Wednesday, September 28, 2022

DuBois column - Biden, Bison & Big Brother

 


B
iden, Bison & Big Brother

Biden’s flood

President Biden and his crew recently toured flood-ravaged Kentucky and used the occasion to push their climate change agenda. The President’s spokesman said, “The floods in Kentucky and extreme weather all around the country are yet another reminder of the intensifying and accelerating impact of climate change…”

It occurred to me that if this was indeed something unique or unprecedented in Kentucky, then perhaps it could be blamed on the environment. However, if you look up the history of flooding in Kentucky you will find something quite different.

In 1927, a Kentucky newspaper reported a massive flood that killed 16 people “Homes are destroyed, livestock and poultry drowned, and whole farms practically ruined,” the story said. “The fury of the flood far exceeded anything that has ever hit this area in its history.”

In January-February of 1937 there was flooding on the Ohio River with Louisville being 70 percent covered by water, forcing 175,000 persons from their homes. Governor Keen Johnson said, “The worst catastrophe in the history of Kentucky has fallen upon our people in the valleys of the rivers and streams of Kentucky and the Ohio River.”

In a 1939 flooding incident, A USGS report said in one creek the water rose 20 feet in 10 minutes. Residents said it was “a 15-foot wall of water crashing down the valley.”

And so it goes throughout Kentucky history.

It appears to be quite a stretch to assert a direct link between temperatures and the most recent flooding incident. A stretch the enviros and Biden are willing to take in order to get their programs approved and funded.

Bison preserve                                                                                                      

Over 250,000 acres have been purchased by an outfit named American Prairie to establish a Bison Preserve in Montana. Their goal is to acquire 3.2 million acres. If completed, the preserve will be “be roughly the size of Connecticut and 25% larger than Yellowstone.”

The leader of a local property rights group, United Property Owners of Montana, says the wealthy donors to the project are only interested in having a tax-deductible donation and don’t care about production agriculture.   

Well, that’s in Montana so it doesn’t affect me you say You may believe you are not a target. If so, listen to Pete Geddes with American Prairie. When asked why they chose this area for the project, he said because there was a declining population and “perhaps there’s greater potential for less conflict over conservation in this part of the world.”                                                                           

If you live in a rural area with a declining population, then you may at some time become a target. And this is the official policy of our government, The predator is subsidized in pursuing its prey.

Also note this admits there is a conflict between people and conservation. Yet when the feds acquire lands, they claim to do so to allow public access to the area, when in fact they do just the opposite.  They exclude people. all in the name of conservation.

Recall that American Prairie is the same outfit that filed for a permit to graze bison on BLM land. Montana’s Attorney General says this would be illegal   [FD1]  “This is federal land that is specifically — by the Taylor Grazing Act, by federal law — set aside for livestock grazing. Bison are not livestock, even under federal law."

Apparently, that was of no interest to the BLM who have just issued a permit to American Prairie to graze bison on over 60,000 acres of federal land.

Let me close by saying thank you for the well wishes received while I’ve gone through a series of health issues. And a special thanks to Chris Allison and Joe Delk for their timely help.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch. 

  Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

 This column originally appeared in the September editions of The NM Stockman and The Livestock Market Digest.

 

No comments: