The Progressive Rancher - July/August 2022 by The Progressive Rancher

IN THIS ISSUE

VIEW ADDITIONAL ARTICLES AT

3 NCA President's Perspective 4 NCA Roundup 2022 Scholarship Recipients 6 NBC Checkoff News 7 NBC Beef Recipe 8 Let's Talk Ag (Editorial): Impacts of Wind on NV Ag 9 California Cattle Council Message from Exec. Director 10 Eye on the Outside 11 In Memorandum: Pete Crystal & Tim Gallagher 12 SRM: Mechanical Treatment of Degraded Shrub Areas 16 NFB: Water on the Agenda 17 NFB: Discussion Meet Prep & Trade School Scholarship 18 NFB: Grassroots Newsletter 20 ProPublica | August 2020 article: California Burning 24 Elko CattleWomen Awards 25 Wells FFA Update

26 UNR Extension Completes Director Search 26 UNR | Off-Season Cattle Grazing Helps Control Fires 27 UNR | Nevada Volunteer Linda Zimmerman Honored 28 UNR Names Dr. Eric Jones as Dean of College of Engineering 28 UNR Ext | "Gold Standard" Commitment to Animals 29 Budd-Falen Law Editorial 29 Churchill County Farm Bureau Teacher Training Class 31 Rafter 3C Arena News 33 BLM Update | Kathryn Dryer 35 CNRWA Update 36 Public Lands Council | The Daily Roundup 37 Successful Hope Roundup Fundraiser for Sierra Sage 38 Ranch Dogs - A. Blackstock 39 Cowbelles Recipe

www.progressiverancher.com Visit our website to download the 2022 Nevada FFA Convention Awards Booklet and for links to photos from the event! CLIMATE LINK INFORMATION Nevada Drought Monitor droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/ StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NV Walker River Basin Hydro Mapper webapps.usgs.gov/walkerbasinhydromapper/#home NOAA National Center for Environmental Information Drought ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/drought/202007

Owner/Editor/Publisher – Leana Litten Carey progressiverancher@gmail.com Graphic Design/Layout | athena@athenart.com

Cover photo of bronc rider Kade Bruno by Fernando Sam-Sin Photography. Photo taken at the Rafter C3 during the Battle Born Broncs on June 15, 2022. Story on the Calcutta in next issue.

Published 8 times a year. View all issues at www.progressiverancher.com Readership reaches more than 30,000. The views and opinions expressed by writers of articles appearing in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor. Letters of opinion are welcome; submit via email. Advertising rates available upon request. Advertising does not imply editorial endorsement. Liability for errors or omissions in advertisements shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by the error or omission.

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2 JULY/AUGUST 2022

The Progressive Rancher

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president ' s perspective I love a good western show. I usually don’t mind a bad western show. The most watched show on cable TV is Yellowstone, are you a fan? I confess it’s the trainwreck I can’t not watch. I’ve been asked repeatedly by urban friends if that’s how it is out on the ranch, and my favorite reply is, “Absolutely!” Especially the notion that everybody on ranches and reservations is exceptionally attractive. Not all of us are fans for sure; there are those of us who believe shows like that make a mockery of our culture. It’s completely understandable, interesting to me though that some of the biggest detractors of a show like Yellowstone for the misinterpretation of our way of life also don’t get why the Washington Football Team changed their name.

We can debate P.T. Barnum’s notion that “There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” but one thing is for sure, a discussion with our beef and ecosystem services customers about a show like Yellowstone is a great foot in the door for the discussion about what’s really going on out here, and how their food is raised. I hope you’ll take every opportunity to do just that and rest assured the leadership of your Association absolutely is. Oh and our train station in Elko is a pretty scary place, too.

Jon Griggs

Jon Griggs | President, NCA

Special Feeder Sales

July 12, 2022

We will be taking livestock donations on July 12 to help with medical expenses for Jay Black.

August 9, 2022 Sept 13, 2022 For info about our Team Roping, please visit FallonLivestock.com

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JULY/AUGUST 2022

by Martin Paris | NCA Executive Director | O: 775-738-9214

2022 Scholarship Recipients On behalf of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association (NCA), we are pleased to announce two scholarship recipients this year. The NCA would like to congratulate Mackie Griggs of Elko, NV for being selected as the 2022 Marvel-Andrae Scholarship recipient and Madison Borkman of Spring Creek, NV for being selected as the 2022 NCA Scholarship recipient. The NCA has annually awarded a scholarship to a first-year college student beginning to pursue an education within the agricultural industry. This award is open to all Nevada high school graduating seniors planning to attend a junior or four-year university and majoring in an agricultural related field. The NCA also awards a second scholarship, the Marvel/ Andrae Scholarship, which is targeted toward students either going into their first year of college or already enrolled in college and working towards a degree in agriculture economics, agriculture business, or the animal/meat science fields. This year we would also like to recognize Agri Beef Co. for an additional $50,000 donation to our Marvel-Andrae Scholarship fund. The NCA greatly appreciates our partnership with Agri Beef and thank them for their continued support of students pursuing careers in agriculture. Both scholarships are awarded to exceptional students who work hard, excel academically, and work to represent agriculture in a positive way. We thank all the students that applied for these scholarships and are confident that they will all be strong future advocates for our ranching and farming communities.

Mackie is currently attending the University of Idaho and is majoring in Animal and Veterinary Science Production and minoring in Rangeland Management and Ecology. Mackie has made the Dean’s list each all five semesters of her college career. She is a member of the Block and Bridle Club, Student Idaho Cattle Association, the Communications Chair for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Affairs Council, and the President of Operations for the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women. She plans to pursue a career that relates to the beef industry and eventually follow in her father’s footsteps by someday managing the Maggie Creek Ranch where she grew up. Madison recently graduated from Spring Creek High School and will be attending Ranger College later this fall in Texas to pursue an associate degree in Agriculture Business/Finance. She has been actively engaged in several organizations throughout her high school career including FFA, the Nevada State High School Rodeo Association, and 4-H. After completing her associate degree, Madison plans to transfer to a 4-year university to earn her bachelor’s degree and hopes to pursue a career in agricultural loan lending. Congratulations again to Mackie and Madison. We wish them good luck on their future endeavors! We are very proud of them and are confident that they will continue to serve the industry well. We look forward to all that they will accomplish.

BECOME A VALUED MEMBER OF NCA TODAY! The Nevada Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) would like to invite you to join with your fellow beef industry supporters/cattle producers and become a member of NCA. For more information, please visit: www.nevadacattlemen.org/membership

“Over the past 75 plus years, NCA has become a leading representative for all of rural Nevada. We work on issues such as wildfire, endangered species, rural health care, and drought relief efforts. Our objective is to protect the agricultural industry of rural Nevada.” “As rural representation continues to decrease, it is my goal to keep NCA as the strong voice of rural Nevada. The multitude of issues that arise must be dealt with on local, state, and federal levels. I pledge to continue to work on all issues, at all levels, for all of rural Nevada.” - JJ Goicoechea, DVM Past NCA President

4 JULY/AUGUST 2022

Mackie Griggs, 2022 Marvel/Andrae Scholarship Recipient As part of the NCA Scholarship application process, applicants are required to write an essay on any topic within the beef industry. Please visit our website at nevadacattlemen.org to read all the winning essays.

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Cattlemen vs. Meat Packers

Winning Essay By Madison Borkman

In the world today, our fellow Cattlemen are facing a great problem. That issue is the difference in profit that they make off their beef versus the amount that the meat packers make. To simply break that down; the ranchers are receiving a small profit for their well grown beef, and the packing companies are selling it to consumers at a skyrocketing price.

during the same three months in 2020, and inflation-adjusted retail beef prices rose 5.9%”. In my opinion, if the high beef prices continue, people will only buy small amounts of beef, if any. Therefore, producers will eventually discontinue the growth of beef. So, some day consumers may have a hard time even finding beef in stores.

Mary Hennigan writes in an article for The Counter, “According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gap between the retail price for beef and the price producers receive is the largest it’s ever been.” The longer this issue continues, the harder it will be for ranchers to keep raising beef. Consumers will struggle to find beef in stores, and if they do find it, they’ll be paying an outrageous price for it.

For more information, I spoke with a friend of mine who raises beef and has experienced this firsthand. He states, “There is not enough room in slaughterhouses to accompany the beef that’s produced. So we have a hard time getting any money for our cows. We end up spending more on them than we make. Now that beef is so expensive in the stores, people aren’t buying as much. This causes overproduction in the industry.” (Roderick)

To put this all into perspective, the major beef packing companies have had an increase in profit of anywhere between 34% and 66% from 2010 to 2020. On the other hand, ranchers have had a great decrease in profit by about 10%.

This problem is making it difficult for ranchers everywhere to continue producing beef. Consequently, these ranchers will have a big loss in income and will have to find a new way to make ends meet. It is sad to see the people around us going through these tough times which they cannot control. The packing companies truly have all of the control. They know that ranchers will take a very low amount for their beef just to get them sold.

You may be wondering, why is all of this happening? Some say that there’s not enough capacity or number of slaughterhouses to process the amount of beef that is produced. In order to try to solve this problem, “Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA would spend half a billion dollars to encourage building more meatpacking plants closer to producers” according to the Associated Press. Although this is a great step towards saving our farmers and the beef market, the process will take time. This long-awaited solution will only help some. More steps are needed to be taken in order to completely fix this issue. Another way that the Senate and the USDA are attempting to even the playing field is by making meat packers negotiate prices weekly. Typically, a formula contract is used by packers. The formula contract ensures that the packers will be taken care of, but farmers are made unaware of what they will be paid for their cattle. Therefore, this negotiation of prices is supposed to create higher bidding and more profit for the producer.

To conclude, beef producers are forced to take a low price for their cattle, while meat packers are making an outrageous amount of profit. The cost of beef in stores has risen tremendously, causing consumers to not purchase it. On the positive side of things, the USDA and others are taking steps to even things for the segments of the industry. Yet, this process will take a great amount of time to solve the problem. Works Cited

https://www.farmprogress.com/marketinQ/wi11-consumers-resist-high-beef-prices https://thccounter.org/consolidatcd-market-ranchces-meatpacking-covid-beef-usda/ https://inthesetimes.com/article/beef-prices-ranchers-meatpacking-companies-industry-consolidation https://www.beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_fighting_backbeef_producers

According to an article from Beef Magazine, “a band of Midwest feeders and ranchers have taken the radical step of buying a piece of the packing”. In addition to this, “USPB gained a stake in the packing industry through a joint venture with Farmland Industries. The agreement allows them to purchase up to half of Farmland’s National Beef Packing Co., the smallest of the Big Four packers.” This will allow the producers to have a leg in the packing industry. Vertical Integration has also been introduced in the industry of ranching, feeding, and meat packing. Vertical integration allows the different segments to work together on the problem of demand. The process is done under corporate management. Beef Magazine also states that “vertical integration is ‘from the bottom up’ ... That means producers control their own destiny through ownership”. Consumers are also affected by the beef market, but in different ways. Many think beef prices are so high because of the demand for it. This is not specifically true. Most do not know that the beef industry is actually experiencing an overproduction. Packing companies and slaughterhouses cannot keep up with the amount of beef that is produced. Expectedly, when beef prices are low, consumers purchase more. Yet, when they are high, they buy less. For example, an article from Farm Progress tells us that “The JulySeptember 2021 quarter saw 6.0% lower per capita beef consumption than www.progressiverancher.com

Madison Borkman, 2022 NCA Scholarship Recipient

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2022

Western States Campaign By Makenzie Neves, Manager of Producer Education & Engagement

If you’re looking to sell a farm or ranch, give me call! Winter and Summer Range plus 500+ acres of Irrigated lands

With summer heating up, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) on behalf of the national Beef Checkoff, is kicking off the Western States Regional Campaign. The goal of this campaign is to inspire consumers in the Western U.S. to choose beef as the protein of choice for their outdoor grilling meals. The campaign will include video ads on YouTube that feature beef ’s new spokesperson, Tony Romo, Google paid search digital ads, and summer grilling audio ads on Spotify. The video, digital, and audio ads will be targeted to consumers in Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and is funded by state beef councils from Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota, and Montana. Media spend will follow the relative consumer population of the seven states where ads will be targeted. This regional campaign will mirror the national summer grilling campaign flight, which will run the length of the summer, from June 6th through August 30th, in order to capitalize on the peak summer grilling season. Funding for this campaign helps to keep beef top-of-mind for Nevada consumers during the summer grilling months and allows the Nevada Beef Council (NBC) to extend state-level producer checkoff dollars into other promotions. One of the NBC’s values is to use beef checkoff dollars effectively and efficiently, and this campaign partnership does just that. That makes summer grilling a campaign producers can feel good about.

Bar O Ranch is for sale and has been expanded to 909+ deeded acres. Winter and Summer Range to run approx. 300 pair year around plus sell hay off approx. 500 acres of irrigated lands. There are 5 pivots 3 of which are brand new. 5 irrigation wells service the pivots plus a stream at the home ranch. The home ranch has 3 homes with 3 shops and a horse barn. Good corrals, a hay barn and some equipment included in the sale. Give me a call for more information. This one has great income potential!

Chicken Ranch South of Wells 3796 + Deeded acres fenced an cross fenced with a stock water well and water from a permitted spring. The ranch has an approved irrigation permit for 130 acres and 3 phase power is readily available. There is a 100 acre parcel zoned Industrial with Rail access and access onto US. Hwy 93. Price: $2,277,559

For additional information on these properties, go to: BOTTARIREALTY.COM

Paul D. Bottari, Broker Nevada License No. B 015476

paul@bottarirealty.com

1222 6th St. PO Box 368 Wells, NV 89835

Work: 775.752.3040 Cell: 775.752.0952 Fax: 775.752.3021

Fallon: 8-5:30 M-F Gardnerville: 8-5 M-F Snyders Pinenut Livestock Supply

800-513-4963 • www.pinenutlivestocksupply.com 6 JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Complete selection of animal health products, feed, and equipment for beef, dairy, equine, sheep, goat and small animal.

KOREAN BEEF & VEGETABLE BOWLS Simple never sounded so delicious! Use rice, Flank Steak, stir-fry vegetable mix and Korean barbecue sauce for a quick and easy meal. Ingredients • • • • • •

1 beef Flank Steak (about 1 pound) 1 cup uncooked rice 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided 1 package (16 ounces) frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable mix 1 cup Korean barbecue sauce marinade Courtesy of Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.

Preparation 1. Prepare rice according to package directions. Set aside; keep warm. 2. Meanwhile, cut beef Flank Steak lengthwise in half, then crosswise diagonally into 1/4-inch thick strips. Season steak with garlic salt. 3. Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add half of beef; stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until outside surface of beef is no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Repeat with 1 teaspoon sesame oil and remaining beef. Remove from skillet; keep warm. 4. Heat remaining sesame oil in same skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add broccoli stir-fry mix; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. 5. Return beef to skillet. Add rice and marinade. Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through and vegetables are crisp-tender. Serve in bowls.

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Did You Know? A common myth about protein is that a diet that is high in protein can have negative health effects, like kidney damage or bone loss. Eating a diet higher in protein can support a healthy metabolism and plays an important role in muscle maintenance and preventing chronic diseases. Research shows that eating 2530 grams of protein at each meal is an idea for optimal body benefits. Kori Dover, RD – Nevada Beef Council References: Phillips SM, et al. Protein “requirements” beyond the RDA: Implications for optimizing health. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2016;41:565-72.

www.nevadabeef.org www.mybeefcheckoff.org The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2022

Let’s Talk Ag Nevada is being impacted by wind like never before, and does it have an impact on our agricultural products? I am part of a climate team that has been working on the Native Waters on Arid Lands project for over seven years. This project works with American Indian tribes across the West and somewhat at a national level on climate issues. As I write this article, we just finished a workshop in Nevada at the Nevada Tribal Summit with tribal leaders and tribal agricultural producers. One of the big issues was the impact of wind on livestock and alfalfa operations.

There are those that don’t believe in climate change. I really don’t care to get into this argument, but what I do know, is that our temperatures are increasing, we face more extreme events each year, atmospheric river is becoming more normal, and now wind. Our water resources are also different.

