February 18, 2022
Newsletter for February 18, 2022
This Issue:
  • Nevada Farm Bureau Raises Concerns With Bill To Ban Helicopter Wild Horse Gathers
  • AFBF President Pushes Back On Negative Media Portraying Production Agriculture
  • NVFB Board of Directors Identify Agricultural Advocacy As One Of Top Priorities
  • Nevada Legislative Joint Natural Resources Committee To Meet Feb. 28
Nevada Farm Bureau Raises Concerns With Bill To Ban Helicopter Wild Horse Gathers
Nevada Farm Bureau has written Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus to express opposition to her proposed legislation HR 6635. The measure was introduced on February 8, 2022 and if enacted into law would ban the use of helicopters or fixed wing aircraft for Wild Horse and Burro gathers.

“The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is working to accomplish the difficult and long-overdue process of bringing Wild Horse and Burro populations to their Appropriate Management Levels (AML),” Nevada Farm Bureau President Bevan Lister of Pioche, NV wrote in his February 14th letter to Congresswoman Titus.  “Congressional actions like HR 6635 would seriously thwart the activities that are being carried out to achieve AML for Wild Horses and Burro populations as well as eventually bring impacted landscapes back to a status capable of providing habitat for wildlife and all multiple use stakeholders.”

22,000 Wild Horses and Burros from over-populated herds would be gathered and 19,000 of these animals would be removed from the federally-managed lands, according to the 2022 Fiscal Year Plan that the BLM has announced.  At least 2,300 animals would receive various fertility controls before releasing them back to the lands.

Throughout the Western states where Wild Horses and Burros live on designated federally-managed areas the population estimates from a year ago place the numbers at 71,735 Wild Horses and 14,454 Burros.   The total of 89,189 animals is well over three-times the maximum AML level.

Nevada has the biggest over-population of the West-wide totals.  The Nevada estimates from last year indicated that there were 42,994 Wild Horses and 4,087 Burros.  Maximum AML population for Nevada is 12,811.  In other words, Nevada not only has nearly 60 percent of the Wild Horses and Burros in the West, but also is over three and half times over the number of Wild Horses and Burros that are supposed to be in the state.

Nevada Farm Bureau’s letter drew attention to that not only is the use of helicopters for conducting gathers more humane and other methods, it is also the only cost-effective management measure available for gathering the necessary size of animals over very open and difficult terrain.
AFBF President Pushes Back On Negative Media Portraying Production Agriculture
Over the past several weeks there has been an assault on American agriculture, by at least one of the media outlets which has a bit of a record of putting an emphasis on negative news and attempting to build their ratings by sensational reports.  American Farm Bureau Federation President, Zippy Duvall directed a recent Zipline Column, specifically identifying the positive aspects of the contributions made by the nation’s farmers and ranchers.
NVFB Board of Directors Identify Agricultural Advocacy As One Of Top Priorities
In spite of 2022 not being a legislative year in Nevada, there is no shortage of issues or needs for Farm Bureau members to engage in critical issues facing Silver State production agriculture.  The Nevada Farm Bureau Board of Directors recently met for a two-day session of identifying priorities for the state Farm Bureau’s program of work.  Advocacy was one of the top five major categories for attention.  

Promoting, preserving and protecting the wellbeing of Nevada farm and ranch families through advocacy is part of the Nevada Farm Bureau mission statement.  Accomplishing this mission includes active Farm Bureau members who take up the challenge in working through their organization to not only set the organization’s direction, through the annual policy development process, but also actively working to implement the policy positions that they have adopted.  We encourage those interested in learning more about how they can join other Farm Bureau members to engage in Farm Bureau advocacy activities to click on this link to plug into details found in the Farm Bureau Advocate Tool Kit.

This piece offers a specific advocacy project that yielded big results already in 2022, thanks to the efforts of Farm Bureau members who took action in communicating their input to the proposed plans by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to once again over-extend their regulatory reach by redefining what constitutes “Waters of the United States.”
Nevada Legislative Joint Natural Resources Committee To Meet Feb. 28
The agenda for the second meeting of the Joint Natural Resources Committee has been released.  The meeting, scheduled for Monday, February 28th starts at 9:30 a.m. and will be available to view on the Nevada Legislature’s website.  Nevada’s Department of Agriculture is scheduled to be one of the agencies who will be giving reports to the committee as will the agency involved with State Parks and Outdoor Recreation.  A presentation will be provided on the economic impact of climate change in Nevada and the appointments for the subcommittee on Public Lands will be revisited.  Also wildfires in Nevada will be covered in a presentation to the committee.
Workshop Series Planned For Humboldt River Corridor – March 8 & 9
For a number of years a series of meetings by the Nevada Division of Water Resources have traveled the Humboldt River Corridor to offer updates on the modeling development by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Desert Research Institute.  This year’s meetings are scheduled for March 8 and 9.  The specific details for these meetings:

  •  Tuesday, March 8 – 9 a.m., Lovelock City Hall, Lovelock, NV
  • Tuesday, March 8 – 2 p.m., Humboldt County Cooperative Extension Building, Winnemucca, NV
  • Wednesday, March 9 – 8:30 a.m., Nannimi Administration Building, Elko County Commission Chambers, Elko, NV

Indications are that the modeling process will be nearing a conclusion this calendar year, which could advance the present preliminary conjunctive management plans for the Humboldt River Corridor to the next level of implementation.  Participation in this year’s information meetings should be a priority for those who could be impacted by the decisions to come from the State Engineer’s office for conjunctive management along the Humboldt River.
Have a great weekend!