Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Hidalgo County man shot to death

Larry Link, the owner of Steins Ghost Town, was found shot to death early Tuesday morning on Summit Road in Hidalgo County. State Police Public Information Officer Maj. Scott Weaver said they currently have no suspects and the investigation is ongoing. Examiner.com reported that Link, 68, was shot by an undocumented immigrant on his land, but that has not been verified by State Police or the Hidalgo County Sheriff. Hidalgo County Commissioner Ed Kerr said there is undocumented immigrant and drug activity in the area where Link was killed. "Last summer in August, I found five bundles of marijuana on my ranch land about 50 feet from the freeway. That can't be more than eight or 10 miles from Larry's," he said. "They were scattered about. One was under the billboard, one was beside the fence. Illegals with empty backpacks had dropped their load. I-10 is, obviously, a connecting point. We're getting a lot of traffic, more than what we've seen in the past couple of years. They have ultra-light planes flying out of Mexico and dropping off bundles and then illegals walking and picking them up." Hidalgo County Commissioner Richard Chaires said Link bought insurance from him for many years, since he moved to Steins from Phoenix to get away from the hustle and bustle there. "He was the type of gentleman always had a smile on his face," Chaires said. "He was happy-go-lucky. He's going to be truly missed. He was an asset to the community."...more

BREAKING: Hidalgo County homicide under investigation

New Mexico State Police confirmed Tuesday that they are investigating a homicide in Hidalgo County. Larry Link, the owner of Steins Ghost Town, was found shot to death early Tuesday morning on Summit Road in Hidalgo County. State Police Public Information Officer Maj. Scott Weaver said that they currently have no suspects and the investigation is ongoing. Rumors have been flying that Link, 68, was shot by an illegal alien on his land but that information was not verified by State Police or the Hidalgo County Sheriff. Check back for updates as they become available, and look for full coverage in print and online Wednesday. link

BREAKING: New Mexico rancher Larry Link murdered by illegal alien

Hidalgo County Sheriff Department has confirmed that New Mexico rancher, Larry Link, was murdered earlier today on his property. Sources are reporting that the rancher was responding to an alleged- illegal alien on his property at Stein’s Ghost Town when the he was gunned-down. The murder took place on the southwest side of the state near the Arizona border on Interstate 10 at mile marker three. The Hidalgo Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene, only to find the rancher had already died. A Sheriff Department spokesperson said the investigation has been turned over to the New Mexico State Police, who are not releasing any further details...more

Interior Department wants a new logo

Gas prices remain around $4 a gallon, thousands of people have lost their jobs in the energy industry and the U.S. border with Mexico remains as porous as Swiss cheese. So what are some folks at the U.S. Department of Interior doing today? Well, they're looking for a department logo that is "both elegant (simple) and meaningful." Oh, and don't forget, it also has to "appeal to both our internal and external audiences." It is vital, however, that it be understood this new logo will not replace the department's present seal, which is just to the right here, but will instead be used in addition. As if those requirements aren't complicated enough, the DOI folks helpfully provided this additional guidance: "More specifically, the logo must appeal to the 70,000 employees of Interior, as well as (in alphabetical order) cattlemen/ranchers, coal miners, conservationists, farmers, fishermen, historians, hunters, Native Americans & tribal entities, offshore oil and gas producers, recreation enthusiasts (boaters, hikers, campers) and others. We recognize that this is a lengthy list and include it for a sense of the breadth and scale of our missions."

I'm sure my readers will have some excellent suggestions!  The winner gets $1,000. Find out more here.  Share your ideas with The Westerner.

Below is DOI's seal.  I remember we created quite a storm during the Reagan administration when we changed the buffalo to face right.

Wolf wars: Can man and predator coexist in the West?

As ranchers in one of the most rugged corners of the northern Rockies, Jon and Debbie Robinett have had to cope with their share of animals preying on cattle. Coyotes and mountain lions prowl unfettered in the pristine Dunoir Valley, where snow-shod peaks jut defiantly into the Wyoming sky and where life hasn't changed that much since Jon's great-grandfather herded livestock here – like him, from the sling of a saddle – 130 years ago. But two other formidable species, largely erased by Jon's forebears, are now making a carefully orchestrated comeback. First it was grizzly bears that started arriving shortly after the Robinetts were hired to run the Diamond G Ranch in 1989. The bruins struck with increasing regularity, the result of federal protection enabling them to expand beyond the oases of nearby Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. In response, the Robinetts bought a pair of "bear dogs" – Great Pyrenees – to protect the herd. It worked for a while, virtually eliminating cattle deaths. But then another visitor reappeared after a 60-year absence – gray wolves, offspring of animals transplanted into the Yellowstone ecosystem in 1995. A pack of wolves attacked one of their horses, then killed the bear dogs, before turning on a pet border collie, leaving it dead literally on the back porch. On top of that, wolves were taking 50 to 60 calves annually...more

Editorial: A fishy reversal on "wild lands" policy

The Obama administration's about-face on a policy that would allow temporary protection of pristine federally owned land is disappointing, particularly here in Colorado, where residents so clearly value wilderness. In a memo Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his agency would not designate U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands as "wild lands," which would safeguard them while lawmakers mull whether to permanently protect them. The move ostensibly was due to Republican maneuvers to cut the program's funding. But surely there was more at work. In times of high gas prices, the policy could have been a political liability as President Obama sought re-election. We have to wonder whether the 180-degree turn has anything to do with wooing voters in important Western states during next year's presidential election. It would be easy for opponents to craft an ad, pointing sourly to $4-a-gallon gasoline, and accusing the Obama administration of obstructing energy development. Backtracking on the wild lands policy neutralizes that criticism, and gets rid of a pesky lawsuit. Unfortunately, it also leaves many beautiful places without protection...more

No, the Denver Post is wrong. Everything the Obama Interior Dept. does is based on "science."

I guess that includes political science.

Editorial: Wilderness reversal welcome

The Obama administration made the right call in reversing its plan to have millions of acres in the West protected as federal wilderness. The December announcement angered many in the West who oppose such an arbitrary decision. It would have reversed a Bush-era policy that allowed some development of wildlands. Western governors had filed suit against that plan, announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Congress, with strong Republican support, had not allocated funding or approval for the administration to implement the wilderness designations. In essence, the budget had blocked Salazar’s plan. Instead, Salazar and the Obama administration will work with Congress to craft recommendations for what lands should be protected and what lands could be used for development. Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee and Utah Rep. Rob Bishop praised the administration for its new stance. And we agree with their positive sentiments. When it comes to wilderness designation in the West, where so much of the land is wild, Congress and the administration must work together. The attempt by the Obama administration late last year to circumvent Congress’ role in wilderness policy was an example of overreach by the Executive Branch. We are glad that Salazar and the administration understand that...more

Editorial: Don't relax on wildlands

It's cheering to see that sometimes Washington will listen to the people -- and heed their demands. Last week, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a turnabout on a controversial order that gave the Bureau of Land Management the power to designate millions of acres of federal land as "wildlands" that could be considered for designation as wilderness areas. Potentially, that could have made wide swaths of Utah off-limits to development. So what happens now with the federal lands? Salazar says his agency will work with Congress and other stakeholders to list areas that might merit the wilderness tag. That's a more reasonable stance. Environmentalists may howl, but now it's possible to work out solutions. Utahns do not want to desecrate the beautiful landscape around us. People here value nature. They are, however, realistic about using nature's mineral wealth. If nothing else, the latest economic news should remind us all how badly the nation needs to use all its assets -- energy especially. And energy development brings good-paying jobs to Utah. The process of figuring this out has begun. San Juan, Piute and Emery counties are looking at how to work with Congress to allow development in some areas while limiting it in others. That, too, is appropriate. Local residents know the most about the land. They will also suffer the most if aesthetically valuable land were to be abused. At the same time, Americans will not benefit by withholding the riches under our feet from the marketplace. Development is appropriate in many places. Utah leaders must keep the pressure on. The same forces that have hampered the use of the wealth lying beneath our feet won't rest; neither should we...more

