News in the West; Bad, Better, and Best ~~Bear Essentials 2/27/2019

News in the West: 

Bluff Town Hall Meeting with John Curtis March 21

Recording of 2/19 SJC Commission Meeting  (start at 57:53) 

George Washington's Farewell Speech: Prophetic Advice

$22 Trillion Debt and both Parties say "Spend More" 

Utah Ranked #1 in "Social Capital" 

"Variables for ranking: family unity, family interaction, social support, community health, institutional health, collective efficacy, and philanthropic health"

Environmentalists Call on Herbert to Veto Bill Related to Spent Uranium

Current Government Policies would Rather Burn Forests than Log Trees

"Federal wildfire statistics show the average number of acres burned 

every year since 2000 is double what it was the preceding four decades."

Zinke Accepts Post with Lobbying Firm

Moab Council Votes for Moratorium on More Building

~~ A Good Site to Follow: Balanced Resources

~~ Winter Storms Help Against Four Corners Drought

~~ Senator Mike Lee Opposes Natural Resources Management Act

1. It fails to reform federal land acquisition programs and adding new restrictions to how Americans are allowed to use land already under federal control. 
2. 25 percent of all Land and Water Conservation Funds have been given to states while 61 percent of the funds have been spent on federal land acquisition
3. LWCF keeps on buying new federal lands without securing any method for maintaining the land they already own. According to a 2017 Congressional Research Service report, the maintenance backlog on federal land is up to $18.6 billion
4. The bill creates another 1.3 million acres of wilderness in the West — half of it in Utah

~~  2019 AUM Grazing Fees Lowered

~~Commissioner Adams Asks State for Litigation Help

~~Signs that Republican Tax Cuts are Working

~~Aztec Commission Passes Resolution Against UnConstitutional Gun Control

 ~~ Rural Lands Bill "Reflects Utah Priorities, Op ed Mitt Romney, 

 ~~ Land Grabbing Avalanche of Bills Will Harm Rural Economies

~~ SL Trib: San Juan Should Build a Wall Around Itself

~~ N. Arizona Faces 1.7 M. Acre Environmental Land Grab 

In defense of mining: "Uranium and depleted uranium are critical to the U.S. military and our national security. The U.S. military uses depleted uranium in armor plating for tanks, Phalanx gun systems, armor-piercing munitions and cruise missiles, naval propulsion reactors, as well as A-10s, Harriers and other military and civilian aircraft. The U.S. Navy cannot maintain its global presence nor maintain its nuclear deterrent against countries like Russia without uranium. 

In 1986, the United states produced 100% of the uranium ore used in U.S. domestic nuclear reactors.  Today in 2018, 3% is produced domestically with virtually all of the remaining fuel for domestic reactors produced in Kazakhstan, under heavy Russian influence.  The U.S. desperately needs domestic uranium given this high 97% import penetration into domestic market. The U.S. Navy is fit-to-be-tied over the prospect of being dependent on Putin for uranium. The situation is untenable.

Americas’ 98 nuclear power plants provide clean energy while generating electricity for one of every five U. S. homes and businesses. Nuclear energy has unmatched reliability in the U. S. electrical system.  In 2014, as has been the case every year for the past decade, the nuclear industry’s average capacity fact (a measure of efficiency) was an electric sector leading 91.7 percent."

~~ State House of Rep. Gridlocks over County Government Bill

~~National Debt Spiraling Out of Control $22 Trillion!

~~Massive Land Bill Has Hits and Misses for Ranchers

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Submitting Letters to Salt Lake Tribune

Grazing on Public Lands Defended by Utah Farm Bureau

Statement from Utah Farm Bureau:
“In Utah, we have seen more than 70 percent of historic grazing AUMs cut or suspended through federal agency management actions. The establishment of a new national monument provides one more tool to the federal agencies to reduce livestock grazing. Let’s consider what the impact of displacing or terminating even a single average sized family cattle ranching operation would be:

Utah is a cow-calf cattle production state with cattle and calves contributing more than one-third of the state’s agricultural commodity sales. According to the Salina Livestock Auction, feeder cattle arriving from across Southern Utah for auction generally averaged between 450 - 550 pounds and were valued at about $1.75 per pound or $875 per head. An average cow-calf ranching operation with 500 mother cows and a 95-percent calf survival rate adds more than $415,000 in direct cattle sales to the local economy.

Based on a conservative economic multiplier effect, as feeder cattle sales dollars are spent in the local economy, that single family ranching business is the catalyst for more than $750,000 in rural Southeast Utah!

If you take a regional look at the number of mother cattle, in Southeast Utah’s San Juan (14,300), Garfield (17,700) and Kane (8,200) Counties, there were 40,200 mother cows that spent time grazing on federally managed lands in 2015. Those family cattle ranches generated more than $33 million in direct feeder cattle sales and contributed in excess of $50 million to the rural communities they support year ‘round. And this is a contribution that renews itself every year with the new calf crop.”