LMD Nov 2020

Riding Herd “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

November 15, 2020 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 62 • No. 11

Missing Pieces LEE PITTS

T

he Digest publisher, Caren Cowan, is as connected as anyone in the borderlands. Her extended family has ranched in Arizona and New Mexico for generations. One of her credible sources recently told her that the drug cartels are now smuggling workers across the border to work at major meatpacking plants. The source said the packers are paying the cartels $12,000 a head! The packer then provides housing and food and the employees work off the debt over time... with interest of course.

Caren passed this tip along to me hoping I could verify it knowing that it would be a blockbuster exclusive. So I called packer friends of mine to confirm the story and even talked with a couple illegals to see if they had heard anything like this. But the deeper I dug the more I had a nagging feeling I’d heard this story before. Then it hit me... I’d already written this story!

Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.

partly because he promised to build a border wall which a majority of people find most appealing. But our dirty little secret here in America is that while we rant and rave about illegal aliens they are mowing our lawns, bussing the tables at our favorite restaurants, reroofing our houses and perhaps most importantly, they are harvesting our crops and putting food on our tables. The beef business is no different. You can cuss the illegals but without the them there’s a good chance the beef business in America would be caput!

The fact of the matter is, illegal immigrants play a vital role in our economy. In Arizona alone employers depend on one million foreign workers, a third of whom are illegal, to work in low-wage jobs Americans won’t do. If you were a meatpacker and a large chunk of your illegal workforce was out on sick leave due to Covid 19 and the President ordered you to reopen your plants but you could find no Americans willing to do the work, in desperation might you not try to recruit workers from Mexico and Central America?

The real problem is the BIG FOUR meatpackers have concentrated their business in behemoth plants that must be fed a constant supply of low wage workers to labor in cold, dangerous and crowded plants. And these plants go through people faster than a bad chimichanga.

ecutors indicted Tyson and six ties these days that are plowed employees, including two exec- under or left rotting in the field utives, and in December 2001, because the farmers couldn’t three of those employees pled find anyone willing to harvest guilty and were fired. The in- them, the beef industry also has dictment charged that “Tyson a major bottleneck that could had a corporate culture that cripple our industry at any time. condoned such behavior,” but You as a rancher can do everyduring the trial Tyson insisted thing right, buy the best bulls that the illegal activity case was and have the best performing limited to a handful of man- cattle in the feedlot but if you agers who had been operating can’t get them processed at outside of company policy. Said a packing plant it will all have a Tyson spokesman, ‘’No one in been for nought. We could end the corporate offices knew of up like the pig farmers in Minthis.’’ nesota who, according to The And a jury came to the same Star Tribune, were having to euconclusion. Tyson, the company, thanize as many as 10,000 hogs per day because there was no was found not guilty.

After reading my story I real- place to get them processed. ized that if the federal government couldn’t get the goods on It’s Not That Simple All For Nought Tyson, or any of the other three On August 3 of last year a When I regained my memo- major packers, it was doubtful gunman walked into a crowded ry I searched my filing cabinets that I could build a case with Wal Mart in El Paso Texas, and and sure enough, I found that my limited resources. But the killed 22 people and wounded 20 years ago I wrote a story in exercise was good because it 26 others to halt what he called this newspaper about the Justice made me realize that just as “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Department filing a 36 count with many other ag commodi- President Trump was elected continued on page two indictment accusing Tyson of arranging to transport illegal immigrants across the border and a country desperately in need of affordable helping them to get counterfeit building materials), and entire watersheds work papers for jobs at 15 Tyson (upon which Colorado and Wyoming complants in 9 states from 1994 to munities depend for their water supplies). We 2001. It was the largest case in have lost an untold number of wild animals, history brought against a major with minimum estimates being in the tens of American company involving thousands of dead deer, elk, mountain sheep,

BY HARRIET HAGEMAN, NCLALEGAL.ORG the smuggling of immigrants. coyotes, small mammals, and birds. The longImmigration and Naturalne fundamental problem with term environmental consequences of these catization Service undercover having agencies in Washington, astrophic forest fires are incalculable. agents worked on the case for DC issue thousands of regulaThese fires are tragic beyond measure, but 30 months and eventually prostions that apply to everyone and the real tragedy is that they were only made everywhere in the country is that there is simply possible by the National Forest Service and its no way for them to consider the thousands of decision to block access to and management of ways in which their one-size-fits-all approach 58.5 million acres of Forest Service lands (1/3 can go wrong. One area especially rife with of the entire National Forest inventory), the peril is in the management of our federal lands. vast majority of which are located in the interiOn October 24, 2020, Estes Park, Colorado, or west (with Colorado being home to 4.2 milhome of the iconic Stanley Hotel and gateway lion of such roadless areas and Wyoming havto the Rocky Mountain National Park, was ing another 3.2 million). It was in 2001 that the evacuated. There were three fires bearing down Forest Service adopted a regulation—known on the small mountain community. The Cam- as the “Roadless Rule” (66 Fed.Reg. 3244)— eron Peak Fire began on August 13, 2020, and, barring all road construction and maintenance, at over 207,000 acres, is the largest in Colora- thereby preventing not only the access necesdo history. The CalWood Fire began October sary for proper management of these lands but 17, 2020, and is close to 10,000 acres. The apt- ensuring that when a fire started, there would ly named East Troublesome Fire began on Oc- be limited access to prevent the uncontrollable tober 14, 2020, and grew to over 170,000 acres conflagrations we are experiencing now. in ten days, burning as many as 6,000 acres The Forest Service was warned that the per hour as of October 23. The nearby Mullen Roadless Rule would have devastating effects Fire in Wyoming is over 175.000 acres. By way on forest health and the environment. Accordof comparison, Rhode Island is 988,864 acres, ing to an April 1999 GAO Report entitled so these four fires have already consumed over “Catastrophic Wildfire Threats,” “[t]he most half of the land area of an entire state. extensive and serious problem related to the These fires have destroyed homes and other health of national forests in the interior West structures, millions of trees, millions of board continued on page four feet of what could have been usable lumber (in

Bad Regulations Destroy Our Environment

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

O

by LEE PITTS

Impaired Memory

W

hen I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not. Now that I’m a senior citizen I can’t remember things I didn’t know I’d forgotten. As a writer I often have ideas for a column and in the past they were etched into my photographic memory and I could remember them days later, but now if I don’t write them down immediately the film never gets developed. I don’t even have the memory of a goldfish which is three seconds. I’m so concerned about my memory loss that I made an appointment to talk about it with my doctor but by the time I got face to face with him I forgot what I was there for.

That’s why a recent letter from my friend Monte Mills was so appreciated.

Monte’s name may strike a chord with some of you.

In my neck of the woods if you have an affair that celebrates our western culture and you want to hire a band for country entertainment, Monte Mills and his Lucky Horseshoe Band is the first name that comes to mind.

Monte is a fabulous performer and you never know who he might drag along as a guest in his band. It might be a old member of Merle Haggard’s band or a young girl who plays the fiddle better than Charlie Daniels did and sings like a songbird.

I first met Monte decades ago when I hired him as my horseshoer. After one visit I never used anyone else. Not only was Monte a great horseshoer but my horse Gentleman liked Monte’s crude dog tricks. So did I. I don’t know if Monte’s most recent story is a true one or fabricated but it sure sounds like something that could’ve happened. I better tell it while I can still remember it.

It seems that Cooter had just left the sale barn in Butte, Montana, and as he left the building he reached into his right pant’s pocket for his truck keys and got that sick feeling all of us elderly Americans get when we lose something. Cooter gave himself a rather intimate TSA pat down and couldn’t find his keys in

continued on page four

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Livestock Market Digest

MISSING PIECES

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According to the National Employment Law Project, “It’s not uncommon for plants to rehire an entire workforce annually.”

That’s why other than the occasional raid, we’ve turned a blind eye to the packers exploiting the illegals for their profit. BUT IT’S FOR OUR PROFIT TOO! Of the meatpacking industry’s 470,000 workers, 40% are illegal aliens, with 58% of those in South Dakota and 66% of the workers in Nebraska, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Even though there are still about 800 federally inspected slaughterhouses left in the country, a very small number of them account for the vast majority of production. Just 50 of the largest beef plants in this country account for 98% of slaughtering and processing. One eight story

hog plant in Sioux Falls that is open 24 hours a day produces 5% of the nation’s pork.

As they concentrated the meat business the BIG FOUR (two of which are Brazilian owned) moved production from big cities to smaller towns in middle America where work forces weren’t unionized and where the small towns that were previously dying on the vine, welcomed the meatpackers with open arms and huge tax incentives. Go to these towns today and you’ll probably find that the meatpacking plant is the only game in town and both the towns and counties look to the meat packers for jobs and taxes.

Needless to say, the meatpackers are treated with much deference when it comes to getting what they want.

So now we have these huge

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plants capable of processing a rank right up there with prisons million hogs per year or eight and resthomes as hotspots for million chickens. In just the first coronavirus infection. In just 25 of the current round of con- the first 90 days of the outbreak solidation the portion of hogs 5,000 packing plant workers slaughtered in plants that could in 19 states fell ill, and 20 died. process more than one million As Iowa Governor Kim Reyna year rose from 38 percent olds stated, “Virus outbreaks in in 1997 to 88 percent in 1997, packing plants are very difficult according to the USDA. One to contain.”

Smithfield plant in South DakoMegan Molteni of Wired ta, produces 18 million servings Magazine addressed this probof pork daily! lem in an article titled, “Why The problem with these huge Meatpacking Plants Have Beplants is that when something come Covid 19 Hot Spots.” goes wrong it can go TERRIBLY “In Texas,” Molteni wrote, wrong, as we found out with “the fastest growing Covid 19 Covid 19. When nearly one-fifth outbreak isn’t in Dallas or of all Wendy’s restaurants in the Houston or San Antonio, the country ran out of hamburgers state’s most densely packed as a result of Covid you know metro areas. It’s hundreds of you’ve got problems. miles to the north, in the dusty, windswept flatlands of Moore Big Spreaders County, population 20,000.

Large meatpacking plants Residents in Moore County have so far tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes Covid 19 at a rate ten times higher than the infection rates in the state’s largest cities.”

“So what’s in Moore County that’s making people so sick?” asks Molteni. “One of the nation’s largest beef processing facilities, where huge armies of employees slice, shave, and clean up to 5,000 cattle carcasses a day. Last month, Texas health officials launched an investigation into a cluster of Covid 19 cases linked to the massive meatpacking plant, which is operated by JBS.” Says Molteni, “In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem asked Smithfield to close its huge pork facility in Sioux Falls after testing revealed that the plant accounted for nearly half the coronavirus cases in the city and the surrounding county. The tests had revealed that the pork plant was the nation’s single largest “hot spot,” with about 16 percent of the 3,700 employees testing positive for the virus.”

How can this be that in some of the most heavily sanitized work spaces of any industry in the world that Covid is thriving?

