Rachel Spencer Gabel

Colorado

Reporter & Assistant Editor at The Fence Post

Agriculture Columnist at Colorado Politics

Articles

COLUMN: Time for gray wolves to check out of 'Hotel California'

1 week ago | gazette.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

I’m a sucker for metaphorical layers in lyrics, being a dealer in words myself. When Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources who isn’t particularly known for his zingers, compared the Endangered Species Act to the Hotel California, where you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave, it left me cackling for days. Well played, Rep. Westerman. Since its inception in the 1970s, only 54 species have been removed from the ESA citing recovery.
Federal delisting of gray wolves as endangered long overdue | GABEL

1 week ago | coloradopolitics.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

I’m a sucker for metaphorical layers in lyrics, being a dealer in words myself. When Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources who isn’t particularly known for his zingers, compared the Endangered Species Act to the Hotel California, where "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave," it left me cackling for days. Well played, Rep. Westerman. Since its inception in the 1970s, only 54 species have been removed from the ESA citing recovery.
Boebert’s delisting bill also prevents overturn by judicial review

1 week ago | thefencepost.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

In 1973, gray wolves were listed as endangered species and on Nov. 3, 2020, citing recovery goals being achieved, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule delisting the gray wolf in the lower 48 states, with an effective date of Jan. 4, 2021. Litigation volleyed them back onto the Endangered Species Act list in 2022. This week, a federal delisting bill known as the Pet and Livestock Protection Act is bound for the House. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Rep.
COLUMN: Tariffs will impact US beef producers

2 weeks ago | gazette.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

President Donald Trump’s tariffs should be on the radar of every agriculture producer in the U.S. Our country is not only the top producer of beef at 12.1 million metric tons annually, but also the top importer of beef, consuming 12.7 metric tons annually. There are hundreds of other ag commodities that rely on trade, of course, but beef is on my radar.
Why I have no beef with President Trump's beef tariffs | GABEL

2 weeks ago | coloradopolitics.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

President Donald Trump’s tariffs should be on the radar of every agriculture producer in the U.S. Our country is not only the top producer of beef at 12.1 million metric tons annually, but also the top importer of beef, consuming 12.7 metric tons annually. There are hundreds of other ag commodities that rely on trade, of course, but beef is on my radar.
COLUMN: Difficulties in defining private property rights

3 weeks ago | gazette.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

The opinion in a U.S. District Court decision that has made corner crossing legal in the 10th District notes, “as Wyoming territorial justices observed long ago, ‘The fence is made for beasts; the law is made for man.’ ”Corner crossing is much like making a checkers move diagonally, moving from public lands to public lands where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels. The idea is to cross without setting foot on the privately owned land.
Chess on a checkerboard when corner-crossing private, public lands? | GABEL

3 weeks ago | coloradopolitics.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

The opinion in a U.S. District Court decision that has made corner-crossing legal in the 10th District notes, “as Wyoming territorial justices observed long ago, ‘the fence is made for beasts; the law is made for man.’”Corner-crossing is much like making a checkers move diagonally, moving from public lands to public lands where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels. The idea is to cross without setting foot on the privately owned land.
Corner crossing legal after ruling in Wyoming case

4 weeks ago | thefencepost.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

A ruling by a federal appeals court has concluded that a congressional act preempts a state’s power to impose and enforce its own trespass laws. Corner crossing, accessing public land from one piece to another where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels without stepping foot on privately owned land, is now legal in the 10th Circuit’s six states: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Wildlife initiatives run roughshod over sitting-duck rural Coloradans | GABEL

1 month ago | coloradopolitics.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

Despite author of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) Douglas Bruce’s attempts to sway me, I wish the ballot-initiative process in the state would go the way of the dodo. I remain firmly opposed to what is now Initiative 35 seeking to "end gray wolf reintroduction and prohibit the importation of wolves from out of state." The Title Board set a title last week though the process to pare it down to a single subject must have left some exhausted.
COLUMN: Ballot proposal is the stuff of nightmares

1 month ago | denvergazette.com | Rachel Spencer Gabel

Despite author of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) Douglas Bruce’s attempts to teach me, I wish the ballot initiative process in the state would go the way of the dodo. I remain firmly opposed to what is now Initiative 35, end gray wolf reintroduction and prohibit the importation of wolves from out-of-state. The Title Board set a title last week though the process to pare it down to a single subject must have left some exhausted.