Issue July-September 2020

July/Aug/Sept 2020

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Read the George Bush 2005 Pandemic Plan and updated 2017 Plan here: https://www.cdc.gov/ flu/pandemic-resources/ national-strategy/index.html NOTICE: Due to COVID-19 events, this is a triple issue with a reduced print run. The full issue is on line and on Facebook. Please follow us on Facebook for more updates.

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3 President's Perspective 4 NCA Roundup

18 Society for Range Management Grazing Twice

7 USDA - Land Conservation for Pollinator Habitat Protection

23 BLM - Dept of Interior Letter: EA for TPGEA

7 UNR Cooperative Extension Special Ag Web Series

26 Nevada Farm Bureau This Won’t Fix Easily

5 An Impostor Among Us

22 BLM - Kathryn Dyer Article

7 BLM News Release - Public Comment Needed on EA

24 Meet Suzanne Montero | Ranching During a Pandemic

8 Eye on the Outside

27 Nevada Farm Bureau - Preparing for the 2020 Annual Meeting

9 Nevada DCNR News Release Order #1309 10 NBC - Checkoff News 11 NBC - Beef Recipe

12 In the Mind of a Millennial

15 Nevada Cattlewomen Update 15 Let’s Talk Ag (Editorial)

16 BLM News Release - ICYMI

17 NDA Welcomes New State Veterinarian Dr. Amy Mitchell 17 Elko Co Fair - Announcement

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29 Churchill Co FFA Takes State

30 Nevada Agricultural Foundation: New Educational Series 34 Churchill County Cowbelles Update & Beef Recipe 35 The Shoesole Team Summer Tour Recap

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Cover Credit: “Suzanne Montero” by Savannah Montero

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29 Falen Law Offices: Supreme Court Ruling Harms Industry

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28 USDA - CAMP: Conservation Agricultural Mentoring Program

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President's perspective

By Tom Barnes, President, Nevada Cattlemen's Association I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July and was able to celebrate our great country with family and friends. Even with everything that has happened over the last couple of months, we are still very lucky to live and work in such a great country.

NCA leadership has been in contact with the Department of Ag discussing the various Brand Department issues. The legislature gave the department a directive to fix their continuing budget shortfall for the brand inspection program.

We have been working for the best interest of the

industry. We know there will be some kind of an increase in brand fees as well as some personnel changes but we are unsure at this time what they will actually look like. Most of us agree we can support some fee increase but we all agree we will not support a fee increase if it is coupled with less service. It is extremely important that we maintain or enhance the brand services we need to conduct commerce. There will be more discussions regarding this issue and we will continue to work on your behalf. At some point there will be public workshops for comment. We will keep everyone updated on any new developments.

We can also expect a special legislative session prior to fiscal year 20-21. There is good reason to believe additional cuts are going to be required in the state budget, the question is where those will fall. At this time, there are too many uncertainties to speculate. We will just have to keep a close watch on this situation as it develops.

Our local NCA staff will continue to provide information on the various assistance programs available to producers. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us.

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The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 3

Nevada Cattlemen's Association Announces 2020 Scholarship Recipients

By Kaley Chapin NCA Executive Director On behalf of the the NCA we are pleased to announce two scholarship recipients this year.

Lia has been very involved in different organizations including FFA, 4-H, Choir, Pep Club, Volleyball, and the National Honors Society. She plans to attend UNR In the past, the NCA has annually awarded and will major in Biochemistry and a scholarship to a first-year college student Molecular Biology. According to Lia, as who is beginning to pursue an education stated in her application, “My future goal within the agricultural industry. This is to continue my education at UNR in award is open to all Nevada high school Biochemistry and use this degree to graduating seniors planning to attend a further the agriculture industry.” She plans junior or four-year university while to pursue working with plants to develop majoring in an Ag related field. new herbicides that will work with animal genetics. She would also like to contribute This year, the NCA is awarding a “second” to the beef industry by looking into genes scholarship opportunity, the Marvel/ that would improve efficiency of the Andrae Scholarship, which will be targeted modern beef cow and in turn benefit the toward students either going into their entire beef cattle business. first year of college or who are currently working towards a degree in agriculture.

Mackie is currently attending the University of Idaho and is majoring in Animal Both scholarships are awarded to and Veterinary Science Production. She is exceptional students who work hard, a member of the NCA, Student Idaho achieve high academic achievements, and Cattle Association, and a member of the who represent agriculture in a positive Block and Bridle Club. Her background is way. We received a large pool of primarily in the cow/calf side of the indusoutstanding applicants. We are pleased to try, however, this summer she will be insee many youth with so much dedication terning at the Five Rivers Feeding Comto agriculture. We thank all of the students pany in Malta, ID. She plans to pursue a that applied for these scholarships and are career that relates to the beef industry and confident that they will all be strong future eventually follow in her father’s footsteps advocates for our ranching and farming by someday managing the Maggie Creek communities.

Ranch where she grew up.

The NCA would like to congratulate Lia Congratulations again to Lia and Mackie McQueary of Ruby Valley, NV for being and we wish them good luck on their chosen as the 2020 Nevada Cattlemen’s future endeavors! We are very proud of Association Scholarship recipient and them both and are confident that they will Mackie Griggs of Elko, NV for being continue to serve the industry well. We chosen as the 2020 Marvel/Andrae look forward to all that they will Scholarship recipient. accomplish.

4 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Apart of the NCA Scholarship application process, applicants are required to write an essay on any topic within the beef industry. Please see Lia’s winning essay, “An Impostor Among Us” on the following page.

Mackie Griggs, 2020 Marvel/ Andrae Scholarship Recipient

The Progressive Rancher

Lia McQueary, 2020 NCA Scholarship Recipient

www.progressiverancher.com

An Impostor Among Us

By Lia McQueary of Ruby Valley, Nevada The United States beef industry is under fire. PETA ads, vegetarian/vegan social media accounts, and now the fake meat industry are all anti-beef. Fake meat claims to be a superior, ethical product.

Lab-grown meat, cultured meat, clean meat, in-vitro meat. What comes to mind when you imagine a plate of this?

In contrast to meat taken whole from an animal, lab-grown meat is muscle protein that has been cultured in a petri dish.

Scientists take a sample of animal muscle, such as beef, bluefin tuna, chicken, shrimp, or salmon, and culture the sample with a mixture of sugars, salts, and amino acids.

This produces a product with a texture similar to ground beef. Millions of stem cells are produced to create muscle strips as the base of the meat (BBC, 2018).

and other ruminant animals can break cellulose down and release the solar energy contained in this vast resource.” Cattle not only convert cellulose into a usable product but can help the environment while doing so. Which is more damaging: cow burps or wildfires? Fires ripped through California last year and could have been alleviated by cattle grazing. Cattle can be used for fire control and beef. Can lab-grown meat prevent fires? Convert cellulose into a usable?

Lab-grown meat might not pose a problem to traditional growers or their operations.

The reason? Cost. The first lab-grown hamburger patty cost $330,000 to produce.

Ginkgo Bioworks (2018) concluded that lab-grown meat isn’t cost-effective enough to compete with traditional meat because of how laborious it is to make. If labcultured protein becomes cost-competitive with traditional beef, where does this leave the meat industry?

There are roughly a dozen companies working on producing lab-grown meat throughout the US, and even Harvard University is developing its own methods for lab-grown meat. Based on this process, Lab-grown meat is naturally a clear should this cultured meat product be substance with the texture of ground beef. Scientists have worked to grow treated as traditional beef?

Research by the Good Food Institute both fat and muscular tissues to create a (2011) found that lab-grown meat could product more similar to the real thing. The lower greenhouse gas emissions by 78 to Impossible Burger company is known for 96 percent, use 99 percent less land and adding soy heme proteins to make their between 82 and 92 percent less water. burger “bleed”. Lab-grown meat scientists Claims of greenhouse gas reduction, water are working on this process to add heme savings, and time have all been main or myoglobin (naturally found in muscles) points for expanding lab-grown meat labs. to lab-grown meat to improve cell growth However, the University of California, and overall taste. Lab-grown meat has Davis (2019) doesn’t think live animals are been described as tasting “bland”. The first lab-grown hamburger patty was dyed red the problem. with beet juice but was not juicy thanks Animal agriculture is responsible for to the lack of blood. The largest struggle slightly less than 4 percent of greenhouse for the lab-grown meat companies is gases. Eliminating all animals from U.S. to perfectly replicate an already perfect agricultural production would decrease product: beef. emissions by only 2.6 percent. Factories for lab-grown meat would still need power The Food and Drug Administration of the for the lights and heat; building huge new United States is unsure of how to regulate labs would not be as environmentally lab-grown meat. It was decided that the friendly as a field grass that only needs FDA and USDA will split the regulation: the FDA will cover the growth within cell sunlight and water. banks and the USDA will oversee the cell The University of Oxford’s (2019) research harvesting stage (USDA, 2019). concluded that long-term, negative climate impacts could result if cultured Ranchers want to stop labs from using meat replaces livestock prior to electrical terms such as “clean meat” or “safe meat” generation becoming carbon-free. Beef, to avoid giving consumers the wrong on the other hand, is more important to idea. Ranchers aren’t alone in this pursuit. energy conversion than one would think. Missouri was the first state to strike before the federal agencies. Missouri law According to Frank Mitloenher, a excludes any plant-based or lab-grown professor at UC-Davis, “cows, sheep, meat substitute from being labeled www.progressiverancher.com

as “meat”. Farmers and ranchers are depending on this denial for labeling labgrown meat products to save the integrity of their products. Is this any different than the margarine versus butter debate?

Missouri was the first, but not the last.

Around a dozen states are also attempting to pass legislation defining the word “meat”. The REAL Meat Act of 2019 is a bill in Congress that would define meat and enhance the government’s ability to enforce mislabeling infractions.

For my family, trading cows for Petri dishes and lush fields for a gigantic white lab is unrealistic. My multi-generational ranch would become irrelevant and we would all be without jobs. We would lose our lifestyle.

NCBA firmly believes that “the term “beef ” should only apply to products derived from livestock raised by farmers and ranchers. Producers in the beef industry have worked hard to build our brand and differentiate our products.” Farmers and ranchers are depending on this denial for labeling lab-grown meat products to save the integrity of their products. Is this any different than the margarine versus butter debate? Or perhaps the nutty alternatives to milk? Should I be concerned about this new product taking over the beef industry? I don’t believe there will ever be a substitute for real beef.

Lab-grown meat is a breakthrough in science, yet highly problematic. Between the labeling, regulations, and long-term costs and benefits surrounding it, we must ask if the benefits outweigh the risks. It encroaches on the traditional beef industry and claims to provide an answer to feeding 9.8 billion people as the world population grows exponentially. But is their claim realistic? No. All aspects of lab-grown meat should be considered before claiming it is a superior product.

The Progressive Rancher

REFERENCES Belsie, L. (2019, January 18). Farmers have a beef with plant- or lab-grown ‘meat.’ Should you care? Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor. com/Business/2019/0118/Farmers-have-abeef-with-plant-or-lab-g rown-meat.-Shouldyou-care Kiester, E. (2001, October). Using Goats to Prevent Wildfires | Science | Smithsonian.

Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www. smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/usinggoats-to-prevent-wildfires-513270 45/.

Larson, S. (2019, March 7). Retrieved from https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail. cfm?postnum=29569 Lynch, J., & Pierrehumbert, R. (2-19-2019). (PDF) Climate Impacts of Cultured Meat and Beef Cattle.

Retrieved September 27, 2019, from https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/331209818_ Climate_Impacts_of_Cultured_Meat_and_Beef_ Cattle.

Rabie, P. (2019, January 15). The truth about labgrown meat. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https://scienceline.org/2019/01/the-truth-aboutlab-grown-meat/.

Rowland, M. P. (2019, May 2). Shiok Meats Raises $4.6 Million Seed Round To Develop Cell-Based Shrimp. Retrieved October 8, 2019, fromhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/ michaelpellmanrowland/2019/04/28/ shiokmeats/#326d44af1 f7c.

Specht, L. (2017, August 7). Emerging opportunities in cellular agriculture. Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://drive.google.com/ file/d/1XUZwh8E3jiNRo5iUH6CLPpbNg9AAZb-U/ view.

USDA and FDA Announce a Formal Agreement to Regulate Cell-Cultured Food Products from Cell Lines of Livestock and Poultry. (2019, March 7).

Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https://www. usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/03/07/ usda-and-fda-announce-formal-agr eementregulate-cell-cultured-food. https://www.bbc. com/news/science-environment-47283162

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 5

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Farmers, Ranchers and Private Forest Landowners Use Conservation to Protect Pollinator Habitat, Boost Crop Production

By SED Janice Kolvet, USDA FSA State Executive Director, in Nevada The next time you snack on almonds, add blueberries to your smoothie or eat pumpkin pie, thank a pollinator and thank farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners who work hard to create and maintain their habitat.

wildflower and native plantings in buffers and areas not in production.

NEWS RELEASE

Ely, Nevada | June 24, 2020 Contact: Chris Hanefeld (775) 289-1842 | chanefel@blm.gov

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) also can be used to enhance habitat to Bureau of Land Management protect pollinators. Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), seeks public comment on Pollinators, such as honeybees, CRP is a land conservation program Moriah Herd Area Wild Horse Gather Plan bumblebees, butterflies, birds, bats, flies in which enrolled landowners remove and many others, play a critical role in environmentally sensitive land from Environmental Assessment crop production. Without pollinators, we agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District announces the availability of wouldn’t have many crops. a preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) to address potential environmental During the week of June 22-28, the and quality. nation will celebrate these iconic and As owners and stewards of the land, consequences associated with excess wild horses within and outside of the Moriah crucial pollinators during National many farmers, ranchers and private forest Herd Area located in White Pine County, Nevada. The preliminary 10-year Wild Horse Pollinator Week. This year’s theme is landowners manage their natural resources Gather EA will be available for public review and comment for a period of 30 days.

“Pollinators, Plants, People and Planet.” to work to achieve their production goals, Thirteen years ago, the U.S. Senate they are protecting the rich and diverse The action is needed in order to reduce impacts to rangeland health and wildlife habitat within and outside of the herd area (HA) boundaries. The EA will be used to facilitate unanimously designated the third week ecology on or near their operations. in June as National Pollinator Week to When we protect pollinators, we protect gathers and removals of excess wild horses in accordance with 43 CFR 4700 regulation increase awareness about the importance our ability to grow food. We thank our and the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended (Public Law 92of pollinators and the challenges many of farmers, ranchers and private forest land 195). The Appropriate Management Level for the Moriah Herd Area is zero wild horses. them face, including serious population owners who offer safe haven for pollinators A 30-day public comment period on the preliminary environmental assessment is set declines and habitat losses, often due and grow the products we enjoy. for June 24, 2020, through July 24, 2020. The public is encouraged to review the EA, to land use changes and excessive or located at: https://go.usa.gov/xw7Bd and provide substantive comments or concerns, improper pesticide use. Nearly 200 species Whether you are a large commodity prior to 4:30 p.m. (PST) on July 24, 2020. All comments received will be fully considered of pollinators are considered threatened or producer, a small and diverse organic and evaluated for preparation of the final EA. The BLM suggests you use a supported producer or even a suburban homeowner, browser, e.g., Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or Safari. extinct. you can have an important role in saving Pollination occurs when pollen grains are pollinators in Nevada.

Comments and concerns may be emailed to: blm_nv_eydo_moriah_ha_gather_ea@ moved between two flowers of the same blm.gov or sent in writing to the Bureau of Land Management Ely District Office, 702 species, or within a single flower by wind or You can help protect pollinators by doing N. Industrial Way, Ely, NV 89301 Attn: Ben Noyes, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist. insects and animals. Successful pollination the following: Hardcopies of the EA are available upon request from the BLM Ely District Office. results in healthy fruit and fertile seeds, • Plant appropriate vegetation. Use allowing the plants to reproduce. conservation practices and create habitat Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal that sustains and enhance pollinators on identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire The extensive and critical world of comment, including your personal identifying information, may be publicly available the farm, forest or the yard. crop pollinators is a $20 billion a year at any time. While you can ask that your personal identifying information be withheld industry. About 75 percent of crop plants • Use pesticides, herbicides and from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Anonymity are pollinated by billions of animals and insecticides carefully on and off the is not allowed for submissions from organizations or businesses and from individuals insects every year farm, ranch and private forests. Keep identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses. your operation pollinator friendly.

Many federal, state and local government agencies, non-government organizations • Protect flowering plants and potential and universities have launched extensive pollinator nesting sites such as areas Web Series “Focus on Agriculture” efforts to protect pollinators, especially of undisturbed ground and native

by Lindsay Chichester honeybees and the Monarch butterfly. vegetation.

Douglas County Extension Educator The U.S. Department of Agriculture Do your part to help protect pollinators.

(USDA) works closely with farmers, forest landowners and other private landowners By taking action to diversify and beautify How can people in agriculture make the best production decisions possible under to increase pollinator habitat in targeted your operation or property, you could the current circumstances to ensure future viability? View this web series which ensure that many fruits and vegetables areas nationwide. covers numerous topics including: Ag risk and Ag law; meat packers, pricing, and are available and plentiful for future availability; backyard poultry production; pork industry update; dairy: milk dumping The Environmental Quality Incentives generations for many years to come. and National Dairy Month; a Doc Talk; and Home Meat Processing. Agriculture Program (EQIP), through USDA’s can be both physically and mentally grueling, so each session touches on dealing To learn about Natural Resources Conservation Service with stress and mental health wellness. The July 7 session will solely focus on stress (NRCS), offers financial incentives to what you can do and mental health wellness. The sessions are being live streamed to the University agricultural producers and private forest in Nevada, please of Nevada Cooperative Extension (Douglas) Facebook page. An account is NOT landowners who enhance pollinator contact your local needed to watch the sessions, all of which are archived at www.facebook.com/ USDA service habitat by voluntarily implementing UNRExtensionDouglasCounty Note: all sessions are also closed captioned. center. conservation practices such as cover crops, www.progressiverancher.com

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 7

By Joseph Guild

A Visit To Fort Bridger Fort Bridger, Wyoming sits strategically in a broad, open, high desert plain at an elevation of over 6,000 feet along the banks of Blacks Fork of the much larger Green River.

It is a place of stark isolation. Interstate 80 winds east and west just a few miles to the north. It is over 100 miles to Salt Lake City and Cheyenne is 350 miles away to the east. Neither of these places had any European populations worthy of note when the Fort Bridger was founded by the legendary mountain man Jim Bridger in 1841.

The geography of the place would have been very familiar to Bridger when he created this trading post and supply station. His reason to found this place was him seeing the decline of the fur trade, becoming more and more evident.

It was the fur trade, after all, which had compelled him west over 30 years earlier and I suspect he did want to leave this area he knew so well. He was illiterate but knew this place and others like it in a radius of hundreds of miles like his own hands, and perhaps even better than that.

He couldn’t write his own name but he could dictate the features of thousands of square miles to a cartographer and help create one of the most accurate maps of the fur-trade country that was ever produced.

Isolated though it was, almost all of the western travel from the 1830s including the beginning movement of the transcontinental railroad traversed this place.

The U.S. Army bought Fort Bridger and maintained a presence in this remote part of the United States where there were few symbols of law and order for over 50 years.

from the British Isles. Eventually, they landed in Genoa, Nevada, also in the late 1850s, and my Great Grandparents met, married and raised eleven children in Dayton where my Great Grandfather This tiny settlement and outpost of worked in the mining industry and later civilization provided stability and ran the Dayton town water works. certainty that the frontier would What they each must have thought as eventually become an important part of they stopped in this relatively desolate, the United States. unpopulated place I can only imagine.

I was drawn to stop at Fort Bridger as I But they pushed on, made a life for traveled the interstate through southern themselves and helped settle and civilize the West. However, they are just Wyoming for many reasons. representatives of hundreds of thousands The history of the fur trappers has who emigrated ever westward until they always fascinated me. There was an found a reason to stop and stay. inevitability about the role they played in opening and understanding the West.

There was a profit motive to their travels to this region following the efforts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The fur trade supplied the American and European male fashion of wearing beaver felt top hats. However also, the movement west by these mountain men was just another manifestation of the American spirit to go beyond the eastern coastal plains and see what was out there across the mountains, the Appalachians; mountains which could barely contain the American desire to explore, seek a better life, greener pastures, more productive farmland, and to just see what was out there.

Today, Fort Bridger is a showcase for what perseverance and hard work can do.

There are prosperous, well-kept ranches raising sheep, cattle and hay and a couple of neat, clean small towns. The Uinta Mountains rise tall and snow-capped to the south. Meanwhile Interstate 80 just to the north carries the commerce and travel of the nation and is symbol of Jim Bridger’s prescience and foresight.

I have no doubt this place will continue to help America feed itself and be a reminder to all who pause and think how great this nation and its people are.

I’ll see you soon.

This was my real reason to see this place.

My Great Grandfather, at the age of 15 or 16, surely went through here as he and a brother walked from their home in western New York to Dayton, Nevada Early settlers bound for Oregon or in the late 1850s. As I walked the Fort California on their respective trails came Bridger grounds, it felt to me he must through this place. Gold seekers and have stopped here.

Mormon Pioneers were here. The Pony Express and transient cattle and sheep Further, my Great, Great Grandparents producers were drawn through here to and my Great Grandmother came their final destinations elsewhere and through here and perhaps stopped to rest some of the stockmen eventually stayed and refresh. They were from Scotland and created a viable agricultural industry. and part of the Mormon migration 8 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The Progressive Rancher

www.progressiverancher.com

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Know Before You Grow: Nevada State Engineer Issues Order #1309 to Ensure Sustainable Water Development in the Lower White River Flow System Order #1309 formalizes the Lower White River Flow System as a single hydrographic basin, establishes a sustainable annual groundwater pumping threshold of no more than 8,000 acrefeet to ensure responsible water usage in the basin, preserves critical habitat for the federally endangered Moapa Dace fish, and sets data-driven parameters necessary to secure the basin’s water future for the benefit of all Nevadans.

Nevada is in a new era of water management. As the driest state in the nation, responsible and sustainable management of Nevada’s limited water resources is the foremost priority of the Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR). As part of this commitment, today the Nevada State Engineer issued Order #1309 for one of Nevada’s most important and unique hydrographic basins called the Lower White River Flow System (LWRFS). Located in portions of both Clark and Lincoln Counties, the LWRFS basin has experienced significant growth in recent decades, in addition to numerous new proposals for expanded residential and commercial development, placing a significant strain on the area’s limited water resources. Order #1309 will serve as the basis for preventing future depletion of the basin’s water supply through respecting existing senior water rights, while simultaneously preserving critical habitat for the endangered Moapa Dace fish species.

Order #1309 recognizes the close interconnection among the various sources of groundwater and surface water and the headwaters of the Muddy River. In 2017, the Nevada Legislature directed the Nevada Division of Water Resources to recognize such hydrological connections and to manage the related water resource conjunctively. The Order formally combines six hydrographic basins and a portion of a seventh into a single basin, identifies a maximum limit on groundwater pumpage, and leverages the most upto-date scientific data to best inform future water supply management decisions within the basin.

The Order is the result of a proactive, multi-year effort by NDWR to engage both the general public and all stakeholders in the LWRFS to update and assess the best available science and data to establish an informed baseline to guide sustainable water management decisions in the basin, protect the long-term viability of the water resource, and adequately support the survival of the endangered Moapa Dace. Based on these collective findings, Order #1309 establishes that groundwater pumping in the basin must be limited to no more than 8,000 acre-feet per year.

The issuance of Order #1309 is one of many steps that NDWR is taking as part of its overarching, Nevada-wide efforts to modernize groundwater management using the best available science and innovative management programs. NDWR and the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recognize that given Nevada’s limited water resources it is imperative to always “know before you grow,” through utilizing contemporary data and science to fully understand the availability and longterm trajectory of the State’s water resources as the key to fostering a sustainable water future for the benefit of all Nevadans.

View a pdf of the full LWRFS Order 1309 PR here: http://water.nv.gov/LWRFS/ Order%201309/Order_1309.pdf Learn more at water.nv.gov, and by connecting with @NevDCNR on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #KnowBeforeYouGrow.

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JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 9

Stockmanship Event Postponed

By Nevada Beef Council Staff

A couple of months ago, we shared the exciting news that Elko was selected as a site for the regional Stockmanship & Stewardship program, an educational tour that brings world-renowned clinicians to five cities across the country for topnotch learning opportunities.

Unfortunately, as with so many other events and gatherings that have been affected by the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nevada Beef Council has decided to postpone the Elko Stockmanship & Stewardship event, which was originally slated for August 12 and 13 at the Elko County Fairgrounds. While an alternate date has not yet been determined, the NBC and other producer organizations in Nevada are still looking forward to putting together an educational, fun and worthwhile event for Nevada beef producers.

While we are all ready for a return to “normal,” our primary goal is to ensure the optimum environment for a successful event and allow as many producers as possible to attend without onerous restrictions and requirements, as well as ensure the health and safety of both attendees and the clinicians flying in from other areas of the country. Our hope is that a postponement in this event will help us assess the current situation with regard to the pandemic a little more fully.

Stockmanship & Stewardship is a unique two-day educational experience featuring low-stress cattle handling demonstrations, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) educational sessions, facility design sessions to fit your operation and industry updates. The program is sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, Merck Animal Health, and the Beef Checkoff-funded National Beef Quality Assurance program.

Stay tuned for new dates to be announced soon, or check StockmanshipandStewardship.org for updates.

10 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Digital Command Center Keeps an Eye on the Industry From the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Flickering cable news shows speed across multiple large television screens along one wall, while several sets of watchful eyes glance over a series of computers scrolling through traditional and social media sites.

The atmosphere is a combination of Times Square, a military operations room and the TV section at Target.This is the Digital Command Center, home of the Checkofffunded Issues Management and Media Relations team at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The Digital Command Center is so refined in its technology that team members receive a notification when a topic hits a certain threshold, which could be the number of people it’s reached, the number of stories being circulated about a particular topic or other measures. This allows the team to react quickly, including outside of business hours.

Management and Media Relations team. “We also look at trends so we can plan accordingly with issues response and try to get ahead of situations.”

The Checkoff-funded Issues Management and Media Relations team is dedicated to protecting beef ’s image and those involved in the beef industry.

In addition to developing targeted messaging to address consumer concerns, the team also enacts “reactive issues This team of savvy communications professionals works response.” In other words, when a new study features false every single day to protect the consumer and marketing or misinterpreted data that places beef in a negative light, environment for beef. Charged with actively monitoring the team works with third party and in-house experts to important conversations and issues threatening consumer issue a response to media and other stakeholders with confidence in beef, this team is the Beef Checkoff ’s accurate fact- and science-based information. When a minute-by-minute watch dog for the beef industry, popular mainstream publication’s article includes incorrect addressing myths that make people question beef and data about the beef industry’s impact on greenhouse offer immediate fact-based responses to issues and gases, the team reaches out to the reporter to clear up the misinformation and provides scientific resources to trending topics.

An extremely sophisticated monitoring operation, the help them understand the facts. The team also offers to Digital Command Center serves as the hub for the beef participate in an interview with third party or in-house industry’s media monitoring and response needs. Twenty- experts in the fields of nutrition, sustainability, safety, four hours a day, seven days a week, the team utilizes product quality and culinary if the reporter would like to the command center to actively monitor more than 200 learn more about beef industry topics. beef-related topics ranging from dietary guidelines to These reactive responses ensure that consumers are sustainability claims, and from meat substitutes to animal receiving correct information while also helping the team build relationships with reporters that could potentially welfare.

“Our team meets every single morning to look at the news lead to a follow-up story about beef. “The next time stories of the day that could potentially impact beef and reporters are writing a story about beef or climate change, determine if there is anything we need to do in response,” they know that they can come to our team for information says Jenn Tilliss, NCBA’s executive director for the Issues and expert resources,” Tilliss says.

Nevada Beef Directory Coming Soon With a growing number of people searching for local and online meat sales, especially in the midst of the pandemic, the Nevada Beef Council is creating a digital platform to directly connect consumers with those who produce it.

The online Nevada beef directory will also provide information about how beef is produced.

The new portal will be available later this summer, and the NBC is hoping to have as many producers and meat markets included in the directory as possible when it is launched to the public.

For consumers who are actively searching how to purchase beef directly from producers or local markets, or consumers who are looking to purchase a quarter, side or whole beef, this portal will serve as a convenient resource that will allow for consumers to engage directly with local producers.

Being included in the directory is free, and submissions are currently being accepted to build out the portal. If you would like to be included, please e-mail Jill Scofield at jill@calbeef.org.

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Slow-Cooked Whiskey-Molasses Shredded Beef

By Nevada Beef Council Staff

Sure, we know the summer months were made for beef on the grill. But for those long summer days when you don’t have a lot of time to barbecue in between chores, try this delicious slow-cooker recipe that will leave you with a sweet yet savory, stomach-filling meal at the end of a long day in the arena or the corrals.

Ingredients • 1 beef Bottom Round Roast (about 2-1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces • 1/2 cup whiskey • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, divided • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste • 4 tablespoons packed brown sugar, divided • 1/4 cup molasses • 1-1/2 teaspoons salt • 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper • 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard • 2 cups shredded carrots • 2 cups diced Granny Smith apple

Courtesy of Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.

www.nevadabeef.org www.mybeefcheckoff.org

Preparation • Place beef Bottom Round Roast in 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 quart slow cooker. Combine whiskey, 1/4 cup vinegar, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, molasses, salt and pepper; pour over roast. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 6 hours or on LOW 8 to 10 hours, or until beef is, fork-tender.

• Remove roast from slow cooker; shred with 2 forks. Skim fat from sauce as needed. Return beef to slow cooker; stir to combine with sauce.

• Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar and mustard in large bowl. Add carrots and apples; mix well. Season with salt and black pepper, as desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve beef with slaw, and serve on sandwiches, nachos or sliders.

Cook’s Tip: Thinly sliced pears, celery, red cabbage, green cabbage or bell peppers, or a pre-packaged slaw mix can be used in place of the carrots or apples.

ALTERNATE COOKING METHOD This recipe can be made in a 6-quart electric pressure cooker. Place beef Bottom Round Roast in pressure cooker; add 1/2 cup beef broth. Close and lock pressure cooker lid. Use beef, stew or high-pressure setting on pressure cooker; program 90 minutes on pressure cooker timer. Use quickrelease feature to release pressure; carefully remove lid. Shred beef; return to pressure cooker. Combine cooking liquid, whiskey, 1/4 cup cider vinegar, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, molasses, salt and pepper in small saucepan. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes until desired consistency is reached. Combine sauce and shredded beef. Continue as directed in Step 3. www.progressiverancher.com

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JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 11

In the Mind of a Millennial Steps in the Right Direction

By Jill Scofield Director of Producer Relations, California & Nevada Beef Council As we enter the summer months and try to find some sense of normalcy after the wild ride that was the spring of 2020, one can’t help but wonder where we go from here, or what the near future will look like. Over the last few weeks, things have certainly seemed a lot more “normal” in Nevada – restaurants and casinos opening back up, despite having limited capacity; some school and sporting events allowed to take place once again; and gatherings of family and friends happening with more regularity.

Yet the impact of COVID-19 does continue to be felt, and will so for a long time.

For the Nevada Beef Council, we had to postpone our Stockmanship & Stewardship event planned for mid-August in Elko. After many discussions internally and with our event sponsors, it was determined there is simply too much uncertainty at this time to ensure a successful event held in a safe manner for all participants. While we are all disappointed to have to put this off for the time being, we are looking forward to a fun and successful event in the near future, and hope that many of you will be there.

With how quickly things seem to change these days, I hesitate to even share results and data that will be in print for a couple of months, which lately, seems like a lifetime. But I thought it would be helpful to drill down further into some insight as to where we landed (as of early June) in terms of beef at retail and food service.

From a beef supply issue, the widespread distribution challenges we saw early on during this ordeal seem to have evened out for the most part, but you may continue to see purchase limits in place as the retail sector continues to deal with high demand. With some of the restrictions put in place due to COVID-19 being eased in many parts of the country, and with the popular summer grilling months upon us, our expectation is that we’ll continue to see consumer demand for beef remain strong.

employment levels from before the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that it could be years before the number of workers lost over that six-week period are fully regained. Despite the increase in restaurant workers in May, total restaurant industry employees are still 37% below February levels, or about 4.4 million workers.

And how are consumers reacting to all of the recent supply challenges? A May survey conducted with 1,000 U.S. consumers found that grocery shoppers say that while they are slightly more concerned about food shortages, they are still relatively confident in the safety of the food supply and are purchasing about the same amount of meat as they did pre-COVID pandemic.

When asked about their top concerns about food shopping, survey respondents ranked the health of grocery store employees (30%), running out of staple, nonfood items (29%) and the health of other shoppers (28%) as the top worries. Additionally, 21% of consumers said they are concerned about running out of meat, as well as fresh food (19%) and healthy food (16%).

By the time you read this, it’s unclear what the landscape will look like, exactly. But given the stabilization we’ve seen the last several weeks, one can hope that the roller coaster ride has ended – at least for now.

So as we embrace the warmer months and try to get back to life as we knew it as much At the retail level, purchase limits remained in place for many popular cuts through May. as possible, I hope you’ll do what my family and I will be doing a lot of over the next Prices stayed mostly stable week-over-week but remained up significantly compared few months – buying our favorite cuts of beef, firing up the grill, and enjoying the taste with a year ago. Despite the supply pressure, dollar sales grew 18.7% the week of May of summer that you can find in a great steak or burger. Enjoy, and happy eating.

31 versus year ago and volume grew 2.8%. Beef easily had the highest absolute dollar All data referenced above courtesy of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, contractor to gains at more than $97 million. the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Sources available upon request.

Meat department sales boasted double-digit growth for 12 weeks running, and year-todate through May 31 were up 24.4%. This reflects an additional $6 billion sold versus the same time in 2019. Year-to-date volume sales through May 24 were up 16.7% over the same period in 2019, reflecting an additional 1.2 billion pounds of meat and poultry sold versus the same time in 2019.

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While demand at the retail level saw all-time highs, the story in the food service sector was the opposite. The restaurant industry lost three decades’ worth of employees in just six weeks as states closed dining rooms and restaurants closed their doors and laid off workers. The global pandemic and state closures of dine-in service cost the restaurant industry 5.9 million jobs, wiping out three decades’ worth of employees in just over six weeks, according to federal data released in May. The industry lost 5.5 million jobs in April, and numbers from March show restaurants lost 500,000 employees, the vast majority of them during the last two weeks of the month.

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But there was also some positive news for food service – the restaurant industry brought back 1.37 million workers in May as consumers began eating out again and operators rehired workers furloughed in March and April. Yet the industry remains far below 12 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 13

14 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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by Melinda Sarman, President is changing the world while discovering their life’s passion. They can grow this passion as they develop a hunger for learning through setting and achieving goals, understanding the value of being on time, and even the power of a good The importance of agriculture education is handshake, all while beginning to develop critical now and in years to come. As the a career they can be passionate about. world population grows, we in production Technology effects our life daily, but not agriculture have to do more with less every everything is learned on a computer or day, and we’ll need strong new people in while sitting at a desk. If young people put down their phones and learn to use their our field to help every step of the way.

We are in the middle of summer, with fall hands to grow, build or raise something, around the corner. And with fall comes that is not only priceless, but life changing school, and soon it will be time for older as they discover their hidden talents.

Without my first agriculture class I would not be the person I am today.

I was taught important life skills through hard work and finding something I was passionate about. My teachers became role models and mentors.

students to sign up for classes. There can be a lot of pressure to fit it all in, but what a student can gain from agriculture classes is empowering. They can be involved in hands-on, cutting-edge innovation that

of volunteers on a community, so in turn they also volunteer, making a difference in their own communities as they continue volunteering into adulthood.

A student enrolled in an agriculture class can join FFA. The student can gain leadership opportunities and significant career accomplishment all throughout an agricultural education.

As budget cuts hit every school district in the United States, I hope we all stand behind our schools to keep agricultural education thriving. It is a valued part of any school’s foundation, especially since our next generation is going to need people It’s important to have someone to listen well-educated in production agriculture to and look up to. Students learn from just as much as they will need future their teachers and volunteers who are engineers, chemists, doctors, accountants, a critical part of agriculture education. and leaders!

Students see firsthand the positive impact

Let’s Talk Ag Be Innovative and Facilitate Your Own Future EDITORIAL By Staci Emm

people into categories in the social system based on their ability to innovate. These categories are the following: • Innovators want the adventure. They will be looking for ways to make life better. An Innovator can cope with a high degree of uncertainty as they function on risk and are not swayed by a setback.

individual, or small business is going to • Early Adopters are the ones to watch have a specific financial and personal story. as they are more integrated into the Some are faring better than the others. social system than innovators. This In this time of uncertainty, where there Some have more health issues than others, group is looked to for advice and serves seems to be more and more hits coming and are more at risk. However, it comes as a role model for other members of that one cannot foresee, I begin to question down to everyone’s individual situation the social system. An Early Adopter when it will end, and how do “we” move and how they take care of business. If you has respect, decreases uncertainty forward? My first thought is that we are are set in your ways and do not like change, about a new idea by adopting it, and not the first generation to go through a the next few years are going to be difficult. most are in leadership roles. pandemic. My mother tells me she can If you can adapt and create options for remember standing in line at school to yourself, you will have a fighting chance.

• Early Majority adopt ideas just take a sugar cube for Polio. Look at the before the mainstream does. They 1918 Influenza Pandemic (Spanish Flu).

I do not know how many have ever read are socially connected to their peers the book “Diffusion of Innovations” by but seldom hold leadership positions.

In 2020, we have gone through shutdowns Everett Rogers. I read this book a few Early Majority can take time to and been scared to death because this years ago when I was doing research on deliberate about adopting new ideas, is a new virus with many unknowns. American Indian reservations and why and are one-third of people in the Shutdowns devastated economies, hot social system. the implementation and use of USDA spots overrun health care systems, and programs was difficult. I am reverting back stay-at-home orders affected mental • Late Majority adopt new ideas just health. We must move forward and do to this book as I write today. If one is going after the average person does and the best that we can to manage finances, to make it successfully through the next make up one-third of the social few years, it will depend on how adaptable physical health and mental well-being. system, and adoption is most likely and innovative one can be to changing an economic necessity.

My second thought is that now is the time environments. Creativity and innovation to dig deep, and figure out at a personal will be key to future success. Diffusion of • Laggards are the last in the social level how to move forward. Each ranch, Innovation, according to Rogers, places system to adopt an innovation. They Managing for your future is needed more now than ever.

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progressiverancher @elko.net hold no position of leadership and many isolate themselves in a social system and network. Laggards focus on the past and tend to be suspicious of innovations and change.

Why is innovation important? We all know that there is going to be a reduction in income. This will come in the form of a pay cut, reduced prices for goods sold, and increases in prices for goods bought. How one deals with this will be very important. When I work with high school students that are just beginning to plan their future, I always make sure to point out that there is always more than one right answer. Doors open and doors close for many reasons that we may never understand. Usually, the door that opens is for the best. Don’t try and keep pushing a door open that is closed, look for your next best right answer.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to look for our next best right answer, the open doors, and realize how our personality puts us into innovation categories. Everyone needs to look to reduce input costs, be creative about marketing options, and completely reorganize finances or your personal habits if needed. While shutdowns may keep the virus from spreading in hot spots, it has a devastating impact on the economy. We need to find more than one right answer to manage COVID-19 and work toward a better future.

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 15

News Release | Washington, D.C. May 29, 2020 | Contact: BLM_Press@blm.gov

ICYMI: BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program a Success at the One Year Mark as Agency Takes Steps to Address Wild Horse and Burro Overpopulation The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took significant strides in May to address the burdens that the Nation’s overpopulation of wild horses and burros put on Western rangelands and the American taxpayer.

The BLM announced that its innovative Adoption Incentive Program has already helped the agency save taxpayers $170 million by adopting out a record number of wild horses and burros to private care in its first year. In addition, a potentially ground-breaking fertility control study got underway, and finally, the agency reported to Congress on the outlook for wild horses and burros in coming years.

Adoptions and sales of wild horses and burros reach a 15-year high

BLM starts trial for promising new fertility control method for wild horses To help address the growing overpopulation of wild horses on public rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management has started testing a promising new fertility control vaccine as part of a joint research project between the BLM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s National Wildlife Research Center. Researchers believe the Oocyte Growth Factor (OGF) vaccine, administered to a captured wild mare through a single dose, may safely prevent pregnancy for up to three years or longer.

Though the research is still in its very early phase, if proven viable, the OGF vaccine could help bolster existing methods used by the BLM to manage wild horse populations. The most common fertility control vaccines for wild horses in use today are short-lasting and require near-annual retreatment to remain effective.

Strategy Document Sent to Congress On May 8, the BLM submitted a report to Congress outlining a strategy for achieving healthy and sustainable populations of wild horses and burros on public lands.

In the report, the BLM proposes a combination of nonlethal methods to reduce overpopulation and achieve sustainable population levels over 15-18 years.

“The current trajectory of rapid wild horse and burro population growth is unsustainable and dangerous to the health of the land and the animals,” said BLM’s Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Pendley. “The strategy outlined in the report is our best, most realistic chance for reversing this long-term trend, and it puts us on a path toward managing sustainable populations of wild horses and burros that are in balance with what the land can support.”

Thanks in part to a new cash-incentive program launched last year, the Bureau of Land Management announced a significant increase of animals placed into private care. In As of March 1, 2020, the BLM estimated more than the first 12 months of the Adoption Incentive Program, 95,000 wild horses and burros lived on public lands that the agency adopted out more than 6,000 animals, helping the agency to achieve a 15-year record for total adoptions A single-dose vaccine that can last multiple years, such can sustainably support just 27,000. Absent a change as the OGF vaccine if proven viable, would provide in course and support from Congress, wild horse and and sales in Fiscal Year 2019. a number of benefits for BLM, including requiring burro populations on public lands are expected to rise to The BLM currently cares for and feeds nearly 50,000 fewer instances of gathering animals for retreatment or approximately 2.8 million by 2040, but not before causing unadopted and unsold wild horses and burros in its permanent removal. catastrophic harm to the land and other wildlife species. off-range corrals and pastures. Each animal successfully placed into private care is estimated to save taxpayers Download the report here: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/WHB-Report-2020-NewCover-051920-508.pdf approximately $24,000 in lifetime off-range holding costs. With more than 7,100 animals adopted last year, taxpayers saved approximately $170 million that would have been spent on lifetime care for the animals.

“We’re excited that the public has responded so strongly to this innovative program. The successful use of incentives to increase adoption rates is a win for all involved – saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, reducing the overpopulation of wild horses and burros on the range, and helping these animals find homes with families who will care for and enjoy them for years to come,” said Casey Hammond, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Exercising the Authority of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.

The BLM relies primarily on its Adoption and Sale Programs to carry out its mission of preserving and protecting wild horses and burros on public lands as required by a 1971 law, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. When the number of animals removed from the range to prevent overpopulation exceeds the number the agency can place into private care through adoption or sale, the remaining animals are held in off-range corrals or contracted pastures at taxpayer expense.

16 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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WHAT IS BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE (BQA)?

BQA is a nationally coordinated, state implemented program which provides science-based education to producers to enhance carcass quality and safety while also improving animal care. The program has evolved to include best practices around stockmanship, good record keeping, and herd health, which can result in increased profit for producers. BQA is designed to ensure consumers can take pride in what they purchase, and can trust and have confidence in the entire beef industry.

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• Complete your certification at www.BQA.org » Available on-demand. Start/stop as you please.

Estimated training time is 2.5 hours. » Select the training most appropriate for your cattle operation: Cow-Calf, Stocker/ Backgrounder, or Feedyard.

• Or attend a local, in-person training » Trainings organized by local BQA trainers and experts, contact your BQA state coordinator to learn about opportunities.

Read the new 2020 NCBA manual here: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 9110 E. Nichols Avenue, Suite 300 Centennial, Colorado 80112 303.694.0305 • BQA.org

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NDA Welcomes Dr. Amy Mitchell as State Veterinarian Contact: Ciara Ressel, Public Information Officer I 775-525-4160 | cressel@agri.nv.gov Sparks, NV April 24, 2020

The Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) announces Dr. Amy Mitchell as the new state veterinarian. Dr. Mitchell will be stationed at NDA’s Las Vegas, Nev. office and travel throughout the state to oversee Nevada’s animal health programs, regulatory procedures and NDA laboratories.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Mitchell join our team as the new state veterinarian,” said NDA Director Jennifer Ott. “Her skills and experience will be a great asset to our team and animal industry throughout Nevada.”

Dr. Mitchell joins the NDA from the private industry where she managed a veterinary relief services business. She brings with her 18 years of experience in various aspects of veterinary medicine, including private practice and teaching. Her background includes large and small animal medicine, as well as herd health management.

Dr. Mitchell studied at the University of Kansas and the University of Georgia, prior to earning her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kansas State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.

WHAT IS BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE TRANSPORTATION (BQAT)?

BQAT plays a critical role in the health and welfare of cattle. The proper handling and transport of cattle can reduce sickness, prevent bruises, and improve the quality of the meat from these animals.

When a transporter participates in BQAT, they show customers and consumers they are ready to take every step possible to ensure the health and safety of the cattle in which they are transporting.

The BQAT program covers many topics, including: • Cattle handling principles and guidelines • Checklists for loading/unloading • Checklists for hot/cold weather factors • Evaluation of Fitness for Transport • Checklist for traveling • Loading suggestions and worksheets • Biosecurity & Emergency Action Plans

BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE TRANSPORTATION CERTIFICATION: • Complete your certification at www.BQA.org » Available on-demand. Start/stop as you please.

Estimated training time is 2.5 hours. » Select the training most appropriate for your business: Farmer-Rancher or Professional Transporter.

• Or attend a local, in-person training » Trainings organized by local BQA trainers and experts, contact your BQA state coordinator to learn about opportunities.

ONLY WAY

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CELEBRATING OUR 100TH ANNIVERSARY

ELKO COUNTY FAIR August 28 to September 7 LABOR DAY WEEKEND

COVID-19 ANNOUNCEMENT COVID-19 pandemic is causing disruptions and cancellations all over the United States.

At this time the Elko County Fairboard is planning on the 100 Year Celebration of the Elko County Fair being held on August 28 thru September 7, 2020. There are no plans to cancel the event but please understand there might be things out of our control we will have to make a decision on but at this time we are still going forward.

Questions? Please email: elkocountyfair@ hotmail.com or call Elko Co Fair Secretary JJ Roemmich 775-397-2769 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 17

Grazing Twice

By Sherman Swanson, Associate Professor, UNR and Dave Voth, President NVSRM weeds or plants can outcompete forage plants. Ungrazed forage plants can die back from too much thatch, year after year. Before adequate regrowth takes place, the second bite on the same plant diverts growth away from roots, and the preferred forage plants fall behind in the The focus on animal unit months (AUMs) of forage has competition to occupy soil. The roots of the preferred led to a focus by ranchers on grazing up their AUMs and plants stop growth and limit photosynthesis. The more often a single preferred plant is re-bitten before recovery, wanting to get back to their preference for AUMs. the more stress, and the less productive their effective Overgrazing could be defined as repeated bites of the growing season. Preferred deep-rooted perennial grasses same plant without adequate time to regrow in between. are needed for rangeland health, resilience and resistance.

Yet, adjusting stocking rate is only one way to prevent Perennial grasses often survive fire and may impede the overgrazing or to manage the effect of grazing on plant rapid spread of fire. They occupy ecological space that growth and plant health. would otherwise become taken over by invasive annuals.

Our history of focusing grazing management on stocking Keeping them robust is the principal focus of rangeland rate to avoid overgrazing may have worsened problems management in many areas of Nevada. with cheatgrass, fires, perennial plant health, rangeland The period of greatest stress to perennial grasses is health, riparian functions and ranch economics. typically when they are in the “boot stage.” This is when seed stalks are forming, and the plant is getting ready to Traditions flower, go to seed, store carbohydrates, and go dormant It is interesting to note that few public rangeland areas have all within a few weeks. Typically, during this time, they two grazing seasons per year. There has been considerable are running out of soil moisture and therefore running effort applying grazing systems that provided some years out of the opportunity to regrow leaves and recover of rest with 3 or 4-pasture rest rotation or with rotation of rest. Deferred rotation grazing provides for plant recovery with use during only part of the growing season.

High-intensity, low-frequency, and short-duration grazing approaches reduce repeatedly grazing on the same preferred plants by shortening the grazing period.

Over the last 50 years, there has been an increase in grazing schedules that use fencing and labor to improve rangelands. Yet, most public rangelands still have long periods of permitted use, especially in big pastures where cross fencing is present or where it takes time to use the available forage in that pasture. Long periods of exposure to grazing in a large field runs the risk of overgrazing in some areas while leaving other areas underutilized.

The Taylor Grazing Act engaged stockmen in grazing advisory boards to allocate allotments and set stocking rate to get rangelands stocked for their carrying capacity. Land management agencies also have adjusted stocking rate to prevent overgrazing.

from grazing. Shallow-rooted annuals have already set seed and browned off when deeper-rooted perennial plants are in the boot stage. Earlier in spring the annuals such as cheatgrass are likely to be preferred by livestock.

Preference shifts as cheatgrass turns purple or brown and the perennials become the only remaining green plants. In a pasture of mixed annuals and perennials, the perennials become more sought after by grazing animals at the time when they become more vulnerable to grazing impacts.

Grazing management impacts animal nutrition

Long periods of uninterrupted use also cause livestock to miss opportunities to graze preferred forage plants and plant parts during the time of greatest nutritional value. Livestock do not harvest an average sample of the forage in the pasture. They are very selective. Animals seek out preferred plant communities, patches within plant communities, preferred species within the patch and preferred plant parts. All these change as the season changes. And, all these opportunities for selective grazing diminish as the pasture is grazed for a longer duration.

When the best forage is gone, animals select the next best forage and so on. Studies of daily gain per animal show

Grazing can impact plant health

Long periods of uninterrupted use cause stress on the most preferred green plants. When a growing plant is grazed, the parts of the plant that remain help to regrow the plant. Remaining leaves continue photosynthesis and supply carbohydrates. After regrowth, the fresh leaves are often grazed off again if the grazing animals remain in that location. The grazed plants are often preferred because they are the preferred species or in a preferred location and that is why they were grazed first. Also, fresh growth is more nutritious and palatable than other plants with older leaves having more lignin or other antiquality compounds. Season-long light stocking is often hard on the best forage plants (graze the best and fertilize the rest). Ungrazed forage plants may become “wolfy” with old leaves and thatch that deters grazing. Ungrazed 18 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

FIGURE 1: Tona Use Areas - Changes To Livestock Infrastructure Average number of authorized AUMs (blue line) and permittees (red line) in 10 western states including Nevada from 1948 to 2014 (Coalition for self-government in the West).

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a boost when livestock are moved to a new pasture with a diversity of fresh feed, unless the stress of the move offsets the improved forage quality.

Fire follows wet years with a lag time in northern Nevada

assisting fire control. This can prevent smaller fires from becoming megafires that may exceed tens or hundreds of thousands of acres. Where there is a combination of Although fire is most risky in mid to late summer, there bunch grasses and annuals is where grazing management Grazing management is often a lag time after wet springs before big fire years. means the most for rangeland resilience and resistance can avoid plant stresses Precipitation much higher than normal, especially in the to invasive and often flammable or fire-cycle weeds such While livestock need to be somewhere every day of the winter or spring, causes excess growth of fine fuels. These as cheatgrass. Grazing management should focus on year, they do not have to be managed to graze in a manner residual fine fuels remain flammable even after they pass maintaining perennial plant health and managing residual that is stressful, or repeatedly stressful to plants. Factors through a winter as dormant perennial grasses or dead fine fuels, litter or thatch. Both can be accomplished in annual grass. While cheatgrass has become famous the dormant season. that decrease stress on plants include: for spreading fire and helping to burn large swaths of • Grazing in less stressful times during the growing sagebrush habitat, some of the large fires were spread Integrating concepts with season; livestock grazing management with perennial bunch grasses. Bunchgrass fires may occur • Grazing for shorter periods during the growing season, if an area has not been grazed, either because of over-rest So, a win-win alternative in many locations could be to and thus avoiding repeated grazing on preferred plants; or because of light stocking and a mixture of overgrazed keep livestock frequently moving during the growing • Providing recovery time for growth once leaves have plants and undergrazed wolfy and thatch-laden plants. season or during the calving and post-calving period.

Often the big fires also burn with an excess of woody Moves when cattle are lactating should be slow and grown or regrown and are ready to photosynthesize; and sometimes decadent shrubs that have prospered at with low stress to avoid separating cows from calves and • Lighter levels of utilization that allow more leaf area to the expense of grasses because of suboptimal grazing. The stressing animals. This is when cattle need the highest continue photosynthesis during the growing season. combination of fine and woody fuel creates ease of spread plane of nutrition. Constant or frequent movement While all these can be accomplished in grazing and long flame lengths associated with intense heat. The enhances animal nutrition and plant health by allowing management, a singular focus on utilization to avoid lag time between wet growing seasons and big fire years cattle to select their favorite patches, plants and plant overgrazing misses the mark. Monitoring utilization has been well referenced (Figure 2). While the flow of parts; and preventing repeated grazing of regrowth. in the fall can be misleading if it does not differentiate the Humboldt River is an imprecise measure of rainfall, Keeping livestock steadily moving to fresh forage during defoliation on growing plants that has a physiological in wet years the watershed eventually becomes saturated the growing season relieves plant stress by avoiding enough to flow from more places, and this may reflect regrazing the preferred forage plants. This would be effect from grazing on dormant plants that does not. more soil moisture for grass growth. Notice that the years A utilization focus has diminished AUMs - Most after high flow years commonly have high fire acreage in scored as a plus one for frequency in the grazing response index (GRI). It also provides most of the growing season allotment evaluations for term permit renewals in the northern Nevada. for plants to grow or regrow without grazing animals Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been heavily present to impact their regrowth. This would be scored a Dormant seasons are a good time focused on stocking rate based on utilization monitoring plus one for opportunity in GRI. By gently moving the to remove thatch and litter data since before the first Nevada Rangeland Monitoring Handbook in 1984. The U.S. Forest Service in Nevada This lag time provides a window of opportunity for use animals through each and every pasture or most pastures is also focused on utilization, but they monitor it more of grazing to create or maintain fuel breaks in strategic on a ranch, the utilization level of grazing would almost often during the growing season and in riparian areas. places, where grazed fuel breaks can be more effective in always be light during the growing season. This would As a result of this utilization focus, both agencies have . . . continued next page steadily reduced the amount of AUMs of forage allocated (Figure 1).

Fire

Nevada has two fire problems. One is the absence of fire that has allowed woody fuel such as sagebrush, other shrubs, and trees such as pinyon pine and juniper to continue growth with accumulation of woody fuels.

Many of the areas in Nevada that were grass dominated at the time of European contact have become dominated by these woody plants. This was probably caused by a combination of factors, including early overgrazing of fine fuels and ease of establishment of relatively unpalatable sagebrush and pinyon juniper due to lack of competition from stressed herbaceous forage plants. The other fire problem is the abundance of fine fuels. Bunchgrasses provide abundant fine fuel in some areas. Annuals such as the very flammable cheatgrass provide an even carpet of fine fuels in areas where the perennials have been removed through less than optimum management or where annuals are simply more competitive. Litter can also enhance cheatgrass germination and establishment.

Thatch above the root crown, accumulated from lack of grazing, also increases fire effects to perennials by increasing both the duration and the temperature of the fire at the root crown. A wildfire through a long-term enclosure killed more plants inside than outside where surviving plants were greater in density. Large areas of residual fine fuels affect the continuity of a fire’s potential for destruction. This has led to an impressive array of fires which became larger and more frequent in recent decades. www.progressiverancher.com

FIGURE 1: Tona Pasture - Changes To Livestock Infrastructure Wildfire data from 1980 to 2019. Red bars reflect the number of acres burned in Nevada (north of Highway 50), and the blue line is based on U.S. Geological Survey annual flow data from the Imlay, NV gauge just above the Rye Patch Reservoir on the Humboldt River. Because of the lag time after wet years, and before big fire years, the green bars reflect periods when investments in strategically placed targeted grazing may have the greatest return on investment.

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 19

fewer bulls, a valuable economic savings to producers.

Having riparian areas fenced separately also allows grazing during the hot season in upland pastures where perennials have gone dormant. While grazing at times when upland forage is dormant and dry tends to shift use toward unfenced riparian areas, this shift fades in the late fall and winter. Also, even if the riparian area may be grazed twice in one growing season, early light use followed by a sufficient recovery period allows plants and riparian areas to become fully recovered. However, if the second use period is when cattle will concentrate in riparian areas, these small locations often control proper stocking rate for the whole pasture. Long-term riparian resilience requires either short periods of use or light to moderate utilization, adequate periods for recovery, and mixing up the timing from year to year. Distribution of livestock within a pasture can be managed with alternative stock water, stockmanship and protein supplements discussed Grazing Twice above. Related techniques for concentrating animals to Having grazed through all of the pastures on a ranch create fuel breaks are described below. would be a problem if one use period per year was all Pastures with bitterbrush that was allowed. However, if the animals can return to or other palatable shrubs a pasture or use area after the plants are dormant, their impact on plants is minimal or often positive. Grazing When herbaceous plants become dormant, cattle often twice allows fast or steady movement with less plant stress look for high-protein shrubs such as bitterbrush, fourand better animal nutrition in spring. Then remaining wing salt bush, shadscale, aspens, willows, etc. While AUMs can be harvested after the growing season, when riparian considerations have been discussed above, upland grazing may save money because grazing rangeland could shrubs have not. In some locations, palatable upland replace feeding hay. In permits that allow use over a shrubs may be a key species, especially during fall grazing. long season or year-round, this could be allowed without In other areas, perennial herbaceous plants are a key a change in the existing paperwork. In pastures with species, especially during spring and when grasses are in prescribed dates that do not allow late fall, winter and/or the boot. Consideration of the key species and their needs early spring grazing, that prescription may have been for is an important aspect of selecting grazing management a conservation purpose. strategies. The likelihood of having forage species with diverse needs in the same pasture is another reason to mix Riparian considerations up the season of use from one year to the next. Animals from grazing twice go to different places within a pasture in different seasons.

Some rangeland managers hesitate to stop using They graze different plants within the plant community rangeland pastures with riparian areas in them during or patch. Also, the physiological effects of grazing vary spring, because spring is a time when livestock prefer to by the season of use because plants do different things use uplands. Green growing plants on upland rangelands at different times - root growth, leaf growth or stem are at least as palatable as riparian plants, and cattle elongation, bud initiation for regrowth, flowering, seed distribute themselves across the pasture. That changes formation, carbohydrate storage, dormancy, etc. Grazing later in the year when upland forage becomes dormant during different seasons or growth periods in different and dry. Cattle then shift toward more riparian use unless years allows plants to perform all their needed functions managers prevent this with fences or a combination over a period of several years. Dual-species grazing spreads of alternative stock water, stockmanship and protein the impact from grazing across more plant species. Even supplements. Stockmanship skills can still be used to though most herbivore diets overlap and they consume a place cattle with suitable forage. Protein supplement can mixture of many different plants and plant types, different complement high-energy dry grasses to provide complete species (e.g. sheep or goats and cattle) prefer different nutrition and a positive post-ingestive feedback to the plant species. Sheep, goats, deer and antelope often prefer animal’s subconscious brain. When placed animals feel forbs or shrubs and may each have their own favorites. good, they tend to stay put. When the forage has been Cattle, horses and elk often prefer grasses. Different grazed to desired results, it is time to use stockmanship herbivore species also both overlap in their spatial use again to locate them in a new place where they will find and prefer different parts of rangeland pastures. Wildlife all the nutrients they need. Having sufficient stock water may seek hiding cover and use rugged terrain. Cattle tend available within a reasonable distance to each use area also to be central place foragers, often centered on water. All helps cattle stay where they are placed. Water available these factors should be considered in selecting objectives, near upland grazing areas helps prevent concentrated key species, management strategies and monitoring prolonged impact in riparian areas. hot season can involve approaches for adaptive management. grazing a riparian area in well-managed riparian pastures, Fall and winter grazing only available for prescribed use. Riparian pastures can be used as breeding pastures to maintain a high plane of Grazing is much cheaper than putting up hay. By not nutrition while cows are maintaining body condition for grazing public lands in the summer, those AUMs conception. Cow herds in smaller pastures often need continue to be available for fall and winter use. Having be scored as a plus one for intensity in GRI. The plus three GRI total score reflects the lack of stress on the important forage plants. Their lack of stress is likely to be reflected in their growth and production and through time with better species composition. The preferred plants thrive and their lack of stress allows them to better compete with the competitor weeds or lower value species. Targeted grazing or dual species grazing could be used to stress the weeds. Moving livestock also provides a strong approach for riparian areas and maintaining their function. This movement should be kept up through the mid to late summer and into the fall in order to be useful.

Because riparian areas have a long period of soil moisture, they are able to grow or regrow over a longer growing season. Grazing a riparian pasture for only a portion of a growing season reduces grazing frequency and provides more opportunity for growth or re-growth.

20 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The Progressive Rancher

hay in winter is also far less expensive if the emergency haystack can remain unused in the majority of winters when snow is not deep and it is not needed. After weaning, dry cows require less quality in their forage. The developing fetus requires little in the first trimester, and it is not until the last trimester and lactation that nutrient demands are greatest. Thus grazing on rangeland in fall and into the winter is a great opportunity to save money.

Keeping cattle on a high plane of nutrition throughout the growing season (with movement, selective grazing and riparian pastures) adds to economic benefits in the form of higher conception and calving rates.

Grazing for fuel breaks

Using the remaining AUMs when the animals’ impact on the plants is minimal or often positive also enables livestock to accomplish fuels management. Given the lag discussed above, this long dormant period when residual fuels can be grazed strategically creates an opportunity for targeted grazing. Ranchers and rangeland managers are acutely aware that after very wet springs, there is far more forage than the existing herd can consume. Stocking up when forage is abundant is likely to be more expensive and selling excess animals in dry years is likely to bring a lower price, as well as deplete years of a well-managed genetics program. However, letting this awareness stop important conversations about adaptive management would be truly unfortunate. What managers can discuss is how they could concentrate animals into a strategic location to create a fuel break. Even if only some pastures are grazed fully or some fuel breaks are created to protect important habitat, the probability that fires can be kept to a more reasonable size increases compared to allowing livestock to be widely dispersed and fuel to remain continuous. Conversations among ranchers, rangeland management specialists, wildlife habitat managers and fire/fuels managers are tremendously valuable for sharing knowledge and ideas about: • What is most in need of protection?

• How will fire likely travel in a given landscape?

• Where can fire-fighting equipment be made more effective with a fuel break?

• How wide does a fuel break need to be to provide some, or greater, benefit?

• How feasible is it to create such a fuel break?

• What guidelines are needed to avoid unwanted results?

• How could neighbors work together? How could agencies help with funds or materials?

• How could authority to place these fuel breaks be documented in a durable manner?

Conclusion - While there is no standard practice that will work everywhere, there are principles about how plants and animals grow, and about normal and variable weather that translates into biological cycles, risks, opportunities and sustainable economic enterprises. Grazing public or private land twice in a year may not be traditional and would take more movement of animals, and therefore more expense in the form of animal management.

However, grazing twice per year in many places could provide better rangeland health and economic benefits, and lower risk.

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HERE’S WHAT RANCHERS ARE SAYING Coffin Butte Farm and Ranch - New Leitzigg, ND We planted 400 acres on dryland and turned out 800 pair. We grazed it from Oct. 20 to Nov. 24. The cows ate the corn almost to the ground. The corn was 7-1/2 ft. tall. The program was a success!

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JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 21

My name is Kathryn Dyer and I am the BLM Nevada Range Program Lead.

My intent is to maximize the usefulness of this article for you all, so please don’t hesitate to give me feedback and ideas at kdyer@blm.gov or 775-861-6647.

Currently there is a lot of attention and effort towards using livestock for fuels reduction. Through the years, livestock have been used for a variety of specific vegetative purposes, such as to help address noxious weeds problems.

As the Great Basin has seen an increase in cheatgrass, and a change to the fire cycle, there is more and more effort being put into examining how livestock can assist in decreasing this threat. Through this article I will give some insight on the current work in Nevada towards this effort.

In Nevada we are currently working on an Environmental Assessment that takes a new and innovative approach to analysis that makes implementation more accessible. The EA (DOI-BLM-NV-00002019-0003-EA) for Targeted and Prescribed Grazing of Annual Grasses in the Great Basin Ecosystems of Nevada uses the approach of analysis by Great Groups. This approach is different than has been done in past EAs, and it is worth discussing here.

Great Groups are made up of Disturbance Response Groups (DRGs) which are made up of ecological sites. The ecological sites are based on soil map units, and they describe what an area is capable of depending on the amount of precipitation it gets, the soil depth it has, the slope, etc. Since disturbance is necessary to change the vegetative state of an ecological site and energy (seeding, restoration input, etc.) is needed to move it to a more functional or desirable state, the DRGs were created from ecological sites within the analysis area based on their response to natural or human-induced disturbances. This sorting process utilized local knowledge, soil mapping data and published literature on soils, plant ecology, plant response to various disturbances, disturbance history of the area, and any other important attributes. Ecological sites within each DRG respond similarly to disturbance and reach the same state or end-point although the rate of adjustment may vary by site.

The DRGs are then combined into Great Groups through comparing dominant vegetation type and second by determining if the vegetation community within each ecological site had the potential for developing into an annual state. These annual states are added to state and transition models for each ecological site depicting the different vegetative states the site can reside in.

So, using the analysis by Great Groups we are able to do site specific analysis that is broader in scale. Effectively we are saying, ‘If we do this treatment on this ecological site in this vegetative state we can expect this result.’ That allows us to apply that to any area in that ecological site and vegetative state. I call it an ecological site specific analysis as opposed to a geographic site specific analysis. This analysis will inform whether to authorize targeted and/or prescribed grazing for five BLM District Offices where corresponding Great Groups and other factors make these appropriate methods for reducing the risk and severity of wildfires, thereby increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of using these tools consistently.

Enough about the analysis, let’s talk a little about ‘Targeted’ and ‘Prescribed’ grazing. Why are these different things? I know it gets difficult to follow all these specific words, especially since they are not always used in the same way by different agencies, groups or projects. As BLM has moved towards using more targeted and prescribed grazing practices, there has been a differentiation of the two that is worth noting.

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The Progressive Rancher

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Letter re: The Environmental Assessment for TPGEA Nevada State Office 1340 Financial Boulevard Reno, Nevada 89502 www.blm.gov/nevada June 8, 2020

One major difference is the objective of the treatment – in Targeted Grazing, you are effectively making a fuel break and are not having an objective of maintaining the ecological integrity on the project site. Fuel breaks are intended to protect the adjacent areas. In the process of creating these fuel breaks, there is also the need to ensure that you are not spreading noxious weeds, or losing soil on the project location.These areas can also be seeded to make green strips that are maintained with livestock. Due to the nature of these projects, they ordinarily need to be conducted in specific locations and other resources, such as riparian areas or important habitats, are not included in the project area.

Prescribed grazing differs in that it is for the primary objective of management of vegetation to meet resource objectives other than the production of livestock forage. Prescribed grazing can be used to manipulate vegetation composition and structure or increase, re-establish, or stabilize desired vegetation communities. So, the biggest difference to remember is that prescribed grazing treatments have an objective of promoting, enhancing, and/or sustaining ecological integrity on the treatment site. This is achieved through the use of seasonality and amount of use (timing, duration and frequency) to promote growth or persistence of the desirable vegetation, while decreasing fine fuels and competition from invasive annual grasses.

Prescribed grazing treatments may be done on a pasture or allotment-wide context, if appropriate, and will likely not be done in concert with the regularly scheduled grazing in an area. Due to the objective of promoting, enhancing, and/or sustaining ecological integrity on the treatment site, other resources which may require special management considerations or protections, (such as riparian areas, important habitats, etc.) may be included in prescribed grazing treatment areas.

As all my previous articles have emphasized, project objectives and a monitoring plan are integral to project success, as well as being able to communicate the impacts of the project and to adjust the project as needed if needed. I will go into the monitoring associated with targeted and prescribed grazing in the next article, so stay tuned! www.progressiverancher.com

The Environmental Assessment (EA) (DOI-BLMNV-0000-2019-0003-EA) for Targeted and Prescribed Grazing of Annual Grasses in the Great Basin Ecosystems of Nevada is available for your review and comment. The BLM prepared this document in consultation with cooperating agencies and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, implementing regulations, BLM National Environmental Act Policy Handbook H-17901, and other applicable law and policy.

Public comments will be accepted for 30 calendar days following the initiation of the public comment period on June 10, 2020. The BLM can best utilize your comments and resource information submissions if received within the review period.

Written comments may be submitted as follows (submittal of electronic comments is encouraged): 1.

Written comments may be submitted electronically at: https://go.usa.gov/xw82c 2. Written comments may also be mailed directly, or delivered to, the BLM at: Bureau of Land Management Nevada State Office Attn: Kathryn Dyer 1340 Financial BLVD Reno, NV 89502 3. Written comments may be submitted electronically to BLM NV_ TargetedGrazing@b1m.gov Comments submitted via email should include “Targeted and Prescribed Grazing Preliminary EA Comments’ in the subject line.

In order to address increased wildfire risk exacerbated by fine fuel loads, the BLM Nevada State Office has prepared this EA to evaluate options to utilize targeted and prescribed livestock grazing to reduce residual fuel loads from invasive annual grasses. The analysis area includes land administered by five BLM Districts; Battle Mountain, Carson City, Elko, Ely, and Winnemucca. To facilitate analysis of comments and information Included in the analysis area are 24,526,564 acres of submitted, we encourage you to submit comments in an electronic format. Before including your address, phone BLM administered lands. number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying The BLM is evaluating locations within applicable BLM information in your comment, be advised that your Nevada districts to identify when and how it would be entire comment — including your personal identifying appropriate to utilize targeted and prescribed livestock information — may be made publicly available at any grazing treatments. These treatments would be available time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold on BLM-administered lands in future proposed projects from public review your personal identifying information, to reduce fuel loads from invasive annual grass species in we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. order to address increased wildfire risk and diminished ecological integrity. These treatments are for a primary The BLM plans to host four virtual public meetings goal of hazardous fuels reduction rather than livestock during the 30-day public comment period. The dates production. This action would allow future management and times of the meetings are listed below, however for options to be implemented on the ground in a strategic, more information regarding how to access these virtual meetings, please refer to the following project website: consistent, efficient, and effective manner. https://edit.blm.govisite-page/programs/planning-andThis analysis will inform whether or not to authorize nepaiplans-development/nevada/targeted-grazing-greattargeted and/or prescribed grazing for five BLM District basin-ecoregion.

Offices where appropriate to reduce the risk and severity of wildfires. This analysis would allow future proposed Please note that the virtual public meetings are for targeted and prescribed grazing treatments or projects informational purposes only, and no comments offered on BLM-administered lands in Nevada that are within at the virtual public meetings will be recorded as official the analysis area and meet the identified purpose and comments. Comments need to be written and submitted need to be authorized under a more streamlined process in the aforementioned ways for official recordation. that would include a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) or other appropriate project-specific NEPA Wednesday June 24, 2020 - 10 am to noon compliance. Required Design Features for each alternative Wednesday June 24, 2020 - 6 to 8 pm and parameter, and appropriate reviews or inventories, Friday June 26, 2020 - 1 to 3 pm would be completed before a project is implemented on Friday June 26, 2020 - 5 to 7 pm BLM-administered lands.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Targeted The BLM encourages the public to review and provide and Prescribed Grazing of Annual Grasses in the Great comments on this Preliminary EA which is available at: Basin Ecosystems of Nevada EA. We appreciate the https://go.usa.gov/xw82c. Hard copies can also be made suggestions you contribute to the process. available if requested. If you need a hard copy, please contact your local Field Office.

The Progressive Rancher

Sincerely, Jon K. Raby, State Director

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 23

Suzanne Montero ~ Ranching During A Pandemic

By Savannah Montero ~ Winnemucca, NV

The air is cold, the mountain is steep, the wind is howling, and dust is blowing into bliss everywhere. The world has broken out in a crisis pandemic. People hide in the comfort of their homes, scared of what is to come and patiently wait, meanwhile the lone rancher has thousands of animals depending on them and millions of Americans lives in their hands.

A rancher’s day starts from the earliest bit of daylight to the very last dwindling of luminosity. With hundreds dying daily, a 77 year-old local Winnemucca, Nevada woman, with lung issues and multiple heath problems, rides her horse in the desert moving cows for a nine-hour ride. Her family members recommended she stay inside on the cold day, but she shook her head and mounted her horse after saying, “I would rather die than not work.”

Suzanne Montero has spent over 50 years working and running Leonard Creek Ranch along side her children. Montero was born in 1943. She runs a cow/calf operation 90 miles from the nearest town in Northern Nevada. A widow of 15 years, she lives in a house full of dogs, sick calves, baby goats and a cat. Montero is either found on a horse, or behind the handlebars of her four-wheeler. She was born in Hollywood, California, and raised on a horse farm under the Hollywood sign, providing the public with trail rides and offering homes for horses. From a very young age, she worked day in and day out. She later met the love of her life, Frenchy Montero, in college and moved to Leonard Creek Ranch.

When asked about the first time visiting her new home she said, “we drove for hours on a dirt road, and I told myself surely no one lives all the way out here, and sure enough there was a beautiful ranch that would be the home I would never want to depart.”

Through the current pandemic, Montero’s four children and their families have also resided at the ranch, helping with various ranch work and keeping themselves as safe as possible. Montero’s family uses their best attempts to keep Montero from putting in such long hours of work, but she refuses to take it easy. Montero claims ranchers and farmers are needed more than ever during these unpredicted times.

“Although we live 90 miles from the nearest town, we still send someone every other day to either retrieve a part for a tractor, pick up groceries, or food for animals. With our hometown being one of the highest per capita locations in Nevada, I am aware I’m not safe. If I did get Covid-19, I would surely die, due to my health conditions. I told my kids I would rather die than not work.”

Montero in recent years has had heart surgery, her lung capacity has dropped to 60 percent and she is on oxygen partially. Last year, Montero was care-flighted from Leonard Creek Ranch to Renown Hospital in Reno, Nevada. She had been found seizing on her floor due to blood pooling in her abdomen. Montero came out of her seizing only to beg her family to let her stay at the ranch, that she was okay, and as well stating that care flights, hospitals and ambulances were too expensive.

Montero has also suffered extreme tragedy with the loss of her beloved son. She had a sixth child named Julian Montero. Julian was drug for several minutes by a steer; later he was rushed to the hospital. The ranch is 90 miles from the nearest town and during the drive his older siblings fought to save his life on the floorboard of their pickup truck. Julian died in the hospital later that day. After the tragedy, Montero remembers having all of her children in her bed with her. They didn’t leave each other’s sides and held each other tight.

“During the summer we would always start up a family garden. All of my children complained about helping me, except Julian. He always smiled and gladly helped me, it was our thing,” said Montero.

That following summer after the tragedy, the ranch suffered significantly from an extreme drought. Montero would go out by herself into the desert, helping cows to find water. She would leave everyone behind so she could have solitude to release her upsetting emotions of the loss of a child. She would scream out mad at the world.

Montero said, “I remember being in the desert nearly everyday, attempting to aid the cows. Sometimes I would be so dehydrated that I would drink from the prints created by the cows in the ground. Their weight would occasionally release muddy water.”

Today Montero fights for the lives of animals. A pregnant cow was once shoved off a cliff by a bull; Montero raced down only to find the cow slowly dying. She wanted to save the calf, and pulled out a knife cutting into the cow and retrieving the newborn.

Montero has various orphan animals that reside in her home.

Montero said, “My house is not clean. I have everything from sick calves to goats to five dogs. I will do anything to make these animals survive, even if it means giving up my own home to several large inhabitants.”

Montero works nonstop to support her family, the thousand or so animals that reside on Leonard Creek Ranch, and the millions of citizens depending on food. As of right now nothing seems to slow her down, not even a worldwide pandemic.

“I am not scared of the Covid-19, nor will I be in the future. My whole life has been a whirlwind of everything from hell to heaven. I am a 77 year-old woman who stands her ground, embraces the dangers of death, and will not be petrified during life’s worst moments,” Montero said.

“I would rather die than not work.”

“I wanted to die there in the comfort of my beloved ranch, rather than a hospital, and surely didn’t want to deal with the bills. I knew the healthiest thing I could do for myself was to keep working and having a routine. Doctors told me otherwise, to stop riding horses, and stay inside more often.”

Today Montero has several days where she struggles to breathe and has painful issues in her back. Recently, Montero gave in and finally went to Winnemucca for a chiropractor appointment because the pain became unbearable. The second she came home she was back on a horse, working hard.

Montero has always been a fearless female, truly tough to the very core. She is a woman who has been through everything from fist fights to even being shot in the hand by an outrageous employee. Her toughness never diminished; even today at the age of 77 she is bucked off of horses and has rolled her four-wheeler several times, dogs and all aboard, while chasing cows up steep mountains.

Montero from the very start has had a strong and dedicated work ethic. Montero was very thrifty as well. Whenever the family would struggle financially, Suzanne, as an 8-year-old girl, remembers keeping extra money hidden in her socks in case of an emergency so the animals could be fed.

24 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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The Silver State Youth Livestock Show & Expo AUGUST 14-16, 2020

27 South Main St Yerington, Nevada www.ssyls.com

What’s In Your Freezer?

