Rural America becoming irrelevant after farm dustup

The defeat of the Republican agenda in the wake of its abandonment of ecological and environmental responsibilities has marginalized the party.

Iowa is under fire from the Environmental Protection Agency. US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack blasted his home state for failing its people:

For the first time in recent memory, farm-state lawmakers were not able to push a farm bill through Congress in an election year, evidence of lost clout in farm states. Vilsack criticized farmers who have embraced wedge issues such as regulation, citing the uproar over the idea that the Environmental Protection Agency was going to start regulating farm dust after the Obama administration said repeatedly it had no so such intention. "There's a huge communication gap" between farmers and the food-eating public, he said. He said they also need to embrace diversity because it is an issue important to young people who are leaving rural areas. --Mary Clare Jalonick and Jennifer Agiesta, AP

Bake a man a pie and he'll learn to divide by seven. Teach a man piety and he'll crucify the apples then say they died for his sins.

Woster photo.

Ice festival bolsters Bozeman bottom line; Lead? Meh

When it was made illegal in 1939, cannabis was the active ingredient in dozens of medicines marketed by Merck, Eli Lilly, Parke Davis, and other pharmaceutical companies.--William C. Shelton.

The site of future warp history is showing how winter destinations make sense right now:

The artificial climbing wall is making its debut at the 16th annual Arc’teryx Bozeman Ice Festival, which kicked off Thursday. This is the first year that the festival, which features numerous clinics in Hyalite Canyon and draws thousands of participants, has extended its activities to town. Proceeds from this week’s festival go to helping the Forest Service keep Hyalite Road plowed in the winter, a practice that began just two years ago. --Whitney Bermes, Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Oh well.

Go over to Decorum Forum and say hi to Bob.

A Mighty Flood of Justice has been added to The Floor: good stuff from South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, go check it out.

A New Century of Forest Planning tells readers that the service sector is driving the growth numbers in the West.

Great piece from Dan Boyce at Montana Public Radio:

Cheatgrass fueling mega-fires

Department of Interior releases carbon findings:

Forests, grasslands and shrublands and other ecosystems in the West sequester nearly 100 million tons (90.9 million metric tons) of carbon each year, according to a Department of the Interior report released today.

Cheatgrass doubles the likelihood of fire. Recall Southeastern Montana's Ash Creek Fire Complex earlier this year.

More on cheatgrass from the Summit County Citizens Voice.

Soot from wildfires accelerating melting of Greenland ice fields.

Wildfire risk assessment proposed.

This non-native species was first introduced to the United Sates from Asia in packing material. Initially distributed along rail lines, it spread throughout many States including Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and South Dakota.-- By Fabian Menalled MSU Extension Cropland Weeds Specialist

Christopher Joyce, NPR:

These cheatgrass fires are increasing partly because the climate is warmer and also because more people are living in cheatgrass country. There are some things that can be done though, like planting green borders of less flammable vegetation around cheatgrass as a fire break.

From the USGS Western Ecological Research Center:

There is significant concern that repeated burning at historically appropriate fire return intervals for ponderosa pine forest will benefit this invasive plant to the detriment of native species. There is additional concern that the high flammability of cheatgrass fuelbeds will lead to fire return intervals that are more frequent than occurred historically and that are prescribed in the agency fire management plans, potentially preventing recruitment of pine seedlings and leading to type conversion of native forests to alien grasslands.

Again, Christopher Joyce:

And there's a fungus that kills cheatgrass — it's called the black fingers of death — but introducing it could be biologically risky to other plants.

Grazing cheatgrass early in the season by native ungulates that deposit organic fertilizer helps restore native plants.

Black Hills Pioneer: South Dakota Department of Earth Hatred washes Valentine Mining's feet with hair in ritual worship.

The world's oldest trees are dying.

EPA announces redevelopment tools:

To further promote the reuse of potentially contaminated lands with renewable energy, the EPA released three model comfort letters specific to renewable energy development.

The withdrawal of Jim DeMint likely elevates water warrior Senator Roy Blunt (earth hater-MO) to lead assault from lower Missouri River basin.

Wyoming receives nearly half of federal mineral receipts. (pdf)

EPA announces environmental justice small grants winners. Region 8 recipients were in Colorado and Utah.

While President Obama's comments at the White House Tribal Nations Conference seemed to embrace measures to heal the Earth the US is sandbagging climate talks in Doha incensing some in more enlightened countries.

Mr. President: rewild the West.

Wyoming bracing for states' rights eruption on southern border, embracing failed state status

What is a backwards, dying cesspool of a red nanny state to do? Lock 'em up a throw away the key, of course.

Peter Baumann writes at the Laramie Boomerang:

“I anticipate we’ll probably see an increase, but we’ll handle those in the same manner as we have in the past through an arrest for possession of a controlled substance,” Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley said. “I don’t know that we’ll see a huge increase, but I anticipate that common sense dictates there will be an increase.” “We actually saw an increase when they did the prescription authority down in Colorado,” he said. “Our deputies will stop somebody driving down (Highway) 287 or some other highway and find that they’re in possession of marijuana. Normally they go, ‘Hey dude, I’ve got a prescription,’ but it’s kind of like, ‘Hey dude, they don’t work in Wyoming.’”

ACLU of Wyoming:

Deficiencies in medical and mental health care top the list of complaints from prisoners in Wyoming. These complaints are especially concerning in light of the fact that many mental health patients end up in Wyoming’s justice system. Other areas in which we received a high frequency of complaints include civil liberties, conditions of confinement and threats to personal safety.

Joan Barron, Casper Star-Tribune:

More than half of the $11.5 million budget cut proposed by the Wyoming Department of Corrections would come from savings on inmate health care costs.

Adam Voge also at trib.com

It had been only two days since Christopher Krumm killed Heidi Arnold and his father, Jim Krumm, perhaps only minutes apart. Christopher first took Heidi’s life then drove to Casper College, where he found his father about to teach a class. He shot him with an arrow from a compound bow and the two struggled. Chris cut himself enough with a knife that he would soon die. He then plunged a large knife into his father.

The AP reports there, too:

Gov. Matt Mead is recommending that Wyoming not accept federal money for an expansion of the Medicaid program, a key component of the Affordable Care Act.

Mandarin? Why not Shoshoni?

WTF?

Mandarin: neither Diné nor Lakota?

Or: WTF is wrong with GOP governors?

New Mexico's graduation rates have plummeted under earth hater governor, Susana Martinez:

Only 63 percent of our state's public school seniors graduated on time last spring, down from 67 percent the year before. The U.S. Department of Education ranks New Mexico second-worst in the nation just ahead of Nevada. --Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4

Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Nation which is trapped within the state of Arizona was one of six witnesses testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee about how Native Americans can reclaim their image and identity in society.

Maryann Batlle quotes Titla in the Tucson Sentinel:

Panelists said that Congress should continue to support Indian Country on issues such as education, tribal self-determination and self-governance to ensure that Native Americans can protect their cultures. Still, she said more needs to be done to help native students retain their identity. She said that when native schools fail to reach state-issued benchmarks, the “failing” label can have a negative effect on students and give the impression that the whole community is a failure, even though there are success stories.

Lawyers trained in indigenous languages have access to stories that could reverse the loss of treaty lands.

Ruth Moon brought a story of hopefulness in the Rapid City Journal:

Lakota is part of the "Dakota" language group, the third most commonly spoken Native American language in the country, but new Census estimates indicate fewer than 19,000 people still speak it. More than 10,000 of the nation's Dakota speakers live in South Dakota. Navajo is the most commonly spoken Native American language with more than 150,000 speakers. Nearly 20,000 people speak Yupik, the language of central Alaskan indigenous people. The "Dakota" language group comprises 18 language variations.

The US Census Bureau cites the languages:

Assiniboin, Brule, Brule Sioux, Da'catah/Dakota/Dakota Sioux, Hunkpapa/Hunkpapa Sioux, Lakota/Lakotah/Lakota Sioux, Nakota/Nakota Sioux, Oglala/Oglala Sioux, Santee, Teton, Yankton.

Here are some additional resources (thanks to Nadene): The Endangered Language Fund and Stephan Greymorning (pdf)