voices and deeds of its citizens are suppressed by state and federal leadership that seem to be in an ever tighter lock step with the absentee environmental movement.
There is, though, something in Catron County that some special leader must recognize. It is there that the model of modern wilderness must be reinvented . . . or the West is in a much bigger dilemma than can be imagined.
Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. He is an advocate of honest human character, limited government, and self reliance. He also believes that the real Gila story has yet to be told.
Song Of The Day #398
For our Gospel song this Sunday morning Ranch Radio will go back to 1935 and the Sons of the Pioneers recording of Oh There's Power (In The Blood).
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Mexico: Soldiers kill 25 in gunbattle near border
A shootout between soldiers and suspected drug cartel members in northeastern Mexico left 25 purported gunmen dead Thursday, the military said. A reconnaissance flight over Ciudad Mier in Tamaulipas state spotted several gunmen in front of a property, according to a statement from Mexico's Defense Department. When troops on the ground moved in, gunmen opened fire, starting a gunbattle that killed 25 suspected cartel members, according to the military. The statement said two soldiers were injured but none were killed. Earlier, a military spokesman had said the shootout happened when troops on patrol in the town of General Trevino, in neighboring Nuevo Leon state, came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang...more
Friday, September 03, 2010
Appeals court upholds block of BLM grazing rules
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management broke three laws in 2006 when trying to amend land-use regulations regarding grazing, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Wednesday. The court upheld most of a federal district court’s ruling in its decision, which was enough to ensure that government oversight of grazing operations will not be reduced. The appeals court found that the BLM had violated two federal laws when it failed to consider the environmental effects of the regulation changes. Therefore, the decision states, the district judge was justified in blocking the changes from taking effect. For a third law — the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) — the appeals court sent the case back to the district court to reconsider, as the latter overlooked a precedent-setting case from 1984. But any final ruling on that part won’t have an effect on BLM regulations. “We figure the (FLPMA) claim will be dismissed at this point by the district court,” said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, a case plaintiff. “The case has been decided on other grounds.”...more
You can read the opinion here.
You can read the opinion here.
Group sues to protect lesser prairie chicken
A conservation group is suing to try to win federal protection for the lesser prairie chicken, a bird about the same size as domestic chicken found in parts of New Mexico — including Eddy County — and several other states. A lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians Wednesday in federal court in Denver is challenging the Interior Department's decision last year that the bird's listing on the endangered species list is warranted but is a lower priority than other species. The group says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office responsible for the region where the prairie chicken is found hasn't listed any species since 2005. Besides New Mexico, the birds are found in grasslands in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Biologists estimate there are about 40,000 breeding birds left. A BLM official at the state level said the BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service continue working together enahnce and protect the bird and its habitat...more
Internal documents indicate BLM considered wild horse euthanasia program
News 4 has discovered internal Bureau of Land Management documents that show the government agency was considering euthanizing large numbers of wild horses as recently as last year. The documents include a number of pages detailing how a possible euthanization program could be implemented, even how the horses could be killed. When News 4 went to the BLM to get answers about these documents, we were told they are staff reports, drafted at the request of the previous administration, when funding for the Wild Horse and Burro program was tight and the agency wanted to explore possible cost saving options. BLM Deputy Division Chief for the Wild Horse and Burro program Dean Bostad says the current administration will not be implanting euthanization or sale without limitation. Sale without limitation would allow wild horses to be sold to anyone, including so-called "kill buyers" who resell the animals to slaughterhouses...more
Baucus presses for state control over wolves
Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus yesterday called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move to allow all Montana ranchers to actively protect their livestock. Baucus pressed the Service to make the change now as he crafts legislation to put Montana wolves back under the state’s successful management plan. "This debate on wolves has gone on long enough. I'm working to craft a bill that will put wolves in our state back in our control once and for all, because nobody knows how to better manage wolves in Montana than Montanans,” Baucus said. “In the meantime, the Fish and Wildlife Service needs to do the right thing and allow all Montana ranchers protect their livestock regardless of arbitrary boundary lines.” Prior to a recent court ruling, wolves in Montana were removed from Endangered Species Act protections and managed by the state. Baucus has announced plans to introduce legislation to codify the Fish and Wildlife Service's previous rule that delisted wolves in states with federally-approved management plans, including Montana, and put wolf management back under Montana’s jurisdiction. In the meantime, as a result of the ruling wolves in Montana are now back under federal management, which classifies wolves in northern Montana as endangered, meaning they cannot be harmed by landowners unless a human life is in jeopardy. Wolf populations in the southern part of the state, however, are classified as experimental, allowing landowners the right to kill them to protect their livestock...more
Eco-author baffled by a violent fan
The "Ishmael" books are aimed at encouraging radical social change — but their author says hostage-taking is definitely not the change he had in mind. Daniel Quinn's story of Ishmael, a telepathic gorilla who tries to show humans where they're going wrong, has spawned a popular series of books, an eerie Hollywood movie and a movement that takes a critical look at our global industrial society. Unfortunately, it also spawned an escalating series of threats from James Lee, who resented the Discovery Channel so much that he took company employees hostage today. In the hours leading up to the crisis' bloody conclusion, Quinn reflected on the meaning of "My Ishmael," the book that Lee repeatedly cited as his inspiration. Quinn wondered how that meaning could have been misinterpreted so badly...more
Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
With scientific data piling up showing that the world has reached its hottest-ever point in recorded history, global-warming skeptics are facing a high-profile defection from their ranks. Bjorn Lomborg, author of the influential tract "The Skeptical Environmentalist," has reversed course on the urgency of global warming, and is now calling for action on "a challenge humanity must confront." Lomborg, a Danish academic, had previously downplayed the risk of acute climate change. A former member of Greenpeace, he was a vocal critic of the Kyoto Protocol -- a global U.N. treaty to cut carbon emissions that the United States refused to ratify -- as well as numerous other environmental causes. In a book to be published this year, Lomborg calls global warming "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and calls for the world's governments to invest tens of billions of dollars annually to fight climate change. Lomborg's former foes in the environmental movement are so far unimpressed by news of his conversion...more
Judge rules Salazar exceeded authority in canceling Utah leases
US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar exceeded his authority when he order 77 federal oil and gas leases in Utah withdrawn in early 2009, a federal court judge ruled on Sept. 1 in Salt Lake City. But US District Judge Dee Benson also ruled that plaintiffs waited too long to challenge Salazar’s action. Commissioners from three eastern Utah counties and three area independent producers who brought the suit indicated that the judge’s decision keeps an unacceptable precedent from being established. Salazar ordered the leases canceled early in 2009, soon after he became Interior secretary, after the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order on Dec. 22, 2008, preventing the US Bureau of Land Management from issuing them. The tracts were among 116 parcels sold at a regularly scheduled lease sale on Dec. 19. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance had sued 2 days earlier to block their being offered. In his decision, Benson said the federal Mineral Leasing Act’s plain language mandates that the US Interior secretary accept bids and issue oil and gas leases as part of the competitive leasing process. The mandate limits discretion which the secretary generally possesses to determine whether to issue a lease, he said. “In this case, the secretary exceeded his statutory authority by withdrawing leases after determining which parcels were to be leased and after holding a competitive lease during which the BLM named the plaintiffs high responsible bidders,” said Benson. “Ultimately, though, the plaintiffs’ claims are time-barred,” he continued. “Faced with a strict statute of limitations, the plaintiffs failed to file their suit within 90 days of the secretary’s final decision.”...more
Investing in Wind Power Is Smart — But Not How We’re Doing It
You’re probably a fan of wind power. It provides a limitless supply of clean energy. The turbines are manufactured primarily in the rust belt, creating much-ballyhooed green jobs for unemployed factory workers. Wind farms generate profits for local utilities, alternative energy companies, farmers, and ranchers, not to mention manufacturers like General Electric. What’s not to like? Well, there’s this: The US is building generating capacity in places that don’t need the electricity. Most wind farms are located in rural areas, where there’s plenty of land and a pragmatic attitude that welcomes wind turbines as a new “cash crop.” Indeed, Texas and Iowa recently surpassed California as the top wind energy states. But the transmission infrastructure to carry that power to cities is missing. Wind farms rely on big tax breaks to be competitive, and right now that money is being wasted. When more people catch wind of that fact, this promising form of alt energy could be labeled a boondoggle for farm states, as corn ethanol has been. For evidence of how ass-backward things have become, consider the curious phenomenon of negative electricity prices. These are just what they sound like: Because of the peculiarities of the energy market, producers of electricity sometimes pay grid operators to take the power they make. In sparsely populated west Texas, where the wind business is booming, the wholesale price of electricity was negative for about 1,100 hours—more than a month—in 2008 and more than 700 hours in 2009. How could this happen?...more
Feds: Don't drink contaminated water in Wyo. town
People shouldn't drink water from 40 wells in and around this central Wyoming farming and ranching community, federal officials said Tuesday. The announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services coincided with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency releasing its latest findings from testing water wells in the Pavillion area. Meanwhile, Encana Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Encana Corp., announced that it has volunteered to pay for those affected to get clean drinking water. EPA testing of 23 water wells in January found low levels of hydrocarbons in 17 residential water wells sampled. Samples from four stock and irrigation wells and two municipal wells did not show hydrocarbon contamination. The hydrocarbons may - or may not - be related to oil and gas drilling in the Pavillion area from the 1960s to the latest day. EPA officials expect more testing, including tests from two just-drilled monitoring wells, to answer that question sooner or later. Either way, it wasn't only hydrocarbons but high levels of sodium, sulfates and other inorganic compounds that prompted the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to urge people Tuesday to treat their well water or find some other source of drinking water...more
Reward in question for forest ranger in escapee's capture
The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing whether an eastern Arizona ranger whose tip led to the capture of two of the most wanted fugitives in America can receive $27,500 in reward money under the agency's ethics guidelines. Apache Sitgreaves National Forest spokeswoman Pam Baltimore said Wednesday local forest officials would like to see the ranger get the money. But she said tentative word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, is that he cannot. She didn't know what the department's reasoning might be, but said ethics guidelines generally prevent forest employees from receiving gifts over $25. "If it's a negative response from them as far as federal policy dictates, there's nothing we can do," Baltimore said. She added the ranger wishes to remain anonymous. The U.S. Marshals Service and the operator of a privately run prison had offered a combined $40,000 for information leading to the arrest of three inmates who escaped from the state prison in Kingman on July 30...more
Wheels of the West to celebrate military history
When the Central Coast Woodworkers Association [CCWA] began working on Pioneer Day's newest wagon addition, no one could have guessed how important the wooden transport had been to America's military history. The wagon was donated to the Pioneer Day Committee by the Rambo Family, who categorized it as a "farm wagon" despite its immense, heavy-duty wheels and the forgotten military insignia carved into a side panel. It only took a little scratchin', scrapin' and sandin' so uncover the wagon's first intended use: To transport American troops. "We started to strip the paint off it and we saw the Army green," said Pioneer Day Executive Director Wade Taylor. "I started looking at the specifications and going on the Internet. Then we were messing around the other day, and we found 'US 8' stamped on it." The group soon discovered that the wagon, a peeling bright yellow and-blue structure that had once been used for farm work, could likely be an 1863 Army Escort Wagon, which were built until the 1900s. The model was designed to carry about 1800 pounds, about the same weight as the wagon itself, according to experts...more
Song Of The Day #397
Border activist's littering conviction is overturned
A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the littering conviction of an Arizona activist who left gallon-size bottles of water for illegal immigrants crossing into the United States through a desert wildlife preserve. Daniel Millis of NoMoreDeaths.org had been convicted of violating a statute prohibiting the dumping of garbage in an area designated as a refuge for endangered species. In a 2-1 ruling, judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said water didn't meet the definition of waste. They also took note of Millis' practice of removing empty water bottles he found while on his missions to avert dehydration deaths in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers stopped Millis and three other activists Feb. 22, 2008. Officer Allen Kirkpatrick spotted the plastic water bottles in the back of Millis' SUV and, upon learning that the occupants had placed other bottles along the trails, cited him for "dumping of waste."...more
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Gulf platform owner says no oil leaking from burning rig and no injuries have been reported
In a statement, officials with Mariner Energy of Houston said it observed no leaking oil from its burning production platform at Vermilion Block 380, about 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Mariner officials also said that none of the 13 workers on board the rig reported injuries, in spite of Coast Guard reports earlier stating that one of the 13 was injured and the other 12 were in anti-hypothermia suits. Vermilion 380 Platform A was in fact producing oil and gas at the time of the accident, again contrary to Coast Guard statements that it was not producing at the time, the statement said. Mariner officials said it produced an average of 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate a day during the last week of August...more
Ranchers Back Transferring to the State Important, Grazed Acres
Not a lot has changed in Montana’s rural Potomac Valley over the years. And that’s just fine for many of the multi-generational ranching families whose livelihoods are tied to this expanse of waving grass and trees drained by the lower Blackfoot River northeast of Missoula. Today, just as it was nearly a century ago, the Potomac is a working landscape. But faced with the possibility of large-scale changes sweeping across this broad valley and on to the low and rounded Garnet Range to the south, the valley’s ranchers did something that may surprise some. They got behind the transfer of tens of thousands of private acres in the Garnets—lands they’ve grazed their cattle on and cut timber from for decades—to the state of Montana. The Potomac ranchers faced a stark set of choices. Either accept a future where their access to prime grazing lands is threatened by residential development or embrace an alternative that keeps the landscape whole. So, in a place where politics generally fall on the conservative side of the spectrum, they backed the state’s purchase of most of the range’s north-facing slopes. The handwriting was on the wall, said Denny Iverson, a longtime rancher and logger from the Potomac...more
The ethics of wildcrafting
In blatant noncompliance (or perhaps misinterpretation) of its own leave no trace policy, national park managers have been allowing Native Americans to harvest wild plants and roots from parks, according to a letter from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) submitted to the Department of the Interior in August. The letter, which requested Interior conduct a formal investigation into “extensive violations to federal regulations,” cited several cases of illegal wildcrafting – the practice of gathering wild plants from their native habitat – in Zion, Bryce and Pipe Springs national parks. It also pointed to a 2009 incident in Yosemite, where the acting superintendent told some Indians that they could “take any plant they wished and did not need either a permit, or to report what or how much they had taken.” (If only Monsanto were so generous.) Park Service regulations prohibit “possessing, destroying, injuring, removing, digging, or disturbing plants from their natural state” within all national parks, yet permissions in the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) grant Native Americans the right to gather plants from public lands for cultural and religious practices. Confusion over which law supersedes the other is partly to blame for the current uproar....more
AZ Ranchers Dispute Drop In Illegal Immigration
For years, ranchers south of Tucson have been waiting for good news. Many might think numbers released Wednesday from Pew Hispanic Center, indicating a substantial drop in the number of immigrants coming into the United States would be the silver lining… you would be wrong. "Those guys that live on the border have a different perspective from what this Pew report portrays," Arizona Cattleman’s Association spokesman Patrick Bray said. The study conducted from March of 2007 to March of 2009 showed the number of undocumented people in the U.S. went down almost 1 million. Arizona Border patrol data from the Tucson sector, which is also the busiest in the country, showed apprehensions are down from 616,000 in 2000 to 241,000 in 2009. "The Pew report talks about people that are coming here looking for a better life, (but) what is occurring on our southern border is criminal activity and it’s people focused on their livelihoods bringing across drugs," Bray said. The Border Patrol also states assaults on agents are up from 281 last year to 348 this year and climbing. The U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona has also seen more violent offenders. Since 2008, the number of people prosecuted for crossing the border with drugs are up 91 percent...more
Radio Appearance today
I'll be on the News New Mexico radio program on KSNM 570 AM at 8 this morning to discuss the wilderness issue.
