Time flies, but it seems to be accelerating! No one ever told me it wasn’t a straight-line graph, but more like an exponential curve. Does this eventually turn into a parabola, reaching a nice plateau before the descent? This is just one of many unanswered questions raised in April...

Another is why I can’t find the time to update this column more regularly than once a month. That just doesn’t cut it, at least under blogging standards. Probably not under any sort of journalism standard, although bi-weekly is a pretty established routine in the print world. But then, there’s monthly magazines still, I believe, although increasingly even those feature interactive discussions on their websites.

I wonder if Al Gore had any idea what he was unleashing when he invented the internet? Suddenly ordinary citizens can make their views known to the world at large, and if they’re good at it are empowered to take on their Goliath of choice. Not only that, they can react with lightning speed, often disseminating news faster than the traditional outlets. Since knowledge is power, & all that, this is a handy thing…

So for starters here, I’m going to put you onto a few of those sources that I follow pretty much daily. They present a diversity of viewpoints, which is also one of the net’s strong points. One can evaluate situations from different perspectives, sift and sort and arrive at what is hopefully a more informed decision yourself.

Almost all of the following links are Montana-based blogs (web-logs, or online journals). The complication to this blogging matter is that they’re open to participation by anyone who registers, usually, so the blogger must be prepared to have their views dissected by anyone and everyone, and must occasionally deal with trolls and other miscreants. To their credit, most of them update regularly; every few days at a minimum, and many of them feature daily if not multiple daily entries. My hat’s off to anyone who can produce that much material. As hobbies go, it’s very time-consuming, and remarkably most of these folks also seem to have a very active real-world life.

You’ll also find that most of them have a strong political bent. Blogging is emerging as a force to be reckoned with in the political world. One thing is certain, you had better have your ducks in a row if you take on an accomplished blogger in a debate. With literally the world scrutinizing your views, you’d better have them well thought out.

As an aside, disregarding infrequent if regular posting for what's getting to be a long time now, the Moccasin Telegraph doesn't qualify as a blog, if for no other reason than live (or even delayed) comments, or lack thereof. Sorry, if you have comments or what have you, e-mail me. I've been a bulletin board moderator, from way back in the day when giants roamed the earth, and I'm over it. I'm not dealing with trolls in this little corner of the 'net...

So, in no particular order, other than the way they’re listed on Wulfgar’s site, are the handful of blogs I check regularly. First, from right here in Bozeman, the intriguingly named "A Chicken Is Not Pillage", domain of Wulfgar. No, I don’t know what that means either, but in case you were jumping to the conclusion that he’s a weeping, dreadlocked wolf-hugger you’d be mistaken. No, if I were to make a sweeping characterization that is undoubtedly incomplete, he’s an increasingly common species in these parts. A gun-toting, self-reliant and articulate westerner one would expect to be solidly Republican. Good grief, I’m describing myself, disregarding articulate. Dubious Democrats, perhaps? Reluctant Democrats? Dismayed Democrats? Disaffected…? DD’s? As with all things Democratic, those lack luster, eh? Just no pizzaz… But then it’s not deeply offensive, either, like say our man Dubya doing his small part about surging gas prices by suspending emission standards!

Anyway, Wulfgar has a good list of links. I’ve looked at nearly all of them at one time or another, but keep coming back to…

First (OK, second) Ed Kemmick’s City Lights column. Ed has a column of the same name in the dead tree version of the Billings Gazette, so one could call this a "pro" blog. A few of the others are full-time ventures, though, supported by ad revenue, and they’re pretty much all pro-caliber writers, & so… Anyway, Ed is a funny guy, not afraid to take on some contentious issues, and hey, he’s a fellow musician so he’s OK.

Next I usually skip down to Matt Singer’s Left in the West, aka Views from Dryland Democrats. Matt was an early subscriber to Cowboy Heaven Consulting, back in our members-only phase. He undoubtedly despaired at my lack of continuous fresh content, and again, my hat’s off to him for quite possibly leading my list in terms of constant updates. Matt is an unabashed Democrat, sometimes too much so for my taste, but hey, more power to him. Also, along those same lines, is David Sirota’s blog. I only check that one perhaps weekly, as a lot of the political esoteria is a little dry for my taste, but I’ll confidently venture a prediction that you have not heard the last of those two.

Another "pro" venture I check regularly is the New West Network. Described as "collaborative news you must have", they’ve assembled a crackerjack team of journalists and are successfully navigating uncharted waters, it appears. That’s a recurrent theme, I suppose. All these folks are on the leading edge of what… we’re not quite sure yet.

The remaining entry on my short list is Sarpy Sam’s Thoughts From the Middle of Nowhere. Sam is an eastern MT cattle rancher, who among other things hates MT Governor Brian Schweitzer. Why, I’m also not sure. Views him as All Hat and No Cattle, perhaps? In any case, he’s not short of opinions, and if nothing else (there’s plenty else…) features interesting quotes and good photography.

Another recently added to the list (although currently on a posting hiatus) is What I Think (as if you give a damn).

There, it’s a pretty short list, really. Besides checking the online versions of most MT newspapers, and of course my fallback source of opinions on Everything Else; the Guitarist Forum (OK, technically a previous version was called that, this is the Guitar Diner), that’s where I get most of my news. Oh, and the Google start page. And Newsweek, which I have read literally my entire life (from childhood, anyway). No TV, though. I would never do that!

But then we try to break news occasionally right here in the Moccasin Telegraph! Gossip, and Hot Tips, also… I’m not in a gossiping mood, though. And during April, most of my Hot Tips would involve means of coaxing 2006 performance from 1950’s farm machinery, an exercise fraught with emotional peril. Oh, yes, we should be hosting problem-solving seminars. It’s nothing short of remarkable, the spectrum of emotional response one can experience with a simple crescent wrench in hand. From bitter despair, (usually preceded by frothing rage), to cautious hope, to relief tinged with dismay over having to experience such a pendulum ride in the first place. I’m thinking deskbound executives would probably pay to come out here and spend a few hours in the sixties! Driving a tractor is therapeutic, unless it drives you insane.

News, though… Well, yes, at a meeting in Ennis Wednesday evening we learned of a significant development in the wildlife disease arena. Three days later, I still don’t know what to think about it… Except, I’m pretty sure than this has opened a can of writhing worms with unfathomable implications.

I know some of you are tired of hearing about buffalo and brucellosis. So let’s talk for a moment about elk and brucellosis! Elk carry the disease also, although bison are (arguably, in sheer numbers) viewed as the primary disease reservoir in these parts. In recent years, elk infection levels in the Madison Range had been spiking. A small percentage (1-2%) have tested positive for Brucellosis exposure (which is not at all the same thing as saying they’re actively contagious) for decades. For ’04-‘05, survey results indicated 6.9%. Interagency agreements require management changes if exposure levels exceed 7%. Inconsistencies between disease management in bison and elk have caused many to question this figure. On the one hand, I have to hand it to FWP for staving off heavy-handed Federal eradication campaigns, but still, something just wasn’t adding up…

Survey results from this past fall/winter undoubtedly caused agency blood pressures to soar faster than brucellosis infection levels! In fact, I think it’s safe to say many collectively shit a brick when infection levels came back in the teens and up. Strangest was when four blood samples collected in the Pioneer Mountains (where brucellosis had never been detected) came back positive! That can’t be right…

Luckily FWP Wildlife Veterinarian Mark Atkinson knew of another brucellosis test, the Western Blot test. Lo and behold, when samples were re-tested every single one turned out to be false positives! Apparently, these samples were infected instead with Yersinia enterocolitica. We’re told this hitherto little-known bug "is not a health concern in free-ranging elk". Also, it’s "not considered to be a concern for domestic livestock and results in few if any symptoms". It can be more troublesome for humans, and "in rare cases may cause abdominal symptoms in people similar to those of appendicitis".

You talk about a bombshell…! So the elk don’t really have brucellosis after all (except at persistent low levels).

Well what about bison?!

State Veterinarian Tom Linfield told me the Western Blot test is "not an approved regulatory test". OK, but in this case we’re applying the results (a good thing, I think…) based on a very limited sampling of ~150 animals. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this cast all recent brucellosis test results into question? Not to mention, if presumably a significant percentage of positives are false, and the disease is only a transmission risk during the birthing season and shortly thereafter, then doesn’t this raise some serious questions about the entire brucellosis issue? It doesn’t seem to be causing problems for area bison and elk, as their populations continue to increase (well, disregarding 900+ bison slaughtered at your expense this past winter). Obviously, it would appear to "not be a significant issue…" in wildlife health. So if there are next to no cattle in the area, and those primarily after the primary risk season, and cattle vaccines are nearly 100% effective (on cows, of course), then why are we spending millions to "protect" our cattle industry from these hitherto thought foul diseased vermin?

Unless as has been often brought up; this isn’t really about disease, but about money and power. About grass. Grass that ranchers would rather see their cows eat than native wildlife species.

Could be another brick just fell out of the paradigm foundation, there...

In my own case, the parallel is the switch to organic farming (in it’s initial stages here on the Rockpile Ranch). The switch to working with nature, instead of attempting to force it to your ends, requires a deeply significant shift in outlook. In fact, it’s a little daunting at this stage, and dang sure isn’t going to be simpler or easier. There’s no alternative, though, in my opinion. You can plant wheat and sell to one of a couple of conglomerates at prices that are getting to be what they were back in the 70’s, almost. Or you can sell your calves to giant agribusiness, and count down the days until you subdivide.

Or, you just might be sitting on a gold mine. It isn’t just everywhere you can have herds of wild elk and bison on a world-class landscape, wildlife held in the North American Public Trust model, that private landowners would be fools not to embrace as an asset.

It’s as simple, and difficult, as that. I’ve been attempting to describe to friends the fundamental difference in mindset required for organic farming. Somehow, it’s way more than 180 degrees difference. It’s around the dial three or four times, at least, eventually setting in what one hopes is the right direction. My internal compass feels strong on this one, though.