Takeaway from South Dakota Democratic Convention emerging

The trip to Yankton for the South Dakota Democratic Party's state convention, ostensibly to take photos for Northern Plains News, was an opportunity to learn directly from the delegates, legislators and candidates while lobbying them about what this blogger believes is the future of the party.

It was gratifying to be received as a credible voice at an event were everybody knew a blogger living in Santa Fe who cared enough about his home state to drive a thousand miles and shoot a few pictures.

Jeff Barth and the Minnehaha County people took a straggler into their ranks while pressing the caucus on strict adherence to the rules with vigorous confidence but one person from Hyde County avoided me like the plague.

There are some disappointments, like no representation from Lawrence County, for instance; but, the experience of knowing that these people are dedicated Democrats who are sick and tired of being bullied by the state's dominant party while tirelessly fighting for a land they love has been worth every driven mile.

Yankton resident, Leo Kallis, covered the event with an outstanding series of articles posted at his weblog, The Displaced Plainsman.

These images of resolution sausage-making were shot with a long lens from outside the caucus deliberating them: the issues are among those important to this blog. Just click on the photos to make them bigger.

The platform is linked here (pdf).

Hashtag for the South Dakota Democratic Convention: #WeareSD

All photos coming out of the South Dakota Democratic Party from this blog property of Northern Plains News.

Cowboy Caucus: Jason Frerichs and Billie Sutton rehearse for their skit

Lieutenant Governor nominee, Susy Blake in center of photo

Scott Parsley, Bernie Hunhoff, Pat Garrity

Deb Knecht

Zach Crago

Jeff Barth and Minnehaha County contingent

Chris, Yankton delegate

RT Rybak

Senator Johnson

Rick Weiland reading an email from the podium about an incident at a Yankton business

Update, 28 June: Nathan Johnson covered the banquet speeches for the Yankton Press & Dakotan.

Democrats Rally In Yankton http://t.co/I8QKEzIqfd via @pressanddakotan @aninlandvoyage http://t.co/cYnOEpTUmx #sdgov #sdsen #sdleg #sdhouse
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) June 28, 2014

ip affirmed; dots being connected

ip is on a roll:

The Re-wilding Europe Foundation hopes to return 2.4 million acres to pre-Homo sapiens standards by concentrating on farmland that is becoming economically unsustainable. This method of re-wilding the Great Plains does not conflict with the idea of reintroducing the species at the top of the food chain to recreate the interdependent ecosystem that sustained that species. The top of the food chain on the Great Plains was the American Indian, and the key to the ecosystem that sustained him was the American bison. [Steve Russell, Indian Country Today]

Here are several more reasons young people need to vote in midterm elections.

Proposed changes to a 2001 plan to manage Yellowstone Park’s wild bison will be considered as part of a new environmental impact statement to be jointly developed by the National Park Service and state of Montana. New information and circumstances pertaining to bison and the management of brucellosis will be drawn from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Montana Department of Livestock, and the Park Service, according to a statement released Friday by park officials. [Yellowstone Gate]

Montana's Fish, Wildlife, and Parks has approved wild bison preservation as reported by Matt Golz in the Billings Gazette:

"These majestic animals have played a very significant part in the history, religion and culture of our native people on the Fort Peck reservation," said Fort Peck tribal chairman Floyd Azure. "These bison have sustained our ancestors for thousands of years and they are in need of us of returning the favor. We are here to make sure they will always be here for our children."

And:

The best way to manage our problem of too many small trees, according to Penn State forestry professor Mark McDill, a former Custer resident, is start lots of fires all over the place every fall, just before the snow flies, and every spring, just before the green up. We also need to burn like crazy in winter at the first sign of two inches of snow. We should light the 40,000 slash piles that result from logging and fuel reduction projects. We should burn our yards, our lawns (like my dad did every year), our neighborhoods (where we can), and do it when conditions are right, not in the middle of fire season. [Frank Carroll, Rapid City Journal]

No shit, Frank.

In related gloating, Monsanto has been forced to replace surfactant polyethyoxilated tallowamine in their Roundup® formula after research has shown that is has been a threat to human life, not to mention to forest fungi while it is becoming known how antibiotics in cattle manure alter soil health.

Paper: cougars avoid wolf territory

Comes this published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology:

We examined predation habits of cougars (Puma concolor (L., 1771)) following the recent recovery of gray wolves (Canis lupus L., 1758) in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. With the extirpation of wolves in the early 20th century, cougars likely expanded their niche space to include space vacated by wolves, and increased use of habitat better suited to the foraging of a coursing predator, like wolves. We predicted that as wolves recolonized their former range, competitive exclusion would compel cougars to cede portions of niche space occupied in the absence of wolves. To examine this hypothesis, we radio-tracked cougars and examined their predation sites from winter 2000–2001 through summer 2009.

Variation in foraging by cougars was associated with increasing wolf presence. As wolf numbers increased and the mean distance between wolf pack activity centers and cougar predation sites decreased, cougars made kills at higher elevations on more north-facing slopes during summer and in more rugged areas during winter. In addition, cougars preyed on a higher proportion of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus (Rafinesque, 1817)), consistent with predictions of exploitative competition with wolves. Observed changes in predation characteristics reflect differences in predation strategy between cougars and wolves, given that wolves are coursing predators and cougars are ambush predators. These possible predation effects should be considered when developing management strategies in systems where the recolonization of wolves may occur. [abstract, Variation in cougar (Puma concolor) predation habits during wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem]

Wolves are considered a federal endangered species in South Dakota.

Dave Whitaker was temporarily stunned when he saw what looked like a black wolf. According to published reports, Whitaker is not the only one who believes he may have seen a wolf recently in the Black Hills. At least three Spearfish residents thought they saw wolves near their homes this week and in December, according to the Associated Press. [Meredith Colias, Rapid City Journal]

Buy 'em books and buy 'em books then they wad 'em up and use 'em for toilet paper.

On Monday Spearfish resident Pete McNamee called the Spearfish Police Department to report a wolf sighting near Windmill Drive shortly after 11 a.m. [Mark Watson, Black Hills Pioneer]

From the RCJ:

The gray wolf found dead Monday morning near Pine Ridge made a 400-mile journey from Yellowstone National Park to southwest South Dakota in less than two months, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf specialist said Tuesday. Mike Jimenez of Jackson, Wyo., said information received from the radio-transmitter collar on the wolf identified it as a 3- to 4-year-old male that was part of a wolf pack in the southeast part of Yellowstone. --Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal

South Dakota Game, Fish, and Plunder has been systematically exterminating the cougar population that had been discouraging wolves from migrating into the state.

Black bears could make a comeback in the Black Hills, too as cougar numbers are reduced.

Russell Means' widow suing New Mexico hospital

A Santa Fe hospital with a history of fraud and malpractice is in the spotlight again.

The widow of late Native American activist Russell Means has filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit accusing medical providers affiliated with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe of a misdiagnosis that led to her husband’s death. In a suit filed in state District Court in Las Vegas, N.M., Pearl Means accuses doctors who work at clinics owned by Christus of overlooking obvious signs of her husband’s cancer that allowed his condition to worsen as it went untreated for months. Together, they had a home in San Jose, N.M., where Pearl Means still resides, and a ranch in Porcupine, S.D., where Russell Means spent his final days. [Patrick Malone, Santa Fe New Mexican]

Here is a video of Republic of Lakotah activist, Means announcing "a pending lawsuit" accusing potential presidential contender, Senator John Thune (R-SD), of a breach in his fiduciary duty as sworn in his oath of office. Mr. Means believed the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), part of the US Department of the Interior, violated Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes within Mr. Thune's full view.

Means' actions came on the heels of an ACLU lawsuit seeking evidence of Indian Health Services (IHS) coercion in Pitocin-induced births on the Cheyenne River reservation. IHS is administered through the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Thune abandoned American Indians by voting against funding the landmark Cobell Indian trust class action.