Still time to register for PLANting Seeds of Choice

There was a glitch on our online registrations for a short time. It is working properly now so go ahead and use it to get a nice shirt or register for one of our events.HRM's Secure Shopping Cart.

Sometimes we wonder why caterers have to know so far in advance how many of us there will be. The October 10 registration date is a courtesy to them and to let us know as far in advance as possible so we can make enough copies of the handouts and rent enough tables and chairs. So we appreciate you overcoming your fear of commitment and signing up today. But…if you miss this deadline, still make your plans to attend and just let us know as soon as you can. This will be a great program and you don’t want to miss it.

If you want to read the entire News & Notes at one time, it is available at News & Notes for October 10, 2007.

Online registration is now available through HRM's secure site.
Get the Brochure For Printing (pdf) - For Reading (pdf)

Holistic Resource Management of Texas is celebrating its incorporation as an independent nonprofit 20 years ago (in 1987). A healthy offshoot of what is now Holistic Management International; HRM has been encouraging, supporting and teaching the practice of Holistic Management in Texas since early 1986. We are growing physically, as well as in stature, as the principles and practices of HM are gaining recognition as successful means to achieve healthy land, healthy profits, abundant water and clean air—all the components of a sustainable future. This acceptance of what was once viewed as a radical departure from conventional agriculture has allowed us greater audiences and greater success in our mission of transforming people’s relationship with the land. This event is a celebration of this new relationship and its spread throughout agricultural circles and into homes, businesses, and communities.

Clint Josey was one of our original directors whose strong vision of Holistic Management’s importance to the future of agriculture has steadfastly propelled us on our way all these years. Clint had a milestone birthday last month and we are taking this opportunity to celebrate his life thus far and to thank him for his contributions to the current wide approval of Holistic Management. The Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance is our counterpart north of the Red River. While not strictly involved in Holistic Management outreach, this group also brings land managers all the tools and techniques to help them steward the land to the best of their ability. We honor them as out sister organization and thank them for their help in producing this event.

In the usual style of Clint Josey, we will be honored in return with elegant meals prepared by Hard Eight BBQ (Friday) and Don Strange (Saturday). Check out the menus on the link below! PLANting Seeds of choice consists of Thursday and Friday Workshops and a Saturday Symposium, plus lots of great meals.

Low Stress Stockman ship - Oct. 25-26, with Guy Glosson
Learning to handle livestock without causing stress to people or animals or the land. Thursday the basics, Friday more advanced. Take either or both days. $50 each day HRM members, $70 for non-members (includes membership), discounts for couples or multiple days. Includes Chuck Wagon lunch and dinner Friday (bring your own meals prior to Friday) and free camping on the ranch.

England's Versatile Horsemanship Clinic with Aaron England - Oct. 25-26
Two-day clinic includes a day of teaching the horse and rider to be better trail companions to each other and a day of trail riding on the ranch putting the lessons to work. $300 per person/horse team. Includes Chuck Wagon lunch and dinner on Friday (bring your own meals prior to Friday) and free camping on the ranch.

Thursday night campfire - bring your drum and guitar

Rainwater Harvesting / Water-wise Landscaping Workshop with Rodney Love, Oct. 26
Friday morning - Rainwater Harvesting, afternoon – water-wise landscaping and regional water issues. $50 each session HRM members, $70 for non-members (includes membership), discounts for couples or multiple days. Includes Chuck Wagon lunch and dinner and free camping on the ranch.

Holistic Management in the home and business by Ann Adams, Oct. 26
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. $50 each session HRM members, $70 for non-members (includes membership), discounts for couples or multiple days. Includes Chuck Wagon lunch and dinner and free camping on the ranch.

Camping
Plenty of free camping—one campsite for the horsemen and one without horses

Friday evening campfire with entertainment - Andy Hedges, popular cowboy poet and singer from Lubbock. Includes chuck wagon meal of Hard Eight BBQ pork chops with all the trimmings. Free with registration of any workshop or the symposium. Otherwise $15 for members.

Saturday Celebration Symposium – presentations about creating healthy water through healthy land. Includes a sit-down breakfast and a lunch of succulent organic lamb from The Dixon Ranches – all prepared on-site and elegantly presented by Don Strange of San Antonio. $50 HRM members, $70 for non-members (includes membership), discounts for couples or multiple days.

