YELLOWSTONE PARK ILLEGALLY POCKETS CELL TOWER MONEY; Plus Free Phones and 60,000 Free Cell Minutes for Park Staff Yellowstone National Park has been illegally using lease funds from telecommunications companies to pay staff salaries and other expenses, according to internal records released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Over the last several years, the National Park Service (NPS) issued six rights-of-way for cell phone towers in Yellowstone National Park. Two are issued to Union Telephone Company of Wyoming. Four were issued to interests now owned by Western Wireless Corporation. The annual fee from these two companies covers both the cost of administering the right-of-way and the rental for the use of federal land. The former funds are allowed to remain within the park to defray their costs. However, funds derived from the rental of land are to be deposited with the U.S. Treasury, as miscellaneous receipts....
Ruling in Nevada cattle-seizure cases raises new questions A judge may have raised more questions than answers with a recent ruling sought by Nevada agriculture officials caught in the middle of a dispute between state ranchers and federal land managers who confiscated their cattle. Washoe County District Judge Janet Berry dismissed the unusual case brought by state Attorney General Brian Sandoval on behalf of the Nevada Department of Agriculture and its brand inspector. Berry denied the state's request for a "judicial confirmation" ruling on whether the brand inspector acted properly in 2001 when he certified the U.S. Bureau of Land Management owned cattle it seized from a rancher accused of repeatedly trespassing on federal land....
Probe: Forest Service Logging PR Plan OK The U.S. Forest Service broke no laws in paying a public relations firm to promote its plan to triple logging in Sierra Nevada forests, Congressional investigators said Monday. "An agency has a legitimate right to explain and defend its policies and respond to attacks on that policy," said a 13-page report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. It echoed conclusions reached in May by the Agriculture Department's inspector general. At issue was a $90,000 contract the Forest Service gave to OneWorld Communications Inc. of San Francisco to work on a "Forests with a Future" campaign justifying increased logging as necessary to avoid catastrophic wildfires....
Mountain lion study approved State wildlife commissioners meeting Thursday in Durango approved Colorado's most extensive study of mountain lions: a 10-year look at lion population, its habitat requirements, and predator-prey relationships on the southern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau. "For many years, management of the mountain lion was a biologist's best guess," Gary Miller, the Department of Wildlife research leader, said outside the meeting. "But since it's a high-profile species we needed hard, scientific data."....
Federal appellate ruling stops fed plan to restore Idaho forest The U.S. Forest Service has put most of its projects in the Idaho Panhandle on hold following a federal appellate ruling last month that could dramatically change the way federal land managers approach timber sales. Environmentalists called the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision the most far-reaching it has won while a spokesman for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests said it could delay some projects and significantly disrupt others. Dave O'Brien said the government is still assessing its options in response to the ruling....
New lawsuit aimed at protecting flowers In what has become a common move to get heightened protection for endangered species, an environmental group in Idyllwild filed a lawsuit Monday to compel federal wildlife officials to designate critical habitat for six rare wildflowers found across Inland mountains. The Center for Biological Diversity, joined by the California Native Plant Society, filed the federal lawsuit in Riverside against the U.S. Interior Department, the second of its kind in as many months. In August, the Center filed a similar lawsuit over the mountain yellow-legged frog, one of the Inland area's most imperiled species....
Battle lines are drawn over Arizona's forests The north rim of the Grand Canyon is ground zero in the battle between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry for the future care and handling of national forests. Here, in a hunting preserve created by President Teddy Roose velt nearly a century ago, the Bush administration is cutting old-growth trees to improve wildlife habitat and, under Bush's Healthy Forests Act, plans to cut down even more to lessen the threat of catastrophic fire....
Poaching story deserves retelling Grosz relates the compelling story of this seven-year saga in his latest book, "The Thin Green Line," which will be available next month from Boulder-based Johnson Books. It is the sixth in a series detailing a 32-year career as a state and federal wildlife officer and the first devoted to his activities in Colorado. The extended chapter about the covert exercise in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado carries the highest drama of the book. The impact rests not only in the scandalous scope of the violations - 547 elk, 2,005 deer, 92 eagles and numerous other illegal kills offered for sale to an undercover officer - but the lack of support by Colorado's governor in the wake of the exercise....
One wolf to be killed, others collared Federal officials plan to kill one wolf and radio collar another after wolves killed three ewes and a lamb on a Paradise Valley ranch. Bob Weber lost the four animals late Friday or early Saturday. He lost eight sheep to wolves in December 2003, while his brother, Hubie, who owns an adjoining ranch, lost 17. The wolves are from the Lone Bear pack -- the same pack that attacked the Webers' livestock last year, said Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator. Government trappers killed three wolves in that pack in 2003....
Trio survives night on Snake River Three boaters survived a chilly night on the Snake River Sunday after their boat overturned on a logjam and sent them into the 55-degree water. Karl Hammes, 35, and Christopher Texier, 31, both of Denver, along with Texier's twin, Cory, of St. Louis, ran into a logjam at 7 p.m. Sunday about 2.5 miles north of Moose in Grand Teton National Park....
Udall assails billionaire's push for road at Wolf Creek U.S. Rep. Mark Udall and an environmental group are girding to battle a possible last-minute amendment to a major appropriations bill that could give a Texas billionaire a controversial road through public land in Colorado. Billy Joe "Red" McCombs owns an island of property near Wolf Creek ski area where he wants to build the state's largest resort village....
