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November 29, 2014
The amount of water released into the lower Missouri River will be decreased this month because warmer weather has reduced ice concerns.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday it will gradually reduce the amount of water it releases out of Gavins Point Dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska border to 14,000 cubic feet per second. That's a decrease of 4,000 cubic feet per second from the releases being made over the past two weeks.
The change is not expected to make much difference in water levels downstream in the Missouri or Mississippi rivers.
Officials said last month that the water flow needed to be increased because ice forming on the river would reduce the flow. Now the weather has improved enough to alleviate the ice concerns.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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This never ending debate about voter ID is really getting old. Now the debate is whether it is a "privilege" or a "right" to vote.Who cares?"We the people" have a right to know that the people voting are who they say they are.Get an ID and quit complaining! The more you complain, the more skeptical "we the people" are about why it's such an imposition. — Jay Trees, Trophy Club
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Captain Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew may "boldly go where no man has gone before," but honestly, the Klingons were probably there first. The Star Trek antagonists certainly conquered Archon last weekend. The 38th installment of the annual sci-fi and fantasy convention once again feature ... More >>
"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire." So begins the famous opening crawl to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the 1977 film that kicked off a universe full of furry dog-beasts, deadly weapons of l ... More >>
Star Trek make-up artist Jeff Lewis is at the St. Louis Science Center tonight for First Fridays, a monthly series for Trekkies to geek out with their half-betazoid loving kin. The six-time Emmy nominee will make-up one lucky girl -- the the costume contest winner from last month's inaugural event - ... More >>
Bon AppetitGwyneth's back! Not that she ever goes away. Oh look. It's Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover of the new issue of Bon Appetit. Because she's everywhere. Acting? Yeah, that's fine. But then there was the singing. And now she's pushing her cookbook, My Father's Daughter and cooking on ev ... More >>
It was the month of Kristen! My colleague Kristen Hinman won three prestigious journalism awards for her stellar feature about Missouri hog farmer Russ Kremer, "The Pope of Pork": a James Beard Foundation award, an Associaton of Alternative Newsweeklies award and an Association of Food Journal ... More >>
From the Department of Press Releases We Just Have to Share on a Rainy Friday When We'd Rather Be Watching Star Trek:An organization called Faces of Agriculture -- which is NOT at all like Faces of Death -- has announced a contest entitled "Pork on a Fork." The goal is to raise "awareness of the imp ... More >>
Major food firms see an improved economic outlook. (Dow Jones)Kansas City Royals broadcasters are fooled by an -- unintentional? -- Guy Fieri impersonator. (Kansas City Star)Deadspin has the video of the interview.And, in honor of tomorrow's opening of the much anticpated -- by, uh, me, at least -- ... More >>
Teen book-turned-movie Twilight came out on DVD at the stroke of midnight Saturday morning. Although Unreal refers to Twilight as "awesomely bad teeny bopper trash," its fans and their parents might best be described as fang-wearing, cape-donning, utterly endearing geek-azoids.As with any sci-fi / f ... More >>
The spirit of radio
An Inconvenient Truth
Forbidden Planet
Flaming Lip Michael Ivins drops some serious science -- fiction, that is -- on Paul Friswold.
Unreal takes a local celeb inside our actor's studio, browses for Star Trek figurines and says hello to "The Pampered Queer."
Week of December 22, 2005
Week of September 27, 2005
We�ve got the inaugural edition of If Billboards Could Talk, advice for brides-to-be and some insight about what the future holds for the SLPD's forensics lab. Plus, our blogger of the week has a sweet side.
Geocaching in Sullivan
If you can't get laid at a science-fiction convention, you can't get laid!
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the dining room
Starlight Express is the limit
Men croon, men swoon
Week of December 11, 2002
"Night at the Oscars" juxtaposes the music of the St. Louis Symphony with clips from acclaimed films
Everything's hotter under the water in Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Robert Wise finishes Star Trek: The Motion Picture--22 years later
St. Louis gears up for Archon 24
Sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts of all stripes congregate at the Gateway Science Fiction and Media Convention
Sci-fi conventions are where movie stars go to burn brightly one more time
The phrase "red ink" takes on an entirely new meaning, courtesy of a Maoist publication


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See the country star's personal diary, from rehearsals to performing for the President
Credit: Courtesy Scotty McCreery
Updated: Thursday Dec 13, 2012 | 06:00 AM EST
More from PEOPLE
See More News
Get in the merry spirit with the biggest holiday hits
Read It
4 of 8
Singing for the President is "nerve-racking," American Idol's season 10 winner admits, but he has plenty of support from a wonderful choir.
Copyright © 2014 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


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Walker County, Ga. dispatchers confirmed around 9 p.m. Friday night that a wreck with injuries occurred at the Highway 136 and Bryant Road intersection.
Dispatchers said at least one person was airlifted to receive medical attention.
No more information was available around 9 p.m.
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Everyone's Blog Posts - Support Rural America 2014-11-27T22:51:50Z http://supportruralamerica.com/profiles/blog/feed?xn_auth=no Farmers seek protection from activists tag:supportruralamerica.com,2014-05-17:6461958:BlogPost:11590 2014-05-17T19:38:15.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

 URL: http://www.capitalpress.com/Idaho/20140515/farmers-seek-protection-from-activists

Farmers seek protection from activists

By Sean Ellis…

 URL: http://www.capitalpress.com/Idaho/20140515/farmers-seek-protection-from-activists

Farmers seek protection from activists

By Sean Ellis

Sean Ellis/Capital Press Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, stands in front of a farm field near her home in southwestern Idaho April 28. Batt carried the newly passed Idaho Ag Security Act in the House and says it's needed to protect the private property rights of farmers and ensure they aren't unfairly convicted in the court of public opinion.

BOISE — Animal activist groups say a new Idaho law that makes it a crime to secretly film agricultural operations proves the industry has something to hide.

But Idaho farm leaders say the Ag Security Act is about protecting the private property rights of farmers and ranchers and ensuring they aren't prosecuted in the court of public opinion.

They also say activists threw the first stone by using a secretly recorded videotape to try to damage Idaho's largest dairy operator.

The Idaho law, which went into effect earlier this year, is the latest round of a nationwide battle over undercover animal activists who secretly film agricultural operations in an effort to show mistreatment of animals. Seven states have similar laws on the books, and legislatures in others have debated them.

"This bill is designed to protect all of agriculture," Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, a former farmer who sponsored the bill in the House, said. "This is a very real threat. Idaho is being proactive and saying, 'We're not going to allow this type of behavior in Idaho and we're not going to allow you to treat our citizens this way.'"

Secret video

Agricultural leaders say the impetus for the law was video footage secretly obtained in 2012 by an undercover animal activist working for Los Angeles-based Mercy for Animals. The video showed animal abuse at a Bettencourt Dairies operation near Twin Falls. Footage from the video was turned into commercials for the Humane Society of the United States and posted on the Internet.

Dairy industry leaders say it was also used to try to harm Bettencourt, which operates six milking facilities with about 35,000 cows.

In a letter to lawmakers in support of the bill, Jerome Cheese Co. CEO Jon Davis said Mercy for Animals used the video to attempt to damage Bettencourt as well as Jerome Cheese, which purchases milk from the dairy.

Davis said the activist group also attempted to pressure the companies that purchase their cheese as well as the retailers who sell that cheese.

"These intimidating and threatening tactics were used at every level of the supply chain leading from the dairy to the retailer," Davis stated.

Davis said those actions prove that "these activist groups will go to great lengths to damage production agriculture and our customers" and that "they are well funded and have an agenda that is to harm agriculture, not protect it."

Idaho Dairymen's Association Executive Director Bob Naerebout said Bettencourt Dairies owner Luis Bettencourt immediately fired five employees involved in the abuse when he was informed of it.

He also made all 500 employees watch the video and sign a zero-tolerance statement against animal abuse and installed 20 cameras around the installation to prevent further abuse.

Twin Falls Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs told the Capital Press that three people were charged in the incident, one was convicted and two others fled and have warrants out for their arrest.

Loebs said there is no evidence that Luis Bettencourt or any of the dairy's management "had any involvement in or knowledge of this incident."

Naerebout said the Bettencourt incident forced the industry's hand.

"If they didn't try to destroy Mr. Bettencourt … we wouldn't even be here," Naerebout said during a public hearing on the bill. "They were trying to ruin a good dairyman."

Matt Rice, director of investigations for Mercy for Animals, said his group used the video to try to get major customers such as Burger King and Kraft to pressure all of their suppliers, not just Bettencourt, to implement animal welfare changes.

He said his group did not specifically target Bettencourt and said the bill is an attempt by the industry to cover up animal abuse.

"This legislation is a desperate attempt to sweep evidence of animal abuse under the rug," he said. "It sends a clear message to the public that the industry has a lot of horrible and corrupt practices to hide."

The Capital Press has obtained copies of dozens of threatening emails sent to Luis Bettencourt. Several threaten Bettencourt, his family and employees.

"I hope somebody kills you all," one states.

Another states, "I hope your company is burned to the ground and that all your employees are shot in the head. Go to hell."

"I was personally threatened to be killed, my family was threatened to be beaten and dragged. My employees … were also threatened with physical violence," Bettencourt said in a letter to lawmakers.

Bettencourt said he understood he is taking a risk by speaking out against activists. "I understand those risks, but want to speak out and share my experiences with the hope that other farmers in Idaho may not have to face the same attacks and threats that my family and I have," he stated.

Bettencourt declined to be interviewed for this article and recently sold the dairy where the incident occurred.

Industry supporters

Dairy industry supporters say the bill is about protecting private property rights and ensuring farmers and ranchers aren't unfairly targeted in the court of public opinion.

Emmett dairyman Terry Jones said producers need the law "not to hide what we're doing but to protect what we are doing."

The key word in this debate is security, said Lou Murgoitio, a member of IDA's board of directors.

"I believe every family farm has a reasonable right to their privacy, whether in their home or their operations," he said during a public hearing. "Our industry needs this legislation."

Murgoitio and other dairymen bristled at the insinuation they would tolerate or condone animal abuse and pointed out that doing so would be counter-productive.

"A happy cow produces more milk," he said. "It's that simple. It's not rocket science."

Activist opposes law

Matthew Dominguez, national public policy manager for HSUS, said the public wants to know more about how food is produced but the bill shows the industry wants to operate in secrecy.

In the wake of dozens of undercover investigations exposing animal abuse by HSUS and other groups, the industry's response has not been to take steps to prevent abuse, but "to criminalize anyone who speaks out against them and stop undercover investigations," he said.

"It clearly shows the industry has something to hide," said Dominguez, who helped lead opposition to the bill. "Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing."

Dominguez said four states — Idaho, Iowa, Missouri and Utah — have passed what he calls "ag-gag" laws in the past three years, and three other states — Kansas, Montana and North Dakota — have had them on the books since the early 1990s.

About 20 states have rejected similar bills, he said.

The Idaho bill, which passed the House 56-14 and the Senate 23-10, became effective Feb. 28, the day Gov. Butch Otter signed it into law.

A coalition of animal rights, civil liberty, food safety and other groups filed a federal lawsuit March 7 that seeks to overturn it.

A hearing on the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit will take place June 25 in Boise.

Beyond dairy

Sen. Jim Rice, a Republican attorney from Caldwell who supported the bill, said it boils down to a private property rights issue.

"What we're talking about are private facilities that are not open to the public," he said. "The property owner has a right to determine what activities go on on his property."

"We are all at risk and that's why all of agriculture came together on it," said Sen. Jim Patrick, a Republican farmer from Twin Falls who carried the bill in the Senate.
 Ex-Apple Genius unveils eight ways to extend your iPhone battery tag:supportruralamerica.com,2014-04-22:6461958:BlogPost:11608 2014-04-22T08:01:21.000Z colingino http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/colingino
Battery consumption has always been one of the biggest bugbears smartphone users. Former Apple Genius Bar worker Scotty Loveless offers tips on how to extend it. power tools battery.

Battery consumption has always been one of the biggest bugbears smartphone users ", and since the launch of iOS 7.1 mobile operating system, Apple last month, the number of iPhone users have complained of poor battery life.…

Battery consumption has always been one of the biggest bugbears smartphone users. Former Apple Genius Bar worker Scotty Loveless offers tips on how to extend it. power tools battery.
Battery consumption has always been one of the biggest bugbears smartphone users ", and since the launch of iOS 7.1 mobile operating system, Apple last month, the number of iPhone users have complained of poor battery life.
According to former Apple Genius Bar employees Scotty Loveless, most of the time it does not work iOS itself that is causing iPhone battery too quickly, but all the applications that run on it. But do not believe that the answer to the problem is to turn off. Allesapps
Loveless explained in a blog that his tips are based on years of research and anecdotal evidence he collected hundreds Genius Bar appointment took during his time as a genius engineer and iOS, as well as testing for personal devices, and equipment are friends.
"I guarantee you that if you delete your phone and there were no applications or e-mail, it will take forever. Never use their facilities, such as the fact that even they. Allowed Hopefully with these steps, you'll iOS battery life and bliss with all the applications and features that you love, "he said.
The first thing you should do is check usage and standby time in Settings> General> Usage. Use the time that you used the last charge, and in standby mode the device is the time elapsed since the last load.
Loveless said that use significantly less time than Standby time should be if you use the device every second you have already mentioned. Unplugged If not, you have a problem.
You further testing by the use of a note in standby mode, and then put the device to sleep for five minutes. When he returned to take note of the changes over time of knowledge.
If your device is sleeping well, it must be in the standby time is increased by five minutes and use your time less than a minute. If your time use increased by more than a minute, is something not sleep well the device.
If it turns out that you have a problem, here are tips Loveless is to reduce the discharge of the battery:
1st Enable background refresh location and application for Facebook
The Facebook app for iPhone consumes huge amounts of memory and processing power, even when not in use. Turn off background refresh application may actually lead to an increase in its batteries. Percent
Disable background refresh second application for the applications that you do not care
App Background Refresh function was added in iOS 7 and application to check for new content and updates to download, even when not in use. However, it can consume large amounts of energy, and do not necessarily run on any application that supports it.
3 Stop to stop their applications in multitasking
Most people tell you to close your application will save battery because it keeps the application running in the background. Nevertheless, it may be that your Replacement Battery for Makita is even worse if you do it regularly.
Closing applications use RAM phone, so when you reopen the app from your device to load into memory back again. Loading and unloading something that puts more emphasis on your device before just leaving alone.
The truth is that the application in your multitasking menu does not run in the background all the way: iOS freezes them where you last left the application. If not allow background applications update most of your applications will not run in the background.
4th Disable push e-mail temporarily
Push e-mail to your device in direct messages every time you receive. Email is great if you need to know when any e-mail arrives, but it does not affect battery configured as bad.
Try changing the settings for retrieving e-mails per hour thirty minutes or fifteen minutes, and we'll see if drain stops. You can also try to disable individual accounts if you press more than one out.
5th Disable push notifications for applications that annoy you
Every time you get a warning pressure phone from sleep at 5 to 10 seconds light up the screen and wait for any response to the alert. If you receive 50 messages during the day and never respond to them, they will add 4-8 minutes until use.
6th Enable battery percentage
People who are concerned about their iOS device battery life are constantly checking it to determine the percentage and the number has decreased from the last time you checked. So, if you check your device twice as much, just check the battery life, it's basically half the time that your device will last.
7th airplane mode off in areas with poor mobile service
When the iPhone detects that you are in a low signal, it will increase the performance of the antenna enough to receive calls and data connections continue to keep connected. It destroys battery life, if you are still in place, with or without bar service.
If you still receive calls, there is nothing you can do, but if your service is so bad that not even received a call, turn on airplane mode. You can then turn Wi-Fi to turn on when needed.
8th Visit the Apple Store
Apple has rolled out a new "Extended Battery Life Test" for all iOS technology that allows them to see a detailed report on the battery life of the unit. If your battery is defective physical, engineers can exchange them for free if your iOS device is under warranty.

See more consumer electronics at koopower.com.
 Feds' shutdown of a California farm threatens all farmers' rights tag:supportruralamerica.com,2014-02-19:6461958:BlogPost:11463 2014-02-19T22:00:50.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.capitalpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20140206%2FARTICLE%2F140209921%2F1009

http://www.capitalpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20140206%2FARTICLE%2F140209921%2F1009
 Are They Dumber Than a Box of Rocks or Just Doing What They Are Told? tag:supportruralamerica.com,2014-02-17:6461958:BlogPost:11383 2014-02-17T03:14:47.000Z Keith Broaders http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/KeithBroaders
 Did you know that Congress was prohibited in Article V of the Constitution from ever proposing an amendment that would deprive any state of equal representation in the Senate? The Framers of the Constitution wanted to guarantee that the people would have equal representation in the…

Did you know that Congress was prohibited in Article V of the Constitution from ever proposing an amendment that would deprive any state of equal representation in the Senate? The Framers of the Constitution wanted to guarantee that the people would have equal representation in the House of Representatives and the states would have equal representation in the Senate.

The Supreme Court case known as Reynolds v Sims, the Court ruled that equal representation of counties in the state legislatures was unconstitutional. There were powers which were delegated to the government of the United States and there were powers reserved to the states respectively and to the people. It was understood that any power that was not delegated to the United States was reserved to the states and to the people. The authority to organize their state legislatures was to be left to the states and the Supreme Court was not granted the authority to meddle in the affairs of the individual states.

The Constitution clearly says that all legislative powers were to be vested in a Congress of the United States. In other words the President and Supreme Court would have no legislative authority. Perhaps this is why Supreme Court decisions are considered opinions and not law. When the Supreme Court renders a decision, it is not law and the states are under no Constitutional obligation to comply.

In the Reynolds v Sims Case, the Supreme Court ruling unlawfully amended the Constitution of each and every state. Rather than allowing each county to have equal representation in the state legislatures, the Supreme Court ruled that political subdivisions known as Senatorial Districts must be created.

In California there were 58 counties which were carved into 40 Senatorial Districts. Instead of having 58 counties with equal representation they created 40 Senatorial Districts with equal representation. Today Los Angeles County has eleven representatives in the state Senate which gives the people of Los Angeles County a significantly louder voice than any of the other counties in the state.

States comply with unjust Federal directives and Supreme Court rulings in order to be eligible to receive Federal Grants. Congress has no Constitutinal "jurisdiction" outside of the District of Columbia and certainly has no authority to bribe the states to comply with their bogus orders.

Any directive issued by the Federal government which would require a state Republic to violate its own Constitution is an abuse of power and should be ignored. In Article I Section 8, the government of the United States was granted exclusive "jurisdiction" over an area "not to exceed ten miles square." In other words, the United States has no lawful authority to meddle in the affairs of the states.

The Reynolds v Sims ruling transferred power from the counties to political parties and deprives the county of equal representation in their state legislatures. Every state should thank the Court for their opinion and then tell the Court to mind their own business.
 The National Park Service wants to take more control over saddle and pack stock use in Yellowstone National Park. tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-11-14:6461958:BlogPost:11536 2013-11-14T00:04:35.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
The National Park Service wants to take more control over saddle and pack stock use in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone Nat'l Park is considering changes to pack outfitter's policy. Environmental groups favor option eliminating stock use. Comment now!!!!…

The National Park Service wants to take more control over saddle and pack stock use in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone Nat'l Park is considering changes to pack outfitter's policy. Environmental groups favor option eliminating stock use. Comment now!!!!

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=111&projectID=46159&documentID=56167

 California Can Start Over Too tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-08-23:6461958:BlogPost:11227 2013-08-23T19:46:00.000Z Louise Gliatto http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/LouiseGliatto
Rural Coloradans Vote to Secede from Colorado as 51st State – Cite Sweeping Gun & Energy Laws

Commissioners in Weld County, Colorado unanimously voted on Monday to make 'North Colorado' the 51st US state. The Republican board hopes to secede from the state in protest of laws passed by the Democratically controlled state legislature this year. The initiative will be added to the ballot this November. More…

Rural Coloradans Vote to Secede from Colorado as 51st State – Cite Sweeping Gun & Energy Laws

Commissioners in Weld County, Colorado unanimously voted on Monday to make 'North Colorado' the 51st US state. The Republican board hopes to secede from the state in protest of laws passed by the Democratically controlled state legislature this year. The initiative will be added to the ballot this November. More than 11,000 people have liked the 51st State Initiative's Facebook page.

The 51st State initiative has a website and appeals to the Declaration of Independence as justification for its efforts, writing:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The 51st State website claims that their initiative is simple. "We just want to be left alone to live our lives without heavy-handed restrictions from the state capitol," read a post on the website.

"The concerns of rural Coloradans have been ignored for years," William Garcia, chairman of the Weld County Commissioners, said in a statement. "The last session was the straw that broke the camel's back for many people. They want change. They want to be heard."

The Washington Times reports:

Three other rural counties — Cheyenne, Sedgwick and Yuma — also plan to place the 51st state referendum on the fall ballot. "At least three more counties plan to consider the proposal this week at their commission meetings," said Jeffrey Hare, spokesman for the 51st State Initiative.

Known for its agriculture and oil and gas production, Weld is the largest of the Colorado counties exploring a break with the state after the legislature's sharp turn to the left with bills restricting access to firearms and doubling the state's renewable-energy mandate for rural areas.

Forming a state isn't easy: Even if the ballot measures pass, the Colorado state legislature would be required to amend the constitution to configure the state's borders and refer a request for a new state to Congress.

Approving a 51st state would require a majority vote of both houses of Congress, although the Constitution doesn't require the signature of the president, Mr. Hare said.

In responding to the issue of forming a new state, the 51st State website responds, "Will statehood be easy? No. However, pioneers are who have made this state great. Those early miners that came for the gold rush were pioneers. The early settlers that began farming the land and built the infrastructure to enable Colorado to be an agricultural powerhouse – they were also pioneers."

Those in favor of the break with the State of Colorado see a growing divide between urban and rural interests and have put forth three proposals:

The creation of a new state

A change to the representation of the State Senate – the Phillips County proposal (details here)

Requesting annexation into WY - more on this option will be forthcoming

It seems that what they will be doing is giving the state legislature and the liberals in power in Colorado the dependents they have created in the urban areas. It will be something of a poetic justice.

"We're not pulling away from Colorado, Colorado is pulling away from us," Keenesburg resident Bruce Sparrow told the Denver Post after attending a 70-person public meeting to discuss plans for a secession.

"I think people, when they feel disenfranchised, when they feel that their voices are not being heard, I think that's a problem in a representative form of government," Commissioner Sean Conway said.

Siskiyou County Board of Supervisor will be voting on a Resolution/Declamation Tuesday, Sept. 3rd. to start over with a new State.

Calling all rural Northern California Counties to do the same. Join us in sending a strong message to Sacramento.

 Feds recommend remoing dams from Klamath River tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-07-08:6461958:BlogPost:11092 2013-07-08T03:00:00.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
Posted: Friday, April 05, 2013 9:04 AM

Klamath River dams proposed for removal

 …

Posted: Friday, April 05, 2013 9:04 AM

Klamath River dams proposed for removal

Feds recommend removing dams from Klamath River

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The federal government on Thursday recommended that all four aging hydroelectric dams be removed from the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California to help struggling wild salmon runs, and nearly $1 billion should be spent on environmental restoration.

The final environmental impact statement making those recommendations was posted on a U.S. Department of Interior website.

However, whether that will ever happen remains in doubt. Legislation authorizing the secretary of Interior to approve dam removal and appropriating $800 million for restoration work have not gained any traction in Congress.

As one of his last acts before leaving office, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on Congress to take action, saying that removing the dams and implementing the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement are important components of finding a solution to the basin's water problems.

"Once again, the communities of the Klamath Basin are facing a potentially difficult water year under a status quo that everyone agrees is broken," Salazar said in a statement. "We need a comprehensive solution addressing all the needs of the Klamath Basin, including fisheries, agriculture, (wildlife) refuges, and power."

Battles over how to share scarce water between farms and protected fish reached a head in 2001, when drought forced the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to shut off water to a federal irrigation project straddling the Oregon-California border in an effort to provide water for endangered sucker fish in the project's main reservoir. Salmon in the Klamath River were also threatened. The next year, the Bush administration restored irrigation, but tens of thousands of adult salmon died when they returned to a river with low and warm water levels.

In 2010, Indian tribes, farmers, salmon fishermen and conservation groups ended a century of fighting over water by signing historic agreements calling for the sharing of water in dry years and the removal of four dams to open up hundreds of miles of salmon habitat shut off for a century. PacifiCorp, which owns the dams that produce power for 70,000 customers, agreed to the removal rather than pay millions of dollars for fish ladders and other improvements.

"This final report confirms that dam removal is both feasible and cheaper than any other option," Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a salmon fishing group, said in a statement. "None of the many scare stories spread by dam removal opponents were found to have any factual basis."

Jeff Mitchell, a member of the Klamath Tribes tribal council, said their community was "headed for a real train wreck" if action wasn't taken quickly.

However, political and legal battles remain. House Republicans have not allowed the dam-removal measures to go to a vote. The conservation group Oregon Wild filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the government, saying it had improperly imposed lower guaranteed flows of water for salmon on the Klamath River. And newly elected conservatives on the Klamath County Board of Commissioners have voted to get out of the restoration agreement.

__

On the Web: Klamath Restoration: http://klamathrestoration.gov/

 May 29 2013: Several Bills on gun and amo restrictions passed the California State Senate tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-05-30:6461958:BlogPost:10973 2013-05-30T08:32:17.000Z David J. Ingraham http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/DavidJIngraham
All of these Bills are in Violation of the 2nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Your organization and as the one in Colorado have sworn to defend the Constitution, as I did in The past as a member of our U.S. Army, as well as 28 years of Federal Service for the U.S. Navy. I do not know what to do to stop these traitors to our Constitution. I think I would like to join with you in a Petition to a U.S. Federal court for a charge of conspiracy to commit treason has been conducted by the…

All of these Bills are in Violation of the 2nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Your organization and as the one in Colorado have sworn to defend the Constitution, as I did in The past as a member of our U.S. Army, as well as 28 years of Federal Service for the U.S. Navy. I do not know what to do to stop these traitors to our Constitution. I think I would like to join with you in a Petition to a U.S. Federal court for a charge of conspiracy to commit treason has been conducted by the California State Senate with the approval vote that they have just cast for these restrictive Gun and Ammunition Bills.

Also a petition for an injunction should be included to stop any further consideration of any of these bills by the state legislature, or the governor. We have to stop this act of treason by these legislators before they are enforced as law. Another thing is needed is a suit for punitive damages of a Billion Dollars, as needed for damages to the civil rights of the people that was attempted by the dishonorable authority of the State legislature. The damages would be paid to a Constitutional defense fund for civil rights under the control of the County Sheriffs Constitutional Association.

Please help the people fight this rape of our 2nd Amendment Rights.

Best regards David J. Ingraham
 Massive Eminent Domain via Water District in Texas..a must read! tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-05-08:6461958:BlogPost:10969 2013-05-08T17:38:02.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/07/Exposed-Texas-Cronyism-and-Secret-Meetings-Steal-Citizen-s-Land-Via-Eminent-Domain

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/07/Exposed-Texas-Cronyism-and-Secret-Meetings-Steal-Citizen-s-Land-Via-Eminent-Domain
 Living with Wolves: The cost to ranchers tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-05-02:6461958:BlogPost:11164 2013-05-02T01:24:55.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
Living with Wolves: The cost to ranchers

Posted: Feb 19, 2010 8:27 AM by Mark Holyoak Updated: Feb 19, 2010 8:27 AM

There were 367 confirmed wolf kills in Montana in 2009, and there are at least six so far this year. But for one long-time cattleman near Drummond, the cost of wolves runs much deeper than an occasional cow carcass.

It's auction day on Ron Skinner's ranch in…

Living with Wolves: The cost to ranchers

Posted: Feb 19, 2010 8:27 AM by Mark Holyoak Updated: Feb 19, 2010 8:27 AM

There were 367 confirmed wolf kills in Montana in 2009, and there are at least six so far this year. But for one long-time cattleman near Drummond, the cost of wolves runs much deeper than an occasional cow carcass.

It's auction day on Ron Skinner's ranch in Hall, where fellow ranchers bought 174 of his cattle, but it's the money that got away that really hurts.

"We had severe weight loss in calves that came out of wolf areas compared to calves where there are no wolves," Skinner said.

