Vilsack helps dedicate $464 million USDA facility

U.S. Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack led a delegation of Iowa congressional members from both parties Monday at the dedication of the final component of the $464 million National Centers for Animal Health in Ames. Jointly serving the U.S. livestock industry from a single campus, the center provides laboratories, offices and space for administration and animals, consolidating three USDA units that previously operated separately in Ames. The consolidated units include the National Animal Disease Center (operated by the USDA Agricultural Research Service), the National Veterinary Services Laboratory and the Center for Veterinary Biologics (operated by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). The ceremony took place in the atrium of the 500,000-square-foot NCAH Consolidated Laboratory and administrative facilities, completed in April 2009...more

The bureaucrats seem to be doing fine, don't they.

Head out to your pasture tomorrow and just watch as your animals grow healthier, thanks to the deep thinkers in DC and politicians in Iowa.

Wolf controversy polarizes wildlife groups

The controversy over wolf management in Greater Yellowstone is polarizing conservation groups that might normally work together to protect the region’s wildlife. The rift recently manifested itself in a series of letters and statements in which the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation expressed frustration with Defenders of Wildlife and the Western Wildlife Conservancy, and vice versa. In the letters, the groups accuse each other of misrepresenting elk population data to serve their own political ends. The groups further accuse each other of using the wolf controversy to spur donations from supporters. The hard-line approach comes as outfitters in Wyoming continue to organize rallies that call for wolf hunts because, they say, the predators have killed too many elk and moose in the state. Conservation groups and outfitters say the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, in particular, has moved toward tougher language against wolves in recent years. “The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, they’re getting some pressure from their members big-time,” said B.J. Hill, a Kelly outfitter who has helped organize some of the wolf rallies. “It’s definitely coming from people like me. They’re also looking at the data. It’s starting to show ... that these populations are falling. We outfitters are pro-wildlife. We like some predators. It’s about management. [The environmental groups] have got to quit suing and help us out.”...more

Congressman proposes condemnation ban to help Piñon expand

A Colorado congressman is trying to help the Army get training land in Las Animas County by banning the service from seizing it. GOP Rep. Mike Coffman’s HR5067, introduced Tuesday, would forbid the use of condemnation for expansion of Fort Carson’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. By doing that, the bill would set in stone the Army’s pledge that it won’t seize land to add 100,000 acres to the 235,000-acre training site near Trinidad. But the measure, by allaying land-seizure fears, could also avert an all-out expansion ban that Congress has placed on the project annually as part of the Pentagon budget bill, a Coffman spokesman said. “We must respect the private property rights of those who own ranch lands in the proposed 100,000 acre expansion area,” Coffman, of Aurora, said in a statement. “They should neither have to fear that the government will take their land nor the worry that government, at any level, will restrict their rights by making it difficult for them to sell or lease their land to the U.S. Army should they choose to do so.” But even if a law passes banning condemnation proceedings, opponents to the expansion say they won’t shrink from the fight. “There’s no way to acquire that much land without condemning somebody,” said Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition President Lon Robertson of Kim, a nearby town. Robertson said opponents will still seek a funding ban for the fiscal year that starts Oct.1, using a tried-and-true argument. “They have enough land already,” he said...more

Robertson is right. As I've posted before:


"The Base Structure Report(pdf) for FY 2008 contains the land profile for the Department of Defense. The introduction to the report states, "The Depart of Defense remains one of the world's largest 'landlords' with a physical plant consisting of more than 545,700 facilities (buildings, structures and linear structures) located on more than 5400 sites, on approximately 30 million acres."

The land profile further refines that to 29.8 million acres owned or controlled by DOD. More than 98% of the land is in the US, with the Army managing 52% and the Air Force 33%.

29.8 million acres equals 46,562.5 square miles. How do you put that in perspective? Let's try this: Of the Thirteen Original Colonies, six of them (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire & Massachusetts) would fit into the land mass controlled by DOD, with 8359 square miles or 5.3 million acres left over. In other words, you could add another New Jersey.

29.8 million acres and they don't have enough land to practice? They may have a turf problem or a setting of priorities problem, but they don't have a lack of land problem."

Colorado River water policy faces an age of limits

Change comes hard to Western water policy. The Prior Appropriation Doctrine, interstate compacts, groundwater law, the "law of the river" -- all of these seem set in stone in the minds of the region's policymakers. Of course, the West's rivers aren't bound by such a static existence. Indeed, they are changing in fundamental ways, opening a wide chasm between our water policy and our water sources. This is particularly true for the Colorado River Basin. Climate scientists are predicting a 10-to-30 percent reduction in flow for the Colorado -- a stark contrast to the rosy assumptions that underlay the Colorado River Compact when it was signed 88 years ago. It is time for a new era in water management. The first step requires dispensing with the absurd notion that infinite growth can take place in a region with severely constrained resources. The second step is to realize that agriculture, which uses the lion's share of the river, is going to take a big hit. Many of the crops grown in the basin are low value, such as hay, or are commodity crops that are already over-produced in the United States. And the third step requires improving the quality of the water by forcing all polluters to clean up their mess. That includes agriculture, mining and municipalities with inadequate urban treatment. These changes will not be easy -- it's like prescribing a root canal for an entire region without offering nitrous oxide. But the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to make the transition to a policy that meets the reasonable needs of cities, a service economy and the age of limits...more

Pickens wants Texas agency to nix water plan

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens wants a court to derail state approval of a water management plan that he claims would take $10 million off the value of his groundwater rights in the Texas Panhandle. Pickens' attorney, Marty Jones, said Tuesday that the oilman filed a lawsuit against the Texas Water Development Board last month. The suit came after the board endorsed a plan that Pickens claims will take as many as 18,000 acre feet of water a year from the Ogallala Aquifer under land belonging to him and another rancher. One acre foot equals about 326,000 gallons. The lawsuit says the combined plans of three groundwater conservation districts in the Panhandle management area will devalue Mesa Water LP's rights and those of a nearby rancher. Pickens, who has been trying for years to sell water from the Panhandle to thirsty cities to the south, wants a Travis County court to declare the plan unreasonable. That would force the districts to revise their proposals. The Texas Attorney General's Office, which is representing the water board, filed a response to Pickens' suit denying each claim...more

He needs the money so his wife can build a wild horse refuge.

Oklahoma anglers find dead alligator

Terry Walser of Edmond was crappie fishing with some friends Saturday on Broken Bow Lake when they came upon a startling discovery: a dead alligator. State wildlife officials think the alligator — which had been shot twice in the side with a high-powered rifle — is the same one they have received numerous reports about for several years at the lake. Fishermen even reported two or three years ago that an alligator in the lake acted very aggressively toward them, said Mike Virgin, chief of law enforcement in southeastern Oklahoma for the Wildlife Department. "They said it looked bigger than a bass boat, hissing and acting like it was going to ram their boat,” Virgin said. "I bet this was the perpetrator.” The alligator found by Walser in the Otter Creek area of Broken Bow Lake appeared to have been dead a few days, Virgin said. It measured 11½ feet long. "That’s a big alligator,” he said...more

Joe's Boot Shop calf roping set

The 6th Annual Joe’s Boot Shop Calf Roping will be held Thursday, April 22nd through Sunday, April 25th, at the Curry County Events Center. Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s events are open to the public, Sunday afternoon’s events will require a $10 ticket. The Annual Joe’s Boot Shop Calf Roping is now considered to the largest in the nation. This year, the event promises to be even bigger and better! The four-day program includes roping competitions for all skill levels; two match events; the double muggin’; a dummy ropin’; foot races; a chuck wagon cook-off; a Desert Cruzers Classic Car show and People’s Choice contest; a New Mexico High School Rodeo and pie auction; a chuck wagon breakfast, a cowboy church service, and many other surprises! Highlights of Sunday’s events include: The Joe’s Boot Shop and ARIAT Boots Open Roping, where 10 National Finals Rodeo veterans are among the 90 ropers already entered, Monty Lewis, Ryan Jarrett, Blair Burk, Doug Pharr, Hunter Herrin, Clint Cooper and Jerome Schneeberger are among the featured ropers in the Open field, as are Josh Peek, Cade Swor and Stran Smith. The Open Roping is slated to begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 25th, with $500 fees and $10,000 added money, and a prize Stran Smith Ultimate Saddle from Cactus Saddlery...more

Flat cat in a sack: Cautionary tale about felines

I've always believed that cats are an acquired taste. No, no, PETA people, don't get me wrong, when I say "taste" I am not talking about eating the poor things, as they do in some protein-deficient places. I am only saying that some people grow to love felines, while other people put them in the same category as the vermin they chase. Mark Twain and my Grandmother, two of my idols, grew to love cats, while Julius Caesar, Napolean Bonaparte and Benito Mussolini are said to have hated the furry creatures. Which I think speaks well of them. The cats I mean, not the dictators. In Tudor times cats were burned as symbols of heresy, they are said to bring bad luck, and those who've read the entire book say that cats are not mentioned once in the Bible. As for me, I can take or leave them, but I get really irritated at cat lovers who insist that cats are smarter than dogs. When was the last time you saw a Siamese herd a flock of sheep or sniff out a victim trapped underneath rubble? The cats of Mrs. Flickenfloss were composed of two regiments, the inside and the outside cats. Loafer was an outside cat. Don't let his lack of access mislead you, Loafer was loved as much as any inside cat by Cat Woman, he just refused to go indoors. Loafer was what some people call a "feral" cat, although Mister Flickenfloss had other, less complimentary, names for the cat who was always underfoot. On a monthly trip to the Flickenfloss ranch the liquid supplement salesman had just finished filling up the tubs for the cattle and was on his way out the gate when he saw a cat zip across the road...more

Song Of The Day #290

Ranch Radio will continue with its "early" series, as I enjoy finding out how these artists sounded when they first went into a recording studio. We have two selections by Jim Reeves today. The first Chicken Hearted, was recorded in 1950. The second, Beating On The Ding Dong, is from 1954 and is one I'll bet he wished he had never recorded...for several reasons.

His stuff is widely available.

Conservative Blogs Take on EPA with Anti-Regulation Video Contests

HotAir.com, a conservative blog published by Salem Communications and NetRightNation have each launched a video contest searching for the video that best exhibits the unintended negative consequences of federal regulations. Launched in response to a federal contest run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that seeks homemade videos touting the benefits of federal regulations, the anti-regulation video contests seek to demonstrate “the danger and damage” that can be caused by federal regulation. “[W]e’re pleased to announce the launch of a new contest for video submissions that show the danger and damage that existing federal regulation already does,” the HotAir announcement reads. The NetRightNation contest encourages contestants to “get creative” in looking for instances when federal regulations have done more harm than good...more

For background, see my post EPA Contest Seeks Videos Promoting Government Regulations

Supreme court crushes law against animal cruelty videos and photos

The Supreme Court struck down on free-speech grounds Tuesday a federal law that makes it a crime to sell videos or photos of animals being illegally killed or tortured. In a 8-1 ruling, the justices overturned the conviction of a Virginia man who sold dog-fighting videos. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., speaking for the court, said the First Amendment does not allow the government to criminalize whole categories of speech and expression that are deemed undesirable. Roberts also said the law was too broad and could allow prosecutions for selling photos of out-of-season hunting, for example. Only Justice Samuel Alito dissented. Congress passed the law a decade ago to halt the practice of selling videos that depicted tiny animals being crushed to death. It had been rarely used, however, and came under challenge when prosecutors used it against the dog-fighting industry...more

US climate report publicized in runup to Senate bill

An environmental coalition publicized a new U.S. draft report on climate change on Monday, one week before the expected unveiling of a compromise U.S. Senate bill that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Project on Climate Science, a coalition of environmental groups, publicized the report in advance of Earth Day on April 22, a spokeswoman said. The report was released with little fanfare on April 7 and posted on the Federal Register on April 8. The report, a draft of the Fifth U.S. Climate Action Report that will be sent to the United Nations, says bluntly: "Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced ... Global temperature has increased over the past 50 years. This observed increase is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases." The effects of climate change are already evident, the draft said: warming air and oceans, vanishing mountain glaciers, thawing permafrost, signs of instability in the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and rising sea levels...more

Gallup says Americans are not behaving greener

Americans are today no more environmentally friendly in their actions than they were at the turn of the century. While more than three in four recycle, have reduced household energy use, and buy environmentally friendly products, these numbers have barely budged since 2000. The stability of these findings stands in juxtaposition to the political and media attention paid to global warming and climate change over the past decade, particularly since Al Gore's 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Gallup also finds Americans no more worried about the threat posed by global warming than they were at the start of the decade and that very few Americans name the environment as the most important problem facing the country. In fact, Gallup recently found Americans' level of concern about many environmental problems at a 20-year low, and environmental quality ratings rebounding to where they were at the start of the decade...more

EPA Contest Seeks Videos Promoting Government Regulations

President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency is encouraging the public to create video advertisements that explain why federal regulations are "important to everyone." The contest, which ends May 17, will award $2,500 to the makers of the video that best explains why federal regulations are good and how ordinary citizens can become more involved in making regulations. The videos must be posted on YouTube and can be no more than 60-90 seconds in length. In the current contest, each video must include the slogan “Let your voice be heard,” and it must direct viewers to the government’s regulatory website www.Regulations.gov. The winning video will then be used by the entire federal government to promote the regulatory process and enhance the public’s participation in it...more

This seems awfully blatant, but truth be known we've been funding the government to promote itself for a long time. It's one of the few things they do well.

President Obama Launches Initiative to Develop a 21st Century Strategy for America's Great Outdoors

President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum today establishing the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The President spoke before leaders representing the conservation, farming, ranching, sporting, recreation, forestry, private industry, local parks and academia communities from all 53 states and territories. The Presidential Memorandum calls on the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to lead the Initiative, in coordination with the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Transportation, Education, and the Office of Management and Budget. The Initiative will support a 21st century conservation agenda that builds on successes in communities across the country, and will start a national dialogue about conservation that supports the efforts of private citizens and local communities...more

Go here to view the Presidential Memorandum.

