Faster horses
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Perhaps this belongs in Political Bull. Just wanted to share so that more people were aware of what is being proposed.
This is not good for the sheep industry but the hidden agenda is that there are a lot of cattle that graze that summer country as well. Mr. Hockett mentioned at the bottom of the article, I believe, used to work for the BLM and has been leading this type of agenda in several areas. What is really disturbing with this action is the Ag Secretary is caving to the political litigation risk, not science. If you have access to a politician now would be a good time to call their attention to this type of fear tactics and the lead in agenda being used against our industry. The Western Water Shed group based in Idaho is very active in these types of actions in ID, NV, WY, MT, OR, and CA. Concurrently there is a also pressure being placed on the Lynx, Martin and Fisher by wildlife groups. A federal judge just this week gave the government until 2015 to come up with a management plan for the Lynx which could impact grazing and timber activity in a very large range in which they claim the Lynx inhabits.
This article appeared in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle Friday, June 27, 2014
Ag secretary proposes closing sheep station
LAURA LUNDQUIST, Chronicle Staff Writer The Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Montana)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture may soon be closing a sheep research station after environmental groups have sued to stop sheep grazing in the Centennial Mountains.
News has trickled out that on Friday, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced to Congress that he would close the Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Sheep Experimental Station in Dubois, Idaho, within the year.
The Post-Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho, reported that Vilsack sent a letter to Rep. Robert Aderhold, R-Ala., on June 17, saying that the station had become a liability.
Aderhold is the chairman for the appropriations subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.
Almost $2 million had been appropriated for the sheep station in the 2015 budget. Vilsack's letter said closing the facility would cost between $3.5 million and $5 million, depending on how many employees relocated.
"A prolonged period of declining and flat budgets has resulted in underfunded programs at (the sheep experiment station), and the unit no longer has the critical mass of scientists necessary to address high priority research," Vilsack said in the letter.
That's a reversal of what Steven Kappes, ARS deputy administrator for Animal Production and Protection, told the sheep industry last month, according to a May 9 American Sheep Industry Association article.
"Sheep research was dealt with kindly in appropriations this year, from additional funding to an assurance that no research facilities are targeted for closure in 2015," Kappes said.
Vilsack's letter said the station would close Nov. 3.
Calls to Kappes' and Vilsack's office were not returned.
The sheep station manages about 1,800 sheep belonging to the University of Idaho. During the summer, those sheep end up on grazing lands in the Centennial Mountains west of Yellowstone National Park.
During the past decade, grazing on that property has been the subject of a number of lawsuits because sheepherders and wildlife agencies have killed a number of predators in the area that have threatened sheep, including wolves, black bears and grizzly bears.
Congress has 30 days to support or oppose Vlisack's decision. Idaho politicians are trying to rally opposition to the closure.
Meanwhile, sheep growers' organizations nationwide are encouraging their members to write their congressmen.
For example, the Maryland Extension Small Ruminant Program urged its followers to let Congress "hear from the ag community regarding the importance of this research center to the U.S. and world. In recent years, the station has been under attack from environmental groups claiming that the station threatens grizzly bear habitat."
Those environmental groups include the Gallatin Wildlife Association, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project and the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center. After filing another lawsuit against the station earlier this week that cites a lack of environmental studies on how grazing affects grizzly bears and lynx, all four were cautiously optimistic about the news of the closing.
"What Vilsack didn't say was that the Sheep Experiment Station had also become a legal liability," said Travis Bruner, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. "Our repeated and successful litigation over the ecological impacts of the project surely influenced the decision to end the failing experiment once and for all. It's too bad they've waited this long."
The sheep station usually grazes sheep on the high mountain pastures from July through September, but the lawsuit asked the judge to stop the station from putting sheep out to graze until it completed an environmental study. Studies often take years to complete.
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center attorney John Meyer said he hadn't heard from sheep-station attorneys regarding the recent lawsuit, so everything was still in play for now, even if the station is closing.
"If the station decided to graze this summer, we'll still continue the case," Meyer said.
Gallatin Wildlife Association spokesman Glenn Hockett said the grazing land had belonged to the Bureau of Land Management before the sheep station was created.
"It makes sense to give it back to the BLM to turn it into a wilderness study area and leave it alone," Hockett said.
This is not good for the sheep industry but the hidden agenda is that there are a lot of cattle that graze that summer country as well. Mr. Hockett mentioned at the bottom of the article, I believe, used to work for the BLM and has been leading this type of agenda in several areas. What is really disturbing with this action is the Ag Secretary is caving to the political litigation risk, not science. If you have access to a politician now would be a good time to call their attention to this type of fear tactics and the lead in agenda being used against our industry. The Western Water Shed group based in Idaho is very active in these types of actions in ID, NV, WY, MT, OR, and CA. Concurrently there is a also pressure being placed on the Lynx, Martin and Fisher by wildlife groups. A federal judge just this week gave the government until 2015 to come up with a management plan for the Lynx which could impact grazing and timber activity in a very large range in which they claim the Lynx inhabits.
This article appeared in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle Friday, June 27, 2014
Ag secretary proposes closing sheep station
LAURA LUNDQUIST, Chronicle Staff Writer The Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Montana)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture may soon be closing a sheep research station after environmental groups have sued to stop sheep grazing in the Centennial Mountains.
News has trickled out that on Friday, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced to Congress that he would close the Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Sheep Experimental Station in Dubois, Idaho, within the year.
The Post-Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho, reported that Vilsack sent a letter to Rep. Robert Aderhold, R-Ala., on June 17, saying that the station had become a liability.
Aderhold is the chairman for the appropriations subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.
Almost $2 million had been appropriated for the sheep station in the 2015 budget. Vilsack's letter said closing the facility would cost between $3.5 million and $5 million, depending on how many employees relocated.
"A prolonged period of declining and flat budgets has resulted in underfunded programs at (the sheep experiment station), and the unit no longer has the critical mass of scientists necessary to address high priority research," Vilsack said in the letter.
That's a reversal of what Steven Kappes, ARS deputy administrator for Animal Production and Protection, told the sheep industry last month, according to a May 9 American Sheep Industry Association article.
"Sheep research was dealt with kindly in appropriations this year, from additional funding to an assurance that no research facilities are targeted for closure in 2015," Kappes said.
Vilsack's letter said the station would close Nov. 3.
Calls to Kappes' and Vilsack's office were not returned.
The sheep station manages about 1,800 sheep belonging to the University of Idaho. During the summer, those sheep end up on grazing lands in the Centennial Mountains west of Yellowstone National Park.
During the past decade, grazing on that property has been the subject of a number of lawsuits because sheepherders and wildlife agencies have killed a number of predators in the area that have threatened sheep, including wolves, black bears and grizzly bears.
Congress has 30 days to support or oppose Vlisack's decision. Idaho politicians are trying to rally opposition to the closure.
Meanwhile, sheep growers' organizations nationwide are encouraging their members to write their congressmen.
For example, the Maryland Extension Small Ruminant Program urged its followers to let Congress "hear from the ag community regarding the importance of this research center to the U.S. and world. In recent years, the station has been under attack from environmental groups claiming that the station threatens grizzly bear habitat."
Those environmental groups include the Gallatin Wildlife Association, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project and the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center. After filing another lawsuit against the station earlier this week that cites a lack of environmental studies on how grazing affects grizzly bears and lynx, all four were cautiously optimistic about the news of the closing.
"What Vilsack didn't say was that the Sheep Experiment Station had also become a legal liability," said Travis Bruner, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. "Our repeated and successful litigation over the ecological impacts of the project surely influenced the decision to end the failing experiment once and for all. It's too bad they've waited this long."
The sheep station usually grazes sheep on the high mountain pastures from July through September, but the lawsuit asked the judge to stop the station from putting sheep out to graze until it completed an environmental study. Studies often take years to complete.
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center attorney John Meyer said he hadn't heard from sheep-station attorneys regarding the recent lawsuit, so everything was still in play for now, even if the station is closing.
"If the station decided to graze this summer, we'll still continue the case," Meyer said.
Gallatin Wildlife Association spokesman Glenn Hockett said the grazing land had belonged to the Bureau of Land Management before the sheep station was created.
"It makes sense to give it back to the BLM to turn it into a wilderness study area and leave it alone," Hockett said.