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Ted Turner buys another 26,000 acres in NE

Most all of these stories are about 99% false. However, they are neat or funny & are fun to receive & pass on. That is what keeps them alive. After a time everyone has a friend, neighbor, brother-in-law, etc. who was there. That is how they become 'urban legends'.

Take for instance the story of Peter Fonda's military service, told as if there was first hand knowledge. Jane Fonda went to Vietnam in 1972. If you look up Peter Fonda's biography, there wasn't a year in the 1970's that he wasn't making a film. He was in his 30's at that time. There is also no record of military service.

I have no problem with Peter Fonda. He is a very charitable guy. While on the MDA motorcycle run in ND, he sat in every bar on our stops, and signed autographs, they sold copies of easy rider videos, autographed pictures etc. all which went to fight muscular dystrophy.
That is first hand knowledge & I do have pictures! :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
This type of story is fairly easy to check on www.snopes.com.

While concern for what happens to the land 'after Ted' is great, I'm not sure he's the largest individual owner of land in the USA.

Some time back, I read a story on land ownership stating a guy living in Maine owned over 10,000,000 acres in that state alone. Haven't checked lately to see if he is still at the top.......or to verify the original story. It was in an ag paper in a story about land ownership some years ago, before I knew about Snopes.

I think Ted is fairly respected in SD, and from what I hear, he doesn't throw his weight around in Pierre/Ft.Pierre when he visits his Bad River ranch.

It is problematic that any one person, as he does, owns about 10% of Jones County, however. Land prices have escalated far more after his purchases in this area, by out of area buyers who do not depend upon agriculture production to pay for the land.

SD does have laws purported to help protect ag producers from adverse tax increases due to such purchases, but I'm not sure they are ever truly implemented.

And, there are those who see the future for agriculture as supporting current land prices, some even actually do make their living from farming, and others who have high expectations for production of TOP QUALITY grain fed beef as being able to pay for land in the forseeable future. Judging by what some people in SD are paying for cows these days, there must be more of them than I would have guessed!!!

Re. Nature Conservancy, and the like, I wonder......are they evil??? They are leasing some of their land to cattle producers, aren't they? Is that better, or worse, than people like Turner? Still, I don't like that they have turned some land over to the government at an obscene profit. I firmly believe there should not only be no net increase in government owned or controlled land, but that there should be a significant divestiture of government owned land. And that includes ALL levels of government. And I CERTAINLY do not believe government should say who can and who can't own land, and/or how much land an individual or a family is allowed to own.

mrj
 
mrj said:
I firmly believe there should not only be no net increase in government owned or controlled land, but that there should be a significant divestiture of government owned land. And that includes ALL levels of government. And I CERTAINLY do not believe government should say who can and who can't own land, and/or how much land an individual or a family is allowed to own.
mrj
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One of the best ideas I've seen on ranchers yet. I agree mrj.
 
Red Robin said:
mrj said:
I firmly believe there should not only be no net increase in government owned or controlled land, but that there should be a significant divestiture of government owned land. And that includes ALL levels of government. And I CERTAINLY do not believe government should say who can and who can't own land, and/or how much land an individual or a family is allowed to own.
mrj
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One of the best ideas I've seen on ranchers yet. I agree mrj.
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And there in lies the major problem with the government divesting itself of the ownership of much of this land....The hunting and enviromental folks have much more money to lay out/invest than the land can ever return to folks for agriculture use- thereby taking more land out of agriculture and public use...
 
Mike said:
Tax recreational land at about 1000X the rate as that of farm/ranch land?
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You end up with a mess of defining what is Agricultural and what isn't...If they turn out 5 cows on a 500 cow spread--but use it mostly for hunting- or hiking- or horseback riding-- is it agricultural? I understand some states like Texas already have an Ag tax rate- and many get around the residential type tax for their homesteads and ranchettes by having a couple cows in the backyard...

In some areas- like Montana- the income off outfitting, leasing to outfitters, or charging hunters is becoming a major % of the farm/ranch income to many....Its income off the land- and what the land produces-- so is that agricultural income?

And I don't think we'd ever get the tax laws that way- as there are way more hunters, fishermen, hikers, and enviro folks than there are farmers/ranchers anymore- and they definitely have much more influence with the legislators.....Just like they have more money available to buy up the land- they also have more money to grease the palms of politicians.....
In fact the move in state lately has been for these groups to donate money to the state to purchase ranches/farms for hunting/fishing access and state parks....I think I just heard they are dealing on a new one in the Missouri River country over in the Culbertson-Sidney area I think....
 
From everything I've read on Ted Turner's land there isn't much hope in it returning to production. His ultimate dream is to create a Bison Corridor through the middle of the country stretching from Canada to Mexico. This way the land can return to nature and be a migration path for the buffalo herds. Evidently he missed the memo that buffalo don't migrate.
 
Jake said:
From everything I've read on Ted Turner's land there isn't much hope in it returning to production. His ultimate dream is to create a Bison Corridor through the middle of the country stretching from Canada to Mexico. This way the land can return to nature and be a migration path for the buffalo herds. Evidently he missed the memo that buffalo don't migrate.
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That is part of the "Big Open" plan that would have the area from the buffalo herds of the Grasslands National Park of Saskatchewan (just north of me) down thru the center corrider of the plains to Mexico...

I didn't believe this possible until I saw more and more ranch's bought up by conservation groups- corporate interests using the conservation easements/payments- and government converting land to wildlife refuges...

Now- as thanks to groups like NCBA -land is worth more for hunting, tourism, and wildlife viewing within the US than cattle raising- and it is cheaper to import cheap imported meat and pass it off to US consumers as US product- I think it is only time before it happens.....
 
It might have worked if the US Government hadn't come up with an energy policy which will screw up it's cheap food policy. If we keep up the pace of modernizing the third world into eating better and then add on turning over half of the US corn crop into fuel it will not be long before we all get hungry.
 
Isn't he supposed to be leaving his land to the United Nations?

I've had friends that work for Turner and for the area it's a good job. He pays pretty much normal maybe a tad higher then the ranchers but he provides good insurance. He's helped kill out our rural schools. Ranches that at one time employeed 7 families now have 3. Plus the Turner help that we live around have made it known they want not a thing to do with any of us. LOL However, my Dad goes up every once and a while to just remind them they do have neighbors. The Turner ranch help by us are almost to secreative it's like they are scared anyone around is going to find something out. It's just weird. They followed an almost 80 year old woman across them on the county road one night asked who she was and what she was doing there. She told them who she was and that she had been here a hell of a lot longer then they had and she'd still be there after they were gone. :-)
 
You people are soooooo funny with your boogie man stories!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Here's a novel idea......Ii know for a fact Turner visits his land ownings pretty regular & the surrounding towns...how about just stopping once and talking to him and ASKING him a few questions instead of all this rumor and gossip.... " I heard this" or "I heard that" ?????


He won't bite....he's quiet entertaining to talk to....and not hard to get to know.


If everyone is soooo scared of him buying up land....when it goes for sale near you....why don't you or a group of you go in together and purchase the land?


If it wasn't for sale....Turner could not buy it!
 
Why don't we go together as a group and buy it? Well most of us here weren't born in money or have yet to win the lottery and we can't get along here how in the world would we ever own a ranch together. :???:

Ok maybe Ted is entertaining but he sure has hired some Morons.
 
CattleArmy said:
Why don't we go together as a group and buy it? Well most of us here weren't born in money or have yet to win the lottery and we can't get along here how in the world would we ever own a ranch together. :???: Interesting you say this as I've heard that same thing said by another ' sandhill' rancher just yesterday....kinda sad really that everyone can't work together for the same outcome


Ok maybe Ted is entertaining but he sure has hired some Morons.
...and you have only hired people that fall into the ' genius' category....ever???? Somehow I'd bet you've had a moron or two yourself in the past.
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the problem with outbidding Ted is you can't do it. When his buyers show up they don't walk away without the land. With his billions he doesn't care what it cost as he doesn't expect the land to pay for itself
 

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