Steaks • Bacon • Lamb Chops • Goat Burger Thanksgiving Turkey • Chicken • Rabbit Stew

It’s time to buy! Support a Youth Farmer who has raised the perfect protein to fill your freezer. For info, a Buyer’s Guide, contact a farmer: CURTIS JORDAN ssyls.cljordan@gmail.com (775) 761-5762 or GLORIA MONTERO goatdivia@yahoo.com (775) 427-8210

Churchill County Fairgrounds & Regional Park 325 Sheckler Rd, Fallon Nevada (SW Corner of Sheckler Rd & US Hwy 95)

Grange, FFA, 4H & Independent Youth Exhibitors Ages 5 to 19 Years 7-8am: Weigh In/Check In (Swine/Lambs/Goats/Beef) 8:30-9:30am: Weigh In/Check In (Turkey) 9am: Market Quality Show (Swine, Lamb, Meat Goat, Beef) 10am: Market Quality Show (Turkey) 11am: Showmanship (Turkey) 1pm: Showmanship (Swine, Lamb, Meat Goat, Beef)

Questions? Info? Contact Sponsor:

High Desert Grange Chapter 22 / Fallon NV P.O. Box 5272 775.427.8210 highdesertgrange22@gmail.com highdesertgrange22 www.grange.org/highdesertnv22 www.progressiverancher.com

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JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 25

Nevada Farm Bureau

Nevada Farm Bureau This Won’t Fix Easily

By Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President

about what the overall plan was for reductions necessary to end the fiscal year within the boundaries of the state checkbook requirements. Those questions were not answered because the only thing for discussion was the proposal to take the entire $401 million out of the Rainy Day Fund. (The transfer amounts to just In the past, there has been examples of under half of what solution will need to be communities where tornados had swept in order to get the $812 revenue shortfall through, leaving a path of destruction. dealt with.)

More recently we’ve seen the aftermath of homes and property left in ashes The June 12 Interim Finance Committee’s after massive wildfires. There’s been agenda item whittled another $88.5 flood events and other natural disaster million off the gap with perhaps a little occurrences where what once was has been more insight into what else is being significantly destroyed. Here we’re looking considered for “later” actions to deal at the nationwide results of never-before- with the 2020 fiscal year. Again, more experienced economic consequences of questions for details of the plan might be for full-fledged discussion with legislators government action. being included in more than the spoonFor those who were frustrated by the fed parts that have been brought to them less than open and transparent phases of for the necessary approval. Again, those reopening the doors of Nevada business additional things will be addressed when from Governor Sisolak’s shutdown of the next components are brought to the table economy, it would appear that that there is for action. going to be more of the same for whatever is going to happen with the process of It’s likely that when the final arrangements how the state’s financial matters will be are concluded and the calendar flips to the 2021 fiscal year on July 1, the necessary handled. authority will have been granted by the A projection presented before the Nevada majority party’s votes to resolve something Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee close to what is supposed to be in the on June 12 shared Nevada’s general fund state’s checking account going into the revenue short fall for the fiscal year that new fiscal year. will end on June 30, 2020 is nearly $562 million.

Another $265-plus million So far the only known part of dealing with shortage is found in the Distributed an even larger 2021 fiscal year deluge of School Account (DSA), bringing the total red ink involves a proposal by Governor projected shortfall for fiscal year 2020 to Sisolak that state employees would be $811,949,277. This nearly $812 million required to take one day a month off hole is the estimated shortfall of revenue without pay and merit pay would be frozen. for a fiscal year that is ending June 30 – Based on the public comment portion of 18 days after the Governor’s budget team the June 12th committee meeting, those brought forward to the interim committee impacted by this idea from the Governor’s their almost there elements of how that office aren’t going to be quietly going along hole will be handled for the first half of with reductions in state spending. the current biennium.

Laying out these background details is When the same Interim Finance being presented here in order to bring Committee passed the transfer of the about an understanding that first and $401 million transfer from the state’s foremost, Nevada’s government financial Rainy Day Fund, questions were asked house if far from being in sound shape. It As we evaluate the unfolding landscape of what once was a vibrant United States of America, it is incredibly overwhelming to consider what it is going to take to put things back together. Looking closer to home, the view of Nevada doesn’t shape up to be much better.

26 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

also is apparent that there might be a line of thinking that state government’s living within the reduced means that come from government forced lock-down should be “solved” by something other than reductions of spending.

business enterprises as time unfolds. These could come in the form of the market disruptions caused by COVID 19 or the more normal challenges that happen on a constant basis.

In a recent letter to leaders of the U.S. Senate the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) stated, “The A news account on the state of the nation’s disruptions and logistical challenges in the agricultural sector shared – supply chain are adding unprecedented costs and risks in the marketing system.

“Net cash farm income will drop by 15 USDA’s most recent World Agricultural percent to $102.2 billion this year even Supply and Demand Estimates suggest with the $16 billion in payments that the that the decline in commodity value alone United States Department of Agriculture for 2019, 2020 and 2021 production is (USDA) is distributing through the nearly $60 billion. This does not include Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, all of agriculture’s losses, which would be according to the University of Missouri’s billions more.”

Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

At the top of the list of four pages of specifically identified actions, AFBF’s Net cash income is projected to fall again letter pointed out, “The current relief in 2021 to $95.1 billion.” program for farmers only covers losses The report makes specific observations until April 15. AFBF urges Congress to that as a result of supply chain disruptions, ensure that adequate funding is available to margins between live animal prices and provide relief for farmers who have already wholesale meat prices have widened, encountered losses due to COVID-19 adding that steer prices will likely decline as well as those for whom the economic by more than $3 per hundredweight in damage of the pandemic will impact planting and harvesting in the coming 2020. weeks and months.”

“After several years of strong growth, total per-capita consumption of beef, pork It’s likely that the drama of what goes into and poultry consumption is projected the Senate version and how that matches to decline in 2020 as the COVID 19 up House version for the next round of crisis pushes up retail prices and reduces what will come from Washington, D.C. will unfold over the coming weeks (or consumer disposable income.” perhaps months), but in the end it will While Nevada’s agriculture is factored take some shape and more than likely pour into this national estimation, we don’t more funds in agriculture as well as other know any degree where our state’s farmers sectors of the economy. and ranchers numbers and changes of profitability fit into these national The Role Of Government In The Necessary Rebuild: projections.

Agriculture’s Economic Picture:

We do know that there are several sectors of the state’s agricultural production matrix which are identified as having already felt the impact of what has happened to this point. There is anticipation that remaining portions of the state’s agriculture will be discovering the ramifications on their

The Progressive Rancher

While the use of federal dollars has been a welcomed assistance in getting through the decisions made to crash our economy there is the haunting uncertainty over how going forward is going to work through.

The amount of federal funding going to agriculture (as well as the funding

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2020 Annual Meeting for the rest of the economy) is nearly unimaginable, yet has been recognized as not being enough before the ink dried on the legislation for the first round of money. Additional funding amounts are being thought to be essential in spite of still not being sufficient to say nothing of the reality that federal dollars are being spent from a deficit hole that multiple generations into the future will have to contend with.

It is not even a discussion on whether enough will ever be considered enough, but at some point that ought to be at least reluctantly admitted to.

On the state side of the crisis, those who cash checks from state funds have not been shy of advocating for more tax revenue rather than reductions in spending being the approach to be taken.

We’ve seen one theme of advancing the idea for every dollar in cuts – another tax dollar should be paid by the private sector.

Those who advance the cause of keeping Nevada government employees cashing paychecks without interruption are apparently unaware of the devastation those who have to pay taxes have experienced. The government’s actions taken to force businesses to close and delaying the process of authorizing a return are not winning combinations for the ability of the engines of the economy to be able to provide all the resources that those cashing Nevada checks are going to want.

Coming through this mess will require reductions in expectations for government handouts to replace what rebuilt marketing systems are going to need to provide. Allowing the private sector to be capable of operating and functioning, the heavy hand of government needs to be shrunk and allowances must be made for people to use their money rather than handing it over to government at all levels (local, state and national).

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By Brittney Money Director of Communications It’s time to mark your calendars for the 2020 Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.

This year marks the 101st Annual Meeting and this year’s festivities will take place in Ely, Nevada November 19 through the 21.

The Nevada Farm Bureau Annual meeting is an exciting time for members to come together and grow though educational breakout sessions. One of the primary purposes of the annual meeting is working on Farm Bureau policy recommendations, deletions and or amendments. This is especially important as we head into a legislative year.

The Nevada Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) committee will be hosting the Annual Discussion Meet. It will be a great competition with one lucky winner taking home a belt buckle, cash prize and trip to the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting to compete in the National YF&R Discussion Meet.

Elko County NRCHA Judge: Karl Smith

Stallion Nomination Deadline August 1, 2020 Nomination Fee: $200.00 Late nominations accepted from Aug 2 - 24 with $100 late fee

NEVADA STALLION STAKES ALL NSS CLASSES WILL DO HERD, DRY, COW EVENTS

Futurity • Derby • Hackamore Two Reined / Green Bridle & Bridle Divisions Open, Limited/Non Pro & Non Pro Limited Divisions NRCHA Rules

Nevada Stallion Stakes Show | Entry Deadline: August 24

The Nevada Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee will be sponsoring a silent auction to raise money for agriculture promotion and education. County Farm Bureaus are encouraged to donate items for the silent auction. All proceeds go to the Women’s Leadership Committee, Young Farmers & Ranchers and the Heritage Foundation.

For more information about the silent auction, or to contribute please free to contact Brieanna Valdez at brieanna@nvfb.org Early registration will open in September so make sure to follow our Facebook page, so you don’t miss out. Registering early is very important to receive the discounted conference registration rate.

Late entries accepted until August 27 with additional penalties

ECNRCHA Show | Entry Deadline August 27 Sagebrush Cutters Friday August 28 starting @ 8:00AM Entries due August 26

call or email for additional information and a class list

Entries forms available at www.elkocountyfair.com E-mail entries to: ecfbsecretary@gmail.com Mail entries and payments to: Elko County Fair Board, PO Box 2067, Elko, NV 89803

For more info: JJ Roemmich 775.397.2769 or ecfbsecretary@gmail.com

For any of your registration questions please feel free to contact Brittney Money at brittney@nvfb.org or call 775-674-4000.

The Progressive Rancher

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 27

UPCOMING SALES July 13 - 15 Nugget Casino Resort • Reno, NV

August 17-18

Little America • Cheyenne, WY

Are you a farmer, rancher or forester interested in mentoring a new NRCS employee?

The Conservation Agricultural Mentoring Program (CAMP) is a state-driven program that matches an experienced producer who is passionate about conservation with an NRCS field employee that is new to the job or new to the area.

September 15

Haythorn Ranch • Ogallala, NE Check our website www.wvmcattle.com for consignment deadlines.

WATCH & LISTEN TO THE SALE on the Web at:

Our goal through the program is to grow critical relationships with the producers we serve, while at the same time advancing employee knowledge of production agriculture and natural resources in their local area, ultimately enhancing our ability to provide excellent customer service.

How it Works

Conservation Agricultural Mentoring ProgramOnce matched with a producer mentor, the employee will go out on the land with them 6-12 times per year for a period of 12-18 months – always during agreed upon times that are convenient for the producer.

Producer mentors provide a safe, low-risk learning environment for employees to advance their knowledge of: > Common agricultural practices, equipment, inputs and other topics. > The types of daily challenges and decisions producers face. > Local resource problems and concerns.

> How producers use conservation practices to address resource concerns.

For details call (530) 347-3793 or the representative nearest you: Gary Nolan

Mark Venturacci

(775) 934-5678

(775) 427-8713

Elko, NV

Fallon, NV

Steve Lucas

Paradise Valley, NV

(775) 761-7575

For more information on the CAMP program, check out our Fact Sheet, Frequently Asked Questions, or contact your local CAMP Coordinator to speak with someone directly or to sign-up to become a mentor. All of that information can be found here: www. nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/people/?cid=NRCSEPRD1596019

Brad Peek — (916) 802-7335 or email us at wvm@wvmcattle.com Look for the catalog and video on www.wvmcattle.com

Market your cattle with the professionals!

28 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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Churchill County FFA Takes State!

Supreme Court Ruling Greatly Expands the Clean Water Act and Harms Landowners and Industry

by Conner G. Nicklas | Associate Attorney | Falen Law Offices, LLC The Clean Water Act is rearing its ugly head yet again.

The Supreme Court recently passed down an opinion that further expands the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act. This new decision requires federal permits for sources of pollutants that have previously been under the control of states. This has the potential to create greater obstacles for agricultural producers as well as the oil and gas industry and even homeowners.

In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund environmental groups targeted a wastewater a reclamation facility in Hawaii that had been placing treated water into underground wells for disposal. This wastewater then merged with ground water before reaching the edge of the island and entering the ocean. The County did not think it was required to have a permit because the Clean Water Act requires permits only for pollutants being released into “navigable water ways,” which ground water has not traditionally been considered. Navigable waters include things like major rivers, streams, and oceans that are currently, or have historically been, used for interstate commerce. They believed their discharge of wastewater into groundwater was beyond the scope of the Clean Water Act. However, the Supreme Court disagreed, instead deciding that a permit is required “if the addition of the pollutants through groundwater is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge…into navigable waters.”

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this decision is its vagueness as to what can be considered a “functional equivalent.” The Court only mentioned that “time and distance” will be important in deciding this. But just how much time and how much distance? That was left unclear and leaves a great deal of interpretation in the hands of the EPA. This decision could be found to include limitless waste sources that eventually – after spending a great deal of time in the ground water system – reach navigable waters. Additionally, the relationship between ground water and surface water is an ongoing study; this provides greater uncertainty as to what water can end up where, thus more questions as to who will need a permit. This may have severe impacts on agriculture and the oil and gas industry because they may now have to further permit operations that may enter groundwater or potentially risk heavy fines and lawsuits. Homeowners could also face potential challenges if they have a septic system. The drainage from these systems reaches the water table and may eventually land in a navigable waterway. www.progressiverancher.com

To make matters murkier, the EPA recently announced a much-awaited final rule on the controversial definition of “Waters of the United States;” these are waters that fall under the control of the Clean Water Act’s “navigable waters” language.This definition has been a hotly contested and litigated issue, and the final rule was to be a huge step forward. However, the Supreme Court’s decision appears to actually take things backward. According to the new rule, “groundwater, including groundwater drained through subsurface drainage systems” was to be specifically excluded from the control of the Clean Water Act. However, the Supreme Court’s decision is quite opposite this announcement.

Poultry Judging Team State Champions Poultry Evaluation Career Development Event (CDE) simulates learning activities related to production and management, processing, marketing and food safety and quality of poultry products.

Participants in the poultry evaluation CDE select live meat-type chickens for broiler breeding, evaluate and place live egg-type hens, interior and exterior egg quality and grading, and rate the finished product by evaluating and grading ready-to-cook carcasses and parts of chickens and turkeys. The participants will participate in a written exam, parts identification, and oral reasons for class placing.

The EPA was adamant during litigation of the Maui case that it did not have jurisdiction over the groundwater in question, but the Supreme Court has now dropped the power in their lap. This is a major affront to States, as they have held the power over ground water in many settings until now. Many state and local governments have implemented their own processes for regulating groundwater discharges, and this ruling appears to infringe on the power they have long held.

At this point it is unclear what effects the Supreme Court’s decision will have on the recent Waters of the U.S. rule, but it appears to be a great concern to land and homeowners as well as multiple industries because the Clean Water Act is now vaguely tied into groundwater that may be connected to other Waters of the U.S. The issue surrounding the new Waters of the US definition and this recent Supreme Court ruling is one that should be followed closely because if taken to its extreme, the Clean Water Act could greatly interfere in the average American’s life and the EPA will have even greater power than it already holds.

Conner G. Nicklas is an Associate Attorney with Falen Law Offices, LLC with a primary focus on property rights, environmental, and natural resources law. Falen Law Offices, LLC, has attorneys licensed to practice law in Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. This article should not be understood to state or imply that any lawyers of this law firm are certified as specialists in a particular field of law. Colorado does not certify lawyers as specialists in any field. The Wyoming State Bar does not certify any lawyer as a specialist or expert.

Anyone considering a lawyer should independently investigate the lawyer’s credentials and ability, and not rely upon advertisements or self-proclaimed expertise. This article is informational and is not legal advice. Use of this article or contact with this law firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.

The Progressive Rancher

Top High Placing Individuals McKay Winder 1st (L) Savana Mahana 2nd (M) Marie Lawson 3rd (R) 2020 Nevada State FFA Poultry 1st Place Team Natasha Emke, Averie Wood, McKay Winder, Savana Mahana, Marie Lawson, Poultry Coach John Schoenmeier, Advisor Tamra Herschbach (LtoR)

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 29

Thank you to our sponsors!

Nevada Agriculture and Water Educational Series In the rapidly changing world we live in, very few know or understand the sources of food and fiber they rely on. Water is a very precious resource that is vital to all life, and is the most essential nutrient for all plants and animals (humans included). The Agriculture in the Classroom program strives to assist youth K-12 to develop Agricultural literacy so they possess knowledge and understanding of our food and fiber systems. We are pleased to have been instrumental in developing a resource for Nevada educators to use in introducing young people to the importance of water in agricultural production.

NDA

The Nevada Agricultural Foundation initiated this project a few years ago and are grateful to the generous support that was needed to make it happen. Special appreciation goes to: Nevada Rangeland Resources Commission, American AgCredit, CoBank, Truckee Meadows Water Authority, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Nevada Agriculture Council, Clark Guild Foundation and the Nevada Department of Agriculture. We thank the Progressive Rancher for introducing the curriculum through their publication. We encourage local teachers, Ag in the Classroom programs and others to utilize these materials. Copies of the complete curriculum are available from the Nevada Agricultural Foundation office (phone requests 775/673-2468 or email requests to sue@nvagfoundation.org).

Creative and Printing by: Media Mania • Reno, NV

Table of Contents Introduction Background: Where Does Our Water Come From?

Resources to review the water cycle and how watersheds and aquifers support life in Nevada.

Water is a natural resource that is very important to not only you and me, but to farmers and ranchers too. They are the ones raising the food, fiber, fuels and animal feed we use every day. They want to protect this precious resource because water is an important part of their livelihood.

Lesson 1:

History of Nevada Water

Handout:

Handout: The Role of Water in the Early Development of Nevada

Worksheet:

Comprehension Questions

Lesson 2:

Why is Water Important to Agriculture in Nevada?

Handout:

Ag Experience Bingo

Handout:

Nevada Agriculture Commodities Map

Handout:

Water and agriculture images

Handout:

Teff - Nevada’s Newest Grain

Worksheet:

Teff -Nevada’s Newest Grain

Lesson 3:

Understanding the Relationship Between Snowpack and Water Supply

Worksheet:

Running a Farm

Lesson 4:

Understanding Irrigation

Handout:

Irrigation Methods cards

Farmers and ranchers work hard to use nutrients for their crops efficiently which helps conserve water.

Fertilizers and pesticides (organic or synthetic) are expensive costs for the farmer and by finding ways to efficiently use these while also maximizing the amount of food they produce helps everyone. These practices also help the environment and keep our water supply cleaner.

Worksheet:

Irrigation Methods Venn Diagram

Ranchers put up fences around streams and rivers to keep livestock out of the water.

Worksheet:

Design a Model Irrigation System

Lesson 5:

How is Agriculture Being Conservation Aware? Strategies for Safeguarding our Natural Resources

Farmers use sensors in fields to help them determine when a crop needs water. They use computers and cell phone applications to turn on or off sprinklers so if it rains, they can shut down the sprinklers.

Technology and engineering in irrigation tools has helped reduce water loss due to evaporation.

Worksheet:

Conservation Methods

Water & Agriculture Video Series Worksheet:

Bently Ranch

Worksheet:

Desert Farming Initiative

Worksheet:

Gilcrease Orchard

Worksheet:

Measuring Snowpack

We know there are multiple use demands on our watersheds. Municipal water supplies (drinking, cleaning, and manufacturing), wildlife and fish habitats, ecosystem survival, and recreational usage all rely on our water supply, in addition to food and agriculture needs. Data shows that the agriculture industry is one of the highest users of water. With multiple campaigns directed to the public on how to conserve water, we wanted to share information on how Nevada farmers and ranchers are using science and technology to be good stewards of this limited resource.

The lessons and resources within this packet are aligned to educational standards and will highlight: How farmers and ranchers use water.

Tools farmers and ranchers utilize to efficiently manage water use.

Highlight water management practices Nevadans may see in their daily life but be unfamiliar with what they do or why they are done.

Feature career opportunities in the food, agriculture, and natural resources in Nevada.

Modern food and agriculture is an exciting industry.The picture in your head of an old man wearing overalls and a straw hat is not an accurate representation of farmers and ranchers today. Modern agriculture includes creating and applying techniques and technologies that are sustainable.

Here are a few of those techniques at work today:

Dairies and livestock feeders recycle and clean water on their farms to extend its use. Recycled water can clean animals and pens or water crops.

By implementing practices that sustain good soil health it’s possible for farmers to help plants access and absorb rainfall or irrigation. Reduced or no tillage is one method used to reduce soil compaction, improve soil structure and potentially reduce erosion.

Farmers and Ranchers are stewards of natural resources and it’s important to them that their livelihood, the land they care for, and the products they produce are available for generations to come.

Resources

1

30 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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Background Where Does Our Water Come From?

Aquifer 1. Resources and activities from The Groundwater Foundation at www.groundwater.org/kids/activities-library-results.html a. Aquifer kit for purchase b. DIY Aquifer kit c. Edible Aquifer d. Aquifer in a cup e. And more

Resources to review the water cycle and how watersheds and aquifers support life in Nevada.

Grade Levels: 3-5 Purpose: Students will review the water cycle and understand how Nevada’s watersheds and aquifers support life in the high desert.

watershed boundary. There are many agencies that help manage our water supply, water quality and water rights.

Vocabulary Aquifers are an important part of our watershed. The water that soaks into the ground is filtered as it travels through particles of sand, gravel, and cracks in rocks and accumulates in open spaces between Aquifer: particles,Naturally occurring, underground formations that store water, think of a very wet sponge. The water can be collected by drilling a well into the aquifer and then pumping it to the surface. Then it can much like a sponge holding water. To get the water out of these aquifers, wells are drilled to pump the water up to the surface. Pumping too much water too fast lowers the water in the aquifer. This causes a wellbetoused yieldfor crops, livestock, and for human consumption.

Materials: • Varies depending on lessons and activities selected.

Vocabulary: • • • • • • •

Aquifer Closed Basin Condensation Extraction Groundwater Infiltration Landform

• • • • • •

less and less water and even run dry. Groundwater is important for crops and livestock in Nevada. Farmers Closedand Basin: A watershed that does not have an outlet. Most of Nevada is in the Great Basin which is ranchers are careful stewards of groundwater and they help conserve and protect this precious resource.

Somebasin. a closed of the groundwater may be unusable because it is polluted, too salty, or would be too deep to reach.

Condensation: Many farmers rely on municipal wells for their groundwater, while others have built their own ponds to 1. Water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it. capture runoff water to reduce pollution and maximize use of water. These ponds also create habitat for wildlife.

2. The conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid.

This minimizes the impact on the local watershed.

Precipitation Spring Water Surface water Terminal Lake Tributary Watershed

Homeowners can plant and maintain natural vegetation in their landscapes to help water qualityExtraction: by soak- The process of removing water from an aquifer, typically by pumping it through wells drilled ing up rainfall and reduce runoff. Replacing lawn with drought tolerant plants helps homeowners conserve intowater. the saturated layer of the aquifer.

Keeping leaves, lawn clippings, and pollutants like automobile oils and pet waste out of the street and gutter can Groundwater: Some precipitation infiltrates into the ground to become groundwater. Groundwater is all help protect our water quality and watersheds. the major contributor to many streams and rivers. Groundwater is recharged by rainwater that falls onto Procedures: soil and percolates down through the soil and rocks into the aquifer.

Background Agricultural Connections: Watersheds are important to agriculture because water is needed for all living things. It is needed for plants and animals to grow, and in processing of our raw products. Everything we do affects our water system.

Agriculturalists recognize the need to be good stewards of this limited resource, not only as a good business practice, but to ensure we have a safe, abundant food supply within our country.

Water Cycle

Infiltration: The process by which water enters the ground. As water on the surface permeates into the ground, this is known as infiltration.

1. Water Cycle Bracelet lesson plan available from Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom available at www.agintheclassroom.org/TeacherResources/InterestApproaches/WATER%20CYCLE%20BRACELET.pdf.Landform: A physical feature, such as a hill, mountain, valley, river, lake, etc.

(Requires purchase of beads for this activity).

Precipitation: Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.

In these lessons, students will discover what a watershed is and why they are important. A watershed is the land that water flows across or under as it flows to a stream, river, or lake. Watersheds can have hills, mountains, or be on flat land. Watersheds include farmland, rangeland, small towns and cities.

We all live in a watershed. Some of the water farmers use to irrigate their fields runs off and returns to the river. Down the river a farmer may use some of the same water out of the river to irrigate his crops. Cities use water for drinking, bathing, cooking and cleaning and then household water is treated and returned to the river. Some of the water industries use also returns to the river.

2. Water Supply lesson plan, Activity: The Earth’s Water Supply from Utah Agriculture in the Classroom Spring Water: A spring is any natural situation where water flows from an underground aquifer to the available at www.utah.agclassroom.org/matrix/ Earth’s surface.

Most of Nevada is part of the Great Basin Watershed and is a closed basin. The water in the Great Basin does not flow to the ocean. Instead, it flows to lakes where it is trapped like water in your kitchen sink. Watersheds that don’t have an outlet are called closed basins. There are not very many closed basins in the world. Any lakes that are within the Great Basin are called terminal lakes because the rivers that flow into the lake ends there. Pyramid Lake is an example. Alternatively, two large watersheds that are partially in Nevada and flow to the ocean are the Colorado River and Snake River watersheds.

Terminal Lake: A terminal lake is one in which the rivers that flow into the lake end or terminate at the lake. They do not flow out of the lake anywhere.

There are 72 watersheds in Nevada’s 17 counties.

3. Resources and activities from The Groundwater Foundation at www.groundwater.org/kids/activities-library-results.html a. Water Cycle Bangles b. There’s No New Water c. Water1der Teacher’s Guide

Surface Water: Water on top of the ground (lakes, rivers, streams, oceans). Rain and snow fall from the sky each year. About 1/3 of that water ends up in the rivers, lakes, and streams.

Watershed

Tributary: A stream feeding into a larger stream, or lake.

1. Wad-a-Watershed lesson plan from Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom available at www.agclassroom.org/teacher/matrix/

Watershed: An area of land where all water drains, or “sheds” to the same river, reservoir, or other body of water. The watershed is named for the body of water into which it drains.

2. Resources and activities from The Groundwater Foundation at www.groundwater.org/kids/activities-library-results.html a. Water Travel Scavenger Hunt

Watershed management is studying the characteristics of a watershed and creating and implementing plans and programs to sustain and enhance the functions that affect the plants, animals and humans within that 3

3. River Science in Action web resources and videos on watersheds and the Colorado River available at www.riverscienceinaction.org/content/what-watershed

5

4. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology K-12 Earth Science Educational Resources offers free water resource posters. Information on how to order available at www.nbmg.unr.edu/ScienceEducation/K12.html.

Educational Standards Addressed Nevada Academic Content Science Standards/Next Generation Science Standards 4-ESS2-2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Interest Approach:

5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

1. Review Westward expansion in the United States.

5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

3. Review with the class why people settled here (Natural resources, came to mine for silver and gold).

2. Ask each student to draw a picture of the state of Nevada and draw or list the reasons people settled in Nevada.

4. Discuss with students what resources settlers were looking for in terms of where they would settle (food, water, shelter, a way to make a living, etc.).

National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes

LESSON

Procedures: 1

T1.3-5.b Explain how the interaction of the sun, soil, water and weather in plant and animal growth impacts agricultural production.

History of Water in Nevada

T1.3-5d Identify the major ecosystems and agro-ecosystems in their community or region with agro-ecosystems.

Nevada Agriculture and Water Series

1. Pass out copies of reading pages, The Role of Water in the Early Development of Nevada to each student.

These can be read independently, in partners, or as a class.

T1.3-5e Recognize the natural resources used in agricultural practices to produce food, feed, clothing, landscaping plants, and fuel.

Grade Levels: 3-5

2. Pass out copies of the comprehension questions to each student.

T2.3-5e Understand the concept of stewardship and identify ways farmers/ranchers care for soil, water, plants, and animals.

3. Watch segments from the video series and connect the history to today’s practices and water availability.

Purpose: Students will learn about the history of water in Nevada, the important role water plays in videos our history, View online at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGdlCTs4dQTdFThAVQn_yZYcp_8ZMbTLf and why we grow food where we do.

Highlighted videos: • Why we measure snow • Dr. Church, the father of snow surveying Materials: • Growing food in high desert climates • Handout: The Role of Water in the Early Development of Nevada Vocabulary • Comprehension Question worksheet Aquifers: Naturally occurring, underground formations that store water, think of a very wet sponge. The Vocabulary: water can be collected by drilling a well into the aquifer and then pumping it to the surface. Then it can • Irrigation diversion • Aquifer be used for crops, livestock, human consumption.

• Reclamation • Drought Groundwater: Some precipitation infiltrates into the ground to become groundwater. Groundwater is • Spring water • Groundwater the major contributor to many streams and rivers. Groundwater is recharged by rainwater that falls onto • Terminal Lake • Infiltration soil and percolates down through the soil and rocks into the aquifer.

• Irrigation Infiltrate: To filter into or through; permeate.

Background Agricultural Connections:

Irrigation: The application of water to land using man-made technology.

Reclamation: When Congress passed the National Reclamation Act in 1902, the measure set in motion In the early 1900’s one American farmer could feed himself and approximately 8 more people. In modthe dramatic transformation of arid sections of the American West to “reclaim” land for productive agern agriculture production one U.S. farm feeds 165 people annually in the U.S. and abroad (Food & Farm Facts. ricultural use. President Theodore Roosevelt, who signed the bill into law, believed that reclaiming arid American Farm Bureau. 2017). Nevada farmers contribute to that statistic, regardless of living in the driest state lands would promote the agrarian ideals of Thomas Jefferson. in the nation. Nevada’s rich history and the role water plays in that history is an important topic to discuss with Spring Water: A spring is any natural situation where water flows from an aquifer to the Earth’s surface. students.

Terminal Lake: A terminal lake is one in which the rivers that flow into the lake end or terminate at the This information for this lesson was obtained from the following sources: • Nevada Division of Water Resources Department of Conservation and Natural Resources lake. They do not flow out of the lake anywhere. www.pg-tim.com/files/NV_Water_Facts.pdf • Lesson: Rural vs. Urban: The Fight for Water Rights in Nevada by Corrine and Trevor Educational Moffat. From Standards Addressed KNPB Education Services.

Nevada Academic Content Science Standards/Next Generation Science Standards www.bento.cdn.pbs.org/hostedbento-prod/filer_public/KNPB_Campus/documents/KNPB-Stewards 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Rangeland_Water-Resources3.pdf Earth’s resources and environment.

• Lake Tahoe Water Wars- Part 1 and 2 by Mark McLaughlin, a Tahoe Historian www.tahoetopia.com/news/lake-tahoe-water-wars-part-1-2 and Nevada Academic Content Social Studies Standards www.laketahoetv.net/news/lake-tahoe-water-wars-unending-part-2-2 SS.5.31. Analyze how physical geography and natural resources affected exploration within the settlement of people, and the development of culture in early U.S. history.

