Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Idaho Rancher, Bud Purdy, Emblematic Man of the West




While the extremists on the right hold Cliven Bundy up as their "hero," Joan McCarter tells us about her grandfather, Bud Purdy, an Idaho Rancher who is truly the embodiment of decency and patriotism.

Bud Purdy deserves our admiration, not Cliven Bundy.



By Joan McCarter:

"Being a Westerner and the daughter and granddaughter of cattle ranchers, I think it's about time that the non-crazy Western ranchers get some equal national media time. Because they're not all federal government-hating, "wise use," sagebrush rebelling, gun-toting crazies—even in a state like Idaho. One of Idaho's most influential cattle ranchers, and conservationists is proof of that. His name was Bud Purdy, and in his 96 years, he became sort of a legend in the state. Unfortunately, he passed away this week, but this remembrance from the Idaho Stateman's Rocky Barker tells the story.


Purdy, 96, led the ranching industry into rest and rotation grazing on public lands that both protected the range and improved cattle production.
 He duck-hunted and skied with Ernest Hemingway and hosted Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper at his Picabo Ranch.
He helped start the Idaho Cattle Association, led the University of Idaho Foundation as president and was chairman of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. In addition to the ranch, he and his late wife Ruth owned the Picabo Store, the Picabo Elevator and Silver Creek Supply, a seed business. […]
  Purdy donated a 3,500-acre conservation easement on all of the ranch along Silver Creek in the 1990s to the Nature Conservancy, adjacent to its own Silver Creek Preserve. Purdy didn’t even take the tax break on the easement valued at $7 million. […]
  He loved the cattle business, he explained to writer, producer and author Steve Stuebner in an article in 2012 for the Idaho Rangeland Commission (which he co-founded). "Every morning, you get up and do something different," he said. "You turn out on the range and ride a horse every day.
 Even now, I go out and make sure the water is OK, check the fences and make sure the gates are closed. "It's just a constant going out there and doing it," Purdy said. "I was never a cowboy, but I've ridden a million miles."

As one of my good friends here in Idaho wrote on Facebook, "He loved his land so much he owned it and when owning it wasn't enough to preserve it for future generations, he figured out a way to do that.

" Cliven Bundy doesn't represent the West. He doesn't represent cattle ranchers. He represents a minority of right-wing cranks who are good at making a lot of noise through threats of violence. He's also nothing more than a common crook. If you're looking for an emblematic man of the West, it's not Bundy. It's Bud Purdy."






11 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

Being from thr West, Washington State (still miss it) I'm familiar with Bud Purdy.

Always liked the independent westerners.Wonder if they're a dying breed.

Marlboro Man said...

It's nice to see East Coast liberals get past the stereotypes.

Purdy sounds like a good man. May he rest in peace.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Human decency, no matter if a person is from the east, west, north or south, is what matters.

Les Carpenter said...

Indeed it does. So does responsible independence. Regardless from whence it comes.

BB-Idaho said...

There are over 18,000 ranchers who lease western BLM lands. The
permits and rates were set by
presidential executive order (R.
Reagan)-
"The Federal grazing fee, which applies to Federal lands in 16 Western states on public lands managed by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service, is adjusted annually and is calculated by using a formula originally set by Congress in the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978. Under this formula, as modified and extended by a presidential Executive Order issued in 1986, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM); also, any fee increase or decrease cannot exceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level. (An AUM is the amount of forage needed to sustain one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month.) The grazing fee for 2014 is $1.35 per AUM, the same level as it was in 2013."
For the most part, the arrangement has been mutually successful, most ranchers love the land as much as anyone, the
rates are low, the land is shared with fishermen, hunters and campers and the 'rent' goes to its upkeep.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Perhaps Marlboro Man would be well advised to get past his stereotypes too.

Dave Miller said...

Except BB when that rent goes to the gummint that denies Americans their right to do whatever they please whenever they please where ever they please... as seems to be the case with Mr. Bundy.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it ironic that conservatives who usually land on the law and order side of the ledger, don't seem to value that trait here?

Les Carpenter said...

Some guys will "Walk a Mile for a Camel."

skudrunner said...

He should either pay the going rate or get off. Somehow a gun toting standoff on both sides seems to be excessive.

Why should one pay a fee and another feel they are entitled to use the land without paying. Of course why should the middle class pay taxes and 47% poor and super rich pay no Federal Income Tax.

Right Cluck said...

For my part, they all come from the same mold. A bunch of idiots acting like a bunch of fascist brown shirts running around trying to change the world and take away people's freedumbs, freedumbs of choice, freedumbs of speech and the right to do what they please. Do you hear that John Boner who is basically doing the same thing with our lives and with our children?

Cluck, cluck, cluck?

okjimm said...

well stated,BB,AND NOT ALL corporations are evil, not all industries pollute,not all employers abuse employees....and not all politicians are greedy pawns of special interests. Many are...but it is important to differentiate, to hold honest people, whatever their endeavor, to an honest light. Well stated and pointed. Kudos,