NEWS ROUNDUP
5 air tankers to be restored to firefighting service Five large air tankers that had been grounded over safety concerns will be back fighting fires Monday, after their private operator demonstrated they are safe to fly, federal officials said Friday. The five planes, P-3 Orions owned by California-based Aero Union Corp., were among 33 planes grounded in May because officials had no way to tell if they were safe....
Rainbow family's latrines worry tribe Participants of the Rainbow Family Gathering are digging latrines by the hundreds on the Modoc National Forest, and thereby raising the ire of the Fort Bidwell Paiute Indian Tribe. The tribe based in northeastern Modoc County called on the Forest Service to remove the Rainbow Gathering to protect archaeological resources, and faulted the agency for issuing a permit for the gathering. "We don't question their right to assemble. We protest their right to dig up cultural artifacts," said Ken Williams, tribal administrator....
ALASKAN WILDFIRES CONSUME MORE THAN ONE-MILLION ACRES A pall of smoke the size of Texas continues to blanket most of Alaska, as several dozen wildfires continue to burn out of control. More than a million acres have burned in the state. There are currently 61 active fires in the state, mostly in the eastern interior, and in an area starting roughly 20 miles north and east of the city of Fairbanks. Of the 61 fires, 51 are uncontained, according to the NOAA National Weather Service....
Feds reply water can't meet tribal requests Federal water managers said there is not enough water in the Klamath Basin to release extra for diseased fish in the Klamath River as tribes downstream had requested. Upwards of 80 percent of young salmon collected in some parts of the river this year have been infected with often lethal parasites, said Gary Stacey of the California Department of Fish and Game. The parasites are native to the river system, but the outbreak this year seems severe, he said....
Column: Dropping the species requirements from the Northwest Forest Plan T he undersecretaries of the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments recently signed off on a plan to eliminate the survey and management requirements originally included in the Northwest Forest Plan. That decision has stirred us to respond. We make two points at the outset. First, we are all on record as favoring a policy of no further harvest of old-growth forests and old trees from public lands included within the Northwest Forest Plan. Second, we support the decision to drop the survey and management requirements. The forest plan was intended to evolve following principles of adaptive management. If the plan did not achieve its objectives, it was to be modified....
Choteau man receives $2,000 fine for killing grizzly The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has fined Lew Clark of Choteau $2,000 for killing a grizzly bear. Grizzly bears are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. After a four-month investigation, Fish and Wildlife Service special agents identified Clark as the person who killed the bear. Clark admitted to shooting and killing the bear in the spring of 2000. After killing the sow grizzly, Clark removed and destroyed the radio collar from the bear's neck. Clark returned to the scene of the killing in 2002 and disposed of the bear's skull in a remote location, according to the USFWS, but he has agreed to cooperate with authorities in locating and retrieving the skull....
$13.2 million land deal finalized Conservation groups, Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments pulled together $13.2 million to buy nearly 5,000 acres on the northern edge of the valley, about half the land once tagged for a mini-city south of Joshua Tree National Park, it was announced Thursday. "This means the Coachella Valley will never be wall-to-wall urban sprawl," said Bill Havert, executive director of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. The group contributed $6.5 million from Prop. 40 funds, a parks bond passed by voters in 2002....
Bear attacks federal wildlife agent A federal wildlife agent, called to dispatch a bear that had attacked and killed a West Slope rancher's sheep, was injured Thursday by the bear but recovered to shoot the animal dead. Todd Malmsbury, spokesman for the state Division of Wildlife, had few details about the encounter, other than to say the agent's injuries were not life-threatening.
State offers help on prairie dogs The state will step in to pay for emergency control of prairie dogs on some private land in western South Dakota, Gov. Mike Rounds said Friday. The governor said he is authorizing the use of state money to treat 10,500 acres of private land that adjoins federal land where prairie dogs live, dig holes and eat vegetation. "Let's face it, the federal government hasn't been a good neighbor in regards to the management of prairie dogs on their land," Rounds said in a statement....
Environmentalists, Government Spar Over Drilling Plan In a federal courtroom Friday attorneys for several environmental groups criticized the B-L-M's plan to allow 26-thousand new wells on federal land in the Powder River Basin. But government attorneys stood by the plan, saying a three-and-half-year study was exhaustive and covered all the salient issues. The Western Organization of Resource Councils and the American Lands Alliance want more study on better ways to protect sage grouse and prairie dogs, and to prevent a significant draw-down of ranchers' well water....
Trespassing charges dropped A U.S. District Court judge dismissed on Wednesday charges of trespassing and littering against a federal wolf biologist and a private contractor who were found on private property near Cody. Judge Alan Johnson dismissed the case orally from the bench in Cheyenne. He heard from both sides for just less than two hours, and said he "labored" over the decision....
Climber's body reburied in snow The body of Gary Cole, a Wyoming man who died 35 years ago of altitude sickness on Mount McKinley, was buried in a quiet ceremony. The body was lowered into a snowy grave at about midday Thursday near the outer edge of a glacial basin at 14,200 feet below the West Buttress route. The ceremony was attended by mountaineering rangers and National Park Service volunteers. Rangers dug a grave 12 feet into the snow, said Daryl Miller, South District ranger of Denali National Park....
Sierra Club Lodge Focus of Yosemite Tug of War But the three days of centennial events have come to carry significance far beyond the lodge's reach, drawing renewed attention to a political struggle between the liberal Sierra Club and one of its staunchest conservative critics in Congress, Representative George P. Radanovich of California. Mr. Radanovich, a Republican who grew up near Yosemite and represents the farming district that borders it, has written legislation that would require that the lodge be removed from the park. Mr. Radanovich says it is only fair to strip the Sierra Club of its "special use" since the club pushed for provisions in a plan by the National Park Service that would reduce camping and vehicle use in the Yosemite Valley, the most visited part of the park....
DA opposes new BLM authority Churchill County's District Attorney is asking the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to take another look at its proposal for new rules in Nevada, or drop the idea altogether. "That would be my preference, that they pull it completely," said District Attorney Arthur Mallory. The BLM's Nevada office asked the U.S. Department of Interior earlier this year to add supplementary rules regarding drugs and alcohol to the list of laws bureau rangers can enforce. As a federal agency, the scope of BLM law enforcement officials is limited to federal statutes. Underage drinking, drinking under the influence of drugs or alcohol and possession of drug paraphernalia are all state and local crimes, not federal, and the BLM can only report such activities to local authorities....
Funding sought for Blackfoot Valley deal Sen. Conrad Burns has included $18.3 million in an Interior Appropriations subcommittee bill that may help bolster the ongoing effort to buy Plum Creek Timber land in the Blackfoot River Valley. The money is earmarked for use by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, to purchase lands adjacent to existing federal properties in those areas. It's part of a recent complicated, three-part land deal involving the timber company, the non-profit Nature Conservancy and the Blackfoot Challenge, a group of private landowners, public agencies, and conservation groups that reside or work in the 1.5 million acre Blackfoot watershed....
BLM plans land swap with Phelps After 10 years of studies, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday a massive land swap with copper producer Phelps Dodge Corp., which should let the company open a mine near Safford. The federal government would receive about 3,900 acres throughout the state in exchange for 16,300 acres the company would add to its existing 20,000-acre planned open- pit mine site. Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge would get four times more land because its property has a higher value, according to both parties....
BLM to increase wild horse spending Congress late last week approved part of a Bureau of Land Management request to shuffle funds within its budget to increase spending on wild horse management. The leaders of the House and Senate appropriation committees gave the agency permission to immediately transfer $7.6 million from other programs to wild horse and burro controls. The agency said the extra money will enable work to start soon on program reforms. Approval came a day after the House passed a bill that will boost wild horse spending starting in October....
BLM announces new mining claim fees The Bureau of Land Management has announced that it has had to increase mining claim fees, which, by law, must be adjusted for inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index. The fee increase takes effect on September 1, but the notice about the fee increase had to be made on or before July 1. "This is the first mining fee revision since August 1993 and reflects a 25 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index since that time," said Bob Anderson, deputy assistant director for Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection with the BLM's office in Washington, D.C....
Home of Champions Rodeo marks 75 years of competition in Red Lodge The images seem to leap off the walls. There's Bill Greenough, high atop a bucking bronc, the dust kicked up for the horse's airborne hooves. Nearby are pictures of Greenough and some of his siblings - sisters Marge Alice, along with brother Turk - standing tall against the chutes, all three world champions during their careers. And usually standing with them is the family patriarch, "Pack Saddle'' Ben Greenough. Another picture shows Turk Greenough, a study of concentration, as he tries to control his difficult ride. On the same wall, more rodeo history comes to life....
Rodeo on the menu The history of the rodeo is alive and well and on display at the Ranchman's Restaurant, which has been home to the professional rodeo cowboy since 1972. More than 90 Canadian and world champion trophy saddles hung from the rafters -- each one filled with memories -- act as a tribute to the spirit of the rodeo. From steer wrestling to bull-riding saddles, each one is a testament to the cowboys who risked their lives in a showdown of man versus beast. Saddles from rodeo greats Rod Hay and Mel Coleman, Harold Mandeville, Tuff Hedeman and many others act as a reminder that rodeo isn't just a sport, it's a way of life....
Banjo dodged demons, rodeo bulls "Once this feisty gal named Moose gave me a 36-year-old horse named Old Red when I was ranchin' near Steamboat Springs. He was special, that crippled geezer -- the last wild mustang from the Red Rocks, Colorado, wilderness area. He lived on my place till he died at 46, the oldest horse I ever heard of. "I'll never forget the day he passed on. He was flat-blind, senile, no teeth and couldn't hear. Red was in perfect health otherwise. "The day he died that horse walked up on my front porch -- horses don't do that to my knowledge -- and he pawed the floor. Then he trotted absent-minded up the drive like he'd lost his way. After a spell Old Red turned around and walked down to the hay pile behind the house, laid down and went to sleep."....
NANA's RAID — APACHES IN SOCORRO COUNTY A band of Mimbreno Apache considered their home to be what is today Socorro, Catron and Sierra Counties. They lived and hunted in the San Mateo Mountains, the Black Range and parts of the Gila. They called themselves Tcihene, the Red Paint People. The Mexicans and Anglos began calling them the Warm Springs Apache after their fondness for the warm springs at Ojo Caliente, west of Monticello. They lived in the thousands of square miles of this country in virtual obscurity until the early 1800s. It was then that the growing numbers of Mexican settlers and Anglo miners were seen as encroachment onto their land. This triggered many raids, killing the settlers and miners, in an attempt to purge the country of the foreign invaders....
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Friday, July 02, 2004
MAD COW DISEASE
U.S. rules out mad cow disease in 2nd cow
Mad cow disease has been ruled out in another animal, the government said Friday, the second time this week that follow-up testing proved negative for a possible second case of the brain-wasting illness in the United States.
The Agriculture Department made the announcement at the start of the July Fourth weekend, trying to ease consumer anxiety at a time when Americans traditionally fire up their grills and cook hamburgers, hot dogs and other meats.
USDA gave no additional information about either animal, except to say that their meat did not enter either the human or animal food chain. Both were subjected to more definitive testing after initial screenings for infection were inconclusive....
Human Error Likely Caused Mad Cow Scare
The first inconclusive test for mad cow disease was most likely caused by human error and not by the test used in the government's newly deployed rapid screening test, said a senior executive with the test's manufacturer.
"What we are seeing right now is likely to be technician error," Brad Crutchfield, vice president of California-based Bio-Rad Laboratories, told Reuters in an interview late Thursday.
Using Bio-Rad's rapid tests, U.S. officials over the past week reported two inconclusive results that could not rule out bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in suspect animals.
Crutchfield said Bio-Rad's tests are extremely sensitive and can produce false results if the brain samples are prepared improperly.
"Given the sensitivity of our test, we have a sample preparation test that has to be performed correctly," he said. "If for some reason that is not done correctly, there could be leftover protein that could lead to an inconclusive (result)."
Crutchfield anticipated fewer inconclusive test results as state and federal officials gain experience in conducting the test. Worldwide, an estimated 1 in 300,000 inconclusive Bio-Rad test results last year was a false positive, he said....
LMA Executive Committee Criticizes USDA
Citing its devastating impact on livestock producers, the cash and futures market, Livestock Marketing Association’s executive committee has sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s policy of announcing inconclusive test results for mad cow disease.
“There is no justification for USDA’s current policy, considering what it’s done to America’s livestock producers,” said LMA President Randy Patterson. “And this is not a food safety issue – USDA policy keeps the meat from suspect animals from going into the human food supply. It is inexcusable that test results that haven’t been confirmed are allowed to affect the market so negatively.”
Patterson pointed out that as of July 1, inconclusive results on two animals have been widely reported. “Immediately after these announcements, the livestock futures market and the cash market have taken terrific beatings....
What's Eating the Chickens?
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the fatal human equivalent of mad cow disease. The human strain of the disease has been traced to trying to use the word encephalopathy in a sentence.
Although the disease has never been found in U.S. cattle, fears have created one more thing to whine and fret about. There has been a serious drop in the consumption of steaks and hamburgers, reeking havoc on summer cook-outs and bar-b-ques. Most recently, there was the quarantine of 1,353 cattle from various Islamic countries at Guantanamo, Cuba where hooded cows can be seen escorted to and from their open air pens. With its serious consequences for humans, caution and care, but not chop steak, are in order.
Today, however, scientists have confirmed their darkest fears. In tests conducted in both the U.S and Europe, another major global source of food may be unavailable for human consumption. Scientists have labeled this new strain of disease Urinarious Officious Poultryous (UOP) or in layman’s terms, “Pissed Off Chicken.”....
U.S. rules out mad cow disease in 2nd cow
Mad cow disease has been ruled out in another animal, the government said Friday, the second time this week that follow-up testing proved negative for a possible second case of the brain-wasting illness in the United States.
The Agriculture Department made the announcement at the start of the July Fourth weekend, trying to ease consumer anxiety at a time when Americans traditionally fire up their grills and cook hamburgers, hot dogs and other meats.
USDA gave no additional information about either animal, except to say that their meat did not enter either the human or animal food chain. Both were subjected to more definitive testing after initial screenings for infection were inconclusive....
Human Error Likely Caused Mad Cow Scare
The first inconclusive test for mad cow disease was most likely caused by human error and not by the test used in the government's newly deployed rapid screening test, said a senior executive with the test's manufacturer.
"What we are seeing right now is likely to be technician error," Brad Crutchfield, vice president of California-based Bio-Rad Laboratories, told Reuters in an interview late Thursday.
Using Bio-Rad's rapid tests, U.S. officials over the past week reported two inconclusive results that could not rule out bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in suspect animals.
Crutchfield said Bio-Rad's tests are extremely sensitive and can produce false results if the brain samples are prepared improperly.
"Given the sensitivity of our test, we have a sample preparation test that has to be performed correctly," he said. "If for some reason that is not done correctly, there could be leftover protein that could lead to an inconclusive (result)."
Crutchfield anticipated fewer inconclusive test results as state and federal officials gain experience in conducting the test. Worldwide, an estimated 1 in 300,000 inconclusive Bio-Rad test results last year was a false positive, he said....
LMA Executive Committee Criticizes USDA
Citing its devastating impact on livestock producers, the cash and futures market, Livestock Marketing Association’s executive committee has sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s policy of announcing inconclusive test results for mad cow disease.
