America's Lost Landscape

[fritz]

There is an hour-long program being broadcast on PBS this week about the lost landscape (and thus the way of life) of the tall grass prairie.

 

Tony, I am sure you are familiar with the way the prairie was in the Dakotas and all down the midwest to about Waco, Tx. It was once said that the grass was up to the saddle on a horseback rider. It was home to huge herds of bison and other wildlife. The bison kept the woody plants (brush) in balance with the grass, which grew unchecked by man.

 

Then came the hide hunters and killed the bison. Then came the settlers who plowed the rich soil. It was tremendously rich in nutrients, built up over centuries of natural use. The state that is now Iowa was the center of this gift to us. Then we started to alter it, make it into something completely unnatural. Make it work for us, and not the othere way around.

 

Today we are beginning to see that we need to do some work for it, and not the other way around. Today we are beginning to see how we used it too hard, and in essence, killed it. But it's too late to bring it back to life, the life it used to have. All we can do now is lay out short-term practices to save a small part of it.

 

And here enters politics, and sometimes the greed of many overcomes the wisdom of a few. There are still farmers who work the land that would like to be able to give the prairie the life it once had, but the times dictate otherwise. Now let me get to the point where I would like to make a point----as long as we have "leaders" in Washington that believe that the farmer must do it all on his own, we will never again see a land anyway near what is used to be (and what it should be).

 

No, money is in short supply for practices where the government helps pay for the cost of saving the landscape. And thus it is continuing to disappear. And like it or not, Republican or Democrat, that is where the leadership must come.

 

I have stated a "not so pretty" observation of what has happened to the land already----and now Rick Perry wants to build a 1/4 mile corridor right down the middle of it. It has already been raped, now it is about to be disemboweled.

 

fritz

[FC]

I know what you are talking about. I really love the prairie and plains. I wandered around exploring as a kid, and looked at the flowers, bugs, frogs, fish, grass, etc. Wandering around exploring is the best activity for a kid.

There's a tall grass prairie in the middle of Kansas that I'd like to hike the kids through in the summer. It didn't look like much in the winter. I have never seen 6 ft. tall grass- I wonder if it exists anymore?

[Horsefly]

I read an article a few years ago about how it may have been the Native Americans to caused us to have our prairies.There's a theory that the natives burned off the grasses for 1,000's of years(and they did) to lure the buffalo in the spring when the grass came out fresh.There has been huge logs dug up that are charred from fire,where there should have never been any timber.It makes a lot of sence,because the prairie grasses grow to the edges of the less fertile land and stop,and that's where the grass fires would stop.Would all that burned vegetation cause the black soil that makes up the prairies? Next to my Dads farm is about a 1,000 acres that's a prairie grass reserve,and they're allowed to bale it once a year,because it helps keep it healthy,same as fire would have,just like fire is good for a healthy forest by cleaning up the underbrush so the trees get all the nutrients,and without underbrush,fires don't reach lower limbs and kill the tree like what happens now-a-days.When the prairies burned off where we lived,it was always so beautiful when the grass came back out.Now that every community has a fire truck and all fires are put out as fast as possible,hackberry trees are tacking over the country side where I live.All fences are outlined with trees where 20 years ago,there wasn't a tree in sight.The plow,overgrazing,and firetrucks have wiped out our prairies.Those causes couldn't be helped,because we had to make a living off the land for our families to survive,and there was no other way for folks to have food for their families if someone didn't grow it.The natives made the prairies provide them with food,and so do we.They didn't think they were doing something good for the land,they just wanted to eat.Jerry

[FC]

When I think about it, what good would it do mankind to have millions of treeless and unplanted acres? I would like some prairies kept preserved, but what I really don't like are cities overrunning farmland. Omaha is a prime example of a sprawling city destroying what were farms. Nothing I can do about it.

[NCShooter]

I read somewhere once that even the bison had a lot to do with keeping the prairies healthy.

One of the reasons the herds kept moving was the fact that as they ate the grass down, the

thousands of hooves churned the sod allowing the water and nutrients into the soil. Kinda like

big hairy dethatchers......

[fritz]

"Omaha is a prime example of a sprawling city destroying what were farms. Nothing I can do about it."

 

The TTC is a prime example of a greedy politician destroying what were farms .

 

But, you and I CAN do something about it.

 

fritz

 

 

[FC]

TTC? What's that?

[fritz]

TTC? What's that?

 

 

I thought by now everyone living in Texas knew what TTC stood for. It is none other than Rick Perry's big highway to the sky, the one that is going to be 1200 feet wide, the one that is going to have lanes for everything but farm equipment, the one that is going to have utilities, pipelines, broadband, etc. all within that 1200 feet.

 

The one that is possibly going to go right through the middle of my ranch, taken with the power of eminent domain. The one that will put me and many other farmers out of business, the one that will take land that has been in our families for well over a hundred years away from us, and "use" it for the "good" of the rest of you lucky souls that do not own farmland, those of you who desire faster transportation from your home to your place of recreation.

 

The one that will allow goods shipped from China, unloaded at Mexican ports, to be trucked up to America. The one that will have no checkpoint (coming north from Mexico) until you get to Kansas City. The one that will make it much easier for illegal immigrants (and terrorists) to reach the mainland (the country that is known as the United States of America). The one that the ones in power, both in Texas and Washington, want so damned badly that they will sell their souls to the Devil in order to get it in place.

 

It is, after all, the Trans Texas Corridor.

 

And now I can see how Perry got re-elected. But it ain't over yet (or maybe it is, if the people of Texas are so blind that they are led like sheep to the end, the end that is determined for them, and not by them).

 

And now you know.

 

fritz

 

[FC]

Oh yeah, that's the billboard posted all over the place of an old cowpoke saying the corridor is good for TX. Now why do you think they chose an old white cowboy for the billboard?

[fritz]

I haven't seen any billboards down here in ranch country, maybe they tried to put one up but it got torn down by the real cowboys here.

 

Tony, I like your sign-off line (the code of the west). Reminds me of the movie about Pecos Bill, along with Paul Bunyan and John Henry, all legends in the right. Pecos Bill spoke of that code, and the three heroes prevented an unscrupulous land developer from destroying the valley where people lived in quiet, peaceful surroundings.

 

Looks like we need those three here in Texas right now. The unscrupulous bad guy now is Rick Perry and his TxDot cronies. The peaceful valley is my ranch, and he is trying to destroy it.

 

Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry--where are you when we need you?

 

Of course, not enough people believe in doing the right thing anymore. That is why Rick Perry got reelected again. Texas put Oil Can Harry in power, and now he has us all tied down to the railroad tracks. And his freight train is fast approaching.

 

fritz

[Horsefly]

I was eating supper yesterday,and the news anounced later there would be a story on the TTC being put on hold.About that time,the phone wrang,and I missed the report.I work with about 2,000 people,and out of all them I talk too,I've never heard anyone say they support the express lane to America.I wish Texas had unlimited terms for state office holders,because if Prick Perry needed to get re-elected,I don't think he could back the corri-door.The superslab was just a rumor that sounded so far fetched,no one really believed it would happen,but right after the prick got re-elected,it became a whole lot more real.What a jackass,and he's a disgrace to the party.He changed parties to make more money,and it worked.Jerry

[FC]

I don't know what they ought to do about I-35. There's five times more vehicles there than the early 70's, and the congestion is horrible, esp. in Austin and DFW.

 

Fritz- I saw that movie too about those three holding off the railroad crook. The kids liked it. I read Pecos Bill books when I was a kid. We need statesmen, but they are in mighty short supply. Bill & Hillary Clinton are the model now, I guess.

[fritz]

Jerry, the moratorium on the TTC (for two years) passed the House by 134 to 5. That's a pretty strong vote of disapproval of Perry's highway. To tell you the truth, the only ones for it are Rick's own people (that he has bought off) and the state agency TxDot that he also owns.

 

It's difficult to tell the fellow who is rubbing your back (and greasing your palm) that he is wrong about that road project. But the residents of Texas, especially the land owners, owe nothing to him. And it is us who should have the final say. Of course Rick will try anything, by executive order, just like the vaccine fiasco.

 

The moratorium now goes to the Senate, and some are worried that they may not go as strongly against the road as the House. But when 134 legislators vote to halt the road, and only 5 vote for it---I fail to see how the Senate can ignore the wishes of their constituents.

 

While I have heard little from the Texas Farm Bureau lately about the TTC, I was informed two years ago, by members, that they were fighting it. They had a strategy on winning the fight. It was simply to fight small battles (like the moritorium) and delay TxDot at every point. You don't win a war with just one big battle, but with a series of victories in smaller battles.

 

And that's the way to stop the TTC.

 

 

fritz