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sitaangelMary S. Nash: Advocate fought for neighborhoods, horses
09:51 PM CDT on Saturday, July 9, 2005
By DAVID RENFROW / The Dallas Morning News
Mary S. Nash was a passionate defender of houses and horses.
Her years of neighborhood advocacy helped rewrite Dallas ordinances
governing thoroughfare construction. In Austin, she successfully lobbied to
block legislation legalizing the slaughter of horses.
Ms. Nash, 56, died of lung cancer July 1.
No services are planned.
Born July 21, 1948, Ms. Nash graduated from Kaufman High School in 1966 and
received her bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University in 1970.
From 1982 until 1998, Ms. Nash worked for the accounting firm Coopers &
Lybrand, where she provided computer support for the firm's tax department.
In 1981, she and friend Norma Minnis worked together to defeat a proposed
Dallas cross-town thoroughfare that would have divided neighborhoods,
eliminated homes and displaced families. She was also co-author of a 1981
Dallas City Charter amendment that requires the city to notify affected
property owners before streets are widened.
Ms. Minnis and Ms. Nash became fast friends after meeting at City Hall in
1979. Ms. Minnis recalled that she and Ms. Nash spent so much time at City
Hall that someone once asked what department they worked in.
Ms. Minnis attributed Ms. Nash's successes to intelligence and preparation.
She said the two would spend hours poring over City Plan documents pertinent
to their causes.
"She fought with facts," Ms. Minnis said. "She would take whatever the rules
were and use them against the bad guys."
Ms. Nash moved to Kaufman in 1987, where she resumed her advocacy, helping
to elect Mayor Paula Bacon in 2003 and 2005.
After moving to Kaufman, Ms. Nash discovered a slaughterhouse operating near
her family farm, processing horsemeat for consumption overseas. In 2003, she
teamed up with Texas Humane Legislation Network to defeat legislation that
would have legalized the operation of equine slaughterhouses in Texas, which
currently operate by relying on federal laws they say supercede state law.
She continued to campaign against the practice until her death.
"Mary was extremely determined," said Ms. Minnis. "When she saw what she
considered an injustice, she would do whatever it took to correct it. She
worked hard for the issues that she felt strongly about.
"She was a powerhouse."
Ms. Nash is survived by her husband, Stephen E. Hulme, and her son, Nash
Hulme, both of Kaufman.
Memorials may be made to the Texas Humane Legislation Network, P.O. Box
685283, Austin, Texas 78768-5283.
E-mail drenfrow@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/obituaries/stories/071005dnmetob.8e7934a9
.html
---
If you did not really read this the first time..Please READ this NOW!
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
DATE: June 16, 2005
CONTACT: Billy Stern, Forest Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x155,
John Horning, Forest Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x153,
Greta Anderson, Center For Biological Diversity, (520) 623-5252 x314
PROGRAM AREA: Grazing Reform
BLM’s New Regulations Undercut Public Participation and Threaten
Wildlife and Water with Hand-Outs to Livestock Industry
Santa Fe, NM – Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological
Diversity decried the new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regulations
released today that shift the emphasis on public land management from
wildlife, water and environmental quality to the new stated aim of
“improving BLM’s working relationships with ranchers.” The regulations
give new rights to the livestock industry on the 160 million acres of
land that it leases from the American people and make it harder for
the average citizen to participate in on-the-ground decision-making.
The rules also make it harder for the agency to respond when they find
reductions in grazing are needed to protect the environment.
“The Bush administration is making it clear that they want to take the
‘public’ out of public lands,” said Billy Stern, Grazing reform
Program Coordinator for Forest Guardians. “BLM Director Kathleen Clarke
claims the ‘regulations will produce long-term rangeland-health
benefits’ including ‘increased vegetation along stream banks, which
will reduce soil erosion and provide more habitats for wildlife.’ That
sounds wonderful. However, only one of more than a dozen changes to the
regulation has any potential benefit to streams and wildlife, while
the rest move forward the administration’s agenda of privatizing public
lands and limiting public involvement.”
