The Progressive Rancher July-Aug 2017

NCA 2009 President’s Award Recipient

IN THIS ISSUE 3

Thank You, Dean Baker

4

NCA Roundup

5

PLC Weekend Roundup

7

Nevada Cattlewomen

8

WGA News

10

Cow / Calf Corner

12

Eye on the Outside

Leaving Your Employer?

14

Checkoff News

Understand Your 401(k) Options.

16

Fumes From the Farm

17

UNR News Release

18

Look Up

20

NCBA / PLC News

22

UNR Cooperative Extension Sage-Grouse Habitat

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24

UNR Cooperative Extension Agricultural Weeds: Dodder

27

RANGE Magazine Celebrates 100 Issues

28

USDA News

30

NV Farm Bureau News

34

NRCS: The Long Winter

38

HWCWMA: Flowering Rush

39

NCBA News

40

Budd-Falen Press Releases

40

NDA News

42

Wells FFA Closes Out Another Year

46

Range Plants for the Rancher Junegrass

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Financial Focus

The Progressive Rancher Owner/Editor/Publisher – Leana Litten Carey progressiverancher@elko.net

Graphic Design/Layout – Sara Dowling SaraLDowling@gmail.com

Cover Photo by Thane S. Fabel

Recognizing Sites for Effective Mitigation in Sage-Grouse Habitat—It’s More Than Quality Sagebrush Habitat

The May/June Cover Photo, “Our Future Cowmen,� was taken by Tanya McKay. We apologize for the error.

Published 8 times each year, The Progressive Rancher is mailed to more than 7,000 approved addresses, and has digital and print readership reaching 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 welcomed by The Progressive Rancher.

Rates for advertising are available upon request. Advertising in The Progressive Rancher does not necessarily imply editorial endorsement. Liability for any errors or omissions in advertisements shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by the error or omission.

The Progressive Rancher is free to people working and active in the livestock industry.

The Progressive Rancher is donated to the agricultural industry. If you are not currently receiving this magazine on a regular basis and would like to be a part of The Progressive Rancher family, contact us by e-mail at progressiverancher@elko.net today, so we can include you on our mailing list. If you have moved or changed addresses, please notify us by e-mail so we can keep you informed. All requests for the magazine must be made by e-mail. Š The Progressive Rancher Magazine. All rights reserved.

Leana Litten Carey, Owner/Editor 1188 Court St., #81, Elko, NV 89801 (208) 358-2487 • progressiverancher@elko.net

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THANK YOU, DEAN BAKER

By David Stix Jr. NCA President

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David Stix Jr.

y friends this month’s message is a “thank you” to one of our own who worked tirelessly for our industry especially when it came to water. Dean Baker was a fierce opponent when it came to protecting Nevada Water Law and keeping the fleecing of our ground water system contained as much as possible to the Strip in Las Vegas.

The legislative session has now come to an end. One bill that thankfully died during session was Assembly Bill 298. This bill was intended to put Nevada Water Law in control of SNWA. If made into law this bill would’ve totally politicized the doctrine that previous State Engineers used to determine the perennial yield in a groundwater basin.

This bill is one that goes with Dean and serves as a constant reminder why Dean’s persistence was not just an annoying introduction to a long drawn out dissertation, but proof that we must always be on guard of those who would destroy one part of our state just to serve their own self-serving needs.

To Dean’s family from a grateful industry thank you so much for sharing Dean with us so in his own way he could help all of us.

Take care my friends, David Stix Jr. President, Nevada Cattlemen’s Association

John Dean Baker Obituary John Dean Baker, 77, of Baker, Nevada, died May 13, 2017.

Dean was born December 19, 1939 in Delta, Utah to Fred and Betty Baker. He attended Delta High School. He then received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Utah in 1963. He was a rancher and farmer throughout his life.

In 1954 his parents bought the Silver Creek Ranch in Baker, Nevada, and Dean helped when he wasn’t in school and returned to the ranch full time after graduation.

They added the Baker Ranch in 1959. Dean worked to modernize the Baker Ranch improving water and energy efficiency. He also increased the size of the ranch and farm operations adding valley ranching properties over time.

In addition, he served on several boards and committees, including the USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee during the Nixon and Ford administrations; the Board of Directors for Mt. Wheeler Power for 13 years in the 1970s and 80s and served as chairman for several years; the Board of Directors for Oasis Seed, Inc. in the 1980s and 90s; the Board of Directors for Producers Livestock Marketing Association in the 1990s and 2000s and served as chairman from 2000-2004; Nevada Tax Commission representing agriculture, in the late 1990s and early 2000s; the Board of Agriculture for the State of Nevada from 2008 to 2011; Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Integrated Planning Commission representing White Pine County. He was on the negotiating team representing the state of Utah for a bi-state water agreement.

Dean was awarded the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association Cattleman of the Year, 2002. He also won numerous other ranching and land stewardship awards.

One of Dean’s passions was flying. He started flying at age 16 and continued throughout his life. He got a commercial license in the 1980s and did crop-dusting for farms in the area. He also flew to many meetings and to look at water and cattle on his ranch.

Dean was an unofficial spokesperson on the water issue in Snake Valley, talking with reporters from all over the world. He also spent time giving water tours, helping the Great Basin Water Network, and lobbying the Nevada Legislature to help protect rural water resources.

He is preceded in death by his parents and brother Carl. He is survived by his wife Barbara, children Chris Robinson of Palo Alto, CA; and Dave (Tana), Craig (Gretchen), and Tom (Janille) of Baker, NV; step-sons Gary (JoAnn) Perea of Baker, NV and Dennis (Marci) Perea of Las Vegas, NV; and 18 grandchildren.

A memorial service was held June 24 in Baker, NV at the Baker Ranch cookhouse. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Great Basin Water Network.

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NCA cattleman Attends elite cattle industry conference

By Kaley Sproul, NCA Executive Director

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epresenting Nevada Cattlemen’s Association, Jake Uhlmann participated in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s 2017 Young Cattlemen’s Conference. Over 60 cattle and beef professionals from across the country and across the industry attended the conference. Jake was selected by his fellow producers to participate in the 2017 class.

James “Jake” Uhlmann’s career in the cattle industry first began on his family’s cattle ranch in South East Texas where his passion for the agriculture industry grew and he realized it was the career path he wanted to continue on. From Texas, Jake moved to Idaho, where he worked on a stocker outfit pasturing yearlings, later moving on to working in a 25,000-head feed lot, learning as much as he could of the feeder industry. Currently Jake resides in Northern Nevada with his wife, young son, and child due in September. He has worked at the family owned and operated cow-calf operation, the Home Ranch for six years, spending that time learning about running a 1500+ -head cowcalf operation, and continuing to learn all he can about the various parts of the cattle industry. When he is not busy working on the ranch or spending time with his family, you can find Jake starting colts or working with horses of various stages of their training. NCBA’s YCC program is an opportunity for these young leaders to gain an understanding of all aspects of the beef industry from pasture to plate, and showcase the industry’s involvement in policy making, issues management, research, education and marketing.

Beginning at the NCBA headquarters in Centennial, Colo., the group got an inside look at many of the issues affecting the beef industry and the work being done on both the state and national level to address these issues on behalf of the NCBA membership. While in Denver, participants were given an overview of NCBA’s organizational structure and activities, as well as retailers’ perspective on the beef industry.

From Denver, the group traveled north to Greeley, Colo., where they visited and toured the JBS Greeley Beef Plant and Five River’s Kuner Feedyard. Next they traveled to Chicago where they visited McDonald’s Campus and OSI, one of the nation’s premiere beef Kaley Sproul, patty producers. After the brief stop in Chicago, the NCA Executive Director

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group concluded their trip in Washington D.C., for an in-depth issues briefing on current policy issues including international trade and increasing environmental regulations. Following the issues update, the participants were given the opportunity to visit one-on-one with members of their state’s congressional delegation, expressing their viewpoints regarding the beef industry and their cattle operations.

With the beef industry changing rapidly, identifying and educating leaders has never been so important. As a grassroots trade association representing the beef industry the NCBA is proud to play a role in that process and its future success.

Over 1,000 cattlemen and women have graduated from the YCC program since its inception in 1980. Many of these alumni have gone to serve in state and national committees, councils and boards. YCC is the cornerstone of leadership training in the cattle industry.

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THE WEEKEND ROUNDUP

By Tanner Beymer, Manager of Operations & Affi liate Outreach

June 23-25, 2017

The Land and Water Conservation Fund

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irst authorized in 1965, the LWCF sets up a fund in the Treasury Department that the federal government uses to acquire land for outdoor recreation across four different agencies of the federal government. While the fund accrues revenues of around $900 million annually, mostly from offshore oil and gas leases, only funds appropriated by Congress can be spent. The “Land and Water Conservation Fund: Overview, Funding History, and Issues” Congressional Research Service report explains the LWCF in great detail.

The following summary is taken directly from the report, found at: https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20160906_RL33531_ ac1555f37bb1a30bee404e6a00ad1b22af2e9f8e.pdf

Summary The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act of 1965 was enacted to help preserve, develop, and ensure access to outdoor recreation facilities to strengthen the health of U.S. citizens. The law created the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the U.S. Treasury as a funding source to implement its outdoor recreation goals.

The LWCF has been used for three general purposes. First, it has been the principal source of monies for land acquisition for outdoor recreation by four federal agencies—the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service. Second, the LWCF also funds a matching grant program to assist states in recreational planning, acquiring recreational lands and waters, and developing outdoor recreational facilities. Under this traditional state grant program, a portion of the appropriation is divided equally among the states, with the remainder apportioned based on need, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior. The states award their grant money through a competitive selection process based on statewide recreation plans and establish their own priorities and criteria. For FY2014-FY2016, Congress appropriated funds for a competitive state grant program in addition to the traditional state grant program.

Third, beginning in FY1998, LWCF has been used to fund other federal programs with related purposes, such as the Forest Legacy program of the Forest Service and grants under the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The LWCF is authorized through September 30, 2018, to accrue $900 million annually from multiple sources. However, nearly all of the revenue is derived from oil and gas leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Congress determines the level of discretionary appropriations each year, and yearly appropriations have fluctuated widely since the origin of the program. Of the total revenues that have www.progressiverancher.com

accrued throughout the history of the program ($38.0 billion), less than half have been appropriated ($17.5 billion). FY2001 marked the highest funding ever, with appropriations exceeding the authorized level by reaching nearly $1 billion. For FY2016, the most recent fiscal year, the appropriation was $450.0 million.

The $17.5 billion appropriated throughout the history of the program has been allocated unevenly among federal land acquisition (61%), the state grant program (25%), and other purposes (14%). Similarly, federal land acquisition funds have been allocated unevenly among the four federal agencies. Under more recent legislation (P.L. 109-432), a portion of revenues from certain OCS leasing is provided without further appropriation to the state grant program. These mandatory appropriations have been relatively small thus far; they are expected to increase beginning in FY2018 due to additional revenues from leasing in the Gulf of Mexico.

A variety of issues pertaining to the LWCF are the subject of legislation, hearings, and other debate. Some of them are being considered as part of deliberations over whether to reauthorize the LWCF beyond September 30, 2018.

Issues include the optimal level of funding for LWCF overall and its individual components, whether to permanently reauthorize the LWCF, and whether to retain discretionary appropriations or provide additional mandatory appropriations.

Other issues involve whether LWCF funds should be used for additional purposes, such as maintenance, or set aside for particular priorities, such as securing additional access to federal lands for recreation. The priority of the state grant program vis-à-vis federal acquisition is being debated, as is the extent to which the fund should be used for other programs benefitting states.

Wildfire Funding

B

ecause of the unusually wet conditions across much of the West, wildfire fuel-loads are expected to be high this year.

Many agencies are gearing up for an intense fire season -- but how does the government pay for all that? Funding wildfire suppression efforts has long been a subject of confusion and contention among lawmakers. Bills are introduced every Congress to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of wildfire funding; the “Federal Funding for Wildfire Control and Management” Congressional Research Service report explores the current methods employed by the federal government.

The following summary is taken directly from the report, found at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33990.pdf

Summary The Forest Service (FS) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) are responsible for protecting most federal lands from wildfires. Wildfire appropriations nearly doubled in FY2001, following a severe fire season in the summer of 2000, and

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have remained at relatively high levels. The acres burned annually have also increased over the past 50 years, with the six highest annual totals occurring since 2000. Many in Congress are concerned that wildfire costs are spiraling upward without a reduction in damages. With emergency supplemental funding, FY2008 wildfire funding was $4.46 billion, more than in any previous year.

The vast majority (about 95%) of federal wildfire funds are spent to protect federal lands—for fire preparedness (equipment, baseline personnel, and training); fire suppression operations (including emergency funding); post-fire rehabilitation (to help sites recover after the wildfire); and fuel reduction (to reduce wildfire damages by reducing fuel levels). Since FY2001, FS fire appropriations have included funds for state fire assistance, volunteer fire assistance, and forest health management (to supplement other funds for these three programs), economic action and community assistance, fire research, and fire facilities.

Four issues have dominated wildfire funding debates. One is the high cost of fire management and its effects on other agency programs. Several studies have recommended actions to try to control wildfire costs, and the agencies have taken various steps, but it is unclear whether these actions will be sufficient. Borrowing to pay high wildfire suppression costs has affected other agency programs. The Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement (FLAME) Act was enacted in P.L. 111-88 to insulate other agency programs from high wildfire suppression costs by creating a separate funding structure for emergency supplemental wildfire suppression efforts.

Another issue is funding for fuel reduction. Funding and acres treated rose (roughly doubling) between FY2000 and FY2003, and have stabilized since.

Currently about 3 million acres are treated annually. However, 75 million acres of federal land are at high risk, and another 156 million acres are at moderate risk, of ecological damage from catastrophic wildfire. Since many ecosystems need to be treated on a 10-35 year cycle (depending on the ecosystem), current treatment rates are insufficient to address the problem.

A third issue is the federal role in protecting nonfederal lands, communities, and private structures. In 1994, federal firefighting resources were apparently used to protect private residences at a cost to federal lands and resources in one severe fire. A federal policy review recommended increased state and local efforts to match their responsibilities, but federal programs to protect nonfederal lands have also expanded, reducing incentives for local participation in fire protection.

Finally, post-fire rehabilitation is raising concerns. Agency regulations and legislation in the 109th Congress focused on expediting such activities, but opponents expressed concerns that this would restrict environmental review of and public involvement in salvage logging decisions, leading to greater environmental damage. Legislation was introduced but not enacted in the 110th Congress to provide alternative means of addressing post-fire restoration in particular areas. The large wildfires to date in 2011 have reignited concerns about post-fire rehabilitation.

The following summary is taken directly from the report, found at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31654.pdf

Summary The Endangered Species Act (ESA; P.L. 93-205, 87 Stat. 884. 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544) has a stated purpose of conserving species identified as endangered or threatened with extinction and conserving ecosystems on which these species depend. The ESA is perennially controversial because the protections provided can make it the visible policy focal point for underlying situations involving the allocation of scarce or diminishing lands or resources, especially in instances where societal values may be changing or traditional land use patterns are affected. As a result, the act often becomes controversial even where a particular species is not the focus of a controversy but a symptom of it. In response to past controversies, Congress has repeatedly considered minor amendments and major changes to the ESA. The major features of the ESA and related controversies are brief ly summarized as follows: • ESA retains its authorities even though its authorization for funding expired in 1992, and funds may be and have been appropriated in the absence of a current authorization. ESA prohibitions and penalties remain in effect regardless of appropriations.

• ESA’s principal parts are the listing and protection of species, designation of critical habitat and avoidance of its destruction, and consultation by federal agencies regarding actions that may harm listed species.

• Dwindling species are listed as either endangered or threatened according to assessments of the risk of their extinction. Once a species is listed, legal tools are available to aid its recovery and to protect its habitat.

• ESA has broad provisions for citizen suits to enforce the act, and lawsuits have played a major role in enforcement and interpretation of many, or perhaps most, of the act’s provisions.

• ESA provides for exemptions from the act for agency projects, but the provisions are little used for a variety of reasons.

• The act is administered primarily by the Fish and Wildlife Service for terrestrial and freshwater and by the National Marine Fisheries Service for most marine and anadromous species.

• ESA is the implementing legislation for U.S. participation in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

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Endangered Species Act

T

he decision to delist grizzly bears in Yellowstone marks a significant change in the approach used to measure species recovery between the Obama and Trump Administrations.

While many understand the intent of the Endangered Species Act, the specifics of the process can be overwhelming to anyone that doesn’t have a law degree and ten years of experience under their belts. The Congressional Research Service report, “The Endangered Species Act: A Primer,” outlines a history of the act and explains the complexities in great detail.

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ANCW Region VI Meeting 2017 Highlights

By Sidney Wintermote, Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. President

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evada CattleWomen, Inc. had the pleasure of hosting the annual ANCW Region VI meeting in Elko, April 27-29th. It was a successful event and everyone in attendance had a fabulous time.

Our meeting began with a workshop given by University of Nevada Reno, Meat Scientist, Dr. Amilton de Mello, on USDA quality grades and effects on eating experience. Followed by Mozart Fonseca on how to optimize marbling and feed efficiency in beef cattle.

Friday morning began with a welcome from Region VI director, Pam Griffin, and was followed with workshops and speakers including Nevada Lands Council President, Rex Steninger, Dr. JJ Goicoechea and Lindsay Chichester. Friday evenings entertainment included Radio Personality and Agriculture Advocate, Trent Loos, followed by a traditional Basque dinner and entertainment provided by the Elko Euzkaldunak Basque Dancers.

We wrapped up our meeting on Saturday with tours to Maggie Creek Ranch, the California Trail Interpretive Center, J.M. Capriola Co. and lunch at the Star Hotel.

We would like to thank each and every one of you that made the journey to Elko! We would also like to thank our sponsors for this event: Barrick of North America, Newmont Mining Company, New Fields, Raymond James: Danny Gillins, Edward Jones: Jason Land, Elko Co. CattleWomen, IFA-Elko, Maggie Creek Ranch: Jon Griggs. Without the donations of each of these sponsors, this event would not have been possible!

