NEWS ROUNDUP

Column: USDA's Mark Rey drags feet on releasing info about forest policymaking Rey and his department have been dragging their feet in response to requests for public release of documents regarding the Bush administration's proposed overhaul of forest-management practices. Critics suspect the documents might confirm that logging-industry executives wielded undue influence over the process. The current tussle began in October 2002, when Defenders of Wildlife and the Endangered Species Coalition slapped the USDA with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. They wanted documentation of the Bush administration's motivation for suspending Clinton-era rule updates under the National Forest Management Act, which governs America's nearly 200 million acres of national forest -- parcels of land that make up 8 percent of the country. NFMA was passed in 1976 and implemented under the Reagan administration to better manage national forests and protect wildlife.... Thomas introduces bill to stop 'venue shopping' Wyoming is being steamrolled on federal land issues by judges thousands of miles away who ignore expert findings and are unfamiliar with Western issues, Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., said Tuesday. To stem that trend, Thomas has drafted legislation meant to stop a practice known as "venue shopping," in which lawsuits are filed in jurisdictions viewed to be more friendly to a group's interests. "I don't think someone from Washington, D.C., would want a judge in Wyoming to tell them what to do in the nation's capitol," he said. "Why should a judge in Washington be able to tell us what to do in our backyard?" Under the bill, lawsuits against the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service would be heard in district courts affected by the litigation.... Editorial: Nibble on the Biscuit If nothing changes by summer's end, thousands of dead trees in the Biscuit fire zone will have lost much of their economic value and provide little but political fodder for the November presidential election. It would be a terrible waste if all these trees go from pulp to political fiction while environmentalists, loggers and the U.S. Forest Service slug it out in the courts. The Southern Oregon towns that surround the Biscuit are struggling with Oregon's highest jobless rates. They badly need the work, and the wood, that would come from salvage.... Aerial gunning of coyotes to resume The controversial killing of coyotes on Anderson Mesa will again become one prong of the pronghorn antelope recovery plan. Arizona Game and Fish officials announced Monday that the agency plans to have more coyotes removed from two sections of the mesa -- located southeast of Flagstaff -- after two years of successes with the pronghorn recovery program.... Military renews drive to reshape environmental laws The Defense Department wants the government to ease environmental laws to avoid costly cleanups of military ranges and give states more time to handle air pollution from training exercises. The proposed changes were submitted to Congress on Tuesday, part of the Pentagon's renewed drive to ease several environmental laws in the name of military readiness. Since 2002, the Bush administration has sought more flexibility in complying with the laws, claiming that environmental restrictions are compromising training and readiness.... Go here for a transcript of the DOD press briefing....Hold all land users accountable, ranchers tell BLM official All users of public lands should be held to the same high standards that ranchers with grazing permits must follow, cattle industry representatives told a federal official Tuesday. Kathleen Clarke, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, met with the ranchers and area leaders at the BLM’s Carlsbad field office. Describing the tone of the meeting as “robust,” Clarke said the ranchers made it clear to her that everyone who uses multiple-use lands — such as those administered by her agency— should be accountable in protecting the land for future generations. A major grievance among ranchers is that while they are required to follow strict regulations in how their BLM-leased land is used, the oil and gas industry is held to a lesser standard.... Nevada congressman seeks to cut red tape in mining permit process One of mining's staunchest congressional allies is trying to win relief for what he calls an over-regulated industry with a plan to speed up federal action on backlogged mining claims and permits. At the urging of the Nevada mining industry, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is pressing House leaders for an extra $2.3 million for the Bureau of Land Management's 2005 budget. Gibbons wants most of the money to go toward 11 new BLM positions to speed the review of mining claims and of permits for new mines and exploration in Nevada, the nation's top gold-producing state.... OHV: Don't pay for plant count out of our pockets Off-highway vehicle groups are petitioning Congress and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, furious that user fees from the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area are the sole funding source for a mandated plant survey of the Peirson's milk-vetch. "We're not opposed to monitoring. We realize that has to be done and we support good science," said Roy Denner, president of the Santee-based Off Road Business Association. Denner claims the four-month monitoring program, being conducted by BLM staff and contract workers in the dunes, is being paid for by the user fees of off-road enthusiasts who flock to the outdoor attraction during major holidays.... Group fails to sway Burns on drilling ban Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., sat down Tuesday with several Montana ranchers, but he was not convinced by their request that he support a moratorium on drilling along the Rocky Mountain Front. Hugo Johnson, Karl Rappold, Chuck Blixrud and Montana Wilderness Association community organizer Candi Zion were only expecting to meet with a couple of Burns' aides; but a few minutes into their conversation with the aides, Burns joined them. After listening to them, Burns did not change his mind.... Column: The Senate's Stockholm Syndrome The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs treaty) will soon become binding international law. The stage is now set for potential U.S. Senate ratification of a document that will allow U.N. and other international bureaucrats to implement future global bans on various chemicals and give the Environmental Protection Agency sole authority to accept those bans for the United States. This alone should generate rancorous debate over sovereignty and constitutional law issues. However, other elements will raise the stakes even higher.... White House Minimized the Risks of Mercury in Proposed Rules, Scientists Say While working with Environmental Protection Agency officials to write regulations for coal-fired power plants over several recent months, White House staff members played down the toxic effects of mercury, hundreds of pages of documents and e-mail messages show. The staff members deleted or modified information on mercury that employees of the environmental agency say was drawn largely from a 2000 report by the National Academy of Sciences that Congress had commissioned to settle the scientific debate about the risks of mercury. In interviews, 6 of 10 members of the academy's panel on mercury said the changes did not introduce inaccuracies. They said that many of the revisions sharpened the scientific points being made and that justification could be made for or against other changes. Most changes were made by the White House's Office of Management and Budget, which employs economists and scientists to review regulations.... Yellowstone bison: To shoot or not to shoot? Mike Mease calls himself a "bison shepherd." And on the sagebrush-covered flats of Horse Butte, he and others from the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) are bracing for their biggest confrontation of the year. Armed with video cameras and walky-talkies to coordinate strategy across hundreds of square miles, this ragtag group of environmentalists is on a mission: Usher Yellowstone bison out of harm's way when the rangy animals leave the national park and cross into Montana.... To Save Salton Sea, Engineers Consider Dividing It in Two With Causeway Farmers, environmentalists and water experts have tussled for decades over what to do with the Salton Sea, the malodorous saltwater lake fed by agricultural runoff that is also an oasis for millions of birds and fish. The latest challenge is how to preserve the wildlife habitat while reducing the amount of water that supports it, which is required by a recent pact involving nearby Imperial Valley farmers, the city of San Diego and the federal government. Now, some engineers may have a solution: slicing the huge lake in two.... Study: Canada takes too much water; 1921 pact apportioning water from rivers in dispute Canadian irrigators have been wrongfully taking 90,000 acre-feet of Montana water a year for more than 80 years, a state study shows, and Gov. Judy Martz is pushing to renegotiate the international agreement that created the problem. "I know that water users experience shortages almost every year in the Milk River basin," Martz said. The issue dates to 1921, when U.S. and Canadian officials signed an agreement to share the waters of the St. Mary and Milk rivers. Both rivers have their headwaters in Montana's Glacier National Park and flow north into Canada. The Milk River later flows back into Montana north of Havre.... Comments on border due today Today marks the last day the U.S. Department of Agriculture will accept public comments on plans to reopen American borders to Canadian cattle. Last month, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein predicted trade barriers would be lifted as soon as this June. The head of the USDA debunked that idea Tuesday. "I will not project when we will publish a final rule," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.... Small meatpacker seeks mad cow testing While government regulators try to reassure Americans and international customers the U.S. meat supply is safe from mad cow disease, a fledgling Kansas meatpacker is willing to prove it. Its survival might depend on it. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef is one of the nation's smallest meatpacking companies. But it has set off a firestorm at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and within the cattle industry by seeking permission from regulators to privately test all the animals processed at its Arkansas City slaughterhouse for mad cow disease.... Bull Riding: Extreme-ly Profitable Men who ride 1,800-pound bucking bulls for a living do not as a rule say "yee-ha," although they tend to speak with cowboy drawls thick as braided rope. They keep fit with hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups a day, developing granite physiques and extra allure for rodeo groupies, known as "buckle bunnies." At just about any rodeo, the bull riders are relatively easy to spot: They're the ones whose faces are creased and splotched by scars; they're the ones who limp. Bull riding is so dangerous, and the bulls are bred for such reliable ferocity, that the pros wear flak jackets, mouth guards and, increasingly, helmets. Nonetheless, a bull rider is injured every 13 or so rides -- stomped by hooves, head-butted in midair, dragged by his own rope, bludgeoned by horns the dimensions of warped baseball bats -- and every year or so someone is killed. Increasingly, and largely because of the sport's dependable violence, Americans beyond the traditional country rodeo audience are embracing bull riding. Capitalizing on its notoriety as the most dangerous eight seconds in sports, the event has hit the big time, attracting television deals, huge crowds, serious money and major corporate sponsors.... Doc Charlie, the cats, and politics My daughter, Sunni, her daughter, Kailee, and grandpa (me), took a horse to ole Doc Charlie to have his teeth floated. He’s been droppin’ more grain on the ground than he’s been a’swallerin’. (The horse, not Doc Charlie, is needin’ the dental work!) However, after we got the ole pony calmed down with a little shot to the neck, Doc Charlie’s aide started in tellin’ me about how Doc got calmed down recently. Seems an ole cow freight-trained him and knocked him, according to his aide, just about 60 feet on initial contact. She, of course, like all snotty ole cows, followed through and did a little tap dance all over him. Ole Doc was knocked completely out and after the cow was distracted and Doc was revived, he raised up and asked, “Is it November?” The first thing that he saw was a pen full of heifers and some with calves....

DIAMOND BAR CATTLE COMPANY

More cattle being shipped from Diamond Bar Ranch

Another 162 head of Diamond Bar cattle are to be shipped today from corrals at Beaverhead to undisclosed auction facilities.

That will bring to 414 the number of cattle impounded and trucked away from the allotment on the Gila National Forest, where courts determined that ranchers Kit Laney and Sherry Farr were grazing livestock illegally.

Forest Service officials estimate another 20 to 40 head still need to be captured. Regular employees will do the job during weekend patrols, or when hunters or others report seeing cattle on the allotment, according to Wilderness District Ranger Annette Chavez.

She said contract cowboys the government hired to do the roundup will leave today or Wednesday.

Last week, 252 head of Diamond Bar cattle were sold at auction, according to the Forest Service. The sale, at an undisclosed location, netted $121,000, the agency reported.

The livestock being shipped today includes 55 cows, 31 heifers, 25 steers, 12 heifer calves, eight bulls, five steer calves and two bull calves owned by the Diamond Bar Cattle Co.; 11 cows and one bull owned by Farr; and 12 unbranded cattle.

Fourteen horses reportedly captured while grazing on federal land without a permit remain in a corral at the Forest Service's Me Own fire base, adjacent to the Diamond Bar.

All but four of the horses belong to the ranch, according to Chavez. Three are owned by Farr's sister, and one belongs to Catron County Sheriff Cliff Snyder, the ranger reported.

Chavez said officials are "in the process of evaluating (Farr's) request to release the horses."

Farr has said the horses escaped deeded land by passing through a gate that had been left open.

"This is not willful trespass; this is incidental trespass," she recently told the Daily Press. "I have acted in good faith."

"These people (with whom the Forest Service contracted to remove the livestock) have left every gate open on this ranch since they've been here," Farr added.

Forest Service spokeswoman Andrea Martinez responded that roundup personnel "have been very conscientious ... and are very familiar with livestock operations. ... We have been leaving some forest gates open, but they were within the national forest."....