"Invasion Biology" Restoring Desert Watersheds with Beaver: Back to the Future Beaver reintroductions can help restore damaged watersheds across the desert Southwest. In far-West Texas, the Rio Grande and its tributaries are obvious starting places. Yet, any ranch having a spring or a creek that flows intermittently or seasonally, should consider these four-footed, furry water engineers as a cheap, quick and
Animal Growth Call for Horse Grazing Pilot Study To Explore Wildfire Mitigation Wild horses and burros, properly managed in combination with other animals, can help prevent wildfire. NOTE: this article initially appeared on HorseTalk.co.nz on February 1, 2018. It was written by William E. (Bill) Simpson. If people began the evaluation of any project under the premise that it can’
Bio-Diversity The Vanishing Mule Deer As this beautifully photographed video from The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) observes, our precious mule deer are vanishing. MDF blames ‘competition’ of humans for land. This is inaccurate. The irregular, long term decline of mule deer, quail, pronghorn, bighorn and so many other species is the unintended consequence of applying
"Invasion Biology" West Texas Beaver Wetlands: The Historic Record When European settlers arrived in North America in the 1500s, they found as many as 400 million beavers. These four-footed water engineers had created—and maintained—an estimated 50 million acres of beaver ponds. Beavers populated the Rio Grande and its tributaries. Sadly, their valuable pelts were their undoing. In
"Invasion Biology" Needed: A Safer Way to Fight Wildfire Recently I was touring ranches near Ruidosa, New Mexico, and learned that toxic chemicals contained in fire-retardants like these had washed into their river systems, killing the fisheries which they are now trying to detoxify and restock. For over 100 years we have been using poisonous chemicals on fires, weeds,
"Invasion Biology" A New Study Suggests That Even The Toughest Pesticide Regulations Aren’t Nearly Tough Enough “There were 1.6 million new cases of cancer last year, with 580,000 dying of the disease. Farm and industrial chemicals certainly play a major role in this epidemic. Yet little is done, with the poison-makers smugly repeating the myths of safe pesticides and obfuscating the true dangers of
"Invasion Biology" The Secret Lives of Well-Digging Burros “Far-West Texas burros are eradicated by state and federal parks & land managers based on the belief that they “compete” with other wildlife for water. In reality – as this Arizona study explains – “it appears that burros are significantly increasing water availability in the desert.” Be sure and watch the video.
Boyd elder Boyd Elder Is the Most Famous Artist You’ve Never Heard Of “A great profile on our pal Boyd Elder. NOTE: This article is taken from TexasMonthly.com. It was written by Sterry Butcher and published in February, 2018. This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue with the headline “El Chingadero.” Photography credits are to Matt Johnson. The West Texas
"Invasion Biology" Are North America’s Wild Horses Native? The fake science of invasive species biology classifies horses as “invasive” “exotics” that “compete” with “natives” to “harm” “ecological systems”. These terms are neither scientifically defined, nor consistently applied. As Dan Flores, author of American Serengeti observes, “Neither paleontology nor molecular genetics lends any support whatsoever to the idea that
"Invasion Biology" Can Livestock Restore Drought-Stricken Grasslands? Americans assume our range practices are the most advanced anywhere. Yet these ideas originated in Africa and remain generally unaccepted by American universities and agencies. NOTE: This article excerpt is being republished with permission of thefern.org. It was written by Judith Schwartz and appeared April 12, 2016 Inside a
Bio-Diversity Wild Texas “I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people
"Invasion Biology" Fire May Be the Only Remedy for a Plague Killing Deer and Elk The noted agronomist and “Father of Soil Fertility” Professor William A. Albrecht said, “We should not fear the aggressive parasite and invader but rather the declining health of their victims.” He said this 80 years before the terms “environmentalism” or “holism” had been coined, in an era when attacks on
Bio-Diversity Turning a Dangerous Arroyo Into a Flood Irrigation Resource in the Deserts of Far-West Texas Here is how we harvested water out of Circle Ranch’s worst gully, and used it to re-wet 5-miles of desert meadows.
Animal Development Understanding Mule Deer and Winter Feeding Fact Sheet Supplemental feeding of deer and elk – especially in winter – is widespread across the West, including far-West Texas and New Mexico. In this report, the Mule Deer Foundation concludes that, “At best, feeding has a limited nutritional benefit often negated by undesirable, even catastrophic, behavioral and biological effects.” NOTE: This document
Bio-Diversity Circle Ranch: A Chihuahuan Desert Sky Island Laurence Parent’s stunning pictures of the Sierra Diablos in far-West Texas. Renowned Texas author and photographer Laurence Parent has done 44 books. His latest, Colorado: A Photographic Journey was published in 2016. New Mexico: A Photographic Journey was published in 2014. Texas: Portrait of a State, was published in
far-west Texas Capturing a West Texas Winter Wonderland “Texas Monthly’s beautiful photography of winter scenes in far-West Texas. NOTE: this article originally appeared on TexasMonthly.com,authored by Lauren Smith Ford. Now that the sun is out, it’s easy to forget the recent sub-freezing temperatures around the state, like in areas of West Texas where temperatures
News 10,000-Year Clock Next Door to Circle Ranch Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is building a giant clock inside a Texas mountain from CNBC.
"Invasion Biology" States Confront the Spread of a Deadly Disease in Deer The creation of CWD – a new wildlife disease – in a Colorado experimental station, and its subsequent spread, proves the adage that “Industrial agronomic principles applied to ecological systems will almost always cause harm.” NOTE: this article is from the NYTimes.com, and was published on January 8th, 2018. The author
"Invasion Biology" Rancher Takes an Unconventional Path to Restoring His Land “Chris Gill, 72, together with his family own Circle Ranch in far-West Texas. He thinks of the desert habitat, its flora and fauna, as a single system.” NOTE: this article was initially posted to ReportingTexas.com on December 12, 2017. It was written by Austin Price, and all photography credits
Beavers Leave It to Beavers Beavers are still found in Rio Grande tributaries including the Devils and Pecos rivers. Friends of wildlife in far-West Texas should encourage their reintroduction in the narco-infested lower Juarez Valley, between Juarez and Ojinaga. In this depopulated no-man’s land, the reestablishment of Rio Grande marshland combined with the beavers’
Archaeology In the Bones of a Buried Child, Signs of a Massive Human Migration to the Americas “Most likely, people were in Alaska by 20,000 years ago, at least,” say the scientists conducting the study reviewed below. This conclusion contradicts the accepted view that humans arrived in North America around 10,000 BC. Recent findings in far-West Texas also suggest earlier dates. In our own Circle
"Invasion Biology" Greening the Chihuahuan Desert Chihuahuan ranchers are at the forefront of restorative grazing practices.
Bio-Diversity The Great Nutrient Collapse Food nutrition is changing. This article blames atmospheric carbon, ignoring genetic modification of plants combined with the effect of the agricultural poisons our food plants have been engineered to survive. For example, a bushel of corn weighs significantly less than before corn was reengineered to withstand Roundup, which blocks cells’
"Invasion Biology" Survival of Trans-Pecos Gambel’s Quail The rapid disappearance of quail across North America, including the iconic Gambel’s Quail, is of great concern and merits study. Objectivity, though, is missing because the universities, agencies and conservation organizations that conduct the research and give advice assume the practices they promote are beneficial for ranches and wildlife.
"Invasion Biology" The Hard Truth About the West’s Wild Horse Problem Horses belong in the Desert Southwest where they and their ancestors co-evolved with wildlife and plants over millions of years. With that said, though, we have a problem. Removing large nomadic grazers as well as most prey and most predators combined with the sincere but misguided prohibition of herd culling
