Ranch Partners News

Age of Iowa farmland owners rising

The Fertig family has farmed the same land in Sac County for 41 years, and Chad will be the fourth generation to enter the business. Family farms such as the Fertig�s are among the oldest representations of the �American Dream,� but these kinds of farmers are becoming a minority in a rapidly changing farming culture.

First, the age of Iowa�s farmland owners is rapidly increasing. Between 1900 and 1930, Duffy said about 15 percent of Iowa�s farmland was owned by people over the age of 66. Today, it�s closer to 54 percent.

Encana supports Ag Land Trust

Through the years, the population of farmers and ranchers ages 65 and older has increased (12 percent in 1964 to 26 percent in 1997), while those younger than 35 have decreased (15 percent in 1982 to less than 5 percent in 2002).

This evolution among Wyoming’s agricultural families may be due to insufficient productivity in agriculture, increasing land prices, exurban population growth resulting in demand of resources and uncertainty of estate tax legislation related to intergenerational transfer of real property.

USDA seeks applications for Conservation Stewardship Program

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced recently that landowners nationwide are invited to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Stewardship Program. Authorized in the 2008 farm bill, CSP offers payments to producers who maintain a high level of conservation on their land and who agree to adopt higher levels of stewardship. Eligible lands include cropland, pastureland, rangeland and non-industrial forestland. The deadline to be considered for the next ranking and funding period is June 11.

State's Farm Bureau sues Dept. of Fish and Game

On three occasions this spring, the Department of Fish and Game sent letters to farmers and ranchers along the Scott and Shasta rivers in Northern California, warning them of possible civil and criminal penalties if they do not notify the department of their water use and potentially obtain a permit from the agency. That permit, known as a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement, has never before been required for farmers who use water from the rivers to irrigate crops without actually altering the riverbed itself.

In its lawsuit, Farm Bureau alleges that the Department of Fish and Game recently reinterpreted a law enacted in 1961, in an attempt to create a "fundamental change" that would give it broad new authority to oversee water rights--a function already performed by a separate state agency, the State Water Resources Control Board. The Department of Fish and Game began following the new interpretation, Farm Bureau says, as it pursued a recovery strategy for coho salmon in the two rivers, which are protected under the state Endangered Species Act.

Wyoming worried about Green River water grab

Wyoming has an unusual problem among the states in the Colorado River system: lots of water and, other than supporting some fine trout fishing, no way to put a significant amount of it to use.

Yet increasing demand for water in the upper Colorado River basin, combined with new government predictions that climate change could reduce future water supplies, are ratcheting up concerns in Wyoming about how to preserve the state's share for the day when it's needed.

People in southwestern Wyoming are particularly concerned about two proposals to tap the Green River, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir it feeds, to help supply Colorado's populous Front Range.

With Wolves, It’s Time to Separate Fact From Fiction

Never let facts get in the way of some good hysteria.

That seems to be the mantra of the fringe anti-wolf crowd as it once again seizes on the iconic animal’s imagined evils in yet another attempt to revisit the futile notion of a second extermination.
Pick up a newspaper in any part of Montana, Idaho or Wyoming these days and there’s a fair chance you’ll read a screed about the latest reasons why the big, bad wolf should be banished:

& They’re eating all the elk.

& They’ve got tapeworms.

& They’re Canadian.

It’s obvious that this is an orchestrated backlash. It’s just as obvious that these are recycled arguments grasping at the same old straws.

Get Your Sharp Sticks Ready

In what I can only describe as appalling commentary, Patty Limerick of the Center for the American West, ostensibly a think tank on the Western United States, has the audacity to claim that proposed oil and gas leasing in Colorado's North Park simply "has to go forward" because, in her words, "of our energy habits and our inability to change them."

The commentary comes in response to WildEarth Guardians' and other groups' challenges of the U.S Bureau of Land Management's decision to open up more than 11,000 acres of North Park, a treasured Northern Colorado valley located between the Zirkel and Medicine Bow Mountains, for oil and gas drilling. According to EOG Resources, the company intending to drill in North Park, the region holds only 10-80 million barrels of oil. At current daily consumption rates, this might be enough to meet our petroleum demand for a little more than four days.

Colorado's snowpack 2010

Over the protests of conservation groups, federal land managers are moving to open 11,160 acres of North Park for gas and oil drilling.

The valley between the Zirkel and Medicine Bow mountains sustains antelope, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, raptors, trout and sage grouse.

But the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management — despite recent vows to emphasize conservation — decided the nation's need for domestic oil justified the decision to allow drilling in the North Park area.

Colorado reservoir levels may drop in late summer

Colorado's snowpack began melting quickly this spring because of warm, dry temperatures in early April, according to the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), which tracks snowpack and reservoir levels throughout the state.

Weather turned wetter and cooler throughout the mountains in late April, halting, and in some cases even reversing, the melt trend. Statistics from the latest NRCS surveys show snowpack is below average in all of the state's major river basins. Snowpack in the Blue River Basin in Summit County is 70 percent of average and 65 percent of last year's snowpack. At one NRCS survey site in the lower Snake River, snowpack is at only 7 percent of average.

Two Cents Worth: Farmers selling, leasing water must fallow land

Farmers/ranchers in the Smith and Mason Valleys will be forced to learn a whole lot more about two things in the future: fallowing and stewardship.

That became so very apparent last week when State Engineer Jason King and the Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR) took a solid stance during a public meeting in Yerington that no one will be allowed to sidestep activities/decisions involving applications to either sell or lease Walker River water destined for Walker Lake

This land is our land

Everything that sustains our economy and way of life is irrefutably tied to land - farming and ranching, tourism, hunting and fishing and much more. Since 2000, Colorado has provided valuable tax credits to encourage landowners to protect their land with donated conservation easements - permanent agreements whereby landowners keep their land, but give or sell development rights to a land trust or governmental entity in order to conserve specific resources that benefit the public.

Have gray wolves found a home in Colorado?

Officially, wild wolves do not live in Colorado. The nearest established population is in Wyoming, where gray wolves were introduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. But rumors of wolf sightings abound in Colorado, and in recent years, at least two wolves have died in the state.

Last April, in a narrow mountain valley in northwestern Colorado, Cristina Eisenberg was searching for scat.

Then, on the edge of an aspen grove, one of the biologists saw something unusual: a scat roughly as long and wide as a banana, tapered at the ends, perhaps two months old. When Eisenberg examined it, she saw that it contained hair from deer or elk and shards of bone, some almost as long as a fingernail. It smelled distinctively earthy, like a shady forest floor.

Everything about it -- the size, the shape, the smell, the contents -- indicated a creature that had been extirpated from the state more than 70 years ago. Everything about it said wolf.

The art of the land deal

The deal was facilitated by The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit land trust that purchased and held the property until the BLM could arrange funding. The transaction an example of land deals that occur regularly across Montana and the nation where state or federal agencies collaborate with nonprofits.

“Land trusts are very helpful to get the deals done,” said Craig Haynes, lands and realty program leader at the BLM’s state office in Billings.

Colorado Roadless Plan Meets Mixed Reaction

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter submitted on Tuesday a revised plan to protect 4.2 million acres of roadless public lands across the state, but it was met with mixed reactions from environmentalists.

If approved by the Agriculture Department, the Colorado rule would replace a 2001 federal rule intended to protect pristine forestlands nationwide.

Interior chief Salazar's first year a gusher of controversy

If energy companies didn't know it already, the Bush era of free-wheeling oil and gas drilling across the West was officially over.

A year into his tenure as the 50th secretary of the interior, Salazar has surprised both fans and critics. He's proved bold, ambitious and more willing to directly confront foes than accommodate them.

A conversation about protecting land, farmers and ranchers

Since good quality farmland is indeed a finite, non-renewable resource, we can’t let what the current situation in agriculture or current farming dictate our decisions for the future. There are many options and opportunities out there that we aren’t even thinking about. If we somehow destroy that land or the land is destroyed through development or poorly planned development, then we’ve completely lost the resource. It’s not like we’re just going to re-create that land somewhere else.

CWCB may have to wait for instream flow appropriations

During the public meeting, Baessler said, “[CWCB] is here to balance the needs of mankind with a reasonable protection of the natural environment.” The appropriations that CWCB is proposing are based on studies by the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW), Forest Service and BLM scientists, who have asked for instream flow appropriations to protect several elements of riparian habitat along the lower San Miguel River.

Currently, the stream segments being considered for instream flow protection are Red Canyon Creek, North Fork Tabeguache Creek, San Miguel River, and Tabeguache Creek, as well as Alpine Gulch, Big Dominguez Creek, Blue Creek, Cebolla Creek, Cochetopa Creek, East Beaver Creek, Little Dominguez Creek, Spring Creek, and Willow Creek.

Federal agency settles wolf lawsuit

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmentalists reached an agreement Friday that scraps a rule the agency had used to kill or permanently remove any wolf that killed three heads of livestock in a year.

