Western ranching and political headlines brought to you by the Public Lands Council.
Wildfire Update
Nationwide # of new large fires/emergency responses: 9
Nationwide number of active large fires: 54
Nationwide acres from active fires: 1,420,826
Nationwide large fires contained: 5
nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn
Land value: Farm real estate value increases
Ag land values jumped 12 percent in 2022 Largest percentage increase since 2006, Western Livestock Journal — USDA’s latest Land Values 2022 Summary report, released in early August, shows that not only did the value of agricultural land in 2022 increase a whopping 12 percent, but it’s also the largest numerical increase since the survey first began in 1997.The farm real estate value — the value of all land and buildings on farms — averaged $3,800 an acre for 2022, up $420 an acre from 2021. Cropland value averaged $5,050 an acre (an increase of $630 an acre, 14 percent), and pasture value averaged $1,650 an acre (an increase of $170 an acre, 11.5 percent). The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said in a Market Intel report that price increases in farm real estate value can be attributed to the rise in commodity prices that have translated to a higher farming value for land in row crop-heavy states. Government incentives, such as Conservation Reserve Program incentives, have also increased competition for active cropland.
Montana: New incentives for MT landowners; Federal judge stops new coal leases
Montana FWP developing habitat leasing program. Hopes to enroll 500,000 acres, Western Livestock Journal — The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is in the process of implementing a voluntary, incentive-based conservation lease program for private landowners to protect high-priority habitats. The program would support working lands, public hunting and recreation opportunities on up to 500,000 acres in the next five years for a 30-year or 40-year period.
Judge halts coal leasing on federal lands, Grist — A federal judge in Montana has ordered the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, to halt new coal leases on all federal lands, reinstating an Obama-era moratorium…Taylor McKinnon, senior public lands campaigner for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, cheered the decision. Subjecting the federal coal program to a science-based NEPA review, he told me, “will show that any further federal coal leasing is entirely incompatible with our country’s climate goals.” He called for existing coal extraction on federal lands to be phased out as well.
Drought conditions continue to worsen in Iowa
Iowa Capital Dispatch — The percentage of Iowa’s corn and soybeans rated good or excellent declined at least 7 points last week, the largest such drop this year amid worsening drought conditions, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. The latest USDA report on Monday said 66% of the state’s corn and 63% of soybeans were good or excellent, down from 73% and 71% a week ago. That’s a reduction of 7 and 8 percentage points, respectively. Widespread moderate and severe drought conditions are affecting much of southern Iowa, where the available soil moisture for crops is dwindling.
New legislation ensures landowners and lessees avoid injury liability
Public Lands Bill Puts Responsibility, Liability On The User, Gila Valley Central — New legislation by Governor Doug Ducey ensures that landowners and lessees of private or public land can avoid liability for injuries or damages sustained by recreational users for unknown conditions on their property or when the owner or lessee provides warning of a dangerous condition. The bill, HB 2130, provides that a recreational user accepts the risks created by his or her activities on the property and that the user must exercise reasonable care in those activities. In addition, the bill holds recreational users liable to an owner for any damage to the land, property, livestock or crops that the user may cause while on that land.
Wyoming: New public access area now open
New hunting public access area opens in Converse County, Wyoming Game & Fish Department — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department announces the opening of a new Public Access Area (PAA) in northwest Converse County. The Ogalalla Ranch PAA will provide antelope and deer hunting opportunities from August 15 – November 30 of each year. The PAA is approximately 4,000 acres of deeded land and provides legal access to over 5,100 acres of other public lands. Game and Fish Glenrock Game Warden Cody Bish says, “Thanks to the Moore family for providing public access for antelope and deer hunting in an area with limited public access. This new access area provides the ‘do-it-yourself’ hunter with quality pedestrian hunting access to thousands of acres of private land and adjacent public lands.
Arizona: New Conservation Areas Proposed
Grijalva proposes new Ariz. conservation areas, wilderness, Politico — House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva today announced a sweeping bill that would designate two new national conservation areas covering 376,963 acres and designate nearly 60,000 acres of wilderness in his home state of Arizona. The Democrat’s bill aims to withdraw federal lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management from new mineral development and roads in southwest Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. The bill would require new federal management plans to protect the natural and cultural resources of the 13 federally recognized tribes that Grijalva’s office said have a cultural connection to the lands at issue.
Grazing and Water
Impact of new CO River Cuts, Capital Press — Farmers in central Arizona, among the state’s largest producers of livestock, dairy, alfalfa, wheat and barley, lost most of their Colorado River allocation this year when the government implemented its first shortage. Some farmers were compensated with water through deals with Phoenix and Tucson. More farmers will likely need to leave their land fallow (some in the region have been paid to do by state agencies and others) and rely even more on groundwater. Others will be forced to grow more water-efficient crops such as durum wheat and guayule and find other ways to use less water. Western water suppliers have planned for such shortages by diversifying and conserving their water sources. But intensifying drought depleting reservoirs faster than scientists predicted – and the resulting cuts – will make it harder for farms and cities to plan for the future.
Interior imposes limited water cuts, but lets Colorado River negotiations go into overtime, Politico — The West could face a massive water and power crisis as soon as next year as drought and overuse send water levels plummeting along the Colorado River, but the Biden administration isn’t stepping in to stop it — at least for now. Instead of following through on its threat to intervene if states couldn’t agree on a way of saving massive quantities of water, the Interior Department is giving states more time and moving only to institute much smaller water delivery cuts to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico that were already agreed to under a 2019 deal.
Environmental groups push for air regulation of dairies; Ranchers concerned about extreme climate policies
Groups petition Oregon to regulate dairy air emissions, Capital Press — A coalition of 22 environmental, public health and animal welfare groups is petitioning Oregon regulators to adopt new rules targeting air pollution from large-scale dairies. The petition, filed Aug. 17 with the state Environmental Quality Commission, seeks to create a dairy air emissions program that would apply to farms with 700 or more mature cows, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency defines as a “large” operation. Under the program, proposed and existing dairies would be required to obtain an air quality permit and curb harmful emissions. They include ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter, among others.
American agriculturalists concerned about potential for extreme ‘climate’ policies, The Fence Post — Kim Stackhouse-Lawson PhD., the director of AgNext at Colorado State University, professor of animal science and former director of sustainability for JBS USA said that farmers and ranchers have been sustainable for a long time. She added that in the U.S., “there are farmers and ranchers today who are incredible stewards of our most valuable ecosystems, who utilize a vast area for food production that couldn’t otherwise be used for food production,” she said. However, she encourages all producers to consider establishing a “baseline,” for certain aspects of their operation so they can determine whether they are making improvements. 3 pillars — social, economic and environmental — are the overarching concepts of sustainability, said Stackhouse-Lawson.