8 minute read
To Save Western Forests, Cut Them Way Back
from NMS March 22
A few weeks later, a man using the name John Gates, hungry and desperate, attempted to pawn a pistol in El Paso, Texas. Engraved on the butt of the weapon was the name of the man from whom Luna County Sheriff Dwight Stephens had acquired it. Gates was shortly arrested and identified as Irvin Frazier. He was promptly returned to Socorro where he was tried for the murders of Tom Hall and A. L. Smithers, convicted and sentenced to hang. During his time in the state penitentiary awaiting execution, he was able to smuggle out a letter to Reynold Greer in which he detailed the best way for Reynold to rescue him as he was being transferred from Santa Fe to the gallows in Socorro. His suggestion was that Greer board the train in Albuquerque and set up a trap at La Joya. Officers learned of the letter and took appropriate measures, but no effort was made to deliver Frazier.
Reynold Greer was never captured, but died of influenza a few years later.
Captain Fred Fornoff of the New Mexico Mounted Police, Socorro County Sheriff Emil James, Eddy County Sheriff Miles Cicero Stewart and 15 or so additional deputies, armed with rifles and shotguns, transferred Frazier and another killer, Francisco Grando, from Santa Fe to Socorro in the early morning hours of April 25, 1913.
Along the way, Frazier told Sheriff Stewart that he hadn’t killed either of the Luna County deputies. He said both officers were down before he ever fired a shot.
The condemned men were taken to the courthouse and held there briefly before they were removed to a gallows which amounted to a trapdoor placed in the floor of a second story room in the jail. Frazier asked for a drink of whiskey. Fornoff refused. His final words were, “Get that noose tight, boys. Have as little pain to this as possible.”
At exactly 5:42 a.m., the trapdoor dropped open and Frazier came to the end of his rope. A doctor declared him dead 12 minutes later. He was 26 years old.
The Deming Headlight eulogized deputies Hall and Smithers in this way:
Thos. H. Hall and E. L. Smithers [sic], as truly heroes as ever went forth in the defense of law and justice have died a martyr’s death. A home in Deming is desolate. A wife and mother’s heart is bleeding at every pore. Five orphan children, four manly sons and a noble daughter are bowed in grief and go forth into the world to battle without the counsel, and strong protecting arm of a father.
Sheriff Dwight Stephens was himself killed by jail escapees in February 1916. ▫
SALE EVERY TUESDAY 11 AM
— Wildorado Cattle Company Bull Sale — March 12, 12 p.m. – 100+ Bulls & Females — The Real Ranch Horse Sale — April 9, 1 p.m. – Consign by March 9, 2022 Contact Taylor 806-654-9590 or Clay Paige 806-679-5883
All Classes of Cattle Welcome Deadline for animals to be pregnancy checked and sold as bred stock is noon on Monday Trucking Available — We Are Now a CME Delivery Point
To Consign your Cattle Give Us a Call Anytime Bill Martin: 970-302-5834 • Clay Paige: 806-679-5883 • Office: 806-677-0777 2101 Adkisson Road – Wildorado, Texas (I-40 Exit 54) Visit our website: www.lonestarstockyards.com
To Save Western U.S. Forests, Cut Them Way Back, Study Suggests
by Bloomberg
Anew study proposes a radical prescription for the ailing health of dry U.S. Western forests: cutting back trees by as much as 80 percent.
The study suggests that forests in the Sierra Nevada and nearby ranges could better withstand severe wildfire, drought, infestations and climate change if the density of trees was dramatically reduced. That would shut out competition for water and other resources, helping remaining trees weather an array of stresses. The study appears in next month’s edition of Forest Ecology and Management and adds to a live debate about how to protect fragile forest ecosystems as climate change exacerbates threats.
“This is a fundamentally different approach to growing and managing forests,” said lead author Malcolm North, a U.S. Forest Service research ecologist and professor at the University of California, Davis.