I have noticed where I live that we just seem to get wind a lot earlier, and it seems to stay all winter. We have had to change some of our vaccinations for our cattle herd because of the constant wind and dust. The ranch’s alfalfa crops are producing differently. My

IMPACTS OF WIND ON NEVADA AGRICULTURE By Staci Emmn | Editorial

father had to stop cutting because of the strong winds for fear the hay windrows would not make it through an upcoming storm. This is combined with not raking hay until it is ready to be baled. Graphic one is preliminary data that was completed in our workshop for the Walker River reservation in western Nevada that documents wind over time.

Our climate scientist this week explained that the warmer temperatures have a direct correlation to our increased wind and the atmospheric rivers that are showing up in our weather patterns. We are seeing the extremes. If fact, Nevada climate right now, is the break between wetter than normal in the very north of the state, and extreme dry in the central and south part of the state. Our team expects another La Nina year, which means our current circumstances will continue.

We are and will be under extreme fire danger in the Sierra Nevada. We were told to expect fire this year, especially in and around the Sierra’s. This will add additional smoke to the area that we have seen in the last couple of years. The smoke also has a direct impact on livestock health and alfalfa production. Producers many have to change some of their strategies and management practices.

After our workshop was completed, I sat down with our team leader as we are in discussions to begin to expand this climate program beyond our Nevada tribes to specific farming and ranching areas of Nevada. We also are looking at expanding the program to include regenerative or now called “Climate-Smart” agriculture. We are in the process of selecting two different water basins in Nevada. Half of our climate team works at Desert Research Institute (DRI), and the other half of our team is at the University of Nevada, Reno. Overall, wind, and monitoring wind patterns, will become one of the updates to producers in addition to predicted fire, climate patterns (drought, atmospheric rivers), and pests. We have a few producers in Nevada already working with climate-smart agricultural practices. It will be interesting to me to begin the investigations into these practices and working with our economics and irrigations teams to discuss the pros and cons of climate-smart practices. Do climatesmart ag practices have an impact on soil moisture as we face more extreme wind? I believe we need to see if we can answer this question, and get more climate data out to our Nevada producers.

Graph 1. Preliminary Data of Wind Patterns over time on Walker River Reservation, Nevada

8 JULY/AUGUST 2022

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CURRENT INVESTMENT The Stories from California Cattle Country podcast released two episodes in May.

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR "The Council’s 'Resilience' campaign seeks to channel this trusted and well-respected attribute that represents you to transcend the gap between those that understand what needs to be done compared to the vast majority in this state that need to hear this message."

In the episode, “Air Superiority: Rounding Up Cattle with a Helicopter at Carver Bowen Ranch” podcast host Ryan, visits Carver Bowen Ranch, where he spoke with the ranch’s current Patriarch, Carver Bowen. A pilot in his younger days, Carver was an early adopter of using airpower for the purposes of moving cattle more efficiently. https://calcattlecouncil.org/new-podcast-episode-rounding-up-cattle-with-ahelicopter-at-carver-bowen-ranch/#

In Tulare County, “Talking Dairy Technology with Tyler Ribeiro at Rib Arrow Dairy” featured Cattle Council Board Member, Tyler Ribeiro talking In 2020, the California Cattle Council about technologies used to ensure cow Justin Oldfield (Council) launched the “Resilience” health and comfort. campaign which sought to communicate the resilient nature of ranchers and California cattle producers amidst drought, https://calcattlecouncil.org/new-podcastfluctuating markets, and the COVID pandemic. The campaign transitioned episode-talking-dairy-technology-withto promote a “Resilient California” (https://calresilient.com) and urge our tyler-ribeiro-at-rib-arrow-dairy/# leaders to implement actions immediately that will ensure our forest, range, and Get a behind-the-scenes look at the wildlands are fire resilient and healthy. podcast by following our Instagram In the spring of 2021 and again in the fall, the Council published radio, digital page @CalCattleCountry. To listen media, and social media advertisements that communicated the significant and learn about each episode visit the homepage of the California Cattle benefits of livestock grazing and prescribed fire to reduce fuels. Council website, calcattlecouncil.org As the start of fire season looms, the Council is poised to renew our “Resilience” campaign this month. Our leaders have provided new opportunities to expand This podcast is produced by the prescribed fire and other forest management tools across the landscape. We are California Cattlemen’s Foundation certainly moving in the right direction, but simply providing the money to do with support from the California this work is not enough. We must now ensure that money translates to treated Cattle Council. View all episodes here: acres on the ground. Tackling this problem remains one of the state’s greatest https://calcattlecouncil.org/stories-fromchallenges, and the Council stands ready through our public affairs efforts to california-cattle-country/ demonstrate that there is a will AND a way to systematically reduce the impact of catastrophic wildfire. The term resilience is defined as the “capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.” California ranchers and cattle producers embody this definition and demonstrate the ability to keep moving forward regardless of what challenges are thrust in our way. The Council’s “Resilience” campaign seeks to channel this trusted and well-respected attribute that represents you to transcend the gap between those that understand what needs to be done compared to the vast majority in this state that need to hear this message.

Cattle Council Board Member, Sheila Bowen, at a Round-Up at Carver Bowen Ranch.

Cattle Council Board Member, Tyler Ribeiro, and his dog Chopper give a tour of Rib Arrow Dairy in Tulare.

Please stay tuned to the Council’s social media pages and calcattlecouncil.org to follow the progress of the “Resilience” campaign this summer. The California Cattle Council (Council) is seeking proposals from local or regional agricultural associations, researchers, and individuals to conduct projects that are in line with the Council’s strategic priorities but benefit beef and dairy cattle producers at a local level. Issues addressed should seek to promote live cattle production or provide solutions to policy challenges that impact ranching or dairy farming in California. For more information, visit calcattlecouncil.org www.progressiverancher.com

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2022

Optimism & Enthusiasm I recently attended the 150th anniversary meeting of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. I have made some good friends in Wyoming over the years. I was glad to see them, reacquaint myself with others and meet some new folks whom I am sure will become friends as time goes on. I was struck by the optimism I encountered and the enthusiasm for the industry. Wyoming has had its share of drought and other severe weather lately. Market conditions are possibly better than in recent years but with inflation increasing the cost inputs in any business plus fuel and commodity prices on the uptick, the livestock business is ripe for pessimism and anxiousness. However, as I said, these Wyoming ranchers were in a generally positive mood. I am sure this anniversary of such longevity had something to do with their attitude. Why wouldn’t it? What was the cattle “business like 150 years ago? In 1872 the civil war had been over for only seven years. The great cattle drives from Texas to Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana had just begun. Many veterans of the newly fought war participated in those drives to rail heads and greener

The great cattle drives to railheads hundreds of miles away became a thing of the distant past while it is true that cattle were driven, and sheep were herded smaller distances. And, thankfully for those in the business, organized law enforcement became routine and there was less rustling of cattle. However, we all know theft of livestock is still a problem because the vast open spaces have not been reduced and are still needed to In the upper midwest and mountain west there were raise livestock in the west. millions of acres of some of the finest grasslands in the world. Bison were being hunted almost to extinction As the above paragraphs convey, the 1872 livestock and pushed into smaller and smaller areas while sheep industry looked nothing like the 1900 industry and cattle raisers moved livestock onto the old wildlife because of the barbed wire, railroads, and a more ranges. Of course, this also meant Native Americans organized enforcement of brand laws and range use. who relied on the wildlife for their survival were also That changed look back can most assuredly apply to today. What about the cattle industry today is similar pushed further and further to less desirable smaller to yesterday? areas and government established reservations. Cattle in Wyoming, Nevada and other places on big The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. range ranches are still worked using horses but with Barbed wire was first commercially produced in variations on the past practices such as trailering to Wisconsin in 1874. Wyoming became a state in 1890. work rather than long trots. The use of four-wheel drive Contemporaneous with some of these events, the trucks and ATVs have sped up activities. I remember Wyoming Stockgrowers Association was founded in changing water or fixing fence by horseback. Nowadays 1872, 150 years ago. ATVs are extensively used for these chores. pastures. The beginnings of a national market for beef were being felt in the growing markets in big cities like Chicago, Saint Louis, and New York City. The cattle that had been trailed to rail heads then traveled to these midwestern and eastern cities by rail where there were processing plants to accommodate the increased demand for beef by a war-weary nation.

The Wyoming Association was the second of its kind to be formed just a couple of years after Colorado. The reason the Association was created was for ranchers to become more organized against cattle rustling on the wide-open grass ranges of Eastern Wyoming. The Association established a brand registration and hired inspectors to make sure the big roundups they organized attributed ownership of cattle and sheep to the correct ranch. These inspectors were also deputized to arrest thieves and cattle rustlers.

Marketing by satellite auction and incorporating value-added practices like Certified Angus Beef, Vac 45, feedlots, and all-natural beef are just part of the bigger cattle industry picture. And, it almost goes without saying little of the industry today looks like the industry of a hundred or 150 years ago.

Change is always a part of the livestock industry. It is how we meet the challenges of that change that ensures we have a sustainable, productive, and profitable future. There is no doubt, as evidenced by the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association experience, that ranchers are hardwired to meet change head on and adapt. What we may have facing us around the corner remains to be Over the last 150 years the Wyoming seen. But there will be an industry different than that Stockgrowers Association has been which we see today. recognized as an integral part of the history Thanks to the optimism and enthusiasm I experienced of the territory and state of Wyoming. in Cheyenne a couple of weeks ago, I feel better about Over the three decades after the where we are going even though I cannot quite see Association was founded brand how to get there yet. Keep up the great work of feeding inspections, barbed wire and rail roads a nation and the world and raising the finest, safest, built into every isolated area of the west and most nutritious protein on the planet. changed the livestock business remarkably. I’ll see you soon. No longer were the ranges open for everyone with a saddle horse and a cow. 10 JULY/AUGUST 2022

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In Memorandum

Merlin “Pete” Crystal

Tim Gallagher

On Saturday, April 2, 2022, Merlin “Pete” Crystal packed his saddlebags one last time and headed off to those greener pastures he had spoken about. He was surrounded by his family at home. He was 91.

Tim Gallagher passed away at Renown Hospital on April 30, 2022, at the age of 72. Tim was born December 23, 1949 in Pasadena, California on to Thomas L. and Imogene Cashbaugh Gallagher. He grew up in Fallon, was active in 4-H and FFA, and was a Nevada State FFA Vice President. Tim graduated from Churchill County High School in 1969. He attended California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, graduating with a B.S. Degree in Agriculture. After college, Tim returned to Fallon and worked with his father, Tom, at Gallagher Livestock Auction Yard. After each lot of livestock was sold, the auctioneer would proclaim “Let ’Em Go” to clear the arena, and this quickly became the slogan of the family business. Tim was a member of the Churchill County Volunteer Fire Dept., Fallon ambulance crew, Nevada Farm Bureau, Nevada and California Cattleman’s Association, Elks Club, and Los Rancheros Visitadores in Santa Ynez Valley. He married the love of his life, Debbie Beck, in Fallon on May 11, 1997. They were proud to carry on the ranching legacy residing in their historic Harmon House, which had been built in 1906. Tim and Debbie raised alfalfa and cattle. In 2005, Tim retired from active participation in the Auction Yard and purchased a Sea Ray 42-foot boat. Tim and Debbie kept the boat at the Sacramento Delta, where they enjoyed entertaining friends and family with barbeques and boat trips. They loved mini-vacations on the waterways. They enjoyed fishing and dinner with friends using a Boston Whaler. Tim is survived by his loving wife, Debbie Beck Gallagher; his sister, Cyndia A. Gallagher; stepsons Jason Bermingham, Dustin Bermingham, Larry (Tami) Boyce, and Donald ( Jennifer) Boyce; grandchildren Luke Boyce, Sydney Tyler, and Alex Boyce; and cousins Jim Cashbaugh and Alonna (Gary) Giacomini. Donations may be made in Tim’s memory to Churchill County FFA of Churchill County High School.

Pete was born on Christmas Day, 1930 in Kamas, Utah. Back then it took three days to reach the recorder’s office, so his license shows his birth as December 28. He attended school in Kamas, Utah, and in 1948 joined the Navy where he was a Seaman First Class working with the Seabees running heavy equipment on Saipan Island near Guam. Pete was honorable discharged in 1952 when he moved to Fallon. He worked for various cattle ranches in the valley and eventually went to work for the Nevada Department of Transportation Fallon crew where he spent 28 years until his retirement in 1995. Pete loved his mules and the ladies, both of which he always called “Sweetheart.” Anyone who ever crossed paths with Pete took an instant liking to him.

Pete is proceeded in death by his father Herman Crystal, mother Reva Gines, brother Chris Crystal, sister Audrey Godfrey, sister Betty Johnson, granddaughter Alyssa Garcia, great-granddaughter Iris White Eagle Rivers.

He is survived by his brothers Arzy Crystal, Arnold Crystal, Jimmy and Janice Crystal, sister Maxeen Long, all of Kamas, Utah; sons Peter Crystal of Vernona, Oregon, Shawn and Victoria Crystal of Fallon, and Robert Crystal; grandchildren Petey and Levi Crystal, Ashlee and Dominic Szlavich all of Oregon; Tyler, Jesse, and Colt Crystal all of Fallon, Tyler and Kimber (Brown ) Liedke of Fernley, David and Donna Brown of Fernley; Robert Brown of Reno; Maverick Boney of Dayton; Great-grandchildren Noah Sarabia of Pyramid Lake, Eva Rivers of Wadsworth, Colby Brown of Fernley, Emma Brown of Fallon, Aiyanna Brown of Winnemucca, and Lydia Brown of Iowa, along with numerous nieces and nephews. www.progressiverancher.com

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JULY/AUGUST 2022

Mechanical Treatment of Degraded Shrub Communities to Improve Grazing Resources By Charlie D. Clements and Dan N. Harmon Grazing resources are often limited due to older more decadent shrub communities that use up valuable and limited resources at the expense of perennial herbaceous species that provide sustainable grazing resources.

Traditional range improvement practices that include mechanical and chemical control of old, decadent, dense stands of shrubs can be beneficial in improving stand densities of perennial herbaceous species. Heavy duty implements designed and built for manipulating rangeland vegetation and soils have been around for many decades.

In the 1950’s, the early development of the Rangeland Drill resulted in the effective seeding of hundreds of thousands of acres of big sagebrush rangelands to increase perennial grasses in an effort to curb erosion, reduce the spread of the noxious weed Halogeton and increase the forage base for the livestock industry. Rangeland plows, dixie harrows, chaining, brush hogs as well as other pieces of equipment have played an important role in brush control efforts in rangeland improvement efforts.

The Lawson Aerator is one of the newer implements to enter the scene of rangeland improvement projects. Although the Lawson Aerator was originally designed as a pasture renovator in southern states to combat woody species invasion, this implement became more popular in brush control in western states. The Lawson Aerator is often preferred by resource managers as this implement is noted for killing older sagebrush plants while leaving younger sagebrush plants, results in less soil disturbance, is more aesthetically pleasing following treatments while improving stand age and favorable herbaceous response. The Lawson Aerator has significant weight distributed over 2 tandem drums that are typically 12’ x 3’ diameter with an option of adding liquid to the drums for additional weight. The drums display angled, protruding and spaced 8” x 4” x 1” steel plates with sharpened ends for effective chopping of woody material and penetration into soils for aeration. The variable pitch between the bladed drums can be adjusted to reduce or increase the impact to vegetation while aerators equipped with rubber tires improve transportation (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Lawson Aerator with off-setting tandem drums and protruding steel plates can effectively chop and crush heavy brush.

Tractors with horsepower ratings of 120-350 are preferred as well as tractors with tracks. The Lawson Aerator is less effective in rocky habitats, experiences poor results in seeding forbs in treated habitats and often requires re-treatments to maintain desired shrub densities as greeseweood can resprout following treatment and species such as rabbitbrush can quickly re-invade the treated site. Prior to any treatment on rangelands, resource managers and land owners must understand the risks in disturbing rangelands to limit unintended consequences such as promoting invasive or noxious weeds such as cheatgrass or medusahead. Here we report on two separate experiences using the Lawson Aerator on degraded shrub habitats in an effort to improve grazing resources.

