Daily Archives: November 26, 2012

Important 2012 Farm Bill Notice from KWF

Kansas Wildlife Federation members and friends- as you may know, Congress is facing a very tight time-line in order to get a 2012 Farm Bill passed during the lame-duck session currently ongoing. Other issues, such as the ‘fiscal cliff’, may take precedence. Both the Senate and the House Agriculture Committee have passed their versions of the Farm Bill. The article below, ‘Narrow window’ for passing full farm bill in lame duck, outlines some of the issues involved.

Tthe House leadership needs to schedule a vote on the Committee’s version and have it pass. Then the two versions can go to a Senate/House conference committee where an acceptable bill can be hammered out. If this does not happen by the end of the year farm programs will start falling through the cracks and Congress will have to start over in 2013, with new hearings, mark-up bills, votes and conferences. We need to get a bill passed this year.

Kansas House delegates need to hear from KWF supporters. Please urge your representative to work for a vote on the Farm Bill by the entire House. Your representative needs to hear from you before Thanksgiving. We realize that this is short notice but any contact you can make you’re your representative will be greatly effective. At the end of this message is a listing of the offices and contact info for your Kansas Representative.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for your support on the Farm Bill issue.

Steve Sorensen
Conservation Vice President
Kansas Wildlife Federation

Kansas Congressional Contacts

 

The office listed in bold is the

State/District office

 

First District

Representative Tim Huelskamp

126 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515Phone: (202) 225-2715
Fax: (202) 225-5124

E-mail: https://huelskamp.house.gov/contact-me/email-me 

Dodge City Office

100 Military Ave.

, Ste 204

Dodge City, KS 67801

Phone: (620) 225-0172

Fax: (620) 225-0297

Hutchinson Office

One North Main, 

Ste 205

Hutchinson, KS 67504

Phone: (620) 665-6138

Fax: (620) 665-6360

Salina Office


119 W. Iron Ave. 4th Floor Ste A
Salina, KS 67402
Phone: (785) 309-0572
Fax: (785) 827-6957

Second District

Representative Lynn Jenkins

1122 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: (202) 225-6601

Fax: (202) 225-7986e-mail: https://lynnjenkins.house.gov//index.cfm?sectionid=209

Topeka Office

3550 S.W. 5th Street
Topeka, KS 66606

Phone: (785) 234-5966
Fax: (785) 234-5967

Pittsburg Office

1001 N. Broadway Street

 #C

Pittsburg, KS 66762

Phone (620) 231-5966

Fax (620) 231-5972

Third District

Representative Kevin Yoder

214 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515Phone: (202) 225-2865
Fax: (202) 225-2807

E-mail: https://yoder.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Overland Park Office

7325 W. 79th St.
Overland Park, KS 66204

Phone:  (913) 621-0832
Fax:  (913) 621-1533

 

Fourth District

Representative Mike Pompeo

107 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-6216

Fax: (202) 225-3489

E-mail: https://pompeo.house.gov/contact-me/email-me 

Wichita Office


7701 E. Kellogg, 

Ste 510

Wichita, KS 67207Phone: (316) 262-8992
Fax: (316) 262-5309

Nature Writers: Worthy of Our Thanks

by Andy and Tami McDaniels

Through the passionate wilderness writings of authors like Jaeger, Roosevelt, and Leopold, we have understood and felt the need to connect with the natural world. These writers, and many more like them, have inspired us to spend time in the great outdoors, become stewards of our environment, and contemplate our relationship with nature. They have taught us new outdoor techniques and provided us with information to improve upon tried and true methods. They have opened our minds to the possibility that the outdoors can motivate us to live better lives.

Given that November is a month of giving thanks, I thought it appropriate to take time to give thanks to a few of the writers who have given us books about the wild which have been inspirational and enlightening to all who have read them. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of reading a book by one of these authors, I hope what you read here will encourage you to do so.

Ellsworth Jaeger (1897-1962)

Perhaps not the most well-known of this category of writers, Ellsworth Jaeger was an editor, an author, and a curator of education at the Buffalo Science Museum. He wrote and illustrated seven books includingWildwood Wisdom, Nature Crafts, Tracks and Trailcraft, Council Fires, and Easy Crafts.

Jaeger traveled extensively throughout the wilderness areas of Canada, the United States and Mexico and dedicated his life to researching various Native American tribes, such as the Iroquois, Blackfoot, Apache,Pueblo, and Navajo. He was considered an authority on American Indian lore and camping.

The book jacket cover of Wildwood Wisdom includes a warning, “…the author’s enthusiasm for wildwood is so infectious that you will be lured away from suburb or city.” Indeed, you will be lured. It’s impossible to read this book without wanting to test some of the ideas and techniques in his 197 detailed illustrations. The comprehensive 491-page book, mainly addressed to campers, was originally published in 1945, and is not only a guide to every imaginable aspect of wilderness life, but also an enjoyable read and historical account of life in America in the 1800s.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Our twenty-sixth president was a historian, an author, a statesman, a hunter, an orator, a rancher, and a naturalist. Reading and writing were two of his favorite pastimes. He often read an entire book in one day, and he authored over 35 books on many different subjects including hunting and wilderness pursuits. One such book, A Book Lover’s Holiday in the Open, gives Roosevelt’s advice about how man can get in touch with the natural world. Crack open the cover of the 1916 edition, and you will read:

The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking, for the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of present travel. He can see the red splendor of desert sunsets and the unearthly glory of the afterglow on the battlements of desolate mountains. In sapphire gulfs of ocean he can visit islets, above which the wings of myriads of sea-fowl make a kind of shifting cuneiform script in the air. He can ride along the brink of the stupendous cliff-walled canyon, where eagles soar below him, and cougars make their lairs on the ledges and harry the big-horned sheep. He can journey through the northern forests, the home of the giant moose, the forests of fragrant and murmuring life in summer, the iron-bound and melancholy forests of winter.

-Theodore Roosevelt, A Book Lover’s Holiday in the Open

This autobiographical collection of stories encourages us to step outside our comfort zone and discover the majesty of the outdoors. Each chapter describes a unique wilderness adventure, such as a cougar hunt, crossing the Navajo Desert, and a “curious experience” at a private game reserve in Quebec.

Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)

Aldo Leopold was an author, an ecologist, a forester, a scientist, and an environmentalist. He is acknowledged by many as the father of wildlife ecology. His book A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published.

Leopold utilizes A Sand County Almanac and its call for a Land Ethic, a seminal work of the modern environmentalist movement, to articulate the true connection between people and the natural world, with the hope that the readers will begin to treat the land with the love and respect it deserves. (The Aldo Leopold Foundation)

There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Each of the authors gave us a gift when they took time to share their love and knowledge of nature with us. Not just those that I’ve highlighted, but all the men and women that dedicate their lives to writing about the natural world are truly worthy of thanks.

You can find the above mentioned books at retailers that sell new, used, and collectible books, likeAbeBooks. The holiday season is a perfect time to catch up on reading and share your favorite books with others. What could be a better gift to give someone special than a gift that sparks a passion for the outdoors?