Those not within listening distance can listen live by going here.
Those not within listening distance can listen live by going here.
Nevada Department of Agriculture Brings Criminal Charges against BLM Employees
(Elko, NV) In a complaint filed by Blaine Northrup, Nevada State Brand Inspector, certain Battle Mountain BLM employees will be charged with violations of the Nevada brand law, including a Class C Felony.
The BLM employees in question were in the process of seizing livestock from Dalton Wilson’s ranch in an ongoing quiet title action and civil trespass case before Federal District Court Judge, Edward C. Reed. In an effort to obtain brand clearance certificates, a precursor for the lawful removal and transport of the horses in question, the BLM not only removed the horses from the property without authorization, but then misrepresented the facts to a state official to obtain his approval on the brand certificate.
In an August 26 letter to Ron Wenker, State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Agriculture Department Director, Dr. Anthony Lesperance, notified the BLM that the Brand Department would not issue any further brand clearance certificates to the BLM, “until the above matter is explained to the Department’s satisfaction, and the Department receives the assurances that correct procedures will be followed henceforth by the BLM…. My policy is such that when facts are misrepresented in regard to brand inspection certificates, I automatically terminate any and all future brand inspection certificates with the party in question until such matter is fully resolved.”
Lesperance wrote, “My initial investigation of this matter indicates BLM employees not only committed fraud to a state official, they also appear to have clearly violated several other provisions of Nevada law and federal criminal statutes as well. This constitutes a serious breach of trust which I, as a state officer by virtue of my oath of office, cannot lawfully ignore. Mr. Blaine Northrop, of the Brands Division, is in the process of filing a criminal complaint against the BLM with the Lander County District Attorney in regard to these matters.”
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 specifically reserves civil and criminal jurisdiction and police powers to the states respectively. “As a state official, it is my job to enforce the brand laws equally under the Equal Protection Under the Law Clause of the Constitution, and that includes federal employees,” wrote Lesperance.
A Nevada Dept. Ag press release'.
The BLM employees in question were in the process of seizing livestock from Dalton Wilson’s ranch in an ongoing quiet title action and civil trespass case before Federal District Court Judge, Edward C. Reed. In an effort to obtain brand clearance certificates, a precursor for the lawful removal and transport of the horses in question, the BLM not only removed the horses from the property without authorization, but then misrepresented the facts to a state official to obtain his approval on the brand certificate.
In an August 26 letter to Ron Wenker, State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Agriculture Department Director, Dr. Anthony Lesperance, notified the BLM that the Brand Department would not issue any further brand clearance certificates to the BLM, “until the above matter is explained to the Department’s satisfaction, and the Department receives the assurances that correct procedures will be followed henceforth by the BLM…. My policy is such that when facts are misrepresented in regard to brand inspection certificates, I automatically terminate any and all future brand inspection certificates with the party in question until such matter is fully resolved.”
Lesperance wrote, “My initial investigation of this matter indicates BLM employees not only committed fraud to a state official, they also appear to have clearly violated several other provisions of Nevada law and federal criminal statutes as well. This constitutes a serious breach of trust which I, as a state officer by virtue of my oath of office, cannot lawfully ignore. Mr. Blaine Northrop, of the Brands Division, is in the process of filing a criminal complaint against the BLM with the Lander County District Attorney in regard to these matters.”
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 specifically reserves civil and criminal jurisdiction and police powers to the states respectively. “As a state official, it is my job to enforce the brand laws equally under the Equal Protection Under the Law Clause of the Constitution, and that includes federal employees,” wrote Lesperance.
A Nevada Dept. Ag press release'.
Sheriff Unger Abdicates Law Enforcement Duties to BLM; Armed BLM Bureaucrats Bulldoze Wilson’s Ranch
(Austin, NV) Tuesday, a private inspection of Dalton Wilson’s Grass Valley ranch with a sheriff’s escort revealed RS 2477 roads which were blocked by BLM employees, and that the BLM had bulldozed Wilson’s 100 year-old ranch and home.
