Many times in our 'modern and advanced' world, we tend to look down our noses at those who farm and keep animals in more traditional ways. Ways that are hundreds or thousands of years old. One of the groups of people I wasn't aware of untill I started researching intrernational trade issues related to the National Animal ID System (NAIS), are the Pastoralists. What, you might ask, is a pastoralist anyway? Simply put, a pastoralist is someone who depends on their livestock for their survival, their culture is centered around the livestock, and they are generally nomadic, although they can settle.
In everyone's rush to modernize, lots of preasure is being put on pastoralists, through increased use of traditional grazing grounds for fixed agriculture, and also because many grazing grounds are being turned into parks and wild areas. Sometimes the pastoralists are allowed to continue as they have for centuries and are either given the responsibility of looking after or managing the area, sometimes they are evicted from the grazing lands. Irregardless, it appears that pastoralists are a woefully under represented group in the halls of international trade, national agriculture and livestock legislation, etc.
The League for Pastoral Peoples was formed to provide an advocate for pastoralists the world over, as well as providing education regarding the positive things that pastoralists bring to livestock keeping. To learn more about Pastoral people please visit the League for Pastoral Peoples - link in the menu on the right.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Weed Task Force
Last night, Wednesday, 14 November, I attended a meeting put on by the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in Molalla. What this meeting was all about is the formation of a noxious weed taskforce.
You might ask yourself what we need with such a thing as a weed taskforce, and I did too. That's why I went to the meeting. What I learned made me want to serve on the taskforce and to help out in any way that I can.
If you have rural property, especially if you have livestock or grow any kind of crop, be it for your own use or for sale, a service such as this could be very valuable for you. Asside from providing information on different types of weeds, the taskforce will probably wind up generating and/or providing information on various ways to control these weeds that can be dangerous to domestic animals, wildlife and wild plants, and often have the effect of being a general pain in the hindquarters, or the back as the case may be.
I'd like to encourage anyone interested in this to contact Ginny Van Loo, Weed Task Force Program Coordinator - 421 High Street, Suite 105, Oregon City, Oregon 97045
Phone (503) 349-8951, email - ginnyg89@msn.com. You can also go to the website - http://www.cc-swcd.org
You might ask yourself what we need with such a thing as a weed taskforce, and I did too. That's why I went to the meeting. What I learned made me want to serve on the taskforce and to help out in any way that I can.
If you have rural property, especially if you have livestock or grow any kind of crop, be it for your own use or for sale, a service such as this could be very valuable for you. Asside from providing information on different types of weeds, the taskforce will probably wind up generating and/or providing information on various ways to control these weeds that can be dangerous to domestic animals, wildlife and wild plants, and often have the effect of being a general pain in the hindquarters, or the back as the case may be.
I'd like to encourage anyone interested in this to contact Ginny Van Loo, Weed Task Force Program Coordinator - 421 High Street, Suite 105, Oregon City, Oregon 97045
Phone (503) 349-8951, email - ginnyg89@msn.com. You can also go to the website - http://www.cc-swcd.org
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