All Entries Tagged With: "Western"
Forest Service Seeks Public Input on Pine Beetle Epidemic
(Ouray, CO — Bark Worse Than Bite Press — October 12, 2016)
Warm winter weather that has lingered for almost two decades is allowing mountain pine beetles to have their way with lodge pole, ponderosa, Scotch and limber pine trees all over the Rockies. For centuries the cold killed them off and kept the population in check but no more.
Now they are even munching on bristlecone and pinon pines. The Department of the Interior is alarmed and is looking for a solution.
“Our pleasant winter climate has allowed these bastards to flourish at the expense of our forests,” said one frustrated gov’ment biologist. “Traditional predators such as woodpeckers, moles. shrews, mice, skunks (they think the larvae is yummy) birds and frogs have dropped the ball somewhere along the food chain. Now it’s all on us and we don’t have a clue how to proceed.”
Rumors abound as to the answers. One anecdote suggests that a secret plan to release millions of unspecified or anonymous predators is in the works for November. Another says word-burning restrictions would be relaxed so as to clean up all the dead wood and avoid next year’s forest fires. Drones and robots have graced he mix with no visible changes and lots of misdirected tittle-tattle. According to a USFS statement:
Popcorn-shaped masses of resin, called pitch-tubes, which may be brown, pink or white in color, will be found on the trunk where the beetle began tunneling. Boring dust may be found in bark crevices or on the ground immediately adjacent to the tree base. Evidence of woodpeckers feeding on the trunk may indicate MPB infestation. Patches of bark may be missing where the woodpecker was feeding, and bark flakes may be found on the ground below the tree. These symptoms are similar to the other less destructive beetles, so property owners are urged to properly identify the beetles you find associated with their trees before deciding on treatment.
“Getting rid of these parasites is akin to ending ISIS,” said one Silverton man who favors carpet-bombing the national forests, “but you must strike at the core not just control the symptoms.
Other less drastic methods include replanting the regions with plastic trees or moving the whole shooting match to Nebraska.
– Melvin O’Toole
Columbus Day Planned on the Navajo Nation
Special to The Horseshoe October 11, 2016
Excitement is in the air here at the 15th Annual Columbus Day Celebration planned for October 12 in Tuba City. Some 100 floats and 2000 dancers are expected to grace the main street, eclipsing craft booths and food stalls. Clowns and jugglers will no doubt entertain the children while the adults will be treated to horse races and high stakes bingo.
At 5 pm we will begin a Columbus Buffet with Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria portions! One doesn’t need a crow’s nest to see that we mean to have fun!
Sponsored by the local chamber of commerce, Navajo Columbus Day is in no way connected to the Cortez Corners Rodeo, the Juan Pizzaro Festival and Art Show, the DeSoto Pow Wow or the Father Junipero Serra Mission Feast Day and Chili Cook-off.
“This is our festival alone and even though Christopher Columbus never set foot in Tuba City many of his influences were felt here and still linger,” said Omar Cayenne of nearby Moenkopi.
Columbus Day allows for members of our tribe to socialize and pay tribute to a great American, even though he was a Spanish Conquistador.
The evening will feature fireworks and a watermelon-eating contest along with live bands until midnight.
“It’s fitting that we celebrate this day since without Columbus many of us wouldn’t be here on the reservation today,” smiled Cayenne.
-Kashmir Horseshoe
Campaign Workers Should Plead Insanity
(Chicago) Many mindless campaign workers, still convinced that their chosen candidate represents the panacea, the solution, should, according to leading experts, plead insanity when confronted with recent childish behavior during the elections.
Comparing typical responses of enthusiasm to canned laughter syndrome (CLS), critics of the process say opiated followers only encourage politicians to ignore the real issues and allow these gilded charade masters to misrepresent the truth.
“These glazed over straw hat provincials are the core of what’s wrong with our electoral process,” said one political analyst who has already projected a winner in the 2020 and 2024 Presidential races.
To many delegates and party-liners the whole process is just a big party. The association with a given candidate gives the volunteer worker a dose of validity in an otherwise often stumblebum existence. They ride the coat-tails of their chosen one to victory, claiming that they had a small part. Their responses are inappropriate, their souls tainted by the two-party system. Most couldn’t pass a high school civics test.
They cheer enthusiastically when their candidate spouts more tired rhetoric or passes wind. It’s all the same to them. The politician promises to help the farmers…They cheer madly. He/she pledges relief for the working poor…The house comes down. The candidate paints a picture of himself as the messiah…They are brought to the edge of righteousness, tears forming in the remote corners of their generally dry eyes.
Herding other sheep is a full time gig. Chowderheaded cogs in the massive machine that is eating up the earth and kowtowing to the corporations. Why wrestle with the issues when the guy on stage is sugar-coating reality, packaged for television. Sound bytes. Perception. Sound bytes.
Continued under the tablecloth when the dessert lights go down
Discerning bruin enjoys dining after hours
(Crested Butte) A gracious black bear broke into the Soupçon Restaurant the other night but, with the exception of a three-course dinner, did not harm so much as a linen napkin. His unobtrusive, methodical trail was easy to make out the next morning defined by his not so polite munching.
Gingerly intruders rarely order from the menu.
According to a spokesperson for the restaurant, located discreetly in the alley behind the Forest Queen Hotel, the delicate bear clawed his way in through the lonesome side door, ambled through the small, fragile dining room and made a bee line for the eats.
“We were cooking veal stock and that must have attracted him,” said a kitchen source. “But the stock was boiling hot on the stove. It’s hard to believe he could come and go so gingerly, more like a fox than a bear. If it were not for little piles of food and an open refrigerator door his visit might have gone unnoticed.”
According to the word on the street the bear ate 40 pounds of fish and hit the butter supply pretty hard. These figures were later determined to be exaggerated. Several other restaurants, including the Sunflower, were robbed the same night. It was not clear if the same bear (working alone) was the culprit or if a bruin gang is on the loose in Gunnison County.
“What can we do…put bars on the windows?” asked one other chef. “We have trouble dealing with the nuances of nature up here and hungry bears are generally anything but subtle. This one didn’t even bother to make reservations.”
The sophisticated Soupçon bear finished off his meal with chocolate tortes stored in the back of the cooler. Then he left by the same route that had brought him to the gorging gourmet bonanza in the first place.
“We have to share the earth with our neighbors but these break-ins are occurring at a rapid rate this year. Maybe our bear could arrange to show up earlier,” said the source. “Our second seating diners might enjoy the floor show. Hey, and we’re always looking for a dishwasher.”
– Tommy Middlefinger
Could there be the answer herein?
poster by Jeff Brown Real Alaska Magazine