Obama Announces "No American Left Inside"

President Obama released a memorandum that urges federal and state lawmakers to fund outdoor recreation programs. The memorandum has been referred to as "No American Left Inside," and is specifically focused on finding ways for Americans to connect with the great outdoors at a low cost. Obama specifically focused on urban environments where such programs do not currently exist. This covers everything from the public acquisition of private land for parks and preserves, as well as integrating outdoor activity and wildlife exposure into public school classrooms. Critics of Obama's plan point out that no specific enforcement or money has been committed to the presidential memorandum. To some critics, Obama's announcement is an appeal to moderates and Republicans who have been wary of the president's stance on gun control and fair use of public land. If the America's Great Outdoors Initiative passes muster, it could mean a swell in government jobs related to conservation and outdoor recreation. An outreach program will be put in place to ascertain where services are needed the most and what wild areas require more protection...more

Colorado Seeks Roads in Wilderness

A proposal by Colorado's Gov. Bill Ritter that would allow industries to build roads on some protected national forest land to expand coal mining, oil drilling and other controversial activities is putting the Obama Administration in a tricky spot. The Democratic governor of this politically important swing state is asking the administration for an exemption to certain protection laws, in part to boost the local economy, but environmentalists are balking. The proposal, which requires federal approval, addresses land designated as "roadless" wilderness under a national forest-management plan issued a decade ago. The national plan, which aimed to protect from development nearly 60 million acres of forest from coast to coast, has been challenged in court repeatedly by industries upset that it puts so much land off-limits. Just this spring, the Obama Administration was in federal court in Denver, defending the plan's validity. That case is still pending. The governor's plan would allow the development of more ski runs in 14 areas, expansion of three existing coal mines and drilling at more than 100 unexplored oil and natural-gas leases in Western Colorado. It would also allow road building to log trees afflicted by a bark-beetle infestation to reduce the fire hazard they pose to rural communities. Colorado officials say their proposal strengthens protections for all but a few swaths of the state's 4.2 million acres of roadless forest land, as it would put other conservation measures in place...more

Lawmakers urge road access in forest to vent methane from mine

Colorado lawmakers on Friday weighed into the Obama administration's deliberations over a proposal submitted by Gov. Bill Ritter for managing national forest roadless areas in the state. A bipartisan group of 15 state legislators asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to grant the U.S. Forest Service authority to allow temporary roads in a roadless area in western Colorado for the purpose of venting gas from a coal mine. The lawmakers' letter points out that "the Colorado Roadless Rule Petition (recently submitted to your office) specifically authorized these venting operations" in roadless areas. State lawmakers "request that you immediately re-delegate your authority in this matter to the Forest Service so that consultations with the State of Colorado can be completed as quickly as possible," said the letter circulated and signed Friday morning. At stake is how much recreation, mining, logging and other activities the federal government will allow on 4.2 million roadless acres of Colorado's 14.4 million national forest acres...more

Are Rosemont mining claims valid?

Dig, baby, dig? Or wait, baby, wait? Those questions loom large for the proposed Rosemont Mine in the Santa Ritas as officials debate whether the federal government must check out the validity of claims before deciding on a mining application - and if so, whether that means, contrary to more than a century of tradition, that the feds can say "no" to a mine. A January 2010 letter from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack promised Pima County officials that the feds wouldn't decide on Rosemont until they did a "thorough review" of whether its nearly 900 mining claims are valid. That process, rarely done, can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take up to five years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said. And it could significantly delay the Rosemont project at a time when it hopes to win federal approval and start construction by the end of this year and begin mining by 2012. In a court filing in late March, the Obama administration seemed to take the opposite tack. Responding to an environmentalist lawsuit, the administration said on March 30 that it would defend rules handed down in the waning days of the Bush administration that said the feds don't need to review the validity of claims. But in an interview last week, Vilsack deputy Jay Jensen indicated that the court filing and the letter don't mean what they seem on the surface...more

Power Grab - New Book On Obama's Green Policies

Here is Christopher Horner's interview on Hannity:

California considers easing rules on black bear hunting

As outdoor activities in California go, bear hunting is not particularly popular. Officials estimate that, at most, 1% of the state's population hunts black bears. Many of the other 99% are appalled that anyone does. "I think most people think of it as an anachronism," said state Fish and Game Commissioner Michael Sutton, who speculates that the state's voters may soon ban the practice. So Sutton and his fellow commissioners — hunters all — weren't surprised when proposals to expand black bear hunting drew protest. Nearly 70 environmental, community and animal welfare organizations have lined up against the proposals, most notably the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and various chapters of the Sierra Club. In San Luis Obispo County, the board of supervisors passed a resolution last month opposing expansion of hunting into their area. "We find the totality of the proposal to be unsporting, unfair, inhumane and reckless," said Jennifer Fearing, the Humane Society's Sacramento lobbyist. But officials at the state Department of Fish and Game say they proposed the changes because California's black bear population is flourishing and spreading...more

Grasshopper Plague Could Mean Spectacular Fishing in Western States This Summer

It seems like ranchers and farmers in the West can't get a break. From drought, to hail, to floods, and fires, they're always dealing with some natural disaster. In 2010, the impending plague involves grasshoppers. Leave it to fly fishers, however, to find a silver lining in all of this. I'm not a grasshopper entomologist, but I think I can safely assume that the swarming insects will flutter en masse into rivers like the Bighorn, the Yellowstone, and The Snake. In other words, the trout don't know it yet, but a veritable smorgasbord of protein is about to rain from the sky. In fact, we're already seeing hoppers popping along some Colorado rivers right now, months earlier than normal. There is nothing I like better than watching the slow, deliberate rise of a trout eating a grasshopper fly...more

Running Fence: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

...the success of Running Fence, an older Christo Jeanne-Claude collaboration, shows us that The Gates was not nearly ambitious enough. An exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering Running Fence“ revisits this extraordinary work. In 1976, the artists completed the construction of a 24.5 mile-long ‘fence’ that stretched across Northern California’s gentle hills before disappearing into the ocean. The fence consisted of an endless ribbon of white nylon secured by intermittent steel posts. In the wind, it swelled gently, like an engorged sail or white sheets hung up on a clothes line. Running Fence’s visual success did not lie in the structure itself, but in its interaction with the monotonously beautiful surrounding landscape. A gallery of photographs in the SAAM exhibit shows us that the piece looked different depending on the time of day and where one stood. Ultimately, it is Running Fence’s use of nature as an artistic tool that made it a great artwork, unlike The Gates which remained a mere curiosity. Running Fence forced viewers to contemplate man’s relationship to nature and our own smallness...more

I've posted here about the couples "Over The River" project, but I'd never seen any of their work. Now I have and so have you. What do you think of this?

Callous, uncaring death tax's impact

Gary Walker and his family built a 60,000-acre cattle ranch, and he stands to lose it all to the death tax. Walker’s Turkey Creek Ranch borders Fort Carson in Pueblo County. Part of the ranch is under conservation easement bought by Fort Carson as a buffer. Like most family ranches, Walker’s is partly owned by his aging parents. After they die, Walker will owe a death tax calculated on their share of ownership. Estate tax is calculated on the “fair market value” of the item at the time the owner died. Walker’s land, like many rural properties, is being appraised at an inflated value so the government can collect more death tax. An ordinary land transaction involves a willing buyer and seller, each having an interest in the valuation of the property. The owner wants the highest possible appraisal; the buyer wants the lowest. The rational compromise, long established by the appraisal industry, has been to assign the fair market value based on the “highest and best use” that’s legally permissible. When it comes to the estate tax, the system of appraisal is grossly unfair. It typically involves an owner with no desire to sell or develop the property, and motivation to see the property valued as low as possible. The federal government has all the power and wants the property valued as high as possible in order to collect more taxes. The government additionally controls the appraisal process and assumes the right to dictate to the property owner what the land is worth. This fundamentally transforms the buyer/seller relationship into a coercive, involuntary transaction that’s rife with conflict of interest...more

Ranch rodeo has 24 teams compete

A total of $7,000 was awarded to rodeo winners at Spring Creek’s 25th annual Ranch Hand Rodeo Saturday and Sunday. Ranchers came from places as far as Utah and Wyoming to compete in this year’s ranch rodeo events. A total of 24 ranch teams competed in five categories, including branding, saddle bronc riding, team roping, ranch doctoring and wild cow milking. The Jim Ranch won first place overall with 37 points which included honorary buckles and $700 per team member. “If I die tomorrow I don’t even care,” said the Jim Ranch team captain Dirk Jim. “This was my dream right here.” The Jim Ranch — which includes Jim and his three sons Daxton, Dalton and Steven — also won first in the saddle bronc riding category. Jim said his sons have been ranching since they were little boys...more

Looks like a wreck to me.

