SOUTH DAKOTA

Rare bison roundup rustles up hundreds to maintain health of the species

South Dakota cowboys and cowgirls rounded up a herd of more than 1,500 bison on Sept. 29 as part of an annual effort to maintain the health of the species, which has rebounded from near-extinction.

Visitors from across the world cheered from behind wire fencing as whooping horseback riders chased the thundering, wooly giants across hills and grasslands in Custer State Park. Bison and their calves stopped occasionally to graze on blond grass and roll on the ground, their sharp hooves stirring up dust clouds.

Each year Custer State Park holds one of the nation’s few bison roundups to check the health of the bison and vaccinate calves, park Superintendent Matt Snyder said.

As many as 60 million bison, sometimes called buffalo in the U.S., once roamed North America, moving in vast herds that were central to the culture and survival of numerous Native American groups.

They were driven to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, U.S. troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertilizer and clothing. By 1889, only a few hundred remained.

There are now more than 50,000 bison in the U.S., said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a horseback rider who took part in the roundup.

The park’s herd began with 36 animals bought in 1914. A state ecologist estimated the park can currently sustain about 1,000 bison based on how snow and rain conditions affected the grasslands this past year, according to Snyder.

The other 500 or so will be auctioned off, and over the next week, officials will decide which bison will remain and which will go. About 400 calves are born in the park each year.

ARIZONA

State to cancel leases that let Saudi-owned farm pump groundwater

WASHINGTON – Arizona governor Katie Hobbs said her administration is terminating state land leases that for years have given a Saudi-owned farm nearly unfettered access to pump groundwater in the dry southwestern state.

On Oct. 2, Hobbs, a Democrat, said the state had canceled Fondomonte Arizona’s lease in western Arizona’s Butler Valley and would not renew three other leases up for renewal there next year.

An investigation by the governor’s office found that the foreign-owned farm had violated some of its lease terms. Hobbs called it unacceptable that the farm “continued to pump unchecked amounts of groundwater out of our state while in clear default on their lease.”

Fondomonte Arizona, a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almarai Co., grows alfalfa in Arizona that feeds livestock in the water-stressed Gulf kingdom.

Through a spokesperson, Fondomonte said it would appeal the governor’s decision to terminate its 640-acre lease in Butler Valley. Altogether, Fondomonte farmed about 3,500 acres in the rugged desert area west of Phoenix.

Fondomonte raised eyebrows when in 2014 it purchased nearly 10,000 acres of land for $47.5 million about 20 miles away from Butler Valley in Vicksburg, Arizona. Since then, worsening drought in Arizona has brought renewed attention to the company’s water use and the broader issues of foreign-owned farms and groundwater pumping.

The Arizona governor’s office said the State Land Department decided not to renew three other leases the company had in Butler Valley due to the “excessive amounts of water being pumped from the land – free of charge.”

Foreign entities and individuals control roughly 3% of U.S. farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Canada is the largest holder – mainly of forestland.

OKLAHOMA

Federal judge clears way for ban on medical care for transgender youth

OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal judge in Tulsa declined to stop a new law from taking effect that makes it a felony crime for health care workers in Oklahoma to provide gender-affirming medical care to young transgender people.

U.S. District Court Judge John Heil III issued his order on Oct. 5 denying a motion for a preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs, who include a medical provider and family members of transgender children in Oklahoma. Heil wrote that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that parents have a fundamental right to choose such medical care for their children.

The new law, which bans medical treatments like puberty-blocking drugs or hormones for those younger than 18, was passed by Oklahoma’s Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in May. Enforcement had been on hold under an agreement between the plaintiffs and Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, whose office is defending the law.

Oklahoma’s law includes a six-month transition period for minors who were already receiving puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones. That period ends in November.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, Lambda Legal and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP, issued a joint statement vowing an appeal and decrying the judge’s decision as a “devastating result for transgender youth and their families.”

NEW MEXICO

Congressional map drawn by Democrats can stand, judge says

SANTA FE – New congressional boundaries approved by Democrats that divided up a politically conservative oil-producing region in New Mexico don’t violate the state constitution, a judge ruled in an order published on Oct. 6.

Judge Fred Van Soelen wrote that the redistricting plan enacted by Democratic state lawmakers in 2021 succeeded in substantially diluting votes of their political opponents, but that the changes fell short of “egregious” gerrymandering.

An attorney for the state Republican Party indicated that the decision will be appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court. A final decision could influence which party represents a congressional swing district along the U.S. border with Mexico where partisan control has flipped three times in three elections.

Under the map that’s being challenged, Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez in 2022 ousted a first-term Republican incumbent by a competitive 0.7% margin of victory. New Mexico’s 2nd District is one of about a dozen that are in the spotlight nationally as Republicans campaign to keep their slim U.S. House majority in 2024.

Carter Harrison, an attorney for the state GOP, highlighted the judge’s conclusion that the predominant purpose of New Mexico’s redistricting plan was to entrench Democratic Party officials in power by diluting votes.

Leading Democratic state senators said they “respect and appreciate” the judge’s decision and that their redistricting plan creates “three competitive urban/rural congressional districts.”

Utility returns millions to customers who paid after coal plant closed

SANTA FE – New Mexico utility regulators have again approved a settlement calling for monthly credits averaging about $9.28 per customer from the state’s largest electricity utility over the course of a year.

The agreement announced on Sept. 21 by the state Public Regulation Commission aims to return to customers $115 million collected by Public Service Co. of New Mexico for operations at the San Juan Generating Station – even after the last of four units of the massive coal-fired plant closed last September.

The pact still needs to be reviewed by the state Supreme Court, which sent back to the commission an agreement reached in August between the utility, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and several environmental and consumer advocacy organizations.

But ratepayers are expected to see credits on their accounts beginning in October.

PNM serves more than 525,000 residential and business customers. Company CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn told the Albuquerque Journal the utility plans to finish retiring the coal-fired plant and was pleased to reach agreement with the parties involved.

At its peak, the San Juan plant was capable of producing almost 1,850 megawatts of electricity for delivery – serving millions of homes and businesses in New Mexico and parts of Arizona and California.