IN THIS ISSUE 2 President’s Perspective 4 NCA Roundup 6 Editorial by Lucy Snyder Rechel “Your Beef Checkoff Setting the Record Straight”
16 SRM “The Diversity of Nevada Rangelands” 20 Let’s Talk Ag “Heat Heat Heat” 23 UNR - Awards of Excellence
7 Beef Checkoff Recipe
23 UNR - Dr. Ivory Lyes now National Program Chair
8 Eye on the Outside (Reprint)
25 UNR - Study Using Drones
9 Editorial by Kaitlynn Glover “Conserving America The Beautiful - The Ranching Way”
25 UNR - Rename Request
10 Eye On the Outside
26 UNR - Telehealth Experience 26 UNR - Scott Allen joins Dept of Natural Resources
11 Letter To America - Excerpt 27 UNR - DON’T PANIC! from the report “Conserving & It’s Just Swarm Season Restoring America the Beautiful” 28 UNR - Experiment Station 11 NDA - Rabid Bats Confirmed Projects & Facilities 12 Nevada CattleWomen 31 UNR - Excerpt from SERRT Economics Final Report 14 Nevada Farm Bureau Editorial 34 High Desert Grange Update 15 Nevada Farm Bureau Scholarships & Discussion Meet 36 Churchill County Cowbelles
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Nevada Trichomoniasis Papers: 1) Factors Influencing Rates of Adoption of Trichomoniasis Vaccine by Nevada Range Cattle Producers 2) Nevada Trich Survey Results Read the full articles here: progressiverancher.com/nevadatrichomoniasis-papers
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President's perspective By Tom Barnes / President / Nevada Cattlemen's Association I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July celebrating the freedoms of this great nation. Freedoms that were the result of great sacrifice and hard work by so many in our nation’s history. I find it discouraging that many in our country now take these freedoms we have grown accustomed to for granted. They seem to forget the life and opportunities afforded to all of us as citizens – the very reasons so many flock to our borders. This country was built upon hard work, determination and the will to make tomorrow better than today. I hope that we will soon return to these principals. I believe it is the responsibility of each of us to work to ensure that our freedoms and the principals this country was founded upon are protected for future generations. Walter Leberski was one those people who believed in the greatness of this country and he took it upon himself to make it better. Walt was a long-time friend of the livestock industry and believed in the mission of the NCA. He dedicated much of his time and efforts to protecting our industry right up to the time of
his passing. His dedicated support will continue as the NCA was the recipient of a very generous gift from Walt’s estate. The primary focus of the endowment is education. I am pleased to announce that we will soon be able to offer another annual scholarship in the name of Walter Leberski. There were certain wishes and directives that he spelled out and we will honor those. We continue to appreciate all Walt has done for us. July is also the time of year when many Nevada cattle are sold for fall delivery. Given the wide-spread drought, feed costs and the current bottle neck in the meat processing segment, there is a lot of uncertainty in the market. I wish you all the best marketing your cattle.
Tom Barnes Tom Barnes President, NCA
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July 13 August 10 September 14 For info about our Team Roping, please visit FallonLivestock.com
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by Martin Paris | NCA Executive Director | O: 775-738-9214
2021 Scholarship Recipients On behalf of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association (NCA), we are pleased to announce four scholarship recipients this year. NCA would like to congratulate Mattie Merritt of Round Mountain, NV and Leanna Sarman of Spring Creek, NV for being chosen as the 2021 Nevada Cattlemen’s Association Scholarship recipients. NCA would also like to congratulate Mackie Griggs of Elko, NV and Lia McQueary of Ruby Valley, NV for being chosen as the 2021 Marvel/ Andrae Scholarship recipients. NCA has annually awarded a scholarship to a firstyear college student beginning to pursue an education within the agricultural industry. This award is open to all Nevada high school graduating seniors planning to attend a Junior or four-year University and majoring in an Ag related field. NCA also awards a second scholarship, the Marvel/Andrae Scholarship, which is targeted toward students either going into their first year of college or already enrolled in college and working towards their degree in agriculture. Both scholarships are awarded to exceptional students who work hard, achieve high academic achievements, and work to represent agriculture in a positive way. We thank all the students that applied for these scholarships and are confident that they will all be
Mattie Merritt 2021 NCA Scholarship Recipient 4 JULY/AUGUST 2021
strong future advocates for our ranching and farming communities. Mattie will attend the College of Southern Idaho this fall to pursue a degree in Veterinary Technology. She’s been actively engaged in several organizations during her high school career including FFA, Superintendent Advisory Board, Round Mountain High School Class of 2021 Student Council, and Nevada State High School Rodeo Association. Mattie plans to become a licensed veterinary technician and possibly pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Leanna will be attending the University of Nevada, Reno this fall to pursue a degree in Agriculture Science. She has been actively engaged in several organizations throughout high school including FFA, 4-H, Society for Range Management, National/ Nevada/Elko County Cattlewomen, and the Lamoille Junior Livestock Club. Leanna hopes to grow her cow/calf operation she started in 4-H and pursue a career in production agriculture after obtaining her college degree.
the University of Nevada’s Honors College and also participates in UNR Chamber Singers. Her goal is to continue advancing through STEM classes and possibly apply to a job within the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at the Experimental Station which would allow her to work with animals, graduate researchers, greenhouses, and irrigation sciences. Mackie is currently attending the University of Idaho and is majoring in Animal and Veterinary Science Production and minoring in Rangeland Management and Ecology. Mackie has made the Dean’s list each semester of college. She is a member of the NCA, Pi Beta Phi sorority, Student Idaho Cattle Association, and treasurer of the Block and Bridle Club. This summer she will be interning at the Lightning Creek Ranch in Joseph, Oregon. She plans to pursue a career that relates to the beef industry and eventually follow in her father’s footsteps by someday managing the Maggie Creek Ranch where she grew up.
Lia is currently enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is in
Congratulations again to Mattie, Leanna, Lia, and Mackie and we wish them good luck on their future endeavors! We are very proud of them and are confident that they will continue to serve the industry well. We look forward to all that they will accomplish.
Leanna Sarman 2021 NCA Scholarship Recipient
Lia McQueary, 2021 Marvel-Andrae Scholarship Recipient
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Fallon: 8-5:30 M-F Gardnerville: 8-5 M-F Snyders Pinenut Livestock Supply
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Nice 520 acre property, all acreage w/certified water rights. Currently 2 pivots on one well; two other wells drilled and ready to be plumbed. Nice manufactured home plus custom home framed and ready to be finished, plus bunkhouse and RV spaces. Large trees at homesite as well as some fruit trees. Opportunity to add 320 acres via Desert Land Entry to the farm. Price includes full line of equipment. $1,995,000
Please check out our website at nevadacattlemen.org to see Mattie and Leanna’s winning essays.
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This is a 160 acre farm with two center pivots covering approximately 130 acres. Two irrigation wells plus domestic well for home. Nice new log home plus metal shop/barn and several other outbuildings. Nice metal fencing. Price: $795,000
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Paul D. Bottari, Broker Mackie Griggs, 2021 Marvel/Andrae Scholarship Recipient www.progressiverancher.com
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1222 6th St. PO Box 368 Wells, NV 89835 The Progressive Rancher
Work: 775.752.3040 Cell: 775.752.0952 Fax: 775.752.3021 JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Your Beef Checkoff — Setting the Record Straight EDITORIAL by Lucy Snyder Rechel I recently received a postcard from Nevada Livestock Marketing, LLC slamming NCBA and urging the signing of the Petition for Referendum on Beef Promotion and Research Order. I have no quarrel with producers having differing opinions about policy. I have no quarrel with producers who wish to change things and make them better. These are the sign of a healthy democracy and a progressive business. I do object to the inaccurate blasting of NCBA. I object to the calling NCBA, “they.” I would like to remind Jack Payne that many stalwarts of the Nevada ranching industry have been and are leaders in NCBA for many years. They have generously given of their time, energy, money, and intelligence to listen to producers and strive to make policy that will better their business and their lifestyle.
Nevada Cattlemen’s Association assists with travel expenses as it can. Mostly, these leaders spend from their own pocket to travel to industry meetings, Carson City, and Washington D.C., to fight for policy they believe will benefit Nevada ranchers. The slamming of NCBA is slamming the likes of Tom Barnes, Steve Lucas, Sam Mori, Davey Stix, JJ Goicoechea, Ron Cerri. (Steve Lucas was actually not involved in the policy side of NCBA. He served on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and on the Nevada Beef Council for many years.) These people and many more like them are fellow cattlemen, my neighbors, and your customers. To disagree with their policy opinions is one thing. To publish non-factual information and insults about NCBA is to tell lies and insult your fellow ranchers. I have also spent many of my own dollars and much of my own time working to make sure that checkoff dollars are spent efficiently and effectively. I invite you to attend a Nevada Beef Council meeting and see the incredible work done on our behalf before you so vehemently lambaste the Checkoff.
Statement from postcard: “If you owned, bought, or sold cattle in a calendar year, YOU can sign the petition to investigate the Beef CheckOFF program.” Correction: Date is not calendar year. Cattle must be owned, sold, or purchased between July 2, 2020 and July 1, 2021.
Correction: The petition is not to investigate the checkoff. Wording taken directly from the petition is “… for the purpose of calling a referendum and an up or down vote on the termination of the Beef Promotion and Research Order…” Any producer should think twice before signing the statement on the petition stating that he has not been misguided into signing this petition.
Statement from postcard: “There are many things that are beyond our control but if you are tired of paying the Checkoff $ and tired of being misrepresented by Packer controlled NCBA then go online and sign the referendum.”
Correction: Nevada Beef Council directly controls $.50 of each checkoff dollar. Each and every member of the Nevada Beef Council is a producer. There are seats representing cow-calf, feeder, and dairy producers. When seats become vacant, Nevada Cattlemen, Nevada Cattlewomen, and Farm Bureau nominate members for the Nevada Beef Council. 6 JULY/AUGUST 2021
What is done with checkoff dollars is not “beyond our control.” Every producer in Nevada has the opportunity to step up and serve on the NBC. From the Nevada Beef Council, members are chosen to represent Nevada in the Federation of State Beef Councils. Through this avenue and directly by being nominated by the same three organizations, any producer in Nevada can also serve on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
First, it should be recognized that packers have no seats and no votes on the checkoff side of NCBA. As far as Packer control of NCBA policy, packers invest in seats on the product council or membership division of NCBA. (This is also how Nevada Cattlemen’s Association has voting seats at NCBA.) Policy at NCBA is set by committees, most of which are 100-150 members. Any packer that invests in NCBA can have a maximum of 2 seats on a committee. National, Cargill, and Tyson all are on the NCBA Product Council. This means that on any committee, there is only 6 possible votes by packers. It should be also noted that packers seldom participate in committee meetings at NCBA.
“Packer controlled NCBA.”
Statement from postcard: “Encourage your family and friends to do the same.” Correction: All family and friends cannot just sign the petition. They must meet eligibility requirements – which means owning cattle. Statement from postcard: “Why do we advertise in beef magazines?”
Answer: The Act and the Order requires that the checkoff spend a certain amount of money on producer information – in other words, keeping producers informed about the checkoff. As a person who has served on both our state beef council and the Federation of State Beef Councils, I work hard to ensure that the producer information money is wisely spent. The purpose of the ads is not to sell producers beef. Believe me, as a member of the Nevada Beef Council, I know darn well that I don’t need to sell beef to ranchers. However, we typically use the ads to share information that demonstrates to producers how their checkoff dollars are being spent. We focus on information that producers may be able to pass along to other consumers. For example, an ad including nutritional information may arm a producer to answer a question from a non-ranching consumer. And, once again, every producer has the opportunity to serve on the Nevada Beef Council, the Beef Board, or the Federation of State Beef Councils and thereby have a say in the control of the checkoff money. Statement from postcard: “Why aren’t they advertising in Sacramento, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tuscon and places like that?”
Answer: We are and we do. In fact, 90% of Nevada Beef Council promotion and consumer information funds are spent in the Reno and Las Vegas areas. While the Checkoff is operating on the same $1 per head that was assessed in 1985 when the CheckOff was initiated, advertising costs are skyrocketing. Using Jack’s postcard as an example, today’s cost was $.36. It would have cost $.14 to send in 1985. Much of checkoff funded The Progressive Rancher
advertising is done through social media apps that ranchers may not be using. As a member of Nevada Beef Council, for years I have carefully evaluated our advertising options and choose those I believe will be most effective in promoting the beef we produce. Statement from postcard: “Does it pay for fancy offices and lobbyists?”
Answer: As your representative on the Federation of State Beef Councils, I have been in NCBA offices as well as several state beef councils. None of those offices are “fancy” by any standard. They are a place in which we can meet with nationally known chefs and nutritionists, media representatives, policy makers, fellow cattle producers, and others with whom we do business, the offices are appropriate. I have been in the state Beef Council offices of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, California and Utah. They all qualify as frugal and some are downright cramped. We do not use checkoff money to pay lobbyists. We can use checkoff money to do research that NCBA lobbyists can use. For example, we can fund research on the benefits of beef in the diets of growing children which our lobbyists can use when dietary guidelines are being renewed.
Statement from postcard: “Keep in mind they are trying to raise the dollar to $1.50 or $2”
Answer: Once again, who is “they”? NCBA, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, and state Beef Councils cannot raise the checkoff. In some states, progressive and farsighted producers have initiated methods to increase the state portion of the checkoff.
Statement from postcard: “States like Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, California etc that have brand inspections are collecting most of the beef promotion for the whole nation. Cattle are bought and sold by the thousands east of Nebraska and since brand inspections are not required sellers are supposed to voluntarily send their $1 per head to NCBA.” Answer: Again, factual information would be nice. Total collections for 2020, according to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board annual report were $33,799,557. The total from brand inspection states was $13,604,229.
Additionally, no checkoff money is automatically sent to NCBA. Checkoff dollars are collected by Qualified State Beef Councils and, by law, 50 cents of each dollar must be sent to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. It is only sent to NCBA and other contractors to the checkoff on a cost recovery basis for completed work approved by the Operating Committee. If individual State Beef Councils choose to invest a portion of their 50 cents directly with other state beef councils, other checkoff contractors or the federation of state beef councils, the decision is made by the local state beef council board. As is detailed above, nearly every statement in the entire Nevada Livestock Marketing, LLC postcard has a glaring inaccuracy. Before signing the petition, please take the time to learn what your Beef CheckOff, the Nevada Beef Council, NCBA, and Nevada Cattlemen’s Association has done for you.
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GRILLED TOP ROUND STEAK with PARMESAN ASPARAGUS After soaking in a tasty vinegar-garlic marinade, this Top Round Steak is grilled alongside fresh asparagus. Less than 30 minutes to make, this receipe serves four and is only 240 calories with a whopping 31 grams protein per serving!
Ingredients • 1 beef Top Round Steak, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 1 pound) • 1 pound asparagus, trimmed • 1 teaspoon olive oil • 3 tablespoons shaved Parmesan cheese • Hot cooked orzo or rice (or your favorite pasta/grain) Marinade • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme • 2 teaspoons steak seasoning blend • 2 teaspoons minced garlic • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Courtesy of Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.
www.nevadabeef.org www.mybeefcheckoff.org
Preparation • Combine Marinade ingredients in medium bowl. Place beef Top Round Steak and marinade in food-safe plastic bag; turn steak to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight, turning occasionally. • Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Toss asparagus with oil. Place steak in center of grid over medium, ash-covered coals; arrange asparagus around steak. Grill steak, covered, 10 to 11 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, times remain the same) for medium rare (145°F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook) Grill asparagus 6 to 10 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 8 to 12 minutes) or until crisp-tender, turning occasionally. Cook’s Tip: To make asparagus spears easier to turn on the grill, thread them ladder-style onto two 12-inch metal skewers. Insert a skewer about 1 inch from each end of spear, leaving small space between spears. Use tongs to turn entire asparagus “ladder” for even cooking. • Immediately sprinkle cheese over asparagus. Carve steak into thin slices. Season with salt, as desired. Serve with asparagus and orzo. Other serving suggestions instead of orzo: rice, couscous, quinoa, lentils, cooked & riced cauliflower, or greens tossed with some fresh marinade. www.progressiverancher.com
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JULY/AUGUST 2021
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REPRINT of April 2021 article One of the first things President Biden did after his inauguration was to sign an Executive Order outlining the goal of protecting 30 percent of the nation’s land and water resources by 2030. On February 18, 2021, A.J.R. 3 was introduced into the Nevada Legislature expressing the same goal for Nevada’s land and water resources. The Nevada resolution states that only a small percentage of lands in the state are currently protected. Similarly, there are assertions by some groups that only 12 percent of the land in the U.S. and 26 percent of the oceans in our territorial waters are protected. What does “protected “mean? A common dictionary definition says something, or someone is shielded from harm, loss, or danger, in other words, protected. As parents or sons and daughters we protect our loved ones or were protected by them in return, or at least I hope we were. As homeowners or ranchers, we protect our private property, or we lose it. Humans naturally want to protect things and other people who have a special meaning to them. These are basic to our character. We are not alone in this trait. Animals protect their young from the danger which is ubiquitous in nature. There is evidence that some plants are protective of other plants. Tomato plants being protected from certain insects by marigold flowers is one example that comes to mind. In 1872, the USA established the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park. The stated reason for this “public park” in the creation legislation was to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources in Yellowstone. Later, in 1916, The National Park Service (NPS) was created by its Organic Act. The act set forth the mission of the NPS: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment 8 JULY/AUGUST 2021
“30 by 2030”
of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”. The NPS manages over 80 million acres in all 50 states, territories, and protectorates. These places are not just National Parks but historic sites like the Little Big Horn Battlefield and National Recreation Areas like Lake Mead. During the same time as the creation of Yellowstone the U.S. Congress established the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to analyze the quality of United States forests. This was followed in 1891 by the Forest Reserve Act and finally in 1905 by the creation of the United States Forest Service (USFS) within the United States Department of Agriculture. The USFS manages about 190 million acres of forest and grasslands. The top priority of this agency is to maintain and improve the health, diversity, and productivity of the lands in its portfolio. In 1946 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was created transferring all the land in the jurisdiction of the Federal Land Office to this new agency located within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The BLM oversees the multiple use function of about 245 million acres with the mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands. These are just three U.S. agencies charged with sustaining, maintaining, and preserving over 515,000,000 acres of land in the United States. Does what they do sound like protection to you? Note, I have not mentioned Indian Reservations for which the U.S. has a fiduciary trust responsibility. Nor have I mentioned state and national wildlife refuges or military reservations and bombing ranges which total another 159,000,000 acres of land. Thus, with all the entities I have written above, there is something in the neighborhood of 674,000,000 of land owned and thus theoretically protected by the United States.
In total, there are nearly 1.9 billion acres of land in the continental United States. About 41% of this land and the largest use is livestock grazing. The second highest use and another 14% is forest land not in state or national forests. Finally, the third highest use is in cropland. These three uses total about 1.6 billion acres. Obviously, some of this land is owned by the U.S. but I would suggest most, if not all the cropland and the number of forests, is private land. Going back to the total land area number for the continental United States of 1.9 billion acres for an easy number to use in calculation. 30 percent of this total is a little less than 600,000,000 acres. I go back also to a calculation above of 674,000,000 acres owned and controlled by the United States, in other words, all of which depends on how “protection” is defined to determine whether we have already reached the Biden goal. Tellingly, neither the President nor the Nevada Legislature define protection which leaves open a great subjective debate. I believe the nation cannot afford another vicious disagreement on such a fundamental issue as to what needs protection and what has already been protected. For instance, despite the NPS mandate, some say popular parks like Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains (the most visited of all our National Parks), have been protected to death while others might say they are doing just fine. What is it, then? Are we protecting or loving these places too much? As for Nevada, every school child in this state knows that over 80% of our land area is controlled and owned by the Federal Government. There are 110,000 square miles or around 70,000,000 acres within our borders. This means at least 56,000,000 acres is not in private hands. Again, assuming ownership and control equals a modicum of protection, the 30% goal has been reached almost three times
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over in Nevada. Therefore, what about our private forests, farms and ranches producing commodities for our use and survival outside of the public domain? Are these acreages to be added to the protected 30 percent if it is determined that military reservation or Indian reservation are exempt from the calculation? Who makes the decision about the final calculation? The President’s order directs the federal agencies to designate land for protection, but it is unclear if this is additional land or includes land already under their management, control and thus subject to the agency’s protection. I have been to Yellowstone and I like it. I operate a cattle operation partially in a designated wilderness area. I like that too. I am very familiar with other Nevada ranch operations with permits utilizing hundreds of thousands of acres for livestock grazing. These ranches are utilizing the resource to produce desirable commodities it is true, but they are also doing so while protecting the resource. There has been a great deal of talk lately about the need for carbon sequestration to help combat global climate change. There is now scientific proof which supports the theory one of the best ways to sequester carbon more rapidly is to use well-managed grazing by herbivores. This grazing tool is also proven to reduce fine fuel loads which contributes greatly to the reduction of fire hazards on the public and private grazing ranges. I would ask is the 30 by 2030 a catchy political slogan or is it a real goal, and if so, how do you square the goal with the reality of land protection which I have outlined above that already exists in our country? Is this a not very well disguised plot to grab more private property for public use? Hmmmm. I’ll see you soon. www.progressiverancher.com
Editoral by Kaitlynn Glover
Public Lands Council Executive Director Ranchers are the original conservationists. They’d call themselves managers, stewards, or just-plain-ranchers, but there’s no mistaking the careful management and successful outcomes of their labors. They are conservationists in the truest sense – working with the landscape and tailoring their approach accordingly. It’s this commitment to place-based management that has prompted ranchers to engage with the Biden Administration’s proposal to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by the year 2030. Recently rebranded as the administration’s campaign to “Conserve and Restore America the Beautiful”, the conservation campaign has inspired equal measures of enthusiasm and resistance – and for good reason. Historically, ranchers in the West have been skeptical of federal government programs that tend to be top-down “solutions”, rather than the locally-led, locally-supported work that ranchers have been doing for generations.
While this skepticism runs deep, the 30 by 30 campaign offers a rare opportunity for ranchers to be widely recognized as the conservationists they are. From the valleys of California to the sagebrush seas of Wyoming and everywhere across America the Beautiful, ranchers and farmers carry forward generations of hard-fought knowledge, dedication, and persistence to conservation goals. Their sheer stubbornness to continue ranching through challenges like drought and fire means that they have kept these lands open, unmarred by concrete or development through each of these trying times. They have also kept these lands healthy, even in the wake of drought, fire, and plague, by actively cultivating landscape recovery. Because of their presence on the landscape, the beautiful American legacy of wide open spaces as far as the eye can see has been preserved.
This term – preservation – causes a good deal of consternation among this community. Particularly in the West, the fight for the future of these vast landscapes has hinged on the distinction between preservation and conservation. Preservation evokes memories of taxidermy and shadowboxes that both seek to freeze a moment in time. While many of us would like to stop time, that’s just not how natural resource management works.
experience catastrophic wildfire. This approach is widely reviled by ranchers who know that responsible natural resource management means being nimble enough to respond to rapidly changing conditions, not expecting the resources to stay the same despite all other factors. This nimbleness meant ranchers were ready to respond to President Biden when he first announced his “30 by 30” goal. During the 90-day period when the Departments of Agriculture and Interior were gathering public input about how to meet this 30 by 30 goal, the Public Lands Council (PLC) shared a few key recommendations from public lands ranchers.
Shortly after that 90-day period ended, the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce issued their report that renamed We told the administration they must and reframed 30 by 30 into the first national differentiate between preservation and conservation campaign to “Conserve and conservation. If this 30 by 30 was going Restore America the Beautiful”. The longto be an effort to preserve 30 percent of awaited report was light on details. It didn’t the country’s lands, ranchers would oppose answer how or where the conservation would for the sake of the resource. Ranchers and happen, or who would do it. It didn’t respond resource managers also know that acquisition, to those who questioned whether this would designation, and prohibition do not equal be a public land push, a private land effort, or conservation. We urged the administration somewhere in between. The report contained to take a wide view of conservation activities, little about whether the Departments would knowing that no single practice can be seek new authorities from Congress. successful in every scenario. Conservation, So, what did the report say? The report set much like the ranchers who do it on a daily a few clear priorities: create more green basis, has to be nimble. space for urban communities, improve We told them that they needed to be landscape resiliency, increase public access clear about how the conservation would to the outdoors, support locally-led efforts, happen – what activities would count, and increase Tribal involvement in the where the conservation would happen, and conservation progress. what lands would be eligible – if they were In a huge victory for farmers and ranchers, to avoid widespread panic and opposition. the report recognized the need to “incentivize The public needed reassurance that the and reward the voluntary conservation administration didn’t intend this proposal to efforts of fishers, ranchers, farmers, and be a thin disguise for a grab of private and forest owners” as one of the six core areas public land rights. This concern, of course, of focus for the campaign. The importance is well-founded in communities that time of this inclusion cannot be understated: after time have had their entire realities this language is a first step toward the upended by executive fiat. Furthermore, administration formally recognizing the administration needed to be clear about the wide array of benefits provided by whether this effort would happen in the livestock production in a public, visible, West on existing public lands, in the East and enthusiastic way. PLC keeps preaching on private lands, or a mix of something in the message that “grazing is good”, and the between. Even in the early days of their administration listened. exploratory process, Department officials The report contained a few seriously were peppered with questions that they just concerning points, too. A few key mentions couldn’t seem to answer. of preservation and wildlife corridors, the Perhaps most importantly, we told the focus on significantly expanded access to Department that they must recognize the lands (for recreation, primarily), and the good work already being done. If they truly ongoing uncertainty about some of the wanted to achieve their conservation goals, key definitions was sufficient to keep many and wanted to do so on a large scale, they folks on the edge of their seats. Ranchers needed ranchers’ support, engagement, and other stakeholders are right to still be skeptical when so many details remain and expertise. It’s important to remember how this process unanswered.
In the West, “preservation” has historically been used interchangeably with designation, acquisition, and prohibition. Land management guided by preservation inspired designation of multi-million-acre national monuments that far exceeded the intent of the Antiquities Act and creation started. President Biden announced the of wilderness areas that now regularly 30 by 30 conservation goal as part of an www.progressiverancher.com
Executive Order, which is effectively a presidential wishlist. It’s an instruction to the Departments to do something, often with few instructions on how to accomplish the task. That Executive Order left the 30 by 30 process open to the Departments and instructed them to come up with a plan in 90 days, but offered little additional guidance. In that first three months, the Departments appeared to have no clear direction other than to listen to the public. PLC took the opportunity to share ranchers’ message because if we don’t tell them, who will?
This skepticism, however, shouldn’t prevent engagement in what comes next. With
The Progressive Rancher
so many questions left to answer, the administration is putting together a group of government agencies, scientists, tribes, and other stakeholders to create a Conservation and Stewardship Atlas. The atlas will be the guide for what counts, where conservation will happen, who will do it, and who will count it. Being an active stakeholder now is imperative to ensure the government hears from the true American conservationists who do conservation, not just those who write about it.
At first glance, the America the Beautiful campaign seems overwhelming, pulling us in hundreds of directions at once. When you dig in a bit, it becomes clear that it’s just a new name for all the same issues we’ve been dealing with for years. PLC has been working on landscape resiliency to catastrophic wildfire, invasive species, balancing multiple use, and protecting private property rights for decades – and will continue to do so regardless of this 30 by 30 goal. The quiet genius of this campaign is that it gives the federal government a neat box with a bow on top where they can put all of their natural resource management issues together in once space. If you’ve read this far, you may think I chose a really bad time to don my rose-colored glasses, but I believe the world looks better in full color. When President Biden was sworn in, western states knew we’d be facing fights over new monuments, expanded wilderness, and policies supported by groups who would like nothing more than to remove all livestock from public lands. This was going to be true regardless of whether these things were included in the first “national conservation goal”. These fights will come, and we will fight them with the same vigor we have always had. As a nimble, flexible ranching community, we can both fight those fights while also actively shaping a proposal that should reflect the good work we already do. Those conversations are two sides of the same coin, and both are necessary to ensure the longevity of a strong public lands ranching industry.
A wise person once told me that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu – and we sure don’t want to be on the menu for a proposal that affects 720 million acres – an area the size of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, with Vermont thrown in for good measure. As conservationists, ranchers face the good, the dry, and the ugly every year, and are the best equipped to guide this ambitious proposal to ensure this country does conservation – the ranchers’ way. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Legislative Report | June 17, 2021 The 81st Nevada Legislative Session ended on May 31st. This was without doubt the most unique session in Nevada history. Because of the precautions necessary to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic, the legislative building was closed for almost 3/4ths of the 120-day session. The public and all unnecessary people including lobbyists were barred from the building. Only members of the legislature, the legislative staff, and essential employees such as custodians and security were allowed in the legislative building.
Hearings on bills and the Executive Budget were held on a regularly scheduled basis and if testimony was needed or desired on legislation, interested parties could apply to be heard and seen virtually or one could phone in. Once the initial testimony in favor of a bill was presented to a committee, other support and testimony against legislation was restricted to 2 minutes.
Generally, this was an anti-business session. Employers, landlords, hospitals, and many other businesses bore the brunt of a progressive agenda which seemingly sought retribution for a situation we all faced with the pandemic, but which was no one’s fault. Examples of this attitude on the part of legislators were bills to add new penalties and civil liabilities on employers; add 14 more days of paid time off, and mandated employee return rights for laid off employees. Furthermore, the mining industry, faced with initiative proposals in the next general election which would have changed the net proceeds method of taxation, agreed to a new gross proceedstiered tax which will result in a 100% increase in its tax burden to the state.
The Nevada Legislature first experienced a new influence in the 2019 session with the increased activity of progressive groups advancing a national initiative agenda. This became one of the driving forces of the 81st session in 2021.
Two disparate examples show this new influence in our legislative process. 10 JULY/AUGUST 2021
Proponents of eliminating the death penalty came within one committee vote of succeeding. Also, it is now the law that farms with more than 3,000 laying hens must follow strict guidelines on cage space and provide free-roaming facilities to keep their chickens. Furthermore, farmers who produce eggs from places in other states which do not follow these guidelines can no longer sell eggs in Nevada.
As in any other typical legislative session in Nevada, there were many bills being monitored with a potential impact on the agricultural industry.
The Department of Agriculture and the Legislature proposed approximately twenty-seven measures dealing with an aspect of agriculture or administrative requirements within the jurisdiction of the Department. Examples of the latter were petroleum related, weights and measures, cannabis weighing and measuring equipment, authorization of meetings to be conducted by remote technology, and requiring state agencies to submit annual equity in the workplace reports. There were also many measures directly related to production agriculture for things like growing hemp, pesticide restrictions, seed sales and labeling, brand inspection and rerecording from 4 to 5 years with a rerecording fee of $200 and allowing for notices and applications to be sent electronically, or in writing to the brands division.
Moreover, in keeping with a general legislative theme in 2021, there were several bills dealing with restricting the activities of peace officers and police including the Department of Agriculture’s law enforcement employees relative to stops and the use of force emphasizing the need to use de-escalation techniques consistent with the situation at hand and requiring the relevant State Departments to provide training in the techniques.
There was a significant number of bills dealing with gender bias, sexual harassment, and the development of agency policies regarding these issues, and also racial discrimination, directing
agencies to appoint a diversity and inclusion liaison within the agency who would report to the head of the agency regarding a lack of attention to the diversity of the employees and inclusion of everyone in the workforce. Finally, there was a bill which, as originally introduced, would have reduced the range livestock representation on the Board of Agriculture to one person from the sheep industry and one person from the range cattle or semi-range cattle industry. The bill increased the Board of Agriculture to 13 members. In the bill one person from the “livestock” industry would be joined by a licensed veterinarian, a member of the agricultural processing or manufacturing industry and a person representing groups who distribute nutritious foodstuffs to needy people. I was unaware until digging into this bill that the Department handles 10s of millions of dollar’s worth of food to unfortunate people across the state.
The bill was ultimately amended to delete the reference to a member of the “livestock” industry, which could have included a dog breeder, to restore an additional member to the Board from the range cattle industry.
The notion of what consists of agriculture and things under the jurisdiction of the Department has obviously changed and is continuing to change. The understanding of Nevada Agriculture at the Legislature is also evolving. Most legislators come from Clark County, the most populous place in our state. The Department of Agriculture is spread very thin and has programs and responsibilities I never thought possible. The legislation discussed above was derived from a written report given by Director Jennifer Ott at a recent Board of Agriculture meeting. That report was over 4 single spaced pages. I am not advocating one way or the other for most of the legislation described above. However, farmers and ranchers need to be aware of these changing attitudes and the potential impact new policies will have on their operations.
My main point is to show the reader what was displayed to me this past session.
The Progressive Rancher
When it comes to agriculture the new view of the subject is vastly different than what many in production agriculture would recognize. The reality is if you do not like this new view you had better become engaged and talk to urban members of the legislature, so they are more informed about what you do than they are now.
There were some water bills introduced by the Division of Water resources which never achieved much traction except one that amended the procedures for hearings on temporary permits under the water law. Another water bill proposed by the Office of Finance in the Governor’s Office would have created a voluntary “Program for the Conservation of Water”. A person holding an irrigation water right would have been allowed to apply for an allocation of conserved water for water they save based upon their implementation of conservation measures. Receipt of an allocation of this water would allow the recipient to reserve the water for future use, or use, sell, lease, or transfer the conserved water.
The bill, AB 356, had one hearing with only one supporter. It was obvious the bill, as written had no future. However, as often happens at the legislature, the bill was amended. The new bill allows the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to start taking out so-called non-functional turf in the Las Vegas Valley. This is the grass along streets, in medians, and parking lots that serves no function other than decoration in the Las Vegas Valley but does not include parks or backyard grass. The numbers are impressive. SNWA estimates there is about 5,000 acres of this grass and about 20,000-acre feet of water per year would be saved if there was none of this grass to irrigate. The amended bill was ultimately signed into law by the Governor. Many other bills failed to meet the statutory deadlines or were just watched for potential amendments opposed by the industry. I suggest we all keep a close watch on future legislatures. I’ll see you soon.
www.progressiverancher.com
Page 6 and 7 excerpt from the report:
CONSERVING & RESTORING AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL 2021 A preliminary report to the National Climate Task Force recommending a ten-year, locally led campaign to conserve and restore the lands and waters upon which we all depend, and that bind us together as Americans.
FULL REPORT can be viewed/downloaded here: www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/ files/report-conserving-and-restoring-america-the-beautiful-2021.pdf As we write this, America is engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to defeat a deadly pandemic and tackle the climate crisis. We are proud to be a part of a team that is delivering relief to families in need, helping businesses weather the economic storm, and ensuring that millions of Americans receive vaccine shots each day. The road to a full recovery remains steep, but President Biden is determined to lead America to new heights. He has laid out a vision and a plan for building back better that will repower America with clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions at home and abroad, create millions of good-paying jobs, and— importantly—conserve and restore the lands and waters that support and sustain us. President Biden has challenged all of us as Americans to join together in pursuit of a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030. The ambition of this goal reflects the urgency of the challenges we face: the need to do more to safeguard the drinking water, clean air, food supplies, and wildlife upon which we all depend; the need to fight climate change with the natural solutions that our forests, agricultural lands, and the ocean provide; and the need to give every child in America the chance to experience the wonders of nature. The President’s national conservation goal also provides an opportunity to better honor and support the people and communities who serve as stewards of our lands and waters. Rather than simply measuring conservation progress by national parks, wilderness lands, and marine protected areas in the care of the government, the President’s vision recognizes and celebrates the voluntary conservation efforts of farmers, ranchers, and forest owners; the leadership of sovereign Tribal Nations in caring for lands, waters, and wildlife; the contributions and stewardship www.progressiverancher.com
traditions of America’s hunters, anglers, and fishing communities; and the vital importance of investing in playgrounds, trails, and open space in park-deprived communities. The President’s challenge is a call to action to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts of all kinds and all over America, wherever communities wish to safeguard the lands and waters they know and love. Doing so will not only protect our lands and waters but also boost our economy and support jobs nationwide. The central recommendation of this report, which we submit to the National Climate Task Force, is that the pursuit of a decade-long national conservation effort be faithful to eight core principles. These principles—which include a commitment to collaboration, support for voluntary and locally led conservation, and honoring of Tribal sovereignty and private property rights—are essential ingredients to building and maintaining broad support, enthusiasm, and trust for this effort. These principles are also indispensable to achieving durable outcomes that meaningfully improve the lives of Americans. This report is only the starting point on the path to fulfilling the conservation vision that President Biden has outlined. Where this path leads over the next decade will be determined not by our agencies, but by the ideas and leadership of local communities. It is our job to listen, learn, and provide support along the way to help strengthen economies and pass on healthy lands, waters, and wildlife for generations to come.
NDA confirms cases of rabies in bats in Nevada The Animal Disease Lab reminds Nevadans to vaccinate pets against rabies The Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) Animal Disease Laboratory has confirmed three cases of rabies in bats—two in Clark County and one in Washoe County. Bats are common throughout Nevada, with their activity increasing between May and October. While other species of wildlife can carry rabies, bats are the most common source of human and domestic animal transmission, making it important to keep pets vaccinated and ensure no contact is made with wildlife. “It’s important to ensure individuals and domestic animals do not come in contact with bats,” Laura Morrow, NDA Animal Disease Lab supervisor, said. “If you or your animals have had contact with any bats, contact your local healthcare professional or veterinary provider immediately.” Any bats, dead or alive, that may have been in contact with people or domestic animals should be reported immediately. It is important that individuals contact the NDA Animal Disease Lab or their local animal control agency before attempting to pick up a bat. If an individual is asked to collect the bat for testing, they should carefully follow all instructions provided by the NDA or animal control agency including using heavy gloves to avoid potential bites.
The Animal Disease Laboratory confirms between 10 and 20 cases of bat rabies each year. To date in 2021, the Animal Disease Lab has tested 25 bats, and three were positive for rabies. “Rabies can only be confirmed through laboratory testing,” said NDA State Veterinarian Dr. Amy Mitchell. “It is important for all animal owners to work with their local veterinarians to keep animals up to date on vaccinations, to protect both the animals and their owners.” In the state of Nevada, a rabies vaccination is required for dogs, cats and ferrets. Animal owners are urged to have pets vaccinated against rabies and maintain a regular vaccination schedule. Indoor animals should still be vaccinated, as bats can enter and exit residences unnoticed. Individuals can learn more about rabies and the proper steps to take with a possible exposure on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website at cdc.gov/rabies, or through the Southern Nevada Health District or Washoe County Health Department. CONTACT: Ciara Ressel Public Information Officer I Administration Division | NDA 405 South 21st Street, Sparks, NV 89431 office: 775.353.3628 | cell: 775.525.4160
Sincerely,
Deb Haaland Secretary of the Interior Thomas J. Vilsack Secretary of Agriculture Gina M. Raimondo Secretary of Commerce
Brenda Mallory, Chair Council on Environmental Quality The Progressive Rancher
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By Melinda Sarman, President WOMEN IN RANCHING EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT, STOCKMANSHIP & STEWARDSHIP, BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS IN AN EVER CHANGING BEEF INDUSTRY
This symposium will be held in Elko, NV on July16-17. This two-day event is hosted by Nevada CattleWomen, American National CattleWomen, National Cattlemen Association, Nevada Cattlemen Association, Nevada Beef Check Off, and The University of Nevada, Reno Beginning Farmers and Rancher Development Program. The symposium is open to women and men engaged in ranching or other pursuits within the beef industry. This symposium has been tailored for people new to the beef industry as well as seasoned pros. Events include: Hitting the Books, the Tools You Need for Running Your Business; Importance of Information Management Software; Chute Side Mannerisms, and Give it Your Best Shot; Cattle Nutrition, Trace Minerals & Their Effects on Reproduction, Immunity & Your Bottom Line, along with Beef Carcass Grading and Fabrication; Low Stress Handling for Cattle by Horseback and with Livestock Herding Dogs. All break-out sessions are building to the main focus which is the Beef Quality Assurance Certification Test at the end of this event. The goal is to have people trained in the latest livestock practices that can be implemented back at the ranch. In an ever-changing world the more men and women BQA Certified means a more educated and informed agriculture produced to meet the needs of the today’s consumer.
Several years ago, The American National CattleWomen developed a program, after listening to members, and a target training was developed by industry leaders and WIRED was born; Women in Ranching Development and Education. WIRED can be used to help women in many cases. For example, some women may have retired from one career and want to get back to the ranch but are not sure of new practices and technology. Or in other cases there may be a death of a spouse, where management of the ranch was done by a team and now is the sole responsibility of one. Years ago, for some women the only answers were to sell the family ranch. They just did not have the support they needed to stay in business. New numbers show that women in agriculture are on the rise. According to a United States Department of Agriculture Report (USDA), the number of farms and ranches operated by women has more than doubled since 1978. Today, more than 300,000 women serve as the principal operators on 62.7 million acres in the United States, producing some $12.9 billion in farm products. Not surprising, many of the real-life women behind the USDA numbers, have ties to the land going back generations. These women have an independent nature and a strong set of ethics and values based on that background. I know women from across the state who are planning on attending this event. Many women have been ranching in Nevada for serval generations. The presenters will be coming from across the United Sates and some from Nevada. NCBA will be having Curt Pate, Dr. Ron Gill, Dr. Dean Fish and Ron
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR 2021 FUNDRAISER The Nevada CattleWomen fundraiser for 2021 is underway. Thanks to our friends at Smith Valley Garage, we’re raffling a Kubota Four Wheel Drive Gasoline Utility Vehicle! Get your tickets today! Details are in the article on this page. 12 JULY/AUGUST 2021
Torell, (NV BQA Coordinator) to present for low stress cattle handling and herd health. The financial session will be presented by Kelly Barnes, from American AgCredit and from USDA, FSA Claire Kehoe and Micki Wines. Tim Davis form Midwest MictoSystem will present software systems. Dr. Don Goodman from Multimin USA, will present on trace minerals for cattle nutrition. Moly Manufacturing will have a livestock chute for everyone to see and use then Gene Dubes will be there to answer all your questions. Dr. Lindsay Chichester along with Charlie Mori both with UNR Extension will be showing the new Mobile Processing Trailer and the benefits it can have on your home-grown beef program. Our friends from Merck, Alltech, Moly Manufacturing, Multimin and Datamars are part of our team of sponsors that support the men and women in production agricultural. For more information visit STOCKMANSHIPANDSTEWARDSHIP.ORG For this combined event, our goal was to make it easy to register. The registration link will be available on the web site for American National Cattlewomen at ANCW.ORG or STOCKMANSHIPANDSTEWARDSHIP.ORG. If you have any questions don’t hesitated to call me at 775-385-3619 and I will be happy to pass on more information.
The 2021 Cattle Industry Summer business meeting and Annual Convention will be August 8-12 in Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nashville, TN. This event is for anyone in cattle or agriculture business. The 2021 event will be one of the largest on record. This convention will have Cattlewomen and Cattlemen from across the country. Event organizers expect to have over 9,000 people attend this convention. The trade show will be truly unbelievable with over seven acres of agriculture booths for livestock production and business management. The businesses at this convention will help make every animal and acre on a ranch more profitable. These meetings are educational, hands-on workshops from industry leaders. More information can be found at ANCW.ORG or NCBA.ORG. If you have any questions, please give me a call.
My last topic is the Nevada CattleWomen fundraiser for 2021. Thanks to our friends at Smith Valley Garage, NVCW is able to raffle off a Kubota Four Wheel Drive Gasoline Utility Vehicle! A maximum of 200 tickets will be sold for the Kubota Four Wheel Drive Gasoline Utility Vehicle RTV-XG850 Sidekick at $100/ticket. The drawing will be held August 1, 2021. Need not be present to win. Must be 21 years of age to purchase a ticket. Get your tickets now before they are sold out – only 200 tickets sold. Contact your NVCW Executive Board for tickets: Maddie Bowers (775) 388-3259; Ana Dagenhart (775) 790-5892; Staci Emm (775) 312-0424; Keri Pommerening (775) 721-4888; Erin Costa (775) 720-3760; or myself Melinda Sarman (775) 385-3619. The Progressive Rancher
www.progressiverancher.com
Join us in Elko, Nevada for the Summer Stockmanship & Stewardship experience! This unique two-day educational experience features educational programs from both ANCW Women in Ranching Education and Development (WIRED) and NCBA’s world renowned stockmanship clinicians. Attendees will learn about chute demonstrations, cattle nutrition, and management software, cattle handling, horsemanship, and will enjoy a live stock dog demonstration. Producers who attend will receive hands-on training in best management practices to help improve their operation and the chance to get BQA certified! We encourage all attendees to engage in the discussion of current industry challenges, consumer driven trends, and realistic strategies to enhance producer’s commitment to stockmanship & stewardship. To register, visit:
www.stockmanshipandstewardship.org/events/elko-nv Registration is $75 and includes meals. For questions, please call 775-385-3519.
Nevada CattleWomen, Inc. www.progressiverancher.com
The Progressive Rancher
JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Nevada Farm Bureau
Another Run At Federal Government Agencies Defining What They Can Regulate By Doug Busselman | NFB, Executive Vice President As we continue to look down the barrel of a serious drought it’s probably ironic that the federal agencies who believe that they are supposed to be regulating the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) announced recently that since we have a new administration occupying the White House we need to rewrite the regulations that the last guy wrote. Being in charge of swamps, wetlands or places where there isn’t even any water is a high priority for some of those who believe they are needing to regulate WOTUS, using the Clean Water Act as their excuse for federal intrusion to control. The Obama crew somewhat started with this federal expansion through rule-making and defining what they would like to consider as being “water” which could fit into their view of needing their oversight. Over the years though this same type of federal attempts for control have gone through a variety of interesting dynamics and creative federal government power grabbing. The Clean Water Act has this bothersome point of view that the federal government can only regulate “navigable waters.” Along the way of trying to build their mind-boggling connections we’ve got a trail of everything from thinking that it should include the glance of a flying goose to actual imagine that dry “streambed” belongs under our rule too. The two federal agencies who stay up late dreaming of new ways to control in this regard are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – which began as an Executive Order conceived by then President Richard Nixon and later approved to become an agency by Congress – and the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers. Their recent announcement that they will make another try and defining a workable meaning for what they can regulate as “WOTUS” came about on June 9th when they finished their “review” of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that went into place on April 21, 2020 when the Trump Administration went through the regulation writing system.
degradation,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced in his agency’s news release on the subject.
paying attention on whether there is water present for the Clean Water Act to apply.
In explaining their view that “significant environmental degradation” was taking place, the agencies noted that there is “the lack of protections is particularly significant in arid states, like New Mexico and Arizona, where nearly every one of over 1,500 streams assessed has been found to be non-jurisdictional.”
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule brought clarity and certainty to clean water regulations and other types of operational activities.
Without extremely honest details about those “1,500 streams” and their exact circumstances, it isn’t too hard to imagine that in these streams, “significant in arid states” possibly are streams which aren’t navigable and therefore fall outside of the parameters which the federal government is supposed to regulate under the law. It is also possible that while the “1,500 streams” might be capable of being managed by state authority. Just because the federal government can’t use their allpowerful authority, doesn’t automatically mean that there is a “lack of protections.” Those who depend on the land and rely on clean water, farmers and ranchers fit into this group and don’t require the federal government, in particular EPA and the Army Corp. of Engineers to issue edicts and require permits to farm their land. They shouldn’t need a team of lawyers and consultants to deal with those edicts coming from federal agencies who seem to be more about forcing their agenda of control than even
WOTUS going forward must fit with the constraints of the Clean Water Act and not be used (as the proposal coming from the Obama Administration) as a way of managing land use and harming private property rights. Nevada wasn’t mentioned in the arid states who don’t have enough of their partial or ephemeral water ways under the thumb of federal agencies. That might be because so much of the land is already under federal land management they don’t have enough private property to chase in trying to limit what can be done on the lands? For whatever reason, federal efforts to use WOTUS for expanding their imposition of control must be dealt with and responded to. First, this needs to be carried out by paying attention to whatever process the agency heads have “promised” in their gaining “input from a wide array of stakeholders…” Protecting water doesn’t automatically require a federal permit to accomplish the objective of clean waters. This new regulatory initiative should not become the next round to the land grab that the 2015 WOTUS Plan dreamt of.
President Biden commanded that whatever the Trump Administration wrote needed to be reviewed with an eye on finding good reason to not let anything fashioned by those guys the ability to be continued. “After reviewing the Navigable Waters Protection Rule as directed by President Biden, the EPA and the Department of the Army have determined that this rule is leading to significant environmental 14 JULY/AUGUST 2021
The Progressive Rancher
www.progressiverancher.com
By Brittney Money, Director of Communications
Scholarship Opportunity We are excited to announce the Trade School Scholarship is now open. The Trade School scholarship is awarded through the Nevada Heritage Foundation an organization that supports education of Nevada’s youth in agricultural related fields. The Trade School Scholarship is available to any student graduating from a Nevada high school and going into a trade to support agriculture or students already pursuing a trade to support agriculture.
ARE YOU UP-TO-DATE ON ALL THE CURRENT NFB NEWS? Sign up at at nvfb.org for the weekly Nevada Farm Bureau Grassroots Newsletter and have current topics delivered right to your inbox. Here’s a few highlights from this week...
A successful candidate for the Trade School scholarship must be from a Nevada Farm Bureau member family. A completed application must be submitted for this scholarship and include a copy of your most recent transcript and two letters of recommendation.
Farm Bureau Celebrates US Supreme Court Ruling On Private Property Rights
Full application details and application form can be found on the Nevada Farm Bureau website at nvfb.org or by using the direct link: Trade School Scholarship https://www.nvfb.org/articles/trade-school-scholarship/
This week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a 6-3 vote that private property rights includes the ability for keeping people off your property. American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Zippy Duvall noted the positive nature of the country’s highest court understanding that private property rights mean something. The ruling makes a California law recognized as being a property taking when government allows farm labor organizers to enter private property for organizing purposes. The Supreme Court ruling sends the issue back to the 9th Circuit. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanauh and Amy Carey Barrett. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were on the dissent side with Justice Breyer writing the dissent opinion.
The Application deadline is September 1st. Application can be emailed to Julie Wolf at, wolfranch1nv@gmail.com or mailed to Nevada Heritage Foundation Scholarship Committee c/o Nevada Farm Bureau Nevada Heritage Foundation 2165 Green Vista Dr Suite 205 • Sparks, Nevada 89431
For more information, please call the Nevada Farm Bureau office at 775-674-4000
2021 Discussion Meet Who is ready for the 2021 Discussion Meet? The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) released this year’s Discussion Meet questions. The following questions will be used at the Nevada Farm Bureau’s Annual Meeting that will be held later this year. The winner of the Nevada Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Discussion Meet will get the opportunity to compete at the AFBF 103rd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia this January. The five questions that will be randomly selected for the competition are: • How can Farm Bureau improve its effectiveness at recruiting YF&R members and increasing participation in YF&R programs? • COVID revealed several cracks involving the processing of livestock. How can Farm Bureau policy support easing government regulations to ensure long-term economic viability for local animal processing facilities, while ensuring the health of workers and that a healthy product is still delivered to consumers? • Studies show more farmers and farm families are experiencing stress and mental health issues. What can farmers, ranchers and Farm Bureau do to protectively promote good mental health in both themselves and their communities? • Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries. What can we, as young farmers and ranchers, do to create a more preventative, rather than reactive, approach to farm safety in our communities? • As the world population increases, so will the need for renewable resources. On a local level and across the globe, how can Farm Bureau help farmers and ranchers continue to increase their efficiency in the use of valuable resources and transition to “Green Energy” practices on their farm or ranch? If you have any questions about the YF&R Discussion meet, or would like more information please feel free to contact Brittney Money at, brittney@nvfb.org www.progressiverancher.com
Nevada Department Of Ag Kicking Off New Regulation Project The Nevada Department of Agriculture has announced a new Small Business Impact Survey ”) to see what could be the consequences on those who are impacted by the Department’s efforts to raise fees for various inspections and issuances of certain certificates. The changes of the regulations cover such notable areas for inspections of potatoes as well as phytosanitary inspections and certificates for export activities. Changes in state law for seed sales, as spelled out in SB 443 “), are also in play with incorporating the language into the new round of these regulations for Nevada Administrative Code 587. The deadline for completing the survey response is July 12. Take it here: https://www.surveymonkey. com/r/NAC5872021
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The Diversity of Nevada Rangelands The State of Nevada contains about 110,000 square miles of various rangeland environments.
Much of this rangeland is desert. There is a tiny amount of tall timber forest along the west central border where Nevada touches the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. At one time the College of Agriculture of the University of Nevada Reno had two foresters on staff and they had to share a tree.
On the highest mountain ranges, especially in the eastern portion of the state, 5-needle pine woodlands of bristle cone and limber pine occur magnificently, but sparingly. Nevada does have extensive single leaf pinyonUtah juniper woodlands. These midmountain slope woodlands occur below the 5-needle pines and above the sagebrush/bunchgrass zone. With affinity to the Colorado Plateau and the mountains of the southwest, the Nevada pin-yon-juniper woodlands are most abundant south of Interstate 80 that crosses the state diagonally from Reno to Wendover on the Utah-Nevada state line. In northwestern Nevada, the mountain ranges have occasional small stands of Utah or western juniper, but some ranges with substantial higher elevation areas, such as the Santa Rosa Range in Humboldt County northwest of Winnemucca, are virtually without trees except for aspen and cottonwoods. If Nevada is long on rangeland and short on forest environments, what characterizes the rangelands?
To understand the various vegetation types, you have to appreciate the structural geology and recent geological history. Yes, the majority of Nevada is in the Great Basin from which there is no drainage to the ocean. There are exceptions in the north where one fork of the Owyhee River and Salmon Falls Creek contribute to the SnakeColumbia watershed. Likewise, in the south the Virgin and Muddy Rivers are tributaries of the Colorado River. The rest of the state has an internal drainage system. This does not mean the Great 16 JULY/AUGUST 2021
Basin is a gigantic bowl surrounded by mountains with everything draining to the center.
If you climb one of the numerous mountain peaks in central Nevada and turn 360° admiring the landscape, you cannot help but be impressed that Nevada is nothing but continuous mountain ranges. Go to the center of one of the large basins such as the northern Carson Desert, and Nevada appears to be an endless nearly perfectly flat plain with smudges on the horizon that shimmer in the heat wave and resemble mountains. Actually, both impressions are real. In Nevada there are more than 200 separate mountain ranges. They tend to be orientated north and south and often stand independently with no or minimum contact among ranges. A 19th century geologist described the independent mountain ranges as “a series of caterpillars marching off to Mexico.” Arranged in echelon, these mountains allow for the passage of trails, highways, and railroads without climbing mountain passes. This line of least resistance for transportation routes works as long as you approach the mountains diagonally. This is the route of old US Highway 40 (now Interstate 80) from Reno to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Only one significant summit has to be crossed on this route. US Highway 50 from Reno to the Utah line runs perpendicular to the mountain ranges and you cross 12 named summits, 7 of which are above 7,000 feet.
The Nevada mountain ranges stand as islands of environmental potential for plant growth in a sea of aridity. Moisture for the western Great Basin comes almost entirely from the Pacific Ocean and falls during the cold winter months. As you proceed south and east, summer monsoonal moisture sources weakly contribute to the moisture regime. Just before or early in the Pleistocene, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges began a precipitous rise that produced a near continuous western mountain barrier which intercepts moisture-laden winds
By Charlie D. Clements, James A. Young and Dan Harmon from the Pacific and cast rain shadows across the western Great Basin.
During the Pleistocene, slightly higher precipitation and markedly reduced evaporation with cooler temperatures combined to change the water balance of the Great Basin.
The many internal basins partially filled with water to form substantial lakes. Some basins spilled to create rivers that generally drained to the lower elevations in the north central portion of what is now Nevada. A vast lake formed in this area that would rival the current Great Lakes in surface area. It was named by 19th century geologists as pluvial (referring to previous wetter times) Lake Lahontan. Lake Lahontan was contemporary with pluvial Lake Bonneville (current Great Salt Lake). Unlike Lake Bonneville, Lake Lahontan never breached the surrounding mountain rim and partially drained to the ocean. This means that the soluble salts that were washed into Lake Lahontan remained within the basin. This has led to the basin vegetation of Nevada commonly being identified as “salt desert.” The aridity of the Holocene that replaced the Pleistocene resulted in the near complete desiccation of the pluvial lakes. This aridity has left many of the physical features of the pluvial lakes such as wave-cut beach ridges, offshore bars, and wave plunge pit lagoons frozen in time.
The most striking pluvial lake feature that remains is the playas. A misapplication of the Spanish word for beach, the playas represent exposed deep-water sediments with fine clay textures. Playa surfaces are bare, except for occasional sand or mud dunes that may support black greasewood plants.
There are many varieties of playa surfaces depending on the age, hydrology, and basin geology, but the common occurrence is for the surface to be coated with dazzling salt crystals left by capillary rise after a moisture event. The salts, including sodium, chlorine, and highly phytotoxic ions of boron
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and lithium, are eroded by winds and redeposited to the lee of the playas.
Soil scientist Robert Blank has determined that through the process of erosion and the deposition of finetextured sediments, the playas have an influence on the environment much larger in scale than the area of the playa itself, which is a substantial 5% of the total northern Nevada landscape. The fine silts that are wind eroded off the playas play a major part in soil development in the uplands where they are deposited. The area on the basin floors surrounding the playas has 3 basic plant assemblages: 1) black greasewood, 2) shadscale, or 3) sand vegetation communities.
Black greasewood communities range from nearly pure black greasewood on the most salt-affected soils to mixtures of black greasewood, basin big sagebrush, and salt rabbitbrush. Such communities often alternate with shadscale. Black greasewood communities are largely phreatophytic, with the shrubs rooted to the water table which may be located at considerable depths below the surface. At some time in the existence of the community, the water table had to reach the soil surface where the shrubs establish and their roots then followed the descending water table. In the alternate shadscale communities, the shrub is dependent on rain-fed moisture in an environment where the annual depth of soil wetting ranges from near zero to 8 to 10 inches. There is no connection between the roots of these plants and the groundwater table. The glacial rivers that fed Lake Lahontan provided the source of sand for the dunes and fields that are an important component of the lake plain environment. Sands of the northern Nevada basins are highly permeable so that even the moisture of occasional high-intensity summer thunderstorms are not lost by overland flow.
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Figure 1. Indian ricegrass communities provide excellent winter forage for herbivores.
In contrast, the fine-textured lake plain soils are so impermeable that skiffs of winter snow are lost to sublimation while only slightly wetting the soil surface. The permeability of the sands leads to leaching of soluble salts in an environment where virtually all other soils are highly influenced by such salts.
Only a very small percentage of the sands are devoid of vegetation with actively moving dunes. Silver State Valley in Humboldt County and Sand Mountain in Churchill County are exceptions.
There are two major native plant communities in Nevada basins that have great significance to the range livestock industry. Indian ricegrass and needle-and-thread grass can be very abundant on the sand areas and on specific portions of the fine-textured soils and the native half shrubs winterfat and budsage grow in near monospecific abundance. Indian ricegrass and winterfat combine to provide bulk and digestible protein for wintering livestock and budsage is an extreme ephemeral species that provides important browse in very late winter early spring (Figure 1).
Figure 2. Thurber’s needlegrass provides a large portion of nutritional forage on many Nevada rangelands.