Baxter Black: Homegrown vets are harder to find

Typically, smaller, more rural communities have no veterinarian, or at least none who will take a calving call or a horse colic emergency. Veterinary schools, veterinary associations, concerned farmers and isolated ranchers continue their search for new veterinarians interested in practicing large animal or equine medicine. While we are searching in our front yard, it is possible that the answer is sneaking up behind us. If we look to our fellow professionals in human medicine, it is not uncommon to find yourself being examined and treated by a foreign-born physician. They may have graduated in their native country and/or received a degree in the U.S. Of the 22,500 doctorates in the natural sciences and engineering awarded by U.S. universities in 2007, more than half were to foreign-born students. According to statistics, 60 percent remain in the U.S. to work. The Irish and Chinese came and built our railroads. The Germans built our bomb. The Mexicans are building our skyscrapers. The Japanese came here and made our cars better. Dr. Sudesna Bose was Grandpa Tommy's Parkinson's doctor. They did not think that the work was too hard and the pay too little. I can't say if it's too soon, but the next time you've got a wounded horse in the middle of the night, and the nearest capable large-animal veterinarian is two hours away, you might give it some thought...more

Song Of The Day #289

Ranch Radio invites you to listen to some really early Hank Thompson as he performs Playin' Possum.

His stuff is widely available, as you can see here.

Wind resistance

Wyoming may be the best place in the U.S. to generate electricity from wind. Thanks to a dip in the Continental Divide as it wends through the state, it has about half of all the top-quality wind in the country. A turbine here can crank out as much as 30 percent more juice than one in, say, Texas or California. With a population of just half a million, the state has plenty of uninhabited spaces for turbines, and it is famous for welcoming energy development. So companies have stampeded into the Cowboy State, reaching for every gust they can. Wyoming's governor compares the frenzy to a gold rush. That rush, however, is faltering. Today, Wyoming has just 1,100 megawatts of wind capacity, one-eighth of what Texas has. Facing regulatory and political uncertainty, at least one wind-farm proposal has been yanked off the table, and the future of others is in doubt. Legislators, wildlife officials and the governor's office have sent out increasingly mixed messages about the wind rush. It is, indeed, confusing. Because most of the objections to wind farms cite environmental problems, it might appear that Wyoming has finally gone green — standing up to energy developers in hopes of preserving its wild lands. And many environmentalists do see wind as yet another "clean" energy source with a dark side, like hydroelectric dams or coalbed methane, which has transformed swaths of the state into drill-rig pin cushions. Much of the resistance to wind actually comes from the fossil fuel industry and the politics it bankrolls. Wyoming is the largest coal producer in the nation and the third-largest producer of natural gas. Severance taxes and royalties from these industries keep the state's government, schools and other services afloat. In a sometimes convoluted way, wind threatens that old-school energy dynamic...more

Dispute threatens Colorado’s rafters

For years, Mark Schumacher has guided white-water rafts up and down the Taylor, a swift-moving river that cuts through the canyons and cliffs outside Gunnison. So when a wealthy developer who had bought a swath of nearby ranchland told local rafting outfitters last year that they could no longer float through his property, Schumacher was aghast. “Locals have been running this river since the ’40s,” he said, “and here was this guy who was going to use every legal means to shut us down.” Now, the dispute over the Taylor is reviving an old battle in Colorado, long a mecca for white-water rafting. At issue are the state’s water and property laws, which say that while the water in local rivers and streams is public, the beds and banks belong to whoever owns the adjacent land. “The problem is that they want unlimited rights,” Dick Bratton, a lawyer for the developer, Lewis Shaw II, said of commercial rafting companies. “We’re saying they need to modify this and take into consideration the landowner’s rights also.” Among Shaw’s concerns, Bratton said, is a fear that rafters will interfere with the fishing he wants to offer as an incentive for people who are thinking of buying lots and building homes on his land. Lee Spann, a cattle rancher whose land abuts a number of Colorado rivers, worried that expanding access for rafters would limit his ability to protect his property and would disrupt his private fishing business. “Until now, we’ve had virtually no problems,” Spann said. “They come and talk to me and say, ‘We’d like to float through.’ I say, ‘Fine, as long as you stay off the bank and stay off the bottom.’”...more

On a Dusty Mesa, No Water or Electricity, but Boundless Space

Fermin Roman knew he was a pioneer when he bought his homestead on the Pajarito Mesa, a treeless plateau outside Albuquerque. But the seller assured him that water and power would arrive in a year or two. “I’m still waiting,” he said the other day, nearly 20 years later. Now home to more than 400 families, the mesa is one of the largest communities, other than some along the Mexican border, to survive entirely off the grid — without running water, electricity, streets or mail. Here is a maze of unnamed dirt roads, with nary a grocery store or barbershop in sight. Adding to the sense of dislocation, Albuquerque’s skyline shimmers, Oz-like, on the horizon, a half-hour’s drive away. Mr. Roman, like many of the hardy residents of the mesa, has improvised a frugal kind of comfort. Working evenings after his construction job, he wore out three wheelbarrows leveling an arroyo to build his cinder-block house. He hauls purchased water to elevated tanks that feed the kitchen sink, showers and flush toilets. Four solar panels run lights and television, while the refrigerator, stove and even his wife’s hair curler run on propane. The Pajarito Mesa community, scattered over 28 square miles, is 90 percent Hispanic and mostly poor, and includes an uncounted but large number of illegal immigrants. But they are not squatters: residents buy or rent their plots, and the owners pay property taxes, one of the many oddities of a community that is isolated in plain sight...more

Court favours rancher over energy giant

A southern Alberta ranching family won another victory in its fight with Imperial Oil after Alberta's highest court dismissed an appeal launched by the energy giant. Bragg Creek rancher Agnes Ball filed the lawsuit in 2004, arguing a sour gas leak in an Imperial Oil pipeline had contaminated a patch of her family's land and sickened some of their cattle. Her family won the initial ruling -- a decision Imperial Oil appealed last April. That appeal was dismissed in a 2-1 decision in favour of the ranching family this week. "We're relieved, we're happy that the appeal was dismissed," said Susan Graham, Ball's daughter. She said it's been a frustrating few years, but also empowering as the family successfully faced off with the major energy company. It's too soon to say whether Imperial Oil will try to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, said spokesman Pius Rolheiser...more

