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“Missing Parts” taken at the Heber Valley Railroad Station by John Dornoff.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has enjoyed a somewhat on-again-off-again relationship with those advocating for sustainable agriculture and food system reform since his appointment late last year and predictably, any mention of biotechnology is what changes those dynamics. So far this month, Vilsack has hit two rocky patches with the sustainable ag community.

First, and it’s not really about him, but more about the department itself, is the appointment of Roger Beachy, who comes from the Missouri-based Danforth Plant Science Center, as the head of the newly formed National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which replaces the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). Ag and GMO-giant Monsanto has given funding to the Danforth Plant Science Center, a red-flag for the sustainable ag community. As Paula Crossfield writes at Grist, “The re-branding of CSREES worries sustainable food advocates who fear U.S. research priorities could shift with the private sector’s coaxing further towards a more biotechnology-oriented focus in an attempt to end world hunger, even though more viable solutions to hunger—a problem of distribution and not yield—exist on the ground that are both cost-effective and ready to implement now in the developing world.”

That worry was only heightened then, by Vilsack’s comments to the Community Food Security Coalition conference in Iowa this week. First, Vilsack got a standing ovation for his comments on supporting local food but when one audience member (Jeffrey Smith, an anti-GMO activist, who writes about the exchange here on the Huffington Post) asked him about his stance on biotechnology, he didn’t quite win over the crowd. From all accounts, it seems he played it well, saying he is essentially all ears when it comes to the criticisms of GMO, but then he did mention the hunger argument, saying, according to Dan Mitchell of Big Money’s The Daily Bread blog: “I’m telling you what people are telling me"—that genetic modification is necessary to feed the world. That alone elicited boos and hisses from the crowd.

“Flo-thru Ventilation” taken by Team Hymas on Hwy 97 between Mary Hill and the Yakima Valley. 

“End of the Road” taken by Deb Alperin on Flanngan Creek road outside of Viola, Idaho.

Guest Column

There is increasing interest in resolving multiple-use conflicts through place-based (national forest-specific) legislation. Throughout the West, divergent interests are negotiating how they would like particular forests to be managed. Many of these proposals include provisions related to wilderness designation, economic development, forest restoration and funding mechanisms, among others. But unlike more typical collaborative efforts, some groups are seeking codification of their agreements.

Numerous factors have precipitated this interest in going to Washington in search of legislation, including perceptions of agency gridlock, unresolved roadless and wilderness issues, and the disarray that now characterizes forest planning.

Nowhere is the place-based approach more apparent than in Montana. [more]

News Bite: The New West Blog

Especially after reading the this gruesome story in this weekend’s New York Times about E. Coli and the failings of the inspection process in mass-produced ground beef, this piece from Douglas Brown in the Denver Post, about a different way of getting beef from pasture to plate, is timely.

The Times piece details an investigation into hamburger in the U.S., which came to this conclusion: “Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe.” It’s a story of how our food system has made meat, particularly cheap meat, dangerous.

By comparison, the Post piece shows what happens when meat is produced, processed and sold on a smaller, regional scale.  Brown tracks an organic grass-fed steer from a ranch on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation to the meat section of the Whole Foods store in Boulder, Colorado, a journey that illuminates and educates on food safety, local food and organic agriculture.

But, as Brown points out in the story, it’s also about more than just food and ag. “The journey from calf to brisket, for these cattle, captures within it a sweep of issues and notions about the West, about agribusiness, even about philosophy and ethics.”

“Mayfly,” taken by Patrick at the Salt Lake City Airport. Patrick writes, “for someone about to get on a plane and fly away from the caddis hatches and hoppers, this is torture.”

News Nugget

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected today to ask for habitat protections for the the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse in Colorado—a proposal that could be replicated for many other species in the coming months as the Obama Administration reevaluates which species get protections under the Endangered Species Act.

As the Denver Post reports today, “The Obama administration is taking a fresh look, in many cases under court order, at Bush administration rejections of special status. A move to prevent extinction of more plants and animals could limit housing construction and energy development.”

Among the other species being reconsidered are the mountain plover, wolverine, greater sage grouse, white-tailed prairie dog and Gunnison sage grouse.

Click here for the full Post story.

“Curtain of Smoke” taken by Katie LaSalle-Lowery. This was snapped at Pelican Creek, just east of the Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone National Park just as the Arnica Fire was growing. As LaSalle-Lowery writes, “The smoke was streaking eastward across the sky in a distinct plume rather than dispersing and making a fog of smoke. The plume filtered the sunlight, casting a warm color tone on everything yet blue sky could be seen around the plume.”

Update

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to consider the Montana fluvial arctic grayling, better known across the state as the Big Hole grayling, for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency’s promise comes after decades of legal wrangling, as was made as part of a settlement in a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and Pat Munday and George Wuerthner, both individuals who have worked on the grayling issue.

As part of the agreement the agency will have to make a decision on the grayling listing by August 30 of 2010.

“The Montana fluvial arctic grayling is on the brink of extinction,” Noah Greenwald, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release. “We hope the Obama administration will put an end to the grayling’s 27-year wait for protection.”

For great background on the Big Hole Grayling, including profiles of the people who have been involved with the fish’s survival over the past several decades, read Jonathan Stumpf’s series on NewWest.Net here.

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