CASE STUDY 1: FLYING M RANCH

In the fall of 201, we treated approximately 80 acres of old, decadent Basin big sagebrush (Fig. 2) followed up with seeding of numerous species which included; Siberian wheatgrass, Great Basin wildrye, Indian ricegrass, sweet clover, flax, bee plant, dry land alfalfa and ‘Immigrant’ forage kochia. The site was dominated with an overstory of Basin big sagebrush with a very sparse understory of Indian ricegrass. The soils are a sandy loam and the site averages approximately 7.3” of annual precipitation. Thirty 3 ft² quadrats were randomly placed to record seedling emergence and establishment. Quadrats were read monthly from April through September for two years. Initial emergence of seeded species averaged 2.7/ft², far below our goal of 12/ft². These seedling density numbers only decrease over time, therefor to meet the establishment goal of 1 plant/ft², a starting density of less than 3/ft² usually results in failure over the hot summer months.

The site received 6.4” of precipitation from October 2013 through September 2014, the seedling year. By September 2014, seeded species densities had significantly decreased to 0.18/ft², and was followed up with 8.6” of precipitation during the second year growing season. By September 2015, seeded species 12 JULY/AUGUST 2022

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establishment was recorded at 0.12/ft², which is a little more than 1 seeded plant/m², far below the initial goal of 1 established plant/ft² or 10/m². Even though the seeded species did not perform well, the site did experience an increase in creeping grasses such as juncus and creeping rye as well as improving edge effect and stand age vigor of shrubs which attracted numerous wildlife species, including mule deer (Fig. 3). There was an increase in livestock use, but this was minor and far below our goals.

Case Study 2: Buffalo Ranch

Figure 2. Flying M Ranch treated and untreated habitat June 2014.

In the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, approximately 900 acres of degraded Great Basin wildryre habitat dominated by old, decadent Basin big sagebrush and greasewood was treated with the Lawson Aerator and seeded at the same time (Fig. 4).

The site was seeded with Great Basin wildrye, tall wheatgrass, Siberian wheatgrass and saltbush. The site was dominated with an overstory of Basin big sagebrush and greasewood intertwined across the habitat with a decent understory of Great Basin wildrye and a sparse density of saltgrass. The soils are a silty loam alkaline with an average annual precipitation of 8.3”. Eight 2-acre plots were step up in a cardinal direction to measure the impact/ benefit of manipulating this degraded/decadent community to release remnant perennial herbaceous species and improve grazing resources. Each treated and untreated plot was measured using a randomized 10ft² quadrats that recorded density and weight of herbaceous species. Figure 3. The invasion of rabbitbrush at the Flying M Ranch in the Lawson Aerator treated habitat, May 2022.

Quadrats were read monthly from April through September for two years and clipping of herbaceous species took place in September of the second year. The mechanical treatment of this decadent/ degraded shrub community resulted in an increase of 675% in density from 0.11 plants/ft² (1.2/m²) in untreated plots to 0.75/ft² (8.1/m²) in treated plots. Forage production increased from 4,580 lbs/ ac (5,133 kg/ha) in the untreated plots to 49,511 lbs/ac (55,494 kg/ha) in the treated plots, a 1,080% increase (Fig. 5a & 5b, next page).

The site received 6.1” of precipitation from October 2019 through September 2020, which resulted in poor initial emergence of seeded species averaging 3.2/ft² in May of 2020 with an average establishment of 0.18/ft² by September 2021, where the site received 6.5” of precipitation during the second year.

Figure 4. The Lawson Aerator can be equipped with a seeder between the drums to accommodate brush control and seeding in one pass. The cultipacker aids in seed bed/ soil compaction for seeded species. www.progressiverancher.com

The Progressive Rancher

Even though each site has their own challenges and both sites experienced drought years during the first two years of seedling establishment, the importance of having remnant perennial species present to be JULY/AUGUST 2022

...continued from previous page

released following mechanical treatment with the Lawson Aerator is certainly an important factor in successfully improving grazing resources. Precipitation is always a driving force in successfully seeding degraded arid habitats, therefore, plant material testing over multiple years is needed to better understand exactly how different plant materials will perform in these arid environments and under different precipitation patterns and soil types. Also, seeded species along the edge of treated habitats may experience higher predation during the initial seedling phase as was recorded at the Flying M Ranch Site by the blacktailed jackrabbit, while at a lesser degree at the Buffalo Ranch site by cotton tail rabbits, pronghorn and mule deer.

Using the Lawson Aerator as a mechanical vegetation manipulation tool has significantly increased sustainable grazing resources, while at the same time improved edge affect, shrub stand age, vigor and wildlife use, including mule deer, pronghorn antelope and Hungarian partridge. When there is evidence that perennial grasses are present, such as Great Basin wildrye (Fig. 5a), it can be very beneficial to manipulate the shrub community and release remnant vegetation and improve stand vigor of shrubs, increase perennial grasses for grazing resources, and wildlife habitat. Land owners and resource managers should take a closer look at using this implement to improve degraded shrub habitats and improve herbaceous species composition.

Figure 5a. Buffalo Ranch habitat prior to Lawson Aerator Treatment August 2019. Notice the remnant Great Basin wildrye that plays a critical role in the positive outcome of this Project.

Figure 5b. Following mechanical treatment using the Lawson Aerator, the response of this community to this mechanical treatment increased grazing resources by over 1,000%, which is an enormous attribute to this ranching operation.

14 JULY/AUGUST 2022

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JULY/AUGUST 2022

Nevada Farm Bureau

Preparing For Another Legislative Session With Water On The Agenda By Doug Busselman | NFB, Executive Vice President The outcome of a couple of recent court decisions could be the basis for attention in Carson City when those elected to represent us meet for the 2023 Nevada Legislative session.

The first court decision came shortly after mid-April when Judge Bita Yeager of Nevada’s 8th District Court, determined that the State Engineer did not have the authority to base a decision on conjunctive management of water resources in the Lower White River Flow within a superbasin that he had created. This decision upended two concepts which formed the basis for the ruling of Order 1309 that the State Engineer issued June 15, 2020. Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 533.024 includes a section of state law which begins with the phrase that the Nevada Legislature declares the policy of the State of Nevada is… (and then goes on to make five statements of policy). The last statement, added in 2017, states that the policy of the state is “To manage conjunctively the appropriation, use and administration of all waters of this State, regardless of the source of the water.”

A policy statement made a couple of slots up from the final point states that it is the policy of the State of Nevada “To encourage the State Engineer to consider the best available science in rendering decisions concerning the available surface and underground sources of water in Nevada.”

These two policy statements were foundational in the State Engineer’s Order 1309 arriving at the conclusion that “the best available science” provided the ability of the State Engineer to combine seven individual groundwater basins into one total management area and then apply the administration of the waters in these combined groundwater basins as a package. Judge Yeager came to the conclusion that Nevada’s entire scope of state water law doesn’t provide for these two statements of Legislative intent don’t over-ride the prior appropriations doctrine. Her decision on the case indicated that the State Engineer doesn’t have the authority to establish a super basin by combining a group of ground water basins and then ignore the water right priorities in each of the separate basins in a mish-mash of all the basins combined into one unit. Judge Yeager’s decision stated – “Thus, under NRS 534.030, while the State Engineer can administer basins individually, the statute does not allow the State Engineer to combine basins for joint 16 JULY/AUGUST 2022

administration, nor do NRS 532.120, NRS 533.024, or NRS 534.110(6) confer express authority on the State Engineer to do so.”

The way in which the Legislative intent language on conjunctive management leaves the complete matter an open question on how to go about managing the appropriation, use and administration of all waters – regardless of the source. Judge Yeager noted that legislative intent does not constitute a grant of the authority to the State Engineer to make decisions that are believed to be established by law for water management. “In fact, there is no authority or guidance whatsoever in the statutes as to how to go about conjunctively managing water and water rights.” She wrote. While the decision made by Judge Yeager is heading to the Nevada Supreme Court, the manner in which the State Engineer has observed before interim legislative committees and the reaction from some legislators, there seems to be a strong indication that “clarification” of what Legislative intent means could take fashion in one or more proposed bills.

The other recent court case that could set the stage for additional legislative proposals came from the very recent decision made by the Nevada Supreme Court. In their majority opinion, the four justices, who agreed in their opinion stated, “Thus, it follows that the Legislature may create a regulatory scheme that modifies the use of water appropriated after 1913 in a manner inconsistent with the doctrine of prior appropriation.”

The majority opinion was written by Justice James Hardesty and concurred in by Justice Elissa Cadish, Justice Douglas Herndon and Justice Lilia Stiglich. There were two dissenting positions, one written by Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre and concurred with by Justice Abbi Silver. Justice Silver also concurred with Justice Kristinia Pickering who wrote the second dissenting position.

The context for this ruling came in regard to the State Engineer designating the Diamond Valley groundwater basin a Critical Management Area under the authority granted to him under NRS 534.110 (7) to deal with basins where “withdrawals of groundwater consistently exceed the perennial yield of the basin.” “If a basin has been designated as a critical management area for at least 10 consecutive years, except as otherwise The Progressive Rancher

provided in subsection 9, the State Engineer shall order that withdrawals, including, without limitation, withdrawals from domestic wells, be restricted in that basin to conform to priority rights, unless a groundwater management plan has been approved for the basin pursuant to NRS 534.037.” This section of NRS 534.110 (7) continues.

NRS 534.037 provides for water right owners in a basin designated as a Critical Management Area to develop and petition the State Engineer to accept a Groundwater Management Plan, which has been adopted by a majority of water right owners, seeking to reduce the excessive withdrawals of water from the basin.

In the case of the Diamond Valley basin, the Supreme Court ruling notes that the withdrawals of water each year from the basin is 76,000 acre-feet of water, whereas the perennial yield is only 30,000 acre-feet of water. On top of this, there are over 126,000 acrefeet of water rights that have been appropriated. It is further explained that if the prior appropriations doctrine were to be followed, all water rights that were approved after 1960 would be identified as junior water rights and subject to curtailment.

The Groundwater Management Plan for Diamond Valley was ruled against by the Seven District Court in Eureka because of the way in which the reduction of excessive water withdrawals also included priority water right owners, as well as junior water right owners. It isn’t certain whether the Nevada Legislature will consider possible changes to the sections of state law, which form the basis for the Supreme Court’s ruling? It also isn’t clear whether the prior appropriations doctrine is only able to be set on the shelf in the narrow construct of the designation of Critical Management Areas and then further when a Groundwater Management Plan has been constructed and approved like the Diamond Valley plan was dealt with? Major discussions and engagement by water right owners and advocates for sound water policy/law is essential for whatever might be a worthwhile result in 2023’s Legislative Session. Those conversations and consideration requires time and effort in an open forum for exchanges of points and views. The worse possible outcome would be the restrictive and limited approach taken by the 2021 Nevada Legislature, where participation was limited to virtual meetings and input came through two-minute statements offered by phone calls.

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Discussion Meet Prep Are you between the ages of 18 to 35 and want a chance to win a cash prize? We have a fun competition for you if the answer is yes. The Nevada Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Discussion Meet is taking place at the 103rd Annual Nevada Farm Bureau Meeting November 10th through the 12th. This year’s Annual Meeting will be held in Carson City, Nevada at the Casino Fandango. The Discussion Meet is a competitive event that simulates a committee meeting where discussion and active participation are expected from each participant. This competition is evaluated on an exchange of ideas and information on a pre-determined topic. Participants build basic discussion skills, develop a keen understanding of important agricultural issues, and explore how groups can pool knowledge to reach consensus and solve problems.

By Brittney Money | Director of Communications 4. Advancements in autonomous equipment and drone technology offer solutions to challenges farmers and ranchers have faced for years. How can Farm Bureau improve access to, and help farmers and ranchers deploy, these emerging technologies on their operations? 5. Many external influences are causing supply chain disruption for agricultural goods. How can Farm Bureau reduce the impact of external influences through policy development and programming? If the Discussion Meet sounds like something, you would be interested in the American Farm Bureau YF&R Committee host virtual training events to better prepare you for the competition.

Training Event Schedule:

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) YF&R released this year’s Discussion Meet questions. The following questions will be used at the Nevada Farm Bureau’s Annual Meeting. The winner of the Nevada Farm Bureau YF&R Discussion Meet will get the opportunity to compete at the AFBF 104th Annual Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rick this January.

Discussion Meet Competition Overview Tuesday, September 13, at 8 p.m. Eastern Registration Link: https://farmbureau.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tJwsd-mspzkoH91kqqvKxLkAzPuhLuZD0sEW

The five questions that will be randomly selected for the competition are:

Deep Dive Into The Discussion Meet Questions Tuesday, September 20, at 8 p.m. Eastern Registration Link: https://farmbureau.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tJcrcO6qqTgoGdRPsQfSYh2_ZS2tnayCU6YH

1. How can Farm Bureau effectively support and equip young farmers and ranchers to successfully manage economic and infrastructure challenges to ensure healthy and sustainable farms and ranches across the country? 2. Due to current economic demands, many farmers and ranchers spend a lot of time outside the “fence rows” on off-farm jobs. How can Farm Bureau become more accessible and welcoming to members who are working in related fields and juggling responsibilities on and off the farm? 3. Climate has become a major topic among business leaders, policymakers and consumers. As an industry that depends on the weather, what role do we as farmers and ranchers play in shaping climate initiatives to benefit society overall as well as our own farms and ranches?

Deep Dive Into The Discussion Meet Questions Thursday, October 6, at 8 p.m. Eastern Registration Link: https://farmbureau.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tJwsde6tqTkqEt0zvfIsPtE6i8ApXyjQ_GGM We would love your participation at this year’s YF&R Discussion Meet. For questions or more information, please contact Brittney Money at brittney@nvfb.org

Trade School Scholarship We have another great scholarship opportunity now accepting applications. The Trade School scholarship is awarded through the Nevada Heritage Foundation an organization that supports education of Nevada’s youth in agricultural related fields. The Trade School Scholarship is available to any student graduating from a Nevada high school and going into a trade to support agriculture or students already pursuing a trade to support agriculture. A successful candidate for the Trade School scholarship must be from a Nevada Farm Bureau member family. A completed application must be submitted for this scholarship and include a copy of your most recent transcript and two letters of recommendation. One $2,000 scholarship will be awarded. www.progressiverancher.com

Full application details and application form can be found on the Nevada Farm Bureau website at nvfb.org or by using the direct link Trade School Scholarship www.nvfb.org/articles/trade-school-scholarship-2/ Applications must be submitted by September 1, 2022 Email: Julie Wolf at wolfranch1nv@gmail.com Mail: Nevada Heritage Foundation Scholarship Committee C/O Nevada Farm Bureau | Nevada Heritage Foundation 2165 Green Vista Dr Suite 20 • Sparks, Nevada 89431 For more information, please call the Nevada Farm Bureau office at 775-674-4000

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JULY/AUGUST 2022

Grassroots Newsletter

Nevada Farm Bureau June 16th Joint Meeting Of Legislative Committees To Meet The interim legislative session meeting involving the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources and the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Health and Human Services are meeting together. This meeting will be held Thursday, June 16th, starting at 9 a.m. The meeting will be held in room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas and the room 4100 in the Legislative Building in Carson City. The agenda is here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/ InterimCommittee/REL/Interim2021/Meeting/24237

Following the lead of the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Nevada has adopted the National Emphasis Program (NEP) in a modified form to reflect local factors. Nevada’s OSHA is also in the process of adopting a set of regulations for the state, aimed at requiring duties on employers who have employees who are exposed to certain high temperatures.

On June 15th, Nevada’s OSHA are putting in motion the NEP. Based on communications from Nevada’s OSHA, they intend to “proactively initiate inspections in over 70 high-risk industries prescribed by Federal OSHA and additional industries identified by Nevada OSHA.” Agriculture in on the list of targeted industries, covering “Cattle ranching and farming” as well as “Support activities for crop production.” For good measure “Vegetable and melon farming” and “Fruit and tree nut farming” is on the list OSHA will be concentrating on.

