Posted on 12/20/2009 6:40:25 AM PST by george76
When the new West is won, will there be cowboys? In light of what her neighbors are up to, Double O Ranch owner Vicki Olson isn’t so sure.
“I guess the point that I keep hammering at is that if they succeed, that means all of us third- and fourth-generation ranchers are gone,” Olson said. She is the average Montana rancher, 56 going on 70, working a spread gouged from the pebbly soil by her grandparents 100 years ago.
Her neighbor, the nonprofit American Prairie Foundation, is methodically acquiring ranches and crafting a 3.5-million-acre wildlife reserve out of private property and adjoining federal land. The inconspicuously named Prairie Project could be the largest privately funded conservation land venture on the planet and the biggest free-roaming bison range in the United States. Yellowstone Park, at 2.21 million acres, would be a distant second.
The American Prairie Foundation envisions a Serengeti of the Northern Plains...
Already, the APF entertains donors at a yurt village created for seasonal backcountry camps, though Garrity said only a small percentage of the foundation’s supporters will ever come here...
Allied with the World Wildlife Fund, the American Prairie Foundation is driving hard bargains ...
Olson said resentment is rising among locals who say they can’t compete for property with the APF’s well-funded supporters. Its national council membership includes candy heir John Mars, the 19th-richest man in America, according to Forbes, and Roger A. Enrico, board chairman of DreamWorks Animation and former CEO of Pepsi-Cola USA. Texan Bill Lively, known for raising big donations for nonprofits and big events like Super Bowls, sits on the APF’s board of directors.
“We would love to have young ranchers on these ranches. They’re interested,” Olson said. “We just can’t support the price that they’re (the APF) willing to pay.”
(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.com ...
The American Prairie Foundation envisions a Serengeti of the Northern Plains...
As long as no one is being forced off their land, what’s the problem?
I’m with you on this one. The more land that is taken out of production in turn, reduces supply and works to improve profit margins for the remainders. However, taxes on that land should still be paid.
You apparently do not know their tactics.
Surround the target property and then pull eminent domain.
she will be forced to sell.
Or even worse they will start sending in Fed agents to file suits about dangers to wildlife on her land.
THATS how it works.
The Rockefeller family bought up a lot of land for National Parks. As long as government force is not being used, I don’t see the problem.
Young people can not compete on the pricing.
Family farms and ranching is then increasingly dead. Young people will not own their homestead, but will be removed from the land.
The Ted Turner types will build yurts, mansions, and eco-lodging for their Hollywood pals to jet in for a weekend of sanctuary.
Your food supply then is increasingly from feed lots with growth hormones and who know what other drugs.
No more free range meat.
Evidence?
Oh, just an iconic and irreplaceable element of the American way of life being bought out and chucked down the drain. No biggie.
The right way to do this is for the ranchers and real conservationists to sign conservation easements and work to adopt good ecological practices where needed. This APF on the other hand is a deliberate effort to move people off the land, and move the land out of private ownership. And once it's gone, it's gone for good.
You are kidding, of course. By whom? This will all be turned over to the gubbermint once the ngo has done its dirty deeds.
I’m coming to the belief that there needs to be a constitutional amendment that limits the percentage of land ownership by the government both state and federal.
Not sure what that percent should be, nor do I know how you get around the laws that allow for land taxes but once the government owns the land, they become the lords and we the serfs.
I watched a story of a man that lived in Montana with his family.
Can’t remember the name.
The BLT wanted his land.
He was constantly harrassed.
His house was not up to code, etc.
This went on for years.
Fianlly something happened that got him killed.
His son took over his fight.
I will have to research this to get the full story.
Will post to you when I get it.
I watched a story of a man that lived in Montana with his family.
Can’t remember the name.
The BLM wanted his land.
He was constantly harrassed.
His house was not up to code, etc.
This went on for years.
Fianlly something happened that got him killed.
His son took over his fight.
I will have to research this to get the full story.
Will post to you when I get it.
The history of the Rockefeller family buying land in Jackson Hole from naive ranchers was very sad IMHO.
Individual families who had provided for themselves became short term employeees, then fired.
The homesteads with independent ranchers disappeared along with that unique American spirit of self reliance and hard work.
America moves forward. Not too many people wear their Zoot suits out on Friday nights either.
I would imagine most of the cattle from these ranches eventually ends up at feedlots, anyway. That's a separate problem.
...The end result is now a haven for leftists, communists, statists, the really rich, who by and large have very little in common with Wyoming folk. Ever looked at a real estate brochure from Jackson? We often wonder how employees of the Ski resorts could manage to live there were it not for room and board. I’m sure the tax receipts are great for the State of WY. The one thing you don’t hear much about is someone wanting to curtail building in and around Jackson.
It is about being American, individuals that can live free and build lives, instead we have been dumbed down to believe, time rolls on gov't will take care of you.
Wear your new media designed suit, myself, I will live free and OWN my land.
The decades of federal games against working folks by ecos / greenies / watermelons is massive.
They banned logging in federal lands then on private lands thru ESA and then creating an endangered bird, rat, or such.
The feds then promised to send *in lieu of lost property taxes* some federal money to help pay for local schools ...who had lost their property tax base as the logging mills were forced to close and as private property became government property.
This in lieu of is temporary and will be forgotten as soon as the federal politician can.
Same tricks with mining, commercial fishing, etc.
And file environmental protection suits for some bug or rodent.... so that if she does manage to keep a corner of her land, she can't use it.
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