“And it’s not just the U.S.,” according to Molteni. “Large Covid 19 clusters have also appeared in meatpacking plants around the world, including For advertising, subscription and Canada, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, and Australia. editorial inquiries write or call: “One, two, or three meatpacking plants—fine, you might exLivestock Market Digest pect that. But these outbreaks P.O. Box 7458 are clearly a worldwide pheAlbuquerque, N.M. 87194 nomenon,” says Nicholas ChrisTelephone: 505/243-9515 takis, head of the Human Nature Lab at Yale. “To me, that’s Fax: 505/349-3060 evidence that there’s something www.aaalivestock.com distinctive about meatpacking that’s adding to people’s risks of EDITORIAL and ADVERTISING STAFF catching Covid 19.”

CAREN COWAN . . . . Publisher According to the Center for LEE PITTS . . . . . . . . . Executive Editor Disease Control it’s not just because these people work in such CHUCK STOCKS . . . . Publisher Emeritus close proximity to other workers.

RANDY SUMMERS . . Sales It’s the sheer number of workers that largely contributes to the FALL MARKETING EDITION AD SALES problem. The aggressive ventilaRANDY SUMMERS, 505/850-8544 tion systems required to prevent meat from spoiling are also to email: rjsauctioneer@aol.com blame because they constantly stir up the air and droplets of FIELD EDITOR Covid. And recently some docDELVIN HELDERMON, 580/622-5754 tors have questioned whether 6 feet of social distance is enough 1094 Koller Rd, Sulpher, OK or if plexiglass boundaries and even masks are any good at all in halting the virus.

ADMINISTRATIVE and “If they do become sick, the PRODUCTION STAFF workers often lack access to JESSICA DECKER...Special Assistance testing and health care, which KRISTY HINDS.........Graphic Designer means they might accidentally spread the disease or continue clocking in until their symptoms become so bad they can’t work,

“ wrote Molteni. “Their undocumented status makes them less likely to seek medical care if they do get sick.”

Then there’s the fact that these people are highly sociable within their communities. They share rides to work and traditionally have large family gatherings. They are also so physically tough many do not even know when they are sick. When workers at one pork processing plant in Missouri were tested more than 370 employees tested positive but all of them were asymptomatic. According to an article in the LA Times written

by Stephen Groves and Sophia Tareen May, meatpacking has the fifth-highest concentration of refugee workers of all the occupations in the country. They quoted one Sudanese refuge as saying, “In my country they were killing in front of you. The coronavirus is nothing.”

It may not even be the packing plant’s fault. One doctor suggested that in such company towns, “We don’t know if the transmission occurred in the workplace or in the community.”

Beef’s Bottleneck According to Julie Niederhoff of Syracuse University, “Slaughterhouses have become a critical bottleneck in the system.

When they go down, we are in trouble.”

Covid 19 has illustrated how these plants are becoming the weakest link in beef production. You got just a little taste of that when the meat packers cut back to a 70 percent capacity. What would happen with an even more dangerous superbug is not pleasant to think about.

But perhaps we should because the seemingly endless supply of cheap labor coming across the southern border could be at an end.

According to the Labor Department, in 2000 more than half of American farmw orkers were undocumented. But now, because of enhanced border enforcement, the surging cost of smugglers (now up as high as $6,000 per head) and an ever-lengthening border wall, the number of people crossing into the U.S. illegally is nearing the lowest level in decades. Just chew on this little stat... today there are more Mexicans leaving the United States than are arriving here. This despite the fact that last year, the average hourly wage for an H-2A worker was $12.01 per hour, compared to Mexico’s $5-PER-DAY minimum wage.

Even though the number of U.S. agricultural visas grew from 165,000 to 242,000 since 2016, it’s not nearly enough and what are we going to do when no one else will do the work?

That’s the bind meatpackers find themselves in. That’s why recruiters drive through remote villages in Mexico, broadcasting their hiring sprees on portable radios, loudspeakers and in Facebook ads. That’s also why, as I found back 20 years ago, when you examine where the plant employees came from in one plant there’d be several dozen all from the same small town.

Don’t Put Anything Past Them In summary, I can’t say with certainty that any meatpacker is continued on page four

November 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

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Livestock Market Digest

BAD REGULATIONS RIDING HERD

continued from page one

any of his pockets so he did a the sale barn to ask the clerk quick 180 and went back into at the window if she’d fetch the sale barn. He went im- the phone number for the mediately to where he’d been highway patrol. Cooter gave sitting and asked everybody them all the pertinent inforin the immediate vicinity if mation about his stolen truck they’d seen his keys. Nope. and his contact information.

Then Cooter thought that Then Cooter made the call he’d probably just left his he dreaded. “Hello, Honey,” keys in his truck’s ignition he stammered. (He always like we’ve all done. Yup, that’s called Verna Faye “Honprobably what he did. His ey” when he was in the dogwife, Verna Faye, had scold- house.) “I’m afraid I left my ed him a thousand times for keys in the truck and wouldn’t leaving his keys in the ignition you know it, someone stole it.” and warned him that someThere was a long silence day someone would steal his and Cooter thought that permuch beloved truck. But the haps the cell call had been older Cotter got the more he dropped but then he heard believed in the ignition theory, the dulcet tones of Verna that it was the safest place to Faye. “Cooter,” she barked. leave his keys. That way he’d “I dropped you off at the sale always know where they were. barn on my way to the grocery Theoretically, at least. store, you @#$%^% idiot!”

So once again Cooter franMeekly Cooter asked, tically left the sale barn and “Well, Dear,” (that’s what he headed out into the parking called Verna Faye when he lot which was a sea of white was really in deep doo doo), pickup trucks. Cooter me- “would you come and get me?” thodically went up and down Verna Faye screamed, “I every row of trucks but the will just as soon as I can concloser he got to the end the vince these blankety-blank more he realized he was go- highway patrolmen that I ing to have to admit to Verna haven’t stolen your @#$%^& Faye that someone had in- truck. deed, stolen his truck. Once again Cooter went back into www.LeePittsbooks.com

MISSING PIECES

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illegally sneaking workers across our southern border. I will say this though... any company capable of bribing high-level government officials to the tune of $150 million to get the Brazilian government to finance them, as JBS did, is certainly capable of human trafficking. Any company that would participate in the price fixing scheme to fix prices in the broiler market that has ensnarled six poultry packers is certainly capable of border shenanigans. But sorry, I have no conclusive proof.

Here’s something else I can say with complete certainty: if we don’t decentralize our meatpacking industry, find a way to employ Americans in these plants, or come up with a better and easier to navigate worker visa program in the future we’ll have to buy our beef from Brazil, Mexico, other Central and South America countries, Australia, New Zealand and even Namibia where they have people willing and able to do the dirty work.

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is the over accumulation of veg- in number throughout the inteetation, which has caused an rior West. Such beetles eventuincreasing number of large, in- ally infected millions of acres of tense, uncontrollable, and cat- National Forest Service and priastrophically destructive wild- vately-owned lands, killing milfires.” The GAO issued even lions of trees and destroying our more dire warnings in its 2000 logging and related industries.

To make matters worse, the Report on the impact the Roadless Rule would have on “Eco- reason that the Cameron Peak Fire, the CalWood Fire, the East logical Sustainability.”

The GAO emphasized the Troublesome Fire, and the Mulfact that the Roadless Rule len Fire have burned out of conwould apply a national prohibi- trol for so long is because they tion on road construction “even all started in those areas that if local conditions suggest that suffered the worst outbreak of a road would help the agency the pine beetle infestation – the to restore and maintain desired roadless areas that the Forest ecological conditions.” The Service insisted on “protecting” Roadless Rule prohibited the through the Roadless Rule. The construction of a road regard- very areas that the Routt Naless of whether such roads were tional Forest employees warned necessary to “reduce the risk of their DC-cohorts about in 1999 uncontrollable and potentially and again in 2000. And now our catastrophic fire or to improve National Forests and parts of the forests’ resistance to insects the Rocky Mountain National and diseases that otherwise Park are burning to the ground, could kill and add to fuel loads.” exactly as we were forewarned The 2000 GAO Report also 20 years ago when the local citdiscussed the pine beetle out- izens and forest managers tried break that occurred in the Routt to convince Washington, DC National Forest in north-central that the one-size-fits-all RoadColorado following a 1997 blow- less Rule would be ecologically down that felled 13,000 acres of devastating.

The Forest Service rammed trees in or adjacent to inventories roadless areas. The Routt the Roadless Rule through the National Forest officials object- rulemaking process in a little ed to the Roadless Rule, cor- over a year from start to finish. rectly pointing out that it would In doing so, it violated every not allow them to construct the tenant of and purpose for the roads necessary to remove trees rulemaking requirements of the infested by the beetles living in Administrative Procedure Act the deadfall, thereby making it and the National Environmenimpossible for them to “protect tal Policy Act by refusing to highly valued resources, such as take a “hard look” at the enviscenic areas and adjacent camp- ronmental impacts of imposing grounds and ski slopes.” The a Washington, DC designed “experts” in Washington, DC one-size-fits-all approach to responded to such warnings by managing millions of acres of referring to such economic and land and other natural resourcenvironmental catastrophes as es. Those most affected by the being “unavoidable adverse ef- decisions coming out of Washington, DC had no voice in the fects.”

The 2000 GAO Report is matter. Those with the expertise especially important because to understand how truly devasthe potential disasters that tating the Roadless Rule would were predicted if the Roadless be were ignored.

The Roadless Rule represents Rule was adopted have, in fact, come true. Stated succinctly, the worst of regulatory overthe Roadless Rule prohibited reach and epitomizes the hubris the harvesting and treatment of so evident in agencies and butrees within that beetle kill area, reaucrats who believe that they with the beetles then exploding can control impacts and out-

November 15, 2020 continued from page one

comes by merely wishing it were so and issuing orders that mandate subservience to outlandish ideas. In a representative government—the one reflected in our Constitution—the citizens would have a say in how their resources are managed and the risks associated with bad policy decisions. Those discussions would take place with their elected officials (we are a Republic after all), with those most affected having a voice in the decisions made. In this case, there was only one constituency given voice—the one that dreamt up this idea in the first place, being the voice of those individuals who will never be held accountable for the destruction that they have caused.

Estes Park’s most famous landmark, the Stanley Hotel, was the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining,” the story of a haunted hotel, and what would soon become its deranged caretaker. It is possibly one of the most well-known ghost stories and movies ever written or put up on the silver screen, with ghosts, haunted rooms, and madness playing out over a long cold winter in the Rocky Mountains. Halloween is an especially appropriate time to grab a bucket of popcorn and watch this timeless classic.

In terms of reality, however, the scariest thing that has actually happened to Estes Park (and other mountain communities) and the Stanley Hotel came in the form of a bunch of people wearing Forest Service badges sitting in Washington, DC deciding that they could use the Administrative Procedure Act to throw open the gates of hell. The tragedy is that is exactly what has happened, and the folks of Colorado, Wyoming, and other areas where the Roadless Rule applies will forever suffer the consequences of one-size-fits-all regulations causing bad outcomes and destroying our environment in the process.

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November 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

Wealthy Investors Seem to be Exploiting LandConservation Tax Breaks & the Senate is Taking Notice

BY HAISTEN WILLIS / WASHINGTON POST

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art of a 227-acre parcel protected under a conservation easement that resulted in a multimillion dollar tax write-off is seen from the air using a drone on Thursday, October 22, 2020 in Fort Gaines, GA. (Elijah Nouvelage/For The Washington Post) Clay County sits in a remote southwestern corner of Georgia, more than 60 miles from any interstate, with no hospital, pharmacy, red light or high school inside its borders. Yet in 2013 developers claimed more than $12.1 million in tax write-offs by promising to protect hundreds of acres of undeveloped land from a major construction project: an 800-unit seniors housing facility, according to a report from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Conservation easements — tax breaks granted to protect undeveloped land — have become an increasingly common practice over the last decade, especially in Georgia.

Trump got a $21 million tax break for saving the forest outside his N.Y. mansion. Now the deal is under investigation.

Syndicated conservation easements, such as the one in Clay County, grant write-offs to multiple partners, each buying a share in a tract of land. They are attracting increased scrutiny from lawmakers and the IRS as a means for the wealthy to avoid paying their appropriate share of taxes.

As of February, about 84 percent of syndicated easements were in some stage of an IRS audit, according to the finance committee report, which was released in August. The report found that about $10.6 billion of tax revenue was lost to syndicated easements between 2010 and 2017. And lawmakers in September introduced a new bill aimed at closing such loopholes.

The IRS publicly flagged syndicated conservation easements in December 2016, and the Department of Justice filed suit against several Georgia-based promoters two years later. But the amount of tax revenue lost to easements continues to grow.

IRS data shows total deductions claimed through syndicators rose to $9.2 billion in 2018 from $6.8 billion in 2017.

“The IRS shamed these scammers by publicly listing these transactions, but the continued growth in their numbers shows that shame alone won’t do the trick,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement in September. “The IRS and the Department of Justice will continue to do their job enforcing the law. Now it’s the job of Congress to clearly prohibit these abusive schemes.”

If it becomes law, the Senate bill would prevent entities’ taking a charitable deduction greater than 2.5 times what was paid for the land.

Wealthy retirees got a tax break from the coronavirus relief bill Conservation easements grant tax write-offs for the value a piece of land loses to remain

undeveloped when it might otherwise become apartments or a big-box store, prioritizing what has been described as “cows over condos.”

The syndicated deals targeted by the Senate bill involve land that was likely never going to be developed anyway.

They rely on a sharply inflated appraisal, the finance committee report found, sometimes valuing land at more than 250 times what was paid for it just a few years prior, then writing off the difference in value once the easement is granted.

“These transactions really have nothing to do with conservation and everything to do with claiming tax deductions,” said Adam Looney, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has written about syndicated easements. “Many of these transactions are designed just based on the financial incentives

to save money on taxes. The conservation value, the whole public purpose of the subsidy, is not part of the analysis or part of the transaction.”

Promoters, mostly in the Southeast, who organize the deals, finding the land and marketing it to potential investors, have discovered a business model to sell “investments” in sham projects, according to the Senate Finance Committee report. As part of their operation, the promoters to vote on an easement, and then share millions of dollars in tax write-offs with those investors after the easement is granted. Generally, these efforts save $2 in taxes for every $1 paid in to the tax shelter, according to the Senate report.

Under current law, those tax write-offs can be distributed among multiple partners, with emails included in the Senate report showing clients essentially placing orders for how much easement write-off they’d like to buy.

“This is the only area of law where a taxpayer can claim a charitable deduction for giving away something that they can still use for themselves,” Looney said. “And they have an

Page 5 enormous amount of autonomy over how much the donation is worth.”

According to an analysis by Looney, 36 percent of all easement deductions nationally between 2010 and 2012 were claimed by Georgia taxpayers.

One individual in Rome made $1.5 million arranging three easements in 2016 alone, the Senate report found.

Georgia’s political geography Why Georgia? While a state income tax break approved in 2006 probably played a role, no one is exactly sure how the Peach State became the syndicated conservation easement state.

“I don’t think there’s any good explanation,” Looney said.

“Why did Silicon Valley become Silicon Valley? Just a handful of guys in and around Rome invented this. I assume they all know each other. They had some mix of legal knowledge, experience in real estate translations, tax planning services, and then they figured out they could supercharge it with these syndications. I don’t think it takes a lot to become the largest player in the conservation easement

space.”

Part of a 227-acre parcel protected under a conservation easement that resulted in a multimillion dollar tax write-off is seen from the air using a drone on Thursday, October 22, 2020 in Fort Gaines, GA. (Elijah Nouvelage/For The Washington Post) One of the biggest questions surrounding conservation easements is whether they’d be suitable for building if left unprotected. Clay County’s population today is less than half what it was 100 years ago, with thousands of acres sitting undisturbed and unlikely to see development.

The 227-acre Clay County property originally sold for $609,246, was appraised at $12.4 million factoring in the seniors’ development, then valued at $295,100 after an easement was granted. The result: $12.1 million in tax write-offs that were split among several investors, as noted in the Senate report.

Land owner Adam Smith Ventures LLC and developer Webb Creek Management Group also made money in the continued on page six

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Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

Molly McAdams Named Executive Vice President of Texas Beef Council SOURCE: TEXAS BEEF COUNCIL

Molly K. McAdams, Ph.D., has joined the Texas Beef Council (TBC) as its new executive vice president. McAdams replaces Richard Wortham, who will retire from the position in December after 30 years of leadership with TBC. McAdams will be responsible for providing vision and strategic planning, ensuring TBC’s fiscal health, optimizing staff recruitment and development, overseeing programs, serving as a staff liaison to several committees and numerous other duties.

Prior to accepting her new position with the TBC, McAdams was the president and co-founder of Om3, where she used her indepth knowledge of food and animal science, marketing and manufacturing to help small to mid-sized meat producers grow their businesses. She also spent nearly 13 years with Texas grocery chain H-E-B, starting out as the cooked meats business development manager, then moving on to the director of business management role before eventually becoming vice president of the company’s “Own Brand” and its corporate health and wellness officer.

McAdams is a former member of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Board, as well as a former member, vice chair and committee chair for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Product Enhancement Committee. McAdams received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science/meat science from the University of Florida before achieving her doctorate in agriculture from Texas Tech University.

“The role of the executive vice president at the Texas Beef Council is extremely important, and we knew it would be a challenge to replace Richard when he announced his retirement earlier this year,” said Brad Hastings, TBC chairman from Amarillo. “Molly brings many years of beef industry experience to the table, as well as a truly entrepreneurial spirit. Her fresh perspective and outlook will be invaluable as we continue to drive the Texas beef industry forward in the years ahead.”

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Muscogee Nation Breaks Ground on $10M Facility

BY PETER THOMAS RICCI / MEATINGPLACE.COM

T

he Muscogee (Creek) Nation has broken ground on a $10 million meat processing facility in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma.

According to a report from Tulsa World, the facility will be for the tribe’s Looped Square meat brand; the 25,000-squarefoot plant will process beef and pork, and will also have dry aging and smoking stations. CARES

WEALTHY INVESTORS deal. Webb Creek Management Group received $200,000, plus $10,000 per year through 2017.

The appraiser received $12,500, a law firm received $35,000, accountants received $12,000, and wealth management firm Dempsey Lord Smith got $250,000 in “broker placement fees.”

Webb Creek did not respond to requests for comment, forwarding the requests to the Partnership for Conservation, a lobbying group that advocates for syndicated easements.

The lobbying group did not comment directly on the Clay County deal. In a statement on its website, Webb Creek called the Senate Finance Committee report a disappointment.

“Although the SFC’s conclusion that syndicated conservation easement transactions ‘cannot reasonably be characterized as anything other than abusive tax shelters’ did not come as a surprise, it was nevertheless disappointing,” the statement said.

“Equally disappointing was the wholesale refusal to acknowledge or even inquire into the benefits provided by the preservation of thousands upon thousands of acres of important real estate across the country.”

The Adam Smith Ventures property was rezoned by the county’s board of commissioners for high-density residential, but the project was never built, and seven years later there still has been no significant new se-

Act funding is being used for the construction, and when the plant is completed in early 2021, it will employ up to 25 people.

Additionally, the plant will be USDA inspected, and will feature a special “wildlife wing” for customers to bring hunted animals for processing.

“We’re doing our best to put a lot of equipment in,” said Trenton Kissee, the tribe’s director of agriculture and natural resources, to Tulsa World. “It’s going to set us apart and make us unique from other processing facilities in the area or in the region.”

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continued from page four

niors housing in Clay.

The county administrator and commission chair who approved the rezoning have since left their posts, and neither responded to attempts to reach them. Clay County’s current administrator, Ronnie Crozier, expressed doubt that the property was suitable for housing, describing it as swampy. Asked if the land could support 800 seniors homes, he said, “maybe if you put them on stilts.”

Easements often allow limited development even after being granted, such as private homes or recreational buildings.

Crozier said the Clay County property has been used for hunting, and some of it was recently harvested for timber.

Ken Penuel, the county’s economic development director, played down the easement’s impact on the local area, calling it “a non-issue for Clay County” and “an IRS tax issue” via email.

Controversy around syndicated conservation easements has swirled in tax circles for years, eventually landing on the doorstep of lawmakers.

The Senate investigation was spurred in part by competing lobbying groups, Partnership for Conservation and the Land Trust Alliance, with Partnership making the case for syndicated easements and Alliance arguing against them.

The Senate launched its investigation on March 27, 2019, sending letters to 14 individuals

November 15, 2020

The View B FROM THE BACK SIDE

The Beginning of the West y the time that you read this we should know the results of Election Day. America will either be better or worse depending on your point of view. However, just having it over with is a relief.

Perhaps now, the real trouble will begin. One thing you need to do is get out there and protect your favorite statue. Maligning our nation’s founders and heroes seems to be commonplace in today’s public schools and colleges. What a true disservice this has been to American youth.

On top of it all, in many cases, we have rogues and hoodlums destroying public property and not being held accountable.

I wanted to talk a little about real history and not the indoctrination version that has been taught in American public schools for the last several years. You may be wondering what this has to do with livestock, but it has everything to do with the western way of life and how we began.

Since this day I’m writing is Columbus Day in America, let’s discuss that for a moment. No matter how you view Christopher Columbus we wouldn’t be here without him. The history of Columbus is well documented, extensive, and easy to understand.

Can you imagine the courage and fortitude this man had to try and sail west when all the experts told him the world was flat and he would fall off the edge of the earth? He was convinced the world was round and that it rotated on its axis around the sun.

When all odds were against him, the Italian explorer finally convinced the king and queen of Spain to back his expedition. That in itself is a small miracle.

However, the indoctrinated left has been trying to convince our school children that Columbus was a genocidal maniac. If you look at the evidence he killed no one. Bartolome de Las Casas the Dominican priest who was known as “defender of the Indians,” knew Christopher Columbus well and spoke of the “sweetness” of his temperament and his, “good intentions.”

Columbus did not bring slavery, racism, inequality, or exploitation to the New World. It already existed here. The people that lived here in the New World were no different than the people that came here from the Old World. They had the same traits, good and bad.

When other Spaniard explorers arrived they saw large empires created by the Toltec, Incans, and the Olmecs. These empires were built by conquest and slavery. The Spaniards were horrified at the vast numbers of human beings that had had their hearts cut out and their bodies thrown down the steps of the temples in Tenochtitlan-the center of Mexico City. No culture through history has been exempt from torture and misdeeds.

Just stop and think about this a little bit. Without Columbus and the Spaniards that followed, we wouldn’t have our great horses, cattle, the missions, vaqueros, cowboys, and ranchos that were developed from them. If you live in America there is so much to celebrate about Christopher Columbus.

George Washington is America. There is no one else that has done so much for our country at such a critical time. Once again the history of Washington is well documented and extensive.

suspected of promoting syndicated transactions. Eighteen months and more than 500,000 pages of documents later, the finished report laid out the case that syndicated easements are “abusive” tax shelters that risk undermining public trust in both the tax system and environmental conservation efforts.

Technically, syndicates must vote on whether to develop a property, hold it for investment or grant an easement, the report found. In practice the investigation found these votes were often 95 percent or more in favor of easements. One deal didn’t even get a vote, the easement apparently a foregone conclusion.

The Land Trust Alliance applauded the report and is pushing for passage of the Senate

We now have radical leftists trying to discredit the “father of our country” because he happened to be a slave owner.

First of all if you are going to discredit someone who is a national hero then you should have some attributes that qualify you to do just that.

From what I can see George Washington’s critics have done nothing for this country, yet they seek to destroy someone that gave everything for this country. Many volumes of books have been written about George Washington, so information regarding how he really was is prevalent.

You have to keep in mind that slavery was the norm for that time period and location. He also had the reputation of being very good to his slaves. Upon his death in 1799 all his slaves were freed. By most accounts, the vast majority stayed on at Mount Vernon and did not care to leave.

However, this is pretty much a non issue as there is nothing that you or I can do about a perceived injustice that occurred over 200 years ago.

The issue of reparations is the stupidest idea I have heard yet. Reparations for who, the slaves or the guys that fought to free the slaves? They are all dead. It’s a moot point.

Besides, winning the Revolutionary War against the most formidable army in the world, George Washington served as the first American President from 1789 to 1797. He was known for his due diligence to get the country in good financial shape which he accomplished.

He also knew that the new Constitution had to be made to work if democracy were to prevail in America. This could not have happened if he had chosen to become a lifelong king or if federal laws had been ignored. I can think of very few that have given this country more.

I bet you already know this George Washington quote, “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and the most noble employment of man.” George Washington’s farms included 5000 acres with tobacco being his primary crop. He also raised wheat, corn, carrots, cabbage, and a host of other vegetables. Mr. Washington also kept meticulous records and was very interested in husbandry.

Perhaps least known of his exploits was his development of the American mule. As a matter of fact he is known as, “The Father of American Mules.”

He began breeding mules when he imported a stud jack donkey that was given to him by the King of Spain in 1785. He was the first American breeder of mules as he recognized their value to the American farmer. I’m not quite certain just how many “firsts” that Washington racked up, but he was truly a leader among men.

It looks to me like we have a generation that was not ever taught anything good about Christopher Columbus or George Washington. That is truly a disgrace and if you are involved with public education in America and you did nothing to stop the indoctrination then shame on you.

As of July 10th 2020 President Donald Trump asked the Treasury Department to look into defunding universities promoting left wing indoctrination and history. Finally, if it’s not too late, we may get our country back.

Speaking of the West, I think it is now our turn to help save the great western states of California, Oregon, and Washington from their own extreme left wing politics. If you are a city that doesn’t want a statue then just call me instead of ruining them. I have room for several here at the ranch.

(The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association or this publication.)

bill. “[The bill] doesn’t allow a deduction if you exceed 2.5 times the initial investment,” said Lori Faeth, the group’s government relations director. “It goes right at the heart of the problem and drives a knife through it.”

She added that syndicated easements are open only to the very wealthy, a loophole “for rich people to get wealthier.”

Robert Ramsay, chairman and president of Partnership for Conservation, argues that the bigger issue is inflated land appraisals, which he said the bill does not address.

“Valuation is the big issue here, not the land ownership type,” he said.

Ramsay, the former head of the Georgia Conservancy, also noted that the bill would not

address land deals involving just one wealthy individual. “It doesn’t apply to an individual owner like a President Trump, a Steve Jobs, a Ted Turner, or any other mega-wealthy landowner.”

The bill aims to not only wipe out future syndicated easements but also is retroactive all the way to 2016, potentially wiping out billions of dollars’ worth of tax write-offs.

It is unclear if Congress will take up the bill in the lame duck session. While it has bipartisan support it is not on many people’s radar — a reality acknowledged by Grassley.

“Shady tax deals often have a low profile with the public,” Grassley said in a statement when the Senate investigation was released. “That doesn’t make them any less wrong.”

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November 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

Page 7

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

July 15, 2019 Selling residential, farm, ranch, commercial and relocating properties.

COLETTA RAY

Pioneer Realty 1304 Pile Street, Clovis, NM 88101

575-799-9600 Direct 575.935.9680 Office 575.935.9680 Fax coletta@plateautel.net www.clovisrealestatesales.com

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES 208 ACRES, 39 MILES OUT OF DALLAS – High traffic count, long frontage on U.S. Highway ready for a developer. $14,000 per acre, 25 acre $700. Ready to develop.

230 ACRE GAME & RETREAT that is a dream. Lakes, woods, meadows, game galore, 35 miles out of Dallas, Kaufman County.

133 ACRES – 24 Miles out of Dallas, ready to develop. $13,000 per acre Paul Bottari, Broker 313 ACRES 775/752-3040 NORTH OF DALLAS ON MAJOR HIGHWAYS 121 & Nevada Farms 69 – Nice horse barn with living quarters. $11,500 &

BenDigest G. Scott – Broker Livestock Market www.scottlandcompany.com

Krystal M. Nelson – NM QB 800-933-9698 5:00 a.m./10:00 p.m.

RANCH & FARM REAL ESTATE

We need listings on all types of ag properties large or small!

■ ALAMOSA CREEK RANCH – Roosevelt Co., NM – 14,982 +/- acres. Good cow ranch in Eastern NM excellent access via US 60 frontage between Clovis and Fort Sumner. Alamosa creek crosses through the heart of the gently rolling grassland.

■ TRINCHERA CREEK – Colfax Co., NM – 1,513 +/acres. Located off the northern rim of Johnson Mesa.

Features of the ranch include: 1,300 feet of elevation change, great elk hunting, Trinchera Creek, custom built log home, horse facilities incl. indoor arena, pine trees, lake and tanks, irrigation rights, etc…

■ SWEETWATER CREEK – Wheeler Co., TX – 640 acres of scenic ranch Second land traversed seasonal NM Sweetwater 521 West St. • byPortales, 88130 orof575-226-0672 just a few miles west New Mobeetie, TX. fax 200 Creek575-226-0671 feet of elevation change.

MINERALS INCLUDED! Buena Vista Realty ■ VALENCIA SPRINGS RANCH, GUADALUPE Qualifying Broker: CO., NM – 15,701.47 A.H. deeded(Jack) acres,Merrick 1,640 NM State Lease, 120 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com BLM, 837 Private Lease, beautiful new home plus ranch manager’s home, good pens, water and fences.

■ NE TEXAS IRRIGATED FARM – Red River Co., TX. 1326 ac. with 6 pivots, unlimited water from 6 lakes with 100+ ac. of surface area. Excellent farm or cattle • 83 acre wood home with barns, operation. meadows woods.

Fronts–State ■ PRICE REDUCED!and PECOS RIVER RANCH a scenic, 968 +/ac., will sell in tracts of 418 ac. & 550 ac., live Rd. $545,000 water ranch that lies along both sides of the Pecos River between Santa Rosa & Ft. Sumner, NM. Wildlife, water Ranger Eastland Co,who is & cattle• 160 makeacre an excellent pairing for the buyer looking$560,000 for top tier assets in a rugged New Mexico Ranch.

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY

Bar M Real Estate

On the Plaza

Donald Brown

SCOTT MCNALLY

Qualifying Broker

505-507-2915 cell www.ranchesnm.com 505-838-0095 fax 575/622-5867

116 Plaza PO Box 1903 Socorro, 87801 RanchNM Sales & Appraisals www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com

575/420-1237

Scott Land co.

Ranch & Farm Real Estate

Bottari Realty

raNch PrOPerTY Joe www.bottarirealty.com Priest Real Estate

1-800/671-4548

joepriestre.net1301 • joepriestre@earthlink.com Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott - Broker Krystal M. Nelson - NM Qualifying Broker 800-933-9698 • 5:00am/10:00pm www.scottlandcompany.com

WE NEED LISTINGS ON ALL TYPES OF AG PROPERTIES LARGE OR SMALL!

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

■ PRICE REDUCED! MALPAIS OF NM – ■ PECOS RIVER RANCH – Guadalupe Co., Lincoln/Socorro Counties, 37.65 sections +/- NM – Scenic, 968 +/- ac. deeded & 519 (13,322 ac. +/- Deeded, 8,457 ac. +/- BLM +/- state lease acres, live water ranch on both Lease, 2,320 ac. +/- State Lease) good, useable sides of the Pecos River (strong flow daily) improvements & water, some irrigation w/water between Santa Rosa & Ft. Sumner; wildlife, rights for 2 pivot sprinklers, on pvmt. & all-weather paired w/water & cattle for the buyer looking road. for top tier assets in a rugged New Mexico ■ UNION CO., NM – 955 ac. +/- w/excellent ranch!

• 270 acre Mitchell County, Texas improvements for a stocker or cow/calf operation, ■ LOGAN/NARA VISA, NM – 980 ac. +/modern ¼ mi. sprinkler, all-weather roads on three w/940.6 ac. CRP, irrigated in the past, land lays ranch. Investors dream; excellent sides, 374 ac. +/- CRP. good & is located on the north side of Hwy. 54. cash flow. Rock formation being ■ MIAMI SPECIAL – Colfax Co., NM – 40 ac. ■ TOP OF THE WORLD – Union Co., NM – +/- w/irrigated pastures, great cattle working & 5,025.76 +/- ac. of choice grassland w/statecrushed and sold; wind turbans, handling facilities & a beautiful home, on pvmt., of-the-art working pens, recently remodeled some minerals. Irrigation water irrigated from Miami Lake. bunk house, barbed wire fences in very good ■ WE CAN NOW DIVIDE – THE PAJARITO to new condition, well watered, on pvmt. developed, crop & cattle, modest RANCH – Guadalupe Co., NM as follows: 3501.12 ■ SANTA ROSA, NM – 78 ac. +/- heavily improvements. Just off I-20. Price Buenawater VistawellRealty at 575-226-0671 ac. +/- of grassland w/aCall commercial improved for horses, cattleor&the otherlisting livestockagent w/ Lori Bohm 575-760-9847, or Melody Sandberg 575-825-1291. located adjacent to I40 w/capability of producing virtually new barns, pens, cross fences etc., on reduced to $1.25 million. pictures onwater, MLS w/internet or www.buenavista-nm.com large incomes together w/aMany great good set of pens, a city access to the front gate.