Goldman Prize honors activists working to save land, animals

Lynn Henning, a small farmer, exposed the water pollution caused in her Michigan county by concentrated animal feeding operations. In Costa Rica, biologist Randall Arauz forced his government to enforce its laws to protect endangered shark species from slaughter just for their fins. They're just two winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize being presented today in San Francisco. The prize, the largest for grass-roots activists in the world, comes with a $150,000 check for each of six recipients, one for each inhabited continent. Henning and her husband farm 300 acres of corn and soybeans. But in the past decade, 12 large-scale CAFOs — concentrated animal feeding operations — have opened within 12 miles of their farm, 10 for cows and two for pigs. "There are 60 lagoons with over 400 million gallons of untreated waste in them," she says of the manure ponds the operations create to deal with the excrement of their animals. The stench is so overwhelming she can't hang her laundry when it's warm, and the ponds are emitting odor and gases. To force the operations to abide by local laws, she helped to found the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan (nocafos.org). It hasn't made her popular. "I've had dead animals on my car, in my mailbox on my farm, we've had stuff put into the tank of our combine, I've been chased to the police department. It's divided the community."...more

Conservative Women Are Burning the Boats instead of Bras

Sarah Palin has brought to our table a new kind of conservative woman, the conservative activist. All over the United States, women from all walks of life who had been cowed in the work place by liberal feminist rhetoric. These women watched and listened. Now, the skills they learned about organizing, fund raising and campaign management are being used by these women to return their communities, their schools, their precincts and districts, to sanity. I have had the privilege of being invited into the company of women such as these. Jennifer Leslie, Southern Arizona District Coordinator for Smart Girl Politics, is active recruiting women to be educated and run as conservative candidates. She is part of a larger network of women whose stated purpose is to engage, educate and empower women to take a more active role in politics. Jennifer said “We debate and develop clear positions that encourage conservative activism. ” As I write this, her group is voluntarily cleaning up trash at the US –Mexican border to honor the memory of Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher recently killed by a probable illegal entrant drug smuggler...more

Cattle Ranching a Green Profession, Survey Finds

When your office is the great outdoors and your commute is on horseback, preserving and protecting the Earth is part of the job description. This Earth Day, America's 1 million cattle farmers and ranchers are being recognized as having one of the greenest jobs. In a new national survey of American beef eaters, cattle ranchers and farmers were selected as the third greenest profession from a diverse list of jobs, with park rangers topping the list. This survey was conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for The Beef Checkoff Program. It's no surprise to Gary Teague, a Colo. cattle rancher and environmentalist: "We work every day to teach our three children what it means to be truly passionate about the land and the animals. Preserving natural resources is how we make our living and how we secure our family business for our children and grandchildren." Two-thirds of US cattle farms and ranches have been in the same family for two generations or more (Aspen Media & Market Research, 2008). American cattle farmers and ranchers have embraced the values of Earth Day for generations, and Americans recognize that commitment. Eighty-six percent of Americans surveyed think cattle farmers and ranchers are committed to environmental preservation. In honor of Earth Day's 40th anniversary, cattle ranchers are celebrating 40 different ways raising cattle can contribute to environmental sustainability...more

Court ends claim to Kenedy family fortune

A nine-year quest to prove that a South Texas woman was the illegitimate daughter of renowned rancher John G. Kenedy Jr. and heir to the legendary family's vast fortune ended in defeat Friday with a flurry of state Supreme Court rulings. Ann Fernandez, now 84, is not entitled to one penny of the fortune, even if she could prove paternity, because she waited too long to challenge Kenedy wills that years ago divided the family's wealth between two charities, the unanimous court said. The combined charities, with deep ties to the Catholic Church, might be worth up to $1 billion. Fernandez's rags-to-riches dream had captivated South Texas, but in four related rulings, the court dismissed a handful of her lawsuits and denied a request to exhume Kenedy's body for DNA testing, saying Fernandez has no viable claim on his inheritance. "In light of today's ruling, we conclude that none of Fernandez's claims for heirship or inheritance rights to the Kenedy estate remain viable," Justice Paul Green wrote for the court. John Kenedy was a hard-drinking, hard-living rogue who died in 1948 without, it was thought, having fathered a child. Maria Rowland was a teenage maid on his ranch, the 400,000-acre La Parra, when she became pregnant and gave birth in 1924 at a Waco home for unwed mothers. Their stories would reconnect in 2000, when a physically deteriorating Rowland told her grandson that he was related to Kenedy, according to Fernandez lawsuits. Rowland died two months later...more

Awards round up Western heroes in Oklahoma City

A sellout crowd of local folks in party clothes and a host of entertainers and celebrities energized the 49th annual Western Heritage Awards on Saturday at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. More than 1,000 people attended the black-tie banquet at the museum, 1700 NE 63. Actor Rex Linn, who grew up in Oklahoma City and is a regular on the television series "CSI-Miami,” reprised his role as emcee. Actors Tom Selleck and the late Charlton Heston were inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers, an honor reserved for those who have made significant contributions in the perpetuation of traditional values of the American West through motion pictures, film or theater. Western musician and historian Don Edwards was presented with the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named for the museum’s founder and recognizing an individual whose body of work perpetuates the ideals, history and heritage of the American West. For 50 years Edwards has written and performed songs that celebrate traditional cowboy music. Also honored were Texas rancher and photographer Bob Moorhouse and the late Gordon William Lillie, better known as the Wild West performer "Pawnee Bill.” Both were inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners...more

Mama bear will be happy with me again.

It's All Trew: The past delivers unusual stories

Most everyone has heard of Judge Roy Bean and his Law West of the Pecos. The man was self-appointed as judge, outrageous in behavior and arrogant beyond belief. He was once confronted with an unidentified corpse found on the prairie with a pistol and $50 in the pockets. After due consideration Judge Bean fined the dead man $50 for wearing a concealed weapon. A local Pecos butcher was hauled into Bean's court accused by a black washer-woman of failure to pay his laundry bills and even throwing her out of his butcher shop when she tried to collect her due. Bean sentenced the man to "deliver in person, four pounds of his freshest beefsteak, to the woman's home the first day of every month for one year or go to jail." I have read two notations, one years ago and another recently in Ivan Cate's new book, "XIT Ranch, A Texas Legacy," about how well-trained and well-behaved cow horses were sometimes confiscated by the rich ranch owners to use on their polo fields. Some ranches like the XIT often built training facilities for the hobby. With access to many good horses, the cowboys all had their favorites. Each learned quickly to be aware of the visiting bosses when they came out on the range. The employees went to great lengths to hide or disguise a good working ranch horse from confiscation. They compared the "loss to the boss" the same as the old-time horse thieves...more

Song Of The Day #288

Ranch Radio continues with our Monday tradition of uptempo or swing type songs to help you get the week started.

Our selection today is Don't Want To Do That Again by the Domino Kings.

The tune is available on their 11 track CD Some Kind Of Sign.

Ranch Radio likes this song, but I want to assure all my loyal listeners that The Westerner has never been involved in the kind of situations described in this swinging tune.

