Lots of News

Here at the Roundup we always try to please our customers, and the past couple weeks have been no different. If you will remember, it wasn’t long ago that I was complaining about how dry some parts of the state were, and saying that we needed to pray for rain. Well, we all did our job pretty well, didn’t we? Except that we’re now getting word to back off from those who live along the creeks, streams and some of the rivers that flow from the mountains with record high snowpacks. What we hear from NRCS and the Bureau of Reclamation is that, when it does warm up, we could be in for a wild and wooly time.
On most weeks, news that concerns Wyoming or agriculture either on a national or local level comes pretty easy, and lately that has been the norm. Christy tries to schedule stories two to three weeks ahead, and we always know that here in Wyoming something will always spring up and surprise us as a news story, especially on Friday after we’ve gone to press.
The wolf issue is one that just drives us nuts. First off, new news on wolves always seems to come out on Friday, and secondly, lately the news comes as a legal judgment 40 pages thick. Even now, as Congress has spoken, environmental groups are taking legal action on how the law was written by Congress and the fact that a judge in Montana most likely didn’t approve of Congress overriding him. So, if they are successful in relisting the wolf in the states other than Wyoming, will that hurt or help us in delisting the wolf here in Wyoming? Stay tuned.  
Along those same lines, Washington is talking about reviewing all potential endangered species that have been dangling there for years, and we hear there is a legal action to have the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse listed in Wyoming. Will the sage grouse be in the same bucket as the others? Got your attention now?
And, we’re still being threatened by this administration’s Wild Lands program that would develop more wildernesses areas on federal lands without Congress’s approval. How much wilderness do these people want? Most likely all they can get, and now some are saying that people get a religious experience through wilderness. Those involved with nature on a daily basis know you don’t have to be on a mountaintop to speak to God, and whether you own numerous acres or a backyard, you should care for it as God’s land.
And now there is news about payments for providing prairie dog habitat to increase numbers of black-footed ferrets in the state. We have to see where that will go, but, unlike the sage grouse, a prairie dog digs numerous holes and eats the grass, and they’re a little tougher to live with.   
Also, keep in the know on the equine health alert of Equine Herpesvirus (EHV-1) – we sure hope it doesn’t spread more than it already has.     
Well, that’s the bad news for this week. Remember, the 2012 elections are not that far off, and once it warms up we’ll have a whole summer ahead of us to fatten those calves, yearlings and lambs.
Dennis