17,000 gal. water storage tank, overhead cake ■ OTERO CO., NM – 120 scenic ac. +/- on bin, hay barn & other stock wells. 700.89 ac. the Rio Penasco is surrounded by Lincoln • 840 Immaculate, Hunt Co, TX. +/- of grassland can be purchased in addition National Forest lands covered in Pines & Qualityto the ranch property in northern ChavesupCounty, New Mexico approximately miles 40 northwest Ranch.20 Pastures, tanks, andof 3501.12 ac. The located beautiful, virtually new opening to a grass covered meadow built homeinw/all a large deeded Elida.custom Configured twoamenities tracts and of 7,200 acres andof the 640Rio acres state lease. by three along 3,300 feet +/Penasco.ofThis lakes.Watered Beautiful home, barns,wells virtually new metal barn w/an apartment inside property is an ideal location to build a legacy and pipelines. capacity to be 130 animal units yearlong. Pricedandatother $370improvements. per deededSome acre. on 40 ac. canGrazing be purchased separatelyestimated or w/the mountain getaway home. ranch.

Adjoins the Boylan Ranch if more acreage minerals, game galore. All for $1.35 Call foris desired. more information and a brochure. ■ TEXLINE SPECIAL – 472.4 ac. irr., on Dalhart/Clayton hwy. in New Mexico, adjoins million.

■ THE BOYLAN RANCH – Newkirk, NM - 2,360 the Grassland w/Organic Potential. ac. +/- w/useable house & pens, a large domestic ■ GRASSLAND W/ORGANIC POTENTIAL well for lvstk./wildlife watering w/potential for – Union Co., NM - adjoins the Texline Special, commercial water sales, all weather road. Adjoins 927.45 ac. +/-, on pvmt.

Pajaritolocated Creek Ranchapproximately if more acreage is desired.

Cattletheranch 50 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico along and on both sides of the ■ FT. SUMNER, NM – 17 ac. +/- w/water ■ BROWN CO., TX – near Brookesmith 424.79 Lincoln/Chaves County line. Acreage includes deededin alfalfa acres,& a3,600 rights 3,048 currently planted beautifulNM State Lease acres and 11,905 ac. +/-, very scenic ranch w/one mi. of Clear Creek, home built in 2007 w/3 bdrms., 3 bathrooms, FederalhighlyBLM leaseranch acres (18,900 Total Acres).

Grazing capacity set at 450 animal units yearlong. Divided into improved w/fencing, well watered, an oversize garage & a 24X50 metal shop. home, hunting cabin & abundant wildlife.

CALDWELL RANCH

GALLO RANCH

Joe Priest Real Estate

1-800/671-4548

joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

four larger pastures and two smaller holding traps. Headquarters improvements include residence, barns and pipe pens with scales. Water is provided by four wells and buried pipeline. The Gallo Draw runs through the entire ranch provides significant overflow areas of giant sacaton. Most of the permitted animal units utilized the Gallo Draw throughout the summer. Not many ranches in the area are blessed with this asset. Come take a look.

Price: $3,995,000 (8,880.00/Animal Unit). Call for more information and a brochure.

Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker

SULTEMEIER RANCH – First time offering of a ranch that has been owned and operated Bar Real Estate, by the same family for over 70 M years.

Fifteen miles LLC southeast of Corona, NM in Lincoln County. 11, 889 Deeded Acres,428, 1,640 Roswell, Federal BLM Lease Acres and 2,240 NM State P.O. Box NM 88202 Lease Acres. Grazing Capacity estimated at 300 AUYL. Water provided by five wells and Office: 575-622-5867 Cell: 575-420-1237 pipelines. Improved with two residences, barns and corrals. The ranch had a good summer Website: with abundant grass.

Good mulewww.ranchesnm.com deer habitat. Call for a brochure or view on my website.

Price: $4,400,000 $4,100,000

U N DER

19TH STREET FARM – Located just outside the city limits of Roswell, NM. Six total acres with 5.7 acres of senior artesian water rights. Improved with a 2, 200 square foot residence,

Bar M Real Estate

Page 7

Selling residential, farm, ranch, commercial and relocating properties. www.ranchesnm.com

SCOTT MCNALLY COLETTA RAY

575/622-5867 575/420-1237 575-799-9600 Direct

Pioneer Realty 1304 Pile Street, Clovis, NM 88101

Ranch Sales & Appraisals 575.935.9680 Office 575.935.9680 Fax coletta@plateautel.net www.clovisrealestatesales.com

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY 521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130 On the Plaza 575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax Donald Brown

Qualifying Broker

Buena Vista Realty

505-507-2915 cell Qualifying Broker: 505-838-0095 fax A.H. (Jack) 116 Merrick Plaza 575-760-7521 PO Box 1903 www.buenavista-nm.com

Socorro, NM 87801 www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com

Realty AG LAND LOANS AGBottari LAND LOANS AsLow Low 3% As AsAs 4.5% Paul Bottari, Broker OPWKCAP 2.9% OPWKCAP 2.9%

775/752-3040

INTEREST RATESAS AS LOW 3% INTEREST RATES LOW ASAS 4.5% Payments Scheduledon on2525 Years Payments Scheduled Years

Nevada Farms & Joe Stubblefield & Associates raNch PrOPerTY 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX

806/622-3482 • cell 806/674-2062 joes3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Associates Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

www.bottarirealty.com

521 West Se

575-226-0

B

A.H. (J ww

AG LAND LOANS

521 West Second St., Portales, NM 88130

575-226-0671 As Low As 3.5% www.buenavista-nm.com OPWKCAP 3.5%

INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3.5%

Rural Properties aroundPayments Portales,Scheduled NM on 25 Years 1242 NM 480 - Nice home on 59.7 acres, grass 427 S Rrd P 1/2 - Large nice home, lots of barns 24+ ac 1694 S Rrd 4, Great home, barns, cattle pens, location 2344 S Rrd K east of Dora, NM, greatJoe - Near wind farms Stubblefield & Associates Western St., Amarillo, All properties excellent homes & can13830 have horses, etc. TX 806/622-3482 • cell 806/674-2062

joes3@suddenlink.net See these and other properties at www.buenavista-nm.com Michael Perez Associates

AS PROV R

14298 N.

Nara Visa, NM • 575-403-7970

10 ACRES OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY. Incredible highway visibility & access from either East or West directions on Hwy. 60, 3 miles East of El Rancho Truck & 4 miles West of Willow Call Buena Vista Realty atPlaza 575-226-0671 or the listingSprings. agent Natural gas may be available on LOCATION PLUS! Thisorproperty well suited 575-825-1291. for many types Lorisite.

Bohm 575-760-9847, MelodyisSandberg of businesses. (Restaurant, Retail,Many Motel,good Business of anyon kind)!

A or Must See Property. MLS#11402703 pictures MLS www.buenavista-nm.com GREENFIELD TRADING POST. Available for sale at the corner of Hwy. 160 (Grand) & H Hwy. Newer tile floors, ADA bathrooms, outside storage tanks, 4 double side gas pumps. Owner reports a brisk business with sales around $1M last year. Store features a bait room for fishing at nearby Stockton Lake. Property has roll up garage door for easy storage of equipment and inventory. Vendor for popular Hunt Pizza with small eat-in area. Multiple coolers, coffee makers & shelving are included in sale. 2080 sf in store, 1120 sf for storage of inventory. This is an unbranded station. MLS# 60140876

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RANCH PROPERTY 31 years in the ranch business - see www.ranch-lands.com for videos & brochures

O’NEILL LAND, llc

DUANE & DIXIE McGARVA RANCH: approx. 985 acres Likely, CA. with about 600+ acre gravity flood P.O. PLUS Box 145, NM 87714 • 575/376-2341 • Fax: 575/376-2347 irrigated pastures privateCimarron, 542 AU BLM permit.

About 425 acres so of the irrigated are level to flood land@swranches.com • www.swranches.com excellent pastures with balance good flood irrigated pastures. NO PUMPING COST! Dryland is perfect for expansion to pivot irrigated alfalfa if desired. Plus BLM permit for 540 AU is fenced into 4 fields on about WAGON PLACE, Mora HIDDEN PLACE, Colfax 18,000 acres only MOUND 7 miles away. REDUCED ASKING PRICECIMARRON - $3,125,000

County, NM 8.202 +/- deeded acres on

County, NM. 1.66± deeded acres with

outbuildings and many trees would

rooms and two bathrooms, edge of

BEAVER CREEK RANCH: 82,000 acresMound - with 2,700 deeded acres plus & BLM with western edge of about I25/Wagon a 2,304 sq contiguous ft homeUSFS updated permits 450homes, pair; 580+-abundant acres irrigatedwater alfalfa, pasture, meadowremodels from Beaver Creek water rights and open has for two with andrecent including large one irrigation 3 homes, 2 hayand barns, 4 feedlots each w/ kitchen 250 ton barns, 2 large reservoirs, can run up to bedone well,well. two springs pond.

Other vaulted tin ceiling, three 500-600 cows YEAR ROUND. REDUCED ASKING PRICE - $5,400,000.

suitCREEK manyRANCH: purposes. townandamazing BEAR Approx.$190,000.

1,278 acres winter range ground recreationalviews. property.$299,000 Located on Bear Creek and accessed from South Cow Creek Valley Road. Should be great hunting for deer, wild turkey, wild RATON MILLION VIEW, COLMOR-OCATE CREEK, Colfax and pigs, quail & owner states good DOLLAR trout fishing in Bear Creek. Deeded access easement thru neighbor ranches.

County, +/deeded Mora County, NM 853 +/- deeded NoColfax improvements & veryNM. private97.68 inside the ranch.

Now onlyin $700 acre - $894,600 acres 2 per parcels with excellent home, acres split by I25 and Ocate Creek.

big shop, wildlife, a true million dol- Suit cattle operation, with some wildlar BILL view atWRIGHT, the end of a SHASTA private road.LAND life drawn to water holes SERVICES, INC. in creek. $489,000.

Also listed with house $617,000 530-941-8100 • DRE#the 00963490 • www.ranch-lands.com and one parcel for $375,000 EAGLE NEST ESCAPE, Colfax County, MIAMI 20 ACRES, Colfax County, NM. 78.42± deeded acres in off HWY NM quality 2,715 sqft adobe home, 64 overlooking Eagle Nest Lake, pribarn, grounds, fruit trees and mature vate pond, two elk tags, 3 bedroom trees. Extremely home •with and large shop garage P.O. Box 145, private Cimarron, NMsetting.

87714 • 575/376-2341 Fax: 575/376-2347 land@swranches.com • www.swranches.com REDUCED $353,000.

This is a must able to store your RV and big toys. see.

Also listed with same house with Improvements almost half a mile off CHICO CREEK RANCH, Colfax County, NM. NEW LISTING. CIMARRON ON THE RIVER, Colfax County, NM. 7.338 +/10 +/-+/-deeded acresapproximately for $308,000 highway. an escape.

6,404.26 Total Acres, Located 10 miles east of deeded acres with Truly 4.040 acre-feet per annum$850,000 out of the

O’NEILL LAND, llc

Springer New Mexico. 3,692.60 +/- deeded acres with balance in state lease. Excellent grass and water. Two plus miles of the Chico Creek meandering through the center of the property.

Additional wells and dirt tanks. Nice historic head quarters privately located with shade trees and excellent views of the property. Shipping pens in central portion of property. $2,837,318

Maxwell-Clutton Ditch. Custom country-chic 2,094 +/- sq ft home. Owns both sides of river in places. Horse/cow/chicken/ vegetable garden/greenhouse/orchard set up. Country living at it’s finest, in town, but in a world of your own. Very special on river. Appointment only. $650,000.

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Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

Navigable Waters Protection Rule (aka the

New WOTUS Rule)

BY TIFFANY.DOWELL, TEXAS AGRICULTURE LAW BLOG

Disclaimer–This article is really detailed. If you’re not into all the nerdy legal technicalities, I’d read the Background, Summary of WOTUS Rule v. NWPR, and What Happens Now and go on about your day. f you have been around for a while, you know we have been following the saga surrounding the definition of “Waters of the United States” or “WOTUS” for several years. On April 21, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), the newest regulatory definition of WOTUS. [Read Rule at www.govinfo. gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-0421/pdf/2020-02500.pdf.] The NWPR became effective on June 22, 2020 across the United States, with the exception of Colorado, where a federal judge entered an injunction pending litigation.

For a deeper dive into the NWPR, visit aglaw.libsyn.com/ episode-81-jim-bradbury-navigable-waters-protection-rule for a recent podcast episode featuring Jim Bradbury walking us through the scope of the Rule and the potential implications for agriculture.

I

Background The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, is intended to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. With regard to agriculture, the two most important sections are Section 402 (dealing with point source discharges) and Section 404 (dealing with dredge and fill). The Clean Water Act provides federal regulatory jurisdiction over “waters of the United States,” but the meaning of “waters of the United States” was left undefined by the Act. For decades, courts have wrestled with the proper scope of these words.

In 1985, the Court broadly construed the phrase as including wetlands adjacent to traditional navigable waters in

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Michigan in United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes. In 2001, the issue was again before the Court in Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There, the Court found that isolated, non-navigable intrastate ponds used by migratory birds were not covered by the CWA. In making this finding, the Court stated that the difference between this case and Riverside Bayview Homes was the lack of a “significant nexus” between the ponds and the navigable waters. Finally, in 2006, the Supreme Court decided (in a plurality opinion on 4 justices) Rapanos v. United States, holding that waters of the United States covered “relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water” connected to navigable waters. The opinion noted that this did not necessarily exclude streams, rivers or lakes that might go dry in extraordinary circumstances like a drought. A concurring opinion

by Justice Kennedy would have defined “waters of the United States” by applying the “significant nexus standard.”

In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) under the Obama Administration passed a regulation, referred to as the WOTUS Rule, defining “waters of the United States.” Numerous lawsuits filed and resulted in various injunctions around the country. In 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order instructing the agencies to “rescind or revise” the 2015 definition and “consider interpreting” waters of the United States consistent with Justice Scalia’s opinion in Rapanos. [Read prior blog post at agrilife.org/ texasaglaw/2017/03/01/president-trump-issues-executive-order-wotus/.]

The EPA has since rescinded the 2015 rule and has now published the NWPR. Numerous lawsuits have been filed around the country challenging the rule.

Here is a summary of pending litigation from the National Ag Law Center at: nationalaglawcenter.org/wotus-update-navigable-waters-rule-faces-backlash/

where “the rise and fall of the water surface can no longer be practically measured in a predictable rhythm due to masking by hydrologic, wind, or other effects.”

■■

■■ “Waters

subject to the ebb and flow of the tide”: “Those waters the rise and fall in a predictable and measurable rhythm or cycle due to the gravitational pulls of the moon and sun.” These waters end

Tributary: A river, stream, or similar naturally occurring surface water channel that contributes surface water flow into a jurisdictional water in category 1(i) in a typical year either directly or through a tributary; lake, pond, or impoundment of jurisdictional water; or adjacent wetland. A tributary must be perennial or intermittent in a typical year. The alteration or relocation of a tributary does not modify its jurisdictional status as long as it continues to satisfy the flow conditions of the definition. A tributary does not lose jurisdictional status if it contributes surface water flow to a downstream jurisdictional water in a typical year through a channelized non-jurisdictional surface water feature such as a subterranean river, through a culvert, dam, tunnel, or similar artificial feature, or similar natural feature. It includes a ditch that either relocates a tributary, is constructed in a tributary, or is constructed in an adjacent wetland as long as the ditch satisfies the flow conditions of the definition.

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Perennial: Surface water flowing continuously yearround.

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Intermittent: Surface water flowing continuously during certain times of the year and more than in direct response to precipitation (e.g. seasonally when the groundwater table is elevated or when snowpack melts).

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Navigable Waters Protection Rule There are essentially three sections to the rule: (1) Jurisdictional waters; (2) Non-jurisdictional waters; and (3) Definitions.

(1) Jurisdictional Waters The NWPR provides that “waters of the United States” are defined as: (i) The territorial seas, and waters currently used, previously used, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide; (ii) Tributaries; (iii) Lakes, ponds, and impoundments of jurisdictional waters; and (iv) Adjacent wetlands.

As with the prior WOTUS rule, and most legal issues, the devil is in the definitions. The NWPR includes the following definitions applicable to jurisdictional waters:

November 15, 2020

■■

Lakes, ponds, and impoundments of jurisdictional waters: Standing bodies of open water that contribute surface flow to a jurisdictional water identified in category 1(i) in a typical year either directly or through a tributary; lake, pond, or impoundment of jurisdictional water; or adjacent wetland.

A lake, pond or impoundment does not lose its jurisdictional status if it contributes surface water flow to a downstream jurisdictional water in a typical year through a channelized non-jurisdictional surface water feature, through a culvert, dike, spillway, or similar artificial feature, or through a debris pile, boulder field, or similar natural feature.

It is also jurisdictional if it is inundated by flooding from a water in categories (1)(i), (ii), and (iii) above.

Adjacent wetlands: Wetlands that: (A) abut, meaning to touch at least one point or side of, a water identified in category (1) (i), (ii), or (iii) above; (B) are inundated by flooding from a water identified in category (1)(i), (ii), or (iii) above in a typical year; (C) are physically separated from a water identified in category (1)(i), (ii), or

(iii) above only by a natural berm, bank, dune, or similar natural feature, or (D) are physically separated from a water identified in category (1)(i), (ii), or (iii) above only by an artificial dike, barrier, or similar artificial structure so long as that structure allows for a direct hydrologic surface connection between the wetlands and the water identified in category (1)(i), (ii), or (iii) above in a typical year, such as through a culvert, flood or tide gate, pump, or similar artificial feature.

An adjacent wetland is jurisdictional in its entirety when a road or similar artificial structure divides the wetland, so long as the structure allows for a direct hydrologic surface connection through or over that structure in a typical year.

water reuse, and wastewater recycling structures, including detention, retention, and infiltration basins and ponds, constructed or excavated in upland or in non-jurisdictional waters; and (xxi) Waste treatment systems.

Again, the definitions matter a great deal. Here are key definitions related to this section in addition to those listed above:

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Ephemeral: Surface water flowing or pooling only in direct response to precipitation (e.g., rain or snow fall).

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Ditch: A constructed or excavated channel used to convey water.

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Prior converted cropland: Any area that, prior to 12/23/85, was drained or otherwise manipulated for the purpose, or having the effect, of making production of agricultural products possible. Designations made by the USDA will be recognized.

An area is no longer considered prior converted cropland when the area is abandoned and has reverted to wetlands. Abandonment occurs when prior converted cropland is not used for, or in support of, agricultural purposes at least once in the immediately preceding 5 years.

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Upland: Any area that under normal circumstances does not satisfy all three wetland factors (hydrology, hydrophobic vegetation, hydric soils) and does not lie below the ordinary high water mark or the high tide line of a jurisdictional water.

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Ordinary high water mark: That line on the shore established by the fluctuation of water and indicated by physical characteristics such as a clear, natural line impressed on the bank, shelving, changes in the character of soil, destruction of terrestrial vegetation, the presence of litter and debris, or other appropriate means that consider the characteristics of the surrounding areas.

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Wetlands mean areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

(2) Non-Jurisdictional Waters The following categories are not “waters of the United States,” meaning the Clean Water Act is not applicable: (i) Waters or water features not identified as “jurisdictional waters” under this definition; (ii) Groundwater, including groundwater drained through subsurface drainage systems; (iii) Ephemeral features, including ephemeral streams, swales, gullies, rills, and pools; (iv) Diffuse stormwater runoff and directional sheet flow over upland; (v) Ditches that are not waters identified in Section (1) (i) or (ii) of the definition, and those portions of ditched constructed in waters identified in Section (1)(iv) of this definition that do not satisfy the definition of “adjacent wetlands”; (vi) Prior converted cropland; (vii) Artificially irrigated areas, including fields flooded for ag production, that would revert to upland should application of irrigation water to that area cease; (viii) Artificial lakes and ponds, including water storage reservoirs and farm, irrigation, stock watering, and log cleaning ponds, constructed or excavated in upland or non-jurisdictional waters, so long as those artificial lakes and ponds are not impoundments of jurisdictional waters that meet the definitions of “lakes and ponds and impoundments of jurisdictional waters” discussed in section (1) (iii) above; (ix) Water-filled depressions constructed or excavated in upland or in non-jurisdictional waters incidental to mining or construction activity, and pits excavated in upland or non-jurisdictional waters for the purpose of obtaining fill, sand, or gravel; (x) Stormwater control features constructed or excavated in upland or in non-jurisdictional waters to convey, treat, infiltrate, or store stormwater runoff; (xi) Groundwater recharge,

■■

High tide line: The line of intersection of the land with the water’s surface at the maximum height reached by a rising tide. In the absence of actual data, this may be determined by a line of oil or scum along the shore objects, a more or less continuous deposit of fine shell or debris on the foreshore or berm, other physical markings or characteristics, vegetation lines, tidal gages, or other suitable means that delineate the general height reached by a rising tide.

The line includes spring high tides and other high tides that occur with periodic frequency but does not include storm surges in which there is a departure from the normal or predicated reach of the tide due to the piling up of water against a coast by strong winds, such as those accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm.

Summary of WOTUS Rule v.

NWPR

November 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

The NWPR differs from the Obama WOTUS rule in three primary ways: (1) the definition of “tributary”; (2) adjacent wetlands versus adjacent waters; (3) significant nexus. Let’s look briefly at each.

Tributary The difference between the two rules approach hinges on the issue of ephemeral streams–those streams that flow only in direct response to precipitation. Under the WOTUS Rule, a “tributary” is a water contributing flow either directly or through another water to a jurisdictional water that was “characterized by the presence the physical indicators of a bed and banks and an ordinary high water mark.” Critics pointed out that this would include ephemeral streams. The NWPR, on the other hand, provides that a tributary must be perennial or intermittent in a typical year, thus expressly excluding any ephemeral streams from falling within the definition.