The last several months, the Nevada CattleWomen have been selling raffle tickets for several items. This raffle was a huge success! Winners were announced during our Region meeting. We would like to say congratulations to Fay Gansberg of Markleeville, she won the fishing pole donated by Cabelas. Debbie Hummel of Winnemucca, won the grill sponsored by Mike and Melinda Sarman. Tana Garnett of Tucumcari, New Mexico got to take home the patio cooler and 20 pounds of beef sponsored

by Kelly Wintermote and Buckingham Bar X Ranch. Gwen Wines of Ruby Valley was the proud winner of the portable loading chute donated by Powder River

and Boss Tanks of Elko Elko, NV NV. Thank Thank you to everyone who supported our raffle and bought tickets!

If you missed out on the Nevada CattleWomen raffle or would like to enter to win another, you won’t want to miss this! The Humboldt Co. CattleWomen are selling tickets for a raffle to be held on August 3, 2017.

All proceeds go toward their annual scholarship fund.

1st place is a Traeger Grill plus a 10 lb. prime rib. Second place is a denim quilt, 2 bottles of wine and wine glasses.

Third place is an 8 lb prime rib. Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00 and can be purchased by contacting Debbie Hummel at 775-427-3363.

The Nevada CattleWomen, Inc., consists of members from across state and has a 59-year history of uniting women in agriculture to focus on its core concepts of beef promotion, education, and legislation. By becoming a member, you will become part of a professional networking group who strongly support the cattle industry and Nevada’s agriculture community. For more information about Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. or to join today, please visit our Facebook page or email us at cwnv.inc@gmail.com.

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COWBOY CHURCH!

Bible Study Fri @ 9 am

Sunday @ 11am services

4275 Solias Rd Fallon, NV

Bible Study Wed @ 6 pm

Are you having a Rodeo or Livestock event? GIVE US A CALL. We would love to come to your event or ranch and host Cowboy Church for you.

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of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Governors believe that targeted, legislative, regulatory, and funding refinements could improve the operation of the ESA. The Governors also recognize that much can be accomplished by working collaboratively with federal partners and that the ESA can only be reauthorized through legislation developed in a fashion that results in broad bipartisan support and maintains the intent of the ESA to protect and recover imperiled species. This is an amendment to WGA Policy Resolution 201608, incorporating year-two Species Conservation and ESA Initiative principles by reference.

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estern Governors formally approved five policy resolutions on: Workforce Development; Species Conservation and the Endangered Species Act; National Forest and Rangeland Management; Western Agriculture; and State Wildlife Science, Data and Analysis at the Western Governors’ Association 2017 Annual Meeting in Whitefish, Montana.

The five new policy resolutions formally approved include: Policy Resolution 2017-12: Workforce Development: To meet current and future workforce development challenges, Western Governors are committed to identifying innovative approaches that connect western citizens in need of career advancement opportunities to western business sectors with employment vacancies to be filled. The Western Governors’ Association is ideally situated to collect and disseminate workforce development information (such as best practices, case studies and policy options) to enhance workforce development in the West. This resolution directs WGA to pursue a workforce development initiative that leverages the region’s best thinking to help bridge the gap between prospective workers and western employers, now and in the future Policy Resolution 2017-11: Species Conservation and the Endangered Species Act: Western Governors applaud the principles and intent

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Policy Resolution 2017-10: National Forest and Rangeland Management:Western Governors support sound forest and rangeland management policies that maintain and promote environmental, economic and social balance and sustainability. The Governors support programs intended to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health and resilience, and believe the federal landscape should be focused on environmentallysound forest and rangeland management practices that also provide sustainable economic opportunities for local communities. Western Governors encourage collaboration as a tool to achieve community-supported and durable land management outcomes.

Policy Resolution 2017-09: Western Agriculture: Western Governors support a broad array of funding, education, research, and conservation programs that enable farms, forests, and rangelands to be important contributors to the economies and quality of life in western states. The Governors encourage responsible management of federal lands in the West, given that western states include more than 75 percent of our national forest and rangeland ecosystems. Western Governors encourage integrating these policies into legislative action as Congress considers the 2018 Farm Bill.

Policy Resolution 2017-08: State Wildlife Science, Data and Analysis: Western Governors direct U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to utilize state wildlife data, analysis and expertise as principal sources in development and analysis of science serving as the legal basis for federal regulatory action to manage species and habitat. The Governors support efforts to provide statutory exceptions to Freedom of Information Act disclosure for state wildlife data and analysis in stances where publication of state data provided to federal agencies would be in violation of existing state statutes.

Western Governors enact new policy resolutions and amend existing resolutions on a bi-annual basis. All of WGA’s current resolutions can be found on our Resolutions Page: http://westgov.org/resolutions/

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WGA recently shared an agency-by-agency menu of reforms in response to President Trump’s Executive Order, Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda. Read and download here: http://westgov.org/news/ governors-share-reforms-for-enforcing-the-regulatory-reform-agenda-eo

May 15, 2017

Justin Clark Director of Intergovernmental Affairs The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. Clark: President Trump’s Executive Order 13777 (E.O.), Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda, requires that federal agencies seek input and assistance from states. Western Governors appreciate this requirement and commend to your attention WGA Policy Resolution 2017-01, Building a Stronger State-Federal Relationship, as a good starting point for reform of federal regulatory processes.

Western Governors believe that one of the most important and durable reforms the President could undertake is to work with them to realign the relationship of the federal government and states so that it operates as a true partnership. Such realignment could be significantly advanced by a serious effort to redefine statefederal consultation coupled with agency accountability for engagement in that process.

Pursuant to Western Governors’ definition of true consultation: Each Executive department and agency should be required to have a clear and accountable process to provide each state – through its Governor as the top elected official of the state and other representatives of state and local governments as he or she may designate – with early, meaningful and substantive input in the development of regulatory policies that have federalism implications. This includes the development, prioritization and implementation of federal environmental statutes, policies, rules, programs, reviews, budgets and strategic planning.

WGA has prepared the attached agency-by-agency menu of reforms for consideration by the White House and various departmental Regulatory Reform Task Forces. These options are informed by Governors’ past interactions with federal agencies. We believe they can be useful in initiating realignment of the state-federal relationship, an objective that is consistent with the purposes of the President’s E.O.

Justin Clark May 15, 2017 Page 2

Western Governors are excited to work in authentic partnership with the federal government.

Governors are optimistic that the new Administration will be eager to unleash the power and creativity of states for the common advantage of our country. By working cooperatively with the states, the Administration can create a legacy of renewed federalism, resulting in a nation that is stronger, more resilient and more united.

We hope this menu of reforms will be a useful resource to the various Regulatory Reform Task Forces. The Western Governors’ Association is prepared to help coordinate the participation of Western Governors in this very important effort.

Respectfully,

James D. Ogsbury Executive Director

Attachment cc:

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Honorable Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior Honorable Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture Honorable Scott Pruitt, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite, Commanding General and Chief of Engineers

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COW/CALF CORNER May 29th, 2017

Feedlot Numbers Grow with Strong April Placements

Monitor Mineral Intake Closely During Summer

By Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist

By Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist

S

tronger than expected April placements pushed the May 1 feedlot inventories to 102 percent of year ago levels. April placements were 111 percent of last year, above the average trade guess though not outside the range of expectations. April marketings were 102.7 percent of last year, also above expectations and a continuation of strong feedlot marketings.

Slowly growing feedlot inventories reflect the increase in feeder supplies resulting from three years of herd expansion. The May 1 on-feed inventory is the highest monthly cattle on feed total since February of 2013 and the highest May total since 2012. A combination of short and long-run regional factors and trends has resulted in some interesting comparisons of cattle feeding in the major feedlot states. The data comparisons below are based on the current cattle on feed data series that dates back to 1992.

Texas has been the largest cattle feeding state since the early 1970s, but has trended down in recent years. Texas feedlot inventories have not grown very fast in recent months with the May 1 inventory of 2.46 million head unchanged from last month and 1.2 percent lower than last year. In fact, the current inventory is only 2.1 percent above the recent low of 2.41 million head in May, 2015, a low that goes back to 1997. Current Texas feedlot numbers are 20.1 percent lower than the all-time monthly inventory peak of 3.08 million head in February/March of 2001 and 18 percent lower than the more recent peak of 3.0 million head on-feed in November 2011.

The number two cattle feeding state, Nebraska has average much closer to Texas in recent years with the decline in Texas numbers. Nebraska monthly on-feed inventories have equaled or exceeded the Texas total several months in recent years and have averaged about 170,000 head less than Texas compared to previous years when Nebraska typically had about 700,000 head less cattle on feed than Texas on a monthly basis. Nebraska’s current inventory of 2.45 million head is up 1.2 percent year over year but, like Texas, has grown relatively slowly in recent months.

The current monthly total is just 10,000 head smaller than the Texas total. The current Nebraska feedlot inventory is 4.7 percent below the peak Nebraska monthly inventory of 2.57 million head in February/March 2012.

In contrast to the top two feedlot states, feedlot inventories in number three Kansas have grown aggressively in recent months. Year over year placement rates have been higher in Kansas compared to Texas and Nebraska in the past six months.

The current Kansas feedlot inventory of 2.28 million head is 106 percent of one year ago and is the highest monthly total for the state since December of 2011. The all-time peak Kansas feedlot inventory was 2.67 million head in November 2001.

Number four feeding state Colorado has also grown rapidly in the past few months. The May 1 inventory total of 960 thousand head is 6.7 percent higher than last year and is the largest monthly total for Colorado since April, 2013. The record cattle feeding inventory in Colorado was 1.25 million head in November, 2000 with a more recent peak of 1.13 million head in January 2012.

Iowa is the number five cattle feeding state with a current inventory of 680 thousand head, up 6.3 percent from one year ago. Iowa feedlot inventories have grown rapidly in the past six months with monthly placements averaging nearly 20 percent higher year over year. Th is is the fastest growth in placements among the top five feedlot states and has pushed the current Iowa cattle on feed inventory to a record high for the data back to 1992.

10 JULY/AUGUST 2017

S

ummer often becomes a busy time of year for ranchers (especially during haying season). Don’t forget to check the mineral feeders or blocks to be certain that they are supplying the minerals that your cows need. In some cases, medications may be recommended by your veterinarian to be included in the mineral mix. Cow calf operators will want to monitor mineral consumption closely to be certain that the labelrecommended amounts are being consumed by the cattle. A “Veterinary Feed Directive” (VFD) will be necessary for antibiotic feeding in mineral supplements. Contact and work with your local large animal veterinarian about the appropriate VFD for your operation.

Placement of mineral feeders and blocks can aid in achieving optimum mineral intake. Place them in areas where cattle spend a lot of time. Minerals should be placed in loafing areas, near water sources, in shady areas, or any other location that tends be a popular place for the herd to congregate. A rule of thumb is to provide one mineral feeding station for every 30 to 50 cows. Check feeders at least once a week and keep a clean, fresh supply of minerals present at all times. A good feeder should keep minerals dry, be portable and hold up to abuse and corrosion. Open tubs are not adequate in high rainfall areas. Cattle owners can get receive additional help with calculating mineral intake with the “OSU Mineral Calculator” and the “OSU Mineral Consumption Record” sheets.

To download these aids go to http://beefextension.com/ and click on the appropriate menu items on the right side of the page.

Choosing a mineral mix requires understanding of the animal’s requirements and the minerals available in the forages and feedstuff s available to the animals.

Mineral needs tend to be area specific and change with soil type, fertilization rates, rainfall and many other factors. Mineral requirements also will depend on animal age and stage of production. An excellent reference source for Oklahoma beef producers about mineral supplementation can be found in the Oklahoma State University Extension Bulletin E-861 “Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition of Grazing Cattle” at http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2032/E861web.pdf.

The Progressive Rancher

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

11

By Joseph Guild

NCBA - It’s the Little Things

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ometimes it seems as if there is so much to say and at others there is nothing, then you dig deep and realize there was something after all. It was just hidden like the proverbial; I was looking everywhere but right in front of me and there it was. I have been wanting to write about the little things NCBA does that never grab any headlines but which added up mean a great deal to the nation’s cattle producers.

Everyone no doubt has heard by now about the beef trade with China opening up a huge market for our product with their emerging middle class. NCBA had a big role to play in that effort and many headlines were generated as a result of the part NCBA played to help make that happen. I have also written many times about the lobbying NCBA does in Washington D.C. to protect the interests of America’s beef industry.

There are other things the organization does which never grab a headline but which are just as important to protect and preserve your businesses and ranches. Three acronyms are important to this discussion; CERCLA, OVEC and WOTUS. The only one some of you have probably heard of is WOTUS. So let’s start with that one.

A few years ago the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), acting on the pretext of clarifying the law on what was deemed a “water of the United States” (WOTUS) for purposes of regulation by the EPA under the Clean Water Act, decided to redefine what was a WOTUS. Many of you know that initiative resulted

12 JULY/AUGUST 2017

in a protracted fight with EPA by the agricultural industry and many other groups who analyzed the proposed rule and determined the EPA was engaged in a massive overreach of federal power into an arena mostly left to the states- control over the laws about the water contained within their own borders.

All of the interests opposed to the new rule weighed along with Attorneys General from many states who filed actions against the rule in at least two federal courts. Nevertheless, despite all of the opposition including from the Army Corps of Engineers, the enforcement agency for many EPA undertakings, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy arrogantly pushed ahead and the rule was implemented. Soon after he took office President Trump put a hold on implementing many of the Obama Presidency regulations. The WOTUS Rule was one of them. He ordered the rule to be reassessed, revised and rewritten if necessary.

NCBA has created a working group to do just as the President ordered the Agency. The Washington D.C. office of NCBA has been in consultation with EPA and new Administrator Pruitt. Plans are underway to help the EPA write a rule that does not involve a huge Federal Government over reach into an area traditionally occupied by the states. The work is being done quietly in conjunction with other stakeholders.

I am sure it will result in a balanced well –thought out product which reflects what really is a water of the United States.

The Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was passed by Congress because a need was perceived to deal with serious industrial pollution. The law gives the federal government an ability to respond to the problems caused by hazardous waste disposal and the authority to fine polluters.

Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions in concentrated amounts occur when livestock are confined in feedlots and other similar facilities in quantities that could be considered pollution under CERCLA. However, there is an agriculture exemption in an EPA rule passed in 2008. But, recently a Federal District Court in Washington D.C. ruled that exemption was invalid.

NCBA and a coalition of other Agricultural groups including the National Pork Producers have filed a petition for a rehearing on this case and a U.S. Senate Committee is also looking into this situation with input from NCBA’s D.C. staff. This is another issue that won’t grab a lot of headlines but which is vital to a significant segment of the beef industry.

OVEC is the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. They claim West Virginia has failed to enter a final determination on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TDML) for the waters of West Virginia. They allege since the State has failed to act, EPA should step in and force a TDML requirement on the state. The reality is the state is involved in an internal scientific analysis to decide whether a TDML determination is even necessary for West Virginia. Ironically, the EPA supports the state’s process and agrees there is a need to analyze the question of whether a determination is necessary.

If the environmental group is successful a precedent will be created which allows NGOs to involve themselves even more into valid governmental processes and force their subjective agenda onto those processes. NCBA was asked to join a coalition to file an Amicus Brief in this case supporting states’ rights to act independently in areas like this to determine their own standards and not a cookie cutter, one size fits all approach which is a favorite tool of radical environmentalists so control can be centered in one federal agency over which they have unusually large influence.

This is a short list of actions by NCBA which you will likely never hear but which is evidence yet again why belonging to such an organization is good for business.

I’ll see you soon. www.progressiverancher.com

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

13

Checking on the Checkoff Another Reason to Eat Beef Jerky

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ost of us don’t need an excuse to eat beef jerky, but on June 12 (which just happened to be National Beef Jerky Day), the Beef Checkoff Program gave anyone needing that extra nudge a few reminders of why jerky makes a nutritious and delicious snack. That day, the checkoff partnered with state beef councils to deliver beef jerky “bouquets” to news personalities at television outlets in many of the country’s top media and consumer markets.

The bouquets, in custom “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” vases, were delivered to 115 television stations in the top 30 U.S. markets and others. They were accompanied by beef information including tips on how beef jerky is the “ultimate snack hack” for consumers.

The project allowed the industry to help promote a powerhouse protein snack in a unique and promotable way, according to Jerry Effertz, a beef producer from Velva, N.D. and chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils. “Beef jerky is a popular, low fat and high-quality protein that has many benefits,” says Effertz. “We think these bouquets will provide broadcasters with something fun and interesting to talk about on air.”

The national beef jerky letter to media representatives included five reasons beef jerky is the ideal snack hack, including: • It helps fuel kids through the fi nal bell, keeping them attentive and ready to learn; • It helps you avoid the workday slump, as a healthier salty snack option; • It gives unexpected post-workout benefits as “nature’s protein bar”; • It’s a fun way to help kids celebrate a win or rebound from a loss, stamping out “hangry”; and • It lets you stay lively on the hiking trail.

For more information on the benefits of beef jerky, go to www.BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. For more information on how the Beef Checkoff Program is using this and other programs to help build beef demand, go to www.MyBeefCheckoff.org.

Beef "Steaks" a Claim on National Burger Day Jerky isn’t the only beef product that has been highlighted in recent weeks. May 28th was National Hamburger Day, and the Beef Checkoff Program didn’t let it go by without reminding consumers just how many options there are when it comes to this All-American meal.

Extensive media outreach with national media and supply chain partners was conducted. In addition, an advertising campaign through the popular social media platform Instagram was executed and debuted the new Beef 101: Burger Bar recipe video. Th is outreach took place over Memorial Day Weekend, giving people yet another reason to choose beef for grilling during the holiday weekend.

Check out the Burger Bar video today, and get your own inspiration for your summer barbecues. Visit the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. Youtube channel (at www.youtube.com/beeffordinner) and search for “Burger Bar.” As of press time, the video has been viewed nearly 2 million times!

Eating Right for Older Adults - A Case Study When it comes to nutrition research, the beef checkoff has funded a number of studies to help understand the important role of protein in the human diet. This research has contributed to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the health benefits of protein intake, and the importance of high-quality protein found in beef.

What’s more, checkoff-funded human nutrition research is the foundation for all industry nutrition education and communication initiatives.

One of the latest checkoff-funded studies is examining how the impact of protein from beef can benefit older adults with dieting and exercise.

“We are conducting a checkoff-commissioned experimental obesity intervention with older adults who are frail, using protein to offset the challenge to muscle mass during weight loss,” says Connie Bales, Ph.D., R.D., professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. “What we found was that weight reduction was good for everybody in the study but for those who had beef twice a day and a total of three meals per day, with 30 grams of protein in each, the increase in function at the end of the study was more than double that in the control group.

“We know that there are a lot of nutrients in beef besides protein, and we have also found beef to be a nice complement to lower-starch, lower-carb fruits and vegetables in the diet. It is helping to bring us away from this sense that we’re getting too many refined carbohydrates and maybe even starch in our diet. It’s very well-accepted in this aging population -- the idea of normal foods and a normal meal that you can chew.”

To learn more about some of the research conducted in this and other areas, visit www.BeefResearch.org.

For more about the Nevada Beef Council, visit www.nevadabeef.org.

14 JULY/AUGUST 2017

The Progressive Rancher

www.progressiverancher.com

SUMMERTIME BURGER BAR From James Winstead, RDN, Director of Food and Nutrition Outreach for the Nevada Beef Council

Who doesn’t love a delicious, juicy grilled burger during a summer barbecue? Next time you’re having friends or family over for this favorite of summertime activities, consider putting together a “burger bar” and offer up a variety of delicious condiments to give your guests a chance to try a few new twists on their favorite burger.

Get Started A good burger starts with a great Ground Beef patty! Try 80/20 Ground Beef if you’re going for a traditional burger. For a leaner (but equally juicy!) burger use 93% lean or leaner Ground Beef, plus an egg white and a dash of bread crumbs. (There are lots more great burger recipes at www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com, if you don’t already have a favorite.)

Burger Bar Options Here are some additions and condiments to consider for your burger bar.

Classic: Lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles Mustard, ketchup, mayo Cheddar or American cheese BBQ: Your favorite, tangy BBQ sauce Crunchy cole-slaw Cheddar cheese For added crunch, consider adding a few fried onions

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Greek: Greek yogurt Sliced cucumbers Sliced onions Crumbled feta cheese Mexican: Guacamole or sliced avocado Shreeded Mexican cheese blend Pico de gallo or salsa For added fun, consider serving these burgers on a tortilla or quesadilla-style Be creative and add your own favorite elements to your burger bar, or visit http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/recipesearch.aspx?col=The+Tastiest+Burgers for more options. Bon appetite!

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August 9-13th 2017

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JULY/AUGUST 2017

15

FUMES FROM THE FARM

By Hank Vogler

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

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hey just left. A group of folks with the Great Basin Water Network stopped by to get “an unbiased, uncensored view of the Great pipeline environmental holocaust” from yours truly, Mr. I sugar coat everything.

I told them how the Southern Nevada Water Authority paid sixty plus million dollars for fi fteen million dollars worth of ranches. I mentioned that the Baker family in Snake valley turned them down to buy their ranches and they controlled more water than the Authority paid sixty some million dollars for. I mentioned that their big city know it all attitude wasn’t keeping the natives in a euphoric state; that bitching out neighbors wives and pushing neighbors around because they are the big dog, was not playing well at the end of the road. We amongst the great unwashed were a little bit insulted by years of hard work to be told how stupid we were. My thought was for them to be raising livestock and hay was dumb, as the state engineer was not going to cancel their water rights. They needed a pig, a chicken and a goat to hold their water and using the state taxpayers checkbook to justify a position that would never, pardon the pun, hold water, wasn’t needed.

Well, my fellow travelers, had the leaders of SNWA had a brain in their collective heads, they maybe should have talked to someone who was wearing a pair of bib overalls and was wearing a straw hat. In all fairness they did have a fellow selected as their “go to Guy” who had been through the chairs at the buck boy club, and he did have a cowboy hat, the only trouble was he didn’t know if Christ was crucified or shot in a crap game.

Yet in my contrite confession had it not been for the total arrogance and condescension and ignorance of ranching of SNWA and its experts, yours truly would be out of business and driving a haul pack truck at some mine. Yes, they threw out the baby with the bath water and most of the meat was left on the bone.

God Love Them.

Hang and rattle! Hank Vogler

I made mention that SNWA, promised that they just wanted a few acre-feet of water. That they said there was no intention of expanding the pipeline. I mentioned that the folks at SNWA had a MOU with Elko County that they would not go there for water. Yet, if that was true, why the AB298 bill in the legislature, which did fail, that would have given ‘Carte Blanc” theft of water to Vegas and Reno; which is five times more out of water than Las Vegas. Th is would make Rye Patch Dam in the cross hairs to make it the water treatment plant for the Reno Carson area. Water speculators are gobbling up ranches all along the Humboldt River. We are on the verge of having Reno, Las Vegas and a grand sand dune in between. The historians a thousand years from now will be digging up our garbage dumps trying to figure out what global climate change caused this wreck. Yet the press in Vegas and Reno has sheltered the population about estimated costs to the taxpayer, the ratepayers, and the environment. I went on to mention that once the pipeline was built the legislature would never agree to abandon the pipeline even though with the renewed growth in Vegas that when the ribbon cutting opening the pipeline was enacted the greater Vegas growth belt would be out of water and the legislators of the day would be inclined to expand and spider web the pipeline state wide. The mood would not be to go to the Pacific ocean and trade Colorado river water for desalinated water paid for by Vegas in California.

As the crowd looked at me like deer in the headlights, I broke down. I could no longer stand the dark secrets I held. My catharsis was complete. I mentioned that I had purchased a house in Vegas. My bill to Las Vegas Valley Water District was half what I paid for the Internet. I confessed that every morning I say, oh, and Lord, God bless Southern Nevada Water Authority. Yes it’s true. City people think because they have become doctors, lawyers, accountants, and business people they cannot only replicate what I do, they can do it better because they are amongst the inner circle white buck shoed, checked pants, golf club suburban crowd and we all know they know it all. Yes I have only spent my entire life trying to get a grip on my career, I am just another of the great unwashed with a straw hanging out the corner of my mouth in their eyes.

16 JULY/AUGUST 2017

The Progressive Rancher

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News from the University of Nevada, Reno www.unr.edu/nevada-today

Economic Development in Rural Communities Boosted by USDA Continued Funding $500,000 grant renewal will assist communities throughout the West with regional development strategies that could extend throughout the U.S.

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ENO, Nev. – Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno, along with researchers at Utah State University and University of Idaho, are assisting rural communities across the West by applying economic, environmental and social factors to community economic development planning.

The University Center for Economic Development located in the College of Business recently led the charge to renew a $500,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture under its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

Tom Harris, University foundation professor in the College of Business, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension specialist and principal investigator on the grant, describes the work as a tool used to better identify compatible intersections of community preferences and asset structures with industry production requirements and targeted community support.

“It’s very much like a dating service,” Harris said. “We pair what communities want along with information about their asset inventory. Then we interview businesses and discover who has similar goals and priorities to that of rural communities.”

The method is called Area Sector Analysis Process, or “ASAP,” and with the renewed funding from the USDA, Harris and his team plan to expand the project across western states while focusing on four specific objectives:

1. Operationalize the existing ASAP model; 2. Develop procedures to encourage and sustain community comparative advantages; 3. Expand ASAP implementations; and 4. Analyze ASAP primary data to better understand the process of sustainable rural development over time and across various rural communities and industries.

“At the end of the day, we come up with industries that are desirable to the community and vice versa,” Harris said. “We also show rural communities what assets they can improve upon to make their long-term goals for growth and sustainability attainable. From training a workforce to building highways and infrastructure, ASAP informs communities as to what type of industry they are best matched for.”

Harris, who, along with Malieka Landis, research manager in the University Center for Economic Development, first received the grant in 2014. The 2017 grant is the first renewal. To date, the grant has allowed the team, including colleagues in Utah and Idaho, to formalize the implementation procedure for ASAP, formalize data, and seek representation from firms in every state.

Harris and Landis have worked with Nevada communities in White Pine and Lander Counties. They are currently considering the economic impacts to Washington County, Utah, which is part of the Las Vegas “megapolitan.”

“Especially in Nevada, rural community focus has been on agriculture, mining and tourism – all industries that have volatile business cycles,” Harris said. “We encourage these communities to look for sectors that are more stable with fewer peaks and valleys, as we know this will help even out their economic cycle.” www.progressiverancher.com

According to Landis, ASAP brings a quantitative analysis to rural communities – helping the people living and working there to think about competitive advantages.

“It’s about compatibility,” Landis said. “We’re trying to help communities with declining populations and services, strengthen rather than struggle over time. With this grant renewal we will look at not just community assets, but also the labor skills and education required to meet industry needs.”

Since federal funding was received in March 2014, ASAP has been implemented in 16 communities across Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. Along with Harris and Landis, Economic Development Specialist Buddy Borden, who works in the Southern Clark County University of Nevada Cooperative Extension office, also plays a key role with the grant.

“From my experience delivering the ASAP program, I found it to be a very effective research and outreach program that enables communities to better understand the many factors that influence community and economic development,” Borden said. “More importantly, is provides communities with local data, expertise and resources that are necessary when developing and implementing strategic economic development plans.”

The process for rural communities engaged with ASAP takes about six months.

Communities first work through an Extension educator, who then gathers a cross section of both business and community leaders.

“We are also developing a post-ASAP follow-up process,” Landis said. “The idea behind ASAP is for the community to take leadership in the project. In order for it to be sustainable, it has to be a community-led process. Community groups are working towards solutions and, while it may not be immediate, progress is being made to strengthen their economies.”

Ely, Nevada is just one of 16 communities researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have worked with as part of the ASAP project to help strengthen its rural economy.

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

17

II Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. NASB II Corinthians 1:20 - For every problem, there’s a promise. Find the root of your fear and dig it out with the word of God.

No Fear Here

by Pastor Diana Gonzalez I John 4:17-19 17 - Love has been perfected (mature, complete) among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect (mature, complete) love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect (mature) in love. 19 - We love Him because He first loved us. NKJV

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Put a watch on what you watch and listen to. Scary, trashy movies, too much TV news or anything that doesn’t build up your faith in God. Don’t hear fear. Hear faith. Praise and worship music will build you up and put a good atmosphere in your home. Good teaching CDs are good to listen to in your car or home.

Most important; know that God loves and approves of you! Be a container that receives and gives love.

When you mess up, be quick to repent. Don’t let sin interrupt the flow of God’s power in your life.

Be happy and full of joy. Remember, our life is God’s gift to us. What we do with that life is our gift back to Him. And He wants us to be happy and blessed.

Let the enemy know there’s no fear here.

Scripture reading: Ephesians Chapters 1-3 Happy trails. May God richly bless you. We love you and would love to hear from you. If you would like someone to pray with, or just have a question, please give us a call at (775) 867-3100. ‘Til next time….

on’t you get a little fed up with folks that can’t seem to see any good in anything? They talk gloom and doom, no matter how good things are going. They talk sickness and poverty over themselves, their family and their livestock. “Well, we’re just getting old. It’s time to fall apart.” Wrong. That’s a lie of the devil. “Mom’s getting too old to bother with, so got to find a place for dear old mom.” Lie! The place for mom is with you and helping out in the field or around the yard or house. (Genesis 6:3) Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

You can talk yourself to death or talk yourself to life. You choose. You see, God and the devil often work the same way. The devil wants to destroy you and everything that you have. (John 10:10) After the cross, he has very little power to do that other than to get you to co-operate with him. (Colossians 2:11-15) The only things he has to work with is deception/fear and you. He’ll try to get you to use your tongue against yourself (curse yourself ). One way our heavenly Father blesses us is to get us to speak His words with faith; with our tongue.

(Read James chapter 3).

Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit who gives life; flesh profits nothing.

The words that I speak to you are spirit and they (words) are life!” NKJV. The words we speak, if our mouth is trained up by the Bible, give life, quickens our bodies, brings (spreads) life. However, that same mouth can spout the work of the devil and bring disease and death. Th is should not be.

Ephesians 4:29 - Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, (building up) that it (words) may minister grace unto the hearers. KJV We need to put a guard over our mouths and let our words pass through our spirit and our brains before we say them. Your words can hurt you and the people you love. Our words have spirit and the (words) have life or death.

So, what are the keys? What’s the answer?

Jesus said we must be born again. (John 3:3, 8) Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22) We must ask ourselves if we truly believe the Word of God. Do we believe what God said in the Bible?

Is the Word of God the fi nal authority in our lives? If we do, that’s the God kind of faith.

Is there any fear in your life? If so, then you are putting faith in what the devil can do to you. Th at’s not of God. 18 JULY/AUGUST 2017

The Progressive Rancher

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Iron Sharpens Iron

by Kit Pharo

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

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his very short proverb, written by Solomon, has many applications. I believe it has physical, mental and spiritual relevance. We need the presence of others to reach our full potential.

Physical: Athletes need to be challenged by other athletes to hone their skills. They can work out and practice on their own, but real growth comes from practice with other athletes.

Mental: Our minds are similar to our bodies. We need to spend time in individual observation and study, but our minds and our thoughts will remain somewhat dull and unfocused until we have some intellectual interaction with others. Only then will we be able to truly sharpen our thoughts and our minds. I’m not referring to mindless discussion about the weather or last night’s ball game. I’m referring to stimulating discussion of ideas and concepts.

Spiritual: We are all on a spiritual journey to wherever we are going to spend eternity. Compared to eternity, the life we are living is very temporary. Therefore, spiritual growth and understanding is far more important than physical and mental growth. One hundred years from now, your physical fitness and intellectual capacity won’t have any significance because this life, for you, will be over. The only thing that will matter is where your spiritual journey ended.

Spiritual growth involves personal time in prayer and in the study of God’s Word. Just like the athlete and the scholar, we need to have some personal desire and ambition. We need to be self-motivated before any real growth can take place in our spiritual life. We cannot afford to simply believe what someone else tells us the Bible says. That is the lazy man’s approach and it will probably take us down the wrong road.

Spiritual growth also requires that we meet with others who are on the same spiritual journey. We need them and they need us. Through sharing and discussion, we are able to put an edge on our spiritual lives.

I am not referring to going to a church building where everyone sits in rows and stares at the back of someone else’s head while someone up front delivers a prepared lecture. That is similar to a group of athletes sitting in the bleachers while their coach lectures to them. They may gain some insight and knowledge, but they will never be able to sharpen their skills simply by listening to the coach.

I am referring to a one-on-one or small group study in which everyone participates. Christians have been meeting in small groups ever since Jesus established his church – for good reason. That is where genuine spiritual growth takes place. That is where the “iron sharpens iron” principle works.

In a small group setting, everyone matters. In a small group setting, everyone receives the special attention that he or she might be needing. In a small group setting, everyone is accountable to and responsible for one another. In a small group setting, everyone becomes like a close-knit family – brothers and sisters in Christ. www.progressiverancher.com

A word of caution. Don’t allow your small group get-together to spend much time discussing trivial, non-spiritual matters – and don’t let it turn into a neighborhood gossip session. God will bless your small group meetings, but only if you stay focused on Him and on spiritual matters.

Pray together. Pray for one another. Open God’s word together.

Discuss what God is saying to you and to the group. Discuss how you can apply God’s word to your everyday lives. Encourage others to be all that God wants them to be and to have all that God wants them to have. Become involved in one another’s lives.

Don’t just GO to church; BE the church

A Father’s Love

by Kit Pharo

I

n the spring of 1999 I lost my father. I still catch myself looking around to seek Dad’s nod of approval. I continue to have questions and ideas I wish I could ask Dad about. When Dad left this world there was a big void in my life. Father’s Day revives memories of my dad and reminds me of how much I miss him.

In the fall of 1999 we lost our son, Trapper. For those who don’t know, Trapper took his own life at the age of 24. We didn’t know it at the time, but Trapper suffered from a very common illness known as depression. Trapper’s death left an even bigger void in my life, along with occasional feelings of guilt and anger. I am still overcome every now and then by thoughts and visions of what Trapper must have been going through. There are so many things I wish I would have said or done. Father’s Day causes me think about Trapper and wonder what might have been.

Fathers and sons often have a difficult time showing their true emotions and feelings for one another. Th is is especially true in my family. Although it probably didn’t show much, I loved Trapper and I loved my dad very much and I know they loved me – but my love for them and their love for me didn’t even come close to comparing to God’s love for us. God is our heavenly Father and he loves us more than we will ever know or understand.

How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10 On Father’s Day… it is appropriate for us to remember and honor our earthly fathers. I think it would also be appropriate to spend some time honoring God as our heavenly Father. Consider his great and unwavering love for us.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

19

Zinke Vows to Restore Trust in the West

S

ecretary Zinke told the Western Governors Association yesterday that his agency must “restore trust” in the federal government’s ability to manage public lands.

He went on to promise that changes and restructuring in his Department would be those of a “100-year scale” nature. “It bothers me when BLM is not viewed as land managers but are viewed as more law enforcement.”

The Secretary’s remarks come on the heels of an announcement that the Department of the Interior is undergoing a major reorganization.

Read more on the details of the reorganization at https://newsdesk.moreover.

Livestock Industry Supports WGA

W

ASHINGTON (June 28, 2017) – Today, Dave Eliason, Utah rancher and president of the Public Lands Council (PLC), and Craig Uden, Nebraska cattle producer and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), issued the following statements regarding the recommendations stemming from the Western Governors Association Species Conservation and Endangered Species Act Initiative: “The process that has unfolded over the past few years is an example of what can be accomplished when we put our differences aside and come together to tackle complex problems,” said Eliason. “WGA, and Governor Mead in particular, deserve a lot of credit for their leadership on this issue.

These recommendations were developed through engagement with diverse stakeholders and we urge Congress to use this as a roadmap to modernize the Endangered Species Act.”

“The Endangered Species Act impacts cattle producers across the United States,” said Uden. “We were pleased to have been involved in this process from the beginning and stand ready to remain engaged with the Western Governors Association and lawmakers moving forward.”

PLC Praises EPA, Administration for WOTUS Decision

O

n the heels of an announcement that the Waters of the United States rule was being re-evaluated, PLC President Dave Eliason said, “We applaud President Trump and Administrator Pruitt for their leadership in repealing the 2015 WOTUS rule.”

The decision to withdraw the 2015 rule is not a repeal, but a chance to remake the rule which many ranchers were opposed to. NCBA President Craig Uden noted, “It’s important to remember, though, that this rule isn’t dead yet.

The rulemaking process continues.” The full statement from the NCBA and PLC follows:

Livestock Producers Applaud Withdrawal of WOTUS Rule WASHINGTON (June 27, 2017) - National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Craig Uden and Public Lands Council President Dave Eliason today issued the following statements regarding the announcement that the 20 JULY/AUGUST 2017

The Progressive Rancher

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Environmental Protection Agency has fi led an official proposal to withdraw the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule: “Th is is another great step in the right direction, and the Administration deserves a great deal of credit for injecting some much-needed common sense into our nation’s environmental policies,” NCBA’s Uden said. “It’s important to remember, though, that this rule isn’t dead yet. The rulemaking process continues, and NCBA will submit and solicit additional comments on behalf of America’s cattle producers so that they fi nally get the sanity and clarity they need on land use policy.”

“We applaud President Trump and Administrator Pruitt for their leadership in repealing the 2015 WOTUS rule,” Eliason added. “Ranchers in the West are already subject to an elevated level of regulatory overreach, and the WOTUS rule as written would have only made the problem worse. It is reassuring to see the steps that this administration is taking to relieve some of that regulatory burden and provide certainty for our producers.”

Read more on the story from the Capital Press at http://www.capitalpress. com/Nation_World/Nation/20170627/ farm-groups-cheer-epa-move-to-rollback-wotus

www.progressiverancher.com

JULY/AUGUST 2017

21

Recognizing Sites for Effective Mitigation in Sage-Grouse Habitat—It’s More Than Quality Sagebrush Habitat University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Brad Schultz, Extension Educator, Winnemucca, NV Summary of a presentation to Nevada’s Sagebrush Ecosystem Council, June 8, 2017

I

ndividuals and organizations in Nevada focused toward improving habitat for sagegrouse face a daunting task: where do I start?

There is an obvious need to prioritize efforts, but what criteria should we use to identify where to focus our efforta, or which habitat feature should we address? Sage-grouse are a landscape species but do not use all parts of the landscape equally. Furthermore, hens with chicks cannot use the landscape the same as ‘empty nesters’. The former are spatially fixed from the time of nest initiation through at least early brood rearing, but the latter can fly to many different locations. It is intuitive, that for a species that is highly preyed upon, that the shorter the distance between nesting, and early and late brood rearing habitat the lower the probability the hens and chicks will be lost to predation.

Peak breeding occurs around April 1, with nest initiation typically occurring before breeding. Forbs are important for hens at this time and continue to be a critical food item through late-brood rearing.

Chicks eat primarily insects (almost exclusively) their fi rst two weeks of life and transition to almost entirely forbs by four weeks of age. Forbs remain the primary food source through late brood rearing; thus, forbs are an obvious critical habitat element from nest initiation through late brood rearing.

The availability of nest sites and forbs, however, interacts with late winter and early spring snow cover.

Widespread snow cover (especially when deep) can render both nest sites and forbs unavailable. Data from historic snow course and Snotel sites indicates that snow cover on April 1st is progressively greater above about 6,500 feet north of Interstate 80, and above 7,500 feet south of Interstate 80. Areas where much of the landscape; thus, potential sage-grouse use areas is above these elevations will have large areas unavailable to breeding and nesting sage-grouse, during most years.

Population data from the early 2000’s (before recent large fi res in several productive Population Management Units - PMUs) reveal an interesting pattern when data transformation changes total number of birds in the PMU to acres per bird. The Lone Willow PMU in Humboldt County had the best acres per bird ratio of 52, followed by the Islands (Elko County) and Sheldon (Humboldt and Washoe Counties) PMUs at 86 and 150 acres per bird. Most other PMU’s have an acre to bird ratio of 200 to several thousand or more acres per bird. A comparison 22 JULY/AUGUST 2017

of landscape structure in the Montana Mountains with other areas across the state provides substantial insight for prioritizing management actions and treatments for sage-grouse.

There appears to be a distinct relationship amongst the ratio of acres per bird, general topography (elevation and slope), snow accumulation around April 1st, and the specific ecological sites in a management unit, as well as their spatial arrangement with oneanother. The Lone Willow PMU, and in particular the Montana Mountains segment, is a relatively long north-south mountain range, with a broad (5 to 7 miles wide) relatively flat region across the top. Most of the area is between 6,000 and 7,000 feet, with many east-west trending ridges that have a slope less 20%.

Drainages that separate the north and south facing slopes are shallow and have a low gradient.

The gentle slope is critical because research has shown the mean slope for lek locations is 3.1%, hens construct over 90% of nests on slope less than 20%, and broods select areas less than 20% slope. Many steep mountainsides in Nevada have excellent stands of sagebrush but they are too steep to attract nesting hens and/or their young broods. Many steep north facing slopes also remain covered with snow during nest initiation and early nesting periods. The adjacent south slopes may be snow-free but often are too steep to attract nesting sage-grouse. Forbs on south slopes also tend to desiccate much earlier than forbs on north facing slopes.

The elevation belt of the Montana Mountains is high enough to receive 14 to 20 or more inches of annual precipitation (data from over 3,000 leks found their mean annual precipitation was 13.1 inches), but low enough to allow much of the area to be accessible for nest initiation, due to early snowmelt, especially on the gentle south facing ridges. Mountain sagebrush ecological sites are common when precipitation is > 12 inches, and on average mountain sagebrush sites have the greatest forb production, often reaching or exceeding 80 to 100 pounds or more per acre. In the Montana Mountains, low sagebrush sites are widely intermixed with the mountain sagebrush sites and their forb production is only slightly less. Wyoming sagebrush sites typically are found at lower elevations

(<5,500 to 6,500 feet, depending on location) and are among the least productive big sagebrush communities for forb production, often only producing about 30 pounds per acre. Furthermore, at these lower elevations forbs often become dry and less nutritious by mid-June, which is when chicks rely almost entirely on a forb diet. Forb desiccation is even more likely on south and west facing aspects, where intense afternoon sunlight occurs.

A good mix of mountain and low sagebrush ecological sites, on slopes less than 20%, and at elevations form roughly 6,000 to 7,000 feet provides good nesting and foraging potential for sage-grouse (assuming perennial grasses and forbs are abundant), from nest initiation through at least early brood rearing. The habitat potential improves substantially when another critical habitat element, perennial herbaceous meadows, are abundant and embedded within the matrix of mountain sagebrush and low sagebrush ecological sites. These meadows commonly form in low gradient drainages and provide abundant forbs well into the summer – the critical late brood rearing period. The shorter the distance from nest site, to early brood rearing habitat, to late brood rearing areas, the greater the overall quality of the landscape for sage-grouse. In essence, the shorter the birds have to travel the less exposed they are to predators and the less energy they expend getting their groceries.

The full PowerPoint of this presentation can be found at ProgressiveRancher.com.

The Progressive Rancher

Another landscape feature that makes the Montana Mountains close to ‘optimum’ for sagegrouse is that virtually all of the meadows and high forb producing uplands are on top of the broad fl at mountain. There are literally no rock outcrops or other natural perches upon which predators can reside and watch for nests, hens, and chicks. Meadows located below perch sites may have great forb production but may be less desired for sage-grouse due to perch sites for predators above them. Other sites may warrant higher priority for meadow restoration. www w.progressiver rancher.c com

Restoring sagebrush on burned sites in the 8 to 10 inch precipitation zone (most commonly the Loamy 8-10 ecological site) may not be the best approach to spending limited dollars for sage-grouse. These Wyoming sagebrush sites produce the fewest forbs and desiccate about the time chick’s switch their diet from mostly insects to mostly forbs. Across much of Nevada, Wyoming sagebrush sites occur on alluvial fans situated between the base of the mountains and the valley bottoms. There are relatively few perennial streams that traverse these fans; thus, few perennial herbaceous meadows available to provide forbs during the late brood rearing period. Most streams emerging from the mountains are seasonal and lined with willows and other riparian shrubs. These low elevation sagebrush sties became brood rearing habitat only when early settlers established homesteads on the streams (seasonal and perennial), usually where they emerged from the mountains, and diverted water each spring to create meadows for their small herds of sheep and/or cattle. These meadows created an early to midsummer (late brood rearing) source of forbs where they often did not exist or were spatially rare. By the 1950s, these homesteads were largely gone and the meadows and the habitat they had created was lost or severely degraded. Re-establishing many Wyoming sagebrush sites without recreating the meadows established at settlement will confer little benefit to sage-grouse, unless the area is important winter habitat. Likewise, removing pinyon and juniper trees from many alluvial fans will provide little benefit to sage-grouse (but may have other benefits) unless there are perennial herbaceous meadows nearby to provide the late brood rearing habitat needed in mid-summer.

Fire is a widespread risk to sagebrush plant communities and sage-grouse.

Recent work in Nevada at over 50 burned sites originally inhabited with Wyoming big sagebrush found that half burned before the sagebrush canopy cover reached about 18%. Fuel breaks (more appropriately fuel reduction zones because some vegetative fuel remains on site) are becoming a more common tool to address this issue; however, fuel breaks are not equally created. A fuel break, whenever possible, should be located where the perennial herbaceous understory is productive enough to competitively exclude cheatgrass and other invasive annual species. If fl ashy and fl ammable annual species replace combustible sagebrush, the fuel characteristics may change but the ability to reduce the risk of a catastrophic fi re probably has not. If annual grasses are abundant there must be sufficient maintenance and operations funds to repeatedly treat the fuel break so it actually functions as intended. Many fuel breaks have strips of unmowed sagebrush within the treated area, and/or have rapidly growing shrubs not killed by the mower. If the goal was to remove heavy fuels to reduce the risk of catastrophic fi re, then leaving shrubs in the fuel break defeats the intended purpose, especially in areas where sagebrush is both dense and continuous enough to facilitate large catastrophic fi res.

Improving and or maintaining quality landscapes and sagebrush habitat for sage-grouse has to use a landscape level approach to identify areas within PMUs that have the best potential for placing critical/important habitat elements in close proximity to one-another, from nest initiation through late brood rearing. An analysis of any large landscape (PMU) should be able to identify those sub-areas that are more or less likely to be snow-free in late March (typically < 6,500 to 7,000 feet elevation); while also having a slope less than 20%, and nearby mountain and low sagebrush ecological sites with the potential for high forb production.

When existing perennial herbaceous meadows (or degraded meadows that can be restored) are embedded in the aforementioned landscape matrix, and there are few to no perches (human or non-human origin) above nesting and brood rearing habitat and landscape potential for sage-grouse improves even more.

The fewer habitat elements present, and/or the further apart they occur, the lower the potential of the landscape to house a large sage-grouse population. All landscapes or PMUs, however, have at least a few small areas where the ‘optimal’ habitat structure may occur. These are the areas one should identify for appropriate management actions and/or treatment. They are more likely to provide substantial benefit to sage-grouse. The more areas that occur in a PMU, the greater the overall potential of the PMU to sustain robust sage-grouse populations.

www w.progressivera rancher.co om

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Market your cattle with the professionals!

The Progress siv ve Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

23

Nevadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Priority Agricultural Weeds: Dodder University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Brad Schultz, Extension Educator, Winnemucca, NV

D

odder (Cuscuta spp.) is a parasitic plant with limited photosynthetic capability; thus, it obtains the nutrients and energy it needs to grow and reproduce from a host plant. The impacts of dodder are variable and largely depend on the age of the affected host plants and the intensity (size and density) of the infestation.

Seedling hosts s are most susceptible to actual death from dodder, largely because they have a small leaf area and their root and shoot systems have no energy reserves to draw from once a dodder plant becomes attached. Mature plants often experience reduced production per plant, but not death, except in very intense infestations. The economic impact largely depends upon how much of a production field is infested and how large the individual dodder plants become. Dense infestations also can cause problems during crop harvest, and the high moisture content of dodder results in curing problems for recently swathed hay crops. There is evidence that host plants weakened by dodder may be more susceptible to nematodes, other insects, and a suite of potential diseases dodder can spread. Dodder is not poisonous for livestock but it has little if any nutritional value and is not selected for by any type of livestock.

Over 100 species or varieties of dodder occur in the United States. Approximately 15 to 20 of these occur in Nevada. Many are native species but some are introduced from numerous locations from Europe to Asia. Both annual and perennial species occur, however, in regions like Nevada where winters are often cold dodder assumes the lifecycle of an annual plant: germination, emergence, seed production, and death occur in one growing season.

Dodder can survive on a wide range of host plants, including both crop and weed species. Common crops that become infested include alfalfa (Figure 1), clover, onion, pepper, carrot, potato, melon, asparagus, tomato and sugar beet. Weed species that often serve as a host include: field bindweed, lambs quarters, pigweed, and Russian thistle. Numerous ornamental flowers also are susceptible. Dodder cannot attach to a host with thick bark but can affect trees and large shrubs if its haustoria (the appendage that attaches to the host plant) can reach succulent leaves. Dodder does not occur very often in rangeland environments but periodic outbreaks have occurred. On rangelands,

24 JULY/AUGUST 2017

growth until the plant can attach to a host. After the seedling attaches to a host plant all of the carbohydrates and nutrients needed for additional growth come from the host plant. Attachment must occur within 5 to 10 days of emergence or the seedling dies.

Once the initial stem attaches to the host plant, dodder continues to grow sending new tentacles (shoots) to other parts of the original host plant or even to nearby plants. Growth rates for stems can reach 3+ inches per day. The result can be a large dense mat of intermingled stems often reaching 15 feet in diameter and occasionally 30 feet across. Severe infestations can nearly cover the host plant which substantially reduces crop production, and could result in death of the crop plants.

The root system of dodder plants is non-existent, remaining in place only long enough to support initial plant growth until dodder attaches to its host plant. The root system dies once the seedling attaches to the host plant.

Dodderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flowering period varies by species, but ranges from late spring to fall. Flowers appear first near the point of first attachment and progressively move outward. Dodder plants are high seed producers, often dispersing several thousand to over 16,000 seeds per plant. The seed appears to have innate dormancy with only about 5 percent Figure 1. Dodder infestation in a stand of alfalfa. The germinating the first growing season dodder plants extract carbohydrates and nutrients from the after dispersal. Of the remaining seed, alfalfa, reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the alfalfa some will remain dormant and viable in leaves, and at high abundance levels will make harvest more the soil for at least 20 years, and perhaps difficult. Photo by: Gerald Holmes, California Polytechnic as long as 60 years. The seed has a very State University at San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org hard seed coat, which probably results in the high initial rate of dormancy. There Plant Biology and Spread is evidence the seeds need scarification to germinate.

Scarification may result from cultivation, weathering Being an annual plant, dodder regenerates from processes in the soil, soil microbial activity, and other seed every year and completes its entire lifecycle in disturbances that scratch or break the seed coat. Th is one growing season. Seed on or very close to the soil may include digging animals that move a substantial surface tends to have the best germination and seedling amount of soil. emergence. Germination is best on moist soil when soil The seed of dodder can be spread by flowing temperatures reach about 60°F. The emerging plant water, which suggests rapid and widespread movement typically is a slender shoot that coils around any object when it reaches irrigation canals and/or a stream that it encounters. Recently emerged dodder seedlings provides irrigation water downstream. Flood irrigation depend upon carbohydrates stored in the seed for also may move seed across a field and into tail-waters. short statured shrubs (and forbs) with leaves near the ground are most susceptible to becoming attached to.

Across Nevada, only agricultural producers in Lyon County rated dodder a top ten problematic weed (#9): 17.4% of producers expressing concern. Pershing County was the only other area where at least 10% of agricultural producers (13.2%) stated a concern about dodder. Both counties grow about 30,000 acres of alfalfa annually (water permitting) and Lyon County also produces several thousand acres of onions. Both crops are well known as susceptible hosts to dodder.

Dodder is not considered a problematic weed by public land managers.

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Th is may move seed further off-site, especially if the return flow moves into a stream, ditch, or canal. If forages ingested by livestock contain dodder seed, the seed can be spread to distant locations in their manure.

Seed crops that contain seed from dodder can also start new infestations when the crops not properly cleaned, and the seeds are subsequently planted elsewhere.

Short- and-long range transport also occur when mud infested with dodder seed becomes attached to animals (wild or domestic), vehicles, and farm equipment and falls off the transport media at some distant location.

Control Approaches Non-chemical Dodder only reproduces from seed; therefore, control of dodder requires three general strategies: 1) preventing the movement of viable seed onto a site from other locations; 2) preventing seed production; and 3) for sites already infested, depleting the soil seedbank over an extended period (seed remains viable for decades). The easiest method to prevent the establishment of dodder on crop ground is to use certified weed free seed and not plant the problem.

Once a crop of weed free seed is planted the source of the irrigation water becomes important. If the water has the potential to carry dodder seed, scout your fields periodically after irrigations to find any seedlings, which are the easiest plant growth stage to control. Any cultivation technique that uproots the seedlings prior to their attachment to the host plant is likely to be effective.

A vigorous dense stand of a forage crop helps reduce dodder by casting shade which can reduce both the germination and growth of dodder. In essence there is a decline in the number of “safe sites” in the soil for dodder seed to germinate. Safe sites are minute locations in the soil that provide the best microenvironment for seed to germinate, and for the seedlings to establish. Also, vigorous forage plants can withstand a dodder infestation better than weak plants. Crop rotation with perennial forage grasses, small grains, or corn for five or more years can substantially reduce dodder. Grasses (and most monocots) are not host plants for dodder and with time the seed bank will decline due to losses from germination and subsequent death, insects, soil pathogens and other factors that can kill seed in the soil.

Cultivation is only useful before dodder attaches to the host plant. Once the plant attaches to the host it no longer needs its miniscule root system to survive; therefore, destruction of the roots does not kill dodder. If there is from ⅛ to ¼ of an inch or more of stem left below the point of attachment to the host plant, the dodder plant will continue to grow and expand its adverse influence on the host plant.

Hand removal or hand cultivation is a viable option for small infestations, particularly if these actions occur before dodder attaches to the host.

Mowing infested alfalfa stands close to the ground has proven effective for managing

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dodder infestations. Research in California found that infested stands that were flail mowed had substantially more alfalfa plants per square yard and more biomass per acre than untreated stands.

Plowing or deep cultivation is likely to bury the seed below its germination depth, which prevents germination in the near future, but also dramatically reduces the annual loss of seed from the due to the effects of failed germination and emergence, and seed losses from soil pathogens, insects and other soil borne factors. Buried seed typically survives much longer than seed on or very close to the soil surface.

Given the potential long life of dodder seed (20 to 60 years), and the large amount of seed produced by just one dodder plant, it would only be a matter of time before a single (future) cultivation event brings the seed back into the optimal germination zone and renews the infestation.

