Much of the testimony came from DNR wildlife research manager Lou Cornicelli. Cornicelli is also active in the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and served as a contributor and editorial review team member for an important technical report the group issued back in September 2018.
Photo: A whitetail deer in the last stages of CWD.
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On January 10, Minnesota state representative Mary Kunesh-Podein, DFL-New Brighton, tweeted:
Dropping this bill today :: The historic number of missing and murdered Indigenous folks is đ. This is only one way to honor those weâve lost but not forgotten. #đđđđš#mnlegpic.twitter.com/xcEqYemROo
The bill, H. F. 111, includes a broad bipartisan list of co-authors from across the state, would create and fund a state Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. UPDATE: The bill will receive its first committee hearing on Jan 29th in the House Public Safety committee which convenes at 12:45 p..m., Kunesh-Podein shared on Facebook on Saturday.
Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL-New Brighton) chief-authored the bill in collaboration with members of the DFL Native American Caucus.
The bill seeks to address the nationwide problem of Native American women being victims of violent crime. In some regions of Minnesota, Native women are murdered at rates that are more than 10 times the national average. Nationwide, Native women suffer from violence at a rate two and a half times greater than any other group.
Rep. Kunesh-Podein first called for a governorâs task force in March to exclusively address the endemic.
âThe violence against our Indigenous women is staggering and heartbreaking,â said Kunesh-Podein. âThese are our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our aunts, our colleagues, and our neighbors. These women are Minnesotans and we are failing to protect them. No family should watch a loved one walk out the door and not know if they will see them again.â
Kunesh-Podein said the bill has received overwhelming support from both sides.
âWe have almost an unprecedented number of bipartisan support,â she said. âI was very pleasantly surprised by support on both sides of the isle for this issue and for this bill. I was expecting some pushback and very fortunately I havenât received that. I really appreciate the fact that they have listened so sincerely.â
Due to the immense support, the bill is now being considered for inclusion in an omnibus Public Safety bill.
Currently, there is no system in place to collect comprehensive data on missing and murdered Native American women in Minnesota.
âThat really is the biggest problem,â Kunesh-Podein said. âWe just donât have the accurate data that we need in order to fully comprehend and assess the situation. This task force will bring a number of different government agencies and non-government agencies together to focus exclusively on missing and murdered indigenous women in Minnesota.â . . .
The task force will also include a better definition to the coordinated efforts to end the violence against Indigenous women.
âAs a result, we hope that they would be able to then recommend ways to reduce and end violence against indigenous women and girls both on and off reservations,â she said. âThere is a lot of violence against our Native American women off of the reservation and the majority of violent acts against native women are done by non-native men. We need to find ways to work with that and reduce that kind of violence.â
The task force will provide analysis regarding the systemic causes behind the number of missing Native American women in the state to law enforcement, policymakers and the public.
Kunesh-Podein is a descendant of the Standing Rock Lakota nation.
The Fargo Forum editorial board wrote that Savanna's Act mustn't die. We agree and support state and federal efforts to counter this national disgrace and tragedy. Let's hope that Minnesota's bill is passed as a stand-alone bill or rolled into an ordinary Public Safety omnibus bill.
A national campaign around Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women just launched this week and South Dakota is the first state to see it.
The Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council and the Global Indigenous Council want to highlight the number of Native American women who go missing or are murdered and may not be reported.
The National Crime Information Center found that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing Native American women and girls, however the U.S. Department of Justice's federal missing persons database, NamUs, only logged 116.
The national campaign is kicking off in South Dakota because it's between Billings, Montana and Minneapolis, two cities known as hubs for trafficking Native American women, according to the tribal councils. . . .
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In Thursday's meeting of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, the Minnesota Zoo made made an appearance to let the committee members know about its educational and conservation work.
As always, the zoo animals brought before the committee--in this case a porcupine, a bullsnake and a chinchilla--were the stars for the media. But after the charismatic critters left the stage, the Zoo's lepidopterist and conservation biologist Erik Runquist testified about the organization's work to save butterflies and other pollinators.
We post video of the testimony below. It made us eager to pay more attention to the tiny prairie butterflies that do still live up here on the prairie grasslands of the Coteau.
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The presentations in the packed hearings are impressive--like a mini-graduate seminar on the consequences of climate change in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest--and are worth readers' time watching.