Wilson has been in a David and Goliath battle with the BLM and Lander County to quiet title on 80 of 160 acres of what is known as the Brackney Ranch. The BLM sought Wilson’s forcible removal by charging him several years ago with criminal trespass. Wilson said, “I would be in jail right now”, if he hadn’t been acquitted by then Federal District Judge Sandoval, now running for Governor.
The BLM, not satisfied with Sandoval’s acquittal, charged Wilson again, this time with civil trespass raising the issue of double jeopardy. The new federal Judge, Edward C. Reed, rather than hearing the facts of the case, without allowing a single appearance by Wilson, issued what is tantamount to an edict from the bench ordering the removal of Wilson from his property. Wilson appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which granted a stay until the issues were resolved by the lower court and a final order issued. This stay was ignored by Judge Reed, the BLM, District Attorney Hy Forgeron, and Unger.
“In order to deprive anybody of life, liberty or property in this country, there has to be due process of law and that is what is lacking in this situation. There has been no final judgment, no mandatory abstract of judgment filed in the state, and there has been no writ of execution issued. Nobody is above the law, especially public officials,” remarked Ramona Morrison, Director, Nevada Live Stock Association.”
Morrison, who spoke with Unger Tuesday remarked, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially when one has been entrusted to enforce it. The sheriff claims he was unaware of the stay. However, it is hard to believe he was unaware of Chapter 31 of the Nevada Revised Statutes which mentions the word “sheriff” 145 times, and specifically outlines his duties as sheriff to be present to enforce a writ of execution when property is confiscated.”
Unger was not present during the BLM raid to ensure there was a proper writ, to prevent the unlawful closure of the roads in Grass Valley, or to ensure the peace. “The same Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976 under which Wilson was charged with trespass not only protects preexisting rights owned by Wilson but specifically reserves civil and criminal jurisdiction and police power to the states. As a Nevada rancher who is runs cattle on BLM managed lands, I am concerned that Unger believes he is not responsible for keeping the peace on those lands, which is virtually all of Lander County, as state and federal law requires. We’ve had similar experiences with the Battle Mountain BLM office pertaining to preexisting rights. The sheriff’s job is to protect our Constitutional rights, they’ve sworn an oath to do so and they need to be held accountable,” remarked Mike Stremler, NLSA Director.
Wilson, an NLSA Director, who was denied access to his home during the raid, was deprived of his heart medication. He is now in an Ely hospital recovering from congestive heart failure.
“If Unger can ambivalently stand by, in a clear dereliction of duty, while Wilson’s property, livelihood and health are destroyed maybe it’s time for the citizens of Lander County to rethink Unger’s livelihood on the public taxpayer,” commented Don Alt, NLSA Chairman.
# # # # #
9732 State Route 445, #305 ž Sparks, Nevada 89436 ž 775.577.9048
Order and Mandate available upon request.
Contact: Dalton Wilson, 775.934.2281
Don Alt, 775.577.9048
Mike Stremler, 775.635.5445
Ramona Morrison 775.722.2517
Press Release from the NLSA
Wilson has been in a David and Goliath battle with the BLM and Lander County to quiet title on 80 of 160 acres of what is known as the Brackney Ranch. The BLM sought Wilson’s forcible removal by charging him several years ago with criminal trespass. Wilson said, “I would be in jail right now”, if he hadn’t been acquitted by then Federal District Judge Sandoval, now running for Governor.
The BLM, not satisfied with Sandoval’s acquittal, charged Wilson again, this time with civil trespass raising the issue of double jeopardy. The new federal Judge, Edward C. Reed, rather than hearing the facts of the case, without allowing a single appearance by Wilson, issued what is tantamount to an edict from the bench ordering the removal of Wilson from his property. Wilson appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which granted a stay until the issues were resolved by the lower court and a final order issued. This stay was ignored by Judge Reed, the BLM, District Attorney Hy Forgeron, and Unger.
“In order to deprive anybody of life, liberty or property in this country, there has to be due process of law and that is what is lacking in this situation. There has been no final judgment, no mandatory abstract of judgment filed in the state, and there has been no writ of execution issued. Nobody is above the law, especially public officials,” remarked Ramona Morrison, Director, Nevada Live Stock Association.”
Morrison, who spoke with Unger Tuesday remarked, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially when one has been entrusted to enforce it. The sheriff claims he was unaware of the stay. However, it is hard to believe he was unaware of Chapter 31 of the Nevada Revised Statutes which mentions the word “sheriff” 145 times, and specifically outlines his duties as sheriff to be present to enforce a writ of execution when property is confiscated.”
Unger was not present during the BLM raid to ensure there was a proper writ, to prevent the unlawful closure of the roads in Grass Valley, or to ensure the peace. “The same Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976 under which Wilson was charged with trespass not only protects preexisting rights owned by Wilson but specifically reserves civil and criminal jurisdiction and police power to the states. As a Nevada rancher who is runs cattle on BLM managed lands, I am concerned that Unger believes he is not responsible for keeping the peace on those lands, which is virtually all of Lander County, as state and federal law requires. We’ve had similar experiences with the Battle Mountain BLM office pertaining to preexisting rights. The sheriff’s job is to protect our Constitutional rights, they’ve sworn an oath to do so and they need to be held accountable,” remarked Mike Stremler, NLSA Director.