Securing the border is the first priority

A feud between the Departments of the Interior and Homeland Security over federal wilderness areas that constitute 40 percent of the nation's southern border has been undermining the mission of both agencies for nearly a decade. This adolescent refusal to cooperate threatens the security of all Americans. That much was made clear March 27 when Arizona rancher Rob Krentz and his dog were shot to death by someone crossing the border illegally. The murderer then escaped in a pronghorn antelope protection area that the Interior Department placed off limits to Border Patrol agents. Krentz had repeatedly complained that illegals were threatening his family, stealing and destroying his property, and even sabotaging his ranch's water supply. Something's very wrong when law-abiding, tax-paying citizens like Krentz have to live in constant fear and get less protection from their own government than desert pronghorns. On April 6, the Examiner's Sara Carter quoted a confidential law enforcement report warning that 23 Somalis with suspected ties to al Qaeda were headed for the same unguarded border areas after being mistakenly released by Mexican authorities. If they entered the United States via the 4.3 million acres of federal wilderness areas, the Border Patrol was powerless to stop them. But legislation introduced last week by House Republicans would bar Interior from interfering with Border Patrol efforts to keep drug smugglers, human traffickers and potential terrorists...more

Border security proposals worthy of investigation

Two new border security proposals have merit. Multiple agencies joining as one task force, and headquartered in El Paso, is a great idea. And placing border land under the Border Patrol can work, too, providing there is enough sensitivity to the natural habitats. We like what Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said: "The problem on that (southern) border is becoming so desperate and so dangerous and so threatening to our entire country. ... I think we have to do something quickly, and I think it has to be bold." It should be quick, and it should be bold. And let there be plans on a table that are devoid of the separate federal fiefdoms that now seem in play. The second proposal is a shift in control of border land from the Interior Department or Forest Service to the Department of Homeland Security. Presently the Border Patrol can sometimes be blocked from doing their job by land managers. In one instance, a tower used by Border Patrol agents was ordered removed because of concerns about endangered species. The Border Patrol should be granted more freedom to do its job; and it can and should do so in a way natural habitats are not adversely affected...more

Editorial - State must organize to fight cross-border crime

The March 27th murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz has renewed calls for increased efforts to secure the border and stop illegal aliens from coming into Arizona. The problem of confronting and winning the war against cross-border crime will take more than politically popular legislation and tough talk that targets petty offenders and made-for-TV illegal alien roundups on the streets and down on the border. Arizona isn’t up against a bunch of misdemeanants; the state is up against the Mexican drug cartels, “the greatest organized crime threat to the United States” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Arizona has become the path of least resistance for the Mexican mob over the years and is now recognized internationally as the “gateway” for drugs and organized crime entering the U.S. from Mexico. The time has come for the governor, attorney general or U.S. attorney to take the lead and design a comprehensive statewide law enforcement strategy that incorporates city, county, state and federal agencies and the National Guard in an all-out attack on organized, cross-border and serious crime throughout Arizona. The job of protecting the people of Arizona, from human and drug smuggling to murder, isn’t getting done...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The civilizing of Taco

by Julie Carter

Becoming an American citizen and Texas resident has been a work in progress for Taco the Border Horse.

You will recall that Taco's former employment involved carrying contraband across the border from Mexico to Arizona. The night the Border Patrol put an end to that career was the beginning of his new journey as a Texas team roping horse, thanks to a kind offer from Dan the Team Roper.

Discovery of Taco's likes and dislikes has been an ongoing adventure for everyone involved.

Dan bought a radio for the barn in an effort to orient Taco to the ways of a world that he never encountered in his former profession.

Living in ranch isolation in Mexico, it seemed Taco had never heard music and very few voices other than Jose Maria's.

Dan thought music would not only get him used to the sound of talking but could also soothe him. He was trying to decide whether to put it on a Country or a Spanish station but nixed the later because of the blaring of 50 trumpets with the accordion and guitars. Although it is possible that Taco might have been to a quinceañera or two in his life, he didn't want to risk it.

What he discovered was Taco does not tolerate music in any form or fashion, nearly tearing down the barn to get that point across. Dan has been thinking ahead to the roping competitions where they always play "Who Let the Dogs Out" before the short round. He knows he'll have to warn anybody that ropes with him that it could get entertaining.

Taco has only reluctantly accepted talk radio into his environment. In that, it was determined that he is a Republican, possibly the only Mexican Republican in Texas.

According to Dan, Taco seems to prefer political commentary with conservative Republican rhetoric being his favorite. No laughter there, just grim predictions delivered with a serious voice. Liberals of all stripes will make him back his ears, but so far he has not destroyed any property because of them.

In trying to teach Taco to stop by voice command, Dan was having little or no luck until he hollered, "Alto!" At which point, Taco put the brakes on and Dan like to have gone over the dashboard of his saddle. It's all in the translation.

After spending most his life out in the boonies, Taco is afraid of things that most horses accept as a way of life. Not long after Taco's arrival in Texas, Dan fixed the light on his back porch, which involved putting in a new light bulb. He turned it on and again, Taco showed his dislike and fear by nearly remodeling the barn.

Ambulance sirens drive him to a frenzy. A CareFlight helicopter came over when he and Dan were in the middle of a coastal field and Taco had to go in circles in time with the blades until the chopper was gone over the horizon.

A serious series of hissy fits over the operations of the hydraulic roping chute, as well as repeated panic explosions when a motorcycle went down the road, made it clearly apparent there were no máquinas in Taco's former life. The HotHeels roping dummy is still a life-threatening moment for both horse and rider.

However, Dan can go out in the backyard, sit on the fence of Taco's pen and shoot at the coyotes. Taco calmly just looks at him. His world in Mexico obviously had bullets but no lights.

One day, Dan and Taco were following a steer around in the trap right next to the road. When Dan finally got the steer lined out he jabbed Taco with his spurs.

Instead of grabbing a faster gear, Taco took a huge leap, unseating Dan in the most awkward of ways.

Dan had one foot stuck completely through the stirrup up to his knee, totally lost the other stirrup and was hanging on by bear hugging Taco around his neck.

Taco bucked around a little and finally gave up with Dan still aboard. When things got still, Dan got his leg out of the stirrup, got off and looked around.

There was a truckload of guys on the road that had pulled up alongside the fence. They were laughing hysterically. After they finally calmed down some, one of them fished a beer out of cooler in the back of the truck and set it on the fence post. Still laughing, they hollered, "Thanks," as they pulled away with a wave.

There used to be a saying about horses that had never been to town. "He ain't never seen no light brighter than a coal oil lantern." Evidently that is the case with Taco.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. Visit her website for a taste of her two books, Cowgirl Sass & Savvy and Cowboys You Gotta Love ‘em.

The Wilderness Border and its Implications on American Security

Editor's Note: This piece was written 7 months ago, but is very relevant to today's headlines. It's long, but if you care about this issue you will find it plenty educational.


By Richard E. Hays and Stephen L. Wilmeth

For hundreds of years the desert of what is now Arizona has been the route of goods coming north from Mexico. The flow of merchandise was created by demand from citizens and settlers of del Norte, the expanse of territory generally north of the 54th Parallel. Over time, the goods became as often illegal as they were legal. Today, the goods passing through the rural, isolated expanse of sand, rock, and heat are more often than not, illegal. The circumstances and conditions surrounding the flow are dangerous, and the consequences of stemming the tide must be a national priority.

Since 911, the emphasis of border security has become a national debate. In fact, recent polls in Arizona indicate that 51% of residents believe that border security is more important than the national health care debate. In a margin of 65% to 20%, those same residents believe enforcing border security is more important than dealing with the legalization of aliens already in the United States. As distance from the border increases, these same questions don’t stimulate the same responses. The phenomenon of changing priorities as the distance from ground zero increases is clearly in play on the Mexican border.