Bush Record: New Priorities in Environment Every fall, after raising their young near Teshekpuk Lake and the Colville River, tens of thousands of geese and tundra swans leave the North Slope of Alaska for more southerly shores. Some end their journey at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the flatlands of North Carolina. Both habitats could be transformed if current Bush administration initiatives come to pass. The birds would have oil rigs as neighbors in Alaska and be greeted by Navy jets simulating carrier takeoffs and landings in North Carolina....
Environmentalists Oppose Mormons' Forest Church Several prominent environmental groups are joining forces to oppose plans by Mormon leaders to build a 12,868-square-foot church facility that environmentalists say would threaten sensitive wildlife habitat and encourage further development in the fire-prone San Bernardino Mountains. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints won approval this summer from the San Bernardino County Planning Commission to build a chapel, cultural center, classrooms and offices on a 7.7-acre wooded parcel near Rim of the World Highway in Running Springs....
Green Meeting in Brazil to Propose Environmental Court A meeting this week sponsored by major energy companies will propose creating an international court to assess and punish environmental crimes, organizers said. The Fourth Green Meeting of the Americas will seek proposals to promote development while protecting the environment, said Paulo Cesar Fernandes, one of the conference organizers. The main proposal will be the creation of an International Environmental Court, modeled after the World Court in the Hague, Netherlands....
Kerry releases plan to protect lakes, promises no diversions John Kerry promised on Monday that as president he wouldn't let arid regions quench their thirst with Great Lakes water. President Bush, meanwhile, reiterated his opposition to removing Great Lakes water from the basin as both sides accused each other of going back on forth on the touchy issue. Kerry included the no-diversion pledge in a Great Lakes plan that also called for more federal spending on cleanup of polluted sites and a crackdown on mercury contamination, toxic discharges and introduction of exotic species....
State Must Pay Legal Fees To Environmentalists The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) has been ordered by the Court of Appeals to pay an environmentalist organization $104,000 for their attorney fees in litigating against the state agency over California's largest state forest. The Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest took the agency to court and obtained an injunction against timber harvesting, contending the management plan for the forest was being violated and needed updating. The trial court found that the harm from the harvesting operations could be substantial and, possibly, irreparable....
Colorado River conservation pact awaits signature Moving to avert disruptions in water deliveries and power generation, Interior Secretary Gale Norton today will sign an agreement that promises $625 million over the next half-century to protect rare fish and wildlife along the Colorado River from Lake Mead to Mexico. The cost-sharing agreement with major water purveyors in California, Arizona and Nevada is considered a milestone in an eight-year push to adopt a broad conservation plan for the 300-mile section of the Colorado, home to some 30 threatened or endangered species....
Defeated commissioner says county can't win water fight A White Pine County commissioner who lost his re-election bid Tuesday because of his willingness to negotiate with Las Vegas water officials said his rural county may be headed toward a fight it can't win. One-term incumbent David Provost lost to retired sheep rancher Raymond Urrizaga, who carried the Republican primary with 56 percent of the vote....
Duo make customized saddle for President Before the work began, they needed the OK from the White House and permission to replicate the presidential seal on the saddle, a four-month process facilitated by U.S. Rep. Nick Smith (R., Addison) and his staff. Still, as well as they work together, Mr. Rice and Ms. Cole sparred in a good-natured way over the design of the President's saddle, which they began on June 20. Mr. Rice wanted an old-style piece, with a deep seat and protruding hump for the President to dig his thighs into. Ms. Cole wanted large tapaderos - which shield the lower legs from thick brush and scrub. She also wanted to carve the President's seal into the fenders and his initials into the tapaderos, which she did. "We met in the middle," Ms. Cole says of the compromise that was reached....
Tales of the $100 steak At $100 for a 16-ounce porterhouse steak, Wagyu beef might be a hard sell. Evan Lobel, of famous New York butcher shop Lobel's, is undaunted. He's already selling at least 100 of his beyond-prime porterhouses each month, plus 150 or more bone-in strip steaks starting at $89 a pound, 100 bone-in hip steaks and so on — well over $55,000 worth of meat — to a star-studded roster of clients....
Homes on the range, in high style The Dallas boutique, "Cowboy Cool" draws such celebs as Madonna and Billy Bob Thornton, who pay up for handmade boots and private label western wear. The magazine "Cowboys & Indians" is a popular read. The Blacksmith Restaurant in Bend, Ore., has even coined the term "new ranch cuisine" to describe its menu of haute comfort food. "There is a real fantasy with the American West," said Billy Long, a third generation rancher and partner Ranch Marketing Associates, one of several firms that specialize in ranches. "When you really make it big in Hollywood or on Wall Street, you want to fulfill that fantasy."....
Cowboy for Hire Among that rare breed known as cowboy, Vaughn Kennemer is rarer still. He’s a full-time, freelance cowboy who hires himself out for day work to ranchers in the rolling red hills, wooded river bottoms, and mesquite canyons of his native Oklahoma. Kennemer has earned a reputation for roping the mean ones—errant cows determined to get away and big bulls nobody else can catch....
It's All Trew: Mineral Wells once a booming health spa Sketchy Trew family history recalls that at some unknown early date, Grandma Trew once traveled to Mineral Wells to bathe in the legendary, hot, healing waters containing Crazy Water Crystals. She returned with a supply of crystals to be mixed with tap water and drank in daily doses. No details have been recalled about her ailments. Research finds that in 1880, the Judge James Lynch family cured their collective ills by camping by, bathing and drinking the warm waters gushing from a nearby spring on the outskirts of Mineral Wells....