Those heifer calves were an average of 97 pounds lighter than others and with the going rate of beef at 93 cents a pound. That's a $90.21 loss per animal. Multiply that times 150 of them and that's a total loss of $13,531.

A more visually disturbing loss is wolf depredation, according to Skinner.

"I'm a purebred breeder. This was an embryo transplant heifer, and she was worth a lot of money, and we don't know what she would produce in her lifetime, but the compensation wasn't even close," he said.

A news team interviewing Skinner for this story came across a still-warm elk carcass on a nearby mountain, tangible evidence of perhaps Skinner's greatest problem.

"The environmental damages and range management damages are worst than depredation" the rancher said.

Skinner leases land to graze his cattle. But, he's not getting anywhere near his money's worth from it because wolves continually push the cattle off the grassy slopes, away from the feed, and back into over-grazed riparian areas below.

That forced him to buy 200 extra tons of hay this year. Skinner said there are many other wolf-related effects on ranchers. There's stress, which can lead to lower pregnancy rates, young cattle that don't grade as high, extra manpower to monitor wolf activity, injury to livestock, damage to fences and danger to humans, like when wolves showed up in his corrals right next to his house driving the black bulls through the fence onto the highway at night.

"The first thing I did was get on the road with my flashers so somebody didn't get killed, and it will eventually happen" Skinner said.

Despite the constant threat of wolves, Skinner carries on as a third generation Montana rancher with a wary eye on the future.

"The real question is do you want ranchers to produce food for you? If we go through the economic pressures of wolves, some ranchers won't survive," he said.

Wildlife officials killed off the 15-member Willow Creek wolf pack in 2008 after it continually preyed on sheep and cattle belonging to Hall ranchers. But, three new wolves returned this past summer, killing another calf and a heifer.

Related Articles

Living with Wolves: An introduction

 CA coastal conservancy is running out of TAXPAYER money ... GOOD! tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-04-29:6461958:BlogPost:10886 2013-04-29T21:09:47.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
State's Coastal Conservancy runs low on cash after local deals

Visitors to Red Hill Ranch near Jenner in 2011.
 PD FILE, 2011

 By…

State's Coastal Conservancy runs low on cash after local deals

Visitors to Red Hill Ranch near Jenner in 2011.
 PD FILE, 2011

 By GUY KOVNER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 3:27 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, April 29, 2013 at 10:44 a.m.

Page 1 of 5

A little-known state agency that has poured $68 million into Sonoma County conservation projects is running low on cash and planning to scale back its mission of protecting and enhancing vast forests and coastal lands.

Down to its last $150 million, the State Coastal Conservancy has spent most of a nearly $1 billion pot of bond funds approved by California voters and is preparing to get by with no new bond measures for the next 10 years.

The conservancy, which has helped purchase about 40,000 acres in Sonoma County, is no longer likely to help swing big deals like the $24.5 million Preservation Ranch purchase it supported with a $10 million grant earlier this month.

Doug Bosco, a Santa Rosa attorney who heads the conservancy's seven-member board, was partly kidding when he told Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo at the April 18 meeting: "We don't expect to see you back too soon."

But in reality, the conservancy -- a partner in more than 150 Sonoma County conservation projects since 1988 -- has no choice but to pull back the pursestrings.

At its current rate of spending, the agency would exhaust its remaining funds in five years, according to an October budget memo to board members.

"Sonoma County just got a big bite of everything we have left," Bosco said in an interview.

Future grants will be no more than $1 million to $2 million at most, he said, noting that only half of the remaining $150 million can be spent at the board's discretion.

Bosco, who was appointed to the conservancy board in 2003, is an investor in Sonoma Media Investments which owns The Press Democrat.

Read more

Link to full article

 The Amazing Mystery of Zoning, Family Compounds, and Urban Sprawl: How I Classify as Rural Yet Metropolitan tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-04-19:6461958:BlogPost:10875 2013-04-19T16:30:00.000Z TURTLESHROOM http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/TURTLESHROOM
I can't go into as much detail (such as maps and pictures) for privacy fears and promises to my family, but let me tell you the exciting tale of why I can permissably call myself rural, even though I am surrounded by one-acre cookie-cutter houses within walking distance, and mansions down my own road.

It is a beloved tale of the perks of "being here first", cotton, and the Majestic Twelve. (No, not…

I can't go into as much detail (such as maps and pictures) for privacy fears and promises to my family, but let me tell you the exciting tale of why I can permissably call myself rural, even though I am surrounded by one-acre cookie-cutter houses within walking distance, and mansions down my own road.

It is a beloved tale of the perks of "being here first", cotton, and the Majestic Twelve. (No, not that Majestic Twelve!)

Our story begins over one hundred years ago, with a lonely farmhouse. Sitting on seventy five acres, this home (which still stands, surviving multiple storms and several remodelings) was the foundation of my mother's family line and much of the area's original power brokers, who still crowd old church cemetaries to this day. From this farmhouse came twelve brothers and sisters, who founded several large and well-known families in our community. My mother and mother's mother stemmed from this farmhouse, as do several more families I have close personal contacts with.

The farm mainly concerned itself with cotton. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest landmark of any note was the local church (which I still go to). The rich, fertile bottomlands kept the Twelve alive for a long time, until the early 1950s, when the damming of the Chatahooche River gave rise to Lake Lanier. Paid pennies on the dollar for precious cotton fields, our family ultimately dissolved the farm as the Twelve split up (which had begun before the lake) and made their mark in the area.

The division of the estate unto the Twelve proceeded by selling off most of the land in small parcels for humble prices before the lake fully developed. Had we waited a decade or so, we'd have been landed gentry millionaires, but hey, hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Consistent deaths and selling of the land led, ultimately, to my ancestors possessing around seven acres of land.

Some time passed as they died off, leaving two notable individuals that are why our land exists as a compound. My two great-great aunts whom I lived to see possessed the farmhouse and, through a matter of circumstances revolving around a patriarch of the family (maternal grandmother's family), their fear of living in the middle of nowhere next to a towering barn (that they were convinced harbored threats) led to a house being built directly to the left of the farmhouse, where my maternal grandparents, by now married, came to settle.

My maternal great-grandmother (still alive circa April 2013) and maternal great-grandfather (died 2000 AD) later occupied that house as my maternal grandparents moved literally across the street from that house that tore down the creepy barn. Now with three buildings on this land, we skip to 2000.

My mother had a dream of designing and building her own home, and my maternal grandfather, being a genius jack-of-all-trades handyman with a history in construction (whose son followed by being a contractor) before joining the State Department of Labor, made it happen.

The beautiful building I now call home was built to the left of the most recent house, making our house literally and directly adjacent to the farmhouse of old. The house was built on top of a steeply sloped pasture that had been unused for years.

My uncle (and the son of my grandfather I mentioned earlier) built his mansion to the right of my maternal grandparents' house. The rest of the land hosts a large workshop for my maternal grandfather, a small cottage-like house where the patriarch (maternal grandmother's father) lived at one time, and a lot of trees.

Today, these seven acres form a family compound. On a surveyor's map, you can see the nice cookie-cutter subdivisions going down our road, before being distorted by large blobs that could be explained as the surveyor drooling and then circling that puddle of saliva. There is a large beef cow pasture within driving distance (a mere three or so miles) from a major four-lane road owned by another particularly old family, followed by some more general houses- a few also belonging to relatives descended from the Majestic Twelve -and then our compound. Where my house stands is on a junction. We are the first house on a road that leads to a cul-de-sac dead end, which is populated by collosal, beautiful lakeside mansions. The actual road to the left leads to a boat loading dock, which means our little two-lane road receives tons of traffic towing boats, and supicious weirdos lurking there in the winter.

This is all within five minutes' driving distance from a major, dense road leading to the City of Gainesville and directly connected to an Interstate highway. We are less than twenty minutes from fine restaurants, car dealerships, banks, racetracks (and two RaceTrac stores), numerous gas stations, fast food joints, and pharmacies old and new.

Why, then, do I call myself rural? Simple: the suburbs grew around us, and besides, if you live within two miles' distance of a cow farm, you're rural, even if driving past that cow farm leads to the Interstate.
 Water Plan Threatens Taxpayers and the Environment tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-04-19:6461958:BlogPost:11071 2013-04-19T15:17:01.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/04/19/water-plan-threatens-taxpayers-and-the-environment-2/

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/04/19/water-plan-threatens-taxpayers-and-the-environment-2/
 The Colorado River on the 2013 Endangered Waterways List tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-04-18:6461958:BlogPost:11151 2013-04-18T15:53:38.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.redding.com/news/2013/apr/18/colorado-river-tops-2013-endangered-waterways-list/

http://www.redding.com/news/2013/apr/18/colorado-river-tops-2013-endangered-waterways-list/
 Cal-Fire Delays Fire Fee Bills due to Thousands of Complaints tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-03-21:6461958:BlogPost:11106 2013-03-21T15:56:20.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.redding.com/news/2013/mar/20/fire-fee-bills-delayed-thousands-complaints/

http://www.redding.com/news/2013/mar/20/fire-fee-bills-delayed-thousands-complaints/
 People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO) tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-03-20:6461958:BlogPost:10908 2013-03-20T17:24:48.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

Check it out:

http://www.petpo.org/

Check it out:

http://www.petpo.org/

 People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO) tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-03-20:6461958:BlogPost:10818 2013-03-20T17:24:47.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

Check it out:

http://www.petpo.org/

Check it out:

http://www.petpo.org/

 Hundreds of family pets killed by federal agency tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-03-14:6461958:BlogPost:10606 2013-03-14T02:11:43.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/13/hundreds-family-pets-endangered-species-killed-by-little-known-federal-agency/?test=latestnews

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/13/hundreds-family-pets-endangered-species-killed-by-little-known-federal-agency/?test=latestnews
 Anti-wolf group likely to get 2nd $300,000 payment from Utah tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-03-11:6461958:BlogPost:10304 2013-03-11T23:49:26.000Z Elizabeth http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/Elizabeth
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55974984-78/wolf-forever-game-utah.html.csp

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55974984-78/wolf-forever-game-utah.html.csp
 The Boneta Bill - Virginia's property rights revolution for 2013 tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-02-11:6461958:BlogPost:9259 2013-02-11T23:30:24.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
February 11, 2013

A Property Rights Revolution for 2013

By Mark J. Fitzgibbons

A previously apolitical organic farmer in Virginia has set off a property rights revolution that would make Founders Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights George Mason proud.

