Chris, I'm impressed you can sit through Rush, the mouth that's a mile wide
and an inch deep.
--Bruce "I love talk radio" Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
> > I sympathize with the families in the basin who can't raise crops in a
> > drought like this year. They and their families accepted the land back
>then
> > in good faith, and it was given to them in the same good faith, thinking
> > they'd always have water. But it's humorous and hypocritical to me that
> > here we have a community of people screaming about government
>intervention
> > (protecting endangered species) while they themselves have been the
> > recipients of government handouts of land and water for decades.
>
>This reminds me of what's going on with the Rio Grande silvery minnow
>(Hybognathus amarus) in New Mexico. Farmers are at the receiving end of a
>huge federally funded network of diversion dams and irrigation ditches, yet
>cry bloody murder when the feds want to use some of the water to keep the
>middle Rio Grande from running dry and killing the minnow. Yes, the water
>is
>rightfully theirs, but why can't they share? Why must they be entitled to
>every single last drop of it? Why is it necessary to attempt to squeeze in
>a
>third end-of-summer crop in the middle of a drought? The situation got so
>ugly at one point that a few really angry farmers threatened with violence
>the federal biologists who were rescuing minnows that were stranded in
>drying pools! A 3-year agreement between feds and the State was signed a
>few
>weeks ago, but it doesn't guarantee that the Rio Grande won't run dry. It
>merely guarantees that it won't run dry as quickly! Luckily, federal
>biologists will continue monitoring the river from airplanes looking for
>stranded minnows, and send in minnow rescue teams when needed. And the
>Albuquerque Aquarium is raising the minnow for reintroduction in the few
>sections of the river that aren't completely diverted to irrigate hay and
>alfalfa in the middle of the desert.
>
>
>Chris Scharpf
>Baltimore
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