Environmental Protection (Or Propaganda?) Agency

If Federal Register notices, press releases and activist campaigns assured progress, the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules for 84 power plant pollutants would usher in vastly improved environmental quality and human health. Unfortunately, the opposite is likelier. EPA's immediate target is older electrical generating units (EGUs), most of which have substantially reduced emissions to safe levels but still release more pollutants than modern plants. However, its broader agenda is to use air pollution and carbon dioxide restrictions to impose President Obama's goals of requiring "zero" emissions, "bankrupting" coal companies, causing electricity rates to "skyrocket" and effecting a "fundamental transformation" of the U.S. energy system and economy — regardless of what Congress may do or the American economy may require. This raises vital questions that thus far have received scant attention. How many older plants can be retrofitted to meet the new criteria? How many will simply be shuttered? Can coal, gas and nuclear replacements get the necessary permits, survive legal challenges and protests, and be built in time to replace the lost baseload electricity: potentially 2,290-3,950 megawatts in Illinois alone? Can intermittent wind and solar energy make a meaningful contribution or be built in time?...more

The green killer: Scores of protected golden eagles dying after colliding with wind turbines

California's attempts to switch to green energy have inadvertently put the survival of the state’s golden eagles at risk. Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines. Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities. The death count along the ridgelines of the Bay Area’s Altamount Pass Wind Resource Area has averaged 67 a year for three decades. The 200ft high turbines, which have been operating since the 1980s, lie in the heart of the grassy canyons that are home to one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the US. ‘It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production,’ field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife programme, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We only have 60 pairs,’ he added...more

Prominent Americans Urge President Obama to Protect Grand Canyon Now

An ad this week in the New York Times  features an open letter from 50 statesmen, scholars and conservation leaders urging a 20-year extension of a one-million-acre mining buffer around Grand Canyon National Park. The list of signers includes Theodore Roosevelt IV, actors Edward Norton and Robert Redford, film director Ken Burns, World Bank science adviser Thomas Lovejoy, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- all calling on President Obama to protect the park from new uranium mining claims near its boundaries. The administration is expected to make a decision on the issue this month...press release

New Mexicans will be proud to learn we have two of the "prominent" signatories: Bill Richardson and Jim Baca. Aren't you just brimming with pride?

Are wild horses native to US? BLM view challenged

American history textbooks teach generation after generation that the wild horses roaming the Western plains originated as a result of the European explorers and settlers who first ventured across the ocean and into the frontier. But that theory is being challenged more strongly than ever before at archaeological digs, university labs and federal courtrooms as horse protection advocates battle the U.S. government over roundups of thousands of mustangs they say have not only a legal right but a native claim to the rangeland. The group In Defense of Animals and others are pressing a case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that maintains wild horses roamed the West about 1.5 million years ago and didn't disappear until as recently as 7,600 years ago. More importantly, they say, a growing stockpile of DNA evidence shows conclusively that today's horses are genetically linked to those ancient ancestors. The new way of thinking could carry significant ramifications across hundreds millions of acres in the West where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management divides up livestock grazing allotments based partly on the belief the horses are no more native to those lands than are the cattle brought to North America centuries ago...more

Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors

Donald Trump is locked in a dispute with a Scottish couple who refuse to sell their home to make way for a golf course. To pressure the homeowners, Trump built a fence around their house and sent them a bill for half of the construction costs. Can your neighbor force you to pay for a fence you don't want? Yes, in some places. Fence laws originated with disputes over livestock, which may wander off their owner's land and cause damage. Judges and legislators have developed three different schemes for allocating the costs of restraining animals. Countries or states with "fence-in" systems require ranchers to build and pay for fences to keep their cattle on their land. "Fence-out" regimes allow livestock to go where they please, and impose the cost of fencing on neighbors who don't want animals on their property. Lastly, a few Solomonic legislatures have split the difference, forcing neighbors to share the cost of a fence, even if one of them doesn't want it. Scotland has technically been a cost-sharing country since the March Dykes Act of 1661, which requires neighbors to share the costs of "building, ditching, and planting the dyke which parteth their inheritance." Few Scots invoke the hoary statute these days, so it's not clear whether Trump will be successful. While the clear trend in the United States is toward the fence-in requirement, there are still a number of holdouts. New Mexico, for example, is a fence-out state (PDF)...more

Song Of The Day #592

Ranch Radio is playing a request this morning, Little Bird by Jerry Jeff Walker. This is the live version of the tune since the listener wrote, "I heard him play it last at a bar on the beach on a caye off the coast of Belize...".

Monday, June 06, 2011

Laura Bush calls for national parks in the oceans

Our first national park was named not after a mountain or forest but for a mighty river: Yellowstone. For centuries the world's waters have connected us. Explorers, traders, scientists and fishermen have traveled our oceans and rivers in search of new resources and a greater understanding of the world. This Wednesday, as we mark World Oceans Day, we must intensify our efforts to better understand, manage and conserve our waters and marine habitats if they are to remain a vibrant source of life for future generations. We are at risk of permanently losing vital marine resources and harming our quality of life. Overfishing and degrading our ocean waters damages the habitats needed to sustain diverse marine populations. Fortunately, Yellowstone offers a blueprint for protecting our oceans. In the early 1970s, the U.S. established a modest program to conserve some of its most important marine areas, called the National Marine Sanctuary System. In June 2006 and again in January 2009, the U.S. expanded the concept of parkland and wilderness preserves in the sea when President Bush designated four marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. These four monuments cover more than 330,000 square miles and add up to the largest fully protected marine area in the world, larger than all of our national parks and wildlife refuges combined. They support vast numbers of fish, breathtakingly beautiful coral habitat, and a remarkable abundance of sharks—often seen as markers of an ecosystem's health...more

This is a first for me: sharks as an indicator or keystone species.

Somebody tell Obama about this and maybe he'll leave our domestic lands alone when he pulls out that Antiquities Act pen.

Range Fires Ignite Dispute

American cattle producers from Texas to Tennessee ship their herds each summer to the Flint Hills region of Kansas, where the animals bulk up on grass before they're dispatched to feedlots and then slaughtered. Ranchers help prime the sprawling pastures by torching them to burn out prairie brush, clearing the way for stands of big bluestem and other grasses that are cheap cattle feed. But the springtime fires also send up smoke that's tipping heartland cities into violations of clean-air regulations, the federal government says. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to restrain the Kansas range fires if ranchers' don't do so voluntarily, perhaps by burning only when wind doesn't blow the smoke over cities. The EPA's crackdown is kicking up a political storm in cattle country—a potential harbinger of high-stakes fights elsewhere as the agency prepares this summer to announce tougher clean-air standards nationwide.

A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself

The rapid growth in farm output that defined the late 20th century has slowed to the point that it is failing to keep up with the demand for food, driven by population increases and rising affluence in once-poor countries. Consumption of the four staples that supply most human calories — wheat, rice, corn and soybeans — has outstripped production for much of the past decade, drawing once-large stockpiles down to worrisome levels. The imbalance between supply and demand has resulted in two huge spikes in international grain prices since 2007, with some grains more than doubling in cost. Those price jumps, though felt only moderately in the West, have worsened hunger for tens of millions of poor people, destabilizing politics in scores of countries, from Mexico to Uzbekistan to Yemen. The Haitian government was ousted in 2008 amid food riots, and anger over high prices has played a role in the recent Arab uprisings. Now, the latest scientific research suggests that a previously discounted factor is helping to destabilize the food system: climate change. Many of the failed harvests of the past decade were a consequence of weather disasters, like floods in the United States, drought in Australia and blistering heat waves in Europe and Russia. Scientists believe some, though not all, of those events were caused or worsened by human-induced global warming...more

The Electric Car Albatross

Consider the Nissan Leaf. On a full charge, Nissan touts a a 100 mile range. It doesn’t tout what the range will fall to when it’s 16 degrees outside and the capacity of the Leaf’s battery declines by “up to” 20-30 percent, which it will as all batteries do when it is very cold out. Now add the additional load on the battery to power things like the heater/fan – and the lights, which you will probably need when it’s dark outside. There are other forms of loading, too. Passengers and Stuff. So, let’s say the real-word range of a car like the Leaf is 60-ish miles under less-than ideal conditions. That is, in the real world. At least with a gas-fueled car, you can refill the tank in a few minutes and be back on your way. But when the Leaf runs out of juice, you’re not only looking at an hour or more downtime to induce a partial charge (a full charge takes several hours) you’ll need to locate one of the special 220V charging stations the Leaf requires. This EV does not just plug into any household 110V outlet. The 220V stations is faster – if you can find one. Electric cars like the Leaf and Volt come with luxury car MSRPs – until Uncle Sam transfers about 20 percent onto the backs of you and me. The Volt’s MSRP is $40,280. The Leaf’s MSRP is $32,780. What lunatic would pay BMW/Lexus money for either of these things? So, enter Uncle – who is very generous with other people’s money. “Buy” a new Volt or Leaf or one of the other electric Turduckens now available and he will send you a check for $2,500-$7,500 depending on the model. Nissan even advertises the actual cost of its car After Uncle ($32,780 less $7,500) to make the thing seem more appealing...more

See that preppy or professor driving that electric car? You are not only paying for your ride, you are also paying to subsidize his.

The dose makes the poison

Paracelsus’ point was any chemical can be harmless or even beneficial at low concentrations, but poisonous at higher levels. Regulators would be well advised to remember this concept. Too much of anything usually ends up with bad results. The Environmental Protection Agency serves a vital mission in ensuring the safety of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Regulations from the EPA in the right dosage help protect our nation’s precious natural resources. However, there is growing concern across the countryside that EPA is going too far. Many fear that EPA, in its zeal, will further cripple an already fragile economy. A heavier dose of EPA regulations could well poison America’s prosperity. And when prosperity suffers, so does the ability to protect natural resources. The EPA’s reach has expanded significantly during the current administration. The agency’s budget is more than $10 billion — the highest it’s ever been — and the EPA employs more than 17,000 people nationwide. America’s farmers and ranchers fear the EPA’s complex maze of rules and regulations will drive up their costs and make it more difficult to compete in a global marketplace. The EPA has introduced massive new air and water regulations that will do little to help the environment but will create a paperwork nightmare for farmers and ranchers...more

Song Of The Day #591

It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio so let's kick off the week with Welcome To Tom's Place by Tom Corbett.

Texas Still Has Its Rustlers, and Men in White Hats Chasing Them

Whoever was stealing cattle had to have some cowboy in him, the theory went. You could tell by the seamless way he could lure more than a dozen animals at a time out of their pens, onto his trailer and into the endless Texas night, like some Pied Piper of bovines. This was not the handiwork of some crack addict, risking a kick to the addled head for the low yield of a heifer or two. This was a cow whisperer, cattle people told themselves. One of us. The reports started piling up across South and East Texas. On March 15, for example, 26 calves vanished from a sale barn in the Houston County town of Crockett — the same night that a livestock trailer was stolen in neighboring Walker County. On May 3, 18 head of cattle disappeared from a sale barn in Milam County. Two nights later and 160 miles away, 28 head went missing from a sale barn in Nacogdoches County. Enough was enough; these cattle didn’t just wander off to take in the night air. On May 6, Hal Dumas, a special ranger for the unique Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association — part industry advocate, part law enforcement agency — joined the Milam County sheriff in sending out a be-on-the-lookout alert, telling ranching communities everywhere of the rustler among them...more

Environmentalism vs. Border Control: A Complex Battle of Survival

Federal agents must abandon their vehicles and chase drug smugglers and illegal aliens on foot through 40 acres near the Mexican border because of a pond that is home to the endangered desert pupfish. It’s part of the agreement between the Homeland Security and Interior departments on how best to protect the ecosystem, frustrating lawmakers who say it also prevents agents from conducting routine patrols. Pupfish aren’t the only critters confounding the Border Patrol in its pursuit of illegal aliens. There’s also the Chiricahua leopard frog, Mexican spotted owl, lesser long-nosed bat and the Pima pineapple cactus. And access isn’t just limited to buffer zones for endangered species, it includes entire "wilderness areas" designated by Congress and some areas of national parks and monuments. The Wilderness Act of 1964 prohibits the Border Patrol from entering its 4.3 million acres in a vehicle or by helicopter. Nor can it put surveillance cameras in the area or build communication towers. “If you ask the supervisors and managers if this has an impact on operations, they will tell you, ‘Hell yes,’ ” said Kent Lundgren, communications manager of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers. The Border Patrol respects the desire of environmental groups and land managers to protect environmental species, Lundgren said. “But along the border, national security and public safety ought to trump anything else,” Lundgren said...more

Babeu: Obama has failed to protect border

President Obama says the border is more secure than ever, declared the border fence complete and said, "these people will never be satisfied, until we build a moat and put alligators in the moat." We don't need a moat or alligators in Arizona - we simply need the federal government to do their job and secure the border! Last year, 219,300 illegal immigrants were apprehended in just one sector of Arizona and many with violent felony criminal records. The US Border Patrol estimates another 400,000 made it safely past them in Arizona and now reside in your community. If the majority of regular illegal immigrants can sneak into America, what does this say about the ability of terrorist sleeper cells? The porous US/Mexican border is the gravest national security threat facing America. This is no longer just a political fight to stop Barak Obama from giving amnesty to over 12 million illegals, it's also about protecting our nation from terrorist threats. Thousands of illegal entrants hail from State Department countries of interest--Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and others. In some cases, we have confirmed their troubling ties to terrorism. Yet for those we apprehend, how many today live amongst us? If the border is secure, why did the feds post 15 Billboard signs in Pinal County warning American citizens; Danger - Public Warning - Travel Not Recommended, due to armed drug cartel smuggling? This is 70 miles into Arizona, where Homeland Security confirms that no fewer than 100 of our beautiful mountains have been repurposed as lookouts for the Mexican Drug lords...more

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Cowgirl Sass and Savvy

Mammying up the babies

 By Julie Carter

In ranch country where the cow-calf operations are in their most flourishing mode of branding the year’s new calf crop, there is an age-old skill that goes unheralded among everyone except the cowboy crowd.

“Mammying up” baby calves is the necessary chore of helping them find their mother, or vice-versa, after being separated for any given reason such as branding. The job takes time and patience on the cowboy’s part, as well as a sharp sense of reading a cow and calf’s actions, intentions and natural communication.

While this event takes place, the entire herd is held in place by the crew assembled for the day’s work. This can involve men, women and children of various sizes, ages and ability and usually some combination of all those.

Holding herd for a cattle-sort of any kind is often considered menial labor. I suppose if you take into account you sit for hours using not much brain power, enduring the dust, wind, heat, and laborious long hours, it can be classified as such.

What the untrained eye misses is the keen sense of “cow sense” that is exhibited by the cowman that quietly rides through the herd looking for each pair, mom and baby, as they acknowledge each other in a secret, natural language.

I happened to be a kid lucky enough to watch and learn from some of the best at that particular job. Quiet men who taught by doing, not by saying. I never really knew I was learning anything until the time came that I needed to be in the right place at the right time. Instinct kicked in and it happened just like I knew what I was doing.

Not every momma cow cares about searching for her young and not every calf is in the mood to find his momma, especially when it’s just been branded, vaccinated and maybe even castrated. It would really rather just lay in the shade and rest up. So the “mammying” takes time that means nothing to the cattle.

The hours tend to drag when you are holding herd. You’ll see the pocket knives come out as herd holders begin to carve on the calluses on their hands or clean their finger nails like there will be a hygiene inspection later.

The tobacco can lids flash in the sun as chews are freshened and spitting tobacco in every direction including between your horse’s ears becomes an Olympic event.

Every now and then a cowboy, not one to remain anti-social for long, will ease over to another puncher and strike up a conversation. All the while, he’ll be keeping one eyeball on the herd so as not to be slack in his duty.

