Trump Orders USDA to Open Conservation Land To Grazing tp Prevent WildFires

[monty]

Free Range Report Trump orders USDA to open conservation lands in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma to temporary grazing after devastating wilfires a month ago

Trump orders USDA to open conservation lands to grazing for wildfire-devastated ranchers (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/04/06/trump-orders-usda-to-open-conservation-lands-to-grazing-for-wildfire-devastated-ranchers/)

April 6, 2017 (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/04/06/trump-orders-usda-to-open-conservation-lands-to-grazing-for-wildfire-devastated-ranchers/) editor (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/author/editor/) Leave a comment (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/04/06/trump-orders-usda-to-open-conservation-lands-to-grazing-for-wildfire-devastated-ranchers/#respond)


President Donald Trump directed the department to open emergency grazing in certain lands in the Conservation Reserve Protection program in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma following wildfires that started March 6.The USDA estimates that about 1.6 million acres of grassland have been burned, and more than 15,000 have been killed in the blaze.


Thomas Phippin
Daily Caller News Foundation (http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/05/trump-authorization-rescues-ranchers-racked-by-wildfires/?utm_campaign=atdailycaller&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social)

The government will allow ranchers affected by devastating wildfires to graze livestock on protected grasslands for a limited time, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2017/nr_20170404_rel_0028)Tuesday.

President Donald Trump directed the department to open emergency grazing in certain lands in the Conservation Reserve Protection program in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma following wildfires that started March 6.

The USDA estimates that about 1.6 million acres of grassland have been burned, and more than 15,000 have been killed in the blaze.

“Ranchers are facing devastating conditions and economic calamity because of these wildfires and they need some relief, or else they face the total loss of their herds in many cases,” Michael Young, deputy acting secretary of the USDA, said in a statement.

“These measures will allow them to salvage what remains of their cattle and return to the important business of feeding Americans and the rest of the world. I commend and thank President Trump for acting decisively in response to this dire situation,” Young said.

Ranchers will be allowed to graze on protected lands for a few months, but with some restrictions to protect the habitat of the lesser prairie chicken. Grazing will have to occur outside of the prairie chicken’s nesting season, and only if the Department of Agriculture determines that the ground will recover adequately.
The wildfires destroyed around $60 million worth of fencing and property damage in Oklahoma and Kansas, the Agriculture Department estimates. The “thousands of miles of fences expected to be a total loss” in Texas have not yet been surveyed.

“It’s right there at the top of natural disasters for our members over the years,” Todd Domer, vice president of communications at the Kansas Livestock Association, told (https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/glendora-california-usa-january-16-2014-171699599?src=QNRhmMLRi_GExEwZdsSfEw-4-51)Bloomberg News. “It’s going to take a long time for these folks to get back to any semblance of normal.”


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Free Range Report

[Joshua01]

'...and more than 15,000 have been killed in the blaze'

15,000 what?

[monty]

15000 Head of cattle

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

https://i1.wp.com/freerangereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cattleblaz.jpg?w=920

[old steel]

Whoa. That's a lot of barbecued beef.

[monty]

Free Range Report ~ March 20, 2017

Kansas wildfire relief impeded by rigid federal rules, red tape (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/03/20/kansas-wildfire-relief-impeded-by-rigid-federal-rules-red-tape/)

March 20, 2017 (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/03/20/kansas-wildfire-relief-impeded-by-rigid-federal-rules-red-tape/) editor (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/author/editor/) Leave a comment (http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/03/20/kansas-wildfire-relief-impeded-by-rigid-federal-rules-red-tape/#respond)


…one rancher even told him he ran out of ammunition shooting cattle injured in the fire. “They are shooting new baby calves, cows they worked their whole life to raise that kind of genetics and that type of cows. You can’t do anything, but you are there because you care about the cattle…”


Amy Bickel
Kansas AgLand (http://www.kansasagland.com/news/stateagnews/wildfire-relief-sees-red-tape-reg-woes-issues-with-government/article_3a9076d0-1e37-5755-a105-ae9e1cb3b749.html)

Wildfire relief sees red tape, reg woes: Issues with government rules, programs add to farmers’, ranchers’ worries

Some students in Ashland are spending their spring break tearing out burned-up fences as their family and friends deal with the aftermath of the state’s largest wildfire.

It’s not known yet just how many miles of fence line will need to be replaced, but on the Gardiner Ranch, it could be at least 300.

That’s about the distance from Hutchinson to Topeka and back again.

A government program that helps cover such dire losses, however, only covers up to $200,000 in fencing costs, or about 20 miles.

“It costs about $10,000 a mile,” said Amanda Gardiner, whose husband, Garth, operates the ranch with his brothers. Their children, Greysen, a freshman, Gage, an eighth-grader, and Grace, a sixth-grader, along with their friends, are removing the charred fences this week.

Rebuilding fences is just part of what the ranchers affected by the Starbuck wildfire are dealing with. Some lost everything in the fire, which spread through southern Kansas counties on March 6. That includes cattle and homes whose residents are trying to figure out how to rebuild.

Estimates on cattle losses range from 3,000 to 9,000 head of adult cows. While the grass was scorched to the sandy earth, some ranchers lost their entire hay supply, as well.

Most didn’t have insurance on their cattle or fences, said Aaron Sawyers, the Comanche County Extension agent.
“Some guys have loans on cattle that are no longer alive,” Sawyers said. “The banks are going to be in a tight spot, and not just with two or three people – we’re talking the whole county.”

Moreover, a government program – the Livestock Indemnity Program (http://www.kansasagland.com/news/government/programs-available-to-help-ranchers-after-wildfire/article_e3ad38d0-1b97-5e58-8edc-7247d59d4f7f.html) – only pays up to $125,000 for cattle losses.


https://i1.wp.com/freerangereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/burnedcattle.jpg?resize=354%2C322
The Fencepost photo

After talking to Clark County ranchers Monday, Sawyers wrote a letter to Trent Loos, a national cowboy radio personality who has his own radio show, “Loos Tales.”

The letter stated that Kansas ranchers are asking their congressmen for the same need – the reduction of governmental red tape.

“Tell your Congress men and women they need to raise the livestock and fence disaster programs limits,” Sawyers wrote (http://loostales.blogspot.com/2017/03/dear-mr.html). “These producers can’t wait a year for payment; this disaster money needs to be streamlined, NOW. Fences and livestock need replaced.”

“I wrote that from my heart after a day spent driving around around talking to grown men in their 60s” upset as they worked through the idea of how they were going to rebuild, Sawyers said Wednesday of the letter, which is now crossing the country thanks to Facebook.

Ranchers understand they most likely wouldn’t get full coverage on their losses, he said. But if they could get a percentage of the salvage value, it would be better.

For instance, the smaller rancher might get all his cows covered under the LIP program. It won’t come near to covering the losses of those losing several hundred head.

“One size fits all – that doesn’t work with this,” Sawyers said.

“I don’t think people realize the emotional issues,” he added, noting one rancher even told him he ran out of ammunition shooting cattle injured in the fire. “They are shooting new baby calves, cows they worked their whole life to raise that kind of genetics and that type of cows. You can’t do anything, but you are there because you care about the cattle.

“Out here, the cows eat before we do.”

Touring Clark
On March 12, Sen. Jerry Moran slipped unannounced in to the United Methodist Church at Ashland. He planned to tour the damage later that day.

“In a real way, it was uplifting,” he said of the service. “It was focused on the disaster, focused on the challenges the community had. There was this sense of faith that we will get through this.”

“That is where I found the most initial comfort,” he said.

Afterward, he visited ranches with Kansas Adjutant General Lee Tafanelli. They visited Dave Bouziden’s ranch, where most of the 300 head of cattle are dead. Grandchildren are bottle-feeding what calves they have left.

He said they drove down the driveway where a house should have been.

“There was nothing but a stone chimney left,” Moran said.

He also toured the Giles Ranch.

Moran said one issue brought up was stringent fencing regulations and federal program caps, including LIP.

“Unfortunately, while $125,000 is a significant amount of money, that wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket,” Moran said.
It would take an act of Congress to increase the limit or change the program, he said.

As lawmakers discuss the farm bill, this issue could come up. But funding agriculture has been a contentious topic, especially 2014 legislation. Some urban lawmakers were demanding that agricultural subsidy programs be pared down.

“It seems to me payment limitations shouldn’t apply in the circumstance of disaster,” said Moran, who was boarding a plane back to Washington Monday, planning to take the details of his visit back to his fellow congressional leaders.

He said he left the county seeing the resilience of ranchers and the community effort to rebuild.

“I came away from it more fully convinced about the value of small-town America and the pulling together of people in difficult times and the determination to make sure that good things come,” he said.


https://i0.wp.com/freerangereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/horsesmoke.jpg?resize=367%2C275
Wildfire Today photo

Getting through the red tape
Stringent fencing requirements by the government could exacerbate problems, something also seen in last year’s Anderson Creek fire, Sawyers said.

Ranchers don’t get paid until all the fencing is in place. Moreover, they must meet the government’s fencing requirements, which on the rough, Red Hills landscape doesn’t involve a cookie-cutter scenario, Sawyers aid. The program also requires all new fencing – even if materials are sound.

“These ranchers are wanting to build a fence that will last 30 to 40 years,” said Sawyers. “Some of these fences were 50 to 60 years old already.”

He added that one rancher told him, “If we don’t get help, I’m done. I owe money on cows that are dead and I’m already extended on my loan.”

Matt Teagarden, president of the Kansas Livestock Association, said hopefully there could be more flexibility for government programs (http://www.kansasagland.com/news/government/programs-available-to-help-ranchers-after-wildfire/article_e3ad38d0-1b97-5e58-8edc-7247d59d4f7f.html) and the rules.

“That might’ve covered a couple hundred cows when it was in place, but with the more recent market prices, we’d want to take a look at that and see if there is a number that makes more sense,” Teagarden said.

Also, it isn’t clear whether a multi-family operation can collect for each family involved, or only once.

Whether the cap can be extended or not, Teagarden said the KLA’s foundation continues to raise funds that will be distributed to all Kansas ranchers affected by the fires to help with the rebuilding process.

Standing behind customers
In Ashland, Kendal Kay, president of the Stockgrowers State Bank in Ashland, is standing behind his customers.
The Stockgrowers bank has been supporting cattle ranchers since it first opened in 1885. There have been challenges over the years, and the wildfire might be the biggest one to overcome. But as a community bank, he is backing his customers in good times and bad.

Ranching, after all, is the backbone of this community, he said.

He hasn’t given up amending the caps and the government regulations on building fences. There needs to be some leniency – removal of roadblocks, Kay said. Ranchers can’t wait any longer; they need to rebuild.

“They aren’t looking for a handout,” Kay said. “They just need a little help.

Amanda Gardiner said ranchers losing fencing and cattle have lost their revenue stream for the next three years.
“Those cattle are our salary,” she said. “We don’t have any other revenue streams coming in. There is nowhere else the money is coming from.”

She’s helping the Ashland Community Foundation in its fundraising effort; everyone is lending a hand, she said.
Some are coming in from all across the country. College kids on spring break from the University of Iowa drove to their ranch just to help with the fencing effort.

“They didn’t know a soul and just showed up,” she said, adding they stayed for a couple of days until one, who plays football, had to get back for practice. “They just wanted to come help.”

How to help ranchers affected by the wildfires

There are many ways to help Clark County, along with all affected by the Kansas fires.
Those wishing to make inkind donations or to volunteer in cleanup and rebuilding efforts are advised to contact the head of the respective group prior to donating.
Livestock Feed Supplies: Ashland Feed & Seed, (620) 635-2856 (tel:(620) 635-2856).
Fencing Supplies: Adam Elliott, (620) 635-0055 (tel:(620) 635-0055), and Ashland Feed & Seed (620) 635-2856 (tel:(620) 635-2856).
Volunteer Coordination: Holly Fast, (620) 635-2297 (tel:(620) 635-2297).
Those wanting to donate to the wildfires can visit www.ClarkCountyProud.com (http://www.ClarkCountyProud.com) to see what the needs are and where to donate.
The Kansas Livestock Association is accepting donations of feed, fencing supplies and cash for all ranchers who’ve lost fencing, forage resources, harvested feed and an undetermined number of cattle in the blazes across Kansas. To donate, visit www.kla.org/donationform.aspx (http://www.kla.org/donationform.aspx)




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Free Range Report

[ximmy]

Only buffaloes can prevent prairie fires...

oops
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[monty]

March 16, 2017





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Young ranchers need help now to recover from wildfire (http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/young-ranchers-need-help-now-to-recover-from-wildfire/article_999041ea-0a61-11e7-956f-d39cfe698e0d.html)



By Doug Rich
Mar 16, 2017
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(http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/young-ranchers-need-help-now-to-recover-from-wildfire/article_999041ea-0a61-11e7-956f-d39cfe698e0d.html#1)

This aerial shot of the wildfire damage in Clark County, Kansas, was taken March 13. (Photo by Tracy


The wildfire that moved through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas last week was a fast moving fire. Clark County, Kansas, rancher Roger Giles experienced it firsthand.


At one point Giles said the fire pushed them out the south side of their ranch. Giles was driving 50 to 60 miles per hour along a ridge to stay ahead of the flames. After running for two and half miles the smoke caught up with him.

“My ranch is 9 miles long and it burned in 45 minutes,” Giles said. “That is how fast this fire moved.”

Giles hopes relief comes to ranchers as fast as the fire moved across his ranch.
“There are a million acres from here through the Texas Panhandle that are burnt to a crisp,” Giles said. “This is a national disaster and to us it is worse than Hurricane Sandy.”
Giles said the fire burned 100 percent of his ranch, burned the homes of his three daughters, and killed 50 percent of his cowherd. But Giles is old enough and has been around long enough that he will survive. He is more concerned about young producers with bank loans and nothing to pay them back with after the fire.

“We don’t need a slow moving program that maybe pays you a year down the road,” Giles said. “Young people that are just starting out can’t wait a year to be reimbursed for their losses.”

The wildfire moved quickly across the open grassland but it will take years to repair the damage. Help with loans and a reduction in red tape would ease the frustration and pain felt by many producers in the area.

“We need something to give these young people confidence,” Giles said.
Doug Rich can be reached at 785-749-5304 (tel:785-749-5304) or drich@hpj.com.

MORE INFORMATION


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The first gunshot was the easiest.









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Federal programs designed to help wildfire victims (http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/federal-programs-designed-to-help-wildfire-victims/article_6fd44290-164e-11e7-94d1-a3b791c8fae5.html)




By Bill Spiegel


In the wake of wildfires that have scorched more than a million acres of land in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas in March, there is an assortment of federal programs available to help ranchers and landowners rebuild.



http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/hpj.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/85/785100a2-117b-11e7-b259-53f104ac7600/58d6a10b15341.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C720 (http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/the-help-just-rolls-in/article_90844a3c-1179-11e7-8b56-afcee3e64d4a.html)



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By Bill Spiegel (https://www.hpj.com/users/profile/BillSpiegel)


The trucks rumble into Ashland, Kansas from all over the country.



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Kylene Scott (https://www.hpj.com/users/profile/KyleneScott)


Wednesday afternoon I sat with my husband in a gymnasium full of people waiting to hear what kind of help they could be eligible for from various government agencies following the largest wildfire in the state of Kansas’ history.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/hpj.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/ff/eff40e22-0f48-11e7-8f70-9b1e9408af1d/58d2f09791d57.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1599 (http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/young-iowa-farmers-help-kansas-fire-victims/article_36da0f5a-2ce6-5f0d-894d-512c07922fad.html)



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Growing up on a farm has been known to teach people compassion and helping others. When three Iowa farm boys heard about the wildfires in Kansas ranching land, they knew they wanted to do something to help.



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By Doug Rich


One week after a wildfire burned his entire ranch, Roger Giles is finishing the gruesome task of gathering the dead, dying and injured cattle left on his Clark County, Kansas, ranch.





Young ranchers need help now to recover from wildfire (http://www.hpj.com/ag_news/young-ranchers-need-help-now-to-recover-from-wildfire/article_999041ea-0a61-11e7-956f-d39cfe698e0d.html)




By Doug Rich


The wildfire that moved through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas last week was a fast moving fire. Clark County, Kansas, rancher Roger Giles experienced it firsthand.







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Kylene Scott (https://www.hpj.com/users/profile/KyleneScott)


I wasn’t in the smoke. I never saw the fire line.



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By Bill Spiegel


The first gunshot was the easiest.

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Wildfire Coverage (http://www.hpj.com/search/?k=%22starbuckfire%22)




Follow along as HPJ editors provide continuing coverage of the devastating wildfires that consumed hundreds of thousands of acres in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado in early March.
Wildfire Covera (http://www.hpj.com/search/?k=%22starbuckfire%22)ge

[Dogman]

Monty

The dust storms can be epic, because of those fires, if they do not get rain and seedlings to root to bind the soil.

The years I spent in West Texas were dry ones, was given a new work truck, got caught in the middle of nowhere by a good duster.

Stripped a bunch of paint off it, and scored some of the glass in the late 1970's dual tank Ford F150 with a crappy paint job even when new.

That storm made that truck a "real" work truck. Took the shiny right off it, so any dents later on just added character!

;D

Sent using Forum Runner

[monty]

The Morning News

http://www.themorningnews.org/images/content/cards/wildfires1-master768.jpg


Burying the dead livestock
http://www.themorningnews.org/images/content/cards/wildfires1-master768.jpg

[Tumbleweed]

The kids in the local 4H club wanted to do something to help the people who had losses because of the fire. They bought an AR15 and 500 rounds of ammo to raffle off. They'll send the money from the raffle to those in need in Oklahoma.

The local 4H club has shooting sports for the kids and there are about 40 boys and girls involved in that so it's a good fit for them.