Cowboy Dinner and Dance - Bucky's Birthday Bash

Cowboy Dinner and Dance

Honoring Rural Families, Rural Traditions and our Rural Heritage
Glenwood Park - Glenwood, NM

The Gila Livestock Growers Association (GLGA) www.gilalivestockgrowers.org and the Americans for the Preservation of Western Environment (APWE) www.amprowest.org are sponsoring a Cowboy Dinner and Dance at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Glenwood, New Mexico on June 12, 2010 in honor of Bucky Allred’s birthday. Dinner starts at 6:00 pm and the dance at 8:00 pm. So please try to make Bucky’s annual Birthday Bash.

Music by Joe Delk, Bucky Allred and The Delk Band featuring Neal, Mark and Byron Delk, Robert Flowers, Roswell; Roy Garcia, Las Cruces; Dee Ford, Alma; Ty Martin, Silver City; and a special appearance by Jacy Yarbrough, Winston, NM.

Not too long ago, Saturday-night dances were a common occurrence at many rural locations throughout New Mexico. Families, friends and neighbors coming together to share a meal, visit with one another and enjoy an evening of dancing. We can certainly refer to those days as “the good ole days” and we want to show our younger generation what it was like and allow our older generation to remember the way it was.

All are welcome. This is a fundraising event and we ask that you contribute what you can at the door but we don’t set an amount so in spite of economic circumstances, all can afford to attend. All monies raised in this effort will be utilized to help end the impacts of the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program and preserve our rural heritage. We have had camp cowboys and young couples dancing with babies between them to older couples on our dance floor. Cattlemen to CPA’s to youngsters with tattoos all are welcome.

The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program has evolved into an assault on our rural way-of-life by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) with the help and support of extremist environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, Wild-Earth Guardians and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Today, the people and communities in and around the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which encompasses the Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, are bearing the brunt of the physical impacts and the economic and social cost the wolf reintroduction program is having on the people and communities that are forced to live with wolves on their ranches, in their yards and in their communities.

The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program has been grossly mismanaged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local residents are paying the price. The program is a bust. Ranches have been lost, local businesses are suffering, elk hunting in the Gila may never be what it once was and families are being put in danger every day.

For contributions, please make checks payable to Gila Livestock Grower’s Association for “Preserving our Rural Heritage”. Bring your check to the Cowboy Dinner and Dance or mail to Gila Livestock Grower’s Association (GLGA), HC 64, Box 30, Magdalena, NM 87825.
Credit Card contributions can be made at www.wolfcrossing.org.

Song Of The Day #331

Ranch Radio offers up two songs which charted in 1962: Little Black Book by Jimmy Dean and Wynn Stewart singing Another Day, Another Dollar.

Hope these versions are ok cuz I'm shooting blind. The power sources for my computer were changed this evening but now my speakers aren't working, and I can't reach where they are supposed to be plugged in.

Report says FDA struggles to keep food safe

A new report says the Food and Drug Administration is stretched thin and needs to reorganize to better keep the nation's food safe. The report released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council Tuesday says the agency needs to become more efficient and better target its limited dollars to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks. The 500-page report says the FDA lacks the vision necessary to protect consumers. Robert Wallace, chairman of the committee that authored the report, said the FDA is too often reactive and not focused enough on prevention. The report recommends the agency focus on preventing outbreaks in the riskiest foods rather than tackling problems on a case-by-case basis...more

So another federal agency is inefficient and under performs.

And the Congressional reaction is? Why give them more authority of course.

Many of the report's recommendations would be met under food safety legislation passed by the House last year. That includes giving the agency greater authority in many areas...

Rest assured that with the new authority will come more dollars.


Finally, there is the sure-fired cure for inefficiency: centralization.

The report recommends that the government improve coordination with state food safety agencies and move toward creating a single food safety agency to combine all of those efforts...

Centralization of power has been so conducive to efficiency and liberty throughout history. Yes, I'm sure that's why they recommend it.

I'm sure we are all surprised, though, that an entity like the Institute of Medicine - which is so dependent on federal funding - would actually recommend that a provider of such funding should receive more power and more money.

Besides, the FDA has only been around for 104 years. Surely we should grant them some more time to get it right.

