Greetings from Wimberley, a cool, green place this August. The patch of Big Bluestem down by the creek is over my head and quite a thrill to walk through. Our monitoring session at the West Ranch near Ozona was also a marvel of tall grasses. What a gift this year is! And speaking of gifts, be sure to attend our 20th Anniversary Celebration this October where we will honor long time leader, Clint Josey with a special gift.

We have a new Executive Director!! As we expand and become more effective in offering opportunities to learn about land stewardship, we need a full time program director and someone to lead us through the minefield of becoming financially sustainable. So we have brought on Merridee McClatchy as Executive Director and I will continue to produce the programs and publications for HRM of TX. Without further ado, I present to you our new ED. Welcome, Merridee!

—Peggy Cole

Hello! HRM of Texas! I officially started as Executive Director of this vital organization August 1, 2007. I am excited to begin this adventure. While I am new to the position, I am not new to Holistic Management and first became involved about six years ago. I was immediately impressed with the philosophy and it so closely aligned with my personal outlook that I had a sense of “coming home.” I feel very privileged to have this new opportunity.

I bring to the organization seventeen years of nonprofit management experience. Most recently I served for nine years as Executive Director of Central Texas Opportunities, Inc. serving a seven county area in west central Texas. Prior to that I held director positions with agencies in Austin and Denton.

In 1993, I moved back to my family’s land located in southern Brown and Coleman counties. This has been home to my family since 1892 and it was time for this country girl to leave the city and come home. For about the last 70 years, our main production activity has been registered Hereford cattle. We are now taking the legacy of those genetics and aiming for the niche market of grass-fed beef seed stock and production.

To this heritage, my husband, Bob Anderson, and I added the diversification of Gourmet Garlic Gardens to grow and market rare and exotic garlics. We set up our farmer’s market stand alongside the information superhighway of the World Wide Web and provided extensive information about garlic and its uses.

Now if you are thinking, “what happened to Peggy Cole?” Well, she is still here. When the HRM Board of Directors decided to expand (since Peggy had been doing all staff functions), she got first choice of what role she wanted to keep. She will be the Program/Publications Director and you will still be seeing her at all our field days and events. She will, of course, still be our chief photographer. I will take the Executive Director and Development duties.

This move to increase the staff will allow the organization to reach more people and in greater depth with the whole systems approach of the holistic management decision making model. In turn, this will magnify the impact on the well being of the land, families and communities. However, Texas is a big state and Peggy and I certainly will need everyone’s help in this important task. I am looking forward to getting to know you and to working with you.

—Merridee McClatchy 325-348-3068 mmcclatchy@hrm-texas.org

If you want to read the entire News & Notes at one time, it is available at News & Notes for August 24, 2007.

 Get out your datebook, we have lots of places to see and do as you learn more about taking care of your land and your business. Unfortunately there are only so many weekends, so sometimes you just have to choose.

September 20-22, 2007— Bill Zeedyk Roads Water Harvesting

Hudspeth County, Northwest of Van Horn, TX, Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 20-22

Ranch roads can be a principle source of erosion and siltation. By upgrading ranch roads, a land manager can increase the quality and quantity of water on the land, grow more grass and reduce maintenance! Well-drained roads are more stable and easier to maintain than poorly drained roads. If you have ever worried about the impact of roads on watersheds, vegetation, or other landscape features, this workshop is for you!

FREE! See PDF for more information. Hudspeth Roads Flyer pdf size: 0.20mb

And the article in the SRM journal about a previous workshop. Workshop size will be limited so PLEASE RSVP by contacting:  Susan Paschall or Norma Wilson @ 210-829-7224 or by e-mail: lngres@sbcglobal.net    No online registration.

September 20-21, 2007 Farm & Food Leaders Training – Waco

A two-day workshop designed to expand grassroots leadership around the state on current issues relating to food and farm policies. Multiple groups, facilitated by the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assoc., are working to build the network of leaders who are informed and equipped to better communicate about farm and food policies in their communities.

Who should attend? Non-profit & faith-based groups, farmers market managers, co-ops and food banks, environmental activists, community leaders, teachers, school food program directors, farmers, ranchers and others interested in learning more about the issues relating to our food supply.

The training will be held at Carver Park Baptist Church 1701 Turner Street Waco, TX 76704, September 20, 2007 8:30 AM - September 21, 2007 5:00 PM

Register online. Cost is $50 early registration (before Sept. 7) and $75 late.

September 29, 2007 - Haney Field Day in Whitney, Texas (near Hillsboro - Sustainability part-time on 80 acres?

Join us for a FREE (courtesy of G.R. White Trust) field day and brainstorming session to ask ourselves what we would do with the Haney’s situation: 50 laying hens selling 10 dozen eggs/wk (100-200 hens by fall), 5 (almost bred) cattle and 3 donkeys used for grazing control on 80 acres, and the beginnings of rainwater catchment system with two full time city jobs and a 3 hr commute daily.

“We are interested in everything (of course) but could use the most help in taking what we read in the books and putting together a budget and a plan, investigating ways to move to full time agriculture, determining the carrying capacity of our land, marketing/CRA ideas, and everything else,” said Bryon Haney.

If you are interested in getting together at the Haney’s place to share encouragement, enthusiasm, knowledge and ideas, please let us know (call Peggy at 512-847-3822 or e-mail pcole@hrm-texas.org). We can coordinate Pot Luck lunch contributions and plan for the right amount of iced tea.

Rain plans include gathering for roundtable in the garage and a rain gear walking tour of the ranch, so come prepared for any weather and with your pot luck lunch dish. The address is 878 HCR 1314, Whitney, TX 76692. We will have directions for you when you RSVP.

 October 25-27, 2007

PLANTing Seeds of Choice

The October Celebration and Birthday Bash

HRM of TX 20 years, Clint Josey 80 years, OLSA 15 years

Bear Creek Ranch, Aledo, TX October 25-27, 2007

Holistic Resource Management and friends invite you to celebrate with us our 20^th year helping Texas Land Stewards create a more sustainable future. We will honor our mentor, Clint Josey, and the land he stewards with 3 days of classes, clinics and presentations that will help you walk a little lighter on the Earth. Reserve these dates: October 25, 26 and 27, 2007. Plan to spend them at Bear Creek Ranch, Aledo, TX (near Weatherford) with others who feel a connection to the natural world and our co-hosts The Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance and The Dixon Water Foundation. Full details are on the web at http://hrm-texas.org

There will be 2 days of Low Stress Stockmanship with Guy Glosson. This is a hands-on class in managing grazing animals in a way that respects their natural instincts and reduces the stress inherent in handling. Thursday and Friday, October 25 & 26.

Those same days we have Aaron England’s Versatile Horsemanship Trail Riding Clinic, limited to 12 participants.  Aaron will teach good horse communication and techniques that will make you and your horse better companions on the trail. The special treat is practicing those techniques riding the beautiful 2200 acre Bear Creek Ranch. Plan to camp with your horse at the ranch. Pens are available or picket as usual. Thursday and Friday night campfires will add a sense of community.

Denton’s Rodney Love will teach Rainwater Harvesting (Friday morning 10/26) and WaterWise Landscaping (Friday afternoon) classes. And if there is time, he may address regional water issues at Saturday’s symposium. Rodney is the owner of Tierra Designs, where harvesting and utilizing freely available rainfall is considered a wise and sustainable practice. By incorporating xeriscape landscaping and on edible landscaping, your water is put to superior use. Water and stone features add beauty and interest so you can enjoy rainwater as part of your landscape.

Ann Adams is flying in from Holistic Management International to teach two half-day workshops. Friday morning (10/26) is “Getting in Touch with the Land 101.” If you are an avid environmentalist, care about the land, want to learn how you can help save the planet, or just want to understand how Nature functions, this workshop will give you the tools to get in touch with the land. Friday afternoon she offers “At Home with Holistic Management.”  This workshop will give you the basics of how to effectively use this management tool in the home or in your business so your decisions will help you create a meaningful life.  Ann will have her book “Holistic Management At Home” available for purchase.

We have cowboy poetry and original songs by Andy Hedges for the campfire Friday evening and a special chuckwagon dinner for all. Camping is free and plentiful in the mesquite grove. Clint even has showers for you. If you prefer a hotel, several are available in nearby Benbrook or Granbury.

Saturday morning we gather our gifts to honor each other. Bring a handful of your own soil to ceremonially mix with everyone else’s soil into a special planter where Clint Josey can create a future landscape with a palette of native seeds and plants. It is Clint’s vision for the future of agriculture that has created a supporting foundation for Holistic Resource Management, seeded with a $5,000 donation from Clint. We will further honor Clint and his vision of a sustainable future by matching his donation with our collective contributions—our seeds toward a sustainable future for HRM. Each person donating to the foundation will be forever recognized with his name on Clint’s new planter.

After a hearty welcome from HRM president John Hackley, Certified Educator Kim Barker, from Oklahoma will explain what Holistic Management is and why such a fuss about keeping it around to support and educate land stewards. Dixon Water Foundation president Robert Potts will tell you what others are doing with the inspiration of Clint Josey and the Dixon Board.

Rudi Thompson, Irene Klaver  and Richard Teague will demonstrate how Clint’s vision is coming to life on Bear Creek Ranch, in the schools and in the sciences. A panel of ranchers will talk about how they use Holistic Management in their operations.

Clint Josey is treating us to a catered lunch of his own special home-grown lamb. You don’t want to miss this one!

After lunch Remelle Farrar will entertain as she discusses nature tourism as a way to provide the supplemental income needed to preserve the lifestyle of a rural community and the prairie habitat of the native wildlife. Remelle Farrar is Director of Community Development for Canadian-Hemphill County. She also serves as President of the Texas Prairie Rivers Region and manages the programs of the Prairie States Coalition in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado, In these roles, she has the opportunity to bring together ranchers, small town businesses, rural communities and government agency programs to insure the survival of a rural region she loves.

Bear Creek Ranch manager Robby Tuggle will take us on a tour of the ranch hayride style, explaining what they are doing to make this cattle ranch ready for sheep. The Red River Graziers are joining us and can demonstrate how the management club format can help land managers make better decisions.

Back at headquarters Robert Waldrop, founder and president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, presents current thought on delivering the farmers’ market to your door. Good for producers and great for consumers, this method of eating seasonally and locally results in basic healthy foods that are fresh and free from external control. Robert will tell the story of the Oklahoma project and offer advice for forming other co-ops in other localities.  There is a wealth of information, most of it written by Waldrop, on the oklahomafood.coop website.

Wrapping it all up is our good friend and long time director, Malcolm Beck talking about his newest realm of research, paramagnetism. What is paramagnetism and what does it have to do with us? Very basically, any substance, including soil or rock, that will move toward a magnet is paramagnetic. Placed in a magnetic field, such as the Earth exerts, the force field of that substance eventually lines up in a somewhat predictable way. Diamagnetism is the magnetization in the opposite direction to that of the applied magnetic field, e.g., the susceptibility is negative away from the magnetic field. Most organic compounds, including all plants, are diamagnetic. If plants are diamagnetic and good growing soil paramagnetic, an energy is generated that can be used and was often used by the ancients who understood Earth, sun, moon fields to create amazing gardens. Let Malcolm enlighten you on how this can be done.

We have chosen the timing of our birthday celebration so that our international and out-of-state friends can enjoy our neck of the woods on their way to the big International Gathering with Holistic Management International in Albuquerque.

Holistic Management International Gathering, Albuquerque, NM, November 1-4, 2007

Move on to Albuquerque for more outstanding classes and conferences on the issues you care about. See the HMI website for full details. Pre Conference courses start October 30, 2007. There will be exhibits, sponsors, auction and discussions, so get involved today.

November 17, 2007 —Keilsel Ranch Field Day;A Riparian Workshop, Briggs, TX

HRM member, Kathy Comer, has invited us to do a field day on her place north of Liberty Hill. The property has a nice little creek running through it, we thought this would be a good opportunity to learn all about what makes a creek and its riparian area healthy. So we have enlisted Steve Nelle to lead us in a riparian assessment workshop. We will learn how a water catchment functions, how a riparian area functions,

basic plant identification and which plants aid riparian function, and grazing management for sustainable waters. Participants will practice techniques for assessing their own riparian areas and learn actions that will increase riparian function.

Keilsel Ranch is 68 acres with a 1100' high ridge on one side and a creek running from one side to the other of the property. On the North side of the creek is a gentle slope from fence line to creek. On both sides of the creek there are huge oaks, sycamore, buckeye, Spanish oaks, redbud, mesquite, juniper, pecan, walnut and many others to numerous to name. The creek runs about 11 months of the year and there are always spring fed swimming holes.

The ranch was overgrazed in the past but is making a stunning come back. Grasses are: Blue stem, side oats gramma, blue gramma, curley mesquite, linheimer mully, Switchgrass, Lovegrass, buffalo etc.

Kathy plans to eventually raise Llama for their fiber, not to mention their love. She says, “To me they are an elegant and kind animal. They are easy on the land and the environment. Eventually I will probably have a bed and breakfast too.”

Kathy is already doing rainwater collection and plans to put in a guzzler in the future, plant native grasses and plants, possibly using an acre of the property to raise Lavender, since it does so well there. She would like to get feed back from the group on correcting some erosion issues in the riparian areas.

Registration is $20 members and $25 non-members and includes lunch. Please dress for the weather du jour as we will be outside most of the day. You may register online or by calling Peggy Cole at 512-847-3822. Please register by Nov. 9 so we may plan for the meal, etc.

HRM in 2008 – Focusing on a sustainable future for all

April 11-12, 2008   How to Make a Sustainable Living on Your Land – 5 acres to 5 sections. 

We’ll gather at Homestead Heritage, a 500 acre homesteading community at Elm Mott near Waco, to learn how the families work together to create a truly sustainable community. The two-day symposium presents short classes in many of the craft/skills used at the farm, showing how each integrates into the whole of a sustainable family homestead. Tours of various aspects of Homestead Heritage might include:

1.       A walking tour of the working demonstration homestead, which includes an organic vegetable garden, herb garden, orchard and vineyard, small pasture, animals and animal pens, water catchment system and possibly a horse farming demonstration.

2.       A horse-drawn hayride tour of the upper land and a stop at the scenic overlook of the Brazos River bottom where they farm with horses.

3.       A craft village tour of each craft shop, which includes the woodworking/furniture shop, pottery shop, blacksmith shop, restored barn (circa 1760) which serves as a retail shop for our handmade crafts, deli and bakery and the restored gristmill (circa 1750).

4.       Tour of the restored historical buildings detailing the history and explaining the historical construction methods of each building. These buildings include the barn and gristmill described above as well as one other barn (circa 1780), a log cabin from the 1850’s and a smokehouse approximately 150 years old.

Meals will be created onsite with home grown grass-fed meats and other goodies.

As a community that has existed as a community attempting to sustainably live off of the land for the past 30 years, the folks at Homestead Heritage have found that community is a necessity for successful sustainable living. They view sustainable agriculture as such—agriculture, a culture based in the land rather than a one family, individualistic endeavor. Butch Tindell explains, “We have not seen successful, sustainable farms existing long-term in the absence of community. We have found that a network of like-minded persons with a common goal is necessary for the success of a sustainable farm. Our own community is a community of small family farms with each family helping one another and consequently, we teach our classes from this perspective.”

Registration information is not yet available, but please mark your calendars. You will not want to miss this one!

By Vicki Vaughan, San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer, Web Posted: 06/25/2007

Texas has won the right to develop a large-scale wind turbine research and testing facility, Jerry Patterson, Texas General Land Office commissioner, said today.