Martha Boneta…

February 11, 2013

A Property Rights Revolution for 2013

By Mark J. Fitzgibbons

A previously apolitical organic farmer in Virginia has set off a property rights revolution that would make Founders Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights George Mason proud.

Martha Boneta had a business license for her tiny farm store in scenic Paris, Virginia, yet she was threatened with fines of up to $5,000 per violation per day for selling organic tea and wool products crafted from her rescued animals, and for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls.

Officials from Fauquier County using zoning ordinances to bully Mrs. Boneta never obtained a warrant nor set foot on her property to gather actual evidence. Instead a county bureaucrat relied on unscrupulous, unlawful methods to make these charges against Mrs. Boneta. Her store remains closed out of fear of further uncertain charges carrying even criminal penalties. The bullying bureaucrat ignored due process of law and American rules of evidence because she thinks she is the law, which is a common phenomenon used to intimidate citizens into forfeiting their rights.

The county also tried to cite Martha for having a boarding facility without a permit. It appears that the county did not like the fact that she and Christian college students interning on Spring Break openly prayed over the crops and farm animals.

To cure this government lawbreaking and protect farm rights, Delegate Scott Lingamfelter introduced H.B. 1430, the Boneta Bill, to amend the Virginia Right to Farm Act. As introduced, the bill would have done three things: (1) clarify that the flawed, toothless Right to Farm Act protects farmers' commerce, (2) expressly protect constitutional rights on farms, and (3) provide remedies against local government officials who violate the Right to Farm Act.

The bill is wildly popular among small farm owners, property rights activists, Tea Partiers and even many Democrats, yet met opposition from special interests in Richmond including Farm Bureau, the insurance company that may be best described as the AARP of farming.

The Virginia legislature is controlled by the GOP, yet establishment Republicans chose special interests over principles. The bill was amended to remove the constitutional protections and remedies against lawbreaking bureaucrats.

The Virginia House passed the weakened bill, but first added another amendment that appears to be in violation of Article IV, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution, which governs effective dates of bills passed. The amendment made the bill ineffective unless reenacted by a new legislature that is to convene in 2014. This tactic would give the special interests in Richmond a year to horse-trade God-given rights of farmers, who happen to work for a living and cannot be in Richmond to wine and dine the decision makers and powerbrokers.

Certain members of the GOP even said that the "stakeholders" need to weigh in. "Stakeholders" is a term developed by progressives for the government to give rights to some at the expense of rights for all. It's an offensive term that allows government to pick winners and losers when God-given rights are involved.

Richmond's political establishment is in a tizzy because of the grassroots pushback over the Boneta Bill, which one legislator said she'd never seen the likes of which before. As evidenced by their constitutionally questionable trick of passing the bill without an effective date, they obviously fear voter retribution if they were to outright defeat the bill to satisfy the special interests, which include county lobbyists trying to protect government lawbreaking.

The Boneta Bill has coalesced people and diverse grassroots organizations. As importantly, it has exposed a host of issues, including the hypocrisy of establishment Republicans who pay lip service to liberty and property rights, yet side with special interests against our freedoms.

Among the issues exposed are the use of government subsidies for big farms and the process of conservation easements that subvert private property rights with a smiley face. Boneta Bill champion Donna Holt of the Virginia Campaign for Liberty calls these easements "socialized capitalism for the rich," and writes:

"The farmer is most often forced to place his land into a conservation easement to save it in response to the very strict land use regulations and expensive permits for every conceivable use of land. The noose is further tightened by limiting commerce, by permit only, to only raw produce."

The McDonnell administration has not taken a position on the Boneta Bill, but is actively promoting conservation easements, which use government subsidies as an anesthetic at the expense of private property rights and free markets. Just Virginia alone has up to $100 million in tax credits available for these easements.

The bill is now before the Virginia Senate. The fate of freedom for small farmers remains an amendment and a vote away. Whatever the outcome of the Boneta Bill, it has set off a national debate - even a revolution - on property rights, farm food freedom, remedies against bullying, lawbreaking bureaucrats, and a host of other issues.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/a_property_rights_revolution_for_2013.html?utm_source=02-11-2013&utm_campaign=AT+Newsletter+02-11-13&utm_medium=email#ixzz2Kb5GfQHV
 Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
 Obama picks environmentalist CEO for Interior Secretary job tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-02-07:6461958:BlogPost:9235 2013-02-07T22:16:20.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
 Obama picks environmentalist CEO for Interior Secretary job

11:11 AM 02/06/2013

President Barack Obama has picked the CEO of a recreation and retail business to manage the nation's hugely valuable array of parks, lands, and forests.

He's expected to announce at 2:00…

 Obama picks environmentalist CEO for Interior Secretary job

11:11 AM 02/06/2013

President Barack Obama has picked the CEO of a recreation and retail business to manage the nation's hugely valuable array of parks, lands, and forests.

He's expected to announce at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday that his nominee for Interior Secretary is Sally Jewell, the CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc., a $2 billion per year company that make its money by selling camping and hiking gear.

Her company's interest in promoting recreational use of federal land clashes with the interest of farmers, forester firms, loggers, miners, oil and gas companies, and the companies that make and market off-road gear, such as four-wheel motorbikes.

The environmental sector has long criticized those industries for damaging the appearance and vitality of parkland by building roads and mines, and by piling up waste. soil and rocks.

REI's interests match those of the politically influential environmental sector, which wants to keep most business off the federal government's huge landholdings.

Jewell was lauded by Neera Tanden, head of the liberal Center for American Progress. "Very excited by the nomination of Sally Jewell at Interior… great to have a woman business leader who has led a progressive company," Tanden tweeted Feb. 6.

Environmental activists have rooted for Jewell. "I would prefer seeing Jewell in the role [and] I don't have any questions about Jewell's credentials as an environmentalist," Al Bergstein, a Washington state environmentalist wrote Feb. 2.

Jewell also worked as an oil engineer for a few years before 1980, possibly muting oil-sector criticism of her appointment.

Since 2009, the oil and gas industry has complained that Obama's appointees have hindered energy surveys and extraction on federally-controlled lands and water.

Jewell selection would mark the first non-male appointment to Obama's second cabinet.

Her nomination may lessen liberal protests about a lack of sexual "diversity" among Obama's cabinet members.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/06/obama-picks-environmentalist-ceo-for-interior-secretary-job/#ixzz2KAyqg8gC
 Support Rural America is in the AMERICAN FREE PRESS!!!!!!!! tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-02-04:6461958:BlogPost:8956 2013-02-04T16:30:00.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78
Link to article on American Free Press!

THE END OF RURAL AMERICA?

JANUARY 30, 2013 AFP

• Many concerned about population loss outside of big cities

 • Can rural America maintain its pertinence in urban…

Link to article on American Free Press!

THE END OF RURAL AMERICA?

JANUARY 30, 2013 AFP

• Many concerned about population loss outside of big cities
 • Can rural America maintain its pertinence in urban nation?

By Victor Thorn

A little more than 150 years ago during the Civil War, division among Americans was so severe that pools of blood and 625Kslain bodies lay between the North and South. Today, another geographic split exists, except this one has rural Americans being pitted against their urban counterparts in a battle to determine whoseinfluence counts most in these times.

On December 8, 2012, United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a starkwarning that reflected this trend: "Rural America, with a shrinking population, is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country."

Associated Press (AP) writer Hope Yen foretold of this division in a July 28, 2011 column. "Many communities could shrink to virtual ghost towns as they shutter businesses and close down schools," she wrote in her wire service article released on that day.

These words should be taken seriously. This trend has been happening in the U.S. for the past century but it has been picking up in recent years.

In 1910, 72% of Americans lived in rural areas across the U.S. By 1960, however, that figurehad dropped to 30%. Today, those defined as living in rural areas with fewer than 50K residents make up only 16% of the total U.S. population despite possessing 75% of total U.S. land.

Whereas urban growth rose by 10.8% in the past decade, those in agricultural communities experienced an anemic 0.3% increase. In fact, deaths have surpassed births—a phenomenon known as "natural decrease"—in 36% of rural locales, while half of all rural counties suffered population declines over the past 10 years. West Virginia senior citizens now nearly double those aged 18-24.

Due to significant losses in industries such as logging, mining and agriculture, poverty rates are almost 20% higher in rural areas than in major cities. As a result, from 2007 to 2009, food stamp recipients in the rural U.S. grew by 26%. Similarly, two of every three dollars spent by the Agriculture Department is earmarked for welfare programs, with food stamp expenditures topping the list.

With America plagued by a stagnant economy, businesses are isolating rural parts of America. Yen wrote that, "Delta Air Lines announced it would end flights to 24 small airports, several of them in the Great Plains, [while] the U.S. Postal Service is mulling plans to close thousands of branches in mostly rural areas of the country."

