Fumes FROM THE Farm by Hank Vogler
I
am sitting at my desk in my office in a “First Amendment Area”, which I may designate as a “Constitution Zone”, now that the federal over lords seem to pick and choose where the Constitution can apply and where it is subject to interpretation by the whims of an armed Banta rooster. This brings to mind why the second amendment was put in the constitution. I am sure of one thing, when you finally push the citizens to the brink of losing their hearth and home they will react with abandonment. When the old satellite countries of the Soviet Union had enough they faced their oppressors with little or no sophisticated weapons and prevailed. The folks in Tiananmen Square lay down in front of tanks. Government should serve the people and also protect the minority. The one lesson to be learned from the Bundy stand off is that the power of a photo device sheds the light on tyranny. Now that we have the chance to look at all the reasons for the standoff, maybe we will finally get the truth. I have never been able to run with the crowd in either direction. My Grand Parents always demanded that I do my own thinking and I am content walking alone in the right direction rather than following the Lemmings off a cliff so I can be popular. I can only hope that power is returned to the people. I am not ready to say Mr. Bundy is within his rights but it is quite apparent that the pervasive undertow of big brother is rampant. We have come to a crossroads in our society. We have compromised ourselves into insignificant serfs. I will admit that it is very expensive to hire lawyers every time the regulations are heaped upon your back and you try to figure out how to live with the new norm rather than stand your ground. One thing is for sure is that our oppressors know that, and can put you on the street by breaking you trying to live within the yolk of governance. As a young man, I watched the United States Fish and Wildlife Services change their policies of grazing on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and take sixty two ranch families and if not completely destroy; but certainly effected their ability to feed and cloth and shelter their children was forever altered. It also destroyed thirty ranches that were on private land and were drowned out under Malheur Lake by actions of people that had a philosophy that if man did it was wrong. Many a ranch family had their hopes of a future dashed. Now the Refuge is a biological desert. Only about twenty families are allowed to graze with huge restrictions and the once crown jewel of the Pacific flyway has been reduced to weeds and predators. No one was held accountable and no one lost their government job, nor did any so called environmental group lose standing. I watched the timber industry in the Northwest with all of its good paying jobs and
middle class families destroyed in the name of the environment and the spotted owl. Now the forests are decadent and full of disease. Fires rage out of control and once again there appears to be no accountability for the destruction of these renewable natural resources. The human element has been demonized as though the feelings of an amoeba have sway over the human. No, we cannot in good conscience wreak havoc on the environment and not be held accountable but; when we find out that we are going in the wrong direction, we must change direction and get away from cutting off our noses to spite our face. My way or the highway is not the answer. Base line data, and measuring the results of our actions is the right way. We must constantly review the results of our actions. We can no longer waft philosophically about nature and pristine utopian ideals that make little or no scientific measurable results. Now, thirty years later the relentless fact-less scientists have the tool of the sage grouse, the pygmy rabbit, the lesser prairie chicken, or the one eyed one horned flying purple people eater as an excuse to take away property rights of the rural areas for their own money machines. Nevada ranches are based on water. Control the water and you were given the right to graze. The state of Nevada regulated who could and couldn’t graze. Multiple uses were to be honored and pre-existing rights recognized under the Taylor Grazing Act and NEPA and on and on. Property rights were to be preserved. Livestock ownership was regulated by the state of Nevada. Due process and the rule of law must be protected. The fiduciary duty of each county sheriff ruled supreme. For the state of Nevada to give away personal property is a circumvention of time honored state laws is wrong. You are issued a registered brand by the state not the federal government. It is the United “States” of America, not Washington D.C. and its satellite areas. Fifty-two ranchers had permits in Clark County. All but Mr. Bundy threw it in. The question remains are the desert tortoises flourishing? Is the paving of Clark County and housing developments infringing on sacred desert tortoise habitat. The number one predator on the tortoise and the sage grouse is the raven; but mans evil cows must go? The cow causes more damage than housing developments and paving machines? Or could it be, the tortoise is the tool to change the way eminent domain is interpreted? It is okay to build an eight-foot high pipeline through desert tortoise and sage grouse habitat? Solar farms, wind farms, pipelines seem to get little oversight but the evil rancher and his family must go? There is without a doubt fewer families engaged in feeding and clothing the American people than at any time in history, but the rancher must go? Ranchers are the true environmentalists and the real rare and endangered species. Hang and Rattle. Hank
Amodei Introduces Bill For Western States To Prevent Sage Grouse Endangered Species Listing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the potential Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of the sage grouse, which looms over 11 Western states, including Nevada, Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-2) today introduced H.R. 4419, the Sage-Grouse and Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Act. The legislation would: 1) Provide states, local communities and the federal government with proactive, common sense resource management options when faced with potential ESA listings. 2) Establish a funding source for habitat management projects related to ESA listings. 3) Ensure that the federal government fulfills its ownership obligation for funding such habitat projects when habitat issues are the source of a proposed listing. The bill was drafted to address a dilemma faced by Nevada where 84 percent of the sage grouse habitat is owned by the federal government, yet federal land management agencies, which have requested almost no funding to carry out habitat preservation and restoration, attempt to pass the burden of funding on to the state and private landowners. “The number one threat to sage hen habitat in Nevada is wildland fire,” said Amodei. “Yet the federal land management agencies, who own the vast majority of the habitat, have not prioritized funding needed to undertake the necessary work to conserve the resource and prevent the ESA listing. Instead, they point fingers in an attempt to saddle state and private landowners with the responsibility for funding projects that are absolutely the responsibility of the federal government. This is nothing short of extortion and sadly adds another chapter to the war on the West story.” www.progressiverancher.com
The habitat management projects necessary to prevent ESA listings are also subject to federal regulations requiring a years-long National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. “Clearly, waiting for years for permission from yourself to do habitat preservation and restoration makes no sense,” said Amodei. The bill would require the federal government to fund its fair share of conservation work before listing a species. As a funding mechanism, the bill would utilize the federal government’s own vast inventory of lands, providing for the competitive, market-rate sale of small parcels — 160 acres or less — to pay for conservation measures. The funds would be distributed to federal/state councils in states with 33 percent federal land or more. In the event of a listing, the bill would require a more transparent review of the listed species, including cost benefit analysis and updated figures regarding habitat acres and species population. The legislation also extends protections to private land owners whose properties are designated as critical habitat. Any such designation that imposes restrictions on uses of land is deemed a regulatory taking of property for which fair-value compensation is required to be paid under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. “Federal land managers cannot continue to pretend that they have no financial responsibility to lead by example in protecting and restoring the vast majority of sage hen habitat they own in Nevada and the West,” said Amodei. “The threat to habitat is known. This bill would correct the attempt to make others pay for federal land habitat work and help to reverse the present treatment of the Western states.”
The Progressive Rancher
May/June 2014 15