The limiting factor for livestock production in these basins is stock water with few natural springs, many of which are geothermal. At contact time, early explorers traversing the region during the early 19th century reported that the vast valleys of northern Nevada were virtually devoid of native large herbivores. The extremely sparse native human population was dependent on grass seeds, occasional good crops on pinyon pine nuts, and jackrabbits for survival. Water development was a necessary precursor for domestic livestock production. Horses and sheep can survive on these ranges in the winter by eating snow for water, but cattle must have free water to drink. Following a substantial winter moisture event, desert-wise cows will range many miles from established watering points depending on mud puddles trapped in mini-playas for water while grazing only the dry inflorescence of Indian ricegrass to get the high protein content retained in the seed morphs. The alluvial fans and lower elevation mountain ranges where it is atmospherically so dry most of the woody sagebrush species cannot survive, the vegetation is often referred to as shadscale deserts, but the most
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abundant and largest woody species in stature is Bailey greasewood. Unlike the phreatophic black greasewood, this species is totally dependent on rain-fed moisture in an environment that struggles to average 4 to 5 inches of annual precipitation. This average precipitation is raised by occasional very wet winters (6 to 8 inches) interspersed by winters when virtually no moisture events occur. The major adaptive characteristic of the plants of this portion of the salt desert is endurance. The major forage and browse species of these aridity “salt desert” environments are Indian ricegrass, desert needle grass, winterfat, and bud sage. Both shadscale and grease-wood have spine-tipped branches which restrict browsing. Greasewood browse is toxic in the spring (oxalate content) and mechanically injurious in the fall when the spines will penetrate the rumen walls. In the winter, cattle and sheep utilize the wind-dispersed fruits of shadscale and grease-wood as an important protein source. The transition from salt desert to sagebrush/bunchgrass zones can be very distinct, as in the high valleys of central Nevada where coalescing alluvial fans (bajadas) spilling down from the mountain escapements partially bury the lake plain and you can step from black greasewood-salt rabbitbrush to Wyoming big sagebrush/ Thurber’s needlegrass communities as the soils change (Figure 2). In other topoedaphic situations where the transition is gradually conditioned by effective moisture gradients, ragged infusions of big sagebrush into shadscale or the reverse occur. You can argue whether black sagebrush/bunchgrass communities represent the higher potential salt desert communities or the lower potential sagebrush/bunchgrass environments, but nonetheless, black sagebrush is a major browse species on winter ranges in Nevada. The big sagebrush subspecies combine with dominant perennial grasses to form a series of repetitive communities. In far northwestern Nevada, Columbia River basalt flows occur as an extension of eastern Oregon and the Pacific Northwest geology. Big sagebrush/ bluebunch wheatgrass or big sagebrush/ bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue communities dominate the landscape and appear very similar to the vegetation of eastern Oregon. For much of northern Nevada, the common longlived perennial grass in the understory of 18 JULY/AUGUST 2021
Figure 3. Long-lived deep-rooted perennial grasses, such as crested wheastgrass, aid in the suppression of the exotic and invasive annual grass cheatgrass, reduce wildfire threats and allow succession to advance in the absence of frequent wildfires.
Figure 4. Former crested wheatgrass seeding converted back to big sagebrush dominance in the absence of periodic wildfires.
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big sagebrush communities is Thurber’s needlegrass. The needlegrass tribe including Thurber’s, Indian ricegrass, and needle-and-thread grass are much more significant in the rangelands of Nevada than the wheatgrasses.
Another often overlooked perennial grass is basin wild rye. This mammoth statue bunchgrass with short rhizomes is the only grass that plays a significant role in the salt deserts on lake plains and the uplands through much of the pinyon-juniper zone. The woody sagebrush species of Nevada do not sprout after the tops are burned in wildfires. This has major significance as the frequency of wildfires has greatly increased. Following wildfires, gray and green rabbitbrush, horsebrush, and ephedra species became the transitory woody dominants until sagebrush plant gradually reestablished as seedlings. Sagebrush communities continue as understory species in the pinyon-juniper woodlands as you rise in elevation on Nevada mountain ranges. Pioneer researcher, W. D. Billings pointed out in the mid-20th century that successionally all the pinyon-juniper communities arise through sagebrush/ bunchgrass communities. During the 20th century, the pinyonjuniper woodlands both thickened in tree density and expanded both up and down the slope. These woodlands provide much of the habitat for mule deer and Rocky Mountain elk in Nevada. Above the pinyon-juniper zone and below the 5-needle pine zone there occurs on the mountains of Nevada a treeless zone that should support a forest of 3-needle pine and Douglas fir. For reasons that are not fully understood, this vegetation type was apparently lost early in the Pleistocene and remains treeless. With an abundance of antelope bitterbrush, snowberry, and serviceberry these sites, known as mountain brush communities, provide valuable summer range for wildlife and livestock. To this point our discussion has considered the cold or more properly termed temperate deserts of northern and central Nevada. There are warm deserts in southern Nevada complete with creosote bush and Joshua trees as well as many of the species of the Mojave Desert environment of southern California. A transitional zone characterized by blackbrush forms an irregular, discontinuous arch across Nevada between the temperate and warm desert environments. Sagebrushwww.progressiverancher.com
dominated communities persist on the high mountain ranges of southern Nevada.
Galleta, a perennial grass characteristic of areas of the southwest with summer and winter precipitation periods, is widely distributed in southern Nevada and extends as far northwest as the drier portions of the Carson Desert.
Large-scale livestock ranching did not get started in northern Nevada until the 1870s. It grew rapidly until the severe drought of 1888–1889 was followed by the extremely hard winter of 1889– 1890. Some estimates place the cattle losses from this winter at 95% in northern Nevada. Out of the wreckage of this winter came the cattle production model that livestock operators need to produce 1 ton of hay for every cow wintered. Hay production was possible only on irrigated ground and only 5% of the landscape was applicable to irrigation because of the available water supply. After the disaster of the hard winter of 1889–1890, the range sheep industry grew rapidly in Nevada. You did not have to have hay to winter sheep on the range. No hay meant you did not have to own irrigatable hay meadows. Sheep did not have to drink water on the winter ranges if snow or even abundant frost was available. The range was free for the taking. A large range sheep industry developed in Nevada where the sheep operations owned no base property and depended on the open Federal rangeland for forage year around.
Despite the lack of trees in Nevada, National Forests were established in Nevada, at least partially because of the political power of large cattle ranches who hoped the Federal agency would exclude what was termed tramp sheep operations. The bulk of the rangelands of Nevada remained open range with no control until the Grazing Service was established in 1936. The last Grazing District was not established in Nevada until the 1950s when the Grazing Service had been integrated into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), US Department of Interior. Soon after the formation of the Grazing Service a meeting was held in Reno to try and determine who claimed what grazing land. In response to the question of where the northern limit of his range was located one rancher replied, “the Canadian line.” The examiner asked, “I suppose you claim the border with Mexico to the south?” With a straight
face the rancher replied, “No, I go just north of Mexico City.”
The first half of the 20th century was not kind to Nevada rangelands. The native perennial bunchgrasses that provided the bulk of the forage from the range were highly susceptible to overgrazing if they were grazed starting in the early spring by excessive numbers of livestock and the grazing continued season long year after year. The grazing was on a community allotment basis. If you tried to graze responsibly and leave a reserve of herbage for the plants, your neighbor pounced on the range and grazed it into the ground or worse yet it attracted a tramp sheep outfit. During the 1930s a group of scientists employed by the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station of the Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, had perfected methodology for successfully establishing crested wheatgrass on degraded former big sagebrush/bunchgrass ranges. Federal agencies and private landowners converted 1 million acres of the 19 million acres of big sagebrush/bunchgrass potential plant communities in Nevada to crested wheatgrass seedings. It is estimated that the 1 million acres seeded to crest6ed wheatgrass, 3% of the area, provided 25% of the range forage base for the Nevada livestock industry (Figure 3). Moreover, it provided forage in the early spring that was sustainable when native grasses were most susceptible to damage from grazing. The crested wheatgrass seeding program was dropped in the mid1960s because of costs, conflicts with recently passed national environmental laws, and the apparent belief that the problems with Nevada rangelands could be solved by applying a single form of grazing management, restrotation grazing. Grazing management occupied a cornerstone position in range management education during much of the 20th century.
Wayne Burkhardt, of the University Nevada Reno, was the first to have the clarity of vision to recognize that rest-rotation grazing management on Nevada rangelands was an environmental disaster where the exotic, highly invasive annual cheatgrass was the primary forage. Dr. Burkhardt was also among the first to have the intestinal fortitude to express this view in public. Cheatgrass increases the chance of ignition, provides the continuity of fuel to increase rate of
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spread, and extends the wildfire season to the warmest months of the summer. The net result is on certain years when herbage production of cheatgrass vastly exceeds the number of grazing animals, and the right timing and intensity of fire ignition happens, such as dry lightning storms, a firestorm occurs that is impossible to suppress. The million acres of degraded big sagebrush/bunchgrass that was converted to crested wheatgrass in Nevada is now largely converted back to big sagebrush with the crested wheatgrass barely surviving and having minimal forage production (Figure 4), despite numerous scholars suggesting crested wheatgrass does not allow native species such as big sagebrush to return.
Unless a balance between the shrubs and perennial grasses is returned by range improvement practices such as prescribed burning, Pinyon-juniper thinning or herbicide application, the perennial grasses will be lost and replaced by cheatgrass. The dominance of cheatgrass in the understory will lead to wildfires destroying the sagebrush and cheatgrass inheriting the sites. There seems to be a general apathy towards comprehensively evaluating massive applications of technology to rangelands. Chaining pinyon-juniper woodlands or rest-rotation grazing are probably the largest consciously applied vegetation treatments ever applied to rangelands in the world, but consequences of these actions in entirety seem lost in bureaucratic smoke and mirrors. It is not all doom and gloom on Nevada rangelands. At higher elevations, with higher environmental potential, grazing management has brought back native perennial grasses to the point that wildfires are occasionally burning in native grasslands. Shinn Peak of the Nevada-California border is a good example. There has been an increase in winter grazing combined with switching native hay meadows to pastures for early weaning of calves. This switch breaks the production model of 1 ton of hay per brood cow established after 1890. A winter as severe as 1889–1890 may reoccur, but it has not for more than a century. The problems of Nevada rangelands and the range livestock industry are obviously daunting, but they mirror the status of rangelands on a worldwide basis. Different environments have variations in the pressing problems, but there is no shortage of problems. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Heat, Heat and Heat
Risk management decisions are becoming more important than ever as temperatures and drought situations increase in the West. The current drought monitor has the drought increasing at D4 further into Nevada, and current pasture and range conditions are the worst they have been since 2012-2013. Currently, this is leading to large sales of livestock with producers deferring income due to drought, according to a recent report from Washington State University. While they are predicting an explosive female cattle market in the future, the questions become how to survive the right here and right now. Below is a map of the drought outlook on June 15, 2021. It is not easy to report that most producers are seeing an increase in their input costs, especially related to fuel and hay. There is a little bit of light in that the packers are starting to make money after COVID, and the value of the dollar is down. The USDA, Farm Service Agency Livestock Feed Program (LFP) is still taking applications and producers need to apply if they are purchasing hay. The 2021 payment rate is $31.18 per head per month. The fact sheet to the program is located at the following link: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDAFSA-Public/usdafiles/FactSheets/livestock_forage_program_lfp-fact_sheet.pdf Overall, fire is the most concerning. There have been horrible pictures from Arizona. The heat and the afternoon winds do not help this situation. Producers are encouraged to continue to sign up for programs that assist with feed costs and water hauling, livestock wells, facilitating conservation practices, and the support programs hit by fire. There is also the RMA Pasture, Rangeland and Forage program that assists in drought situations. All this support is to assist ranches through difficult times. I can’t remember being over 100 degrees in early June. I expect this heat in July into August, but not this early. This combined with afternoon winds does not make life easy. I hope that every producer is doing okay and can survive the conditions.
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Dr. Ivory W. Lyles, Director, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension | Professor & Associate Dean for Engagement, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources
Dr. Lyles presents the 2021 Extension Awards of Excellence On April 27, 2021 Dr. Ivory Lyles, UNR Cooperative Extension Director, virtually presented the 2021 Extensions Awards of Excellence as follows: 00:13 - Lindsay Chichester, Academic Faculty | 01:07 - Kim Higgins, Administrative Faculty | 02:25 - Felisa Mandujano Torres, Program Staff | 04:08 - Michelle Davis, Support Staff | 05:07 - Mike Ty, Supporter
To view the full digital awards celebration recognizing the amazing accomplishments of UNR students, employees and supporters, visit: www.unr.edu/cabnr/2021-awards
Nevada Extension director leading charge to build national program groups Nevada’s Dr. Ivory Lyles serving as national program committee chair University of Nevada, Reno Extension Director Ivory Lyles is chairing a national committee zeroed in on supporting Extension programs nationally by building national working groups that focus on common issues, or program areas, such as workforce development or health.
The Extension Committee on Organizational Policy, commonly known as ECOP, is the elected national committee that represents the 57 state and territorial cooperative extension systems in policy decisions, and provides nationwide program and organizational leadership. Within ECOP, there is a 15-member Program Committee, of which Lyles is the chair this year. Lyles is reshaping the mission and the purpose of the committee in an effort to increase the impact of Extension programs nationally, “Having national program groups and leaders can really enhance Extension programs across the nation,” Lyles said. “The Budget and Legislative Committee identified seven program areas for Extension, so now our Program Committee is taking the ball and running with it, putting the structure around those program areas to support the entire Extension system.”
Lyles said that Extension leaders, faculty and staff already communicate and collaborate with one another across state lines, but having a more organized way for those working on common issues to set goals; work together; and share information, programs and research can multiply the impacts of Extension work in communities across the country. “Extension is a unique system in the U.S. that takes the research and knowledge of our universities and puts it to work to benefit people from all walks of life in both rural and urban communities,” he said. “Our Program Committee aims to make sure our Extension programs are working together as effectively as possible in order to maximize those benefits to our communities.”
In Nevada, Extension is part of the University’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, and Lyles also serves as associate dean for engagement for the College. He was active in ECOP even before coming to Nevada almost four years ago, having worked for the Extension system for the better part of four decades. Lyles came to Nevada from Alcorn State University in Mississippi, where he was a professor in the Department of Agriculture and dean and director of LandGrant Programs. Prior to that, he was director of Cooperative Extension Service and associate vice president of Agriculture at University of Arkansas – Little Rock. He has also held Cooperative Extension positions at the University of Tennessee, Tennessee State University, The Ohio State University and Mississippi State University.
The seven program areas for which working groups and leadership are being developed include: Climate, Workforce Development, Health, 4-H Positive Youth Development, Urban Agriculture, Broadband/Infrastructure (focusing on access and literacy) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. www.progressiverancher.com
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Photo Of Dr. Lyles, above right on this page: University of Nevada, Reno Extension Director Ivory Lyles is chair of the national Program Committee for the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP). Photo by Theresa Danna-Douglas. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Study uses drones, scanners to determine impact of fall grazing on wildfire Livestock grazing and technology work together to reduce cheatgrass and other wildfire fuel A widespread problem on Nevada rangelands is frequent and large wildfires, often due to cheatgrass. Doctoral student Tracy Shane, with the University of Nevada, Reno College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, recently began a project using cutting-edge technology to see how sheep and cattle grazing might help control cheatgrass. Invasive cheatgrass spreads quickly and is extremely flammable, creating its own safe space to grow – the more dead cheatgrass and plant material left on the ground, the more easily cheatgrass establishes itself.
Barry Perryman, professor and chair of the College’s Department of Agriculture, Veterinary & Rangeland Sciences, previously collaborated with a team of faculty with the College’s Experiment Station and Extension units to study the impact of cattle grazing on cheatgrass during the fall, rather than in the spring, when cattle traditionally graze on the grass. The idea was that the fall grazing would help reduce the amount of dead plant material for the following fire season. Results from one study showed that in prescribed burn areas where some plots were grazed in the fall and some were not, land managers were unable to even get a fire to burn through the fall-grazed plots.
“Through fall targeted grazing, we can change the fuel characteristics of the cheatgrass-infested pasture, which reduces the probability that we get a wildfire and increases the chances of being able to control such a fire,” Perryman said. “It might even help save a life or some property.” Shane’s new four-year project, funded by the U.S. Forest Service, allows the team to incorporate technology into the ongoing investigation. She is working with Perryman; Associate Professor Robert Washington-Allen, also with the department; Brad Schultz, Extension educator in Humboldt County; and Joseph Domer, rangeland ecologist and an alumnus of the College.
The team uses drones and terrestrial laser scanners to monitor and collect data before and after livestock graze. Terrestrial laser scanners are ground-based laser sensors that can scan vegetation in three dimensions, allowing researchers to see internal structural traits without having to damage the plants. “Drones give us a good overhead view, and the terrestrial laser scanner helps us break through the shrub canopy and better understand the entire threedimensional structure of the vegetation,” Shane said.
Last fall, the team monitored sheep grazing in Jacks Valley in Douglas County. Three other sites, Paradise Valley, in Humboldt County, and the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Mountains, both in Elko County, are currently under environmental review to prepare for the next part of the project. Cattle will begin grazing at these sites later this year. Traditionally, researchers sample small patches of pasture and extrapolate the result out to pasture and full landscape levels. However, these extrapolations don’t account for landscape differences, such as changes in elevation, which means that the ecology and relationships observed at the small scale may be different on larger scales. By combining the drone data and the data from the terrestrial laser scanners, the team can see the change at a larger scale and account for those differences, allowing them to create more accurate prediction models for future rangeland management practices and fire fuel reduction.
UNR to ask City of Reno to rename North Center Street as ‘University Way’ Request has century-old roots in relationship of University and City Reviving an initiative that began more than a century ago, the University of Nevada, Reno hopes that Reno will rename a nine-block stretch of Center Street as “University Way.” The Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) approved the University to move forward in the application process to petition the City of Reno to rename Center Street between the Truckee River Bridge near 1st Street and the University gates at 9th Street. University leaders say designation of the street as “University Way” will demonstrate the University’s strong connections with Reno, strengthen downtown revitalization efforts and build momentum for the sesquicentennial celebrations in 2024 that will mark the 150th anniversary of the school’s founding. Photoshopped image depicting what a street sign may look like if the proposed street renaming initiative is approved. Altered image provided by the University of Nevada, Reno. www.progressiverancher.com
“The University and the City of Reno are both at an inflection point in terms of how the vitality, growth and prosperity of each are intertwined,” The Progressive Rancher
Brian Sandoval, president of the University, said. “Collaboration and partnership between the University and the City have never been greater. The potential renaming provides a powerful testament to how important the University’s position as the doorstep to downtown Reno truly is.”
This isn’t the first time the idea has gained traction. In 1920, the Reno Mayor and City Council approved renaming the stretch of Center Street between the University and the railroad tracks at Commercial Row as “University Avenue.” Back then, too, the University and the city wanted to demonstrate their close connections. The initiative got new life in 1957, when the city renamed the entire length of Center Street from its intersection with Virginia Street north to the University as “University Avenue.” But the city reversed course a few months later and changed the name back to Center Street. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Nevada nutrition students excel in unique internship experiences Students in Dietetic Internship Program gain valuable experience in telehealth Contact: Claudene Wharton | Senior Marketing & Communications Specialist | College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources University of Nevada, Reno / MS 0405 | Reno, Nevada 89557-0404 | 775-784-7072 | whartonc@unr.edu | unr.edu/cabnr Students in the University of Nevada, Reno’s Dietetic Internship Program persevered through the pandemic by developing unique skills to help patients virtually.
Traditionally, students in the Department of Nutrition, as well as other students throughout the United States, go through an online application process with the goal of being matched with a dietetic internship. This is a necessary step to becoming a Registered Dietician Nutritionist. The Department’s Program participates in this application and matching process, and every six months Karon Felten, director of the internship program, and Arezou Saeedi, assistant director of the internship program, evaluate applicants from across the country to be chosen for this online matching process. Every cycle, seven to eight students are matched with the Program and placed in one of five hospitals in northern Nevada or one of three training sites in Las Vegas to begin their seven-month supervised learning experience under the guidance of preceptors, who are experienced professionals that guide students through their internship. The training is intense but necessary to obtain the skills needed to become an entry-level dietitian. During the pandemic, Felten had to adapt the program due to COVID-19 restrictions that displaced interns from their training sites while maintaining the quality and professionalism students expect. Every week, Felten and Saeedi met with students through Zoom and guided them through case studies that simulate in-hospital scenarios. Students presented educational projects based on what they learned and participated in telehealth observations to help patients online.
“Although it was different from the typical program, students were still able to access intense training and brush up on medical nutritional therapy skills that they may otherwise would not have gotten in the hospitals,” Felten said. “Understanding the benefits of telehealth and online health care is especially important in Nevada, where it allows rural areas access to these resources.”
Through these challenges, students completing the internship program are prospering in school and beyond. After completing the program, students take a national exam before becoming credentialed as a registered dietitian. While the goal for first-attempt passage is 80%, students in the Department’s program are succeeding with a 90 to 95% passing rate on their first attempt. Once they have passed the exam, students are going on to make significant contributions in the field or continuing their education to earn master’s or doctoral degrees. “Part of my internship I did remotely, and there are obviously pros and cons to this,” Sarah Barragan, a current student in the program, said. “We weren’t helping people in hospitals like we typically would. Patients were out in the community, and sometimes reception or internet connection was bad and got in the way of the appointment, but the convenience for the patients was amazing. For us, it was also great because they could show us their pantry on their phone, which is information we wouldn’t typically have.” In addition to making sure students are doing well in their internships, Felten and Saeedi also work on keeping the program accredited through the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND).
Jolyn Wirshing, an instructor who became the director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics in January, has been working with her to ensure the program meets requirements and that graduating students are eligible to become registered dietitians. Wirshing supports students throughout the process, and makes sure they’re meeting all the guidelines for the program and succeeding the whole way through. Communication and support are a key component to the program, especially during this past year, and both Felten and Wirshing were always accessible via Zoom or phone to help or answer questions. “Although this past year presented challenges, our students were adaptive, and we had a wonderful success rate,” Wirshing said. “Whenever they had questions, we
Karon Felten and Jolyn Wirshing are working with students to ensure they succeed in the Dietetic Internship Program.
were able to jump on Zoom immediately to tackle the problem together, and overall, it made getting help and asking questions more accessible.”
The program, part of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, stands apart from the typical program by being shorter but still adhering to an intensive curriculum that prepares students for the board exam and professional world. Although it runs for seven months compared to the typical 15 months, students still get the hours and experience they need to succeed.
“I really did like the program,” Emily Spellman, a student who just graduated from the program, said. “I think I got a good variety of experiences, and it was great that the program was accelerated, and I was still able to intern full time. Even though some of the program was impacted by health restrictions, I don’t think I missed out on anything. Plus, we had weekly meetings and Karon was always checking in to make sure we were doing okay, so I felt really supported by the entire program.”
Assistant professor studies water cycle in ecosystems and across landscapes Scott Allen joins the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science Scott Allen has joined the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources as an assistant professor who studies ecohydrology, stable-isotope hydrology and physiological ecology in the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science.
In the upcoming year, Allen is teaching two new courses, one of which is focused on watershed hydrology and management, the other is focused on using stable isotope ratios to study ecological and environmental systems. In addition, he also conducts research on the processes that underlie interactions between ecosystems and the water cycle. As an ecohydrologist, Allen specializes in studying how plants in ecosystems impact the water cycle, and how water and associated physical processes structure 26 JULY/AUGUST 2021
the ecosystems themselves. Allen’s research addresses when and where plants take up water; how snowmelt and rainfall travel differently through ecosystems, hillslopes and catchments; and how ecosystem disturbances and physiological stressors affect terrestrial water and carbon balances. This research shows how ecosystems are affected by changes to their physical environment. One of Allen’s current projects probes how the interactions among plants in different Nevada arid-land ecosystems affect how much water they respectively use. The study will help show how different management treatments or disturbances to rangeland systems influence the overall water budget of the landscape and, ultimately, how much water ends up in aquifers and streams. The Progressive Rancher
“I believe that what I research, which includes processlevel, basic investigations of how water cycling in ecosystems is affected by environmental change, allows us to better understand the water cycle at regional and continental scales,” Allen said. “The knowledge generated by this type of research can have especially large implications for water management in Nevada, the driest state in the US, because the fraction of precipitation used by plants is greatest in dry regions.”
Allen recently completed his post-doctoral research at the University of Utah, where he worked on quantifying the role of ecosystem structure and physiology on plant water use in the Great Basin and across the United States. www.progressiverancher.com
It’s swarm season: DON’T PANIC University of Nevada, Reno Extension provides information on what to do when you have a bee swarm By Lindsay Chichester, University of Nevada, Reno Extension Educator – Douglas County and Kevin Burls, University of Nevada, Reno Extension – Integrated Pest Management Educator A swirling swarm of 20,000-30,000 honey bees taking to the air, and then clustering in a tree or on/in another object can undoubtedly be very nerve-racking or frightening for people. But, swarms are at their most vulnerable during this period and are generally not dangerous during this time. It’s important to understand swarms, and what to do when you encounter them, rather than try to kill them, as we need these important pollinators for a number of reasons.
anticipation of leaving.) Second, honey bees may swarm if their living environment becomes inconducive to their survival. This can include a variety of conditions, such as food and/or water resources become depleted, disease or parasite infestations are too abundant, there is frequent disturbance by humans or animals, weather conditions become adverse, ventilation becomes poor, or problems arise with the queen bee.
If you see a swarm, you can rest assured it is a swarm of beneficial honey bees, rather than a more aggressive social insect. The honey bee is the only insect we have in our area that swarms because they are the only species whose entire colony lives through the winter. With other native social insects, including bumble bees, yellow jackets and paper wasps, only the new queens overwinter.
You may notice a significant number of bees on hummingbird feeders or other such items during certain times of the year. This is because in the spring and late summer and into fall, there is a lack of nectar for them because there is little to nothing blooming yet on which they can feed. The honey bees may also be looking for water, in addition to food.
How do I know that the swarm is honey bees, rather than wasps or another social insect?
It’s important to note that a swarm will usually only hang out for a very short period, finding new housing within a few hours to just a day or two. This makes just waiting it out for them to move on the best option in most cases. Why do we need honey bees?
In addition to making honey, honey bees are essential for pollinating about 90% of our crops globally. As bees gather pollen and nectar, they pollinate crops such as apples, almonds, melons, squashes and blueberries. One in every three bites of food we eat exists because of a pollinator, including bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats, beetles and other insects. Without honey bee pollinators, crop yield and quality would be greatly reduced. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (2019) which collects data on honey bee colonies and U.S. honey production as part of the Census of Agriculture, honey bee colony numbers in 2017 were 2.88 million, down slightly from the previous census (2012) of 3.28 million, but in an overall upward trend from the 1.42 million in 1969. The earlier in the year, the more important it is for these pollinators to survive and be left undisturbed. There is a proverbial beekeeping saying from the mid-17th century: “A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly,” meaning the later in year it is, the less time bees will have to collect pollen and nectar, and to ultimately make honey, storing enough supplies and building up the colony size to overwinter. Why do bees swarm?
Bees will usually swarm for two reasons. First, they may feel that their hive is getting too crowded, and they need more space, so half of the colony will leave and take the queen with them as they look for a new home. (The queen gets deprived of food to slim down in www.progressiverancher.com
What do I do about batches of bees invading my hummingbird feeders or other features in my yard?
If you experience large numbers of honey bees hanging at your feeders or around other items in your yard where you don’t want them, do not spray an insecticide on the bees, as they could take it back to their hive and kill the whole colony. There are several other good options.
You can remove the item they are after for a duration of time to break the habit of the bees feeding on that item. You can also provide them a water source somewhere that will not disturb you and put rocks or sticks in it so they can stand on them without drowning. Planting flowering plants as a forage for bees in an area where you do not mind their presence is also a great option. Recommendations include lavender, Russian sage and catmint, which are all honey bee magnets. Native wildflowers are also vital for native bee species. Who you gonna call?
Remember, if you do encounter a swarm, the best option if possible is to give it a couple of days. The swarm will likely move on without requiring you to do anything. If waiting is not an option for some reason, or if the swarm persists longer than a few days, you can contact a local beekeeper. Many of the beekeeping clubs provide swarm lists of people who will come and remove the swarm. Here are just a few in the state: Great Basin Beekeepers of Nevada: greatbasinbeekeepersofnevada.org
Mason Valley Beekeepers: www.masonvalleybeekeepers.org/index.html
Northern Nevada Beekeepers Association: www.northernnevadabeekeepersassociation.org Las Vegas Bees (Dave): www.lvbees.com
If in the northern part of the state, you can also contact Lindsay Chichester at 775-782-9960 for recommendations on who to call to come and collect the The Progressive Rancher
Beekeeper Del Barber removes a swarm from a post. Photo by Myrna Barber.
swarm. If in the southern part of the state, you can call ML Robinson at the Extension Office in Clark County, 702-222-3130. But, be aware that in some areas of southern Nevada, there are also Africanized honey bees, which have a more aggressive behavior. Because of this, in parts of southern Nevada the Nevada Department of Agriculture requires individuals moving honey bee swarms to complete an Africanized honey bee collection and movement application and sign the Africanized honey bee disclosure statement. In parts of southern Nevada, you may also be advised to call an exterminator to humanely euthanize aggressive Africanized honey bees. To learn more, please visit http://agri.nv.gov/plant/entomology/honey_bee/
Contact Lindsay Chichester at lchichester@unr.edu She is an Extension educator in Douglas County for UNR Extension who began the Douglas County Beekeeping Program in 2020, and with the tutelage of Del Barber, her mentor/Extension volunteer, started the Douglas County Bee and Pollinator Club.
Contact Kevin Burls, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) educator, with UNR Extension at kburls@unr.edu. The IPM educator since 2015, his specialties include native insects, especially butterflies, with his current work focusing on pollinator health and IPM on recreational lands. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Experiment Station projects serve Nevadans at facilities throughout state Facilities provide opportunities for studies to help communities in Nevada, the U.S. and the world At a ranch in Eureka, researchers are breeding a unique species of sheep well-adapted to the harsh Great Basin environment and that produces some of the finest wool in the nation. At the same time at a field in Fallon, researchers are using lasers and below ground radar to study how well sorghum grows with different levels of flood irrigation. And at a lab in Logandale, researchers just finished a study on how cactus pear can be grown as a commercial crop to fuel vehicles and feed both animals and people. These are just three of many projects happening at the UNR Experiment Station facilities across Nevada. The Experiment Station is the research unit of the University’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources. It maintains a network of field stations throughout the state, providing researchers different environments where they can experiment on a larger scale while supporting the needs of the nearby communities. “I think it’s really an exciting time... our research is expanding (and we) are heavily engaged in projects that will serve to help our stakeholders in all areas of Nevada,” said Chris Pritsos, director of the Station. “We’re really expanding our research capacity throughout the state. Our faculty have gone out and successfully competed for grants to support their work, and we are making significant impacts, whether it be in the area of water, agriculture production, environmental science or the cattle industry.” Some of the projects include: Logandale Research & Extension Center The Experiment Station’s Logandale Research & Extension Center, located in Logandale in Clark County, was home to a recently concluded five-year study looking at cactus pear as a biofuel source and a sustainable food and forage crop. Results of the study, led by Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Professor John Cushman, show the plant may be able to provide fuel and food in places that previously haven’t been able to grow much in the way of sustainable crops. In addition, when the cactus pear is not being harvested for biofuel, then it works as a land-based carbon sink, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in a sustainable manner. The published results were co-authored by Associate Professor and Extension Educator in Logandale Carol Bishop, postdoctoral research scholar Dhurba Neupane, and biochemistry graduate students Nicholas Alexander Niechayev and Jesse Mayer. Additional research at the lab includes a study of 19 varieties of pomegranates – varieties that researchers believe have never been grown in southern Nevada before. Research Center & Demonstration Orchard Much of the Station’s research is shared between northern and southern Nevada, as the goal is to find crops that work in both the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert regions. Biochemistry Professor Grant Cramer and Associate Professor and Extension Horticulture Specialist M.L. Robinson conducted one such study at the Research Center & Demonstration Orchard in Las Vegas on hybrid grape varieties. The study, also performed at the Valley Road Field Lab located at the University’s main campus in Reno, had positive results, showing that many wine grape varieties studied work well in both northern and southern Nevada. In addition, many of the varieties grew exceptionally well without needing fertilizer, and some have been provided to local winemakers. The Demonstration Orchard has been a cooperative effort between Extension and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for over 25 years. Over 800 fruit trees, grapevines, vegetables and other row crops are being tested for their ability to survive and produce under desert conditions. Classes and tours are periodically available. Gund Ranch Research & Training Center The Experiment Station’s Gund Ranch Research & Training Center, 10,600 acres located 45 miles northeast of Austin in Elko County, is the only Station facility with a public lands grazing permit for about 90,000 acres alongside private grazing land. It
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maintains an active commercial cattle herd, which provides the University with insight into the same challenges and issues that other producers using public lands face. “The ranch is treated like other commercial livestock production services, but also has the research component,” Ranch Manager and Staff Research Associate Jon Wilker said. “It has to adhere to the rules and regulations of federal grazing, which provides a unique opportunity to do research on a commercial livestock herd grazing on public lands.” Past research includes investigating soil microbes after range fire, and studies on cheatgrass and timing of grazing to control noxious weeds. Current studies include research with grazing and heifer development, and monarch butterfly and milkweed interactions. In addition, the Ranch is involved in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Legacy Ranch Project. The department’s Agricultural Research Service is building a large database with information tracking the livestock production industry over the years. Data from several ranches nationwide span multiple metrics on different factors that have an impact on livestock producers, such as conception rates, weaning rates and changes in cattle prices. The Ranch has 13 years of livestock records to contribute and a National Weather Service site on the property so they can also provide information on how weather data is tied to these metrics. Great Basin Research & Extension Center In September 2020, the Station opened the Great Basin Research & Extension Center. This 644-acre ranch in Eureka County’s Diamond Valley maintains a herd of sheep for research and funding. In addition, they plan to expand into research for crops, rangeland maintenance and other issues of local interest. One of the Center’s projects is investigating ways to help domestic sheep and wild bighorn sheep coexist by reducing the spread of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, often fatal to wild bighorns. The Nevada Dept of Wildlife currently prevents that spread by prohibiting domestic grazing in rangeland spaces too close to wild herds, as wild bighorns don’t discriminate between domestic and wild when building their herd and establishing their territory. The project aims to breed Rafter 7 sheep, which are world-renowned for both their wool and their meat, to be resistant to the disease. The Rafter 7 breed itself was originally developed 30 years ago through Experiment Station research under the direction of the College’s Hudson Glimp, professor emeritus of animal biotechnology. “If we can develop a genetically resistant herd,” Center Director Gary McCuin explained, “then we can reduce the harmful interactions between the [domestic and wild herds] and potentially increase the habitat range for both in Nevada and across the West.” McCuin said there are plans to study using sheep to reduce larkspur on grazing rangeland as well, as the plant is fatal to cattle. The herd will also help fund the Center through annual sheep sales and the sale of wool products. Mountain Meadow Wool in Buffalo, Wyoming, is currently producing value-added wool products to sell to and through UNR’s Wolf Shop, and McCuin is working with local businesses to sell the products as well. This summer, the Center will also be one of three Experiment Stations involved in a sorghum and irrigation study. They are adding a variable rate irrigation system to a center pivot irrigation system which allows the application of different watering levels to plots at the Center to study how different sorghum varieties respond to no, moderate and severe water stress irrigation treatments. This is the first time a variable rate irrigation system will be used in Nevada. Since the Center is far from the other two involved stations, the team is experimenting with using internet-connected sensors to collect and transmit via Wi-Fi hourly soil moisture data that can be accessed from the Valley Road Field Lab. Valley Road Field Lab As part of the same study, the Valley Road Field Lab is the testing ground for precise irrigation management using a drip irrigation
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system. Additional team members at Valley Road include Assistant Professor Melinda Yerka, also with the Department of Agriculture, Veterinary & Rangeland Sciences, Assistant Professor and Extension Field Crop Specialist Maninder Walia, and graduate students Russell Godkin (animal and rangeland science), John Baggett (biochemistry), Anil Kunapareddy (molecular biology) and Uriel Cholula-Rivera (environmental science). The team is using a variety of technologies for the sorghum irrigation project, including internet-connected soil moisturesensing stations, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and terrestrial laser scanners to measure the effects of the different irrigation methods on traits of sorghum during normal and drought conditions, including root depth, plant height and biomass. For both Valley Road and the Center, the team is also using drones. “Use of this technology is cutting edge,” Washington-Allen said. “GPR in particular is known for forensic use to find burial grounds and excavation areas. Early on, we pioneered the use of it for mapping out the root systems for wheat and potatoes. GPR is an exciting technology for dryland agriculture, because it allows us to detect and map the root systems of crops and estimate their biomass at different times without digging them up. This is a particularly important technology for rangelands where up to 80% of the plant biomass is below ground, but we tend to focus our monitoring and research on the 20% that is aboveground.” In addition to providing pasture space to experiment with the technology, the 27 acres at Valley Road also house three state-of-the-art research facilities, including a 29,280-square foot Greenhouse Complex, biofuels research facilities and the Valley Road fermentation lab. Additional assets include eight tunnel hoop houses, an 18-acre equestrian facility and a fully equipped maintenance engineering shop. Other large projects at Valley Road include investigating the malting and brewing of sorghum, led by Yerka and Baggett, and studying teff for small grain production, led by Walia. Teff has been studied at the Experiment Station at least since 2006, when Extension’s Professor Emeritus Jay Davison began trials that got farmers interested in the crop. Cushman, with graduate student Mitiku Mengistu (biochemistry), is studying teff’s genetics to identify which traits help the plants increase their yield while being drought resistant. With this knowledge, he is developing varieties in the Valley Road greenhouse that will be better suited for Nevada growing conditions. Both Walia and Solomon are testing these varieties in a number of these field conditions at the larger farm scale. “Teff is more drought tolerant and nearly three times more waterefficient than more traditional crops such as alfalfa,” Cushman said. “Farmers can get hay from teff, and teff grain is in high demand and sells for a premium price because it is high in protein, iron and amino acids and is gluten free, among other benefits.” Walia is conducting additional alternative crop research as well, investigating soybeans, camelina and mung beans for various purposes, including grain production for human consumption and biofuel production, cover crops for suppressing weeds, and livestock feed. Desert Farming Initiative The Valley Road Field Lab is also home to the Experiment Station’s Desert Farming Initiative, which conducts research, provides hands-on learning for both undergraduate and graduate students, and donates and sells certified organic produce to the community. One of the larger research projects is a three-year study to identify which cantaloupe and honeydew varieties are most suitable for commercial production in northern Nevada. The project is entering its first season and is being conducted in partnership with Assistant Professor of Sustainable Horticulture Felipe Barrios-Masias, Extension’s Associate Professor and Horticulture www.progressiverancher.com
Specialist Heidi Kratsch, and Extension Horticulturist and Plant Diagnostician Wendy Hanson Mazet. Additional projects at the Initiative include an examination of summer cover crop rotation focusing on Sudan sorghum grass mix and Sunn hemp. The Initiative also offers a Food Safety Program, which aims to prevent foodborne illnesses on farms in Nevada. The demonstration farm and five-year program provide support to local producers through its website, workshops, trainings and farm visits. In 2020, as a result of COVID, the Initiative helped found a Food Security Coalition to address the growing demand at food pantries. The farm produced over 20 tons of vegetables, which were sold to regional food hubs, restaurants and farmers markets. With grant funding and donations, a portion of that harvest was also directed to food pantries, including the University’s Pack Provisions, while following COVID-19 procedures. The Initiative plans to do the same this year and is running a crowdfunding campaign to expand this Farm-to-Food Pantry Program. “We’re providing over 90 varieties of certified organic fruits and vegetables to the community every year,” said Jill Moe, education program coordinator with the Initiative. “We also sell over 100,000 plant starts to local growers annually to jumpstart the growing season.” In addition, the Initiative offers subscription boxes with their Farm Share Program for College students, staff and faculty. Subscribers receive weekly boxes filled with seasonally grown vegetables, herbs and fruits. Fallon Research Center The Fallon Research Center is located in Churchill County and houses the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Great Basin Plant Materials Center. This 160-acre farm is the third station involved with the sorghum and irrigation project, with researchers testing how flood irrigation impacts sorghum at the different irrigation levels. The station is also home to several other sorghum projects, including a new project investigating herbicide-resistant sorghum hybrids, many of which were commercialized this spring. The team will assess the varieties for how well they tolerate the herbicides when being watered using flood irrigation. Another project is looking at how various sorghum varieties grow in different Nevada soils. Fallon has some sodium-rich soils with high salinity and alkalinity, characteristics that affect how much water is available for the plant. Yerka, Washington-Allen and Walia, along with graduate student Erin Smith (animal and rangeland science) and the Plant Materials Center’s Chris Bernau and Mat Humphrey, are using the same remote-sensing technology to look at how sorghum’s roots interact with the soil and how these interactions impact whole-plant growth and development. “Our work is aimed to help farmers make better decisions about what to plant, about which crops grow best on their specific soils, so they can have a more sustainable operation,” Yerka said. In addition, Walia is conducting research on chickpeas, dry beans, soybeans, teff for forage and grain production, and forage soybeans, which are crops that have garnered interest from local producers. Juan Solomon, associate professor of Agriculture, Veterinary & Rangeland Sciences, and Barrios-Masias are beginning work with a local company to test the best growing conditions for several varieties of hemp for both fiber and seed production. Hemp production is rapidly expanding throughout the U.S. and may provide farmers with another alternative low-water crop. Initial results indicate Nevada has a climate well-suited for growing some hemp varieties. Solomon is also studying the use of silage sorghum to provide feed for dairy operations in Nevada. Silage is what’s left after the harvested crop, such as corn, alfalfa or soybeans, is fermented and stored. Dairy operations rely on silage to feed their cattle throughout the year, and if Nevada operations cannot get silage with enough protein and energy locally, then they buy from out of state. For producers growing alfalfa, the crop is harvested three to four times throughout the year, with the third or fourth cut being a www.progressiverancher.com
valuable option for mixed silage. However, sorghum silage by itself has low levels of protein. Certain sorghum crops are ready to harvest when alfalfa is ready for its third cut, so when the two are mixed together, the alfalfa increases the protein in the resulting silage. “The goal is to find alternative feed crops that use less water and fertilizer than more traditional silage crops, such as corn,” Solomon explained. “By incorporating the third-cut alfalfa into the sorghum, we boost the protein value of the silage to meet the demands of the dairy industry.” Sorghum can be grown together with soybeans and cowpeas as well, and when the plants are ready to harvest for silage, the soybeans and cowpeas enhance the protein value. Main Station Field Lab Solomon is also growing silage sorghum at the Main Station Field Lab, more than 800 acres located in east Reno. In a separate project, he is investigating alternative methods for growing plants in grazing pastures for livestock. Traditionally, producers grow a mix of forage grasses with legumes, which are broadleaf plants that have higher nutritional value than grasses and produce nitrogen that the grasses use. The problem is cattle prefer eating the legumes before the grass, which throws off the nitrogen balance and uses up the legumes within the first two of the five years the mixture is intended to last. Solomon is investigating using a special system approach, where the grasses and legumes are grown next to each other in a patchwork pattern, rather than mixed together. Such a pasture would allow animals to easily choose which component they want to graze, the legumes and grasses can maximize their growth without having to compete for growth resources, and it’s easier to control grass weeds in the legume patches and broadleaf weeds in the grass patches. As for the nitrogen, producers would only have to fertilize the grass in half of the pasture, rather than the whole pasture. In addition, the crops can be rotated every five or six years, moving the grass into the legume areas and the legumes into the grass areas. Preliminary results of the study show greater cattle daily weight gain with the special system compared to the traditional mixed pasture. In another project at Main Station, Assistant Professor of Beef Cattle Production Mozart Fonseca is leading a team in researching the use of brewery waste as cattle feed. Fonseca, along with Amilton de Mello, assistant professor of meat science, analyzed the different and unique nutrient profiles from wastes collected from breweries in Reno and Carson City. They discovered that wastes from different craft brews can have different effects on the cattle meat, and they want to know if feeding specific brew waste to cattle can create “craft meat” in the same way that specific grapes can create specific wine. In addition, Fonseca and de Mello are working with Staci Emm, professor and Extension educator in Mineral County, and Bishop to evaluate the economic feasibility of using the spent grains to supplement on-farm resources and help sustain farming operations when available feed is limited. Emm and Bishop will also be establishing an advisory group for the project and are educating producers and craft brewers about the possibility of using the waste as feed. “We are creating the environment so producers can communicate with the community,” Fonseca said. “The idea is the beer crafter sells burgers and steaks branded by their beers so we can improve overall local industry sustainability with turning waste into a growlocal product.” Fonseca and de Mello are also investigating several different ways to help cattle producers maintain their herd and keep their production operations economically viable when food and water for livestock are limited. Examples include testing supplements to see if livestock will voluntarily drink less water, evaluating the offspring of cattle who lost weight then regained it quickly because of fluctuations in food availability due to events such as wildfires or drought, and researching if animals’ drinking behavior may affect how much and where they choose to graze. “Many new hypotheses are being explored right now,” de Mello said. “We used to stick with what we knew, but the technology allows us to go deeper into things we were not able to do before.”
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Wolf Pack Meats Main Station is also home to the Experiment Station’s Wolf Pack Meats, one of only two meat processing plants in Nevada capable of providing U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected harvesting services to local farmers. The facility maintains its own herd, which it uses to study ways to produce meat in greater quantities with higher quality. Over the past year, Wolf Pack Meats, under the direction of de Mello, has been collecting data from beef brought to the facility from producers in northern Nevada and California to determine the meat’s quality and yield amount. Their goal is to identify the possible gaps producers have in their commercial production operation, then use the data collected from the Wolf Pack Meats herd to fill these gaps with information about how producers can generate more beef of higher quality from one animal. “Most of the beef is produced using a low concentration of grains,” de Mello, said. “We know grains are responsible for increasing the fat content in the lean and improving the flavor. Our goal is to help producers improve beef quality, generate more profit and give a better experience to consumers.” During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with meat processing plants around the country shutting down and making it difficult for ranchers to slaughter and process their cattle, thus creating a meat shortage nationwide, Wolf Pack Meats implemented strict regulations and remained open. According to Pritsos, Wolf Pack Meats increased its slaughter and production by more than 20% to help ranchers and increase the local meat supply. In addition, the facility has undergone several years of renovations and upgrades to meet commercial meat and processing standards to ensure food safety, as well as to make the facility safer for employees and better designed for teaching activities for students. “Wolf Pack Meats has undergone a tremendous series of upgrades and renovations over the past few years with the intent to increase the safety of workers, staff and animals, provide our students with state-of-the-art equipment for training, and provide a demonstration center for stakeholders to learn about the latest in meat processing,” Pritsos said. The most recent changes include new compressors and new holding pens using a practical design to reduce the risks posed to employees for moving animals. Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area The Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area is actually administered by Research & Innovation at the University, but Experiment Station faculty are heavily involved in its operations. This 2,650acre forest on the western edge of Washoe Valley in Washoe County supports experiential learning, research and creative activities by faculty and students across multiple disciplines and throughout the Nevada System of Higher Education. Many Experiment Station faculty conduct wildlife and habitat research there, and Assistant Professor Sarah Bisbing, with the department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science, serves as the area’s director and chair of the advisory committee. In addition, the area also recently saw several enhancements, including $250,000 from the Experiment Station to allow projects such as establishing a groundwater well and remote weather station, and refurbishing a rustic cabin and camp area. Jay Dow Sr. Wetlands The Experiment Station’s facilities also extend beyond Nevada’s borders. The Jay Dow Sr. Wetlands are located near Herlong, California, and the approximately 1,360 acres have been used for wildlife research, including the investigation of migratory waterfowl. The wetlands are currently undergoing some major renovations, including automated and remotely monitored irrigation systems, which will support both research activities and hay production on approximately 250 acres. Additionally, this site supports livestock grazing and is a valuable part of the rotational grazing system for the Experiment Station’s commercial beef herd at Main Station. JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Recommendations For Increasing The Supply And Lowering The Cost Of Native Plant Materials In Nevada Through Strategic Support Of The Native Plant Materials Industry UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | UNR
TECHNICAL REPORT UCED 2018/19-00
This report was prepared by: Dr. Michael H. Taylor, Ph.D. | Mr. Richard D. Bartholet | Mr. Sourik Banerjee and was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Expanding public warehouse capacity, including refrigerated storage.
This is an excerpt from the SERRT Economics Final Report: Executive Summary and Introduction.
Executive Summary
This report provides policy recommendations for supporting the development of the native plant material (NPM) industry in Nevada with the goal of increasing the supply and lowering the cost of NPMs for use in rangeland restoration projects. These recommendations, based on stakeholder interviews, analyses of available data, and a review of existing literature, fall into three categories: 1. Policies Influencing Demand – State and Federal agencies can help to stabilize the demand for NPM in Nevada by: 1. Developing seed menus to align land managers’ NPM purchases across jurisdictions; 2. Documenting the contribution of NPM to restoration project outcomes; 3. Increasing land manager outreach in the use of locally-adapted NPM and appropriate restoration technologies; and 4. Increasing partnerships with non-governmental organizations to fund NPM use in restoration projects on public land in Nevada. 2. Policies Supporting Supply – State and Federal agencies can support the supply of NPM in Nevada by 1. Empowering a single state agency to coordinate NPM procurement for all state projects, which should facilitate relationships between growers, land managers, and researchers; 2. Expanding the use of publicprivate risk-sharing contracts to increase the supply of NPM produced under cultivation; 3. Creating a foundation seed bank to provide growers with a reliable source of foundation seed for seed increases; and 4. Streamlining wildland collection permitting processes. 3. Policies Providing General Industry Support – State and Federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations can support the NPM industry in Nevada by 1. Expanding State, Federal, and University of Nevada, Reno, plant materials development activities to increase the number of released NPM species that are locally adapted for Nevada; 2. Increasing grower outreach and technical assistance; 3. Standardizing data collection to develop forecasts of anticipated NPM needs; and 4. www.progressiverancher.com
This report also includes: •
A comprehensive list of NPM users in Nevada
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A description of the current capacity to produce NPM in Nevada
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A description of the network of Federal, State, and non-governmental entities that currently support the NPM industry in Nevada
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A detailed analysis of NPM use by the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada
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A comprehensive list of challenges to producing NPM under cultivation
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A framework to identify what additional policies are required to support a stable supply of specific NPMs given their risk profiles
1 Introduction Native plants and seeds (hereafter referred to as Native Plant Materials, or NPMs) are favored by many Federal, State, and private land managers in Nevada. Selecting appropriate NPMs for restoration, rehabilitation, and/or reclamation (hereafter referred to as restoration) projects can improve the survival rates of plants and, in turn, improve the likelihood that projects will be successful at restoring desired ecological function. More and more, empirical research shows the superiority of applying locally-adapted or genetically-appropriate NPMs over non-native alternatives in restoration projects, especially in the harsh, semi-arid rangeland environments of Nevada (Kulpa et al. 2012; Leger and Baughman 2015). The availability and cost of locally-adapted NPMs, however, are persistent obstacles to their widespread use. This report provides policy recommendations for increasing the supply and lowering the cost of locally-adapted NPMs in Nevada and for supporting the growth of an NPM industry in Nevada. The policy recommendations in this report are based on an analysis of the NPM industry in Nevada, as well as the experiences of NPM industries in other states in the intermountain West. Project researchers The Progressive Rancher
reviewed the available literature, conducted interviews with public and private participants in the NPM industry, and analyzed the available data on NPM use in Nevada. Appendix B includes a list of interviews conducted in the process of writing this report. The body of this report provides context for the policy recommendations contained in the final section of the report (Section 6). Section 2 describes the existing network of Federal and State agencies, universities, private-sector producers, and nongovernmental organizations that comprise the NPM industry in Nevada. The policy recommendations in Section 6 focus on how this network can be strengthened through a combination of policy changes and strategic hires in key positions. Section 3 provides a detailed analysis of NPM use by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in restoration projects in Nevada from 2005 to 2013. Analysis of the BLM data reveals several insights: that BLM demand for NPM in Nevada varied significantly from year to year in the time period studied, that post-fire restoration projects account for the large majority of BLM’s NPM use, and that, while the BLM primarily purchased species native to Nevada, ecotypes of these species that were locally-adapted for Nevada were rarely used. Section 4 catalogues the production challenges facing NPM growers. These production challenges increase the costs and production risk (variability in yields) associated with producing a given species under cultivation, and are a major reason why the NPM industry needs public support to supply many desired species. Building on the analysis in Section 4, Section 5 develops a framework to identify what additional policies are required to support a stable supply of specific NPMs on the commercial market given their production and market risk (variability in price). This framework informs our policy recommendations to enhance public-private risksharing in Section 6. To request an electronic copy of this report or if you have any questions, contact Michael H. Taylor at taylor@unr.edu or (775) 784-1679. You may also read / download the full UNR SERRT Economics Final Report at progressiverancher.com JULY/AUGUST 2021
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High Desert Grange & High Desert Grange Satellite Northern Lyon County
For Information on
HIGH ROLLERS JACKPOT contact Gloria Montero highdesertgrange22@gmail.com
For more information on GRANGE’S BATTLE BORN EASY-PEASY HORSE SHOW GRANGE’S BATTLE BORN DAIRY GOAT SHOW GRANGE’S RABBIT QUIZBOWL GRANGE’S BATTLE BORN HORSE JUDGING & HIPPOLOGY CONTEST GRANGE’S HORSE BOWL
contact Carolynn Chamlee cmchamlee@gmail.com High Desert Grange Chapter 22 P.O. Box 5272 Fallon, NV 89406 775-427-8210 www.facebook.com/highdesertgrange22 highdesertgrange22@gmail.com www.grange.org/highdesertnv22 www.nationalgrange.org
LEADERSHIP • COMMUNITY • FRIENDSHIP 32 JULY/AUGUST 2021
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$600 - Ranch Team (4 person) Men & or Women $50 - Women’s Steer Stopping Jackpot Deadline for entries is: July 21, 2021 &/or the first 20 paid teams. For more information please contact:
Richard Allegre at (775) 423-5358 or 848-2108
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High Desert Grange - 6th Annual High Rollers Jackpot By Kathleen Leonard Rodegeb On May 1, 2021, the High Desert Grange held its 6th annual High Rollers Jackpot show at the Churchill County Fairgrounds. The High Rollers Jackpot is a show dedicated to youth, ages 5 to 19, from all organizations to practice showing in advance of the Nevada Junior Livestock show and is sponsored by the High Desert Grange. The purpose of the show is for youth to have a fun and educational day and to receive good input and feedback in preparation for the state show. This year the show had 100 exhibitors, including exhibitors from Future Farmers of America (FFA), Grange, 4H and independent exhibitors from counties all over Nevada and border counties in California. The Jackpot pays out to 6th place, with cash awards for quality and showmanship, as well as belt buckles for Grand Champion and Grand Champion Reserve in quality. In all, the exhibitors showed 5 beef, 35 swine, 40 lambs, 38 goats and 12 turkeys. Haley Cole was the judge for large livestock and Deb Cobb for small livestock.
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This year’s winners are:
Beef Grand – Lonnie Adams Reserve – Lonnie Adams Swine Grand – Allie Fait Reserve – Kylee Simper Lamb Grand – Amaia Sarratea Reserve – Amaia Sarratea
High Desert Grange Chapter 22 P.O. Box 5272 Fallon, NV 89406 775-427-8210 www.facebook.com/ highdesertgrange22 highdesertgrange22@gmail.com www.grange.org/highdesertnv22 www.nationalgrange.org
Goat Grand – Makenzie Voges Reserve – Kaitlynn Hoffman Turkey Grand – Acen Williams Reserve – Josie Peek Additionally, a special award, known as the “Chrissy Award,” is given by her family each year in memory of Chrissy Emmons, who lost her life to melanoma at the young age of 24. The award consists of a special plaque and cash prize and is awarded to a lamb exhibitor who reminds the family of Chrissy. This year’s recipient is Charleigh Fender.
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Our Fav�ite B�f Recipes
Instant Pot Beef Short Ribs with Sticky BBQ Sauce It’s hot outside - try making these beef ribs inside with your InstaPot! These short ribs are so tender they fall right off the bone and melt in your mouth, and in only about 45 minutes! We suggest using bone-in; they’re more flavorful and tender. INGREDIENTS For the BBQ sauce: 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons Liquid Smoke 2 teaspoons ground mustard 1 1/4 cups ketchup 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 cup minced red onion 1 teaspoon garlic powder 3/4 cup any good BBQ Sauce For the short ribs: 4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs 2 tablespoons any good BBQ Rub 1/2 cup apple juice (or pineapple juice)
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PREPARATION Make the BBQ sauce: In a pot, add the vinegar, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, onion, garlic powder and BBQ sauce. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Make the short ribs: Sprinkle all sides of the ribs with a good BBQ rub. Heat an Instant Pot with the saute mode on more heat and add a drizzle of oil. Brown each side of the ribs and set aside. Place the apple juice or pineapple juice in the bottom of the Instant Pot and set in a trivet. Add the ribs on top and pour over 1 cup of the smoky BBQ sauce that you just made in the pot. Place the lid on and set the valve to seal. Turn the Instant Pot to pressure cook on high, setting the time for 45 minutes. Allow a natural release for 10-15 minutes, then remove the lid. While you’re waiting, set your oven on broil. Once the InstaPot releases, remove the ribs, placing them on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with a little sauce, then broil for 2-4 minutes in the oven. Remove, brush with more sauce, and serve over your favorite style of mashed/smashed potatoes.
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Churchi� County Cowbe�es Update The Churchill County Cowbelles meet each month from September until May. It is during this time we raise funds, sponsor activities, and donate to youth organizations and activities in the community that promote the beef and agriculture industry in Churchill County. During the summer, many members are busy farming and ranching. This is the busiest season of the year for the agriculture industry. This year we are sponsoring an informational table in the Agriculture Tent and cosponsoring two special live presentations on beef cookery. A few members have chosen to spend their time crafting some fun and informational interactive activities for the Churchill County Cantaloupe Festival in August. Plans at this point are to have informational materials to hand out and short videos to watch, as well as the interactive activities. I have even heard that Fortune Cookies are involved. Sounds like fun to me! A couple of others are spearheading the organization of a live grilling demonstration and smoking panel discussion. This endeavor is being cosponsored by Churchill County Farm Bureau and the Nevada Beef Council. The grilling demonstration will focus on grilling techniques and grades of beef education. A local chef will explain the beef grading system and provide insight into achieving that perfect grilled steak regardless of the grade of beef. A panel of taste testers will share their thoughts after tasting the finished product. For individuals wanting to up their game, this might be the ticket.
By Susan Van Patten, President
Our final project is to put together a panel of local meat smoking enthusiasts to discuss their passion. The panel will discuss all things smoking, from meat preparation to wood selection. If you have never smoked any meat, but have always wanted to try it out, this is your chance. We do hope to serve samples throughout the presentation, but we have all learned to adapt to various governmental mandates. At the Churchill County Junior Livestock Show and Sale held in April Cowbelles funded the Meat Carcass Contest and the ultrasound exhibition. Throughout the year 4-H, FFA, and Grange members that participate in the show are required to maintain record books by their leaders. Some individuals go even further and apply for the Junior Cattleman’s Award. Each applicant is evaluated in five different areas: the record book, the application, show points, sportsmanship, and an interview. This year there were two applicants and Caitlyn Dock was awarded the prize of $250.00. To apply members must be enrolled in a beef project and be eleven years old. Would love to see the number of applicants tripled next year. The single most defining moment between spring and summer for many is when the local schools begin their summer break and hold their Graduation Ceremony. Fallon is no different. Cowbelles believes that recognizing seniors that have worked diligently is worth our time and money. For a substantial number of years, we have awarded a scholarship to a select few from the graduating class. The number of scholarships and the amounts have varied according to club finances and the times. The past few years we have awarded thee scholarships of $500.00. This year we had ten applications submitted. It was interesting to review the applications and discover that these students are just as idealistic and naive as I was at their age.
Will Swisher is the final recipient from Churchill County High School. His father John Swisher is a game warden, and his mother, Debbie Swisher is an elementary school teacher. He is also planning to work in the education field. He plans on acquiring a double major in history and political science. Will is quite capable and inventive. It is not often we find Thomas Jefferson quoted in a scholarship application. Since my words are not eloquent, I will rely on those of the the great Thomas Jefferson, who said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
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Thomas K. Gallagher, PE 775•825•1653 / FAX 775•825•1683 333 Flint Street / Reno, NV 89501 tomg@nevadawatersolutions.com www.progressiverancher.com
Elizabeth Ikonen is one of the recipients from Churchill County High School. Her mother, Julianne Ikonen is employed by the Nevada State Department of Welfare. She plans on majoring in Agriculture Education and Agriculture Business. She is planning on attending South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. Elizabeth is excited to begin this journey and be closer to her sister in Texas.
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Wilhelmina Albaugh is the recipient from the Oasis Academy. Her father is Norris Albaugh, an area rancher and farmer. Her mother, Suzanne Hyatt is employed by the school district. She plans on She plans on pursuing a secondary teaching degree and is planning on teaching Ag Science. Her goal is to create a school farm where students gain hands on experience to supplement their learning from texts.
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tyler
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colton
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• Highly Concentrated • Low Consumption • Low Cost to Feed • Consumption Guarantee HollowayLS@fmtcblue.com
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