Through time, the economics and the conditions of illegal entry have resulted in the evolution of dominant entry points along the border. During the late 80s and early 90s, due to the ease of entry within or adjacent to urban centers these areas became focal points for entry. Ultimately, the Border Patrol responded with organized enforcement tactics that concentrated activities at those points. Examples of this were El Paso, Nogales, and in the expanded urban area at Tijuana. When the El Paso operation was instituted the data was very clear. The incidence of illegal entry was reduced.

In 1994, Operation Gate Keeper was undertaken along the California urban border areas. The entry of illegals was dramatically reduced at the point of asset concentration, but a far different result occurred elsewhere. The success of halting entry in the urban areas was mirrored by the expansion of entry in the desert areas to the east. It was what the Border Patrol expected and wanted. Illegals would be easier to catch in open rural areas than they had been in the congestion of the urban centers in southern California.

"Organ Pipe statistics indicated that finding abandoned vehicles in the monument in 1994 was unusual. By 2001, they had reached nearly 150 per year. In 2003, National Geographic declared that Organ Pipe Monument was the most dangerous park in the United States. It got so bad that signs were posted in the park not to stop for dead bodies. It could be a trap set to lure unsuspecting park visitors!"

Several conditions existed to support this reaction to Gate Keeper. First, the economic conditions north and south of the border only expanded the flow of illegal entry. Jobs were available north of the border. Second, Mexican Highway 2 ran adjacent to the border for miles into vast and isolated expanses. Third, the American invention of designated wilderness areas stretched for miles east/ west and north/ south along that boundary in national wildlife refuges and monuments managed by the Department of Interior (DOI). The soft underbelly of the American border was discovered.

The Wilderness becomes a dangerous place

By 1998, visitors entering Organ Pipe National Monument with back country permits were estimated to be outnumbered by illegal aliens trekking north by a two to one ratio. By the following year, the permits issued to park visitors had dropped in half and the number of illegal nightly visitors had nearly tripled. The monument had become a place to be avoided by American citizens.

The increased illegal entry also meant there was no longer a safe place for the illegals as well. The Border Patrol recorded five deaths in what they describe as the “West Desert Corridor” in 1998. By 2002, there were more than 130 deaths in the same corridor. This count is particularly alarming in that the deaths were occurring in the face of declining apprehensions in the Border Patrol sector as a whole. Deaths were running at the rate of about 40 per 100,000 apprehensions whereas five years earlier there had only been four deaths per 100,000 apprehensions . . . a tenfold increase!

Other statistics tied to crime were no different. Organ Pipe statistics indicated that finding abandoned vehicles in the monument in 1994 was unusual. By 2001, they had reached nearly 150 per year. Number of high speed pursuits, tons of marijuana captured, and illegal apprehensions in the park all reflected similarly alarming trends. In 2003, National Geographic declared that Organ Pipe Monument was the most dangerous park in the United States. It got so bad that signs were posted in the park not to stop for dead bodies. It could be a trap set to lure unsuspecting park visitors!

Organ Pipe Staff Quantifies Damage Left by Illegals

In the midst of the chaos the National Park Service, the managing agency of the Organ Pipe National Monument, embarked on an effort to quantify the damage being done to the monument. Their approach and their findings were interesting. They mapped transects across the monument on predominately east/west directions rather than north/south. Their logic was simple. They would be able to observe the north/ south illegal traffic more dynamically.

What they found was more impact on the monument in the designated wilderness areas than in the nonwilderness, fully accessible areas. Why . . . because Border Patrol and Park Service officials were limited in their ability to access the wilderness areas on a continuous basis. They didn’t have full and unrestricted access. Motorized access in wilderness areas is not allowed. The illegals were taking full advantage of easy access through areas preserved for posterity.

In an internal report done by the Park Service monument staff, very alarming results were presented. The most glaring example pertained to a representative one square kilometer parcel of land in the Valley of the Ajo. The following was quoted. “Results of a GIS model, based on transect data, of what a “typical” square km of valley floor habitat might look like to a monument visitor taking a hike.” The one square kilometer had transected indications of the following evidence of illegal impact on the monument:

1. Seven rest sites
2. 15 incidences of vehicle tracks
3. 40 sites of trash disposal
4. 48 discarded water bottles
5. one set of bicycle tracks
6. one set of horse tracks
7. three abandoned camp fire sites
8. 254 foot trails!

The report went on to quantify the establishment of “wild cat” roads which serve as access for drug runners. On a map in the presentation, 35 such illegal roads can be counted. That compares to 13 legal, established roads in the monument.

The Reciprocal or Mirror Effect

As the data was analyzed something very interesting began to emerge. The damage was not confined to designated wilderness areas managed by United States agencies on the north side of the border. What was occurring was that similar damage was occurring in desert areas adjacent to the international border on the south side of the fence.

El Pinacate, the “sister park” to Organ Pipe had become a staging area for illegal entry into the United States. In an aerial survey done for the purposes of mapping air strips used by drug runners, not only illegal airstrips were found, but roads and trenching done by the Mexican military to dissuade the establishment of the airstrips were being created in the fragile cinder landscape of the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve.

Twenty two airstrips were found that had been trenched by the Mexican military. Twelve other trenching sites were found that were intended to prevent the establishment of airstrips. Five illegal, “wildcat” roads were mapped, and six fully operational illegal strips were being used for loading and flying drugs north.

In addition, “colonias” continue to sprawl out along Highway 2 as the infrastructure is built in response to the business of moving goods and services north. Mountains of trash, extensive wood cutting, and vandalism to border fencing and facilities lead the Organ Pipe staff to write that the activity will “impact natural and cultural resources along the border”. Pictures of such activity lead any observer to surmise that the statement was understated at best.

The Greater Picture

Land agencies of the United States are charged with managing massive stretches of lands that lie near and adjacent to the Mexican border. The DOI through its various agencies alone manages about 47% of those lands in Arizona and 48% of the lands adjacent to the border in New Mexico. Every stretch of that land today is under assault from illegal entry with many areas that reflect conditions very similar to those in Organ Pipe. If Department of Agriculture lands (Forest Service) are added, the list is expanded.

Two additional examples include the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and the Coronado National Memorial. The Tohono O’odham, administered by DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), is a reservation with a native Indian population that has an historical extension into Mexico. In that expanse of land, Tohono O’odham people do not have allegiance to powers north or south of the border. The native Indian population, originally known as Papagos, move back and forth across the border. Drug cartels have made permanent inroads into the area with cash and the promise of greater wealth. The BIA has little ability to deal substantively with the issues.

Further east, the Coronado National Memorial magnifies the risk that roadless border areas pose to the entire nation. In a 3 X 3.5 mile corridor, the Yolanda Molina de Hernandez Organization runs drugs like greyhounds on a racetrack. Once inside the monument, runners either go north or northeast into USFS lands and the Huachuca Mountains where there are over 70 miles of trails. Citizens who enjoy the adventures of an outdoor excursion know what this area has become. It is not for the faint of heart and it gives a new meaning to the Wild West.

"What they found was more impact on the monument in the designated wilderness areas than in the nonwilderness, fully accessible areas. Why . . . because Border Patrol and Park Service officials were limited in their ability to access the wilderness areas on a continuous basis."