Judge: Cattle grazing on half a million acres of Forest damages fish habitat

A federal judge has ruled that grazing on public land in the Malheur National Forest has led to degradation of steelhead streams that the U.S. Forest Service failed to protect. Conservation groups said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty showed the Forest Service grazing plan allowed livestock to damage steelhead habitat over nearly half a million acres along more than 300 miles of streams in the John Day River Basin in eastern Oregon. Livestock can damage stream banks and muddy the clear, cool water needed for steelhead, a Pacific Northwest native trout listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Brent Fenty, executive director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association, said the decision will lead to long-term improvements for managing environmentally sensitive streams. The judge said in the ruling that damage done to stream banks in 2007 and 2008 was "particularly deplorable" and noted "this court has repeatedly found the grazing program to be insufficiently protective of listed fish species."...more

The article goes on to quote rancher Ken Holliday:

But a rancher and spokesman for other ranchers in the area said the ruling was also a win for them because it showed the agency must tell them when they need to move their cattle away from critical stream banks. "The key is when you get to the point the cows need to be moved, they need to be moved," Ken Holliday said. "It's really the Forest Service's job to do monitoring and be watching everything. They're the ones with all the science on their side."

Mr. Holliday may someday regret those words. What's he going to do when the Forest Service, after "watching everything" and with "all the science on their side" tells him to permanently remove his cattle from the streambanks?

Idaho Police Use Planes to Locate 'Keggers'

Boise police coordinated a multi law enforcement agency "kegger patrol" Saturday night where officers broke up about half a dozen parties in the desert and gave out 67 tickets for consumption of alcohol by minors. Boise police have been coordinating the multi-agency "kegger patrol" for graduation weekend for the past three years but this was the first time they were able to use the Civil Air Patrol to help out, Officer Jermain Galloway said Monday. Officers busted keg parties in the Swan Falls area south of Boise and in the Foothills near Idaho City and Arrowrock Reservoir area east of Idaho 21, Galloway said. Boise police coordinated it and partnered with the Ada and Boise county sheriff's offices, Idaho State Police, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, The Boise City Attorney's office, Ada County Juvenile Probation, and Civil Air Patrol. Galloway said he got the idea to see if the Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, would be available to help and began talking with the BLM about it a month ago...more

Nice to see the BLM & FS law enforcement folks, who are supposedly so undermanned and underfunded, are staying busy handing out tickets while on "kegger patrol".

Their new logo should be a picture of Smokey Bear with his foot on the neck of a teenager and high school diplomas scattered around on the ground.

Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny - EPA

With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens. “We are supposed to be stewards of the land,” said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. “It is our Christian duty.” But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay. And the Environmental Protection Agency, charged by President Obama with restoring the bay to health, is determined to crack down. The farmers have a choice: change the way they farm or face stiff penalties...more

The feds couldn't find any "keggers" amongst the Amish, but happened to notice their cows defecate, so....

Navigating "Navigable"

Congress is known for having arcane battles, but the biggest fight these days in water law is over a single word — and Texas environmentalists and ranchers are anxiously awaiting the outcome. At stake is the future of the Clean Water Act, a 1977 law designed to reduce pollution in America's waterways. The law, which was built on a 1972 law of a different name, refers to "the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters" of the United States. But what does "navigable" mean? The Supreme Court has weighed in on the question twice in the last 10 years, and while appearing to narrow the term's definition, it has also left everybody confused. Now Congress is considering whether to remove the word "navigable" altogether, leaving the phrase to read, simply, the "waters of the United States." The Senate passed a bill out of committee a year ago that would strike "navigable," and a similar bill was introduced last month in the House. Landowners and farmers hate the idea; they describe it as government overreach, certain to lead to needless regulation and extra costs. Environmentalists say the opposite: that many of the small, non-"navigable" streams that currently escape regulation are an essential part of the nation's drinking supply and need oversight. Ranchers fear that the drainage ditches and stock tanks will be subject to regulation if "navigable" is struck from the law. "Ranchers would have to go get a permit from federal government before they could build any sort of livestock watering tank," said Jason Skaggs, the executive director for government and public affairs at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Kirby Brown, the vice president for public policy for the Texas Wildlife Association, which represents many private landowners, argues that striking the term navigable would "remove the basis of the law itself, which is the Interstate Commerce Clause." Brown emphasized that his group wants to see wetlands protected. But he thinks there are other ways to achieve this...more

A Forest Fire's Price Tag

...* 5,921,786: The number of acres that burned in wildfires in 2009, and represents 115% of the 20-year average for acres burned. There were 78,792 reported wildfires across the country in 2009. In the past 20 years, the number of wildfires has not increased dramatically, but the size of the fires has. A report from the Pew Center For Global Climate Change says since snow melts earlier resulting in a longer fire season, and warmer summer creates dryer soil, climate change has been a contributing factor to higher fire activity.

