Free-lunch foragers
For lunch in her modest apartment, Madeline Nelson tossed a salad made with shaved carrots and lettuce she dug out of a Whole Foods dumpster. She flavored the dressing with miso powder she found in a trash bag on a curb in Chinatown. She baked bread made with yeast plucked from the garbage of a Middle Eastern grocery store. Nelson is a former corporate executive who can afford to dine at four-star restaurants. But she prefers turning garbage into gourmet meals without spending a cent. On this afternoon, she thawed a slab of pate that she found three days before its expiration date in a dumpster outside a health food store. She made buttery chicken soup from another health food store's hot buffet leftovers, which she salvaged before they were tossed into the garbage. Nelson, 51, once earned a six-figure income as director of communications at Barnes and Noble. Tired of representing a multimillion dollar company, she quit in 2005 and became a "freegan" -- the word combining "vegan" and "free" -- a growing subculture of people who have reduced their spending habits and live off consumer waste. Though many of its pioneers are vegans, people who neither eat nor use any animal-based products, the concept has caught on with Nelson and other meat-eaters who do not want to depend on businesses that they believe waste resources, harm the environment or allow unfair labor practices....
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Corn contest canned, called gluttonous
Is it possible to eat too much corn in Iowa? A University of Iowa official thinks so. U of I Vice President for Student Services Philip Jones canceled a corn-on-the-cob eating contest scheduled for today as part of the "Beat State Week" celebration leading up to the Iowa-Iowa State football game because the corn contest "encourages gluttony," he said. "I don't know that anyone can say that's a healthy concept," Jones said of the event planned by the U of I Alumni Association. Jones asked his staff to veto eating contests to support new health-conscious initiatives on campus, he said. The corn-on-the-cob contest is not the first to hit the compost pile; a hot dog eating contest planned by the residence halls was also trashed. Shaun Fraise, an organizer of the Sweet Corn Festival in West Point, Ia., said she doesn't think a corn-eating contest promotes gluttony. "It's basically for pure entertainment, that's why we do it," she said.
Is it possible to eat too much corn in Iowa? A University of Iowa official thinks so. U of I Vice President for Student Services Philip Jones canceled a corn-on-the-cob eating contest scheduled for today as part of the "Beat State Week" celebration leading up to the Iowa-Iowa State football game because the corn contest "encourages gluttony," he said. "I don't know that anyone can say that's a healthy concept," Jones said of the event planned by the U of I Alumni Association. Jones asked his staff to veto eating contests to support new health-conscious initiatives on campus, he said. The corn-on-the-cob contest is not the first to hit the compost pile; a hot dog eating contest planned by the residence halls was also trashed. Shaun Fraise, an organizer of the Sweet Corn Festival in West Point, Ia., said she doesn't think a corn-eating contest promotes gluttony. "It's basically for pure entertainment, that's why we do it," she said.
Friday, September 14, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Burn, baby, burn The U.S. Forest Service seems to have adopted Sherman's "scorched earth" policy. Each summer we see hundreds of thousands of acres of our priceless public lands seared, wildlife killed or displaced, air polluted with smoke, homes burned to the ground, entire communities threatened and millions of our tax dollars spent on suppression. Sherman at least had a strategic goal in mind--ending a war—but the ultimate goal of today's wildfire policy is a mystery. In years past, the firefighter's mission was clear and unequivocal—gear up to put the fire out as soon as possible. An emphasis was placed on fast initial attack, prevention and aggressive suppression. Now we sometimes see days pass with no suppression action while small fires become big. Attack is often too little, too late. Containment relies heavily on burnouts from distant fire lines and use of aircraft for water and retardant drops. Sometimes fire is contained, and sometimes it is allowed to burn to meet other objectives like improving the health of the forest. But what about the health of the citizens who live near the fires? According to Jay O'Laughlin, director of the Policy Analysis Group, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, carbon dioxide emissions from the forest fires of 2004 totaled 392 million tons, 6 percent of all our nation's energy-related emissions....
BLM allows claim, hands road to Kane County The long, contentious battle over who owns the backroads in rural Utah has taken a new twist. The Bureau of Land Management is handing over a road to Kane County. The agency's Tuesday announcement that it is turning ownership of a nine-mile strip known as the Bald Knoll Road over to the county marks the first time nationally that a road claim has been allowed under a BLM rule crafted to manage disputes after a landmark appeals-court ruling two years ago. Kane County officials on Wednesday welcomed the option for the road, which will allow them to maintain it and make improvements. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) argued the BLM's so-called non-binding determination cuts the public out of the decision-making and sets a precedent that could affect wilderness-quality lands. The dispute centers on Revised Statute 2477, a Civil War era mining law that granted rights of way across public land until it was repealed by Congress in 1976. When that happened, existing rights of way were grandfathered in.....
Proposed one-word change worry for landowners Deletion of a single word in federal law could seriously hamper farm drainage and conservation efforts and potentially fuel efforts to “reclaim” perceived wetlands from producers. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar’s (D-Minn.) proposed Clean Water Restoration Act would alter provisions for current federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction of U.S. “navigable” waters to control over all “waters of the U.S.” The bill, expected to come up for a fall vote, would “obliterate” administration and judicial attempts over the past 35 years to clarify federal authority over drainage and wetlands on private lands, American Farm Bureau Federation regulatory specialist Don Parrish told FarmWeek. It would impose federal jurisdiction over roadside and farm ditches, grass waterways, and adjacent “wetlands,” Parrish said. Parrish suggests 55 million to 57 million farm acres “could be swept back into the regulatory process” under Oberstar’s redefinition....
Advocate of lead ban resigns from panel A state Fish and Game commissioner, who last month indicated he would support a ban on the use of lead ammunition in areas where condors roam, resigned Thursday, saying his resignation was requested by the Schwarzenegger administration. R. Judd Hanna's resignation came the day after 34 Republican legislators sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a letter asking for his dismissal. The events were the latest in a continuing struggle over attempts by lawmakers and regulators to require deer hunters to use copper bullets in condor zones. Lead poisoning caused by ingesting bullet fragments in the carcasses of fallen animals is the leading cause of mortality among condors in the wild. An alliance of gun and hunting groups earlier called the proposed ban on lead bullets "draconian." In a letter to the commission last month, the group said the proposal "reflects a hidden agenda by some to ban all hunting in California."....
Smelt is the big fish in California water politics It's not much longer than your pinkie, an aquatic weakling that skulks in a single brackish backwater of the West. Yet the diminutive fish is a big player in California water politics. For years, the delta smelt's survival has been a bone of contention between water managers and environmentalists -- a subject of lengthy court cases and, of late, defining judicial decrees. A decision Aug. 31 by U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger requiring tougher protections for the tiny fish pushed the state's water managers toward uncharted territory in how they manage aqueduct exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a key source of water for much of Southern California. State water authorities warned that the ruling could cut exports from the delta by a third or more and possibly usher in widespread rationing of the sort hitting Long Beach. The smelt is seen by biologists as the key indicator of the overall health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Populations of several other fish in the delta are sagging, but the delta smelt tend to get attention from the federal bench and the media. It's a small fish for such a big spotlight. Delta smelt grow to only about 3 inches long and live about a year....
Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage: Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners Activates City's Water Supply Shortage Plan The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners today officially declared that a water supply shortage for the City of Long Beach is imminent, at a meeting held at the Long Beach Water Department's Groundwater Treatment Facility. In making the Declaration, the Board of Water Commissioners has activated the Long Beach Water Department's Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan, implementing additional water use prohibitions throughout the City of Long Beach. The Declaration is a proactive measure taken to forestall or lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage. The Declaration of an Imminent Water Supply Shortage is necessitated by the profound impact of a U.S. District Court's August 31st federal Endangered Species Act ruling; the dramatic, recent reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California; this year's record low rainfall in the southern California coastal plain; and a continuation of the historic 8-year drought in the Colorado River Watershed, which is a significant source of imported water for southern California....Go here to read the prohibitions.
Trout lend sperm to sterile salmon Japanese scientists helped infertile salmon sire baby trout by lending them trout sperm, a technique that could save endangered species, according to research published in the United States Thursday. The scientists injected sperm cells from adult rainbow trout into the salmon, enabling the sterile fish then to produce trout sperm by itself, according to the study in the journal Science. These new sperm were then removed and inserted artificially into female salmon, causing them to lay pure trout eggs and making the male salmon fathers of baby trout. The team "produced a generation of donor-derived fish, suggesting that it may be possible to generate fish of endangered or extinct species as long as the reproductive material can be successfully preserved," the report said. "Many salmonids, members of the family that includes trout and salmon, are extinct or endangered and researchers are working to stop this trend," it explained....
Rare turtles renew in Carlsbad Nine new creatures have entered life. The nine endangered Bolson tortoises were hatched at Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park and nine more are expected to come out of their shells by mid September. The hatchlings range in weight from 30 to 38 grams (less than a pound), and are the results of 19 eggs laid within two laying periods, three weeks apart. This first group of hatchlings is beginning to feed on native grasses and carrots. Once established and fully adapted to solid food, the hatchlings will be available for public viewing. Living Desert plans to keep the tortoise hatchlings at the park for at least a year, and then release them to the Armendaris Ranch who will eventually relocate them back into the wild....
Yosemite campers: A dying breed? A creature of habit, Brian Ouzounian joins a swallow-like migration each summer to this park's glacier-cleaved valley. Ouzounian has camped in Yosemite Valley in nearly every one of his 57 years, setting down stakes a week at a time with family and friends at the panoramic junction of the Merced River and Tenaya Creek. But this family tradition, which used to seem as solid as the granite cliffs, now appears imperiled to Ouzounian. Add us, he says, to the federal list: The endangered campers of Yosemite. Ouzounian, who petitions and protests, writes letters and attends park meetings, believes he is leading a fight against the extinction of his kind. People may still come in RVs and SUVs loaded with tents and sleeping bags and Coleman stoves, but the opportunities for camping — the bargain-basement entree in Yosemite Valley — have been in decline over the last decade. After a New Year's flood in 1997 cut a destructive swath through the valley, National Park Service officials abandoned several riverfront campgrounds, justifying it as a way to shrink humanity's footprint and give nature a hand up along the banks of the Merced....
Wyoming politicians confront Park Service People hoping to see Sylvan Pass outside Cody remain open in the winter got a boost this week from elected officials who sent scathing letters to the National Park Service, questioning the agency's rationale for possibly closing Yellowstone National Park's East Entrance. Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Barbara Cubin sent word to Park Service officials this week that they disagreed with closing Sylvan Pass because of safety concerns, and questioned why the agency is now saying the road should be closed because of cost concerns. "During all of our discussions, you have continually assured both us and the citizens of Park County that the potential decision to close the East Entrance of YNP would be based solely on the issue of employee safety," the congressional delegation wrote in a joint letter to Interior Department officials. "Time and time again, we were told the decision to close the East Entrance would not be based on funding. Therefore, we are troubled by the apparent back peddling (sic) of the NPS officials who recently suggested that funding will now play a key role in the determination of this issue." The Republicans wrote they are concerned that the Park Service is looking for reasons to close the East Entrance, rather that reasons to keep it open....
As plan fails, Congress scrambles to aid rural counties A Bush administration plan to aid rural counties by selling off Forest Service land collapsed quickly on Capitol Hill. "It's DOA," Tuolumne County Supervisor Richard Pland said this week. Now, with the clock ticking and key questions unanswered, Congress must craft its own solution for helping counties blessed with more trees than tax revenues. It's a multimillion-dollar issue for California, where many counties rely on funding that seems shaky. The 38 affected California counties, and hundreds like them in other states, contain Forest Service land. They used to receive federal funding tied to timber harvest revenues. The money was used for schools and public works. But as logging declined, federal dollars shrunk. In 2000, Congress severed the connection to timber harvesting and guaranteed counties funding. Last year, that amounted to $68 million for California. With the funding about to expire, the fight now is over how to keep this money flowing....
N.D. Sens. Conrad and Dorgan support protecting native prairie U.S. Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota want native prairie protected in the farm bill. In a recent Bismarck Tribune article, both senators said they expect the Senate’s version of the farm bill to contain a Sodsaver provision designed to slow conversion of native grasslands to cropland. Sodsaver would eliminate all federal payments for crops planted on land with no previous cropping history. Landowners could still farm native grasslands but would do so at their own risk without federal assistance. Several national conservation groups and the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association support Sodsaver. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed its version of the farm bill that included Sodsaver. DU hopes the Senate backs-up the House vote with even stronger measures as it drafts its version of the bill....
Nine cows die after drinking from Delmoe Lake, algae bloom suspected Nine cows died after drinking from a popular recreational lake east of here, some after walking just a few feet away from the water, prompting a warning for people to stay out of Delmoe Lake. A witness reported watching two cows drink water from the lake, then walk a few feet before falling over dead, said Terry Sexton, Whitehall district ranger for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Officials suspect the cause could have been a blue-green algae bloom and are warning people to stay out of the lake. "Don't drink the water, don't get in the water,'' Sexton said Wednesday. Forest Service officials are posting signs warning people to stay away from the lake, said Jack de Golia, Beaverhead-Deerlodge spokesman. Blue-green algae, when in the bloom growth phase, can produce a cyanotoxin that is incredibly lethal, said Dr. Joe Hartley, a large animal veterinarian in Dillon....
U.S. officials to outline rule for resuming imports of older Canadian cows The U.S. government is set to announce the rule Friday for resuming imports of older cattle and beef products from Canada. But it will be at least two months before trade resumes because the rule must first be published in the U.S. Federal Register and cannot go into effect until 60 days after that. The Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford, is scheduled to outline the details. After Canada's first case of mad cow in May 2003, U.S. officials shut the border to all cattle and beef products. But in 2005, trade resumed in cows younger than 30 months of age, thought to be at less risk for contracting the disease. A group of American ranchers has been trying to restrict all imports but a U.S. appeals court decision last month said U.S. regulators were right to lift the temporary ban on Canadian cows two years ago.
Bill Would Designate The Cracker Horse As The Official State Horse Florida has a lot of state symbols and soon it could have an official state horse. A bill filed for next year's legislative session would designate the cracker horse as the official state horse. The ancestry of the cracker horse can be traced back to Spanish horses brought here in the 1500's. Used by early Spanish ranchers, the horses also played an important role in the life of the Seminole Indians. In the 1930's, ranchers started to turn to larger quarter horses for ranch work and the cracker horse became rare. The breed's survival over the last fifty years is credited to a handful of families who continued to breed Cracker Horses, including the family of state Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.
Still in the saddle After 62 years, Colorado Saddlery still is making products to outlast horse and rider. The world's oldest Western saddlery under original ownership, Colorado Saddlery moved from Denver to Arvada a year ago and has settled into its new suburban location. The company distributes its 2,500 different products throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, but at heart, it's still a small local business with a handful of employees, President Jeff Van Scoyk said. In a spacious warehouse, handmade leather saddles, halters and reins are lined up to be oiled and hand-finished. Wooden bins full of bits, spurs and other metal parts line the aisles. In the showroom, mahogany, intricately detailed saddles from the 1940s and 1950s sit next to newer, lightweight trail saddles. Four young saddle makers, including Van Scoyk's father, P.R., founded Colorado Saddlery in Denver in 1945. The men had learned the craft with Denver's H.H. Heiser Company, where they built saddles for the cowboys and ranchers of the Old West. Over the years, Colorado Saddlery developed a reputation for quality, and earned such regular customers as Tommy Lee Jones and John Wayne, who discovered the company's products on a film set and became a devotee. The actors' autographed pictures decorate Colorado Saddlery's office walls....
Burn, baby, burn The U.S. Forest Service seems to have adopted Sherman's "scorched earth" policy. Each summer we see hundreds of thousands of acres of our priceless public lands seared, wildlife killed or displaced, air polluted with smoke, homes burned to the ground, entire communities threatened and millions of our tax dollars spent on suppression. Sherman at least had a strategic goal in mind--ending a war—but the ultimate goal of today's wildfire policy is a mystery. In years past, the firefighter's mission was clear and unequivocal—gear up to put the fire out as soon as possible. An emphasis was placed on fast initial attack, prevention and aggressive suppression. Now we sometimes see days pass with no suppression action while small fires become big. Attack is often too little, too late. Containment relies heavily on burnouts from distant fire lines and use of aircraft for water and retardant drops. Sometimes fire is contained, and sometimes it is allowed to burn to meet other objectives like improving the health of the forest. But what about the health of the citizens who live near the fires? According to Jay O'Laughlin, director of the Policy Analysis Group, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, carbon dioxide emissions from the forest fires of 2004 totaled 392 million tons, 6 percent of all our nation's energy-related emissions....
BLM allows claim, hands road to Kane County The long, contentious battle over who owns the backroads in rural Utah has taken a new twist. The Bureau of Land Management is handing over a road to Kane County. The agency's Tuesday announcement that it is turning ownership of a nine-mile strip known as the Bald Knoll Road over to the county marks the first time nationally that a road claim has been allowed under a BLM rule crafted to manage disputes after a landmark appeals-court ruling two years ago. Kane County officials on Wednesday welcomed the option for the road, which will allow them to maintain it and make improvements. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) argued the BLM's so-called non-binding determination cuts the public out of the decision-making and sets a precedent that could affect wilderness-quality lands. The dispute centers on Revised Statute 2477, a Civil War era mining law that granted rights of way across public land until it was repealed by Congress in 1976. When that happened, existing rights of way were grandfathered in.....
Proposed one-word change worry for landowners Deletion of a single word in federal law could seriously hamper farm drainage and conservation efforts and potentially fuel efforts to “reclaim” perceived wetlands from producers. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar’s (D-Minn.) proposed Clean Water Restoration Act would alter provisions for current federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction of U.S. “navigable” waters to control over all “waters of the U.S.” The bill, expected to come up for a fall vote, would “obliterate” administration and judicial attempts over the past 35 years to clarify federal authority over drainage and wetlands on private lands, American Farm Bureau Federation regulatory specialist Don Parrish told FarmWeek. It would impose federal jurisdiction over roadside and farm ditches, grass waterways, and adjacent “wetlands,” Parrish said. Parrish suggests 55 million to 57 million farm acres “could be swept back into the regulatory process” under Oberstar’s redefinition....
Advocate of lead ban resigns from panel A state Fish and Game commissioner, who last month indicated he would support a ban on the use of lead ammunition in areas where condors roam, resigned Thursday, saying his resignation was requested by the Schwarzenegger administration. R. Judd Hanna's resignation came the day after 34 Republican legislators sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a letter asking for his dismissal. The events were the latest in a continuing struggle over attempts by lawmakers and regulators to require deer hunters to use copper bullets in condor zones. Lead poisoning caused by ingesting bullet fragments in the carcasses of fallen animals is the leading cause of mortality among condors in the wild. An alliance of gun and hunting groups earlier called the proposed ban on lead bullets "draconian." In a letter to the commission last month, the group said the proposal "reflects a hidden agenda by some to ban all hunting in California."....
Smelt is the big fish in California water politics It's not much longer than your pinkie, an aquatic weakling that skulks in a single brackish backwater of the West. Yet the diminutive fish is a big player in California water politics. For years, the delta smelt's survival has been a bone of contention between water managers and environmentalists -- a subject of lengthy court cases and, of late, defining judicial decrees. A decision Aug. 31 by U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger requiring tougher protections for the tiny fish pushed the state's water managers toward uncharted territory in how they manage aqueduct exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a key source of water for much of Southern California. State water authorities warned that the ruling could cut exports from the delta by a third or more and possibly usher in widespread rationing of the sort hitting Long Beach. The smelt is seen by biologists as the key indicator of the overall health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Populations of several other fish in the delta are sagging, but the delta smelt tend to get attention from the federal bench and the media. It's a small fish for such a big spotlight. Delta smelt grow to only about 3 inches long and live about a year....
Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage: Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners Activates City's Water Supply Shortage Plan The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners today officially declared that a water supply shortage for the City of Long Beach is imminent, at a meeting held at the Long Beach Water Department's Groundwater Treatment Facility. In making the Declaration, the Board of Water Commissioners has activated the Long Beach Water Department's Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan, implementing additional water use prohibitions throughout the City of Long Beach. The Declaration is a proactive measure taken to forestall or lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage. The Declaration of an Imminent Water Supply Shortage is necessitated by the profound impact of a U.S. District Court's August 31st federal Endangered Species Act ruling; the dramatic, recent reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California; this year's record low rainfall in the southern California coastal plain; and a continuation of the historic 8-year drought in the Colorado River Watershed, which is a significant source of imported water for southern California....Go here to read the prohibitions.
Trout lend sperm to sterile salmon Japanese scientists helped infertile salmon sire baby trout by lending them trout sperm, a technique that could save endangered species, according to research published in the United States Thursday. The scientists injected sperm cells from adult rainbow trout into the salmon, enabling the sterile fish then to produce trout sperm by itself, according to the study in the journal Science. These new sperm were then removed and inserted artificially into female salmon, causing them to lay pure trout eggs and making the male salmon fathers of baby trout. The team "produced a generation of donor-derived fish, suggesting that it may be possible to generate fish of endangered or extinct species as long as the reproductive material can be successfully preserved," the report said. "Many salmonids, members of the family that includes trout and salmon, are extinct or endangered and researchers are working to stop this trend," it explained....
Rare turtles renew in Carlsbad Nine new creatures have entered life. The nine endangered Bolson tortoises were hatched at Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park and nine more are expected to come out of their shells by mid September. The hatchlings range in weight from 30 to 38 grams (less than a pound), and are the results of 19 eggs laid within two laying periods, three weeks apart. This first group of hatchlings is beginning to feed on native grasses and carrots. Once established and fully adapted to solid food, the hatchlings will be available for public viewing. Living Desert plans to keep the tortoise hatchlings at the park for at least a year, and then release them to the Armendaris Ranch who will eventually relocate them back into the wild....
Yosemite campers: A dying breed? A creature of habit, Brian Ouzounian joins a swallow-like migration each summer to this park's glacier-cleaved valley. Ouzounian has camped in Yosemite Valley in nearly every one of his 57 years, setting down stakes a week at a time with family and friends at the panoramic junction of the Merced River and Tenaya Creek. But this family tradition, which used to seem as solid as the granite cliffs, now appears imperiled to Ouzounian. Add us, he says, to the federal list: The endangered campers of Yosemite. Ouzounian, who petitions and protests, writes letters and attends park meetings, believes he is leading a fight against the extinction of his kind. People may still come in RVs and SUVs loaded with tents and sleeping bags and Coleman stoves, but the opportunities for camping — the bargain-basement entree in Yosemite Valley — have been in decline over the last decade. After a New Year's flood in 1997 cut a destructive swath through the valley, National Park Service officials abandoned several riverfront campgrounds, justifying it as a way to shrink humanity's footprint and give nature a hand up along the banks of the Merced....
Wyoming politicians confront Park Service People hoping to see Sylvan Pass outside Cody remain open in the winter got a boost this week from elected officials who sent scathing letters to the National Park Service, questioning the agency's rationale for possibly closing Yellowstone National Park's East Entrance. Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Barbara Cubin sent word to Park Service officials this week that they disagreed with closing Sylvan Pass because of safety concerns, and questioned why the agency is now saying the road should be closed because of cost concerns. "During all of our discussions, you have continually assured both us and the citizens of Park County that the potential decision to close the East Entrance of YNP would be based solely on the issue of employee safety," the congressional delegation wrote in a joint letter to Interior Department officials. "Time and time again, we were told the decision to close the East Entrance would not be based on funding. Therefore, we are troubled by the apparent back peddling (sic) of the NPS officials who recently suggested that funding will now play a key role in the determination of this issue." The Republicans wrote they are concerned that the Park Service is looking for reasons to close the East Entrance, rather that reasons to keep it open....
As plan fails, Congress scrambles to aid rural counties A Bush administration plan to aid rural counties by selling off Forest Service land collapsed quickly on Capitol Hill. "It's DOA," Tuolumne County Supervisor Richard Pland said this week. Now, with the clock ticking and key questions unanswered, Congress must craft its own solution for helping counties blessed with more trees than tax revenues. It's a multimillion-dollar issue for California, where many counties rely on funding that seems shaky. The 38 affected California counties, and hundreds like them in other states, contain Forest Service land. They used to receive federal funding tied to timber harvest revenues. The money was used for schools and public works. But as logging declined, federal dollars shrunk. In 2000, Congress severed the connection to timber harvesting and guaranteed counties funding. Last year, that amounted to $68 million for California. With the funding about to expire, the fight now is over how to keep this money flowing....
N.D. Sens. Conrad and Dorgan support protecting native prairie U.S. Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota want native prairie protected in the farm bill. In a recent Bismarck Tribune article, both senators said they expect the Senate’s version of the farm bill to contain a Sodsaver provision designed to slow conversion of native grasslands to cropland. Sodsaver would eliminate all federal payments for crops planted on land with no previous cropping history. Landowners could still farm native grasslands but would do so at their own risk without federal assistance. Several national conservation groups and the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association support Sodsaver. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed its version of the farm bill that included Sodsaver. DU hopes the Senate backs-up the House vote with even stronger measures as it drafts its version of the bill....
Nine cows die after drinking from Delmoe Lake, algae bloom suspected Nine cows died after drinking from a popular recreational lake east of here, some after walking just a few feet away from the water, prompting a warning for people to stay out of Delmoe Lake. A witness reported watching two cows drink water from the lake, then walk a few feet before falling over dead, said Terry Sexton, Whitehall district ranger for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Officials suspect the cause could have been a blue-green algae bloom and are warning people to stay out of the lake. "Don't drink the water, don't get in the water,'' Sexton said Wednesday. Forest Service officials are posting signs warning people to stay away from the lake, said Jack de Golia, Beaverhead-Deerlodge spokesman. Blue-green algae, when in the bloom growth phase, can produce a cyanotoxin that is incredibly lethal, said Dr. Joe Hartley, a large animal veterinarian in Dillon....
U.S. officials to outline rule for resuming imports of older Canadian cows The U.S. government is set to announce the rule Friday for resuming imports of older cattle and beef products from Canada. But it will be at least two months before trade resumes because the rule must first be published in the U.S. Federal Register and cannot go into effect until 60 days after that. The Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford, is scheduled to outline the details. After Canada's first case of mad cow in May 2003, U.S. officials shut the border to all cattle and beef products. But in 2005, trade resumed in cows younger than 30 months of age, thought to be at less risk for contracting the disease. A group of American ranchers has been trying to restrict all imports but a U.S. appeals court decision last month said U.S. regulators were right to lift the temporary ban on Canadian cows two years ago.
Bill Would Designate The Cracker Horse As The Official State Horse Florida has a lot of state symbols and soon it could have an official state horse. A bill filed for next year's legislative session would designate the cracker horse as the official state horse. The ancestry of the cracker horse can be traced back to Spanish horses brought here in the 1500's. Used by early Spanish ranchers, the horses also played an important role in the life of the Seminole Indians. In the 1930's, ranchers started to turn to larger quarter horses for ranch work and the cracker horse became rare. The breed's survival over the last fifty years is credited to a handful of families who continued to breed Cracker Horses, including the family of state Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.
Still in the saddle After 62 years, Colorado Saddlery still is making products to outlast horse and rider. The world's oldest Western saddlery under original ownership, Colorado Saddlery moved from Denver to Arvada a year ago and has settled into its new suburban location. The company distributes its 2,500 different products throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, but at heart, it's still a small local business with a handful of employees, President Jeff Van Scoyk said. In a spacious warehouse, handmade leather saddles, halters and reins are lined up to be oiled and hand-finished. Wooden bins full of bits, spurs and other metal parts line the aisles. In the showroom, mahogany, intricately detailed saddles from the 1940s and 1950s sit next to newer, lightweight trail saddles. Four young saddle makers, including Van Scoyk's father, P.R., founded Colorado Saddlery in Denver in 1945. The men had learned the craft with Denver's H.H. Heiser Company, where they built saddles for the cowboys and ranchers of the Old West. Over the years, Colorado Saddlery developed a reputation for quality, and earned such regular customers as Tommy Lee Jones and John Wayne, who discovered the company's products on a film set and became a devotee. The actors' autographed pictures decorate Colorado Saddlery's office walls....
Thursday, September 13, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Challenge to Scientific Consensus on Global Warming A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance. "This data and the list of scientists make a mockery of recent claims that a scientific consensus blames humans as the primary cause of global temperature increases since 1850," said Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis Avery. Other researchers found evidence that 3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate. Despite being published in such journals such as Science, Nature and Geophysical Review Letters, these scientists have gotten little media attention....
Emission ruling is a victory for state's policy California cleared a critical green light in its campaign to require automakers to build vehicles that emit less greenhouse gas. Wednesday, a federal judge upheld a Vermont law requiring automakers to cut climate-warming vehicle emissions 30 percent by 2016. The law is virtually identical to California's Assembly Bill 1493, adopted five years ago and since copied by 14 other states. The auto industry has sued three states, including California, in an attempt to block the laws. The Vermont case is the first to be decided. In a 240-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions III rejected both of the auto industry's main arguments: that the emissions-cutting requirements are technically unworkable and that state-level requirements to reduce greenhouse emissions effectively violate the federal government's authority to set mileage standards....
Eating Less Meat May Slow Climate Change Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday. In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming. "We are at a significant tipping point," said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study. "If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger," Brewster said. Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farming practices, like feeding animals higher-quality grains, would only have a limited impact on cutting emissions. Gases from animals destined for dinner plates account for nearly a quarter of all emissions worldwide. "That leaves reducing demand for meat as the only real option," said Dr. John Powles, a public health expert at Cambridge University, one of the study's authors. The amount of meat eaten varies considerably worldwide. In developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams per day. But in Africa, most people only get about 31 grams a day. With demand for meat increasing worldwide, experts worry that this increased livestock production will mean more gases like methane and nitrous oxide heating up the atmosphere. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago....
Wilderness deal made An association of home builders has reached a compromise with wilderness proponents on the boundary for eastward growth of Las Cruces, both groups announced during a news conference Wednesday. As a result, the Las Cruces Home Builders Association said it will endorse a plan by conservationists that would grant a federal wilderness designation to thousands of acres in Doña Ana County. The groups had been at odds throughout a negotiations process about wilderness hosted by the city early this year. Ranchers and off-road vehicle users remain opposed to the wilderness designation in most cases, though they've backed another method of protecting land from development. Steve Wilmeth, a Doña Ana County rancher, said he's concerned about the home builders decision to endorse the conservationists' entire proposal, including the Broad Canyon and Potrillo mountain areas. Ranchers and off-road vehicle users have said they're worried the wilderness designation — which restricts most mechanized travel — would keep law enforcement and Border Patrol from easily accessing the land. "This is a bigger issue than just ranchers ... here," he said. "When there is a legitimate national security concern, this is a reckless and irresponsible decision in the long run for our community."....
Lawsuit Challenges Fish "Habitat" in New Mexico and Arizona The federal government acted illegally when it designated vast stretches of riverbeds in New Mexico and Arizona as "critical habitat" for two species of fish found throughout the Southwest – the spikedace and loach minnow. So argues a lawsuit announced today by Pacific Legal Foundation. The resulting land use restrictions create flood dangers for landowners, among other problems, according to PLF attorneys and their clients. Filed on behalf of the Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Economic Growth, and the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, the lawsuit contends that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service – the agency responsible for the March 21, 2007, habitat designation – did not follow the requirements of the Endangered Species Act when it set aside more than 500 miles of riverbed in Arizona and New Mexico. "Along hundreds of miles of streams and rivers, the federal government has essentially prohibited landowners from making improvements on their own private property – in the name of protecting two fish species," said PLF attorney Damien Schiff. "But this command violates the Endangered Species Act itself in some basic ways. The regulators haven’t clearly identified physical and biological features in the designated areas that are essential for the species’ conservation. And they have ignored their legal duty to consider the economic impact of the designation."....go here to view the lawsuit.
R-CALF: Assistance Given to LU Ranch, Joyce Livestock On the recommendation of the R-CALF USA Private Property Rights Committee, the group’s board of directors has decided to contribute $1,000 to the legal expenses of the LU Ranch and Joyce Livestock in their long-term fight with the federal government for the water rights on land covered by federally administered grazing allotments. After years of wrangling in the court system, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the ranchers owned the water rights on the federal land, but unfortunately, the Idaho Supreme Court held that the ranchers were not entitled to recover their attorney fees. Oklahoma attorney and R-CALF USA member Harlan Hentges said that through the years, U.S. governmental officials have claimed that the federal government owns the water rights on land covered by federally administered grazing allotments. Not so, he said. “The water rights belong to the ranchers who have put the water to beneficial use and have owned these water rights for decades,” he said. “Through the years, overzealous governmental officials have abused their power and ignored ranchers' private property rights on the water. “The United States sued LU Ranching and Joyce Livestock and challenged these ranchers’ historic water rights for their ranching operations, which are located on federally administered grazing allotments,” Hentges explained. “The ranchers had two choices: 1) give up their water rights to the United States, and therefore the viability of their ranches; or, 2) defend their historic family water rights against the United States, even though the cost of doing so would exceed the value of their ranches. These ranchers defended their water rights and prevailed.”....
Picture it: 64,000 new acres of wilderness On the map, they are an archipelago of green stretching across the topography of San Miguel and Dolores counties — thousands of acres that could become the newest wilderness areas on the Western Slope. They run from Naturita Canyon and McKenna Peak in the west to Mount Sneffels and Deep Creek, hovering just above the roof of Telluride — some 64,000 acres in all. An at the end of the month, local conservationists will ask Congress to introduce legislation converting these patches of federal land into wilderness areas. The designation would keep cars, helicopters, ATVs and bikes off these lands, and prevent any road construction or road upgrades, said Hilary White of the Sheep Mountain Alliance, which is leading the charge in San Miguel County. “It basically is the highest protection of public lands there is,” White said. “The wilderness designation strives to protect the pristine wildlife habitat and corridor areas left in the United States.” The U.S. House and Senate must pass legislation designating these lands — which are owned by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management — as wilderness areas. White said she and other supporters will meet with U.S. Rep. John Salazar, a Western Slope Democrat, this month to outline their proposal. Eric Wortman, Salazar’s legislative director, said the congressman’s office would then vet the proposal and run it by interested groups....
Feds must live up to commitment to maintain failing logging roads There's an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging. Right now, our federal government is in a hole and is still digging. In doing so, it is turning its back on an agreement with Washington state to maintain and restore thousands of miles of decades-old, deteriorating logging roads in our national forests. Prolonged underfunding of forest road maintenance in our national forests has increased erosion and road failures, and the problem grows daily. Muddy water from failing and washed-out forest roads harms fish — including threatened and endangered runs of salmon — that need cold, clear water to thrive and reproduce. Muddy water harms the gills of salmon and trout. Silt smothers their eggs when it settles into clean gravel beds. Muddy runoff also contributes to making streams wider, shallower and more susceptible to warming by the sun. Warm streams further threaten salmon and trout that need cold, clean water to survive....
Utahns push U.S. bill to fund rural schools Commissioners from five Utah counties descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to push for a bill to get government funding for rural schools. The pending legislation would extend a current law originally passed in 2001 that provides a "safety net" for rural school districts, especially those in Western states, that have little private land available to tax and do not get all the money owed to them by the federal government. Some communities had depended on funds generated from the Forest Service land to fund schools and other local projects, but the amounts started to decrease as the money generated by the Forest Service lands began to go down, according to the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition. In 2000, Congress passed a law giving money to those communities that saw cuts. But the law expires on Sept. 30 unless Congress renews it. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has a bill that would extend the act and make other changes that could help rural communities in states, such as Utah, with a lot of public land. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is a co-sponsor of DeFazio's bill....
Ex-Forest Service worker fights firing Ruth Wenstrom says she was only trying to be honest. The former San Bernardino National Forest public information officer says when cuts were made in fire-suppression spending in 2006, she was stunned. For several years previously, the San Bernardino district had received twice-monthly severity funds to bolster its firefighting capability and aid in the removal of trees killed off by a bark-beetle infestation. The cuts meant a reduction in on-duty fire engines in the forest from 25 to as few as 16 during the week. "I was told to say, 'There's no problems out there, and there's no need for added money,' " Wenstrom said, recalling a directive she received in April 2006. "And that was a bald-faced lie." Only months earlier, now-retired Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman had called the San Bernardino National Forest the "most threatened community in the nation" because of its population density and the fire danger. That danger was evident in 2003 when the Old and Grand Prix fires raced through the hillsides and mountains, destroying more than 600 homes....
County vows to fight for roads Otero County plans to take on the Forest Service regarding road access under Revised Statute 2477, a provision in the 1866 Mining Law that states any road under county jurisdiction, regardless of when that jurisdiction was established, supersedes any subsequent jurisdiction claimed by any other entity, including the Forest Service. In a discussion at its work session Wednesday, the Otero County Commission expressed its intent to take on the Forest Service regarding roads in the Lincoln National Forest. "We want to stop the closure of any roads and trails by the Forest Service," said Commission Chairman Doug Moore. "If they want to challenge any of the roads we claim under R.S. 2477, we'll duke it out in court." "If we have to list every goat trail, butterfly path, and meteor pathway, we will," Commissioner Clarissa McGinn said. "We want a preemptive action to keep these closures from happening. These closures are going to take place very soon if we don't stop this." Moore said the Forest Service plan is to close nearly half the roads and trails in the Lincoln National Forest....
Report rebukes USFS's direction The "can do" mentality blamed in the deaths of five firefighters last year in Riverside County underscores an even greater problem within the U.S. Forest Service: The agency has lost direction, an outside report suggests. Wildfires will likely kill an increasing number of firefighters unless the Forest Service's mission and acceptable levels of risk are better defined, according to the report. "Many remain unclear about the limits to the mission, leading them to take on responsibilities that put them in harm's way, cause over-reaching and lead to unsafe situations," an excerpt of the 46-page report reads. Crews are stretched to fight larger fires with fewer numbers, are overloaded with rules and are frequently torn between whether to act as agents of a "forest service" that manages the forest and fights forest fires or a "fire service" that is responsible for protecting homes built in sensitive forest areas, according to the report. Dialogos, a consulting firm commissioned by the agency to address safety concerns in the wake of mounting deaths, prepared the report....
Abandoned mines cause environmental devastation Prospectors began hacking at Colorado's mountainsides 150 years ago in search of gold, silver and any other kind of profitable metal that might have been nestled deep inside the rock. Soon mines peppered the landscape. And while most of them were abandoned nearly a century ago, their consequences on the region's ecology and human health will continue to thrive long after our own generation has withered. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 500,000 abandoned mines exist in the U.S., the majority of which lie out West. Colorado is home to about 23,000 of them, according to the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining & Safety. Not all of the mines emit pollutants, but enough of them do to cause a host of problems. Perhaps the most obvious are the physical dangers. Last year, 22 people died nationwide from falling in abandoned mine shafts, inhaling deadly odorless gases or being crushed in cave-ins. Those dangers represent just a small piece of the problem these old mines create....
Bats, kangaroo mice, sage grouse on wildlife agenda Bats, kangaroo mice and sage grouse will be among the beneficiaries from a series of Nevada Division of Wildlife projects approved Tuesday. The projects are all authorized in contracts approved by the Board of Examiners. Largest on the list is a $140,000 contract in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service to build what was described as "bat compatible gates" on abandoned mines throughout the state. Wildlife Diversity Administrator Laura Richards there are 17 species of bat in Nevada and that 14 of them are listed as "sensitive." Thousands of old mines in the state must be somehow closed off so people don't enter them and get injured or killed. But in the past, that meant permanently sealing the mine entrances. "A lot of abandoned mines are maternity roosts for bats," she said. The idea is to build gates that prevent people from entering old mines while allowing the bats free access....
Panel upholds methane ruling A federal appeals court has upheld a judge's ruling that allows limited coal-bed methane development in Montana's portion of the Powder River Basin. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an April 2005 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Anderson that allowed limited drilling on federal leases in southern Montana while the Bureau of Land Management expands an environmental impact report for the area. The Northern Cheyenne tribe and the Northern Plains Resources Council had challenged the decision. The groups asked for and received an emergency order from the appeals court in June 2005 halting all drilling pending the outcome of their appeal. On Tuesday, both sides said it was unclear when or if drilling would occur. The tribe and the Northern Plains Resources Council have the option of asking the entire 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear their appeal. In its decision, the panel supported the lower court's decision. "The district court did not abuse its discretion in issuing the partial injunction proposed by BLM because it provides an equitable resolution consistent with the purposes of (National Environmental Policy Act)," the panel wrote....
Protect Colorado's wilderness, DeGette says Colorado and its wilderness are at a crossroads and unless action is taken immediately much of the state's beauty may be lost forever, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette said Wednesday in announcing that the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2007 will be introduced in Congress next week. Under the bill, further exploration and drilling on top of Colorado's Roan Plateau, its cliffs and some of the plateau's valleys would be prohibited, DeGette's office said Wednesday. But rigs and pads already in place would not be affected. "In the last seven years our public lands have faced an onslaught like never before from the Bush administration, particularly on the lands we are talking about in my bill, which are mostly Bureau of Land Management lands," DeGette said at a news conference at Denver's Confluence Park. She said more than 85,000 acres of wilderness and other "public quality lands" have been leased for oil and gas drilling in Colorado and "more are being offered up for leasing every day. "Drilling rigs, new roads, pipelines, more well pads, more noise and more dust have tarnished our landscapes, impacted our communities and disrupted our wildlife," DeGette said. But oil and gas industry reaction was swift and negative to the proposed bill....
Challenge to Scientific Consensus on Global Warming A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance. "This data and the list of scientists make a mockery of recent claims that a scientific consensus blames humans as the primary cause of global temperature increases since 1850," said Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis Avery. Other researchers found evidence that 3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate. Despite being published in such journals such as Science, Nature and Geophysical Review Letters, these scientists have gotten little media attention....
Emission ruling is a victory for state's policy California cleared a critical green light in its campaign to require automakers to build vehicles that emit less greenhouse gas. Wednesday, a federal judge upheld a Vermont law requiring automakers to cut climate-warming vehicle emissions 30 percent by 2016. The law is virtually identical to California's Assembly Bill 1493, adopted five years ago and since copied by 14 other states. The auto industry has sued three states, including California, in an attempt to block the laws. The Vermont case is the first to be decided. In a 240-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions III rejected both of the auto industry's main arguments: that the emissions-cutting requirements are technically unworkable and that state-level requirements to reduce greenhouse emissions effectively violate the federal government's authority to set mileage standards....
Eating Less Meat May Slow Climate Change Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday. In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming. "We are at a significant tipping point," said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study. "If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger," Brewster said. Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farming practices, like feeding animals higher-quality grains, would only have a limited impact on cutting emissions. Gases from animals destined for dinner plates account for nearly a quarter of all emissions worldwide. "That leaves reducing demand for meat as the only real option," said Dr. John Powles, a public health expert at Cambridge University, one of the study's authors. The amount of meat eaten varies considerably worldwide. In developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams per day. But in Africa, most people only get about 31 grams a day. With demand for meat increasing worldwide, experts worry that this increased livestock production will mean more gases like methane and nitrous oxide heating up the atmosphere. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago....
Wilderness deal made An association of home builders has reached a compromise with wilderness proponents on the boundary for eastward growth of Las Cruces, both groups announced during a news conference Wednesday. As a result, the Las Cruces Home Builders Association said it will endorse a plan by conservationists that would grant a federal wilderness designation to thousands of acres in Doña Ana County. The groups had been at odds throughout a negotiations process about wilderness hosted by the city early this year. Ranchers and off-road vehicle users remain opposed to the wilderness designation in most cases, though they've backed another method of protecting land from development. Steve Wilmeth, a Doña Ana County rancher, said he's concerned about the home builders decision to endorse the conservationists' entire proposal, including the Broad Canyon and Potrillo mountain areas. Ranchers and off-road vehicle users have said they're worried the wilderness designation — which restricts most mechanized travel — would keep law enforcement and Border Patrol from easily accessing the land. "This is a bigger issue than just ranchers ... here," he said. "When there is a legitimate national security concern, this is a reckless and irresponsible decision in the long run for our community."....
Lawsuit Challenges Fish "Habitat" in New Mexico and Arizona The federal government acted illegally when it designated vast stretches of riverbeds in New Mexico and Arizona as "critical habitat" for two species of fish found throughout the Southwest – the spikedace and loach minnow. So argues a lawsuit announced today by Pacific Legal Foundation. The resulting land use restrictions create flood dangers for landowners, among other problems, according to PLF attorneys and their clients. Filed on behalf of the Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Economic Growth, and the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, the lawsuit contends that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service – the agency responsible for the March 21, 2007, habitat designation – did not follow the requirements of the Endangered Species Act when it set aside more than 500 miles of riverbed in Arizona and New Mexico. "Along hundreds of miles of streams and rivers, the federal government has essentially prohibited landowners from making improvements on their own private property – in the name of protecting two fish species," said PLF attorney Damien Schiff. "But this command violates the Endangered Species Act itself in some basic ways. The regulators haven’t clearly identified physical and biological features in the designated areas that are essential for the species’ conservation. And they have ignored their legal duty to consider the economic impact of the designation."....go here to view the lawsuit.
R-CALF: Assistance Given to LU Ranch, Joyce Livestock On the recommendation of the R-CALF USA Private Property Rights Committee, the group’s board of directors has decided to contribute $1,000 to the legal expenses of the LU Ranch and Joyce Livestock in their long-term fight with the federal government for the water rights on land covered by federally administered grazing allotments. After years of wrangling in the court system, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the ranchers owned the water rights on the federal land, but unfortunately, the Idaho Supreme Court held that the ranchers were not entitled to recover their attorney fees. Oklahoma attorney and R-CALF USA member Harlan Hentges said that through the years, U.S. governmental officials have claimed that the federal government owns the water rights on land covered by federally administered grazing allotments. Not so, he said. “The water rights belong to the ranchers who have put the water to beneficial use and have owned these water rights for decades,” he said. “Through the years, overzealous governmental officials have abused their power and ignored ranchers' private property rights on the water. “The United States sued LU Ranching and Joyce Livestock and challenged these ranchers’ historic water rights for their ranching operations, which are located on federally administered grazing allotments,” Hentges explained. “The ranchers had two choices: 1) give up their water rights to the United States, and therefore the viability of their ranches; or, 2) defend their historic family water rights against the United States, even though the cost of doing so would exceed the value of their ranches. These ranchers defended their water rights and prevailed.”....
Picture it: 64,000 new acres of wilderness On the map, they are an archipelago of green stretching across the topography of San Miguel and Dolores counties — thousands of acres that could become the newest wilderness areas on the Western Slope. They run from Naturita Canyon and McKenna Peak in the west to Mount Sneffels and Deep Creek, hovering just above the roof of Telluride — some 64,000 acres in all. An at the end of the month, local conservationists will ask Congress to introduce legislation converting these patches of federal land into wilderness areas. The designation would keep cars, helicopters, ATVs and bikes off these lands, and prevent any road construction or road upgrades, said Hilary White of the Sheep Mountain Alliance, which is leading the charge in San Miguel County. “It basically is the highest protection of public lands there is,” White said. “The wilderness designation strives to protect the pristine wildlife habitat and corridor areas left in the United States.” The U.S. House and Senate must pass legislation designating these lands — which are owned by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management — as wilderness areas. White said she and other supporters will meet with U.S. Rep. John Salazar, a Western Slope Democrat, this month to outline their proposal. Eric Wortman, Salazar’s legislative director, said the congressman’s office would then vet the proposal and run it by interested groups....
Feds must live up to commitment to maintain failing logging roads There's an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging. Right now, our federal government is in a hole and is still digging. In doing so, it is turning its back on an agreement with Washington state to maintain and restore thousands of miles of decades-old, deteriorating logging roads in our national forests. Prolonged underfunding of forest road maintenance in our national forests has increased erosion and road failures, and the problem grows daily. Muddy water from failing and washed-out forest roads harms fish — including threatened and endangered runs of salmon — that need cold, clear water to thrive and reproduce. Muddy water harms the gills of salmon and trout. Silt smothers their eggs when it settles into clean gravel beds. Muddy runoff also contributes to making streams wider, shallower and more susceptible to warming by the sun. Warm streams further threaten salmon and trout that need cold, clean water to survive....
Utahns push U.S. bill to fund rural schools Commissioners from five Utah counties descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to push for a bill to get government funding for rural schools. The pending legislation would extend a current law originally passed in 2001 that provides a "safety net" for rural school districts, especially those in Western states, that have little private land available to tax and do not get all the money owed to them by the federal government. Some communities had depended on funds generated from the Forest Service land to fund schools and other local projects, but the amounts started to decrease as the money generated by the Forest Service lands began to go down, according to the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition. In 2000, Congress passed a law giving money to those communities that saw cuts. But the law expires on Sept. 30 unless Congress renews it. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has a bill that would extend the act and make other changes that could help rural communities in states, such as Utah, with a lot of public land. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is a co-sponsor of DeFazio's bill....
Ex-Forest Service worker fights firing Ruth Wenstrom says she was only trying to be honest. The former San Bernardino National Forest public information officer says when cuts were made in fire-suppression spending in 2006, she was stunned. For several years previously, the San Bernardino district had received twice-monthly severity funds to bolster its firefighting capability and aid in the removal of trees killed off by a bark-beetle infestation. The cuts meant a reduction in on-duty fire engines in the forest from 25 to as few as 16 during the week. "I was told to say, 'There's no problems out there, and there's no need for added money,' " Wenstrom said, recalling a directive she received in April 2006. "And that was a bald-faced lie." Only months earlier, now-retired Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman had called the San Bernardino National Forest the "most threatened community in the nation" because of its population density and the fire danger. That danger was evident in 2003 when the Old and Grand Prix fires raced through the hillsides and mountains, destroying more than 600 homes....
County vows to fight for roads Otero County plans to take on the Forest Service regarding road access under Revised Statute 2477, a provision in the 1866 Mining Law that states any road under county jurisdiction, regardless of when that jurisdiction was established, supersedes any subsequent jurisdiction claimed by any other entity, including the Forest Service. In a discussion at its work session Wednesday, the Otero County Commission expressed its intent to take on the Forest Service regarding roads in the Lincoln National Forest. "We want to stop the closure of any roads and trails by the Forest Service," said Commission Chairman Doug Moore. "If they want to challenge any of the roads we claim under R.S. 2477, we'll duke it out in court." "If we have to list every goat trail, butterfly path, and meteor pathway, we will," Commissioner Clarissa McGinn said. "We want a preemptive action to keep these closures from happening. These closures are going to take place very soon if we don't stop this." Moore said the Forest Service plan is to close nearly half the roads and trails in the Lincoln National Forest....
Report rebukes USFS's direction The "can do" mentality blamed in the deaths of five firefighters last year in Riverside County underscores an even greater problem within the U.S. Forest Service: The agency has lost direction, an outside report suggests. Wildfires will likely kill an increasing number of firefighters unless the Forest Service's mission and acceptable levels of risk are better defined, according to the report. "Many remain unclear about the limits to the mission, leading them to take on responsibilities that put them in harm's way, cause over-reaching and lead to unsafe situations," an excerpt of the 46-page report reads. Crews are stretched to fight larger fires with fewer numbers, are overloaded with rules and are frequently torn between whether to act as agents of a "forest service" that manages the forest and fights forest fires or a "fire service" that is responsible for protecting homes built in sensitive forest areas, according to the report. Dialogos, a consulting firm commissioned by the agency to address safety concerns in the wake of mounting deaths, prepared the report....
Abandoned mines cause environmental devastation Prospectors began hacking at Colorado's mountainsides 150 years ago in search of gold, silver and any other kind of profitable metal that might have been nestled deep inside the rock. Soon mines peppered the landscape. And while most of them were abandoned nearly a century ago, their consequences on the region's ecology and human health will continue to thrive long after our own generation has withered. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 500,000 abandoned mines exist in the U.S., the majority of which lie out West. Colorado is home to about 23,000 of them, according to the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining & Safety. Not all of the mines emit pollutants, but enough of them do to cause a host of problems. Perhaps the most obvious are the physical dangers. Last year, 22 people died nationwide from falling in abandoned mine shafts, inhaling deadly odorless gases or being crushed in cave-ins. Those dangers represent just a small piece of the problem these old mines create....
Bats, kangaroo mice, sage grouse on wildlife agenda Bats, kangaroo mice and sage grouse will be among the beneficiaries from a series of Nevada Division of Wildlife projects approved Tuesday. The projects are all authorized in contracts approved by the Board of Examiners. Largest on the list is a $140,000 contract in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service to build what was described as "bat compatible gates" on abandoned mines throughout the state. Wildlife Diversity Administrator Laura Richards there are 17 species of bat in Nevada and that 14 of them are listed as "sensitive." Thousands of old mines in the state must be somehow closed off so people don't enter them and get injured or killed. But in the past, that meant permanently sealing the mine entrances. "A lot of abandoned mines are maternity roosts for bats," she said. The idea is to build gates that prevent people from entering old mines while allowing the bats free access....
Panel upholds methane ruling A federal appeals court has upheld a judge's ruling that allows limited coal-bed methane development in Montana's portion of the Powder River Basin. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an April 2005 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Anderson that allowed limited drilling on federal leases in southern Montana while the Bureau of Land Management expands an environmental impact report for the area. The Northern Cheyenne tribe and the Northern Plains Resources Council had challenged the decision. The groups asked for and received an emergency order from the appeals court in June 2005 halting all drilling pending the outcome of their appeal. On Tuesday, both sides said it was unclear when or if drilling would occur. The tribe and the Northern Plains Resources Council have the option of asking the entire 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear their appeal. In its decision, the panel supported the lower court's decision. "The district court did not abuse its discretion in issuing the partial injunction proposed by BLM because it provides an equitable resolution consistent with the purposes of (National Environmental Policy Act)," the panel wrote....
Protect Colorado's wilderness, DeGette says Colorado and its wilderness are at a crossroads and unless action is taken immediately much of the state's beauty may be lost forever, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette said Wednesday in announcing that the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2007 will be introduced in Congress next week. Under the bill, further exploration and drilling on top of Colorado's Roan Plateau, its cliffs and some of the plateau's valleys would be prohibited, DeGette's office said Wednesday. But rigs and pads already in place would not be affected. "In the last seven years our public lands have faced an onslaught like never before from the Bush administration, particularly on the lands we are talking about in my bill, which are mostly Bureau of Land Management lands," DeGette said at a news conference at Denver's Confluence Park. She said more than 85,000 acres of wilderness and other "public quality lands" have been leased for oil and gas drilling in Colorado and "more are being offered up for leasing every day. "Drilling rigs, new roads, pipelines, more well pads, more noise and more dust have tarnished our landscapes, impacted our communities and disrupted our wildlife," DeGette said. But oil and gas industry reaction was swift and negative to the proposed bill....
FLE
Would notebook's clues have headed off 9-11? Two numbers scrawled in a notebook that belonged to terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui could have given the FBI a chance to identify several of the Sept. 11 hijackers before they struck six years ago, according to officials who are familiar with the bureau's massive investigation of the attacks. The notebook entries recorded the control numbers for two Western Union wire transfers in which suspected al Qaida coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh, using an alias, sent Moussaoui $14,000 from Germany in early August 2001, before he went to a Minnesota flight school to learn to fly a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. A check of Western Union records probably would have uncovered other wires in the preceding days for similar sums of money to Binalshibh — who'd been turned away at the U.S. border four times because he was a suspected terrorist — from an al Qaida paymaster in Dubai. On one of those receipts, the paymaster listed a phone number in the United Arab Emirates that several of the hijackers had called from Florida. FBI headquarters, however, rejected Minneapolis FBI field agents' repeated requests for a national security warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings after he was arrested on Aug. 16, 2001. One agent, Harry Samit, was so convinced that Moussaoui was a terrorist that he sent scores of messages to FBI headquarters pressing for a search warrant....
Lawyer wrongly accused in Madrid bombings back in court over Patriot Act The lawyer whom the FBI wrongly accused in the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings was in court Monday to urge a judge to strike down provisions of the USA Patriot Act that helped investigators conduct what he says were unconstitutional searches of his home and office. Brandon Mayfield settled part of his case against the federal government for $2 million in November but was allowed to continue to pursue his challenge of the Patriot Act. He says the government is continuing to violate his civil rights by retaining thousands of copied pages of his family's personal information. Mayfield was arrested May 6, 2004, after a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid was incorrectly matched to him. Before the arrest, federal authorities searched Mayfield's Portland-area home and law office, going through files and placing bugging devices in the home. Mayfield was held in prison for two weeks before he was released, and he received a formal apology from the FBI. He contends he was unfairly targeted because he is a convert to Islam. The 2001 Patriot Act greatly expanded the authority of law enforcers to investigate suspected acts of terrorism, both domestically and abroad. Mayfield's lawyers, Portland attorney Elden Rosenthal and Wyoming counsel Gerry Spence, argued Monday that the authority the Patriot Act grants is an assault on the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, without probable cause, determined by a judge, to believe that a crime has been committed....
Intelligence Chief Admits Error Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, on Wednesday recanted his claim that the new surveillance powers recently given to the government helped foil a terrorist plot in Germany. “Information contributing to the recent arrests was not collected under authorities provided by the Protect America Act,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement issued late in the day. Mr. McConnell had told the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday that powers granted by the act, hastily approved by Congress in early August before a monthlong break, helped stop the planned attacks. The law, which amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, had been pushed strongly by Mr. McConnell and the White House. Mr. McConnell’s assertion that the new powers helped foil the plot in Germany had been disputed by Representative Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Reyes, Democrat of Texas, said on Tuesday that the intelligence used to capture the would-be terrorists was collected under the old version of the surveillance law, not the new one. “In fact, F.I.S.A., which you repeatedly claim is ‘outdated,’ was precisely the tool that helped disrupt this plot,” Mr. Reyes said. “The new law did not lead to the arrests of the three terrorist plotters, as you claimed.” The new surveillance law expires in six months. Many Democrats want to change it sooner, arguing that it gives the government far more power to eavesdrop than Congress initially understood.
US moves to tighten immigration, customs procedures The United States is moving to tighten immigration and customs controls, which it says are vital to keep terrorists at bay six years after the September 11 attacks. Under plans that have been announced, foreign travelers will need to provide 10 digital fingerprints on arrival instead of two currently, and their personal data will be transmitted to the United States before their plane takes off. By the end of the year, virtually every container that comes into the country by sea will be screened amid concerns over possible smuggling of nuclear weapons, security officials said. "We must move forward aggressively to build on our success to keep pace with our enemies," said Michael Chertoff, secretary of the department of homeland security, the frontline body in the US "war on terror." In November, the United States will begin implementing the plan requiring travelers to give 10 digital fingerprints on arrival. Ten US airports will initially have the capability to collect the 10 prints before all ports of entry are covered by the plan by the end of 2008....
Meatpackers Union Sues Over Plant Raids A union representing workers at six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants sued federal immigration authorities Wednesday, alleging agents violated the workers' rights during raids by roughly handling even those not suspected of crimes. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the eight workers named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit seek unspecified damages and an order to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting what the union says are illegal raids. ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested 1,297 workers at the plants in December, but union officials have said that more than 12,000 workers were detained against their will during the raids. Swift has estimated the financial impact at up to $50 million. Union president Joseph Hansen said workers were handcuffed and held for hours and denied access to phones, bathrooms, legal counsel and their families....
Would notebook's clues have headed off 9-11? Two numbers scrawled in a notebook that belonged to terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui could have given the FBI a chance to identify several of the Sept. 11 hijackers before they struck six years ago, according to officials who are familiar with the bureau's massive investigation of the attacks. The notebook entries recorded the control numbers for two Western Union wire transfers in which suspected al Qaida coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh, using an alias, sent Moussaoui $14,000 from Germany in early August 2001, before he went to a Minnesota flight school to learn to fly a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. A check of Western Union records probably would have uncovered other wires in the preceding days for similar sums of money to Binalshibh — who'd been turned away at the U.S. border four times because he was a suspected terrorist — from an al Qaida paymaster in Dubai. On one of those receipts, the paymaster listed a phone number in the United Arab Emirates that several of the hijackers had called from Florida. FBI headquarters, however, rejected Minneapolis FBI field agents' repeated requests for a national security warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings after he was arrested on Aug. 16, 2001. One agent, Harry Samit, was so convinced that Moussaoui was a terrorist that he sent scores of messages to FBI headquarters pressing for a search warrant....
Lawyer wrongly accused in Madrid bombings back in court over Patriot Act The lawyer whom the FBI wrongly accused in the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings was in court Monday to urge a judge to strike down provisions of the USA Patriot Act that helped investigators conduct what he says were unconstitutional searches of his home and office. Brandon Mayfield settled part of his case against the federal government for $2 million in November but was allowed to continue to pursue his challenge of the Patriot Act. He says the government is continuing to violate his civil rights by retaining thousands of copied pages of his family's personal information. Mayfield was arrested May 6, 2004, after a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid was incorrectly matched to him. Before the arrest, federal authorities searched Mayfield's Portland-area home and law office, going through files and placing bugging devices in the home. Mayfield was held in prison for two weeks before he was released, and he received a formal apology from the FBI. He contends he was unfairly targeted because he is a convert to Islam. The 2001 Patriot Act greatly expanded the authority of law enforcers to investigate suspected acts of terrorism, both domestically and abroad. Mayfield's lawyers, Portland attorney Elden Rosenthal and Wyoming counsel Gerry Spence, argued Monday that the authority the Patriot Act grants is an assault on the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, without probable cause, determined by a judge, to believe that a crime has been committed....
Intelligence Chief Admits Error Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, on Wednesday recanted his claim that the new surveillance powers recently given to the government helped foil a terrorist plot in Germany. “Information contributing to the recent arrests was not collected under authorities provided by the Protect America Act,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement issued late in the day. Mr. McConnell had told the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday that powers granted by the act, hastily approved by Congress in early August before a monthlong break, helped stop the planned attacks. The law, which amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, had been pushed strongly by Mr. McConnell and the White House. Mr. McConnell’s assertion that the new powers helped foil the plot in Germany had been disputed by Representative Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Reyes, Democrat of Texas, said on Tuesday that the intelligence used to capture the would-be terrorists was collected under the old version of the surveillance law, not the new one. “In fact, F.I.S.A., which you repeatedly claim is ‘outdated,’ was precisely the tool that helped disrupt this plot,” Mr. Reyes said. “The new law did not lead to the arrests of the three terrorist plotters, as you claimed.” The new surveillance law expires in six months. Many Democrats want to change it sooner, arguing that it gives the government far more power to eavesdrop than Congress initially understood.
US moves to tighten immigration, customs procedures The United States is moving to tighten immigration and customs controls, which it says are vital to keep terrorists at bay six years after the September 11 attacks. Under plans that have been announced, foreign travelers will need to provide 10 digital fingerprints on arrival instead of two currently, and their personal data will be transmitted to the United States before their plane takes off. By the end of the year, virtually every container that comes into the country by sea will be screened amid concerns over possible smuggling of nuclear weapons, security officials said. "We must move forward aggressively to build on our success to keep pace with our enemies," said Michael Chertoff, secretary of the department of homeland security, the frontline body in the US "war on terror." In November, the United States will begin implementing the plan requiring travelers to give 10 digital fingerprints on arrival. Ten US airports will initially have the capability to collect the 10 prints before all ports of entry are covered by the plan by the end of 2008....
Meatpackers Union Sues Over Plant Raids A union representing workers at six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants sued federal immigration authorities Wednesday, alleging agents violated the workers' rights during raids by roughly handling even those not suspected of crimes. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the eight workers named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit seek unspecified damages and an order to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting what the union says are illegal raids. ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested 1,297 workers at the plants in December, but union officials have said that more than 12,000 workers were detained against their will during the raids. Swift has estimated the financial impact at up to $50 million. Union president Joseph Hansen said workers were handcuffed and held for hours and denied access to phones, bathrooms, legal counsel and their families....
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Court won't expand Powder River Basin injunction A U.S. federal appeals court upheld an injunction on Tuesday against development of coal bed methane development on 93 percent of the coal-rich Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. Yet, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to expand that injunction to block development on all of the 14-million-acre (5.7-million-hectare) region pending further environmental reviews. The area of ranches and mines is home to America's largest coal deposits, and has been subject to environmental controversy after the federal government starting selling leases to develop energy resources there a decade ago. Coal bed methane is obtained by taking groundwater out of land and into rivers; when put under pressure, the methane then percolates and is piped to the surface. The split 2-1 decision of the 9th Circuit cited potential environmental issues of aesthetic harm, pollution of rivers from the pumped groundwater, and lowering of the water table, impacting farmers and ranchers. The decision upheld a lower court injunction allowing development on 7 percent of the area but blocking development on 93 percent of the area pending a revised environmental impact study....
Ashland cattle ranch faces failure if grazing is curtailed Longtime rancher Mike Dauenhauer wasn't surprised that a recent scientific study concluded cattle grazing harmed the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. "I could have told you the results before they were completed — they want us gone," he said. If grazing is banned on the monument, his family's cattle ranch would be history, he added. "For me personally, removing the grazing up there would take me out of the cow business," he said, noting his family has had cattle grazing allotments for nearly half a century on the public land where the monument now stands. He was responding to a report released Monday by 10 scientists who spent several years studying the impact of grazing on the monument established in 2000. Hired by the Ashland-based National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, the scientists have recommended that cattle be permanently barred from grazing on the 52,947-acre monument....
'Immense potential' State officials say they hope bids will be competitive to lease the Duncan Ranch north of here, a place Gov. Dave Freudenthal said “has immense potential” during a stop Monday on his annual natural resource tour. Overlooking a steep, rugged canyon owned by Converse County, Freudenthal and more than 150 Wyoming lawmakers and dignitaries eyed the cool blue pool of water at the bottom. Some queried whether fishermen had much luck there throughout the summer; others scoped the far canyon roads with binoculars. Freudenthal said the ranch, from healthy hay meadows at the base of Boxelder Canyon to rich timbered slopes up higher, holds opportunity for many of Wyoming’s citizens. Acknowledging some early controversy surrounding whether the state should play a role in purchasing a working ranch, he said the teams assembled to determine the recreational, educational, agricultural, wildlife and commercial values have hammered out a strong plan. “I think we’ll end up with a true multiple-use management plan in place,” he said, adding that he believes the state should “take our time and make sure we do it right.” A management plan met with approval in June. Now, the Office of State Lands and Investments is asking for bids from family ranchers to lease the property, representing a contiguous block of 7,479 acres of state land. The Office of State Lands and Investments bought the 6,439-acre ranch from Hugh Duncan for $5.9 million in February 2006 to manage as a state school trust asset....
Black Hills off-roading map unveiled to 400 at meeting More than 400 people showed up at a Tuesday night in Rapid City to get a firsthand look at the future of off-roading in the Black Hills National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service used the biggest meeting room at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel convention center to unveil a proposed trail system for motorized vehicles. The new trails would reverse the current rules, which allow off-roading anywhere it is not specifically prohibited in the Black Hills. “We’re going to tell you where you go, when you can go there and what equipment will be allowed,” Forest Service travel management planner Tom Willems said....Keep the quote from Forest Service employee Tom Willems in mind, as it demonstrates their attitude toward the public and is something all users of the Federal lands will be hearing.
Wide range of concern in Wyoming To the cadre of sportsmen attempting to save the Wyoming Range from oil and gas development, the scene has become iconic. Whether captured on film or in the mind's eye, the lingering image is of a large drilling platform poised above a small creek where swims a population of threatened cutthroat trout. It's not a pretty sight. For residents of western Wyoming, this little-known mountain range has become a sort of line in the sand in what has turned into an expanding effort throughout the Rockies to forestall a rampant wave of drilling. From northern New Mexico to northwest Colorado to the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana, wildlife enthusiasts are fighting a sort of rear guard action to somehow ameliorate the oil and gas boom. Nowhere has the effort gained sharper focus than in this obscure group of mountains not far from the Utah border....
Lamborn: Make peak a monument U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn says a mountain as famous as Pikes Peak deserves to be a national monument, a federal designation bestowed on some other natural landmarks, including Devils Tower and Mount St. Helens. But when he announced Friday he has formed a committee to explore the possibility, the news came as a surprise to the various agencies who manage the mountain, including the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Springs Utilities and the city-run Pikes Peak Highway, none of whom were consulted. And some aren’t sure a national monument designation is needed. Officials said that, aside from possibly boosting tourism, the designation could have little impact on the mountain or protection of the land. “It would promote tourism,” Lamborn said Tuesday. “There are people who love to go around and visit the national monuments around the country and the national parks.”....
Wyden, DeFazio propose wilderness area in southern Oregon Oregon members of Congress are proposing wilderness protection for headwaters of Elk River near Port Orford in southern Oregon. The legislation introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio would protect 13,700 acres of coastal forest and salmon streams. Wilderness designation prevents logging, mining and road building, but hunting and fishing could continue. With Democrats in power, DeFazio said, prospects for new wilderness areas have improved. Richard Pombo of California, a Republican representative defeated last year, was the gatekeeper for wilderness bills and he "hated wilderness with a passion," DeFazio said. The Copper Salmon Wilderness bill could be passed along with the proposal for protecting an additional 125,000 acres around Mount Hood as new wilderness, DeFazio said....
Lost hiker won't return to wilderness After surviving 13 days in the woods with no gear and light clothing, 76-year-old Doris Anderson has resolved never to return to the wilderness, one of her daughters says. Anderson got lost on a hunting trip with her husband but was found last week after authorities had scaled back their search for her. She was hypothermic and incoherent when two officers found her in the Wallowa Mountains on Thursday, authorities said. But daughter Barbara Moore told the Baker City Herald on Tuesday that her mother had gotten out of her hospital bed twice, was eating bananas and mashed potatoes and gravy, and was being fitted for a set of dentures to replace those she lost. Moore said her mother had begun to remember details, but the family will keep them private until she is ready to tell her story to reporters. But, Moore said, her mother did say it was a long, scary experience. “She said she’s not going back to the forest,” Moore said. “It has nothing for her.”....
Wilderness bill would protect Roan Plateau U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette this week is unveiling a wilderness proposal that would ban drilling on much of the Roan Plateau. The measure is the latest political maneuver aimed at staving off attempts to open up the area to natural gas leasing. However, the Roan proposal is not new for DeGette, who has included it in her Colorado wilderness bills going back to 1999, said Chris Arend, a DeGette spokesman. The BLM previously had found wilderness-quality lands on top of the Roan, Arend said. "It hasn't been leased yet, so as far as we know those lands still have wilderness quality and should be considered for wilderness," Arend said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has decided to open up the plateau for drilling. Conservationists have sought to protect the top from drilling rigs. In a last-ditch maneuver, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, managed to convince the U.S. House to amend its federal energy bill to bar drilling on federal land on top of the plateau. A Senate energy bill has no such provision and the two bills have yet to be reconciled....
Grizzly found in Idaho after 61-year hiatus A federal plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to central Idaho was scrapped in 2000, but at least one 450-pound male found his own way seven years later. Idaho Fish and Game officials said Tuesday that a Tennessee man hunting black bears in the North Fork Clearwater River shot and killed a grizzly Sept. 3. Officials said they remain uncertain whether they will pursue criminal charges against the hunter. The kill came on the Idaho side of the 5,700-square-mile Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which includes central Idaho and Western Montana. It was the first confirmed grizzly bear in Idaho since 1946, a 61-year absence. "We predicted we might get bears dispersing into that area," said Chris Servheen, the Montana-based grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Maybe that bear's been a resident in that area his whole life." The bear had not been captured previously, so state and federal regulators are not sure where it came from, Servheen said....
Feds: New wolf rule won't hurt overall numbers New rules making it easier to kill wolves that are reducing wild game herds won't hurt the overall population in the Northern Rockies, according to a review released Tuesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to loosen legal language allowing state agencies to kill wolves that are having an "unacceptable impact" on elk, deer and other ungulate herds. Wolves could be taken out if they are "one of the major causes" of a herd's decline, the proposed rule says. Right now, most wild ungulate herds outside Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are at "record high" levels and above state management goals, according to the agency's environmental assessment of the proposal....
Veto of lead-bullet ban in condor range urged Officials responsible for regulating hunting and fishing in California asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a bill passed by the state Legislature that would ban the use of lead bullets for hunting in the California condor range. On Tuesday, the state Fish and Game Commission sent Schwarzenegger a letter asking that he veto Assembly Bill 821, which is headed to his desk after final passage by the state Assembly and Senate last week. The legislation, known as the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, written by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, requires the use of nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition when shooting big game or coyotes within specific areas of the state identified as the condor's range. The commission's letter contends that the legislation is flawed and that the commission should be the regulating agency for what kind of ammunition is allowed for hunting in the state. "The commission has been dealing with this issue for more than two and a half years now," said Fish and Game Commission executive director John Carlson Jr. A lead ban had been proposed to commissioners in January 2005 as an emergency petition, he said, which they voted down....
Growers, companies on the 'fence' about barriers A year after tainted spinach from the Central Coast killed three people, sickened more than 200 and cost local growers and companies millions of dollars, the industry is still grappling with the best way to make sure an outbreak never happens again. One idea that's causing a quiet controversy in the Salinas Valley: Fences. Short of growing under a bubble, many in the industry are now wondering whether putting tall fences around fields could be the most effective way to keep animals, particularly deer, away from crops. But while deer are on the Centers for Disease Control's list of animals found to carry potentially deadly strains of E. coli in their intestines, scientists studying E. coli in the Salinas Valley say there is little evidence to show they spread the pathogen. There is also limited information about how fences could affect animal populations along the 100-mile stretch of the Salinas River between San Ardo to the ocean. Investigators aren't sure where the E. coli, traced to neighboring San Benito County, came from, but speculate that the deadly pathogen may have been spread through a spinach field by wild pigs....
Proposed crop ordinance rejected A proposed ordinance banning the use of manure on food crops in Kern County died on Tuesday. County supervisors instead endorsed the use of a state-monitored system of agricultural health standards as a way to prevent biological contamination of food. The ordinance was proposed earlier this summer, said Environmental Health Services Director Matt Constantine, after lettuce and spinach crops from other counties were identified as the cause of national E. coli outbreaks. "Times are changing," said Supervisor Michael Rubio. "Whenever you can trace DNA from a person in the Midwest to a dairy in the Central Valley we all have to be on alert." The goal of the proposed ban, Constantine said, was to ensure Kern County wouldn't be added to the list of counties where outbreaks originated. But agricultural growers and cattle ranchers expressed sharp opposition to the ban....
Wheat Price Rises to Record $9 a Bushel on Global Crop Concerns Wheat prices surpassed $9 a bushel for the first time as a drought in Australia cut production, pushing global stockpiles toward a 26-year low. Australia's wheat crop may fall to 18 million metric tons from a prediction of 23 million tons in a U.S. report today. Reserves of the grain in Canada, the world's second-largest wheat exporter, plunged 29 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Increasing demand from Egypt to India and weather damage to crops from Canada to Australia have driven up global prices by 81 percent this year. Users including Sara Lee Corp. and PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's biggest producer of instant noodles, are responding by raising prices, fueling inflation. ``The market is in a real frenzy,'' said Tobin Gorey, commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``It's feeding through to the consumer.''....
Two horses slain in Madera Co. pasture wo mares were shot to death over the weekend in a foothill pasture beside Highway 41, and the Madera County Sheriff's Department is asking the public's help to find out who did it. Sheriff's investigators believe the mares were shot late Friday or early Saturday in a 40-acre pasture just north of the Yosemite Lakes Park turnoff. But the horses' owner, who declined to be identified, did not discover the carcasses until Monday, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart. A third horse in the pasture was unharmed. The mares, ages 5 and 7, were valued at about $4,000 each. The horses were 100 feet to 150 feet from the roadway when they were shot, one in the head and one in the neck, Stuart said. Investigators believe both mares lived for some time after they were shot. The family that owned the mares told investigators that they had been using the roadside pasture for the past four years. They had planned to breed the two mares that were shot, Stuart said. The shootings angered some Madera County horse owners....
Kobe beef farmed on secret Texas ranch It's served at some of Dallas's hottest restaurants - Wagyu beef. Some say it is better than prime, but it's price is higher than prime, too. It sells for about $30 an ounce. Many who taste the mouthwatering, marble-laced delicacy, also called Kobe beef, say it's worth it. But, this special occasion steak, which hails from Japan, is now taking root (or hoof) in the Lone Star State. "These are Japanese Wagyu which produce the Kobe beef," said Gary Yamamoto, a Wagyu rancher. Yamamoto is not your typical rancher. "Basically not, I'd rather be fishing," he said. He's spent millions earned as a professional bass fisherman cultivating a herd of pure-blood black Wagyu. He prefers not to say where his ranch is because while typical cows may sell for $800 each, Wagyu can fetch $10,000, and attract cattle rustlers....
Cactus Ropes, the official PRCA rope Cactus Ropes, located between Pleasanton and Floresville on S.H. 97, set a new company record in August, shipping 21,700 ropes that month to various merchants across the nation. This is a big improvement from their beginnings in 1991, when the company shipped only 10,000 ropes for the whole year. So how does a company go from 10,000 ropes in a year to over 200,000? The answer is quality. Since its inception, Cactus Ropes has had its eye on building a reputation for quality. This is a process that takes time, patience, and consistency. It also requires progression. The business spent almost 17 years perfecting its ropes. The business has developed a process that creates some of the toughest and most durable ropes in the nation, capturing the attention of the top professional ropers in the business, like Allen Bach, and earning the official approval of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association)....
California's wine country farmers go nearly nude to take a stand for the land Winegrowers, ranchers and other members of Napa's farming community in California are showing their green thumbs and quite a bit more in hopes of raising money to protect the valley's rich agricultural resources. Members of the Napa County Farm Bureau, all men, have stripped for a 2008 "Napa Uncovered" calendar that shows them strategically photographed in bucolic settings. The farmers, who are following in the nearly nude footsteps of a number of similar fundraising calendars - including an effort by French winemakers a few years ago - are hoping to draw attention to the issue of dwindling farmlands as well as show a lighter side of the Napa scene. Al Wagner, the vineyard manager for Clos Du Val, appears as Mr. July in a cowboy hat, boots and an apron. "A couple of the guys had a few little misgivings," Wagner said, "but after it was all done they kind of sat back and laughed about it." Those in the calendar come from ranching, vineyard management, and wineries....
Court won't expand Powder River Basin injunction A U.S. federal appeals court upheld an injunction on Tuesday against development of coal bed methane development on 93 percent of the coal-rich Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. Yet, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to expand that injunction to block development on all of the 14-million-acre (5.7-million-hectare) region pending further environmental reviews. The area of ranches and mines is home to America's largest coal deposits, and has been subject to environmental controversy after the federal government starting selling leases to develop energy resources there a decade ago. Coal bed methane is obtained by taking groundwater out of land and into rivers; when put under pressure, the methane then percolates and is piped to the surface. The split 2-1 decision of the 9th Circuit cited potential environmental issues of aesthetic harm, pollution of rivers from the pumped groundwater, and lowering of the water table, impacting farmers and ranchers. The decision upheld a lower court injunction allowing development on 7 percent of the area but blocking development on 93 percent of the area pending a revised environmental impact study....
Ashland cattle ranch faces failure if grazing is curtailed Longtime rancher Mike Dauenhauer wasn't surprised that a recent scientific study concluded cattle grazing harmed the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. "I could have told you the results before they were completed — they want us gone," he said. If grazing is banned on the monument, his family's cattle ranch would be history, he added. "For me personally, removing the grazing up there would take me out of the cow business," he said, noting his family has had cattle grazing allotments for nearly half a century on the public land where the monument now stands. He was responding to a report released Monday by 10 scientists who spent several years studying the impact of grazing on the monument established in 2000. Hired by the Ashland-based National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, the scientists have recommended that cattle be permanently barred from grazing on the 52,947-acre monument....
'Immense potential' State officials say they hope bids will be competitive to lease the Duncan Ranch north of here, a place Gov. Dave Freudenthal said “has immense potential” during a stop Monday on his annual natural resource tour. Overlooking a steep, rugged canyon owned by Converse County, Freudenthal and more than 150 Wyoming lawmakers and dignitaries eyed the cool blue pool of water at the bottom. Some queried whether fishermen had much luck there throughout the summer; others scoped the far canyon roads with binoculars. Freudenthal said the ranch, from healthy hay meadows at the base of Boxelder Canyon to rich timbered slopes up higher, holds opportunity for many of Wyoming’s citizens. Acknowledging some early controversy surrounding whether the state should play a role in purchasing a working ranch, he said the teams assembled to determine the recreational, educational, agricultural, wildlife and commercial values have hammered out a strong plan. “I think we’ll end up with a true multiple-use management plan in place,” he said, adding that he believes the state should “take our time and make sure we do it right.” A management plan met with approval in June. Now, the Office of State Lands and Investments is asking for bids from family ranchers to lease the property, representing a contiguous block of 7,479 acres of state land. The Office of State Lands and Investments bought the 6,439-acre ranch from Hugh Duncan for $5.9 million in February 2006 to manage as a state school trust asset....
Black Hills off-roading map unveiled to 400 at meeting More than 400 people showed up at a Tuesday night in Rapid City to get a firsthand look at the future of off-roading in the Black Hills National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service used the biggest meeting room at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel convention center to unveil a proposed trail system for motorized vehicles. The new trails would reverse the current rules, which allow off-roading anywhere it is not specifically prohibited in the Black Hills. “We’re going to tell you where you go, when you can go there and what equipment will be allowed,” Forest Service travel management planner Tom Willems said....Keep the quote from Forest Service employee Tom Willems in mind, as it demonstrates their attitude toward the public and is something all users of the Federal lands will be hearing.
Wide range of concern in Wyoming To the cadre of sportsmen attempting to save the Wyoming Range from oil and gas development, the scene has become iconic. Whether captured on film or in the mind's eye, the lingering image is of a large drilling platform poised above a small creek where swims a population of threatened cutthroat trout. It's not a pretty sight. For residents of western Wyoming, this little-known mountain range has become a sort of line in the sand in what has turned into an expanding effort throughout the Rockies to forestall a rampant wave of drilling. From northern New Mexico to northwest Colorado to the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana, wildlife enthusiasts are fighting a sort of rear guard action to somehow ameliorate the oil and gas boom. Nowhere has the effort gained sharper focus than in this obscure group of mountains not far from the Utah border....
Lamborn: Make peak a monument U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn says a mountain as famous as Pikes Peak deserves to be a national monument, a federal designation bestowed on some other natural landmarks, including Devils Tower and Mount St. Helens. But when he announced Friday he has formed a committee to explore the possibility, the news came as a surprise to the various agencies who manage the mountain, including the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Springs Utilities and the city-run Pikes Peak Highway, none of whom were consulted. And some aren’t sure a national monument designation is needed. Officials said that, aside from possibly boosting tourism, the designation could have little impact on the mountain or protection of the land. “It would promote tourism,” Lamborn said Tuesday. “There are people who love to go around and visit the national monuments around the country and the national parks.”....
Wyden, DeFazio propose wilderness area in southern Oregon Oregon members of Congress are proposing wilderness protection for headwaters of Elk River near Port Orford in southern Oregon. The legislation introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio would protect 13,700 acres of coastal forest and salmon streams. Wilderness designation prevents logging, mining and road building, but hunting and fishing could continue. With Democrats in power, DeFazio said, prospects for new wilderness areas have improved. Richard Pombo of California, a Republican representative defeated last year, was the gatekeeper for wilderness bills and he "hated wilderness with a passion," DeFazio said. The Copper Salmon Wilderness bill could be passed along with the proposal for protecting an additional 125,000 acres around Mount Hood as new wilderness, DeFazio said....
Lost hiker won't return to wilderness After surviving 13 days in the woods with no gear and light clothing, 76-year-old Doris Anderson has resolved never to return to the wilderness, one of her daughters says. Anderson got lost on a hunting trip with her husband but was found last week after authorities had scaled back their search for her. She was hypothermic and incoherent when two officers found her in the Wallowa Mountains on Thursday, authorities said. But daughter Barbara Moore told the Baker City Herald on Tuesday that her mother had gotten out of her hospital bed twice, was eating bananas and mashed potatoes and gravy, and was being fitted for a set of dentures to replace those she lost. Moore said her mother had begun to remember details, but the family will keep them private until she is ready to tell her story to reporters. But, Moore said, her mother did say it was a long, scary experience. “She said she’s not going back to the forest,” Moore said. “It has nothing for her.”....
Wilderness bill would protect Roan Plateau U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette this week is unveiling a wilderness proposal that would ban drilling on much of the Roan Plateau. The measure is the latest political maneuver aimed at staving off attempts to open up the area to natural gas leasing. However, the Roan proposal is not new for DeGette, who has included it in her Colorado wilderness bills going back to 1999, said Chris Arend, a DeGette spokesman. The BLM previously had found wilderness-quality lands on top of the Roan, Arend said. "It hasn't been leased yet, so as far as we know those lands still have wilderness quality and should be considered for wilderness," Arend said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has decided to open up the plateau for drilling. Conservationists have sought to protect the top from drilling rigs. In a last-ditch maneuver, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, managed to convince the U.S. House to amend its federal energy bill to bar drilling on federal land on top of the plateau. A Senate energy bill has no such provision and the two bills have yet to be reconciled....
Grizzly found in Idaho after 61-year hiatus A federal plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to central Idaho was scrapped in 2000, but at least one 450-pound male found his own way seven years later. Idaho Fish and Game officials said Tuesday that a Tennessee man hunting black bears in the North Fork Clearwater River shot and killed a grizzly Sept. 3. Officials said they remain uncertain whether they will pursue criminal charges against the hunter. The kill came on the Idaho side of the 5,700-square-mile Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which includes central Idaho and Western Montana. It was the first confirmed grizzly bear in Idaho since 1946, a 61-year absence. "We predicted we might get bears dispersing into that area," said Chris Servheen, the Montana-based grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Maybe that bear's been a resident in that area his whole life." The bear had not been captured previously, so state and federal regulators are not sure where it came from, Servheen said....
Feds: New wolf rule won't hurt overall numbers New rules making it easier to kill wolves that are reducing wild game herds won't hurt the overall population in the Northern Rockies, according to a review released Tuesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to loosen legal language allowing state agencies to kill wolves that are having an "unacceptable impact" on elk, deer and other ungulate herds. Wolves could be taken out if they are "one of the major causes" of a herd's decline, the proposed rule says. Right now, most wild ungulate herds outside Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are at "record high" levels and above state management goals, according to the agency's environmental assessment of the proposal....
Veto of lead-bullet ban in condor range urged Officials responsible for regulating hunting and fishing in California asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a bill passed by the state Legislature that would ban the use of lead bullets for hunting in the California condor range. On Tuesday, the state Fish and Game Commission sent Schwarzenegger a letter asking that he veto Assembly Bill 821, which is headed to his desk after final passage by the state Assembly and Senate last week. The legislation, known as the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, written by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, requires the use of nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition when shooting big game or coyotes within specific areas of the state identified as the condor's range. The commission's letter contends that the legislation is flawed and that the commission should be the regulating agency for what kind of ammunition is allowed for hunting in the state. "The commission has been dealing with this issue for more than two and a half years now," said Fish and Game Commission executive director John Carlson Jr. A lead ban had been proposed to commissioners in January 2005 as an emergency petition, he said, which they voted down....
Growers, companies on the 'fence' about barriers A year after tainted spinach from the Central Coast killed three people, sickened more than 200 and cost local growers and companies millions of dollars, the industry is still grappling with the best way to make sure an outbreak never happens again. One idea that's causing a quiet controversy in the Salinas Valley: Fences. Short of growing under a bubble, many in the industry are now wondering whether putting tall fences around fields could be the most effective way to keep animals, particularly deer, away from crops. But while deer are on the Centers for Disease Control's list of animals found to carry potentially deadly strains of E. coli in their intestines, scientists studying E. coli in the Salinas Valley say there is little evidence to show they spread the pathogen. There is also limited information about how fences could affect animal populations along the 100-mile stretch of the Salinas River between San Ardo to the ocean. Investigators aren't sure where the E. coli, traced to neighboring San Benito County, came from, but speculate that the deadly pathogen may have been spread through a spinach field by wild pigs....
Proposed crop ordinance rejected A proposed ordinance banning the use of manure on food crops in Kern County died on Tuesday. County supervisors instead endorsed the use of a state-monitored system of agricultural health standards as a way to prevent biological contamination of food. The ordinance was proposed earlier this summer, said Environmental Health Services Director Matt Constantine, after lettuce and spinach crops from other counties were identified as the cause of national E. coli outbreaks. "Times are changing," said Supervisor Michael Rubio. "Whenever you can trace DNA from a person in the Midwest to a dairy in the Central Valley we all have to be on alert." The goal of the proposed ban, Constantine said, was to ensure Kern County wouldn't be added to the list of counties where outbreaks originated. But agricultural growers and cattle ranchers expressed sharp opposition to the ban....
Wheat Price Rises to Record $9 a Bushel on Global Crop Concerns Wheat prices surpassed $9 a bushel for the first time as a drought in Australia cut production, pushing global stockpiles toward a 26-year low. Australia's wheat crop may fall to 18 million metric tons from a prediction of 23 million tons in a U.S. report today. Reserves of the grain in Canada, the world's second-largest wheat exporter, plunged 29 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Increasing demand from Egypt to India and weather damage to crops from Canada to Australia have driven up global prices by 81 percent this year. Users including Sara Lee Corp. and PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's biggest producer of instant noodles, are responding by raising prices, fueling inflation. ``The market is in a real frenzy,'' said Tobin Gorey, commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``It's feeding through to the consumer.''....
Two horses slain in Madera Co. pasture wo mares were shot to death over the weekend in a foothill pasture beside Highway 41, and the Madera County Sheriff's Department is asking the public's help to find out who did it. Sheriff's investigators believe the mares were shot late Friday or early Saturday in a 40-acre pasture just north of the Yosemite Lakes Park turnoff. But the horses' owner, who declined to be identified, did not discover the carcasses until Monday, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart. A third horse in the pasture was unharmed. The mares, ages 5 and 7, were valued at about $4,000 each. The horses were 100 feet to 150 feet from the roadway when they were shot, one in the head and one in the neck, Stuart said. Investigators believe both mares lived for some time after they were shot. The family that owned the mares told investigators that they had been using the roadside pasture for the past four years. They had planned to breed the two mares that were shot, Stuart said. The shootings angered some Madera County horse owners....
Kobe beef farmed on secret Texas ranch It's served at some of Dallas's hottest restaurants - Wagyu beef. Some say it is better than prime, but it's price is higher than prime, too. It sells for about $30 an ounce. Many who taste the mouthwatering, marble-laced delicacy, also called Kobe beef, say it's worth it. But, this special occasion steak, which hails from Japan, is now taking root (or hoof) in the Lone Star State. "These are Japanese Wagyu which produce the Kobe beef," said Gary Yamamoto, a Wagyu rancher. Yamamoto is not your typical rancher. "Basically not, I'd rather be fishing," he said. He's spent millions earned as a professional bass fisherman cultivating a herd of pure-blood black Wagyu. He prefers not to say where his ranch is because while typical cows may sell for $800 each, Wagyu can fetch $10,000, and attract cattle rustlers....
Cactus Ropes, the official PRCA rope Cactus Ropes, located between Pleasanton and Floresville on S.H. 97, set a new company record in August, shipping 21,700 ropes that month to various merchants across the nation. This is a big improvement from their beginnings in 1991, when the company shipped only 10,000 ropes for the whole year. So how does a company go from 10,000 ropes in a year to over 200,000? The answer is quality. Since its inception, Cactus Ropes has had its eye on building a reputation for quality. This is a process that takes time, patience, and consistency. It also requires progression. The business spent almost 17 years perfecting its ropes. The business has developed a process that creates some of the toughest and most durable ropes in the nation, capturing the attention of the top professional ropers in the business, like Allen Bach, and earning the official approval of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association)....
California's wine country farmers go nearly nude to take a stand for the land Winegrowers, ranchers and other members of Napa's farming community in California are showing their green thumbs and quite a bit more in hopes of raising money to protect the valley's rich agricultural resources. Members of the Napa County Farm Bureau, all men, have stripped for a 2008 "Napa Uncovered" calendar that shows them strategically photographed in bucolic settings. The farmers, who are following in the nearly nude footsteps of a number of similar fundraising calendars - including an effort by French winemakers a few years ago - are hoping to draw attention to the issue of dwindling farmlands as well as show a lighter side of the Napa scene. Al Wagner, the vineyard manager for Clos Du Val, appears as Mr. July in a cowboy hat, boots and an apron. "A couple of the guys had a few little misgivings," Wagner said, "but after it was all done they kind of sat back and laughed about it." Those in the calendar come from ranching, vineyard management, and wineries....
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Protecting a Monument Cattle should be permanently retired from grazing on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, according to a study conducted by a team of 10 scientists hired by an environmental group. The researchers, who studied the impact of grazing on the monument for spring through fall from 2003 to 2006, found that it harms riparian areas, promotes noxious weed invasion, disrupts predator-prey dynamics and alters the soil. The research was done in collaboration with the BLM whose own grazing research is expected to be released this fall. "We're incorporating their findings with all the information we received that's pertinent to evaluating rangeland health and whether grazing is compatible with the proclamation," said John Gerritsma, Ashland Resource Area manager for the BLM's Medford District. If the agency doesn't retire grazing on the monument and decides to modify grazing by protecting sensitive areas, the center estimates it would cost at least $4 million over a 10-year-period to build and maintain some 148 miles of fencing needed, he said. That $4 million is in comparison to the $3,664 the agency now receives annually from grazing on the monument and slightly more than $36,000 it could expect to receive in a decade, he said. "That's a pretty expensive slice of beef," DellaSala said. The estimated public cost of buying out the ranchers with grazing allotments on the monuments is about $814,200, he said. Ranchers have also supported the buyout effort....
Wolf kills rise as animals push into new areas Wolves are being killed at an increased rate across the Northern Rockies this year as their population expands and wildlife officials seek to curb their appetite for livestock, state and federal officials said Monday. In Wyoming and Idaho, 90 wolves have been killed to date because of livestock run-ins. That matches the states' figures for all of 2006 even as livestock conflicts were expected to continue through the fall. In Montana, 32 wolves have been killed this year by federal agents - 11 more than at this point last year, said John Steuber, state director for federal Wildlife Services. The Montana figure does not include an unknown number of wolves killed by ranchers defending their livestock. The rising death toll, coming off a record 142 killed in the three states last year, was attributed to the wolves' surging population. Much of the best wolf habitat - where elk, deer and other wildlife are present in numbers dense enough to satisfy the carnivores' hunger - already is occupied, state and federal officials said. That leaves younger wolves to push into areas close to ranches, where sheep and cattle offer tempting targets....
More mystery-shrouded killings plague Eastern Montana sheep More mystery predators are stalking sheep in Eastern Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say that "wolflike canids" have killed two lambs and perhaps 10 additional sheep in Garfield County. One animal, a dark-colored female, was caught in a coyote snare and died late last month. At least two other animals, a light brown one and a gray one, haven't been since Aug. 22, when they were spotted near Jordan, said Carolyn Sime, head of FWP's wolf program. The sightings have a familiar ring in Garfield and McCone counties. Last year, more than 120 sheep were killed. An animal that was shot and killed in November and is believed to be responsible for the depredations was later determined to be what state officials called a domestic wolf, the product of manipulated breeding in a captive environment. The animal had genetic material from wolves in the Great Lakes, Lower 48 and Alaska. Things were quiet after that until Aug. 21, when two lambs were killed on private land northwest of Jordan and wolf-sized tracks were found nearby. Ten sheep on a neighboring ranch were also found dead, but the bodies were too decomposed to make a determination of the cause, Sime said....
Prairie dogs poisoned; rancher incensed Farmers have hated prairie dogs for decades, considering the flea-ridden rodents a threat to livestock and crops. Environmentalists say the critters are land-friendly and invite other animals -- federally protected burrowing owls, snakes, ornate box turtles, cottontail rabbits -- into their colonies. So "prairie dogs" is fightin' words in some parts of western Kansas. And a skirmish happened this weekend out in Logan County. Exterminators under contract with the county showed up on Larry Haverfield's ranch and -- despite his protest -- began using aluminum phosphide gas to poison nearly 100 acres of prairie dog burrows. Environmentalists fear the poisoning may have killed other species besides prairie dogs and threatened a federal plan to re-introduce endangered black-footed ferrets, a prairie dog predator, to Kansas. Logan County officials used a 1904 state law that permits county governments to poison land with prairie dogs and bill the landowner....
Court upholds rancher's $4M win The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider an appeal of a $4 million jury award to a late Garfield County sheep rancher who won his lawsuit against a natural-gas giant over improperly paid royalties. The decision followed a state Court of Appeals decision in February that upheld an August 2004 Garfield County District Court jury award to William Clough. He died last year at the age of 89, so his estate and widow, Genevive Clough, will receive the money. Genevive Clough could not be reached for comment Monday, but attorney Nathan Keever of Grand Junction said with 8 percent interest and other costs, the total amount is approximately $6.7 million. William Clough filed the suit several years ago against the Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Companies....
Park worker details 'out of nowhere' mauling A Yellowstone National Park employee who was attacked by a grizzly Sunday said the bear "came out of nowhere" and flew at him, a Park Service official said Monday. Meyer suffered injuries to his back, left leg, stomach and both forearms, Nash said. Meyer, who was hunting black bear, was near Little Trail Creek for about five minutes early Sunday morning when he encountered the female grizzly with two cubs, Nash said. The bear "came out of nowhere" and attacked, knocking Meyer to the ground and sending his rifle flying, Nash said. Meyer and the bear wrestled on the ground. "He said his instinct at that moment was survival," Nash said. At some point, the cubs began making noise and the female grizzly left to investigate. Meyer crawled over to his rifle and the grizzly came back. It stopped about five feet in front of him and then attacked again, inflicting injuries to his hands and arms as he tried to fight the bear off, Nash said. Meyer said he fired his rifle three times and believes he struck the bear at least once, Nash said. The bear rolled over into a creek. Meyer, thinking the bear might be dead, said he walked back to his vehicle and drove to his home at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone's headquarters. Once he got there, though, he realized he couldn't get out of his car, Nash said....
Fighting fees on public lands Remember trekking up Mount Lemmon, Madera Canyon and Sabino Canyon for free? Then you've been around Tucson a while. A fee demonstration project enacted in 1996 started a "pay to play" trend that hasn't stopped. Recreation fees now are charged at some 400 sites managed by federal agencies, including those three Tucson-area favorites. Having underbudgeted our national parks and forests for decades, Congress decided to do the wrong thing: ratchet up the people's payments. If the money collected were spent to improve the health of our public lands, we might be happy campers. But nearly half the sums collected by the U.S. Forest Service are spent simply to perpetuate the problem program, the General Accountability Office reports. What happens to the rest isn't clear, the GAO says....
Governor Pushes Compromise on Trust Land Gov. Janet Napolitano has taken a more active role on a hard-to-crack issue, meeting with key state lawmakers to launch a new attempt to hash out a compromise on a ballot measure on state trust land. Details of a new proposal have yet to emerge, but several participants in the effort indicated that past proposals to set aside some acreage as open space without compensation to the trust won't be included. ``I think you could characterize it that there will be a mechanism to pay for lands,'' said Michael Haener, a Napolitano deputy chief of staff and her chief legislative lobbyist. ``There won't be free land,'' Sen. Carolyn Allen, a Scottsdale Republican who has been aligned with conservationists and educators on trust land issues, said Monday. Arizona's roughly 9.3 million acres of trust land represent a century-old legacy from statehood that has seen recent unsuccessful efforts to set aside large parcels for conservation as open space while protecting funding the land provides for public schools through sales and leases....
Farmington's John backs Udall's effort to boost American Indian businesses It takes David John less than a month to start a business in Farmington. If the former partner at The Head Shop and owner of Hogan Industries selects Navajo Nation land to start a business, he may wait as long as three years. "Starting a business on Indian land is like starting a business enterprise on federal property such as Bureau of Land Management land," he said. "The procedure consists of 60 or more steps, and people are getting frustrated and quitting." John, a Shonto, Ariz., native who has owned businesses in Farmington for more than 35 years, is pushing for a bill that would aid entrepreneurs on reservation land. He recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he testified on behalf of Congressman Tom Udall's small business development center act. Udall, D-N.M., first introduced his bill in 2001, and it passed through the House twice before dying in the Senate....
SNWA seeks more water The Southern Nevada Water Authority has reversed itself and doubled its demand for water from the Snake Valley straddling the Utah-Nevada state line. SNWA had pledged to pump and pipe 25,000 acre-feet - more than 8 billion gallons - of water annually from the Snake Valley that opponents view as part of the agency's huge "water grab" to fuel Las Vegas' continued growth. Now the application has been upped to 50,679 acre feet per year of the valley's groundwater - the amount Las Vegas water agencies applied for in 1989 -- according to the Bureau of Land Management's Penny Woods, groundwater program manager. Ms. Woods wrote, in an e-mail to a Snake Valley resident, "In July 2007, SNWA revised their application and plan of development to include all of the water they applied for with the Nevada State Engineer in 1989. So, for Snake Valley this is 50,679 AFY." Ken Hill, a Partoun, Utah resident, said the change in the demand for Snake Valley water invalidates much of the ongoing work on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the SNWA "water grab." The DEIS used the 25,000 foot figure for initial scoping to identify potential project impacts....
Baucus vows to fight planned Canadian mine Montana's top Democrat promised “a knock-down, drag-out fight” if coalbed methane plans are pursued north of Glacier National Park. In a meeting Monday with executives from British Petroleum Co., Sen. Max Baucus said BP should expect “a massive and unpleasant fight from Montana” if the company moves ahead with a proposal to open southwest British Columbia to drilling and energy exploration. The senator also warned that fight “will end badly” for BP. “I've been fighting to protect water quality and wildlife in the Flathead Valley for 30 years,” Baucus said after the meeting. “I'm not about to give up now. We're going to do whatever it takes to stop energy development north of our border. We're pulling out all the stops. The gloves are off.” It is a decidedly more aggressive approach than that of Montana's other senator, Democratic freshman Jon Tester. At a meeting last month, Tester said he would work to prevent industrialization of the Canadian Flathead, but would not “jump in the middle and start screaming and hollering.” Tester said that, for now, he favors negotiation and dialogue....
Plan to dump PCB-tainted soil raises concerns Environmentalists are questioning plans by the Port of Seattle to dump contaminated sediment into Elliott Bay, saying it would run contrary to state efforts under way to clean up Puget Sound. As part of a $118 million plan to deepen a docking terminal south of Safeco Field and Qwest Field to make way for more container ships, the Port is planning to dig up 59,000 cubic yards of marine sediment that is slightly polluted with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The issue is what to do with it all. The Port has received federal approval to put it into Puget Sound, but a dozen environmental groups are pushing for the agency to get rid of the pollution, not just move it around. "Given that we already have a PCB problem, they should see this as an opportunity to do something different," said Fred Felleman, a leader of the group Friends of the Earth....
Suit is filed to protect giant Palouse worm The federal government is dragging its heels on protecting the giant Palouse earthworm, so environmental groups said Monday they will sue to speed up the process. Up to a yard long and known to spit on attackers, the giant Palouse earthworm must be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the groups said. "The worm was once common but has been seen only a handful of times in the past 30 years," said a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon Society and Friends of the Clearwater. The groups filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2006 to protect the worm. The agency has not responded to the petition, missing deadlines, the groups said. On Monday, the environmental groups filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the agency for failing to respond....
Agencies Work Together in Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Efforts When the black-footed ferret was reintroduced in Wyoming in the early 1990s, its survival was not guaranteed. Studies of endangered species taken captive for breeding programs to build a population that could be reintroduced into the wild showed such efforts didn’t always succeed, for several key reasons. Little was known about the black-footed ferret, says Steve Buskirk, University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology professor. In some cases, the environmental conditions that led to declining population numbers -- disease, for instance -- still existed. In others, some inbreeding took place because of the relatively small gene pool of the surviving animals. And in still others, behavioral consequences of living in captivity could not be overcome. The result often is a population that may not be able to sustain itself naturally. “While the data show that species recovery is possible, we knew so little about the black-footed ferret,” Buskirk says....
Bluetongue fears ground Musselshell sheep Sheep producers in Musselshell County cannot transport sheep within or beyond county lines for the next 30 days because of a recent possible outbreak of bluetongue, the state veterinarian has ordered. Dr. Marty Zaluski authorized the hold order Monday in an effort to reduce potential transmission of the virus. About 100 sheep in Musselshell County have died in the past two weeks, according to the Montana Department of Livestock. Several sheep initially tested positive for the virus in a screening test, and when whitetail deer were also tentatively diagnosed, Zaluski decided to protect other livestock with the order. "The sheep from this flock had clinical signs and death loss that is consistent with bluetongue," Zaluski said. "But we still need to confirm that diagnosis. Also, several deer in Musselshell County tested positive for bluetongue." Sheep, whitetail deer and pronghorn antelope are especially susceptible to bluetongue, and the virus often causes death if these species are exposed. Cattle, goats, mule deer and elk also can contract the disease but rarely show symptoms and are a much lower risk to spread the disease, Zaluski said....
Protecting a Monument Cattle should be permanently retired from grazing on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, according to a study conducted by a team of 10 scientists hired by an environmental group. The researchers, who studied the impact of grazing on the monument for spring through fall from 2003 to 2006, found that it harms riparian areas, promotes noxious weed invasion, disrupts predator-prey dynamics and alters the soil. The research was done in collaboration with the BLM whose own grazing research is expected to be released this fall. "We're incorporating their findings with all the information we received that's pertinent to evaluating rangeland health and whether grazing is compatible with the proclamation," said John Gerritsma, Ashland Resource Area manager for the BLM's Medford District. If the agency doesn't retire grazing on the monument and decides to modify grazing by protecting sensitive areas, the center estimates it would cost at least $4 million over a 10-year-period to build and maintain some 148 miles of fencing needed, he said. That $4 million is in comparison to the $3,664 the agency now receives annually from grazing on the monument and slightly more than $36,000 it could expect to receive in a decade, he said. "That's a pretty expensive slice of beef," DellaSala said. The estimated public cost of buying out the ranchers with grazing allotments on the monuments is about $814,200, he said. Ranchers have also supported the buyout effort....
Wolf kills rise as animals push into new areas Wolves are being killed at an increased rate across the Northern Rockies this year as their population expands and wildlife officials seek to curb their appetite for livestock, state and federal officials said Monday. In Wyoming and Idaho, 90 wolves have been killed to date because of livestock run-ins. That matches the states' figures for all of 2006 even as livestock conflicts were expected to continue through the fall. In Montana, 32 wolves have been killed this year by federal agents - 11 more than at this point last year, said John Steuber, state director for federal Wildlife Services. The Montana figure does not include an unknown number of wolves killed by ranchers defending their livestock. The rising death toll, coming off a record 142 killed in the three states last year, was attributed to the wolves' surging population. Much of the best wolf habitat - where elk, deer and other wildlife are present in numbers dense enough to satisfy the carnivores' hunger - already is occupied, state and federal officials said. That leaves younger wolves to push into areas close to ranches, where sheep and cattle offer tempting targets....
More mystery-shrouded killings plague Eastern Montana sheep More mystery predators are stalking sheep in Eastern Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say that "wolflike canids" have killed two lambs and perhaps 10 additional sheep in Garfield County. One animal, a dark-colored female, was caught in a coyote snare and died late last month. At least two other animals, a light brown one and a gray one, haven't been since Aug. 22, when they were spotted near Jordan, said Carolyn Sime, head of FWP's wolf program. The sightings have a familiar ring in Garfield and McCone counties. Last year, more than 120 sheep were killed. An animal that was shot and killed in November and is believed to be responsible for the depredations was later determined to be what state officials called a domestic wolf, the product of manipulated breeding in a captive environment. The animal had genetic material from wolves in the Great Lakes, Lower 48 and Alaska. Things were quiet after that until Aug. 21, when two lambs were killed on private land northwest of Jordan and wolf-sized tracks were found nearby. Ten sheep on a neighboring ranch were also found dead, but the bodies were too decomposed to make a determination of the cause, Sime said....
Prairie dogs poisoned; rancher incensed Farmers have hated prairie dogs for decades, considering the flea-ridden rodents a threat to livestock and crops. Environmentalists say the critters are land-friendly and invite other animals -- federally protected burrowing owls, snakes, ornate box turtles, cottontail rabbits -- into their colonies. So "prairie dogs" is fightin' words in some parts of western Kansas. And a skirmish happened this weekend out in Logan County. Exterminators under contract with the county showed up on Larry Haverfield's ranch and -- despite his protest -- began using aluminum phosphide gas to poison nearly 100 acres of prairie dog burrows. Environmentalists fear the poisoning may have killed other species besides prairie dogs and threatened a federal plan to re-introduce endangered black-footed ferrets, a prairie dog predator, to Kansas. Logan County officials used a 1904 state law that permits county governments to poison land with prairie dogs and bill the landowner....
Court upholds rancher's $4M win The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider an appeal of a $4 million jury award to a late Garfield County sheep rancher who won his lawsuit against a natural-gas giant over improperly paid royalties. The decision followed a state Court of Appeals decision in February that upheld an August 2004 Garfield County District Court jury award to William Clough. He died last year at the age of 89, so his estate and widow, Genevive Clough, will receive the money. Genevive Clough could not be reached for comment Monday, but attorney Nathan Keever of Grand Junction said with 8 percent interest and other costs, the total amount is approximately $6.7 million. William Clough filed the suit several years ago against the Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Companies....
Park worker details 'out of nowhere' mauling A Yellowstone National Park employee who was attacked by a grizzly Sunday said the bear "came out of nowhere" and flew at him, a Park Service official said Monday. Meyer suffered injuries to his back, left leg, stomach and both forearms, Nash said. Meyer, who was hunting black bear, was near Little Trail Creek for about five minutes early Sunday morning when he encountered the female grizzly with two cubs, Nash said. The bear "came out of nowhere" and attacked, knocking Meyer to the ground and sending his rifle flying, Nash said. Meyer and the bear wrestled on the ground. "He said his instinct at that moment was survival," Nash said. At some point, the cubs began making noise and the female grizzly left to investigate. Meyer crawled over to his rifle and the grizzly came back. It stopped about five feet in front of him and then attacked again, inflicting injuries to his hands and arms as he tried to fight the bear off, Nash said. Meyer said he fired his rifle three times and believes he struck the bear at least once, Nash said. The bear rolled over into a creek. Meyer, thinking the bear might be dead, said he walked back to his vehicle and drove to his home at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone's headquarters. Once he got there, though, he realized he couldn't get out of his car, Nash said....
Fighting fees on public lands Remember trekking up Mount Lemmon, Madera Canyon and Sabino Canyon for free? Then you've been around Tucson a while. A fee demonstration project enacted in 1996 started a "pay to play" trend that hasn't stopped. Recreation fees now are charged at some 400 sites managed by federal agencies, including those three Tucson-area favorites. Having underbudgeted our national parks and forests for decades, Congress decided to do the wrong thing: ratchet up the people's payments. If the money collected were spent to improve the health of our public lands, we might be happy campers. But nearly half the sums collected by the U.S. Forest Service are spent simply to perpetuate the problem program, the General Accountability Office reports. What happens to the rest isn't clear, the GAO says....
Governor Pushes Compromise on Trust Land Gov. Janet Napolitano has taken a more active role on a hard-to-crack issue, meeting with key state lawmakers to launch a new attempt to hash out a compromise on a ballot measure on state trust land. Details of a new proposal have yet to emerge, but several participants in the effort indicated that past proposals to set aside some acreage as open space without compensation to the trust won't be included. ``I think you could characterize it that there will be a mechanism to pay for lands,'' said Michael Haener, a Napolitano deputy chief of staff and her chief legislative lobbyist. ``There won't be free land,'' Sen. Carolyn Allen, a Scottsdale Republican who has been aligned with conservationists and educators on trust land issues, said Monday. Arizona's roughly 9.3 million acres of trust land represent a century-old legacy from statehood that has seen recent unsuccessful efforts to set aside large parcels for conservation as open space while protecting funding the land provides for public schools through sales and leases....
Farmington's John backs Udall's effort to boost American Indian businesses It takes David John less than a month to start a business in Farmington. If the former partner at The Head Shop and owner of Hogan Industries selects Navajo Nation land to start a business, he may wait as long as three years. "Starting a business on Indian land is like starting a business enterprise on federal property such as Bureau of Land Management land," he said. "The procedure consists of 60 or more steps, and people are getting frustrated and quitting." John, a Shonto, Ariz., native who has owned businesses in Farmington for more than 35 years, is pushing for a bill that would aid entrepreneurs on reservation land. He recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he testified on behalf of Congressman Tom Udall's small business development center act. Udall, D-N.M., first introduced his bill in 2001, and it passed through the House twice before dying in the Senate....
SNWA seeks more water The Southern Nevada Water Authority has reversed itself and doubled its demand for water from the Snake Valley straddling the Utah-Nevada state line. SNWA had pledged to pump and pipe 25,000 acre-feet - more than 8 billion gallons - of water annually from the Snake Valley that opponents view as part of the agency's huge "water grab" to fuel Las Vegas' continued growth. Now the application has been upped to 50,679 acre feet per year of the valley's groundwater - the amount Las Vegas water agencies applied for in 1989 -- according to the Bureau of Land Management's Penny Woods, groundwater program manager. Ms. Woods wrote, in an e-mail to a Snake Valley resident, "In July 2007, SNWA revised their application and plan of development to include all of the water they applied for with the Nevada State Engineer in 1989. So, for Snake Valley this is 50,679 AFY." Ken Hill, a Partoun, Utah resident, said the change in the demand for Snake Valley water invalidates much of the ongoing work on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the SNWA "water grab." The DEIS used the 25,000 foot figure for initial scoping to identify potential project impacts....
Baucus vows to fight planned Canadian mine Montana's top Democrat promised “a knock-down, drag-out fight” if coalbed methane plans are pursued north of Glacier National Park. In a meeting Monday with executives from British Petroleum Co., Sen. Max Baucus said BP should expect “a massive and unpleasant fight from Montana” if the company moves ahead with a proposal to open southwest British Columbia to drilling and energy exploration. The senator also warned that fight “will end badly” for BP. “I've been fighting to protect water quality and wildlife in the Flathead Valley for 30 years,” Baucus said after the meeting. “I'm not about to give up now. We're going to do whatever it takes to stop energy development north of our border. We're pulling out all the stops. The gloves are off.” It is a decidedly more aggressive approach than that of Montana's other senator, Democratic freshman Jon Tester. At a meeting last month, Tester said he would work to prevent industrialization of the Canadian Flathead, but would not “jump in the middle and start screaming and hollering.” Tester said that, for now, he favors negotiation and dialogue....
Plan to dump PCB-tainted soil raises concerns Environmentalists are questioning plans by the Port of Seattle to dump contaminated sediment into Elliott Bay, saying it would run contrary to state efforts under way to clean up Puget Sound. As part of a $118 million plan to deepen a docking terminal south of Safeco Field and Qwest Field to make way for more container ships, the Port is planning to dig up 59,000 cubic yards of marine sediment that is slightly polluted with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The issue is what to do with it all. The Port has received federal approval to put it into Puget Sound, but a dozen environmental groups are pushing for the agency to get rid of the pollution, not just move it around. "Given that we already have a PCB problem, they should see this as an opportunity to do something different," said Fred Felleman, a leader of the group Friends of the Earth....
Suit is filed to protect giant Palouse worm The federal government is dragging its heels on protecting the giant Palouse earthworm, so environmental groups said Monday they will sue to speed up the process. Up to a yard long and known to spit on attackers, the giant Palouse earthworm must be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the groups said. "The worm was once common but has been seen only a handful of times in the past 30 years," said a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon Society and Friends of the Clearwater. The groups filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2006 to protect the worm. The agency has not responded to the petition, missing deadlines, the groups said. On Monday, the environmental groups filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the agency for failing to respond....
Agencies Work Together in Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Efforts When the black-footed ferret was reintroduced in Wyoming in the early 1990s, its survival was not guaranteed. Studies of endangered species taken captive for breeding programs to build a population that could be reintroduced into the wild showed such efforts didn’t always succeed, for several key reasons. Little was known about the black-footed ferret, says Steve Buskirk, University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology professor. In some cases, the environmental conditions that led to declining population numbers -- disease, for instance -- still existed. In others, some inbreeding took place because of the relatively small gene pool of the surviving animals. And in still others, behavioral consequences of living in captivity could not be overcome. The result often is a population that may not be able to sustain itself naturally. “While the data show that species recovery is possible, we knew so little about the black-footed ferret,” Buskirk says....
Bluetongue fears ground Musselshell sheep Sheep producers in Musselshell County cannot transport sheep within or beyond county lines for the next 30 days because of a recent possible outbreak of bluetongue, the state veterinarian has ordered. Dr. Marty Zaluski authorized the hold order Monday in an effort to reduce potential transmission of the virus. About 100 sheep in Musselshell County have died in the past two weeks, according to the Montana Department of Livestock. Several sheep initially tested positive for the virus in a screening test, and when whitetail deer were also tentatively diagnosed, Zaluski decided to protect other livestock with the order. "The sheep from this flock had clinical signs and death loss that is consistent with bluetongue," Zaluski said. "But we still need to confirm that diagnosis. Also, several deer in Musselshell County tested positive for bluetongue." Sheep, whitetail deer and pronghorn antelope are especially susceptible to bluetongue, and the virus often causes death if these species are exposed. Cattle, goats, mule deer and elk also can contract the disease but rarely show symptoms and are a much lower risk to spread the disease, Zaluski said....
Oversalted burger leads to charges
A McDonald's employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer's burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick. Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail. Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who "tried to thump the salt off." On her break, she ate a burger made with the salty meat. "It didn't make me sick," Bull told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But then Police Officer Wendell Adams got a burger made with the oversalted meat, and he returned a short time later and told the manager it made him sick. Bull admitted spilling salt on the meat, and Adams took her outside and questioned her, she said. "If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?" said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five months. She said she didn't know a police officer got one of the salty burgers because she couldn't see the drive-through window from her work area. Police said samples of the burger were sent to the state crime lab for tests. City public information officer George Louth said Bull was charged because she served the burger "without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it."
What a great use of the police force and the state crime lab.
UPDATE A reader sends this link to a video of a police officer at Wendy's.
A McDonald's employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer's burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick. Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail. Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who "tried to thump the salt off." On her break, she ate a burger made with the salty meat. "It didn't make me sick," Bull told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But then Police Officer Wendell Adams got a burger made with the oversalted meat, and he returned a short time later and told the manager it made him sick. Bull admitted spilling salt on the meat, and Adams took her outside and questioned her, she said. "If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?" said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five months. She said she didn't know a police officer got one of the salty burgers because she couldn't see the drive-through window from her work area. Police said samples of the burger were sent to the state crime lab for tests. City public information officer George Louth said Bull was charged because she served the burger "without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it."
What a great use of the police force and the state crime lab.
UPDATE A reader sends this link to a video of a police officer at Wendy's.
Monday, September 10, 2007
SHARK -vs- Rodeo Update:
Dear Friends of Rodeo Supporters and Members,
There has been a lot posted and printed lately regarding pop-star Carrie Underwood's alleged anti-rodeo feelings. One animal rights group's leader has taken it upon himself to post that he, as quoted from his website, "successfully urged Carrie Underwood to cancel performance at the horrific Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo." Steve Hindi of SHARK has dedicated a whole page to Carrie Underwood, boasting on it how he was directly responsible for convincing her to pull out of her scheduled performance.
It now looks like that is a bunch of BULL!
According to factual documentation provided me it appears that any and all claims by Steve Hindi, and his group SHARK, having been an influence on Carrie Underwood's decision to not play at the Cheyenne Rodeo are NOT true! In fact, Ms. Underwood's people were so upset over it they sent Hindi a letter demanding he "cease and desist from using her name, likeness, biography, and any other identifying references in any and all materials in connection with the SHARK's website or otherwise."
The letter to Hindi also states, "On the SHARK website, SHARK implies that Ms. Underwood's non-appearance at a performance engagement was in response to materials sent to Ms. Underwood by SHARK. Ms. Underwood's non-appearance at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo was not as a result of SHARK's actions. Any attempt to draw a connection between Ms. Underwood and SHARK is misleading and inflammatory."
That says it all!
As I've always said, Hindi should not be held credible in any way. He will use any twist of the truth in his attempt to discredit rodeo and those of us who support it. I now have a copy of the proof as to how Steve Hindi and his group SHARK apparently operate.
I hope you will pass this on and let everyone know the facts about Carrie Underwood's camp having "called Hindi out" for not promoting the facts. Hopefully the right people will see this and realize how much Hindi is NOT to be held credible in any matters regarding rodeo, especially those relating to Carrie Underwood.
Linda Burdick, Executive Director
Friends of Rodeo
forrodeo@comcast.net – email
www.friendsofrodeo.com – website
Dear Friends of Rodeo Supporters and Members,
There has been a lot posted and printed lately regarding pop-star Carrie Underwood's alleged anti-rodeo feelings. One animal rights group's leader has taken it upon himself to post that he, as quoted from his website, "successfully urged Carrie Underwood to cancel performance at the horrific Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo." Steve Hindi of SHARK has dedicated a whole page to Carrie Underwood, boasting on it how he was directly responsible for convincing her to pull out of her scheduled performance.
It now looks like that is a bunch of BULL!
According to factual documentation provided me it appears that any and all claims by Steve Hindi, and his group SHARK, having been an influence on Carrie Underwood's decision to not play at the Cheyenne Rodeo are NOT true! In fact, Ms. Underwood's people were so upset over it they sent Hindi a letter demanding he "cease and desist from using her name, likeness, biography, and any other identifying references in any and all materials in connection with the SHARK's website or otherwise."
The letter to Hindi also states, "On the SHARK website, SHARK implies that Ms. Underwood's non-appearance at a performance engagement was in response to materials sent to Ms. Underwood by SHARK. Ms. Underwood's non-appearance at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo was not as a result of SHARK's actions. Any attempt to draw a connection between Ms. Underwood and SHARK is misleading and inflammatory."
That says it all!
As I've always said, Hindi should not be held credible in any way. He will use any twist of the truth in his attempt to discredit rodeo and those of us who support it. I now have a copy of the proof as to how Steve Hindi and his group SHARK apparently operate.
I hope you will pass this on and let everyone know the facts about Carrie Underwood's camp having "called Hindi out" for not promoting the facts. Hopefully the right people will see this and realize how much Hindi is NOT to be held credible in any matters regarding rodeo, especially those relating to Carrie Underwood.
Linda Burdick, Executive Director
Friends of Rodeo
forrodeo@comcast.net – email
www.friendsofrodeo.com – website
NEWS ROUNDUP
Grizzly suspected in attack on park safety manager A Yellowstone National Park employee was attacked by a bear early Sunday morning near Gardiner, just north of the park. Ken Meyer, the park's safety manager, was hunting for black bear when he was mauled by what is believed to be a female grizzly bear with cubs, Al Nash, a Yellowstone spokesman, said Sunday night. Meyer sustained injuries to his arms, legs and chest, he said. He underwent surgery at Livingston Memorial Hospital. He remained hospitalized Sunday night but his condition was not available. Nash said details of the incident were still sketchy Sunday night. Meyer was apparently walking near or along Little Trail Creek, which is north and west of Gardiner, early Sunday morning when he came upon what he said was a grizzly, Nash said. The bear attacked him, retreated at some point, then attacked again, Nash said. Meyer said he shot the bear with his rifle, possibly wounding it, before he walked out of the woods and called for help....
Free range Livestock foraging on 160 million acres of public lands could roam more freely than ever, thanks to a recent policy change at the Bureau of Land Management. On Aug. 14, the BLM granted eight new “categorical exclusions,” designed to speed up the approval process for a slew of activities on public lands, including grazing, logging, oil and gas drilling and recreational use. Among the major changes is a paring down of the renewal process for the roughly 18,000 grazing permits the agency administers. Previously, when a permit was up for renewal, the BLM was obliged to conduct a formal environmental assessment and call for public comments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), giving the average citizen an open invitation to speak up. Now, under the new guidelines, if a grazing allotment appears to be in good shape and the permit is being renewed for roughly the same use as before, the agency may approve the renewal without a rigorous environmental assessment – or formal public comment. It’s this last part that has environmentalists worried. Bobby McEnaney, public-lands advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, is concerned about losing the eyes and ears of the public in the renewal process....
Farmers, Park Service face off in battle over oyster farm When kevin lunny looks out at the sparkling waters of Drakes Estero, he sees the cleanest, most ideal area in the state to grow oysters. "This is the healthiest estuary on the Pacific Coast," said Lunny, owner of Drakes Bay Family Farms, a 1,050-acre property that produces 80 percent of the county's $3.3 million in farmed shellfish - and more than half of all oysters grown in California. "Wildlife is abundant. It's all that you could ask for in terms of habitat." When Lunny's landlords at the National Park Service view the estero, however, they see something quite different: a sanctuary for birds, seals and marine life that is scheduled to become a wilderness preserve in five years. "Coming Soon! A Restored Wilderness Estuary!" declares the description of Drakes Estero at the Point Reyes National Seashore Web site. Park officials say the change will take place in 2012, and that there's no place for an oyster farm in an area designated as "wilderness." "Right now, our concern is making sure the commercial operation is under permit, which it's not," said John Dell'Osso, chief of interpretation and resource education at the national seashore. "We've said all along that there was never an issue up to 2012. If they wanted to stay beyond that date, or how something like that could even occur - that is not part of the negotiations going on now." The controversy has called into question the future of the state's largest oyster-growing operation, and ignited a debate as to whether agriculture can continue in areas designated for environmental protection....
Oyster farmer says dispute hurting family ranch Oyster farmer Kevin Lunny said his crusade to extend the lease of Drakes Bay Family Farms has led to reprisals by the National Park Service against his family's cattle ranch, which lies within the Point Reyes National Seashore. "When this controversy started going on, the neighbors warned us that if we got into a battle with the park, they would go after the ranch," Lunny said. "And they did." The Lunnys rotate a herd of 250 cows among three ranches, including the "G" ranch in the national seashore and an adjacent ranch on property owned by the Coast Guard. Lunny said the Park Service penalized his parents for having too many cows on the "G" ranch, even though the herd was grazing on the Coast Guard property. The action has cost his family more than $60,000, he said, because they had to sell their cattle before the cows had reached their ideal weight. "This is over the controversy," Lunny said. "My actions have jeopardized the ranch, and it's sad." Park spokesman John Dell'Osso said the two issues are entirely unrelated....
Death of calf is proof wolves back in Washington A calf in northeastern Washington was killed by a wolf, proving the endangered species is once again within the borders of Washington after being killed off decades ago, wildlife officials said Friday. It is the first recorded killing of livestock by a wolf in the state's history, said Tom Buckley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Spokane. "This would confirm at least the presence of one temporarily," Buckley said, speculating the wolf may be traveling between Canada and the United States, because the killing occurred in Stevens County, near the Canadian border. Wildlife officers on Tuesday investigated a rancher's report of a dead calf in northern Stevens County. "They observed large canid tracks around the carcass, which showed injury and trauma signs indicative of a wolf kill," according to a press release from FWS and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife....
Biologist: Water plan invites peril Nevada's water laws contradict the laws of nature, a prominent Nevada biologist says. And if water officials back a pipeline proposal to nurture Las Vegas growth at the expense of surrounding states, a water war and ecological disaster are guaranteed. In a study published this month in BioScience, a peer-reviewed science journal published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, James E. Deacon says the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to take the water for golf course and home development in the Las Vegas area would hurt 20 federally protected species - including three endangered Utah fish - and risk harm to 137 others. Worse, "the community being built will depend on an unsustainable water source," Deacon said Friday. "And that's stupid." The report, "Fueling Population Growth in Las Vegas: How Large-scale Groundwater Withdrawal could Burn Regional Biodiversity," coincides with an accusation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that Utah is trying to steal Nevada's water. The BioScience article also closely follows a demand from the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation for a study of how a proposed water pipeline would affect the sovereign nation in Snake Valley and Utah lawmakers' request for a new $6 million study of the aquifer that underlies eastern Nevada and Utah's west desert....
Hilton ranch serves as command post for missing pilot search Around a table in an aircraft hangar at Barron Hilton's ranch near Yerington, grim-faced men and women Thursday pored over maps and aerial photos as single-engine planes landed and took off in the search for missing pilot Steve Fossett. The million-acre Flying M Ranch, for decades an exclusive enclave for Hilton's aviation hobby, is the command post for the bi-state search. Barron Hilton, 79, son of hotel mogul Conrad Hilton and grandfather to celebutante Paris, is an experienced pilot who bought the ranch in the mid-1960s. It was called Mitchell Springs in the 1860s and was owned by rancher Henry Morgan since 1870, according to the book "Place Names of Lyon County." The "M" originally stood for San Francisco businessman Stanfield Murphy, who bought the ranch from Morgan, but Hilton kept the name in honor of his wife, Marilyn, according to an article in Airport Journal. Hilton owns 20,000 acres of the ranch and leases an additional 980,000 acres from the federal government, making the ranch about the size of Rhode Island....
Son's plane crash becomes mother's mission Matthew Ramige is back doing the things he loves -- hiking, kayaking and skiing in the Montana back country -- nearly three years after surviving a small plane crash in those mountains. His mother, Wendy Becker, an assistant professor of management at the University at Albany, has spent that time dissecting the Sept. 20, 2004, accident near Glacier National Park that nearly killed him. Despite having a broken back and serious burns, Ramige was able to walk to safety with another survivor a day after authorities declared them both dead. Now 32, Ramige is back in Montana, pursuing his MBA degree at the University of Montana at Missoula. "His back is OK, but he will still need more procedures for burning and scarring," Becker said. After poring over the National Transportation Safety Board report, she went even further, using the federal Freedom of Information Act to get records that didn't make it into the report. She concluded that failures by the U.S. Forest Service and local officials helped lead to a rushed, flawed judgment that no one had survived and so ended the search. Ramige and four others were on a mission for the Forest Service at the time of the crash. The accident, like many, was caused by a chain of problems, starting with a pilot who had 14 hours of flying time in mountainous terrain, rather than the U.S. Forest Service minimum requirement of 200 hours. The pilot flew into a box canyon after misjudging his location and slammed the single-engine plane into a mountain. A witness who saw the troubled plane provided a map of its location to the Forest Service, but that map was not passed along to the local sheriff's department, which was coordinating the search. As a result, rescuers did not find the crash site for 21 hours, after Ramige and fellow survivor Jodee Hogg had gone....
Saving the sagebrush Alma Winward stands under blue skies amid a huge swath of decaying sagebrush along Cottonwood Creek near this tiny village in southwest Wyoming. Winward, a retired U.S. Forest Service regional ecologist and a leading expert on sagebrush habitat, reaches for his trusty short-saw and bends to cut the 3-foot-tall sagebrush plant in half. Using his saliva, Winward wets the cut end of the gray stalk to make the shrub's rings stand out. Then using a magnifying glass, he counts the rings much as one would count the rings of a tree to determine its age. "That sagebrush is 54 years old," he says finally to an awed group of onlookers touring the Bench Corral country. "This plant has had it, and it's soon to be out of the picture." Unfortunately, the picture isn't so rosy these days for the sagebrush in this part of the state -- or for the state's largest mule deer herd that depends on it....
Forest Service firing unjust? A former U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman says she was fired from her job because she refused to downplay the severity of the wildfire danger in the San Bernardino National Forest. Ruth Wenstrom, who spent nine years as the San Bernardino National Forest's public-affairs officer, was terminated July 2. Matt Mathes, the Forest Service's regional press officer based in Vallejo, near San Francisco, said he recalled that Wenstrom was "overstating the situation" in the forest. In a recent interview, Wenstrom said that in April 2006, National Forest officials were told not to request budgetary augmentation funds, known as "severity dollars," that they had asked for and received in the past. That meant cutting the number of engines being staffed in the forest, she said. Wenstrom said officials told her to draft a list of talking points to address the public's concerns about having fewer firefighters and engines in a forest filled with millions of dead trees and drought-weakened bushes. She said she wrote a draft and sent it to Mathes....
Lynx habitat politics under scrutiny A federal decision against designating Maine forestlands as protected habitat for Canada lynx is one of eight endangered species rulings getting a second look following the resignation of a U.S. Interior Department official accused of granting favors to industry. The official, Julie MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary of the interior, met with representatives of Plum Creek Timber Co. at least three times before the agency dropped the proposed habitat designation, which could affect Plum Creek's plans to develop thousands of acres in the state. One of the meetings in question was arranged by Maine's two senators after a request for help from Gov. John Baldacci. The Interior Department decided to reopen the Maine case in July, two months after MacDonald resigned. All eight Endangered Species Act decisions being reviewed around the country appear to have been guided more by MacDonald's political influence than scientific considerations, according to the department....
Monitoring the bighorns Human activity and the barren slopes of mines in Lucerne Valley have not been enough to drive away a small herd of bighorn sheep, which seem to like the hilly terrain and often approach trucks. They come so close to people that Dayan Anderson, the environmental engineer for Specialty Minerals Inc. mine, has given several of them nicknames. The small group of about 25 bighorns known as the Cushenbury herd appears to be doing well, but a collaborative of three local mines, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game and Victor Valley College is conducting an ongoing study to gain more insight on how the mines affect them. The High Desert Bighorn Collaborative has outfitted the sheep with collars that collect Global Positioning System, or GPS, information, and they are programmed to drop off the bighorns’ necks this fall....
Stolen petroglyphs headed home on Nevada mountain U.S. Forest Service officials never believed John Ligon's claim that he dug up three boulders etched with American Indian petroglyphs four years ago to put them in his front yard for safekeeping. But they did share a concern he voiced that someone would steal the centuries-old rock art on national forest land a few football fields away from a growing housing development. After they recovered the stolen property, federal land managers struggled for years with the question of what to do with the rock etchings of a bighorn sheep, an archer, a lizard and a wheel. Now, after initially thinking it was best to place them in a state museum, the agency - in consultation with local tribal leaders - has decided to return them to the mountainside where they were for perhaps as long as 1,000 years before they were disturbed. "It belongs out there," said Lynda Shoshone, cultural resources director for the Washoe Tribe in Nevada and California. She and others said removing the petroglyphs from the site takes them out of their spiritual context....
Black Bears Growing Nuisance in West Ted Grenda is downright inhospitable toward some of his neighbors, placing plywood strips with nails along his doors and windows. But wildlife officials say that makes him a good neighbor to the black bears that share the mountains especially this year, when a late freeze and drought across the West have drastically reduced their natural fare of berries and acorns. The bears' search for food, intensifying as they bulk up for hibernation, has driven the animals into towns to forage in garbage bins, bird feeders and even inside homes like Grenda's, where they've hauled off peaches and a 10-pound bag of sugar. Dozens of the intruders have been hit by cars or killed by wildlife officers. Colorado wildlife officers have killed at least 30 black bears this summer for having run-ins with people. Landowners defending livestock and federal agents have killed 42 more, and 29 bears were killed by vehicles. Bear mortality could rival 2002's record total of 404. There have been at least 877 reports of human-bear encounters this year, compared with 502 for all of last year. Officers in the resort city of Aspen field 20 to 40 bear complaints daily. Black bears are often seen digging in trash bins outside the town's upscale restaurants and scavenging around multimillion-dollar homes....
You know that something's really wrong when the forest starts to look more red than green Foresters thought they had the mountain pine beetle figured out. But one by one, it keeps chewing up expectations. First, there was the idea that the beetles wouldn't attack trees less than 80 years old, about 7 or 8 inches in diameter. They have done so; with so many beetles looking for food, they will settle for trees as small as 5 inches across. Then there was the saw that lodgepole and limber pines near the timberline were safe. They aren't. Warmer winters have allowed beetle larvae to survive in trees at high altitude. There was the adage that healthy trees were resistant. That one went out the window too. Healthy trees are succumbing just as quickly as sickly ones. Right now, it seems, all bets are off. Adriene Holcomb, a Laramie-based U.S. Forest Service forester, has been offering dire warnings to her seasonal workers in the Medicine Bow National Forest. "Take a good look now," she tells them, "because you're not going to see forests like this again in your lifetime."....
Park's back-to-nature look not growing on neighbors To preservationists, the mature stand of towering oaks, surrounded by nearly 2 acres of waist-high grass in West Pullman Park, is a thing of authentic beauty. But as many Far South Side neighbors gaze upon the rare oak savanna, they see a wild tangle of overgrown weeds. For them, it's an unwanted habitat that invites neighborhood drug dealers and prostitutes, and they continue to pressure the Chicago Park District to clean up the area. Similar scenarios played out in forest preserves in Cook and DuPage Counties when nature preservationists tried to re-create prairies and oak savannas. Opponents fiercely fought tree removals and controlled burns, forcing Cook and DuPage in 1996 to issue a moratorium on the controversial program to restore the native flora. The stay was recently lifted, sparking tree enthusiasts to regroup again. The same issues, with slightly different ecology, have sprouted around the nation. In San Francisco, for instance, efforts to replace introduced plants like eucalyptus trees with native shrubs proved contentious....
A Rainbow Family reunion in Crook County next week The Rainbows are coming again, and Crook County is prepared. Ten years ago, more than 20,000 members of the Rainbow Family, an international Utopian living group, met to camp, recreate and pray for peace at Indian Prairie, part of the Ochoco National Forest located approximately 30 miles northeast of Prineville. The group’s stay in Central Oregon was largely uneventful. But the influx of visitors and their back-to-nature lifestyle raised eyebrows among some Crook County residents and led to legal scuffles between Family members and the U.S. Forest Service. Next week, the Rainbow Family will return to the area, but this gathering is regional, rather than national, and will occur on a much smaller scale. This time, officials say, the community is ready — and more relaxed — for the Tuesday arrival of an estimated 200 to 2,000 Rainbow Family visitors....
Streams may be declared wild, scenic Hundreds of Colorado streams are being analyzed for possible protection under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the largest such review in more than 30 years. The study comes as cities and water districts race to develop water in many of those same streams, efforts that will be much more difficult - and, in some cases, impossible - once the federal protective process is under way. In the decades since Congress passed the law, Colorado water utilities and the Colorado Water Conservation Board have often fought use of the scenic rivers act because they fear it will limit their ability to deliver much-needed water to cities and farms. Since its passage in 1968, just one stream segment in the state - on the Poudre River north of Fort Collins - has been formally protected under the act. Several other streams have been recommended for wild- and-scenic status but have never been formally listed by Congress in part because of Colorado's opposition....
Trail markers will help protect Sand Mountain butterfly Installation of more than 30 miles of trail markers at the Sand Mountain Recreation Area could begin as early as next month in an ongoing effort to help protect butterfly habitat. The Churchill County Commission voted last week to allow County Manager Brad Goetsch to solicit bids for the project, which would install galvanized steel posts at 20-foot intervals along the travel route and boundary of Sand Mountain. The trail system is a component of the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Conservation Plan which seeks to halt destruction of the butterflys host plant, the Kearney buckwheat, due to off-highway vehicle use. The project should cost $992,000, according to a funding agreement approved by the commission in February. Churchill County will pay one-fourth of that, or about $252,000. Before the trail markers can be placed, federal law requires a review to inventory all the archaeological and historic resources in the area....
Sockeye salmon, gold and copper mine in battle for hearts, minds in Alaska Fly overhead in a bush plane - there are no roads between native villages - and marvel: Eight giant rivers braid across hundreds of miles of wetlands, carving cobalt ribbons through snow-coned mountains before emptying into Bristol Bay. For more than a century, the wealth of this southwest Alaska watershed has sprung from the astonishing volume of salmon nurtured by those wild rivers. Bank-to-bank, gill-to-gill, tens of millions of silver-hued fish thrash upstream to spawn each year, unrestrained by dams, untainted by pollution. It is the largest sockeye run in the world, accounting for more than a quarter of wild salmon harvested in the United States, feeding millions at a time when fisheries are dwindling across the globe. But if fish have made the region's past and present fortune, the future sparkles with the promise of precious metal. Beneath the rolling tundra, straddling the headwaters of two of the watershed's most productive rivers, a Canadian company has discovered North America's biggest deposits of gold and copper, worth about $300 billion in today's soaring commodities markets....
From rolling seas to rolling plains, cowboy poetry is an oral tradition The material on which much of the early cowboy poetry was based came over the Appalachian Mountains, heading West. They were Scottish, Irish and English immigrants, some Civil War vets, singing old ballads by memory, said David Romtvedt, University of Wyoming associate English professor and state poet laureate. “Those ballads go way back to the British Isles and way before the ideal of cowboy poetry,” he said. Some of them were old ex-sailors, an occupation rich in song. Ballads like “The Cowboy and the Maiden,” actually sprung from “The Sailor and the Maiden,” but was instead strung with the ethos and habitat of a cowboy. “Basically, the words were changed from rolling seas to rolling plains,” said Hal Cannon, director and founder of the Western Folklife Center and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., the hub of modern day cowboy poetry. “For the cowboy, there was an extra-mythical basis for tradition.” A life set to the beat of horse hooves served as its own metronome to the ballad form. The rhyme and meter four-line verse, where two lines rhyme or every other line rhymes, seems to have been especially well-suited to the rhythm of a horse. And many conventional cowboy poems have that plodding, sing-song rhythm....
Grizzly suspected in attack on park safety manager A Yellowstone National Park employee was attacked by a bear early Sunday morning near Gardiner, just north of the park. Ken Meyer, the park's safety manager, was hunting for black bear when he was mauled by what is believed to be a female grizzly bear with cubs, Al Nash, a Yellowstone spokesman, said Sunday night. Meyer sustained injuries to his arms, legs and chest, he said. He underwent surgery at Livingston Memorial Hospital. He remained hospitalized Sunday night but his condition was not available. Nash said details of the incident were still sketchy Sunday night. Meyer was apparently walking near or along Little Trail Creek, which is north and west of Gardiner, early Sunday morning when he came upon what he said was a grizzly, Nash said. The bear attacked him, retreated at some point, then attacked again, Nash said. Meyer said he shot the bear with his rifle, possibly wounding it, before he walked out of the woods and called for help....
Free range Livestock foraging on 160 million acres of public lands could roam more freely than ever, thanks to a recent policy change at the Bureau of Land Management. On Aug. 14, the BLM granted eight new “categorical exclusions,” designed to speed up the approval process for a slew of activities on public lands, including grazing, logging, oil and gas drilling and recreational use. Among the major changes is a paring down of the renewal process for the roughly 18,000 grazing permits the agency administers. Previously, when a permit was up for renewal, the BLM was obliged to conduct a formal environmental assessment and call for public comments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), giving the average citizen an open invitation to speak up. Now, under the new guidelines, if a grazing allotment appears to be in good shape and the permit is being renewed for roughly the same use as before, the agency may approve the renewal without a rigorous environmental assessment – or formal public comment. It’s this last part that has environmentalists worried. Bobby McEnaney, public-lands advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, is concerned about losing the eyes and ears of the public in the renewal process....
Farmers, Park Service face off in battle over oyster farm When kevin lunny looks out at the sparkling waters of Drakes Estero, he sees the cleanest, most ideal area in the state to grow oysters. "This is the healthiest estuary on the Pacific Coast," said Lunny, owner of Drakes Bay Family Farms, a 1,050-acre property that produces 80 percent of the county's $3.3 million in farmed shellfish - and more than half of all oysters grown in California. "Wildlife is abundant. It's all that you could ask for in terms of habitat." When Lunny's landlords at the National Park Service view the estero, however, they see something quite different: a sanctuary for birds, seals and marine life that is scheduled to become a wilderness preserve in five years. "Coming Soon! A Restored Wilderness Estuary!" declares the description of Drakes Estero at the Point Reyes National Seashore Web site. Park officials say the change will take place in 2012, and that there's no place for an oyster farm in an area designated as "wilderness." "Right now, our concern is making sure the commercial operation is under permit, which it's not," said John Dell'Osso, chief of interpretation and resource education at the national seashore. "We've said all along that there was never an issue up to 2012. If they wanted to stay beyond that date, or how something like that could even occur - that is not part of the negotiations going on now." The controversy has called into question the future of the state's largest oyster-growing operation, and ignited a debate as to whether agriculture can continue in areas designated for environmental protection....
Oyster farmer says dispute hurting family ranch Oyster farmer Kevin Lunny said his crusade to extend the lease of Drakes Bay Family Farms has led to reprisals by the National Park Service against his family's cattle ranch, which lies within the Point Reyes National Seashore. "When this controversy started going on, the neighbors warned us that if we got into a battle with the park, they would go after the ranch," Lunny said. "And they did." The Lunnys rotate a herd of 250 cows among three ranches, including the "G" ranch in the national seashore and an adjacent ranch on property owned by the Coast Guard. Lunny said the Park Service penalized his parents for having too many cows on the "G" ranch, even though the herd was grazing on the Coast Guard property. The action has cost his family more than $60,000, he said, because they had to sell their cattle before the cows had reached their ideal weight. "This is over the controversy," Lunny said. "My actions have jeopardized the ranch, and it's sad." Park spokesman John Dell'Osso said the two issues are entirely unrelated....
Death of calf is proof wolves back in Washington A calf in northeastern Washington was killed by a wolf, proving the endangered species is once again within the borders of Washington after being killed off decades ago, wildlife officials said Friday. It is the first recorded killing of livestock by a wolf in the state's history, said Tom Buckley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Spokane. "This would confirm at least the presence of one temporarily," Buckley said, speculating the wolf may be traveling between Canada and the United States, because the killing occurred in Stevens County, near the Canadian border. Wildlife officers on Tuesday investigated a rancher's report of a dead calf in northern Stevens County. "They observed large canid tracks around the carcass, which showed injury and trauma signs indicative of a wolf kill," according to a press release from FWS and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife....
Biologist: Water plan invites peril Nevada's water laws contradict the laws of nature, a prominent Nevada biologist says. And if water officials back a pipeline proposal to nurture Las Vegas growth at the expense of surrounding states, a water war and ecological disaster are guaranteed. In a study published this month in BioScience, a peer-reviewed science journal published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, James E. Deacon says the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to take the water for golf course and home development in the Las Vegas area would hurt 20 federally protected species - including three endangered Utah fish - and risk harm to 137 others. Worse, "the community being built will depend on an unsustainable water source," Deacon said Friday. "And that's stupid." The report, "Fueling Population Growth in Las Vegas: How Large-scale Groundwater Withdrawal could Burn Regional Biodiversity," coincides with an accusation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that Utah is trying to steal Nevada's water. The BioScience article also closely follows a demand from the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation for a study of how a proposed water pipeline would affect the sovereign nation in Snake Valley and Utah lawmakers' request for a new $6 million study of the aquifer that underlies eastern Nevada and Utah's west desert....
Hilton ranch serves as command post for missing pilot search Around a table in an aircraft hangar at Barron Hilton's ranch near Yerington, grim-faced men and women Thursday pored over maps and aerial photos as single-engine planes landed and took off in the search for missing pilot Steve Fossett. The million-acre Flying M Ranch, for decades an exclusive enclave for Hilton's aviation hobby, is the command post for the bi-state search. Barron Hilton, 79, son of hotel mogul Conrad Hilton and grandfather to celebutante Paris, is an experienced pilot who bought the ranch in the mid-1960s. It was called Mitchell Springs in the 1860s and was owned by rancher Henry Morgan since 1870, according to the book "Place Names of Lyon County." The "M" originally stood for San Francisco businessman Stanfield Murphy, who bought the ranch from Morgan, but Hilton kept the name in honor of his wife, Marilyn, according to an article in Airport Journal. Hilton owns 20,000 acres of the ranch and leases an additional 980,000 acres from the federal government, making the ranch about the size of Rhode Island....
Son's plane crash becomes mother's mission Matthew Ramige is back doing the things he loves -- hiking, kayaking and skiing in the Montana back country -- nearly three years after surviving a small plane crash in those mountains. His mother, Wendy Becker, an assistant professor of management at the University at Albany, has spent that time dissecting the Sept. 20, 2004, accident near Glacier National Park that nearly killed him. Despite having a broken back and serious burns, Ramige was able to walk to safety with another survivor a day after authorities declared them both dead. Now 32, Ramige is back in Montana, pursuing his MBA degree at the University of Montana at Missoula. "His back is OK, but he will still need more procedures for burning and scarring," Becker said. After poring over the National Transportation Safety Board report, she went even further, using the federal Freedom of Information Act to get records that didn't make it into the report. She concluded that failures by the U.S. Forest Service and local officials helped lead to a rushed, flawed judgment that no one had survived and so ended the search. Ramige and four others were on a mission for the Forest Service at the time of the crash. The accident, like many, was caused by a chain of problems, starting with a pilot who had 14 hours of flying time in mountainous terrain, rather than the U.S. Forest Service minimum requirement of 200 hours. The pilot flew into a box canyon after misjudging his location and slammed the single-engine plane into a mountain. A witness who saw the troubled plane provided a map of its location to the Forest Service, but that map was not passed along to the local sheriff's department, which was coordinating the search. As a result, rescuers did not find the crash site for 21 hours, after Ramige and fellow survivor Jodee Hogg had gone....
Saving the sagebrush Alma Winward stands under blue skies amid a huge swath of decaying sagebrush along Cottonwood Creek near this tiny village in southwest Wyoming. Winward, a retired U.S. Forest Service regional ecologist and a leading expert on sagebrush habitat, reaches for his trusty short-saw and bends to cut the 3-foot-tall sagebrush plant in half. Using his saliva, Winward wets the cut end of the gray stalk to make the shrub's rings stand out. Then using a magnifying glass, he counts the rings much as one would count the rings of a tree to determine its age. "That sagebrush is 54 years old," he says finally to an awed group of onlookers touring the Bench Corral country. "This plant has had it, and it's soon to be out of the picture." Unfortunately, the picture isn't so rosy these days for the sagebrush in this part of the state -- or for the state's largest mule deer herd that depends on it....
Forest Service firing unjust? A former U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman says she was fired from her job because she refused to downplay the severity of the wildfire danger in the San Bernardino National Forest. Ruth Wenstrom, who spent nine years as the San Bernardino National Forest's public-affairs officer, was terminated July 2. Matt Mathes, the Forest Service's regional press officer based in Vallejo, near San Francisco, said he recalled that Wenstrom was "overstating the situation" in the forest. In a recent interview, Wenstrom said that in April 2006, National Forest officials were told not to request budgetary augmentation funds, known as "severity dollars," that they had asked for and received in the past. That meant cutting the number of engines being staffed in the forest, she said. Wenstrom said officials told her to draft a list of talking points to address the public's concerns about having fewer firefighters and engines in a forest filled with millions of dead trees and drought-weakened bushes. She said she wrote a draft and sent it to Mathes....
Lynx habitat politics under scrutiny A federal decision against designating Maine forestlands as protected habitat for Canada lynx is one of eight endangered species rulings getting a second look following the resignation of a U.S. Interior Department official accused of granting favors to industry. The official, Julie MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary of the interior, met with representatives of Plum Creek Timber Co. at least three times before the agency dropped the proposed habitat designation, which could affect Plum Creek's plans to develop thousands of acres in the state. One of the meetings in question was arranged by Maine's two senators after a request for help from Gov. John Baldacci. The Interior Department decided to reopen the Maine case in July, two months after MacDonald resigned. All eight Endangered Species Act decisions being reviewed around the country appear to have been guided more by MacDonald's political influence than scientific considerations, according to the department....
Monitoring the bighorns Human activity and the barren slopes of mines in Lucerne Valley have not been enough to drive away a small herd of bighorn sheep, which seem to like the hilly terrain and often approach trucks. They come so close to people that Dayan Anderson, the environmental engineer for Specialty Minerals Inc. mine, has given several of them nicknames. The small group of about 25 bighorns known as the Cushenbury herd appears to be doing well, but a collaborative of three local mines, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game and Victor Valley College is conducting an ongoing study to gain more insight on how the mines affect them. The High Desert Bighorn Collaborative has outfitted the sheep with collars that collect Global Positioning System, or GPS, information, and they are programmed to drop off the bighorns’ necks this fall....
Stolen petroglyphs headed home on Nevada mountain U.S. Forest Service officials never believed John Ligon's claim that he dug up three boulders etched with American Indian petroglyphs four years ago to put them in his front yard for safekeeping. But they did share a concern he voiced that someone would steal the centuries-old rock art on national forest land a few football fields away from a growing housing development. After they recovered the stolen property, federal land managers struggled for years with the question of what to do with the rock etchings of a bighorn sheep, an archer, a lizard and a wheel. Now, after initially thinking it was best to place them in a state museum, the agency - in consultation with local tribal leaders - has decided to return them to the mountainside where they were for perhaps as long as 1,000 years before they were disturbed. "It belongs out there," said Lynda Shoshone, cultural resources director for the Washoe Tribe in Nevada and California. She and others said removing the petroglyphs from the site takes them out of their spiritual context....
Black Bears Growing Nuisance in West Ted Grenda is downright inhospitable toward some of his neighbors, placing plywood strips with nails along his doors and windows. But wildlife officials say that makes him a good neighbor to the black bears that share the mountains especially this year, when a late freeze and drought across the West have drastically reduced their natural fare of berries and acorns. The bears' search for food, intensifying as they bulk up for hibernation, has driven the animals into towns to forage in garbage bins, bird feeders and even inside homes like Grenda's, where they've hauled off peaches and a 10-pound bag of sugar. Dozens of the intruders have been hit by cars or killed by wildlife officers. Colorado wildlife officers have killed at least 30 black bears this summer for having run-ins with people. Landowners defending livestock and federal agents have killed 42 more, and 29 bears were killed by vehicles. Bear mortality could rival 2002's record total of 404. There have been at least 877 reports of human-bear encounters this year, compared with 502 for all of last year. Officers in the resort city of Aspen field 20 to 40 bear complaints daily. Black bears are often seen digging in trash bins outside the town's upscale restaurants and scavenging around multimillion-dollar homes....
You know that something's really wrong when the forest starts to look more red than green Foresters thought they had the mountain pine beetle figured out. But one by one, it keeps chewing up expectations. First, there was the idea that the beetles wouldn't attack trees less than 80 years old, about 7 or 8 inches in diameter. They have done so; with so many beetles looking for food, they will settle for trees as small as 5 inches across. Then there was the saw that lodgepole and limber pines near the timberline were safe. They aren't. Warmer winters have allowed beetle larvae to survive in trees at high altitude. There was the adage that healthy trees were resistant. That one went out the window too. Healthy trees are succumbing just as quickly as sickly ones. Right now, it seems, all bets are off. Adriene Holcomb, a Laramie-based U.S. Forest Service forester, has been offering dire warnings to her seasonal workers in the Medicine Bow National Forest. "Take a good look now," she tells them, "because you're not going to see forests like this again in your lifetime."....
Park's back-to-nature look not growing on neighbors To preservationists, the mature stand of towering oaks, surrounded by nearly 2 acres of waist-high grass in West Pullman Park, is a thing of authentic beauty. But as many Far South Side neighbors gaze upon the rare oak savanna, they see a wild tangle of overgrown weeds. For them, it's an unwanted habitat that invites neighborhood drug dealers and prostitutes, and they continue to pressure the Chicago Park District to clean up the area. Similar scenarios played out in forest preserves in Cook and DuPage Counties when nature preservationists tried to re-create prairies and oak savannas. Opponents fiercely fought tree removals and controlled burns, forcing Cook and DuPage in 1996 to issue a moratorium on the controversial program to restore the native flora. The stay was recently lifted, sparking tree enthusiasts to regroup again. The same issues, with slightly different ecology, have sprouted around the nation. In San Francisco, for instance, efforts to replace introduced plants like eucalyptus trees with native shrubs proved contentious....
A Rainbow Family reunion in Crook County next week The Rainbows are coming again, and Crook County is prepared. Ten years ago, more than 20,000 members of the Rainbow Family, an international Utopian living group, met to camp, recreate and pray for peace at Indian Prairie, part of the Ochoco National Forest located approximately 30 miles northeast of Prineville. The group’s stay in Central Oregon was largely uneventful. But the influx of visitors and their back-to-nature lifestyle raised eyebrows among some Crook County residents and led to legal scuffles between Family members and the U.S. Forest Service. Next week, the Rainbow Family will return to the area, but this gathering is regional, rather than national, and will occur on a much smaller scale. This time, officials say, the community is ready — and more relaxed — for the Tuesday arrival of an estimated 200 to 2,000 Rainbow Family visitors....
Streams may be declared wild, scenic Hundreds of Colorado streams are being analyzed for possible protection under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the largest such review in more than 30 years. The study comes as cities and water districts race to develop water in many of those same streams, efforts that will be much more difficult - and, in some cases, impossible - once the federal protective process is under way. In the decades since Congress passed the law, Colorado water utilities and the Colorado Water Conservation Board have often fought use of the scenic rivers act because they fear it will limit their ability to deliver much-needed water to cities and farms. Since its passage in 1968, just one stream segment in the state - on the Poudre River north of Fort Collins - has been formally protected under the act. Several other streams have been recommended for wild- and-scenic status but have never been formally listed by Congress in part because of Colorado's opposition....
Trail markers will help protect Sand Mountain butterfly Installation of more than 30 miles of trail markers at the Sand Mountain Recreation Area could begin as early as next month in an ongoing effort to help protect butterfly habitat. The Churchill County Commission voted last week to allow County Manager Brad Goetsch to solicit bids for the project, which would install galvanized steel posts at 20-foot intervals along the travel route and boundary of Sand Mountain. The trail system is a component of the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Conservation Plan which seeks to halt destruction of the butterflys host plant, the Kearney buckwheat, due to off-highway vehicle use. The project should cost $992,000, according to a funding agreement approved by the commission in February. Churchill County will pay one-fourth of that, or about $252,000. Before the trail markers can be placed, federal law requires a review to inventory all the archaeological and historic resources in the area....
Sockeye salmon, gold and copper mine in battle for hearts, minds in Alaska Fly overhead in a bush plane - there are no roads between native villages - and marvel: Eight giant rivers braid across hundreds of miles of wetlands, carving cobalt ribbons through snow-coned mountains before emptying into Bristol Bay. For more than a century, the wealth of this southwest Alaska watershed has sprung from the astonishing volume of salmon nurtured by those wild rivers. Bank-to-bank, gill-to-gill, tens of millions of silver-hued fish thrash upstream to spawn each year, unrestrained by dams, untainted by pollution. It is the largest sockeye run in the world, accounting for more than a quarter of wild salmon harvested in the United States, feeding millions at a time when fisheries are dwindling across the globe. But if fish have made the region's past and present fortune, the future sparkles with the promise of precious metal. Beneath the rolling tundra, straddling the headwaters of two of the watershed's most productive rivers, a Canadian company has discovered North America's biggest deposits of gold and copper, worth about $300 billion in today's soaring commodities markets....
From rolling seas to rolling plains, cowboy poetry is an oral tradition The material on which much of the early cowboy poetry was based came over the Appalachian Mountains, heading West. They were Scottish, Irish and English immigrants, some Civil War vets, singing old ballads by memory, said David Romtvedt, University of Wyoming associate English professor and state poet laureate. “Those ballads go way back to the British Isles and way before the ideal of cowboy poetry,” he said. Some of them were old ex-sailors, an occupation rich in song. Ballads like “The Cowboy and the Maiden,” actually sprung from “The Sailor and the Maiden,” but was instead strung with the ethos and habitat of a cowboy. “Basically, the words were changed from rolling seas to rolling plains,” said Hal Cannon, director and founder of the Western Folklife Center and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., the hub of modern day cowboy poetry. “For the cowboy, there was an extra-mythical basis for tradition.” A life set to the beat of horse hooves served as its own metronome to the ballad form. The rhyme and meter four-line verse, where two lines rhyme or every other line rhymes, seems to have been especially well-suited to the rhythm of a horse. And many conventional cowboy poems have that plodding, sing-song rhythm....
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