In both of these cases, the mirrored effect of infrastructure expansion seen at Organ Pipe has occurred. Where roads are absent and railroads are present, the drug cartels have established facilities and or terminals for staging and running drugs and humans north. The buildup of infrastructure is continuing. Airstrips are established, colonias are expanding, more roads into DOI and USDA managed lands have been made, and degradation of fauna and flora continues.

The El Paso Experience

In the first major effort aimed at reducing illegal entry in urban areas, Operation Hold the Line was started in El Paso in1993. Data from that operation indicates that apprehensions fell quickly from about 22,000 per annum to about 7,000 and stabilized near 9,000. What was not seen was the wholesale displacement to entry elsewhere as seen in the desert corridor of Arizona. What was occurring?

One prevailing expert theory is that at the time the illegals didn’t have the soft entry points through federal wilderness areas to fall back to. All New Mexico areas allowed fully motorized access by the Border Patrol and had “engaged resident ranchers” that lived and were constantly present on the expanse of border running west from El Paso. East from El Paso was even less accessible. Those lands are dominated by private land holdings with residents who constantly patrol and communicate with the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. Illegals were being monitored and constantly ran the risk of being in the path of American citizens who would and could report their presence.

Further evidence of this phenomenon was found in radar records of drug flights from Mexico. In Texas, the concentration of such flights and apprehensions of drugs is relatively sparse considering the expansive landscape across south Texas. New Mexico shows similar results while the Arizona situation is staggering. The situation there is akin to a full scale invasion by a foreign power. There, isolated federal lands made worse by wilderness designation are an outright threat to American security and well being.

The Theory Tested

In the Boot Heel of New Mexico, the Border Patrol installed a communication device on Big Hatchet Mountain. The facility handled sensor signals from the entire eastern half of the Boot Heel area. The device was placed without the consent of Bureau of Land Management (BLM). When word spread of the device’s presence, environmental groups demanded that the device be removed claiming that it would interfere with desert bighorn and the lesser and Mexican long nosed bats’ breeding and life cycles. The BLM, under pressure because the area is a wilderness study area, pressed the issue and the Border Patrol capitulated and removed the device.

For several years, the eastern half of the Boot Heel adjacent to a very dangerous Mexican border was without this device! When the Border Patrol finally got approval to put the device back into service some astounding data was found. From 2006 records, it was found that mechanical traffic had increased by 671% and foot traffic had increased by 348% from the same period the year before. Soft entry points are sought and found by illegal operatives along the border. When they are found the cartels take full advantage of them! In the case of Big Hatchet, the Border Patrol was denied full access and was operating with diminished ability because of environmental demands. American security and American people were put at risk.

The Opportunity for New Territory

Today, there is a continuing effort to designate wilderness on federal lands along the Mexican border. The Wilderness Society through its affiliated groups, the Sky Island Alliance and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, has proposed huge areas on and or near the border for wilderness legislation. Two of these areas, the Tumacacori Highlands of southern Arizona and the Potrillos Mountain complex in Dona Ana County, New Mexico are large isolated areas that pose the same risks to the United States as the Arizona lands already under siege.

The question becomes what will happen if wilderness is successfully legislated. In Arizona, what is going on all around the Tumacacori Highlands will expand. In New Mexico, the outright risk of duplicating the Arizona experience is fully in play. The American people must remember that the Wilderness Act of 1964 prohibits motorized access and man-made facilities. Notwithstanding the promises of bastardizing that wilderness standard with “cherry stem” roads providing limited access, locals fear what will happen when the legislation reaches the committee hearings and horse trading in Congress. Any agreements made conditionally with local needs in mind will likely be altered, more roads will be closed, the Border Patrol will fight for access, and the drug cartels will find a new soft underbelly of access into the United States. The protection in play with the combination of resident ranchers, state and local law enforcement, and the Border Patrol will become constrained and conditional. What is arguably the sole reason the Arizona experience hasn’t been duplicated in New Mexico will be forever altered.

The New Mexico component even has some of the characteristics of the Arizona model. In addition to the vast areas of federal lands, Highway 9 runs parallel to the border. Experience with trucks being loaded at staging areas in Mexico and crossed to be unloaded at points along that road becomes the same kind of opportunity. What makes matters even more dangerous is that a portion of the northern boundary of the proposed Potrillo Mountain Wilderness area is formed by an ultramodern east-west transcontinental rail line just 24 miles from the border. The specter of accessing that major east-west transportation line with a weapon of mass destruction provides a heightened security risk.

The Lessons Unlearned

When legislation designating more wildernesses on the U.S. border is heralded by environmental groups and Mexican drug cartels alike, American leaders need to reassess their position. It isn’t the casual visitor to Organ Pipe, Cabeza Prieta, or segments of the Coronado National Forest making new roads, trashing the travel corridors, setting fires, poisoning water holes, and carrying AK-47s. The American visitors are the only people who will follow the rules and honor the spirit of wilderness as it was intended. Those big, blacked out Jeep Gladiators that are running across desert wilderness areas at night are not occupied by folks who are maintaining a bird identification list nor do they care in the least about any fragile cinder cone formation. They are just glad that the chances of encountering a Border Patrol agent or any other American who has a vested interest in maintaining the integrity of the lands are limited because of the restrictions placed upon that agent or that citizen.

What is more insidious is the manifestation of our actions on like areas to the south of the border. The El Pinacate phenomenon needs to be reviewed. When our lands are being ravaged by an onslaught of humanity and our actions have unwittingly created the same devastation across our borders because of the infrastructure and policing actions that are taking place to combat it, shame on us for our idealism. In this case, we run the risk of having met the true enemy, and . . . he is in our midst.

Song Of The Day #287

Ranch Radio features one of my favorite gospel tunes this morning: Lonesome Valley by Tom T. Hall & Earl Scruggs. That's Scruggs finger pickin' the guitar, just like he did on those great Flatt & Scruggs gospel songs.

The song is available on their 11 track CD Storyteller & the Banjo Man.

NMSU Rodeo places strongly at mid-season rodeos

The New Mexico State University Rodeo team maintained its regional lead during the Central Arizona College National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association rodeos March 20-21 in Florence, Ariz.

“The women’s team a great weekend, solidifying our lead going into the last two rodeos of the season, and the men’s team still maintains a good 300 point lead within the region. We will have to step up and be aggressive at the last two rodeos to keep our number one spot, though,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU Rodeo coach.

During the first rodeo of the weekend, the men’s team placed third overall and the women’s team won first.

Steve Hacker, of Battle Mountain, Nev., and Thor Dusenberry, of Desert Hills, Ariz., placed second and third, respectively, in saddlebronc riding.

Daniel Scalva, header, of Durango, Colo., and Aaron Shelley, heeler, of Cliff, N.M., placed third in the team roping event.

Jordan Bassett, of Dewey, Ariz., won first in breakaway roping and third in barrel racing.

Staci Stanbrough, of Capitan, N.M., received third the goat tying.

The women’s team again won first at the weekend’s second rodeo. The men’s team placed second.

Dusenberry won first in the saddlebronc riding event.

Rodee Walraven, of Datil, N.M., Johnny Salvo, heeler, of Horse Springs, N.M., won first in team roping.

Carleigh Marr, of Belen, N.M., placed second in breakaway roping, with teammate Jessica Silva, of Tularosa, N.M., placing third.

In the goat tying event, Silva won first. She also was named the women’s all-around champion for the rodeo.

The NMSU Rodeo team next will travel to Taylor, Ariz., for the Northland Pioneer College NIRA rodeo April 23-24.