As a kid, holding herd was a job expected of me, not verbalized. I just knew. Endless hours of sitting, twisting around in my saddle, braiding my horse’s mane, looking around, daydreaming and just generally being a kid.

Today, I know the experience to be fertile ground for learning so many things. Quiet patience came a little slower, but the ability to read what a cow is thinking before she does it soaked in like the summer sun.

Lessons learned and treasured always.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com.

Mother Earth and Her Sisters

Sustainability
Mother Earth and Her Sisters
Image and Reality
By Stephen L. Wilmeth


     The term “environmentalism” has become a warehouse of suggestive assurances of right versus wrong.  It has become the phraseology to justify anything that demands public approval or political correctness. 
     The outcome is not lost on our youth.  Talk to a nine or ten year old kid about matters of the environment and far too many have formulated opinions that that make grandparents shudder. 
     New Sustainability
     The new buzz word is sustainability.  Sustainable agriculture, sustainable ranching, and sustainability seem to all imply an improvement over the now largely latent but suggestive ravages of history. What does that mean and what institution has broken through the mystery to finally put the land stewards on the right track?
     In a recent issue of a magazine that profiles western lifestyles, there was an article about sustainable ranching.  The fact that it was a positive article about cattle was greatly appreciated, but it was interesting to note the number of years the ranches profiled had been practicing “sustainable” ranching techniques.
     If the famous ranch near Cambria was taken off the list along with the ranch in eastern Colorado that set the standard before the word was invented, the rest had been in the business of “sustainability” an average of six and a half years!
     Think about that.  What happens on a ranch at a point of six and a half years?  For one thing, cows reach their heaviest potential weight in year seven.  That means that the operations that are practicing sustainable ranching should have adult cows that will reach that point sometime this year.  Is that one of the markers that demonstrates sustainability?  Is it possible to pull one of the coming seven year old cows from a sustainable ranching operation and pick her out in a herd of traditional ranch cows?
     Proven Sustainability
     Reading through the promotional material of those operations, various practices were noted that promoted healthier and more nutritious beef.  Included were things like the cattle drank only cool spring water, grazed unfertilized pastures, grazed high mountain pastures, grazed arid lands pastures, received no hormonal implants, and were treated humanely.  In reflecting, those characteristics sounded a lot like several historic ranches in southern New Mexico that are near or over the century mark under the same brand, but not one of them was referenced among the sustainable ranching operations.  Are those historic operations not sustainable ranching models?
    The fact of the matter is they are not considered under the paradigm of sustainable because they don’t finish cattle on grass, and they are, categorically, the poster images of the environmental pillagers of the West.  Who else could it be that the environmental front refers to as the reckless stewards of the West . . . those rapists who overgrazed the lands and left them barren and unproductive for the ages?
     Consider some simple logic.  If a ranch has been in operation for say, 127 years, and it produces a total beef output that varies linearly with rainfall totals shouldn’t it be a viable model of sustainability?  Isn’t there something in the dynamic of such a model that would conjure proven sustainability? 
     In fact, that is not only a logical conclusion it is something the “6½ year models” have not even started to address.  Cattle genetics and rhythm and timing protocol are points of management that are not created in a decade.  It takes years to adapt herd genetics to the specific conditions in which each ranching operation is confronted.  Generations of breeding are needed to build a herd that fits the country.
     Likewise, the use of pastures and the ability to use them efficiently comes only from experience and investments in infrastructure that allows cattle movement. It is simply not done in 6½ years . . . nor is it accomplished with simple awareness in enlightened thought accompanied by education and conservation exposure.  It takes years of diligence to make it work.
     Good mothers . . . and their abusive sisters
     Not long ago, I introduced 937 to the world.  A rancher will recognize 937 was born in 1999 and she was the 37th calf branded that year.  When you work her she blends into the landscape and she is never an issue.  Her calf is always with her . . . she is always in the right place at the right time . . . and the respect she has earned will not be lost in time.  She is everything a great mother should be.  She is a great cow.
     That is not the case with all cows.  Like their human counterparts, many are adequate mothers, but some are not acceptable.  The worst could be categorized as abusive.  Their calves are the ones that are the ones running off in a bad situation, they are climbing out of a corral through a trough, or they are missing in a pasture rotation.  The Colorado operation that defined sustainability taught us how to deal with those abusive mothers.  You shipped those cows . . . they produced a valuable chip or they were gone. 
     Mother Earth and her environmental step sister
     Has “environmentalism” become a mother figure?  A better approach to that question is to make it a statement.  “Environmentalism” has become a mother figure, and, the truth is, many have now made the value judgment as to her status as a good or an abusive mother.
    Mother Earth in her raw form holds no lingering grudge.  If the steward pays attention and is diligent, he can usually survive her mood swings.  Drought, fire, flood, and even disease can be dealt with in varying degrees of give and take.
    Environmentalism, on the other hand, seems to exist only with lingering grudges.  She must be dedicated to class envy and division to attract the allegiance of her largely urban donors who seem to be educated in the ways of raping and pillaging natural things. Slander, defamation, vilification, and even fabrication cannot be easily dealt with in any degree of give and take.
     There is a big difference in the two.  One is brutally raw, brutally unforgiving, but brutally honest.  She is timeless.  She does not seek popularity, but she does reward diligence. 
       The other has sought motherhood status by her human creators and advocates.  She has attempted to gain status by acclamation through legislation and litigation.  She rewards only her curators and benefactors.
     Making the cut
     If sustainability ranching is predicated on genuine long term benefits for both producer and consumer our industry will benefit.  Nobody is antagonistic to niche marketing or general improvements to any segment of the beef business. 
    If the movement is grounded in an attempt to reboot past endeavors to somehow make “sustainable” ranching acceptable to the sisterhood of environmentalism, though . . . that sure does leave an empty feeling in my stomach.
    For the present, we will continue to judge motherhood on the basis of what we can touch and manage. 
    As for Mother Earth, we stand in awe of our creator and his creations every day.  We are profoundly respectful.  We are humbled to be part of his natural world.
    As for Environmentalism . . . she would have been shipped the first time she came out of the chute and tried to run over us!

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico.  “937 was in the first pen of cattle sorted at branding time in the spring of 2011.  At her side was calf number 11.  When she was offered an open gate she took it without a second glance.  She went out into the dry lot and laid down until we ran the calves back in to pair.  She picked up her calf and left without fanfare.  I saw her yesterday when we were pushing dirt up around troughs so the baby calves could more easily drink in this drought.  Her calf was at her side.”   

Cowboy Dinner & Dance - Bucky's Birthday Bash - June 11


Song Of The Day #590

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is Listen To The Angels by Fields Of Home. The tune is on their 14 track CD Bittersweet on the Grassaholic label.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Drums Along The Border - Arizona Wildfire - Atascosa Ranch


Dear Friends

This photograph was taken today, June 3, 2011. Inside the center of smoke plume is the Atascosa Ranch House, residence of David and Edith Lowell, in Rio Rico, Arizona. Ten miles north of the Mexican Border.

The Forest Service determined to allow this fire to jump Peck Canyon South and go up the North face of the Atascosa Mountains rather than attempt to control the fire, they are simply watching the fire now for four days rather than trying to fight it or control it.

The North Lowell allotment grazing pastures went up in smoke the last three days and the Forest Service is going to allow the second allotment to go up today. The Lowell's will have to sell their cattle because there is no grass for them to graze on.

The drums along the border say that Border Patrol jumped a group of 12 marijuana backpackers who intentionally set the mountains on fire to effect their escape. Allegedly, between two and three of the illegal alien marijuana backpackers were apprehended and admitted setting the fire. Also, one of these arsonists is reported to be on life support at a local American hospital.

The beating drums also say that the Forest Service will not admit that the fire was caused by illegal aliens, only that it is human caused. Some even wonder if the illegal aliens will be charged or just kicked back across the border.

The border is not secure, America is in jeopardy as are all residents along the Arizona Border. Do not believe otherwise.