Wilson, an NLSA Director, who was denied access to his home during the raid, was deprived of his heart medication. He is now in an Ely hospital recovering from congestive heart failure.
“If Unger can ambivalently stand by, in a clear dereliction of duty, while Wilson’s property, livelihood and health are destroyed maybe it’s time for the citizens of Lander County to rethink Unger’s livelihood on the public taxpayer,” commented Don Alt, NLSA Chairman.
# # # # #
9732 State Route 445, #305 ž Sparks, Nevada 89436 ž 775.577.9048
Order and Mandate available upon request.
Contact: Dalton Wilson, 775.934.2281
Don Alt, 775.577.9048
Mike Stremler, 775.635.5445
Ramona Morrison 775.722.2517
Press Release from the NLSA
Judge says seizure of ND rancher's cattle improper
A judge has ruled that law officers improperly seized the cattle of a McLean County rancher, saying the officers failed to prove their allegations that the livestock hadn't been properly fed or watered. The sheriff's department seized 258 cows, calves and bulls from Layton Reynolds of Douglas on Friday. State's Attorney Ladd Erickson said in an affidavit that the cattle kept getting into neighbors' fields because there wasn't enough feed in the pasture where they were held. Authorities testified during a hearing Monday that the pasture was overloaded with cattle, there was no grass for the animals to eat and the cattle had been jumping or squeezing out of the pasture all summer to feed on neighbors' fields and yards. Reynolds testified that the pasture from which the cattle were seized was a holding pasture, and he intended to move the animals to another grassy pasture after he completed fence repairs. His attorney, Jason Vendsel, argued that the state had failed to show the animals had not been properly fed or watered. Judge David Reich agreed with Vendsel in a ruling late Tuesday, according to the Bismarck Tribune. "Based upon testimony and evidence ... the state failed to prove that the cattle seized were not properly fed," Reich wrote. The cattle were removed from the auction block at a Mandan sales barn Wednesday. Erickson said their future was unclear because a bank has a lien on them. Reynolds still faces eight misdemeanor charges in three cases filed last year related to allegations that he allowed cattle to run loose and that he neglected animals. The first two cases are slated for trial in November. AP
'Fire them all,' Says R-CALF Chief
Max Thornsberry, the veterinarian who is president of the Billings, MT-based Rancher-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF, USA) Tuesday called upon BEEF magazine, Drovers, and Beef Today to fire editors and a writer for being "disparaging and immensely disrespectful" to those who want "marketplace enforcement by USDA." The three editors coming in for Thornsberry's wrath are BEEF magazine's Joe Roybal, Beef Today's Steve Cornett, and Drovers' Greg Henderson. Cornett and Henderson should be fired for what they wrote, the R-CALF chief opined. Roybal should be fired for publishing what Troy Marshall wrote. None of them is going to be fired or fall on their swords anytime soon. Roybal told Food Safety News "Troy Marshall's thoughts and those of the BEEF editorial staff are in harmony with what the vast majority of BEEF readership thinks." An online poll at www.beefmagazine.com shows 80 percent of 750 respondents thus far believe the proposed USDA Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule is negative for the U.S. beef industry. Roybal said Marshall has provided BEEF readers with "great insight" in reporting on GIPSA Administrator J. Dudley Butler's prediction that the new rules will "open the floodgates" to litigation in the U.S. beef industry, and on R-CALF founder Pat Goggins' opinion that the rules would be "a devastating blow" to the freedom of U.S. cattlemen...more
Rodeo entertainer aims to motivate kids
Duane Reichert is an unassuming guy. Always has been, according to him. But that changes once he puts his makeup on. For more than 40 years, Reichert has been a rodeo clown, a bullfighter and a barrelman, which comes as quite a surprise to people who ask him what he does. “I’m used to it,” he said about people’s reactions to his profession. A lot of times, he simply says he is a rodeo entertainer. Reichert started clowning when he was a senior in high school and fell in love with it. “I loved both the cowboy protection and the crowds and went from there,” he said. He has worked in 42 states, four Canadian provinces and at nine circuit-finals rodeos in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He has been a barrelman at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo and has worked in three National Finals Rodeo openings. Reichert is on the Contract Personnel Executive Council of the PRCA, the National Finals Rodeo Committee and the National PRCA Convention Committee. This will be the fifth year he has returned to the Denver National Western Stock Show, where he is the lead entertainer for the school tours. He speaks to thousands of children and adults each day of the stock show. For the past 20 years, school kids have gotten to know Reichert through his Backstage with a Rodeo Clown program, where he talks to kids about making the right choices in life. He developed that program after his sister-in-law, Sandy Deering, invited him to speak to children in the Douglas School System, where she taught...more
Song Of The Day #396
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Signs on Arizona interstate hwy. warn of smuggler dangers
The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state. The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego. They warn travelers that they are entering an "active drug and human smuggling area" and they may encounter "armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed." Beginning less than 50 miles south of Phoenix, the signs encourage travelers to "use public lands north of Interstate 8" and to call 911 if they "see suspicious activity." Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, attests to the violence. He said his deputies are outmanned and outgunned by drug traffickers in the rough-hewn desert stretches of his own county. "Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona," he said. "They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has. "This is going on here in Arizona," he said. "This is 70 to 80 miles from the border - 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States."...more
