Blair Mountain, scene of epic labor battle, is put on National Register, but may be mined anyway

A West Virginia mountain that saw the largest armed conflict in U.S. labor history, in 1921 between miners who wanted to unionize and coal operators who got government help to prevent it, has been named to the National Register of Historic Places. But while labor and environmental groups sought the designation, it may have no effect on plans to strip-mine the area's mountaintops for coal. (Encarta map)

The place "includes a 10-mile stretch of Logan County ridges where thousands of miners fought federal troops as part of a United Mine Workers organizing fight," Ken Ward Jr. writes for The Charleston Gazette. "The designation covers about 1,600 acres, along a fairly narrow strip that runs northwest from near the town of Blair."

Ward reports, "The designation does not block mining, and according to state officials could not have been made unless land-owning companies in the area agreed to it." However, Massey Energy Co,, which wants to mine the area, "and several land companies filed suit to stop the state historic preservation office's support for the national site designation," Ward notes. (Read more)

VA data show exodus of veterans to rural America

For reasons no expert seems able to explain completely, this decade has seen an exodus of military veterans to rural areas. About one-third now live outside metropolitan areas, compared to only one-fourth in 2000, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data reported by Mike Swift of the San Jose Mercury News. Nationally, rural areas have only a fifth of the total population.

"Even though there are 3.2 million fewer veterans than in 2000, there are 1.3 million more of them living in rural America, a 20-percent surge," Swift writes. "V.A. demographers cannot completely explain the rapid shift," though one reason is probably that "veterans leaving the service tend to settle near a military installation," and several West Coast bases have been closed, leaving a greater concentration of bases in the Southeast, the nation's most rural region. Also, Vietnam veterans are reaching retirement age.

"The rural growth is particularly striking among Vietnam-era veterans where their numbers are up in rural states like Montana, Idaho and even South Dakota," Swift reports. He quotes one: "They like to be someplace where it's quiet and comfortable, without a lot of outside interference. There's a lot of difference between the hustle and bustle of the city and being in the countryside." (Read more)

Swift's story is also about the difficulty veterans' groups have maintaining American Legion and VFW posts in some areas. Sounds like a good place to start your own reporting, along with the VA data. (Hat tip to the Daily Yonder)

Hawaii becomes a model for telemedicine, an increasingly popular strategy for rural health care

Telemedicine proponents gathered recently in Hawaii to discuss the progress within the field. Helen Altonn reports for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that the practice, which connects doctors and health specialists online with patients in other locations, is a growing trend that is particularly advantageous for rural areas and isolated patients.

"In essence it affords the ability to electronically transport the physician to the patient instead of the patient to the physician," Dr. Jay H. Sanders, who has been called the "father of telemedicine," told Altonn. "It's really a life-or-death situation in many areas."

The first of its kind in Hawaii, the event featured speakers from the field, including Sanders, who is president and chief executive officer of the Global Telemedicine Group. Altonn reports that Sanders is credited with developing the first statewide telemedicine system in the United States, the first correctional telemedicine program and the first "tele-homecare" technology, called "The Electronic House Call."

The advantages to telemedicine services include connections between academic centers and rural hospitals where trauma surgeons can be scarce. Additionally, Sanders said specialists are able to effectively examine patients by a CAT scan or MRI and refer that information to the attending doctor on call.

Obstacles faced by the telemedicine practice include old Medicaid coverage rules and issues with licensure. Still, Sanders looks to Hawaii's reimbursement plan as a model and is certain that the cost savings associated with telemedicine make it a priority, especially with the new administration. "Very shortly you will be able to see me on the cell phone. It will be major technology for telemedicine." Read more.

As sesquicentennial approaches, old and new Souths debate promotion of Confederate history

"With the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War coming up in 2011, efforts are underway in statehouses, small towns and counties across the South to push for proclamations or legislation promoting Confederate history," reports Dahleen Glanton of the Los Angeles Times. But an updated, romanticized view of the Confederacy is a tough sell for Southerners concerned about its affiliation with slavery.

Confederate history is recognized throughout the South, with Confederate Memorial Day observances. (Texas and Arkansas mark it the same day as the federal holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.) According to Charles McMichael, commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, "More than a thousand municipalities hold parades and festivals on the holiday and efforts are underway to spread it nationwide, state by state."

In recent years some have tried to make the Confederacy appear more multicultural, noting that blacks, Latinos and Jews fought for it. But many still see it as the embodiment of slavery. "To say that it is not racist but about multiculturalism is an attempt to adopt a modern mind-set," Jonathan Sarris, associate professor of history at North Carolina Wesleyan College, told Glanton. "You can call it a victory for the forces of multiculturalism when even the defendants of the Confederacy feel they have to pay some lip service to the idea of tolerance." (Read more)

Metro reporter uses Census of Agriculture to write about urban sprawl and measures to control it

As suburban areas expand, some rural jurisdictions "are imposing impact fees and other regulations on new residential development to keep suburban sprawl from encroaching on farmland," reports Carrie Whitaker of the Cincinnati Enquirer. She draws on the recent Census of Agriculture to provide data that illustrate sprawl.

While opponents of urban sprawl see it as a threat to local farms, some farming interests see land sales as an opportunity, and oppose measures that discourage them. "The best way to save farms is to develop land where it's appropriate and preserve the rest," Joe Cornely of the Ohio Farm Bureau told Whitaker.

Whitaker focuses on a county near Cincinnati: "2007 Census of Agriculture data show that from 2002 to 2007, Warren County lost farms at one of the highest rates in the state, from 1,036 farms to 896, a 14 percent decline," adds Whitaker. In adjoining Butler and Clermont counties, the declines were 10 and 8 percent, respectively. "During the same time period, the number of U.S. farms increased 4 percent." The farm count is easy to find; it's the top line of each county's page in the census. To search by state, click here.

Before the recession hit the housing industry, as many as 600 new homes a year were being built in the county's Hamilton Township. "To cope with growth costs, the township imposed an impact fee on new development that led to a bitter and unresolved court challenge from home builders," writes Whitaker. "Government officials also have changed a zoning code to limit the density of homes in rural areas." (Read more)

Iowa plant will use corncobs to make fertilizer, reducing use of often expensive natural gas

A plant to be built in Menlo, Iowa, "will be the first of its kind in the U.S. to convert biomass into fertilizer," reports Dan Piller of The Des Moines Register. "The SynGest Menlo plant will use 150,000 tons of locally supplied corncobs per year to manufacture 50,000 tons of bio-ammonia annually, enough to fertilize 500,000 acres of nearby Iowa farmland under corn."

Typically, chemical fertilizers are made by extracting nitrogen from the air using natural gas. The shift to using biomass could be good news for farmers because of the move away from gas. "Farmers have fought soaring fertilizer costs caused by volatile swings in natural gas prices," writes Piller. "In the last half-decade the average price for fertilizer has increased from less than $200 per ton to more than $1,000 per ton." (Read more)

Rural job loss now outpacing urban

As reported here rural job losses in the recession were proportionately less than those in urban areas until November 2008. Since then, rural losses have has accelerated so quickly that they are greater than in urban areas. (Rural Policy Research Institute chart)

"Rural counties lost 3.4 percent of their jobs during the 12 months ending in January 2009," reports the Daily Yonder. "Urban counties lost 2.8 percent of their jobs." The distribution of job loss in rural America has varied. Areas with many manufacturing jobs have been hit particularly hard, while farming areas have been hurt less. Areas with mostly mining jobs have actually seen a slight increase in jobs, roughly half a percent. (Read more)

Ga. agricultural college starts rural studies degree

Students interested in promoting rural communities have a new opportunity at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. The college, in Tifton, Ga., is offering a new bachelor's degree in Rural Studies. The program offers three different areas of concentration: Rural Business and Economic Development, Rural Arts and Culture, and Rural Community and Social Affairs. The college notes that "graduates of the program might find careers with private sector organizations that deal with rural issues, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Other possibilities include historic preservation, rural history, rural sociology, global studies, journalism, or public administration." (Read more)

Forest owners might earn carbon credits through better management that increases CO2 absorption

There may soon be a way to make money from your woodland without cutting timber. A "cap and trade" system to limit carbon-dioxide emissions will create a market in carbon credits, and forests that are professionally managed should be able to earn credits because they take up more of the greenhouse gas than unmanaged woodlands.

In Eastern Kentucky, where the great majority of the Appalachian forest is privately owned, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development is lining up woodland owners through its Forest Opportunities Initiative. "I think it's going to get me and other woodland owners to say 'Hey, maybe there's a reason to manage my woodlands,'" Jack Stickney, who owns a large farm in Estill County, told Andy Mead of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "You know how it is when it comes down to money. That gets people's interest."

The big question is how much money. "In Europe, where the government regulates carbon trading, the price is $10 to $20 a ton, Mead writes. "If the price here were $20 a ton, an Eastern Kentucky landowner could make more than $66 an acre each year." However, the market for credits could disappear if Congress goes with a carbon tax instead. (Read more)

Kentucky, West Virginia each have a favorite candidate to lead federal strip-mine office

With the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers apparently at odds over regulating mountaintop removal, attention has turned to the leadership of agency that is supposed to be at the forefront of regulating strip mining for coal: the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, in the Department of the Interior.

The two states with the most at stake, West Virginia and Kentucky, seem to have their favorite candidates: West Virginia University law professor Patrick McGinley and Lexington lawyer Joe Childers. Childers was endorsed for the job yesterday by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, "in an interesting move," reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette in his Coal Tattoo blog.

Ward says groups opposing mountaintiop removal have focused on using the Clean Water Act, administered by EPA, rather than the Interior agency. "OSM has never lived up to its broad mandate to protect coalfield communities and the environment," he explains. "Just read this report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or this blueprint for fixing OSM written by longtime Kentucky environmental lawyer Tom FitzGerald," of the Kentucky Resources Council. "A strong OSM could go a long way to helping with the myriad of problems facing citizens in coalfield communities." (Read more)

UPDATE, April 2: The war of the Big Sandy continues, as Gazette editorial page endorses McGinley.

'A Bub in the woods,' with Secret Service in tow

Having predicted immediately after his election that Barack Obama would plant a garden at the White House, rural land consultant Curtis Seltzer pens another Country Real Estate column in which "Bub" again visits Highland County, Virginia, this time as president, and learns about the Appalachian forest. Excerpts:

“You’re looking at a mixed-age forest, heavy to maples lower down and oaks higher up.”

“So this isn’t close to wilderness, what I’m walking through?”

“No, it’s just some west-facing woods at about 3,000 feet that have been used for timber since the late 1700s. Genuine wilderness is almost impossible to find in the East.” . . .

“Why are those trees dead?”

“They’re hemlock. A little bugger called the woolly adelgid killed them a couple of years ago. Some survived, but with a lot less green.” . . .

“Maybe the kids and I will plant a tree or two at the White House.”

“While you’re at it, plant a couple in a national forest where they will be part of the country’s sustainable energy future.”

“You know what? I might like to be remembered as the first green President more than the first black President.”

Seltzer offers a few laughs, mostly about the Secret Service. To read his full column, click here.

Virginia coal counties may get wind power stations

Debra McCown of the Bristol Herald Courier writes from the town of Appalachia, Va.: "Coal is central to this region’s past and part of its future, but a new future is taking shape on the strip-mined ridges." While a coal-fired power plant "rises skyward on one end of Wise County, a field of wind turbines proposed for land on the Virginia-Kentucky line is signaling this region’s potential for a shift toward green energy."

Dominion Power, which is building the coal plant neat St. Paul, is expected to join with BP Wind for permits to build up three wind-energy generating stations atop the county's Black Mountain and on East River Mountain in Tazewell County, which borders West Virginia. Other sites are being considered. (Read more)

The partnership "believes it has found wind energy sites that sidestep two of the main objections to such projects — ruination of scenic views and inappropriate land use," reports Jeff Lester of Coalfield.com, the site for Wise and Dickenson County papers. "Because of the region’s very steep ridges, the sites under study are all but unseen from developed or heavily-traveled areas, they say. And while many mountain communities object to disturbance of pristine ridgetops or potential land grabs against reluctant residents ... virtually all the land under study is reclaimed ridgetop strip mines or actively mined sites owned by Penn Virginia Resources, with almost no homes nearby." (Read more; subscription required)

Northwest loggers adadpting to greener economy

Harold Jones, right, has always made his money cutting trees, usually big ones, in the Pacific Northwest. Now, he illustrates changed circumstances, new attitudes and common ground among loggers and environmental interests in the region, reports William Yardley of The New York Times. (Times photo by Leah Nash)

"With the housing market and the economy in crisis, some rural areas have never been more raw. Mills keep closing. People keep leaving. Unemployment in some counties is near 20 percent," Yardley reports from Lowell, Ore. "Yet in parts of the region, the decline is being met by an unlikely optimism. Some people who have long fought to clear-cut the region’s verdant slopes are trying to reposition themselves for a more environmentally friendly economy, motivated by changing political interests, the federal stimulus package and sheer desperation."

Mills are making energy from bark and brush, jobless loggers are looking for stimulus-funded jobs thinning national forests to make them less fire-prone, and small-scale timber owners like Jones are "going green" by getting certification that their tracts are professionally managed. "The certification process, supervised by the American Tree Farm System, requires Mr. Jones to manage and replant his land under the supervision of a professional forester," Yardley explains. "It is intended in part to give small tree farmers some credibility within the sustainable forestry movement." (Read more)

Credit crisis costs tiny rural county its only bank

The national credit crisis has had less impact on rural banks, because they generally have more conservative lending and investment policies. (For one example, the Bank of Eastern Oregon, see this story by George Murdock of the East Oregonian.) But in some cases where rural banks were bought to serve as tools for cashing in on the real-estate boom, the chickens have come home to roost. They did last week in Gibson, Ga., population 700, where the only bank in Glascock County, population 3,000, closed its doors. (Encarta map)

"To Glascock County residents, it now seems as if the crisis has extended a tentacle from Atlanta to their quiet community of farms and sawmills 120 miles to the east, where “sprawl” is something one does in the den after work," Shaila Dewan writes for The New York Times. Her story is more than a rural news feature; First City Bank was so weak that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. couldn't find another bank to take it over, only the second such case in 48 bank failures since 2007.

"Most of the bank’s money came from “brokered deposits,” investments obtained from third parties that shop around for the highest rates, rather than more reliable “core deposits,” which come from local customers," Dewan explains. (Read more)

Ky. publishing technology pioneer Gibson dies

Funeral services will be held tomorrow in Monticello, Ky., for Jerry Gibson, who was known to publishers and editors across Kentucky because he probably helped half the state's newspapers install computers and other technology. "He maintained he had installed the first computer pagination and layout equipment in this part of the country," reports The Times Journal of Russell Springs, where he lived.

Gibson and Times Journal co-owner David Davenport founded the lakecumberland.com Web site, and Gibson "was the man behind the keyboard at wildcatsradio.com, which is known to many as the definitive University of Kentucky basketball Web site, and a moving force for years at the Star Theater," the weekly reports. His body was discovered after he did not update the site with UK's loss in the National Invitation Tournament. He was 57. (Read more)

Gibson co-founded weeklies in Monticello and Somerset. Stuart Simpson, who competed with him in their hometown and collaborated with him in Somerset, had this to say on the Kentucky Press Association blog: "He was a reporter, editor, photographer, graphic designer, historian, computer expert, magazine editor, salesman, author, Internet web designer, musician … the list could go on. A lot of the things he did, especially in communication technology, he recognized the importance of before most people, and he could do better than most people. Mostly self-taught, Jerry was a very, very smart guy. I learned a lot from him, as did anyone who had the opportunity to be around him. But Jerry just couldn’t sit still doing one thing for very long. There was always something more exciting, more challenging that he wanted to get involved with." Other commenters included this poster, whose professional newspaper career Jerry helped start. May his energy and wit be long remembered and emulated. (Read more)

Economic stress reduces the number of candidates for rural offices around Peoria

"Several ... Peoria-area municipalities, school boards, library and park boards are faced with the quandary of more openings than candidates to fill them" in the election on April 7, reports Karen McDonald of the Peoria Journal Star.

"It's more of the economy than anything," said Norwood Mayor Jim Yocum, who isn't running again. No one else is, either, or for two town trustee seats. "Both spouses these days have to work to make a living, and they just don't have time" to serve in public office, Yocum told McDonald. (Read more)

Rural district in New York votes Tue. for Congress

UPDATE, April 1: The race is too close to call, reports the Albany Times-Union.

There's a strong rural angle to Tuesday's special election in New York's 20th Congressional District, to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Kristen Gillibrand when Gov. David Paterson appointed her to the Senate. "The contest has undergone shifts in public opinion usually reserved for much longer campaigns, drawn national attention as an early test of Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program, involved prominent national political figures, and tested the conventional wisdom about the political makeup of the sprawling, ten-county congressional district," writes Don Moore of ccScoop, a news site for Columbia County. (NationalAtlas.gov map)

Republican Jim Tedisco, the state House minority leader, has been considered the favorite but "can’t quite seem to close the deal," Sean Reagan writes for The Back Forty, the blog of RuralVotes, a Democratic group. "Democrats have Tedisco on the defensive for not taking a stance on the stimulus bill in a district where President Obama and Gillibrand are very popular," writes Stu Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. The Democrat is Scott Murphy of Glens Falls, manager of a small business investment firm. Libertarian is Eric Sundwall, chairman of his state party.

"The conventional wisdom about the 20th CD is that it is a majority Republican district," because Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 3 to 2, Moore writes. But the actual voter registration figures are "Republicans 41 percent, Democrats 26 percent, Independents 5 percent, Conservatives 2 percent, other minor parties and unaffiliated voters 26 percent." And Obama carried the district 53-47 in November. (Read more)

UPDATE, March 29: "The national Republican and Democratic parties have made it nothing less than a referendum on Obama's first two months in office, his economic agenda and his appeal," reports Keith Richburg of The Washington Post. "An opinion poll by Siena College's independent Siena Research Institute and the parties' internal polls show the contest a virtual toss-up. ... With turnout typically low for a special election, the outcome is likely to be determined by who can best get their supporters to the polls." (Read more)

Milk prices plummet, dairy farmers in deep crisis

After lifetime highs in 2007, raw milk prices have fallen by nearly half and farmers are struggling, Keith Good reports for Farm Policy.com. “Pennsylvania producers received about $11.50 per hundred pounds of milk in February, while production costs ranged from $15.50 to $18.50,” says the state’s Center for Dairy Excellence. Dan Piller writes for The Des Moines Register that “The American Milk Producers Federation says the average cost to produce milk in January exceeded the price of milk by 25 percent.”

“The number of dairy cows being sent to slaughter has risen by about 20 percent from last year, as desperate farmers cull their herds and sell at fire-sale prices,” Sue Kirchoff writes for USA Today. “Adding to the problem, banks are less willing or able to extend farmers’ loan payments amid the financial turmoil.” John Murawski reports for the News & Observer in Raleigh, "Several dozen dairy farms in North Carolina are expected to go under this year." (Read more)

A letter to President Obama from the National Milk Producers Federation warned that without more aggressive strategies, thousands of farms and jobs could be lost. “There are several reasons for the implosion: oversupply, falling export demand and continued high prices for supplies such as feed,” Kirchoff explained. “The dairy sector in the past has been less prone to huge price swings than other areas of agriculture, but that’s changing as the industry relies more on the markets and less on government programs.”

On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to the crisis. “The U.S. government will shift 200 million lbs. of nonfat dry milk surpluses to domestic feeding programs, helping low-income families and dairy farmers hit by high feed costs and low prices,” , Christopher Doering reported for Reuters. Read more.

USDA's action may have helped. "Daily Dairy Report notes that contracts for the second half of 2009 now average $16.00, up $2.31 from a month ago," notes Bob Meyer of Brownfield.

Marketer ‘will work for food,’ barters with farms

As Valerie Gates started seeing business decline at her marketing and design firm in Wellesley, Mass., she started reading books on eating locally and sustainably, and got an idea: Why not offer her marketing services to local farms in exchange for food?

The idea worked, and Gates has taken her "Will Work for Food" campaign national, offering services along a three-tiered pricing system that cover taxes which apply to bartering partnerships. At the same time, she's bridging the gap between rural and urban, partnering with inner-city teenagers to help promote the campaign with apparel bearing the name of the project.

Gates hopes to apply for grants and continue the project, writes Daphne Bishop for The Back Forty, the blog of RuralVotes, but she's still adjusting to the whirlwind new business she's created for herself. It's an odd journey for someone who says that until recently had "never eaten or cooked a turnip," but in it, she's found a new passion: "I also want to help make farming hip, to brand farming as a hip thing." (Read more)

Self-employment rises in depopulating rural areas

A Nebraska sociologist says self-employment is on the rise in rural areas, reflecting a new way of making a living that relies more on private contracting than traditional employer-employee relationships. Randy Cantrell of the University of Nebraska estimates that self-employment accounts for 18 percent to 30 percent of workers in the state's rural counties.

The annual poll of rural Nebraskans hasn't backed up Cantrell's numbers, writes Joan Ortiz of The Associated Press. "but he has a theory: The rural poll is asking the wrong question. In the past, people have been asked if they have a business. Cantrell realizes that may be leaving out those who still get a paycheck from their employers, but technically are private contractors. He used the example of inbound telemarketers, who he thinks can rightfully assert they have a business."

Cantrell says decreasing rural populations means that there are not enough people to support a multiple-person business, but the same services are still needed. This leads many to sub-contract work out to individuals, a trend which he says will only grow. He hopes to test his theory in this year's version of an annual poll he send to rural dwellers on work, well-being and policies. (Read more)