
Isabela
67.6K posts









Of course this DNC account punts what this debate is actually about, here’s an easy to follow overview for you. The controversy focuses on an NGO called the American Prairie Foundation with a bison herd on public land (BLM) in Northeast Montana (note this is different from the famous Yellowstone herd that you may have visited on a family trip). To obtain a grazing permit on BLM, this isn’t auctioned off at market. Instead, it’s a preference system linked to ownership of a nearby property (called a “base property”). American Prairie is a relative newcomer who acquired BLM preference for grazing allotments by purchasing deeded ranches adjacent to BLM land. Then, they asked the BLM to modify their grazing permits to include bison. The BLM did an environmental impact assessment and approved bison in 2022, which was just revoked at the request of Montana lawmakers and ranching families in the state. The reason ranching families, stockgrowers, and Montana lawmakers do not want American Prairie to run their conservation focused bison herd on BLM land begins with the fact that to purchase deeded ranches and obtain eligibility for BLM grazing, American Prairie got piles of cash from foreign and out of state donors. As a donor funded foundation, most of its cash comes from a Swiss born billionaire, a German billionaire, and high net worth individuals from NYC and SF. How would a regular rancher from Montana compete with that to purchase the ranches that would lead to preference for BLM? How would a 21 year old seventh generation rancher compete? When this NGO buys these deeded ranches, the associated grazing rights on BLM are automatically transferred. Montana ranchers and politicians also oppose buffalo on BLM parcels because of the risk of disease transmission to livestock, and an overarching belief that Montana has been ranching for food production for centuries, newer conservation interests backed by non-local cash undermine the long, rich heritage of the state. On the other side of the debate is American Prairie with a noble mission to restore the mighty bison to American grasslands to promote biodiversity, focusing on native grasslands and fauna. This is a group focused on what’s called “rewilding” or returning the land to its pre human state, with the buffalo as a powerful symbol of the American frontier. Proponents argue that as a keystone species, buffalo have many ecological benefits that make our great prairies healthier and more productive. They argue disease transmission risk is overstated, and that market-based conservation is the future. In America, if you have resources to buy ranches, get the BLM permits, you should be able to do so without government putting its finger on the scale and reversing policy for the ranching interests. They argue public land shouldn’t exclusively be for ranching, and the true purpose of “multiple use public land” should include conservation. When I present issues like this in my class, I’m very careful to not tell my students what to think but rather *how* to think about conservation disputes. Where you land on the issue is uniquely yours, a function of your values, heritage, economic preferences, beliefs on the purpose of public land and the role of wildlife in the 21st century.

So far, I’ve kept my promise. I’m asking every Republican in Texas to vote for Ken Paxton in the Senate runoff on Tuesday, May 26th.

Out of every disgusting, dishonest piece of filth the mainstream media has produced about Hurricane Helene... This is the worst. 60 Minutes has NEVER done a story on the families FEMA denied. They NEVER mentioned the Amish, who are STILL in the mountains rebuilding homes 550 days later. They NEVER mentioned Jake Jarvis, who has worked 550 days STRAIGHT FOR FREE for Hurricane Helene victims. Instead, they dug up some fringe conspiracy angle to smear the people who actually showed up as White Nationalists. I'm so angry. Let me tell you what 60 Minutes will NEVER report on I was there. I lived it. I am still here. I shared every story I could find. Me, my wife, hundreds of volunteers delivered RVs to mothers holding babies who were sleeping in TOOL SHEDS AND TENTS in the freezing cold, in the mountains. Because their homes had been ripped off the side of a mountain and washed down the French Broad. So tell me 60 Minutes... WHERE WAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT? Tell me, WHY did all these volunteers NEED to show up? Any thoughts on that?!!!!! Any investigation AT ALL into the federal or state government's response to Hurricane Helene? Please tell me... if the federal government was doing such a GREAT JOB, why did we need to put victims in RVs... ...A MONTH AFTER THE HURRICANE?!!!!!!! Literally every single victim you talk to in Western North Carolina has a horror story about dealing with FEMA... ...and guess who they will all say actually cam through for them? Neighbors. Church groups. The Amish. The Cajun Navy. Shawn Hendricks. Samaritan's Purse. MercuryOne. The Mission Mules hauling insulin up washed-out roads, ONLY ACCESSIBLE by mules. Greg Biffle burning his own fuel in helicopters. Veterans like Adam Smith who organized helicopter rescues with other veterans BY HIMSELF and then was demonized by the media for it. Volunteers like Jake Jarvis working TO THIS DAY, 550 days later without ANY PAY AT ALL. THOSE ARE THE STORIES FROM HURRICANE HELENE WORTH TELLING. But 60 Minutes won't tell ANY OF THEM. Because the truth makes the federal government the villain and the "deplorables" are actually the heroes in this story and they can NEVER admit that. So instead they smeared the rescuers as white nationalists. This is unforgivable. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. And I will BE DAMNED if I let CBS rewrite the history of what happened to my mountains.

