Also helpful? The accompanying committee documents:
We're eager to watch what legislation comes though this committee.
Photo:Flood damage along State Highway 23 near the South Fork of the Nemadji River in Carlton County, Minn., after flash flooding on Sunday. Courtesy of Sgt. Jason Warnygora | Carlton County Sheriff's Office via MPR. Extreme weather events like flooding and drought may be linked to climate change, as are warmer winter temperatures in Minnesota.
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The services offered on Jan. 17, 18 and 22 are very limited. Crampton notes:
The furloughed employees will temporarily return to also help farmers process payments made before the end of 2018, continue expired financing statements and open mail to "identify priority items." . . .
FSA staff will not, however, be able to resume the entirety of its business, such as its work granting new loans, processing applications to participate in dairy programs and reviewing requests for trade aid payments.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture sent out the following press release about the temporary re-opening:
As part of the Walz-Flanagan administrationâs action plan to protect Minnesotans during the federal government shutdown, Minnesota farmers who are experiencing setbacks due to the shutdown are encouraged to seek assistance from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). While the USDA did announce today that Farm Service Agency (FSA) Offices will temporarily reopen January 17, 18, and 22, some farmers may still be in need of additional resources heading into the spring planting season.
âIâm pleased that the FSA offices will reopen for a few days to help farmers get their existing loans processed,â said Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. âFSA is an important federal partner and provides critical services to farmers. My understanding is that the FSA staff will be available to assist farmers with existing farm loans.â
Petersen encourages Minnesota farmers to contact their local FSA office immediately during this temporary reopening. He also reminds farmers who may be in need of financial assistance or other resources to consider these programs offered by the MDA:
Rural Finance Authority low interest loan programs. Contact Ryan Roles at 651-201-6666, or visit www.mda.state.mn.us/agfinance
Farm Advocate Program for farmers needing one-on-one financial advice or other assistance. Contact Matt McDevitt at 651-201-6311, or visit www.mda.state.mn.us/farmadvocates.
Earlier this week, a friendly Soil and Water Board commissioner from a Southern Minnesota county called to let us know that the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offices remain open.
Bluestem contacted the Minnesota state office and discovered that this is indeed the case. A staffer at the office said that the NRCS had already been funded and so remains open. The service "offers voluntary programs to eligible landowners and agricultural producers to provide financial and technical assistance to help manage natural resources in a sustainable manner."
South Dakota's state NRCS office webpage can be viewed here.
List of FSA offices open in Minnesota and South Dakota
The FSA offices open in Minnesota and South Dakota are listed in these screenshots from a larger pdf of listings sent out by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture:
Photo: A Minnesota farm.
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Citing the need to address elevated levels of nitrate in drinking water in the karst region of southeast Minnesota, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner John Linc Stine is announcing his decision to deny a general permit for the proposed Catalpa swine facility in Fillmore County near Mabel, Minn. Because of the permit denial, a related decision, whether to deny or approve requests for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this specific project is not needed at this time.
Dear Supporters of Responsible Agriculture in Karst Country -
Upsetting news: former MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine misled the public in December when he announced he was denying the Catalpa Ag LLC general permit.
When asked for official denial documents including findings of fact, MPCA staff informed RAKC members that Stine merely announced his "intention to deny" the permit even though those were not his words at the press conference.
Stine's press conference noted that Catalpa Ag would be allowed to "request coverage" under an individual permit but did not state they could withdraw their general permit before the MPCA formally denied the general permit by producing a written record. Thus, there is not a single public document laying out reasons for the permit denial. Stine has now left office.
Since then, Catalpa Ag has reapplied under an individual permit, disregarding the concerns of hundreds of local farmers, families, elected officials and small business owners. An individual permit is rarely used, and theoretically gives MPCA more discretion in requiring additional studies and additional requirements.
What does this all mean and how can you help?
1. Help on the township level! Until the new MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop and staff can clearly demonstrate that they are committed to doing business and communicating transparently and honestly with the public, we must rely on township level local control measures to keep our townships safe from harm.
Township zoning can limit the size of industrial feedlots, protecting public health and responsible farming, no matter what the county and state allows. Local control means we can shape what is right for our townships. Consider volunteering to help these efforts put permanent controls in place. Contact your township supervisors to voice your support for local control of industrial feedlots.