* 50: The percentage of the U.S. Fire Service's budget spent on suppressing wildfires in 2008. Since 2000, the cost of fighting wildfires every year has exceeded $1 billion, according to the National Association of State Foresters. Last fall, senate passed the FLAME Act (Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act) which sets aside separate funds for wildfire suppression so that money isn't taken away from other programs at the U.S. Fire Service and the Department of the Interior as demands increase.

* $135,548,834: The total direct cost of the Hayman fire of 2002, which burned 137,759 acres south of Denver, CO, as estimated by the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition. The fire was the largest in the state's history. (Learn more about nature's impact on economics, read The Real Cost of Natural Disasters.)

* $1.6 billion: The amount the Insurance Information Institute estimates insurers paid out to policyholders in 2007 after the devastating California wildfires, offsetting the costs of what was called the one of the most expensive wildfire seasons in U.S. history. Approximately 4,087 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the fires and close to 63% of them were residential, the institute says. That money funded a boost to the local economy, where jobs were created rebuilding cities, according to the Employment Development Department.

* 18: The number of wildfires currently burning in U.S. forests at the time of publication. Forest fires are part of the natural course of the ecosystem, and forest administrators face the tricky task of managing fires without putting them out entirely. A build up of vegetation only creates more fuel for fire.

The Bottom Line

The price tag of a single fire goes way beyond the cost of suppressing it. Property damage can lead to business closures which can lead to fewer tourism dollars which translate to lower tax revenues. Some of these costs are offset by insurance companies and government agencies, and some fires have created jobs in the short-term as communities rebuild after suffering damage. But the cons outweigh the pros, particularly when long-term concerns like health care, tourism and forest-dependent local industries are taken into account...more

Study: Climate change altering Tahoe forest

Worldwide, the most recognizable symbol of global climate change may be the polar bear: As polar ice caps recede, the giant bears retreat farther into the Arctic. In the Northern Sierra Nevada, the symbol could be the massive red fir tree. As the Sierra Nevada warms, the cold-weather giants are dying off in their lower-altitude stands, making way for trees such as oaks, which prefer the heat, said a researcher from the University of California, Berkeley. The trees generally grow above 4,200 feet. Ecologist Patrick Gonzalez recently completed a fives year study in the Tahoe National Forest on how climate change affects vegetation along with researchers from the United States Forest Service. “The study found when one type of forest dies off, another type of forest starts,” Gonzalez said. “We expect, with the warming of the Earth, that vegetation zones like oak woodland would start to appear at higher elevations.” Researchers studied a tract of the national forest at different elevations north of Downieville. Cold-weather trees such as red firs started dying off at a higher rate than in the previous 75 years, and as they died, oaks and the douglas firs began to take root at higher altitudes. The vegetation shift could increase wildfires in the Tahoe National Forest, Gonzalez said...more

Song Of The Day #330

Ranch Radio continues with a look at 1962.

We all know what happened in the 60's, and sex was in the air on the country charts too. (I'm still trying to figure out how the Sexual Revolution just seemed to pass me by. I know that during the American Revolution I'd a been right there with ol' George and that during the Industrial Revolution I'd a had dollar signs all over my saddle blankets. But during the Sexual Revolution somebody must have locked me in the barn. Actually, now that I really think about it, I tried like hell to be a participant in the revolution!)

Anyway, the #1 & #2 songs in 1962 were about cheatin' and riskin' your life to get a little lovin'.

#1 was Carl & Pearl Butler's Don't Let Me Cross Over and #2 was Claude King performing Wolverton Mountain.

NM Supreme Court rules state may continue work on greenhouse gas emissions cap

The state Environmental Improvement Board can resume consideration of state regulations that would cap greenhouse gas emissions, The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Monday. The decision reverses an earlier Lovington District Court decision that halted the Board’s consideration of a 2008 petition by environmental group New Energy Economy (NEE) to regulate carbon emissions in New Mexico. Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels reportedly cautioned judges not to violate the separation of powers doctrine by interfering in administrative processes. “It’s great news,” NEE and New Mexico Environmental Law Center lead attorney Bruce Frederick told The Independent. Now that the state’s right to consider a carbon cap has been affirmed, work will begin again on the Board’s consideration of the NEE petition, Frederick said. He anticipates a public hearing this summer. PNM, three Republican state lawmakers and oil and gas industry groups filed a lawsuit in January to halt consideration of a cap, arguing the Board lacks authority under state law to regulate air quality without first establishing the specific air quality standards...more

Tapping public lands and pockets

THE BP SPILL has exposed more than oil. A century-old practice of allowing larceny off the public's lands - the exploitation of valuable natural resources - has gotten serious attention by the Obama administration. Every American owns over two acres of federal lands, while revenues of over $100 billion a year go uncollected.The largest gold strike in history is happening right now on public lands in Nevada. The mostly foreign operators pay no royalties for extracting millions of dollars in gold. Timber and water theft from the public is widespread, too. The violation that bothers me the most is a fee not paid for grazing on public lands. We needn't look far to find an example: The grazing and oyster farming on the public's Point Reyes National Seashore. While the market rate for grazing a cow on land one rents is $26 a month, those cow owners at Point Reyes pay $7, one third of the market value. President Obama is doing what no other administration has had the courage to do - crack down on Big Oil's theft of oil. The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service has finally been split in three, with one arm collecting fair rents. Our hope is that with this, the toughest correction made, the management of the other resources being exploited will be correctly as well...more

Huey Johnson, the founder of Trust For Public Land, goes on to say:

As to Point Reyes and other examples on the more than 650 million aces of our publicly owned land, redirecting all cattle raised there would only amount to three percent of U.S. beef. The cost is more than money - it's a loss of recreation value. Cattle constantly break down the banks of streams, ruining streams and fishing. The cow pie is an ugly symbol spread across the American west...

Clearly he's trying to tap into the public disgust with the oil spill and use that to attack grazing. Seems like a stretch to me, but its something we better keep an eye on.

Bison hazing continues near West Yellowstone

Three weeks since a May 15 deadline to haze wild bison out of Montana and into Yellowstone National Park has passed, government agents are still running operations to clear bison out of the state. Officials point to the large number of bison that left the park over the winter to explain hazing continuing with less than a week before cattle begin to be grazed on ranches in the area. But others say it is a sign that the park is not yet lush enough to sustain bison and that the animals should have been left alone until later in the year. "We've had bison come out repeatedly since May 15," said state veterinarian Marty Zaluski with the Department of Livestock. "One of the things that we're coming to recognize is what a logistical challenge it is to return 600 to 700 bison back into the park in an organized and speedy, responsible manner." Starting last year, state and federal agencies have allowed more bison to cross Yellowstone's western border and graze on pasture around Hebgen Lake. The policy won praise from environmentalists and irked ranchers, but Zaluski declined to say what or whether officials will do anything different next year given the current challenges...more

Forest Service issues new wilderness filming rules

The U.S. Forest Service has issued temporary new guidelines on commercial filming that cover some 439 wilderness areas it oversees nationwide, kicking off a fresh round of debate over how best to manage these federally protected preserves. Some pro-wilderness groups now contend the agency is caving in to political pressure, not basing its decisions on appropriate stewardship of wilderness where mechanized transportation and most commercial enterprise is banned. Idaho Public Television’s “Outdoor Idaho” program was allowed to film student conservation efforts in the 2.3-million-acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness late last month — but only after Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, complained the Forest Service had inappropriately barred cameras from crossing into the area. Amid this pressure, National Forest managers are being directed to consider, among other criteria, how a proposed project would spread information about the “enjoyment of wilderness” before issuing a commercial filming permit. They hope this will clarify confusion about when filming is appropriate, and when it isn’t. Andy Stahl, who heads Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an advocacy group, fears the new guidelines will mean more and more intrusive filming in areas set aside starting nearly a half-century ago to prevent America’s untrammeled spaces from vanishing...more

