F3
FARM & RANCH
THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH
NOVEMBER 2020
Nebraska Farmers Union Convention goes virtual
Group will elect two board members via Zoom on Dec. 4
demic, people everywhere including rural Nebraska have learned how to use Zoom or some sort of plat- form to conduct business,” Jantzen said. “As peo- ple get more comfortable with this technology, it makes it easier for rural Nebraskans to partici- pate when long distances are not a factor. This pan- demic has shown the light on the need to improve the accessibility and capaci- ty of high speed internet broadband. This could be a positive that comes out of this pandemic.” NeFU President John Hansen concluded, “The good news is that since our virtual convention will be practicing extreme social distancing, we won’t need to wear our masks to be safe.”
meal or registration costs,” he said. For more information or to register, go to nebraskaf- armersunion.org. “We are still doing the organization business in- cluding elections, but we have condensed the usual two full day schedule down to one short day,” Hansen said. “In addition to hear- ing from NFU President Rob Larew Friday after lunch, the convention will feature the always pop- ular State Senator panel with Sens. Brandt, DeBoer, Quick and Walz. We start late and end early to allow time to do morning and af- ternoon chores.” NeFU Vice President Vern Jantzen of Plymouth said that safety is a priori- ty for this session. “Thanks to the pan-
Freeport, according to a press release from the or- ganization. The final district caucuses to field potential additional can- didates and all elections will be between 11 a.m. and noon. In addition to electing of- ficers, three delegates and alternates to the National Farmers Union Convention will be elected. The 2019-20 NeFU policy will be ex- tended for one year. Urgent time sensitive policy issues can be sent to the NeFU Board of Directors for con- sideration. Hansen said he hopes NeFU members will take advantage of this new vir- tual opportunity to attend their state convention. “Since it is virtual, there will be no transporta- tion time or costs, lodging,
Telegraph staff reports LINCOLN — “107 Years of Service” is the theme for the 107th annual Nebraska Farmers Union state con- vention, which for the first time will be a virtual con- ference on Dec. 4. “For the past 107 years, the focus of our gener- al farm organization has been to serve the needs of family farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” first time ever, in order to conduct the necessary elec- tions and business of the organization, and keep our members safe, we will be NeFU President John Hansen said, “For the
doing our convention vir- tually via Zoom. Instead of holding our convention in Kearney as scheduled, our convention will be held in farm homes across the state.” NeFU delegates and members will elect Board of Directors from Districts 1 and 5. Incumbent Al Davis is running for re- election for District 1, and Camdyn Kavan is running for District 5 to replace retiring Director Ben Gotschall, who announced he is moving to Maine to serve as the Dairy Manager at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in
CEDAR from Page F2
encroachment of ce- dar trees onto grazing lands would be lim- ited by our relatively low precipitation lev- els. However, it doesn’t take as much moisture as previously thought, to give seeds spread by wildlife into the open range, a good start. “Most initial en- croachment occurs within two football fields of a seed source,” Twidwell said. Then “those areas become the seed source” for further encroachment. Cedar infestation can affect stream f lows and result in lost wild- life habitat along with reduced range produc- tivity, land values and school funding. “It’s really hard to get those things back,” he said. Woody encroach- ment can also increase the risk of wildfires, Twidwell said. The
current situation is critical enough that The University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources called it “one of the greatest threats to hu- man well-being and to the unique f lora and fauna of the Great Plains” in its recent “UNL Eastern Red ce- dar Science Literacy Project.” Ranchers are step- ping up the fight, employing lopping shears for seedlings, larger machinery to cut and grind trees, various chemical ap- proaches and, like their predecessors on the plains, fire. “Prescribed burning is a great tool,” Kelly said, “when done with proper planning and help.” A lot of ranchers in the Sandhills are still leery of burning, but it
is gaining acceptance. It only takes a glance at the cedar infesta- tions in places like the banks of the Dismal River to remind ranch- ers not to let their guard down, she said. The Loess Canyons Rangeland Alliance, southeast of North Platte, is the best ex- ample of success in managing a serious infestation, Twidwell said. For the last 18 years, ranchers have banded together with partnering organi- zations to carry out prescribed burns to reclaim nearly 60,000 acres of cedar-infested rangeland. They have been able to stabilize encroachments, but it’s expensive and a lot of work. In the Imperial area, rangeland cedar infes- tation levels so far are low. Twidwell said he would like ranchers
in that area to learn from the experiences of their counterparts in other parts of the state. “If (they) get after this now it’s (going to be) much easier,” he said. He added that he is encouraged by the proactive, “change of mindset” that ranch- ers and ranching
organizations have ad- opted. We don’t want to lose what we have here, and we want to try to reclaim what has already been lost. Kelly agreed, calling the Nebraska prai- ries, particularly the Sandhills, “one of the last remaining intact grass resources in the world.” It really is “a worldwide treasure.”
can cost $150 or much more,” to control, per acre, she said. The stage for woody plant encroachment on the prairies was set in the late 1800s and early 1900s, said Twidwell. Before that time, “Native Americans used fire” to rejuve- nate bison grazing lands. Then settlers “eliminated fires and introduced seed sourc- es by tree planting.” Since then, cedars have formed the back- bone of windbreaks in Nebraska, but they produce a lot of seeds. “We have to look (closer) at the risks as- sociated with planting them,” Twidwell said, and manage those risks from the begin- ning. People used to think
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs