Free Republic

Ranchers say their hands are tied as reintroduced wolves—listed as endangered—are feasting on cattle instead of hunting elk and deer.. Descendants of rewilded wolves are taking a heavy toll on cattle in Northern California and Oregon, killing calves and full-grown animals and putting stress on cow-calf operations and ranchers’ pocketbooks. Because wolves are listed as an endangered species under state and federal law, ranchers are hamstrung: They can’t shoot or harass these protected predators. The penalty for killing a wolf is steep; federal law carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, unless a rancher...

Wolves in California are costing ranchers millions of dollars far beyond just the price of cattle killed, .. A Wyoming rancher says the secondary costs of predation are well-known here. ... As California’s wolf population expands, the predators there are costing ranchers millions — not just in value of the cattle killed, but through collateral effects as well ... one wolf can cause $69,000 to $162,000 in “direct and indirect losses from lower pregnancy rates in cows and decreased weight gain in calves,” .. Those results should come as no surprise to Wyoming ranchers, Jim Magagna, executive vice president of...

The cut and baled land and the untouched land in this photo represent where survey markers indicate property boundaries exist between Maude private property and USFS property. Charles Maude and Heather Maude were indicted separately for theft of federal property, and each must retain their own attorney — doubling their legal costs. Courtesy photo Screen Shot 2025-04-10 at 10.57.18 AM The Western South Dakota couple indicted for theft of federal property will not go to trial in April. A new court date of July 22, 2025, has been established for Charles and Heather Maude of Caputa, in federal district court...

Today, Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s, R-Colo., legislation to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List and ensure that action is not subject to judicial review passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee. The Pet and Livestock Protection Act will restore authority back to state lawmakers and state wildlife officials to control the gray wolf population. H.R. 845 will now head to the full House of Representatives for a vote. “The damage to pets, livestock and wildlife from an unmanaged wolf population can no longer be ignored. The gray wolf has exceeded federal and...

Four Missouri hunters who stepped diagonally from one parcel of federal land in Wyoming to another did not illegally trespass on the airspace of adjacent private property, a federal appeals court has ruled. The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver, firmly protects public access to millions of acres of land in the court’s six-state jurisdiction and substantially strengthens the rights of “corner-crossers” throughout the West. The case is rooted in a quirk of the region, where vast swaths of terrain have been divided since the 19th century...

Gavin Newsom & his allies just forced 12 historic family farms & dairies out of Point Reyes National Seashore in California. They claim it’s about saving the environment — but the truth couldn't be more different. Here is the true story — and it's heartbreaking. 2/ For over 100 years, ranchers and dairy farmers have worked the land at Point Reyes. They built Marin’s organic food movement & supplied fresh milk to Californians. Now they’re being forced out — by environmental groups, the federal government, and Newsom’s political allies. ... 3/ When Congress created Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962,...

There is a private property rights battle brewing in rural parts of southeastern Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma and portions of the Dakotas, Nebraska and five Tribal Nations. The U.S. Department of Energy has plans to establish the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors or NIETCs, in these areas and the corridors span five to 15 miles in width. If approved, in New Mexico about 2 million acres of mostly private property would be transferred to the control of the federal government potentially via eminent domain. In Colorado, farmers, ranchers and rural residents stand to lose control of 325,000 acres in...

DEI: LA Mayor Karen Bass is hiring an ‘outside consultant’ to rebuild the Pacific Palisades in a more equitable and environmentally sustainable way. She intends to award the contract without authorization from the property owners. ... CORRUPTION: California updated the law to allow Mayors like Karen Bass to take contributions from contractors and consultants to the city if they are award via competitive bid starting on Jan 1, 2025. This exemption is significant because it means that vendors winning contracts through competitive bids can still donate to political campaigns of officials overseeing the contract process—potentially leaving room for continued influence...

An idyllic stillness swallowed Home Ranch on Friday, as there was little to disturb the oldest dairy ranch on the Point Reyes National Seashore. California quail fluttered their wings and scattered in the brush beside a dirt road leading into the historic complex containing several barns, a silver silo and a farmhouse with green window trims that predates San Francisco’s cable cars.

Here we go...again.. Here we go again. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has imposed a sweeping ban on poultry and dairy cattle exhibitions, this time citing fears of H5N1 avian influenza. If this feels like déjà vu, that’s because we’ve seen this playbook before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government shut down businesses it arbitrarily deemed “nonessential,” crippling livelihoods and communities under the guise of public safety. Now, they are targeting farmers, youth organizations, and small-scale agricultural exhibitors. ... This isn’t just about bird flu—it’s about a growing pattern of overreach where freedom is sacrificed for an...

Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee met with the Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday to discuss potential reductions of the state’s wolf program.. As Colorado looks for ways to cut nearly $1 billion from its budget, some legislators are pondering whether pausing wolf reintroduction efforts could save the state $2.1 million per year. It was one of many options the Joint Budget Committee weighed during a budget hearing with the state’s Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Funding for wolves After Colorado voters passed Proposition 114 in 2020 to reintroduce wolves in Colorado, the state’s wildlife agency has received...

According to the lawsuit, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in coal companies, and then used their influence to pressure the companies to adopt ESG goals and reduce output. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 10 other state attorney generals, have filed a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Vanguard Group, three of the largest institutional investors in the world. The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the firms conspired to artificially constrict the market for coal through anti-trade practices. “Texas will not tolerate the illegal weaponization of the financial industry in service of a destructive, politicized ‘environmental’ agenda....

A Kentucky homeowner says he has been forced out of his own home after letting some guests stay in his garage while they fixed their car. Daniel Toma says the guests ended up staying three months and a court order has now taken him out of his house. “I just want this nightmare to end. I’ve been homeless the last few days,” he said. Toma said he wished he never invited his friend, Amy Davis, and her boyfriend, Tyler Sencuk, to his house over the summer. According to Toma, he let them stay at his home until their car could...

You worked hard your whole life. You saved for a down payment and bought your dream home. The neighborhood is great, and you never have to worry about crime. The only thing your local police department has to do is hand out the occasional parking ticket. You did everything right — and you thought you were safe from the scourge of squatters who can only take over in “bad neighborhoods.” You were wrong. The Daily Caller’s new documentary, “American Squatter,” exposes the dirtiest secret in the housing market: squatters are king. And they can take over anywhere — even in...

Ranchers across the U.S. have expressed outrage over the Forest Service prosecuting a South Dakota ranch couple for allegedly stealing public land. The feds, who showed up armed and in tactical gear, say a fence that’s been on the owners' land for 75 years crosses a boundary with federal grasslands. A South Dakota ranch couple is fighting federal indictments served to them by a U.S. Forest Service agent who allegedly showed up unannounced on their front steps — armed and in tactical gear. The agent was there to serve them with indictments in a modern-day range war between the ranchers...

In March 2016, top Planned Parenthood officials in California eagerly emailed one another about an upcoming meeting with the state’s then-attorney general, Kamala Harris. The meeting carried so much import that the Planned Parenthood officials met with Harris’ staff ahead of time “to discuss prep,” emails reviewed by The Daily Signal show. About two weeks later, on April 5, 2016, California Department of Justice authorities raided the home of a pro-life journalist in his late 20s—David Daleiden, the head of the Center for Medical Progress, who had recently published videos allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials gruesomely describing how they extract...

A house mistakenly built on the wrong plot of land in Hawaii is set to be knocked down after a developer got it confused with the neighboring lot. A judge ordered the construction company that made the mistake to foot the bill for the demolition. Annaleine "Anne" Reynolds bought the one-acre plot of land in Hawaiian Paradise Park on Hawaii's Big Island for $22,500 at a tax auction in 2018. Reynolds, who lives in California, previously told Business Insider she had planned to use the land for a home for her children as well as to host women's retreats, but...

Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds snapped up some vacant land in Hawaii for about $22,500 at an auction back in 2018. Reynolds planned to create a picturesque oceanview home using sustainable materials on Puna's Hawaiian Paradise Park lot to host her meditative healing women’s retreats. “There’s a sacredness to it and the one that I chose to buy had all the right qualities,” Reynolds told Hawaii News Now. But while she waited out the COVID-19 pandemic in California before getting started on construction, a real estate broker mistakenly sold the property to a developer, who bulldozed the lot and built a three-bedroom,...

(Colorado Newsline) Colorado landlords will now need a specific reason to evict or not offer a lease renewal to a tenant under a new law signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis on Friday. It is a victory for tenants-rights organizers and progressive legislators who seek to include renters in the conversation about how to address the state’s housing and affordability issues. Colorado is the sixth state to enact such a policy. “Everybody here wants to prevent unnecessary evictions and save families money. And House Bill 1098 does these things while placing no financial burdens on landlords. This is the right...

Dr. Phil spoke with property owners about how squatters are using legal loopholes to occupy properties, but one real estate agent argued it can be justified because of a history of “colonization.” Wednesday’s episode of “Dr. Phil Primetime” featured one guest named Kristine, a real estate agent who “doesn’t think adverse possession is immoral,” but believes that “people with no housing dying from the elements is immoral.” According to the Legal Information Institute, adverse possession is where a “person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met,...