These revisions will no longer require the BLM to consult with the
public on several key issues: designating and adjusting allotment
boundaries, renewing/issuing grazing permits and leases, modifying
permits or leases, or issuing temporary permits or leases. This means
that citizens will no longer be informed or have opportunity to
participate in the management of our public lands.
“We are disgusted but not surprised by this Administration’s
consistent concern for private economic interests at the expense of
public awareness and involvement,” said Greta Anderson, Range
Restoration Coordinator at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These
new regulations allow the fox to guard the henhouse, and other
interested parties are left without recourse as soils, water,
vegetation and imperiled species suffer from the economic exploitation
of our public lands.”
The bulk of the regulatory changes give new rights to the industry
making it harder to remove livestock from the publicly-owned lands
managed by the BLM. Specifically, the regulations:
• Give the livestock industry title to future structures (fences,
wells and pipelines) built at government expense for the benefit of
the industry. This means compensation would be required if the lease
or permit was revoked.
• Remove the requirement for the BLM to seek ownership of the water
rights associated with Federal land, when they become available under
state law. The livestock industry is increasingly arguing that they
have a right to graze on any land near their water rights, even if
they don’t own the land.
• Expand the definition of “grazing preference” linking it to a
specific amount of forage, rather than a specific area or “allotment.”
This means with any decrease in forage due to drought, weed invasion or
generally declining conditions, livestock would be given preference to
forage over wildlife or wild horses, and it opens up the industry to
arguing that they can use up all available forage in an area, leaving
nothing but dust and bare soil, no matter what the damage.
• Modify the definition of “interested public” in a way that would
exclude newcomers to an area from participating in livestock grazing
decisions, since they would have had no chance to comment of previous
decisions, and burdens the rest of the public by requiring continuing
involvement to maintain “interested public” status even if they are
only interested in specific decisions.
• Remove public involvement from biological assessments and
evaluations done for wildlife, even if they could have contributed new
scientific documentation or evidence. This leaves such studies to be
written “in house” and reviewed and revised only by government
officials who may or may not have wildlife or ecological expertise.
• Call for taking up to two years for proposing management changes,
and up to five years to phase in grazing reductions needed to protect
wildlife or water quality, rather than requiring a response the
following year. This allows for damage to continue up to seven years.
• State that certain management decisions must be supported by
monitoring data. While the environmental community supports
monitoring, after years of budget woes, it is unlikely that the BLM
has conducted or will conduct comprehensive monitoring, further
limiting the agency’s ability to effectively manage and make timely
changes when necessary.
• Leave current livestock numbers and grazing practices in place
while areas are being reviewed under regulatory or legal action.
• Allow livestock grazing permit holders who have violated BLM laws
and regulation on one allotment to continue to hold other permits,
leaving these areas vulnerable to further violations and ecological
damage.
“We have a responsibility to protect Southwest lands and the rare
creatures that live here,” said John Horning, director of Forest
Guardians. “The push by the Bush administration for new hand-outs to
the livestock industry threatens clear water and public land that
should be available to feed and house declining wildlife populations.”
Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity represent
more than 15,000 residents of the Southwest who believe public lands
should be managed primarily for the protection of fish and wildlife.
---
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
WILD HORSES: BLM keeps herd in check
NEAR EUREKA
The band of horses came into view around a small hill, followed
closely by a low-flying helicopter that herded the animals toward a
wide funnel of camouflage netting.
The horses, galloping in a tight group, passed through the gate of a
small enclosure, which quickly was slammed shut.
The band of horses, consisting of six adult chestnuts and roans with
two colts, snorted and circled the pen as a single unit, barely
winded from the chase. Without landing, the helicopter circled back
in search of more horses.
This roundup in a remote area 30 miles southwest of Eureka, the first
in Nevada since the March-June foaling season, is part of a three-
week effort by the Bureau of Land Management to reduce wild horse
populations in Eureka and Nye counties.
Friday's roundup was overseen by BLM wild horse specialist Shawna
Richardson, who said all but 60 of an estimated 390 horses in the
Seven Mile Herd Management Area would be captured to control an ever-
growing horse population.