“There is no justification for USDA’s current policy, considering what it’s done to America’s livestock producers,” said LMA President Randy Patterson. “And this is not a food safety issue – USDA policy keeps the meat from suspect animals from going into the human food supply. It is inexcusable that test results that haven’t been confirmed are allowed to affect the market so negatively.”
Patterson pointed out that as of July 1, inconclusive results on two animals have been widely reported. “Immediately after these announcements, the livestock futures market and the cash market have taken terrific beatings....
What's Eating the Chickens?
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the fatal human equivalent of mad cow disease. The human strain of the disease has been traced to trying to use the word encephalopathy in a sentence.
Although the disease has never been found in U.S. cattle, fears have created one more thing to whine and fret about. There has been a serious drop in the consumption of steaks and hamburgers, reeking havoc on summer cook-outs and bar-b-ques. Most recently, there was the quarantine of 1,353 cattle from various Islamic countries at Guantanamo, Cuba where hooded cows can be seen escorted to and from their open air pens. With its serious consequences for humans, caution and care, but not chop steak, are in order.
Today, however, scientists have confirmed their darkest fears. In tests conducted in both the U.S and Europe, another major global source of food may be unavailable for human consumption. Scientists have labeled this new strain of disease Urinarious Officious Poultryous (UOP) or in layman’s terms, “Pissed Off Chicken.”....
Thursday, July 01, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Bush Plan Opens More Forests to Logging Governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building in remote areas of national forests under a Bush administration proposal to boost logging. Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch stressed that the proposal was preliminary, but called it an accurate statement of the administration's intentions. Officials had said last year they would develop a plan to allow governors to seek exemptions from the roadless rule. The latest plan turns that on its head by making governors petition the Agriculture Department if they want to maintain restrictions on timbering in their state. "The roadless rule is struck down nationwide," Valetkevitch said, referring to a 2003 ruling by a federal judge in Wyoming. "We are trying to create a rule that will pass legal muster."....
The activist strikes back Earth First! environmental activist Rebecca Kay Smith has filed a civil suit against several Forest Service and law enforcement officials, hoping to reverse the courtroom roles of her trial last January, at which she and fellow activist Joel Wyatt were found guilty of four misdemeanors from their month-long tree-sit protest of the Bitterroot’s Big Bull timber sale. During the protest, Smith’s food and water supply was allegedly cut down from tree branches via cherry-picker and taken from her directly when Missoula County Deputy Sheriff David Ball punctured containers holding drinking water....
American alleged eco-terrorist says he wants to be Canadian refugee One of the FBI's most wanted fugitives said Wednesday he wants to be a refugee in Canada and that a decision by Canadian officials on whether he can apply for such status is expected within days. Tre Arrow is wanted for his alleged role in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in the U.S. state of Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front(ELF). Obtaining refugee status would prevent Canadian authorities from extraditing him to the United States....
Ranch added to public lands will provide outdoors access Sen. Craig Thomas on Wednesday helped commemorate public acquisition of an 11,000-acre ranch at the base of the Big Horns and its access to blue-ribbon trout streams and prime hunting grounds. "Devil's Canyon Ranch is truly a hunter and fisherman's paradise that contains extraordinary archaeological sites and critical non-game habitat," Thomas said. "In the process we have also ensured public access to adjacent BLM and Forest Service lands. I am extremely pleased that the public will have access to this natural treasure.".... Seems like everything the government acquires is a "national treasure".
County commissioner fined for shooting wolf Valley County Commissioner Phil Davis has been fined for letting one of his ranch hands kill a wolf as it was moving through a herd of cattle five weeks ago. Davis paid $1,500 to satisfy charges that ranch hand Jerry Ussery shot the wolf on May 24, that both he and Ussery illegally moved the animal and that he failed to report the incident. The penalty could have been up to $100,000 and a year in jail for killing a wolf protected under the Endangered Species Act....
Groups have doubts about future snowmobile season With snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park once again in limbo, at least one person knows how the winter will operate: it won't. Mike Perikly, president of Flagg Ranch Resort at the southern gate to the park, said if the Park Service doesn't know whether snowmobiles will be allowed this winter by September, he isn't going to staff anyone or prepare for a winter season. "There is no way we can hire people, and we have to begin some winterizing," Perikly said. "We should have placed an order for snowmobiles already and we haven't, and we aren't going to."....
Judge declines to step aside in Yellowstone snowmobile controversy A federal district court on Wednesday rejected an effort by the National Park Service to hand over a case concerning whether snowmobiles should be allowed in Yellowstone to a federal district court in Cheyenne. The park service and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers had asked the appeals court in Washington to hand the case over to the federal court in Cheyenne because the two courts had issued contradictory rulings on whether snowmobiles should be permitted in the park....
Federal CBM case begins today A few dozen men will drill five new coalbed methane gas wells today in northeast Wyoming. A hundred or so will toil to construct pipelines, and hundreds more will work to maintain this multi-million-dollar-per-day industry that is expected to grow beyond 50,000 wells. And at the same time, about a half-dozen lawyers will enter the Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Center building in Cheyenne today to argue to suspend the work....
Agency: Marines didn't pay $10 million bill for 2002 Sierra fire A $10 million bill sent to the Marine Corps to cover the costs of fighting a 22,750-acre Sierra Nevada wildlife two years ago remains unpaid, the U.S. Forest Service confirmed Thursday. "The Forest Service is still trying to collect $10 million from the Marines," Reno-based agency spokeswoman Christy Kalkowski said. Lt. Nathan Braden, of the Marines' public affairs staff at Camp Pendleton, Calif., that handles media queries about the Pickel Meadows mountain warfare training base, said he wasn't aware of the bill for the fire....
Bear kills sled dog Rather than leave his prize lead dog, Mandy, in Tanana for the summer with his four other sled dogs, Martin Scharf decided to bring her to Fairbanks so he could look after her. But when a bear attacked the dog in Scharf's yard near 4.5 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road early Wednesday morning, there wasn't much he could do. "I just heard the dog barking, then she started yelping," Scharf said of his 9-year-old leader....
Tribes say Range Creek decisions exclude them Archaeologists quietly spent the past two years exploring a remarkable and secret community of Fremont Indian sites in eastern Utah's Range Creek. Now, some American Indian groups say they were too quiet and secret. Melvin Brewster, tribal historic preservation officer for the Goshute Skull Valley Band, said regional American Indian groups have had no say in the exploration of Range Creek. Many Western American Indian groups consider the Fremont to be their ancestors....
Deputies seize Greenpeace gear Greenpeace said Wednesday that the seizure of a truckload of camping gear by sheriff's deputies investigating two anti-logging protests is an attack against free speech and will not stop continuing protests against cutting down old growth forests. ``The forest rescue station was a symbol of free speech,'' said Greenpeace campaigner Ginger Cassady. ``It gives the public a voice in opposition to timber sales. Now it's like they're taking that right away from us.''....
COURT RULES PARK SERVICE VIOLATES WILDERNESS ACT The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has slammed the door on the National Park Service's motorized sightseeing tours through the Cumberland Island Wilderness. The three judge panel ruled that the motorized tours violated both the Wilderness Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The court wrote, "The language of the…Wilderness Act demonstrate[s] that Congress has unambiguously prohibited the Park Service from offering motorized transportation to park visitors through the wilderness area." "This is one of the most important rulings in the 40-year history of the Wilderness Act," stated George Nickas, Executive Director of Wilderness Watch. "....
Montana agency warns water holders of summer shutoffs The state has sent letters to some 600 junior water rights holders alerting them that they may be asked to stop drawing water this summer to protect fish in Montana rivers. "It's hard to imagine a situation that's any more grim,'' said Bill Schenk, in-stream flow specialist for the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park's Fisheries Division. "In spite of the recent rains, we're going to be in rough shape as far as stream flows go.'' The state holds water rights to maintain in-stream flow for fish on many streams in the Missouri and Yellowstone river basins, as well as 12 blue-ribbon trout streams....
Bush Plan Opens More Forests to Logging Governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building in remote areas of national forests under a Bush administration proposal to boost logging. Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch stressed that the proposal was preliminary, but called it an accurate statement of the administration's intentions. Officials had said last year they would develop a plan to allow governors to seek exemptions from the roadless rule. The latest plan turns that on its head by making governors petition the Agriculture Department if they want to maintain restrictions on timbering in their state. "The roadless rule is struck down nationwide," Valetkevitch said, referring to a 2003 ruling by a federal judge in Wyoming. "We are trying to create a rule that will pass legal muster."....
The activist strikes back Earth First! environmental activist Rebecca Kay Smith has filed a civil suit against several Forest Service and law enforcement officials, hoping to reverse the courtroom roles of her trial last January, at which she and fellow activist Joel Wyatt were found guilty of four misdemeanors from their month-long tree-sit protest of the Bitterroot’s Big Bull timber sale. During the protest, Smith’s food and water supply was allegedly cut down from tree branches via cherry-picker and taken from her directly when Missoula County Deputy Sheriff David Ball punctured containers holding drinking water....
American alleged eco-terrorist says he wants to be Canadian refugee One of the FBI's most wanted fugitives said Wednesday he wants to be a refugee in Canada and that a decision by Canadian officials on whether he can apply for such status is expected within days. Tre Arrow is wanted for his alleged role in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in the U.S. state of Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front(ELF). Obtaining refugee status would prevent Canadian authorities from extraditing him to the United States....
Ranch added to public lands will provide outdoors access Sen. Craig Thomas on Wednesday helped commemorate public acquisition of an 11,000-acre ranch at the base of the Big Horns and its access to blue-ribbon trout streams and prime hunting grounds. "Devil's Canyon Ranch is truly a hunter and fisherman's paradise that contains extraordinary archaeological sites and critical non-game habitat," Thomas said. "In the process we have also ensured public access to adjacent BLM and Forest Service lands. I am extremely pleased that the public will have access to this natural treasure.".... Seems like everything the government acquires is a "national treasure".
County commissioner fined for shooting wolf Valley County Commissioner Phil Davis has been fined for letting one of his ranch hands kill a wolf as it was moving through a herd of cattle five weeks ago. Davis paid $1,500 to satisfy charges that ranch hand Jerry Ussery shot the wolf on May 24, that both he and Ussery illegally moved the animal and that he failed to report the incident. The penalty could have been up to $100,000 and a year in jail for killing a wolf protected under the Endangered Species Act....
Groups have doubts about future snowmobile season With snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park once again in limbo, at least one person knows how the winter will operate: it won't. Mike Perikly, president of Flagg Ranch Resort at the southern gate to the park, said if the Park Service doesn't know whether snowmobiles will be allowed this winter by September, he isn't going to staff anyone or prepare for a winter season. "There is no way we can hire people, and we have to begin some winterizing," Perikly said. "We should have placed an order for snowmobiles already and we haven't, and we aren't going to."....
Judge declines to step aside in Yellowstone snowmobile controversy A federal district court on Wednesday rejected an effort by the National Park Service to hand over a case concerning whether snowmobiles should be allowed in Yellowstone to a federal district court in Cheyenne. The park service and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers had asked the appeals court in Washington to hand the case over to the federal court in Cheyenne because the two courts had issued contradictory rulings on whether snowmobiles should be permitted in the park....
Federal CBM case begins today A few dozen men will drill five new coalbed methane gas wells today in northeast Wyoming. A hundred or so will toil to construct pipelines, and hundreds more will work to maintain this multi-million-dollar-per-day industry that is expected to grow beyond 50,000 wells. And at the same time, about a half-dozen lawyers will enter the Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Center building in Cheyenne today to argue to suspend the work....
Agency: Marines didn't pay $10 million bill for 2002 Sierra fire A $10 million bill sent to the Marine Corps to cover the costs of fighting a 22,750-acre Sierra Nevada wildlife two years ago remains unpaid, the U.S. Forest Service confirmed Thursday. "The Forest Service is still trying to collect $10 million from the Marines," Reno-based agency spokeswoman Christy Kalkowski said. Lt. Nathan Braden, of the Marines' public affairs staff at Camp Pendleton, Calif., that handles media queries about the Pickel Meadows mountain warfare training base, said he wasn't aware of the bill for the fire....
Bear kills sled dog Rather than leave his prize lead dog, Mandy, in Tanana for the summer with his four other sled dogs, Martin Scharf decided to bring her to Fairbanks so he could look after her. But when a bear attacked the dog in Scharf's yard near 4.5 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road early Wednesday morning, there wasn't much he could do. "I just heard the dog barking, then she started yelping," Scharf said of his 9-year-old leader....
Tribes say Range Creek decisions exclude them Archaeologists quietly spent the past two years exploring a remarkable and secret community of Fremont Indian sites in eastern Utah's Range Creek. Now, some American Indian groups say they were too quiet and secret. Melvin Brewster, tribal historic preservation officer for the Goshute Skull Valley Band, said regional American Indian groups have had no say in the exploration of Range Creek. Many Western American Indian groups consider the Fremont to be their ancestors....
Deputies seize Greenpeace gear Greenpeace said Wednesday that the seizure of a truckload of camping gear by sheriff's deputies investigating two anti-logging protests is an attack against free speech and will not stop continuing protests against cutting down old growth forests. ``The forest rescue station was a symbol of free speech,'' said Greenpeace campaigner Ginger Cassady. ``It gives the public a voice in opposition to timber sales. Now it's like they're taking that right away from us.''....
COURT RULES PARK SERVICE VIOLATES WILDERNESS ACT The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has slammed the door on the National Park Service's motorized sightseeing tours through the Cumberland Island Wilderness. The three judge panel ruled that the motorized tours violated both the Wilderness Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The court wrote, "The language of the…Wilderness Act demonstrate[s] that Congress has unambiguously prohibited the Park Service from offering motorized transportation to park visitors through the wilderness area." "This is one of the most important rulings in the 40-year history of the Wilderness Act," stated George Nickas, Executive Director of Wilderness Watch. "....
Montana agency warns water holders of summer shutoffs The state has sent letters to some 600 junior water rights holders alerting them that they may be asked to stop drawing water this summer to protect fish in Montana rivers. "It's hard to imagine a situation that's any more grim,'' said Bill Schenk, in-stream flow specialist for the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park's Fisheries Division. "In spite of the recent rains, we're going to be in rough shape as far as stream flows go.'' The state holds water rights to maintain in-stream flow for fish on many streams in the Missouri and Yellowstone river basins, as well as 12 blue-ribbon trout streams....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Wagon train carries on tradition of Old West Thousands of people are heading for Greeley this week for the Rocky Mountain Stampede. Most travel by car or pickup truck. But a few are using a more rustic form of transportation -- a wagon train. The wagon train is on the final leg of a two-week long journey. With their canvas tops gleaming in the sunlight like sails, it's easy to see why the pioneers called their wagons "prairie schooners." Before the railroads were built, this was how settlers came to the West....
Clown Livens Rodeos, and That's No Bull An aspiring bronc buster and bull rider back in the 1970s, Dave Copher learned a tough lesson about making a living as a rodeo cowboy. "I found out real quick that when you show up for a rodeo and don't win, you don't get paid," said Copher, an Edgewood resident. "When you show up dressed in a clown suit, running from bulls and telling jokes, you always get paid." That's how Copher found his true passion— fighting bulls adorned in colorful garb and face paint. In common speak, he became a rodeo clown. He has spent the past 25 years in that line of work, the last eight as a barrel man....