Adjacent Wetlands versus Adjacent Waters Another divergence between the rules has to do with the scope of the inclusion of wetlands in the rule. Under the WOTUS definition, “all waters” adjacent to a jurisdictional water, including wetlands, ponds, lakes, oxbows, impoundments and similar waters are jurisdictional. Adjacent is defined as meaning “bordering, contiguous, or neighboring” a jurisdictional water. “Neighboring” means all waters located within 100 feet of the ordinary high water mark of a jurisdictional water, all waters located within the 100 year floodplain of a jurisdictional water and not more than 1,500 feet from the ordinary high water mark of such water, and all waters located within 1,500 feet of the high tide line of a jurisdictional water and all waters within 1,500 feet of the

NCBA Floats Voluntary Price Transparency Plan

BY LISA M. KEEFE / MEATINGPLACE.COM

T

he National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has rolled out its promised plan for a voluntary program that would bring more price transparency to the cattle markets.

Dubbed “A Voluntary Framework to Achieve Robust Price Discovery in the Fed Cattle Market,” the proposal “ lays out a plan to increase negotiated trade and incentivize each of the major packers’ participation in such negotiated trade,” NCBA President Marty Smith said in a letter to members. With its voluntary plan, NCBA is trying to get out in front of several legislative proposals that have been introduced in response to price volatility in the cattle markets in the last year.

NCBA boils down the 16-page document to describe a “75% Plan,” in which an NCBA subgroup will evaluate the weekly negotiated trade information for each of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s cattle feeding reporting regions on a quarterly basis in arrears. Eventually, the subgroup will include in its evaluation an analysis of packer participation data, but this information is not yet published under Livestock Mandatory Reporting, the letter said.

The plan includes a series of so-called triggers, intended to ensure sufficient data to achieve price transparency. Lack of data in a given region, or

Baxter BLACK

Great Lakes.

In particular, the jurisdictional water features included The NWPR, however, made two significant changes. in this category are: (i) prairie potholes (a complex of First, it limited the jurisdictional scope to apply only to glacially formed wetlands, usually occurring in depresadjacent wetlands, not to all adjacent waters. Second, sions that lack permanent natural outlets, located in the NWPR did not maintain the distance approach in- the upper Midwest); (ii) Carolina and Delmarva bays cluded in the WOTUS rule, opting instead to focus on (ponded, depressional wetlands that occur along the waters that physically touch wetlands or are physically Atlantic coastal plain); (iii) Pocosins (evergreen shrub separated only by certain natural features or certain ar- and tree dominated wetlands found predominantly tificial features while still maintaining a direct hydrolog- along the Central Atlantic Coastal plain); (iv) Westical connection, or are inundated by flooding of juris- ern vernal pools (seasonal wetlands located in parts of dictional waters.

California and associated with topographic depression, soils with poor drainage, mild, wet winters and hot, dry Significant Nexus summers); and (v) Texas coastal prairie wetlands (freshLastly, the WOTUS rule includes a provision deem- water wetlands that occur as a mosaic of depressions, ing certain waters jurisdictional if they meet certain fac- ridges, intermound flats, and mima mound wetlands lotual criteria and have a “significant nexus” to a water cated along the Texas Gulf Coast). The NWPR makes used in interstate or foreign travel, interstate waters and no mention of any of these specific water features. wetlands, or the territorial seas. The NWPR does not provide for inclusion as jurisdictional based on a “sig- What Happens Now? nificant nexus.”

As Jim Bradbury said once on a prior podcast, “I First, the WOTUS rule includes a provision that all think WOTUS is French for all the lawyers get rich.” waters located within the 100 year floodplain of a water Given all of the pending litigation surrounding the rule, used in interstate and foreign commerce, interstate wa- a courthouse will likely be where we head next for some ter, and the territorial seas and all waters located within time. To read a summary by the National Agricultur4,000 feet of the high tide line or ordinary high water al Law Center of some of the pending lawsuits, click mark of a jurisdictional water are jurisdictional. Not here. Meanwhile, landowners, agricultural producers, only does the NWPR not include a provision for sig- land developers, construction companies, and others nificant nexus, it also does not include waters based on will struggle to determine if certain lands are included their distance from other waters as is done in this provi- within this definition or not, facing fines of tens of thousion of the WOTUS rule. sands of dollars per day if they decide incorrectly and an Second, regional water features jurisdictional if it was enforcement action is filed. determined, on a case-by-case basis they “have a significant nexus” to a water used in interstate or foreign travel, interstate waters and wetlands, or the territorial seas.

▫

for a given category, could “trigger” efforts toward a legislative or regulatory solution.

To avoid tripping triggers, in any given quarter, each region will have to:

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Achieve no less than 75% of the weekly negotiated trade volume that current academic literature indicates is necessary for “robust” price discovery in that specific region,

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Achieve this negotiated trade threshold no less than 75% of the reporting weeks in aquarter,

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Achieve no less than 75% of the weekly packer participation requirements, to be determined in short order, and assigned to each specific region,

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Achieve this packer participation threshold no less than 75% of the reporting weeks in a quarter.

Referencing both the fire at the Tyson Foods’ Holcomb, Kans. plant in 2019, and the disruption in the markets brought about by COVID-19, NCBA said its subgroup will take into account so-called black swan events on a case-by-case basis. Also, periodic adjustments may be needed to the framework in the event that academic literature is updated, technological advances are made, or other conditions of supply and demand have changed.

“I am confident that the cattle industry will meet this challenge as it always does: head-on and at full steam,” Smith said in his letter. “Together we can ensure price transparency and robust price discovery in our markets.”

Just the smell of sweaty horses and the peace inside his ON THE EDGE OF head COMMON SENSE www.baxterblack.com (Just the smell of sweaty horses and a blanket for a bed) How he really could’a been one if the cards had fell that eah, he wished he way was a cowboy but (How he grew up punchin’ just at times like cattle, had no other cards to this play) But he never had the op(Yup, he’s glad that he’s a cowboy but there’s times on tion he had other cards to play (So he never had the opdays like this) tion, it was bound to be this When he spent the day ahorseback and had time to way) And he sees the hired on reminisce wranglers when he passes (When he spends all day them the reins a’horseback thinkin’, ‘Wonder (And he sees the weekend what I’ve missed?’)

Never thinkin’ about Mon- cowboys when they’re handin’ him the reins) day, ‘bout the real life he led And he almost wants to join (Never knowin’ if it’s Mon‘em but his common sense reday, if he’ll ever get ahead) frains

BOTH SIDES

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Page 9

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(And he wonders could he make it in their life of ball and chains) So he joins his boon companions and they toast their saddle sores (But he joins his fellow cowboys and they do their nightly chores) They revel in the cowboy life and forget the wrangler’s chores (Then doze off while the campfire talk drifts in from distant shores) But by Monday they’re a memory as he bills another page (But by Monday he’s back ridin’ and the open smell of sage) And forgets the car he’s drivin’ would’ve paid their yearly wage (Reminds him he would not survive in a weekend cowboy’s cage)

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NCBA Postpones Annual Convention & Trade Show

T

he National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has announced that its Annual Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show has been postponed until August 10 — 12, 2021. The location will remain at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. Unfortunately, the current pandemic presents challenges that make bringing people together during the previous dates in February difficult.

NCBA will hold some of its traditional business meetings in the January or February time frame, in accordance with the association’s bylaws.

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Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

Take a guess. Who is running the BLM?

Pondering Pendley

T

he question four years ago was, “who is going to be the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director during the Trump Administration?” At first we were told it would be Karen Budd-Falen.

That would be good (at least from my perspective) because I had hired her as a student

employee at the Interior department during the Reagan Administration.

Since then she had returned to Wyoming, earned her law degree, and had established herself as a very successful natural resource attorney. However, we learned the ethics office at Interior had placed such onerous restrictions on her appointment as to make it impossible for her to accept the job. As I recall she would have had to sell all her BLM permits (she came from a long term ranching family in Wyoming), and going even further, her husband’s family would have to divest themselves of all BLM ranching enterprises. Instead, she accepted a position in the Solicitor’s office.

We then rocked along for several years with various in-

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dividuals moving in and out of the position as temporary appointees. Finally, in July of 2019 Secretary Bernhardt appointed William Perry Pendley as the acting director of BLM. I had known Pendley for over thirty years. He had served at Interior during the Reagan Administration as the deputy for energy and minerals at the same time that I had served as the deputy for land and water. His appointment was controversial among environmental and liberal groups, primarily because of the positions he had taken as the author of several books.

A prolific writer, Pendley had penned volumes with titles such as War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Frontier; It Takes A Hero: The Grass Roots Battle Against Environmental Oppression; Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier. Most recently he penned Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today. (Full disclosure: I was interviewed by Pendley for this volume and am quoted therein concerning Reagan’s grazing policies) As you can tell from the titles, Pendley was no fan of the environmental lobbyists or the entrenched bureaucracy in their attempts to rule over the West.

Pendley has been reappointed several times, supposedly in compliance with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The enviros don’t like the process and they really don’t like Pendley. One spokesman said selecting Pendley to run the BLM is like, “putting an arsonist in charge of the city fire department.”

Undeterred by all the enviro noise, President Trump officially nominated Pendley to be the BLM director, which required Senate approval. Several months later, the President withdrew the nomination.

Why? I’m positive it was at the request of two weak-kneed Republican Senators who were up for reelection: Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana. Gardner was behind in the polls and Daines was in a close race with the Governor of Montana.

Meanwhile, the enviros decided to file suits challenging

November 15, 2020 the continuous temporary appointments. In May of this year the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Western Watersheds Project objected to the continued appointments of the acting leaders of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Park Service (NPS).

Their lawsuit was filed in the D.C. district court. In July, the current Governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, filed a lawsuit claiming Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s temporary delegation of authority to Pendley violated the Constitution’s requirement that major officials undergo Senate confirmation.

And yes, this is the same Bullock who is running against Daines in the Senate race. Steve Bullock is a former candidate for a political office (President), currently holds a political office (Governor), is running for another political office (Senator), is suing over a political appointee (BLM Director) and yet has the audacity to say the lawsuit “has nothing to do with running for Senate”, i.e. is nonpolitical?

Does he honestly believe we don’t think he conducted an internal poll before filing this lawsuit, or that it has nothing to do with national fundraising for his campaign? Sorry, Governor, but we suspect both things and recognize this for what it is, a political lawsuit.

Bullock’s lawsuit was filed in Montana district court before an Obama-appointed judge.

Surprise, surprise, the judge ruled Pendley, “served unlawfully... for 424 days.” Pendley “had not been properly appointed to the position, and instead had exercised authority as acting BLM director through a series of unlawful delegations” Judge Morris wrote in reference to the maneuvers that kept him in the acting director role for over a year. “Any exclusive function of the BLM director performed by Pendley is invalid.” The Dept. of Interior announced they would appeal the decision. “The Department of the Interior believes this ruling is erroneous, fundamentally misinterprets the law and unreasonably attempts to up-end decades of practice spanning multiple presidential administrations from both parties,” said DOI solicitor Dan Jorjani. Not satisfied with just

the ouster of Pendley, Montana then petitioned the judge to throw out several resource management plans that were finalized during Pendley’s tenure. The judge agreed with their request.

