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Articles by Mark Mendiola
UOG announces 58th Charter Day and Charter Month activities
Members of the UOG Yap Student Organization perform a traditional dance during the 57th Charter Day Celebration on March 6, 2025, at the University of Guam. The performance, rooted in cultural traditions passed down through generations, featured brightly colored attire, rhythmic chants, and the clacking of bamboo sticks, with performers wearing a turmeric and coconut oil mixture as part of the custom.
Weather takes control in Washington dairy country
A devastating, “once-in-a-century” blizzard whose strong winds gusted to 80 miles per hour as it slammed into Washington state’s Yakima Valley in early February killed more than 1,800 cows worth an estimated $4 million at 12-15 dairies. The estimated financial losses do not include milk production impacts. One dairy alone lost 600 cattle averaging $2,000 each. Snowstorms continued to afflict much of Washington state most of February since that blizzard struck late Saturday, Feb.
Guide to reduce wildlife conflict released
Based at Santa Fe, NM, the Western Landowners Alliance (WLA) has published and issued a glossy, ambitious guide for ranchers about how to reduce conflicts with grizzly bears, wolves, and elk on public and private lands.
Envirothon brings together youth with conservation interests
Bruce Olenick, regional administrator at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s Pocatello office, says he was impressed by the caliber of young people from throughout North America who converged on Pocatello this past summer to participate in the 2018 “Envirothon.”Olenick was among 50 judges who shared the daunting task of determining which of the 300 high school students did the best in different competitions at the end of July in what has been dubbed an “Environmental Olympics”...
New packing plant already looking to the future
It’s only been running since May 2017, but the $100 million CS Beef Packers plant constructed near Kuna, ID, southwest of Boise already employs 625 workers and processes 1,350 head of cattle each day.
ESA desperately needs modernization
At a July 17 U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing to consider amending the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead both endorsed giving states more authority to help enforce the act based on recommendations by the Western Governors Association (WGA).Pull Quote“Even the U.S. Constitution has been amended more recently than the Endangered Species Act.” — Sen.
ASI weighs legal options in grazing case
The American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) continues to weigh legal options in response to the U.S. Forest Service agreeing at the end of June with the Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians to prohibit domestic sheep owned by the University of Idaho (UI) from grazing allotments on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in eastern Idaho.The environmental groups filed a lawsuit in October that challenges the Forest Service’s authorization over the Snakey Canyon and Kelly Canyon...
Sheep industry fears history will repeat with bighorns
The American Sheep Industry (ASI) Association and the Public Lands Council (PLC) are joining forces to oppose the Utah Department of Natural Resources’ (UDNR’s) plan to introduce up to 175 wild desert bighorn sheep to the Beehive State’s Mineral Mountain Range in Beaver County north of Cedar City, initially starting with 50 bighorns.The Utah State Wildlife Board on May 31 approved the bighorns’ introduction in a 4-1 vote despite opposition from sheep producers.
Ranchers participate in outcome-based grazing project
Ranchers are cautiously optimistic that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) 11 new outcome-based grazing demonstration projects in six western states will give them more flexibility in managing their livestock herds under federal permits—five are in Nevada, two in Oregon and one each in Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
More beef semen used in dairy cows
Dairies nationwide are increasingly using more beef semen to artificially inseminate their dairy cows.
M-44s save lambs from coyotes
It’s a misnomer to refer to spring-loaded sodium cyanide devices used to control marauding coyotes that attack sheep as “bombs,” an American Sheep Industry (ASI) Association executive says.“It’s a misleading characterization,” Chase Adams, the association’s policy and information director, told the Western Livestock Journal, referring to M-44s commonly used to deter predators from savaging sheep herds.Calling the controversial spring-loaded, canine-specific devices “bombs” implies that they...
Ranchers and farmers resist high-speed train in California
California’s proposed construction of a controversial, steeply expensive high-speed rail system through the state’s agriculturally abundant San Joaquin Valley is not being welcomed with enthusiasm by ranchers and farmers whose operations and property could be adversely impacted by the “bullet train.”State officials recently spiked the cost estimate of the project’s first phase underway in the Central Valley by 35 percent to $10.6 billion, boosting the train’s entire cost from San Francisco...
Expansion of nut tree farms continues in California
Richard Matoian, executive director of American Pistachio Growers, says production of tree nuts such as pistachios, walnuts and almonds continues to grow in California at a 5 percent annual rate as consumers gravitate more and more toward their nutritional benefits, requiring the expansion of orchards on coveted precious ground.American Pistachio Growers, based in Fresno, is a voluntary trade association representing members who are pistachio growers, processors and industry partners in...
Wyoming considering grizzly hunting season
The Wyoming Stock Growers Association is thrilled that grizzly bears have been delisted as an endangered species and fully supports the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s plan to allow limited, controlled hunts of grizzlies next autumn.The Cowboy State’s department conducted public hearings last fall and this winter, taking input from hundreds of people about its Wyoming Grizzly Bear Management Plan, which includes research, education, population monitoring, conflict management, and...
Idaho focuses on ag issues
When the Idaho Legislature considers enacting measures that would impact the state’s agriculture industry, lawmakers deal with issues that affect the state’s arguably most economically significant industry—one that generates literally millions of dollars in revenue each year and employs tens of thousands.Gem State legislators generally are given high marks by ranchers and farmers for how they address matters that directly affect those who produce everything from dairy and beef cattle to...
Packing industry faces labor shortage
With unemployment rates scraping historic lows throughout many economic sectors nationwide, an acute labor shortage is adversely impacting U.S. meatpacking companies now operating at virtually maximum capacity as cattle production climbs, squeezing them like a tightening vise.Beef processing plants cite the growing labor dilemma as their major concern in a recent survey conducted by Cattle Buyers Weekly.
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