AWESOME "FARM ON" PROJECT FOR EARTH DAY

EARTH DAY

April 22, 2013

  

THE DAY OUR FARM KIDS 

TEACH THE WORLD ABOUT 

"THE HANDS THAT FEED THEM"

LADY J VISITS GUNSMOKE FROM AMERICAN GUNS!

I had the opportunity to visit Gunsmoke's Rich Wyatt at his gun shop while I was in Denver for the National Western Stock Show over the weekend. Gunsmoke's Wyatt Family on American Guns
 
It was great fun to compare fundraising efforts for our personal "Causes".  Rich's Cause is the NRA and our Second Amendment rights.  My Causes are well known to most of you, as I rarely let many of you off the hook when it comes to helping me support my causes and our western way of life.

For those fellow cowboy action shooters in Vernal, Utah, American Guns and the Wyatts will be filming in your area in the next week or so.  Watch for Rich and say "Hello" if you get a chance.  He is a delight to visit with and his shop is filled with our favorite guns!

For my CastleGate Posse pardners ( CastleGate Posse )  and the North Springs Shooting Range staff (North Springs Shooting Park ),  I told Rich all about our facilities and invited the Wyatt family to come and shoot with us!  

I also acquired a few Autographed T-shirts and Ball Caps for our Fundraisers for the Utah State matches that we are hosting!  Yee - Haw!

Lady J
aka Joane

Major Victory for Private Property Rights from Utah Supreme Court

Today, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that Marion Oil Company did not have the right to use the State of Utah's condemnation power to construct roads and drilling locations to develop their state mineral leases on the private property owned by Kerwin Jensen in Nine Mile Canyon.

In 2009, Marion Oil's "advance man" told Kerwin Jensen "you can't keep us out of your ranch -- we will build whatever roads we want and you can't stop us".  Holding that oil and gas were not "mineral deposits" within the meaning of the 1953 statute, the Court sent a resounding message in favor of the rights of private property owners all over our state.  Now we need to make sure that the large oil & gas interests don't undo our rights in the Utah legislature.  Make sure your state representatives and senators continue to protect your private property rights against such special interest groups.  The full text of the Court's decision is located at:
http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/Marion071211.pdf
Pictured Above:
Rancher Kerwin Jensen at the Utah Supreme Court during oral arguments in October, 2010.

Significant BLM meeting in Price TOMORROW, April 27th, 2011

This is very little notice but tomorrow is a very important public input meeting over the BLM reopening the plans for oil shale and tar sands development that will affect eastern Utah.  It is very important that we gather all the facts and work to keep access issues and economic development in the forefront at these planning meetings.

Wednesday April 27 in Price, Utah - Holiday Inn Hotel, 838 Westwood Blvd, Price,
(435) 637-8880, San Rafael/Skyline Meeting Room ; (1:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.)

SUWA HAS A VERY POOR OVERALL CHARITABLE RATING ACCORDING TO CHARITY NAVIGATOR

For those who are interested in how charitable donations are spent, Charity Navigator is a rating service that compares the overall performance of charities which have similar mission statements. A person who participates on the Public Lands Group Chat on Facebook, ask how SUWA, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, spends its money.  I decided that question deserved some investigation. 

I have posted SUWA's 2010 federal tax return, their current Financial Report, and the Charity Navigator rating of 2 stars out of a possible 4 stars, which was one of the lowest overall performance ratings on its list of environmental charities!

A review of the 2010 return and financial report demonstrates that if you deducted the nontaxable one time bequest of $860,000 given to SUWA in 2010 and then compare the administrative costs, their better rating in that one category goes down too -- and that is before any investigation into the traditional hiding places for administrative costs, namely, hiding administrative costs as education, travel expenses, etc.  

Please come join us on Facebook at Public Land Group Chat and see the documentation yourself:

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_121969907860903&ap=1

EASTERING IN THE SAN RAFAEL SWELL & THE DESERTS OF UTAH

Last Wednesday evening as I was driving home from court in Moab, I pulled off Highway 6 to take pictures of the wonderful formations on the San Rafael Reef, which is the eastern boundary of our winter grazing permit.  As I waited for the lighting to improve, I noticed the large volume of southbound traffic.  I had totally forgotten that Easter Weekend was upon us!  

As I watched our Utah version of the Easter Parade, I concentrated on the license plates.  Most were Utahns. A significant number were from Colorado and a small number were from other neighboring states.  NONE WERE FROM EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI WHERE MOST DECISIONS CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF OUR DESERTS ARE BEING MADE.

As the vehicles, campers, motorhomes, horse trailers, OHVs, mountain bikes, etc streamed south, I wondered how many of those families understood what will happen to our historic traditions like "Eastering" if the Red Rock Wilderness Act or another form of wilderness designation is adopted.  We are truly on the verge of being locked out of our own heritage.  

This morning on Facebook, the Emery County Historical Society posted some amazing old pictures of "Eastering" in the San Rafael Swell.  The pictures span almost a hundred years of Eastering by Utahns, and particularly by the citizens of southeastern Utah.  Such pictures capture the heart and spirit of family recreation in Utah since pioneer days.  Wilderness designation will take most of those recreational activities away unless you are prepared to leave everything and EVERYONE home that cannot hike numerous miles into our deserts.  

Wilderness, currently disguised by its new "Wild Lands" label, was expressly prohibited in areas of frequent human use.  The definition of wilderness excludes lands with roads or trails that provided for regular vehicular traffic and reoccurring human uses.  It suddenly occurred to me that Emery County Historical Society's pictures are valuable evidence which demonstrates how inappropriate wilderness designation is for much of the proposed federal land grab.

If any of you have pictures or memories of human activities in the San Rafael Swell, please send me copies to this blog and I will see that your contributions are used to preserve our historical access to our public lands.

HAVE A HAPPY EASTER AND SHARE OUR WESTERN PUBLIC LANDS HERITAGE WITH THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS IN YOUR FAMILIES AS THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC ACCESS.

Enjoy the pictures and stories of "Eastering" from the Emery County Historical Society:

 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001562867243

Gathering Cattle on the Desert

The Lost Homestead Grazing Alliance has about finished gathering the cattle after the desert permit. It was a beautiful day on Saturday for the gather. I did not dare take my new camera on my horse so the pictures are limited to a few I took during the setup and dinner at camp. Just a little snapshot of life in the Old West!

https://picasaweb.google.com/117225809921450451967/2011GatheringCowsFromThePermit#