As things now stand, the Dept. will appeal the decisions, and in the interim, Secretary Bernhardt will direct the BLM. An Interior official wrote an email to BLM staff saying, “Secretary Bernhardt leads the bureau and relies on the BLM’s management team to carry out the mission. Deputy Director for Programs and Policy, William Perry Pendley, will continue to serve in his leadership role.” Outraged by the appeal, the Democrats have introduced legislation to prevent this from happening. Senator John Tester has introduced the Public Lands Leadership Act, which would “prohibit the Department of Justice from defending Pendley in Bullock v. BLM.” Whew! How’s that for political machinations and legal maneuvering over federal lands.

Remember, they constantly tell us these lands must remain in federal hands so they can be professionally managed on scientific principles. What a laugher that is.

Now let’s cull the rhetoric and cut to the core of this issue. The enviro-left is not really all that upset by the musical chairs being played at Interior.

No, what concerns them is the tune being played by the person sitting in that chair. Pendley’s western-oriented symphony is definitely not pleasing to their ears.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner. blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

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Humane Society Blows Millions on Fundraiser SOURCE: HUMANEWATCH.ORG

I

f you hire a fundraiser and they don’t make you any money, shame on them.

If you decide to use that fundraiser again and they still come up empty, shame on you.

In the case of the Humane Society of the United States, which uses a fundraiser that netted nothing ten campaigns in a row, the organization’s leadership must be shameless.

The fund-loser in question is Donor Services Group. According to filings with the North Carolina Secretary of State, since 2012, the fundraiser’s HSUS campaigns have had a net loss of $3,019,632.49.

To put it simply, HSUS has lost over $3 million paying DSG to fundraise.

It should be noted that DSG does raise some funds. Its latest campaign ran from January through March and raised almost $36,000.

But the total expenses of over $160,000, which includes $54,800 for payroll and $36,000 for

“office expenses,” dwarfed what DSG raised.

In other words, the money DSG raises in the name of helping animals ends up simply being paid to cover costs.

It’s safe to assume that those who do donate don’t realize that their dollars end up with vultures and not the dogs. And the Humane Society of the United States should take the full blame for continuing these money-losing campaigns with questionable fundraising outfits.

In 2011, the state of Pennsylvania fined DSG $14,000 for employing “nine (9) individuals who were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors involving dishonesty to solicit monetary contributions from Pennsylvania residents.”

DSG isn’t the only fundraiser that has a questionable relationship with HSUS. Last year we told readers about InfoCision, a fundraiser who made nearly $10 million for a PAC the Conservative Majority Fund PAC, only to give the PAC $48,400. And the Share Group, which HSUS previously used, has its own history of problems.

Recent tax documents report HSUS spent $9.6 million (about 7% of its expenses) on the professional fundraising fees. With irresponsible spending like that, it’s no surprise the organization gets a “D” grade from CharityWatch.

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November 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

9th Circuit Upholds Protections for Wild Lands in Bitterroot National Forest

T

he 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld protections for wilderness-quality lands within Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest against a rising tide of motorized and mechanized backcountry use.

The court affirmed a 2018 Montana district court ruling which upheld the U.S. Forest Service’s 2016 Bitterroot National Forest Travel Plan against a legal challenge brought by motorized and mechanized users.

Earthjustice argued the case in defense of the 2016 Forest Plan on behalf of a broad coalition of Montanans including Friends of the Bitterroot, Hellgate Hunters and Anglers, Missoula Back Country Horsemen, Montana Wilderness Association, Selway-Pintler Wilderness Back Country Horsemen, Wild

Earth Guardians, and Winter Wildlands Alliance.

“The wilderness-quality lands the Travel Plan protects are important to people from all walks of life in the Bitterroot valley including hunters, fishermen, horsepackers, hikers, and skiers,” said Tim Preso, Earthjustice attorney. “The court’s decision ensures that these special places will continue to support elk and other wildlife and provide Montanans with outstanding opportunities for solitude and quiet recreation for years to come.”

“Friends of the Bitterroot is extremely pleased with this victory in court protecting mountain goats, wolverine, lynx and grizzly bears from the clear and present threats posed by motorized and mechanized recreation in Wilderness Study and

New UN Climate Riot Alarming Report Contradicts Own Data SOURCE: CFACT

T

he row was triggered by the new report on “Human Cost of Disasters”.

The report announced a “staggering rise in climate-related disasters over the last twenty years”. However, the same report contains a graph showing that the number of climate-related disasters has actually decreased by 15 percent since 2000.

It is not the only contentious element of the report by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in Geneva. Some of the data used is also said to be unreliable while the alarmist language of Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR, seems to have been inspired by activist groups like Extinction Rebellion.

Due to the fuss, there is now an international call for at least rectification. “This is a huge, embarrassing blunder,” said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Forum, a British think tank. “The United Nations must immediately withdraw this report and apologise for misleading the public.”

Roger Pielke Jr, a renowned American scientist in the field of natural disasters – and anything but climate denier – also regrets the sharp position by the UNDRR. In an e-mail to De Telegraaf he says that the authors have drawn “flawed conclusions”.

It is not the first time that the UN is accused of climate exaggeration. UNICEF stated last year that hurricane disasters in the Caribbean is driving more and more children to flee. “Pure scare tactics,” said a hurricane expert at the time.

And a report by the IPCC once predicted that the Himalayas would be glacier-free by 2035.

That also turned out to be a scientific mistake.

However, the UNDRR report substantiates its statement about increasing climate disasters with data from the renowned Belgian Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). Between 1980 and 1999, the Leuven database counted 4,212 disasters and 7,348 from the turn of the century to 2020. Ergo: the climate has gone wild.

“This is clear evidence that in a world where the global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1˚C above the preindustrial period, the impacts are being felt in the increased frequency of extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and wildfires.”, according to the report, which also included CRED researcher Joris van Loenhout.

But here too, the report goes wrong, warns Pielke Jr. The data on disasters from the last century are, as the CRED has repeatedly acknowledged, flawed – and therefore unreliable. During the time before the internet existed, not every disaster was reported the way it is now.

British blogger Paul Homewood also discovered a “leap” in the number of disasters the Bel-

Recommended Wilderness Areas on the Bitterroot National Forest,” said Larry Campbell, FOB Conservation Director.

“FOB has persevered for over two decades to finally see iconic and rare wildlife given the protection they need for survival.

There’s still plenty of places for people to play.”

“Today’s victory is a win for wild places and a clear rebuke of the challenge from motorized activists and those opposed to protecting wildlife habitat,” said Adam Rissien with WildEarth Guardians. “The Forest Service can now firmly reject political meddling from Sen. Daines who pressured the agency to ignore safeguards enacted in Montana’s 1977 Wilderness Study Act.” “This plan was eight years in the making and informed by hundreds of Montanans who asked the Forest Service to protect habitat for wildlife; to ensure the headwaters of the Bit-

gian institute listed which suddenly rose in 1998 — exactly the year the CRED began to receive US funding to start publishing statistics.

The datasets about the two different periods are therefore too different in quality, says Pielke Jr. “You should not draw any conclusions about a changing frequency in climatic extremes on the basis of this data set,” says the researcher at the University of Colorado.

Van Loenhout disputes this criticism. In an e-mail the researcher trained in Utrecht acknowledges that CRED has previously been critical of its own database, but claims that much of the data has been improved recently. Of the dataset dating back to 1900, only the first 60 years may not be reliable, he says. “Disasters will be missing.”

But that is not a problem for the current report, he claims. “From about 1960-1970 onward, the completeness of the data is much greater, and the share of missing disasters much smaller.

We are constantly working to improve completeness, and this is also happening for previous years and decades. For this reason, statements made in 2004 and 2006 are now somewhat outdated, as the completeness of the database has since improved,” says Van Loenhout.

Pielke Jr is surprised that, to his knowledge, this is the first time that the Belgian institute is suddenly so convinced of its older data. The American also disagrees with Van Loenhout’s criticism that he should not deduce a downward trend in climate-related disasters over the past 20 years. “Nonsense. Of course you can – it’s the definition of a trend.”

The fierce clash can be explained by the significant deviation of the UNDRR findings with the research studies that Pielke Jr has published.

Time and again he has shown that despite an increase in financial damage from natural disasters, there has not been a change in the intensity of most weather extremes. Increasing damage is due to the growth of population, real estate and properties in vulnerable areas.

The UN’s Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has confirmed these findings: the near future may bring an increase in floods or hurricanes. But until now this is barely detectable. “Everything I find is consistent with the IPCC,” says Pielke Jr. One of the most telling trends the American scientist has highlighted is this: the number of fatalities from natural disasters in the past 100 years has fallen by 95 percent — despite a rapidly growing world population. This makes the UNDRR report much more dogmatic about climate trends than its sibling the IPCC, both under the same UN umbrella.

This does not stop UN envoy Mizutori from adopting an alarmist tone. She commends UN staff and volunteers who have saved countless lives in past natural disasters. “But it is being made more and more difficult for them, especially by industrialised countries that are terribly lacking in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to the level agreed in the Paris Agreement.”

GWPF director Benny Peiser is appalled by this political blame game. As if residents of industrial countries are guilty of future deaths from natural disasters in other countries. “This is no longer science, but a purely political report.”

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Page 11 terroot River and Rock Creek remain clean and cold and its wild trout populations healthy; and to practice true multiple use in the Bitterroot National Forest,” said Erin Clark, western Montana field director with Montana Wilderness Association. “The plan leaves one third of the Forest open to snowmobiling and over 2,000 miles of road and trail open to mountain biking while adhering to the spirit and law of the Montana Wilderness Study Act.” “Today’s ruling ensures that wild lands on the Bitterroot National Forest will remain protected in all seasons, providing refuge for wildlife and opportunities for human-powered winter adventure,” said Hilary Eisen, policy director with Winter Wildlands Alliance. “The plan strikes a fair balance between providing opportunities for snowmobiling and preserving quiet places for skiers, snowshoers, and others who seek

opportunities for solitude and prefer to enjoy the backcountry at a slower pace. We’re pleased that the Court has upheld this balance.”

“The Backcountry Horsemen are delighted that these special areas will continue to be enjoyed for their quiet beauty and primitive travel by foot or horse,” said Dan Harper, vice president of the Backcountry Horsemen of Missoula Chapter.

“This ruling is a long-awaited victory for Montana’s wildlife and our conservation community,” said Walker Conyngham, president of Missoula-based Hellgate Hunters & Anglers.

“Sportsmen and women recognize that the species we rely upon deserve healthy, undisturbed habitat in order to thrive.

We look to this ruling as a clear precedent for preserving valuable wildlife sanctuaries like our wilderness study areas.”

Reference: earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ files/20-10-27_memorandum_disposition.pdf

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

November 15, 2020

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