For the past century, U.S. foresters have largely aimed to maximize the number of trees they can grow in an area and guard them from flames. Yet decades of suppressing wildfires in ecosystems that have adapted to regular, low-severity burns have left many forests thickly overgrown — creating more fuel and intensifying blazes. As West Coast wildfires break records year after year, policymakers have recently paid more attention to the issue and are funding more forest-thinning treatments.
But the 150 million trees that died due to bark beetle infestation during the 20122016 drought was a “wake-up call” that the problem of densely packed forests was about more than wildfires, North said. Too many trees relying on limited water can make them more vulnerable to threats like the bark beetles.
“We realized there were too many straws in the ground,” North said, “and that density needed to be way reduced if you’re going to make trees resistant to both wildfire and drought.”
By how much? North’s co-authors used data from a 1911 timber survey of what are now the Stanislaus and Sequoia National Forests to benchmark what they were like
before fire suppression policies sent growth into overdrive. The forests of the last century had roughly 20 to 30 trees per acre, with 30-inch trunks, they found. A modern dataset showed that the same areas more recently had about 150-200 trees per acre, with individuals that are about half as big.
The lack of competition in the sparser forests of the past allowed for individual trees to survive and grow, the scientists believe. Those bigger, healthier trees were then able to persist through recurring fires, acute dry spells, insects and disease. Modern-day forest managers should take note, the study suggests.
“There’s a lot of disturbance that one individual has to tolerate before they make it to that size,” said co-author Ryan E. Tompkins, a UC Cooperative Extension forest and natural resources adviser. “We need to start managing for a competition-free environment if we want to maintain these large trees.”
These are contentious issues in the world of West Coast forestry. While there is broad consensus that thinning is needed, how much and which forests to thin — not to mention how to pay for it — are active areas of debate.
For example, a healthy forest in modern times may not look the same as it did a century ago. CO2 levels are much higher today and climate conditions are warmer and drier, all factors that affect forest growth, said Christopher Still, a professor of forest ecosystems at Oregon State University who was not involved in the new study. While he found the findings to be credible overall, he said more research would be needed to pinpoint the right thresholds for resiliency.
What’s more, reducing the density of Sierra Nevada forests by 80 percent would require funding and manpower beyond the hundreds of millions of dollars that leaders like California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) are currently pouring into forest treatments. New processing facilities and commercial applications to handle the extra biomass would be needed on an ongoing basis, North said. It’s unclear how the public would react to logging on such a large scale.
Bill Stewart, a recently retired cooperative extension specialist in forest economics at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study, argued that dramatic cuts to tree density would mean less carbon sequestration. He said that private landowners such as timber companies have a better track record of keeping trees alive than public agencies like the national forests the new study focuses on.
But for forests to store carbon, they need to survive in the first place, the study authors said, and bigger trees stand a better chance. North and Tompkins have previously led studies on the need to reintroduce the “good fire” that once regularly pared down small trees and shrubs, as well as ones about the planting of trees in naturalistic patches and clumps— rather than tight, straight lines — to help mitigate wildfire damage.
Restoring forests to how they looked before the arrival of European settlers and forestry practices could benefit the longterm survival of not only trees but also the wildlife they shelter and microclimates they create, they said.
“We need to think deeper and restore what made these forests so resilient to stresses in the past,” North said. “Because the future of climate change has a lot more of them in store.” ▫
We Know Agriculture...
Gordon Morris, Chairman of the Board/EVP
Colten Grau, Loan Officer Mac Langford, President/CCO
Like you, we at American Heritage Bank grew up in the ranching world and we’re proud of our heritage. We are true to your values, culture and lifestyle and our number one goal is to serve you. We’re honored to be your hometown bankers. We hope you’ll give us a chance to compete for your land and operating loans. Please give Colten Grau a call to arrange a visit. He’s working hard for our ag community and he’s eager to go to work for you!
linkedin.com/american-heritage-bank-nm facebook.com/americanheritagebanknm www.ahbnm.com