Burning can be an effective late season control of seed production. Infestations subjected to single, double, and heavy burns have resulted in about 99 percent fewer dodder plants emerging, compared to untreated areas. Once dodder seed has started to mature burning is the only effective control method to reduce inputs to the seedbank. Burning should target only the infested plants and is likely to result in yield losses for the burned areas of the field. Research has shown that alfalfa plants tend to recover completely by the following growing season. There are no readily available biological control agents for dodder. A variety of pathogens have been tested but none have proven reliable and none have been packaged into a product that is easily and successfully delivered to the infestation. Grazing is not a viable option due to poor animal selectivity, largely due to dodder’s poor nutritional content.

most effective approach, but many chemicals have a limited longevity in the soil. Season-long irrigation can result in dodder germination and emergence long after the herbicides activity or presence has decreased. Herbicide activity can decline due to several factors, including: 1) regular microbial or other types of decomposition in continuously wet to damp soil; 2) movement of the chemical below the germination zone near or at the soil surface; or 3) lateral movement of the herbicide to uninfested areas. Split applications at multiple points in the growing season may be necessary, but application restrictions printed on the product label may prevent this approach for some chemicals. The potential for

The easiest method to prevent the establishment of dodder on crop ground is to use certified weed free seed and not plant the problem.

Chemical Control There are at least 11 active ingredients that suppress or control dodder (Table 1, pg 26). These are available in at least 39 different products. Many of these products are pre-mixed packages that include one or more of active ingredients shown in Table 1, and one or more additional active ingredients that often control many other weeds. Some of these weeds often grow in conjunction with dodder and may serve as a host plant. Two of the active ingredients in Table 1 are not labeled for crops typically grown in Nevada but are primary chemical control agents for fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops. Chemical control of dodder should always consider methods to control weeds that dodder can use as a host plant.

Herbicide control of dodder is difficult. A soil active herbicide applied before germination is the

The Progressiive Rancher

these restrictions to occur should be closely for before any product is applied. All herbicide applications should consider the potential short and long-term effect to the crop species grown on the site in the current and subsequent years.

No single active ingredient listed in Table 1 is the best herbicide for all infestations of dodder. Every infestation has some unique characteristic different from other sites. Herbicide selection should be based on site-specific conditions. Some factors to consider are: 1) do you need an herbicide that is selective and not going to adversely affect the residual desired vegetation on the site; 2) are your short- and midterm management objectives compatible with a soil persistent herbicide that can leave a significant amount of the active ingredient in the soil for months to years; 3) what will be the growth stages of dodder and non-target vegetation when you have time to fit an herbicide treatment into your overall farming or ranching operation; 4) can you make the commitment to any follow-up treatments that are needed; and 5) herbicides alone probably will not provide complete control of dodder. An integrated approach that mixes herbicide treatment with cultivation, mechanical, fire and cultural approaches typically provides the best long-term control.

The next weed addressed in this series will be redstem filaree (Erodium cicutarium), a coolseason annual forb that may infest both crop and wildland landscapes.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

25

Soil Residual

Selective

Small Grains Corn Alfalfa Mint Potatoes

Representative Products

Bare-ground

Active Ingredient

Range and Pasture Non-Crop Fallow

Table 1. The list below identifies the active ingredients and many of representative products known to control dodder in the landscape settings and crops for which the active ingredient is labeled. Use the information in this table to determine the potential active ingredients for your specific needs. Product selection should occur only after the applicator has read all current product labels and identified the appropriate products for their specific situation. A complete list of all active ingredients and products labeled to control dodder can be searched for at the CDMS (http://www.cdms.net/LabelsMsds/LMDefault.aspx?pd=7607&t=) and Greenbook (http://www.greenbook.net/) websites. The order of chemicals below does not reflect any preference or efficacy. Across the spectrum of available products, some may only suppress dodder (generally means no seed production).

Dazomet*

Basamid G

No

Yes

DCPA

Dacthal

Yes

Yes

Dichlobenil

Casoron

Yes

Yes

Ethalfluralin

Sonalan HFP

Yes

Yes

Glufosinate-ammonium

Cheetah, Forfeit, Reckon 280 SL, Rely 280

No

None to very short

Glyphosate, isopropylamine salt or potassium salt

Alecto, Buccaneer, cornerstone plus, Helosate Plus, Roundup

No

No

Imazamox2

Raptor

x

Yes

Yes

Imazethapyr2

Pursuit Thunder

x

Yes

Yes

Pronamide*

Kerb

x

Yes

Yes

Pendimethalin

Acumen, Helena Pendimethalin, Prowl H2O, Stealth

x

x

x

x

x

Yes

Yes

Trifluralin

Treflan, Triflurex HFP

x

x

x

x

x

Yes

Yes

*Restricted use chemical 1 Established alfalfa seed only 2 Suppression only

26 JULY/AUGUST 2017

x

x1

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Growth Stage Pre-plant fumigant for ornamental sites, field nurseries, turf sites, green houses, hoop houses, potting soil and compost piles, and nonbearing crops Preplant (crop) and preemergence to cultivated soil on cropland planted to many vegetable and fruit crops Preemergence from late fall (no incorporation needed) through early spring (soil incorporation needed).

Also labeled for some fruit and nut crops and wood product crops Preemergence (often crop and weed) with immediate soil incorporation by irrigation. Also labeled for numerous legume and seed oil crops Postemergence to actively growing plants when temperatures are warm, humidity high and bright sunlight.

Typically a spot treatment for dodder.

Postemergence to rapidly growing unstressed plants, preferably before widespread attachment to host plants.

Postemergence until soon after dodder attaches to host plants. Dodder typically ≤ 3 inches tall.

Postemergence but prior (preferred timing) to or shortly after (acceptable timing) attachment to host plant Preemergence with incorporation by irrigation preferably within 3 days, but at least before germination of dodder seed.

Preemergence with soil incorporation in upper 1 to 2 inches of soil within 7 days of application Preemergence with immediate soil incorporation (<24 hours)

NOTE: Listing a commercial herbicide does not imply an endorsement by the authors, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, or its personnel. Product names were used only for ease of reading, not endorsement.

Herbicides should be selected for use based upon the active ingredient and the specific bio-environmental situation to which it will be applied. Product labels change often; therefore, applicators should always consult the current label prior to applying any herbicide.

The Progressive Rancher

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Still Standing After 100 Issues...

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n behalf of Nevada’s public land ranchers, the Nevada Rangeland Resources Commission has supported RANGE magazine and the Range Conservation Foundation for many years, with a variety of projects. They have included advertising, which won 1st place for Best Advertising Series in the 2016 Nevada Press Association; 500 one-year gift subscriptions for doctors’ and attorneys’ offices back East; RANGE’s new book, which is placed in 664 libraries and schools for reference; and always a feature story on a Nevada ranching family.

RANGE magazine has been called “the shill of industrial polluters” and “cousin-marrying, Shepler-shopping troglodytes.” Those bits of “criticism” are favorites of publisher, C.J. Hadley.

In the current issue, RANGE’s 100th, she informed readers that while “Browbeaten. Badgered. Belittled. Bullied. And Bloodied. The magazine is still standing after 100 issues,” all the while avoiding technology and the lure of “doing it the easier way” by relying on the Internet. RANGE readers often read an issue more than once, save copies in their libraries, use it for reference, and savor the images by some of America’s most talented photographers.

No stranger to controversy, RANGE—which has won four consecutive Freedom of the Press awards for its reporting on the Bundy standoff, the Hammond incarceration, the Grass March and climate change—has withstood the barrage for 26 years and 100 issues. Hadley says, “RANGE owes its survival to the support of Nevada ranchers and a host of fervent followers, including a few surprised members of the media. In a recent journalism competition, judges from the Montana Press Association remarked: “Never heard of RANGE magazine before but they take wide swings at big, fascinating, important subjects with thorough investigation, put-me-there drama and unflinching portrayal of the facts, regardless of politics, personal beliefs or religion. This is the kind of reporting that makes us important and relevant in an age when everything else is becoming more like a sound bite.”

R ANGE has also been described as “the voice of reason amidst a cacophony of madmen” and honored by American AgriWomen for “speaking the truth with intellect, integrity, tenacity and heart on behalf of people who live and work on the land.” www.progressiverancher.com

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

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News Releases EQIP Sign-up In Support of the Nevada Conservation Credit System RCPP Project

Apply by July 17

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eno, Nev.—The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers interested in completing conservation projects that improve and protect greater sage-grouse (GRSG) habitat through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).

The RCPP encourages conservation partners from across the nation to join in efforts with agricultural producers to increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife and related natural resources through installation and maintenance of conservation activities in selected project areas. The Greater Outcomes for Greater Sage-Grouse RCPP effort is a joint venture of Partners for Western Conservation, The Cattleman’s Association, the states of Nevada and Colorado, and Environmental Incentives, among others. In Nevada, the Greater Outcomes for Greater Sage-Grouse RCPP effort focuses specifically on providing producers an opportunity to improve GRSG habitat by utilizing USDA financial assistance through EQIP. Producers may also have an interest in enrolling their habitat acreages into the Nevada Conservation Credit System (CCS) The Nevada CCS, a state mitigation program, is designed to offset impacts from man-made disturbances through enhancements and protections that result in a net conservation gain for GRSG habitat in Nevada. Private lands within GRSG habitat can be enhanced, restored, and/or better protected from threats, and then ultimately preserved to generate and sell credits into the CCS. Along with the sale of credits, a 30-year (or more) contract to preserve GRSG habitat is required. The Nevada CCS is the primary strategy for the State of Nevada’s contribution for GRSG protection and part of a larger effort of Western states to prevent a listing of the bird as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Agricultural producers with interest in enhancing GRSG habitats and potentially enrolling habitat acreages into the CCS are encouraged to apply for these special EQIP funds through the NRCS’ Regional Conservation Protection Partnership (RCPP). Applications must be received before 4 p.m. on July 17, 2017 by NRCS to be considered in the first project funding period. Subsequent project funding periods are likely unless funds are exhausted during the first round of project funding.

Conservation practices and management actions may include, but are not limited to, sagebrush establishment, perennial grass and/or forb seeding, riparian or meadow enhancements, cross-fencing, off-stream watering for livestock and wildlife, and other potential practices, many of which are likely to be mutually beneficial to GRSG and the producer’s operation. In addition, the practices may provide landowners the opportunity to enhance and develop habitat that may qualify for the Nevada CCS. Within Nevada, this RCPP effort operates under the authority of NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP is a voluntary, financial assistance program that provides funding for the implementation of conservation practices that may be used to protect and enhance sage grouse habitat, manage livestock, improve irrigation efficiency and reduce soil loss.

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Contact: Heather Emmons (775) 857-8500 x 105

Applicants must meet USDA program eligibility requirements for land eligibility and person eligibility. Eligibility requirements include Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitations for individuals and entities, with entities also required to have a DUNS number and be registered in SAMS to participate. Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria to be considered for ranking and funding decisions. Farm Bill programs have strict payment limits, and the amount of financial assistance producers can receive is limited to $450,000 per farm bill cycle. Limited resource producers, beginning farmers and ranchers, or socially disadvantaged agricultural producers may be eligible for up to 15 percent higher payments, not to exceed 90 percent of the estimated cost to install the practice.

To le a rn more, c ont ac t you r loc a l N RC S of f ic e or go on l i ne to: w w w.nv.n rc s.u sd a .gov.

USDA Farm Service Agency County Committee Nomination Period Begins Contact: June 15 Isabel Benemelis (202)720-7809

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ASHINGTON, May 25, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that the nomination period for local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committees begins on Thursday, June 15, 2017.

“County committees allow farmers and ranchers to make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally to best serve their needs,” said Acting FSA Administrator Chris Beyerhelm. “We strongly encourage all eligible producers to visit their local FSA office today to find out how to get involved in their county’s election. There’s an increasing need for representation from underserved producers, which includes beginning, women and other minority farmers and ranchers.”

County committees are made up of farmers and ranchers elected by other producers in their communities to guide the delivery of farm programs at the local level. Committee members play a critical role in the day-to-day operations of FSA. Committees consist of three to 11 members and meet once a month or as needed to make important decisions on disaster and conservation programs, emergency programs, commodity price support loan programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues. Members serve three-year terms. Nationwide there are over 7,700 farmers and ranchers serving on FSA county committees.

The Progressive Rancher

www.progressiverancher.com

Farmers and ranchers may nominate themselves or others. Organizations, including those representing beginning, women and minority producers, may also nominate candidates to better serve their communities. To be eligible to serve on an FSA county committee, a person must participate or cooperate in an agency administered program, and reside in the local administrative area where the election is being held.

After the nomination period, candidates will encourage the eligible producers in their local administrative area to vote. FSA will mail election ballots to eligible voters beginning Nov. 6, 2017. Ballots will be due back to the local county office either via mail or in person by Dec. 4, 2017. Newly-elected committee members and alternates will take office on Jan. 1, 2018.

To become a candidate, an eligible individual must sign an FSA-669A nomination form. The form and other information about FSA county committee elections are available at www.fsa.usda.gov/elections. All nomination forms for the 2017 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 1, 2017. Locate your local office at https://offices.usda.gov and visit to get more information.

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Asks Dog Owners to Keep Dogs on Leash around Sheep Grazing Areas

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arson City, NV, June 30, 2017 – The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest would like to remind dog owners hiking on the Whites Creek and Thomas Creek Trails on the Carson Ranger District that they need to keep dogs leashed at the trailheads and within one mile of the trailheads. This is very important because there have been a number of incidents where off-leash dogs have harassed herds of sheep being used by the District to reduce hazardous fuels in the area.

“For the safety of both the dog and the sheep grazing on the Arrowhawk Fuels Reduction Project, we cannot stress enough the importance of following the Galena Recreation Area trail rules for dogs,” said Fuels Forester Anna Belle Monti.

For more information on those rules, visit: http://www. galenacreekvisitorcenter.org/trail-rules-for-galena-recreation-area.html

The Forest is utilizing sheep herds as part of a Carson Ranger District Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. Sheep have been released on the Arrowhawk project area to reduce hazardous fuels by removing cheatgrass and other non-native vegetation from National Forest Systems (NFS) lands. The unit being grazed is over 1,000 acres of NFS land located approximately 10 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada, and just west of the Arrowcreek Residential Area urban interface. It is within the Thomas Creek and Whites Creek watersheds north of Timberline Road.

“The sheep grazing program helps to keep our communities safe from fi re,” added Monti. “But, we are only able to graze the sheep if we all work to keep the sheep and our pets safe from harm. With participation from our visitors, both uses can coexist for everyone’s benefit.” www.progressiverancher.com

For more information on this Carson Ranger District Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, contact Anna Belle Monti at 775-884-8103.

For additional information on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, please visit www.fs.usda.gov/htnf or participate in the conversation at https://twitter.com/ HumboldtToiyabe and https://www.facebook.com/HumboldtToiyabeNF/.

Churchill County Farm Service Agency Is Accepting Emergency Conservation Program Applications Contact: Annie Smith annie.smith@nv.usda.gov 775.857.8500

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allon, NV, June 27, 2017 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting County Executive Director, Betty Hodik today announced that Churchill County is approved to accept applications for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to address damages from flooding that occurred beginning in January of 2017. ECP signup will begin on July 3, 2017, and end on August 31, 2017.

According to Hodik, approved ECP practices under this authorization include EC1 Removal of Debris From Farmland; EC2 Grading, Shaping, Releveling, or Similar Measures; EC3 Restoring Permanent Fences and EC4 Restoring conservation Structures and Other Installations.

ECP is administered by FSA to assist producers with the cost of recovery activities required to restore the agricultural land to pre-disaster conditions. Producers who sustained damage from this disaster event are encouraged to submit their request for assistance prior to beginning reconstructive work. Submitting a request after completing qualified reconstructive work may result in forfeiture of program eligibility.

“I realize that there are extenuating circumstances that must be addressed for livestock safety and health reasons, but I strongly recommend at least calling our office before any action is taken,” said Hodik.

FSA county committees will complete an evaluation of submitted requests and obligate available funds based on an on-site inspection of the damaged land, taking into consideration the type and extent of the eligible damage. Completion of the on-site inspection does not guarantee that costshare funding will be allocated.

The use of obligated funds is limited to return the land to the relative pre-disaster condition. Conservation concerns that were present on the land prior to the disaster are not eligible for ECP assistance. Approved ECP applicants may receive up to 75 percent of the cost of completing the approved restoration activity.

For more information on ECP, please contact the Fallon County FSA office at 775.423-5124 Ext. 2.

The Progressive Rancher

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2017 Nevada Legislature Concludes By: Doug Busselman, Nevada Farm Bureau

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here are several ways to evaluate the results of the 2017 Nevada Legislative Session. In the final analysis, Nevada agriculture came through the experience with several positive outcomes. A few areas of identified, specific problems received attention and solutions were adopted.

Looking at the other side of the coin, a few bad legislative proposals, which needed to be dealt with failed to advance through the process. Key legislators from both sides of the political aisle were willing to consider concerns and alter the language to resolve the raised issues or acted to avoid problems by preventing the legislation from going forward.

In instances where a few of these unfavorable ideas gained legislative passage -- Governor Brian Sandova l ’s veto pen provided protection from the negative consequences the bills would have inf licted.

From the standpoint of good outcomes, two major accomplishments rise to the top of the list.

One deals with an improved forfeiture notification requirement for groundwater rights, providing a definite one-year notification for water rights pending forfeiture because of non-use. The other positive outcome will assure Nevada landowners who are eligible to receive deer and antelope damage compensation tags, based on last year’s counts, that there will be enough tags available to meet the total required.

An amendment to SB 47 corrects the problem associated with notification requirement by the State Engineer for responding to forfeiture of groundwater rights. This formal one-year notification not only assures that a groundwater right owner will be informed of the water right pending forfeiture, but it also establishes traceable documentation of validity to protect those considering the purchase of a groundwater right. Senator Pete Goicoechea of Eureka County played a key role in assisting to gain approval for this important change in the bill.

Another legislative proposal involving the area of forfeiture was brought forward by Assemblyman James Oscarson of Nye County. His bill, AB 209, is intended to avoid water being used needlessly to avoid forfeiture for non-use. This would apply in situations of drought or in groundwater basins that have been designated as critical management areas or are in basins where groundwater pumping consistently exceeds perennial yield.

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The consideration for avoiding forfeiture under AB 209 involves a request for an extension that must come within the timeframe prior to the forfeiture process and the extension is not allowed to exceed three years.