Marred by aging populations and few young workers to balance it, other consequencesaffect rural residents. Hospitals in these regions are facing bankruptcies or severe financial difficulties, and have been unable to attract surgeons and medical specialists who demandhigh salaries. Moreover, since they can't fill enough beds to generate revenue, financial sharks on Wall Street get into the game, forcing rural hospitals into corporate buyouts withlarger, banker-financed healthcare entities, who then downsize the hospitals to cut costsand increase profits for shareholders.

At the other end of the scale is education. With fewer students and shrinking tax bases, ruralschools face obvious disparities compared to urban schools teeming with pupils. In Georgia, smaller districts receive, on average, $400 less in funding per student than those in cities.

However, good news does exist, though, especially in rural parts of North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Ohio, that are capitalizing on a boom in shale oil, natural gas and coal. These states are attracting flocks of new employees searching for work in these fields. Other savvy planners in small town America have bolstered awareness of their skiing,hiking and recreation, which urban populations seek out to relieve stress.

In addition, the low crime rates in rural areas are in stark contrast to the war zones in Chicago, Oakland and New York City. According to 2008 data from the Centers for Disease Control, "60% of U.S. firearm homicides occurred in [only] 62 cities." These tend to be isolated to the largely black and poor areas of major cities.

However, one remaining factor withholds bittersweet connotations for rural residents. Namely, increased "urban sprawl" may simply swallow up smaller regions. A perfect example is a megalopolis stretching from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C., and then down to Richmond, Virginia that may ultimately blur the line between urban, suburban and rural.

Reviving Rural America

• Activists work with county sheriffs to save America's heartland

By Victor Thorn

On January 16 AMERICAN FREE PRESS interviewed Erin Ryan of Support Rural America, an organization that seeks to save America's heartland and works closely with county sheriffs.

"There is a deep-seated drive to force people out of rural areas and into urban environments," Ms. Ryan told AFP.

When asked why, Ms. Ryan said, "It's easier to control them in cities."

According to Ms. Ryan, legislators are the ones who are really behind this plot.

"There is a full-court press by environmentalists, the EPA, pseudo-scientists and other regulators that are all tied to Agenda 21," said Ms. Ryan. "Whether they steal water rights or pull backdoor eminent domain schemes by taking out dams that flood properties and make them worthless, 50% of farmers in the Central Valley [California] are now on public assistance. Because they've lost their water and the ability to maintain crops, farmers madebumper stickers that read: Congress created this dustbowl. Thank you Barbara Boxer andDianne Feinstein."

Under the auspices of fighting pollution, Agenda 21 refers to a complex set of regulations created by the United Nations that seek to define how land can be used. The U.S. is a signatory to the agreement, but many local communities still manage to block efforts to impose it.

Getting to the crux of this issue, Ms. Ryan continued, "Most of the policies coming from Sacramento and Washington are enacted by lawmakers more concerned with urban areas than rural. The bottom line is: Liberals like [Sens. Barbara] Boxer and [Dianne] Feinstein scoff at people who don't live in cities. Worse, they don't get out here where we live, and they have no interest in learning about us."

Ms. Ryan further elaborated on the cultural divide: "Rural people tend to be more self-sufficient, conservative, community-oriented, pro-gun and able to work with their hands. To crush this spirit, legislators want to make them dependent by removing their ability to earn a living.

"In a nearby logging community, there were once 22 mills. Today, after being besieged by government agencies, only one remains. So people get poorer, which leads to more domestic abuse and alcoholism."

Ms. Ryan said the situation is troubling because older people are encouraging youth in their communities to leave the rural areas in search of easier lives in the cities.

"Sadly, more parents aren't planning on passing their farms along to their children," she said, "or they're encouraging them to find other careers."

Back-to-the-Land Movement Sows Self-Sufficiency

By Victor Thorn

A century ago, 39% of Americans tilled the land on family farms. Today, that number hovers at around 2%. Total operating farms have dropped by three-quarters from 80 years ago, and only 6% of agricultural workers, excluding migrants, were born after 1980.

When most people think of the American heartland, the iconic hard working family farmer frequently comes to mind. But with the declining number of farmers out there, what does this say of the country's future? There are some positive signs that a modern "back to the land" movement is again underway, with many young Americans leaving their dead-end jobs in the city to take up farming without the use of pesticides, herbicides, drugs and genetically-modified seeds. Additionally, a technological renaissance is blooming for the farm industry, one not without worry, however.

In a July 2012 article for Atlantic magazine, Chrystia Freeland envisioned a production revolution led by sophisticated technology. She wrote, "Prior to WW II, it took 100 hours of labor to produce 100 bushels of corn. Today, it takes less than two hours." With machinery that combines GPS units and computer systems, Freeland described this 21st century shift. "The cabs of today's combines look like airplane cockpits or the control rooms on factory floors."

Freeland provided one more positive bit of news. "In 2010, of all farms in the U.S. with at least $1M in revenues, 88% were family farms." However, the Environmental Protection Agency offered a disclaimer. "Fewer than one in four farms in this country produce gross revenues in excess of $50K." Then, of course, there's the Monsanto factor where 80% of all corn raised in America is genetically modified. Or, as Michael Snyder of a popular Internet website The Economic Collapse stressed on April 26, 2012, "The predatory business practices of Monsanto have been well documented. Monsanto has taken countless numbers of farmers to court, and they are absolutely ruthless."

To combat these corporate Frankenfoods, health-minded consumers are enjoying a renewal in farmers markets and butcher shops that produce their own foods. Plus, a revitalized interest in urban homesteading now allows those residing in cities to raise poultry, grow vegetables or fruits, produce bio-fuels, or make honey from their own beehives. As Alexis Petru commented in a May 26, 2011 article, "Urban homesteading takes the local food movement to the next level. Rather than buying local seasonal produce to reduce the amount of miles food travels to your plate, an urban homesteader's meal makes an even shorter trip—from the backyard or community garden to the plate."

On the Internet, there are thousands of blogs maintained by young farmers who have left behind careers in finance, design, construction and other industries. Today, they work the land to varying degrees, some doing so only part-time while maintaining a job in a neighboring town or city.

Author and farmer Jenna Woginrich is a good example of this trend. In 2012, she quit herjob as a graphic designer to raise sheep, chickens and hogs full-time. In order to pay the bills, the 31-year-old has written several books on farming that document her own trials and tribulations when it comes to agriculture.

Lisa Steele is another example. Ten years ago, she gave up an unfulfilling job on WallStreet to move to Suffolk, Virginia and start raising chickens with her husband on her farm. Since then, she has created quite a following by documenting her life on her website.

Then there are Ethan Book and his wife, who bought an old farm in Knoxville, Iowa, andstarted raising rare-breed animals and became advocates for small farmers.

These young farmers have figured out how to bypass multinational agricultural corporationslike Archer-Daniels Midland and work directly with consumers through farmers markets and community-support agriculture.

Also, health-conscience consumers have been enjoying this renewal in farm markets andbutcher shops that specialize in local foods.

 Rural Politics vs. Urban Politics

By Victor Thorn

With data indicating that pastoral America is waning in influence, this trend is no more apparent than in Washington, D.C. For the first time in decades Congress failed to pass a farm bill in 2012.

Displeased by this snub, Michael McCurry of the South Dakota State Census Bureaucomplained, "Rural people are not that insignificant, [but] we don't have the votes. We don't have the voice."

Similarly, in a January 13 article for Gannett News Service, Christopher Doering observed, "Rural Americans are becoming less relevant in the country's increasing urban landscape, and unless they find a way to reverse the trend their voice will continue to fall on deaf ears in Washington."

Today in Congress, 80% of legislators don't represent rural areas, thereby insuring that these locales receive a smaller chunk of government spending. In addition, many lawmakers on the east and west coasts view the Heartland as "flyover country," ignoring their more conservative views on abortion, religion, traditional marriage and ethnic diversity.

Considering America's changing demographics, even though 61% of rural residents voted against Obama, they simply couldn't compete with urban venues. Of the 30 most populous U.S. cities, 27 voted for Obama, with only Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City and Phoenix going for Romney.

In a March 14, 2012 article for Forbes magazine, Joel Kotkin noted, "Cities have become so lockstep Democratic as to be essentially irrelevant to the Republican Party."

Personally, in this writer's home state of Pennsylvania, even though 55 of 67 counties voted GOP, Obama still attained victory because Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the state capital of Harrisburg trumped them. The same applies to Texas. Despite resounding support for Romney across the state, Texas's four largest metro areas—Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin—all weighed in for Obama. Likewise in Michigan, over 75% of counties voted red, yet Romney lost under the weight of urban powerhouses in Detroit and Flint.

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and author of over 30 books.

Posted in: National News
 LaMalfa: Farm bill, fiscal reform sought tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-01-17:6461958:BlogPost:8748 2013-01-17T22:31:53.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

Original Article: LaMalfa: Farm bill, fiscal reform sought

Rice farmer says debt ceiling fight won't cause shutdown

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

LOS MOLINOS, Calif. -- Ensuring fiscal responsibility and passing a five-year farm bill will be key…

Original Article: LaMalfa: Farm bill, fiscal reform sought

Rice farmer says debt ceiling fight won't cause shutdown

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

LOS MOLINOS, Calif. -- Ensuring fiscal responsibility and passing a five-year farm bill will be key priorities for freshman U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., in the coming months.

The rice farmer and former state legislator from Richvale, Calif., will insist on "something that fundamentally changes the way things are done" in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, he said in an interview.