Email responsibleaginkarstcountry@gmail.com to help with research efforts, attend a study committee meeting, join/launch a zoning study committee in your township, and more.
Check this public Google calendar for the next study committee meeting or township board meeting.
Newburg Townshipâs moratorium on dangerously large feedlots over 500 animal units continues, and the local committee is hard at work studying permanent zoning options.
Preble Township recently passed a moratorium on feedlots over 750 animal units, and is in the process of forming a zoning study committee.
Canton Township will skip the moratorium and is setting up its zoning study committee now.
2. The MPCA will release a draft of the Catalpa individual permit and announce a new comment period in the coming months. Be ready to make your voice heard yet again: We say Catalpa Ag must complete an Environmental Impact Statement or the MPCA must formally deny the individual permit.
3. Email, call, and tweet positive messages to the new MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop about how you hope she will run the agency moving forward. This is a chance for the MPCA to turn over a new leaf under her leadership!Sample message: "Residents who work together as RAKC look forward to working with you to protect our health, groundwater, air, property values, and businesses. We need you to take environmental review of inappropriate, polluting industrial feedlots in our sensitive region seriously and order an EIS when the potential for significant environmental impact is demonstrated (as MN law requires). We also look forward to clear, transparent and timely communication with all MPCA staff members since we know you are working on behalf of us, the citizens of Karst Country in southeast Minnesota.
We encourage readers to help the citizens of Fillmore County out, but Bluestem is skeptical that Bishop will pay much attention to the citizens' requests, regardless of the number of contacts they have with her or their civility
We could point our little, poor country blogger fingers at her corporate background or lack of engagement with citizen-based environment groups before her appointment, but that wouldn't put a finger on our concern here. Instead, it's a philosophy of governing on the part of her boss.
. . . Walz mentioned climate change when he introduced Bishop as the state's new MPCA commissioner, saying failing to address it would be irresponsible and would hurt the state's economy. But he added that state agencies need to do a better job working together with industry to find solutions to environmental problems.
"Regulatory humility," he called it. And went on: "That doesn't mean not doing our job, it means approaching these businesses with the spirit of what can we do together to make sure we have a safer, more sustainable planet, and you're still able to make money, prosper and create jobs."
Walz says that attitude also applies to agriculture. There are still hard feelings among farmers about how outgoing Gov. Mark Dayton's administration rolled out new regulations on buffers and fertilizer.
In terms of regulation, Walz said he would be in favor of "regulatory humility"âor, assuming the businesses and corporate entities are compliant, so as to carefully dictate when government gets involved in commercial affairs.
On stage Wednesday at least, Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce appeared to be thinking entirely in harmony.
Walz, who headlined the chamberâs annual Session Priorities conference in St. Paul, said in an interview with chamber President Doug Loon that government needs to listen and collaborate more with businesses, and to âresetâ conversations between government and business groups that have often become contentious.
âWhen you come to government, and you talk about onerous regulations, or you talk about burdensome things that have been put on you, we as government need to not see you coming to us as trying to get around something because you donât care about worker safety or environmental quality,â Walz told roughly 2,000 attendees. âYouâre bringing those things up because you feel theyâre not effective and theyâre burdensome and costly to your business without improving the lives of workers or the environment.â
Walz struck a decidedly pro-business tone in his remarks, even musing about possibly downsizing or consolidating some of the more than 20 state agencies under his control. Although he did not name any specific cuts when asked by Loon, he said the government needs to be more responsive in administering existing regulations, and more cautious when imposing new ones.
âThese agencies need to come to you with regulatory humility, to build [regulations] together,â he said.
Perhaps those words about working using "regulatory humility" with "these businesses" don't mean what they appear to mean. However, Walz uses the conservative think tank coined phrase often enough that we'll take his word for it.
Photo: A sign of the times in Fillmore County.
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We're in the grips of a head cold, but want inform readers about a couple of key committee hearings in the Minnesota House. Fortunately, there's copy to draw from at Session Daily, as well as video.
. . . An estimated $1.3 million was spent from DNR Fish and Game funds in 2018 on surveillance (testing and assessments) and prohibitions against carcass transportation, feeding, and attractants in an effort to control the spread of the disease. But, as noted by DNR Assistant Commissioner Bob Meier, that figure would be insufficient in the face of further outbreaks in the state.
Nor does that figure include the cost of time spent by enforcement personnel investigating CWD-related complaints â easily accounting for additional expenditures in excess of $200,000 per year.
State efforts are currently focused on 17 counties in central and southeast Minnesota, with funding for the CWD response provided entirely through hunting and fishing license revenues.
Here's the video of the hearing; it's definitely worth a watch:
We have to wonder how better off the herd would be if the Republican majority had listened to Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, and Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, over the past session.
Photo: Bob Meier, left, and Lou Cornicelli testify before the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division Jan. 15 about Department of Natural Resourcesâ expenditures responding to the chronic wasting disease outbreak. Photo by Andrew VonBank, Minnesota House Information Service.
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As Trump spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention today in New Orleans, we assumed that's where the remarks to "a bunch of farmers" were made.
Sure enough, we found a CBS Youtube in which the statement is included in a discussion of the Obama-era Water of the United States (WOTUS) rule:
The statement drew the attention of Alan Rappeport of the New York Times, as well as Drieslein and Bluestem. Rappeport concluded his report from the convention, Trump Defends Trade Policies to Farmers Feeling the Pinch, with the President's words:
Even though Mr. Trump professed his love for farmers, his urban roots were at times hard to conceal. The president acknowledged his ignorance about wheat policy when explaining that Canada would soon grade American wheat the same way it grades its own.
âWhich to me doesnât mean much,â he said, âbut to farmers it means a lot.â
At another point, Mr. Trump celebrated his efforts to ease the regulatory burden that farmers face, noting that he rolled back a rule that penalized farmers for having prairie potholes on their land.
âDo you all know what prairie potholes are?â he asked a laughing audience. âI donât, but it sounds bad.â
The Prairie Pothole Region: America's Wild Duck Factory
Most people who grew up enjoying the Minnesota value of sitting in a duck blind with a swamp-water stinky bird dog (mine was named Michael) probably have a pretty good working understanding of what prairie potholes are. Bluestem's editor's grandfather Jens Hugh Sorensen was a Danish immigrant field tiler, so we also learned about ag drainage as a child.
As he aged, the grandfather regretted the potholes and small lakes he drained--and for good reason.
Prairie potholes are depressional wetlands (primarily freshwater marshes) found most often in the Upper Midwest, especially North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Sometimes called the âduck factoryâ of the Midwest, the prairie pothole region supports more than 50 percent of our nationâs migratory waterfowl. Most prairie potholes themselves are less than an acre in size, little more than depressions in the landscape that fill up with snowmelt and rainfall. Some of these depressional wetlands are present all year long, while others form only after rainfall. Threatened by increased agricultural protection and development, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that today only 40 or 50 percent of the original number of prairie potholes that covered the region remain.
Why Are Prairie Potholes Important
Prairie potholes arenât just important for ducks. Prairie potholes recharge groundwater supplies, slowly allowing water to infiltrate into the earth over time. They also help to slow and store floodwaters, reducing the impacts of downstream flooding. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that each acre of these small wetlands reduces flood damage to roads by $6.11 every year and provides $29.23 worth of flood protection to agricultural lands. ...
There's more at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service here and the EPA here, though we can't tell how up-to-date the information is because of the federal government shutdown.
The Prairie Pothole Region is the core of what was once the largest expanse of grassland in the world, the Great Plains of North America. Its name comes from a geological phenomenon that left its mark beginning 10,000 years ago. When the glaciers from the last ice age receded, they left behind millions of shallow depressions that are now wetlands, known as prairie potholes. The potholes are rich in plant and aquatic life, and support globally significant populations of breeding waterfowl. Agricultural development caused considerable wetland drainage in the area. The Great Plains and Prairie Pothole Region are No. 1 on the 25 most important and threatened waterfowl habitats on the continent.
Importance to waterfowl
Millions of ducks and geese pass through the PPR each spring, nesting in the grasslands.
Nest success and hen mortality during breeding are the most important factors responsible for change in mid-continent mallard populations.
The PPR provides important breeding habitat for pintails, mallards, gadwall, blue-winged teal, shovelers, canvasbacks and redheads.
The PPR is also important migrations habitat for waterfowl breeding in the Boreal Forest and Arctic such as lesser scaup, wigeon, green-winged teal, Canada geese and snow geese.
The National Wildlife Federation's Prairie Potholes webpage notes these Threats and Conservation to Prairie Potholes:
Agricultural Development
The Great Plains are known as America's breadbasket. But before the farmers arrived, the Great Plains were the most extensive grassland in the world, with about 100,000 acres of prairie pothole wetlands. Today only a small fraction of the grasslands remain in small, disconnected fragments. The wetlands that remain are surrounded by agricultural lands and impacted by agricultural chemicals and excess sediments and nutrients that run off agricultural lands and into the potholes.
Conserving the remaining prairie potholes is important not only to maintain waterfowl populations, but also to improve both surface and groundwater availability for agricultural purposes, including grazing and crop irrigation.
For many years, ranchers and farmers have been given incentives through programs, such as the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), to set aside lands for conservation and to adopt new management practices that reduce their impacts on natural areas. However, in recent years, high prices have encouraged farmers to return CRP lands to agricultural use, such as growing crops for biofuels, putting the prairie potholes at increased risk.
Climate Change
Left unaddressed, climate change may dramatically reduce the suitability of prairie potholes for waterfowl. As open water and soil moisture decrease with rising temperatures and more severe droughts, many prairie potholes are expected to dry up more frequently or sooner in the spring, thereby eliminating or reducing their suitability for breeding waterfowl. Drought conditions brought on by climate change could dry up as much as 90 percent of the region's remaining wetlands, leading to a decline in breeding waterfowl in the region, and declines in other wetlands species as well.
Compounding the impact of climate change is the fact that the prairie pothole region has already much of its original wetlands, mostly to agriculture, and the losses continue. Thus, conserving the remaining prairie potholes is all the more important to maintain waterfowl populations, but also to maintain both surface and groundwater availability for agricultural purposes, including grazing and crop irrigation.
Minimizing impacts of climate change will require programs to secure conservation easements and discourage further draining or plowing of the remaining pothole wetlands. This is important to ensure that during times of severe droughts from climate change, a sufficient number of potholes with water are left to sustain minimal waterfowl populations.
Further protection from climate change can be achieved by undertaking efforts to restore degraded, drained, and destroyed prairie potholes across a broad expanse of this historic region. Studies have shown that the most suitable areas for waterfowl production vary from year to year within the prairie pothole region due to local climatic conditions.
Thus, conserving and restoring wetlands across a broad range is necessary so that as the region becomes dryer overall due to climate change, there will still always be some areas for waterfowl to breed.
Sources
Prairie Pothole Joint Venture U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region: Invertebrate Species Composition, Ecology, and Management, United States Geological Survey
Even before the WOTUS rule, conserving prairie potholes was a source of friction between agribusiness and outdoor enthusiasts, as the 1989 Washington Post article A Farm Belt Fight Over Protected "Potholes" attests; the protection came from "Swampbuster" language in the Farm Bill. In an undated article, the Isaak Walton League noted NRCS Allowed Prairie Pothole Drainage in North Dakota.
About a month ago, Val Wagner submitted some comments regarding trade, tariffs and the farm bill for the American Farm Bureau Federationâs 100th anniversary convention. Her comments centered on how the fines, fees and permits that come with overregulation donât just affect a farm for today but also matter for its future profitability.
Wagner got a call on Friday, Jan. 11, from the White House and learned she may have the opportunity to meet President Donald Trump and that he might base part of his speech at the convention on what she had to say.
On Monday, Jan. 14, âI was able to go backstage and meet with him and shake his hand,â Wagner said.
A bigger shock came during the speech itself. Trump was speaking about regulatory reform and the Waters of the U.S. rule.
âIn the audience today is Val Wagner from Monango, N.D. Val ... (the crowd cheered and Trump stopped and laughed). Itâs a good place. You have a great new senator, by the way. ⊠Val and her husband would love to expand their farm for their four boys, but under the Waters of the United States rule they would have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines because of the prairie potholes on their land. âŠâ
Wagner, voice still shaking nearly half an hour after the presidentâs speech, said she was âshell shocked.â What she found to be the most shocking was that Trump mentioned her tiny, North Dakota town, which is about 146 miles southwest of Fargo.
