NEWS ROUNDUP
Ranchers don’t want wilderness designation Austin Massey can remember when his great-grandfather’s ranching brand mingled with the ancient rock art in the Dominguez-Escalante area. Now, he says, the brand and art are covered with graffiti, a saddening sign of the area’s increasing popularity as a favorite destination. The canyon area southwest of Grand Junction known for its high-desert gorges and unique landscapes has received attention lately from the Bureau of Land Management, which is seeking assistance from local community leaders, public-lands users and other concerned parties to determine how to manage the land in the future....
Forest Service catches breath on competitive sourcing Now that the Forest Service has completed a public-private competition involving more than 800 technology jobs, it plans to slow down on opening work to contractors, at least for the next fiscal year. The Forest Service, which got off to a rough start on President Bush's competitive sourcing initiative by running several flawed contests, will not initiate any competitions before the close of this fiscal year, and will only begin one next year, said David Heerwagen, the agency's associate deputy chief for business operations. Next year's contest likely will encompass roughly 100 communications jobs, he said....
Feds release water to prevent Klamath salmon kill The federal government has bought irrigation water to release down Northern California's Trinity River in hopes of preventing a repeat of conditions that killed more than 34,000 Klamath River salmon two years ago. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation arranged for the release of 36,000 acre feet from the Trinity Reservoir starting after midnight Sunday after federal fisheries biologists advised that water in the lower Klamath River was getting dangerously low and warm for fish....
Fort Myers rock mine permit near panther area ordered revoked A federal judge ruled on Friday to revoke a permit that would have allowed a limestone mine to be developed amid 6,000 acres of habitat that could be used by the endangered Florida panther. John Kostyack, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation, which sued to stop the development, said the ruling proves that government agencies need to stop "rubber stamping" development plans and, instead, protect the Florida panther and other imperiled wildlife. The conservation group alleged that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act by issuing permits for the mine....
Coyote kills becoming controversial "My guess is we probably don't have any more today than 30 years ago," said Bill Andelt, a Colorado State University ecology professor. "In the 1940s and '50s the use of toxicants reduced their numbers." Andelt said aerial gunning is a particularly effective tool because it can target specific breeding pairs. It is used mostly in mid to late winter when coyotes are easy to spot against the snow....
Editorial: Nature vs. Ranger Someone ought to give a citation for meaness to the U.S. Park Service ranger who issued a ticket to a woman who had to act quickly when her little boy had waited as long as he could to answer nature's call. A woman and her 3-year-old son had just come out of the new Liberty Bell pavilion two weeks ago when the boy made clear he had to relieve himself. She tried to take him back inside, not knowing there weren't bathrooms in there. She stopped anyhow when she saw the sign barring her from entering. You can imagine what probably happened next: Boy cried and crossed legs; mom figured that directing him to a discreet spot outside the pavilion was better than him wetting himself; ranger gives mom $75 ticket for "disposing of human waste in a developed area." Of course, we aren't advocating public urination - approaching the mom was in order. But a $75 ticket for a 3-year-old who couldn't control his bladder? What color level of national threat does this type of incident warrant: Yellow?
Woman pleads not guilty in trespassing case Connie Connelly, who faces eviction from her home of 30 years in the Mojave National Preserve, appeared in a Barstow courtroom Friday where she pleaded not guilty to a charge of trespassing on federal land. "Even though I've lived there all my life, I'm a trespasser," said Connelly, whose family moved to the rustic six-room home in 1966. The house, a converted general store, sits on five brushy acres near the northeastern edge of the preserve, about 23 miles from Primm, Nev....
Appeasement through easement The Nature Conservancy and Fort Carson are working with a southern Colorado ranching family to forever protect the southern and southeastern borders of Fort Carson from encroaching development. The group wants conservation easements along 17 miles of fence line on Fort Carson's south and southeast sides. The easements would prevent the owners - cattle ranchers Gary Walker and his father, Bob Walker - from subdividing the property. Both Walkers favor the idea....
Drought may alter accord The seven states that share the Colorado River are considering a plan to protect Lake Powell by reducing the amount of water that is allowed to flow downstream to Lake Mead, the top Nevada water official said Thursday. The proposal, which Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said has never before been seriously discussed, could cause Lake Mead to shrink even faster than it is....
Reaching to the Converted: Environmental Groups Canvass Environmentalist Voters Shea is the face of what Sierra Club officials like to call the "infrequent environmental voter," someone who cares about wildlife habitat and air quality but may not make it to the polls regularly. He is on the front lines of their efforts to reach nearly 500,000 Americans before Election Day, spreading the message that Democrat John F. Kerry will protect the environment better than the incumbent. While environmental organizations have not delivered as much as they promised in past elections, they say this year will be different....
Kerry wants faster permitting for "clean coal" power plants Expedited environmental permitting for utilities that want to build new coal-fired power plants that use so-called "clean coal" technologies are a key part of a plan released by the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Building a new power plant takes about eight years to come to fruition from the drawing board, through permitting and construction, but a more streamlined permitting process could encourage the use of new technologies, the Democratic presidential candidate said....
EFFICIENT 'EQUINE EXHAUST' Before there was smog, there was horse manure. Both are environmental products brought on by transportation systems, and while nobody's found a good use for smog yet, "equine exhaust" can be reused as plant fertilizer. That is the philosophy behind Return to Earth, a Pebble Beach business started a year ago to deal with the horse droppings that build up around horse stables throughout Monterey County and the state....
Artist chosen to create Elfego Baca sculpture In 1884, Baca, 19, self-appointed deputy sheriff, had arrested a cowboy, who was shooting up the town of Frisco (later renamed Reserve by the U.S. Forest Service). The cowboy's friends wanted him released and Baca refused. He took shelter in a tiny house. More than 4,000 rounds were fired into the house. Baca killed four of the assailants and wounded eight others. Thirty-six hours later, he walked out unharmed, according to historians. James N. Muir, a nationally known sculptor, has been chosen to create a bronze of Baca at larger-than-life size. The statue will be finished by October 2005, barring unforeseen circumstances, Martinez said Muir told him....
Western wear takes turn toward the lighter side Call it cowboy chic, but these boots are made for stylin'. While the old staples - browns, grays and blacks - remain as plentiful as Texas mesquite, more cowboys and cowgirls are turning to trends from days gone by. Short boots, known as "peewees" in the 1940s, are slowly kicking back into fashion. And boots with pastels are getting a toehold in the industry....
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Friday, August 20, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Forest Service to cut IT jobs Workers in the Forest Service's information technology services group won a competitive sourcing contract and as many as 180 of them may be out of a job as a result. Forest Service employees were informed this week that they had won the five-year contract, valued at $295 million. In competitive sourcing projects, federal workers compete against outside vendors to do work....
Bears Shut Down Michigan Vacation Sites The U.S. Forest Service has ordered the closure of some campgrounds on Grand Island as part of an effort to reduce problems involving black bears. Biologists recently began setting barrel traps for black bears near campgrounds at Trout and Murray bays and along the western edge of the Upper Peninsula island. Those areas are closed to campers through Friday and, if necessary, through the weekend while the trapping effort takes place....
Column: Keep roadless lands free of industry inroads There is a bright side to the Bush administration's serving up national- forest land as if it were a double shot at the Last Chance Saloon, in that environmentalists, hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationists, local officials, businesses, Republicans and Democrats are finding common ground in their opposition to the gutting of the Roadless Rule. This show of solidarity is because whether one values wilderness, recreation, public health or a sustainable economy, the 58.5 million acres of wild forest affected by the rule contain more than 350 watersheds, preserve habitat for over 220 endangered plant and animal species, and provide innumerable recreational opportunities and jobs, all of which benefit the greatest amount of people and their interests....
State role in roadless rule decisions touted Bosworth was recently in Denver and spoke with Rocky Mountain News editors and reporters. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. News: Let's get straight to the issue of the new proposed roadless rule. Would it give localities greater input into federal lands policy? Bosworth: I think it can give the states, and their residents, a greater say in policy - that is if the governors do it right. It can, I believe, promote inclusion and involve more local people in a better way, and result in not a whole lot more roads being built on federal lands....
Unusual Alliance to Clean Old Utah Mine But now Snowbird is joining an unusual partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the conservation group Trout Unlimited and jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. to finish cleaning up the acidic pollution leaching heavy metals into American Fork River. The $2 million public-private project, taking place on a patchwork of federal and private lands, couldn't be done on federal dollars alone, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said. Bosworth said the Utah partnership could serve as a template for cleanup projects around the West, where mining waste has polluted the headwaters of 40 percent of all watersheds....
Some fires in Boise National Forest will be allowed to burn Fire managers on the Boise National Forest may let some wildfires burn next summer rather than fighting them. About 530,000 of the BNF's 2.6 million acres — near popular outdoor recreation destinations such as Deadwood Reservoir and Bear Valley — have been designated for "wildland fire use," which means that beginning in 2005, naturally occurring wildfires won't automatically be suppressed, forest officials announced Wednesday....
Environmentalists, Tree Farmers Unite Mark Woodall is an unlikely environmentalist. After all, he makes his living growing trees so he can cut them down. But Woodall and other small tree farmers are aligning themselves with the Sierra Club and other "green" groups as the White House proceeds with its plan to open roadless forests to commercial logging. While they care about the earth, Woodall and his counterparts care about their livelihoods, too. They're expecting to get aced out of the massive government contracts by the timber, oil and gas goliaths. And if that happens, the ensuing lumber glut means lower prices for the little guys....
Mines are deep trouble Chronic water pollution leaching from about 7,000 abandoned mines poses a significant threat to Colorado's environment, yet almost no money is available to solve the problem, a conservation group said Wednesday. Toxic metals and acidified water are seeping from old mines into more than 1,600 miles of rivers and streams in Colorado, but meager state and federal resources are preventing cleanups, according to a representative of Trout Unlimited....
A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs of another disaster A handful of dead fish are floating in the Klamath River, and others are nuzzling up to cold creeks for relief from the hot water. As fishermen, American Indians and biologists watch for signs of diseases like those that killed tens of thousands of salmon in 2002, there is only one thing definite: Everyone is jumpy. "We netted the most beautiful 12-pound steelhead -- floating dead down the river," said fishing guide Tim King on Tuesday....
Column: Finding a way to coexist America needs oil and gas, but agriculture is vital, too, and in Colorado and throughout the West, everything depends on water. Most energy producers are responsible and careful, but sometimes there are problems. So, as drilling accelerates, it's no surprise that farmers, ranchers and other landowners are concerned about the impact of oil and gas drilling on farmland and water supplies. Their concerns reflect some real experiences: Drilling sometimes has spoiled water supplies and damaged agricultural lands. That is why I am sponsoring HR 4017, the Western Waters and Farm Lands Protection Act....
Jurisdiction issue stalls Pavillion clean-up An oil and gas company embroiled in controversy surrounding potential hazardous materials in its reclamation sites said this week it is working to identify and rectify the problem. Last week, a soil scientist announced findings of hydrocarbons in alfalfa fields on a ranch in Pavillion owned by Bill and son Steve Garland. The levels were so high the contamination is considered hazardous waste....
Community confab on pepper-spraying Public outcry over two rangers’ pepper-spraying of an Inverness Park boy, 18, and his sister, 17, has resulted in the Point Reyes National Seashore scheduling a community meeting in Point Reyes Station. While the Park Service’s internal investigation into the rangers’ conduct continues, disturbing revelations have emerged over the investigator’s puzzling decision not to interview the victims or their family during his two-and-a-half-day visit to Point Reyes last week. Contrary to community expectations and inaccurate information given to The Light, special agent Paul Crawford, the Nevada-based investigator heading the inquiry, did not contact the victims or their families while here....
Witness feels bamboozled by investigator During his two-and-a-half days at the Point Reyes National Seashore, Park Service investigator Paul Crawford interviewed a variety rangers, bystanders, and witnesses who had been present when rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio pepper-sprayed a brother and sister in Point Reyes Station. For reasons that remain unclear, victims Chris and Jessica Miller, as well as their family, were not contacted....
Tribes to get advance notice? Indian tribes would get early notice if local governments were planning to develop areas that could be considered sacred sites, under a bill sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature Thursday. After more than two years, countless hearings and vast compromises with developers, local officials and Indian tribes, the bill was sent to the governor on a 30-4 vote in the Senate....
Yet another deer contraceptive rolled out U.S. agriculture officials have begun capturing deer on federal land in Virginia to try the latest in contraceptives to save a lot of shooting. If successful, the program will stem the ever-growing deer population by taking away the sex drive, creating what researchers call a "no sex deer."....
Nonresidentsare masters of the hunt If hunting were a competition between two teams, out-of-state hunters would have soundly defeated Northwest Colorado hunters last year. According to a phone survey conducted by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, resident elk hunters had a 20.3 percent success rate during all seasons of archery, rifle and muzzleloader. But nonresidents left Colorado with a 32.5 percent success rate. The disparity during mule deer season is even greater. Resident hunters had a 38.7 percent success rate, which gets dwarfed by a nonresident success rate of 59.6 percent....
Suit filed to protect mountain frog Environmentalists, in an effort to protect the creeks that harbor one of the Inland region's most endangered species, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking a critical habitat designation for the mountain yellow-legged frog. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Riverside by the Center for Biological Diversity in Idyllwild....
First U.S. Refinery Since '76 May Be Built in Arizona Glenn McGinnis hikes up a dusty ridge off Interstate 8 near Wellton, Arizona, to show off a barren patch of scrubland that may become home to a rarity: the first U.S. oil refinery to be built in almost three decades. There will be more hills to climb. McGinnis, 55, chief executive officer of Phoenix-based Arizona Clean Fuels LLC, must secure two dozen government permits for the $2.5 billion project, close a deal for crude from Mexico and pull together investors that may include Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company. U.S. gasoline prices above $2 a gallon and demand at a record level are boosting refinery profit margins and giving the project a fighting chance, says McGinnis, who has run five refineries in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean....
Group resists release of minutes A water conservancy district wants more time to decide if it will release minutes from a closed-door meeting that discussed $162 million in cost overruns for the Animas-La Plata Project. The August 2003 meeting attended by A-LP stakeholders, including the Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District, violated Colorado's Open Meetings Act, and minutes from the meeting should be made public, a district court judge has ruled. Barry Spear, a lawyer representing the Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District, said Wednesday he may request a stay of execution of the court order....
Authority rethinks drought plan Citing the success of local conservation measures, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is considering a fundamental change in its drought-stage criteria that would delay an emergency declaration until 2006 at the earliest, even as the record drought deepens. Emergency is the most severe of three drought stages established by the water authority in February 2003. The designation could mean water-rate hikes, tighter restrictions on water use, larger fines for water scofflaws and an all-out ban on watering "nonfunctional turf" in parking lots and along streets and medians....
Editorial: Reservoir plan smart for future At issue was the Northern Integrated Supply Project, a network of new reservoirs and pipelines that would serve the needs of northern Colorado's fastest-growing rural communities and water districts. Representatives of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the water-supply agency that backs the project, got more than an earful from northern Weld County farmers: "The farmers get screwed and the cities get everything," one from Gill said. We have supported the project in the past and, after hearing from farmers and small-town residents, we continue to do so....
Idaho debates idling farms to save water As farmers relying on the Snake River are clashing over the available water, federal officials are considering one way to help solve the situation. The government currently pays growers to idle their land through the Conservation Reserve Program to protect the soil. Officials are also considering paying farmers not to grow crops on other land to free up more water....
Mad cow causes record herd sizes in Canada With the international beef trade stifled by the mad cow crisis, Canada's cattle population has grown to record levels. In a report released Thursday, Statistics Canada said ranchers have one million more animals on their farms this year than they did in 2003....