Women take reins of agricultural enterprises

Although not all of them are the chief operators of their agriculture enterprises, the following women represent a sampling of the hundreds of women involved in agriculture in the county, and were suggested to The Tribune by people involved in agriculture-related organizations

Wyoming, Montana ranchers change techniques to ‘ranch for profit'

In 1998 Glen Barlow, of Gillette, Wyo., was running his cattle operation the traditional way - calving in early spring, feeding cow-calf pairs until the pasture grass came in. After weaning in the fall, they would feed the cows through out the winter.

Then Barlow participated in a Ranching for Profit School with Dave Pratt.

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Bison Will Soon Roam Again at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

The preserve's General Management Plan, which dates to 2002, calls for restocking genetically pure, disease-free animals. For all practical purposes that means the initial batch of bison has to come from the large wild herd (500+ animals) at the 44-square mile Wind Cave National Park. Yellowstone genetically pure bison won’t do, since many are infected with brucellosis, and even careful screening for the disease won’t make them acceptable to nervous ranchers in the Tallgrass vicinity. Wind Cave’s bison are not only genetically pure (no cattle genes), but also free of brucellosis.

The Nature Conservancy, which owns nearly all of the land in the preserve and manages it in cooperation with the National Park Service, had wanted to buy 20 bison for Tallgrass. TNC wanted mostly young cows, since that gender mix would lead to a rapid increase in herd size. However, what they got was six cows and seven bulls

Farmland More Valuable Than Ever

Farm real estate prices rose 20% to 23% in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming in 2007, according to Farm Credit Services of America, an agricultural lender.

Everlands Meltdown Leaves Montana’s Lone Mountain Ranch in Limbo

In 2007, with the mountain real estate boom still in full swing, Bob and Vivian Schaap, the long-time owners of the iconic Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, Mont., decided it was time to sell. After vetting several prospective buyers, they reached a deal with a nascent luxury vacation club called Everlands, which promised to keep the historic property intact even as they transformed it into a mostly members-only resort.

Alternative Investments - Agriculture Land

Since most farmland investment funds are set up as private-equity vehicles, accurate return information is hard to come by. Geoff Burke, managing director at Agro-Ecological Investment Management Ltd., which manages funds that invest in farmland in New Zealand and other areas, says dairy land in New Zealand historically has appreciated at a rate of about 12% a year, while the value of mixed-crop land in the U.S. has risen at about an 8% rate.

Bill would ax estate tax for agriculture

Farmers and ranchers are supporting a bill in Congress that would exempt certain land from the federal estate tax as long as the property is kept in agriculture.

The bill by U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and John Salazar, D-Colo., would deduct from the estate tax the value of farmland in cases where the heir had been involved in the farm operation for five of the past eight years.

The idea pleases ranchers such as California cattle producer Kevin Kester, whose family had to pay $2 million over 10 years to the Internal Revenue Service after his grandfather died in 1993.

Habitat project designed to keep elk off Colorado pasture land

The project, which will create more than 700 acres of new meadow habitat, is a cooperative effort of the Dos Hermanos Ranch, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the Mount Blanca Habitat Partnership Committee. Ron Rivale, a district wildlife manager in the area, explained that traditional elk winter range in this area in the western foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains has become densely forested. Consequently, elk move from the mountains in the fall onto high-value pasture in the valley between the New Mexico border and the town of San Luis.

Investors Returning to Agriculture Land Market

After spending months on the sidelines, investors are starting to return to the nation's agriculture land as a home for their investment dollars. Investors have long played a role in the land-buying market, but toward the end of 2008 those once active investors retreated, according to Lee Vermeer, AFM, vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company.

During the past six months, owner/operators around the country took advantage of the decline in investor attention and purchased available land to expand their operations. It was that activity that kept land values steady despite the turbulent economy.

Ag real estate values show some softening

The crash of residential and commercial real estate markets has barely ruffled agricultural property values, but that may change in coming months. There are factors on the horizon that could erode prices and quash sales.

Rural property appraisers cite a laundry list of threats to agricultural real estate values, starting with unreliable water supplies and moving through burdensome regulations, international competition, rising input costs and tighter credit availability. They warn there may be a continued softening of prices.

Recession hasn’t killed Western Colorado hunting season

If there is a recession in Western Colorado, the hunters haven’t noticed.

According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife applications are down less than 2 percent from 2008. The license applications include pronghorn, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, moose, turkey, fall bear, desert bighorn sheep, spring turkey and the most popular species of elk and deer.