Heat priority days are defined by the Nevada OSHA as days where the heat index is expected to be 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) or greater. On these “heat priority days” Nevada OSHA will be:

Nevada Supreme Court Upholds Diamond Valley Groundwater Management Plan In a split decision the majority of the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of approving the State Engineer’s Order 1302 for implementing the Groundwater Management Plan. The four-member majority, with Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty writing the opinion, indicated that they believe that because of the adopted legislation (NRS 534.110 (7)) the State Engineer is able to designate over-appropriated basin as a Critical Management Area and then under NRS 534.037 water right holders are authorized to consider and possibly approve a Groundwater Management Plan to replace the Critical Management Plan by bringing the basin back into balance of being over-appropriated. In doing this process, prior appropriated water rights are dealt with by requiring all water pumpers to reduce pumping and not only junior water right under the adjusted management approach. Drought Information Being Collected The continuation of drought conditions has caused the start of request for input on the latest developments and consequences, impacting farmers and ranchers. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has developed a new drought survey as part of their on-going monitoring approach. We strongly encourage you to participate in this survey project, which will not only be developing state-level information, but will also be accumulated into a regional over-view of drought conditions and impacts. Take the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/AFBFDroughtSurvey

The Nevada Regional Drought Impact Task Force is also collecting statelevel information and from the input of participating partners are able to prepare reports for the Governor as well as keeping other policy makers up-todate. A sample of the data they would like to have submitted is available here: https://tinyurl.com/NV-RDI-Report Along with feedback and input to these collection points, we hope that you will also keep Nevada Farm Bureau posted, letting us know of specific challenges in your area and whether you have thoughts/input for ways Nevada Farm Bureau will be able to assist in dealing with your situation.

Stay up-to-date weekly on current Ag News! Subscribe to the Grassroots Newsletter at www.nvfb.org 18 JULY/AUGUST 2022

June 15 Nevada’s Heat Illness Regulations Take Effect

• Initiating compliance assistance in the targeted high-risk industries

• Inspecting any alleged heat-related fatality/catastrophe, complaint or referral regardless of whether the worksite falls within a targeted industry • Engage in proactive outreach and technical/compliance assistance to help keep workers safe on the job

For those who are interested in being prepared for monitoring the signs of heat health problems and also knowing the actions to take, this graphic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be useful to print out and post. State Farm Bureaus Share Opposition To Mandatory Plans For Cattle Marketing State Farm Bureaus, including Nevada, have communicated in a group letter (https://tinyurl.com/SFB-Letter) their opposition to proposed Senate plans for a mandatory pricing system for cattle sales. The letter was sent to both of the two-parties leaders in the U.S. Senate (Senator Majority Leader Schumer and Senator Minority Leader McConnell) as well as the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Debbie Stabenow and ranking Senate Agriculture member, Senator John Boozman.

The letter opened, clearly noting that the state Farm Bureaus are “opposed to S. 4030, the Cattle Price Discovery, and Transparency Act (CPDTA), because it would create an onerous government mandate in the cattle market.” Continuing on the letter shared, “many studies and analyses from economists at renowned universities conclude a federal mandate in the market will cost cow-calf and stocker operators anywhere from $50-85 per head, if not more, on the price they receive for their cattle. It is clear the mandate is not the solution to higher cattle prices and profitability for farmers and ranchers.”

Beyond the markup of the legislation, Farm Bureau and other cattle industry supporters have been pushing back on S. 4030. Both Nevada’s two U.S. Senators have sent letters to their colleagues indicating their opposition to the concept of including mandatory government mandates. Farm Bureau Draws Attention To Burden Being Pursued By SEC The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has made it clear that plans by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) are out of line in pursuing their rule for requiring reports on stage 3 level data, supposedly measuring the carbon footprint of business transactions by farmers and ranchers in selling their output. www.fb.org/newsroom/proposed-sec-rule-requirements-nearly-impossible-for-family-farms

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UPCOMING SALES July 11 - 13 Silver Legacy • Reno, NV Selling 140,000 head!

August 15 - 16

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Check our website www.wvmcattle.com for consignment deadlines. WATCH & LISTEN TO THE SALE on the Web at:

For more information, please call

(530) 347-3793 or email us at wvm@wvmcattle.com Look for the catalog and video on www.wvmcattle.com

Market your cattle with the professionals!

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www.propublica.org/article/they-know-how-to-prevent-megafires-why-wont-anybody-listen

CALIFORNIA BURNING

They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?

A CalFire firefighter keeps an eye on a blaze in front of a home near Boulder Creek, California, on Aug. 19. (Nhat V. Meyer/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

August 28, 2020. What a week. Rough for all Californians. Exhausting for the firefighters on the front lines. Heart-shattering for those who lost homes and loved ones. But a special “Truman Show” kind of hell for the cadre of men and women who’ve not just watched California burn, fire ax in hand, for the past two or three or five decades, but who’ve also fully understood the fire policy that created the landscape that is now up in flames. “What’s it like?” Tim Ingalsbee repeated back to me, wearily, when I asked him what it was like to watch California this past week. In 1980, Ingalsbee started working as a wildland firefighter. In 1995, he earned a doctorate in environmental sociology. And in 2005, frustrated by the huge gap between what he was learning about fire management and seeing on the fire line, he started Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. Since then FUSEE has been lobbying Congress, and trying to educate anybody who will listen, about the misguided fire policy that is leading to the megafires we are seeing today. So what’s it like? “It’s just … well … it’s horrible. Horrible to see this happening when the science is so clear and has been clear for years. I suffer from Cassandra syndrome,” Ingalsbee said. “Every year I warn people: Disaster’s coming. We got to change. And no one listens. And then it happens.” The pattern is a form of insanity: We keep doing overzealous fire suppression across California landscapes where the fire poses little risk to people and structures. As a result, wildland fuels keep building up. At the same time, the climate grows hotter and drier. Then, boom: the inevitable. The wind blows down a power line, or lightning strikes dry grass, and an inferno ensues. This week we’ve seen both the second- and third-largest fires in California history. “The fire community, the progressives, are almost in a state of panic,” Ingalsbee said. There’s only one solution, the one we know yet still avoid. “We need to get good fire on the ground and whittle down some of that fuel load.” 20 JULY/AUGUST 2022

This is a story about frustration, about watching the West burn when you fully understand why it’s burning — and understand why it did not need to be this bad.

by Elizabeth Weil

Yes, there’s been talk across the U.S. Forest Service and California state agencies about doing more prescribed burns and managed burns. The point of that “good fire” would be to create a black-and-green checkerboard across the state. The black burned parcels would then provide a series of dampers and dead ends to keep the fire intensity lower when flames spark in hot, dry conditions, as they did this past week. But we’ve had far too little “good fire,” as the Cassandras call it. Too little purposeful, healthy fire. Too few acres intentionally burned or corralled by certified “burn bosses” (yes, that’s the official term in the California Resources Code) to keep communities safe in weeks like this. Academics believe that between 4.4 million and 11.8 million acres burned each year in prehistoric California. Between 1982 and 1998, California’s agency land managers burned, on average, about 30,000 acres a year. Between 1999 and 2017, that number dropped to an annual 13,000 acres. The state passed a few new laws in 2018 designed to facilitate more intentional burning. But few are optimistic this, alone, will lead to significant change. We live with a deathly backlog. In February 2020, Nature Sustainability published this terrifying conclusion: California would need to burn 20 million acres — an area about the size of Maine —to restabilize in terms of fire.

strategy. “Put the wet stuff on the red stuff,” Beasley summed up his assessment of the plan of attack by Cal Fire, the state’s behemoth “emergency response and resource protection” agency. Instead, Beasley believes, fire professionals should be considering ecology and picking their fights: letting fires that pose little risk burn through the stockpiles of fuels. Yet that’s not the mission. “They put fires out, full stop, end of story,” Beasley said of Cal Fire. “They like to keep it clean that way.” So it’s been a week. Carl Skinner, another Cassandra, who started firefighting in Lassen County in 1968 and who retired in 2014 after 42 years managing and researching fire for the U.S. Forest Service, sounded profoundly, existentially tired. “We’ve been talking about how this is where we were headed for decades.” “It’s painful,” said Craig Thomas, director of the Fire Restoration Group. He, too, has been having the fire Cassandra conversation for 30 years. He’s not that hopeful, unless there’s a power change. “Until different people own the calculator or say how the buttons get pushed, it’s going to stay that way.” A six-word California fire ecology primer: The state is in the hole.

Mike Beasley, deputy fire chief of Yosemite National Park from 2001 to 2009 and retired interagency fire chief for the Inyo National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management’s Bishop Field Office, was in a better mood than Ingalsbee when I reached him, but only because as a part-time Arkansan, part-time Californian and Oregonian, Beasley seems to find life more absurd. How does California look this week? He let out a throaty laugh. “It looks complicated,” he said. “And I think you know what I mean by that.”

A seventy-word primer: We dug ourselves into a deep, dangerous fuel imbalance due to one simple fact. We live in a Mediterranean climate that’s designed to burn, and we’ve prevented it from burning anywhere close to enough for well over a hundred years. Now climate change has made it hotter and drier than ever before, and the fire we’ve been forestalling is going to happen, fast, whether we plan for it or not. Megafires, like the ones that have ripped this week through 1 million acres (so far), will continue to erupt until we’ve flared off our stockpiled fuels. No way around that.

Beasley earned what he called his “red card,” or wildland firefighter qualification, in 1984. To him, California, today, resembles a rookie pyro Armageddon, its scorched battlefields studded with soldiers wielding fancy tools, executing foolhardy

When I reached Malcolm North, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service who is based in Mammoth, California, and asked if there was any meaningful scientiﬁc dissent to the idea that we need to do more controlled burning, he said, “None that I know of.”

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How did we get here? Culture, greed, liability laws and good intentions gone awry. There are just so many reasons not to pick up the drip torch and start a prescribed burn even though it’s the safe, smart thing to do. The overarching reason is culture. In 1905, the U.S. Forest Service was created with a military mindset. Not long after, renowned American philosopher William James wrote in his essay “The Moral Equivalent of War” that Americans should redirect their combative impulses away from their fellow humans and onto “Nature.” The war-on-fire mentality found especially fertile ground in California, a state that had emerged from the genocide and cultural destruction of tribes who understood fire and relied on its benefits to tend their land. That state then repopulated itself in the Gold Rush with extraction enthusiasts, and a little more than half a century later, it suffered a truly devastating fire. Three-thousand people died, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and attendant fires. The overwhelming majority of the destruction came from the flames, not the quake. Small wonder California’s fire ethos has much more in common with a field surgeon wielding a bone saw than a preventive medicine specialist with a tray full of vaccines. More quantitatively — and related — fire suppression in California is big business, with impressive yearover-year growth. Before 1999, Cal Fire never spent more than $100 million a year. In 2007-08, it spent $524 million. In 2017-18, $773 million. Could this be Cal Fire’s first $1 billion season? Too early to tell, but don’t count it out. On top of all the state money, federal disaster funds flow down from “the big bank in the sky,” said Ingalsbee. Studies have shown that over a quarter of U.S. Forest Service fire suppression spending goes to aviation — planes and helicopters used to put out fire. A lot of the “air show,” as he calls it, happens not on small fires in the morning, when retardant drops from planes are most effective, but on large fires in the afternoon. But Mike Beasley

(Courtesy Mike Beasley)

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nevermind. You can now call in a 747 to drop 19,200 gallons of retardant. Or a purpose-designed Lockheed Martin FireHerc, a cousin of the C-130. How cool is that? Still only 30% of retardant is dropped within 2,000 yards of a neighborhood, meaning that it stands little chance of saving a life or home. Instead the airdrop serves, at great expense, to save trees in the wilderness, where burning, not suppression, might well do more good. This whole system is exacerbated by the fact that it’s not just contracts for privately owned aircraft. Much of the fire-suppression apparatus — the crews themselves, the infrastructure that supports them — is contracted out to private firms. “The Halliburton model from the Middle East is kind of in effect for all the infrastructure that comes into fire camps,” Beasley said, referencing the Iraq war. “The catering, the trucks that you can sleep in that are air-conditioned…” Cal Fire pays firefighters well, very well. (And perversely well compared with the thousands of California Department of Corrections inmates who serve on fire crews, which is very much a different story.) As the California Policy Center reported in 2017, “The median compensation package —including base pay, special pay, overtime and benefits — for full time Cal Fire firefighters of all categories is more than $148,000 a year.” The paydays can turn incentives upside down. “Every five, 10, 15 years, we’ll see an event where a firefighter who wants [to earn] overtime starts a fire,” said Crystal Kolden, a self-described “pyrogeographer” and assistant professor of fire science in the Management of Complex Systems Department at the University of California, Merced. (She first picked up a drip torch in 1999 when working for the U.S. Forest Service and got hooked.) “And it sort of gets painted as, ‘Well, this person is just completely nuts.’ And, you know, they maybe are.” But the financial incentives are real. “It’s very lucrative for a certain population of contractors.” By comparison, planning a prescribed burn is cumbersome. A wildfire is categorized as an emergency, meaning firefighters pull down hazard pay and can drive a bulldozer into a protected wilderness area where regulations typically prohibit mountain bikes. Planned burns are human-made events and as such need to follow all environmental compliance rules. That includes the Clean Air Act, which limits the emission of PM 2.5, or fine particulate matter, from humancaused events. In California, those rules are enforced by CARB, the state’s mighty air resources board, and its local affiliates. “I’ve talked to many prescribed fire managers, particularly in the Sierra Nevada over the years, who’ve told me, ‘Yeah, we’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars to get all geared up to do a prescribed burn,’ and then they get shut down.” Maybe there’s too much smog that day from agricultural emissions in the Central Valley, or even too many locals complain that they don’t like smoke. Reforms after the epic 2017 and 2018 fire seasons led to some loosening of the CARB/prescribed fire rules, but we still have a long way to go. The Progressive Rancher

Carl Skinner

(Courtesy Carl Skinner )

“One thing to keep in mind is that air-quality impacts from prescribed burning are minuscule compared to what you’re experiencing right now,” said Matthew Hurteau, associate professor of biology at University of New Mexico and director of the Earth Systems Ecology Lab, which looks at how climate change will impact forest systems. With prescribed burns, people can plan ahead: get out of town, install a HEPA filter in their house, make a rational plan to live with smoke. Historical accounts of California summers describe months of smoky skies, but as a feature of the landscape, not a bug. Beasley and others argue we need to rethink our ideas of what a healthy California looks like. “We’re used to seeing a thick wall of even-aged trees,” he told me, “and those forests are just as much a relic of fire exclusion as our clear skies.” In the Southeast which burns more than twice as many acres as California each year — fire is defined as a public good. Burn bosses in California can more easily be held liable than their peers in some other states if the wind comes up and their burn goes awry. At the same time, California burn bosses typically suffer no consequences for deciding not to light. No promotion will be missed, no red flags rise. “There’s always extra political risk to a fire going bad,” Beasley said. “So whenever anything comes up, people say, OK, that’s it. We’re gonna put all the fires out.” For over a month this spring, the U.S. Forest Service canceled all prescribed burns in California, and training for burn bosses, because of COVID-19. I asked Beasley why he ignited his burns anyway when he was Yosemite fire chief. “I’m single! I’m not married! I have no kids. Probably a submarine captain is the best person for the job.” Then he stopped joking. “I was a risk taker to some degree. But I also was a believer in science.” On Aug. 12, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the U.S. Forest Service chief and others signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, that the state needs to burn more. “The health and wellbeing of California communities and ecosystems depend on

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urgent and effective forest and rangeland stewardship to restore resilient and diverse ecosystems,” the MOU states. The document includes a mea culpa: “California’s forests naturally adapted to low-intensity fire, nature’s preferred management tool, but Gold Rush-era clearcutting followed by a wholesale policy of fire suppression resulted in the overly dense, ailing forests that dominate the landscape today.” Ingalsbee looks at the MOU and thinks, That’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. Likewise Nick Goulette, executive director of the Watershed Research and Training Center, has seen too little movement for too long to believe anything but utter calamity can get us back on track. In 2014, Goulette participated in a planning exercise known as the Quadrennial Fire Review, or QFR, that asked the grim question: What is the disaster scenario that finally causes us to alter in a meaningful way our relationship and response to fire? The answer: something along the lines of a megafire taking out San Diego. In the wake of it, Goulette and others imagined one scenario in which the U.S. Forest Service morphed into an even more militaristic firefighting agency that “overwhelmingly emphasizes full suppression” and is “extremely risk averse.” But they also envisioned a scenario that spawned a new kind of fire force, one focused on “monitoring firesheds” and dedicated to changing the dominant philosophy away “from the war on fire to living with fire.” This exercise took place three years before the devastating 2017 Napa and Sonoma fires, and four years before the Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018. Goulette thought those events would have prompted more change. The tragedies did lead to some new legislation and some more productive conversations with Cal Fire. But there’s just so much ground we need to make up.

Lenya Quinn-Davidson at September Burn in Bear River. (Courtesy Thomas Stratton)

When asked how we were doing on closing the gap between what we need to burn in California and what we actually light, Goulette fell into the familiar fire Cassandra stutter. “Oh gosh. … I don’t know. …” The QFR acknowledged there was no way prescribed burns and other kinds of forest thinning could make a dent in the risk imposed by the backlog of fuels in the next 10 or even 20 years. “We’re at 20,000 acres a year. We need to get to a million. What’s the reasonable path toward a million acres?” Maybe we could get to 40,000 acres, in five years. But that number made Goulette stop speaking again. “Forty thousand acres? Is that meaningful?” That answer, obviously, is no. The only real path toward meaningful change looks politically impossible. Goulette said we need to scrap the system and rethink what we could do with Cal Fire’s annual budget: Is this really the best thing we could do with several billion dollars to be more resistant to wildfire? Goulette knows this suggestion is so laughably distasteful and naive to those in power that uttering it as the director of a nonprofit like the Watershed Research and Training Center gets you kicked out of the room. Some fire Cassandras are more optimistic than others. Lenya Quinn-Davidson, area fire adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension and director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council, remains hopeful. She knows the history. She understands that the new MOU is nonbinding. Still she’s working on forming burn cooperatives and designing burner certificate programs to bring healthy fire practices back into communities. She’d like to get Californians back closer to the fire culture in the Southeast where, she said, “Your average person goes out back with Grandpa, and they burn 10 acres on the back 40 you know, on a Sunday.” Fire is not just for professionals, not just for government employees and their contractors. Intentional fire, as she sees it, is “a tool and anyone who’s managing land is going to have prescribed fire in their toolbox.” That is not the world we’ve been inhabiting in the West. “That’s been the hard part in California,” Quinn-Davidson said. “In trying to increase the pace and scale of prescribed fire,

we’re actually fighting some really, some really deep cultural attitudes around who gets to use it and where it belongs in society.” All Cassandras believe California’s wildfires will get worse, much worse, before they get better. Right now, said Crystal Kolden, the state’s fuel management plan, such as it is, is for Cal Fire to try to do prescribed burns in shoulder season. But given that the fires are starting earlier in the year and lasting later (we are not even in this year’s traditional fire season yet), the shoulder doesn’t really exist. “So where is the end?” she asks. “It’s not in sight, and we don’t know when it will be.” The week before this past round of fires saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in California, the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded on earth: 130 degrees, more than half the boiling point of water, and just 10 degrees below what scientist consider to be the absolute upper limit of what the human body can endure for 10 minutes in humidity. “Meanwhile, our firefighters are completely at the breaking point,” said Kolden, and there’s little they can do to stop a megafire once one starts. “And after a while you start to see breakdowns and interruptions in other critical pieces, like our food systems, our transportation systems.” It doesn’t need to be this way. We didn’t need to get here. We are not suffering from a lack of knowledge. “We can produce all the science in the world, and we largely understand why fires are the way they are,” said Eric Knapp, a U.S. Forest Service research ecologist based in Redding, California. “It’s just that other social political realities get in the way of doing a lot of what we need to do.” The fire and climate science before us is not comforting. It would be great to call in a 747, dump 19,200 gallons of retardant on reality and make the terrifying facts fade away. But ignoring the tinderbox that is our state and our planet invites more madness, not just for the Cassandras but for us all. As Ingalsbee said, “You won’t find any climate deniers on the fire line.”

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2022 Beef Advocate of the Year

BROUGH RANCH BEEF

Jean Spratling, center

Kari Lyn & Jordan Brough of Brough Ranch Our Beef Business of the year award has been around for many years. However, two years ago we decided to update the award to the Beef Advocate of the Year. This award encompasses a business or individual that shares the beef story in some way through their life.

Mother of the Year

JEAN SPRATLING Jean Spratling was born and raised in Surprise Valley near Cedarville, CA where she lived until she completed high school. Her parents are Bill and Betty Cockrell. Jean comes from at least 7 generations of agriculture prior to her, she has had big boots to fill, and I think she has done a pretty dang good job so far. Her family, The Cockrell and Harris families, come from long history of ranching in this area. As a child she learned solid values from her hard working parents and has passed that down to her children. There isn’t job on the ranch that my Mom can’t do, I think this is because of all the jobs she learned to do when she was still a kid. She will ride, rope, feed cows, run hay machinery, and cook for the whole crew as well. My Mom met my Dad at Utah State University and married not long after. She completed her degree in Ag Business and was also Valedictorian of the College of Ag Business. After which they returned to the ranch, to start a life and family together. She is the mother of 4 children: Gwen, Justin, Amanda, and Millie.

My Mom was involved in every aspect of our lives from homeschooling us through different parts of school, sports, church groups, 4-H and FFA. My Mom served for several years as the Starr Valley 4-H club leader, Chaperoned trips, and helped coach us in the events we chose to compete in. She also made sure we learned to play piano, which I truly appreciate. One memory that comes to mind as I think of is her using a rake to help my horse side pass for 4-H and helping me get drug around on the end of a long lead when we halter breaking cattle 4-H projects that had just been released from the hydronic chute. My Mom has also taught us many other valuable life skills she learned from her mother Betty. These include sewing, gardening, canning, and cooking, making wool saddle blankets, and money management. She wouldn’t tell you this but she is very good at all of these things. No matter where we have all been or what we do, we have all come back to a love for the things our mom taught us. She’s always ready to help us attempt a new recipe, canning vegetables from the garden, doctoring sick calves, or exploring the outdoors. My Mom is always valued education highly. She has pushed us to pursue anything that interests us. We have all completed college and we all value education because of her. We all have gone different directions with our education as well. Gwen has a degree in Chemistry, has been a business owner and now is involved in a well known 24 JULY/AUGUST 2022

This year we have chosen Brough Ranch Beef as our recipient. Fifth generation ranchers from Clover Valley, Jordan and Keri Lyn have created a business to be admired. When looking to diversify the ranching operations, Brough Ranch Beef was born. The Elko Co. CattleWomen have watched their business grow over the years. Keri Lyn first started attending farmer’s markets in Elko, then started a beautiful, professional website to sell all their cuts of Wagyu and Angus beef. Before we know it, we see their name being associated with fantastic restaurants serving up their beef nightly. They are even making jerky now! Jordan and Keri Lyn share their story on social media daily. These days we need constant positive information put out into the social world and they do just that. From sharing daily operations, raising kids in rural America, sharing beef information, to recipe inspiration; it’s a glimpse into an operation that is rich in history, but staying current for future generations. The Elko Co. CattleWomen are proud to award Brough Ranch Beef as the 2022 Beef Advocate of the Year.

cutlery business. Justin has a degree in psychology as well as massage therapy and yoga instructing. Amanda has a degree in both Sports Injury Management and is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, and is also a massage therapist. And me, I chose the ranching adventure and also went to USU and have a degree in Animal Science and I am trying to figure out this ranching business. She is the person we all turn if we need to know how to do something meaningful. She is always in service of others; her kids, grandkids, friends and the community.

She has a quiet strength and behind the scene humility that carriers throughout her everyday. She would never tell you how she can cook amazing meals, be on horse back all day, rope big calves, come home to bail someone out of a machinery mess, help children with school, and keep the ranch books straight....all in one day. She also has a sense of adventure, but would never explain her self in that way.....even today she would jump on a sled (or snowmobile ) on a good snow day. I cannot imagine having anyone else besides my Mom prepare me for this life. She is such an amazing Grandmother to all of her grandchildren.

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The Wells FFA ended the year with their annual chapter banquet on the evening of May 4th, 2022, to recognize those who worked hard at the state convention and celebrate the chapter’s successes throughout the year. The meeting room was filled with energy, laughter, and nerves. With social distancing restrictions now gone, members and parents beamed with excitement. The hard work of the 2021-2022 chapter officers paid off and opening ceremonies went smoothly, and sophomore Grant Kington gave the invocation. President Jorie Wright introduced herself as MC for the night, and presented the agenda. Soon after came time to serve food, the best part of the evening! While members and guests were feasting on Advisor Don Noorda’s famous tri-tip and potato casserole, special guests, administrators and school board members were recognized for their efforts and hard work contributed to the chapter throughout the school year. Following the introduction of special guests, the 2021-2022 officer team led the honorary degree ceremony. Don Noorda, Jolene Noorda, Jim Wachtel, Laurel Wachtel, Heather Peavey, Amber Peavey, and Robert Peavey were all recognized for their support and hard work on our behalf. The time came to recognize our graduating senior members and their parents. Lucas Peavey and Kelly Foster escorted their parents to the front, and spoke about the hard work and sacrifices that parents make for the success of their children, inside the FFA organization and in other aspects of life. Another chapter tradition is awarding certificates of appreciation to those who donate their time or efforts to our chapter. Dr. Ken Higbee and Mr. Robert Woolsey were recognized for their continuous support and encouragement. Jolene Noorda, Marianne Johnson, and Jana Wright also received certificates for their chaperoning at various events throughout the year.

(L to R) Elected officers Jackson Dahl, Jorie Wright, Carolina Johnson, Morgan Noorda, and Grant Kington are ecstatic for the coming year. Truman Kington presents the chapter with the state report.

Four members were recognized for their consistent 4.0 GPAs throughout both semesters. Jake Glascock, Carolina Johnson, Madison Wachtel and Jorie Wright were all awarded the Chapter Scholarship Award. The chapter’s golden legacy was continued during the 2022 state convention. Freshmen Evelyn Walz and Truman Kington took the podium to present the state report. The chapter sent competing teams and individuals to 10 CDEs and LDEs. First place teams include Meats Evaluation and Technology, Farm Business Management, Novice Parliamentary Procedure, Best Informed Greenhand, and Rangeland Management. Carolina Johnson earned first place in Extemporaneous Public Speaking, and Morgan Noorda received first in Employment Skills. Noorda also received the Outstanding Chairman award. Silver teams include Environmental Natural Resources, Ag Technology and Mechanics, and Novice Floriculture. Three members received their state degree while at the convention; Jorie Wright, Madison Wachtel and Morgan Noorda. Three additional members were recognized for receiving the highest degree the organization can bestow, the American FFA degree. Aubrey Durant received her American degree in 2021, and members Mckenli Myers and Zion Mckay received theirs in 2022. Each year the chapter recognizes the advisors who sacrifice so much for the success of the students. Don Noorda, Ryan Kindall and Garrett Hylton were called to the stage. They were given various gifts, and the chapter laughed at the inside jokes that came along with the presents. A blanket of tension fell over the chapter as Vice President Madison Wachtel took the podium to present the much anticipated nominating committee report. The results of the committee are as follows: Morgan Noorda is the 2022-2023 Wells FFA Reporter. Jackson Dahl is the 2022-2023 Wells FFA Treasurer. Grant Kington is the 2022-2023 Wells FFA Secretary. Carolina Johnson is the www.progressiverancher.com

2022-2023 Wells FFA Vice President. Jorie Wright is the 2022-2023 Wells FFA President. The new officers were installed into their positions, and the retiring officers were thanked for their hard work and dedication to our chapter. Re-elected President Jorie Wright and Secretary Grant Kington led closing ceremonies, and the chapter gathered around to view the chapter slideshow, compiled by Reporter Morgan Noorda, to recount for the amazing memories, fun, and success of the year. As the night came to a close, the chapter bid the graduating seniors and retiring officers their farewells, and wished them the best of luck in their paths in life. The Wells FFA chapter is planning their annual Adopt A Highway for community service in the spring, getting ready for Nevada Summer Leadership Camp, as well as planning their traditional officer retreat.

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JULY/AUGUST 2022

UNR Extension completes director search Jacob DeDecker brings lifetime of experience in Extension to lead programs in Nevada Following a national search and recruitment process, Jacob DeDecker has been named director of Extension and associate dean for engagement with the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno. His appointment begins July 1.

DeDecker comes to Nevada from Michigan State University, where he spent the past 16 years building Extension and 4-H youth development programming, most recently serving as associate director of the Children & Youth Institute and the state leader of MSU Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program. He earned a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate in animal sciences, as well as a certificate in business administration, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Raised on his family’s livestock and grain farm in Illinois, DeDecker appreciates the importance knowledge and partnerships have on solving problems and helping people thrive. “Extension has always been a part of my life,” DeDecker said. “My family utilized Extension programs and expertise to benefit our farming enterprise and home. I was an active 4-H member for 10 years, which helped shape the path I’m still on today. That experience and my passion for helping others inspired me to pursue a career in Extension. I have seen the land-grant mission and Extension programs impact youth, families, producers and businesses, firsthand. As a result, I want to help expand Extension’s reach, including to those underserved in both urban and rural settings.”

In his appointment as Extension director, DeDecker will have offices both on campus in Reno and at Extension’s Lifelong Learning Center in Las Vegas. As the statewide leader of Extension, he will also visit Extension’s many other offices across the state and will serve as a liaison for Extension with many organizations, including the Nevada Association of Counties and the USDA, Extension being a state-county-federal partnership. DeDecker began his career with Extension at MSU as the 4-H Science, Engineering and Technology Program leader in 2006, and became the associate state leader of MSU’s 4-H programs in 2014, before assuming his current role in 2018. At the helm of MSU’s 4-H Youth Development Program, DeDecker has provided leadership, vision and direction to the program’s more than 150 faculty and staff, and 10,000 volunteers. The program typically serves over 200,000 youth annually across Michigan’s 83 counties.

“I am so pleased to be welcoming Jacob to our Extension team,” said Bill Payne, Dean of the College. “In his time at Michigan State, he was able to form partnerships and leverage Extension resources to enhance Extension’s impact in both urban centers and rural areas. He is an excellent match for our state’s needs.” 26 JULY/AUGUST 2022

Jacob DeDecker will assume the role of director of Extension and associate dean for Engagement with the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno on July 1.

While at Michigan State, DeDecker also supported efforts that extended well beyond Michigan’s borders. His support of international collaborations and partnerships helped to bring knowledge and resources from MSU Extension directly to leaders and practitioners in Guatemala, Iran, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. DeDecker serves on a number of national, regional and MSU committees, and has taken advantage of a host of special trainings and programs to broaden his knowledge and extend the reach of his work in Extension. He is a graduate of Coming Together for Racial Understanding, a national Extension program that helps participants develop competencies around multicultural communication and interaction, so that they can help organize, convene and lead efforts to bring people together for conversations around challenging issues.

“I believe in active listening, open and honest dialogue, and genuine relationship building to foster collaboration for solving complex problems,” he said. “Extension can serve as the vehicle for finding common interests and transforming them into productive solutions that benefit everyone. That’s what I want to do in Nevada. It’s a beautiful, diverse state, and I’m really excited to get the opportunity to contribute to the University’s work here.”

Contact: Mike Wolterbeek, Communications Officer University Media Relations, UNR/108 Reno, NV 89557 775-784-4547 mwolterbeek@unr.edu http://newsroom.unr.edu The Progressive Rancher

Off-season cattle grazing to help control fire danger from invasive cheatgrass New study utilizes supplemental feeding to attract cattle to infested pastures Cheatgrass, an invasive annual grass that has invaded Nevada rangelands, is responsible for much of the increasing wildfire danger in the Intermountain West. However, scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno have discovered that fire danger can be reduced through the application of targeted cattle grazing in the dormant growing season by attracting the cattle with stations containing protein feed supplements.