LaMalfa will also continue to fight for the water rights of ranchers in far Northern California amid what he believes is overbearing state regulations, he told the Capital Press during a local Farm Bureau awards dinner here Jan. 10.

"It's just wrong what they're doing," LaMalfa said of the California Department of Fish and Game, which has pushed ranchers to obtain permits for irrigation. "They've lost the scope of what they're there to do."

LaMalfa, 52, had his family present in Washington, D.C., as he was sworn in Jan. 3 by House Speaker John Boehner. He replaces retired 13-term Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., a walnut and plum farmer who endorsed LaMalfa during the campaign because of his ties to agriculture.

LaMalfa was in the state Assembly from 2003 to 2009 and was elected to the Senate in 2010. He said his experience at the state level will help him in Congress, where he was quickly named to the House Agriculture Committee.

"It's just an amazing experience to find oneself being sworn in to the House of Representatives, with the history that is there and the great names that you're following," he said.

Among the issues that LaMalfa will face in the next few months:

* Debt ceiling. LaMalfa said he doesn't accept the premise that the government would have to shut down if the debt ceiling isn't raised in a couple of months.

"There's still revenue coming in," he said. "Why don't we talk about prioritizing what our spending needs to be?"

Without significant spending cuts, "we're just going to burden the next generation with a gigantic debt," he said.

* Farm bill. Now that the election is over, LaMalfa believes there's a good chance a deal will be reached on a five-year farm bill this year. However, he wouldn't commit that specialty crop funding important to some California industries will be fully restored.

"I think what they're looking for is help with marketing and research, and that's something that we can probably help on, but they're going to see a haircut, too," he said.

LaMalfa added he doesn't think he'll have to skip votes on the farm bill even though he's taken rice subsidies over the years.

"Under ethics rules, if it affects everyone and not just you or a small group of people ... you have no problem there," he said. "We'll be very conscious of how it looks and plays."

* Health care reform. LaMalfa predicts that as President Barack Obama's health care reform measure is implemented, problems that arise will create a demand for "better health care policy that actually works." He said he'll fight for such policy.

* Local issues. Aside from defending Siskiyou County water users, LaMalfa said he will also push to renew the Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act, which expired last year.

First shepherded through Congress in 1998 by Herger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the legislation facilitated timber harvests in three national forests in northeastern California.

Online

Rep. Doug LaMalfa: http://lamalfa.house.gov/

 Western innovator: Rancher showcases sustainability tag:supportruralamerica.com,2013-01-17:6461958:BlogPost:8746 2013-01-17T22:00:00.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

Link to original article: Western innovator: Rancher showcases sustainability

Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2013 12:00 PM

40,000 acres helps provide water to San Francisco

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

SUNOL,…

Link to original article: Western innovator: Rancher showcases sustainability

Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2013 12:00 PM

40,000 acres helps provide water to San Francisco

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

SUNOL, Calif. -- Tim Koopmann believes he couldn't be in a better position to extol the virtues of cattle grazing to an environmentally conscious public.

For the past two decades, the fourth-generation cow-calf operator has managed a 40,000-acre watershed adjacent to his ranch for the city and county of San Francisco.

The watershed, nestled in the rugged hills of the East Bay north of San Jose, provides about 15 percent of the water needs for San Francisco customers. Among Koopmann's duties is to handle grazing leases on the property.

"It's been an interesting 20 years," said Koopmann, 60, who was just installed as president of the California Cattlemen's Association. "There's been a great deal of anti-grazing sentiment in the environmental community. ... We've been able to maintain grazing as a viable use of the land without impairing water quality."

Koopmann's grown children are following in his sustainability-minded footsteps. His daughter, Carissa, manages a 7,000-acre ranch for the Audubon Society in Winters, Calif., while his son, Clayton, is a rangeland ecologist on the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District's 60,000 acres of publicly owned land.

Ranchers were removed from some of those lands years ago, but the district is working toward bringing limited grazing back into the area, Tim Koopmann said.

The ranch in Sunol has been in the family since 1918, when much of the San Francisco Bay Area was still predominantly farmland. Tim Koopmann was the first among four generations of ranchers to seek an outside income, having first worked for Farm Credit before becoming a range resource manager for the city and county.

"I had grown up with that land being in my backyard," Koopmann said.

The city has maintained the watershed since the years after the Gold Rush, when the population started booming and the need for potable water continued to grow.

The city has two nearby reservoirs -- the Calaveras and San Antonio reservoirs, which together hold more than 150,000 acre-feet of water. Most of the city's water comes from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park.

In November, city voters overwhelmingly defeated an environmental group's measure to study draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and restoring the valley to its natural state. Koopmann said he thought the idea was preposterous.

"Here we are in a semi-arid desert state with an increasing population, and they want to dismantle a system that's been working for 100 years and provides water for 2.6 million people," he said. "It was pretty nonsensical, I believe.

"I think there will always be a fringe group ... that would like to see that dam come out," he said. "I just don't think it should ever happen."

Koopmann said he hopes his work to prove the sustainability of managed grazing on sensitive land will be valuable to the CCA, which has also labored to present ranching as environmentally friendly. The organization is part of the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, which works to promote grazing and other land stewardship practices as a benefit to wildlife.

As generations of residents become more distant from the farm, Koopmann said it's important to "bridge the gap" between cattle producers and urban dwellers.

"I don't begrudge people for being vegetarian," he said. "But the fact is that we are producing a high-quality food source for the world and in a sustainable manner. We need to spread that story a little bit."

Tim Koopmann

Age: 60

Residence: Sunol, Calif.

Occupation: Rancher, range resource manager

Family: Wife, Melinda; son and daughter

Organizations: President of California Cattlemen's Association

Website: www.calcattlemen.org

More innovation

A collection of 2011's Western innovators is available on Amazon's Kindle. Take a look at "Western Innovators: Profiles of 42 agricultural leaders who shaped the West in 2011" atwww.amazon.com/Western-Innovators-Profiles-agricultural-ebook/dp/B009NMO76O

 Fired Scientist Resolves Whistleblower Complaint with FEDS tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-12-10:6461958:BlogPost:7585 2012-12-10T20:15:02.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

http://www.capitalpress.com/content/TH-klamath-whistleblower-w-infobox-120612

Fired scientist resolves whistleblower complaint with feds

by TIM HEARDEN, Capital Press December 7, 2012
YREKA, Calif. - A former U.S. Bureau of Reclamation senior science adviser who claimed he was fired earlier this year for speaking out about the Klamath River dam removal process has apparently resolved his dispute with the government.

Paul Houser and an organization, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, issued a joint statement asserting that the scientist and the agency reached an agreement to their "mutual satisfaction" after mediation by the U.S. Office of Special Council.

The statement didn't disclose details of the settlement, including whether the government paid Houser. Jeff Ruch, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based PEER, would not provide such details.

"We can't talk about the terms of the settlement," Ruch said, adding that Houser was not rehired by the bureau. "His complaint about the illegality of his termination has been resolved to his satisfaction."

Neither Houser, a George Mason University professor, nor U.S. Department of the Interior spokeswoman Kate Kelly could immediately be reached for comment.

Houser, 41, became a darling of Klamath dam removal opponents and tea party activists after he went public about his February departure from Reclamation, over which he filed federal whistleblower and scientific-integrity complaints.

A former National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist, Houser was hired by the bureau last year to oversee the scientific studies on the Klamath project, which would include the removal of four dams as well as numerous river-restoration efforts.

He told the Capital Press in May that superiors told him his "skills weren't a match for the position" and terminated him after he alleged officials wrote a summary and news release to elicit support for dam removal while downplaying negative remarks from scientists that were in the full reports.

He said superiors ordered him to be quiet about his concerns, then he faced increasing scrutiny on his job.

In a speech to a local group here, he said it appeared top Interior officials had already decided they wanted the dams out and were seeking the science to back up their decision.

Ruch said Houser approached PEER, which represented him through his negotiations with the government. The group defends public employees against what it sees as the political manipulation of science, according to its website.

While Houser's personnel issue was resolved, the scientific integrity issues he raised were outside the jurisdiction of the Office of Special Council, Ruch said. Kelly has said that Houser's complaints are under investigation.

Online

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility: http://www.peer.org/

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: http://www.usbr.gov/

Paul R. Houser: http://prhouser.com/houser/

 U.S. loses Supreme Court property rights case tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-12-05:6461958:BlogPost:7658 2012-12-05T06:30:00.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

U.S. loses…

U.S. loses Supreme Court property rights case

KCRA.com

updated 12/4/2012 11:16:44 AM ET

The Obama administration on Tuesday lost a Supreme Court fight over property rights that centered on a series of federally controlled and managed floods that caused major timber damage along an Arkansas river.

The 8-0 ruling concluded that the periodic release of water from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam project begun two decades ago was a government "taking." The legal designation would require the federal government to pay the state for damages.

"Removing temporary flooding from Taking Clause inspection would be out of sync with our recognition that, as a rule, temporary takings may be compensable," said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Why should courts differentiate flooding from the myriad other instances of government occupation or invasion of property?"

The dispute is narrow and unique in many ways, but could clarify the standards for determining the scope, length of time, and impact of government actions affecting many property owners -- private and public.

At issue for the high court was whether the resulting downstream flooding was effectively "permanent" and therefore a "taking," or was merely "temporary" and only a "trespass."

The state of Arkansas owned the flooded land and had earlier won a $5.6 million judgment. During oral arguments in October, several on the bench expressed support for the state.

"You knew when you opened up the dam that this is where the water was going to go," Chief Justice John Roberts said to a federal government lawyer.

