Country Lifestyles
Red River Land Dispute Finally Settled
By Judy Wade
After years of anger, frustration and disbelief, landowners along a stretch of Red River in North Central Texas are breathing a sigh of relief. In a settlement between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and seven Red River land owners, Clay, Wichita and Wilbarger Counties and the Clay County Sheriff, the BLM is releasing its false claim on more than 90,000 acres inside Texas along Red River. This is a major victory for landowners and private property rights.
The dispute began in 2009 when the BLM attempted to place survey markers on private property along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River, claiming it was federal property due to the movement of the river. The case became more urgent in 2014 when BLM announced it would implement a regional management plan to control the 90,000 acres.
Terms such as “accretion,” the gradual accumulation of sediment to the south, and “avulsion,” the rapid formation of a new river channel, as well as simple erosion were terms the federal agency used to support its claim.
In some places, the survey markers were more than a mile south of the actual water, in some cases claiming over half of the owner’s land. One farmer/rancher in Wilbarger County found his home was inside the BLM-claimed land. Many of these farmers and ranchers owned and worked the land at the heart of this matter for generations, had titles and deeds going back to the 1800s and paid taxes on the acreage for years.
To read more pick up a copy of the March 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Martha Crump
That old adage, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.,” may have some basis in truth when applied to minor situations. However, when what you don’t know is presented in the form of a “Trojan Horse” and is what amounts to an incredible attempt to fleece American property rights, it becomes a different story altogether.
To put this unbelievable tale together, we need to step back to Joe Biden’s 2021 Executive Order which pledged commitment to help restore balance on public lands and waters, to create jobs, and to provide a path to align the management of America’s public lands and waters with our nation’s climate, conservation, and clean energy goals.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Lacey Vilhauer
Ingredients:
1 whole lemon, seeded and roughly chopped
2 cups sugar
2 pounds strawberries, hulled
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons
¼ cup water
Directions:
Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree the strawberries in a food processor and add to the lemon mixture along with juice of one lemon and water. Taste and add more juice as desired.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Nicholas Waters
As winter plods along – come Spring and gopher mounds – homeowners and farmers find themselves playing a familiar song – fiddling while Rome is burning.
Let’s make a mountain out of a molehill. Those mounds on your lawn and pasture could be moles, but they’re more than likely gophers; Plains Pocket Gophers to be pragmatic – Geomys bursarius to be scientific.
These rodents dig and chew, and the damage they can do goes beyond the mounds we mow over. Iowa State University cited a study in Nebraska showing a 35 percent loss in irrigated alfalfa fields due to the presence of pocket gophers; the number jumped to 46 percent in decreased production of non-irrigated alfalfa fields.
The internet is replete with academic research from coast-to-coast on how to curtail gopher populations, or at least control them. Kansas State University – then called Kansas State Agricultural College – also published a book [Bulletin 152] in February 1908 focused exclusively on the pocket gopher.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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