Richardson says the agency hoped to capture young horses, which are
the best candidates for adoption, as well as older animals, whose
departure she said would help maintain the overall health of the
remaining horses.
"We're looking for a good mix," Richardson said.
"We know that turning out healthy horses now will mean even healthier
horses the next time around."
The lower numbers, Richardson said, will give the herd room to grow
about 17 percent a year over the next four years, when the next
roundup is expected to occur.
Once captured, the horses are trucked to a nearby corral to be
segregated and inspected for disease. From there, the horses will be
taken to a BLM facility north of Reno, where they will be prepared
for adoption through the agency's Adopt a Wild Horse and Burro
Program. The program has placed about 200,000 wild horses and burros
in private ownership since 1973.
Horses that cannot be adopted out then can be sold for a nominal fee.
The sale of wild horses temporarily was suspended earlier this year
after it was discovered that 41 horses sold by the BLM were resold to
a meat-packing plant and destroyed. The discovery enraged wild horse
advocates and forced the BLM to issue new sales contracts that
outlined criminal penalties for buyers who resold horses for
slaughter.
BLM officials said in June that about 8,400 horses must be sold this
year to control an overflowing horse population in federal holding
facilities.
Forest Service rangeland manager Tom Seley, who attended Friday's
roundup, says wild horses in central Nevada exceed appropriate
population limits. Those levels are calculated by the size of the
range, available water and food, and the combined pressures of cattle
and other livestock, which often share range with wild horses.
"Once you go past that level, you're putting extreme pressure on the
vegetation, and it can take years to regain the ecological health of
the land," Seley said.
Nevada BLM officials estimate that there are 13,300 wild horses and
1,470 wild burros living in about 100 separate areas around the
state. That's about half of the U.S. population of such animals.
Those numbers are significantly lower than the estimate of 19,000
made for fiscal year 2004, when officials say drought contributed to
the death of many older horses as well as lower-than-normal birth
rates. Despite the decline, BLM officials plan to remove about 1,500
animals in Nevada this year.
Wild horses are a contentious issue in rural Nevada. Many ranchers
say the horses eat vegetation and drink scarce water needed by their
livestock. The horses' advocates argue that wild horses are the last
living symbol of the settlement of the West.
"They're a symbol of freedom, no doubt about it," Seley said.
Richardson agrees that wild horse roundups often bring out festering
disagreements over the use of federal land.
"We're between the horse advocates on one side and the anti-horse
people on the other," she said.
"If everyone's not mad at us, we know we're not doing our job."
But Seley says many wild horse advocates overstate the objections of
ranchers lobbying for reduced horse populations.
"It's not that they don't want wild horses," he said.
"The problem is the number of wild horses and the perceived lack of
management of those horses."
Some also argue that wild horses, in addition to their destruction of
vegetation, often are malnourished and diseased, an issue that was
not in evidence on Friday.
Wild horse wrangler Greg Cook, who runs one of only two companies
contracted to gather wild horses on federal land, said the horses
gathered in central Nevada last week appeared healthy, alert and well
fed.
"I don't know anyone who would expect these horses to look any
better," he said.
But Seley, who has overseen wild horses in Nevada for both the BLM
and Forest Service since 1987, says he does not expect the condition
of these horses to change anyone's mind about the animals.
"Arguing about wild horses is like talking to people about abortion
or gun control," he said.
"It's a deep, emotional issue, a personal conviction."
---
EUREKA
BLM rounds up 360 horses south of Eureka
July 11, 2005, 07:42 AM MST Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version
About 360 wild horses have been gathered south of Eureka in Nye County.
That's according to the US Bureau of Land Management office.
The BLM began rounding up wild horses in the Fish Creek Complex of herd management areas on July first and hopes to gather 1,250 horses by July 20th.
Of the 360 gathered so far, 250 have been shipped to the Palomino Valley holding facility operated by the BLM.
The BLM wants to keep a total between 307 and 420 wild horses on the Fish Creek Complex, so some of the horses that are gathered may be returned to the range.
09:51 PM CDT on Saturday, July 9, 2005
By DAVID RENFROW / The Dallas Morning News
Mary S. Nash was a passionate defender of houses and horses.
Her years of neighborhood advocacy helped rewrite Dallas ordinances
governing thoroughfare construction. In Austin, she successfully lobbied to
block legislation legalizing the slaughter of horses.
Ms. Nash, 56, died of lung cancer July 1.
No services are planned.
Born July 21, 1948, Ms. Nash graduated from Kaufman High School in 1966 and
received her bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University in 1970.
From 1982 until 1998, Ms. Nash worked for the accounting firm Coopers &
Lybrand, where she provided computer support for the firm's tax department.
In 1981, she and friend Norma Minnis worked together to defeat a proposed
Dallas cross-town thoroughfare that would have divided neighborhoods,
eliminated homes and displaced families. She was also co-author of a 1981
Dallas City Charter amendment that requires the city to notify affected
property owners before streets are widened.
Ms. Minnis and Ms. Nash became fast friends after meeting at City Hall in
1979. Ms. Minnis recalled that she and Ms. Nash spent so much time at City
Hall that someone once asked what department they worked in.
Ms. Minnis attributed Ms. Nash's successes to intelligence and preparation.
She said the two would spend hours poring over City Plan documents pertinent
to their causes.
"She fought with facts," Ms. Minnis said. "She would take whatever the rules
were and use them against the bad guys."
Ms. Nash moved to Kaufman in 1987, where she resumed her advocacy, helping
to elect Mayor Paula Bacon in 2003 and 2005.
After moving to Kaufman, Ms. Nash discovered a slaughterhouse operating near
her family farm, processing horsemeat for consumption overseas. In 2003, she
teamed up with Texas Humane Legislation Network to defeat legislation that
would have legalized the operation of equine slaughterhouses in Texas, which
currently operate by relying on federal laws they say supercede state law.
She continued to campaign against the practice until her death.
"Mary was extremely determined," said Ms. Minnis. "When she saw what she
considered an injustice, she would do whatever it took to correct it. She
worked hard for the issues that she felt strongly about.
"She was a powerhouse."
Ms. Nash is survived by her husband, Stephen E. Hulme, and her son, Nash
Hulme, both of Kaufman.
Memorials may be made to the Texas Humane Legislation Network, P.O. Box
685283, Austin, Texas 78768-5283.
E-mail drenfrow@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/obituaries/stories/071005dnmetob.8e7934a9
.html
---
If you did not really read this the first time..Please READ this NOW!
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
DATE: June 16, 2005
CONTACT: Billy Stern, Forest Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x155,
John Horning, Forest Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x153,
Greta Anderson, Center For Biological Diversity, (520) 623-5252 x314
PROGRAM AREA: Grazing Reform
BLM’s New Regulations Undercut Public Participation and Threaten
Wildlife and Water with Hand-Outs to Livestock Industry
Santa Fe, NM – Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological
Diversity decried the new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regulations
released today that shift the emphasis on public land management from
wildlife, water and environmental quality to the new stated aim of
“improving BLM’s working relationships with ranchers.” The regulations
give new rights to the livestock industry on the 160 million acres of
land that it leases from the American people and make it harder for
the average citizen to participate in on-the-ground decision-making.
The rules also make it harder for the agency to respond when they find
reductions in grazing are needed to protect the environment.
“The Bush administration is making it clear that they want to take the
‘public’ out of public lands,” said Billy Stern, Grazing reform
Program Coordinator for Forest Guardians. “BLM Director Kathleen Clarke
claims the ‘regulations will produce long-term rangeland-health
benefits’ including ‘increased vegetation along stream banks, which
will reduce soil erosion and provide more habitats for wildlife.’ That
sounds wonderful. However, only one of more than a dozen changes to the
regulation has any potential benefit to streams and wildlife, while
the rest move forward the administration’s agenda of privatizing public
lands and limiting public involvement.”
These revisions will no longer require the BLM to consult with the
public on several key issues: designating and adjusting allotment
boundaries, renewing/issuing grazing permits and leases, modifying
permits or leases, or issuing temporary permits or leases. This means
that citizens will no longer be informed or have opportunity to
participate in the management of our public lands.
“We are disgusted but not surprised by this Administration’s
consistent concern for private economic interests at the expense of
public awareness and involvement,” said Greta Anderson, Range
Restoration Coordinator at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These
new regulations allow the fox to guard the henhouse, and other
interested parties are left without recourse as soils, water,
vegetation and imperiled species suffer from the economic exploitation
of our public lands.”
The bulk of the regulatory changes give new rights to the industry
making it harder to remove livestock from the publicly-owned lands
managed by the BLM. Specifically, the regulations:
• Give the livestock industry title to future structures (fences,
wells and pipelines) built at government expense for the benefit of
the industry. This means compensation would be required if the lease
or permit was revoked.
• Remove the requirement for the BLM to seek ownership of the water
rights associated with Federal land, when they become available under
state law. The livestock industry is increasingly arguing that they
have a right to graze on any land near their water rights, even if
they don’t own the land.
• Expand the definition of “grazing preference” linking it to a
specific amount of forage, rather than a specific area or “allotment.”
This means with any decrease in forage due to drought, weed invasion or
generally declining conditions, livestock would be given preference to
forage over wildlife or wild horses, and it opens up the industry to
arguing that they can use up all available forage in an area, leaving
nothing but dust and bare soil, no matter what the damage.
• Modify the definition of “interested public” in a way that would
exclude newcomers to an area from participating in livestock grazing
decisions, since they would have had no chance to comment of previous
decisions, and burdens the rest of the public by requiring continuing
involvement to maintain “interested public” status even if they are
only interested in specific decisions.
• Remove public involvement from biological assessments and
evaluations done for wildlife, even if they could have contributed new
scientific documentation or evidence. This leaves such studies to be
written “in house” and reviewed and revised only by government
officials who may or may not have wildlife or ecological expertise.
• Call for taking up to two years for proposing management changes,
and up to five years to phase in grazing reductions needed to protect
wildlife or water quality, rather than requiring a response the
following year. This allows for damage to continue up to seven years.
• State that certain management decisions must be supported by
monitoring data. While the environmental community supports
monitoring, after years of budget woes, it is unlikely that the BLM
has conducted or will conduct comprehensive monitoring, further
limiting the agency’s ability to effectively manage and make timely
changes when necessary.
• Leave current livestock numbers and grazing practices in place
while areas are being reviewed under regulatory or legal action.
• Allow livestock grazing permit holders who have violated BLM laws
and regulation on one allotment to continue to hold other permits,
leaving these areas vulnerable to further violations and ecological
damage.
“We have a responsibility to protect Southwest lands and the rare
creatures that live here,” said John Horning, director of Forest
Guardians. “The push by the Bush administration for new hand-outs to
the livestock industry threatens clear water and public land that
should be available to feed and house declining wildlife populations.”
Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity represent
more than 15,000 residents of the Southwest who believe public lands
should be managed primarily for the protection of fish and wildlife.
---
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
WILD HORSES: BLM keeps herd in check
NEAR EUREKA
The band of horses came into view around a small hill, followed
closely by a low-flying helicopter that herded the animals toward a
wide funnel of camouflage netting.
The horses, galloping in a tight group, passed through the gate of a
small enclosure, which quickly was slammed shut.
The band of horses, consisting of six adult chestnuts and roans with
two colts, snorted and circled the pen as a single unit, barely
winded from the chase. Without landing, the helicopter circled back
in search of more horses.
This roundup in a remote area 30 miles southwest of Eureka, the first
in Nevada since the March-June foaling season, is part of a three-
week effort by the Bureau of Land Management to reduce wild horse
populations in Eureka and Nye counties.
Friday's roundup was overseen by BLM wild horse specialist Shawna
Richardson, who said all but 60 of an estimated 390 horses in the
Seven Mile Herd Management Area would be captured to control an ever-
growing horse population.
Richardson says the agency hoped to capture young horses, which are
the best candidates for adoption, as well as older animals, whose
departure she said would help maintain the overall health of the
remaining horses.
"We're looking for a good mix," Richardson said.
"We know that turning out healthy horses now will mean even healthier
horses the next time around."
The lower numbers, Richardson said, will give the herd room to grow
about 17 percent a year over the next four years, when the next
roundup is expected to occur.
Once captured, the horses are trucked to a nearby corral to be
segregated and inspected for disease. From there, the horses will be
taken to a BLM facility north of Reno, where they will be prepared
for adoption through the agency's Adopt a Wild Horse and Burro
Program. The program has placed about 200,000 wild horses and burros
in private ownership since 1973.
Horses that cannot be adopted out then can be sold for a nominal fee.
The sale of wild horses temporarily was suspended earlier this year
after it was discovered that 41 horses sold by the BLM were resold to
a meat-packing plant and destroyed. The discovery enraged wild horse
advocates and forced the BLM to issue new sales contracts that
outlined criminal penalties for buyers who resold horses for
slaughter.
BLM officials said in June that about 8,400 horses must be sold this
year to control an overflowing horse population in federal holding
facilities.
Forest Service rangeland manager Tom Seley, who attended Friday's
roundup, says wild horses in central Nevada exceed appropriate
population limits. Those levels are calculated by the size of the
range, available water and food, and the combined pressures of cattle
and other livestock, which often share range with wild horses.
"Once you go past that level, you're putting extreme pressure on the
vegetation, and it can take years to regain the ecological health of
the land," Seley said.
Nevada BLM officials estimate that there are 13,300 wild horses and
1,470 wild burros living in about 100 separate areas around the
state. That's about half of the U.S. population of such animals.
Those numbers are significantly lower than the estimate of 19,000
made for fiscal year 2004, when officials say drought contributed to
the death of many older horses as well as lower-than-normal birth
rates. Despite the decline, BLM officials plan to remove about 1,500
animals in Nevada this year.
Wild horses are a contentious issue in rural Nevada. Many ranchers
say the horses eat vegetation and drink scarce water needed by their
livestock. The horses' advocates argue that wild horses are the last
living symbol of the settlement of the West.
"They're a symbol of freedom, no doubt about it," Seley said.
Richardson agrees that wild horse roundups often bring out festering
disagreements over the use of federal land.
"We're between the horse advocates on one side and the anti-horse
people on the other," she said.
"If everyone's not mad at us, we know we're not doing our job."
But Seley says many wild horse advocates overstate the objections of
ranchers lobbying for reduced horse populations.
"It's not that they don't want wild horses," he said.
"The problem is the number of wild horses and the perceived lack of
management of those horses."
Some also argue that wild horses, in addition to their destruction of
vegetation, often are malnourished and diseased, an issue that was
not in evidence on Friday.
Wild horse wrangler Greg Cook, who runs one of only two companies
contracted to gather wild horses on federal land, said the horses
gathered in central Nevada last week appeared healthy, alert and well
fed.
"I don't know anyone who would expect these horses to look any
better," he said.
But Seley, who has overseen wild horses in Nevada for both the BLM
and Forest Service since 1987, says he does not expect the condition
of these horses to change anyone's mind about the animals.
"Arguing about wild horses is like talking to people about abortion
or gun control," he said.
"It's a deep, emotional issue, a personal conviction."
---
EUREKA
BLM rounds up 360 horses south of Eureka
July 11, 2005, 07:42 AM MST Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version
About 360 wild horses have been gathered south of Eureka in Nye County.
That's according to the US Bureau of Land Management office.
The BLM began rounding up wild horses in the Fish Creek Complex of herd management areas on July first and hopes to gather 1,250 horses by July 20th.
Of the 360 gathered so far, 250 have been shipped to the Palomino Valley holding facility operated by the BLM.
The BLM wants to keep a total between 307 and 420 wild horses on the Fish Creek Complex, so some of the horses that are gathered may be returned to the range.
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Re:
Date: 2012-07-09 12:19 am (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw