Baxter Black: The Emperor’s New Clothes, California Style

The television paralyzed watchers as the horrendous flames burned California to ashes. The governor in command puffed and pounded, claiming that he and his ENVIRO-DENY-ERS took NO BLAME, NO BLAME, NO BLAME!

Hans Christian Anderson couldn't say it better. I was watching "The Emperor with No Clothes."

That was last fall. But decades before, the first kindlings were being stirred in Washington, (sorry George), D.C. The invasion of the Endangered Species Act and the poisoning of the relationship with the ranchers, timbers and miners…was blown into flames.

I remember standing in the door of a ranch house in Eagleville, California. I was workin' cows and just happened to be there. A young woman knocked on the door. She introduced herself and adjusted her clipboard…she was the new BLM agent assigned to make sure the rancher was obeying the new range regulations.

I asked her background; University of Wisconsin, majoring in environmental studies.

"Ever been here?" I asked, "Run cows? Dug a water tank? Run pipelines? Done any fence work or controlled burning? Fought any fires…?"

She just looked at me blankly.

I could see the future and it all came true.

Decades went by, BLM animal units continued to be slashed, water access was depleted. The timber business was so savaged that roads, entire mills, tons of trucking, lumber, jobs, communities and lives were starved out.

Without clear cutting and access, cattle grazing was decreased. With no grazing, the forest floor filled with detritus trash, continually accumulating mountain ranges of incendiary scenery. River water, essential for farming and ranching, was zilched to "protect" endangered species like the spotted owl and the short-nosed sucker.

Countless able, experienced rangers left the service in frustration. But it was too late; the politico-enviros took over. They thundered out of Washington D.C. and took over the West! The Forest Service, the BLM, the Department of Interior and Enviro-deny-ers led us directly into the state of devastation in which our county now burns.

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I'm not exactly sure when it happened, I think it was in the 70s, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) changed the requirements to be a range technician. The previous requirements were a degree in Range Management, or a degree that required many hours of range management classes. And now? If you have a degree in Wildlife Management, you can be a range tech. Do you have a degree in Outdoor Recreation Management? Then you qualify to be a range tech. This change brought about a whole new culture to the BLM and Forest Service, and it has not been positive for the range livestock industry or forage production on federal land.