"Your position seems to be that if it's downstream, somehow it's not the government's water," said Justice Anthony Kennedy. "It's like the old moral refuge that the rocket designers take: I only make the rockets go up; where they come down is not my concern."

The Army completed the Clearwater Dam in 1948, along the Black River in southeastern Missouri, in response to prior natural flooding. About 110 miles downstream, in northeastern Arkansas, is the Dave Donaldson Wildlife Management Area. It is 23,000 acres of state-owned riparian land used for duck and game hunting, wildlife management, and timber harvesting.

Federal rules for decades had managed normal release of the water, and provided for both "planned" and "unplanned minor deviations." Beginning in 1993 the Corps launched a series of planned, irregular quick releases of water during the summer growing season in part to give upstream farmers more time to harvest their crops without their fields becoming inundated.

Under the unique dynamics of stream flow and hydraulics, the result was higher water levels downstream, and long-term flooding of the state property during the critical growing period. The series of deviations lasted until 2000.

The Constitution's Fifth Amendment forbids "private property be taken for public use without just compensation." Even thought the land in question is state property, all sides have treated the land as "private" in nature for purposes of settling the "takings" dispute.

Justice Elena Kagan sat out the Arkansas appeal since she had litigated the case in some form during her previous job as the administration's solicitor general.

The case decided Tuesday is Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. U.S. (11-597).

 "NO Evidence Conservation Practices Reducing Pollution" (imagine that) tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-11-06:6461958:BlogPost:7052 2012-11-06T21:33:55.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

No evidence conservation practices reducing pollution

By SEAN ELLIS

Capital Press

A U.S Geological Survey study found no consistently detectable reductions in nutrient pollution in streams across the country as a result of conservation practices.

The…

No evidence conservation practices reducing pollution

By SEAN ELLIS

Capital Press

A U.S Geological Survey study found no consistently detectable reductions in nutrient pollution in streams across the country as a result of conservation practices.

The study analyzed 133 large agricultural watersheds around the country and found no significant improvements in water quality resulting from common conservation practices designed to reduce soil runoff and nutrient loss.

The study assessed the watersheds in relationship with conservation tillage and the Conservation Reserve Program, which are both designed to reduce soil runoff and nutrient loss from farmland.

"When you look at it on a large watershed scale, we clearly are not seeing the effects of conservation practices yet," said Lori Sprague, the lead author of the study, which was recently published in the Journal of Environmental Quality.

Sprague said a possible explanation for the lack of improvement is that changes in water quality could lag significantly behind the implementation of conservation practices.

This lag time could mean conservation practices "don't translate into improvements in stream quality in real time," she said. "Current nutrient conditions in streams may still be reflecting agricultural practices that were in place prior to the implementation of the conservation practices."

Sprague said lags may occur for several reasons, including the fact that nitrogen from ag land moves slowly to streams through groundwater, so it can take several years for reductions in nitrogen inputs to affect nitrogen levels in streams.

Phosphorus runoff to streams can continue to be an issue even after inputs are reduced because of past accumulation in soils, she said. And while nutrient pollution can be reduced when ag land is restored to natural vegetation, it takes time for those plants to reach their maximum ability to retain nutrients.

The study included USGS data from 1993 to 2001, paired with conservation data from that time period that has only recently become available, Sprague said.

If changes in stream quality do lag the implementation of conservation practices, nutrient levels in streams may be reduced in years beyond the scope of the study, she adds, and the agency plans to continue to monitor watersheds to see if that's the case.

Kent Politsch, chief of public affairs for the Farm Service Agency, which administers the U.S. Department of Agriculture's CRP program, spoke with Sprague and believes her explanation of improvements in water quality lagging behind the implementation of conservation practices accounts for the study's results.

He said the FSA has evidence that shows CRP practices reduce sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus runoff.

"At the surface, we know we've succeeded," he said. "We can extrapolate from that that eventually the evidence will show up at the (stream level). It does take time for that evidence to show up."

 Video of 9-22-12 Josephine Co. Support Rural Sheriffs' Event tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-09-24:6461958:BlogPost:4789 2012-09-24T04:35:16.000Z Liz Bowen http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/LizBowen
Kevin at What Would Jefferson Do sent this out.

Here's the video link from yesterday's Constitutional Sheriffs event in Grant Pass: http://vimeo.com/50012579

Kevin at What Would Jefferson Do sent this out.

Here's the video link from yesterday's Constitutional Sheriffs event in Grant Pass: http://vimeo.com/50012579
 SAVE OUR DAMN AND CHILDRENS FUTURE tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-09-05:6461958:BlogPost:3671 2012-09-05T11:30:00.000Z SEAN DOUGLAS http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/SEANDOUGLAS
HELLO AND THX FOR DOING ALL YA DO TO WAKE PEOPLE UP.IVE BEEN AWAKE FOR ABOUT 7YRS 5 TOTALY.AND YES I AM THE CRAZY GUY UP ON THE MOUNTAIN.LOL YES I HAVE NO PROBLEM SAYING THE TRUTH ABOUT ANYTHING TO ANYONE AT ANYTIME.AND I DO .SPECIALLY WHEN IT PRETENDS TO MY CHILDRENS FUTURE.YEP ALL BE THE CRAZY GUY NO PROBLEM.MY TOWN I LIVE BY IS CALLED LAKE ISABELLA CALIF. AND THERE SAYING THE DAMN IS FAULTY OR SOME CRAP.I THINK IT HAS AGENDA 21 WROTE ALL OVER IT.SPECIALY SINCE ABOUT 20 YRS AGO SOME…

HELLO AND THX FOR DOING ALL YA DO TO WAKE PEOPLE UP.IVE BEEN AWAKE FOR ABOUT 7YRS 5 TOTALY.AND YES I AM THE CRAZY GUY UP ON THE MOUNTAIN.LOL YES I HAVE NO PROBLEM SAYING THE TRUTH ABOUT ANYTHING TO ANYONE AT ANYTIME.AND I DO .SPECIALLY WHEN IT PRETENDS TO MY CHILDRENS FUTURE.YEP ALL BE THE CRAZY GUY NO PROBLEM.MY TOWN I LIVE BY IS CALLED LAKE ISABELLA CALIF. AND THERE SAYING THE DAMN IS FAULTY OR SOME CRAP.I THINK IT HAS AGENDA 21 WROTE ALL OVER IT.SPECIALY SINCE ABOUT 20 YRS AGO SOME DOGOODER'S THOUGHT THEY WOULD VOTE IN A WILD AND SCENIC AREA A MILE EITHER SIDE OF THE RIVER NATURAL PATH. CANT FIND OUT ANY INFO ON IT.ANY DIRECTION I SHOULD TAKE TO RAISE AWARENESS TO THE COMMUNITY TO SAVE ARE VALLEY THX FREEDOMFIGHTER
 Saving Our Dams and Hydropower Development and Jobs Act of 2012 tag:supportruralamerica.com,2012-08-22:6461958:BlogPost:3945 2012-08-22T19:30:41.000Z John Galt http://supportruralamerica.com/profile/01oxq5edo6n78

Field hearing held for H.R. 6247…

Field hearing held for H.R. 6247

PASCO, Wash.

08/15/2012

A legislative field hearing held on the recently proposed "Saving Our Dams and Hydropower Development and Jobs Act of 2012" provided an opportunity for witnesses to explain the bill's benefits.

The act -- officially known as House Resolution 6247 -- was introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) earlier this month and would "protect America's dams and promote new clean, low-cost hydropower to help create jobs and grow the economy."

The field hearing was held this week in Pasco, Wash., where 70% of the state's power comes from hydroelectric sources, though Hastings says the legislation would be beneficial nationwide.

"The bill I introduced two weeks ago shines a bright light on the enormous benefits and potential of federal and non-federal hydropower dams, both in the Northwest and across the nation," Hastings says. "The bill, as with all legislation, is a starting point for discussion and contains common sense actions to protect this renewable energy source."

Amongst its myriad measures, H.R. 6247 emphasizes that it would not only provide energy for millions of Americans, but also provide water for irrigation, protect navigable waters, generate non-federal funding for new projects, diminish regulatory red-tape, and improve transparency.

"H.R. 6247 offers a very different future for our nation," says Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water and Power. "It envisions a future in which families can enjoy the prosperity that plentiful water and electricity provides."

A number of other witnesses also spoke on the bill's behalf, saying:

"Dam removal will not increase fish survival and would have a significant negative impact on our economy and environment by eliminating about 1,020 average MW of carbon-free energy, increasing greenhouse gasses and reducing navigation capacity. H.R. 6247, by enacting funding prohibitions on dam removal ensures that the focus of salmon and steelhead recovery is on actions that actually work and help fish." -- Tom Flint, President of the United Power Trades Organization

"At times it is hard to believe that we have to defend the economic and environmental benefits of the dams, but we do." -- Jim Sanders, General Manager for Benton Public Utility District

"Breaching dams would end barge navigation, and put up to 700,000 more trucks on the highways and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are tied directly to the river system's activity, trade and commerce." -- Kara Rowe, Affairs and Outreach Director for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers

"I believe it's naïve to think that we can feed an additional two billion people and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels without growing our portfolio of water storage and hydropower. Dams play a critical role in the production of food for this country and for others who are unable to feed themselves." Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission and Advisory Board Member for the Family Farm Alliance

"As costs of biological opinions, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing, regulatory requirements and mitigation continue to increase and force additional operations expenses, the rates and bills of consumers will go up." -- Jim Yost, Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Hastings' bill follows close behind the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2012 (H.R. 5892), which passed the House with a unanimous 372-0 vote in July.

http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2012/08/field-hearing-held-for-hr-6427.html?cmpid=EnlHydroAugust212012