Public Lands
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Democrat Bob Kerrey uses increasingly popular term to attack rancher/politician who utilizes low federal grazing fees- Republican Deb Fischer, like others who graze cattle or sheep on federal public lands, pays almost nothing in return to the U.S. treasury. Politics has held down the fee paid to graze public lands so that now the fee…
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Jury rules that public land arson was committed- The trial of two East Oregon ranchers, a father/son duo, has ended with their conviction by a jury in Pendleton, Oregon. . Dwight L. Hammond Jr. and son Steven D. Hammond were found guilty of setting range fires on public lands. One was in 2001 near Steens…
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Farm bill being debated will not permit votes on savage anti-conservation amendments- The Farm Bill in the Senate originally had over 300 proposed amendments, including several that would be real outdoors wreckers such as deliberately misnamed “Sportsmens Heritage Act“. . A few beneficial amendments that would have truly helped conserve our land and water were…
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Senator Ben Nelson is retiring from the US Senate at the end of his term and he is trying to help former Senator Bob Kerrey take his place after he leaves by pointing out the hypocrisy of Kerrey’s opponent Tea Party/Republican Deb Fischer. Fischer is a public lands rancher who only pays a pittance to…
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This week there have been two significant developments for bighorn sheep in Idaho that relate to the closing of domestic sheep grazing in occupied bighorn habitat. Payette Decision Moves Forward First, in an unusual ruling from the bench, Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the closing of three domestic sheep allotments on the Payette National…
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Trial of the accused Hammond family arsonists is now underway in Pendleton, Oregon– We have been following this amazing story since it broke two years ago. On the first day of the Pendelton, Oregon trial, young Dusty Hammond told the court how his uncle Steve Hammond had passed out boxes of Diamond (wooden) matches during…
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Emma Marris, the author of Rambunctious Garden (RG), loves the nature hiding in back street alleys and along the highway median strip. Marris believes it’s time to abandon (or de-emphasize) what she sees as outdated and naïve conservation strategies such as creation of national parks and wilderness reserves. She feels the biggest obstacles to a…