Blog

BlueRibbon Coalition/ShareTrails
POCATELLO, IDAHO — The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) announced today that it is making changes with its leadership team. Spencer Gilbert will be stepping down as the Executive Director of the organization. Ben Burr, the organization’s Policy Director, will be assuming the responsibilities of the Executive Director. For the month of July, Ben has been acting

POCATELLO, IDAHO — The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) announced today that it is making changes with its leadership team. Spencer Gilbert will be stepping down as the Executive Director of the organization. Ben Burr, the organization’s Policy Director, will be assuming the responsibilities of the Executive Director. For the month of July, Ben has been acting as an interim Executive Director to be trained in the new duties, and he will be ready to fully assume the role in August. Spencer Gilbert is looking to join the Board of Directors, where he can continue to guide the organization forward in a strategic advisory role.

Ben Burr has been with the organization for almost two years, and he is familiar with the organization’s current portfolio of work. He has been building relationships with the network of allies that have been integral to BRC’s success and he brings a depth of experience that will serve BRC well in this new role. He has been engaged in public land policy since he was a teenager working for a helicopter logging operation. He grew up in Utah where he learned to enjoy all forms of outdoor recreation. He has experience in off-roading, motor boating, snowmobiling, hiking, mountain biking, snowboarding, camping, kayaking, and rock climbing, and he has traveled in forty-five different states. He spent seven years working in the U.S. Senate as a digital media specialist. Prior to joining BRC, he was working as private public land consultant.

“I’m looking forward to serving in this new role with the BlueRibbon Coalition, and I think the coming years will be some of the most important yet,” Burr said. “As outdoor recreation of all forms explodes in popularity, I believe recreation access will become the defining issue in public land policy and the dominant force in public land policy decisions. I follow a strong line-up of effective advocates who have served this organization, and I want to take what they have built to the next level. With this organization’s reputation and track record, I am confident we can get some big things done, and I am looking forward to sharing my vision with our members, supporters, and those who we still need to join us in our efforts as we ramp up to fight for expanded recreation access for a new generation of public land users.”

The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes responsible use of natural resources, a strong conservation ethic, and expanded recreation access for all public land users. It has been working to fulfill this mission since 1987, and it has successfully protected access to millions of acres of public land, thousands of miles of roads, and recreation opportunities for a wide range of recreation users. BRC is uniquely positioned to continue advancing the interests of its members through strategic legal work, aggressive engagement in administrative actions, effective education programs, and a strong commitment to the benefits that come to individuals and families from getting out and enjoying the great outdoors.

This article originally appeared on BlueRibbon Coalition/ShareTrails. You can Read More from BlueRibbon Coalition/ShareTrails.

RANGEfire!

By Seth Hancock for The Liberty Loft

Klamath Falls, OR — Farmers Grant Knoll and Dan Nielsen are ready to turn the water back on at an Oregon canal after the federal government shut it off, in the midst of extreme drought, in order to “protect” two species of fish listed in the Endangered Species Act.

The farmers purchased land last month next to the headgate of a canal that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) shut-off preventing farmers from their irrigation water supply from Upper Klamath Lake, water that farmers in southern Oregon and northern California rely on. Knoll and Nielsen have held regular protests with farmers being harmed by the decision.

“It’s ours, and the federal government actually just stole it. No due process of law, no compensation…. If they don’t budge, I think we’re just going to end up taking it. It’s the only way the government gets it,” Nielsen said in an interview this week with RT.

The USBR released a statement early last month stating its decision to shut-off the water supply was in coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries.

“This year’s drought conditions are bringing unprecedented hardship to the communities of the Klamath Basin,” Camille Touton, USBR deputy commissioner, stated. “We have closely monitored the water conditions in the area and the unfortunate deterioration of the forecast hydrology. This has resulted in the historic consequence of not being able to operate a majority of the Klamath Project this year. Reclamation is dedicated to working with our water users, tribes, and partners to get through this difficult year and developing long-term solutions for the basin.”

The species of suckerfish that the ISBR says it is protecting with the move hold spiritual significance to the Native American tribes in Klamath Falls.

“We do want people to hear our voice and realize that our fish are important, and that we’re important,” Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribes, told the Sacramento Bee last month. “And so we want to make that statement. And, you know, we certainly don’t relish or revel in the negative impact on everybody else in the basin. But I will say there’s a certain amount of bitterness and anger, you know, because of our tragic history, and people continue to marginalize us and our fish and treat us like we’re inferior people.”

However, there are questions on whether shutting off the water has any impact on the fish. Ben DuVal, president of the Klamath Water Users Association, called the decision a “failed experiment that has produced no benefit for the [fish]” when he spoke to RT.

See the full article on The Liberty Loft by clicking here

The post In extreme drought, the feds are diverting Oregon farmers’ water for endangered fish appeared first on RANGEfire!.