Kane County Wins First RS 2477 Road
Kane County has achieved what is believed to be the first concession in Utah of the federal government agreeing to grant rights-of-way to a disputed road that crosses federal land. The court stipulated change allows the county to assert control and access over 27 miles of the 33-mile Skutumpah road, a road leading to Cannonville within boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The victory comes as a result of a stipulation made by Department of Justice attorneys that could pave the way to resolve such disputes through negotiation, rather than litigation. State Representative Mike Noel (R-Kanab) said this shows that the process can b simple and easy if the federal government cooperates in cases like these where you have roads that are easily determined to be the roads used and maintained within the county. RS 2477 public highway rights-of-way were granted to states and counties from 1866 to 1976 to facilitate the settlement of the West. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 repealed the statute but established "RS 2477" roads were grandfathered as valid existing rights-of-way...more
Defenders of Wildlife ends wolf predation payments
A conservation group is ending its program to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves, prompting criticism from Idaho officials including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. The program by The Defenders of Wildlife has paid out more than $1.4 million for losses from wolves and grizzly bears since it began in 1987. In a letter this month to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, group president Roger Schlickeisen said the group originally planned to compensate ranchers for livestock losses to wolves until state, federal or tribal programs took its place. "We've honored that commitment and have continued to pay compensation across the Northern Rockies and Southwest," he said. Now that the federal government has created a wolf predation compensation program, Defenders of Wildlife is phasing out its predation payments in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico. The Idaho Statesman reports that the group hopes to spend the money on its programs aimed at helping ranchers better prevent wolf predation in the first place. Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Cal Groen said Monday he remembers a different promise - to pay ranchers until wolves were no longer protected at all - and that the group was backing out of a commitment it made when wolves were reintroduced to Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995. "I think we have a major credibility problem," Groen said. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter accused the group of being disingenuous. "Not only did the Defenders of Wildlife sue to overturn delisting and oppose state management, the group now has announced it will break one of its original promises devised to increase public acceptance of this species that was forced upon us by the federal government," Otter wrote in a statement distributed Tuesday. "The Endangered Species Act does not work and won't work as long as promises are broken."...more
Delays plague solar energy on fed lands
Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground. Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle. An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it. At a time when the nation drills ever deeper for oil off its shores even as it tries to diversify its energy supply, the federal government has, so far, failed to use the land it already has — some of the world's best for solar — to produce renewable electricity. Congress in 2005 gave the Interior Department a deadline: approve 10,000 megawatts, or about five million homes' worth during peak hours, of renewable energy on public lands by 2015. Reaching that goal was left to the BLM, which oversees federal land and knows oil, gas and mining leases but is new to solar...more
Burning Man fans say cops too heavy-handed
David Levin represents entrepreneurs, investors and developers in his legal practice. As an aside, he's a Burning Man barrister — offering free legal advice to those who run afoul of the law at the annual counterculture festival on the Nevada desert. The Palo Alto, Calif., attorney maintains law enforcement has become so heavy-handed at the eclectic art and music gathering that he was compelled to form a legal defense team known as Lawyers for Burners to help participants who were cited or arrested. He and other Burning Man fans accuse overzealous officers of destroying the quality of an otherwise peaceful celebration of radical self-expression to be held Monday through Sept. 6. Some 50,000 people are expected to gawk at offbeat artwork, wear bizarre costumes or nothing at all and torch the event's 40-foot signature effigy on the Black Rock Desert, about 110 miles north of Reno. Among other issues, Levin said, female undercover agents in costume have asked male Burners for drugs, drug-sniffing dogs and their handlers have roamed camps, and armed officers have "snooped" on revelers at dances. Last year, almost 300 Burners were cited or arrested by federal officers "It's a police state out there," Levin said. "There's very little criminal activity at the event, but they cite and arrest people in order to justify their existence." Officials from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Pershing County Sheriff's Department cite a new study by U.S. Park Police that concludes an even larger police presence is needed. The two agencies plan to have 80 officers at this year's event — far below the 144 recommended in the Park Police report...more
Environmental groups face their future in climate-change debate