"Our work establishes that protein feed supplements in the fall and early winter can attract cattle to locations dominated by cheatgrass, significantly reducing the standing fine-fuel biomass by more than 50%, while making room for native grasses to grow," Barry Perryman, professor of rangeland sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno said. "This research builds and affirms other studies that show dormant season grazing helps control the dominance of cheatgrass,"

One of the greatest ecological threats to ecosystems of the Intermountain West has been and will continue to be invasive annual grasses. The non-native cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) is the most problematic invasive annual grass at regional spatial scales. It is estimated that cheatgrass covers 11,000 square miles of the Great Basin, and it is the ecologically dominant species on more than 20% of the sagebrush steppe. Strategic supplementation provides a valuable tool to target cattle grazing at speciﬁc locations within cheatgrass-invaded systems to reduce ﬁne fuel buildup during the dormant season, according to the study published in Elsevier's journal Rangeland Ecology and Management. "It is difficult to concentrate animals in one place during spring for long enough periods of time to be of any use," Perryman said. "However, cattle can be concentrated on cheatgrass during the fall, using supplementation as a tool. Reducing the amount of cheatgrass fuel carryover may effectively reduce the amount of total fuel available during the next year’s fire season. If several hundred pounds per acre of cheatgrass can be removed during the fall, through cattle grazing, that is several hundred pounds that will not be added to the next year's fuel load."

Managing supplement station placements and cattle grazing distribution near or bordering areas with high ecological value or social importance provides options for land managers to reduce fine fuels at targeted, managerdefined locations. Strategically placed supplements can reduce the cost of developing fence infrastructure, decrease fence and wildlife conflicts, and provide greater flexibility to change management locations depending on fluctuations in precipitation, cheatgrass biomass availability and management goals. Perryman and the team of scientists used liquid protein supplements in October and November from 2014 to 2017 at a production scale working ranch with a herd

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size that ranged from 650 to 1,200 head of cattle. The study pasture was a mixture of rangeland and abandoned farmland heavily invaded by cheatgrass after farming ended there in the late 1970s. Vegetation on the site was dominated by cheatgrass with some areas also having a combination of cheatgrass and greasewood. Where the cattle grazed along the transect line of the supplemental feeding stations, consumption of cheatgrass averaged 48% to 81%, with no differences detected between the closest and farthest supplement stations from water.

"While more research is needed to fully understand the extent of how far protein supplements can successfully attract cattle away from water in large pastures, our research indicates this distance can be up to two and a half miles on relatively ﬂat cheatgrass-invaded areas during fall and early winter in northern Nevada," Perryman said. Under a scenario of near monocultures of cheatgrass, fall cattle grazing is a logistically viable tool to reduce the amount of carryover ﬁne fuels in large pastures.

"With strategic placement of supplements, we can direct this grazing to effectively create a linear fuel break," Perryman said. "Cheatgrass can provide an important forage resource for cattle in much of the Great Basin and Intermountain West during the dormant season, and this can help during the fire season."

Flexible grazing management options will facilitate the use of targeted grazing fuel reduction projects at strategic times, such as fall or winter, on rangelands of the Intermountain West and provide more opportunities to better match livestock production and vegetation management objectives in a “win-win” situation within annual grass−invaded systems, the authors conclude.

In earlier studies, a highly controlled, small-scale targeted spring grazing research project found that 80% to 90% reduction of above ground biomass reduced flame length and rate of fire spread during the following October. On sagebrush and native perennial grass plant communities, it was reported in another study that 40% to 60% reductions in biomass through winter grazing reduced flame height, rate of spread and area burned compared with an ungrazed control area.

Perryman and colleagues have two large demonstration projects underway in southeast Oregon and a similar study, without supplementation, in the Vale District, Oregon. The research operations also found benefits for cattle ranchers, and the rebounding of native grasses.

Nevada volunteer honored in national awards for over three decades of service 4-H volunteer Linda Zimmerman was named 4-H Western Region Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Nevada’s Linda Zimmerman, 4-H volunteer for University of Nevada, Reno Extension for over 34 years and a University alumna, is one of only four 4-H volunteers nationally to have recently been named a 4-H Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer. Zimmerman was named the 4-H Western Region Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer as part of the 4‑H Salute to Excellence Awards for her dedication and service to Extension’s Washoe County 4-H Horse Program and support of youth statewide.

Participating in the 4-H Youth Development Program as a youth herself, Zimmerman went from being a club member to being the parent of 4-H youth, and then a 4-H club leader and a 4-H Leaders’ Council member. Her positive impact on youth in her club has inspired many past participants to enroll their own children in the program, and to become 4-H leaders themselves.

Having earned her doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, she is interested in trying new strategies for engagement and retention, while supporting youth and their families in figuring out how best to participate in clubs and activities.

“Linda understands some youth may struggle in different areas as they join 4-H or try to engage in activities or projects,” said Carrie Stark, Nevada’s 4-H state director. “She goes above and beyond to assist them, finding a way to help them with extra time, resources and meetings to overcome their struggles. She exemplifies positive youthadult partnerships.” For three decades, Zimmerman served as the 4-H Horse Leader for the Silver Knolls Spurs in Washoe County, managing horse shows and serving as the secretary for others. She has served both on the Washoe County 4-H

"Every operation is different," Perryman said about ranchers adopting the idea. "It will benefit some and be of no utility for others. It has saved significant hay costs in our eastern Oregon demonstration projects."

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“Linda is incredibly grounded, is very reliable, has a high moral character and is someone that everyone enjoys working with,” said Kelsey Conklin, 4-H Youth Development community based instructor in Washoe County who nominated Zimmerman for the award. “She excels at helping others grow into leadership positions and helps to support them. She embodies respect for all those around her, setting the standard and example.”

Conklin says in her time with the horse program, Zimmerman has worked to ensure youth reach their full potential. Her innovative solutions to achieve this goal include electing officers twice a year, instead of the traditional once a year, so that more youth have the opportunity to be leaders. Zimmerman’s club has also planned and hosted consignment tack sales for the past 30 years, with the money going toward helping youth gain opportunities that they may not otherwise be able to access. This includes financial support for youth to attend the 4-H Western National Roundup and 4-H summer camps. “Linda shaped my love for the equine industry by providing countless members the opportunity to expand their knowledge with numerous clinics and 4-H horse shows she put on,” Rebecca Glocknitzer, a past member of Zimmerman’s horse club, said. “My most cherished memories were showing at the Nevada State Fair horse show in every class possible with my horse Louie. I am very thankful for the opportunities Linda provided me for many years!”

At the state level, Zimmerman has helped to plan the Nevada State Leaders’ Forum, and has served as the chairperson for the Nevada State Expo Horse Show. For her work and service, she has been awarded the Nevada 4-H Volunteer of the Year Award, Outstanding Leader of the Year Award and Project Leader of the Year Award. Zimmerman also aids with raising scholarship funds for youth to attend national events, including Citizenship Washington Focus, National 4-H Conference and National 4-H Congress. In addition to her usual duties, Zimmerman works with her club to see how they can help other youth in their communities. For example, they raise funds for childhood cancer research and give assistance to families experiencing childhood cancer. In other service experiences, she encourages 4-H youth to help educate or engage other youth in their communities.

“Linda is completely dedicated to all causes she sets her mind to helping with,” said Conklin. “We are just extremely fortunate that one of those is 4-H. She and volunteers like her are what enable the 4-H program to have such incredible impact on our youth.”

Perryman, who is also part of the University’s Experiment Station, said it appears native grasses are able to repopulate the areas where the cheatgrass has been reduced, whether from seeding or naturally.

"There was a major seeding effort on the study sight in 2018-19 by the operator (it was located on private land)," Perryman said. "In some instances areas may be seeded, while in other instances there are enough existing perennial grasses to respond. There are some published studies now showing increases in perennial grasses after about four to six years. Kirk Davies, a co-author of this study, has led that research."

Horse Leaders’ Council and the General Washoe County Leaders’ Council for over 15 years.

Prior to her recent award, Linda Zimmerman (left) was awarded the 2021 Nevada 4-H Volunteer of the Year by Sue Hoffman, executive director of the NAF. The Progressive Rancher

Research by Tufts University shows 4-H youth are four times more likely to contribute to their communities, ... plan to go to college and pursue STEM opportunities. They report better grades, higher levels of academic competence, and an elevated level of school engagement. 4-H is the nation’s largest youth development organization, empowering nearly 6 million young people in the U.S., as well as 1 million youth in 50 other countries. JULY/AUGUST 2022

UNR names Dr. Erick Jones as Dean of the College of Engineering Dr. Erick Jones, senior science advisor in the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. State Department and former professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been named dean of the University of Nevada, Reno College of Engineering.

Jones is an internationally recognized researcher in industrial manufacturing and systems engineering. His career has spanned industry, government and academia. His current research on pandemic supply chains was a main consideration for working at the State Dept as the Office of the Chief Economist studies how the U.S. can better understand the economics of supply chains and how their disruptions impact global commerce, operations and quality of life. Jones begins his appointment on Sept. 1. He succeeds Manos Maragakis, who earlier this year announced his retirement as dean of the College of Engineering after 13 years.

“In Dr. Erick Jones, our University has a dynamic leader who understands how to seize moments of opportunity in order to further an agenda of excellence,” University President Brian Sandoval said. “The possibilities seem endless of what we will be capable of accomplishing under Dr. Jones’ leadership in the coming years.”

Jones has been a Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington since 2017, during which time he has also been the George and Elizabeth Pickett Endowed Professor in Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering. While at UTA, Jones was on a three-year rotating detail at National Science Foundation where he was a Program Director in the Engineering Directorate for Engineering Research Centers Program. Earlier, he was the Program Director in Education Directorate for Division of Graduate Education which led the INTERN and Graduate Research Internship Programs. He was also a Program Director for the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Prior to joining UTA, Jones was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for eight years. Jones is internationally recognized for his pioneering work with Radio Frequency Identification technologies, Lean Six Sigma Quality Management (the understanding of whether a process is well controlled), and autonomous inventory control. He has published more than 243 manuscripts and three textbooks and has garnered more than $10 million in grants and contracts. Additionally, Jones has advised 44 master’s students, 18 Ph.D. students, and sponsored 32 undergraduate research projects.

Jones is an active member of a number of professional and academic organizations and has served as faculty advisor of IISE, NSBE and other organizations. He was appointed as the President of ISCEA International Standards Board in July 2020 and as the President of IISE Work Systems Division Board in the same year. He served as an Alfred Sloan Minority Ph.D. Program Director and is on Sloan Mentoring Network Board. He worked with the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering for over a decade and was also one of the initial founders and Past Chair of Texas A&M’s Black Former Students Network. He was recognized as an Alfred Sloan Underrepresented Minority Ph.D. Program Fellow and has been honored by the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering three times.

Jones worked in the industry for more than a decade before returning to academia to attain his Ph.D. at the University of Houston. He held engineering, management, and executive management positions while in industry, including Engineering Supervisor, Director of Engineering, and Executive Manager for companies such as UPS, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Arthur Andersen, and LLP, respectively.

'Gold standard' accreditation signals commitment to animals

Submitted by: Jane Tors | Director, Research Communications

University awarded full reaccreditation from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Care International Following a comprehensive site visit and review process, the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC) has confirmed continued full reaccreditation to the University. This voluntary and internationally recognized accreditation reflects the University’s commitment to go beyond the standards required by regulatory agencies to achieve excellence in animal care and use. The University connects with animals in many ways, from those in research and teaching programs both in observed field settings and in campus laboratories, to those in the farm settings of our College’s Experiment Station unit. The University’s complex animal care program is overseen by Animal Resources, part of Research & Innovation, and is further supported by the faculty-led Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Caring for animals in farm settings are (left to right) our College’s Experiment Station Assistant Director Bo Kindred, Main Station Field Lab Livestock Coordinator Cara Goss and Experiment Station Assistant Director Scott Huber, as well as University Animal Resources Veterinarian Walt Mandevillle. 28 JULY/AUGUST 2022

In their exit briefing, reviewers noted that of the AAALAC-accredited programs around the world, the University’s is especially impressive since it represents one of the widest varieties of animal care settings. The University’s animal care program even includes public-lands grazing at the College’s Great Basin Research & Extension Center in Eureka, Nevada, and Gund Ranch Research & Training Facility near Austin, Nevada.

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Polar Bear Habitat— Now Coming to a Backyard Near You Opinion Editorial | by Karen Budd-Falen The U.S. Supreme Court is tasked with, among other things, reviewing federal regulations and determining whether they comply with the statutes passed by Congress. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court did just that with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by stating that before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can designate an area as “critical habitat,” first the area “must be” habitat. The Supreme Court did not say that the area could become habitat at some time in the future or that the federal government could blackmail you into restoring an area into habitat in the future. The Court said ESA critical habitat must first be habitat. Despite this plain language and knowing that every student learned the difference between present, past and future verb tenses, the Biden administration has repealed the Trump regulations implementing the Supreme Court’s habitat definition. According to Biden, it was necessary to rescind the Trump definition because the government wants to designate (and regulate) areas that do not meet a listed species needs now but may be able to “in the future” due to “natural processes or restoration.”

Take a practical example. My husband and I have a ranch north of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Our property supports a cow/calf operation; several horses; a decent cow dog; two worthless but loveable mutts; several barn cats and our daughter’s homely pot-belly pig. Lodgepole Creek runs through our property, although the creek dries up in the late summer and fall if we don’t get any rain. Two hundred and seventy-eight (278) miles past our house, Lodgepole Creek drains into the South Platte River (a navigable water).

By Sonya Johnson | Churchill County Farm Bureau | www.thefallonpost.org Each person has a different way of learning and our best teachers are very creative. Churchill County Farm Bureau recognized this by offering a Teacher Training Class utilizing the book “Farm Anatomy, Activities for Kids’. The author, Dawn Alexander, introduced the teachers to a different way to look at farms as homes not only for the farmer but also for the animals, plants and insects. She included the farmer’s responsibility to understand and care for everything from an insect to the prize rooster.

In the book, Dawn provides an excellent fun way with hands on activities, to meet the curriculum requirements for STEM (the academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). During the training class, the teachers actually preformed four of the activities that they might assign their students along with the requirement keeping a Farm Journal. Dawn Alexander has strong ties to Agriculture along with her 35 years as an elementary educator. As a youth we knew her as Dawn Marie Albert who lived on the University of Nevada Farm in Reno and participated in 4H and the Hereford program. Dawn has received two national awards for teaching. In 2019 Dawn received the excellence in teaching about agriculture award from the National Agriculture in the Classroom organization. She also received the Presidential Award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. The attending teachers expressed their appreciation for the class and were surprised and pleased with all the additional materials provided by Churchill County Farm Bureau and the grant from Nevada Agriculture Foundation. This included books, additional resources and bags with prepared activities including all needed supplies. The class culminated in two lucky teachers each winning $75 gift certificates each as a drawing prize.

Currently, our private property is not designated as habitat for any ESA species. We use our property to raise beef to feed our family, this nation, and the world. Under the Trump definition of habitat, the federal government would have to scientifically show that our land currently contains (present verb tense) at least one of the physical or biological features necessary to support a threatened or endangered species to define our property as “habitat.” However, under Biden’s pronouncement, our private land could be designated as habitat today -- for a species that cannot live there today -- because the species might live there “someday” based on natural processes (i.e., climate change) or by blackmail. Ah, but the government says, “oh no, your land is not affected because the designation of critical habitat does not impact private property use.” What the government doesn’t mention is that if you need a permit from any federal agency to, for example, put in a water tank (which we would if we wanted one near Lodgepole Creek which falls under the Corp of Engineer’s jurisdiction), the government could condition the granting of our permit on us “restoring” our property as habitat for a species that doesn’t live there. In one interview a Biden official was asked whether the new rule means that the federal government could force someone to tear up a paved parking lot and plant trees as habitat and she admitted that could happen. Never mind that parking lot may be necessary for the survival of a small business, or the economic cost of doing the “restoration” to the property owner, or the amount of time that the parking lot had been in place. Also never mind that this will add to sky-rocketing inflation, more food insecurity, less jobs, and greater burdens on small businesses.

Teachers from Churchill Counties schools receiving 2 hours of continuing education credits needed each year.

And don’t get me started on whether our ranch could support polar bears based on climate change. The Biden decision doesn’t give a timeframe on when the “natural processes” need to happen. In 10 years or 10,000 years, climate change could make our backyard polar bear habitat so it could be designated as habitat now. So, watch your backyards, farms, ranches, and homes. Based on “natural processes” or “restoration,” you could be living in polar bear habitat too. www.progressiverancher.com

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Rafter 3C Arena Officially Opens

By Jo Petteruti | www.thefallonpost.org

Dignitaries, county and city employees, construction partners, members of the community, and the media were all in attendance on Wednesday, June 1 when County Commissioner Pete Olsen led the dedication ceremony of the new Rafter 3C Arena located at the Fairgrounds, and thanking all those involved for their efforts in making the arena a reality. Mayor Ken Tedford presented the county with a proclamation declaring the arena officially open, and County Manager Jim Barbee presented plaques to all those who made the new arena a possibility for the community, from elected officials to employees to contractors. Besides expressing their gratitude to all those involved, both gentlemen also provided their insights for the arena’s future.

Barbee said, “This is much more than what we envisioned, and something that evolved along the way. If you go into the office for Parks and Rec and look up, you can see a rendering of the original indoor arena that they were looking at in the 1980s or so. I feel that was the start of the vision, and we added a flavor of Winnemucca and Klamath Falls to start this project off. When you approach this building, you see that it’s something completely different. It’s not a government building, it feels like a venue. That was our final vision, and I think we accomplished that.” For Barbee, one of the highlights has been the partnership between the county and the city as he acknowledged that the arena will benefit both. He said the mayor was “at the table” involved in conversations about the arena throughout the pandemic, and the city has made investments in the project through its marketing and support efforts.

Mayor Tedford had no reservations about jumping onboard with the project. “I give great credit to the county for their vision. It was a long time coming, and necessary out here. It’s a great boon to the community, and it put a lot of local people to work when they weren’t working. Using local contractors was great for

us. Now our part is to market this facility as much as possible. We are heavily invested in the first rodeo that will be here in a couple of weeks which will also be on national television. That’s how we help, and it’s a boon to hotels, restaurants, and gas stations so we’ve been onboard since the beginning. We’ve lost many events in the past because we didn’t have a venue like this, but now we do and we’re fortunate that the county stepped up and did what they did. It took a lot of courage.”

Olsen discussed some of the events that have been enticed to come to Fallon because of the new venue. “We’re looking at a twofold thing here. From one side, it’s the local community and the benefit to them. We have events like the Vintage Market, the Cantaloupe Festival, and the Junior Livestock Show that we’ve always had here, and now we can augment and improve them. Then there’s the pay-for part with events like the Battle Born Broncs and the Rockabilly Riot. Six events just in June. That’s the whole economic side, it’s the pay-for that goes back into the community that drives economic vitality, provides jobs and a better place to live. It’s an awesome facility.” Fallon Churchill Economic Development Executive Director Bruce Breslow said, “It’s another tool in the toolbox and t’s a big shiny tool. For us, we’ll get event promoters from all over the west coast, and each

has their own niche from sports tournaments and concerts, there are about 132 different groups that can use this venue. We may want to start to plan for new hotel rooms now, as it takes a while and you have to do your due diligence. Right now, we only have 502 rooms available. There is a formula, and that formula leads to how many tiers of hotels to have.

The $14 million investment for the arena came together from $9 million in bonds, $180,000 in COVID relief funds and the remainder from the county’s general fund. The return on that investment will be in the form of the revenue stream generated by events held there. The arena is booked through the end of November, with reservations on the books for 2023 as well. The arena was built under emergency declaration during the pandemic, relieving it from having to go to the Commissioners for a vote to go forward. Back then, county staff was working out in the cold to perform COVID tests and administer vaccinations. Ultimately, the Commissioners voting is representative of the community, it’s the model of representative government. For kids in the community, they won’t be able to say there’s nothing to do anymore, as there’s an event at the Rafter 3C Arena almost every weekend throughout the summer and beyond with much more to come.

It was an electric night at the first ever Battle Born Broncs at the new Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon on June 15. The City of Fallon and Skiver Bootmakers welcomed sixty PRCA Bareback and Saddle Bronc riders who were matched up against NFR bucking horses like “Two Buck Chuck” from Powder River Rodeo Company and “Irish Eyes” from Sankey Pro Rodeo. FALLON, NV (730053) Go-Round: 1 Results | Saddle Bronc Riding

King Rodeo Company’s saddle bronc “Oh Toodles” took the rookie, Damian Brennan straight to the pay window alongside another rookie, Rocker Steiner on Sankey’s “Mustard” in the bareback riding.

The two day event began with a PRCA Roughstock Rodeo Camp for kids. Several of the contestants including RC Landingham, Clayton Biglow, Mitch Pollock, CoBurn Bradshaw, Kade Bruno and Stetson Wright arrived early to help teach kids of all skill levels about the fundamentals of rodeo, and to give them insight about the sport and the importance of a positive mindset. The $50,000 added event was televised live on the Cowboy Channel and is still available to watch on the Cowboy Channel + app. - Darcie Spero, Skiver Boots | See rider Kade Bruno on the cover of this issue www.progressiverancher.com

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Temporary Nonuse By Kathryn Dyer kdyer@blm.gov Dear Progressive Rancher Readers,

Temporary nonuse has been a topic for a long time, but recently it has come back up for a variety of reasons. Local and national questions regarding drought impacts, horse impacts, and even because of State Grazing Board grazing receipt returns. In today’s article, I would like to explain the difference between simply not using AUMs and applying for temporary nonuse, and why it is important to apply for temporary nonuse instead of just not using all your AUMs. There is a large difference between applying for temporary nonuse (such as on form 4130-1) and simply using less AUMS than your grazing permit/ lease allows. We can call those AUMs simply ‘unscheduled’. I will try to describe here the difference between temporary nonuse and unscheduled AUMs.

The first really big point I want to make is that nonuse is actually a type of approved use. According to 43 CFR 4100.0-5, temporary nonuse means the authorized withholding, on an annual basis, of all or a portion of permitted livestock use in response to a request of the permittee or lessee. 43 CFR 4130.1-1 Applications for grazing permits or leases (active use and nonuse), free-use grazing permits and other grazing authorizations shall be filed with the authorized officer (AO) at the local Bureau of Land Management office having jurisdiction over the public lands involved. 43 CFR 4130.2(g) -Temporary nonuse may be approved by the officer if such use is determined to be in conformance with the applicable land use plans, allotment management plan, or other activity plans and the provisions of subpart 4180 of this part.

43 CFR 4130.2(g)(2) Temporary nonuse for reasons including but not limited to financial conditions or annual fluctuations of livestock, may be approved on an annual basis for no more than 3 consecutive years. Permittees or lessees applying for temporary nonuse shall state the reasons supporting nonuse.

From the regulation cited above, we can see that temporary nonuse is an approved type of use. It must be applied for, usually on form 4130-1, and the BLM may or may not approve the nonuse. When nonuse is approved, it means that the AO is agreeing that it is more appropriate for the AUMS not to be used at all, for the reason specified, than for the AUMs to be used by another permittee. Courts acknowledge that there are times where BLM approve nonuse for more than 3 years for conservation and protective purposes. BLM has a National Instruction Memorandum (WO IM 2009-057, Nonuse of Grazing Permits or Leases | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov)) explaining why and how nonuse may be approved for over 3 consecutive www.progressiverancher.com

not apply for temporary nonuse and get it approved, then BLM does not have the data to show that there However, it is also clear in the regulations that it is are responses and impacts to permitted use from prohibited to have a grazing authorization and not these situations. In addition, BLM would have less make substantial use of it, also known as ‘failure to use’ internal justification for an emergency horse gather, for example, if there isn’t approved temporary nonuse the authorized AUMs. in the records for the impacted area. 43 CFR 4140.1 The following acts are prohibited on public lands and other lands administered by the Taking approved temporary nonuse should not be sole rationale to reduce active AUMs on a permit or lease Bureau of Land Management: at renewal. You may have heard accounts through 4140.1(a) Grazing permittees or lessees performing the years of operators who experienced reductions the following prohibited acts may be subject to civil in AUMs during permit renewals because they penalties under §4170.1: repeatedly failed to use all their AUMs over a long 4140.1(a)(2) Failing to make substantial grazing period of time. When this happens, it is not typically use as authorized for 2 consecutive fee years, but due to “failure to use” as opposed to temporary nonuse, and these instances are unique and hopefully do not not including approved temporary nonuse…. discourage you from applying for temporary nonuse You can see from the regulation cited above that when it is appropriate for any reason. You may also it is not acceptable to simply not use a grazing have heard of situations where the total AUMs on a authorization. To add complexity, there is no permit are not used, but the full amount is applied definition of ‘substantial’ grazing use BLM-wide. In for and paid for, regardless of use, due to the fear of some offices, it may be defined as using over 50% of losing unused AUMs. This approach causes some your AUMs; in others, over 70%; or perhaps it varies big problems. First, it makes it difficult or impossible depending on the site. However your local BLM office to properly understand the ecological data without interprets ‘substantial’, one thing that is consistent is accurate livestock data. Second, it creates a situation that authorized temporary nonuse counts towards that in which the BLM cannot answer to the public substantial use, along with the actively used AUMs. appropriately or accurately on the use of public lands, Applying for temporary nonuse protects your AUMs which is not beneficial to the range program. It also from this “use it or lose it” clause, since temporary gives the public appearance that operators are not nonuse is an approved use. making adjustments to their operations for given We have now discussed how failure to use AUMs differs environmental circumstances. from temporary nonuse per the regulations. Unused Another reason why it is important to apply for nonuse AUMs are neither applied for nor approved; they are with a rationale is because of updates that BLM has simply not scheduled. So now I will give an example done recently to the Rangeland Administration in which an operator has a grazing authorization for System (RAS), through which BLM creates grazing 1,000 AUMs and writes on their courtesy application bills. These updates allow us to record a reason for that they only want to run/be billed for 800 AUMs. the approved temporary nonuse in RAS, which is then They receive a bill for 800 AUMs and the other 200 available in the database. There are questions that AUMs are not nonuse, they are simply unscheduled arise at all levels, from local to state or national levels, (or failure to use) AUMs. They should not be included regarding where drought impacts have been severe, on the bill as ”nonuse” unless the operator has applied where operators have been impacted with reduced for, and BLM has approved, the temporary nonuse. In forage and/or reduced use during drought. Ideally, we this instance, if the operator applied for 200 AUMs of would be able to pull information from RAS showing temporary nonuse and cited a reason such as drought the AUMs that were in nonuse due to drought, and or horses, and the AO approves the temporary then we would be able to show the regional and nonuse, then the AO is saying they agree that nonuse localized responses to the conditions. is compatible with the resource objectives and that the AUMs will not be available for someone else to I hope this article has clarified the difference between use. In this example, if the operator applied for 800 failure to use AUMs and authorized temporary nonuse AUMs without applying for temporary nonuse for 2 and given you some good rationale to encourage consecutive years, then the AO could decide that those applying for nonuse with a reason selected, or written 200 AUMs meet the threshold of ‘significant’ and need in, when you are not using your full amount of to be used and that someone else can use them for that authorized active AUMs. This will protect the AUMs grazing year. While that is not a likely outcome, it is on your permit from the “use it or lose it” clause, as possible, however remotely, per the regulations, since well as helping to contribute to a data set showing how it is a prohibited act to not make substantial use of permittees/lessees take care of the landscape they are your AUMs. Although I won’t go into details here, on. The consistent application of nonuse is a way to rest assured there is a required process that would have protect your AUMs while partnering with the BLM to occur prior to any AUMs being made available for to provide information at all levels on how responsive and proactive our public land grazers are. another user. Also, in areas where we have excess wild horses, there If you are left with any questions, or have any thoughts are times when livestock operators will take some for future article topics, please contact Kathryn Dyer amount of grazing reduction. If those operators do at kdyer@blm.gov. years. Basically, the temporary nonuse is resulting in continued improvement.

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CENTRAL NEVADA REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY UPDATE By Jeff Fontaine | Executive Director | CNRWA | ccjfontaine@gmail.com The mission of the Central Nevada Regional Water Resources (CNRWA) is to protect the water resources in member counties so these counties will not only have an economic future, but their quality of life and natural environment is maintained. In anticipation of the 2023 Legislative Session CNRW recently adopted policies on water related issues including conjunctive management, and water conservation, banking and leasing. Conjunctive management is the integrated management of hydrologically connected water regardless of the source to improve the overall availability and reliability of water while reducing conflict and potential long term harm to the resource.The understanding of connectivity in individual systems is still inadequate in many areas of Nevada, however it is generally accepted in the scientific community that perennial stream systems and springs throughout Nevada are hydrologically connected to groundwater aquifers. Existing Nevada law (NRS 533.024) declares that it is the policy of the State of Nevada to manage conjunctively the appropriation, use and administration of all waters of this State, regardless of the source of water. Apart from this Legislative declaration adopted in 2017 no other statutes related to conjunctive water management have been enacted and the Division of Water Resources has not yet adopted regulations governing conjunctive water management. While conjunctive management is a pragmatic approach, its implementation in Nevada has been inconsistent.

CNRWA also adopted policies supporting water conservation, banking and leasing which are management mechanisms designed to incentivize and increase water supply efficiency and reliability. The policies, however, oppose any legislation that does not adhere to the doctrine of prior appropriation or diminish or harm existing water rights or can be used as a means to facilitate out-of-basin or out-of-county transfers favoring development in urban areas at the expense of agriculture or rural areas.

CNRWA priorities for the upcoming Legislative Session are intended to help balance demands and avoid conflicts among domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial users who rely on limited water resources. They include funding for counties to prepare and update water resource plans. CNRWA has long advocated for requiring local government land use plans to be based on identified sustainable water resources. In 2019 Senator Goicoechea sponsored and the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 150 which requires Nevada’s counties and cities to develop and maintain a water resource plan that identifies all known sources of water that are physically and legally available for use in the community, analyzes whether the sources of water identified are of sufficient quality and quantity www.progressiverancher.com

to satisfy the existing and expected demands caused by growth and a plan for obtaining additional water of sufficient quality and quantity.

Other CNRWA legislative priorities are to create county groundwater boards to provide recommendations to the State Engineer on management of designated basins, establish and fund a program for the voluntary retirement of water rights in over-appropriated basins and enhance resources for the Division of Water Resources to restore staffing, update water basin budgets and adjudicate basins so the Division.

The Central Region is the largest of Nevada’s 14 hydrographic regions and the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority’s member counties, Churchill, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Nye, Pershing and White Pine rely on their water resources for economic development and diversification and to sustain their communities and way of life. However, 34 of the 78 groundwater basins in the Central Hydrographic Region are designated groundwater basins where permitted ground water rights approach or exceed the estimated average annual recharge and the water resources are being depleted or require additional administration. And Diamond Valley in Eureka County is the only basin in Nevada that has been designated as a Critical Management Area (CMA). For over 40 years, annual groundwater pumping has exceeded the perennial yield of Diamond Valley, and in 2015, the State Engineer designated Diamond Valley as a Critical Management Area (CMA). By law, this designation requires the State Engineer to order that groundwater withdrawals be restricted to conform to priority rights if after 10 years a locally developed Groundwater Management Plan (GMP) is not approved. State Engineer’s Order# 1302 approving the Diamond Valley GMP was appealed to the District Court, which found that the Order was unlawful. The District Court’s finding was then appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court and on June 16th the Nevada Supreme Court approved the Diamond Valley GMP. Justices Hardesty, Stiglich, Cadish and Herndon indicated that the Legislature enacted NRS 534.037 and NRS 534.110(7) to address the critical water shortages in Nevada’s over-appropriated basins and that the statutes plainly give the State Engineer discretion to approve a GMP that does not strictly comply with Nevada’s statutory water scheme or strictly adhere to the doctrine of prior appropriation. The Justices also stated they recognize that their opinion will significantly affect water management in Nevada but are of the belief, however, that-given the arid nature of this State-it is particularly important that they effectuate the plain meaning of a statute that encourages the sustainable use of water. They The Progressive Rancher

further stated that the GMP is a community-based solution to the long-term water shortages in Diamond Valley and that because the GMP complies with NRS 534.037 and NRS 534.110(7), it is valid. This is a significant decision by the Supreme Court and potentially an important tool for managing overpumped basins. However, in separate dissents, Chief Justice Parraguirre and Justice Pickering argued the law doesn’t plainly and unambiguously give the state engineer the power to depart from long standing rules basing priority on when the water rights were appropriated to the holder and also argued the plan allows an unconstitutional “taking” of private property without just compensation. Both dissenting opinions were joined by Justice Silver.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s decision to shelve its project to move water from White Pine County to southern Nevada was a huge relief, however, new applications to export water will always be a concern and that is why CNRWA will continue to monitor and protest applications for water that would harm Member Counties. Finally, Nevada is home to the only operating lithium mine in the United States which is located in Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County. The mine has been in operation since 1967and produces lithium carbonate from evaporation ponds which concentrate the lithium. According to the Nevada Division of Minerals, lithium exploration in Nevada has drastically increased in the past couple of years with the majority of claims filed in the Central Region. CNRWA is working with the State and industry to mitigate impacts of lithium mining to water resources.

Managing water resources in the driest state is difficult enough but doing so in the midst of an extreme drought is nearly impossible. Nevada’s continued growth and industrial development creates additional demands and drought conditions threaten the sustainability of existing water supplies vital to the economies, health, and vitality of CNRWA Member Counties. CNRWA will continue working to accomplish its mission which is now more important than ever. Jeff Fontaine serves as the Executive Director of the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority which is a unit of local government established by agreement of member counties in 2005. CNRWA formulates and presents a united position on water and water-related issues to the appropriate government entity (e.g., Nevada legislature, U.S. Congress, State of Nevada agencies, federal agencies and local government entities), monitors, assesses and responds to water projects that may adversely impact a member county, and encourages citizen participation in water and water-related issues of importance to member counties. JULY/AUGUST 2022

THE DAILY ROUNDUP Western ranching and political headlines brought to you by the Public Lands Council. Drought: Experts express concern over drought in senate hearing Senate panel hears stark warnings on Western drought, E&E Daily - Worsening droughts spurred by a changing climate will change the face of agriculture in Western states and could rule out crops in some areas, witnesses told a Senate Agriculture subcommittee yesterday. At a hearing on water shortages across the West, panelists painted a grim picture for agricultural and other water needs, urging lawmakers to use next year’s five-year farm bill to gear programs more directly at water conservation. “This problem is real. It cannot be kicked down the road,” said Tom Willis, a farmer from Liberal, Kan., who’s used state programs to experiment with water-saving techniques and high-tech monitoring, saving more than a billion gallons over six years, he said.

WOTUS: KS roundtable deemed EPA WOTUS definition concerning; EPA promises “complimentary” regulations

Midwest, Southeast Livestock Producers, Farmers Outline WOTUS Definition Concerns to EPA, Progressive Farmer - From Aaron Popelka’s viewpoint, for about one year, the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection rule helped to expand conservation efforts in Kansas. The Republic County rancher and vice president of legal and government affairs for the Kansas Livestock Association said during an EPA-hosted waters of the U.S. Midwest roundtable on Monday that he disagreed with EPA’s assessment that the previous rule left more waters unprotected. Coming WOTUS Regs Will be ‘Complementary’, Ag Web - EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the new definition of Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) that EPA is writing will be “complementary” to an expected ruling from the Supreme Court in a case 36 JULY/AUGUST 2022

covering the scope of the Clean Water Act relative to waters and wetlands connected to large navigable bodies of water. According to Bloomberg, the Supreme Court is expected to narrowly define what constitutes WOTUS in a case pending before it. EPA is preparing a rule with a new definition of what constitutes WOTUS and has held three out of 10 regional roundtables to gather stakeholder input.

Herd Numbers: Worsening range conditions forces herd culling

Poor Range Conditions to Impact Cattle Numbers and Price, Ag Info The Livestock Information Center’s Director and Senior Agricultural Economist Katelyn McCullock is concerned about what poor conditions will mean for beef cow numbers down the road. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but this year’s U.S. pasture and range conditions are worse than they were last year, which is maybe tough to believe and disheartening, but it has moved around a little bit much more centered on the Southern Plains, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, just excessive dryness over that.” “We haven’t seen a ton of lightweight placements in feedlots yet, but that’s probably coming.”

ESA: USFWS proposes change to species listing populations; CFGC set to consider Joshua Tree listing under CESA

Government calls for change to help endangered species, Boise State Public Radio - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a regulation change under the Endangered Species Act that would allow some species to be introduced outside their historical ranges. With more flexibility some endangered and threatened species could be moved to other suitable habitats. Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, says the main driver for the proposal is climate change.

Western Joshua tree: California Endangered Species Act decision coming, Desert Sun - The science surrounding the iconic western Joshua tree is grim. The tree’s suitable habitat is expected to decline substantially by 2100 due to climate change, especially in the southern portions of its range — meaning the Joshua tree would largely be unable to survive in its namesake park by the end of this century. Identifying and protecting areas known as “climate refugia,” where Joshua trees may be able to thrive at higher elevations amid rising temperatures and climate change, will become even more important to the species’ survival.

Cattle Markets: Cash market and export strengths rally cattle futures

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures rise, Alberta Farmer - Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures rose on Tuesday, supported by good export prospects and strength in the cash market, traders said. Hog futures firmed on a technical bounce. U.S. beef processors on Tuesday slaughtered an estimated 126,000 cattle, up from 121,000 a year ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Hog slaughter was reported at 479,000 compared to 483,000 last year. CME June live cattle rose 0.9 cent to settle at 133.725 cents (all figures US$). The most-active August live cattle gained 1.225 cents, to 134.125 cents. CME August feeder cattle rose 0.475 cent, to 172.45 cents/lb.

Wildfire: Cal Fire plans control burn in North Central CA

Cal Fire to burn 345 acres east of Vina, Daily News - Cal Fire is teaming up with The Nature Conservancy to burn 345 acres of grass rangeland near Lassen Road east of Vina starting Wednesday morning. Cal Fire said this controlled burning is in an effort to control invasive weeds like medusa head and star thistle and to o improve rangeland and reduce noxious grass species for better cattle grazing. Burning will start around 10 a.m. and should be completed by 5 p.m each day until done. This project is weather dependent. The controlled burn will incorporate a live-fire training course that will provide instruction for firefighters from California’s northern region.

The Progressive Rancher

$9 Million Awarded to Sagebrush Projects The Biden administration announced on Thursday that they will invest over $9 million in fiscal year 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to support projects to restore and conserve strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem. More than 50 projects across Western states will work to combat invasive grasses and wildfire, reduce conifers, protect water resources, and promote community and economic sustainability. To read more about the sagebrush conservation projects, visit: www.fws.gov/program/sagebrushconservation

Heat and Drought Wreaks Havoc in West, Midwest In Kansas, thousands of cattle died this week due to an extreme heat wave that caused a perfect storm with no relief. Across the West, conversations about heat and drought are driving much of the narrative. This week's Drought Monitor (https:// droughtmonitor.unl.edu ) continues to show critical levels of drought across much of the Southwest. PLC keeps an up-to-date list of producer resources for those affected by heat, drought, fire and other natural resources.

Further east, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources heard from witnesses on Tuesday that across the country, the drought situation is dire and landscapes need to be more resilient. Wyoming Rancher Pat O'Toole shared his perspective with the committee, recommending that "... active forest management can increase water yield, improve water quality, provide for jobs, and reduce the cost of firefighting, while increasing forest resiliency. This can be done, in part, by increasing the productivity of national forests and grasslands; employing grazing as an effective, affordable forest and grassland management tool; increasing access to national forest system lands; expediting environmental reviews to support active management; and designing West-wide studies to quantify water yield." To watch the Senate hearing, visit: www. energy.senate.gov/hearings/2022/6/ full-committee-hearing-to-examineshort-and-long-term-solutions-toextreme-drought-in-the-western-u-s

www.progressiverancher.com

Successful Hope Roundup Fundraiser for Sierra Sage Treatment Center Horse Therapy Program Submitted by Rebekah Graham On Saturday, June 11, 2022, Sierra Sage Treatment Center and Western Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. hosted the Hope Roundup fundraiser to support the horse therapy program at Sierra Sage Treatment Center. The girls at Sierra Sage Treatment Center are sent to the program to address past trauma, abuse and neglect, including sex trafficking.

Sierra Sage Treatment Center (Rite of Passage ATCS) is a federal 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

The fundraiser was a tremendous success, and everyone truly enjoyed the evening with an auction, dinner and dance. The goal was to add a horse trailer to the program to allow the girls to participate in horse shows and off campus trail rides, add a shaded therapy space at the ranch, and a utility vehicle to drive the girls back and forth faster so more girls could participate in the program. Aimee Hennarty and Dailynn Palmer facilitate the equine therapy program which begins with teaching girls to work with horses, grooming, ground working and riding help the girls to be safe around horses and bond with their assigned horse. Aimee Palmer, a certified Equine Specialist, will then work with the girls on Equine Assisted Learning and facilitate therapy with the girl, their therapist, and their horse.

The girls in our care relate to their equine’s broken past of multiple placements, abandonment, and abuse. This creates a sense of purpose for our girls as they realize their own gifts and potential.

Sierra Sage Treatment was extremely thankful for the Western Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. who co-sponsored this event lead by Linda Huntsberger, Ashley Huntsberger, and Emily Fulstone. Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. is the oldest registered women’s organization in the state of Nevada. Western Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. covers Douglas, Carson, Washoe, Storey and Lyon counties of Nevada and Alpine and Mono counties of California. The CattleWomen believe in supporting women and girls in agriculture and donated the BEEF for dinner. Miss Rodeo Queen Nevada 2022 Gabby Szachara attended and participated in the Hope Roundup 2022 in support to the students at Sierra Sage Treatment Center. Tip Holloway, a professional auctioneer, volunteered to run the auction. Jack and Dorothy Franklin catered the barbeque. Three of the girls in the program, Karina, Liyah, and Symone, took time to speak to the attendees and share their thanks, their progress, and a little of their journey.

It takes a village, and this village cares deeply for the students at the Sierra Sage Treatment Center.

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2022

We have a small ranch based in Lamoille, Nevada and have a few cattle. I can’t seem to live without a canine in my life, so naturally, we have dogs designed to love working cattle. When I say dogs, I mean that we currently have four and who knows how many more we will have, because I have a tendency to fall in love with every puppy or rescue that I see. My husband has managed to keep the numbers down to four, but he is partly responsible for what dogs we do have, because he decided to adopt two pups at once. I thought he had lost his mind at the time and the pups truly presented us with the puppy challenge for a while. I truly enjoy these two little sisters, and they definitely love to chase cows. I’m not the best when it comes to training these furry friends, but I’ve been around them enough to appreciate their natural love for herding and their loving attachment to their family. That is why I decided to write a little something about our working ranch dogs. I believe that they deserve a lot of credit to be given to them. Think about it. Who usually is the first to greet you when you drive into someone’s yard? For the most part, you will meet up with a smiling face and may even receive a wet kiss if you allow that to happen. This same dog gives endless amounts of love to his or her family in the form of warm, happy smiles, hugs and can even be a baby sitter. These dogs are always ready and willing to give constant support to their families where it is needed. These same dogs can turn on a dime and willingly perform a job for us when we are working or moving livestock. They may be kicked, stepped on, rolled and experience any amount of danger that can be involved with their job. We may even yell at them once in a while. With all of this, they will be back for more, because it is their job. I stress the word their, because they form an attachment for their work and they love it. It is in their genes, just as forming an attachment for their families, four wheelers, trucks or hay wagons. I read somewhere that border collies are like geniuses who are on methamphetamines. Well, I think the first part applies to most herding dogs and mine are no exception. They are smarter than I am half the time, but I don’t know if I agree with the methamphetamine part. I only know that they are very focused and determined when it comes to doing their job. The rest of the time, they leave their work behind and become our loving, genius members of the family. We had a border collie in our lives who really brought all of these qualities into our lives and we will be forever thankful that she shared her love with us. Her name was Patches and she not only had a natural instinct for her herding job, but possessed a shining rainbow that followed her everywhere. It was a given that she took her herding job very seriously, but she could also turn away from that to become our loving family member when her job was done. She loved everything and everybody, including her partner for life, Zeke, who was our tough boss of the roundup. When he was away from his cattle, he was just a gentle ben who protected Patchy. She had a habit of adopting things, like stray kittens. Often, when I had her out and about with me, people would stop to talk with Patches. It was easy to carry on a conversation with her because she possessed a huge vocabulary. I can truly say that Patchy was one of the rare individuals who managed to accomplish what I think was her mission on this earth. She managed to make the world around her a happier place and if all dogs were allowed to do this, the world would be much better for it.

Cowgirl I smile as i watch her work, Focus intent upon her face, So quiet, so agile and quick As she crouches, then darts Only to spin and run until She feels her work is done And the herd is in it’s place Only then she will come to me With her open, smiling face, I can tell her over and over What she still needs to hear But again, I will gladly tell her Good cowgirl my dolly Patchy very good cowgirl by Annie Blackstock (Pen Name: Ann Blackburn) I hope that you will visit our website: annblackburnsbookshelf.com and our Facebook page: Ann Blackburn’s Bookshelf. Books available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or at Western Folklife Center, Northeastern Nevada Museum and Capriolas. Also available on our website.

Patches definitely left her mark on us and the world around her. We are constantly reminded of the warmth and love that she brought into our lives. We miss her terribly, but when we think of her, it is as though we are receiving a warm hug. So, you see, she is still giving us the loving support that she was always ready and willing to give us in life. That is why I felt the desire to honor her by writing a book about her. With the book, I hope to carry on her mission of spreading her love. I also entertain the idea that I can encourage the better care and treatment of animals through her book. I hope that you will stop and give your dog an extra pat or even a loving hug today. They will be so grateful and will do whatever they can to show you their love. The following poem is an excerpt from Patchy’s book, Cowgirl. 38 JULY/AUGUST 2022

The Progressive Rancher

www.progressiverancher.com

Churchill County Cowbelles | Favorite Recipes

By Leana L. Carey, President

Easy Lamb Chops with Garlic Butter These garlicky chops are pan seared, extremely simple to cook and are a delicious and easy option for dinner, as they only take 15 minutes to make! Serve with your favorite vegetable and a big green salad for a healthy meal. • 5 lamb loin chops

• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper • 2 tablespoons butter

• 6-8 cloves garlic minced

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped Remove loin chops from the fridge 20-30 minutes before cooking. Place them on a paper towel-lined cutting board and pat them dry with paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper. Heat a dry 12-inch cast iron skillet over a medium high heat. In the skillet, place the chops narrow fat side down. You probably will need to use tongs to keep them balanced and to press the chops down so that the fat renders and turns crisp and brown. It’s about 5 minutes. Once the fat has melted into the pan, lay the chops flat on one of their sides. Cook for another 3 minutes, until browned, then turn and cook on the other side. Turn the heat to medium-low. Using a spoon, remove most of the lamb fat from the skillet, then add 2 tablespoons off butter, the garlic and thyme. Stir well until the butter is foaming, and spoon the butter over the lamb for a minute or so. Place lamp chops in a serving dish and pour butter sauce on top. Sprinkle on some parsley if you wish. Enjoy!

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2022

Presort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Permit #40 Tooele, UT

The Progressive Rancher - July/August 2022

Articles inside

Cowbelles Recipe

Ranch Dogs - A. Blackstock

Public Lands Council The Daily Roundup

Successful Hope Roundup Fundraiser for Sierra Sage

CNRWA Update

Elko CattleWomen Awards

Rafter 3C Arena News

Wells FFA Update

BLM Update | Kathryn Dryer

NFB: Grassroots Newsletter

UNR | Nevada Volunteer Linda Zimmerman Honored

NFB: Discussion Meet Prep & Trade School Scholarship

NFB: Water on the Agenda

Let's Talk Ag (Editorial Impacts of Wind on NV Ag

California Cattle Council Message from Exec. Director

In Memorandum: Pete Crystal & Tim Gallagher

NBC Checkoff News

NBC Beef Recipe

NCA Roundup 2022 Scholarship Recipients

Eye on the Outside

SRM: Mechanical Treatment of Degraded Shrub Areas