The accomplishment to solve the problem of not enough landowner damage compensation tags was virtually a last-minute pursuit. It began the middle of April when it was learned that a potential problem was brewing. Last fall’s counts by the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) representatives who work with landowners on deer and antelope damage tags on private lands were reported to be up from the previous year. This count is prompted by the landowner contacting the NDOW representative to do a count and for every 50 head of deer or antelope the landowner is eligible to receive a tag as compensation for the damage that occurs when those deer or antelope are using the private lands.

The law governing this program had a cap which limited the number of tags to 1 ½ percent of the total number of deer and antelope tags authorized to be issued for the year by the Nevada Wildlife Commission. In addition to the increase in the number of landowner tags, it was anticipated that deer populations over the state were down and the total number of tags issued for general hunts would be down.

When the Nevada Wildlife Commission met in Reno on May 13, the problem of the 1 ½ percent cap preventing sufficient landowner compensation tags was confirmed with a shortage (under existing law) of 60 tags.

Prior to the Nevada Wildlife Commission meeting, Nevada Farm Bureau had met with NDOW’s Director Tony Wasley and a representative of the Nevada Wildlife Commission to resolve the pending problem. The solution was brought forward through a proposed amendment that was offered to SB 511, a bill put forward by the Governor’s office, on May 10. This amendment increased the cap to 2 ½ percent and this change in law would come on passage and approval for the legislation.

SB 511 has been passed into law and the necessary landowner tags will be available for this year. In addition, there will be discussions involving those who are interested in the landowner tag program, NDOW and the Nevada Wildlife Commission to determine what improvements will be considered to the operations of the program going for ward.

The Progressive Rancher

One of the bills that gained passage in the 2017 Nevada Legislature that was of significant concern for agriculture and rural Nevada was AB 407. As originally drafted this bill was directed at increasing the number of institutions of the University of Nevada System (the University of Nevada, Las Vegas - UNLV and the Desert Research Institute - DRI) to be officially considered as “Land Grant” institutions. It also proposed to divide the Nevada Cooperative Extension into two regional units.

The southern region (involving Clark, Lincoln and Nye counties) was proposed to be operated out of UNLV and the remaining counties of Nevada would continue to operate out of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).

Advancing through the legislative process, AB 407 was dramatically amended to the point that the version, which passed both the Assembly and Senate prior to the conclusion of the 2017 Legislature, included only the expansion of the designation of land grant institution status to be UNLV, UNR and DRI and required a Legislative audit of the Nevada Cooperative Extension program. A number of interests who were concerned with the consequences of this change for classification of land grant status, made their appeal to Governor Sandoval, who went along with those requests and vetoed the bill on June 12.

Additional key bills that Governor Sandoval vetoed included SB 106, which proposed to increase the state’s minimum wage requirements to be increased over time (75-cents per hour each year) until reaching the point of $11 per hour (for employees who receive health insurance as part of their compensation) and $12 for employees who don’t. He also vetoed the amended Assembly version of the minimum wage increase, AB 175, which originally proposed hourly minimum wages of $14 and $15 rates, but was changed to increase the level of health insurance coverage in order for an employer to pay the lower per hour rate of minimum wages.

Lastly, another noteworthy bill to gain the Governor’s veto was AB 101 which attempted to change the way that the $3 fee that is paid by those who apply for wildlife game tags. It proposed to remove the 80 percent requirement for NDOW spending of the funds raised by the $3 fees to employ lethal control measures on predators.

www.progressiverancher.com

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E-log Mandate for Truckers to Take Effect in December By: Brittney Pericoli, NVFB Director of Communications

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ime is ticking away for drivers of commercial trucks to make the switch from their paper logbooks to digital logbooks. That is unless you can claim a farm-vehicle exemption.

Some truck drivers have been caught off guard by the mandate. They may be unsure how the change will affect them. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) says, “the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule is intended to help create a safer work environment for drivers, and make it easier, faster to accurately track, manage, and share Records Of Duty Status (RODS) data.”

Carries and drivers who are using paper logs or logging software must transition to the electronic log system no later than December 18, 2017. Carriers and driver who use Automatic On-board Recording Device (AOBRDS) prior to the compliance date must transition to ELDs no later than December 16, 2019.

So, whom does this law truly affect and how can you claim a farm-vehicle exemption. The ELD rule applies to most motor carries and drivers who are currently required to maintain Records Of Duty Status (RODS). Th is includes commercial buses as well as trucks. According to FMCSA, the ELD rule allows limited exceptions to the ELD mandate. The exceptions include: • Drivers who operate under the short-haul exceptions may continue using timecards: they are not required to keep RODS and will not be required to use ELDs. • Drivers who use paper RODS for not more than 8 days out of every 30-day period.

• Drivers who conduct drive-away-tow-away operations, in which the vehicle being driven is the commodity being delivered.

American Farm Bureau Federation is exploring pathways for relief, but said, “there is not a clear-cut path yet.” They also encouraged members who will be directly impacted by this mandate to reach out to members of Congress.

To fi nd out more information about this mandate visit the FMCSA website at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/faqs. The FMCSA frequently updates the website with questions regarding the e-log mandate.

For those who are impacted by the e-log mandates, reach out to Nevada’s congressional members by visiting the Nevada Farm Bureau website at http://nvf b.org/action-center/. Th is is an easy way for you to write to members of Congress with concerns you have regarding the e-log mandate.

Safety on the Farm

By James “Hank” Combs, President, Nevada Farm Bureau Federation

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ith spring hopefully here to stay, the annual production cycle is finally starting to gear up. As we are preparing for the busy season ahead I want to encourage each of you to keep these important safety tips in mind.

Keeping things maintained and in order around our farm buildings and grounds is important safeties measure we should all be doing. When carrying out these important checks it is important to check for fire hazards and other hazardous materials. With the record-breaking winter we received in many parts of the state we need to be aware of the increased area of concern over fire season, keeping weeds and grasses trimmed is a great way to reduce your fire risk.

Personal safety around our farms and ranches is important to remember.

Frequently when we’re busy with getting things done personal safety is often not thought about. Personal safety includes wearing proper clothing around equipment or in any other work areas. Using gloves, safety eyewear, ear protection and any other safety equipment will be beneficial to you both in the short term and in the long term.

• Drivers of vehicles manufactured before 2000.

For agricultural producers who are operating their own trucks there may be a way to avoid the e-log mandate. Th is would involve claiming Covered Farm Vehicle (CFV) status. To claim CFV status the vehicle must be 26,001 lbs. (and under) nationwide. Exempted Farm /vehicles which are over 26,001 lbs. are exempt within their state and up to 150-air-miles from their farm if they cross state lines.

Receiving CFV status establishes the exempt from the e-log mandate, because CFV drivers are exempt from provisions of hours of service and record keeping.

Livestock producers are dealing with a major problem with this new mandate.

If a driver cannot complete a run within the 14-hr work window a significant animal welfare issues arise. Drivers will be required to stop on the side of the road to rest, or require an additional driver to comply with the e-log mandates.

“Th ings are still fluid, but we are aware and working on a solution,” said Andrew Walmsley, The American Farm Bureau Federation Directory of Congressional Relations. “I’m not sure if we can get the rule repealed or let it cover all of agriculture, but we are trying to find relief for those with livestock or perishable commodities.” www.progressiverancher.com

Tractors and other equipment are important parts of our farms and ranches; keeping them up and running properly is very important in taking precautionary safety measures. Every bit as important as it comes to operating them. It is important to have tractor rollover protection structure in place and always use your seatbelt. Prohibit riders on tractor-fenders, hitches and other attachments or implements. Installing a fire extinguisher is an important safety precaution as well.

Livestock is another important area to understand and attention needs to be given to the safety risks associated with livestock handling.

Keeping our kids and other family members safe is very important. Make certain to take the time to teach everyone connected to your operation the importance of safety. Safety accidents on the farm and ranch can be avoided so it is important we will take the time to understand the risk.

We want you to be safe and have a great production season!

The Progressive Rancher

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What it Means to be a Member

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here are a lot of good reasons for being a Farm Bureau member.

Being Farm Bureau member in Nevada means you are part of an advocacy organization championing the public policy positions developed by farmer/rancher members and adopted through the annual policy development process. Farm Bureau gives farmers and ranchers a voice.

When you become a Farm Bureau member you are joining your local county Farm Bureau. County Farm Bureaus are active in their communities, working to promote agriculture. Along with their involvement in local events like county farms or Ag in the classroom projects County Farm Bureaus offer farmer/rancher members the opportunity to be involved with creating policy and guiding the organization in our lobbying efforts.

Additional areas for member involvement are the organizations Young Farmers & Ranchers and Women’s Leadership Committee’s. The Young Farmers & Ranchers is a committee designed for young individuals who are both agriculture producers and enthusiasts between the ages of 18 and 35 years old.

Women’s Leadership committee plays a vital role in educating students and the general public through Ag Days, classroom outreach and county fairs. These two programs encourage members to participate in activates and become active leaders in Farm Bureau.

Farm Bureau members who are farmers, ranchers or not involved in agriculture are all able to receive money saving benefits. Companies that offer Farm Bureau member’s discounts and incentives include GM, Grainger, Choice Hotels, Enterprise Rent-a-car, and many more to fi nd the full list of membership advantages visit the Nevada Farm Bureau website at http://nvf b.org/advantage/, or http://f badvantage.com.

AB 407 Veto By: Brittney Pericoli, NVFB Director of Communications

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ith the legislation session over it was a sigh of relief when Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed legislative bill AB 407. AB 407 was an act relating to cooperative extension programs; establishing geographical regions of the State for the purpose of such programs; placing the operation of the programs in the respective regions under the control of the Presidents of the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or their designees; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

Prior to the legislative session ending AB 407 passed in both the Assembly with a 30-12 vote and in the Senate with a 15-6 vote. The Nevada Farm Bureau was against this bill and reached out to Governor Brian Sandoval in a letter addressing members concerns. Nevada Farm Bureau President Hank Combs wrote, “Given the nature of the Desert Research Institute not being an educational entity and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas not having any form of agricultural program, we do not consider either to be qualified to meet the obligation of a Land Grant institution.”

AB 407 had been amended throughout the legislative process, but concerns over a funding shortfall for the Nevada Agricultural Experiment system and Nevada Cooperative extension could have had devastating effects on the state.

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institutions,” said Governor Brian Sandoval. “It is unclear what AB 407 would achieve other than a diversion of scarce federal funding” Ultimately the Nevada Farm Bureau is pleased with Governor Sandoval’s choice to veto AB 407. We would also like to thank our members who participated in reaching out to congress on action request throughout the legislative session.

We Must Work Together

By James “Hank” Combs, President, Nevada Farm Bureau Federation

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arm Bureau is committed and engaged in representing members not only here in Nevada, but at the national level as well. We are especially fortunate to have the powerful American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) working with us at the national level.

With the dedicated team of professional representatives as well as President Zippy Duval, AFBF diligently works to provide Farm Bureau members with solutions on a broad range of various challenges including regulatory reform and taxes.

On taxes, one bill Farm Bureau is working on is the bipartisan legislation, “The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2017”(S.976), similar to a bipartisan House bill, “The Remote Transactions Parity Act of 2017” (H.R. 2193). These bills promote fair competition between local and main street retailers and Internet-only sellers by allowing states to apply sales tax whether the sale happens in a physical or virtual store.

Small and rural towns provide essential goods for surrounding farmers and ranchers.

Competing with online retailers is hard enough already, but even more so when they are not subject to the same tax code.

Writing your U.S. Congressional representatives and U.S. Senators is extremely important when it comes to S. 976 and H.R. 2193. In contacting them encourage them to become co-sponsors and support these respective legislative proposals.

Regulatory reform has been identified as a priority issue for focus. AFBF is a strong supporter of the President’s efforts to relieve the regulatory burden on farmers and ranchers. We are also extremely engaged at addressing Regulatory Reform through legislative means. Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (S.951) is one piece of legislation that Farm Bureau is working to pass. Farm Bureau supported a House version of this type of law H.R. 5, which has already passed.

Encouraging our U.S. Senators to support S.951 will be beneficial to both farmers and ranchers. Reach out to Senators Dean Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto to seek their support.

Farm Bureau at all levels of the organization work diligently to make sure our members voices are spelled out in policy, but it is equally as important for you to reach out to them as well. I understand you have busy lives and time can be limited in our day-to day routines. Writing to our representatives is made easier by visiting the Nevada Farm Bureau website. Visit, http://nvfb.org/action-center/ with this handy tool you can easily these important contacts. You can also visit the Farm Bureau website at, http://www.fb.org/advocacy/ to make these connections.

Let’s all have a safe and productive summer. www.progressiverancher.com

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Noxious Weed Workshop By: Brittney Pericoli, NVFB Director of Communications

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entral Nevada Farm Bureau and the Nevada Department of Agriculture teamed up to host the first Noxious Weed Workshop in Dyer, NV. The workshop was held on Tuesday May 31st at the Fish Lake Valley Community Center.

Farmers and ranchers understand it is important to know how to properly care for noxious weeds, but with over 47 types of noxious weeds knowing how to properly treat them can be troublesome. The noxious weed workshop gave farmers and ranchers in the Dyer area a better understanding of how to identify, treat and properly handle noxious weeds.

The workshop started with Jake Dick, the Regulatory Inspector/ Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Agriculture discussing weed identification and noxious weed laws.

Highlights of Jake Dick’s presentation include: • How noxious weeds get listed in the state of Nevada: 1. Petition received by the Department of Agriculture, or new infestation or harmful impacts found 2. Department of Agriculture Board of Directors approve to go to workshop and hearing 3. Workshop and hearing conducted; public comment and documentation is collected for board review/ presentation by the Nevada Department of Agriculture staff 4. Nevada Department of Agriculture Board of Directors approve legislation change 5. Nevada Administrative code submitted to Legislative Council Bureau for approval 6. Change enacted • Three noxious weed categories in the state of Nevada: - Category A: ° Limited in distribution throughout the state ° Actively excluded from the state and actively eradicated where found ° Actively eradicated from nursery stock dealer premises ° Control required by the state - Category B: ° Wider Distribution throughout the state than A ° Actively excluded where possible ° Actively eradicated from nursery stock dealer premises ° Control required by the state in areas where population are not well established or previously unknown to occur - Category C: ° Generally widespread throughout the state ° Actively eradicated from nursery stock dealer premises ° Control at the discretion of the state quarantine officer The next speaker was Sean Gephart, the Noxious Weed Coordinator for the Department of Agriculture. Gephart discussed weed control methods.

Highlights of Sean Gephart’s presentation included: • Herbicides may be the most efficient to use however, with the use of herbicides a pest control operator must know: ° The specific plant species being controlled (biology, regional, specificity, habitat, host insects) www.progressiverancher.com

° Environmental factors ° The herbicides “Mode-of-Action” ° Label restrictions • Weed control is a full-circle process and one must integrate post management strategies • Action must be taken after weeds have been removed to prevent re-invasion • Incorporating new, desirable species into a treated region is key to success The third speaker was Andy Hauck, the Mapping Coordinator for the Department of Agriculture. Hauck discussed GPS mapping of noxious weeds.

Highlights from Andy Hauck presentation include: • EDDMapS: ° EDDMapS is an online mapping database where anyone with a free account can contribute to invasive species data collection ° A user can add their findings to this website and compile reports about specific species into a collective database for the public to see after verification ° You can simply add GPS points to the website via the report sightings tab on the EDDMapS website ° You can also utilize the FREE EDDMapS West smartphone app to easily add data remotely with the click of a button The Fourth speaker was Russell Wilhelm, the Seed Program Manager for the Department of Agriculture. Wilhelm discussed re-vegetation.

Highlights from Russell Wilhelm presentation include: • After properly treating the noxious weeds it is important to plant a desirable species you would like to thrive (sod, rocks, plants, etc) in the treated area.

• If treating the area with herbicide making sure to check the label for how long you should wait in order to have a successful re-vegetation in the treated area The last speaker of the noxious weed workshop was Tessa Rognier, an Agriculturist 3 for the Department of Agriculture. Rognier discussed the importance of pesticide laws and safety.

Highlights from Tessa Rognier’s presentation included: • The United States Environmental Protection Agency is revising standards for pesticide applicators beginning May 22, 2108: ° Enhances applicator competency standards to ensure that RUPs are used safely. ° Establishes a nation-wide minimum age for certified applicators and persons working under their direct supervision. ° Establishes a maximum recertification interval of 5 years for commercial and private applicators. ° Requires specialized certifications for people using specific application methods (fumigation and aerial). ° Establishes protection for noncertified applicators by requiring training before they can use RUPs (under the direct supervision of a certified applicator). Noncertified applicators have to complete the training outlined in the rule, complete Worker Protection Standard handler training, or complete a program approved by the state.

Attendees found the information and tips provided throughout the workshop useful, and now have a better understanding on how to incorporate what they learned on their farm/ranch operation.

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

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the long winter: record-breaking winter Provides busy season for nrcs snow surveyors Heather Emmons and Jeff Anderson State Public Affairs Officer and Hydrologist, USDA-NRCS

T

he autobiographical children’s novel “The Long Winter,” by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is also an appropriate title for an article about this winter’s snowpack accumulation. After multiple years of drought and one average winter in 2016, snow surveyors experienced a real challenge in 2017. Deep snow in the Sierra made for time consuming and strenuous sampling at snow courses (Figure 1 and 2)). Extra helicopter flights, snowmobile rides and hikes were needed to visit NRCS automated snow telemetry, or SNOTEL, sites to keep them collecting quality data despite what has turned into a record year at some locations.

According to NRCS Hydrologist Jeff Anderson, the Mt. Rose Ski Area SNOTEL site reached an all-time snow water record in early April (Figure 3). A measurement on April 10 indicated 206 inches of snow depth and 89 inches of water content. That means the snow is 17 feet deep and contains nearly 7.5 feet of water.

Anderson said, “At Mt. Rose SNOTEL, a ‘normal’ winter that is 100 percent of the median peaks at 37 inches of water content, so this winter brought well over two winters worth of snow to the area.”

With social media hashtags of “#Januburied” and “#Flooduary” being bantered around to describe the weather, the obvious question many are asking is: is 2017 the biggest winter ever? In the Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and Walker basins, the 2017 snowpack ranks among the top handful of years. April 1 snow water contents are similar to amounts measured in epic winters like 1952, 1969, 1983 and 1995.

Anderson points out, “Up high is where we are seeing new records. A number of sites above 8,000 feet did set new records.”

For the rest of Nevada outside the Sierra, the answer to that question about 2017 being the biggest winter is simple: no.

“Compared to the recent past, this winter was very good for areas east of the Sierra, even better than 2011, but not close to record amounts,” said Anderson. “Based on daily SNOTEL data, other years such as 1983, 1997 and 2006 had more snow.”

A Little History: From Dr. Church to NRCS The Year 1910: The Lake Tahoe region is the birthplace of snow surveying and home to the oldest snow courses in the world. Dr. James Church, a classics professor at the University of Nevada in Reno, made the first surveys on Mt. Rose in the Sierra Nevada, where he installed the first snow course in 1910. He developed measuring equipment and sampling techniques that led to the first water supply forecasts.

The Year 1935: The Dust Bowl resulted in farmers demanding better predictions of the streamflows available for growing crops. Others who counted on water for industry, power generation, and domestic use echoed this request. Congress responded in 1935 by passing legislation creating a federal snow survey and water supply forecasting program under the direction of the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering in the Department of Agriculture. In 1939, the bureau was transferred to the Soil Conservation Service (SCS); this agency, now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), continues to direct a cooperative federal, state, and private snow survey program.

The NRCS collects snow data using snow courses and SNOTEL sites, but what is the difference between these? Snow courses were established first. Many snow courses in Nevada have been measured for more than 70 years. They involve a marked transect – two posts on either end, with a series of points on a line. Snow tubes are used to core the snow, to measure its depth and water content each month during the winter. SNOTEL sites are automated weather stations that replaced many snow 34 JULY/AUGUST 2017

courses starting in the late 1970s. These sites report snow depth and water content, as well as precipitation and other variables. SNOTEL data is transmitted every hour and available to the public on the internet.

The Year 2017: The “Long Winter” was capped off on April 1, 2017 when Jeff Anderson and NRCS snow surveyor Jessica Gwerder measured a new all-time record at Dr. Church’s first snow course.

Anderson said, “It was a thrill to set a record back to the earliest days of snow surveying. I’ll be framing that field note for my wall.”

The measurement of 156 inches snow depth and 81.8 inches of water content was 243 percent of median. This is the most snow water ever measured at this snow course back to 1910 when Dr. Church made the first measurement.

Leading up to this historic measurement, 2017 has had other highlights. January 2017, tagged as “#Januburied” on social media, will go down as one of the biggest monthly payouts to western Nevada’s water supply of all time. The Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and Walker basins got a whole winter’s worth of snow in about three weeks.

Ski resorts reported up to 300 inches (25 feet) of snowfall in this time. Rain and snowmelt in early February caused the 21-mile dam in northeastern Nevada to breach, flooding Montello. The same storm started flooding in western Nevada and along the Humboldt River. The Humboldt flooding took most of February to reach Winnemucca. Social media responded to these events with the hashtag “#Flooduary.”

A second wave of Humboldt River flooding ran the length of the river in March.

Throughout the winter, the NRCS uses the data it collects to publish the Nevada Water Supply Outlook Report. This report is posted online and emailed to subscribers the first week of each month from January through May. Not only are the reports timely, but they’re also rich in data. The following is a summary from the April 1, 2017 report. Contact Jeff Anderson at jeff.anderson@nv.usda.gov if you would like to be added to the subscription list.

Figure 1. Jeff Anderson, NRCS Nevada hydrologist, measures the snowpack at the Mt. Rose SNOTEL site on March 1, with assistance from NRCS District Conservationist Jim Gifford (right).

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SNOWPACK April 1 snowpacks were 192-217 percent of median in the Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and Walker basins, 103-131 percent across the rest of northern Nevada and 93 percent in the Spring Mountains in southern Nevada (Figure 4). While lower elevation snow measuring sites experienced snowmelt in March, high elevation sites continued to gain snow. A majority of SNOTEL sites above 8,000 feet in the Sierra basins had a record April 1 snowpack going back to 1981 when the network was installed. Longterm snow courses in the Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and Walker basins also set, or came close to, April 1 records solidifying 2017 as one of the biggest winters on record.

PRECIPITATION Water year precipitation since the start of October is 197-221 percent of average in the Sierra basins, and 124-148 percent for the rest of northern Nevada. The Lake Tahoe and Walker basins have already passed 1982, making 2017 the wettest water year since SNOTELs were installed. Precipitation amounts are excellent outside the Sierra, too, although not record setting. The Humboldt basin has already received an average water year amount and the water year does not end until September 30. The Northern Great Basin and Owyhee basins are very close to having an average amount of precipitation for the entire water year.

SOIL MOISTURE April 1 soil moisture was near maximum levels at SNOTEL stations in the Sierra, Humboldt, Owyhee, and Snake basins, as well as the Spring Mountains in southern Nevada. The soil has little space left to soak up water and runoff will continue to be very efficient. In eastern Nevada, which missed the record October rains, April 1 soil moisture was closer to average levels.

RESERVOIRS As spring arrives, there is little doubt all major reservoirs across northern Nevada will fill. Water managers continue to release water from reservoirs in the Truckee, Carson and Walker basins. Releases from Rye Patch Reservoir on the Humboldt River started on March 13 indicating more room is needed for snowmelt.

STREAMFLOW FORECASTS April 1 forecasts for the April-July period range from 200-310 percent of average for most points in the Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and Walker basins. Points along the main stem of the Humboldt River are forecast between 228-282 percent of average, while its tributaries are forecast for 165-202 percent. Creeks in eastern Nevada are forecast from 163-194 percent. With record precipitation, saturated soils and one of the deepest snowpacks ever measured, some forecasts exceed 1983 volumes in the Sierra.

It is possible 2017 could break records on the Carson River. April through July volumes on the Humboldt River are expected to exceed 2011.

Forecast Point Truckee R at Farad (Adj)

Forecast April 1, 2017 Forecast Exceedances - KAF 2011 <---drier future------------wetter future---> Period KAF 90% 70% 50% 30% 10% Apr-Jul 580 596 610 627 696 568

1983 Record Record KAF Year 674

674

1983

EF Carson R nr Gardnerville Apr-Jul

362

390

410

430

459

336

443

467

1890

WF Carson R at Woodfords Apr-Jul

119

129

136

143

153

89

130

153

1907

Carson R nr Carson City

Apr-Jul

431

494

540

589

666

399

528

528

1983

Carson R nr Fort Churchill

Apr-Jul

450

490

530

550

590

390

513

513

1983

E Walker R nr Bridgeport

Apr-Aug

126

148

164

180

202

133

219

223

1969

W Walker R nr Coleville

Apr-Jul

289

314

330

346

371

280

292

372

1907

Humboldt R nr Elko

Apr-Jul

287

339

375

411

463

270

301

613

1984

Humboldt R nr Comus (Winnemucca)

Apr-Jul

394

463

510

557

626

310

735

1093

1984

Humboldt R nr Imlay

Apr-Jul

288

390

460

530

632

214

641

1112

1984

This table shows this month’s 90%, 70%, 50%, 30%, and 10% exceedance forecasts vs 1983, 2011 and record year volumes. Volumes highlighted in yellow are greater than 2011, volumes highlighted in light red are greater than 1983, and volumes highlighted in dark red would set a new record.

RANGELAND CONDITIONS Nevada’s rangelands will also benefit from receiving above normal amounts of precipitation this winter. Soil moisture is high and should produce a flush of growth.

To stay green, rangelands will need well-timed spring and summer precipitation. The outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is for possibly warmer than average temperatures for May, June and July. The precipitation outlook is less clear this summer, so anything is possible. NRCS SNOTEL sites in eastern Nevada, along the highway 50 corridor from Austin to Ely, saw the least amount of precipitation this water year. While amounts were still 120 percent of average from October through mid-April, this was the driest part of the state, so it is likely that without additional precipitation, this could be the first area to be impacted by dry summer conditions.

“It will depend on where you’re at in the state as to whether you’re going to see added benefits from all this moisture,” said Kory Kulinsky, NRCS rangeland management specialist and snow surveyor in the Elko Field Office. “Irrigators are going to be able to irrigate some of the fields they haven’t been able to irrigate for quite a while, or at least get them wetter.”

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Figure 2. The precipitation gage at the Mt. Rose SNOTEL site in the summer with no snow vs. March 1, 2017, where NRCS Hydrologist Jeff Anderson and NRCS District Conservationist Jim Gifford are standing next to the top of it.

Figure 3. Mt. Rose Snow Course water content data from 1910-2017.

36 JULY/AUGUST 2017

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Nevada & Eastern Sierra Percent of Median Snowpack April 1, 2017 Owyhee River Northern Great Basin

109

Snake River

103 Upper Humboldt

129 125 1st of Month Snow Water Equivalent Basin-wide Percent of 1981-2010 Median

Clover Valley

121 131

<50%

192

Truckee

50-69% 70-89%

Carson

Lower Humboldt

Eastern Nevada

210

90-109%

205

110-129% 130-150%

Lake Tahoe

>150% Provisional data subject to revision

217

115

Walker

Prepared by: USDA/NRCS Nevada Snow Survey 0

Natural Resources Conservation Service

35

70

Miles 140

Map data based on the first of month snow water equivalent found at selected SNOTEL and snow course sites in or near the basin compared to the median value for those sites. SNOTEL data based on the first reading of the day (typically midnight). Snow course data based on measurements taken within the last 5 days of preceding month. A table based, station-by-station, report of the underlying data can be found by selecting “Nevada” and report type “Snowpack” for the date listed above on the following webpage: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/basin.html.

Figure 4. 2017 snow-pack map for northern and eastern Nevada.

To learn more about the NRCS and its Snow Survey program, visit: www.nv.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST 2017

37

HUMBOLDT WATERSHED COOPERATIVE Weed Management Area

by Andi Porreca, HWCWMA Coordinator

The HWCWMA was developed to address the invasive weed problem and subsequent decline in water quality within the entire 16,843 square mile watershed, which covers most of Northern Nevada. The primary function of HWCWMA has been to provide land managers, owners and weed control groups assistance in the areas of funding, agency and weed group coordination and cooperation.

T

his month we would like to introduce you to a plant that is not currently listed as one of Nevada’s state listed noxious weeds, but has shown itself to be highly invasive in surrounding states.

Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) is not actually a rush. It is an exotic that was likely brought to North America from Europe as a garden plant. Unfortunately, it also grows well in wet places. While single flowering rush plants are not a “problem,” this exotic can form dense stands which may interfere with recreational lake use. Flowering rush may also crowd out native plants and in turn harm fish and wildlife.

Flowering rush is an aquatic plant that can grow up to five feet tall. The leaves are thin, straight, sword-shaped, triangular, pointed up to 40 inches (one-meter long.) They grow in two rows from a rhizome. The leaves are also untoothed, parallel veined and twisted, submerged leaves however are limp. The flowers grow on tall, cylindrical stalks with umbrella-like clusters of twenty to fi fty flowers. They have three large pale pink petals each — sometimes white — and three lower, smaller sepals that are also pale pink and resemble petals. Blossoms have six pistils that are simple, whorled, united at the base. The fruit is an indehiscent, many-seeded capsule.

The plant looks like a bulrush when not flowering but is missing the bulrush’s tuff of seeds. The base of the flower stalk can have bulbils (tiny bulbs) and the rhizome rootlets. Flowering rush flowers from June to September and can be found growing in mud, ponds, canals, ditches, edges of still or slowly moving water to about 10 feet deep. It will not grow in shade.

38 JULY/AUGUST 2017

Control of Flowering Rush Flowering rush is very difficult to identify, especially if it is not in flower. It closely resembles many native emergent plants, such as the common bulrush.

Exotics often move into disturbed areas.

Removing native plants may open areas for flowering rush to invade. Protecting native plants is an important way to help keep flowering rush out of your shoreline.

Improper control methods can worsen the flowering rush problem. See below for more information.

Cutting flowering rush below the water surface is an effective method of control.

Cutting will not kill the plant, but it will decrease the abundance. Multiple cuts may be required throughout the summer as flowering rush grows back from the root. All cut plant parts must be removed from the water.

Hand digging can be used to remove isolated plants that are located downstream of larger infestations. Extreme care must be taken to remove all root fragments. Any disturbance to the root system will cause small reproductive structures on the roots to break off and spread to other areas of the waterbody. Therefore, methods such as raking or pulling which disturb the root system, but do not remove it, are not recommended control strategies.

It is very difficult to kill flowering rush with herbicides. Herbicides easily wash away from the narrow leaves of this plant.

Herbicides are more effective on dry banks or in very shallow water. There is no herbicide that is selective for flowering rush and care must be taken to avoid damage to valuable wetland plants.

As always, please notify the HWCWMA if you see flowering rush growing within the Humboldt River Watershed. We have an opportunity to stop invasive species from spreading if we act quickly and our staff can provide the property owner or appropriate public agency with site-specific treatment options for these plants. The HWCWMA also maps and monitors heavily infested sites in the watershed which allows the HWCWMA the ability to provide educational and financial assistance to land owners and groups in their management efforts, ultimately improving all of the qualities of the land and water in our watershed.

The HWCWMA has also developed a website to serve as a clearinghouse for information on invasive weeds in the Humboldt Watershed. Our website (http:// www.humboldtweedfree.org) contains fact sheets for state listed noxious weeds in Nevada, Board of Director’s information, funding partner’s links, and many more features including a detailed project proposal packet that you can print, fill out and mail back to us at your convenience. We are looking to expand our project area outside of the Humboldt River and always welcome new funding opportunities.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Andi Porreca, HWCWMA Coordinator at (775) 762-2636 or email her at aporreca@humboldtweedfree.org.

The Progressive Rancher

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Former NCBA Chief Economist Gregg Doud Nominated to Be Administration’s Chief Trade Negotiator for Ag Issues

T

he Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently announced that former NCBA Chief Economist Gregg Doud has been nominated to be the Administration’s top trade negotiator on agricultural issues. NCBA Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Colin Woodall released a statement on Monday:

“Gregg has been a friend and colleague for many years, and I can testify first-hand that America’s cattlemen and women will be well-served by having Gregg at the table as agricultural trade deals are hammered out. The U.S. Senate should confirm his nomination as soon as possible.

“Gregg was NCBA’s chief economist for eight years, and he understands as well as anybody the importance of exports for our industry. As important trade negotiations take place over NAFTA and hopefully a bilateral agreement with Japan, we look forward to working with Gregg and his team to ensure that the voice of American beef producers is heard loud and clear.”

Livestock Producers Applaud Delisting of Yellowstone Grizzly Bear

O

n Thursday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the delisting of the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear under the Endangered Species Act. Moments after the announcement, NCBA President Craig Uden and Public Lands Council President Dave Eliason released a joint statement:

“This is good news for the Yellowstone grizzly and good news for the region’s ranchers. Secretary Zinke and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deserve credit for today’s action, and we urge them to now take similar steps to remove other grizzly populations throughout the West from federal ESA protection - including the distinct population segment in the North Cascades Ecosystem in Washington State.”

MORE FOR YOUR MONEY NCBA Signs Letter in Support of CFTC Chairman Nominee Chris Giancarlo

A

lso this week, NCBA signed a coalition letter to U.S. Sens.

Pat Roberts of Kansas and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan in support of Chris Giancarlo’s nomination to serve as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Senators Roberts and Stabenow are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, which held a confirmation hearing to consider Giancarlo’s nomination on Thursday.

“We believe Mr. Giancarlo, if confirmed, will strike the right balance in overseeing CFTC’s regulation of the financial and commodity markets,” the letter read. “Th is includes providing for reduced systemic risk, ensuring market integrity and regulatory consistency, while also considering the important role these markets play in the ability of commercial end users to effectively and efficiently hedge their commercial risks.”

You c a n re ad t he f u l l let ter at: ht t p://w w w.beef u sa .org / CMDoc s/Beef USA /Med ia /A g C oa lit ionCF TCGia nc a rloL et ter.pd f

American AgCredit offers leasing with no money down and 100% financing, freeing your working capital to get the absolute most out of your money.

Call 800.800.4865 today or visit AgLoan.com A part of the Farm Credit System. Equal Opportunity Lender.

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JULY/AUGUST 2017

39

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GRAZING TERM PERMIT RENEWAL

Press Release June 26th, 2017

BY: FRANK FALEN BUDD-FALEN LAW OFFICES, LLC

O

ne of the most important issues facing the 18,000 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing permittees and lessees and nearly 6,000 Forest Service permittees is grazing permit renewal. Although Congress has granted to each of you a temporary reprieve from being thrown off your allotments because of the failure of the agencies to get through a timely renewal process, the BLM and Forest Service are still charged with completing the term renewal process at some point. For BLM, this renewal requires the completion of a “standards and guidelines” determination. For the Forest Service, this renewal requires the gathering of monitoring data. Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental statutes is also required for both agencies.

While it is up to the federal agencies to complete these requirements, grazing permittees grazing and lessees can, and should, still play an important role in the permit renewal process. The following are a few suggestions:

1. Be thoroughly engaged in the monitoring process. If monitoring shows that there is an issue on the allotment, work with your federal agencies to determine the cause of that issue. The regulations only require a change in use or management of a term permit if livestock grazing is a significant cause of an environmental issue on the allotment. However, if range or riparian issues are being caused by excess wild horse use, wildlife use, recreation use, geomorphological or material element or some other factor, livestock grazing should still be continued. Documenting the significant cause of any range or riparian issue is critical when it comes to term permit renewal.

2. Some type of NEPA compliance will be required for term permit renewal. NEPA review can range anywhere from a full-blown environmental impact statement to a categorical exclusion. Both the BLM and Forest Service allow the use of categorical exclusions to renew term permits so long as (a) the monitoring data or rangeland health evaluation shows that the allotment is meeting all rangeland health standards or that livestock grazing is not the causal factor in failing to meet a standard; (b) the allotment does not contain any “extraordinary circumstances,” (c) the permit is being renewed under substantially the same terms and conditions as the prior permit, and (d) Endangered Species Act and other types of reviews have been completed.

“Extraordinary circumstances” could include things like the presence of a Mexican wolf den, the need to change the management of the land to another use, significant cultural or historical sites, a request to analyze the development of water sources, fences, or other physical improvements, etc. According to the current BLM Instruction Memorandums for sage grouse, the mere presence of the species is not, in and of itself, an “extraordinary circumstance.” With all of these factors, the most important thing that has to occur is written documentation. If the agency can document why it is reaching the decision it did, it is going to be significantly harder to challenge. If the agency makes a decision and does not have a supporting rationale at the time of the decision, an administrative or legal challenge is likely to follow.