On Thursday, some of the country's most respected environmental groups - in the midst of their biggest political fight in two decades - sent a group of activists to Milwaukee with a message. We're losing. They put on what they called a "CarnivOil" - a fake carnival with a stilt-wearing barker, free "tar balls" (chocolate doughnuts), and a suit-wearing "oil executive" punching somebody dressed like a crab. It was supposed to be satire, but there was a bitter message underneath: When we fight the oil and gas industry, they win. A year ago, these groups seemed to be at the peak of their influence, needing only the Senate's approval for a landmark climate-change bill. But they lost that fight, done in by the sluggish economy and opposition from business and fossil-fuel interests. Now the groups are wondering how they can keep this loss from becoming a rout as their opponents press their advantage and try to undo the Obama administration's climate efforts. At two events last week in Wisconsin, environmental groups seemed to be trying two strategies: defiance and pleading for sympathy. Neither one drew enough people to fill a high school gym...more
Cool-Down Phase
America's media are largely uninterested in what a scientific association is saying about the United Nations' climate change panel. Which tells you that the findings are, indeed, worth knowing. The InterAcademy Council, an Amsterdam-based association of the world's top national science academies, reported Monday the results of its review of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its criticism of the IPCC, held up as the divine and inerrant voice on climate change, irrevocably tarnishes the panel's credibility and weakens the case for man-made global warming. While the Inter-Academy Council did not "redo the science," as its chairman said, it did scrutinize IPCC practices and methodologies and recommended a "fundamental reform" of its management structure. IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, whose resignation we've called for, dismissed the council's findings, saying "the scientific community agrees that climate change is real." We dismiss his comments as those from someone struggling to hang on to a cushy position from which he can continue to enrich himself through, as reported by Britain's Telegraph, his interests in "banks, universities and other institutions that benefit from the vast worldwide industry now based on measures to halt climate change." Rather than react arrogantly, Pachauri should be fully focused on the "two kinds of errors" the council found in the IPCC's work...more
Helicopters to remove $1M worth of pot plants from Forest Service land Wednesday
Officials are planning to use a helicopter Wednesday to remove thousands of marijuana plants -- worth more than $1 million -- found over the past two days on public land in the mountains west of Lyons. SWAT officers with Boulder County and Longmont police returned Tuesday to the remote national forest area near the towns of Raymond and Riverside, where they had found 3,500 marijuana plants worth $500,000 on Monday. They discovered an even larger stretch of 4,000 marijuana plants, said Boulder County Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough. Officers spent much of Tuesday pulling up plants at the second site, which covered about five acres, he said. Authorities left the scene just before dark Tuesday and planned to return early Wednesday to fly out the uprooted plants using cargo nets and two helicopters supplied by the Colorado National Guard, Brough said. Officers found the first set of plants Monday and launched a massive search for a man "known to be heavily armed" who was suspected of being involved in the illegal growing operation. SWAT teams didn't find the suspect -- described as a 5-foot-6 Hispanic man weighing about 150 pounds -- on Monday or Tuesday, but officers discovered evidence that multiple people are involved in the operation, according to Brough...more
Cloned cattle crowned Iowa State Fair champs
In a way one Siouxland Steer took a top prize at the Iowa State Fair, not once but twice. Their names? Wade... and Doc. You can bet these cloned cattle have many seeing double. This is Wade, the 2008 Iowa State Fair Champion Steer. This is Doc, the 2010 Iowa Champion Steer. Look familiar? Well they should, that's because Doc is a Wade's Clone. "It may sound like science fiction to outside parties but to those in the cattle barn it's really a common occurrence," says Dr. Faber. Dr. David Faber a veterinarian by education, bought Wade for his son at a farm like this a few years ago. Faber liked the steer so much he wanted another, so he just made one. "We decided he was a high quality animal that we wanted a genetic copy of," says Dr. Faber. "Now none of these animals are clones but if a farmer wanted they could be all they'd need to do is take a cell sample from their ear," says Forrest. From there the cattle DNA is extracted from the cell, placed in a embryo, and fertilized. It can be a bit costly at about 17 grand a piece, but you'll still have the genetic reserves if you decide to clone again. "We produce a cell line that has cells that are genetically identical to the elite animal and they can use that cell line repeatedly in the years to come," says Broek...more
Rancher rides herd on effort to name border collie the Oregon state dog
Passing through Oregon cattle country, you see a lot of four-legged companions working with the ranchers. No, not horses -- cattle dogs, many of them border collies. Prized for their intelligence, agility and herding instincts, border collies are a big part of everyday life here and have been for a long time. The connection between rural Oregon and these dogs is so profound, one man has embarked on a campaign to have the border collie declared Oregon's state dog, which means the border collie could join the American beaver, the chinook salmon, the Western meadowlark and the Oregon swallowtail as an official state animal by early next year...more
Colorado ranch horse mutilation investigated (video)
Two horses found mutilated August 11, 2010, by their ranch owners in Rush, Colorado, were investigated by Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Field Investigator Chuck Zukowski. Two other ranch animals who apparently survived the attacks - a dog and another horse - were found with "unknown marks." A high "electro-magnetic field reading" was measured on the dog. The rancher's wife reports unusual sounds two days prior to the discovered mutilations. Zukowski produced a video about the events and his investigation there - including an interview with the rancher's wife...more
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