Sustainable Agricultural Standard Growing Closer

A long awaited national standard for sustainable agricultural is growing closer to realization. Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), an independent certifier in California, is developing the National Sustainable Agriculture Practice Standard. SCS has agreed to relinquish copyright ownership for any advancements in the standard to a charitable nonprofit and that any standard be made public.

Rebuilding a forest

The ranch had been named the recipient of the foundation’s 2009 Good Steward Award — one of 20 different awards presented in April to individuals and groups from across America “who are making a difference around the world through planting trees or through nature education.”

Farmland values drop off for first time in decade

A survey of land values by Realtors confirmed Tuesday what farmers and auctioneers have believed for several months: A decade of rising farmland values in Iowa is over.

A survey by the Iowa Farm & Land chapter of Realtors Land Institute showed Iowa land values dropped by an average of 7.6 percent statewide since September.

"Low commodity prices, higher input costs for farmers, a depressed market for livestock producers and a volatile economy and stock market all contributed to the decrease," said Troy Louwagie of Hertz Real Estate Services.

A chance at the dream

For many young people, the idea of getting back into farming and ranching is a daunting one, filled with questions, doubts and uncertainties, but USDA FSA is there to help with its Loans for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program. This program offers agriculture loans at low interest rates and extended repayment terms and individualized financial planning with an experienced , local loan officer.

In GarCo, more farms but less land

In many ways, the Hawkinses are the new face of agriculture in Garfield County. A recent agricultural census by the United States Department of Agriculture found Garfield County, like the country as a whole, experiencing an upsurge in small farms, even as agricultural acreage dwindles. Colorado is experiencing a similar trend, with a modest boost in farmland.

Grazing bill seeks to cap value of Wyoming leases

In an effort to preserve long-term grazing leases, the Wyoming ranching industry is backing a bill in the state Legislature that would set a cap on the amount that could be bid for leases on state trust lands

Kids Connected With Nature Will Caretake Wild Places

That was Rick Potts, Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Chief for the National Park Service, charge to children, parents and everyone alike in his opening address Wednesday night to the inaugural Missoula Children and Nature Summit being held on the University of Montana, Missoula campus. The summit, which continues this afternoon, explores how to get children outside to connect with nature.

Northern Rockies Wilderness Bill Back in Congress

Undaunted by many years of failure, backers of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) have had it introduced once more into the 111th Congress.

And once more, the massive legislation is being billed as a jobs program, which should get more traction in the face of the current economic meltdown and rapidly rising unemployment.

“NREPA also would formally designate as wilderness all 24 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington.”

Big Sky Rivers Act Would Create Streamside Setbacks on 10 Montana Rivers

When it comes to passing streamside setback legislation in Montana, river advocates hope the third time’s the charm.

House Bill 455, also known as the Big Sky Rivers Act would effectively limit new housing development along select major rivers in Montana.

Farm Management: What Is A Fair Land Rental Rate?

Land owners need to give serious consideration to the value of land management practices in setting rental rates. A conscientious producer, who fertilizes, performs bush hogging and maintains fences is preserving the value of the landlord’s property and saving the owner property taxes.

In ranch country, fewer riding the range

The program offers hopeful ranchers with no collateral, low-interest, government loans of up to $300,000 if they complete a ranch management course. Besides teaching students the best way to raise livestock, it teaches them how to run a ranch as a successful business. And participants must complete a business plan to present to U.S. Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency, which lends the money.

As conditions change, people take a hard look at Iowa farmland values

Interest in Iowa farmland values, always high, has notched up in recent months as corn and soybean prices have plunged from record levels and the ethanol industry has stalled. "Agriculture had a crazy year in 2008," Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said. "The first half of the year looked like the 1970s, the second half looked like the 1980s."

A path through these tough times

We should not forget that the “federal activism” of the early 1930s led to the creation of the Civilian Conservations Corps and the Bureau of Land Management. In fact, land stewardship practices originated by the Forest Service, National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management during the Great Depression are today shared by small nonprofit conservation groups, interested land owners and local land trusts. The work relief programs of the New Deal were precursors to the conservation expertise that many land protection professionals currently use every day.

Feds Delist Wolves in Idaho, Montana

The gray wolf in Montana and Idaho is once again on its way off the endangered species list, but wolves in Wyoming will stay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.

Outdoorsmen speak out against bill that would restrict access to rivers

Hundreds of outdoorsmen and river enthusiasts rallied at the Capitol Thursday morning. Their aim was to convince lawmakers to cut loose a bill which would block the public's access to most Utah streams and rivers.

Opponents of the bill said it could cost the state tens of millions of dollars, as those who want to fish or float Utah's rivers and streams would simply go to other states.

Plan proposes ponds to cut pollution

An idea to cut down on pollution runoff from farms by building shallow ponds is running into opposition from landowners unwilling to part with parcels that could yield historically high-priced corn and soybeans.

Ranchers optimistic for 2009

Byl said he thinks statistically that it has been shown agriculture does much better under Democratic rule rather than Republican, but is not convinced a turnaround will happen instantly.

USDA enacts changes to ag program payment eligibility

The United States Department of Agriculture has announced changes to Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) qualifications, program payment limitations, and direct attribution for Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs, which became effective in accordance with the 2008 Farm Bill.

Public Lands Bill: Finally, A Blow for Mother Nature

The U.S. Senate finally gave some good news to the community of anglers, hunters, hikers, backpackers, recreational outfitters--anybody who loves the great outdoors--by finally clearing the way to protect 200 million acres of wilderness in nine states.

Conservation Coalition Releases 2009 Policy Agenda

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) today released its 2009 Conservation Policy Agenda, which represents the consensus priorities of its wide-ranging partners. The agenda was developed by a broad coalition that includes national hunting, fishing and conservation organizations, labor unions and grassroots sportsmen. The TRCP will focus sustained and coordinated efforts on these issues in the coming year.

Fact vs. Fiction on Food vs. Fuel

The sharp drop in world prices for oil and grain precipitated by the past few months’ economic turmoil has literally, if probably temporarily, taken the energy out of last summer’s vitriolic “food-versus-fuel” debate. Suddenly, we’re not hearing the denunciations about how ethanol is taking corn from the world’s hungry in order to put it in the gas tanks of the world’s rich.

Experts say wolves should be treated like any wild game

The prestigious Boone & Crockett Club, founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887 and widely recognized for its work in protecting Yellowstone National Park as well as for club members that established Glacier and Denali national parks, says the gray wolf should be delisted as an endangered and/or threatened animal and be managed as a game species by states in which the large canines are found.

USDA ENACTS CHANGES TO PAYMENT LIMITATIONS, INCOME QUALIFICATIONS ...

"Changes to program participation rules and qualifying income requirements will make farm program payments more defendable to America's taxpayers," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. "This is a step in the right direction to ensuring that program benefits are targeted to active qualifying farmers and ranchers."

Farmers raising a stink about possible law that could tax cow 'emissions'

Farmers are raising a stink about a possible law that could tax them for their animals' gaseous nature.

"If they do impose the tax, it's going to put a greater detriment on dairy farmers. It's hard enough to sustain the dairy industry with all the regulations put on them," said Laura Worden, livestock agent with the Gaston office of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.

Valuing land not always a strict matter of money

So it is that an alliance of ranchers -- the Pekisko Group --now argues the land's case before an Energy Resources Conservation Board panel. Petro-Canada wants to build a sour gas pipeline through an area of outstanding natural beauty due west of where they run their cattle, south of the Eden Valley Indian reserve. The ranchers hate the thought.

The Stone Barns Center Grows a New Crop: Farmers

This former Rockefeller estate transformed itself into the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in May 2004 and has been on a mission ever since to excite and educate the public about sustainable farming.

Cross Walk Between Farm-Level Measures Of Net Income & Farm-Sector Estimates

U.S. agriculture consists of farm businesses that are diverse in economic size and commodity production. Ownership from the viewpoint of farmland tenure or sources of capital, along with age, occupation, and other attributes of the operator and his or her household may also be considered in characterizing business diversity.

Colorado hunting harvest numbers may be down

Unusually warm fall temperatures in northwestern Colorado has the Colorado Division of Wildlife anticipating a lower hunting harvest this year.

Farm Service Agency: Agency works to protect farmland nationwide

Many people are very concerned about the seemingly large amounts of farmland that are being lost to development. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program called the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.

Winter cattle glut likely

The United States Department of Agriculture released its Nov. 1 Cattle on Feed report on Nov. 21. The pre-report estimates were expecting to see placements down nine per cent and actual placements are down 11 per cent at 2.44 million head. Analysts are speculating with continued heavy placement of 800-plus pound feeders there will likely be a glut of cattle ready for market in December to February.

Feds hurt Wyoming's efforts to settle wolf issue

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service had an opportunity recently to make real progress on the seemingly unending wolf de-listing issue - and they blinked.