3. If the agency determines that either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement is necessary, a permittee also needs to have significant involvement prior to the “public comment” period. One of the ways that radical environmental groups like to attack grazing permit renewal is based on an allegedly “inadequate NEPA document.” Based on a quick review of the reported court 40 JULY/AUGUST 2017

cases, one of the most likely areas of attack is if an agency fails to consider all direct and indirect effects, cumulative impacts and connected actions between renewal of the permit and other uses of the allotment. For example, if the allotment is also subject to oil and gas or other mineral development, developed recreation, or other permitted use, those uses have to be analyzed in the permit renewal NEPA document. Additionally, permit renewal NEPA documents are attacked if the agency fails to adequately analyze alternatives. Note that the agency does not have to fully evaluate every possible alternative to permit renewal, but if the agency is going to exclude a viable alternative from consideration, it has to explain why.

Th ird, litigation and appeals can be fi led if there is a perceived data gap. Like the alternative analysis however, as long as the agency notes and explains its rationale for not endlessly collecting data, the courts will defer to the agency explanation.

Now is the time to begin discussing term permit renewal with your agency personnel to see where your permit is on the schedule and to explore any ways you can assist with this process. Th is is not a process that permittees should ignore, particularly since so many ranches have to have a reliable term permit to survive.

NDA Adds Agriculture Enforcement Officer to Southern Nevada

T

he Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) recently hired Raul Godinez as an agriculture enforcement officer to monitor and enforce agricultural law in southern Nevada.

As an agriculture enforcement officer, Godinez will be responsible for enforcing United States Department of Agriculture and Nevada plant and animal health requirements for the protection of public health and safety in southern Nevada. His work will include monitoring for diseased plant materials, noxious weeds and zoonotic diseases (diseases that are communicable from animals to humans).

“Because Las Vegas is such a large community and tourist destination, it was important we bring back the staff and expertise to enforce plant and animal disease regulations, allowing us to protect public health and safety,” NDA Director Jim Barbee said.

Godinez is Nevada Peace Officer and Standards Training (POST) certified and most recently served as a Nevada Department of Corrections correctional officer in the Ely State Maximum Security Prison. He also has five years of experience as a California Department of Food and Agriculture plant quarantine inspector.

The NDA has not had an agriculture enforcement officer dedicated to southern Nevada since 2012.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) promotes a business climate that is fair, economically viable and encourages a sustainable environment that serves to protect food, fiber and human health and safety through eff ective service and education. NDA includes the divisions of Administration, Animal Industry, Consumer Equitability, Food and Nutrition and Plant Industry.

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A VICTORY FOR A FAMILY FARMER

O

n June 1, 2017, in less than two hours after the parties’ closing arguments following a two-week jury trial, jurors rendered their decision and Edwin Hostetler and Western Slope Layers, LLC won the right to continue their family farming operation on their agricultural property outside Hotchkiss, Colorado. Even though this indoor, organic, chicken egg-laying operation had every county and state permit imaginable and had passed all environmental and safety inspections, Hostetlers were sued by a neighbor claiming that the dust particulates, mold and other “contaminates” were “physically trespassing” on her hobby farm and had caused her almost $600,000 in lost property value, medical expenses, annoyance and discomfort, and past, present and future bodily injury. A local jury, however, found that none of her claims were true and preserved the property rights of the Hostetlers and Western Slope Layers, LLC. Brandon L. Jensen of the Budd-Falen Law Offices, LLC represented the Hostetlers in this case.

While this case is an important vindication for this Colorado agriculturalist and private property owner, it is still troubling. The case has lingered on against the Hostetlers since 2011. The first suit came when Delta County, Colorado approved the permit for construction of the Hostetler’s egg laying barn.

That Delta County permit included requirements for construction of the facility, air and water testing, and other environmental and health protections required by the County’s regulations. The neighbor sued Delta County for granting the permit; the case ended in 2015 when the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the County Commissioners’ determination to grant the permit and the Colorado Supreme Court refused to take the case. Budd-Falen Law Offices, LLC represented the Hostetlers in their intervention on the side of the County arguing that the County had properly granted the permit and that terminating the permit would cause irreversible injury to the Hostetler family business.

Unsatisfied with that result, the neighbor persisted by filing a case against the Hostetlers and Western Slope Layers personally for physical trespass by dust, mold and other contaminates. The problem was that the neighbor had absolutely no medical tests to prove that the existence of the enclosed egg-laying facility was causing her any physical problems; all of her medical tests were normal and she had never been hospitalized for asthma. With regard to the her claims for trespass, expert witnesses for the Hostetlers proved that all “emissions” claimed to be from the Hostetlers’ enclosed facility were well within normal levels for all agricultural settings and there was no proof that these emissions came from the Hostetler’s barn. Additionally, these emissions even were present on her property during the two year period that the barn

June 5th, 2017 was closed and there were no chickens present.

While this case does show that a family farmer can fight and win the right to continue the agriculture use of his property, it does make one wonder. According to a 2016 Harris Poll, about 3.3% of the American population are vegetarians and 1/2 of those also exclude eating dairy or eggs. Thus, an overwhelming majority of the U.S. population depends on meat, eggs and dairy for survival. The problem is that there is a growing number of the population who do not want to live near an agriculture operation-- including a self-contained, fully permitted, family-owned, cage-free, organic egg-laying barn (with baskets of flowers hanging from the porch of the facility). Americans enjoy the safest, healthiest, and cheapest food as a percent of consumer expenditures over any other country in the world. However, a large percentage of Americans do not understand the basic process of who grows their food or how it is grown.

There is also a percentage of people who simply do not like agricultural production and the families who make it happen. This mind set is the antithesis to the roots of this Country. Whether you are a soccer mom in Denver, a ski instructor in Vail, an accountant in Grand Junction, or a family living on 10 acres with a couple of horses in Golden, we all need to support agriculture. The Hostetlers were able to persevere and win their case, but in a place where the “Right to Farm” means the right to grow food, these kinds of cases should not even happen.

Lincoln County Fair & Rodeo August 10-12th, 2017 !

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JULY/AUGUST 2017

41

WELLS FFA

Wells FFA Closes Out Another Year

By Laila Jackson, Wells FFA Reporter

A

nother year has come and gone. We’ve said goodbye to our friends and embraced the idea of a new year. The Wells FFA chapter was no exception.

The Wells FFA chapter returned to the state competition, lacking many talented seniors from the year before, but with a group of fresh-eyed Freshman ready to make their mark on the small chapter.

In the end, Wells came home with nine fi rst place teams, four fi rst places in individual contests, numerous individual awards, multiple recipients of the State On May 3, 2017 at approximately 6:00 in the evening, the Wells FFA hosted FFA degree, and the Superior Chapter Award.

The nine fi rst place teams include Farm Business Management (FBM), its end of year banquet. The meeting was opened to business by the 2016-2017 officer team before guests and members were allowed to enjoy the succulent Junior FBM, Best Informed Greenhand (BIG), Senior Parliamentary Procedure, offerings that most probably came for.

Novice Parliamentary Procedure, Conduct of Chapter Meetings, Agriculture After a satisfying meal, the Wells FFA chapter set out to give the audience Issues, Meat Science and Technology, and Range Science. what it had waited for, conducting the labor auction, announcing state results, Between the two FBM teams, six individuals received individual awards.

For the Senior FBM team Liberty Johnson received 1st High Individual, and introducing most of the new officer team.

The labor auction was an exciting aff air. Most members went in the low Roberto Roque-Luna took 2nd High Individual, and Ben Ballard earned 3rd hundreds, but a few managed to rack up over two hundred dollars to help High Individual. On the Jr. FBM team, with a score exceeding every other individual in the contest, including those on the senior teams, Ian Spratling replenish the Wells FFA funds.

Despite how exciting it is to be sold off to slave away for eight hours to more than earned the award of 1st High Individual. Laila Jackson received 2nd an FFA supporter in the community, reveling in the success of the past year High Individual and Jade Kelly clinched 3rd High Individual. is even more so.

Wells took a team of five to Reno in the BIG contest, coming home with as a fi rst place team, and two individual awards. Hyrum Johnson came back as a 1st High Individual and Matthew James as a 2nd High Individual.

Wells competed in both the Senior and Novice Parliamentary Procedure contests, placing fi rst in both. Hyrum Johnson didn’t back down after receiving one individual award, he also took the award of High Chair in the Novice Parliamentary Procedure competition.

The Meat Science and Technology Team swept the competition. Liberty Johnson took 1st High Individual, Camberlin Uhlig received 2nd High Individual, and Shaylee Lattin placed 3rd High Individual. But meats didn’t stop there. The B team did some work as well. Ian Spratling placed 4th, Jade Kelly got 6th, and Marshall Botts took 7th.

The Range Science team received their results at the state convention.

While not making quite as big a statement as the meats team, the range science team swept the competition with Liberty Johnson taking 1st High Wells Agriculture Issues team presents during a general conference of the 2017 Individual, Zalie Peters as 2nd High State FFA Convention. Shown left to right: Matthew James, Laila Jackson, Liberty Individual, and Ian Spratling as 3rd Johnson, Jade Kelly, Ruth Gale, Logan Ballard, and Hyrum Johnson.

High Individual.

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Wells senior Mikayla Rodriguez competing in the Floriculture contest.

Aubrey Durant and Brent Battenfield both earned a Star State Greenhand Award. Aubrey Durant received 1st Place Production and Brent Battenfield took 1st Place Ag Business. Ben Ballard ended his career as Wells FFA Reporter by winning 1st Place in the Chapter Media Scrapbook.

Outside of the nine 1st place teams, Wells FFA individuals picked up placings within the top three of numerous contests.

In Veterinary Science, a 2nd place team, Ian Spratling bested the competition and walked away as the 1st High Individual.

In Poultry Science, also earning 2nd Place team, Camberlin Uhlig pulled a 2nd High Individual.

In Nursery Landscape, another 2nd Place team, Aspen Foster received 3rd High Individual.

In Floriculture, Wellsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; only 3rd Place team, Liberty Johnson placed 1st High Individual.

The Wells FFA chapter also had four members receive their State FFA Degree. Mikayla Rodriguez, Mallorie Limardo, Marshall Botts, and Levi Talbert all earned their State FFA Degree.

Wells Senior Parliamentary Procedure team, from left to right: Ben Ballard, Liberty Johnson, Zalie Peters, Camberlin Uhlig, Ruth Gale, and Victoria Young. www.progressiverancher.com

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Wells Nursery Landscape team, from back to front: Jessika Campbell, Zane Rodriguez, and Crystal Lake. Aspen Foster not depicted.

Along with the awards earned through hundreds of hours put in by each individual, the Wells FFA Chapter said hello to a new staff of leadership.

The 2017-2018 officer team was announced at the very end of the banquet, giving those who applied enough time to build up enough anxiety to down an elephant.

Before the banquet came to a close, the new officers were revealed.

Jessika Campbell is the 2017-2018 Sentinel.

Liberty Johnson is the 2017-2018 Historian.

Laila Jackson is the 2017-2018 Reporter.

Camberlin Uhlig is the 2017-2018 Treasurer.

Ian Spratling is the 2017-2018 Secretary.

Jade Kelly is the 2017-2018 Vice President.

And finally, Ruth Gale is the 2017-2018 President.

The Wells FFA finished another successful year and isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t planning on taking a break in the upcoming year. Some members are even looking to break the highest number of awards the chapter has earned, which would include besting fourteen competitions.

The best of luck to the Wells FFA chapter and the new officer team in the upcoming year.

2017-2018 officer team, from left to right: Sentinel Jessika Campbell, Historian Liberty Johnson, Treasurer Camberlin Uhlig, Secretary Ian Spratling, Vice President Jade Kelly, and President Ruth Gale. Reporter Laila Jackson not depicted.

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RANGE PLANTS FOR THE RANCHER

By Paul T. Tueller, Ph.D., CRMC

Junegrass

A

s I have indicated before the perennial grasses are the most important range plants on Nevada range lands and provide the bulk of the useable forage for you livestock. For this issue I describe another useful perennial grass Junegrass (Koeleria cristata L.). This is a common grass in the Great Basin and should be identified by the rancher.

The common name “junegrass” refers to its habit as a cool-season grass that tends to flower in June.

The genus name Koeleria is in honor of the German botany professor George Ludwig Koeler, a grass specialist during the 18th century.

Junegrass is an erect tufted bunchgrass without rhizomes and is commonly 0.5-2 feet tall growing in small bunches 2 to 6 inches in diameter. It starts growth in the early spring, flowers in June and July, produces seed through September, and may regrow in the fall if soil moisture is adequate. It reproduces from seeds and tillers. It usually reaches the blossom stage ahead of most of its associated grass species.

The narrow leaves form small basal clusters from which arise several seedheads. Leaves are basal, flat to in-rolled and sharply pointed. The seedheads are narrow contracted panicles and have the appearance of dense spikes, one per stem. The spikelets are normally pale 46 JULY/AUGUST 2017

green to purplish in color. Fine hairs are found on the reproductive stem just below the seedhead. The glumes are sharp and shiny.

Stems are smooth or soft haired (often hairy near the top). Light green to grayish-blue, erect or stiff ascending leaves, 1–3 mm wide and 15 cm long, attach along the lower half of stems. Leaf blades are strongly ribbed on the upper surface, slightly pubescent to hairless, and usually folded or inrolled, but occasionally flat. Leaves have pointed tips. Leaf sheaths do not fuse around the stem and often have straight hairs, 1–1.5 mm long, at the joint of the leaf and sheath. Hairy, whitish ligules, 0.5–2 mm long, that have jagged or short-fringed tips.

There are no auricles.

Th is grass has shiny, pale green to tan flower clusters, 2–15 cm long, in a dense, spike-like panicle with short branches, up to 2.5 cm long. The flower cluster spreads during flowering and contracts after pollination. Flattened spikelets, 4–6 mm long, have 2–4 florets with a pair of pointed, keeled glumes and 1 or 2 pairs of similarly shaped lemmas. The glumes are nearly equal in size and sparse to densely short haired. The upper glume, 4–6 mm long, is somewhat broader than the lower glume and has 3–5 nerves. The slightly shorter lower glume has 1 nerve. The thin, nearly translucent lemmas are about the same length as glumes, have 5 nerves, and lack an awn or have a very short one. Th is species’ flower cluster can be highly varied in size and shape.

Th is grass is a component of many native plant communities. It commonly represents up to 5 percent of the community. Due to its early spring green up itprovides good early spring forage and fair late spring forage for livestock. Prairie junegrass is considered a fair to good forage for elk throughout the year and is desirable forage for deer and antelope in the spring and early summer.

Junegrass is used as a component of native seed mixtures in revegetation of mined lands, heavy use areas and other surface disturbed lands. The plant has been used in the treatment of cuts. The leaf blades of the plant have been tied together and used as paintbrushes and brooms. Bunches of the leaf blades, about 30cm long, have been tied with string or yucca fibre, and used as a scourer for cleaning pans etc. The straw has been mixed with adobe to give strength and adhesion when building walls.

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Th is is an excellent forage plant for all classes of livestock, although forage production is low. It is good forage for wildlife in spring and in the fall after curing.

It is less palatable during seed production. It furnishes feed for small mammals and upland game birds. It is an excellent erosion control plant within the plant communities where it grows, but is seldom found in pure stands. June Grass is usually eaten by grazing livestock and is also eaten by wild animals during the summer time. Songbirds and small mammals eat the seeds. Junegrass does not cure well and is generally considered only fair forage for fall and winter grazing.

Junegrass responds to grazing management that harvests 40 to 50 percent of the annual yield during the growing season. It does not do well under season long, heavy grazing pressure. Where it is kept in vigorous growing conditions, Junegrass has a stabilizing effect on soils and water movement on watersheds.

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FINANCIAL FOCUS P rese n ted b y Jas o n L a n d , F in a n c ia l A d v is o r, E d wa rd J o n e s i n E l k o , N e v a d a 2 2 1 3 No rt h 5 t h S t re e t , S u it e A | 7 7 5 -7 3 8 -8 8 11

Your Financial Independence Day

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e’re getting close to the Fourth of July, when we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in this country. The U.S. Constitution grants us many of these liberties, but we have to earn others—such as our financial freedom. What steps can you take to achieve the financial independence you need to reach your long-term goals?

For starters, always work to build your resources. Contribute as much as you can afford to your IRA and your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. At a minimum, put in enough to earn your employer’s matching contribution, if one is offered. If you don’t take advantage of this match, you are essentially leaving money on the table.

While how much you invest is an essential factor in gaining your financial freedom, how you invest your money is equally important. So make sure you have sufficient growth potential in all your accounts. While growth-oriented investments, such as stocks and stock-based vehicles, carry investment risk, you can help moderate this risk by also including other investments, such as bonds.

Another way to gain your financial independence is to liberate yourself from the shackles of debt. This isn’t always easy, of course—most of us have experienced times when our cash flow simply wasn’t sufficient to meet our expenses, so we had to take on some type of debt, either through a credit card or a loan. But the more you can control your debts, the more money you’ll have to save and invest for your future.

One way to manage your debt load is to build an emergency fund, containing

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three to six months’ worth of living expenses, which you can use to pay unexpected costs such as a major car repair or a large medical bill. Ideally, you should keep this money in a liquid, low-risk account, so you can access the funds quickly and without penalty. Aside from possibly helping you control your debts, an emergency fund also may enable you to avoid dipping into your long-term investments to pay for shortterm needs.

Thus far, we’ve only discussed achieving your financial freedom through methods of saving and investing. But you also need to consider your protection needs, too. If you were to become ill or suffer a serious injury, and you could not work for a while, your financial security could be jeopardized. Your employer might offer you disability insurance as an employee benefit, but it may not be enough for your needs, so you might need to purchase some additional coverage on your own. And to help ensure your family’s financial security, you’ll also need sufficient life insurance.

You also might want to protect yourself from the catastrophic costs of longterm care, such as an extended nursing home stay. The average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is more than $92,000, according to the 2016 Cost of Care Study issued by the insurance company Genworth. And Medicare generally covers only a small percentage of these expenses. You may want to consult with a fi nancial professional to learn about ways you can protect yourself from the long-term care burden.

By following these suggestions, you can go a long way toward declaring your own financial independence. Consider taking action soon.

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