Zack Taylor, NAFBPO.org

Second night of Silver City rodeo action tops Boyz-n-Bulls

Thursday night s rodeo action was just as good or maybe even better than the night before. There were some great rides, and the WWWR seems to be moving along just fine. It was a much better night than Wednesday, rodeo chairman Pat Bearup said. I think it s the best Thursday crowd we have had since I ve been chairman. I assumed it was because it was family night. The crowd we had was unheard of. The bareback riding kicked off Thursday night, and Ryan Gray and Tilden Hooper tallied 84s to pace the pack. Luke Creasy followed with an 81, while Joe Gunderson had a 75. The saddle bronc riding event saw Cody Taton and Tyler Corrington rack up 83s to stay tied for first place. Taos Muncy had an 82, while Issac Diaz, Ace Long and Brandon Biebelle scored 80s. In the bull riding event, Wesley Silcox hung on for eight seconds to tally a 90. That followed L.J. Jenkins 93 Wednesday night, and Stormy Wing s 90 as well on the same night. Guytin Tsosie rode for an 87, while Steve Woolsey had an 82. Tyler Bingham was the final bull rider to tally points, a 78. In steer wrestling, Ben Shofner leads the pack, with his 4.1 second time. Ben Bates Jr. follows in second, at 4.3, while Brandon Bates was third at 4.7, sharing the spot with Jeff Richardson, also at 4.7. The tie down roping event saw Johnny Salvo turn in a time of 10.5 to take the lead. Monty Lewis was second, at 10.7, while Bill Snure was third, at 11.2, and J.D. Kibble was fourth, at 22.5. In team roping, Wyatt Althoff and T.J. Brown had a time of 5.4 seconds to take the lead from Arky Rogers and York Gill, who s time was 5.7. Casey Wilson and Beau Marshall tallied an 11.7. The barrel racing event saw Dolli Lautaret race around the arena in a time of 17.76. Lisa Anderson followed, at 18.12, while Jolee Lautaret was third, at 18.21. Erin Parsons was fourth, at 18.22. Allan Wallace 6-years-old won the Circle Heart Mutton Bustin title of the night...more

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gave $1.29 Million to China

The Environmental Protection Agency has given at least $1,285,535 in grants to China to promote environmental research in the country. In all, the EPA issued six grants that went to China, most of which pertained to researching methane in Chinese coal mines and reducing carbon emissions in China, a communist dictatorship long criticized by human rights groups. Two of those grants were awarded during the Bush administration; four were awarded during the Obama administration. The grants to China were awarded through the EPA’s Coalbed Methane Outreach Program (CMOP). Since 1994, CMOP has worked cooperatively with the coal industry in the U.S. and internationally to reduce coal mining methane emissions, according to the EPA...more

We have some really kind hearted folks in the EPA. They can't possibly spend all that money hear so they just ship some over to our good friends in China.

You appropriators out there, remember this: Coalbed Methane Outreach Program (CMOP).

Obama's Commerce Nominee: Cap and Trade Good for ‘Hiding’ Carbon Taxes

John Bryson, President Obama’s nominee to head the Commerce Department, told a University of California Berkeley audience in 2010 that a cap and trade system was a good way to hide a carbon tax from the public. Bryson, formerly the CEO of Edison International, said that a carbon tax was the new “third rail” of politics because politicians wouldn’t want to tax energy directly. “I think it’s still unlikely there’ll be a carbon tax bill because I think in the end a very high percentage of the members of Congress think it’s kind of the third rail to support a tax, even if it’s a carbon tax,” Bryson said. “Greenhouse gas legislation, either with a tax or with cap and trade – which is a more complicated way of getting at it but it has the advantage of politically sort of hiding the fact that you have a tax – but that’s what you’re trying to do,” he added...more

That's not all on Bryson, see Obama Nominee: Redistribute Wealth To Keep Poor From Cutting Trees

Clean Water Act prevents cleanup

In Colorado, a lot of that water trickles into abandoned mines and washes across the tailings piles found in the upper end of nearly every drainage in the state. According to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, there are at least 7,300 abandoned mines in the state, and 450 are known to be leaking measurable toxins – including arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc – into the state’s watersheds. Yet according to the Post, the fear of liability has deterred anyone – companies that want to renew mining, water utilities, environmental groups and even governmental entities – from tackling the cleanup. If they accidentally make matters worse, they could face federal prosecution under the Clean Water Act for polluting waterways without a permit. That is wrong. Highly qualified contractors who submit mitigation plans that include detailed documentation about the potential for unexpected releases of contaminated material and plans for stringent monitoring should be held responsible only for conditions they can actually control. By all means, hold them to extremely strict standards; just do not hold them to impossible ones. The Environmental Protection Agency is willing to partially shield cleanup efforts from liability, but the Clean Water Act, ironically, will require legislative change to help clean up watersheds...more

Should the Giant Sequoia National Monument be Transferred to the National Park Service?

A California congressman and a coalition of environmental groups are calling for management of the Giant Sequoia National Monument to be transferred from the U. S. Forest Service to the National Park Service. The debate highlights the long-standing confusion for many Americans about terms such as "national monument" as well as differences in the mission and management approach of the Forest Service and Park Service. There's plenty of reason for the head-scratching by the public. According to a U. S. Forest Service publication dating to 2003, "Today, depending on how one counts, there are 81 national monuments administered by the USDI National Park Service, 13 more administered by the USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM), five others administered by the USDA Forest Service, two jointly managed by the BLM and the National Park Service, one jointly administered by the BLM and the Forest Service, one by the USDI Fish & Wildlife Service, and another by the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home in Washington, D.C. In addition, one national monument is under National Park Service jurisdiction, but managed by the Forest Service while another is on USDI Bureau of Reclamation administered land, but managed by the Park Service."...more

For some, FS green just ain't green enough.

Solar energy plans pit green vs. green

Plans to create huge solar energy plants in the deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada and elsewhere in the West are pitting one green point of view vs. another. Janine Blaeloch, executive director of the Western Lands Project, a non-profit group that examines the impacts of government land privatization, supports developing America's renewable energy sources but says fields of mirrors along miles of open desert isn't the way to do it. "These plants will introduce a huge amount of damage to our public land and habitat," she said. On the other side are people such as Johanna Wald, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's land program, who supports the idea and its potential to curb climate change. "There's no free lunch when it comes to meeting our energy needs," she said. "To get energy, we need to do things that will have impacts."...more

Don’t look behind the green curtain

Global warming alarmists are throwing a temper tantrum this week after a Virginia judge affirmed that scientists who receive public funds to study global warming are subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding their taxpayer-funded research. The alarmists’ outrage at being required to divulge and justify the data and theories that lead to their predictions of doom and gloom stands in stark contrast to the often-vilified skeptics who welcome scientific transparency with open arms. A Virginia state judge issued a May 24 order requiring the University of Virginia to produce by Aug. 22 documents the university acknowledges are subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. A separate order sets the stage for the American Tradition Institute to review and challenge the withholding of documents the university claims are exempt from disclosure owing to asserted academic freedom or proprietary research claims. One might expect that Michael Mann, a former University of Virginia professor whose research and documents are at the heart of the FOIA dispute, and other prominent alarmists would welcome scientific transparency as a means of affirming their global warming predictions. Of course, that presupposes the scientific evidence they refuse to disclose actually supports those claims...more

'Global weirding' besieges Texas

The wind in West Texas is famously powerful and incessant. But more big blows than anyone can remember have roared through this year, stripping away precious topsoil and carrying off another season of hope for farmers and ranchers. Everywhere, it seems, the land is on the move: sand building up in corners of the just-swept front porch and coating clean laundry on the line, dust up your nose and in crevices of farm machinery. Drive along unpaved county roads and the farmers' plight becomes clear: Wind rakes the surface, scouring sand into adjacent fields, sweeping into deeply tilled furrows. These clogged fields are said to be "blown out," and some belong to Matt Farmer. He grows cotton and peanuts, or would like to, but the sand, he says, keeps "ooching and ooching" into his fields. In a normal year, his wheat crop would be about knee high. This is not a normal year; the anemic stalks barely rise above the heel of Farmer's dusty boots. The wind, the dust and the hair-crackling dryness are ubiquitous reminders of persistent drought gripping the Great Basin, a broad dry swath tracing much the same outline as the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It's part of the "new normal" that climate scientists talk about: the climate of extremes. April was such a month, with tornadoes wheeling across seven states, monumental flooding of the Mississippi River through the Midwest and the South and a searing drought in parts of the western plains. " 'Global weirding' is the best way to describe what we are seeing," said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University. "... What's happening is our rainfall patterns are shifting. In some places it means more heavy rainfall, in some places it means more drought, in some places it means both."...more

Colorado Supreme Court upholds limits on transfer of water rights from farmers to suburbs

Colorado's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a state water court's ruling limiting the amount of water that the East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District can deliver from the South Platte River drainage to thirsty suburbs in southeast Denver The case reflects increasingly close scrutiny — driven by scarcity and rising water prices — given to deals that transfer ownership of water rights from farmers to expanding suburbs. In a 77-page decision, Justice Gregory J. Hobbs emphasized that "in order to prevent an unlawful enlargement" of agricultural water rights the suburban provider had purchased, those water rights had to be limited to the 200 cubic feet per second historically diverted from the South Platte River and used for irrigation above Barr Lake. Suburbs applying in water court to convert agricultural water to a municipal- use designation must show that their use of water will not hurt other users of water rights, Hobbs said. And once a provider acquires water from farmers, the utility "runs a real risk of a re- quantification of the water right based on" historical use...more

About 350 bison pushed into park during first day of hazing

A helicopter buzzed over Horse Butte peninsula Wednesday morning, turning back and forth above the brush- and tree-covered land where hundreds Yellowstone bison have been wintering. Four-wheelers and horseback riders joined the helicopter to haze about 350 of the animals back into Yellowstone National Park, assisted by a convoy of state and federal officials. The bison trotted in neat lines down forest service roads with small calves running to keep up at their sides. A string of them struck out across U.S. Highway 191, temporarily blocking the roadway for cars, trucks and tractor-trailers. The helicopter roared and clamored above them, and horseback riders rode behind and to the sides of the animals. By the end of the day, only about 60 bison remained west of the park, according to Steve Merritt, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Livestock. The bison are hazed into the park every spring as ranchers bring cattle to summer grazing pastures in the area. The two species aren't allowed to co-exist because of a fear that bison may spread the disease brucellosis to livestock...more

Memories burn deep for 106-year-old cowboy

When Boss Winter's childhood home was built in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt had just completed his second term as president and the Ford Model T was 2 years old. Texas was still horse country. Farmers plowed fields with horses, and ranchers worked cattle on horseback. Boss was 5 and already riding a pony when his father, uncle and grandfather built the family home with field stones for the foundation and 1-by-12-inch planks to frame the three-room house. Boss can't remember a time when he wasn't on a horse. Now 106, he doesn't have much left but memories. "He grew up in a Texas without electricity, without paved roads, without any of the modern conveniences. Life was hard," said Dr. Light Cummins, a professor at Austin College in Sherman and an expert in Texas history. "And his life is a window into another era of the great cattle-range industry that disappeared from Texas." Boss has survived the state's worst droughts, including the Dust Bowl of the 1930s that devastated the Great Plains. For decades, he eked out a living farming his plot, working cattle for other ranchers and earning a reputation as a reliable cowboy. "You found a lot of people like him, who often had their own small plots of land, but they also hired out as cowboys on the big ranches," Cummins said. "It really created individuals who in many respects are passing from the scene. They lived on their own hard work, they lived on their own resilience, they lived on their own toughness, and they lived in a very hostile environment."...more

Song Of The Day #589

We'll close out the week with George Morgan and Don't Knock It.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Lummis amendment passes, 238-177

The Lummis amendment strikes the language in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act that authorizes payments from the Border Patrol to the federal land agencies.  These are so-called "mitigation" funds, which is really the federal land agencies extracting money from the Border Patrol to allow agents access to federal lands.  I believe $13 million has already been "extracted", but an MOU exists that would have allowed a total of $50 million in such transfers.  See Interior Extorts $$ In Interagency Border Battle from November of last year.

Here is the Dear Colleague letter that was circulated to House Members.


Dear Colleague,
    The Lummis Amendment to the 2012 Homeland Security Appropriations bill is focused on the serious problem of our Nation’s border security taking a back seat to environmental laws and the regulatory whims of Department of the Interior land managers. An October 2010 GAO report revealed that critical access by the Border Patrol to federal land is routinely blocked and frustrated by the Department of the Interior leaving vast areas open to criminal cartels.
    Your constituents may not be aware that Border Patrol Agents must ask permission of Park Rangers, and other federal land managers, just to do their job to secure our southern and northern borders.
    Unfortunately, federal land managers have used this authority over the Border Patrol to require payments in return for access to public land. The amendment offered by Congresswoman Lummis would strike language in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act that authorizes and approves these payments.      
    Additionally, the amendment would strike language in the bill that allows these funds to be used by the Interior Department to purchase even more land. Additional federal land acquisition only exacerbates the problem by limiting access to even more land and further bloating the federal estate – at a time when the government cannot even afford to provide the basic care and maintenance needed for existing national parks and other lands.
    It is no coincidence that Border Patrol makes nearly 50% of their total, nationwide apprehensions in the Tucson, Arizona Sector where the land is more than 80% publicly owned. Investigations by the House Natural Resources Committee have found alarming examples of the Border Patrol being literally locked out, barricaded and frustrated from doing their jobs by land managers inhibiting necessary access to federal lands.
    The House of Representatives must send a clear message that 1) National Security is our top priority, 2) the border patrol does not cause environmental damage – but the drug cartels and criminal elements that come across the border do, 3) the best way to protect the environment is to allow the Border Patrol to have the access they need to stop the flow of criminal activity that is taking such a harmful toll on the wildlife and ecology of these natural areas, and 4) if we have limited funds to appropriate for border control, that money should go to border control, not to buy additional federal land.
    We are pleased that Chairman Aderholt, of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, supported this amendment during Floor debate last night and we urge all our Colleagues to vote “aye” on the Lummis Amendment.

Signed by Rob Bishop, Doc Hastings & Peter King
    

Border Fire

This was sent along from an associate in response to the story I posted earlier today.

Dear Friends:

Wild Fires caused by illegal aliens along the U.S. Border with Mexico are a common historical event and WERE reported as such by the U.S. Forest Service. The truth today is that these Wildfires WERE a common historical event until the current administration arrived in Washington, DC.

Public Lands located along the Arizona Border constitute major corridors used by illegal aliens to enter the United States in violation of law. A large percentage of these lands in Santa Cruz County & Cochise County Arizona are National Forest Lands.

Example scenario:

Border Patrol Agents tracking a group of illegal aliens from where they illegally crossed into the United States to where they started a wildfire in the Coronado National Forest, Santa Cruz County Arizona, are accompanied by U.S. Forest Service Wild Lands Firefighters. While tracking these illegal aliens, from their point of illegal entry into the United States, the Border Patrol Agents and U.S. Forest Service Wild Lands Firefighters overtake the group of illegal aliens who readily admit that they started the wildfire in question. When asked by news reporters on the scene the U.S. Forest Service is prohibited from stating that the wildfire was started by illegal aliens, even though there is absolutely no doubt that the wildfire was in fact started by illegal aliens and both the U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service not only know that the wildfire was started by illegal aliens they also know who the illegal aliens are that started the wildfire and that those illegal aliens are in United States custody.

The process goes something like this. The U.S. Forest Service Wildland Firefighters notify the district ranger for the Sierra Vista Ranger District in Sierra Vista, Arizona, of their findings. The upward chain of command from there is Jim Upchurch the Coronado Forest Supervisor in Tucson to Corbin Newman the Regional Forester in Albuquerque. None of this chain of command is allowed to reveal the facts of who started the fire. However, Heidi Schewell in the Public Affairs Office at Forest Service Headquarters in Washington, DC, contacts the State Department and determines what, if anything, the Forest Service may say publicly about how the Willdfire was started and by whom. The Department of State decides what the Forest Service is allowed to say about the incident regardless of what the facts are. Whatever Heidi Schewell reports about the Wildfire is controlled by the Department of State, not the U.S. Forest Service and not the facts.