Read More

RANGEfire!
Cow moose defends calf against a pack of wolves in Alaska

Do gooders

Mad Jack Hanks

Gentle readers, last evening I watched as Tucker Carlson (Fox News) interviewed a woman who by her account was an expert on wild horses. NADA! No, she was a bleeding heart liberal who wanted to show the world how necessary it is for us to accommodate wild horses on public land. Tucker fell into the trap and went right along with her. As for me, I believe there is room for wild horses on public land, but in small numbers. As this pleading lady put it, “Tucker, these wild horses have families! There are dads and moms (I paraphrase) and the children and some of these unions have been intact for years and years. They are families and there are better ways to control them rather than gather them (over 70,000) and put them in corrals for adoption or penned and fed for the rest of their natural lives!”

Here is what I find fascinating and troubling about that concept. I’m thinking, what about America’s families? You know the ones with moms and dads and little ones. The American family is being bombarded with social media posts that began to turn many children against what should be a normal childhood in the family structure. Is there a normal family anymore? For Pete’s sake, Charlie Brown, we are being spoon fed a whole new way of thinking, not only about ourselves, our values, who we really are and how “dare us for being this way or that way.” After all our good ol’ America is now and has always been such an evil country. B.S.!! I can say all of that and picture in my mind those young, so very young men who waded off those landing crafts at Normandy into certain horror and death so these idiots could have the right to proselytize all this CRAP they are trying to get us to choke down. Problem is, there are too many young folks and some older ones buying into this.

Yep, that family has just killed 47 sheep and eaten only two and the rancher is going to have to bear the burden of the loss after the government decides if, in fact, wolves actually did this and that they didn’t get hit by lightning or something like that.

Same thing with the wolves here in Colorado. “Oh my, did you hear that? Was that a wolf or a coyote? I’m sure it must have been a wolf, they live here now you know. Why, I bet it’s a family somewhere connecting with one another!” Yep, that family has just killed 47 sheep and eaten only two and the rancher is going to have to bear the burden of the loss after the government decides if, in fact, wolves actually did this and that they didn’t get hit by lightning or something like that. Folks, we are going to have to live with the “do gooders,” but in the whole of it all, it’s going to be up to us to try and make them understand our point of view and why our views are more important than their emotional attachment to these issues. I truly believe that all of this will pass at some point and time. I may have passed by then, who knows?

Also, there is coming legislation where the public will decide if farm animals get to live five years before they can be harvested. I think I know how that vote will turn out here in Colorado. I’m glad Tucker Carlson doesn’t get to have a vote.

Stay tuned, check yer cinch on occasion, remember, “a great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within“ (Will Durant) and I will C. y’all, all y’all.

Posted by Mad Jack Hanks on The Fencepost

Subscribe to

The post Opinion: Animal advocate “do gooders” are making life tough for humans and livestock appeared first on RANGEfire!.

Read More

RANGEfire!

Judge puts a stop to minority farmers debt relief plan, says it’s ‘reverse racism’

by Jamie Satterfield for Knoxville News Sentinel

A federal judge in West Tennessee has joined other judges in blocking a Biden administration program designed to redress generations of discrimination against some farmers, saying the federal government has failed to show the U.S. Department of Agriculture discriminates against people of color today.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Anderson issued a national injunction that bars the Biden administration from enacting the loan forgiveness plan approved by Congress in March as part of the American Rescue Plan Act — a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

The injunction is the third to result from litigation filed in seven states, including Tennessee, on behalf of white farmers in the past month, according to court records. Federal judges in Florida and Wisconsin issued similar decisions last month.

President Joe Biden announced in late March the COVID-19 legislation included funding for a debt relief program for “Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic, or Asian, or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander” farmers.

The administration explained it chose to funnel relief to qualifying farmers because of the USDA’s “long history” of discriminating against Black farmers and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on minorities.

White farmers, including Tennessee rancher Rob Holman, are calling it “reverse racism” in litigation filed by conservative legal advocacy groups, including the Southeastern Legal Foundation and Mountain States Legal Foundation.

In his ruling, Anderson agreed.

“Absent action by the court, socially disadvantaged farmers will obtain debt relief, while (Holman) will suffer the irreparable harm of being excluded from that program solely on the basis of his race,” Anderson wrote.

White Tennessee rancher sues

Holman is a fourth-generation Tennessee rancher, according to court records. He and his father own and operate a 2,200-acre farm in Union City, Tennessee, growing “mostly corn and soybeans,” his lawsuit against the USDA states.

Holman, the lawsuit states, still owes roughly $39,000 on two USDA loans totaling $117,000 and would be eligible under the terms of the debt relief program save for one factor: his race.

“(The USDA’s) use of race discrimination as a tool to end ‘systemic racism’ is patently unconstitutional, inconsistent with the ‘magnificent words of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence,’ (as) Martin Luther King (said in his) ‘I Have a Dream’ (speech in 1963,) and should be enjoined by the court,” the lawsuit says.

Attorneys for the Biden Justice Department contend the government can employ race-based exclusions if they are “narrowly tailored” to address a specific wrong. The USDA’s debt relief program for minority farmers meets that constitutional boundary, they argue.

“Congress considered strong evidence that discriminatory loan practices at USDA have placed minority farmers at a significant disadvantage today: these farmers generally own smaller farms, have disproportionately higher delinquency rates, and are at a significantly higher risk of foreclosure than non-minority farmers,” the government’s responded to Holman’s injunction.