The facility, just one of two in the nation to be built, will be located at Ingleside, just north of Corpus Christi. It will develop the next generation of wind-turbine technology to produce more kilowatts per turbine than can be achieved now.

The U.S. Energy Department also chose Massachusetts as the site for a research facility. Four other states competed for the research development.

"This is the birth of a new industry here in Texas," Patterson said. "Once we build these test facilities, the wind turbine and blade manufacturers will come. I think there will be plenty of business for both Texas and Massachusetts to come out winners."

Major oil company BP donated the 22 acres of land for the facility, along with giving a donation of $250,000 toward funding it. Other Texas industries also contributed, including Dow Chemical Co. and Huntsman Corp.

The Texas bid for the test facility was handled by the Lone Star Wind Alliance, a Texas-led coalition of universities, government agencies and corporate partners that was created to prepare the proposal for submission to the federal government.

The facility will be built through an innovative public-private partnership, organized through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. Private wind turbine and blade manufacturers are expected to fund the operations of the facility within five years of its construction.

vvaughan@express-news.net

Watch this short news report on what could well be our future. Saltwater.wmv

By Peter Holter, HMI, (505) 842-5252, July 4, 2007

Albuquerque, NM. “A solution to global warming is right under our feet and we can make it personal,” says Peter Holter, COO of Holistic Management International (HMI). The non-profit uses natural methods to restore land, improve soil health, reverse desertification, and improve biodiversity ˆ which greatly increase the soil’s ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it as organic matter. 30 million acres worldwide are currently being managed holistically.

“Because we know that carbon sequestration makes a positive impact on global climate change, we want to help people who are looking for realistic ways to combat global warming,” Holter adds. “So we’re offering them a simple, convenient tool that they can easily use in their own homes and offices.”

The tool is a free Personal Carbon Impact Calculator, a nine-inch-wide, four-inch-high card, which helps people determine and offset their ecological effects on the planet. The card carries a simple chart that translates individual impacts on global warming into dollars and cents, using the same principle that the Climate Exchange industry uses in paying carbon credits to farmers. “Reviewing the chart, people can calculate their personal carbon impacts, and then decide whether or not to use the dollar value of their impacts to support alternative energy projects.” Holter says.

People interested in obtaining the free Personal Carbon Impact Calculator card may call HMI at (505) 842-5252 or visit the website, www.holisticmanagement.org.

Holter suggests six other actions people can take to combat global warming:

1. Vote with your dollars. Invest in products and companies that conserve resources (energy efficient appliances, on-demand water heaters, photovoltaics, etc.).
2. Support low-tech solutions for removing carbon from the air and high-tech solutions for keeping new carbon out.
3. Buy locally grown, organic produce and grass-fed meat and dairy, whose producers avoid using chemicals that hurt land, animals and humans.
4. Increase your ecological literacy. Learn how we can develop symbiotic relationships with Nature so all may thrive.
5. Learn additional ways to reduce your ecological footprint
6. Support HMI‚s efforts to educate others about using animals to improve land health and sequester carbon.

HMI works internationally with stewards of large land holdings (farmers, ranchers, government agencies, environmental advocacy groups, and others) to make their lands healthier, more productive and more profitable. The methods HMI teaches and implements yield a “triple bottom line” of sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits.

Malcolm Beck has written a sensible article explaining our role. Read A Simple Answer

Here is a good short film about carbon sequestration and no-till farming, a study done by Rodale Institute.

July 26, 2007; Page A12

Though the 2007 hurricane season is off to a slow start, my colleague Phil Klotzbach and I will be updating our seasonal Atlantic Basin Hurricane Activity Forecast on Aug 3. We still anticipate another active season -- an above-average number of major hurricanes with maximum sustained winds in excess of 110 mph.

Since 1995, the Atlantic basin has experienced a significant increase in major hurricanes, with 47 major storms in the last 12 years. During the prior 25-year period, 1970 to 1994, there were only 38 major hurricanes, or, on an annual basis, slightly less than 40% as many. On a long period normalized basis, major hurricanes account for about 80% to 85% of all U.S. tropical cyclone-related destruction.

Some scientists, journalists and activists see a direct link between the post-1995 upswing in Atlantic hurricanes and global warming brought on by human-induced greenhouse gas increases. This belief, however, is unsupported by long-term Atlantic and global observations.

Consider, for example, the intensity of U.S. land-falling hurricanes over time -- keeping in mind that the periods must be long enough to reveal long-term trends. During the most recent 50-year period, 1957 to 2006, 83 hurricanes hit the United States, 34 of them major. In contrast, during the 50-year period from 1900 to 1949, 101 hurricanes (22% more) made U.S. landfall, including 39 (or 15% more) major hurricanes.

The hypothesis that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the number of hurricanes fails by an even wider margin when we compare two other multi-decade periods: 1925-1965 and 1966-2006. In the 41 years from 1925-1965, there were 39 U.S. land-falling major hurricanes. In the 1966-2006 period there were 22 such storms -- only 56% as many. Even though global mean temperatures have risen by an estimated 0.4 Celsius and CO2 by 20%, the number of major hurricanes hitting the U.S. declined.

If global warming isn't the cause of the increased Atlantic hurricane activity seen over the past dozen years, what is?

My Colorado State University colleagues and I attribute the increase in hurricane activity to the speed-up of water circulating in the Atlantic Ocean. This circulation began to strengthen in 1995 -- at exactly the same time that Atlantic hurricane activity showed a large upswing.

Here's how it works. Though most people don't realize it, the Atlantic Ocean is land-locked except on its far southern boundary. Due to significantly higher amounts of surface evaporation than precipitation, the Atlantic has the highest salinity of any of the global oceans. Saline water has a higher density than does fresh water. The Atlantic's higher salinity causes it to have a continuous northward flow of upper-ocean water that moves into the Atlantic's polar regions, where it cools and sinks due to its high density. After sinking to deep levels, the water then moves southward, and returns to the Atlantic's southern fringes, where it mixes again. This south-to-north upper-level water motion, and compensating north-to-south deep-level water motion, is called the thermohaline circulation (THC).

The strength of the Atlantic's THC shows distinct variations over time, due to naturally occurring salinity variations. When the THC is strong, the upper-ocean water becomes warmer than normal; atmospheric circulation changes occur; and more hurricanes form. The opposite occurs when the THC is weaker than average.

Since 1995, the Atlantic's THC has been significantly stronger than average. It was also stronger than average during the 1940s to early 1960s -- another period with a spike in major hurricane activity. It was distinctly weaker than average in the two quarter-century periods of 1970-1994 and 1900-1925, when there was less hurricane activity.

A number of my colleagues and I have discussed the physics of Atlantic THC variations in our seasonal hurricane forecasts and in various conference talks for many years. Those who are convinced that greenhouse gas increases provide the only plausible explanation for the recent increases in hurricane activity are either unaware of our work, or don't want to consider any alternative.

One reason may be that the advocates of warming tend to be climate modelers with little observational experience. Many of the modelers are not fully aware of how the real atmosphere and ocean function. They rely more on theory than on observation.

The warming theorists -- most of whom, no doubt, earnestly believe that human activity has triggered nature's wrath -- have the ears of the news media. But there is another plausible explanation, supported by decades of physical observation. The spate of recent destructive hurricanes may have little or nothing to do with greenhouse gases and climate change, and everything to do with the Atlantic Ocean's currents.

Mr. Gray, professor emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and a research fellow at the Independent Institute, has been issuing Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts for the past 24 years.

By Colleen Schreiber, Livestock Weekly, 6/28/07

HOUSTON ˜ Rather than use the old cliché about whiskey and water, one water law attorney simply says, “Water makes people weird.

 “When it comes to debates and litigation over water and water rights, perfectly normal, rational people seem to lose all reasoning and emotions take over,” says Austin water attorney Paul Terrill.

Terrill, a partner in Hazen & Terrill, was one of several water litigators who presented case updates at a CLE International Water law conference here recently.

 “I’ve seen emotion take over in practically every case I’ve dealt with,” Terrill told listeners. “Sometimes it’s the people who own the water; sometimes it’s the governmental entities; sometimes it’s the environmental protestants, but in almost every case you can find these strange brews of emotions that you don’t see in other types of disputes, like breach of contract, for example.”

A panel of lawyers discussed some of the key water issues being litigated in Texas courts today. One issue is that of conjunctive management. As the experts explained, Texas has different rules and regulations when it comes to groundwater and surface water. One big difference between the two is in ownership.

Surface water is clearly the property of the state. A surface permit merely gives the holder the right to use the water, but does not convey title to the “corpus” of the water.

Groundwater, however, is private property regardless of whether ownership begins when it’s captured or in situ (in place). Unless the right has been severed, groundwater belongs to the surface owner.

Still, as one groundwater expert explained, in many cases there is some “communication” between groundwater and surface water, and it is this communication that often poses problems in terms of regulation and management.

Tom Bohl, assistant attorney general in the Natural Resources Division of the Texas Attorney General’s office at Austin, told listeners that his office deals with this situation more from an interstate river context, when dealing with other states that have conjunctive management or states whose water use affects Texas, particularly New Mexico and to a certain extent Oklahoma. These states do not view groundwater ownership the same way Texas does.

Groundwater permitting and regulation is controlled locally, Bohls reminded, while surface water permitting and regulation comes under the jurisdiction of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. However, there are laws pertaining to planning that also deal with conjunctive management issues. For example, Chapter 36 groundwater districts, in developing their groundwater management plans, are required to coordinate their plans with surface water management entities located within the district. These plans then go into a regional plan and ultimately into the state water plan.

In terms of surface water permitting, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has to consider the impact that a surface water permit will have on groundwater.

Bohls commented that past litigation has, in fact, urged such connection between groundwater and surface water. The Edwards Aquifer litigation is one such example.

 “The creation of the Edwards Aquifer Authority in part dealt with the effects and the connections of the Edwards Aquifer on the surface water flowing from the Comal and San Marcos springs, but also streams that make up several rivers in the area,”he explained. “Additionally, the Act itself says that one of the goals of the EAA is to protect water quality of the streams supplied by the Edwards Aquifer.”

There have been other cases in the courts that pertain to this conjunctive management issue. Bohls discussed in more detail San Marcos v. TCEQ.

In the mid 1990s the city of San Marcos came to realize that it needed more water. Edwards groundwater supplies were limited, and the San Marcos River was already fully appropriated, so the city developed a waste water reuse project using some of its groundwater-derived sewage effluent.

In 1995 the City of San Marcos filed an application with the TCEQ’s predecessor, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. The application, Bohls explained, was for authorization to transport San Marcos‚ groundwater-based sewage effluent downstream 3.7 miles below their sewage discharge point.

 “At this 3.7-mile location, they were going to withdraw the water, process it, and reuse it,” Bohls explained. “The city also proposed to establish a means of tracking the movement of the effluent and to account for channel losses so as to prevent any unauthorized use of surface water permitted to downstream water users.”

The application was filed in 1995; in 1997 SB 1 was passed. Within SB 1 was a provision which better outlined the commission’s authority with regard to imposing restrictions as well as the procedure for permitting this type of project by allowing a city, for example, to use the bed and banks of streams to transfer water downstream.

 “B 1 contains some specific provisions in the Water Code,” he commented. “It talks about restrictions that can be put on the use of water in a project like this in order to protect downstream water rights holders and also to protect environmental concerns with respect to the river.”

Several parties, including the San Marcos River Foundation, contested the city’s application. They argued that such a permit would have a negative impact on existing water users in the San Marcos River, and they argued that it would damage water quality and aquatic habitat downstream.

Their main argument, however, Bohls told listeners, was that once the city discharged its privately owned groundwater-based effluent into the watercourse, the city lost ownership of the water. They argued that it became state water, which then meant that the city would need a surface water permit.

The city, however, argued to the commission that they had no authority with regard to groundwater.

 “The Commission split the baby,” Bohls remarked. They agreed that the city did in fact retain ownership of their groundwater even if they used the river to transport it. They used an analogy like logs on a river ~ using the river to transport the logs down the river.

 “The Commission, however, also ruled that they did have authority to protect downstream surface water users and the downstream environment.”

The decision upset both parties - the city and the River Foundation ~ and both sides appealed the decision to the district court in Travis County. The district court upheld the Commission’s ruling.

Again, both parties appealed to the Third Court of Appeals in Austin. The central question that the Court of Appeals addressed was whether the cities’s discharged effluent in fact remained private groundwater when it became commingled in the watercourse with state water.

In its argument before the Court of Appeals, the City of San Marcos cited the ruling in City of Corpus Christi v. City of Pleasanton in arguing that it did have the right to transport its groundwater down the beds and banks of streams.

On the other hand, the protesting parties cited South Texas Water Co. v. Bieri, saying that once groundwater was commingled with state water, the groundwater lost its private characterization and became public property.

The City of San Marcos responded to that argument, contending that Bieri involved surface water, not groundwater; that abandonment was a matter of intent and that in Bieri there was no intent to retain ownership.

In its final opinion, rendered in January 2004, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court decision, and rendered a judgment in favor of the protesting parties.

 “The Court of Appeals didn‚t exactly agree with the Commission,” Bohls said. “Basically, the court said that the city did lose control of the water because the water they wanted to put in is a different quality than the water they wanted to take out. Thus the water is not fungible because the quality is different.”

The case was appealed to the Texas Supreme Court by the City of San Marcos. The Supreme Court denied the city’s petition for review.

"That leaves us where the Court of Appeals in Austin left us," Bohls told listeners, “and it‚s kind of difficult to say where that is. It seems that what they‚re saying is if you put water in that’s not the same quality as the water in the stream, that you are basically abandoning it.”

 “I think perhaps there is an open question in that if you put the same kind of water in the stream, then maybe you‚re not abandoning it, but it‚s very difficult to tell from this opinion.”

The Commission, he noted, did file for rehearing with the Court of Appeals, asking them to make it clear that this particular case only had application pre-SB 1, pre-1997. On rehearing the court agreed and made it clear that this ruling did in fact only apply to pre-1997 law.

However, Bohls pointed out, questions continue to come up, and there has been a lot of debate as to whether the distinction between the quality of the water put in versus that taken out determines ownership in the future.

Bohls discussed one other case that dealt with the issue of conjunctive management of water in Texas. In late 1999 some concerned landowners in the Concho Valley petitioned the TCEQ to appoint a water master to regulate surface water use in the area. Regulations within the Water Code say that the TCEQ may appoint such a water master if 25 or more holders of water rights petition the TCEQ for one and if TCEQ finds that rights of the senior water right holders are threatened. The regulations also call for TCEQ to conduct a hearing to determine if a need exists for a water master.

The City of San Angelo and others, including some water rights holders upstream of the city, opposed the petition.

 “Basically, the case came down to whether or not there was a need and a threat to surface water rights in that area,” Bohls told listeners.

 “Petitioners argued that the reason there is a depletion of flow in the river is not because of the pattern of use of surface water, but rather it’s because groundwater pumping is depleting the supply in areas of the stream where groundwater is actually flowing into the springs,” Bohls explained, and he added that “because it’s not a lack of surface water and because the state doesn’t regulate groundwater, a water master should not be appointed.”

 “Our (TCEQ) argument and the argument of the proponents of the water master was that it doesn’t matter what the source of the problem is. If there’s a water master that is needed to protect everyone’s surface water rights, then that’s justification for appointment.”

The TCEQ ultimately granted the petition for the watermaster and the case was appealed to the district court in Travis County. The case, however, was resolved by an act of the legislature which created an office for the Concho River water master and negated the need to litigate the case further.

Day & McDaniel v. EAA is another case that deals with the issue of when groundwater actually becomes surface water. The case was discussed in part by Darcy Frownfelter, attorney for the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

Frownfelter outlined the case from the EAA perspective in this way: “The applicant had an artesian well that flowed in an unregulated manner into a watercourse. Prior to entering the watercourse, the applicant used the water to irrigate seven acres. The water then entered the watercourse and flowed downstream and became impounded behind a dam, where it commingled with state surface water. The applicant then installed a pump to irrigate 300 acres.”

In their permit application, Day & McDaniel asked for a permit for approximately 700 acre-feet of Edwards water. The EAA, however, only gave them a permit for 14 acre-feet.

 “They didn’t like that,” Frownfelter commented. “The EAA‚s rationale for only granting 14 acre-feet,” he explained, “was that the groundwater, once it was commingled with state surface water, lost its character as groundwater and became surface water, and our act specifically says we have no jurisdiction over surface water.”

The trial court, Frownfelter said, found that in fact, groundwater that becomes commingled with surface water can and does retain its groundwater character. However, the court indicated that the applicant only “proved up” enough for about 150 acres, thus the court said that based on the EAA’s minimum rule of two acre-feet per irrigated acre, the plaintiffs were entitled to approximately 350 acre-feet of Edwards water.

The more important ruling by the trial court, Frownfelter told listeners, had to do with the “takings” portion of the case.

 “The trial court, in granting the EAA’s partial motion for summary judgment, held that the takings claim does not lie because the rule of capture does not vest ownership in the groundwater in the way many folks think it does.”

The takings issue is but one of the many issues in this case that is now before the Fourth Court of Appeals. That portion of the case, he noted, is just now being briefed, so it will be some time before a ruling is issued.

Another interesting twist to the Day-McDaniel case, Frownfelter said, is that their attorney filed their appeal in federal court.

 “Appeals for filing decisions made by groundwater conservation districts actually occur via Chapter 36, which seems to imply that those are to go to state court,” he opined.

The EAA opposed that proceeding, in part, based on the Burford abstention doctrine. The Burford abstention doctrine, Frownfelter explained, basically says that when a state has a comprehensive scheme of regulation relative to a natural resource in that state, federal courts are going to abstain. They also opposed the appeal to the federal court on the basis of the Pullman abstention doctrine. The Pullman doctrine, he reminded, basically says that when there are significant unsettled issues of state law, the federal courts will refrain from acting on federal suits until those issues have been resolved.

In March 2004 the court granted the Authority‚s motion and dismissed the case without prejudice. However, in January 2005, the court denied the Authority’s request for attorney fees.

In wrapping up comments on conjunctive management, Bohls reminded listeners again that there is some acknowledgement within the law itself of the hydrologic connection between groundwater and surface water, but he added that this issue is still a work in progress.

 “How it’s dealt with in the future is something that’s totally unanswered at this time,” he concluded.

By KRISTINA SHEVORY, BEE CAVE, Tex. July 8, 2007, National Perspectives

NEARLY two decades ago, Gene and Linda Lowenthal, who were living in Austin, decided that they would eventually want to move to the wide-open countryside. They bought 58 acres in this small town in the Texas Hill Country, about 45 minutes west of Austin, built a small house and moved here in the mid-90’s finally free of noise and sprawl.

That freedom lasted about nine years. Then, bulldozers started appearing on hillsides once covered with live oak and mesquite trees. Houses and traffic lights popped up on once-forlorn roads leading to their home. Plans for a water line were drawn.

The Lowenthals had to choose: stay, or travel farther out into the Hill Country. “We just wanted a small house where we could enjoy the land and be left alone,” Mrs. Lowenthal said. "People could look at us and say, your land is worth 10 times more than what you paid‚ but what we wanted is going to be gone.”

The couple, who are in their 60’s  she is a hospice nurse, he an investment banker ˜ decided that they did not want to move again. They liked their land and their house, if not the encroaching edges of suburbia. So they decided to stay and to try to see that new subdivisions are built in the way they think is right. They teamed up with neighbors and are battling to keep open land and preserve water quality.

The Hill Country, an area that extends about 150 miles west of Austin, is quickly becoming suburban. With its rolling hills, lakes and rivers, it is attracting Texans eager to escape city life, and out-of-state buyers who can buy more acreage for less, real estate agents say, than they might pay in other states.

“People want to live out in the country,” said Charles Gilliland, a research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University in College Station.

Water, once so difficult to find, is, at least for now, not a problem because of new water lines. Thousands of new homes are planned, and last year the Real Estate Center reported that land prices had reached as high as $25,000 an acre. In certain areas, the prices have ballooned even further.

Ranchers and farmers, enticed by multimillion-dollar payouts, retirement or the lack of heirs, are selling thousands of acres of their large properties to developers eager to put up homes and strip malls. Other landowners, threatened with rising property taxes, see no option but to sell some of the land they have held in their families for many decades.

The beauty of the Hill Country may also be its undoing. The crush of new people is likely to put more cars on county roads, pollute creeks and streams and eventually drain underground water supplies, according to the Save Our Springs Alliance in Austin.

In an environmentally sensitive area like the Hill Country, which sends water downstream to Austin, the stakes are particularly high. And the concerns have led to efforts, like those of the Lowenthals group, to curb development.

Locals have had some success, most notably with West Cypress Hills, a subdivision planned on 1,000 acres near Bee Cave. Three years ago, nearby residents sued the developer, accusing it of sending runoff into a nearby creek. In December, the developer agreed to clean up the creek, follow strict environmental rules and reduce the number of homes built. The fight prompted the county to put together stronger development rules.

Many Hill Country developers say they are trying to do what they can to preserve the region’s rural feel, by setting aside land as open space and putting homes on large lots.

The singer Willie Nelson, who is carving off 65 acres of his 688-acre ranch for upscale homes on large lots overlooking the Pedernales River in Spicewood, Tex., says he plans to leave most of his land untouched.

In the first phase of Mr. Nelson’s project, Tierra Vista, 41 lots will range in size from one to two acres and cost an average of $175,000. Work on roads and utilities is expected to start this month.

At Belvedere, an upscale subdivision in Bee Cave, more than a quarter of the 443 acres will be used for a nature preserve. Homes will sit on one- to three-acre lots and range in price from $850,000 to $1.5 million. About 30 houses are under construction. The few that have been completed have sold quickly, said its developer, Joel Robuck, because buyers want a “little more land, vistas and trees nearby.”

A population explosion in Austin and in nearby San Antonio is also helping to rework the face of the Hill Country. In the 1990’s Austin’s population jumped 33 percent, to more than 656,500, while San Antonio’s grew by 15 percent, to 1.1 million, according to the 2000 census. In the last seven years, Austin’s population has grown by an additional 12 percent and San Antonio’s by 15 percent.

In addition, the Hill Country has experienced “a huge infusion over the last few years of people who come and see it as a low-cost alternative to Arizona, Florida or Nevada,” said Eldon Rude, Austin market director at Metrostudy, a residential home consultancy. “They can build a big house on a lot of acreage for less than where they came from.”

When Randall Rudy turned 50, he and his wife, Karen, left Los Angeles so they could raise their children in Texas. Mr. Rudy, an actor and a native of Houston, wanted his children to grow up in a “warm and fuzzy area” with plenty of Southern hospitality. Not quite a year ago, they moved to Bee Cave and are building a 5,500-square-foot house with a pool, a Jacuzzi and a five-car garage in the Belvedere development. They expect to move in at the end of July.

“There is still a lot of wide-open space and good views in every direction,” Mr. Rudy said. “You get a lot more space, and it‚s more human than L.A.”

Although growth had nibbled at the edge of the Hill Country for years, it never got far because there was never enough water. What little water there was could be found in creeks and underground aquifers, making people dependent on the weather and wells.

“Water is as important as land,” said James Kerby, owner of Kerby Development in Austin, who is planning a 500-acre development next to the Lowenthals‚ home.

But in the last five years, the Lower Colorado River Authority, which controls regional water supplies, has made it possible to put up thousands of new homes. The utility, at the behest of developers and some residents, has been laying new pipelines across the Hill Country that carry lake water to outlying areas. But in the process, it has run into protests.

“The L.C.R.A.’s willingness to bankroll developers is destroying the Hill Country,” said Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance.

The utility, meanwhile, contends it has to sell water to anyone who wants it. There is plenty of water in nearby lakes, it says, and the utility can ease the strain on the aquifer by installing pipelines. “If we have the water, then legally we have to provide the water,” said Joseph J. Beal, the authority’s general manager.

With no regional plan and little regulatory power, most counties have had little say in corralling development. Some cities have started reworking their development codes only in the last few years, while others have imposed building moratoriums on developers to buy time. Since 1998, Austin voters have approved $128 million in bonds to pay for land and easements to stave off development.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a regional planning group, is putting together a proposal to coordinate road and land use. A draft is up for approval by the end of this year, and the group will go to counties and cities to try to persuade them to implement it.

The effort comes at an important time. Regional authorities estimate that by 2030 the population of the greater Austin area will have doubled, to three million.

Local residents are also trying to help. The Lowenthals and Mr. Kerby said an agreement was close that would reduce the number of homes he wants to build from the 464 he is planning, though they would not discuss details.

“To us,” Mr. Lowenthal said, “the land is everything. And we feel a sacred trust to protect it.”

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Last year, 61 parcels of land in Travis County were designated as ecology laboratories for research purposes, which saved the 22 owners thousands of dollars in property taxes.

But this year, every one of those ecolab exemptions was denied after the Travis County Central Appraisal District determined that they weren't legitimate. A couple have been reinstated since they were pulled, and other property owners may sue, but there is a fundamental problem with the state's ecolab and wildlife preservation tax exemptions: It is hard to know whether they are legitimate.

Texas also provides tax exemptions for agricultural and ranch land, tax breaks that can be abused as well. An article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal focused on corporations that set aside acreage in Texas to graze cattle or as wildlife habitat to get sizeable tax breaks.

Samsung Electronics lists 54 acres adjoining its plant as wildlife habitat, saving the company $21,000 in property taxes, according to the Journal. Dell Inc. receives an agricultural exemption on 65 acres it has in crop production at its plant site. And Hospira, Inc.'s land at the former Abbott Laboratories site in North Austin includes land for grazing cattle, which saved the company $48,000 in taxes last year.

Agricultural, wildlife and ecolab exemptions are popular because property is the primary base for revenue in Texas, a state with no income tax. As property values rise, so do the taxes paid to cities, counties, schools, hospital districts and community colleges. Landowners are always looking for ways to lower their tax bills.

Texas also has a minimal amount of public land in the form of parks and green space, since 95 percent of the state is privately owned. So lawmakers have cobbled together the agriculture, wildlife and ecolab exemptions as a way to maintain green belts, open space and wildlife habitat.

Today, Exxon Mobil Corp., one of the most profitable companies in the world, takes advantage of those exemptions by grazing cattle and growing trees around its old oil fields. The appraised value of its agriculturally exempted property in Harris County dropped from $38 million to $1.2 million.

As well-intentioned as these laws may be, they are ripe for abuse. To receive an exemption, the land must be used "wholly or in part" for crops, livestock or wildlife preservation. That's an open-ended invitation to graze a couple of longhorn steers on lots around a valuable industrial plant.

It helps that the penalties are steep for discontinuing an agricultural exemption to develop the property. Owners have to pay full back taxes for five years, plus interest, though that wouldn't discourage someone intent on profiting from the land.

When it comes to wildlife and ecolab exemptions, appraisers are at an even greater disadvantage. Property owners have to do very little to comply with the law, and it's difficult for appraisers to determine compliance. For instance, owners of property with a wildlife exemption must conduct a wildlife census, but there's no way for appraisers to know whether that actually occurred.

"It's hard to monitor and hard to know," said Art Cory, chief appraiser with the Travis appraisal district.

The idea behind the exemptions is to maintain shrinking agricultural and ranch land and wildlife habitat by lowering its taxable value, thus reducing the taxes on it. But there should be better, and more honest, ways to do that than the wildlife and ecolab exemptions.

Allowing individuals ˜ or multinational corporations ˜ a huge tax break because they hang a few birdhouses in the trees or graze a few head of cattle is not good governance. And it is cheating local government and school districts out of millions of dollars each year.

Dear Editor,

 There are at least three critical omissions from your editorial about special property tax valuations for agriculture and wildlife management in Texas.

1. Open space is cost effective. As an example, let's use all of the acres receiving ag or wildlife valuations featured in your article. What you ignored is those acres require no government services. Those cattle and songbirds don't go to school, nor shoot themselves up in the barrooms on Saturday night, nor require the Medivac helicopters after smashups out on the highway. Fill those acres with apartments, condos, and shopping centers, and the tax dollars they bring in never equals the amounts needed by government to pay out in services.

2. Open space has value beyond tax revenues. For a few examples, open space not only supplies food, fiber, and shelter, but also aquifer infiltration, carbon sequestration, recreation, aesthetics, scenic views, wildlife habitat, and reduction of silt and pollutants into creeks, streams, river, lakes, bays, and estuaries.

3. Open space is collateral for loans. End the programs in your article, and what happens? All the acres receiving the special valuation go on the market. The Wall Street Journal (whose name is evoked in your editorial), of all publications, should know what happens next: All such land becomes devalued. What happens to the tax base then? Moreover, most of these acres are securing notes. Devalue collateral and most of the loans become non-complying. Do that and we'll end up with the late 1980s all over again, with a lending institution crises requiring another RTC-type bailout.

Finally, the ag/wildlife valuation is NOT a tax "exemption," even if the code refers to it that way. In reality, it is a special valuation, constitutionally afforded to the owners of open space, regardless whether they farm, manage for livestock or wildlife. Furthermore, all of us citizens using this tax valuation pay exactly the same taxes on our homes, garages, barns, and other improvements as do the citizens who don't have rural acreage! It's only the open space that receives the special valuation.

With the shortsightedness exemplified by your editorial, it's no wonder rural America is being fragmented and covered with asphalt.

Having said this, if anyone is, in fact, cheating on paying their fair share of taxes, they should be horse-whipped. And, I'd like a turn with the lash.

 Mesquite cleared from a field is piled up to be used later to make ethanol.

Kay Ledbetter / Texas Agricultural Experiment Station

By Lara K. Richards

Updated: 2:52 p.m. CT Oct 20, 2006

LOCKETT, Texas - Large clouds of dust filled the air as the bulky machine lumbered down the field, gobbling up every mesquite tree in its path.

Farmers and ranchers smiled as they watched their pesky nemesis being devoured, but they grinned as well about the possibility of turning that thorny tree into future fuel.

North Texas mesquite could soon get your motor running.

The Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lockett is working on a project dubbed the "Mesquite Alternative Fuel Project," which will study the feasibility of harvesting mesquite and turning it into cellulosic ethanol.

"The whole program is developed to try to use the mesquite that nobody wants," said Jim Ansley, professor and the rangeland ecologist who is overseeing the project.

Leaders in the renewable energy industry are casting covetous eyes on all sorts of plant matter to use in making this type of fuel. Ethanol made from corn is already used in regular gasoline like breadcrumbs in meatloaf. About 10 percent can be blended into regular gasoline, making it go farther.

Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol made out of any other kinds of plant matter than corn: rice hulls, willow, wheat straw, cotton gin trash, construction waste and more, experts said. All plant matter contains cellulose.

"You can go nuts. You could put 200 things on the list," said Arnold R. Klann, chief executive officer of California-based BlueFire Ethanol Inc.

'Ultimate sustainable resource'

But one of the top things on the list in Texas is mesquite, often a nuisance plant. And North Texas has plenty of it, Ansley said.

The plant is perfect for harvesting because of its high regrowth rate. Mesquite also tends to grow on flatter sites, which are easier to harvest, he said.

"The program is the ultimate sustainable resource," Ansley said. "It could potentially provide some economic benefit to rural areas."

The Wilbarger County extension site is currently in the "inception phase" of building and experimenting with the machinery needed to cut and collect mesquite for fuel production.

Ansley's staff cranked up both cutting machine and harvester prototypes to showcase the possible technology to attendees at a recent public event.

Rancher Macon Boddy of Henrietta said the mesquite project looks promising. "We're all looking for alternative uses for our land," he said. "If you made your brush work pay its own way (by harvesting the mesquite for fuel), that would be an incredible benefit."

52 million acres to work with

Texas has 52 million acres of mesquite trees, said Montey Sneed, a marketing executive for Pearson Bioenergy Inc. of Aberdeen, Miss., and founder of Texas Ethanol Co. Sneed, of Vernon, sees mesquite is a renewable "feedstock" to make ethanol.

Cutting a mesquite tree down agitates it, and it grows back fiercely. It's renewable at least every 10 years, and it's one of the hardest woods out there — a plus for a biofuel feedstock.

Pearson's process can turn a ton of "waste biomass" into 214 gallons of ethanol, Sneed said. The company has a proprietary method that turns biomass into gas in the first stage. In the second stage, the gas is converted to ethanol.

Several methods of converting plant matter into ethanol are out there, said Carol Werner, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

Technologies can involve introducing enzymes, fermenting the plant matter or heating it up to high temperatures to break it down, Werner said.

The biofuel, itself, is something like your great-granddaddy's moonshine. "It's like 200 proof in terms of that, which is why, in order for ethanol to be sold, it has to actually be contaminated," Werner said.

No one has built cellulosic ethanol refineries in the United States yet, although the technology is in use in places like Japan.

"But it would not surprise me if we saw this beginning within five years from now," Ansley said.

That's going to depend a lot onfuel prices. "If gasoline dips down and stays low, we as a society tend to forget our needs for alternative fuels," he said. "We sort of become lazy again, so any funding to help this out kind of evaporates."

Then when the next crisis crops up, everyone's interested again, Ansley said.

Beltsville, MD – When federal environmental regulators cut his herd sizes to protect an endangered fish, Arizona rancher Rich Collins got busy. With three other ranchers and armed with a USDA SARE farmer/rancher grant, Collins installed new irrigation pipe, built fences and developed rotational grazing plans. Intensive monitoring helped them document improvements to the rangeland and riparian areas.

“The riparian areas have come back amazingly and the uplands have improved,” Collins says. “Monitoring showed we were in compliance…and helped us make management decisions, too.”

Rangeland Management Strategies, a free 16-page bulletin published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, features innovative SARE-funded research on creating and sustaining a healthy range. Throughout, researchers and ranchers like Collins share goals and successes in winter and multi-species grazing, managing forage and other vegetation and protecting riparian areas.

Rangeland Management Strategies is the latest of a series of publications that feature the most creative research funded by SARE.  Preview or download the entire publication.

To order print copies, call 301-504-5411 or email san_assoc@sare.org. Agricultural educators may place orders for print copies in quantity at no cost.

“Rangeland Management Strategies” was published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. SARE is a program of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), USDA, and works with producers, researchers and educators to promote farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities.  SAN operates under a cooperative agreement between CSREES and the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. For more information about SARE grant opportunities and other SAN resources, visit http://www.sare.org

San Antonio's Peter Holt, already in charge of the San Antonio Spurs and his family's Holt Caterpillar business, now has another job: Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission chairman.

Holt originally filled an unexpired two-year term after the resignation of former chairman Katharine Armstrong, and he was reappointed by Gov. Rick Perry after the 2005 legislative session. The announcement of Holt's new position came Monday in a letter from Perry.

Holt, the chairman and chief executive officer of the NBA's Spurs, replaces Joseph Fitzsimons, whose term on the commission expired Feb. 1. Perry still needs to fill three expired terms and one unexpired vacancy on the nine-member commission.

Fitzsimons had served as chairman since Armstrong's departure in 2003. The chairman of the commission is chosen from among the nine commissioners.

In addition to the chairman's position, Perry must fill the expired terms of Fitzsimons, Donato Ramos of Laredo and Phil Montgomery of Dallas. There also is a fourth vacancy, the unexpired term of Houston's Ned Holmes, who was appointed to the state transportation commission earlier this year.

The terms of Parks and Wildlife commissioners span six years, and appointments are staggered with three terms expiring every other year. Members nominated after a legislative session begins can serve and vote until they are confirmed by the Texas Senate. The commission next meets on Aug. 22-23.

GIS to Help Ranchers Manage Natural Resources

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576,<mailto:s-byrns@tamu.edu>s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contact: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576,<mailto:d-rollins@tamu.edu>d-rollins@tamu.edu

SAN ANGELO - Texas Cooperative Extension will present two Geographic Information System workshops at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in San Angelo.

Set for Aug. 29-30 and Sept.19, these workshops will offer in-depth instruction on several commonly used facets of the satellite technology, according to Dr. Dale Rollins, Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo.

"Back in 1997, we introduced the concept of selective brush control, what we now call 'Brush Sculpting,' as a way to enhance wildlife habitat," Rollins said. "Back then, Brush Sculpting meant lots of flagging tape to define the areas for brush removal. Today it means a global positioning unit and a computer on the bulldozer or on the spray plane doing the control work."

A global positioning system - commonly known as "GPS" - is usually a hand-held unit that uses satellite technology to pinpoint geographical positions, Rollins said. And a Geographic Information System incorporates GPS and other databases for "a communication support-type interface."

"Simply put: GPS is the 'bullet,' component of the system and GIS is the 'rifle,'" Rollins said.

"GIS has opened new windows relative to counting wildlife and managing a quail-hunting operation," Rollins said. "They've even got a GPS unit for bird dogs that allows the hunter to keep up with the whereabouts of up to 15 dogs simultaneously."

The Aug. 29-30 workshop is an introduction to ARC/GIS software. Individual registration is $375. The training is an Environmental Systems Research Institute - certified training in ArcView 9.2. Environmental Systems Research Institute markets daylong "Geospatial Field Day" will feature hands-on training on various equipment used in the field. Individual registration, which includes lunch, is $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Consult the TeamQuail Web site to view the workshop's agenda.

For more information on any of the three workshops, call Rollins at 325-653-4576 or Steve Sturtz, Extension agent in Tom Green County at 325-659-6525.

Fort Stockton Field Day to Center on Rangeland Water Harvesting - September 27th
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576,s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Jed Elrod, 432-336-2541,djelrod@ag.tamu.edu

FORT STOCKTON – Texas Cooperative Extension's Pecos County office will be conducting a Rangeland Water Harvesting Field Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Sherman Hammond Ranch.

"With an annual rainfall of only 12 inches, water conservation is very important to us here in far West Texas," said Jed Elrod, Extension agent in Pecos County. "Last year, the Hammond ranch only received about 7 inches of moisture, yet Hammond still has more forage than his adjacent neighbors."

Hammond started water conservation measures on his ranch back in 1964 and remains excited about the long-term results of his efforts, Elrod said. Since then, he has developed and implemented a variety of water-saving techniques that have made his place an oasis for livestock and wildlife, even in times of prolonged drought.

"This field day will allow participants to see firsthand what he does and how he does it, mostly as a one-man operation," Elrod said."Don't miss this field day if you are interested in innovative rangeland management or large-scale rangeland water harvesting."

Along with the rangeland water harvesting theme, the field day will also include talks on feral hogs, deer, game birds important rangeland insects, range seeding, importance of soils, range plant identification, range site descriptions and aquifer recharge capability.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered.

Individual pre-registration is $15 on or before Sept.21 and $25 thereafter.

To reach the ranch, Elrod said go west on Railroad Avenue (which parallels the railroad tracks all the way to the Hammond Ranch). The ranch headquarters is about 25 miles from Fort Stockton's landmark Roadrunner statue. Signs will be posted.

For more information and to register, contact Elrod at 432-336-2541 or djelrod@ag.tamu.edu .

Carbon Credit Conference Set Sept. 28 in East Texas

OVERTON – An upcoming conference promises to walk landowners through four steps to making a profit from selling carbon credits, said a Texas Cooperative Extension expert.

The Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana Carbon Credit Conference is scheduled Sept. 28 at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Overton.

""We are going to bring in people who are in the know, nationwide, who are either involved with the carbon registries or the carbon credit exchange," said Dr. Eric Taylor, Extension forestry specialist. "These are the people who are making the rules and regulations. And they're going to be discussing how carbon credits might possibly be a viable market for landowners, not just forest landowners but all landowners."

Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana landowners are currently being approached by carbon-credit brokers offering to pay them not to harvest their timber until 2011. To the uninitiated, it may sound like a scam, but the basic business concept is legitimate, Taylor said.

Behind the concept is the consensus by the scientific community that manmade production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is tied to global climate change. In the U.S., control of these gases remains voluntary. However, for numerous reasons, Taylor said, many industries that release carbon dioxide will need to purchase carbon credits to offset their emissions.

The Carbon Credit Exchange, based in Chicago, acts like a stock market to facilitate trading of theses carbon credits. "Carbon aggregators" act like brokers to facilitate the process with landowners.

"Well-managed forests happen to very good at sequestrating carbon from the atmosphere," Taylor said.

But there's also potential for all types of land, including pastures, rangeland and unused crop land, to sequester carbon, he said.

The conference will take landowners through four basic steps.

– How landowners can find a carbon aggregator in their area.
"We hope to have all the major carbon aggregators from the three-state area in attendance," Taylor said.

– How to meet the basic requirements for a contract.
"Landowners will need to provide maps and supporting documents that prove eligibility," Taylor said. "We'll walk them through all the basics."

– How to quantify the amount carbon on their land.
"We'll show several ways that people will be able to take advantage of the carbon market through real-world examples," he said.

– How to do the contract paperwork and other issues to actually enroll.
"The final step is to work with an aggregator or associate aggregator to complete the offset contract and forestry offset enrollment worksheet.

Registration for the all-day event is $30 per person and will include lunch. To register online with a credit card, go to www.reynoldsforestry.com/Carbon_Credits_Conference.htm . Or they may pay with cash or check at the door on the day of the event. Credit cards cannot be accepted for at-the-door registration.

For more information, contact Judy Cole at 903-834-6191.

The conference is a cooperative effort between Extension, the Texas Forest Service, Stephen F. Austin State University, the Texas Forestry Association, Pineywoods Resource Conservation and Development Inc., the Louisiana State University AgCenter, the Texas Farm Bureau and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

September 28-30, 2007   Renewable Energy Roundup & Green Living Fair, Fredericksburg, TX

HRM will have a booth (weather permitting) at the outdoor nonprofit section of the Roundup. This is always a fun event for exploring new and old ideas about living in harmony with the Earth. Tickets start at $8.

If you would like to help man the booth any of those 3 days, we sure could use you. Call or e-mail Merridee (325-348-3068, mmcclatchy@hrm-texas.org) or Debbie (830-562-3650, ddavis@hrm-texas.org) to coordinate.

While You’re Out and About – Events Outside of Texas

Rural Youth Summit in Iowa October 26-27

The Rural Youth Summit – planned by and for youth – is scheduled for October 26-27, 2007 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Mark your calendars for this exciting opportunity to connect with rural youth from across the Midwest to discuss the challenges and opportunities you face in rural areas. Young farmers, rural residents, college and technical college students, new Americans and youth who wish to live and work in rural areas are invited to participate. Event highlights include an invited 2008 Presidential Candidate Forum, rural youth presentations and discussion, leadership training and networking opportunities.

Check Events  for more information and the call for presentations. You can submit proposals for oral, video, or dramatic presentations. Selected youth presenters will receive free registration. Deadline for submission is September 21, 2007.

Contact Amy Stratton at (612) 870-3433 or astratton@iatp.org for more information.

Presentation topic areas are:

People, community and changing demographics

* Increasing racial, ethnic, ability, and other forms of diversity in rural America

* Recruiting, welcoming, and meeting needs of first-generation farmers and beginning farmers

* Developing social networks of young people in a community

* Amenities for young people's entertainment and fun community activities

* Community health and sustainability

* Building cross cultural relationships with new immigrants and refugees

Policy

* Examining international, federal, state, and local policies that affect young peoples ability to live and work in rural areas in the past, present, and future

* Increasing youth civic engagement

* Increasing young leaders in rural leadership positions

* Implications of the Farm Bill 2007

Natural Resources

* Renewable energy in rural areas (biomass, energy conservation, wind, etc.)

* Sharing sustainable practices that conserve and enhance natural resources

* Wise use of natural resources (forestry, mining, farming, fishing)

* Food available locally for community residents

* Tourism as use of natural resources

* Young entrepreneurs, economics and jobs

* Advancing rural economic development and value-added enterprises that allow

* local communities to maintain control of the enterprises

* Assisting young beginning farmers

* Assisting First Nation residents with entrepreneurial ideas

* Assisting new Americans with entrepreneurial ideas

* Leadership training and developing young leaders

* Rural job opportunities to maintain and draw youth

Rural infrastructure

* Exploring access to safe, efficient and sustainable transportation

* Access to technology and broadband in rural areas

* Medical and educational facility access in rural areas

* Equal access to safe, efficient and sustainable utilities - water, sewer, electricity, etc.

* Affordable and equal access to safe housing and food

What's next?

* Addressing issues on the horizon that will affect your community, state, or region

* Exploring promising new opportunities for rural communities

* Creating local sustainable rural communities in the era of globalization

High Density grazing and Pasture Walk

Harrisburg, Missouri, Saturday, October 27, 2007, 8:00 am to 5:30 pm

 Featuring: Ian Mitchell Innes (South African High Density Rancher and Certified Holistic Educator) Ian grazes 4000 head of cattle on his 14,000 acre ranch in South Africa. This year he leased out 7000 acres of his ranch simply because his cattle could not eat all the grass even though they are in the worst drought in 40 years!

 Greg Judy (Author of NO RISK RANCHING, CUSTOM GRAZING ON LEASED LAND) The Judy’s switched to High Density Planned Grazing 1 1/2 years ago. The results have been breathtaking. More grass, higher quality forages, more diversity of plants and wildlife, much higher stocking rates, more drought proof, more profit. All of these positive results accomplished without any outside costly inputs.

PLACE:  Seminar will be at the Lions Hall , Harrisburg, Mo., 20 miles NW of Columbia, Mo., Pasture walk will be on Greg and Jan Judy’s Farms 3 1/2 miles Northwest of Harrisburg.  Bring rain gear and rubber boots.

TOPICS: The social, financial and environmental benefits of mob grazing and much more. Pasture walk will cover actual mob grazing system, hair sheep, grazing hogs, water systems, paddock designs, fencing systems, grass finished beef herd, developed leased land grazing systems.

COST: Pre-register $175, after October 14th $200 registration. Includes lunch, seminar, pasture walk with Ian and Greg. This is a one time event and seating is very limited.

CONTACT: Greg Judy 573-874-1816 or 573-682-8422, send check or money order to: Greg Judy, 21975 Devils Washboard Rd, Clark, Missouri, 65243. More info on web site GREENPASTURESFARM.NET

LODGING:Best Western in Moberly and Columbia has block of rooms reserved for $69 night, ask for Greg Judy Grazing Seminar for reduced rate.