Referencing the Arlene Fire in the story below we can then deduce that there is nearly a 100% chance that the fire was human caused and because of the proximity to the border it has a better than an 80% chance of having been started by illegal aliens.

Arlene Fire burns in San Rafael Valley

Obama Administration Backs Away From Wilderness Plan

The Obama administration is dropping a controversial plan to restore eligibility for federal wilderness protection to millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West after the GOP-led House put up a strong fight. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a memo Wednesday that his agency will not designate any of those public lands as "wild lands." Instead Salazar said officials will work with members of Congress to develop recommendations for managing millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West. A copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press. Salazar's decision reverses an order issued in December to reverse a Bush-era policy that opened some Western lands to commercial development. A budget deal approved by Congress prevented the Interior Department from spending money to implement the wilderness policy. GOP lawmakers complained that the plan would circumvent Congress' authority and could be used to declare a vast swath of public land off-limits to oil-and-gas drilling. Republican governors in Utah, Alaska and Wyoming, filed suit to block the plan, saying it would hurt their state's economies by taking federal lands off the table for mineral production and other uses...more

When Salazar announced his plan last December all the headlines and stories said Salazar had "reversed" the Bush policy on wilderness. Now that he has withdrawn the reversal, that must mean he's back to implementing the Bush policy, right?

Actually he never reversed the Bush policy, he just went around it. In a legal settlement Bush had agreed BLM's authority to designate Wilderness Study Areas under Sec. 603 of FLPMA had expired. Salazar said ok, then I will issue a Secretarial Order which directs the BLM to designate "Wild Lands" under Sec. 202 of FLPMA. Kind of cute don't you see. Don't disturb the Bush court settlement, just go around it by using a different section of FLPMA to accomplish what was essentially the same thing.

There was also the cute way they announced the policy. Recall there was an attempt by Senators Reid and Bingaman to include an Omnibus Public Lands Bill in the budget in the waning hours of the last Congress. Salazar held back the policy waiting to see if the bill would pass and when it didn't he waited till Congress had adjourned and left town to announce his little jewel.

Well it turns out it may have been just a little too cute.

Republican members of Congress were outraged saying it was the prerogative of Congress do designate wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. There must have been some Dem's who didn't like it either as the program was defunded in the recently passed budget.

The Governors of Utah, Wyoming and Alaska had sued to overturn the Secretarial Order.

Many are saying the Congressional opposition along with the recently filed lawsuits led to the reversal of policy. I'm sure they were important but I believe there was another factor lurking in the decision. There is an election coming up in 2012 and Obama's "War On The West" is unpopular in many quarters. I can't help but believe presidential politics also played a hand in this.

Let's not forget, though, the enviro's are very unhappy. Scott Groene of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called the Obama administration “a steady and enormous disappointment on public lands.” As we near the 2012 election expect Obama to be under heavy pressure to placate the enviros. And how to do this? I'm afraid it's called National Monuments by Presidential decree. Remember Clinton? Will we see a replay?


In the meantime, here's some more headlines for your reading pleasure followed by Salazar's memo:

Salazar shelves policy to analyze more acres for wilderness protection  Washington Post

Salazar backpedals: Politics stalls wilderness designation, again  LA Times

See No Wild Lands, Speak No Wild Lands
  NY Times

Obama abandons wilderness plan  AP


THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR WASHINGTON

JUN 0.1 2011

Memorandum

To:  Director, Bureau of Land Management

From:  Secretary

Re:  Wilderness Policy

Congressionally approved wilderness areas are an important part of the conservation assets of the United States. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages 221 wilderness areas and 545 wilderness study areas designated by Congress, which comprise approximately 8.8 percent of the nearly 245 million acres managed by the BLM.
There is longstanding support for the designation of wilderness areas. A number of proposed wilderness designations are pending before the I 12th Congress, and other areas are being actively considered for additions to the wilderness system. Wilderness areas provide a number of benefits, including unique hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities.
The BLM maintains an inventory of all lands under its jurisdiction, pursuant to Section 20 I of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). As these inventories confirm, the BLM manages large landscapes that have wilderness characteristics.
On December 22,2010, I issued Secretarial Order 3310 to address the BLM's management of wilderness resources on lands under its jurisdiction. Under Secretarial Order 3310, I ordered the BLM to use the public resource management planning process to designate certain lands with wilderness characteristics as "Wild Lands."
On April 14, 20 II, the United States Congress passed the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 201 1 (Pub. L. 1 12-1 0)(20 1 1 CR), which includes a provision (Section 1769) that prohibits the use of appropriated funds to implement, administer, or enforce Secretarial Order 3310 in Fiscal Year 2011.
I am confirming today that, pursuant to the 20 II CR, the BLM will not designate any lands as "Wild Lands."
As required by law, the BLM will continue to maintain inventories of lands under its jurisdiction, including lands with wilderness characteristics. Also, consistent with FLPMA and other applicable authorities, the BLM will consider the wilderness characteristics of public lands when undertaking its multiple use land use planning and when making project-level decisions. In that regard, I am directing Deputy Secretary David Hayes to work with the BLM and interested parties to develop recommendations regarding the management of BLM lands with wilderness characteristics.
Based on my conversations with members of Congress, there is broad interest in managing our public lands in a sensible manner that takes into account such lands' wilderness qualities. There continues to be broad support for providing permanent protection for some of those lands under the Wilderness Act.
Given our shared interests in managing the public lands for the benefit of our communities and for future generations, the Department of the Interior will be soliciting input from members of Congress, state and local officials, tribes, and Federal land managers to identify BLM lands that may be appropriate candidates for Congressional protection under the Wilderness Act. I am directing the Deputy Secretary to work with the BLM to deliver a report to me and to the Congress regarding those areas.

As Arizona Fire Rages, So Does Rumor on Its Origin

It is a dramatic tale: that illegal immigrants being pursued by the Border Patrol started one of the nation’s largest wildfires, which has burned up more than 70,000 acres of national forest along Arizona’s border with Mexico since it began almost four weeks ago. But the authorities say that despite the tale’s being repeated often by some residents of the rugged countryside here, they do not know for sure if it is true. “We know it was man-caused, and it probably started in a campfire,” Mr. Hughes said. “Do we have a suspect? No. And we can’t say it was an immigrant either.” But some are saying just that. “Who set the fire?” asked Ed Ashurst, an area rancher who is convinced that he knows. “It’s obvious. There’s a few people in America who don’t think man walked on the moon in 1969. To say that illegal aliens didn’t set the fire is like saying that Neil Armstrong didn’t walk on the moon.” Mr. Ashurst acknowledges that his case is circumstantial. “Did anyone see the aliens drop a match or a cigarette? No. But we all know who started this. Who else would be up there?” The Coronado National Forest, despite its thick forest cover and high altitudes, is in fact a major smuggling route for both drugs and migrants. Firefighters say they have even encountered illegal immigrants crossing the area as it is burning. Border Patrol officers continue to patrol there, using all-terrain vehicles and stopping cars in search of smugglers...more

Cry, Wolf

“Nabeki” didn’t expect everyone to love her when, in September 2009, she founded the website “Howling for Justice” to celebrate the return of gray wolves to the Northern Rocky Mountains and to protest the then-pending wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho. She didn’t expect to fear for her life, either. But after she posted the names of Montana wolf hunters on her site, the threats began. On a single day in February 2010 the anti-wolf movement sent to her 3,000 messages. Some of the e-mails expressed their desire for her to leave the Rockies immediately. Some messages contained graphic descriptions of wolf killing clearly meant to cause her anguish. “When I pulled the trigger, I think I saw the wolf cry,” one person wrote. “Then it’s [sic] guts where [sic] blown onto the hillside and it moaned.” A few of the messages hinted at attacking her personally. “Until that day I wasn’t thinking about the hatred,” Nabeki, a professional from California who moved to the Rockies 15 years ago, told me. Nabeki is an Internet ID, a pseudonym that she asked me to maintain since she fears for her safety. “The idea that someone can hate you that much and not even know you is really daunting. It was the first time I got really scared. To this day I’m still scared.” What bothers her the most, though, is the sense that no one outside the Northern Rockies grasps the peril wolf advocates face. “I don’t know if people realize how serious a culture war this really is.”
For the last few years, a new version of an old war against the American gray wolf has raged in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming...more

Song Of The Day #588

Staying in the Fifties, Ranch Radio brings you Webb Pierce's 1958 recording of Tupelo County Jail.