See the full article here

Subscribe to 

The post Biden’s racist farm debt relief program goes down in flames appeared first on RANGEfire!.

Read More

BlueRibbon Coalition/ShareTrails

Dear Polaris,

We want your support! As an organization that fights hard to protect access for all forms of motorsports, one of the most common questions we get from members is how do original equipment manufacturers support our efforts. The short answer is some have been supportive, and some have not. We are incredibly grateful to have recently received a grant from the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative to support trail inventory work for our engagement in the travel management planning in Utah.

We learned that when we go to the OEMs with a plan and compelling justification for their support, they will support our work. We are working on important things like protecting access to over 10,000+ miles of roads in Utah, we’re the only national group mobilizing to protect dispersed camping nationwide, and we’re constantly engaged in numerous administrative decisions across the nation. We have recently applied for other grants, and one application was for a grant with the Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S program.

One of the sections of the application related to how connected we are to the community of their customers. We have a large base of membership. Our social media followings are decent. And, we are connected to hundreds of groups and influencers who help us spread our message.

Nevertheless, this requirement got us thinking that the best way to increase our competitiveness for grants like this is to show Polaris, and some of the other groups we are applying with that we are you, and you are their customers.

We drafted a letter to Polaris’ Director of Branding and Corporate Partnerships to solicit their support and request a meeting to discuss in more detail our organization’s mission and current projects. We want to give you an opportunity to add your name to this letter.

Read more to sign the letter. 👇

Read More

American Stewards

(Liberty Matters News Service) In a letter signed by 18 Democrats from the U.S. House Natural Resource Committee, the group encourages the Biden Administration to take meaningful action to implement 30 x 30, and offers their help: “we stand by to leverage our experience and offer our suggestions in support of the America the Beautiful Initiative.”  The letter was not signed by any Republicans on the committee, nor did nine Democrat members add their signature.

The letter states that “While no one bill could encapsulate the full scope of conservation and restoration need, the emphasis on using a variety of actions, from federal designations to voluntary conservation easements, is an important step to ensure that we are advancing conservation in every American community.”  (Emphasis added) It goes on to provide advice to the Administration on actions they should take to implement 30 x 30, which include:

Develop a clear, actionable, and measurable plan for achieving targeted conservation outcomes, and provide Congress with a roadmap of staffing and resource needs to achieve these goals.
Provide additional operational funding and increase staffing at the relevant land and resource management agencies.
Empower Federal agencies and ensure a vested role and direct responsibility to engage with stakeholders.
Fund badly needed land and coastal restoration efforts on public and private lands across the country, with a focus on community climate resilience.
Target Conservation Investments to climate-critical ecosystems.
Support Funding for Environmental Justice communities.
Protect key wildlife corridors and connectivity between protected areas.
Provide additional funding for agency planning.
Provide funding for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, and ensure all communities are heard. 
Fund mapping efforts and improve the utilization of geospatial data in a manner that goes beyond a Conservation and Stewardship Atlas.
Support a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) led inventory and continual monitoring of land and resource conditions.

One theme prevalent throughout the letter is encouraging the Administration to survey and catalog the state of land use and conservation efforts across the nation.  The last bullet point in the letter is explained as follows:

“To set a meaningful baseline for the America the Beautiful Initiative, USGS could be charged with inventorying the current state of conservation in the United States. This inventory, performed with the help of the Civilian Climate Corps, could provide essential information to help resource managers perform conservation planning and to support conservation and climate benefits on our working lands. Furthermore, with the help of these trained volunteers, USGS could then support the monitoring of ecosystems for adaptive management to ensure that we are achieving the conservation outcomes intend under America the Beautiful.”

Landowners can expect to see increased efforts to access and survey their lands for this purpose.  It is important to note that the Supreme Court’s decision in Cedar Point, discussed earlier, reaffirms a key element in the bundle of property rights, is the right to “exclude.”  However, this right is forfeited if the landowner consents to the access, such as through a conservation easement or other conservation programs.

While the Democrats letter fully supports the President’s 30 x 30 initiative, it is also politely critical of the lack of detail and direction offered in the “America the Beautiful” report released by the National Climate Task Force last May.  The Democrats state:

“Starting from this roadmap, you should work with stakeholders and Congress to develop a clear, long-term conservation plan, with actionable and measurable outcomes, to ensure we are providing the essential protections necessary to secure nature and the climate. Once this plan is in place, we would encourage your administration to provide Congress a clear indication of the resources and staffing necessary to achieve this plan.

The 30 x 30 initiative was launched in America by a very small, radical faction of the progressive movement.  Key advocates of this agenda are now installed in critical positions in the new Administration, primarily Vice President Harris and Interior Secretary Haaland. However, as this land grab has been exposed, the Administration has tried to rebrand the agenda, coax landowners into voluntarily signing onto the effort, and claim they cannot determine how to define “conserve,” all while admonishing Americans for destroying habitat.

The small handful of Democrats who signed onto this letter are advocating for the Administration to take a more aggressive stand, guided by a transparent action plan.

Read More