Column: Saddle Up Those riders were taking part in a tradition as Western as rodeo, though normally a bit more sedate; the ability to saddle up your horse and ride across the grasslands and through the mountains of the Rocky Mountain West. While in some places, as in El Paso County, programs like “Rails to Trails” seek to expand accessibility to public lands for recreation, there are special interest groups that would like to restrict the use of public lands by pack and saddle stock. A response to the movement to restrict horse access on public lands is the Right to Ride Bill (H.R. 2966) introduced in Congress by George Radanovich, a Republican from California. The purpose of the Bill is to recognize that horses and pack animals have a unique role in Western recreation; that their use on public lands should be encouraged and preserved....
Column: Cowboys What is a “cowboy”? A cowboy is someone who looks after another man’s cattle. From my purist point of view, he doesn’t do it from the back of an ATV or from the coffee shop. He does it from the back of a horse and he’s good at what he does. However, personally, if I were ole Dubya, I would feel complimented if someone called me a “cowboy”! I know that the greatest compliment I ever received is to be introduced as a “cowboy’s cowboy!” Most folks who toss the label of “cowboy” around these days don’t have any more clue of what a “cowboy” is than a coon dog knows about the rings around Saturn. If ole George is a “cowboy,” then his competitor in my humble opinion, is a sheep herder. Nothing against sheep herders or sheep. They are necessary but they just don’t measure up to being labeled “cowboy.” Plus all that, when is the last time you heard someone in politics called a sheep herder? Bet ya never did....
Forest Service to cut IT jobs Workers in the Forest Service's information technology services group won a competitive sourcing contract and as many as 180 of them may be out of a job as a result. Forest Service employees were informed this week that they had won the five-year contract, valued at $295 million. In competitive sourcing projects, federal workers compete against outside vendors to do work....
Bears Shut Down Michigan Vacation Sites The U.S. Forest Service has ordered the closure of some campgrounds on Grand Island as part of an effort to reduce problems involving black bears. Biologists recently began setting barrel traps for black bears near campgrounds at Trout and Murray bays and along the western edge of the Upper Peninsula island. Those areas are closed to campers through Friday and, if necessary, through the weekend while the trapping effort takes place....
Column: Keep roadless lands free of industry inroads There is a bright side to the Bush administration's serving up national- forest land as if it were a double shot at the Last Chance Saloon, in that environmentalists, hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationists, local officials, businesses, Republicans and Democrats are finding common ground in their opposition to the gutting of the Roadless Rule. This show of solidarity is because whether one values wilderness, recreation, public health or a sustainable economy, the 58.5 million acres of wild forest affected by the rule contain more than 350 watersheds, preserve habitat for over 220 endangered plant and animal species, and provide innumerable recreational opportunities and jobs, all of which benefit the greatest amount of people and their interests....
State role in roadless rule decisions touted Bosworth was recently in Denver and spoke with Rocky Mountain News editors and reporters. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. News: Let's get straight to the issue of the new proposed roadless rule. Would it give localities greater input into federal lands policy? Bosworth: I think it can give the states, and their residents, a greater say in policy - that is if the governors do it right. It can, I believe, promote inclusion and involve more local people in a better way, and result in not a whole lot more roads being built on federal lands....
Unusual Alliance to Clean Old Utah Mine But now Snowbird is joining an unusual partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the conservation group Trout Unlimited and jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. to finish cleaning up the acidic pollution leaching heavy metals into American Fork River. The $2 million public-private project, taking place on a patchwork of federal and private lands, couldn't be done on federal dollars alone, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said. Bosworth said the Utah partnership could serve as a template for cleanup projects around the West, where mining waste has polluted the headwaters of 40 percent of all watersheds....
Some fires in Boise National Forest will be allowed to burn Fire managers on the Boise National Forest may let some wildfires burn next summer rather than fighting them. About 530,000 of the BNF's 2.6 million acres — near popular outdoor recreation destinations such as Deadwood Reservoir and Bear Valley — have been designated for "wildland fire use," which means that beginning in 2005, naturally occurring wildfires won't automatically be suppressed, forest officials announced Wednesday....
Environmentalists, Tree Farmers Unite Mark Woodall is an unlikely environmentalist. After all, he makes his living growing trees so he can cut them down. But Woodall and other small tree farmers are aligning themselves with the Sierra Club and other "green" groups as the White House proceeds with its plan to open roadless forests to commercial logging. While they care about the earth, Woodall and his counterparts care about their livelihoods, too. They're expecting to get aced out of the massive government contracts by the timber, oil and gas goliaths. And if that happens, the ensuing lumber glut means lower prices for the little guys....
Mines are deep trouble Chronic water pollution leaching from about 7,000 abandoned mines poses a significant threat to Colorado's environment, yet almost no money is available to solve the problem, a conservation group said Wednesday. Toxic metals and acidified water are seeping from old mines into more than 1,600 miles of rivers and streams in Colorado, but meager state and federal resources are preventing cleanups, according to a representative of Trout Unlimited....
A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs of another disaster A handful of dead fish are floating in the Klamath River, and others are nuzzling up to cold creeks for relief from the hot water. As fishermen, American Indians and biologists watch for signs of diseases like those that killed tens of thousands of salmon in 2002, there is only one thing definite: Everyone is jumpy. "We netted the most beautiful 12-pound steelhead -- floating dead down the river," said fishing guide Tim King on Tuesday....
Column: Finding a way to coexist America needs oil and gas, but agriculture is vital, too, and in Colorado and throughout the West, everything depends on water. Most energy producers are responsible and careful, but sometimes there are problems. So, as drilling accelerates, it's no surprise that farmers, ranchers and other landowners are concerned about the impact of oil and gas drilling on farmland and water supplies. Their concerns reflect some real experiences: Drilling sometimes has spoiled water supplies and damaged agricultural lands. That is why I am sponsoring HR 4017, the Western Waters and Farm Lands Protection Act....
Jurisdiction issue stalls Pavillion clean-up An oil and gas company embroiled in controversy surrounding potential hazardous materials in its reclamation sites said this week it is working to identify and rectify the problem. Last week, a soil scientist announced findings of hydrocarbons in alfalfa fields on a ranch in Pavillion owned by Bill and son Steve Garland. The levels were so high the contamination is considered hazardous waste....
Community confab on pepper-spraying Public outcry over two rangers’ pepper-spraying of an Inverness Park boy, 18, and his sister, 17, has resulted in the Point Reyes National Seashore scheduling a community meeting in Point Reyes Station. While the Park Service’s internal investigation into the rangers’ conduct continues, disturbing revelations have emerged over the investigator’s puzzling decision not to interview the victims or their family during his two-and-a-half-day visit to Point Reyes last week. Contrary to community expectations and inaccurate information given to The Light, special agent Paul Crawford, the Nevada-based investigator heading the inquiry, did not contact the victims or their families while here....
Witness feels bamboozled by investigator During his two-and-a-half days at the Point Reyes National Seashore, Park Service investigator Paul Crawford interviewed a variety rangers, bystanders, and witnesses who had been present when rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio pepper-sprayed a brother and sister in Point Reyes Station. For reasons that remain unclear, victims Chris and Jessica Miller, as well as their family, were not contacted....
Tribes to get advance notice? Indian tribes would get early notice if local governments were planning to develop areas that could be considered sacred sites, under a bill sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature Thursday. After more than two years, countless hearings and vast compromises with developers, local officials and Indian tribes, the bill was sent to the governor on a 30-4 vote in the Senate....
Yet another deer contraceptive rolled out U.S. agriculture officials have begun capturing deer on federal land in Virginia to try the latest in contraceptives to save a lot of shooting. If successful, the program will stem the ever-growing deer population by taking away the sex drive, creating what researchers call a "no sex deer."....
Nonresidentsare masters of the hunt If hunting were a competition between two teams, out-of-state hunters would have soundly defeated Northwest Colorado hunters last year. According to a phone survey conducted by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, resident elk hunters had a 20.3 percent success rate during all seasons of archery, rifle and muzzleloader. But nonresidents left Colorado with a 32.5 percent success rate. The disparity during mule deer season is even greater. Resident hunters had a 38.7 percent success rate, which gets dwarfed by a nonresident success rate of 59.6 percent....
Suit filed to protect mountain frog Environmentalists, in an effort to protect the creeks that harbor one of the Inland region's most endangered species, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking a critical habitat designation for the mountain yellow-legged frog. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Riverside by the Center for Biological Diversity in Idyllwild....
First U.S. Refinery Since '76 May Be Built in Arizona Glenn McGinnis hikes up a dusty ridge off Interstate 8 near Wellton, Arizona, to show off a barren patch of scrubland that may become home to a rarity: the first U.S. oil refinery to be built in almost three decades. There will be more hills to climb. McGinnis, 55, chief executive officer of Phoenix-based Arizona Clean Fuels LLC, must secure two dozen government permits for the $2.5 billion project, close a deal for crude from Mexico and pull together investors that may include Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company. U.S. gasoline prices above $2 a gallon and demand at a record level are boosting refinery profit margins and giving the project a fighting chance, says McGinnis, who has run five refineries in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean....
Group resists release of minutes A water conservancy district wants more time to decide if it will release minutes from a closed-door meeting that discussed $162 million in cost overruns for the Animas-La Plata Project. The August 2003 meeting attended by A-LP stakeholders, including the Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District, violated Colorado's Open Meetings Act, and minutes from the meeting should be made public, a district court judge has ruled. Barry Spear, a lawyer representing the Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District, said Wednesday he may request a stay of execution of the court order....
Authority rethinks drought plan Citing the success of local conservation measures, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is considering a fundamental change in its drought-stage criteria that would delay an emergency declaration until 2006 at the earliest, even as the record drought deepens. Emergency is the most severe of three drought stages established by the water authority in February 2003. The designation could mean water-rate hikes, tighter restrictions on water use, larger fines for water scofflaws and an all-out ban on watering "nonfunctional turf" in parking lots and along streets and medians....
Editorial: Reservoir plan smart for future At issue was the Northern Integrated Supply Project, a network of new reservoirs and pipelines that would serve the needs of northern Colorado's fastest-growing rural communities and water districts. Representatives of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the water-supply agency that backs the project, got more than an earful from northern Weld County farmers: "The farmers get screwed and the cities get everything," one from Gill said. We have supported the project in the past and, after hearing from farmers and small-town residents, we continue to do so....
Idaho debates idling farms to save water As farmers relying on the Snake River are clashing over the available water, federal officials are considering one way to help solve the situation. The government currently pays growers to idle their land through the Conservation Reserve Program to protect the soil. Officials are also considering paying farmers not to grow crops on other land to free up more water....
Mad cow causes record herd sizes in Canada With the international beef trade stifled by the mad cow crisis, Canada's cattle population has grown to record levels. In a report released Thursday, Statistics Canada said ranchers have one million more animals on their farms this year than they did in 2003....
Column: Saddle Up Those riders were taking part in a tradition as Western as rodeo, though normally a bit more sedate; the ability to saddle up your horse and ride across the grasslands and through the mountains of the Rocky Mountain West. While in some places, as in El Paso County, programs like “Rails to Trails” seek to expand accessibility to public lands for recreation, there are special interest groups that would like to restrict the use of public lands by pack and saddle stock. A response to the movement to restrict horse access on public lands is the Right to Ride Bill (H.R. 2966) introduced in Congress by George Radanovich, a Republican from California. The purpose of the Bill is to recognize that horses and pack animals have a unique role in Western recreation; that their use on public lands should be encouraged and preserved....
Column: Cowboys What is a “cowboy”? A cowboy is someone who looks after another man’s cattle. From my purist point of view, he doesn’t do it from the back of an ATV or from the coffee shop. He does it from the back of a horse and he’s good at what he does. However, personally, if I were ole Dubya, I would feel complimented if someone called me a “cowboy”! I know that the greatest compliment I ever received is to be introduced as a “cowboy’s cowboy!” Most folks who toss the label of “cowboy” around these days don’t have any more clue of what a “cowboy” is than a coon dog knows about the rings around Saturn. If ole George is a “cowboy,” then his competitor in my humble opinion, is a sheep herder. Nothing against sheep herders or sheep. They are necessary but they just don’t measure up to being labeled “cowboy.” Plus all that, when is the last time you heard someone in politics called a sheep herder? Bet ya never did....
Thursday, August 19, 2004
WESTERN STATES WATER NEWSLETTER 8/13/04
WATER RESOURCES
Drought
According to the August 10 Drought Monitor, scattered summer thunderstorms have brought little or no relief from the drought in the Western Rockies and Far West. Here are some excerpts from the report: “The so far anemic monsoon season continued across most of Arizona, western New Mexico, Utah, and western Colorado last week. A small part of north central Arizona and adjacent Utah were the only exception. In this area, fairly widespread rains of 1 to 4 inches were reported, resulting in an improvement to [severe hydrological drought] conditions. The only other area experiencing some improvement last week was the northern tier of Washington, where unseasonably heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches...” raised the assessment from moderate to abnormally dry agricultural and hydrological drought conditions east of the Cascades.
“Across the southern tier of the West, scattered 1 to 3 inch rains fell on the higher elevations of central Arizona and in adjacent parts of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. These rains, however, were insufficient to improve the abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions assessed last week, given that this is typically a relatively wet time of year, and considering the magnitude of the region’s multi year precipitation deficits. In fact, a small area of deterioration (to extreme drought) was assessed in south central Arizona.”
“Rainfall was sparse across the remainder of the West, with little or none falling on areas from the lower northern Intermountain West southward through the Great Basin and southwestward across most of California. While dry weeks during summer in these regions are quite common, the persistence of low relative humidity, somewhat above normal temperatures, only spotty rains, and slow but consistent surface moisture loss for the last few months has led to increased fire danger and a westward expansion of abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions across California, southern Oregon, and Nevada.”
“Multi year precipitation deficits are very large in most locations from the Rockies westward to the southern California coast, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascades. Only 64 to 75 percent of normal precipitation has fallen on a vast majority of this large region since early August 1999. This represents at least one typical year’s worth of precipitation missing over the course of the last 5 years, with deficits approaching typical 2 year totals in much of the Intermountain West and desert Southwest. The relatively recent persistence of below normal precipitation and humidity combined with above normal temperatures has not helped the situation, with reservoir storages declining at a rate exceeding the typical climatological decline since May 1, even considering the dry summers typically observed in most of the region, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.”
East of the Rockies, heavy rains (4 to 6 inches) doused parts of central and northeastern Colorado while moderate amounts (1 to 4 inches) were fairly widespread across southeastern Montana, areas near and north of the Black Hills, most of eastern and parts of central Colorado, and portions of northern and eastern New Mexico. Most of these areas experienced a significant improvement in drought classification, which now range from abnormally dry to severe. In addition, drought conditions were eliminated in part of extreme eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, and extreme southwestern Kansas. Other sections in the High Plains and eastern Rockies did not receive as much precipitation, thus drought classifications were unchanged from last week.
Across the Great Plains, drought conditions in North Dakota, most of Nebraska, and adjacent parts of Kansas generally remained unchanged, but moderate rains of 1 to 3 inches brought some localized improvements and similar amounts led to measurable improvements in a large part of central South Dakota, where such totals occur less frequently than they do farther south. In contrast, significant rains again evaded southcentral Nebraska, where drought classifications generally worsened. The 3 month rainfall deficits in the Great Plains region total 1-4 inches less than normal for the southwestern quarter of North Dakota, southcentral South Dakota, and parts of northcentral and southeastern Nebraska, and long term deficits remain substantial in much of the area. Over the last 5 years, between 10 and 20 inches less than normal precipitation has fallen from south central South Dakota southward through northern Kansas, with 20 to 30 inch deficits observed in central Nebraska and adjacent areas. For the central tier of Nebraska and parts of northern Kansas, this represents more than a typical year’s worth of precipitation missed since early August 1999. Farther south, widespread moderate to heavy rains (1 to 4 inches) eliminated abnormally dry conditions across the Texas Panhandle and most of western Oklahoma, but abnormally dry conditions remain in central Oklahoma, where only light rains fell last week.
