** Farmers fight back against 30x30 disinformation
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Wednesday, July 7, 2021
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service ([link removed])

Farmers in Nebraska are pushing back against an anti-conservation campaign from the state's governor. Governor Pete Ricketts has been holding events filled with disinformation about the Biden administration's “America the Beautiful” initiative, which aims to protect 30 percent of America's land and water by 2030.

One of Ricketts' common themes is that voluntary conservation easements on farms constitute a “land grab”—and that message isn't landing well in his state. The Omaha World-Herald editorial board took Ricketts to task ([link removed]) , noting that conservation easements “are a common tool found in every state,” and that “a cooperative approach is vital for Nebraska, given that the vast majority of the land is privately owned.”

The editorial calls out Ricketts' hypocrisy, which has turned him into a crusader against the rights of private property owners. “Using a conservation easement is an exercise of property rights,” the editorial board notes. “The law fully empowers property owners to make that choice.”

John Hansen, the head of the Nebraska Farmers Union, pointed out that Ricketts is doing the bidding of a far-right extremist group, American Stewards of Liberty, which has been spreading 30x30 disinformation ([link removed]) across the country.

“The handouts that Governor Ricketts is using at these events and whose information he is using in his speeches are in a lot of instances wrong,” Hansen told Nebraska Public Media ([link removed]) . “It's not accurate. It's not consistent with what it is that we already know but it's intended to, well, scare, spread fear, spread doubt, and to ascribe the very worst intentions of President Biden.”
Quick hits


** Latino communities face greatest danger from increased wildfires in the West
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Politico ([link removed])


** A quest for Alaska oil sparks a fight over tribal sovereignty
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High Country News ([link removed])


** Nebraska governor spreads fear, disinformation in campaign against private property rights
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Nebraska Public Media ([link removed]) | Omaha World Herald ([link removed]) [Editorial] | Lincoln Journal-Star ([link removed]) [Editorial]


** Opinion: Why our Colorado mountain town supports Biden’s 30×30 public lands goals
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Former coal towns vie for Wyoming nuclear plant
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])


** Interior Dept. advances plan to expand bison grazing in Montana
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | Great Falls Tribune ([link removed])


** LWCF dollars add 14,800 acres of land to Lolo National Forest
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Missoula Current ([link removed])


** How climate change is changing summer camp
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New York Times ([link removed])
Quote of the day
I am very encouraged that the 30×30 goal contained in the America the Beautiful vision does just what scientists are recommending by acknowledging that we have to address the loss of nature and climate change together. If we can restore whole ecosystems, then they will, in turn, cheaply and quickly absorb the carbon emissions that are the root cause of climate change and are wreaking havoc on the planet.”
—Melissa Sherburne, Frisco, Colorado town council ([link removed])
Picture this


** @usfws ([link removed])
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A BEEutiful metallic sweat bee nectars on an Ash Meadows blazing star (Mentzelia leucophylla), a rare wildflower species endemic to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada.

More about the refuge: [link removed] ([link removed])

Photo by Peter Pearsall/
@USFWSRefuges ([link removed])

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