âThe president actually even said Monango, N.D.,â she said. âI donât know if thatâs ever happened in the history of the world.â
Now, the casual reader might conclude from that copy that Wagner is some naif pulled from the snow fields near Monango,-- just a couple of counties west of the North Dakota part of our beloved Lake Traverse Reservation--but that's certainly not the case. Wagner is in fact a seasoned ag communicator. A 2018 event flier for Women in Agriculture event on the North Dakota State University extension site notes: "Val coordinates Common Ground North Dakota, volunteers for several local, state and national organizations . . ."
At CommonGround, we are a group of farmers having conversations about the food we grow and how we produce it. We share our personal experiences, as well as science and research, to help consumers like you sort through the myths and misinformation surrounding food and farming.
Check it out and form your own opinion. The North Dakota page is here.
On her LinkedIn page, Wagner notes that she's a freelance contributor:
What started as a small blog, turned into several freelance opportunities, as well as a pretty largeblog following. I write about whatever is in my head...which can be frightening at times. Mostly dealing with agriculture, family and how your food gets to your plate.
A visit to her personal blog reveals she's been wowed before by being at a convention where Trump spoke. Just over a year ago, she wrote in A new road:
While Iâm typing this, Iâm sitting in a room in Nashville, TN, where the events of the last 24 hours still amaze me.
I was privileged to be seated five rows back from an address by not only the US Secretary of Ag, Sonny Perdue, but also by President Donald Trump. Now, I get that not everyone agrees with his policies, but we should all admit that being able to personally witness an address by a sitting President is an honor.
And I followed that with a live interview on Fox and FriendsâŠthatâs right, national TV. Seriously.
Sometimes the events that unfold in my life just take my breath away.
Image: The Prairie Pothole Region in the United States. Growing up in rural Minnesota, we learned it's not bad.
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After that housekeeping, the committee will move on an update on expenditures by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in responding to the chronic wasting disease outbreak.
If that sounds wonky, you haven't been paying attention. Let's look at recent news coverage to understand one reason why the DNR's spending on the CWD outbreak is the first thing on the committee's agenda.
Dr. Michael Osterholm is deeply concerned that overall efforts to halt the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in captive and wild populations of deer, elk and other members of the deer family, known to zoologists as cervids, fall far short of what is needed to limit the spread among cervids and prevent potential transmission to humans.
An expert in infectious disease and a public health scientist, Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. During his career, he has addressed world health issues such as biosecurity and antibiotic resistance, as well as diseases including HIV, influenza pandemics and Lyme disease. He frequently consults with national and international health organizations.
Thus far, CWD is found in cervids only, but Osterholm believes the disease poses a serious risk to human health. In Great Britain, a related brain disorder in cattle, commonly called Mad Cow Disease, was transferred to people during the 1980s and 90s after disease-contaminated beef products entered the human food supply. Osterholm said existing research about the risk of transmissions to humans isnât conclusive. However, he predicts CWD will follow a similar path as Mad Cow Disease.
âI believe itâs just a matter of time until there is a deer-to-human transmission,â he says.
Osterholmâs prediction is based upon his knowledge of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), a degenerative brain disorder that creates tiny, sponge-like holes in brain tissue. CWD is a variant of the disorder, which includes the aforementioned Mad Cow Disease, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans. These illnesses are caused by a modified form of a protein known as a prion. Scientists donât understand why these prions enter and wreak havoc in the central nervous system. What they do know is that prion diseases are always fatal. The World Health Organization has recommended kee>Osterholm is concerned that many politicians and regulatory agencies are not taking the actions necessary to limit the spread of CWD in deer populations or prevent CWD-contaminated venison from entering the human food chain. Outbreaks of CWD seem to be accelerating in wild cervid populations across the U.S., often in the vicinity of where the disease was initially discovered on cervid farms. Osterholm and many wildlife biologists believe the movement of domesticated deer and elk among commercial operations has carried CWD across North America.