The current issue of Time Magazine carries an article entitled, “Why the West is Burning.” It notes the drought could “...easily turn 2004 into one of the West’s worst fire years on record.” The August 16 issue also states, “And no one knows when the drought will end. Scientists believe this dry spell, which has plagued a broad swath of the West since 1999, is more typical of the region than its 60 million inhabitants would care to admit.... Consider, for example, the 1922 compact that determines the allocation of water from the Colorado River. Scientists have shown, by studying tree rings and other historical evidence, that the allocation was based on water flows that were the highest they had been for more than 475 years. By contrast, the flows since 1999 rank among the lowest. As a result, Lake Powell, the giant reservoir created...by the Glen Canyon Dam, stands some 60% below capacity and seems destined to fall even lower. No wonder that states like Colorado -- whose rights to that water are trumped by the rights of California, Nevada and Arizona -- are anxiously bracing for a crisis.”
The article continues, “Caught off guard, political leaders and water-resource managers have been turning to scientists for help. What do researchers know about patterns of drought in North America? What do they think occurred in the mid-1990s when a big chunk of the West abruptly veered from wet to dry? And do they believe that the current shortfall in precipitation is just a temporary dry spell or an ominous realignment of the earth’s climate system?” The article goes on to discuss tree ring and paleoclimatology research, sea surface temperatures, El Niño, La Niña, climate models, global warming and future climate variability. Professor Douglas Kenney, University of Colorado, observes, “Everyone’s pretty clear that the earth’s getting warmer, but it’s unclear just what that means. It might mean a wetter future or a dryer future. It might even mean a wetter future with no net gain.” Dr. Philip Mote, a University of Washington climatologist states, “Drought is more than a precipitation deficit.” The problem is that “...you don’t have as much water as you’d like at a given point in time.” The article concludes, “The past is an imperfect lens through which to peer into the future, but looking backward provides a glimpse, at least, of the sorts of extended dry spells that those who live in this drought-prone region today should be prepared to endure.” (J. Madeleine Nash/Sage, Time Magazine, August 16, 2004)....
WATER RESOURCES
Drought
According to the August 10 Drought Monitor, scattered summer thunderstorms have brought little or no relief from the drought in the Western Rockies and Far West. Here are some excerpts from the report: “The so far anemic monsoon season continued across most of Arizona, western New Mexico, Utah, and western Colorado last week. A small part of north central Arizona and adjacent Utah were the only exception. In this area, fairly widespread rains of 1 to 4 inches were reported, resulting in an improvement to [severe hydrological drought] conditions. The only other area experiencing some improvement last week was the northern tier of Washington, where unseasonably heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches...” raised the assessment from moderate to abnormally dry agricultural and hydrological drought conditions east of the Cascades.
“Across the southern tier of the West, scattered 1 to 3 inch rains fell on the higher elevations of central Arizona and in adjacent parts of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. These rains, however, were insufficient to improve the abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions assessed last week, given that this is typically a relatively wet time of year, and considering the magnitude of the region’s multi year precipitation deficits. In fact, a small area of deterioration (to extreme drought) was assessed in south central Arizona.”
“Rainfall was sparse across the remainder of the West, with little or none falling on areas from the lower northern Intermountain West southward through the Great Basin and southwestward across most of California. While dry weeks during summer in these regions are quite common, the persistence of low relative humidity, somewhat above normal temperatures, only spotty rains, and slow but consistent surface moisture loss for the last few months has led to increased fire danger and a westward expansion of abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions across California, southern Oregon, and Nevada.”
“Multi year precipitation deficits are very large in most locations from the Rockies westward to the southern California coast, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascades. Only 64 to 75 percent of normal precipitation has fallen on a vast majority of this large region since early August 1999. This represents at least one typical year’s worth of precipitation missing over the course of the last 5 years, with deficits approaching typical 2 year totals in much of the Intermountain West and desert Southwest. The relatively recent persistence of below normal precipitation and humidity combined with above normal temperatures has not helped the situation, with reservoir storages declining at a rate exceeding the typical climatological decline since May 1, even considering the dry summers typically observed in most of the region, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.”
East of the Rockies, heavy rains (4 to 6 inches) doused parts of central and northeastern Colorado while moderate amounts (1 to 4 inches) were fairly widespread across southeastern Montana, areas near and north of the Black Hills, most of eastern and parts of central Colorado, and portions of northern and eastern New Mexico. Most of these areas experienced a significant improvement in drought classification, which now range from abnormally dry to severe. In addition, drought conditions were eliminated in part of extreme eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, and extreme southwestern Kansas. Other sections in the High Plains and eastern Rockies did not receive as much precipitation, thus drought classifications were unchanged from last week.
Across the Great Plains, drought conditions in North Dakota, most of Nebraska, and adjacent parts of Kansas generally remained unchanged, but moderate rains of 1 to 3 inches brought some localized improvements and similar amounts led to measurable improvements in a large part of central South Dakota, where such totals occur less frequently than they do farther south. In contrast, significant rains again evaded southcentral Nebraska, where drought classifications generally worsened. The 3 month rainfall deficits in the Great Plains region total 1-4 inches less than normal for the southwestern quarter of North Dakota, southcentral South Dakota, and parts of northcentral and southeastern Nebraska, and long term deficits remain substantial in much of the area. Over the last 5 years, between 10 and 20 inches less than normal precipitation has fallen from south central South Dakota southward through northern Kansas, with 20 to 30 inch deficits observed in central Nebraska and adjacent areas. For the central tier of Nebraska and parts of northern Kansas, this represents more than a typical year’s worth of precipitation missed since early August 1999. Farther south, widespread moderate to heavy rains (1 to 4 inches) eliminated abnormally dry conditions across the Texas Panhandle and most of western Oklahoma, but abnormally dry conditions remain in central Oklahoma, where only light rains fell last week.
The current issue of Time Magazine carries an article entitled, “Why the West is Burning.” It notes the drought could “...easily turn 2004 into one of the West’s worst fire years on record.” The August 16 issue also states, “And no one knows when the drought will end. Scientists believe this dry spell, which has plagued a broad swath of the West since 1999, is more typical of the region than its 60 million inhabitants would care to admit.... Consider, for example, the 1922 compact that determines the allocation of water from the Colorado River. Scientists have shown, by studying tree rings and other historical evidence, that the allocation was based on water flows that were the highest they had been for more than 475 years. By contrast, the flows since 1999 rank among the lowest. As a result, Lake Powell, the giant reservoir created...by the Glen Canyon Dam, stands some 60% below capacity and seems destined to fall even lower. No wonder that states like Colorado -- whose rights to that water are trumped by the rights of California, Nevada and Arizona -- are anxiously bracing for a crisis.”
The article continues, “Caught off guard, political leaders and water-resource managers have been turning to scientists for help. What do researchers know about patterns of drought in North America? What do they think occurred in the mid-1990s when a big chunk of the West abruptly veered from wet to dry? And do they believe that the current shortfall in precipitation is just a temporary dry spell or an ominous realignment of the earth’s climate system?” The article goes on to discuss tree ring and paleoclimatology research, sea surface temperatures, El Niño, La Niña, climate models, global warming and future climate variability. Professor Douglas Kenney, University of Colorado, observes, “Everyone’s pretty clear that the earth’s getting warmer, but it’s unclear just what that means. It might mean a wetter future or a dryer future. It might even mean a wetter future with no net gain.” Dr. Philip Mote, a University of Washington climatologist states, “Drought is more than a precipitation deficit.” The problem is that “...you don’t have as much water as you’d like at a given point in time.” The article concludes, “The past is an imperfect lens through which to peer into the future, but looking backward provides a glimpse, at least, of the sorts of extended dry spells that those who live in this drought-prone region today should be prepared to endure.” (J. Madeleine Nash/Sage, Time Magazine, August 16, 2004)....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Multiple use group's injunction denied District Judge Richard Roberts held a hearing Monday in Washington, D.C., on the request for a preliminary injunction, which was associated with a lawsuit filed by Montanans for Multiple Use and 13 co-plaintiffs in June 2003. While the lawsuit was aimed at the Flathead National Forest in particular, the injunction request applied to all national forests. Montanans for Multiple Use, a group based in the Flathead Valley, contends that road closures, obliterated roads and improperly executed forest plan amendments have combined to create an unacceptable fire risk to national forests and surrounding communities....
Forest Service OKs logging 1,800 formerly roadless acres on Gravina Island The U.S. Forest Service has approved a timber sale in a roadless area of the Tongass National Forest. The logging would take place on Gravina Island, across Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan, and would yield 38 million board feet of timber from approximately 1,800 acres. It's the second harvest in a roadless area of a national forest since a Clinton-era rule banning such logging was lifted earlier this year. Last month the Forest Service approved a 665-acre harvest in a roadless area called Threemile on Kuiu Island in Southeast....
Alaska marks worst fire season on record Alaska on Wednesday set a new record for acres burned by wildfires during this hot, dry summer, and fire managers said the numbers will increase before the season is over. With 101 wildfires still burning across the state, the season total was at 602 wildfires and 5.05 million acres of scorched earth, surpassing the 1957 record by more than 3,000 acres, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks....
Forest Service aids cleanup of old mines For decades, the abandoned Dinero Mine spat out acidic runoff laden with zinc and manganese that devastated aquatic life in the Lake Fork of the Arkansas River. But a private cleanup effort has created a series of man- made ponds and limestone channels that capture the syrupy orange runoff and reduce acidity before it flows into the river....
Editorial: Court Helps Fish Because salmon often turn into river-kill when pushed through turbines, spill water is thought to be one of our greatest countermeasures against endangered and threatened fish runs on dammed rivers. That is why Friday's decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is so encouraging. It backed a lower court decision that requires continued water release at dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers to aid migrating salmon. The case made by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration to reduce the amount of water released by at least 39 percent this summer was compelling only in dollar signs....
Ducks Unlimited to Manage Federal Duck Stamps Ducks Unlimited (DU) will manage how Federal Duck Stamp images are licensed to manufacturers who place the images on a wide variety of consumer products. Under the agreement, DU will use its expertise to expand and manage the licensing program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Federal Duck Stamp Program. "We're excited to have DU manage our Duck Stamp licensing program and the potential it will have to provide even more money for wetlands conservation," said Service Director Steve Williams....
Alberta grizzlies 'barely hanging on' Grizzly bears in southwestern Alberta are in danger of dying out, says a study that estimates there are fewer than 40 bears in that corner of the province. Unless immediate action is taken to improve bear habitat, the Calgary scientist who produced the report says, grizzlies will become extinct in the region....
In hot pursuit of polluters An answer may come as soon as this fall as legions of scientists, possibly including Magnuson, are summoned to appear as expert witnesses in a groundbreaking case that will test the limits of environmental law and the science undergirding climate-change theory. In a complaint filed last month in federal district court in New York, eight states (Wisconsin, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Connecticut, and California) claimed that global warming is damaging crops, tourism, beaches, citizens' health, forests, and fish - and threatening coastal communities as sea levels rise....
Column: In Bush Grazing Decision, Politics, Secrecy Win Again The Bush administration has proposed easing environmental controls on cattle and sheep grazing on public lands, marking the latest example of politics and secrecy trumping professional judgment and transparency. An internal analysis, written by experts at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and later leaked to me and others, warned that this action would damage watersheds and wildlife, but political appointees suppressed and overrode it....
Wild About Wilderness: Celebrities Shine Spotlight on Nation's Wild Lands Musicians Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, actor Christopher Reeve, and artist Maya Lin are lending their faces and voices to a new public service announcement effort by the Campaign for America's Wilderness to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which was signed into law September 3, 1964. "When I'm not on the road doing concerts, there's nothing I like more than getting out into the wilderness," says Raitt in a radio PSA....
Craigsville's mystery animal slinks into myth No one has seen the big cat in 10 days. Maybe it has moved on, or maybe it settled in Showker's Flats. Craigsville residents are still talking about the big cat Joe Rowland spotted on his property July 19, but no one has seen it lately. Exposed film taken this week from motion-sensitive cameras on Rowland's 70-acre property documented groundhogs, deer and rabbits, but no felines, said Capt. Mike Clark with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries....
U.S. releases new snowmobile plan for Yellowstone, Grand Teton Snowmobiles could continue using Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks for at least the next three winters under a federal proposal to be released today. The plan by the National Park Service is meant to buy time until a more permanent solution to snowmobiling use at those parks can be found, said Al Nash, a Park Service spokesman in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. "What we're trying to do is come up with an appropriate plan for up to three winters that will allow people to know what to expect and will allow us some time to gather some more information," Nash told The Associated Press....
FBI agent is silenced on Flats The FBI ordered a special agent who investigated environmental crimes at Rocky Flats in the 1980s not to talk Wednesday at a news conference organized by anti-nuclear activists, the agent said. Jon Lipsky, now assigned to an FBI field office in California, took vacation time to travel to Denver, he said. The FBI called him en route Tuesday, he said. "I received a call from the FBI ordering me not to talk about the Rocky Flats case, so I can't tell you what I came here to tell you," he said at a news conference in Denver....
State stashes big share of water underground What Salt River Project and the Central Arizona Project did, and continue to do, is called water recharge or water banking. It helps shore up long-term water supplies, allowing Arizona to collect its full share of the Colorado River, even when it doesn't use it, and shields the water from the pressures of growth or a long dry spell. Think of a water-recharge project as an underground storage reservoir at a time when the above-ground kind, like Roosevelt Lake or Lake Powell, are too expensive and too environmentally unpopular to build....
Dismantling of dam approved A federal commission has approved the dismantling of the American Fork Dam, a project intended to benefit the state's trout population. Electric utility PacifiCorp said last summer it would tear down the dam under an agreement with state and federal agencies and conservation group Trout Unlimited. Final removal is expected by 2007. PacifiCorp will dismantle the 97-year-old hydropower dam and surrender water rights to improve habitat for brown and rainbow trout and help Bonneville cutthroat trout recover....
Judge issues restraining order against farmer A judge has issued a restraining order against a farmer who allegedly refused to stop diverting irrigation water from the Bear River. The order was issued Friday against Jerry Charles Simmonds and his mother, Thelma, by 1st District Court Judge Gordon B. Low at the request of the Utah Attorney General's Office. Along with other members of the Utah Small Pumpers Association, Simmonds was ordered two weeks ago by the state Division of Water Rights to stop diverting water from the river....
Good Samaritans help cowboy buck odds The rodeo trail can be cruel. But assistance can sometimes come from the most unknown source. Just ask Eric Swenson, a bareback rider from Bonham, Texas. Because of some good Samaritans in Illinois, he was able to win the bareback riding title at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., last Sunday....
"The continuing saga of a cowboy" Cyclone, along with the rest of the cowboys he was working with, had moved the cattle to the Comanche Indian reservation near Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma, without any Indian scares. They camped on Dead Man’s Creek for several days because there was plenty of grass and water. Several of the cowboys saddled up and rode towards Fort Sill when they came upon a pow-wow for one of the dead chiefs. So, being cowboys, they settled in to watch, which didn’t set too well with the Comanche people. But it turned out one of the boys could speak the language, and then they were welcomed....
Multiple use group's injunction denied District Judge Richard Roberts held a hearing Monday in Washington, D.C., on the request for a preliminary injunction, which was associated with a lawsuit filed by Montanans for Multiple Use and 13 co-plaintiffs in June 2003. While the lawsuit was aimed at the Flathead National Forest in particular, the injunction request applied to all national forests. Montanans for Multiple Use, a group based in the Flathead Valley, contends that road closures, obliterated roads and improperly executed forest plan amendments have combined to create an unacceptable fire risk to national forests and surrounding communities....
Forest Service OKs logging 1,800 formerly roadless acres on Gravina Island The U.S. Forest Service has approved a timber sale in a roadless area of the Tongass National Forest. The logging would take place on Gravina Island, across Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan, and would yield 38 million board feet of timber from approximately 1,800 acres. It's the second harvest in a roadless area of a national forest since a Clinton-era rule banning such logging was lifted earlier this year. Last month the Forest Service approved a 665-acre harvest in a roadless area called Threemile on Kuiu Island in Southeast....