8:30 am Native American and Seed Ceremony Honoring Clint Josey - Sam Montoya
All participants are urged to bring a pail of their finest soil
9:00 Welcome to Bear Creek Ranch - John Hackley, HRM President
9:05  What is Holistic Management? - Kim Barker CE - OLSA
9:20 Dixon Water Foundation and its vision - Robert Potts, DWF President
9:35 Break & visit sponsor tables
9:45 Dixon Water Foundation Sponsored Programs - Richard Teague, Rudi Thompson and Irene Klaver
10:45 Bringing the Vision into Being - Courtney White, The Quivira Coalition
11:10 HM on the land- Bob Steger and a panel of ranching families from Oklahoma
12:00 pm Lunch & visit sponsor tables
1:00 Eco-tourism - Remelle Farar of Texas Prairie Rivers
2:00  Ranch Tour - Robby Tuggle and the Bear Creek Ranch management team - Robby will explain what they are doing to make this cattle ranch also support sheep.
3:15 Break & visit sponsor tables
3:30 Forming a food co-op - Robert Waldrop of Oklahoma Food Co-op
4:15 Paramagnetism and how to use it - Malcolm Beck
Adjourn

Please register by October 10, online registration is now available through HRM's secure site or by calling Peggy Cole 512-847-3822. Late registration will be taken, of course.

The field day will focus on the proper function of water catchments and riparian areas. One of the key features of the ranch is a creek which runs for most of the year. Attendees will learn that private land stewards are the primary managers and caretakers of the water of Texas and how properly vegetated lands can catch, store, process and release the water for a healthy and stable water cycle. This helps maintain good water quality and a more consistent supply of water over time.

The field day will feature sessions on plant identification, and the value of plants to livestock, wildlife, and ecosystem function. Participants will learn how to evaluate the health of water catchments and riparian areas and how proper grazing management can help restore degraded land.

Instructors and discussion leaders for the field day will include NRCS specialists Steve Nelle, Kenneth Mayben and Ricky Linex, who bring a combined experience of over 80 years of natural resource management.

Fee to attend is $20 for HRM members and $30 for non-members. Register online at hrm-texas.org or with Peggy Cole 512-847-3822. Please dress for being out in the field all day; though we will have plenty of time to sit in the shade at lunch.

The schedule looks like this:
10am - Ecological History of Rolling Limestone Prairie

• Historical Landscape / Fire / Bison
• European Grazing Influence
• Erosion
• History of Keilsel Ranch; Ranch Objectives
• How Plant Communities Change - Succession - Retrogression
• How Plants Grow – Grazing Effects; Two kinds of overgrazing
• How to Restore Degraded Rangeland
• How to evaluate a functional water catchment
• Reading the Land
• Water Cycle – Infiltration, Runoff, Water Catchment, Slow the water down
• Upland Plant ID and Plant Values
• Plant Treasure Hunt or Plant ID Quiz with prizes for the winners
• Discussion

• Water quality
• Base flow
• Reduce flood damage
• Creek Dynamic
• Channel
• Floodplain
• Different Channel Types (take it easy now)
• Energy – Erosion / Deposition
• Sinuosity
• Width to Depth
• Downcutting / Lateral widening
• Riparian Vegetation
• How to evaluate a functional creek
• How to Restore Degraded Riparian Areas

Please register by Nov.12 so we can have lunch and handouts for all.

From the Ground Up: Practical Solutions to Complex Problems—four exciting days packed with keynote addresses, powerful and educational workshops on the topics that matter to you most, and special events. Whether your focus is land desertification, food security, public lands, meeting consumer demand for organics, or global warming, you’ll exchange ideas with knowledgeable experts and discover the solutions that are working now.

Can’t attend all four days? Save by registering for one-day passes or even individual events starting at just $25.

Sessions and Workshops Cover:
* Soil health
* Animal behavior
* Multi-species grazing
* Partnering with Nature
* Taking sustainability to the next level
* International community development
* Global climate change
* Fire
* Drought
* Sustainable genetics
* Working effectively with groups
* Marketing
* Solar dollars
* Diversifying income
* Carbon sequestration

Attend a Pre-Conference Course!
October 30-November 1, 2007
Choose one from the following:
* Introduction to Holistic Management®
* Creating Healthy Profits: Holistic Financial Planning
* Increasing Pasture and Animal Production: Holistic Grazing Planning

For more information and to register, visit The Gathering.

American Grassfed Association is hosting Grazing America'07 conference in Austin, TX November 1-3, 2007. The conference will include sessions on genetics, multi-species farming, humane husbandry, small acreage farming, posthole 101 for the new-beginning farmer, carcass traits and temperament, labeling claims & update from USDA FSFI, mineral supplementation, specialty butchering session, chef demos, and cheesemaking.

It will also feature speakers such as Jo Robinson author "Why Grassfed is Best", Gary Nabhan author "Coming Home to Eat", Rick bayless noted author and chef, Monica Pope one of Texas' treasured chefs, John Mackey CEO Whole Foods Market.

For more information or to make a reservation, visit AmericanGrassfed.org

Mr. Menken must have been astute observer of human nature. No doubt he had experienced the frustration and futility of addressing complex problems with simple solutions. The truth he describes applies to many aspects of life; it applies especially well to natural resource problems.

Too often, we view natural resource problems as simple cause and effect. We fail to acknowledge or understand the complexity of ecological relationships. We tend to look at the surface and fail to dig out and examine the roots. Complex relationships do not usually respond favorably to simple solutions.

For example, we go full blast into the eradication of salt cedar and call it “ecosystem restoration”. We fail to understand why the salt cedar invaded in the first place and we fail to look ahead at the chain of events that might happen when it is removed. Will other more desirable plants fill the void naturally? Will appropriate native species be used in proven re-vegetation techniques? Were funds set aside for re-vegetation? Will the banks and riparian areas remain barren and subject to extreme erosion? Will the control efforts be maintained and the results monitored? Is the cure as bad as the disease?

We invest millions of dollars to control brush on uplands and call it “watershed restoration”. The intent is to increase the quantity of water in creeks and aquifers. Are we addressing a problem or a symptom? Are we addressing or ignoring the importance of grazing management? Are there provisions in place to insure that the brush will not re-encroach to previous densities? Is there scientifically valid data to show that the desired water response will occur? Do we consider the impact of the project on land values and wildlife habitat?

We have all seen other short term, simple solutions applied in hopes of solving complex range and wildlife problems in Texas and other places. Plant miracle grasses such as exotic bluestems, buffelgrass, bermudagrass, fescue or Lehman lovegrass to improve grass production or re-vegetate bare areas. Initiate intensive wagon-wheel grazing techniques to magically restore depleted ranges. Kill spike bucks to improve deer genetics. Provide supplemental feed to enhance deer nutrition and grow large antlers. Release pen raised quail to augment low natural populations. Kill predators. Introduce exotic ungulates for increased diversification. Etc, etc, etc.

Some of these techniques and practices have legitimate uses and benefits in certain situations as part of a carefully planned, comprehensive land management program. None of them will solve the intended problem adequately when used alone or without careful consideration of the long term side effects.

When we hear of simple solutions being promoted to address complex natural resource issues, our best advice is to urge the promoters to slow down and back up. Urge them to take a good deep look at the situation from multiple viewpoints, long term perspectives with a wide angle lens. That will be difficult and unpopular advice; but remember this:

The law of unintended consequences kicks in when the rule of simple solutions is applied.

With oil close to $80 per barrel, a series of businesses, ranging from chemicals and textiles through agriculture and utilities, are already facing heavy cost pressure. Hundred-dollar oil could be catastrophic for some. But despite OPEC's promises, supplies are so tight that we may be one hurricane, political crisis, pipeline explosion or major refinery accident away from some very grim earnings reports.

The best case is that other large energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind, tide or cellulosic ethanol are a decade or more out. This leads to one obvious conclusion: We have to do better with the oil, gas and coal we have. In part this depends on improving efficiency. But a large part also depends on getting more energy out of existing and new deposits. This will require not just chemical and mechanical solutions, but understanding hydrocarbons as a biological system.

It is easy to forget why biology and energy are symbiotic. Hydrocarbons are, in essence, sunlight concentrated in plant, animal or bacterial matter. Be it coal, gas or oil, what we are extracting and burning is bioenergy concentrated in carbon.

This is not the way we have approached hydrocarbons for the past 200 years. Instead of considering energy as a biological process, we have regarded it as a matter of chemical engineering. When we have thought about how to get more energy out of the ground, or to process it more efficiently, we turned to chemical and mechanical engineers. These means and methods are no longer sufficient, much less efficient. We have to change how we approach energy production.

That approach must begin with biology. For example, coal is concentrated life-debris that rotted under pressure for millions of years. Where there is little gas, the only way to get the energy out is to mine the coal. But where there is a lot of gas one can extract coal-bed methane, a far cleaner alternative.

If we were able to generate more gas from coal -- instead of the dirty, dangerous and destructive mechanical alternative of mining and then burning it -- we could have a significant positive impact on the environment (particularly since coal-fired electric plants are one of the single greatest sources of carbon gases).

What is interesting and promising is that the amount of gas generated by various coal seams varies tremendously. And often the reason has to do more with biology than with chemistry. If I may be prosaic, as bacteria eat old vegetable matter they produce gas, just like a kid after eating beans. More bacteria equal more gas. Too much gas, with no outlet, and the mine can explode. Biology often determines output.

Because there is a wide variance, one can change the conditions in a given coal seam to increase or decrease gas production. Initial lab results show one might be able to increase coal gas to the point where it might be unnecessary to mine the coal itself. Future U.S. energy security and competitiveness, I maintain, will depend on biology and not just chemistry, which is why new disciplines, like genomics and proteomics, are becoming critical components of any energy bill.

BP recently partnered with Synthetic Genomics to explore various hydrocarbon applications. These technologies become ever more valuable as oil is processed into advanced plastics, textiles or high-end fuels. DuPont sold off its traditional petroleum-based polyester and nylon plants and is now manufacturing its new fabrics using large bacterial reactors. Toyota is developing plants that grow the plastics for use in car dashboards.