Canada & Mexico challenge COOL

The World Trade Organization has assigned three members to review whether or not U.S. legislation requiring Country of Origin Labeling violates international trade rules. Canada requested the panel along with Mexico back in October 2009. "We launched the WTO trade challenge to defend Canadian farmers and ranchers against unfair discrimination under US COOL legislation and so we welcome the creation of this dispute panel as a step in the right direction," said Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture. "We took the time to work with Canadian ranchers and farmers to put together a rock-solid case and we're absolutely confident that we're going to win this challenge." COOL requires Canadian meat to be labeled at each major stage of production, including at retail. The Canadian government's complaint is that this provides a disincentive for processors to deal with Canadian animals because of the extra cost and effort. "The U.S. COOL requirements are so onerous that they affect the ability of our cattle and hog exporters to compete fairly in the U.S. market," said Stockwell Day, Minister of International Trade when the panel was requested. "This request demonstrates our ongoing commitment to resolving this issue and defending the interests of Canadian producers."...more

Record meat exports

Fiscal 2010 agricultural exports are now forecast at $104.5 billion, up $4.5 billion from the February forecast and $7.9 billion above final FY 2009 exports, according to the most recent Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade for fiscal year 2010. Dairy, livestock and poultry exports are forecast up only slightly as gains in broiler meat and hides and skins outweigh smaller exports of beef and pork variety meats. Asia is forecast to surpass the Western Hemisphere as the largest regional market for U.S. exports. Fiscal 2010 agricultural imports are forecast at $76.5 billion, down $1 billion from the previous forecast due mostly to declining values of imported vegetable oils. Although forecast values of vegetable oils, bulk grains, dairy products, and beef are lowered, projections for horticultural crops and tropical products are up from both the recent forecasts and 2009 values...more

Saddle Up With Five Comic Book Westerns

With Jonah Hex about to hit theaters, moviegoers will be introduced to the weird, gritty world of Western comics. Scarred outlaw Jonah Hex has taken on many forms over the years, from the supernatural demon fighter depicted in the movie (which takes inspiration from the Vertigo series of the nineties) to a more straightforward gunslinger in DC's current ongoing comic. If Hex is a success on the big screen, he could open the doors for other cowboys to push the boundaries of the modern-day comic-book movie. With Westerns in a bit of a cinematic rut, comics could be just the ticket. Let's take a look at a few of the dark, violent, and often crazy Western comics that should follow Josh Brolin's gruff bounty hunter to the big screen. "Loveless" The Vertigo comic series by Brian Azzarello ("100 Bullets") has a classic Western premise: a former soldier and outlaw takes over as sheriff of a wayward town. Much gunfighting and horse wrangling ensues. With gritty, evocative art, Azzarello uses the town to create a vast tapestry of characters and delves into America's growing pains with issues of race and class...more

Song Of The Day #329

Ranch Radio has received a request from the Crayola Cowboy to spin Playboy by Wynn Stewart and some Buck Owens. A-10 pretty much gets what he wants around here, and since Playboy was recorded in 1962, we will feature songs from that year this week.

Buck Owens' highest charting song that year was Kickin' Our Hearts Around.

So here's some Buck & Wynn from 1962.

Mexican prez slams death of migrant at US border

President Felipe Calderon said Monday that the death of a Mexican migrant after being shot with a stun gun by a U.S. immigration officer was an unacceptable human rights violation. Migrant Anastasio Hernandez was shocked by a Customs and Border Protection agent May 31 at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. A U.S. coroner has ruled the death a homicide. Calderon said he wanted to repeat Mexico's "energetic protest of the torture and death of Anastasio Hernandez, a Mexico who died at the hands of North American migration authorities." He later added that authorities would have to clarify whether the death involved torture or took place while bringing Hernandez under submission. "But a death with that degree of violence is a truly unacceptable violation," Calderon said. "We need to raise all our voices, not only for Mexico but for human rights, because the cause of migrants is a cause that affects us all."...more

Mexico mass grave in abandoned mine has 55 bodies

Mexican police say 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs. Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May. The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said. Earlier reports that 77 bodies had been recovered were mistaken, officials said. Only six have so far been identified - one was the director of a local prison. Guerrero state is a focal point for drug-related violence that has claimed more than 22,000 lives in Mexico since 2006. Police are now checking other mineshafts in the area to see if bodies have also been dumped there...more