âWhen you look at the management of cervid farms, there is limited meaningful enforcement of regulations regarding the movement and containment of animals,â he said. âWhen captive animals break out of containment areas, this is the perfect situation for spreading the disease to wild cervids.â
In Minnesota, farmed cervids are regulated by the state Board of Animal Health. Wild cervids are the responsibility of the Minnesota DNR. A 2018 Legislative Audit was critical of the BAHâs CWD enforcement and record-keeping related to deer and elk farms in the state, concluding with a list of recommendations for the agency to improve its performance.
âThe Minnesota Board of Animal Health has been a day late and a dollar short in enforcing the containment of farmed cervids in Minnesota,â Osterholm said. âThe captive cervid industry keeps making excuses for years to protect deer farmers, which is plain B.S.â
With Minnesota wildlife officials scrambling this winter to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease among wild deer in southeastern counties, and 55 Wisconsin counties now identified as CWD sites, the impacts of the disease are hitting closer to the Northland.
CWD, now confirmed in 25 states and two provinces, is always fatal to cervids â whitetail and mule deer, moose and elk. Studies show that once it infects more than one-third of the population, entire herds may be decimated.
In parts of southern Wisconsin, more than 50 percent of the wild deer are now infected with CWD. So far, there is no antidote, no vaccine for deer, no way to get rid of it.
But itâs not just deer populations that are at stake â it could be the future of deer hunting. Even if wild deer somehow persist on the landscape, itâs unclear how many hunters would still want to hunt them if CWD remains a possible threat to people.
The disease has never been confirmed in people, but itâs very similar to mad cow disease, which crossed species and killed humans.
CWD, caused by mutated proteins called prions, already has crossed species to macaque monkeys that were fed infected meat in laboratory tests. Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and an expert on infectious diseases, puts the human danger bluntly.
âI do believe that it is not a matter of if, but when, CWD crosses to humans,ââ Osterholm told the News Tribune.
Read the entire article.
As for catching the committee hearing, the House's calendar doesn't list it as being live-streamed on video or audio, though that might change. If not, we'll link to the audio here.
Screengrab: Committee Chair Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St Paul shared the images at the top of this post of an informational tour he and fellow committee member Jamie Becker-Finn received from a DNR conservation officer in Fillmore County. Becker-Finn serves as the vice chair of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resource Policy Committee; Hansen also serves on the policy committee.
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Over the weekend, there was a âgun right rallyâ.
The rally was put on by a group called âMinnesota Gun Rightsâ. Weâve addressed this group in the past â for being a scam that fleeces Minnesota gun owners, and is politically ineffective at best (and at worst, they do more harm than good). Some legislators that once supported it have seen the light and condemned the group as a scam.
Unfortunately, the media doesnât know the difference between gun rights groups; many Twin Cities news outlets credited the Minnesota Gun Ownersâ Caucus and the Gun Owners Political Action Committee for the event (as they giggled about the fairly sparse turnout. . .
This past week, the group sent out a fundraising letter in an envelope calling Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota House DFL Leaders "!!BERSERK!!" While Walz's image occupies the upper left hand cover of the envelope, Ellison's picture dominates the document. At the end of October in the race for Attorney General, Ellison's campaign had issued a statement about his opponent, Wardlow Shows True Colors on Gun Safety, Reverses Support for Background Checks and Accepts NRA Donations.
However, the Attorney General's role in passing legislation likely looms far less large than that of the Governor--and certainly smaller than the role of Speaker of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman, who literally is out of this group's picture. Perhaps Hortman wasn't thought scary looking enough to provoke recipients to peek inside the missive.
Here's the fundraising letter a friend shared with Bluestem. Readers can make up their minds about what's truly berserk here.
Visit the group's Facebook page here, to learn about how the group is ripping endorsed the Republican Party endorsed candidate in the Minnesota Senate District 11 special election:
Cryin' Jason Rarick for Senate, poor record, BAD votes on REAL ID, pledge breaker, being protected by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, like so many other weak or outright anti-gun politicians!
When will this game end? When will they stop protecting politicians over the The People? Tune in!
Seems a bit berserk.
And there's a comment thread under a shared news news story about Jayme Closs's remarkable escape from her kidnapper and murderer of her parents in which the 13-year-old is judged to have been "involved" in the crime because of....assessments of her appearance. As one of the page's visitors wrote: "WTF is wrong with you...." It's the ultimate blaming of the victim. Heckova discourse.
Screengrab: From the scan of the envelope a friend sent us along with the berserk letter.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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