The disposable, transparent water cup or lunchtime salad container that you used today could well have been grown in bacteria through a Cargill joint venture. Companies like Greenfuel Technologies are using algae as a substitute fuel for power plants at the same time that they capture greenhouse gases. Understanding microbial processes will be the key to increasing output and achieving greater energy independence while reducing carbon emissions.

In a sense, energy is just about to go through the same transition as agriculture did. The first centuries of intensive agriculture depended mostly on better mechanics and chemistry. Bigger tractors and harvesters, more powerful pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers generated rapid improvements in output.

This began to change as we began to apply more Gregor Mendel and less Henry Ford. Plant geneticists like Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug found that altering plants biologically was even more powerful and efficient than brute-force mechanical solutions. By altering seeds, harvest cycles and climate range, Mr. Borlaug and his colleagues launched the green revolution. Poor farmers in China and India, who could never afford a mechanical solution, became net exporters using a biological solution.

Over the next decade, improvements in energy production will likely come to depend far more on understanding the biology of energy than its chemistry. As we grow bugs that like to eat sulfur, it will be a lot easier and cheaper to turn heavy crude into sweet crude. As we understand the microbial communities that lead to differential pressures in wells, we can become far better at extracting oil than by finding one more drilling fluid or learning new ways to fracture wells.

We have barely begun to scratch the surface. Today's efforts to use plants to power our SUVs are primitive at best. Plants are not programmed to make gasoline, nor are bacteria. Ethanol is simply a complex and expensive byproduct. But then again yesterday's corn and wheat were not programmed to grow fast, large and golden. That change required biologists.

The same will be true of today's primitive biofuels. Last month Science magazine reported the first full transplant of DNA from one cell to another. That is the first step in being able to program cells specifically for energy production on a massive and efficient scale. It is the birth of a new and potentially very large industry, one comparable in scale to biotechnology.

Long term, we might be able to solve the energy crisis by using combinations of solar, nuclear and wind. But short term, 86% of our energy remains hydrocarbons, and the key is how to get more from what we have in hand. Using our rapidly accumulating knowledge of gene and protein data, we are beginning to program cells in enclosed environments specifically for energy production and processing. This will likely increase energy production and efficiency on a massive scale. It could allow developing nations to become energy producers and exporters on a competitive basis.

By beginning to apply bio-knowledge to hydrocarbons we can align economic, social, security, energy, climate and political agendas. The future of energy is biology. What's surprising is it took so long to discover something so obvious.

Mr. Enriquez is a managing director of Excel Medical Ventures, cofounder of Synthetic Genomics, and was the founding director of the Harvard Business School Life Science Project.

Science Daily ˜ Melting Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a 29-year low, significantly below the minimum set in 2005, according to preliminary figures from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of the University of Colorado at Boulder. NASA scientists, who have been observing the declining Arctic sea ice cover since the earliest measurements in 1979, are working to understand this sudden speed-up of sea ice decline and what it means for the future of Earth's northern polar region.

Polar ice reflects light from the sun. As this ice begins to melt, less sunlight gets reflected into space. It is instead absorbed into the oceans and land, raising the overall temperature, and fueling further melting. This results in a positive feedback loop called ice albedo feedback, which causes the loss of the sea ice to be self-compounding. The more it disappears, the more likely it is to continue to disappear. (Credit: NASA)

"The decline in the amount of thick ice that survives the summer melt season this year is quite remarkable," said Josefino C. Comiso, senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The extent of this 'perennial' sea ice and the area it covers are both nearly 38 percent lower than average. Compared to the record low in 2005, the extent and area are 24 percent and nearly 26 percent lower this year, respectively."

"From what we know of how Arctic sea ice behaves after nearly 30 years of continuous satellite observations, this kind of drop in sea ice usually takes more than three years to happen. The rapid trend of the perennial ice previously reported in 2002 appears now to be in an accelerated mode," Comiso observed.

Because Arctic ice cover varies so much year to year, it can be dangerous to look at any one year and draw too much of a conclusion from it," said Waleed Abdalati, head of Goddard's Cryospheric Sciences Branch. "But this year, the amount of ice is so far below that of previous years that it really is cause for concern. The trend in decreasing ice cover seems to be getting stronger and stronger as time goes on."

NASA developed the original capability to observe the extent and concentration of sea ice from space using passive microwave sensors. More recently, NASA launched an advanced microwave instrument in 2002 -- the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite -- that provides a view of sea ice dynamics in greater detail than has ever been seen before. Researchers use this information to study polar bear habitats and the unique movements of sea ice from season to season. AMSR-E is a joint project of NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan.

The accelerating decline in sea ice may be due to changes in climate brought on by the lack of sea ice itself, Comiso believes. "When there is less sea ice in the summer, the Arctic Ocean receives more heat. The warmer water makes it harder for the ice to recover in the winter, and, therefore, there is a higher likelihood that sea ice will retreat farther during the summer. This process repeats itself year after year," Comiso said.

"The longer this process continues, the less likely recovery becomes," Abdalati believes. "The implications on global climate are not well known, but they have the potential to be quite large, since the Arctic ice cover exhibits a tremendous influence on our climate. It really is imperative that we try to understand the interactions between the ice, ocean and atmosphere. And satellites hold the key to developing this understanding."

Current satellites, however, can map sea ice in two dimensions, but it is much more difficult to find out how the thickness of the ice contributes to the change in the total volume of the ice. NASA's ICESat spacecraft (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite), launched in 2003, with the primary goal of determining how much ice sheets are contributing to sea-level rise. ICESat is also collecting data that enables scientists to make estimates of sea ice thickness with unprecedented detail.

"What we need to truly understand the interaction of the ice, ocean and atmosphere in the Arctic is sea ice thickness information," said Abdalati. "The new capability we have with ICESat is expected to be extended into the next decade based on recent recommendations by the National Research Council for a follow-on mission. Ultimately, like the 29-year record we have now of sea ice cover, a long-term ice thickness record will help scientists understand these complex interactions and what the changes in the ice cover will mean to the ecology of the Arctic and to life on Earth."

Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by National Aeronautics And Space Administration.

The Lower Colorado River Authority is seeking 4,200 acres in Wharton County for a retention reservoir that will capture excess water flows from the Colorado River. Part of a proposed water transport project with the San Antonio Water System, the reservoir would be located on property now owned by the Pierce Ranch. A preliminary agreement has already been signed, LCRA officials announced Wednesday.

“We are pleased to be participating in a project which may well set the standard for future interbasin cooperation in the challenge of providing water from surplus to deficit areas in the state of Texas,” said Pierce Ranch manager and trustee Laurance Armour III in a news release.

Six sites were initially considered in Wharton, Colorado and Matagorda counties. The Wharton County site – located between the borders of U.S. 59, the Colorado River and U.S. 71 – was chosen primarily because of the owners’ willingness to sell, LCRA officials said.

Landowners of the other potential sites have reportedly been notified their properties are no longer being considered.

“From the beginning of this project, LCRA’s goal has been to buy property from willing sellers,” LCRA General Manager Joe Beal said.

“This is a key reason for choosing the ranch site, but it is not the only reason. The site also is a good choice because it appears to have similar or less environmental and socioeconomic impacts compared to other sites we considered.”

The majority of the landowners whose properties were being considered had strongly opposed the project. Fears were LCRA would take what it needed by eminent domain. That prompted the organization’s board of directors to adopt a resolution in September of 2006 that instructed staff to “respect property owners’ rights, seek willing sellers and offer fair compensation for land,” according to an LCRA news release.

“The LCRA Board instructed staff to respect the rights of private landowners and to use eminent domain as a last resort for this project,” said LCRA Board Chairman Ray Wilkerson.

Potential sites were evaluated according to criteria that included environmental issues, current land uses, technical factors and estimated costs. The LCRA had initially considered another portion of the Pierce Ranch for the site, purchasing water rights and acquiring an option to buy back in 2000.

A “more suitable” location on the ranch was chosen instead, LCRA officials said, noting the initial site was “too small and is located in the 100-year floodplain.” In addition to the cost of acquisition, expenses will include the construction of an intake structure, pipelines and pumps that will pull water from the river into the basin. No cost figures have yet been released.

Size of the reservoir has also yet to be determined. “Site-specific” studies will now commence to determine the size and design of the basin, as well as potential pipeline routes.

The reservoir’s purpose is to hold excess surface water flows from the Colorado River. That water will be transported via pipeline to San Antonio.

The LCRA/SAWS calls for the transport of 150,000 acre feet of Colorado River water to San Antonio annually. In return, the money the Alamo city pays for the water will fund conservation methods and the development of new water sources in the lower Colorado basin.

Conservation methods alone are anticipated to bring about an initial reduction in water usage by 6,000 acre feet a year.

Though groundwater is to be used as a local supplement, none by law can be transported out of the county.

The LCRA has pledged to “offset” negative impacts of the reservoir construction, specifically the loss in tax revenue. How that will be done has not yet being shared with local officials.

“I’m interested to see what they have in mind,” County Judge John Murrile said. “I’m really concerned (because) even if the property is in agricultural value, that will be a loss of revenue for us.”

Murrile added he’s pleased with how the reservoir plan has developed. He said the agreement between the Pierce Ranch and the LCRA is “good news.”

“They’re not taking land from anybody that’s not willing to sell,” he said. It’s not a done deal yet, however. The overall project is currently in the fourth year of an intensive study to determine its feasibility. The LCRA’s board and the SAWS board must at that point decide if they want to move forward.

Federal, state and local permits must also be obtained. An application will be filed next year with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a federal permit that would cover the entire project as well as the reservoir.

Public input will be sought by the corps during their review, the LCRA said. The corps must complete its review and issue a permit before the Pierce Ranch property can be finalized as the site for the reservoir.

“This is the site we are putting forth in the permit application we plan to file with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but ultimately it is the Corps’ decision on whether to approve the site and issue the permit,” LCRA general manager Beal said.

The LCRA plans to hold a project update meeting later this year in Wharton County.

The committee approved by voice vote the "Habitat and Land Conservation Act of 2007," which includes language to permanently establish tax credits for landowners who voluntarily put easements on their property. The bill has now been reported to the full Senate for consideration.

"America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners have a big role to play in the preservation of America's diverse wildlife and of crucial hunting and fishing lands. This legislation rewards their conservation activities, and guarantees that future generations will enjoy America’s great natural bounty just as much as we do today,” said Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

Provisions in the Habitat and Land Conservation Act of 2007 will:

Permanently extend tax incentives for farmers, ranchers and other eligible taxpayers who establish conservation easements.

Establish tax credits for taxpayers who take voluntary measures to help protect and restore the habitats of threatened or endangered species. Taxpayers will develop a management plan with the Secretary of Interior or other agencies detailing the schedule, deadlines, monitoring and assistance of each specific recovery program.

Establish a tax deduction for the cost of specific actions recommended in habitat recovery plans approved under the Endangered Species Act taken by taxpayers.

Allow taxpayers to exclude from taxable income any payments received from the federal government under certain cost-sharing conservation programs.

Extend a provision to allow taxpayers to fully deduct the costs of environmental cleanups in the year the costs are incurred.

SHIJIAZHUANG, China — Hundreds of feet below ground, the primary water source for this provincial capital of more than two million people is steadily running out. The underground water table is sinking about four feet a year. Municipal wells have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater. Above ground, this city in the North China Plain is having a party. Economic growth topped 11 percent last year. Population is rising. One new upscale housing development is advertising waterfront property on lakes filled with pumped groundwater. Another half-built complex, the Arc de Royal, is rising above one of the lowest points in the city’s water table.

“People who are buying apartments aren’t thinking about whether there will be water in the future,” said Zhang Zhongmin, who has tried for 20 years to raise public awareness about the city’s dire water situation.

For three decades, water has been indispensable in sustaining the rollicking economic expansion that has made China a world power. Now, China’s galloping, often wasteful style of economic growth is pushing the country toward a water crisis. Water pollution is rampant nationwide, while water scarcity has worsened severely in north China — even as demand keeps rising everywhere.

China is scouring the world for oil, natural gas and minerals to keep its economic machine humming. But trade deals cannot solve water problems. Water usage in China has quintupled since 1949, and leaders will increasingly face tough political choices as cities, industry and farming compete for a finite and unbalanced water supply.

One example is grain. The Communist Party, leery of depending on imports to feed the country, has long insisted on grain self-sufficiency. But growing so much grain consumes huge amounts of underground water in the North China Plain, which produces half the country’s wheat. Some scientists say farming in the rapidly urbanizing region should be restricted to protect endangered aquifers. Yet doing so could threaten the livelihoods of millions of farmers and cause a spike in international grain prices.

For the Communist Party, the immediate challenge is the prosaic task of forcing the world’s most dynamic economy to conserve and protect clean water. Water pollution is so widespread that regulators say a major incident occurs every other day. Municipal and industrial dumping has left broad sections of many rivers “unfit for human contact.”

Cities like Beijing and Tianjin have shown progress on water conservation, but China’s economy continues to emphasize growth. Industry in China uses 3 to 10 times more water, depending on the product, than industries in developed nations.

“We have to now focus on conservation,” said Ma Jun, a prominent environmentalist. “We don’t have much extra water resources. We have the same resources and much bigger pressures from growth.”

In the past, the Communist Party has reflexively turned to engineering projects to address water problems, and now it is reaching back to one of Mao’s unrealized plans: the $62 billion South-to-North Water Transfer Project to funnel more than 12 trillion gallons northward every year along three routes from the Yangtze River basin, where water is more abundant. The project, if fully built, would be completed in 2050. The eastern and central lines are already under construction; the western line, the most disputed because of environmental concerns, remains in the planning stages.

The North China Plain undoubtedly needs any water it can get. An economic powerhouse with more than 200 million people, it has limited rainfall and depends on groundwater for 60 percent of its supply. Other countries, like Yemen, India, Mexico and the United States, have aquifers that are being drained to dangerously low levels. But scientists say those below the North China Plain may be drained within 30 years.

“There’s no uncertainty,” said Richard Evans, a hydrologist who has worked in China for two decades and has served as a consultant to the World Bank and China’s Ministry of Water Resources. “The rate of decline is very clear, very well documented. They will run out of groundwater if the current rate continues.”

Outside Shijiazhuang, construction crews are working on the transfer project’s central line, which will provide the city with infusions of water on the way to the final destination, Beijing. For many of the engineers and workers, the job carries a patriotic gloss.

Yet while many scientists agree that the project will provide an important influx of water, they also say it will not be a cure-all. No one knows how much clean water the project will deliver; pollution problems are already arising on the eastern line. Cities and industry will be the beneficiaries of the new water, but the impact on farming is limited. Water deficits are expected to remain.

“Many people are asking the question: What can they do?” said Zheng Chunmiao, a leading international groundwater expert. “They just cannot continue with current practices. They have to find a way to bring the problem under control.”

A Drying Region
On a drizzly, polluted morning last April, Wang Baosheng steered his Chinese-made sport utility vehicle out of a shopping center on the west side of Beijing for a three-hour southbound commute that became a tour of the water crisis on the North China Plain. Mr. Wang travels several times a month to Shijiazhuang, where he is chief engineer overseeing construction of three miles, of the central line of the water transfer project. A light rain splattered the windshield, and he recited a Chinese proverb about the preciousness of spring showers for farmers. He also noticed one dead river after another as his S.U.V. glided over dusty, barren riverbeds: the Yongding, the Yishui, the Xia and, finally, the Hutuo. “You see all these streams with bridges, but there is no water,” he said.

A century or so ago, the North China Plain was a healthy ecosystem, scientists say. Farmers digging wells could strike water within eight feet. Streams and creeks meandered through the region. Swamps, natural springs and wetlands were common. Today, the region, comparable in size to New Mexico, is parched. Roughly five-sixths of the wetlands have dried up, according to one study. Scientists say that most natural streams or creeks have disappeared. Several rivers that once were navigable are now mostly dust and brush. The largest natural freshwater lake in northern China, Lake Baiyangdian, is steadily contracting and besieged with pollution.

What happened?
The list includes misguided policies, unintended consequences, a population explosion, climate change and, most of all, relentless economic growth. In 1963, a flood paralyzed the region, prompting Mao to construct a flood-control system of dams, reservoirs and concrete spillways. Flood control improved but the ecological balance was altered as the dams began choking off rivers that once flowed eastward into the North China Plain.

The new reservoirs gradually became major water suppliers for growing cities like Shijiazhuang. Farmers, the region’s biggest water users, began depending almost exclusively on wells. Rainfall steadily declined in what some scientists now believe is a consequence of climate change.

Before, farmers had compensated for the region’s limited annual rainfall by planting only three crops every two years. But underground water seemed limitless and government policies pushed for higher production, so farmers began planting a second annual crop, usually winter wheat, which requires a lot of water.

By the 1970s, studies show, the water table was already falling. Then Mao’s death and the introduction of market-driven economic reforms spurred a farming renaissance. Production soared, and rural incomes rose. The water table kept falling, further drying out wetlands and rivers.

Around 1900, Shijiazhuang was a collection of farming villages. By 1950, the population had reached 335,000. This year, the city has roughly 2.3 million people with a metropolitan area population of 9 million.

More people meant more demand for water, and the city now heavily pumps groundwater. The water table is falling more than a meter a year. Today, some city wells must descend more than 600 feet to get clean water. In the deepest drilling areas, steep downward funnels have formed in the water table that are known as “cones of depression.”

Groundwater quality also has worsened. Wastewater, often untreated, is now routinely dumped into rivers and open channels. Mr. Zheng, the water specialist, said studies showed that roughly three-quarters of the region’s entire aquifer system was now suffering some level of contamination.

“There will be no sustainable development in the future if there is no groundwater supply,” said Liu Changming, a leading Chinese hydrology expert and a senior scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A National Project
Three decades ago, when Deng Xiaoping shifted China from Maoist ideology and fixated the country on economic growth, a generation of technocrats gradually took power and began rebuilding a country that ideology had almost destroyed. Today, the top leaders of the Communist Party — including Hu Jintao, China’s president and party chief — were trained as engineers.

Though not members of the political elite, Wang Baosheng, the engineer on the water transfer project, and his colleague Yang Guangjie are of the same background. This spring, at the construction site outside Shijiazhuang, bulldozers clawed at a V-shaped cut in the dirt while teams of workers in blue jumpsuits and orange hard hats smoothed wet cement over a channel that will be almost as wide as a football field.

“I’ve been to the Hoover Dam, and I really admire the people who built that,” said Mr. Yang, the project manager. “At the time, they were making a huge contribution to the development of their country.”

Mr. Yang compared China’s transfer project to the water diversion system devised for southern California early in the last century. “Maybe we are like America in the 1920s and 1930s,” he said. “We’re building the country.”

China’s disadvantage, compared with the United States, is that it has a smaller water supply yet almost five times as many people. China has about 7 percent of the world’s water resources and roughly 20 percent of its population. It also has a severe regional water imbalance, with about four-fifths of the water supply in the south.

Mao’s vision of borrowing water from the Yangtze for the north had an almost profound simplicity, but engineers and scientists spent decades debating the project before the government approved it, partly out of desperation, in 2002. Today, demand is far greater in the north, and water quality has badly deteriorated in the south. Roughly 41 percent of China’s wastewater is now dumped in the Yangtze, raising concerns that siphoning away clean water northward will exacerbate pollution problems in the south.

The upper reaches of the central line are expected to be finished in time to provide water to Beijing for the Olympic Games next year. Mr. Evans, the World Bank consultant, called the complete project “essential” but added that success would depend on avoiding waste and efficiently distributing the water.

Mr. Liu, the scholar and hydrologist, said that farming would get none of the new water and that cities and industry must quickly improve wastewater treatment. Otherwise, he said, cities will use the new water to dump more polluted wastewater. Currently, Shijiazhuang dumps untreated wastewater into a canal that local farmers use to irrigate fields.

For years, Chinese officials thought irrigation efficiency was the answer for reversing groundwater declines. Eloise Kendy, a hydrology expert with The Nature Conservancy who has studied the North China Plain, said that farmers had made improvements but that the water table had kept sinking. Ms. Kendy said the spilled water previously considered “wasted” had actually soaked into the soil and recharged the aquifer. Efficiency erased that recharge. Farmers also used efficiency gains to irrigate more land.

Ms. Kendy said scientists had discovered that the water table was dropping because of water lost by evaporation and transpiration from the soil, plants and leaves. This lost water is a major reason the water table keeps dropping, scientists say.

Farmers have no choice. They drill deeper.

Difficult Choices Ahead
For many people living in the North China Plain, the notion of a water crisis seems distant. No one is crawling across a parched desert in search of an oasis. But every year, the water table keeps dropping. Nationally, groundwater usage has almost doubled since 1970 and now accounts for one-fifth of the country’s total water usage, according to the China Geological Survey Bureau.

The Communist Party is fully aware of the problems. A new water pollution law is under consideration that would sharply increase fines against polluters. Different coastal cities are building desalination plants. Multinational waste treatment companies are being recruited to help tackle the enormous wastewater problem.

Many scientists believe that huge gains can still be reaped by better efficiency and conservation. In north China, pilot projects are under way to try to reduce water loss from winter wheat crops. Some cities have raised the price of water to promote conservation, but it remains subsidized in most places. Already, some cities along the route of the transfer project are recoiling because of the planned higher prices. Some say they may just continue pumping.

Tough political choices, though, seem unavoidable. Studies by different scientists have concluded that the rising water demands in the North China Plain make it unfeasible for farmers to continue planting a winter crop. The international ramifications would be significant if China became an ever bigger customer on world grain markets. Some analysts have long warned that grain prices could steadily rise, contributing to inflation and making it harder for other developing countries to buy food.

The social implications would also be significant inside China. Near Shijiazhuang, Wang Jingyan’s farming village depends on wells that are more than 600 feet deep. Not planting winter wheat would amount to economic suicide.

“We would lose 60 percent or 70 percent of our income if we didn’t plant winter wheat,” Mr. Wang said. “Everyone here plants winter wheat.”

Another water proposal is also radical: huge, rapid urbanization. Scientists say converting farmland into urban areas would save enough water to stop the drop in the water table, if not reverse it, because widespread farming still uses more water than urban areas. Of course, large-scale urbanization, already under way, could worsen air quality; Shijiazhuang’s air already ranks among the worst in China because of heavy industrial pollution.

For now, Shijiazhuang’s priority, like that of other major Chinese cities, is to grow as quickly as possible. The city’s gross domestic product has risen by an average of 10 percent every year since 1980, even as the city’s per capita rate of available water is now only one thirty-third of the world average.

“We have a water shortage, but we have to develop,” said Wang Yongli, a senior engineer with the city’s water conservation bureau. “And development is going to be put first.”

Mr. Wang has spent four decades charting the steady extinction of the North China Plain’s aquifer. Water in Shijiazhuang, which has more than 800 illegal wells, is as scarce as it is in Israel, he said. “In Israel, people regard water as more important than life itself,” he said. “In Shijiazhuang, it’s not that way. People are focused on the economy.” Jake Hooker contributed reporting to this article. Huang Yuanxi contributed research.

2008 April:
11-12 How to Make a Sustainable Living on Your Land – 5 acres to 5 l:sections - HRM's Annual Meeting - Homestead Heritage, Elm Mott - www.hrm-texas.org/ annual_meeting_2008.htm