Sheep rancher clashes with feds

A Temecula-area rancher is in a dispute with federal officials over a program created to eradicate the sheep and goat version of mad cow disease. Natalie Redding, of Namaste Farms, alleges mismanagement and a lack of communication by those running the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Scrapie Flock Certification Program. She contends that officials said she complied with the program's requirements, then told her the opposite years later. The program aims to prevent and eliminate scrapie, a deadly disease that affects sheep and goats, by certifying flocks that meet certain conditions as disease-free. Redding's farm produces expensive, high-quality wool and yarn. To prevent scrapie, the USDA has a mandatory monitoring program. Since 1992, the agency also offers what it describes as a voluntary certification program that requires ranchers to keep records of sales, births and deaths in their flock. As part of the program, Redding said a veterinarian inspected her flock annually. She said the veterinarian signed her off as compliant during her first inspection without doing a thorough inspection of her flock or verifying her recordkeeping. Redding said her flock also passed its second and third yearly inspections. But this year, she said she told by a state official that an audit of veterinarian records found "huge, giant gaps" in the paperwork for her and other ranchers. Soon after, she said she went on USDA's website and "flipped out" after seeing her farm's suspended status. It was the first she heard of it, Redding said. It took three weeks with an attorney's help to get the listing removed, she said. Redding said she's "livid" at how she's been treated and that it's hard to get a hold of anyone with the program...more

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

50+ Groups Urge Congress to Reject $1 Billion in Cuts to USDA Conservation Programs

The budget battles are on, witness this press release:

A coalition of more than 50 agriculture and conservation groups representing millions of Americans today are urging lawmakers to reject nearly $1 billion in proposed cuts to farm bill conservation programs. The organizations are asking the House Appropriations Committee to "ensure that reasonable funding levels are continued" when the committee meets today at 5 p.m. to vote on these huge cuts in the FY2012 agriculture appropriations bill; $500 million already has been slashed from farm bill conservation programs in the FY2011 spending bill.

What you really have here is 50 different lobbying groups who may lose part of their annual sustenance.

Notice the cuts are "huge" and funds have been "slashed". The only thing that has been "slashed" is people's bring home pay and what we really need is a "huge" tax cut, not the same old wasteful spending.

Additionally, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which assists farmers and ranchers in identifying and addressing natural resource concerns on their land, is facing cuts of nearly $100 million in the bill, depriving our farmers and ranchers of the technical assistance they need for effective conservation.

This assumes farmers and ranchers are incapable of "identifying and addressing" these issues or that any "technical assistance" if needed is not available in the private sector. That's two bad assumptions in my book.

These programs are really there to keep bureaucrats employed and to bribe private land owners into doing what the government thinks is best.

Well, the government can't manage the millions of acres it owns and surely should keep it's poor management practices away from private lands.

The cuts aren't "huge" enough, so "slash" away Congress, slash away.

Wyoming seeks to join Utah, Alaska in challenging federal wilderness protection rule

Wyoming is seeking to join Utah and Alaska in challenging an Obama administration plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection. The state filed papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Dee Benson of Utah to let it join in a lawsuit Utah filed last month. Alaska already has moved to join the suit, which challenges the federal “wild lands” policy announced in December. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said Friday that joining the legal fight is his state’s best option. He said he repeatedly has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take the policy off the books, but has not succeeded. “The order is a de facto wilderness declaration and it could have serious impacts on Wyoming’s economy, which depends on the multiple use of the public lands,” Mead said. In its legal filing, Wyoming points out that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management controls more than 18 million acres in the state. “The state receives approximately 48 percent of the total mineral revenues generated from BLM lands in Wyoming, which in fiscal year 2010 amounted to nearly $1 billion,” the filing said. “Accordingly, any management direction from (Salazar) that takes BLM lands out of multiple use management and treats those lands as wilderness will have a significant economic effect on the state of Wyoming.”...more

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Renews Interim Directive Covering Roadless Areas in National Forests

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that he is renewing an interim directive regarding inventoried roadless areas within our National Forests and Grasslands for an additional year. This is the third one-year, interim directive issued by Secretary Vilsack that governs projects in roadless areas in our National Forests. "As we await a ruling on the 2001 Roadless Rule from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, I will continue to work with the U.S. Forest Service to ensure we protect roadless areas on our National Forests," said Vilsack. "Renewing this interim directive for a third year reflects this Administration's commitment to conserve our forests by ensuring that projects in roadless areas receive a higher level of scrutiny by this department." The directive provides decision-making authority to the Secretary over proposed forest management or road construction projects in inventoried roadless areas. This directive also ensures a consistent national review of all proposed projects. In 2009, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2001 Roadless Rule. The Rule is currently under appeal in the 10th Circuit. A ruling on that case is expected soon...Press Release 

Ranchers shoot mountain lion

A mountain lion was spotted mulling about Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred's ranch in the Black Hills on Monday night and his ranch hands sprung into action. Mountain lions are synonymous with Arizona and are found throughout the state from the snowy mountains in the north to the deserts in the south. They are specialized top predators whose food preference is deer, elk, javelina, bighorn sheep and livestock; It is the last food preference that usually gets the big cats in trouble with ranchers and necessitates their removal. The hands were pumping some water when they encountered the male mountain lion. The animals maintain spatial separation from one another and use considerable skill in executing their stalks and killing large prey species. Males typically weigh between 80 to 150 pounds. Because mountain lions stick to their own hunting areas and Allred had recently lost several of his calves to a mountain lion, it was a safe bet the one the ranch hands observed was responsible for the killed cattle. A call went out to a specialized lion hunter whose dogs found and treed the lion by the next morning. Allred's son, Laine Allred, then carefully took aim with a pistol and felled the beast in one shot...more

Historic NM drought spurs large wildfires, hurting farmers and ranchers

New Mexico is experiencing a historic drought and Albuquerque and Roswell are on pace for their driest years on record. The drought has led to large wildfires and it is hurting farmers and ranchers who say they there's not enough grass to feed their livestock. Albuquerque and Roswell have not been this dry during the first five months of a year since 1892, when the state began keeping track. The dry conditions have spurred several wildfires this year, including one that has burned 137 square miles north of Silver City. A study by the University of Arizona found that wildfires had scorched more than 655 quare miles across New Mexico as of mid-May. AP

PETA wants Royals to stay away from rodeo while in Calgary

The first official royal tour for the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge in Canada will end in Calgary. Some involvement with the Stampede is a possibility as William and Kate will leave Calgary the same day as the parade. There is a group that hopes the royal couple will take a pass on one of the more famous aspects of the Stampede. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has been a crusader for animal rights and is hoping the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge spend their final day in Calgary away from the rodeo. The group has no problems with many of the other activities at the Stampede but would prefer the Royal couple enjoy the mini doughnuts rather than the beef on a bun at the rodeo. link

We'll see, but PETA may lose on this one. Here's what the Daily Mail says:


Wills and Kate to visit largest rodeo during north American tour The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to visit the world’s largest – and richest – rodeo during their first foreign tour together. The couple plan to visit the legendary Calgary Stampede when they fly to Canada next month. Billed as the greatest outdoor show on earth, it offers $2 million in prize money to competing cowboys and attracts some of the top names in the field...more