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Hurricane Ike still threatens ranchersHOUSTON (AP)--The salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico have long receded since Hurricane Ike pushed them ashore, but the devastation continues for farmers and ranchers who have seen their land contaminated. These days, the ground where six generations of their family has ranched and farmed crunches under the boots of Steven and Bill White in Chambers County. Patches of salt and dead baby crabs still sit on parts of the 60,000-acre spread, eight miles inland from the gulf. "They talk about long-term recovery," said Steven White. "But we might not be here without some assistance in short order." The devastation from the Sept. 13 storm has only been compounded by the drought affecting much of the state. The badly needed heavy rains that would begin to flush the salt from the soil haven't come, and no one's sure how long it will take. At least 15,000 acres that would have been planted with rice will not be planted this year. And thousands of acres in pasture land will probably not fully recover for at least two years, agriculture officials say. Ike's economic impact on crops and livestock in Texas is pegged at $433 million, according to the U.S. Farm Service Agency. "These are the people who produce the food on the aisles of our grocery stores that we take for granted," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said in a story March 8 in the Houston Chronicle. "Some of their livelihoods have ended forever because of Ike. Others are just holding on." The White brothers, whose family has ranched in Winnie since 1819, said Ike is the worst storm surge the family has faced. Hurricane Carla in 1961 set the previous benchmark, but the surge reached less than half of Ike's height and stayed for just four days--unlike the 17-foot surge that sat for 12 days on their land with Ike. Bill Wilson, a rancher and farmer from Beaumont, lost more than half his cattle and his 16,000 acres of soybeans looked like "somebody had sprayed it with Roundup," when the surge was over, he said. The 700 head that survived now munch on the sparse salt-tolerant grass that sprouted in the lower marsh areas and the feed he buys. Most area ranchers have moved their herds, some as far as 400 miles outside the surge zone, and are paying for grazing rights, at $15 a month per head. Others are selling their herds at discounted prices because they have no where to keep them. All the fences in the surge zone, some 1,700 miles' worth, were blown down. "It's strange not seeing any cattle out there. We'll have to fight to stay here," said 85-year-old Ralph Leggett, who opted to sell his herd. Storm victims have filed applications for nearly three times the $13.7 million in emergency funds the federal government set aside for fence repair and debris removal, said Brenda Carlson, Farm Service Agency spokeswoman. The latest farm bill includes more disaster money, but rules for dispensing it are not yet done. Staples said the earliest Texas might see any of that new money is December.
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