Instead of a careful response to litigation triggered by earlier efforts to remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protections, the agency is pushing for a careless new plan in a rushed process designed to fail.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership: Right Idea, Wrong Bill

For four years, I’ve been writing about what I’ve coined the “Wilderness Drought,” 25 years of frustration and infighting since we’ve seen a single acre of Wilderness designated in Montana. Now, several mainstream groups have joined forces with representatives of the wood products industry in a grand attempt to end it.

The Land's Worth

F armland values continue to rise in Iowa and the upper Midwest, but many banks are requiring more collateral for loans. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago quarterly survey of 213 bankers in the five-state district found the value of good farmland rose 2 percent between July 1 and Oct. 1, and 14 percent between Oct. 1, 2007, and this Oct. 1.

Plan for tax on cow gas stinks, US farmers say

Livestock producers say that the government's Environment Protection Agency (EPA) wants to charge them for rising levels of methane and other polluting nitrous gases emitted by their farm animals.

A modern advancement to an age-old practice

“Next year you’ll be looking at one of the biggest new conservation projects in this part of the world. It’s critical for us to stabilize water systems in Johnson County, and we hope that we’re demonstrating a method other landowners can consider,”

Have Farmers Hit The Daily Double?

About two years ago the demand for corn to feed ethanol refineries caused the market to bid up prices and buy acres for both corn and soybeans. That initiated a bull market that carried corn and soybeans to record levels and provide the opportunity for farm revenues to reach a solid level of profitability.

Montana Wildlife Federation Wants More Assurances from Cabela’s

“We believe it is time to re-engage with Cabela’s and evaluate outcomes of prior communications,” Sharpe wrote to Gregg Severinson, Director of CTO. “We are asking for help in understanding what Cabela’s is doing differently than a year ago.”

Agricultural markets face own global crises

All the talk a few months back over food commodity prices achieving a permanently higher plateau are gone, just like summer. In fact, the talk by analysts last week was all about a "global glut" of wheat weighing on wheat and corn prices in the coming year.

That's right, a glut. Offer farmers the promise -- even the illusion -- of good returns and they'll deliver, just as they'll try to produce their way out of a market downturn.

Buck Up, Borrowers, Ag Credit Could be Harder to Obtain

Unprecedented volatility in U.S. financial markets means American farmers could soon be facing the most challenging credit conditions in the last 25 years: Negative cash flows, higher interest costs and plunging land values. Those factors already are generating a perfect storm in growers' finances, said Dave Kohl, professor emeritus of agricultural finance at Virginia Tech, during a DTN webinar Nov. 10

Farm Real Estate Sector Headed into a Decline?

According to the data from Economic Research Service, farm real estate comprises nearly 79% of total U.S. farm assets in 2000. Since much of the current attention is focused on the residential real estate and subsequent credit crisis, it is high time to look at another important market, farm real estate. Agricultural land values typically vary from state to state, depending on the quality of soil and demand for its use.

Court Opens Mitchell Slough in Landmark Stream Access Case

For more than 20 years, the Mitchell Slough in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley has become a showcase of the battle between public access and private property rights and Monday the Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the former.

With a 54-page ruling, the Supreme Court deemed the waterway a natural stream, which means access to it is protected by Montana’s stream access law, which is among the strongest in the country.

Break the Cycle: Bring Interior Back to its Roots

Every four years those of us living in the Intermountain West --a largely federal landscape filled with vast potential and spectacular resources—find ourselves wondering who will be appointed as our new landlord, and why.

Battling the beetles

About 2,000 dead and dying trees on 30 acres in the Park Lake area southwest of Helena will probably be logged as part of the Helena National Forest’s battle with mountain pine beetles.

What’s your fish and wildlife habitat IQ?

Do you have a good basic understanding of whatfish and wildlife need to survive? You probably do if you can answer the questions below correctly. Choose only one answer for each.

Wildlife land plans raise doubts

The proposed rule to manage Colorado's 4.1 million acres of roadless forests raises "potentially higher risks" for wildlife and fisheries, according to a federal analysis.

The U.S. Forest Service's draft environmental-impact statement on the rule estimates there could be higher risks for wildlife in 118 of the 345 roadless areas in the state.

Natural fisheries in 44 roadless areas would also face potentially higher risks compared with a more protective rule, according to the environmental assessment.

Walden Hears Rumble of Energy Boom

"We're a resource-based community," said Mike Blanton, a Jackson County commissioner and convenience store owner, reflecting on the region's history of lumber mills and coal mines. "And this is getting us back to where we need to be."

But groups representing hunters and conservationists are more cautious. They cherish North Park - a million-acre expanse surrounded by spectacular mountains and wilderness - for its wildlife and scenery. They acknowledge the fruits, but warn of the fallout, of yet another pocket of Colorado facing the Rockies' ongoing energy boom

How to hunt elk in Colorado

Hunting elk is one of the most exciting big-game pursuits in North America. But stalking these animals is challenging, and most hunters won't get easy shots.

Green spaces, grasslands, are casualties of the ranching industry’s woes

The age-old rhythms of cattle ranching stay true to tradition in spite of the industry being in the most critical state it has ever been in, in its very long timeline of existence. The industry is in distress; if it were compared to a hospital patient, you would say that it is on life support and many are thinking that it’s time to pull the plug (if they haven’t already).

Controlled burns are a vital tool, say wildlife professionals

Greg Hanson is the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) district manager for six North Iowa counties, including Worth. His job is to maintain and improve public land for the benefit of both game and non-game species.

His job includes practices like controlled burning that some consider wrong.

Aiming to build a better habitat

Joe Lukashunas waded into an inhospitable tangle of weeds and thorns and saw potential. Never mind that the old farm fields in Nescopeck State Park had been overrun with invasive plant species for decades, Lukashunas is hopeful the area can be transformed into fields of native plants and grasses that will be a boon to wildlife.

Time to Codify the Roadless Rule

On January 5, 2001, with George W. Bush’s moving van parked at the back door of the White House, President Bill Clinton signed his now-infamous Roadless Rule. With a stroke of his pen and without the approval of Congress, Clinton protected almost one-third of our national forests, 58.5 million acres, from road building.

Popularity of ag easements growing

While it can't yet be nailed down with numbers, the growing interest is tangible, said Charles Tyson, manager of the California Farmland Conservancy Program, which directs funding toward farmland preservation. With a drop in the demand for land among developers, more farmers are considering selling easements, which preserve open land for agriculture or conservation.

Drilling moves closer to our doorstep

The area of acute concern no longer is confined to some remote canyon country far to the west where most people who read this seldom go. The latest place to face the blowtorch is North Park, an outdoor playground to many thousands from Colorado's Front Range. From Fort Collins to metro Denver, hunters and fishers flock to a high mountain valley laced with rivers and lakes and framed by some of the state's most valued deer and elk terrain.

Is Credit Crisis

This is a capital-intensive business. Farmers borrow big upfront to plant and then repay as the harvest cashes in. They have strong balance sheets, but much of that value is in the land, and we are hearing that some banks think farm real estate may be a bubble. They may not lend as much. So will the credit crisis hit agriculture in a meaningful way? We won't know for a couple of months, when farmers start asking for loans.

Matador Ranch opens hunting lodge to stay profitable

Cattle aren't the only cash crop at the Matador Ranch anymore. Managers of the sprawling ranch 80 miles northeast of Lubbock have discovered there's something else on their land people are willing to pay for - deer. "The abundance of wildlife here is unbelievable," said Bob Kilmer, manager of the 128,000-acre Matador Ranch.

Fear in the fields as Iowa begins rich harvest

Iowa farmers prepare to combine what may be the richest harvest in the state's history. But their sense of well-being over surging corn and soybean prices, rising farm profits and soaring land values is giving way to uneasiness.

The record harvest-time prices of $5.50 per bushel for corn and $11.50 per bushel for soybeans look very good. At late September prices, the expected cash return from this year's Iowa harvest would add up to a financial yield around $16 billion, at least $2 billion more than last year's record cash yield.

Memorandum of understanding signed for Brunot area

The Colorado Division of Wildlife, the Colorado Wildlife Commission, Governor Ritter and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning wildlife management and enforcement in an area known as the Brunot area. Efforts by the Southern Ute Tribe to re-establish hunting rights on 3.7 million acres in western Colorado— in accordance with the 1874 Brunot federal treaty— had some hunters and land users up in arms.

Wildlife rules offer appropriate balance

The wildlife protections focus on critical habitat for a limited number of species, including mule deer, elk, bald eagles, sage grouse and cutthroat trout. This habitat covers only a portion of the state and is located almost entirely in western Colorado. In these areas, but only in these areas, the DOW will advise the commission about the best way to configure development to least impact the species of concern. Commission staff might then require that some, all or none of the recommendations be implemented.

Water gets land treatment

"This generation is witnessing an ever-increasing loss of private rights," said Ohio Sen. Tim Grendell (R), who sponsored the joint resolution to put Issue 3 on the ballot. "It's always to everyone's advantage, especially the younger generation, to protect these rights because once they are lost, it's very hard to get them back."

Issue 3 deals with private water rights. If passed, the same rights that currently apply to land ownership will apply to water as well.

Rule Allowing More Mountain Biking in National Parks No Big Deal

Hikers and mountain bikers agree that they should be natural allies in wildland protection, but of course, this never happens unless hiking groups agree to something less than “big W” Wilderness--i.e.something that’s “bicycle friendly.” Witness the International Mountain Bike Association’s (IMBA) recent success in convincing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto the California Wilderness Act because it prohibited mountain biking on several state parks.

Where Yields Are Still High

It has been a difficult year in rural Missouri, with early floods followed by an extended drought. But this is my 31st harvest, and I'm used to the ups and downs of farming, if not entirely resigned to them. One of the first fields we "combined" this fall was on land that my grandfather began to work in 1931. He picked corn with nothing but a mule, a wagon and a corn hook that fitted into the palm of his hand. I'm driving $300,000 of the latest technology, complete with a Global Positioning Unit that maps our yields and a satellite radio that follows the latest news of the financial crisis. Grandpa ended up on the fields we harvest today because he lost his first farm in the Depression. I hope that America's tools for managing financial crises have advanced as much as our ability to harvest grain.

Night life painted brown at Delaney

For most of the year, these are not easy to catch. Save for erratic spurts in late May and June when they lose their inhibition during a damselfly hatch, they burrow beneath layers of vegetation where awaits a banquet of scuds, snails, leeches and varied courses of several insects.

Such subversive behavior, at least on the part of the browns, ends abruptly with the onset of October. Driven by mating urges generally unrequited in this lake environment, trout as long as a fifth-grader's leg prowl the shoreline looking for love.

New Realities For The Farm Bill

A careful look at the two periods would turn up a number of variables that affected waterfowl, but I think it's safe to say that an appreciable amount of the difference is USDA land retirement programs, which is to say, the conservation reserve, the wetland reserve, and the grassland reserve, along with other USDA conservation programs like WHIP, EQIP, and Sodsaver. Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimate that, thanks to CRP, "since 1992, net increases of about two-million additional ducks per year were produced in the prairie pothole region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and northeastern Montana."

Report sees peril and promise in emerging patterns of forestland ownership

A recently published report looks at evolving ownership patterns in the northern forest and concludes that state governments and conservation groups need to “reexamine their toolkits,” if the forests are to continue to provide recreation, clean water and economic support for local communities.

The Fires Next Time

Think about wildfire in the West and it’s hard to picture a rosy future, except for the sunsets bleeding through the smoke.

Climate change is creating longer, hotter, more explosive burning seasons, while more and more homes sprout on flammable ground.

Effective grass waterways need regular maintenance

Producing a good crop demands a lot of attention during the growing season. But producers and landowners shouldn't overlook the maintenance needs of grass waterways and other conservation practices, either, said DeAnn Presley, Kansas State University Research and Extension soil management specialist. "Grass waterways are an important part of a farm's overall soil conservation plan," Presley said. They are permanent strips of grass seeded in areas of cropland where water concentrates or flows off a field from terraces or diversions.

Let's talk climate impact on wildlands

In Arizona, the topic of climate change remains controversial. The "sky is falling" mentality of the left combined with the "head in the sand " naysayers on the right prevent reasoned discussion. With Arizona's outdoor heritage at stake, this is a shame. Left unaddressed, the climate issue will severely impact our natural surroundings and the hiking, camping, fishing, hunting and boating opportunities that Arizona is famous for.

The 10 Acre Rule Controversy

Looking at the language in new farm bill, USDA Secretary Ed Schafer announced a plan that could effectively eliminate over a quarter of a million small farms from qualifying for direct payments and save the Department $24 million. “Oops,” said prominent members of the legislative branch as more than 50 members of the house and 25 senators immediately signed letters to Mr. Schafer stating his interpretation goes against ‘clear congressional intent.’

DOW urges landowners to repair, build fences to protect crops

Ranchers, farmers and landowners still have time to order free fencing materials to protect their hay and crops from winter wildlife damage.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife provides protective fencing materials at no charge to agricultural producers. DOW staff helps landowners design the best protective system and then delivers the materials directly to the building site.

Environmentalists Question Roads in Roadless Areas

While the fate of a federal roadless rule protecting millions of pristine acres across the country remains in question, Colorado is moving forward with its own proposal to protect roadless lands across the state.