Special needs kids get taste of rodeo life Chris Balkcom, a 15-year-old Prescott High School student, spent an hour as a cowboy Wednesday, skillfully twirling a lasso over his head and looping it around the horns of a bull. “Last time I did so good,” Chris told volunteer Mark Trouten of Chino Valley. “I hope I do good again.” Horses with HEART (Hands-on Equine Assisted Riding Therapy), a Dewey organization that provides special needs children with horse-riding therapy, puts on the Happy Hearts Rodeo as part of Prescott Frontier Days each year....
State of Wyoming, Texas group settle trademark dispute A two-year showdown between the state of Wyoming and a Texas charity over rights to the bucking horse-and-rider logo has been resolved. The two sides this week signed a settlement agreement allowing Texas Stampede Incorporated limited use of the rodeo symbol. Texas Stampede, which stages concerts and rodeos to benefit children at two Dallas hospitals, has been using a bucking-bronc-and-rider since the group's inception in 2001. Wyoming claims it has featured the logo since 1918....
An ‘Exceptionally’ Good Time The eighth annual Exceptional Rodeo took place at this weekend's Redwood Acres Fair and Rodeo. The special-needs rodeo for people of all ages began in 1996 with about 10 participants. This year’s event had 130 registered cowboys and cowgirls. A few last-minute registrations brought the total number of participants to more than 150. Rodeo organizer Patti Prior said she could not have been more thrilled with the crowd....
Wagon train carries on tradition of Old West Thousands of people are heading for Greeley this week for the Rocky Mountain Stampede. Most travel by car or pickup truck. But a few are using a more rustic form of transportation -- a wagon train. The wagon train is on the final leg of a two-week long journey. With their canvas tops gleaming in the sunlight like sails, it's easy to see why the pioneers called their wagons "prairie schooners." Before the railroads were built, this was how settlers came to the West....
Clown Livens Rodeos, and That's No Bull An aspiring bronc buster and bull rider back in the 1970s, Dave Copher learned a tough lesson about making a living as a rodeo cowboy. "I found out real quick that when you show up for a rodeo and don't win, you don't get paid," said Copher, an Edgewood resident. "When you show up dressed in a clown suit, running from bulls and telling jokes, you always get paid." That's how Copher found his true passion— fighting bulls adorned in colorful garb and face paint. In common speak, he became a rodeo clown. He has spent the past 25 years in that line of work, the last eight as a barrel man....
Special needs kids get taste of rodeo life Chris Balkcom, a 15-year-old Prescott High School student, spent an hour as a cowboy Wednesday, skillfully twirling a lasso over his head and looping it around the horns of a bull. “Last time I did so good,” Chris told volunteer Mark Trouten of Chino Valley. “I hope I do good again.” Horses with HEART (Hands-on Equine Assisted Riding Therapy), a Dewey organization that provides special needs children with horse-riding therapy, puts on the Happy Hearts Rodeo as part of Prescott Frontier Days each year....
State of Wyoming, Texas group settle trademark dispute A two-year showdown between the state of Wyoming and a Texas charity over rights to the bucking horse-and-rider logo has been resolved. The two sides this week signed a settlement agreement allowing Texas Stampede Incorporated limited use of the rodeo symbol. Texas Stampede, which stages concerts and rodeos to benefit children at two Dallas hospitals, has been using a bucking-bronc-and-rider since the group's inception in 2001. Wyoming claims it has featured the logo since 1918....
An ‘Exceptionally’ Good Time The eighth annual Exceptional Rodeo took place at this weekend's Redwood Acres Fair and Rodeo. The special-needs rodeo for people of all ages began in 1996 with about 10 participants. This year’s event had 130 registered cowboys and cowgirls. A few last-minute registrations brought the total number of participants to more than 150. Rodeo organizer Patti Prior said she could not have been more thrilled with the crowd....
Private Property May Become Preserved
(Don't Believe This Headline)
Residents of King County, Wash., will only be able to build on 10 percent of their land, according to a new law being considered by the county government, which, if enacted, will be the most restrictive land use law in the nation.
Known as the 65-10 Rule (search), it calls for landowners to set aside 65 percent of their property and keep it in its natural, vegetative state. According to the rule, nothing can be built on this land, and if a tree is cut down, for example, it must be replanted. Building anything is out of the question.
Most of the residents who will be directly affected by the regulations — those who own property in the rural areas of the country — are fuming. They see the new regulations as a land grab and a violation of their property rights.
"My take is it's stealing — out and out stealing," said county resident Marshall Brenden. "They're taking 65 percent of your land that you fought for years to pay for, paid mortgages on and now you can't use it."
But supporters and environmentalists say personal property rights do not trump the rights of a larger community to save the eco-system....
(Don't Believe This Headline)
Residents of King County, Wash., will only be able to build on 10 percent of their land, according to a new law being considered by the county government, which, if enacted, will be the most restrictive land use law in the nation.
Known as the 65-10 Rule (search), it calls for landowners to set aside 65 percent of their property and keep it in its natural, vegetative state. According to the rule, nothing can be built on this land, and if a tree is cut down, for example, it must be replanted. Building anything is out of the question.
Most of the residents who will be directly affected by the regulations — those who own property in the rural areas of the country — are fuming. They see the new regulations as a land grab and a violation of their property rights.
"My take is it's stealing — out and out stealing," said county resident Marshall Brenden. "They're taking 65 percent of your land that you fought for years to pay for, paid mortgages on and now you can't use it."
But supporters and environmentalists say personal property rights do not trump the rights of a larger community to save the eco-system....
MAD COW DISEASE
Up to 100 more mad cow cases expected
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday a cow that initially tested positive for mad cow disease has come back negative on follow-up testing, but a food industry consultant told United Press International he estimates there could be more than 100 cases of the deadly disorder in the country's herds.
About half of the cases will go undetected and passed on for human consumption, Robert LaBudde, president of Least Cost Formulation Ltd., a food industry consultancy in Virginia Beach, Va., told UPI.
LaBudde, who has served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks there will be many more infected cows detected.
"There is no question that we will be seeing a dozen or more -- possibly 100 or more -- cases of BSE-positive cattle in our national herd," said LaBudde, whose clients include the meat industry.
LaBudde said he bases his prediction on the one positive case detected so far, compared to the number of downers, or at-risk animals, in U.S. herds -- which amounts to about 250,000 by his calculations. That would yield about 68 cases among the at-risk cows, he wrote in a recent article published in Food Safety magazine. In Europe, the number of cases among seemingly healthy animals has been about half that seen in the at-risk cows. So in the U.S. that would yield 34 additional cases, for a total of 102.
Only about half the cases will be detected, however, because many animals will not show any symptoms, LaBudde said. This is based on the experience in Europe, where half the animals that test positive have no outward symptoms of infection, he added....
Gov. Johanns Applauds BSE Testing; Questions Release of Inconclusive
Gov. Mike Johanns learned yesterday afternoon that the results of the first inconclusive bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test have been confirmed as negative for the disease.
"I commend the USDA for stepping up testing as part of the effort to restore our beef export markets," Gov. Johanns said. "This testing coupled with the additional safety measures reinforce what I already know and American consumers understand that our beef supply is safe."
"With that said, I will also tell you that I am concerned about the market impact of public notification of inconclusive results. I believe there should be immediate public notification in the event that test results are positive for BSE, but I question the wisdom in causing a negative ripple effect of concern over inconclusive results."....
USDA to be open with mad cow results
The Agriculture Department is defending its decision to release results of preliminary tests that raise concern about a possible mad cow disease infection when the initial findings may well be wrong.
The announcement last Friday that a cow carcass had not passed a preliminary screening test for mad cow caused concern on commodity markets, worried consumers and angered some farmers. Assurances by the government that the initial screening was only designed to trigger more sophisticated tests did little to ease the anxiety.
Friday's disclosure raised questions about why the department had decided to announce anything at all, since the initial screening is known to cast a wide net that is bound to include "false positives" that are later discounted.
"USDA wants to be very transparent with this issue," said John Clifford, deputy administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the USDA's chief veterinarian.
He acknowledged in a conference call with reporters Wednesday that there had been "a lot of discussion" on whether to make public the initial screening results. But, he added, "we realized that information like that may be leaked. And we want to be very open and transparent, and that's why the decision was made to release this type of information."....
Japan May Relax Mad Cow Tests; Move Might Restart Beef Imports
Japan may relax domestic testing procedures for mad cow disease, a government official said in Tokyo. Such a move might hasten resumption of beef imports from the U.S.
``Japan still requires the U.S. assure the safety of beef before resuming imports,'' said Kenji Sakurai, a ministry of agriculture official involved in bilateral talks on the issue. ``But we are reviewing domestic testing procedures, and depending on what we decide, requirements may change.''....
Up to 100 more mad cow cases expected
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday a cow that initially tested positive for mad cow disease has come back negative on follow-up testing, but a food industry consultant told United Press International he estimates there could be more than 100 cases of the deadly disorder in the country's herds.
About half of the cases will go undetected and passed on for human consumption, Robert LaBudde, president of Least Cost Formulation Ltd., a food industry consultancy in Virginia Beach, Va., told UPI.
LaBudde, who has served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks there will be many more infected cows detected.
"There is no question that we will be seeing a dozen or more -- possibly 100 or more -- cases of BSE-positive cattle in our national herd," said LaBudde, whose clients include the meat industry.
LaBudde said he bases his prediction on the one positive case detected so far, compared to the number of downers, or at-risk animals, in U.S. herds -- which amounts to about 250,000 by his calculations. That would yield about 68 cases among the at-risk cows, he wrote in a recent article published in Food Safety magazine. In Europe, the number of cases among seemingly healthy animals has been about half that seen in the at-risk cows. So in the U.S. that would yield 34 additional cases, for a total of 102.
Only about half the cases will be detected, however, because many animals will not show any symptoms, LaBudde said. This is based on the experience in Europe, where half the animals that test positive have no outward symptoms of infection, he added....
Gov. Johanns Applauds BSE Testing; Questions Release of Inconclusive
Gov. Mike Johanns learned yesterday afternoon that the results of the first inconclusive bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test have been confirmed as negative for the disease.
"I commend the USDA for stepping up testing as part of the effort to restore our beef export markets," Gov. Johanns said. "This testing coupled with the additional safety measures reinforce what I already know and American consumers understand that our beef supply is safe."
"With that said, I will also tell you that I am concerned about the market impact of public notification of inconclusive results. I believe there should be immediate public notification in the event that test results are positive for BSE, but I question the wisdom in causing a negative ripple effect of concern over inconclusive results."....
USDA to be open with mad cow results
The Agriculture Department is defending its decision to release results of preliminary tests that raise concern about a possible mad cow disease infection when the initial findings may well be wrong.
The announcement last Friday that a cow carcass had not passed a preliminary screening test for mad cow caused concern on commodity markets, worried consumers and angered some farmers. Assurances by the government that the initial screening was only designed to trigger more sophisticated tests did little to ease the anxiety.
Friday's disclosure raised questions about why the department had decided to announce anything at all, since the initial screening is known to cast a wide net that is bound to include "false positives" that are later discounted.
"USDA wants to be very transparent with this issue," said John Clifford, deputy administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the USDA's chief veterinarian.
He acknowledged in a conference call with reporters Wednesday that there had been "a lot of discussion" on whether to make public the initial screening results. But, he added, "we realized that information like that may be leaked. And we want to be very open and transparent, and that's why the decision was made to release this type of information."....
Japan May Relax Mad Cow Tests; Move Might Restart Beef Imports
Japan may relax domestic testing procedures for mad cow disease, a government official said in Tokyo. Such a move might hasten resumption of beef imports from the U.S.
``Japan still requires the U.S. assure the safety of beef before resuming imports,'' said Kenji Sakurai, a ministry of agriculture official involved in bilateral talks on the issue. ``But we are reviewing domestic testing procedures, and depending on what we decide, requirements may change.''....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Groups sue to stop grazing near Yellowstone Three environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service, hoping to stop cattle grazing on 48,000 acres of high-elevation meadows west of Yellowstone National Park. Filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, the lawsuit objects to 11 grazing allotments in the southern Gravelly Mountains on the grounds that they pose a risk to migrating grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer and antelope - and have already eliminated sage grouse. "The Forest Service has been converting the sagebrush-grassland habitat in Antelope Basin to grazing pasture since the 1960s by spraying herbicides and burning," said Sara Johnson of the Native Ecosystems Council....
Bush campaign criticizes Kerry's opposition to forest policy Sen. John Kerry's criticism of increasing logging in national forests to ease wildfire threats shows how badly his brand of environmentalism is out of step with most Westerners, the Bush-Cheney campaign said Wednesday. Kerry's campaign countered that the Bush administration's forest policy is aimed more at bolstering timber industry profits than protecting communities from fires....
Forest health The House Resources Committee held a hearing on House Resolution 3102, authored by congressman Steve Pearce. The bill seeks to address rangeland health and grazing on Forest Service lands. HR 3102 would require the secretary of agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with the Southwestern region land grant universities — New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and the University of Arizona — to conduct studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 on Forest Service lands in Arizona and New Mexico....
Danger for off-roaders in the Burro Mountains Driving all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles in the Burro Mountains has become more dangerous because of hazards someone is putting on trails. Off-roaders in the Gila National Forest southwest of Silver City recently have encountered nails, wires and large rocks "strategically placed" in an apparent attempt to injure people, according to Dave Donaldson, owner of Copper Country ATV & Cycle of Silver City. "These are ecoterrorists," he said. "They're basically trying to kill somebody."....
In protest, Rainbow folks to get naked Rainbow Family members unhappy with the Forest Service's ban on nudity at the remote gathering site in the South Warner Mountains plan to reveal their frustrations with a "nude-in." The Modoc National Forest has banned nudity at the gathering, called the "Rainbow Gathering of the Living Light." As of this morning, Forest Service officials conservatively estimated more than 3,500 people are at the gathering site, with license plates from 32 states and participants from Israel, Canada, Costa Rica and Austria. From 8,000 to 20,000 people are expected, with the peak numbers likely by Sunday....
Greenpeace ship visiting to 'liberate U.S. forests' WHO: The Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, her crew, members of the Greenpeace Forest Campaign, and local experts on the Biscuit salvage sale and proposed new regional protected areas. WHAT: Free public tours of the Arctic Sunrise. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet the crew of the ship as well as Greenpeace forest campaigners who have been on the frontline protecting national forests around the country, including most recently in Oregon. Visitors will see compelling visual tours of this country’s endangered forests, including images from Greenpeace’s exploration of Alaska’s rainforest last year....
Wildlife consultant to draft wolf plan Members of an advisory group trying to write a Utah wolf management plan have made little progress in six previous meetings. After another morning of disagreement Tuesday, Utah's Wolf Working Group decided to allow a Wyoming wildlife consultant to come up with a basic outline. Then the 13-member volunteer panel of academics, hunters, wolf advocates, farmers, ranchers and county government officials will form smaller groups to attempt to reach consensus on a plan....
COMMISSIONERS QUESTION WILDERNESS EXPANSION PLAN The U.S. Forest Service's rationale to add 64,000 acres to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was a hot topic during a meeting Friday organized by Curry County Commissioner Marlyn Schafer. Schafer said she was concerned that by expanding the wilderness area it would hinder the Forest Service from fighting future fires there because of federal restrictions placed on land designated a wilderness....
Lawmakers seek details on Biscuit wilderness proposal Nearly a month after the Bush administration announced plans for new federal wilderness within the area burned by the massive 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon, officials have released few details. No legislation has been submitted to Congress, nor have maps or detailed descriptions of the areas being targeted been distributed, beyond a general summary of 64,000 acres near the existing Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in southwestern Oregon. Two Democratic members of Congress say it's time for the administration to put forward the details....
Thune proposes adding to buffer in prairie dog plan U.S. Senate candidate John Thune has proposed a one-mile buffer zone on federal grasslands to keep prairie dogs from encroaching onto private rangeland. The Republican said Tuesday he would renew his efforts to amend the federal Endangered Species Act and to oppose the listing of prairie dogs as a threatened species. But a more urgent issue is preventing prairie dogs from spreading onto private land, he said. If elected, Thune said he would work with the U.S. Forest Service to establish a one-mile prairie dog buffer zone on federal land that borders private rangeland....
USFS rejects Chugach wilderness appeal The U.S. Forest Service denied appeals from a coalition of groups unhappy with the plan for Alaska's Chugach National Forest, the country's second-largest national forest. The coalition appealed the 2002 Chugach land management plan, which is a blueprint on how the federal agency administers the 5.5 million-acre forest that flanks Anchorage. They challenged the plan, which guides management for roughly the next 15 years, on a number of fronts. Among their gripes were that the plan allows snowmachines and helicopters in too many areas of the forest and does not adequately protect Kenai Peninsula brown bears....
Saving the silence at Waldo Lake Three years ago, the U.S. Forest Service tried to make silence the law of the lake, forbidding any gasoline engines from operating on Waldo's pristine waters. Boaters protested, and the agency withdrew the plan to make changes. Although the Forest Service still would prefer to prohibit gas-powered boats on the lake, it has a new plan with a compromise option: Restrict the use of older, noisier boat engines, but allow the cleanest gas engines on the lake for part of the summer. The proposal also includes provisions to curb damage from lakefront camping....
Big Hole River flows increasing The water level in the Big Hole River is beginning to climb as more irrigators shut off their ditches as part of a unique federal program that pays them not to water their fields. As of Tuesday morning, a measuring station at Wisdom showed a flow of 159 cubic feet per second, up more than five-fold from a 30 cfs flow last Friday. Rains helped -- other rivers in the region also climbed over the weekend. But the Big Hole took a big spike on Sunday and Monday when ranchers started closing more headgates....
USDA Announces $26M Wetlands Project Persistent flooding of their corn and soybean fields led Robert and Verneel Noerrlinger to return 535 acres to wetlands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging other landowners along the Missouri River in Nebraska to consider doing the same. This week, the Noerrlingers' property was the site chosen by the USDA to announce a project that makes $26 million available through 2007 to restore 18,200 acres of wetlands along the river from Ponca to Rulo, some 200 miles running the entire length of the state....
Bison Range agreement reached The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said Wednesday they have accepted a proposal for the tribal government to assume significant management responsibilities for the 18,000-acre National Bison Range in Moiese. They also would gain control of specific other federal properties now administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Flathead Reservation. The new agreement could take effect as early as Jan. 1, 2005....
New deadline set for snowmobile rules A federal judge in Washington has given the National Park Service until early- to mid-November at the latest to set the rules for snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Wednesday that the Bush Administration must have a winter use plan in place for the parks no later than 30 days before trail grooming starts. Typically, grooming starts in early- to mid-December....
Climbers Find Frozen Body on Mt. McKinley Climbers poking around a high-elevation camp on Mount McKinley discovered a human foot sticking out of the snow. Rangers dug out the frozen corpse of a man who died 35 years ago. Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said the body was that of Gary Cole, 32, of Cody, Wyo., who died of acute mountain sickness June 19, 1969. Identification was made by his wedding band and a watch with a calendar dated June 1969, the Park Service said....
Yosemite Land Grant Signed 140 Years Ago Yosemite National Park is marking the 140th anniversary of the signing of the Yosemite Land Grant. On June 30, 1864, the United States granted the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California through this piece of legislation. The Yosemite Land Grant was signed by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. It was the first time land was preserved for its scenic values and for public benefit. This one act is the basis for the later concept of the national park and state park systems....
Archaeologist's dream Archaeologists took reporters into an ancient world Wednesday that has remained secret for half a century. They viewed half a dozen unspoiled villages of ancient Fremont Indians that lie half-buried along 12 miles of pretty little stream in a canyon cutting through the Book Cliff Mountains. When Utah State Archaeologist Kevin Jones first saw it two years ago, he felt like the luckiest archaeologist alive....
High court ruling could end dispute over use of wild lands A Supreme Court ruling last week could end eight years of litigation over seven Montana wilderness study areas. On June 21, the court returned a lawsuit filed by the Montana Wilderness Association against the Forest Service over management of the state's wilderness study areas to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The environmental group had argued that the Forest Service had failed to maintain the wilderness character of the areas by allowing increased motorized use....
Wild fight: Battle for wilderness designations still undecided after decades of debate For 27 years, about 1 million acres of Montana wildlands have been locked in a legal "Twilight Zone." Clifton Merritt helped bolt the door, but he never imagined Montana would lose the key. It was in 1977 that Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont., pushed legislation through Congress to create the Montana Wilderness Study Act. The act protected 10 Montana roadless areas, maintaining each area's "wilderness characteristics" as they existed then. At the time, Merritt was field director for The Wilderness Society....
Nine-Mile drilling plans concern judge, but so does threat of delay A federal judge said Monday that he is concerned that natural gas exploration could damage American Indian artifacts near Utah's Nine-Mile Canyon, but expressed misgivings about forcing delays in the project. By some estimates, there are 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas beneath the canyon and surrounding plateaus, and Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. has been given a go-ahead from the Interior Department to search for it. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other environmental groups which sued over the decision argued that any exploration could damage relics that are so abundant that the area has been referred to as an "outdoor museum."....
Elite fire team back 10 years after tragedy The Prineville, Ore., Hotshots, the elite firefighters whose ranks were shattered 10 years ago in the fatal Storm King fire, are back in Glenwood Springs. But they're not fighting a fire. At least not yet. Instead, the 20-person crew was hard at work Monday on nearby Lookout Mountain, thinning trees and brush as part of a fuel-reduction project. Steven Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said the Upper Colorado Basin's severe fire danger called for stationing a Hotshot crew to respond quickly to new fires, and with the 10-year anniversary of the Storm King tragedy coming up next week, "They were appropriate."....
Western Shoshone claim bill sails through Congress A bill calling for the release of money awarded to the Western Shoshone people 27 years ago sailed through Congress last week and is now only a presidential signature away from becoming official. The Indian Claims Commission awarded $26 million to the Western Shoshone in 1977 for lands lost to settlers and the U.S. government in the 19th Century. Congress funded it two years later and since then the money has sat in trust, accruing interest. The money's distribution has been blocked by a group of Western Shoshones led by northern Nevada ranchers Mary and Carrie Dann, who say the Shoshone people should get their land returned rather than monetary compensation....
Interstate Stream Commission releases water purchase contracts The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission is releasing contracts to purchase land and water rights along the Pecos River. The contracts are part of the state’s multimillion-dollar program to retire water rights along the river to increase required flows into Texas. The commission has received more than 160 bids from landowners offering to sell more than 27,000 acres of land and water rights....
Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on The Klamath Project House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) announced today that the Committee will hold a field hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the Endangered Species Act. The hearing, to be held at 9:00 a.m. on July 17 at the Ross Reglund Theatre in downtown Klamath Falls, will cover the Endangered Species Act's impact on the Klamath Project, one of the nation's oldest federal irrigation projects. The Klamath Project was the subject of international coverage in 2001 when Endangered Species Act regulations protecting sucker fish and coho salmon forced the bulk of the project to virtually shut down its water delivery system for almost the entire growing season. Local business leaders estimate that the termination of water deliveries in 2001 inflicted $200 million worth of economic damage on the Klamath Basin community....
Groups sue to stop grazing near Yellowstone Three environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service, hoping to stop cattle grazing on 48,000 acres of high-elevation meadows west of Yellowstone National Park. Filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, the lawsuit objects to 11 grazing allotments in the southern Gravelly Mountains on the grounds that they pose a risk to migrating grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer and antelope - and have already eliminated sage grouse. "The Forest Service has been converting the sagebrush-grassland habitat in Antelope Basin to grazing pasture since the 1960s by spraying herbicides and burning," said Sara Johnson of the Native Ecosystems Council....
Bush campaign criticizes Kerry's opposition to forest policy Sen. John Kerry's criticism of increasing logging in national forests to ease wildfire threats shows how badly his brand of environmentalism is out of step with most Westerners, the Bush-Cheney campaign said Wednesday. Kerry's campaign countered that the Bush administration's forest policy is aimed more at bolstering timber industry profits than protecting communities from fires....
Forest health The House Resources Committee held a hearing on House Resolution 3102, authored by congressman Steve Pearce. The bill seeks to address rangeland health and grazing on Forest Service lands. HR 3102 would require the secretary of agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with the Southwestern region land grant universities — New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and the University of Arizona — to conduct studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 on Forest Service lands in Arizona and New Mexico....
Danger for off-roaders in the Burro Mountains Driving all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles in the Burro Mountains has become more dangerous because of hazards someone is putting on trails. Off-roaders in the Gila National Forest southwest of Silver City recently have encountered nails, wires and large rocks "strategically placed" in an apparent attempt to injure people, according to Dave Donaldson, owner of Copper Country ATV & Cycle of Silver City. "These are ecoterrorists," he said. "They're basically trying to kill somebody."....
In protest, Rainbow folks to get naked Rainbow Family members unhappy with the Forest Service's ban on nudity at the remote gathering site in the South Warner Mountains plan to reveal their frustrations with a "nude-in." The Modoc National Forest has banned nudity at the gathering, called the "Rainbow Gathering of the Living Light." As of this morning, Forest Service officials conservatively estimated more than 3,500 people are at the gathering site, with license plates from 32 states and participants from Israel, Canada, Costa Rica and Austria. From 8,000 to 20,000 people are expected, with the peak numbers likely by Sunday....
Greenpeace ship visiting to 'liberate U.S. forests' WHO: The Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, her crew, members of the Greenpeace Forest Campaign, and local experts on the Biscuit salvage sale and proposed new regional protected areas. WHAT: Free public tours of the Arctic Sunrise. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet the crew of the ship as well as Greenpeace forest campaigners who have been on the frontline protecting national forests around the country, including most recently in Oregon. Visitors will see compelling visual tours of this country’s endangered forests, including images from Greenpeace’s exploration of Alaska’s rainforest last year....
Wildlife consultant to draft wolf plan Members of an advisory group trying to write a Utah wolf management plan have made little progress in six previous meetings. After another morning of disagreement Tuesday, Utah's Wolf Working Group decided to allow a Wyoming wildlife consultant to come up with a basic outline. Then the 13-member volunteer panel of academics, hunters, wolf advocates, farmers, ranchers and county government officials will form smaller groups to attempt to reach consensus on a plan....
COMMISSIONERS QUESTION WILDERNESS EXPANSION PLAN The U.S. Forest Service's rationale to add 64,000 acres to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was a hot topic during a meeting Friday organized by Curry County Commissioner Marlyn Schafer. Schafer said she was concerned that by expanding the wilderness area it would hinder the Forest Service from fighting future fires there because of federal restrictions placed on land designated a wilderness....
Lawmakers seek details on Biscuit wilderness proposal Nearly a month after the Bush administration announced plans for new federal wilderness within the area burned by the massive 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon, officials have released few details. No legislation has been submitted to Congress, nor have maps or detailed descriptions of the areas being targeted been distributed, beyond a general summary of 64,000 acres near the existing Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in southwestern Oregon. Two Democratic members of Congress say it's time for the administration to put forward the details....
Thune proposes adding to buffer in prairie dog plan U.S. Senate candidate John Thune has proposed a one-mile buffer zone on federal grasslands to keep prairie dogs from encroaching onto private rangeland. The Republican said Tuesday he would renew his efforts to amend the federal Endangered Species Act and to oppose the listing of prairie dogs as a threatened species. But a more urgent issue is preventing prairie dogs from spreading onto private land, he said. If elected, Thune said he would work with the U.S. Forest Service to establish a one-mile prairie dog buffer zone on federal land that borders private rangeland....
USFS rejects Chugach wilderness appeal The U.S. Forest Service denied appeals from a coalition of groups unhappy with the plan for Alaska's Chugach National Forest, the country's second-largest national forest. The coalition appealed the 2002 Chugach land management plan, which is a blueprint on how the federal agency administers the 5.5 million-acre forest that flanks Anchorage. They challenged the plan, which guides management for roughly the next 15 years, on a number of fronts. Among their gripes were that the plan allows snowmachines and helicopters in too many areas of the forest and does not adequately protect Kenai Peninsula brown bears....
Saving the silence at Waldo Lake Three years ago, the U.S. Forest Service tried to make silence the law of the lake, forbidding any gasoline engines from operating on Waldo's pristine waters. Boaters protested, and the agency withdrew the plan to make changes. Although the Forest Service still would prefer to prohibit gas-powered boats on the lake, it has a new plan with a compromise option: Restrict the use of older, noisier boat engines, but allow the cleanest gas engines on the lake for part of the summer. The proposal also includes provisions to curb damage from lakefront camping....
Big Hole River flows increasing The water level in the Big Hole River is beginning to climb as more irrigators shut off their ditches as part of a unique federal program that pays them not to water their fields. As of Tuesday morning, a measuring station at Wisdom showed a flow of 159 cubic feet per second, up more than five-fold from a 30 cfs flow last Friday. Rains helped -- other rivers in the region also climbed over the weekend. But the Big Hole took a big spike on Sunday and Monday when ranchers started closing more headgates....
USDA Announces $26M Wetlands Project Persistent flooding of their corn and soybean fields led Robert and Verneel Noerrlinger to return 535 acres to wetlands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging other landowners along the Missouri River in Nebraska to consider doing the same. This week, the Noerrlingers' property was the site chosen by the USDA to announce a project that makes $26 million available through 2007 to restore 18,200 acres of wetlands along the river from Ponca to Rulo, some 200 miles running the entire length of the state....
Bison Range agreement reached The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said Wednesday they have accepted a proposal for the tribal government to assume significant management responsibilities for the 18,000-acre National Bison Range in Moiese. They also would gain control of specific other federal properties now administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Flathead Reservation. The new agreement could take effect as early as Jan. 1, 2005....
New deadline set for snowmobile rules A federal judge in Washington has given the National Park Service until early- to mid-November at the latest to set the rules for snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Wednesday that the Bush Administration must have a winter use plan in place for the parks no later than 30 days before trail grooming starts. Typically, grooming starts in early- to mid-December....
Climbers Find Frozen Body on Mt. McKinley Climbers poking around a high-elevation camp on Mount McKinley discovered a human foot sticking out of the snow. Rangers dug out the frozen corpse of a man who died 35 years ago. Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said the body was that of Gary Cole, 32, of Cody, Wyo., who died of acute mountain sickness June 19, 1969. Identification was made by his wedding band and a watch with a calendar dated June 1969, the Park Service said....
Yosemite Land Grant Signed 140 Years Ago Yosemite National Park is marking the 140th anniversary of the signing of the Yosemite Land Grant. On June 30, 1864, the United States granted the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California through this piece of legislation. The Yosemite Land Grant was signed by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. It was the first time land was preserved for its scenic values and for public benefit. This one act is the basis for the later concept of the national park and state park systems....
Archaeologist's dream Archaeologists took reporters into an ancient world Wednesday that has remained secret for half a century. They viewed half a dozen unspoiled villages of ancient Fremont Indians that lie half-buried along 12 miles of pretty little stream in a canyon cutting through the Book Cliff Mountains. When Utah State Archaeologist Kevin Jones first saw it two years ago, he felt like the luckiest archaeologist alive....
High court ruling could end dispute over use of wild lands A Supreme Court ruling last week could end eight years of litigation over seven Montana wilderness study areas. On June 21, the court returned a lawsuit filed by the Montana Wilderness Association against the Forest Service over management of the state's wilderness study areas to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The environmental group had argued that the Forest Service had failed to maintain the wilderness character of the areas by allowing increased motorized use....
Wild fight: Battle for wilderness designations still undecided after decades of debate For 27 years, about 1 million acres of Montana wildlands have been locked in a legal "Twilight Zone." Clifton Merritt helped bolt the door, but he never imagined Montana would lose the key. It was in 1977 that Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont., pushed legislation through Congress to create the Montana Wilderness Study Act. The act protected 10 Montana roadless areas, maintaining each area's "wilderness characteristics" as they existed then. At the time, Merritt was field director for The Wilderness Society....
Nine-Mile drilling plans concern judge, but so does threat of delay A federal judge said Monday that he is concerned that natural gas exploration could damage American Indian artifacts near Utah's Nine-Mile Canyon, but expressed misgivings about forcing delays in the project. By some estimates, there are 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas beneath the canyon and surrounding plateaus, and Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. has been given a go-ahead from the Interior Department to search for it. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other environmental groups which sued over the decision argued that any exploration could damage relics that are so abundant that the area has been referred to as an "outdoor museum."....
Elite fire team back 10 years after tragedy The Prineville, Ore., Hotshots, the elite firefighters whose ranks were shattered 10 years ago in the fatal Storm King fire, are back in Glenwood Springs. But they're not fighting a fire. At least not yet. Instead, the 20-person crew was hard at work Monday on nearby Lookout Mountain, thinning trees and brush as part of a fuel-reduction project. Steven Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said the Upper Colorado Basin's severe fire danger called for stationing a Hotshot crew to respond quickly to new fires, and with the 10-year anniversary of the Storm King tragedy coming up next week, "They were appropriate."....
Western Shoshone claim bill sails through Congress A bill calling for the release of money awarded to the Western Shoshone people 27 years ago sailed through Congress last week and is now only a presidential signature away from becoming official. The Indian Claims Commission awarded $26 million to the Western Shoshone in 1977 for lands lost to settlers and the U.S. government in the 19th Century. Congress funded it two years later and since then the money has sat in trust, accruing interest. The money's distribution has been blocked by a group of Western Shoshones led by northern Nevada ranchers Mary and Carrie Dann, who say the Shoshone people should get their land returned rather than monetary compensation....
Interstate Stream Commission releases water purchase contracts The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission is releasing contracts to purchase land and water rights along the Pecos River. The contracts are part of the state’s multimillion-dollar program to retire water rights along the river to increase required flows into Texas. The commission has received more than 160 bids from landowners offering to sell more than 27,000 acres of land and water rights....
Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on The Klamath Project House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) announced today that the Committee will hold a field hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the Endangered Species Act. The hearing, to be held at 9:00 a.m. on July 17 at the Ross Reglund Theatre in downtown Klamath Falls, will cover the Endangered Species Act's impact on the Klamath Project, one of the nation's oldest federal irrigation projects. The Klamath Project was the subject of international coverage in 2001 when Endangered Species Act regulations protecting sucker fish and coho salmon forced the bulk of the project to virtually shut down its water delivery system for almost the entire growing season. Local business leaders estimate that the termination of water deliveries in 2001 inflicted $200 million worth of economic damage on the Klamath Basin community....
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Retailers, Consumers Hungry for Organic Beef
Organic beef producers, once distant outsiders in the $175 billion a year U.S. beef industry, are poised to grab a larger bite of the market this year. Sales of the specialty meat, from cattle that are not fed antibiotics, hormones or animal bi-products, are soaring, thanks to diet trends, the discovery of mad cow disease in Washington state last December and word of mouth. The surge has prompted many in the fledgling industry to boost production to meet growing demand from major U.S. grocers, such as Whole Foods Market Inc., which have been unable to obtain an adequate supply of organic beef to keep their shelves stocked....
Column: Where will we get our food? We take for granted that all we have to do is go to the grocery store or restaurant for food. We are spoiled. Anything we want to eat at any time is available and we tend to forget where the food actually comes from. Our bread and cereal comes from wheat, corn or grains. We eat fresh, frozen or canned fruits, vegetables and juices. Even pizza is a combination of grains, meats, vegetables. Some form of soybean is in many of our food items. Of course all dairy and meat items are produced on the land where the animals are fed grain and hay. The American public should understand that before conservation easements, wetlands, open space, green space, heritage preservation areas, parks, refuges, floodplains and all the other land preservation programs take over, we need to ask, "What will I eat when this land is no longer producing food?"....
Big Island cowgirl riding toward national finals Jaymie Loando has always been a natural rider, at ease in the saddle and unafraid. She is also comfortable in competition, emerging this year at age 15 at the top of the Hawai'i High School Rodeo Association. Now comes the real test, at the National High School Finals Rodeo next month in Gillette, Wyo. Loando's coach, teacher and aunt, Sabrina Matsumoto, remembers when Loando first began to compete as a rider in the keiki rodeo at age 3. It was a near-perfect fit....
Starr Country rancher goes from bullfighter to bull breeder Mexican matador Pepe Luis Vasquez left a lasting impression on Fred Renk. As a seminarian in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1952, Renk attended a bullfight in which Vasquez valiantly fought a bull for nearly two hours at the Plaza de Toros Esperanza. As the fight drew to an end, Vasquez waved his muleta, or cape, with his left hand and aimed a sword with his right....
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame Class of 2005 Four individuals and two horses will be inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame during the 2005 American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Convention March 11-15 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at Union Station in St. Louis, Mo. The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame was established in 1975 to honor people and horses instrumental in the development of the breed and the AQHA. Induction into the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors bestowed by AQHA. The six 2004 Hall of Fame inductees include:....
Summer heating up for rider Mortensen Dan Mortensen's summer of leisure has come to an abrupt end. For the next two months, the Billings cowboy is putting the pedal to the metal. During the winter rodeo season, Mortensen and his fiancée Darla Schierbaum - they plan to be married Oct. 29 in her hometown of Kansas City - took their time traveling from event to event. The ramble through the arenas paid off. Mortensen had one of his best winters ever, including consecutive saddle bronc victories at the Calgary winter rodeo and Austin, Texas....
Tight schedules leave cowboys little room for travel errors A clear difference between rodeo and mainstream sports is that rodeo competitors must strategically plan and budget their travel. Pro football and basketball players have no input in scheduling or paying their way to their games. That's taken care of by the corporate offices of the leagues and franchises. But in rodeo, even the sport's most gifted athletes have to account for their own travel expenses and plan their itineraries....
Retailers, Consumers Hungry for Organic Beef
Organic beef producers, once distant outsiders in the $175 billion a year U.S. beef industry, are poised to grab a larger bite of the market this year. Sales of the specialty meat, from cattle that are not fed antibiotics, hormones or animal bi-products, are soaring, thanks to diet trends, the discovery of mad cow disease in Washington state last December and word of mouth. The surge has prompted many in the fledgling industry to boost production to meet growing demand from major U.S. grocers, such as Whole Foods Market Inc., which have been unable to obtain an adequate supply of organic beef to keep their shelves stocked....
Column: Where will we get our food? We take for granted that all we have to do is go to the grocery store or restaurant for food. We are spoiled. Anything we want to eat at any time is available and we tend to forget where the food actually comes from. Our bread and cereal comes from wheat, corn or grains. We eat fresh, frozen or canned fruits, vegetables and juices. Even pizza is a combination of grains, meats, vegetables. Some form of soybean is in many of our food items. Of course all dairy and meat items are produced on the land where the animals are fed grain and hay. The American public should understand that before conservation easements, wetlands, open space, green space, heritage preservation areas, parks, refuges, floodplains and all the other land preservation programs take over, we need to ask, "What will I eat when this land is no longer producing food?"....
Big Island cowgirl riding toward national finals Jaymie Loando has always been a natural rider, at ease in the saddle and unafraid. She is also comfortable in competition, emerging this year at age 15 at the top of the Hawai'i High School Rodeo Association. Now comes the real test, at the National High School Finals Rodeo next month in Gillette, Wyo. Loando's coach, teacher and aunt, Sabrina Matsumoto, remembers when Loando first began to compete as a rider in the keiki rodeo at age 3. It was a near-perfect fit....
Starr Country rancher goes from bullfighter to bull breeder Mexican matador Pepe Luis Vasquez left a lasting impression on Fred Renk. As a seminarian in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1952, Renk attended a bullfight in which Vasquez valiantly fought a bull for nearly two hours at the Plaza de Toros Esperanza. As the fight drew to an end, Vasquez waved his muleta, or cape, with his left hand and aimed a sword with his right....
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame Class of 2005 Four individuals and two horses will be inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame during the 2005 American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Convention March 11-15 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at Union Station in St. Louis, Mo. The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame was established in 1975 to honor people and horses instrumental in the development of the breed and the AQHA. Induction into the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors bestowed by AQHA. The six 2004 Hall of Fame inductees include:....
Summer heating up for rider Mortensen Dan Mortensen's summer of leisure has come to an abrupt end. For the next two months, the Billings cowboy is putting the pedal to the metal. During the winter rodeo season, Mortensen and his fiancée Darla Schierbaum - they plan to be married Oct. 29 in her hometown of Kansas City - took their time traveling from event to event. The ramble through the arenas paid off. Mortensen had one of his best winters ever, including consecutive saddle bronc victories at the Calgary winter rodeo and Austin, Texas....
Tight schedules leave cowboys little room for travel errors A clear difference between rodeo and mainstream sports is that rodeo competitors must strategically plan and budget their travel. Pro football and basketball players have no input in scheduling or paying their way to their games. That's taken care of by the corporate offices of the leagues and franchises. But in rodeo, even the sport's most gifted athletes have to account for their own travel expenses and plan their itineraries....
MAD COW DISEASE
U.S. Says Finds Negative Result to Mad Cow Test
A suspect animal tested negative for mad cow disease in a second round of testing, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday.
The additional tests were ordered after an inconclusive or possible positive test was found last Friday in an animal sent to slaughter.
"That particular result is negative for BSE (news - web sites) on confirmatory testing," John Clifford, the department's chief veterinarian, told reporters. BSE stands for the formal name of mad cow disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The department has cautioned that its new rapid tests to detect the brain-wasting disease are likely to produce false positives.
The department refused to disclose any details about the animal's age, sex or location. "If we do have a positive animal, we would be releasing information on those," Clifford said.
Clifford noted that the department was still awaiting the results of a second round of testing for another animal that produced an "inconclusive" test on Tuesday.
"No matter how the result comes back, USDA remains confident of the safety of the U.S. food supply," he said.
As of Monday, the department reported 8,585 negative tests for animals sent to slaughter this month.
Japanese Review U.S. Mad Cow Precautions
A delegation of Japanese officials toured northern Colorado packing plants and feedlots this week to review precautions against mad cow disease.
Japan bought about $1.2 billion in U.S. beef annually until mad cow was discovered in a cow in Washington state in December, prompting Japan to suspend U.S. beef imports.
American government and industry officials are anxious to convince Japan that sufficient safeguards are in place to keep the disease out of the food supply.
The 14-member Japanese delegation was meeting with American scientists and officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Members of the Japanese group declined comment. USDA spokesman Ed Loyd said the two sides were discussing mad cow disease, but he declined to offer specifics....
2nd possible mad cow case found
The Agriculture Department late Tuesday received a second "inconclusive" preliminary test indicating a carcass showing signs of mad cow disease, but officials cautioned the test is so sensitive it does not mean another case has been found.
It's the second such discovery in five days as part of the government's rapid screening program. The only confirmed mad cow case in this country was discovered in Washington state last December, prompting more sophisticated screening programs.
Tissue samples from the cow in the latest case were being sent to the department's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, so more conclusive tests can be run.
Federal officials emphasized the rapid screening tests - more than 7,000 have been conducted - are extremely sensitive and in themselves do not confirm a case of brain-wasting mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE....
U.S. Says Finds Negative Result to Mad Cow Test
A suspect animal tested negative for mad cow disease in a second round of testing, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday.
The additional tests were ordered after an inconclusive or possible positive test was found last Friday in an animal sent to slaughter.
"That particular result is negative for BSE (news - web sites) on confirmatory testing," John Clifford, the department's chief veterinarian, told reporters. BSE stands for the formal name of mad cow disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The department has cautioned that its new rapid tests to detect the brain-wasting disease are likely to produce false positives.
The department refused to disclose any details about the animal's age, sex or location. "If we do have a positive animal, we would be releasing information on those," Clifford said.
Clifford noted that the department was still awaiting the results of a second round of testing for another animal that produced an "inconclusive" test on Tuesday.
"No matter how the result comes back, USDA remains confident of the safety of the U.S. food supply," he said.
As of Monday, the department reported 8,585 negative tests for animals sent to slaughter this month.
Japanese Review U.S. Mad Cow Precautions
A delegation of Japanese officials toured northern Colorado packing plants and feedlots this week to review precautions against mad cow disease.
Japan bought about $1.2 billion in U.S. beef annually until mad cow was discovered in a cow in Washington state in December, prompting Japan to suspend U.S. beef imports.
American government and industry officials are anxious to convince Japan that sufficient safeguards are in place to keep the disease out of the food supply.
The 14-member Japanese delegation was meeting with American scientists and officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Members of the Japanese group declined comment. USDA spokesman Ed Loyd said the two sides were discussing mad cow disease, but he declined to offer specifics....
2nd possible mad cow case found
The Agriculture Department late Tuesday received a second "inconclusive" preliminary test indicating a carcass showing signs of mad cow disease, but officials cautioned the test is so sensitive it does not mean another case has been found.
It's the second such discovery in five days as part of the government's rapid screening program. The only confirmed mad cow case in this country was discovered in Washington state last December, prompting more sophisticated screening programs.
Tissue samples from the cow in the latest case were being sent to the department's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, so more conclusive tests can be run.
Federal officials emphasized the rapid screening tests - more than 7,000 have been conducted - are extremely sensitive and in themselves do not confirm a case of brain-wasting mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Boy Scouts sued for $14M over fire The federal government and the state of Utah sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday for nearly $14 million to recover the costs of a 2002 fire at a Scout camp. The lawsuit alleges that about 20 Boy Scouts ages 11 to 14 were left without adult supervision for a night outside an approved campground. Some of the boys built fires that were left to smolder and spread across more than 14,000 acres, the lawsuit says. U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner said the complaint seeks $13.3 million for the federal costs of fighting the fire and reclamation of the charred land in the Uinta Mountains. The state is asking for more than $600,000 to cover its firefighting expenses....
Prairie Dogs Still Plague Ranchers They might look cute, but prairie dogs can take perfectly healthy grazing fields, and reduce them to dirt. Rancher, Monte Whitcher says, “Well, they keep stripping it and taking the grass off. When they first infest an area they chop all the grass down and keep it low and they eat the short grass and the grass roots.” To rancher's like Whitcher, the fight against prairie dogs is a daily struggle, but what is perhaps even more frustrating is the feeling of helplessness. “Since 1996 there hasn't been any control work done in our area, on the forest service, and the prairie dog towns are getting pretty sick.”....
Column: Remember, and celebrate, wilderness laws Celebrate! In this time of political polarization, Oregonians should take a pleasant moment to celebrate something quintessentially American: our successes in preserving Oregon's wilderness heritage. It was 20 years ago this month that President Ronald Reagan signed the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984. That law was the product of bipartisan effort by our congressional delegation, backed by widespread citizen support and solid professional work by the U.S. Forest Service. And there is more to celebrate. On Sept. 3, the nation will mark the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the historic conservation law that made possible the permanent protection of wilderness by law....
Forest thinning appeals denied The Coconino National Forest rejected two appeals Monday filed by five environmental groups on a forest restoration project southwest of Flagstaff -- and one group does not anticipate a lawsuit because of another legal resolution. Coconino County Deputy Forest Supervisor Joe Stringer said he is upholding the Woody Ridge Forest Restoration Project, the third of 10 projects planned for the Flagstaff region in order to prevent the outbreak of catastrophic wildfire in the overgrown forest....
Large tankers missing as crews tackle flames Nearly two months after the nation's 33 largest firefighting air tankers were grounded because of safety concerns, wildfires like the one burning in rugged terrain seven miles southwest of Payson are being fought differently in Arizona and across the country. Firefighters say they have had to shift strategies since the air tankers were pulled from service on May 10, possibly for the entire wildfire season. Smaller aircraft, like Fletcher's single-engine, fixed-wing plane, are taking center stage in the battle to control wildfires....
Plan could lead to purchase of park About $35 million generated by a recent auction of federal land near Las Vegas would be used to purchase prime Lake Tahoe real estate under a proposal recommended by federal officials. Plans call for the U.S. Forest Service to use the money to purchase about 490 acres of the 548-acre Ponderosa Ranch amusement park in Incline Village. The Ponderosa Ranch, which opened in 1968, was based on the NBC show “Bonanza” that aired from 1950 to 1973. It concerned the exploits of the Cartwright family who lived on the fictional Ponderosa Ranch....
Battle lines on Yampa What has raised the 56-year-old Basalt resident's concern - along with that of many other northwest Colorado anglers - is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife-initiated program, accelerated this year, to remove as many sportfish as possible from a long stretch of the Yampa River inhabited by several species of endangered native fish. Officials fear these exotics eat young native fish and, in some cases, compete for habitat and food. Thus far, an electrofishing-transplant program joined this year by the Colorado Division of Wildlife has moved about 3,000 pike and bass from the river to various stillwater locations in the region. The ancestors of these sportfish escaped into the river years ago from Elkhead Reservoir, one of the places the recently captured fish are being returned....
School Might Move Because Of Endangered Bat An endangered bat found at a construction site for a new high school might force city officials to find another location for the school. The $44 million, 123-acre Lakeside High School construction project in Saybrook Township has been on hold since a survey by a private company hired by the school earlier this month found 16 bats near the property. Among the animals was a pregnant Indiana bat that is an endangered species. On Monday, officials from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers met with Superintendent William Licate and three school board members to discuss plans to try to work around the obstacle. At best, the $44 million construction project will be on hold for at least three months for a second survey....
Commissioner fined in wolf shooting A Valley County commissioner will pay a fine of $750 for his role in the shooting death of a wolf. Wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act. A Valley County Commissioner has been fined for his role in the shooting death of a wolf near Cascade. The animal was found dead at Phil Davis’ ranch north of Cascade. Davis' hired hand Jerry Ussery was also fined $750. Ussery says he shot the wolf May 24 when he saw the predator running near cows and their calves....
Column: A Tale of Two Rivers The Russian River begins as a trickle in the pine-studded hills at the far end of Redwood Valley, a dozen or so miles north of Ukiah. It's not much to speak of, this narrow, meandering rivulet; in some places, it's possible to easily step across from one bank to the other. Fed by the creeks and culverts etched into the hillsides, the stream gradually gains breadth, if not depth, as it courses south, where just past the lumberyards of Ukiah, the main stem joins forces with its east fork, and the Russian River, at least as we commonly perceive it, begins. Picking up speed and volume, the thick band of olive-drab water winds through southern Mendocino County, farms and vineyards suckling its banks, and enters Sonoma County just north of Cloverdale....
Column: The Green Fever Subsides We all know that polls are just snapshots of a moment in time, taking the pulse of public opinion on some subject. A recent one by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, however, produced some encouraging news. Of 1,000 people polled, just over half said that while protecting the environment is important, it is more important to keep the economy growing. Despite their rhetoric, the environmentalists who keep the movement going with countless organizations, by lobbying the government, and with a constant propaganda program, care little about a healthy, growing, successful economy. They say they do, but so much of what passes for environmentalism is actually a constant attack on the most basic elements of the nation's economy....
Ruling upholds temporary protection for pygmy owl A federal judge has ruled that the pygmy owl will stay protected until at least late January while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determines if the owl's listing as an endangered species is scientifically valid. Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is a victory for environmentalists, who have sought to protect the owl as a way of saving some of Pima County's forests from developers....
IBWC seeks land to further flood-control project The International Boundary and Water Commission will meet with landowners today to discuss purchasing their property as part of a plan to protect wildlife and control flooding along the Rio Grande. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report issued April 2002, the U.S. sector of the IBWC must implement vegetation management practices before a flood-control project begins in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties. A biological opinion given in May 2003 by FWS also requires IBWC to acquire 108-foot wide conservation easements adjacent to the Rio Grande. The easements include a 75-foot wide cleared maintenance strip for flood control and a 33-foot wide conservation corridor for local wildlife, said Ernesto Reyes, a FWS biologist for ecological services....
Babbitt blasts feds for NPR-A proposals Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Tuesday ripped federal officials over plans to possibly open protected land inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil drillers. Babbitt, who served during the Clinton presidency and now works as a private attorney, said in a Washington, D.C., news conference hosted by environmental groups that he closed acreage centering on giant Teshekpuk Lake for good, scientific reasons in 1998, and now the Bush administration is trying to undo some of those protections....
The Casper Star Tribune, the Billings Gazette and several other websites were down for maintenance. Will try to get those stories up tomorrow.
Boy Scouts sued for $14M over fire The federal government and the state of Utah sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday for nearly $14 million to recover the costs of a 2002 fire at a Scout camp. The lawsuit alleges that about 20 Boy Scouts ages 11 to 14 were left without adult supervision for a night outside an approved campground. Some of the boys built fires that were left to smolder and spread across more than 14,000 acres, the lawsuit says. U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner said the complaint seeks $13.3 million for the federal costs of fighting the fire and reclamation of the charred land in the Uinta Mountains. The state is asking for more than $600,000 to cover its firefighting expenses....
Prairie Dogs Still Plague Ranchers They might look cute, but prairie dogs can take perfectly healthy grazing fields, and reduce them to dirt. Rancher, Monte Whitcher says, “Well, they keep stripping it and taking the grass off. When they first infest an area they chop all the grass down and keep it low and they eat the short grass and the grass roots.” To rancher's like Whitcher, the fight against prairie dogs is a daily struggle, but what is perhaps even more frustrating is the feeling of helplessness. “Since 1996 there hasn't been any control work done in our area, on the forest service, and the prairie dog towns are getting pretty sick.”....
Column: Remember, and celebrate, wilderness laws Celebrate! In this time of political polarization, Oregonians should take a pleasant moment to celebrate something quintessentially American: our successes in preserving Oregon's wilderness heritage. It was 20 years ago this month that President Ronald Reagan signed the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984. That law was the product of bipartisan effort by our congressional delegation, backed by widespread citizen support and solid professional work by the U.S. Forest Service. And there is more to celebrate. On Sept. 3, the nation will mark the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the historic conservation law that made possible the permanent protection of wilderness by law....
Forest thinning appeals denied The Coconino National Forest rejected two appeals Monday filed by five environmental groups on a forest restoration project southwest of Flagstaff -- and one group does not anticipate a lawsuit because of another legal resolution. Coconino County Deputy Forest Supervisor Joe Stringer said he is upholding the Woody Ridge Forest Restoration Project, the third of 10 projects planned for the Flagstaff region in order to prevent the outbreak of catastrophic wildfire in the overgrown forest....
Large tankers missing as crews tackle flames Nearly two months after the nation's 33 largest firefighting air tankers were grounded because of safety concerns, wildfires like the one burning in rugged terrain seven miles southwest of Payson are being fought differently in Arizona and across the country. Firefighters say they have had to shift strategies since the air tankers were pulled from service on May 10, possibly for the entire wildfire season. Smaller aircraft, like Fletcher's single-engine, fixed-wing plane, are taking center stage in the battle to control wildfires....
Plan could lead to purchase of park About $35 million generated by a recent auction of federal land near Las Vegas would be used to purchase prime Lake Tahoe real estate under a proposal recommended by federal officials. Plans call for the U.S. Forest Service to use the money to purchase about 490 acres of the 548-acre Ponderosa Ranch amusement park in Incline Village. The Ponderosa Ranch, which opened in 1968, was based on the NBC show “Bonanza” that aired from 1950 to 1973. It concerned the exploits of the Cartwright family who lived on the fictional Ponderosa Ranch....
Battle lines on Yampa What has raised the 56-year-old Basalt resident's concern - along with that of many other northwest Colorado anglers - is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife-initiated program, accelerated this year, to remove as many sportfish as possible from a long stretch of the Yampa River inhabited by several species of endangered native fish. Officials fear these exotics eat young native fish and, in some cases, compete for habitat and food. Thus far, an electrofishing-transplant program joined this year by the Colorado Division of Wildlife has moved about 3,000 pike and bass from the river to various stillwater locations in the region. The ancestors of these sportfish escaped into the river years ago from Elkhead Reservoir, one of the places the recently captured fish are being returned....
School Might Move Because Of Endangered Bat An endangered bat found at a construction site for a new high school might force city officials to find another location for the school. The $44 million, 123-acre Lakeside High School construction project in Saybrook Township has been on hold since a survey by a private company hired by the school earlier this month found 16 bats near the property. Among the animals was a pregnant Indiana bat that is an endangered species. On Monday, officials from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers met with Superintendent William Licate and three school board members to discuss plans to try to work around the obstacle. At best, the $44 million construction project will be on hold for at least three months for a second survey....
Commissioner fined in wolf shooting A Valley County commissioner will pay a fine of $750 for his role in the shooting death of a wolf. Wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act. A Valley County Commissioner has been fined for his role in the shooting death of a wolf near Cascade. The animal was found dead at Phil Davis’ ranch north of Cascade. Davis' hired hand Jerry Ussery was also fined $750. Ussery says he shot the wolf May 24 when he saw the predator running near cows and their calves....
Column: A Tale of Two Rivers The Russian River begins as a trickle in the pine-studded hills at the far end of Redwood Valley, a dozen or so miles north of Ukiah. It's not much to speak of, this narrow, meandering rivulet; in some places, it's possible to easily step across from one bank to the other. Fed by the creeks and culverts etched into the hillsides, the stream gradually gains breadth, if not depth, as it courses south, where just past the lumberyards of Ukiah, the main stem joins forces with its east fork, and the Russian River, at least as we commonly perceive it, begins. Picking up speed and volume, the thick band of olive-drab water winds through southern Mendocino County, farms and vineyards suckling its banks, and enters Sonoma County just north of Cloverdale....
Column: The Green Fever Subsides We all know that polls are just snapshots of a moment in time, taking the pulse of public opinion on some subject. A recent one by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, however, produced some encouraging news. Of 1,000 people polled, just over half said that while protecting the environment is important, it is more important to keep the economy growing. Despite their rhetoric, the environmentalists who keep the movement going with countless organizations, by lobbying the government, and with a constant propaganda program, care little about a healthy, growing, successful economy. They say they do, but so much of what passes for environmentalism is actually a constant attack on the most basic elements of the nation's economy....
Ruling upholds temporary protection for pygmy owl A federal judge has ruled that the pygmy owl will stay protected until at least late January while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determines if the owl's listing as an endangered species is scientifically valid. Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is a victory for environmentalists, who have sought to protect the owl as a way of saving some of Pima County's forests from developers....
IBWC seeks land to further flood-control project The International Boundary and Water Commission will meet with landowners today to discuss purchasing their property as part of a plan to protect wildlife and control flooding along the Rio Grande. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report issued April 2002, the U.S. sector of the IBWC must implement vegetation management practices before a flood-control project begins in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties. A biological opinion given in May 2003 by FWS also requires IBWC to acquire 108-foot wide conservation easements adjacent to the Rio Grande. The easements include a 75-foot wide cleared maintenance strip for flood control and a 33-foot wide conservation corridor for local wildlife, said Ernesto Reyes, a FWS biologist for ecological services....
Babbitt blasts feds for NPR-A proposals Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Tuesday ripped federal officials over plans to possibly open protected land inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil drillers. Babbitt, who served during the Clinton presidency and now works as a private attorney, said in a Washington, D.C., news conference hosted by environmental groups that he closed acreage centering on giant Teshekpuk Lake for good, scientific reasons in 1998, and now the Bush administration is trying to undo some of those protections....
The Casper Star Tribune, the Billings Gazette and several other websites were down for maintenance. Will try to get those stories up tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
National Forests Fall Victim to Firefighting By 2000, forest fires had reached historic proportions. That year and 2002 rank as two of the worst wild land-fire seasons in 50 years. In 2002 alone, 88,458 fires burned roughly 7 million acres in states including New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona, destroying more than 800 structures and killing 23 firefighters. Although the Forest Service has just begun to use its new powers under the act, the agency is pursuing a new forest fire strategy across the country. It estimates that 191 million acres of federal land, out of a total of 800 million, pose a fire risk. This sort of analysis has helped fuel the shift in federal policy in areas beyond the 20 million acres directly subject to the act, and it is alarming environmentalists who are trying to keep national forests off-limits to loggers....
Plan to purge fish released After more than three years in development, the state and the Bonneville Power Administration have rolled out a draft plan for purging non-native fish from 21 alpine lakes in the South Fork Flathead drainage. The state and BPA have released a draft environmental impact statement that lays out details for a project that will involve helicopters, single-engine air tankers and horse packing to deliver fish toxins to the lakes. the plan has been controversial since it was first proposed in 2001....
Forest Service May Use ISO 14001 Instead of Impact Statements The U.S. Forest Service could change a practice that dates back to the early 1980s and forego the environmental impact statement process in the plans required for each of its national forests and grasslands. Instead, the service would require that forest planners would use environmental management systems that conform to the ISO 14001 international EMS standard to address environmental issues and ensure compliance with laws, according to an upcoming article in The Environmental Forum. The article, published by the Environmental Law Institute, is written by the career Forest Service employee in charge of a rulemaking to replace the existing planning regulation....
Column: Risky Business of Fighting Wildfires The 2004 fire season has not yet truly begun in the West, and already three fire-fighting pilots have died in crashes. While investigations into the causes of the accidents are underway, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself crushed between a rock and a hot place. On May 11, with aerial tanker-training in full swing, top-ranking administrators in the Forest Service pulled the rug out from under the agency's tanker contractors and regional fire managers. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth declared all large tanker contracts null and void, leaving a gaping hole in the bag of tools needed to fight wildland fires. The impetus behind his decision was a horrifying video accompanied by a National Transportation Safety Board report on the catastrophic failure of wings on two aerial tankers that crashed in 2002. All crew members aboard the planes died....
Firefighters injured by lightning strike Four firefighters were hospitalized after lightning impacted the ground near the Noon Fire on Thursday afternoon. Forest Service Public Relations Officer Gail Aschenbrenner said Scott Gorman and Jeff Every, both members of the Dalton Interagency Hotshot Crew, were sent to the Mount Graham Regional Medical Center after lightning struck the ground near them. The crew is based in Southern California....
Noah's modern ark: The role of ART in conserving endangered species Killer whales, giant pandas, cheetahs and black-footed ferrets are just some of the endangered species that are benefiting from advances in reproductive technology, the 20th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology will hear tomorrow (Monday 28 June). But, whereas in humans the focus of assisted reproductive technology (ART) is on producing a baby, amongst wildlife conservationists the focus is on the much more basic aim of simply understanding the fundamentals of reproduction in different species....
2 climbers die in rock slides A rock slide that unleashed boulders "the size of trucks" killed a climber and injured two other hikers as they descended Mount McKinley, authorities said. It was one of two deadly rock slides in the United States over the weekend. In Alaska, four climbers were attached by rope at 13,000 feet when giant boulders began raining down on them Sunday. Two men suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while a fourth, a guide, was not injured....
Babbitt, Finley push park politics Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Mike Finley criticized the Bush administration's stewardship of the national parks on Monday.
"President Bush has broken his promise," said Babbitt, who served during the Clinton administration, during a conference call organized by the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry....
U.S. Park Police Chief Sues To End Limbo Status U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers wants to go back to work. To make that happen, she has filed a complaint before a federal civil service judge, seeking immediate reinstatement to her job, according to a complaint released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Chambers was placed on paid administrative leave in December, after publicly complaining about budget and staffing. National Park Service Deputy Director Don Murphy stripped Chambers of her badge, sidearm and law enforcement credentials. She was also ordered not to give any interviews....
All-Employee Memo to Counter the "Chambers Effect" Even as it seeks to remove its top law enforcement officer for speaking with the Washington Post, the National Park Service has issued an email to all its employees assuring them of their "absolute" right to report "wrongdoing or mismanagement," according to the memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)....
California's perilous mining legacy Such accidents underscore the hazardous legacy of some 47,000 abandoned mines throughout California, some dating to the Gold Rush of 1849, state and federal authorities say. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have an estimated 15,000 abandoned mines. The state has started identifying the most hazardous mines and gating, plugging or filling their entrances, but the task is only minimally funded and is expected to take decades to finish....
Editorial: 'Cultural resources' Due to five years of record drought, the level of Lake Mead has dropped 80 feet, bringing into shallow water or right up into view artifacts and ruins that have not been seen since the lake began to fill, decades ago. Sixty miles northeast of Las Vegas, building foundations in the town of St. Thomas -- swallowed by the growing lake in 1938 -- are now high and dry. As a result, there have already been incidents of looting and vandalism in some of the newly exposed areas, according to Rosie Pepito, cultural resources manager for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Relic hunters have been arrested amidst the ruined concrete foundations, according to recreation area archaeologist Steve Daron. "There's been a problem with people using metal detectors and digging stuff up," he says. So the Park Service is preparing a Submerged Cultural Resources Management Plan. What a bunch of bunk. Congress declared Lake Mead is a recreation area, not a protected archaeological site. The government had years to dig up and remove anything it wanted to preserve, 70 years ago -- and did so. If there is no longer any water over St. Thomas to allow swimming or boating, what form of "recreation" other than relic hunting do the rangers now submit it's good for? Druid solstice ceremonies?....
BLM worker’s mistake led to death of 7 horses Seven wild horses died in a remote Northeast Nevada enclosure because of a mistake by a Bureau of Land Management employee, an agency investigation found. In a statement released Monday, BLM officials said a worker failed to install proper gates that would have allowed the animals to leave a fenced weed treatment research area. Instead, the seven horses were trapped inside the enclosed area in May and died because of a lack of water....
White House help sought on N-dump In a letter, Private Fuel Storage Chairman John D. Parkyn asked the White House Task Force on Energy Policy Streamlining to force the Defense Department to complete a study on whether putting the nuclear waste near the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range might hinder the preparedness of the Air Force, which uses the range in Utah's west desert for combat practice. Until the congressionally mandated study is completed, the Interior Department cannot approve Private Fuel Storage's request to build a rail line across federal land to the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, where the company plans to store 40,000 tons of radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants....
Greenpeace vacates anti-logging camp, gets federal citation After two protests that temporarily blocked loggers from timber sales, Greenpeace dismantled the base camp for its southern Oregon campaign against old growth logging. The group also received a federal citation for staying too long on public lands. "Today is the last day of the rescue station, but it's just the beginning of our campaign in southern Oregon," Greenpeace campaigner Ginger Cassady told the Grants Pass Daily Courier on Monday....
Nevada leads U.S. in mercury release Nevada mines account for most of the mercury released into the environment in the United States, but the state no longer is No. 1 when it comes to the release of toxic substances, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. Alaska moved into the No. 1 spot, bumping the Silver State to second after four straight years in which Nevada was first. Metal mining, which churns up to the surface the intrinsic toxic substances in soil and rock, perpetually puts Western states atop the list....
National Forests Fall Victim to Firefighting By 2000, forest fires had reached historic proportions. That year and 2002 rank as two of the worst wild land-fire seasons in 50 years. In 2002 alone, 88,458 fires burned roughly 7 million acres in states including New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona, destroying more than 800 structures and killing 23 firefighters. Although the Forest Service has just begun to use its new powers under the act, the agency is pursuing a new forest fire strategy across the country. It estimates that 191 million acres of federal land, out of a total of 800 million, pose a fire risk. This sort of analysis has helped fuel the shift in federal policy in areas beyond the 20 million acres directly subject to the act, and it is alarming environmentalists who are trying to keep national forests off-limits to loggers....
Plan to purge fish released After more than three years in development, the state and the Bonneville Power Administration have rolled out a draft plan for purging non-native fish from 21 alpine lakes in the South Fork Flathead drainage. The state and BPA have released a draft environmental impact statement that lays out details for a project that will involve helicopters, single-engine air tankers and horse packing to deliver fish toxins to the lakes. the plan has been controversial since it was first proposed in 2001....
Forest Service May Use ISO 14001 Instead of Impact Statements The U.S. Forest Service could change a practice that dates back to the early 1980s and forego the environmental impact statement process in the plans required for each of its national forests and grasslands. Instead, the service would require that forest planners would use environmental management systems that conform to the ISO 14001 international EMS standard to address environmental issues and ensure compliance with laws, according to an upcoming article in The Environmental Forum. The article, published by the Environmental Law Institute, is written by the career Forest Service employee in charge of a rulemaking to replace the existing planning regulation....
Column: Risky Business of Fighting Wildfires The 2004 fire season has not yet truly begun in the West, and already three fire-fighting pilots have died in crashes. While investigations into the causes of the accidents are underway, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself crushed between a rock and a hot place. On May 11, with aerial tanker-training in full swing, top-ranking administrators in the Forest Service pulled the rug out from under the agency's tanker contractors and regional fire managers. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth declared all large tanker contracts null and void, leaving a gaping hole in the bag of tools needed to fight wildland fires. The impetus behind his decision was a horrifying video accompanied by a National Transportation Safety Board report on the catastrophic failure of wings on two aerial tankers that crashed in 2002. All crew members aboard the planes died....
Firefighters injured by lightning strike Four firefighters were hospitalized after lightning impacted the ground near the Noon Fire on Thursday afternoon. Forest Service Public Relations Officer Gail Aschenbrenner said Scott Gorman and Jeff Every, both members of the Dalton Interagency Hotshot Crew, were sent to the Mount Graham Regional Medical Center after lightning struck the ground near them. The crew is based in Southern California....
Noah's modern ark: The role of ART in conserving endangered species Killer whales, giant pandas, cheetahs and black-footed ferrets are just some of the endangered species that are benefiting from advances in reproductive technology, the 20th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology will hear tomorrow (Monday 28 June). But, whereas in humans the focus of assisted reproductive technology (ART) is on producing a baby, amongst wildlife conservationists the focus is on the much more basic aim of simply understanding the fundamentals of reproduction in different species....
2 climbers die in rock slides A rock slide that unleashed boulders "the size of trucks" killed a climber and injured two other hikers as they descended Mount McKinley, authorities said. It was one of two deadly rock slides in the United States over the weekend. In Alaska, four climbers were attached by rope at 13,000 feet when giant boulders began raining down on them Sunday. Two men suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while a fourth, a guide, was not injured....
Babbitt, Finley push park politics Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Mike Finley criticized the Bush administration's stewardship of the national parks on Monday.
"President Bush has broken his promise," said Babbitt, who served during the Clinton administration, during a conference call organized by the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry....
U.S. Park Police Chief Sues To End Limbo Status U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers wants to go back to work. To make that happen, she has filed a complaint before a federal civil service judge, seeking immediate reinstatement to her job, according to a complaint released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Chambers was placed on paid administrative leave in December, after publicly complaining about budget and staffing. National Park Service Deputy Director Don Murphy stripped Chambers of her badge, sidearm and law enforcement credentials. She was also ordered not to give any interviews....
All-Employee Memo to Counter the "Chambers Effect" Even as it seeks to remove its top law enforcement officer for speaking with the Washington Post, the National Park Service has issued an email to all its employees assuring them of their "absolute" right to report "wrongdoing or mismanagement," according to the memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)....
California's perilous mining legacy Such accidents underscore the hazardous legacy of some 47,000 abandoned mines throughout California, some dating to the Gold Rush of 1849, state and federal authorities say. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have an estimated 15,000 abandoned mines. The state has started identifying the most hazardous mines and gating, plugging or filling their entrances, but the task is only minimally funded and is expected to take decades to finish....
Editorial: 'Cultural resources' Due to five years of record drought, the level of Lake Mead has dropped 80 feet, bringing into shallow water or right up into view artifacts and ruins that have not been seen since the lake began to fill, decades ago. Sixty miles northeast of Las Vegas, building foundations in the town of St. Thomas -- swallowed by the growing lake in 1938 -- are now high and dry. As a result, there have already been incidents of looting and vandalism in some of the newly exposed areas, according to Rosie Pepito, cultural resources manager for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Relic hunters have been arrested amidst the ruined concrete foundations, according to recreation area archaeologist Steve Daron. "There's been a problem with people using metal detectors and digging stuff up," he says. So the Park Service is preparing a Submerged Cultural Resources Management Plan. What a bunch of bunk. Congress declared Lake Mead is a recreation area, not a protected archaeological site. The government had years to dig up and remove anything it wanted to preserve, 70 years ago -- and did so. If there is no longer any water over St. Thomas to allow swimming or boating, what form of "recreation" other than relic hunting do the rangers now submit it's good for? Druid solstice ceremonies?....
BLM worker’s mistake led to death of 7 horses Seven wild horses died in a remote Northeast Nevada enclosure because of a mistake by a Bureau of Land Management employee, an agency investigation found. In a statement released Monday, BLM officials said a worker failed to install proper gates that would have allowed the animals to leave a fenced weed treatment research area. Instead, the seven horses were trapped inside the enclosed area in May and died because of a lack of water....
White House help sought on N-dump In a letter, Private Fuel Storage Chairman John D. Parkyn asked the White House Task Force on Energy Policy Streamlining to force the Defense Department to complete a study on whether putting the nuclear waste near the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range might hinder the preparedness of the Air Force, which uses the range in Utah's west desert for combat practice. Until the congressionally mandated study is completed, the Interior Department cannot approve Private Fuel Storage's request to build a rail line across federal land to the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, where the company plans to store 40,000 tons of radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants....
Greenpeace vacates anti-logging camp, gets federal citation After two protests that temporarily blocked loggers from timber sales, Greenpeace dismantled the base camp for its southern Oregon campaign against old growth logging. The group also received a federal citation for staying too long on public lands. "Today is the last day of the rescue station, but it's just the beginning of our campaign in southern Oregon," Greenpeace campaigner Ginger Cassady told the Grants Pass Daily Courier on Monday....
Nevada leads U.S. in mercury release Nevada mines account for most of the mercury released into the environment in the United States, but the state no longer is No. 1 when it comes to the release of toxic substances, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. Alaska moved into the No. 1 spot, bumping the Silver State to second after four straight years in which Nevada was first. Metal mining, which churns up to the surface the intrinsic toxic substances in soil and rock, perpetually puts Western states atop the list....
Monday, June 28, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Drought-stricken farmers cash in on wind Mixed in with the sound of meadowlarks, tractors and the hum of the wind on Colorado's southeastern plains is a low, steady beat: "whoop, whoop, whoop." It comes from a line of towering, pinwheel-like turbines that are producing electricity used across Colorado. The sound coming from a ridge south of this farming town has become a beckoning call for people struggling through a fifth year of crop-killing drought....
2 livestock brokers are behind bars Missouri cattle brokers George Young and Kathleen McConnell, who cost banks and investors $183 million in the largest cattle fraud in U.S. history, reported Monday to federal prisons in North Carolina and Illinois, even as they are appealing the lengths of their sentences. "It's been a long time coming," said Richard Fox of Broken Bow, Neb., who lost around $120,000 in the fraud. About 130 banks, individuals and businesses were victims....
Cattlemen appeal reversal in Tyson case Cattlemen who won a landmark price-fixing verdict against the nation's largest beef packer, only to have it thrown out by a federal judge, have filed an appeal claiming the judge wrongly substituted his judgment for the jury's. U.S. Senior District Judge Lyle Strom had said the cattlemen failed to show sufficient evidence to prove Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. used contracts with a select few beef producers to manipulate cattle market prices. Strom's order reversed the Feb. 17 verdict of a federal jury in Montgomery. But in their appeal, filed June 9, attorneys for the six cattlemen asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to find that the jury based its decision on a reasonable review of the evidence....
Corral your coolest buckaroo Does it take a 10-gallon hat and a pair of well-worn boots to make a cool cowboy? Does the coolest cowgirl need to be a champion barrel racer or equine expert? The Columbian is searching Clark County for the coolest cowboy and cowgirl, and we need your help in roping them in. Send us your nominations for the cowboy or cowgirl that fit that "coolest" image....
It's All Trew: Everybody and their dog tended chickens Women tend chickens, men work chickens much like working livestock. We worked chickens twice a year on the Trew place. Roundup was accomplished by not opening the chicken house door in the morning. Mother set up a card table just outside the door with all her chicken equipment in place. My brother and I entered the chicken house with a long wire hook in hand. We chose a hen, hooked and handed her to Dad outside. He held the hen on her back while Mother laid her fingers on the egg-laying-end of the chicken. A three-fingers-wide space on the pelvis meant the hen was laying eggs every day and was worth her weight in golden egg yolks. A green plastic ring was placed around her leg just above the foot identifying her as a keeper. Her feathers were dusted with an insect powder and she was released. Another hen was handed out. A two-finger-wide hen meant she laid only every other day or less. Her age and condition determined whether she was a keeper and a blue or red ring was placed on her leg. A one-finger-wide hen was not laying eggs and received a red ring meaning she was destined for a future pot of chicken and dumplings....
Drought-stricken farmers cash in on wind Mixed in with the sound of meadowlarks, tractors and the hum of the wind on Colorado's southeastern plains is a low, steady beat: "whoop, whoop, whoop." It comes from a line of towering, pinwheel-like turbines that are producing electricity used across Colorado. The sound coming from a ridge south of this farming town has become a beckoning call for people struggling through a fifth year of crop-killing drought....
2 livestock brokers are behind bars Missouri cattle brokers George Young and Kathleen McConnell, who cost banks and investors $183 million in the largest cattle fraud in U.S. history, reported Monday to federal prisons in North Carolina and Illinois, even as they are appealing the lengths of their sentences. "It's been a long time coming," said Richard Fox of Broken Bow, Neb., who lost around $120,000 in the fraud. About 130 banks, individuals and businesses were victims....
Cattlemen appeal reversal in Tyson case Cattlemen who won a landmark price-fixing verdict against the nation's largest beef packer, only to have it thrown out by a federal judge, have filed an appeal claiming the judge wrongly substituted his judgment for the jury's. U.S. Senior District Judge Lyle Strom had said the cattlemen failed to show sufficient evidence to prove Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. used contracts with a select few beef producers to manipulate cattle market prices. Strom's order reversed the Feb. 17 verdict of a federal jury in Montgomery. But in their appeal, filed June 9, attorneys for the six cattlemen asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to find that the jury based its decision on a reasonable review of the evidence....
Corral your coolest buckaroo Does it take a 10-gallon hat and a pair of well-worn boots to make a cool cowboy? Does the coolest cowgirl need to be a champion barrel racer or equine expert? The Columbian is searching Clark County for the coolest cowboy and cowgirl, and we need your help in roping them in. Send us your nominations for the cowboy or cowgirl that fit that "coolest" image....
It's All Trew: Everybody and their dog tended chickens Women tend chickens, men work chickens much like working livestock. We worked chickens twice a year on the Trew place. Roundup was accomplished by not opening the chicken house door in the morning. Mother set up a card table just outside the door with all her chicken equipment in place. My brother and I entered the chicken house with a long wire hook in hand. We chose a hen, hooked and handed her to Dad outside. He held the hen on her back while Mother laid her fingers on the egg-laying-end of the chicken. A three-fingers-wide space on the pelvis meant the hen was laying eggs every day and was worth her weight in golden egg yolks. A green plastic ring was placed around her leg just above the foot identifying her as a keeper. Her feathers were dusted with an insect powder and she was released. Another hen was handed out. A two-finger-wide hen meant she laid only every other day or less. Her age and condition determined whether she was a keeper and a blue or red ring was placed on her leg. A one-finger-wide hen was not laying eggs and received a red ring meaning she was destined for a future pot of chicken and dumplings....
Cattle Prices Plunge After Test Indicates Possible Mad Cow Case
Cattle futures in Chicago had their biggest decline in six months after the U.S. said a mad-cow screening test was positive and may indicate the second case of the disease since December. The test has yet to be confirmed.
The Department of Agriculture said Friday an animal tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, under an expanded screening program begun June 1. The carcass was sent to the department's National Veterinary Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for additional tests. Beef prices that plunged in December had recovered most of their losses during the past six months.
``The USDA has been warning us to expect as many as 30 or 40 false positives or inconclusives since May when they announced the expansion of testing for the disease,'' said Dave Weaber, director of research at the member-owned information agency Cattle-Fax in Denver. ``It all depends now on whether the additional tests are positive or negative, and we are trying to keep our people in a holding pattern.''
Cattle for August delivery fell 2.925 cents, or 3.3 percent, to 86.425 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping the exchange's 3-cent limit to 86.35 cents. It was the biggest one-day percentage decline since Dec. 31. Prices are up 25 percent from a year ago....
Cattle futures in Chicago had their biggest decline in six months after the U.S. said a mad-cow screening test was positive and may indicate the second case of the disease since December. The test has yet to be confirmed.
The Department of Agriculture said Friday an animal tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, under an expanded screening program begun June 1. The carcass was sent to the department's National Veterinary Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for additional tests. Beef prices that plunged in December had recovered most of their losses during the past six months.
``The USDA has been warning us to expect as many as 30 or 40 false positives or inconclusives since May when they announced the expansion of testing for the disease,'' said Dave Weaber, director of research at the member-owned information agency Cattle-Fax in Denver. ``It all depends now on whether the additional tests are positive or negative, and we are trying to keep our people in a holding pattern.''
Cattle for August delivery fell 2.925 cents, or 3.3 percent, to 86.425 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping the exchange's 3-cent limit to 86.35 cents. It was the biggest one-day percentage decline since Dec. 31. Prices are up 25 percent from a year ago....
U.S Keeps Nervous Eye on Exports Amid Mad Cow Concerns
U.S. agriculture officials on Monday labored to convince foreign buyers of American beef that the meat is safe to consume, despite Friday's announcement of an "inconclusive" test for mad cow disease that caused volatile trading in Chicago futures markets.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) scientists in Ames, Iowa, were conducting more detailed lab tests on brain tissue samples from a suspect head of cattle. If those tests are negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, USDA could announce the results as early as Tuesday, according to one USDA official.
But a positive finding could prompt USDA to do additional testing, delaying any announcement, according to a meat industry source who asked not to be identified....
U.S. agriculture officials on Monday labored to convince foreign buyers of American beef that the meat is safe to consume, despite Friday's announcement of an "inconclusive" test for mad cow disease that caused volatile trading in Chicago futures markets.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) scientists in Ames, Iowa, were conducting more detailed lab tests on brain tissue samples from a suspect head of cattle. If those tests are negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, USDA could announce the results as early as Tuesday, according to one USDA official.
But a positive finding could prompt USDA to do additional testing, delaying any announcement, according to a meat industry source who asked not to be identified....
USDA keeps tainted meat's destination secret
The recall of tainted meat products is surrounded by secrecy that protects the food industry at the expense of public health, critics say.
The Spokesman-Review filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the identities of more than 580 distributors, restaurants and grocery stores that received 19 tons of beef recalled after a Washington state cow tested positive for mad cow disease in December.
The information exists in government files. But the newspaper's request was denied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency cited exemptions protecting the trade secrets of private enterprise.
Where the meat was sold must be reconstructed from news reports and grocery store press releases, not from government documents.
Critics say more openness would protect public health by giving consumers the names of stores and restaurants that receive recalled meat and poultry. Consumers then could more easily determine whether they have purchased any recalled product.
As the system works today, government press releases on recalls describe the meat product, where it was processed and sometimes the states that received it, but no specific names of grocery stores or restaurants....
The recall of tainted meat products is surrounded by secrecy that protects the food industry at the expense of public health, critics say.
The Spokesman-Review filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the identities of more than 580 distributors, restaurants and grocery stores that received 19 tons of beef recalled after a Washington state cow tested positive for mad cow disease in December.
The information exists in government files. But the newspaper's request was denied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency cited exemptions protecting the trade secrets of private enterprise.
Where the meat was sold must be reconstructed from news reports and grocery store press releases, not from government documents.
Critics say more openness would protect public health by giving consumers the names of stores and restaurants that receive recalled meat and poultry. Consumers then could more easily determine whether they have purchased any recalled product.
As the system works today, government press releases on recalls describe the meat product, where it was processed and sometimes the states that received it, but no specific names of grocery stores or restaurants....
Agency lags on grazing permits
The U.S. Forest Service is backlogged with more than 6,000 grazing permit renewals that could take 17 years to complete at its current rate of processing, an official with the agency testified Wednesday during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.
By contrast, the Bureau of Land Management backlog will be erased in five years.
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, urged the Forest Service to commit more resources to processing its vast backlog.
A Forest Service representative told the subcommittee Wednesday that the agency is processing grazing permits at a current rate of 368 per year.
“The department has testified previously before this subcommittee that the current decision-making procedures to authorize livestock grazing or other activities on rangelands administered by the Forest Service are inflexible, unwieldy, time-consuming and expensive,” said Tom Thompson, deputy chief of the National Forest System for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said the agency is attempting to balance its legal obligations with service to the public and is exploring new qualitative rangeland analysis tools.
There are grazing allotments on nearly half of all National Forest System lands, approximately 90 million acres of land in 34 states, he said. The Forest Service administers approximately 8,800 allotments, with more than 9,000 livestock permits for grazing by cattle, horses, sheep and goats. About 99 percent of all permitted grazing is located in the West, with only about 1 percent occurring in the eastern forests....
The U.S. Forest Service is backlogged with more than 6,000 grazing permit renewals that could take 17 years to complete at its current rate of processing, an official with the agency testified Wednesday during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.
By contrast, the Bureau of Land Management backlog will be erased in five years.
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, urged the Forest Service to commit more resources to processing its vast backlog.
A Forest Service representative told the subcommittee Wednesday that the agency is processing grazing permits at a current rate of 368 per year.
“The department has testified previously before this subcommittee that the current decision-making procedures to authorize livestock grazing or other activities on rangelands administered by the Forest Service are inflexible, unwieldy, time-consuming and expensive,” said Tom Thompson, deputy chief of the National Forest System for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said the agency is attempting to balance its legal obligations with service to the public and is exploring new qualitative rangeland analysis tools.
There are grazing allotments on nearly half of all National Forest System lands, approximately 90 million acres of land in 34 states, he said. The Forest Service administers approximately 8,800 allotments, with more than 9,000 livestock permits for grazing by cattle, horses, sheep and goats. About 99 percent of all permitted grazing is located in the West, with only about 1 percent occurring in the eastern forests....
GAO REPORT
WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
Better Coordination of Data Collection
Efforts Needed to Support Key Decisions
Why GAO Did This Study
Reliable and complete data are needed to assess watersheds—areas that drain into a common body of water—and allocate limited cleanup resources. Historically, water officials have expressed concern about a lack of water data. At the same time, numerous organizations collect a variety of water data. To address a number of issues concerning the water data that various organization collect, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment asked GAO to determine (1) the key entities that collect water data, the types of data they collect, how they store the data, and how entities can access the data; and (2) the extent that water quality and water quantity data collection efforts are coordinated.
What GAO Recommends
To enhance and clearly define authority for coordinating the collection of water data nationwide, the Congress should consider formally designating a lead organization for this purpose. Among its responsibilities, the organization would (1) support the development and continued operation of regional and state monitoring councils, (2) coordinate the development of an Internetbased clearinghouse to convey what entities are collecting what types of data, and (3) coordinate development of clear guidance on metadata standards so that data users can integrate data from various sources.
What GAO Found
At least 15 federal agencies collect a wide variety of water quality data. Most notably, the U.S. Geological Survey operates several large water quality monitoring programs across the nation. States also play a key role in water quality data collection to fulfill their responsibilities under the Clean Water Act. In addition, numerous local watershed groups, volunteer monitoring groups, industries, and academic groups collect water quality data. In contrast, collection of water quantity data is more centralized, with three federal agencies collecting the majority of data available nationwide.
While GAO found notable exceptions, officials in almost all of the federal and state agencies contacted said that coordination of water quality data was falling short of its potential. As illustrated below, key barriers frequently identified as impeding better coordination of water quality data collection include (1) the significantly different purposes for which groups collect data, (2) inconsistencies in groups’ data collection protocols, (3) an unawareness by data collectors as to which entities collect what types of data, and (4) low priority for data coordination, as shown in a lack of support for councils that promote improved coordination. GAO concluded that designating a lead organization with sufficient authority and resources to coordinate data collection could help alleviate these problems and ensure that watershed managers have better information upon which to base critical decisions.
Data collectors strongly agree that coordinating water quantity data collection is considerably less problematic. Reasons include the fact that controversial water allocation decisions require accurate and complete water quantity data; that some of the technologies for measuring water quantity allow for immediate distribution of data; that water quantity data parameters are generally more consistent; and that coordination is simplified in that relatively fewer entities collect these data. Collectors of water quantity data generally agreed that an overall shortage of data was a more serious problem than a lack of coordination of the data that are collected.
WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
Better Coordination of Data Collection
Efforts Needed to Support Key Decisions
Why GAO Did This Study
Reliable and complete data are needed to assess watersheds—areas that drain into a common body of water—and allocate limited cleanup resources. Historically, water officials have expressed concern about a lack of water data. At the same time, numerous organizations collect a variety of water data. To address a number of issues concerning the water data that various organization collect, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment asked GAO to determine (1) the key entities that collect water data, the types of data they collect, how they store the data, and how entities can access the data; and (2) the extent that water quality and water quantity data collection efforts are coordinated.
What GAO Recommends
To enhance and clearly define authority for coordinating the collection of water data nationwide, the Congress should consider formally designating a lead organization for this purpose. Among its responsibilities, the organization would (1) support the development and continued operation of regional and state monitoring councils, (2) coordinate the development of an Internetbased clearinghouse to convey what entities are collecting what types of data, and (3) coordinate development of clear guidance on metadata standards so that data users can integrate data from various sources.
What GAO Found
At least 15 federal agencies collect a wide variety of water quality data. Most notably, the U.S. Geological Survey operates several large water quality monitoring programs across the nation. States also play a key role in water quality data collection to fulfill their responsibilities under the Clean Water Act. In addition, numerous local watershed groups, volunteer monitoring groups, industries, and academic groups collect water quality data. In contrast, collection of water quantity data is more centralized, with three federal agencies collecting the majority of data available nationwide.
While GAO found notable exceptions, officials in almost all of the federal and state agencies contacted said that coordination of water quality data was falling short of its potential. As illustrated below, key barriers frequently identified as impeding better coordination of water quality data collection include (1) the significantly different purposes for which groups collect data, (2) inconsistencies in groups’ data collection protocols, (3) an unawareness by data collectors as to which entities collect what types of data, and (4) low priority for data coordination, as shown in a lack of support for councils that promote improved coordination. GAO concluded that designating a lead organization with sufficient authority and resources to coordinate data collection could help alleviate these problems and ensure that watershed managers have better information upon which to base critical decisions.
Data collectors strongly agree that coordinating water quantity data collection is considerably less problematic. Reasons include the fact that controversial water allocation decisions require accurate and complete water quantity data; that some of the technologies for measuring water quantity allow for immediate distribution of data; that water quantity data parameters are generally more consistent; and that coordination is simplified in that relatively fewer entities collect these data. Collectors of water quantity data generally agreed that an overall shortage of data was a more serious problem than a lack of coordination of the data that are collected.
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