November 26, 2021

Newsletter for November 26, 2021

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This Issue: 102nd Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting Completes Farm Bureau Policy For 2022 Don't Forget -- State Water Planning Looking For Input BLM Begins Evaluation of Plans For Sage Grouse Conservation 2021 AFBF Annual Thanksgiving Meal Survey Results District Boundaries Established For The Next Decade

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102nd Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting Completes Farm Bureau Policy For 2022 There wasn’t a weekly Nevada Farm Bureau Grassroots newsletter because those who prepare it were tied up in the 102nd Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Fallon, NV. The primary purpose for the Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting involves voting delegates from county Farm Bureau organizations working through the final review and approval process to establish the next year Farm Bureau policy. Voting delegates to this year’s annual meeting concluded that on Friday morning (November 19).    The voting delegates also re-elected Bevan Lister of Lincoln County to a one-year term as President of Nevada Farm Bureau and Darrell Pursel of Lyon County to a one-year term as Vice President. Marlene Shier and Wendy Muratore of Humboldt County were re-elected to serve one-year terms as Chairwoman and Vice Chairwoman for the Nevada Farm Bureau Leadership Committee. Katie Combs of Clark County was re-elected to a two-year term as District I Director and Norman Frey of Churchill County was elected to a two-year term as District III Director.   Thank you to the Farm Bureau member/leaders who attended the annual meeting and participated in the number of activities that took place during the course of the 2 ½ day meeting. We also greatly appreciate the speakers who shared their presentation during the information conferences on Thursday, November 18th as well as the Churchill County tour sites we were able to visit on Wednesday, November 17th.   We will keep you informed on when the final preparation is completed to post the new 2022 Nevada Farm Bureau policy positions on the organization’s website.

Don't Forget...State Water Planning Looking For Your Input If you haven't already done so -- we hope that you'll make every effort to take advantage of providing input to the Nevada Division of Water Resources survey to gather public input on various elements of water management in Nevada. They are intending this input to help them in guiding development of an updated version of the State Water Plan.   In order to go to the survey, you will be taken to the Division of Water Resources site by in Clicking Here and sharing your thoughts on the questions offered for input. The survey will be available for input through December 15th. From experience, completing the survey takes 10-20 minutes and it would be helpful for you to look up in advance of going to the survey (if you don’t know it off the top of your head) the groundwater basin where you are located.

BLM Begins Evaluation Of Plans For Sage Grouse Conservation On November 19th the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sent out a news release indicating that they are beginning the process to consider updates to the range-wide manage plans for sagebrush habitat they adopted in 2015 and then amended in 2019. These plans mostly over road the state-developed Sage Grouse Plans that were developed and between a couple of court orders really didn’t get much past the documentation of what the federal agency said they were going to do.   An interesting quote from the current BLM Director, Tracy Stone-Manning stated “The 2015 plans established a solid foundation, but actions during the previous administration kept those plans from being put into action.” There aren’t any details included in the news release or possibly in the reconstructed history of events where it seems to be remembered that the courts stepped in to cause the 2015 plan to be adjusted and also the 2019 amended version to bounce things into the uncertainty of whether the 2015 plan was in effect or exactly where things might have been in operation. Elections have consequences and we’re now under the authority of a new administration.   “As we move to build upon the earlier plans, we are asking whether there are other steps we should take given new science to improve outcomes for sage-grouse and also for people in communities across the west who rely on a healthy sagebrush steppe.”   Based on the Federal Register Notice there will be a scoping process for public input to be used in the planning initiative as well as public meetings to be held at locations to be announced. The notice also indicates that BLM’s preliminary purpose is to amend the applicable land use plans to provide for land use decisions connected with Greater Sage Grouse and Sagebrush habitat land management.   Noted in the Federal Register Notice and also in the BLM news release possible withdrawal of public and Forest system lands in sagebrush focal areas from mineral location and entry is already underway. This would apparently be another attempt of past efforts to use Sage Grouse as a tool in locking federal lands away under the guise of protection from Endangered Species listing.    Materials provided in the links would seem to also indicate that the planning effort could be in line with regional areas identified by this map.

2021 AFBF Annual Thanksgiving Meal Survey Results For the past 36 years the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF’s) annual cost of the Thanksgiving meal has grown in receiving attention. With a regularity that is almost as tradition as turkey for Thanksgiving, the AFBF survey results are shared widely in mainstream media and social media reports. Given the current concerns over the inflationary spikes the American economy is experiencing, the 14 percent increase in this year’s costs for the 10-person meal was commonly noted in news accounts associated with the survey findings. AFBF President Zippy Duvall recently shared his thoughts on what Thanksgiving means for Farm Bureau member families.

District Boundaries Established For The Next Decade  Because of not having a weekly Nevada Farm Bureau newsletter last week, we were not able to share the update of Nevada’s boundaries for Congressional Districts, State Senate boundaries, State Assembly boundaries or the boundaries for the Nevada Board of Regents.  This was a topic and the associated maps were covered by one of the information sessions at the 102nd Annual Meeting in Fallon on Thursday afternoon (November 18) but even then it might have been difficult to study the details on the projected screen.   Without a successful court challenge (that we don’t know will even be considered), these areas will be the districts which will be part of the 2022 Election as well as those going forward until the 2030 U.S. Census is carried out and the new boundaries are drawn in 2031. The links below will take you to the Nevada Legislature's website links. These maps are provided in a pdf format that you can enlarge on your home computer screen to get a closer look at the details of where the district boundaries are located...   Congressional Statewide Map Las Vegas Congressional Map Nevada Senate Statewide Map Nevada Senate Reno-Sparks Area Map Nevada Senate Las Vegas Area Map Nevada Assembly Statewide Map  Nevada Assembly Reno-Sparks Area Map Nevada Assembly Las Vegas Area Map Board of Regents Statewide Map Board of Regents Reno-Sparks Area Map Board of Regents Las Vegas Area Map

Thank you for following Nevada Farm Bureau activities and engaging to make a difference. We hope that you and your family enjoyed your 2021 Thanksgiving and also wish you a great weekend!