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Reclamation Act & Newlands Project Without irrigation, the land was limited in the number of settlers it could support. U.S. Representative Francis Newlands from Nevada pushed for federal help with irrigation and reclamation projects. Newland had a supporter in President Theodore Roosevelt who was an avid supporter of conservation and a lover of the outdoors. The President pushed for Congress to act on this and passed the 1902 Reclamation Act. This act used proceeds from the sale of federal land to build reservoirs that helped control flooding and allow for irrigation.

Nevada Academic Content English Language Arts Standards/Common Core Key Ideas and Details: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Handout: History of Nevada Water

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

The Role of Water in the Early Development of Nevada

In 1903, the first big project under the Reclamation Act, known as the Newlands Project, broke ground in western Nevada to divert water in the Truckee and Carson Rivers. The goal of the project was to transform the Lahontan Valley desert near Fallon into farmland.The engineers miscalculated and overestimated the reliability of the Truckee River water supply. Upset farmers who had been lured into the project rebelled over water shortages.

Tahoe Basin Snowpack Dr. James Church, a University of Nevada, Reno professor, developed a snow survey system which measured water content in the Tahoe Basin snowpack. These snow surveys enabled Tahoe dam operators to better Westward Expansion releases During the 1840’s the Humboldt River played an important role as westward travelersregulate made their way to prevent both flooding and wastewater. Adequately controlling the lake’s elevation is an on-goingand challenge. along the river on their way to California. It provided the pioneers with fresh water for themselves their When the lake’s water level falls to 6,223 feet mean sea level, it stops feeding the Truckee law prohibits storage of water in Lake Tahoe above 6,229.1 feet. livestock. If they came by way of southern Nevada, on The Old Spanish Trail, they came throughRiver. “the Federal meadows,”

Craft and Structure: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4, 4.4, 5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, topic or subject area

where spring water created a stopping place for the weary travelers.

During severe drought in the 1920’s and 1930’s, Lake Tahoe fell below its rim (6,223’) eight years in a and the Truckee River dried up. Large pumps were installed near the Tahoe Dam. Newspapers reported As the amount of people traveling through Nevada on their way to California increased,row small towns esthat Tahoe residents were intent on sabotaging the pumps. There were armed confrontations that were barely tablished themselves along these water trails. Mormon Station, what is known as Genoa, was founded in 1850 as avertedinbetween a trading station along the Carson River, also part of the Emigrant Trail. The first mention of irrigation Nevada Tahoe residents and Fallon farmers who needed water released to the Truckee River to irrigate their crops.themwas here, at Mormon Station. Settlers around the area irrigated their crops that were raised to support

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

selves, as well as, the gold seekers, passing through on their way to California. Around this time, an outpost in Colorado River Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, was a way station for travelers heading to Southern California. In 1855 an For irrigation parts of the west, like northern Nevada, tapping the groundwater and aquifers allowed for access diversion in Las Vegas Creek, built by the Mormon settlers, was the beginning of organized irrigation in Nevada. to water to meet the needs of citizens. In Southern Nevada the key water source is the Colorado River. The The Mormons diverted water from the creek to their fields, so the crops would get water.

Colorado River Compact of 1922 was a deal between seven Western States and Congress. This deal divided the Colorado River into upper and lower river basins. Each of the basins split 7.5 million-acre feet of water per Lake Tahoe Then in 1928 In 1865 Colonel Alexis Waldemar Von Schmidt and five other investors established theyear.

Lake Tahoe and the Boulder Canyon Act officially divided up the amount of water that each basin state would Nevada San Francisco Water Works Company and wanted to export water from Lake Tahoe to the Bayreceive.

Area (San Fran-was allocated 300,000-acre feet per year which at that time was plenty of water to serve the needs of the population. Today, with the population much higher, Las Vegas is searching for additional sources of cisco). This would be a distance of 163 miles and be accomplished through a series of tunnels, pipes, ditches, water. This has led to a very controversial pipeline project that has put urban Southern Nevada against a largely aqueducts, and reservoirs. They petitioned the U.S. Congress for a right-of-way package. rural Northern Nevada.

Nevada Attorney General, George A. Nourse, challenged Von Schmidt to prove his legal entitlement to Pyramidon Lake Tahoe water. He claimed that Nevada’s agriculture and mining industries were completely dependent the Paiute Tribe and Pyramid Lake Lake Paiute Tribe which is located below the Derby Dam on the Truckee River in Western Truckee River and they held preeminent water rights through established usage. Von Schmidt claimedThe thatPyramid the was Lake promised through a treaty with the U.S. government that they would have enough water to maintain six-foot dam he planned to put in at the Lake Tahoe outlet would store enough water for bothNevada, states, and their historic fishery at the mouth of the river.The Derby Dam cut water flow into Pyramid Lake, a terminal lake, Tahoe was two-thirds in California so California had superior claim. State and federal legislators killed the legisand by 1967 had dropped 87 feet which prevented the endangered cui-ui fish and threatened Lahontan cutthroat lation. trout from migrating upstream to spawn.

Comstock Lode The demand of food for both people and livestock increased as more stations along the emigrant trails Truckee River Compact sprang up and gold and silver were discovered in Nevada. Water was needed for the mining camps, the milling The Water Master’s duty is to administer the most recent federal court decrees regarding the Truckee operations, and other mining activities. Water development projects were increasing around the state as the River and the Carson River. The original purpose of the Tahoe dam and the management of Lake Tahoe was to demand for this precious resource grew. One well known example of a water diversion system was the pipeline store water for the agricultural industry in Fallon, not to protect fish, wildlife, property, or the environment. constructed to meet the growing needs of Virginia City during the Comstock Lode. Between the Sierra Mountain

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes T1.3-4e Recognize the natural resources used in agricultural practices to produce food, feed, clothing, landscaping plants, and fuel. (Water) T2.3-5e Understand the concept of stewardship and identify ways farmers/ranchers care for soil, water, plants, and animals.

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Under the current Truckee River Compact, Lake Tahoe’s goal is to provide as much water to the downand Virginia Mountain Ranges lay Washoe Valley. Hermann Schussler, a Swiss engineer, was brought to the Comstream without causing shoreline damage to Lake Tahoe. The Water Master is required to release as much stock to design the new system to get the water from the Sierras across Washoe Valley and up to Gold users Hill.With much fanfare the first flow of water reached Gold Hill and Virginia City on 11 August 1, 1873. This accomplishment was the greatest pressurized water system in operation in the world.

Marlette Lake, Hobart Reservoir, and Spooner Lake were built with the flumes and pipelines to funnel water to Virginia City (known as the Virginia City & Gold Hill Water Company).

Water was a key element in the settlement of the West; however, most of the arid West was too dry to grow traditional agriculture crops. Cattle and sheep were the primary source of protein for the settlers. The federal government realized that they had to issue water and grazing rights for federal lands. This would be instrumental in ensuring farmers and ranchers with the ability to produce a stable food supply.

water as possible when the lake nears the 6,229.1-maximum elevation mark.

The Role of Water in the Early Development of Nevada Comprehension Questions ANSWERS

Now the Truckee River Operating Agreement helps enhance conditions for the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and endangered cui-ui, increase drought protection for the Truckee Meadows, improve Truckee River water quality, and enhance stream flows and recreational opportunities in the Truckee River Basin.

Westward Expansion

Worksheet - Role of Water in Early Development of Nevada Nevada Agriculture and Water Series Name _______________________ Date ________________ Comprehension Questions Westward Expansion What role did the Humboldt River play in the westward movement?

Where were the first two trading stations in Nevada?

What role did the Humboldt River play in the westward movement?

The Humboldt River played a key role in the westward movement by providing the pioneers coming across Nevada access to water for themselves and their animals.

Where were the first two trading stations in Nevada?

The first trading station was known as Mormon Station, where Genoa sits today. The second station was in southern Nevada, Las Vegas.

What is irrigation diversion?

Irrigation diversion is when water is diverted from one source such as a river into another source, a canal to move water to fields for crops.

Lake Tahoe What did the Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works Company want to do with the water in Lake Tahoe?

Was Nevada Attorney General, George A. Nourse, in favor of their proposal?

What happened to the proposed legislation?

The Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works Company was established by Colonel Alexis Waldemar von Schmidt and five other investors. They wanted to export water from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco. They said the 6-foot dam they planned to build at the Lake Tahoe outlet would store enough water for both states, and that two thirds of Lake Tahoe was in California so they had superior claim.The Nevada Attorney General claimed that Nevada’s agricultural and mining industries were totally dependent on the Truckee River which got its water from Lake Tahoe. State and federal legislators killed the legislation.

Comstock Lode

What is irrigation diversion?

How was water important to the Comstock Lode?

Water was extremely important to the Comstock Lode because it was needed for the mining camps, the milling operations, and other mining activities.

Reclamation Act & Newlands Project

Who was Francis Newlands? What role did he play in the Nevada water story?

Francis Newlands was State Representative who wanted the federal government to help with irrigation and reclamation projects. He was able to get the support of President T. Roosevelt to pass the 1902 Reclamation What did the Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works Company want to do with the water in Lake Tahoe? which used proceeds from the sale of federal land to build reservoirs to help control flooding and allow for Was Nevada Attorney General, George A. Nourse, in favor of their proposal? What happenedAct to the proposed irrigation. legislation?

Lake Tahoe

Truckee River Flume. Photo courtesy of R. Charpentier, TMWA

Comstock Lode How was water important to the Comstock Lode?

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Churchill County Cowbelles Update Cowbelles Scholarship Results

by Susan Van Patten, President

With all the changes going on this year I am never sure what to expect next. I have always anticipated political maneuvering and excessive rhetoric during an election year. However, this year is definitely one for the record books. I would sum it up as being a rough ride so far, and we need to “Cowboy Up.” While all the current unrest is concerning, every time I run across an inspiring story of people reaching out to assist others, I see hope. Being an optimist, I believe that we have an opportunity to change our lives, our communities, and our nation right now. We see where it is not working for everyone. Our challenge is to find the strength and courage to stand up and make changes. I also believe we need to start locally by voting for candidates that each of us believes is an ethical individual that supports his community and is financially responsible. The United States has not always made the wisest choices, yet here we exercise more freedoms than in any other nation. Rather than focusing on our differences lets focus on what binds us together. I am proud to be an American.

is open to individuals twelve and over exhibiting beef through a 4-H, FFA, or Grange project. Members of these organizations have completed their entries and submitted to the committee. Right now, the committee is working to schedule the interviews. Just recently 4-H members have been allowed to resume their meetings provided masks are worn. The application has three parts: the first section is the provides the personal information of the applicant, the second section is the record keeping portion, and the third section is where the committee scores each applicants interview. The record keeping portion documents the execution of the project: project goals, income, expenditures, how much the animal is fed and how often, any vaccinations, supply purchases, a budget, a story, and pictures. The interview seeks to investigate and validate the applicants’ interest in the beef industry and what their plans are for the award money. Other factors that impact the committee’s decision are their placing and leader report. I am anxious to see who is selected this year.

committee seeks to find applicants that find value in the agriculture industry and promote it within their community. This year the committee selected three winners, two from Churchill County High School and one from Oasis Academy. Selected from Churchill County High School are Marie Lawson and Ashby Trotter. Marie is the daughter of Tim and Karen Lawson and is working toward a degree to teach agriculture science. She is planning on attending Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno this fall. Ashby is the daughter of Ben and Sandra Trotter and has decided to major in biotechnology. She is planning on attending the University of Nevada at Reno. Representing Oasis Academy is Madison Larum.

She is the daughter of Cody and Lisa Larum and plans on majoring in veterinary medicine. Congratulations!

Your hard work has paid off.

Due to the Covid19 pandemic the Churchill County Jr. Livestock show was held virtually, but with several modifications. A competition that was affected by this was The Jr. Cattleman’s Award. This competition

I want to congratulate this year’s winners of the Cowbelles Scholarship. Each winner receives a onetime award of $500.00. Based on other scholarship applications this one is very straight forward. The

I found this quote from Lin-Manuel Miranda and believe it is appropriate, “My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives.”

Our Favorite Beef Recipes Easy Beef Enchiladas In just 20 minutes of prep time, you can quickly transform five simple ingredients into a cheesy, hearty dinner five. You’ll have it on the table quicker than you can say YUM! INGREDIENTS 1 pound lean ground beef Two 10oz cans red enchilada sauce One 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles

1 package of 6” flour tortillas for soft tacos and fajitas 1-1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS: 1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish or pan with cooking spray.

2. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain.

Stir in 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce and the chiles.

3. Spread 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce evenly in baking dish. Spread 1/4 cup beef mixture down center of each tortilla; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon cheese.

Wrap tortillas tightly around filling, placing seam side down in baking dish. Top with remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. TIP: Create a toppings buffet with a bowl of green salsa verde and a smoky tomato salsa, lots of torn fresh cilantro, chopped tomatoes, green onions, and chopped avocado, and let your family top their own enchiladas individually.

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The Shoesole Team Summer Tour Recap

Dry Creek Boies Ranch

The Shoesole Resource Management Team is a collaborative, consensus-based group, working on natural resource management, devoted to sustaining healthy and productive public and private landscapes and keeping the family ranches involved economically resilient. The team is made up of three family ranching operations in Northeastern Nevada as well as Federal and State land and wildlife agency partners and members of the interested public. The ranches involved include Cottonwood Ranch, Boies Ranch, and the Home Ranch.

This year due to the COVID-19 virus the yearly summer tour for Shoesole, scheduled for June 8 & 9 had a change in format. The group embraced technology and held a virtual tour that highlighted the group’s past accomplishments, current resource concerns, and what the group hopes to focus on moving forward. While zoom is no substitute for field tours this format allowed for agency partners still under regulation and interested parties normally too far away to attend. Moving forward, the team will work to combine the benefits of technology into field tours. To watch recordings of the tour, go to www.neecd.org/shoesole.

Each ranch discussed widely different, but important topics during the tour. The morning began with the Shoesole circle which is one of its keys to success. While not the normal circle, attendees introduced themselves, who they represented, and their expectations for the meeting. Member Robin Boies stated “meeting in the circle is symbolic of inclusion, a space where respectful listening is cultivated. It’s uncomfortable not having tables, barriers, just sitting in your chair in the circle, all the props eliminated.”

Cottonwood ranch addressed the riparian area improvements, the result of over 20 years of Holistic Resource Management on the ranch. Cottonwood’s presentation also highlighted its current project to improve low production flood irrigated native hay meadows. In partnership with NRCS, the Smiths are converting flood irrigation to a center pivot system. The project also focuses on building a functioning and healthy soil system; the first step will be planting a cover crop.

Home Ranch Black Mountain spring project

The Boies Ranch was able to provide aerial footage of Dry Creek showing the substantial improvements that have been made. Dry Creek’s riparian areas are on an upward trend with regenerative Aspen colonies and increases in beaver dams, stream stability, water storage, and improved Red Band Trout habitat. The collaborative process has enhanced communication, trust, partnership building, on the ground improvement, and helped the Boies family attain successful results in their 2011 Hubbard/Vineyard permit renewal.

Home ranch highlighted their success with targeted cheatgrass grazing. With their practices, the cattle now seek out and graze the cheatgrass when it is young keeping it cropped short. The Uhart’s also highlighted an important project on public lands they are hoping to move forward with. The protection of a spring on Black Mountain. This an important water source for livestock and wildlife but without the ability the protect the spring there are has been and will continue to degradation on the system. They wrapped up the presentation highlighting a successful irrigation project in conjunction with FSA that has greatly improved the bank stability of their irrigation system.

The tour proved, as always, to be a great time for discussion and consensus making. Everyone is looking forward to the projects currently underway and proposed projects under review.

Cottonwood hay meadows before the revitalization project began.

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