Animal Growth Antibiotics in Meat Could Be Damaging Our Guts Over 70% of all antibiotics used in the US are fed to confined livestock – cattle, pigs and chickens – and about 75% of those antibiotics are passed through to humans. This article discusses the serious health issues this practice creates. NOTE: this article below is from NYTimes.com. It was written
Cattle In Tight Senate Race, Arizona Candidates Pledge Help for Ranchers Federal drought insurance is based on the false premise that in any two-month period, there is a “normal” Southwestern desert rainfall on which insurance actuaries can rely with statistical certainty. Desert rainfall is irregular in quantity, timing, intensity and frequency. There is no “normal,” so within six consecutive two-month policies
"Invasion Biology" How Beavers Build Dams For 20-million years, beavers have been nature’s water engineers. In North America – before Europeans trapped them out – 400-million beavers impounded 50-million surface acres of water. Beaver eradication was a disaster for continental hydrology. Fortunately, they can be restored. Beavers can again work tirelessly, cheaply and effectively to maintain and
Animal Development Coffee Beans Are Good for Birds, Fancy Brew or Not As described in this article, naturally-raised coffee tastes better. And the practices that produce better tasting coffee benefit birdlife. Few Americans realize how much better naturally raised foods taste. Or that our Industrial Agriculture with its fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, range poisons and antibiotics – besides dumbing down food quality, have
"Invasion Biology" Building Riparian Resilience Through Beaver Restoration As this article explains, every aspect of desert ranching and conservation of wildlife is enhanced by beavers. NOTE: this article was originally posted to Seventh-Generation.org and is reposted here on CircleRanchTX.com – we do not take credit for the words / thoughts provided below. For many people around the West,
Bio-Diversity Installing Posts for an Artificial Beaver Dam A simplified version of these artificial beaver dams will work great in a desert gully or runoff channel where a “plug and spread” dam is impractical because there is nowhere to spill the water. Substitute t-posts and use old net wire on the downslope side. Fill with logs, branches and
"Invasion Biology" Can The Wild Horse Fire Brigade Really Work? To be healthy, forests and grasslands need to be grazed. The grazing must come from more than one species. For millions of years in North America, horses and their ancestors have been part of the animal impact that wild plants need. NOTE: this article was initially published to HorseTalk.co.
Animal Development At Hamburger Central, Antibiotics for Cattle that Aren’t Sick Over 70% of antibiotics used in the US are for confinement livestock – cattle, pigs and chickens – about 75% of which pass through to humans. This is a huge health issue for consumers. And the antibiotics damage ecological systems. In addition, these meat factories are inhumane to livestock, environmentally harmful, and
"Invasion Biology" Mowing Encourages Yearly Return of Grasses and Wildflowers in Texas' Roadways The reason that Texas’ roadways are brush free, have excellent grass cover and lots of wildflowers is because at just the right time of their growth – once or twice per year – they are completely mowed. The next time you drive down the highway, compare the condition of the grass in
Bio-Diversity Otters Making a Welcome Return to Texas Waterways The return of otters and beavers to Texas rivers is a very good thing for the environment. NOTE: this article was published to SAExpressNews.com on February 15, 2018, written by Shanon Tompkins. HOUSTON — Don Greene was sick and weak, dying of pancreatic cancer. But that late-winter morning four years
"Invasion Biology" Uprooting FDR’s ‘Great Wall of Trees’ This article highlights the environmental mentality of the modern farming methods taught in our universities. As described below, farmers are destroying the Northern Great Plains shelter belts which the WPA planted – for their benefit and at great cost – during the Great Depression. Quoting the authors: “FDR, long fascinated by forestry,
Conservation Fall Will Be Warmer And Wetter Than Normal; El Niño Onset Likely “This is good news for Texas’ wildlife and habitat, ranchers and farmers. NOTE: this article was originally published to ExpressNews.com on September 25, 2018. It was written by S.M. Chavey. It’s going to be a warm and wet fall in San Antonio, the National Weather Service said
"Invasion Biology" Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf Scientist? The wolf debate is more about politics than economics or the environment. NOTE: this article initially appeared on NYTimes.com on July 5, 2018. It was written by Christopher Solomon. Rob Wielgus was one of America’s pre-eminent experts on large carnivores. Then he ran afoul of the enemies of
"Invasion Biology" Supplemental Water and Feed for Desert Bighorn Sheep Years ago I read an article by a man in the Sierra Nevada of California whose mine was being closed by the feds. They said his mining operation was harming sheep populations. He said, no, he had operated for many years with no problem to sheep: the problem was increased
Bio-Diversity Humans and Mastodons Coexisted in Florida, New Evidence Shows New archaeological discoveries in Florida establish earlier dates for human presence in North America than those that were previously accepted. The same discoveries show that early Native Americans hunted mastodons – a now-extinct, ancient relative of elephants. For 30-million years, mastodons were a keystone species of highly productive savanna ecosystems across
"Invasion Biology" Elk Country Chronicles - The Sounds of Elk Country Volume 7 Take a minute to enjoy the peaceful sounds of elk country. With good game management policies, this could be anywhere in far-West Texas. Instead these animals are shot out on all state-managed lands under the scientifically bogus belief that they are non-native ‘invasive’ species that harm bighorn, mule deer and
Clovis Discoveries Challenge Beliefs on Humans’ Arrival in the Americas These findings reflect our own: In the Indian Cave at Circle Ranch in far-West Texas, Arizona State University has radio carbon dated charcoal samples at ages 23,000-years older than the 10,000 BC date previously accepted. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on March 27, 2014
"Invasion Biology" Book Review... "Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter" A reader remarks: “Ben has woven together a holistic picture about beavers, illustrating the remarkably diverse interactions between this species’ biology and the history of the North American landscape, both geologically and culturally.” NOTE: this book, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter is available for
"Invasion Biology" Coyotes & Prairie Dogs Coyotes and prairie dogs are essential to the the health of desert grasslands. For decades, both were targets of widespread eradication efforts, paid by the public and conducted by ‘conservation’ agencies.
Artificial Beaver Dams Using Artificial Beaver Dams to Restore Incised Streams The problems of eroded streams and valleys, and decreased river flows, exist across the Desert Southwest. They can be addressed with the same practices described below. NOTE: this document below is from the Northwest Climate Hub – U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
food safety He's Dying of Cancer. Now, He's The First Patient To Go To Trial To Argue Roundup Made Him Sick “Like the tobacco companies before them, the agro giants have been able to forestall their liability for the harm their products have done to human health. Their reckoning is coming, but great damage will have been done in the meantime. NOTE: this article was originally published to CNN.com on
"Invasion Biology" Hunting's Remarkable Resilience Hunters defend their tradition because it helps control population, generates conservation revenues and Fair Chase expresses good sportsmanship. But predation is also physiologically better for wildlife and habitats. Hunters are often as unaware of this natural principle as non-hunters. Just like wolves, cougars, bears and other apex predators, humans have
Beaver Rio Grande Beaver Survey In Big Bend National Park In 2015, beaver populations in Big Bend Park were surveyed.The paper is printed below. According to the authors: “Beaver create and modify their habitat by building dams. These dams exert such a strong influence on aquatic and riparian communities that the beaver is considered a keystone species. We delineated
Bio-Diversity Cooperative Efforts with Private Landowners to Help Endangered Species “Almost since its enactment in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has generated controversy and political conflict. Its supporters tout the many species saved from extinction, while its critics cite the high economic costs to landowners and business. This report proposes modest changes that will prevent extinctions and promote recovery of
