Massive wildfires turned prairies to ash, leading Montana's cowboys to weigh federal help
Source: Washington Post
By Tim Craig
National
August 13 at 6:30 PM Follow @timcraigpost
SAND SPRINGS, Mont. In this part of Montanas rugged eastern prairie, Erwin Weder and the other ranchers and cowboys are not used to feeling kicked around. But as Weder drives his pickup truck onto a bluff to gaze out over Big Sky Country, he feels a bit defeated. ... Hundreds of miles of meadows and scrub grass that feed tens of thousands of beef cattle are gone, replaced by the charred soil and smoldering prairie dog burrows that the states largest wildfire in nearly three decades has left behind. But after the massive multimillion-dollar firefight, another battle has emerged in the wide open spaces where there is often distrust of the government: What should the federal role be in helping Montanas livestock industry respond to, and recover from, the blaze.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) originally rejected Montanas request for assistance, a process that ranchers say left them feeling forgotten and misunderstood by Washington. Now, many in this deeply conservative region are weighing their wariness about bureaucrats against their need for help. ... We lost 70 percent of our grass, which means 70 percent of our revenue, said Weder, 41, who is trying to locate hundreds of cattle that scattered as the flames tore across his 65,000-acre ranch. I dont think people truly understand what an acre of grass is worth to us .?.?. and the millions of dollars that will be lost over the next few years.
The Trump administration has been hinting that it might limit federal spending on disaster relief and preparation, and FEMA is considering whether to draft regulations to shift more responsibility for rebuilding to the states. The creation of disaster deductibles which states would have to exhaust before FEMA offers federal assistance was first proposed under the Obama administration.
The new administration says it is following established criteria for responding to disasters, and it has not indicated clear standards for when it plans to step in with disaster assistance, especially in cases that affect relatively localized areas. President Trumps proposed 2018 budget includes more money for disaster assistance but reduces preparedness grants by $667 million, something that has sparked dismay among state officials. In March, Trump also proposed an 11 percent cut to FEMAs 2017 budget to help fund construction of his proposed border wall. But after denying a wave of disaster assistance requests earlier this year, FEMA has recently begun reversing some of those initial findings, including a recent announcement that it would send aid to Oregon to help it recover from a series of snowstorms.
....
Tim Craig is a national correspondent on the America Desk. He previously served as head of The Posts Afghanistan-Pakistan Bureau, based in Islamabad and Kabul. Hes also reported from Iraq, the District and Baltimore.
Follow @timcraigpost
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/massive-wildfires-turned-prairies-to-ash-leading-montanas-cowboys-to-weigh-federal-help/2017/08/13/a3b4464a-786a-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html
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I have an idea. The ranchers can be told to drop dead. After the land's value has collapsed, certain well-connected individuals or realty trusts can come in and pick the land up for pennies on the dollar. Due to their connections, they'll be able to "fast-track" the conversion of the land into a private game reserve. We'll need a new airport to handle private jets, but a few telephone calls from the right people will take care of that.
The name of this private game reserve will be "Trump Park."
The ranchers will learn what it's like to be punched in the face by an invisible fist.
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 14, 2017, 08:21 AM - Edit history (1)
Maybe they should stop thinking about having Guberment in their lives and just pull themselves up by the bootstraps. This will be another case of HYPOCRISY at it's finest.
Filed for FEMA help and were TURNED DOWN. Well boys...you VOTED for Trump and this CABAL. He's gutting FEMA like everything else for massive tax cuts for the rich.
SUCKERS!!!
Cosmocat
(14,543 posts)That socialism thing is only an issue as it pertains to "others."
They will righteously demand the fed bails them out.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)the republicans keep telling themselves.
HAB911
(8,811 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)not fooled
(5,791 posts)A disaster for the nation, but these MFers don't care.
All they want is to kill off OUR Federal Government so that the rich aren't regulated and don't have to pay taxes.
The rest of us--including those morons in Montana--will suffer.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Alaska, like Montana, voted Trump in. What did they think they were getting? They knew he was a climate change deny-er. They knew he was all about pulling money from programs so that he could pass a huge tax cut package for the wealthy.
Are the rich guys in Alaska happy about the fed withholding help from Alaska? Maybe so. Or are they dismayed, bizarrely surprised at this development, although they should have known.
Link to tweet
DK504
(3,847 posts)that the snow melts have disappeared. This is what happens when you vote for a buffoon and a cabal of Russian employees.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)We've been making a determined effort to eat less beef in recent times. I just don't feel like I should have to help you raise something I can't afford to eat.
bluestarone
(16,722 posts)they will probably get it sorry to say.
Coventina
(26,874 posts)maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)welfare ranchers are jackholes like the Bundys, working marginal land that cannot support raising livestock.
this is in prime beef country.
Coventina
(26,874 posts)I'm still feeling no pity.
maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)I'm a "Buffalo Commons" advocate.
Let these marginal lands return to hosting migrating herds of fauna: Bison, Antelope, Elk, etc. Tear down the barbed wire. Restore the ecosystem instead of propping up the Beef Industry.
Coventina
(26,874 posts)One thing I learned recently that I found disturbing:
Although populations of bison have been increasing, they have been allowed to interbreed with domesticated cattle, and the genetically "true" bison species is still very much in danger of going extinct!
There are a few American zoos that are keeping genetically true breeds and trying to increase their populations for release into the wild.
0rganism
(23,856 posts)no disaster, personal or natural or supernatural, should be allowed to interfere with our glorious individualistic ideals!