McCook’s 27-year journey from controversy to celebration

Yes it has come and gone, Buffalo Commons Story Telling Festival here in McCook that is. Having lived through its start and 27 iterations now, it is interesting, at least to me, that people, local and from afar, have little idea of what it is all about. So here is an old guy’s attempt to bring a little clarity.

The Buffalo Commons concept was the brainchild of an East Coast Professor, Rutgers and Princeton Universities, Frank J. Popper and his wife Deborah. They noted that ten western states, yes Nebraska included, were losing population and suffering periodic disasters such as the dust bowl. Obvious to their New England way of thinking something had to be done about it, government-wise, and they had the answer. New England thinking: buffalo, the name for the American Bison which had been the principal prairie animal when the white men appeared and the use of the term commons the name for a park as in the familiar to them Boston Commons another name for a park as in New York City’s Central Park, government owned and controlled.

It was a wonderful concept and the Poppers hit the road to tell us, misguided western residents, all about their dream. One of their stops was here in McCook, around the year 1988 or so and I remember attending with my dad. Somehow their lecture wasn’t well received! I remember my father standing up to comment vociferously after their presentation when really dad wanted to get up on the stage and pop Frank in his mouth with a husky fist. Evidently the Poppers received about the same reaction in other communities where they had envisioned their misguided plan of converting our countryside into their Buffalo Commons paradise.

The Poppers were correct in that populations are declining in the agriculture- producing areas of the ten western states that they focused on. The reason of course is that agriculture has become more mechanized and fewer farm workers are needed. Rainfall varies from year to year and farmers have adopted practices such as ecofallow and chemical means of controlling weeds that compete with desired crops. Pivot irrigation has been a fantastic change in the number of workers required to irrigate desired crops plus enabling more acres to be watered. Trade centers like hometown McCook have even attracted manufacturing concerns that provide jobs for workers here. And yes we have also built governing bodies to control the amount of water that is drawn from out aquifer to provide lifesaving irrigation. True some small towns are shrinking and may become abandoned. Still for those who choose to live here we are dealing well with our problems.

So how did the Poppers decide the way to deal with the problems they envisioned. Quoting a passage from Wikipedia: “The Poppers propose that a significant portion of the region be gradually shifted from farming and ranching use. They envision an area of native grassland, of perhaps 10 or 20 million acres in size. One way to achieve this would be through voluntary contracts between the Forest Service and Plains farmers and ranchers, in which owners would be paid the value of what they would have cultivated over the next 15 years. In the meantime, they would be required to plant and reestablish native Shortgrass prairie grasses and forbs, according to a Forest Service-approved program. At the end of the period, the Forest Service would purchase their holdings, while granting owners a 40-acre homestead. Since their initial article in 1987, the Poppers have acknowledged that many other parties have very important roles to play. They do not see the federal government as central as they first did.” In my opinion and a lot of others who live here it is all a bunch of hooey!

Several movers and shakers in this area then came up with another fun tongue-in-cheek solution. Their solution: establish an annual event and call it The Buffalo Commons Story Telling Festival. The idea caught on and this past weekend this area just enjoyably celebrated the 27th session.

I don’t think that the liberal East Coast liberals the Poppers were even mentioned but the audiences enjoyed looking at stained glass windows in the area. Professional story tellers came and did their enjoyable thing plus local stories (reports) were told of ongoing events that take place in our community. Stick it in your eye you dreamers who have no clue of what we enjoy in our community, and we intend to keep on keeping our own dreams alive. Buffalo Commons your name for what we honestly, and properly would call a Bison Park. We are enjoying a good time while poking a stick in your eye!

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail