Press:
"Smoked Bear" Makes First Public
Meeting -
Hear It
(L-R: Grant Gerber & Smoked Bear)
(Grant and Travis Gerber)
(Otero County Commissioners Susan Flores,
Chairman Ronnie Rardin and Tommie Herrell.)
Travis Gerber presented both a shovel and a
special axe to the Commissioners.
More
Not Shown: Craig
Spratling,
Chair, Elko County Natural Resources Management Commission
Meghan Brown, Executive Director of the Nevada Cattleman's
Association, ECNRMC
Public Service Campaign
Educates Public on Wild Animal Loss
(August 16, 2011 -
Alamogordo, NM) Wildfires around
the country have been brutal on the landscape, and it has cost
millions and millions of dollars to fight them this year. But a
father-son attorney team from Elko, Nevada, say not only have
the lands sustained a loss to trees and structures, but they say
the loss of wildlife is tremendous, and "the current
fire-fighting and grazing policies by the federal government are
destroying our wildlife."
Elko, Nevada, lawyer Grant Gerber, and his son,
Travis, have rolled-out the “Smoked Bear” public service
ad campaign. They are on a mission to spread the word about
their concerns over the current fire-fighting and grazing
policies on public lands, that they say are destroying our
wildlife.
Gerber Sr. says increased livestock grazing is the key right
now, to controlling the grass, weeds and brush that fuel range,
wildland and forest fires. According to Gerber, “It is time that
people understand that millions of animals are burning up
every year. Gerber believes that most of these fires are
preventable, and he comes armed with figures citing that the
average acreage blackened by wildfires in Nevada alone,
have risen from 25,000 acres prior to 1980, to as high as
600,000 acres in recent years.
Gerber told the Elko Daily Free Press that, “The
environmentalists’ goals are to get everything back to natural,
when there weren’t deer here. I want it to be the best it can
be, and the only way is if agriculture manages the land. Federal
agencies can’t manage it,” he said. “They’re fire watchers, not
firefighters.”
In a recent story in the Elko Daily News, Jerry Ingersoll,
acting Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest supervisor for the U.S.
Forest Service, disagreed with Gerber. He said the "increase in
fires is mainly due to the abundance of the hard-to-kill
cheatgrass and invasive weeds that have spread over the years,
not agency policies." "Eradicating cheatgrass and
supporting a sustainable grazing program are the best ways to
control forest and range fires," Ingersoll said.
“Invasive weeds and cheatgrass are a major challenge for us,” he
said, adding that the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest has an
active fuels program and works closely with the Nevada Division
of Forestry, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the counties
and governor’s office to address the cheatgrass issue.
Gerber said there was cheatgrass when he was young, and he
maintains the way to control cheatgrass is by increased
livestock grazing. “It’s good throughout the year. It’s good
cattle feed, not the best but good,” he said.
Gerber and crew made a stop in Springerville, Arizona on Monday.
He and his crew, including "Smoked Bear," met with local
ranchers and concerned citizens. They also stopped by the Round
Mountain Middle School and met some of the younger residents of
Eager-Springerville, where the Wallow Fire cause multitudes of
devastation.
Local radio personality, Harvey T. Twite, contacted Otero County Commission Chairman, Ronnie Rardin, about having Gerber and Crew make an appearance while in the region. rardin welcomed the opportunity. It was the first public meeting ever attended to by Smoked Bear, to which he received a rousing round of applause when he entered the chambers.
Gerber and son, Travis, made a presentation of
one of the shovels used to re-open a road that had been closed.
In addition, they presented the Otero Commission with a new axe,
in recognition of the Commission's efforts to allow grazing and
controlled logging back into the forests, in the hope of
lowering the fire danger by better managing the forests .
To hear the presentation to the Otero County Commission, please
click here: Hear It
(With compliments and thanks to Ken Bass at KALH Radio 95.1 -
Alamo - Tularosa.
The Smoked Bear Website:
Click Here
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