Alaska marks worst fire season on record Alaska on Wednesday set a new record for acres burned by wildfires during this hot, dry summer, and fire managers said the numbers will increase before the season is over. With 101 wildfires still burning across the state, the season total was at 602 wildfires and 5.05 million acres of scorched earth, surpassing the 1957 record by more than 3,000 acres, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks....
Forest Service aids cleanup of old mines For decades, the abandoned Dinero Mine spat out acidic runoff laden with zinc and manganese that devastated aquatic life in the Lake Fork of the Arkansas River. But a private cleanup effort has created a series of man- made ponds and limestone channels that capture the syrupy orange runoff and reduce acidity before it flows into the river....
Editorial: Court Helps Fish Because salmon often turn into river-kill when pushed through turbines, spill water is thought to be one of our greatest countermeasures against endangered and threatened fish runs on dammed rivers. That is why Friday's decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is so encouraging. It backed a lower court decision that requires continued water release at dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers to aid migrating salmon. The case made by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration to reduce the amount of water released by at least 39 percent this summer was compelling only in dollar signs....
Ducks Unlimited to Manage Federal Duck Stamps Ducks Unlimited (DU) will manage how Federal Duck Stamp images are licensed to manufacturers who place the images on a wide variety of consumer products. Under the agreement, DU will use its expertise to expand and manage the licensing program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Federal Duck Stamp Program. "We're excited to have DU manage our Duck Stamp licensing program and the potential it will have to provide even more money for wetlands conservation," said Service Director Steve Williams....
Alberta grizzlies 'barely hanging on' Grizzly bears in southwestern Alberta are in danger of dying out, says a study that estimates there are fewer than 40 bears in that corner of the province. Unless immediate action is taken to improve bear habitat, the Calgary scientist who produced the report says, grizzlies will become extinct in the region....
In hot pursuit of polluters An answer may come as soon as this fall as legions of scientists, possibly including Magnuson, are summoned to appear as expert witnesses in a groundbreaking case that will test the limits of environmental law and the science undergirding climate-change theory. In a complaint filed last month in federal district court in New York, eight states (Wisconsin, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Connecticut, and California) claimed that global warming is damaging crops, tourism, beaches, citizens' health, forests, and fish - and threatening coastal communities as sea levels rise....
Column: In Bush Grazing Decision, Politics, Secrecy Win Again The Bush administration has proposed easing environmental controls on cattle and sheep grazing on public lands, marking the latest example of politics and secrecy trumping professional judgment and transparency. An internal analysis, written by experts at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and later leaked to me and others, warned that this action would damage watersheds and wildlife, but political appointees suppressed and overrode it....
Wild About Wilderness: Celebrities Shine Spotlight on Nation's Wild Lands Musicians Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, actor Christopher Reeve, and artist Maya Lin are lending their faces and voices to a new public service announcement effort by the Campaign for America's Wilderness to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which was signed into law September 3, 1964. "When I'm not on the road doing concerts, there's nothing I like more than getting out into the wilderness," says Raitt in a radio PSA....
Craigsville's mystery animal slinks into myth No one has seen the big cat in 10 days. Maybe it has moved on, or maybe it settled in Showker's Flats. Craigsville residents are still talking about the big cat Joe Rowland spotted on his property July 19, but no one has seen it lately. Exposed film taken this week from motion-sensitive cameras on Rowland's 70-acre property documented groundhogs, deer and rabbits, but no felines, said Capt. Mike Clark with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries....
U.S. releases new snowmobile plan for Yellowstone, Grand Teton Snowmobiles could continue using Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks for at least the next three winters under a federal proposal to be released today. The plan by the National Park Service is meant to buy time until a more permanent solution to snowmobiling use at those parks can be found, said Al Nash, a Park Service spokesman in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. "What we're trying to do is come up with an appropriate plan for up to three winters that will allow people to know what to expect and will allow us some time to gather some more information," Nash told The Associated Press....
FBI agent is silenced on Flats The FBI ordered a special agent who investigated environmental crimes at Rocky Flats in the 1980s not to talk Wednesday at a news conference organized by anti-nuclear activists, the agent said. Jon Lipsky, now assigned to an FBI field office in California, took vacation time to travel to Denver, he said. The FBI called him en route Tuesday, he said. "I received a call from the FBI ordering me not to talk about the Rocky Flats case, so I can't tell you what I came here to tell you," he said at a news conference in Denver....
State stashes big share of water underground What Salt River Project and the Central Arizona Project did, and continue to do, is called water recharge or water banking. It helps shore up long-term water supplies, allowing Arizona to collect its full share of the Colorado River, even when it doesn't use it, and shields the water from the pressures of growth or a long dry spell. Think of a water-recharge project as an underground storage reservoir at a time when the above-ground kind, like Roosevelt Lake or Lake Powell, are too expensive and too environmentally unpopular to build....
Dismantling of dam approved A federal commission has approved the dismantling of the American Fork Dam, a project intended to benefit the state's trout population. Electric utility PacifiCorp said last summer it would tear down the dam under an agreement with state and federal agencies and conservation group Trout Unlimited. Final removal is expected by 2007. PacifiCorp will dismantle the 97-year-old hydropower dam and surrender water rights to improve habitat for brown and rainbow trout and help Bonneville cutthroat trout recover....
Judge issues restraining order against farmer A judge has issued a restraining order against a farmer who allegedly refused to stop diverting irrigation water from the Bear River. The order was issued Friday against Jerry Charles Simmonds and his mother, Thelma, by 1st District Court Judge Gordon B. Low at the request of the Utah Attorney General's Office. Along with other members of the Utah Small Pumpers Association, Simmonds was ordered two weeks ago by the state Division of Water Rights to stop diverting water from the river....
Good Samaritans help cowboy buck odds The rodeo trail can be cruel. But assistance can sometimes come from the most unknown source. Just ask Eric Swenson, a bareback rider from Bonham, Texas. Because of some good Samaritans in Illinois, he was able to win the bareback riding title at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., last Sunday....
"The continuing saga of a cowboy" Cyclone, along with the rest of the cowboys he was working with, had moved the cattle to the Comanche Indian reservation near Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma, without any Indian scares. They camped on Dead Man’s Creek for several days because there was plenty of grass and water. Several of the cowboys saddled up and rode towards Fort Sill when they came upon a pow-wow for one of the dead chiefs. So, being cowboys, they settled in to watch, which didn’t set too well with the Comanche people. But it turned out one of the boys could speak the language, and then they were welcomed....
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Nevada’s Plan to Develop the Desert This was territory nobody wanted — not homesteaders, not city dwellers, not even the railroads. It remained the big empty: a state-sized expanse of sagebrush, canyon lands and jagged mountains left almost entirely to the federal government. But now Nevada's Lincoln County, a 10,637-square-mile piece of the lonely Old West, might be headed for a bit of a New West boom. "Let us grow. Let us develop our water. Let us bring in some industry," pleads County Commissioner Tim Perkins. The Nevada congressional delegation is doing its best to oblige. In June, members introduced a bill that would ease the way for hundreds of miles of water pipelines across federal land and carve out 87,000 acres of public holdings — the equivalent of nearly three San Franciscos — to sell for private development around the county's scattered little communities. The proposal to sell off federal land here is the latest in a series of congressional acts, launched in 1998, that are helping fuel southern Nevada's explosive expansion. The approach Nevada officials are pushing is being eyed as a model in other Western states where the federal government controls huge swaths of land....
Fire Grows After Charring Gold Rush Town A northern California wildfire that destroyed 22 homes and two businesses in this historic gold mining town grew to nearly 10,000 acres Tuesday, but evacuated residents were able to return home. The fire, burning about 140 miles northwest of Sacramento, had moved north of French Gulch and was 25 percent contained. Firefighters did not expect to fully contain the flames until Friday. Two walls of flame roared through the community of 150 homes on Saturday, destroying one-sixth of its buildings. Firefighters managed to save an 1885-era hotel on the National Register of Historic Places, a school and the post office....
Vail Resorts Closes on Purchase of Vassar Meadows Site Vail Resorts announced today that it has closed on the purchase of a major portion of Vassar Meadows, 357 acres of open space located south of Eagle, Colo., from The Conservation Fund for more than $4.7 million. Much of this land will be combined with an in-holding of 135 acres that Vail Resorts already owns in the South Game Creek area on Vail Mountain. Then, as part of an environmental effort to preserve open space, both parcels are expected to be ultimately conveyed to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for five acres at the base of Vail Mountain that are vital to Vail's Front Door redevelopment. Any Vassar Meadows land now owned by Vail Resorts that is not conveyed to the Forest Service as part of the land exchange will not be developed, and will be held for a future exchange or donation to the Forest Service by the Company....
Fire on the mountain: Unfettered flames an effective tool for Wilderness management Below Hell's Half Acre Lookout six wildfires were visible on Monday. The smallest - the Mile North Fire - started within the past few days. The oldest and biggest - the Harrington Ridge Fire - has been going for about a month. "It's natural forces forming a natural landscape," said West Fork district ranger David Campbell. The Forest Service calls them Wildland Fire Use fires and they are only allowed in designated wilderness areas or wilderness study areas that have them written into their fire management plans, said Campbell. The Selway-Bitterroot was the first wilderness to incorporate the strategy - the first wilderness to let a naturally started fire run its course....
Group formed to seek compromise over rare Nevada butterfly A new working group has been formed in Churchill County to try to find ways to help the Sand Mountain blue butterfly and avoid a potential listing under the Endangered Species Act. The working group was formed by the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance, an organization that tries to resolve differences between competing interests in natural resource issues....
Researchers Try to Breed Rare Sea Ducks Researchers at the Alaska Sealife Center are poking into the private lives of Steller's eiders - a rare sea duck that is disappearing from its nesting grounds in Alaska. Ten males and seven females were collected from the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands in 2003 and installed in a large outdoor pen at the Seward center as part of a federally funded captive breeding program. Researchers have observed the sea ducks for a year. To help get the ducks in the mood this spring, their 25-foot-by-60-foot pen was converted into something more cozy, with tundra grasses, moss, pebbles, driftwood and natural barriers for increased privacy....
County appeals trespass ruling Just because the hot-button legal dispute was dismissed in federal court, Park County officials are not about to let sleeping wolves lie. Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric on Monday appealed dismissal of two cases alleging trespass by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee and his assistant. Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator Mike Jimenez and Wes Livingston, an employee of Hawkins and Powers Aviation Inc., were accused of trespassing on the Larsen Ranch in Meeteetse during a wolf radio-collaring operation. The men were found on the ranch property with four tranquilized wolves on Feb. 14....
Alaska man accused of smuggling, selling illegal animal remains Federal agents arrested an Alaska man yesterday in Poulsbo, alleging that a yearlong undercover operation found he was dealing in smuggled tusks, teeth, skulls and bones of several animals, including Alaskan and Asian bears, walruses, birds and other protected animals. Federal prosecutors also allege that William Sidmore made thousands of dollars dealing in the ivory of extinct wooly mammoths from tusks stolen from federal land in Alaska. He moved much of the inventory through Seattle and Poulsbo, prosecutors say....
Desert flooding in California kills 2 Heavy flooding in the Mojave Desert killed at least two people, damaged a key highway and forced the closure of Death Valley National Park, one of the hottest places on Earth.
Fierce storms that hit the desert over the weekend triggered flooding that washed cars off roads and sent mud, rock and debris cascading into the Furnace Creek Wash....
Lawsuit planned in case Pilgrims stay A bulldozer confrontation in the streets of McCarthy on Saturday ended peaceably, with a promise from trespassers to move along, preparations for a lawsuit, and performances by rival bluegrass bands. Nearly 70 local residents and landowners showed up Saturday with a bulldozer to clear a town site right of way where the 17-member Hale family, which goes by the name of Pilgrim, has had a camp for more than two years, according to organizers. The Hales have blamed their predicament on the National Park Service and a misunderstanding with the miner who sold them land outside McCarthy. Their neighbors said the time for excuses is past. The Pilgrim family was not ready to move Saturday, and the neighbors did not force an immediate confrontation....
Press Release: Interior Department’s Wildlife-Friendly Pledge Is Largely Cosmetic This week, the Bureau of Land Management issued a new policy (Instructional Memorandum 2004-110 Change 1) that Interior claims will allow federal officials to hold off offering new oil and gas leases if they think the current plans for protecting wildlife are not adequate. In reality, this new policy is largely cosmetic, maintains BLM’s strong presumption in favor of oil and gas leasing, and will do little to protect the West’s last wild landscapes or the wildlife they harbor....Go here(pdf) to view the Instructional Memorandum....
1979 memo: Radioactive contamination 'problem' at Yerington mine Anaconda Copper Co. officials noted a "problem" with radiological contamination at a northern Nevada mine 25 years ago as they considered options for selling the property at Yerington, an internal memo shows. "It now appears that the residue in the evaporation ponds is a problem because of radiological contamination," according to the memo obtained by The Associated Press....
Amnesty winds down for tribal artifacts taken from Four Corners states A three-month federal amnesty offered to looters returning archaeological artifacts ends Sept. 4 in Colorado. On May 20, U.S. attorneys in the Four Corners states agreed not to prosecute anyone who turned in illegally possessed Indian articles of cultural importance during the amnesty period. The amnesty ends Wednesday in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico....
Enviro's Oppose Cutting Trees for Vets' Graves Environmentalists are upset with a plan to cut down a grove of old cottonwood trees at Fort Logan National Cemetery, a move cemetery officials say is needed to provide final resting places for veterans in the metro area. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs wants to open up a total of 61 acres of grassy, rolling space for new grave sites next month. One acre of that is a cottonwood grove that members of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver say serves as habitat for red-tail hawks and great horned owls....
Unusual Alliance Is Formed to Clean Up Mine Runoff An unusual partnership linking the federal Forest Service, the environmental group Trout Unlimited, the ski resort owners Snowbird Corporation and Tiffany & Company has been created to clean the acidic mine runoff from the American Fork watershed - and perhaps spur similar alliances around the West, where mining waste has polluted the headwaters of 40 percent of all watersheds. The alliance, to be announced Wednesday, is intended to overcome hurdles that have slowed mine cleanups: the intermingling of public and private land in the most affected areas and the provisions of the Superfund law that make those who work at mine waste sites, whether to re-mine them or clean them, potentially liable for their pollution....
Briefs piling up in Montana high court Proponents and opponents of a November ballot initiative to allow the use of cyanide in mining chemical processes are currently battling before the Montana Supreme Court. After a petition qualified Initiative-147 for the Montana election ballot, a Montana rancher and an anti-mining NGO, Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) of Helena, filed a petition with the high court to prevent the measure from being placed on the ballot. These opponents claim the measure is unconstitutional because it would restore the mining rights that any company or person had when cyanide mining processes were banned in new mines by voters in 1998....
Fighting against the tide - State senator worries about water rights State Sen. Sam Aanestad on Monday attacked the idea of a Sierra Nevada Conservancy, fearing it will infringe on property and water rights. Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the plan, the Republican legislator last week voted against a compromised version of the bill, which would create an organization aimed at gathering grants and other funds to protect and improve the mountain range. "It's a huge land grab by the state of California," said Aanestad, R-Grass Valley. "The most onerous part of it is the board will have control over all water rights. It's a huge invasion on water rights."....
Myakka woman preserves Cracker heritage "This is where the cattle industry started in Florida. This is our roots, right here," she said about the lineage of her herd of Florida Cracker cows. "Their ancestors go back to the 1500s and the Spaniards. Not long ago - the 1940s and 1950s - this is what people were still raising in Florida." That includes her hero, her father Bayard Toussaint. For 26 years he was the ranch manager of the sprawling 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch in Punta Gorda. He had 16,000 head of cattle and a fulltime crew of about a half-dozen cowboys....
Raising Longhorns a mix of novelty and economy John and Carol Dvorak recognize the American heritage of the Longhorn cattle they raise by welcoming visitors to their farm southwest of Marion. The Dvoraks see their colorful cattle as a bit of living American history so close to the Chisholm Trail and cowtowns Longhorns helped make famous. But among the things they value most about their purebred 60-cow herd Texas Longhorn cattle is the "good night's sleeps" they get during calving season when other cattlemen are checking for cows and heifers having trouble giving birth to calves. They never have to pull calves to assist the birthing process....
American political humorist Will Rogers' ideas strike true even today Just like Mark Twain, Will Rogers had our number. Twain's career spanned the second half of the 19th century and his observations on life, American politics and character strike true to this day. A product of the Gilded Age, Twain's humor could be as barbed as a harpoon. Will Rogers, the Oklahoma cowboy/Indian seems a friendlier, less complex character than Twain (real name Samuel Clemens). Rogers was a huge hit on the stage, in the movies and in print where his daily columns were required reading. His day came in the 1920s and '30s when he was not only America's foremost political humorist but one of the most beloved men of his day....
Competition tests man’s best friend Rex crouched low along the dusty ground. The 4-year-old border collie’s alert blue eyes were pegged steadfast on three heifers pacing in the corral. Nearby, riding a chestnut-tanned horse, Hollister resident Julie Carreiro called to the dog. “Down. Hey. Watch. Watch. Lie Down. Come here! Come! Here!” One nervous cow started to bolt in the wrong direction. Rex instantly shot toward it. The cow kicked hind hooves dangerously up, but Rex agilely jumped out of range. With canine confidence, he assertively guided the big animal toward the back of the open trailer. The cow complied, entering the trailer, followed by another heifer....
Structured for Success Ask saddlemaker Cary Schwarz if he expected Traditional Cowboy Arts Association to catapult to success in less than 6 years, and his answer leans toward the negative. "At the beginning, I never thought it'd catch on like this," he shares. Each TCAA member has earned elite status in his trade of choice. The saddlemakers, bitmakers, spurmakers, silversmiths and rawhide braiders hone their skills, continually seek educational opportunities and manage to leave their egos at the door. It's not surprising then that they carefully select each new member....
Riding With The Elusive Vaquero Our September 2004 issue featured "Resurrecting the Ol' 25" about a historic Nevada ranch describes my encounter with one of the few vaqueros left on the western range. As an extra bonus during my visit to Hardy Downing's lease operation, I enjoyed a great opportunity to ride with Juan Gonzalez, a living link to American buckaroo heritage. "Watch Juan rope," Hardy's crew warned me in advance. "He's a top-rated charro in North America during his spare time. So's his son." My ears definitely perked up at hearing this juicy gossip....
ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inducts New Class The ProRodeo Hall of Fame's gala 25th anniversary weekend reached its apex August 14 with the induction of seven-time world champion Fred Whitfield, three-time world champion Tee Woolman and 1991 World Bareback Riding Champion Clint Corey, as well as six other rodeo luminaries and one storied bareback bronc before a record crowd of more than 1,500 people. The Hall of Fame, which opened in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1979, has been celebrating its silver anniversary throughout 2004. For 25 years, the Hall of Fame has been the center of rodeo history and Western heritage....
Nevada’s Plan to Develop the Desert This was territory nobody wanted — not homesteaders, not city dwellers, not even the railroads. It remained the big empty: a state-sized expanse of sagebrush, canyon lands and jagged mountains left almost entirely to the federal government. But now Nevada's Lincoln County, a 10,637-square-mile piece of the lonely Old West, might be headed for a bit of a New West boom. "Let us grow. Let us develop our water. Let us bring in some industry," pleads County Commissioner Tim Perkins. The Nevada congressional delegation is doing its best to oblige. In June, members introduced a bill that would ease the way for hundreds of miles of water pipelines across federal land and carve out 87,000 acres of public holdings — the equivalent of nearly three San Franciscos — to sell for private development around the county's scattered little communities. The proposal to sell off federal land here is the latest in a series of congressional acts, launched in 1998, that are helping fuel southern Nevada's explosive expansion. The approach Nevada officials are pushing is being eyed as a model in other Western states where the federal government controls huge swaths of land....
Fire Grows After Charring Gold Rush Town A northern California wildfire that destroyed 22 homes and two businesses in this historic gold mining town grew to nearly 10,000 acres Tuesday, but evacuated residents were able to return home. The fire, burning about 140 miles northwest of Sacramento, had moved north of French Gulch and was 25 percent contained. Firefighters did not expect to fully contain the flames until Friday. Two walls of flame roared through the community of 150 homes on Saturday, destroying one-sixth of its buildings. Firefighters managed to save an 1885-era hotel on the National Register of Historic Places, a school and the post office....
Vail Resorts Closes on Purchase of Vassar Meadows Site Vail Resorts announced today that it has closed on the purchase of a major portion of Vassar Meadows, 357 acres of open space located south of Eagle, Colo., from The Conservation Fund for more than $4.7 million. Much of this land will be combined with an in-holding of 135 acres that Vail Resorts already owns in the South Game Creek area on Vail Mountain. Then, as part of an environmental effort to preserve open space, both parcels are expected to be ultimately conveyed to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for five acres at the base of Vail Mountain that are vital to Vail's Front Door redevelopment. Any Vassar Meadows land now owned by Vail Resorts that is not conveyed to the Forest Service as part of the land exchange will not be developed, and will be held for a future exchange or donation to the Forest Service by the Company....
Fire on the mountain: Unfettered flames an effective tool for Wilderness management Below Hell's Half Acre Lookout six wildfires were visible on Monday. The smallest - the Mile North Fire - started within the past few days. The oldest and biggest - the Harrington Ridge Fire - has been going for about a month. "It's natural forces forming a natural landscape," said West Fork district ranger David Campbell. The Forest Service calls them Wildland Fire Use fires and they are only allowed in designated wilderness areas or wilderness study areas that have them written into their fire management plans, said Campbell. The Selway-Bitterroot was the first wilderness to incorporate the strategy - the first wilderness to let a naturally started fire run its course....
Group formed to seek compromise over rare Nevada butterfly A new working group has been formed in Churchill County to try to find ways to help the Sand Mountain blue butterfly and avoid a potential listing under the Endangered Species Act. The working group was formed by the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance, an organization that tries to resolve differences between competing interests in natural resource issues....
Researchers Try to Breed Rare Sea Ducks Researchers at the Alaska Sealife Center are poking into the private lives of Steller's eiders - a rare sea duck that is disappearing from its nesting grounds in Alaska. Ten males and seven females were collected from the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands in 2003 and installed in a large outdoor pen at the Seward center as part of a federally funded captive breeding program. Researchers have observed the sea ducks for a year. To help get the ducks in the mood this spring, their 25-foot-by-60-foot pen was converted into something more cozy, with tundra grasses, moss, pebbles, driftwood and natural barriers for increased privacy....
County appeals trespass ruling Just because the hot-button legal dispute was dismissed in federal court, Park County officials are not about to let sleeping wolves lie. Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric on Monday appealed dismissal of two cases alleging trespass by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee and his assistant. Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator Mike Jimenez and Wes Livingston, an employee of Hawkins and Powers Aviation Inc., were accused of trespassing on the Larsen Ranch in Meeteetse during a wolf radio-collaring operation. The men were found on the ranch property with four tranquilized wolves on Feb. 14....
Alaska man accused of smuggling, selling illegal animal remains Federal agents arrested an Alaska man yesterday in Poulsbo, alleging that a yearlong undercover operation found he was dealing in smuggled tusks, teeth, skulls and bones of several animals, including Alaskan and Asian bears, walruses, birds and other protected animals. Federal prosecutors also allege that William Sidmore made thousands of dollars dealing in the ivory of extinct wooly mammoths from tusks stolen from federal land in Alaska. He moved much of the inventory through Seattle and Poulsbo, prosecutors say....
Desert flooding in California kills 2 Heavy flooding in the Mojave Desert killed at least two people, damaged a key highway and forced the closure of Death Valley National Park, one of the hottest places on Earth.
Fierce storms that hit the desert over the weekend triggered flooding that washed cars off roads and sent mud, rock and debris cascading into the Furnace Creek Wash....
Lawsuit planned in case Pilgrims stay A bulldozer confrontation in the streets of McCarthy on Saturday ended peaceably, with a promise from trespassers to move along, preparations for a lawsuit, and performances by rival bluegrass bands. Nearly 70 local residents and landowners showed up Saturday with a bulldozer to clear a town site right of way where the 17-member Hale family, which goes by the name of Pilgrim, has had a camp for more than two years, according to organizers. The Hales have blamed their predicament on the National Park Service and a misunderstanding with the miner who sold them land outside McCarthy. Their neighbors said the time for excuses is past. The Pilgrim family was not ready to move Saturday, and the neighbors did not force an immediate confrontation....
Press Release: Interior Department’s Wildlife-Friendly Pledge Is Largely Cosmetic This week, the Bureau of Land Management issued a new policy (Instructional Memorandum 2004-110 Change 1) that Interior claims will allow federal officials to hold off offering new oil and gas leases if they think the current plans for protecting wildlife are not adequate. In reality, this new policy is largely cosmetic, maintains BLM’s strong presumption in favor of oil and gas leasing, and will do little to protect the West’s last wild landscapes or the wildlife they harbor....Go here(pdf) to view the Instructional Memorandum....
1979 memo: Radioactive contamination 'problem' at Yerington mine Anaconda Copper Co. officials noted a "problem" with radiological contamination at a northern Nevada mine 25 years ago as they considered options for selling the property at Yerington, an internal memo shows. "It now appears that the residue in the evaporation ponds is a problem because of radiological contamination," according to the memo obtained by The Associated Press....
Amnesty winds down for tribal artifacts taken from Four Corners states A three-month federal amnesty offered to looters returning archaeological artifacts ends Sept. 4 in Colorado. On May 20, U.S. attorneys in the Four Corners states agreed not to prosecute anyone who turned in illegally possessed Indian articles of cultural importance during the amnesty period. The amnesty ends Wednesday in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico....
Enviro's Oppose Cutting Trees for Vets' Graves Environmentalists are upset with a plan to cut down a grove of old cottonwood trees at Fort Logan National Cemetery, a move cemetery officials say is needed to provide final resting places for veterans in the metro area. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs wants to open up a total of 61 acres of grassy, rolling space for new grave sites next month. One acre of that is a cottonwood grove that members of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver say serves as habitat for red-tail hawks and great horned owls....
Unusual Alliance Is Formed to Clean Up Mine Runoff An unusual partnership linking the federal Forest Service, the environmental group Trout Unlimited, the ski resort owners Snowbird Corporation and Tiffany & Company has been created to clean the acidic mine runoff from the American Fork watershed - and perhaps spur similar alliances around the West, where mining waste has polluted the headwaters of 40 percent of all watersheds. The alliance, to be announced Wednesday, is intended to overcome hurdles that have slowed mine cleanups: the intermingling of public and private land in the most affected areas and the provisions of the Superfund law that make those who work at mine waste sites, whether to re-mine them or clean them, potentially liable for their pollution....
Briefs piling up in Montana high court Proponents and opponents of a November ballot initiative to allow the use of cyanide in mining chemical processes are currently battling before the Montana Supreme Court. After a petition qualified Initiative-147 for the Montana election ballot, a Montana rancher and an anti-mining NGO, Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) of Helena, filed a petition with the high court to prevent the measure from being placed on the ballot. These opponents claim the measure is unconstitutional because it would restore the mining rights that any company or person had when cyanide mining processes were banned in new mines by voters in 1998....
Fighting against the tide - State senator worries about water rights State Sen. Sam Aanestad on Monday attacked the idea of a Sierra Nevada Conservancy, fearing it will infringe on property and water rights. Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the plan, the Republican legislator last week voted against a compromised version of the bill, which would create an organization aimed at gathering grants and other funds to protect and improve the mountain range. "It's a huge land grab by the state of California," said Aanestad, R-Grass Valley. "The most onerous part of it is the board will have control over all water rights. It's a huge invasion on water rights."....
Myakka woman preserves Cracker heritage "This is where the cattle industry started in Florida. This is our roots, right here," she said about the lineage of her herd of Florida Cracker cows. "Their ancestors go back to the 1500s and the Spaniards. Not long ago - the 1940s and 1950s - this is what people were still raising in Florida." That includes her hero, her father Bayard Toussaint. For 26 years he was the ranch manager of the sprawling 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch in Punta Gorda. He had 16,000 head of cattle and a fulltime crew of about a half-dozen cowboys....
Raising Longhorns a mix of novelty and economy John and Carol Dvorak recognize the American heritage of the Longhorn cattle they raise by welcoming visitors to their farm southwest of Marion. The Dvoraks see their colorful cattle as a bit of living American history so close to the Chisholm Trail and cowtowns Longhorns helped make famous. But among the things they value most about their purebred 60-cow herd Texas Longhorn cattle is the "good night's sleeps" they get during calving season when other cattlemen are checking for cows and heifers having trouble giving birth to calves. They never have to pull calves to assist the birthing process....
American political humorist Will Rogers' ideas strike true even today Just like Mark Twain, Will Rogers had our number. Twain's career spanned the second half of the 19th century and his observations on life, American politics and character strike true to this day. A product of the Gilded Age, Twain's humor could be as barbed as a harpoon. Will Rogers, the Oklahoma cowboy/Indian seems a friendlier, less complex character than Twain (real name Samuel Clemens). Rogers was a huge hit on the stage, in the movies and in print where his daily columns were required reading. His day came in the 1920s and '30s when he was not only America's foremost political humorist but one of the most beloved men of his day....
Competition tests man’s best friend Rex crouched low along the dusty ground. The 4-year-old border collie’s alert blue eyes were pegged steadfast on three heifers pacing in the corral. Nearby, riding a chestnut-tanned horse, Hollister resident Julie Carreiro called to the dog. “Down. Hey. Watch. Watch. Lie Down. Come here! Come! Here!” One nervous cow started to bolt in the wrong direction. Rex instantly shot toward it. The cow kicked hind hooves dangerously up, but Rex agilely jumped out of range. With canine confidence, he assertively guided the big animal toward the back of the open trailer. The cow complied, entering the trailer, followed by another heifer....
Structured for Success Ask saddlemaker Cary Schwarz if he expected Traditional Cowboy Arts Association to catapult to success in less than 6 years, and his answer leans toward the negative. "At the beginning, I never thought it'd catch on like this," he shares. Each TCAA member has earned elite status in his trade of choice. The saddlemakers, bitmakers, spurmakers, silversmiths and rawhide braiders hone their skills, continually seek educational opportunities and manage to leave their egos at the door. It's not surprising then that they carefully select each new member....
Riding With The Elusive Vaquero Our September 2004 issue featured "Resurrecting the Ol' 25" about a historic Nevada ranch describes my encounter with one of the few vaqueros left on the western range. As an extra bonus during my visit to Hardy Downing's lease operation, I enjoyed a great opportunity to ride with Juan Gonzalez, a living link to American buckaroo heritage. "Watch Juan rope," Hardy's crew warned me in advance. "He's a top-rated charro in North America during his spare time. So's his son." My ears definitely perked up at hearing this juicy gossip....
ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inducts New Class The ProRodeo Hall of Fame's gala 25th anniversary weekend reached its apex August 14 with the induction of seven-time world champion Fred Whitfield, three-time world champion Tee Woolman and 1991 World Bareback Riding Champion Clint Corey, as well as six other rodeo luminaries and one storied bareback bronc before a record crowd of more than 1,500 people. The Hall of Fame, which opened in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1979, has been celebrating its silver anniversary throughout 2004. For 25 years, the Hall of Fame has been the center of rodeo history and Western heritage....
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Sheriff Warns Hage of Possible Cattle Confiscation and Arrest
NYE COUNTY, NEVADA According to Nye County Sheriff, Tony DeMeo, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in the midst of finalizing post-trial briefs in a thirteen-year old lawsuit with Nye County rancher, Wayne Hage, and in a move of apparent direct defiance of the several recent court decisions, are preparing to confiscate Hage’s cattle on his ranch in Nye County, Nevada. Hage was notified Friday by Sheriff DeMeo, that Bob Abby, Nevada BLM Director, had told him that despite ongoing litigation, the BLM could move forward with the confiscation unless they receive a cease and desist order from the Court.
Alf Brandt, Interior Department Solicitor, and one of the Government’s attorneys in the May Hage v. U.S. compensation trial in Reno, Nevada stated in a July 30, 2004 letter to Sheriff DeMeo that the, “BLM actions may result in Mr. Hage’s appearance in federal court, which may provide him the opportunity to again present his legal theories and allow the federal court to adjudicate these issues.” Brandt’s letter also contained thinly veiled threats to arrest Hage.
Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service hand-delivered a three-day notice to Hage to remove livestock from the lands the U. S. Court of Federal Claims determined in its 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact to be “fee lands” to which Hage holds title. (“Fee” means the inheritable right to use.)
Sheriff DeMeo commented on the governments actions, “It is inexplicable to me why, after thirteen years of litigation, the BLM and Forest Service seem so anxious to go after Hage now. But there definitely seems to be an intensity building in this county and I expect them to try something. I have instructed my deputies to protect Constitutional rights of the citizens of Nye County, even if the perpetrator is the federal government,” he added.
Concerned about a Ruby Ridge-style government “arrest”, today, Hage forwarded a letter to Sheriff DeMeo stating that he believes the government’s efforts to create a “confrontation” with him is a move of desperation on the part of the agencies as a result evidence that surfaced at his trial in Reno in May.
The U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and southern Nevada water interests were implicated in a “conspiracy”, according to court transcripts, to bankrupt the Hages in order to obtain the abundant Pine Creek Ranch water for the benefit of Southern Nevada interests. In his letter, Hage stated that, “....I believe Alf W. Brandt, as solicitor for the BLM Department of Interior, would like to find a way to eliminate me at the hands of some (federal) ‘Law Enforcement’ personnel.”
In the thirteen-year Fifth Amendment of the Constitution “takings” lawsuit in the U. S. Court of Federal Claims between the Hage family and the federal government, Hage has prevailed in all court rulings to date. In 1991, the federal government, in an attempt to derail Hage’s civil “takings” case, attempted to prosecute him for destruction of government property. The case was reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nevada Live Stock Association Director, Ramona Morrison, remarked about the May trial. “The government’s case faltered dramatically during the compensation trial. Every government witness was roundly impeached or discredited during cross examination. Facing the potential of incurring enormous damages in a ruling expected after the October closing arguments in Reno, and numerous “takings” cases brought by other ranchers who have found themselves in similar circumstances as Hage, the U. S. Forest Service and BLM have little chance at damage control. They may be acting in desperation to intimidate other ranchers from similar attempts to seek compensation when federal government takes their property.”
Government Solicitor, Alf Brandt, justifies his actions in his letter to Sheriff DeMeo by stating that Hage is failing to keep his cattle on the forage of the 50-foot right-of-ways. Hage commented from his ranch, “The government argues that I must contain my cattle on 50-feet of either side of my 1866 ditch rights-of-ways, some of which are natural creeks. I defy anyone to show me where the Court has said that in any of the three published Decisions or in the one court Order. Yet this is their justification for seeking my arrest. The government refuses to recognize that I am not a trespasser on my own ranch.”
# # # # #
Contacts:
Tony DeMeo, Nye County Sheriff 775.751.7000
Ramona Morrison 775.424.0570
Wayne Hage 775.482.4187
Ladd Bedford, Esq., Attorney for Hage 415.905.0200
Go here for more info and discussion
NYE COUNTY, NEVADA According to Nye County Sheriff, Tony DeMeo, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in the midst of finalizing post-trial briefs in a thirteen-year old lawsuit with Nye County rancher, Wayne Hage, and in a move of apparent direct defiance of the several recent court decisions, are preparing to confiscate Hage’s cattle on his ranch in Nye County, Nevada. Hage was notified Friday by Sheriff DeMeo, that Bob Abby, Nevada BLM Director, had told him that despite ongoing litigation, the BLM could move forward with the confiscation unless they receive a cease and desist order from the Court.
Alf Brandt, Interior Department Solicitor, and one of the Government’s attorneys in the May Hage v. U.S. compensation trial in Reno, Nevada stated in a July 30, 2004 letter to Sheriff DeMeo that the, “BLM actions may result in Mr. Hage’s appearance in federal court, which may provide him the opportunity to again present his legal theories and allow the federal court to adjudicate these issues.” Brandt’s letter also contained thinly veiled threats to arrest Hage.
Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service hand-delivered a three-day notice to Hage to remove livestock from the lands the U. S. Court of Federal Claims determined in its 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact to be “fee lands” to which Hage holds title. (“Fee” means the inheritable right to use.)
Sheriff DeMeo commented on the governments actions, “It is inexplicable to me why, after thirteen years of litigation, the BLM and Forest Service seem so anxious to go after Hage now. But there definitely seems to be an intensity building in this county and I expect them to try something. I have instructed my deputies to protect Constitutional rights of the citizens of Nye County, even if the perpetrator is the federal government,” he added.
Concerned about a Ruby Ridge-style government “arrest”, today, Hage forwarded a letter to Sheriff DeMeo stating that he believes the government’s efforts to create a “confrontation” with him is a move of desperation on the part of the agencies as a result evidence that surfaced at his trial in Reno in May.
The U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and southern Nevada water interests were implicated in a “conspiracy”, according to court transcripts, to bankrupt the Hages in order to obtain the abundant Pine Creek Ranch water for the benefit of Southern Nevada interests. In his letter, Hage stated that, “....I believe Alf W. Brandt, as solicitor for the BLM Department of Interior, would like to find a way to eliminate me at the hands of some (federal) ‘Law Enforcement’ personnel.”
In the thirteen-year Fifth Amendment of the Constitution “takings” lawsuit in the U. S. Court of Federal Claims between the Hage family and the federal government, Hage has prevailed in all court rulings to date. In 1991, the federal government, in an attempt to derail Hage’s civil “takings” case, attempted to prosecute him for destruction of government property. The case was reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nevada Live Stock Association Director, Ramona Morrison, remarked about the May trial. “The government’s case faltered dramatically during the compensation trial. Every government witness was roundly impeached or discredited during cross examination. Facing the potential of incurring enormous damages in a ruling expected after the October closing arguments in Reno, and numerous “takings” cases brought by other ranchers who have found themselves in similar circumstances as Hage, the U. S. Forest Service and BLM have little chance at damage control. They may be acting in desperation to intimidate other ranchers from similar attempts to seek compensation when federal government takes their property.”
Government Solicitor, Alf Brandt, justifies his actions in his letter to Sheriff DeMeo by stating that Hage is failing to keep his cattle on the forage of the 50-foot right-of-ways. Hage commented from his ranch, “The government argues that I must contain my cattle on 50-feet of either side of my 1866 ditch rights-of-ways, some of which are natural creeks. I defy anyone to show me where the Court has said that in any of the three published Decisions or in the one court Order. Yet this is their justification for seeking my arrest. The government refuses to recognize that I am not a trespasser on my own ranch.”
# # # # #
Contacts:
Tony DeMeo, Nye County Sheriff 775.751.7000
Ramona Morrison 775.424.0570
Wayne Hage 775.482.4187
Ladd Bedford, Esq., Attorney for Hage 415.905.0200
Go here for more info and discussion
NEWS ROUNDUP
Special problems -- hogs, red foxes The green slopes looked like they had been tilled by a farmer who sorely needed his medication adjusted: Hundreds of square yards of thick turf had been haphazardly gouged, uprooted and overturned, exposing the raw earth beneath. "Hogs," drawled East Bay Regional Parks District wildlife program manager Joe DiDonato. "Wild hogs. They'll tear up entire hillsides looking for tubers and grubs. We have hundreds of them here, maybe thousands. And they're a constant problem. Ideally, we'd like to eliminate them -- but that's not possible. So we just try to achieve a certain degree of control."....
Interior Will Delay Some Energy Projects The Interior Department said Monday it will begin delaying some new oil and gas drilling projects until the effects on wildlife are studied more thoroughly. Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson described the new policy as a response to American Wildlife Conservation Partners, a coalition of groups ranging from Ducks Unlimited to the National Rifle Association. She said it would apply to all 262 million acres -- about one of every 10 in the United States -- managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management....
BLM touts new directive Although Washington, D.C., is hailing a new directive as a boon to land managers, people in Pinedale will likely not see any difference in the way energy leases are issued on federal lands. Saturday, Department of Interior officials announced that Bureau of Land Management field offices would have more authority in yanking leases from energy sales if the land in question is simultaneously being studied for possible protection....
Group to Talk Coal-Bed Methane Drilling Dozens of scientists plan to converge at the University of Wyoming to talk about West Nile virus, water pollution and other issues related to coal-bed methane drilling. The first annual Ruckelshaus Institute Coalbed Natural Gas Research, Monitoring and Application Conference will be Tuesday through Thursday at the Wyoming Union. The conference will be free and open to the public....
Black Mesa coal mine threatened by disputes For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated some 300 miles from Phoenix by Peabody Energy, have provided millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs to the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have few other economic resources on their remote reservations. But the Black Mesa mine, battered by water, legal and other concerns, now faces a likely shutdown. "It's going to be a very catastrophic effect on the tribe," said Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr....
Proposals would fast-track approval of logging, oil refinery construction Logging of California's forests and construction of new oil refineries could proceed more swiftly under two new recommendations growing out of a five-month review of cost and efficiency initiated by the governor. The two proposals in the California Performance Review -- "streamlining permitting to reduce petroleum infrastructure bottlenecks'' and "improving the timber harvest plan development and review process'' -- mirror changes long sought by the timber and oil industries, environmentalists say....
Fish has a face that only a mother could glub Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here comes a scrappy carp called "bighead." Last weekend, an angler yanked two of the large, homely looking fish from Cherry Creek Reservoir, according to the state Division of Wildlife. While it's not the first time bighead carp have been seen in Colorado, it's the first time they've been reported in a large, urban reservoir. They worry biologists because they can crowd out the native species....
LAWSUIT FILED TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR FIVE RARE PLANT SPECIES The Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society filed suit in Federal District Court on August 13 to compel Gale Norton, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to designate Critical Habitat under provisions of the Endangered Species Act for five extremely rare plant species. The species; the Mexican flannelbush, San Diego thornmint, Vail Lake ceanothus, Yadin's rein orchid and Nevin's barberry occur in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Monterey Counties and Baja, Mexico. The species are threatened with habitat destruction from urban sprawl, competition from nonnative species and other factors....
New push for consensus on major salmon stream The nearby Klamath River is seductively warm at this time of year, perfect for swimming. And that's the problem. The Klamath -- after the Sacramento, California's longest river -- was once one of the continent's great salmon and steelhead streams. But salmonids need cold water, something that has been woefully lacking in recent years, due to low flows and scorching summertime temperatures....
Friends Cry Foul on Hesitation Over Park Service Official's Promotion Now, however, it appears that Hooks may no longer be a rising star at the Park Service. Her supporters fear that her job as regional director is in jeopardy. Longtime Park Service employees portray Hooks as someone who has been treated unfairly. Shortly after the media advisory was sent out, the Park Service canceled the reception. More important, Hooks has not been moved into the Senior Executive Service, the pay system for regional and other top park officials, and Mainella decided to reopen the job -- just a few months after she had announced Hooks's appointment....
Pilgrimage to the ancestral fort Just before William Clark and Meriwether Lewis left Fort Clatsop in March 1806 and began their eastward journey back home, the explorers tacked a sign to the fort's wall naming the members of the group who spent the winter there. The sign was like a message in a bottle, informing anyone who passed the tiny fort that the crew had made it that far -- in case they failed to make it back home. Saturday, nearly two centuries after Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery left the winter encampment, hundreds of their descendants returned to the fort site and walked together in their ancestors' footsteps....
Death Valley Flash Flood Kills at Least 2 A fierce storm triggered flooding in the Mojave Desert that killed at least two people and forced the closure of Death Valley National Park. Campers and visitors were evacuated from the park Monday. The intense thunderstorm struck Sunday night, closing roads, stranding vehicles and knocking out power and water....
That's sick, dude, and deadly too Yet for a century or so, the brave and stupid youth of La Jolla and beyond have been jumping from these rocks, which are collectively known as the Clam. Most of the takeoff spots — the Point, Bear Claw, the Pedestal, the Washing Machine — stand about 35 feet above the water, roughly the height of an Olympic diving platform. Or, if you truly have a death wish, there's Dead Man's at 107 feet....
Lake Powell could drain mountain water Unless it snows and rains far more than normal over the next two years, you can expect to hear a lot about southeast Utah's Lake Powell, and expect water restrictions to be a daily thing in the Vail Valley. The level of the lake has dropped so far that if drought persists, the huge hydroelectric plant at the dam may not have enough water to create power sometime in the next two years. While that could be a boon to kayakers and rafters - because the rivers would have to flow higher to meet the demand for water farther down the river - it could curtail water use here....
Landowners to sue state over big game A landowners group critical of South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department policies plans to file a federal lawsuit this week to challenge state limits on nonresident big-game hunters. Elm Springs rancher Pat Trask, chairman of the recently formed Stewards of Wildlife association, said the lawsuit has the potential to dismantle the current state licensing system for deer and other big game. And it might have been avoided, Trask said, if Gov. Mike Rounds had been willing to negotiate with the group on complaints about big-game licensing procedures, road hunting and the philosophy of GF&P Secretary John Cooper, Trask said....
Global Warming Menaces California Wine Industry California will become hotter and drier by the end of the century, menacing the valuable wine and dairy industries, even if dramatic steps are taken to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday.
The first study to specifically forecast the impact of global warming on a U.S. state also shows the snowpack melting in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more frequent heat waves hitting Los Angles and disruptions to crop irrigation....
CA GMO ban battle heats up California's agricultural establishment is gearing up for a ballot-box brawl this fall. Worried that county bans on biotech crops could spread throughout the state, mainstream farm groups from the California Cattlemen's Association to the national Farm Bureau are marshaling their resources. It's a change in tactics for biotech backers, who until now have left the ban issue mostly in the hands of biotech companies. The stakes are higher than ever. November ballot measures in Humboldt, Marin, San Luis Obispo and Butte counties could determine whether the state embraces the new seed technology or makes its mark as free of genetically engineered crops....
Don King Days planned for Sept. 5-6 in Sheridan, Wyo. Fifteen years ago, a group of ranchers, ropers and friends of Don King, who is Sheridan, Wyoming’s renowned saddle maker, put their heads together and arranged the first Don King Days. It is an event that truly honors King, who has done more than most to preserve our cowboy heritage, making him a legend in his own time. This annual celebration is held on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-6. It is a showcase of equestrian activities and a celebration of traditions that brings people from all around the country....
Paintings at home on the range Simply put, Jim Norton is one of the best painters around today, working within the western genre. The images he portrays reflect a West reminiscent of a Howard Hawks movie. Stand in front of one of his canvases depicting Native Americans crossing a river, or scanning the horizon for game, or cowboys wrangling mustangs, and you can hear the hooves splashing in the water, feel the wind and smell the air....
Players tune their passion for fiddling There's nothing like old time country music to set toes tapping and hands clapping. That's just the sound that drifted from the grange hall in Winchester Bay all weekend as the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers hosted a statewide jamboree that drew dozens of people to the South Coast. The Old Time Fiddlers aren't known for being musical snobs. They're more likely to stuff a person with scrumptious potluck food, slap him on the back, hand him a fiddle and push him on stage with a dozen players jamming with fiddles, guitars, dulcimers, banjos, mandolins and a host of other traditional American instruments....
Mexican rodeo sparks clash over tradition, animal rights A 400-year-old Mexican rodeo tradition is clashing with modern animal rights in California. Organizers of the charreadas (rodeos) say the events are a proud and elegant cultural celebration of roping and horse-riding skills in use before California was American soil. Animal rights activists contend some of the rodeo's activities are cruel. They have focused on two charreada events that call for cowboys to force running horses and steers to trip and tumble to the ground. The sport attracted fresh attention last month when Contra Costa County, Calif., Animal Service Department officers raided a Mexican rodeo July 24 with 60 spectators at a rural home with a circular arena near Brentwood, Calif....
Southern Oregon Bigfoot Lore While tales about the legendary Bigfoot are scattered around the world, southern Oregon has its very own claim to fame thanks to a decades-old Bigfoot Trap nestled within the Applegate Ranger District of the Rogue River National Forest. As primitive as it may sound, the giant contraption was built only in the early 1970s as an attempt by some locals to validate the elusive creature's existence as well, allegedly, as to spare them its wrath....
It's All Trew: 'Nothing is invented until there is a need' Drought, hard times and little money finally ended and our lot on the family farm began to change in the late 1930s. The long-sought rains fell and the weeds came. We worked in the fields from "can see to can't see," stopping only at dark because our tractors had no headlights....
Special problems -- hogs, red foxes The green slopes looked like they had been tilled by a farmer who sorely needed his medication adjusted: Hundreds of square yards of thick turf had been haphazardly gouged, uprooted and overturned, exposing the raw earth beneath. "Hogs," drawled East Bay Regional Parks District wildlife program manager Joe DiDonato. "Wild hogs. They'll tear up entire hillsides looking for tubers and grubs. We have hundreds of them here, maybe thousands. And they're a constant problem. Ideally, we'd like to eliminate them -- but that's not possible. So we just try to achieve a certain degree of control."....
Interior Will Delay Some Energy Projects The Interior Department said Monday it will begin delaying some new oil and gas drilling projects until the effects on wildlife are studied more thoroughly. Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson described the new policy as a response to American Wildlife Conservation Partners, a coalition of groups ranging from Ducks Unlimited to the National Rifle Association. She said it would apply to all 262 million acres -- about one of every 10 in the United States -- managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management....
BLM touts new directive Although Washington, D.C., is hailing a new directive as a boon to land managers, people in Pinedale will likely not see any difference in the way energy leases are issued on federal lands. Saturday, Department of Interior officials announced that Bureau of Land Management field offices would have more authority in yanking leases from energy sales if the land in question is simultaneously being studied for possible protection....
Group to Talk Coal-Bed Methane Drilling Dozens of scientists plan to converge at the University of Wyoming to talk about West Nile virus, water pollution and other issues related to coal-bed methane drilling. The first annual Ruckelshaus Institute Coalbed Natural Gas Research, Monitoring and Application Conference will be Tuesday through Thursday at the Wyoming Union. The conference will be free and open to the public....
Black Mesa coal mine threatened by disputes For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated some 300 miles from Phoenix by Peabody Energy, have provided millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs to the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have few other economic resources on their remote reservations. But the Black Mesa mine, battered by water, legal and other concerns, now faces a likely shutdown. "It's going to be a very catastrophic effect on the tribe," said Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr....
Proposals would fast-track approval of logging, oil refinery construction Logging of California's forests and construction of new oil refineries could proceed more swiftly under two new recommendations growing out of a five-month review of cost and efficiency initiated by the governor. The two proposals in the California Performance Review -- "streamlining permitting to reduce petroleum infrastructure bottlenecks'' and "improving the timber harvest plan development and review process'' -- mirror changes long sought by the timber and oil industries, environmentalists say....
Fish has a face that only a mother could glub Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here comes a scrappy carp called "bighead." Last weekend, an angler yanked two of the large, homely looking fish from Cherry Creek Reservoir, according to the state Division of Wildlife. While it's not the first time bighead carp have been seen in Colorado, it's the first time they've been reported in a large, urban reservoir. They worry biologists because they can crowd out the native species....
LAWSUIT FILED TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR FIVE RARE PLANT SPECIES The Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society filed suit in Federal District Court on August 13 to compel Gale Norton, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to designate Critical Habitat under provisions of the Endangered Species Act for five extremely rare plant species. The species; the Mexican flannelbush, San Diego thornmint, Vail Lake ceanothus, Yadin's rein orchid and Nevin's barberry occur in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Monterey Counties and Baja, Mexico. The species are threatened with habitat destruction from urban sprawl, competition from nonnative species and other factors....
New push for consensus on major salmon stream The nearby Klamath River is seductively warm at this time of year, perfect for swimming. And that's the problem. The Klamath -- after the Sacramento, California's longest river -- was once one of the continent's great salmon and steelhead streams. But salmonids need cold water, something that has been woefully lacking in recent years, due to low flows and scorching summertime temperatures....
Friends Cry Foul on Hesitation Over Park Service Official's Promotion Now, however, it appears that Hooks may no longer be a rising star at the Park Service. Her supporters fear that her job as regional director is in jeopardy. Longtime Park Service employees portray Hooks as someone who has been treated unfairly. Shortly after the media advisory was sent out, the Park Service canceled the reception. More important, Hooks has not been moved into the Senior Executive Service, the pay system for regional and other top park officials, and Mainella decided to reopen the job -- just a few months after she had announced Hooks's appointment....
Pilgrimage to the ancestral fort Just before William Clark and Meriwether Lewis left Fort Clatsop in March 1806 and began their eastward journey back home, the explorers tacked a sign to the fort's wall naming the members of the group who spent the winter there. The sign was like a message in a bottle, informing anyone who passed the tiny fort that the crew had made it that far -- in case they failed to make it back home. Saturday, nearly two centuries after Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery left the winter encampment, hundreds of their descendants returned to the fort site and walked together in their ancestors' footsteps....
Death Valley Flash Flood Kills at Least 2 A fierce storm triggered flooding in the Mojave Desert that killed at least two people and forced the closure of Death Valley National Park. Campers and visitors were evacuated from the park Monday. The intense thunderstorm struck Sunday night, closing roads, stranding vehicles and knocking out power and water....
That's sick, dude, and deadly too Yet for a century or so, the brave and stupid youth of La Jolla and beyond have been jumping from these rocks, which are collectively known as the Clam. Most of the takeoff spots — the Point, Bear Claw, the Pedestal, the Washing Machine — stand about 35 feet above the water, roughly the height of an Olympic diving platform. Or, if you truly have a death wish, there's Dead Man's at 107 feet....
Lake Powell could drain mountain water Unless it snows and rains far more than normal over the next two years, you can expect to hear a lot about southeast Utah's Lake Powell, and expect water restrictions to be a daily thing in the Vail Valley. The level of the lake has dropped so far that if drought persists, the huge hydroelectric plant at the dam may not have enough water to create power sometime in the next two years. While that could be a boon to kayakers and rafters - because the rivers would have to flow higher to meet the demand for water farther down the river - it could curtail water use here....
Landowners to sue state over big game A landowners group critical of South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department policies plans to file a federal lawsuit this week to challenge state limits on nonresident big-game hunters. Elm Springs rancher Pat Trask, chairman of the recently formed Stewards of Wildlife association, said the lawsuit has the potential to dismantle the current state licensing system for deer and other big game. And it might have been avoided, Trask said, if Gov. Mike Rounds had been willing to negotiate with the group on complaints about big-game licensing procedures, road hunting and the philosophy of GF&P Secretary John Cooper, Trask said....
Global Warming Menaces California Wine Industry California will become hotter and drier by the end of the century, menacing the valuable wine and dairy industries, even if dramatic steps are taken to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday.
The first study to specifically forecast the impact of global warming on a U.S. state also shows the snowpack melting in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more frequent heat waves hitting Los Angles and disruptions to crop irrigation....
CA GMO ban battle heats up California's agricultural establishment is gearing up for a ballot-box brawl this fall. Worried that county bans on biotech crops could spread throughout the state, mainstream farm groups from the California Cattlemen's Association to the national Farm Bureau are marshaling their resources. It's a change in tactics for biotech backers, who until now have left the ban issue mostly in the hands of biotech companies. The stakes are higher than ever. November ballot measures in Humboldt, Marin, San Luis Obispo and Butte counties could determine whether the state embraces the new seed technology or makes its mark as free of genetically engineered crops....
Don King Days planned for Sept. 5-6 in Sheridan, Wyo. Fifteen years ago, a group of ranchers, ropers and friends of Don King, who is Sheridan, Wyoming’s renowned saddle maker, put their heads together and arranged the first Don King Days. It is an event that truly honors King, who has done more than most to preserve our cowboy heritage, making him a legend in his own time. This annual celebration is held on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-6. It is a showcase of equestrian activities and a celebration of traditions that brings people from all around the country....
Paintings at home on the range Simply put, Jim Norton is one of the best painters around today, working within the western genre. The images he portrays reflect a West reminiscent of a Howard Hawks movie. Stand in front of one of his canvases depicting Native Americans crossing a river, or scanning the horizon for game, or cowboys wrangling mustangs, and you can hear the hooves splashing in the water, feel the wind and smell the air....
Players tune their passion for fiddling There's nothing like old time country music to set toes tapping and hands clapping. That's just the sound that drifted from the grange hall in Winchester Bay all weekend as the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers hosted a statewide jamboree that drew dozens of people to the South Coast. The Old Time Fiddlers aren't known for being musical snobs. They're more likely to stuff a person with scrumptious potluck food, slap him on the back, hand him a fiddle and push him on stage with a dozen players jamming with fiddles, guitars, dulcimers, banjos, mandolins and a host of other traditional American instruments....
Mexican rodeo sparks clash over tradition, animal rights A 400-year-old Mexican rodeo tradition is clashing with modern animal rights in California. Organizers of the charreadas (rodeos) say the events are a proud and elegant cultural celebration of roping and horse-riding skills in use before California was American soil. Animal rights activists contend some of the rodeo's activities are cruel. They have focused on two charreada events that call for cowboys to force running horses and steers to trip and tumble to the ground. The sport attracted fresh attention last month when Contra Costa County, Calif., Animal Service Department officers raided a Mexican rodeo July 24 with 60 spectators at a rural home with a circular arena near Brentwood, Calif....
Southern Oregon Bigfoot Lore While tales about the legendary Bigfoot are scattered around the world, southern Oregon has its very own claim to fame thanks to a decades-old Bigfoot Trap nestled within the Applegate Ranger District of the Rogue River National Forest. As primitive as it may sound, the giant contraption was built only in the early 1970s as an attempt by some locals to validate the elusive creature's existence as well, allegedly, as to spare them its wrath....
It's All Trew: 'Nothing is invented until there is a need' Drought, hard times and little money finally ended and our lot on the family farm began to change in the late 1930s. The long-sought rains fell and the weeds came. We worked in the fields from "can see to can't see," stopping only at dark because our tractors had no headlights....
Monday, August 16, 2004
Wildfire burns through mountain community near Redding Firefighters faced a steep challenge Monday as they battled the growing blaze that tore through this old mining town in the mountains west of Redding and headed into rugged terrain filled with open mine shafts and rattlesnakes. The 9,010-acre fire that destroyed 22 homes and two commercial buildings, including the historic International Order of Odd Fellows Hall, was only 10 percent contained as it moved north into heavily timbered canyons dotted with open sores from once-thriving silver and gold mines, said Dottie Cary of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Shrimp Pose Big Problem for LAX The scrubby, rock-filled drainage ditch at the end of a runway at Los Angeles International Airport might not look like much, but to scores of endangered shrimp, it's home. The little depression, surrounded by a chain-link fence with signs warning "Los Angeles World Airports — Endangered Species — Keep Out," is part of a 108-acre area at LAX that federal officials want to designate as a preserve for the tiny creatures, which at the moment exist in egg form. The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced earlier this year, took both Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, and the Federal Aviation Administration by surprise. The agencies have spent years trying to persuade federal wildlife officials to allow them to move the airport's Riverside fairy shrimp population....
Drought's grip has the West by throat Struggling Utah farmers sacrificed water to save a school on the verge of shutting down because its well ran dry. Montana ranchers are selling off their herds. In Arizona, the Marines pitched in to help build watering holes to keep rare sheep from dying of thirst. A persistent drought has upset lives and livelihoods from Montana to New Mexico, drawing comparisons to the Dust Bowl days. Fields have been left unplanted. Homeowners are being paid to tear out lawns. Hydropower generation is threatened. Ducks are disappearing and forests are becoming kindling....
Winds of change blow on energy horizon Prospects for "green" power look good for Nevada and the nation, but don't expect wind, solar and geothermal power to replace oil and gas anytime soon, a Bush administration official said Friday. Renewable energy, excluding hydroelectric power from dams, provides 2 percent of the nation's energy needs today, said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the interior for land and minerals management....
Poor Southwestern tribes fear coal-mine shutdown Below the wild grasses, topsoil and heavy chunks of rock on Black Mesa sit tons of black coal, a power source for millions of people in the West. For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated about 300 miles from Phoenix by Peabody Energy, have provided millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs to the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have few other economic resources on their remote reservations. But the Black Mesa mine - battered by water, legal and other concerns - now faces a likely shutdown....
CBM companies must bond ponds The business of producing coalbed methane gas in Wyoming will soon become a little more expensive. According to a recent solicitor's opinion, the Bureau of Land Management can require additional bonding to cover the cost of reclaiming reservoirs constructed to contain coalbed methane water -- a byproduct of producing the gas....
Editorial: Paving the way on roadless issue Last week, CCI sent letters announcing its updated, moderate position to U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Colorado's congressional delegation and top officials in Gov. Bill Owens' administration. CCI's new position is so sensible it should be embraced by many groups involved in the issue. It wisely says there needs to be a uniform federal standard for resolving RS 2477 claims, and the standard should be used by all federal land management agencies. It also says while state laws should be applied, counties' claims to rights- of-way on U.S. land should be consistent with federal law. Importantly, CCI believes county governments should hold public hearings on RS 2477 claims....
Grassland shows off its diversity Bugs rule, according to a recent 24-hour snapshot of biodiversity, but scientists are more intrigued with rare and non-native discoveries made during the Grasslands Bioblitz. Held June 25-26 on 6,000 acres of public land on the Boulder-Jefferson county border, scientists and the public fanned out to see how many species they could find....
Column: Saving the Platte River for wildlife Every spring, in one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles, great winged clouds of sandhill cranes descend upon the Platte River in Nebraska. During the day, the birds stuff themselves with waste corn from surrounding fields, fueling up for their long northerly migration to their summer breeding grounds. At night, they roost in the river's shallow, sandy channels, which - free of predator-concealing vegetation - provide an ideal resting spot. The Platte River is so uniquely suited to meeting the needs of migrating sandhill cranes that it acts as a continental funnel for the species....
Column: The American River’s Hidden Fish Kill The Klamath fish kill of September 2002, when 68,000 salmon died because of low, warm water conditions on the lower river, is considered the largest of its kind in U.S. history. However, another “hidden fish kill” that took place on the American River in the fall of 2001, 2002 and 2003 is now vying for this dubious distinction. Only a few short miles from the State Capitol, an unprecedented environmental tragedy took place on the American River in the heart of Sacramento metropolitan area over the past three years. Huge numbers of adult chinook salmon returned from the ocean to spawn, but 181,709 of these fish perished before spawning....
Klamath Indians to bend ear of dam owner Representatives of four Klamath River tribes will meet with the CEO of dam owner PacifiCorp, just weeks after visiting its parent company in Scotland. Two Yurok tribal councilmen described the visit to Scotland as successful, having drawn the attention of ScottishPower to problems the tribe sees with the continued operations of its subsidiary's hydropower facilities on the Klamath, half a world away....
As Front Range slakes thirst, headwaters towns are forced to limit growth As the state's powerful Front Range region moves to quench its thirst after five dry years, the water-rich Western Slope worries that its future is about to disappear down a long pipe to Denver. Publicly, local officials say they are hopeful of finding win-win deals that allow some water exports while protecting their quality of life. Privately, there's increasing concern about getting steamrolled by the Front Range. And every new demand for water increases their anxiety....
Recycling plant accused of polluting river Environmental volunteers along the Altamaha River say the water is being polluted by a surprising culprit: a recycling plant. James Holland, a member of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, says SP Newsprint is churning out trash and possibly even fecal matter into the river, which flows from north Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean near Darien. Downstream from the newspaper recycler's plant, Holland pointed out a yellow tint with some foam bubbling up in the middle of the river....
Washington hunters face new restriction Deer and elk hides and deer capes are allowed if heads are not attached, and skulls and antlers are allowed if all soft tissue is removed. Finished taxidermy mounts are allowed. Washington residents hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan must comply with the new regulation....
Science v. Bush So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration. The scientists' statement represents a new development in the uneasy relationship between science and politics. In the past, individual scientists and science organizations have occasionally piped up to oppose specific federal policies such as Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense plan. But this is the first time that a broad spectrum of the scientific community has expressed opposition to a president's overall science policy....
Setting their sights on Arizona Their trails never crossed. Even so, President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry were fighting a modern range war of sorts last week during campaign swings in Arizona and neighboring Southwestern states. It's a vast region with some common concerns and a bundle of electoral votes....
Utah Rancher Believes his Bull has the Biggest Horn on Earth A Central Utah rancher thinks one of his animals deserves to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. He believes a bull named "Woodie" has the biggest horn of any animal on earth! We can't vouch for the "world record" part of this. But we can tell you...Woodie is an astonishing animal....
Isolated ranchers find cottage industry in sewing-kit sales Fall in Montana is the season for cutting cattle, separating calves from the herd so they can be sold. At a ranch on the prairie where Montana nudges South Dakota, it's also a time for cutting fabric, yards and yards of it. Jennifer and Shane Peabody like to say they're in the business of cattle and kits. They raise Limousin-Angus on their ranch in sprawling and isolated Carter County in Montana's southeastern corner, home to 1,360 people and 53,000 cattle. Then there is the Peabodys' Big Sky Sewing Kits, selling to 325 schools nationwide what students in consumer science - formerly home economics - need to stitch up duffel bags and other totes as class projects....
Cowboy poets make rhyme, reason of land, lifestyle Rolf Flake parks his pickup out on his ranch near Apache Junction. A roadrunner jumps up onto his hood and parks itself. Flake, 72, is a fourth-generation Arizona rancher and runs up to 1,200 head of corriente cattle on 50 square miles of rangeland. Flake and 100 other cowboy poets will convene Thursday in Prescott for three days of rhyme and song during the 17th annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering....
Ranchers balk at cattle ID plan Montana ranchers had concerns about a new national livestock identification system during a discussion session with Undersecretary of Agriculture Bill Hawks. Most Montana ranchers aren't embracing the new system. Mary Ann Murray, president of Montana Women Involved in Farm Economics and chairman of the national animal identification program for Montana Cattlemen's Association, said she wonders how this identification system will track animals when they go to the vet, wander into the next pasture or are taken to the county fair....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Water shortages may be fixed with self-discipline In the winter of 1983, I was at a PCA meeting in a small country town. America was in a depression, farmers were mortgaged to the hilt and interest rates were 13.5 percent. The speaker stated flatly to the group of gloomy farmers, "We will never see single-digit interest again."....
Shrimp Pose Big Problem for LAX The scrubby, rock-filled drainage ditch at the end of a runway at Los Angeles International Airport might not look like much, but to scores of endangered shrimp, it's home. The little depression, surrounded by a chain-link fence with signs warning "Los Angeles World Airports — Endangered Species — Keep Out," is part of a 108-acre area at LAX that federal officials want to designate as a preserve for the tiny creatures, which at the moment exist in egg form. The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced earlier this year, took both Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, and the Federal Aviation Administration by surprise. The agencies have spent years trying to persuade federal wildlife officials to allow them to move the airport's Riverside fairy shrimp population....
Drought's grip has the West by throat Struggling Utah farmers sacrificed water to save a school on the verge of shutting down because its well ran dry. Montana ranchers are selling off their herds. In Arizona, the Marines pitched in to help build watering holes to keep rare sheep from dying of thirst. A persistent drought has upset lives and livelihoods from Montana to New Mexico, drawing comparisons to the Dust Bowl days. Fields have been left unplanted. Homeowners are being paid to tear out lawns. Hydropower generation is threatened. Ducks are disappearing and forests are becoming kindling....
Winds of change blow on energy horizon Prospects for "green" power look good for Nevada and the nation, but don't expect wind, solar and geothermal power to replace oil and gas anytime soon, a Bush administration official said Friday. Renewable energy, excluding hydroelectric power from dams, provides 2 percent of the nation's energy needs today, said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the interior for land and minerals management....
Poor Southwestern tribes fear coal-mine shutdown Below the wild grasses, topsoil and heavy chunks of rock on Black Mesa sit tons of black coal, a power source for millions of people in the West. For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated about 300 miles from Phoenix by Peabody Energy, have provided millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs to the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have few other economic resources on their remote reservations. But the Black Mesa mine - battered by water, legal and other concerns - now faces a likely shutdown....
CBM companies must bond ponds The business of producing coalbed methane gas in Wyoming will soon become a little more expensive. According to a recent solicitor's opinion, the Bureau of Land Management can require additional bonding to cover the cost of reclaiming reservoirs constructed to contain coalbed methane water -- a byproduct of producing the gas....
Editorial: Paving the way on roadless issue Last week, CCI sent letters announcing its updated, moderate position to U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Colorado's congressional delegation and top officials in Gov. Bill Owens' administration. CCI's new position is so sensible it should be embraced by many groups involved in the issue. It wisely says there needs to be a uniform federal standard for resolving RS 2477 claims, and the standard should be used by all federal land management agencies. It also says while state laws should be applied, counties' claims to rights- of-way on U.S. land should be consistent with federal law. Importantly, CCI believes county governments should hold public hearings on RS 2477 claims....
Grassland shows off its diversity Bugs rule, according to a recent 24-hour snapshot of biodiversity, but scientists are more intrigued with rare and non-native discoveries made during the Grasslands Bioblitz. Held June 25-26 on 6,000 acres of public land on the Boulder-Jefferson county border, scientists and the public fanned out to see how many species they could find....
Column: Saving the Platte River for wildlife Every spring, in one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles, great winged clouds of sandhill cranes descend upon the Platte River in Nebraska. During the day, the birds stuff themselves with waste corn from surrounding fields, fueling up for their long northerly migration to their summer breeding grounds. At night, they roost in the river's shallow, sandy channels, which - free of predator-concealing vegetation - provide an ideal resting spot. The Platte River is so uniquely suited to meeting the needs of migrating sandhill cranes that it acts as a continental funnel for the species....
Column: The American River’s Hidden Fish Kill The Klamath fish kill of September 2002, when 68,000 salmon died because of low, warm water conditions on the lower river, is considered the largest of its kind in U.S. history. However, another “hidden fish kill” that took place on the American River in the fall of 2001, 2002 and 2003 is now vying for this dubious distinction. Only a few short miles from the State Capitol, an unprecedented environmental tragedy took place on the American River in the heart of Sacramento metropolitan area over the past three years. Huge numbers of adult chinook salmon returned from the ocean to spawn, but 181,709 of these fish perished before spawning....
Klamath Indians to bend ear of dam owner Representatives of four Klamath River tribes will meet with the CEO of dam owner PacifiCorp, just weeks after visiting its parent company in Scotland. Two Yurok tribal councilmen described the visit to Scotland as successful, having drawn the attention of ScottishPower to problems the tribe sees with the continued operations of its subsidiary's hydropower facilities on the Klamath, half a world away....
As Front Range slakes thirst, headwaters towns are forced to limit growth As the state's powerful Front Range region moves to quench its thirst after five dry years, the water-rich Western Slope worries that its future is about to disappear down a long pipe to Denver. Publicly, local officials say they are hopeful of finding win-win deals that allow some water exports while protecting their quality of life. Privately, there's increasing concern about getting steamrolled by the Front Range. And every new demand for water increases their anxiety....
Recycling plant accused of polluting river Environmental volunteers along the Altamaha River say the water is being polluted by a surprising culprit: a recycling plant. James Holland, a member of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, says SP Newsprint is churning out trash and possibly even fecal matter into the river, which flows from north Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean near Darien. Downstream from the newspaper recycler's plant, Holland pointed out a yellow tint with some foam bubbling up in the middle of the river....
Washington hunters face new restriction Deer and elk hides and deer capes are allowed if heads are not attached, and skulls and antlers are allowed if all soft tissue is removed. Finished taxidermy mounts are allowed. Washington residents hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan must comply with the new regulation....
Science v. Bush So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration. The scientists' statement represents a new development in the uneasy relationship between science and politics. In the past, individual scientists and science organizations have occasionally piped up to oppose specific federal policies such as Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense plan. But this is the first time that a broad spectrum of the scientific community has expressed opposition to a president's overall science policy....
Setting their sights on Arizona Their trails never crossed. Even so, President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry were fighting a modern range war of sorts last week during campaign swings in Arizona and neighboring Southwestern states. It's a vast region with some common concerns and a bundle of electoral votes....
Utah Rancher Believes his Bull has the Biggest Horn on Earth A Central Utah rancher thinks one of his animals deserves to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. He believes a bull named "Woodie" has the biggest horn of any animal on earth! We can't vouch for the "world record" part of this. But we can tell you...Woodie is an astonishing animal....
Isolated ranchers find cottage industry in sewing-kit sales Fall in Montana is the season for cutting cattle, separating calves from the herd so they can be sold. At a ranch on the prairie where Montana nudges South Dakota, it's also a time for cutting fabric, yards and yards of it. Jennifer and Shane Peabody like to say they're in the business of cattle and kits. They raise Limousin-Angus on their ranch in sprawling and isolated Carter County in Montana's southeastern corner, home to 1,360 people and 53,000 cattle. Then there is the Peabodys' Big Sky Sewing Kits, selling to 325 schools nationwide what students in consumer science - formerly home economics - need to stitch up duffel bags and other totes as class projects....
Cowboy poets make rhyme, reason of land, lifestyle Rolf Flake parks his pickup out on his ranch near Apache Junction. A roadrunner jumps up onto his hood and parks itself. Flake, 72, is a fourth-generation Arizona rancher and runs up to 1,200 head of corriente cattle on 50 square miles of rangeland. Flake and 100 other cowboy poets will convene Thursday in Prescott for three days of rhyme and song during the 17th annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering....
Ranchers balk at cattle ID plan Montana ranchers had concerns about a new national livestock identification system during a discussion session with Undersecretary of Agriculture Bill Hawks. Most Montana ranchers aren't embracing the new system. Mary Ann Murray, president of Montana Women Involved in Farm Economics and chairman of the national animal identification program for Montana Cattlemen's Association, said she wonders how this identification system will track animals when they go to the vet, wander into the next pasture or are taken to the county fair....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Water shortages may be fixed with self-discipline In the winter of 1983, I was at a PCA meeting in a small country town. America was in a depression, farmers were mortgaged to the hilt and interest rates were 13.5 percent. The speaker stated flatly to the group of gloomy farmers, "We will never see single-digit interest again."....
Sunday, August 15, 2004
SECRETARY LARRY GABRIEL
Are you watching your step?
“Watch your step,” is something most farmers and ranchers have said to city folks who were visiting the place. It was always good advice, but now it has a whole new meaning.
That bug or plant in your patch just might have more legal protections than your farm or ranch.
Like other states, South Dakota has its own list of rare, threatened or endangered species. On this list are 26 mammals, 35 fish, 80 birds, 20 reptiles, 6 amphibians, 15 bugs and about 150 plants.
It is amazing to me that so few people could pose a threat to so many. We tried for a hundred years, by every means we could think of, to get rid of some pesky little prairie rodents and yet they seem to be doing just fine.
Maybe there is some kind of unspoken law of nature that rules life on the plains: when the government tries to get rid of something, it can’t be done, and when the government wants to preserve a thing, it disappears.
Many of the species protections don’t bother me at all. Protecting chicken hawks is fine, as long as I don’t raise chickens. Protecting mountain lions is fine, as long as my horse is not eaten by one. Protecting a few bats is alright, as long as my child does not get rabies from one. Such things don’t affect me one way or the other, most of the time.
However, when Congress tells me to watch my step because my boot (or my cow or my horse) might step on a bug or plant that is important to someone’s constituents (The federal agencies now lovingly call them “clients”.), then I think they are getting out of hand.
Back when we created the federal government, we gave them their own little place to stay (to keep them out of our hair) and a few duties that were too big for the state governments to handle. Things like: regulating trade among the states and with foreign governments and protecting us from invasions.
How we ever got from that arrangement to having a Congress that regulates bugs is beyond me. I don’t even know why they want an “American Burrowing Beetle” that eats dead birds. Especially since many of the birds are as protected as the bug that wants you to kill them.
But at least the American Burrowing Beetle is an interesting bug. It seems that museums and nature collections from all over the eastern half of the United States have samples of this little black-with-orange-spots bug, and yet modern biologists can’t seem to find live ones in those areas.
It is a great mystery to the biologists, who in keeping with the international conventions which allow “suspected” population declines to serve as the basis for concluding that a species is threatened with extinction, concluded that some mystery cause is wiping out this bug.
At first they thought this bug still exists only in two states in the whole country, but they found some more. Now, they are up to seven states including South Dakota.
It may be just a coincidence, but biologists tend to have day jobs and the bug works at night. Meet me at the State Fair and we will talk more about it.
Are you watching your step?
“Watch your step,” is something most farmers and ranchers have said to city folks who were visiting the place. It was always good advice, but now it has a whole new meaning.
That bug or plant in your patch just might have more legal protections than your farm or ranch.
Like other states, South Dakota has its own list of rare, threatened or endangered species. On this list are 26 mammals, 35 fish, 80 birds, 20 reptiles, 6 amphibians, 15 bugs and about 150 plants.
It is amazing to me that so few people could pose a threat to so many. We tried for a hundred years, by every means we could think of, to get rid of some pesky little prairie rodents and yet they seem to be doing just fine.
Maybe there is some kind of unspoken law of nature that rules life on the plains: when the government tries to get rid of something, it can’t be done, and when the government wants to preserve a thing, it disappears.
Many of the species protections don’t bother me at all. Protecting chicken hawks is fine, as long as I don’t raise chickens. Protecting mountain lions is fine, as long as my horse is not eaten by one. Protecting a few bats is alright, as long as my child does not get rabies from one. Such things don’t affect me one way or the other, most of the time.
However, when Congress tells me to watch my step because my boot (or my cow or my horse) might step on a bug or plant that is important to someone’s constituents (The federal agencies now lovingly call them “clients”.), then I think they are getting out of hand.
Back when we created the federal government, we gave them their own little place to stay (to keep them out of our hair) and a few duties that were too big for the state governments to handle. Things like: regulating trade among the states and with foreign governments and protecting us from invasions.
How we ever got from that arrangement to having a Congress that regulates bugs is beyond me. I don’t even know why they want an “American Burrowing Beetle” that eats dead birds. Especially since many of the birds are as protected as the bug that wants you to kill them.
But at least the American Burrowing Beetle is an interesting bug. It seems that museums and nature collections from all over the eastern half of the United States have samples of this little black-with-orange-spots bug, and yet modern biologists can’t seem to find live ones in those areas.
It is a great mystery to the biologists, who in keeping with the international conventions which allow “suspected” population declines to serve as the basis for concluding that a species is threatened with extinction, concluded that some mystery cause is wiping out this bug.
At first they thought this bug still exists only in two states in the whole country, but they found some more. Now, they are up to seven states including South Dakota.
It may be just a coincidence, but biologists tend to have day jobs and the bug works at night. Meet me at the State Fair and we will talk more about it.
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