Emergency Fire Meeting and National Forest Closure

Above, the Jamestown fire station. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Saturday's breakfast/coffee gathering at the Flying J will be preempted by a community-wide emergency meeting at the Jamestown fire station at 10:00.

According to the Jamestown community Facebook page, the meeting is to discuss a disaster plan for our community and surrounding neighbors.  This is in response to our drought and potential EXTREME fire danger. We plan to have a representative from the Forest Service, the Sheriffs Department and the Fire Department.  

Starting tomorrow, the Cibola National Forest (which includes Six Mile Canyon in the Mt. Taylor Ranger District) will be subject to a Stage 3 closure due to extreme fire danger. The map below shows the Mt. Taylor Ranger District.

According to KOB 4 News:

SANTA FE, N.M. — The U.S. Forest Service announced a forest-wide closure order will be issued for the Santa Fe National Forest and the Carson National Forest, effective Thursday morning.

The Cibola National Forest will also be implementing a Stage 3 forest closure for the Mt. Taylor, Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts.

The orders will be in effect starting at 8 a.m. on May 19. During the closure, public access will be prohibited due to the ongoing active wildfires and extreme fire danger.

All National Forest System lands, recreation sites, roads, trails and trailheads within the restricted boundaries will be closed to the general public. County and state roads that cross through the closed lands will remain open to vehicles and businesses in nearby communities.

Violating the order carries a Class B misdemeanor, which includes as much as a $5,000 fine for individuals/$10,000 for organizations and/or up to six months’ imprisonment.

To read more, go here. 

Federal lawsuit Seeks Reversal of U.S. Forest Service Public Access Restrictions

Above, at the windmill and cattle watering tanks in Six Mile
Canyon of the Cibola National Forest. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There's a lawsuit in Montana that RVers from everywhere should keep an eye on.

It involves restrictions on public use in the state's national forests that could severely impact dry camping (boondocking) on national forest lands.

According to RV Travel:

Two groups of recreational interests and three individuals have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and its regional administrator in the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Montana. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from the Forest Service’s closure of significant portions of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest (“HNF”) to motorized travel and dispersed camping.

The case is important to RVers because Forest Service administrative actions caused a total of 144 miles of roads within the HNF to be closed by the “Divide Travel Plan” promulgated by the agency. Dispersed camping, i.e., “boondocking,” would be severely impacted throughout the 2.8 million acres of the HNF.

The case involves the Capital Trail Vehicles Association (“CTVA”), a Montana outdoor recreation club, along with Citizens for Balanced Use (“CBU”), as well as Ken Salo, Jody Lewis, and Patricia Daugaard, all residents of Montana, against the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Helena National Forest, and Emily Platt, Forest Supervisor of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.  

The lawsuit cites violations of, among other things, the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), and the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act (“MUSYA”). As set forth in Title 16, U.S. Code, the latter two statutes explicitly provide that the U.S. Forest Service “…must balance competing demands in managing NFS lands.” In addition, the federal government, including the U.S. Supreme Court, has long held that “… It has never been the case that the national forests were…to be set aside for non-use.” (United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 716 n. 23 (1978))

Speaking of national forests, Cibola National Forest, which is south of my community, will reopen to vehicles this weekend after being closed for the winter.

To read the full article, go here.

New Fire Restrictions For New Mexico National Forests

Above, the "no campfires" notice at the entrance to Six Mile Canyon. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As I have mentioned previously, it is hot and dry in the northwest section of New Mexico.

The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, has issued new fire restrictions for New Mexico national forests, including Cibola National Forest.

The Albuquerque Journal reported:

Stay-at-home orders have been in place since mid-March. 

New Mexico is home to world-class trails and hiking areas. 

As the weather is getting warmer and the eventual easing of said stay-at-home orders, the United States Department of Agriculture announced new fire restrictions last week for Carson, Cibola and Santa Fe National Forests last week. 

The move is to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfire based on current and forecasted conditions, including very low fuel moisture levels and severe fire weather conditions. 

According to a release, the restrictions will also help protect the health and safety of firefighters and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The restrictions will be implemented forest-wide on the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests and on the Mount Taylor, Magdalena, Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts of the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands.

I go off-roading in my Jeep in the Six Mile Canyon area of the Cibola National Forest, which is in the Mount Taylor ranger district. The forest abuts our community of Jamestown, New Mexico.

To read more, go here.

Harvest Time

Harvest season is now upon us. This means that farmers across American are harvesting their 2014 crops and getting them to market.

Concerning corn, prices are down (about $3.47/bushel) thanks to a big supply, which places downward pressure on corn prices. Prices were also down last year, but since the crop yield was very good (this year will be about the same or even better than last year), this helped to make up for the low prices. It should be about the same this year. Two years ago, prices were about double of what they are now.

Next year, we have to contend with and make decisions on new Dept. of Agriculture programs that were enacted in the 2014 Farm Bill.

Farmers in Nebraska and around the country also have to contend with the Environmental Protection Agency's "Waters of the U.S." rule. Farm experts say that this rule will be harmful to the nation's farms and will “cause cost increases, confusion and uncertainty to agricultural producers.” See this article for more. That's what happens when left wing lunatics are in charge of the federal government.

Corn & Comikaze Expo

As I predicted, the federal government shutdown (or slowdown, as 83% of the government was still operating) would cause a delay in Department of Agriculture farm program payments. The "shutdown" ended on October 17.

I predicted during the "shutdown" that it would cause a delay of about two weeks before payments would be made. Sure enough, my bank account is much bigger as the Department of Agriculture payment made it in (I have direct deposit) yesterday. So it took 12 days for it to make into my account. Not too bad, all things considered.

At least the Department of Agriculture has their act together!

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Day after tomorrow, I will be participating in a discussion panel on Godzilla (2014) and Pacific Rim (2013) at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The show opens at 1:00 P.M. (according to the schedule when I last saw it) and the panel starts at 2:00.

As I did at last year's Comikaze Expo, I will have available copies of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan following the panel. It will be available at a 20% discount off the cover price of $15.00. So, instead of $15.00, it will be available for $12.00. If you would like it signed, I would be happy to do so at no extra charge.

Hope to see you at the Los Angeles Convention Center at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo!

Farm Bill, Reforms Needed Before Passage

The Heritage Foundation has come up with reforms needed on the current farm bill. The current bill was rejected by the House of Representatives.

One of the reforms suggested was to split the farm bill into two: one for farm programs and the other for the food stamp (SNAP) program.

That is definitely one reform that I can support.

To read more, go here.

Western Farm Press: Ruling Renews Agriculture’s Call For Reliable Labor Law

Western Farm Press.com posted:

Agricultural leaders contend the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Arizona’s controversial immigration law means industry organizations must continue to push Congress to modify farmworker laws to provide a more reliable and legal labor supply for businesses including agriculture.

“The Supreme Court ruling means that we’ll continue to keep our nose to the grindstone and work with Congress and our elected leaders for positive farm labor changes,” said Kevin Rogers, a Mesa, Ariz., farmer and Arizona Farm Bureau Federation president. 

“The bottom line is the federal government needs to step up and fix the visa labor program so we can have the needed legal workers in this country for agriculture and other industries.”

This I totally agree with.  Having a guest worker program that will supply agriculture with a reliable labor workforce and would go a long way to solving the illegal immigration problem.

Illegal immigrants come here to work to support themselves and their families.  Unfortunately, although I can sympathize with them, there are no controls on the numbers who are coming in and how long they stay.

One way to fix this would be to have offices in Mexico set up where guest workers can register, be pre-screened (to make sure no undesirables come in) and be given work visas with specific time periods for work.  If guest workers come to work for specific time periods and then leave the country, they guarantee that (in subsequent years) they will be allowed back in again.  If they don't follow the rules, they won't be allowed in.  If a guest worker fulfills five years of compliance, they can receive more perks.  This would be a further incentive for them to comply.

It could be the modern version of the old Bracero Program, which was:

The Bracero Program (named for the Spanish term bracero, "strong-arm") was a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated by an August 1942 exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Mexico, for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the United States.

(Source: Wikipedia)

This would control the numbers of foreign nationals entering the country and supply agriculture with a reliable labor workforce.  As an owner of farm property, I am keenly aware of the need to have the labor to handle the fall crop harvests.

Politicians Playing Games With Agriculture's Future

Above , the family farm in Nebraska during winter.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Obama Administration has been a disaster on issue after issue. It is no better when it comes to agriculture policy.  Some in Congress are no better.

Western Farm Press posted an article on how the Washington politicians are screwing up agricultural policy.

 They begin with:

Farmers and ranchers have known for a long time that most federal lawmakers are notoriously uninformed when it comes to making decisions about farm policy. But what have long been laughable, but serious errors on the part of legislators and policy makers in the past seem to have reached a pandemic crescendo of inefficiency. A war-driven economy and partisan politics have muddled minds in Washington as ill-fated attempts to address federal budget concerns has spawned a plethora of actions that threaten to multiply problems rather than address ways to make them better, especially when it comes to farm policy. 

While the problem extends far beyond agricultural issues, it is becoming apparent that farm policy will be taking more than its fair share of these misguided decisions by lawmakers, who seem to have lost touch with reality when it comes to understanding that U.S. agriculture plays as important or a greater role to a healthy nation as the banking and energy industries.

The Obama Administration has ordered the closure of vital programs that have discovered problems with some agricultural products that produced illnesses and deaths.

For example:

Last summer the USDA's Microbiological Data Program (MDP) was the agency that ordered cilantro and bagged spinach that had tested positive for salmonella to be removed from grocery store shelves. It also forced a recall of lettuce that had tested positive for E. coli, and started testing cantaloupe regularly for Listeria after an outbreak that left 13 people dead. 

As part of President Obama's 2013 budget, this program will be shut down. 

Food and Drug Administration Produce Safety officials say that testing certain high-risk crops such as sprouts, tomatoes, and cantaloupe would now have to be undertaken by state and local agencies, many of which are already cash-strapped and short on staff.

It is a real eye-opener to see how agriculture policy is getting messed up by Washington. And they have the nerve to think they can effectively run health care?!

 To read the full article, go here.