SATURDAY AT THE WESTERNER & MERRY CHRISTMAS
What will they remember about Christmas?
By Julie Carter
Christmas memories of long ago days drive the Christmas season both domestically and commercially.
Those memories, as varied as they are in location, extravagance or lack of it, belong to us. They strike in us a deep chord that no other holiday comes close to touching.
I grew up believing the Christmas holiday was about the celebration of the family beginning with the family who started it, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.
Our celebrating began with the cutting of the Christmas tree. It was a family event including aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. It always entailed a few snow ball fights and body rolling down the snow covered hills.
Mom had only a few strings of lights and they all went on the tree. In sharing my Christmas memories with my eleven-year-old son who already thinks I’m ancient, I realized the huge gap in Christmas then and Christmas today.
Of course this is the son who asked about when I was in school, did I write on rocks? Presumably he meant like the Flintstones or Moses.
He isn’t sure we had electricity when I was a child but did ask what we used for lights on the tree. I assured him we plugged our lights in but told him that in my grandmother’s day they had used candles on the tree. He shrugged and said as he walked away, “I bet they burned a lot of trees down.”
When the mail brought the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog to the ranch, it was a big day for us. The pages were worn out by the time child number four got his list made for Santa. We had no shopping malls to entice, confuse, or commercialize us.
I remember my mother working tirelessly, or so it seemed at the time, to create the perfect ten foot Christmas tree, to have the exact same number of packages for all four children wrapped and under the tree and at make at least 15 different kinds of cookies and as many kinds of candy. Homemade caramels were an annual. I didn’t know Kraft made caramels until I was in high school.
And Dad, well once the tree was cut and standing in the bay window, he was pretty much out of the Christmas preparation picture. He knew when to make himself scarce. He did spend an obligated amount of time every year teasing us about scaring Santa off with a shot gun and our stockings being left empty. It could have psychologically scarred us if we had known it could.
Midnight mass, participating in the church program wearing a bed sheet for shepherd’s clothing, setting up the nativity and always knowing it was Jesus’ birthday we were celebrating-- all part of those films that run through the memory banks.
I see my child today with the same overflow of excitement and anticipation for Christmas. He wants lots of family around, the tree decorated, lots of lights, and some homemade cookies and candy to graze on over the weeks.
He shakes and squeezes packages and holds tight to the image of Santa with a knowing there is something he doesn’t want to know. He understands that the season is about Jesus and not about Santa Claus, but Santa is pretty nice too.
In honor of my rural, call it redneck if you will, upbringing, I will continue to make his Christmas memories include Christ in Christmas and not accept “Winter Festival” for a holiday name. He will learn that the gifts are a symbol for the gift we received with the birth of Jesus and that saying “thank you” for both is essential, not optional.
What my generation teaches the next generation about Christmas is critical to Christmas itself. If we let them take away Christmas, the” one nation under God” becomes no nation under God.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, December 24, 2004
The US Fish and Wildlife service has decided not to list the lamprey as an endangered species---you can read about it here.
That's about it for the news tonight. On Christmas day I will post a new Julie Carter article and will get back to the news if there is any out there to report.
That's about it for the news tonight. On Christmas day I will post a new Julie Carter article and will get back to the news if there is any out there to report.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
U.S. Rewrites Rules Governing Forests A key wildlife protection that has governed federal forest management for more than two decades will be dropped under new regulations announced Wednesday by the Bush administration, and requirements for public involvement in planning for the country's 192 million acres of national forest will be dramatically altered. U.S. Forest Service officials said the changes, contained in an administrative rewrite of national forest rules expected to take effect next week, would free them from wasteful and time-consuming paperwork and give them the latitude to more quickly respond to evolving forest conditions and scientific research. The 160-page document outlining the new rules contains two major revisions to forest planning regulations. The first drops the 25-year-old requirement that managers prepare environmental impact statements — a cornerstone of public involvement in environmental decisions — when they develop or revise management plans for individual national forests. The second change drops a mandate, adopted during the Reagan administration in 1982, that fish and wildlife habitat in national forests be managed to maintain "viable populations of existing native and desired nonnative vertebrate species." Instead, managers will be directed to provide "ecological conditions to support diversity of native plant and animal species."....
Editorial: Toward an energy policy Everybody says the United States needs a national energy policy, but neither Congress nor President Bush has managed to come up with one. However - drum roll, please - a bipartisan committee of people outside government has done the job. Earlier this month, the privately funded National Commission on Energy Policy issued its report after three years of work. It's an integrated plan that is neither a sell-out to the Texas oiligarchs nor a hippie environmental manifesto. Instead, it's a sensible, balanced approach. For example, it proposes to both expand and diversify international oil supplies while also significantly raising federal fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and appliance efficiency. It would introduce mandatory tradable emissions permits to reduce greenhouse gases and also create incentives for new generations of nuclear reactors, coal-gasification and advanced biomass technologies....
Feinstein: Forest Service may cut state's fire-prevention funds Sen. Dianne Feinstein is sounding an alarm about what she says is a Forest Service proposal to cut $9 million from wildfire prevention efforts in California, just a year after devastating blazes in the state were cited by the Bush administration to justify landmark forest-thinning legislation. The plan would lead to a 90 percent funding reduction for community fire plans and "harm Southern California communities like Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear and the San Diego suburbs," Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to Mark Rey, a top official at the Agriculture Department, which oversees the Forest Service. A service spokesman acknowledged that the spending figures cited by Feinstein are accurate, but said they are only part of preliminary discussions about how to deploy fire-prevention resources nationwide....
Defenders of Wildlife Pays Ranchers More than $100,000 for Wolf-related Livestock Losses in 2004 Defenders of Wildlife today announced that compensation payments to ranchers for livestock losses related to wolves exceeded $138,000 in 2004, a new record for Defenders' compensation program. In the 17 years since the program began, The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Fund, named in honor of its largest contributor, has reimbursed more than 300 ranchers and livestock owners in the Northern Rockies more than $440,000 in livestock compensation payments. "Partnering with local stakeholders on wolf recovery is absolutely essential to the future of the species and we're pleased to be able to provide this vital assistance to livestock owners in the region," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The program is highly effective in building tolerance for wolves while helping most ranchers and farmers with the cost of livestock losses to wolf depredation."....
Gas pipeline rupture triggers massive desert cleanup A nasal-penetrating stench still rises from the sand a month after a ruptured pipeline spewed untold amounts of gasoline up to 80 feet high for hours over a patch of the fragile Mojave Desert. The Nov. 22 leak raised concerns among state, federal and county agencies because it occurred in an area known to harbor desert tortoises, a federally threatened species, and where groundwater is used by free-roaming cattle. The potent gas, with cancer-causing ingredients, ate through creosote, salt bush and other desert scrub and sank at least 50 feet below the ground. The cause of the leak remains under investigation and pipeline owner Houston-based Kinder Morgan said it has yet to determine how much gas escaped the pipeline that runs from Colton to Las Vegas....
Congressman Tancredo Mocks Parrot Arrests Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Tuesday contrasting the government's zeal in preventing parrots from Mexico from illegally entering the country with their efforts to stop illegal immigration in general. Under the headline "Apparently There Are No Jobs Available That American Parrots Won't Do," Tancredo said he was surprised to learn of the "incredible success that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enjoyed in apprehending smugglers attempting to illegally smuggle 150 Lilac Crowned and Mexican Redhead Amazon Parrots into the United States." The statement points out that ICE, however, has not had the same luck in preventing an estimated 3 million illegal alien human beings from swarming into the U.S. annually unchecked. "It's nice to see that ICE has their priorities in order," quipped Tancredo, head of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. "Now that we appear able to successfully identify and apprehend parrots attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, perhaps doing the same with people is just around the corner."....
Islands in the desert The blue circles on scientist Donald Sada's map are like X's marking treasure. The circles denote springs, and Sada, an aquatic ecologist, has spent much of the past two decades driving Nevada's back roads trying to locate them. Sometimes he finds a green oasis teeming with wildlife -- antelope, deer, rabbits, mountain lions, ringtail cats, all manner of bugs and the tiny aquatic snails he studies for the Desert Research Institute. Other times it's just a dusty puddle trampled by wild horses, or a concrete cistern filling cattle troughs....
Geneva selling water rights; creditors to benefit Vineyard's Geneva Steel is preparing to sell its rights to about 48,500 acre feet of water - a move that should help satisfy the bankrupt company's creditors. Geneva President Ken Johnsen said the sale will take place in two transactions. One transaction is a "pure water rights sale" worth approximately $74 million. The other sale is part of the $19 million transfer of company real estate, water rights and emission credits to Denver's Summit Energy, which is building a $330 million natural gas-fired power plant on 62 acres of the former mill site on the eastern shore of Utah Lake....
U.S. Rewrites Rules Governing Forests A key wildlife protection that has governed federal forest management for more than two decades will be dropped under new regulations announced Wednesday by the Bush administration, and requirements for public involvement in planning for the country's 192 million acres of national forest will be dramatically altered. U.S. Forest Service officials said the changes, contained in an administrative rewrite of national forest rules expected to take effect next week, would free them from wasteful and time-consuming paperwork and give them the latitude to more quickly respond to evolving forest conditions and scientific research. The 160-page document outlining the new rules contains two major revisions to forest planning regulations. The first drops the 25-year-old requirement that managers prepare environmental impact statements — a cornerstone of public involvement in environmental decisions — when they develop or revise management plans for individual national forests. The second change drops a mandate, adopted during the Reagan administration in 1982, that fish and wildlife habitat in national forests be managed to maintain "viable populations of existing native and desired nonnative vertebrate species." Instead, managers will be directed to provide "ecological conditions to support diversity of native plant and animal species."....
Editorial: Toward an energy policy Everybody says the United States needs a national energy policy, but neither Congress nor President Bush has managed to come up with one. However - drum roll, please - a bipartisan committee of people outside government has done the job. Earlier this month, the privately funded National Commission on Energy Policy issued its report after three years of work. It's an integrated plan that is neither a sell-out to the Texas oiligarchs nor a hippie environmental manifesto. Instead, it's a sensible, balanced approach. For example, it proposes to both expand and diversify international oil supplies while also significantly raising federal fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and appliance efficiency. It would introduce mandatory tradable emissions permits to reduce greenhouse gases and also create incentives for new generations of nuclear reactors, coal-gasification and advanced biomass technologies....
Feinstein: Forest Service may cut state's fire-prevention funds Sen. Dianne Feinstein is sounding an alarm about what she says is a Forest Service proposal to cut $9 million from wildfire prevention efforts in California, just a year after devastating blazes in the state were cited by the Bush administration to justify landmark forest-thinning legislation. The plan would lead to a 90 percent funding reduction for community fire plans and "harm Southern California communities like Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear and the San Diego suburbs," Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to Mark Rey, a top official at the Agriculture Department, which oversees the Forest Service. A service spokesman acknowledged that the spending figures cited by Feinstein are accurate, but said they are only part of preliminary discussions about how to deploy fire-prevention resources nationwide....
Defenders of Wildlife Pays Ranchers More than $100,000 for Wolf-related Livestock Losses in 2004 Defenders of Wildlife today announced that compensation payments to ranchers for livestock losses related to wolves exceeded $138,000 in 2004, a new record for Defenders' compensation program. In the 17 years since the program began, The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Fund, named in honor of its largest contributor, has reimbursed more than 300 ranchers and livestock owners in the Northern Rockies more than $440,000 in livestock compensation payments. "Partnering with local stakeholders on wolf recovery is absolutely essential to the future of the species and we're pleased to be able to provide this vital assistance to livestock owners in the region," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The program is highly effective in building tolerance for wolves while helping most ranchers and farmers with the cost of livestock losses to wolf depredation."....
Gas pipeline rupture triggers massive desert cleanup A nasal-penetrating stench still rises from the sand a month after a ruptured pipeline spewed untold amounts of gasoline up to 80 feet high for hours over a patch of the fragile Mojave Desert. The Nov. 22 leak raised concerns among state, federal and county agencies because it occurred in an area known to harbor desert tortoises, a federally threatened species, and where groundwater is used by free-roaming cattle. The potent gas, with cancer-causing ingredients, ate through creosote, salt bush and other desert scrub and sank at least 50 feet below the ground. The cause of the leak remains under investigation and pipeline owner Houston-based Kinder Morgan said it has yet to determine how much gas escaped the pipeline that runs from Colton to Las Vegas....
Congressman Tancredo Mocks Parrot Arrests Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Tuesday contrasting the government's zeal in preventing parrots from Mexico from illegally entering the country with their efforts to stop illegal immigration in general. Under the headline "Apparently There Are No Jobs Available That American Parrots Won't Do," Tancredo said he was surprised to learn of the "incredible success that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enjoyed in apprehending smugglers attempting to illegally smuggle 150 Lilac Crowned and Mexican Redhead Amazon Parrots into the United States." The statement points out that ICE, however, has not had the same luck in preventing an estimated 3 million illegal alien human beings from swarming into the U.S. annually unchecked. "It's nice to see that ICE has their priorities in order," quipped Tancredo, head of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. "Now that we appear able to successfully identify and apprehend parrots attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, perhaps doing the same with people is just around the corner."....
Islands in the desert The blue circles on scientist Donald Sada's map are like X's marking treasure. The circles denote springs, and Sada, an aquatic ecologist, has spent much of the past two decades driving Nevada's back roads trying to locate them. Sometimes he finds a green oasis teeming with wildlife -- antelope, deer, rabbits, mountain lions, ringtail cats, all manner of bugs and the tiny aquatic snails he studies for the Desert Research Institute. Other times it's just a dusty puddle trampled by wild horses, or a concrete cistern filling cattle troughs....
Geneva selling water rights; creditors to benefit Vineyard's Geneva Steel is preparing to sell its rights to about 48,500 acre feet of water - a move that should help satisfy the bankrupt company's creditors. Geneva President Ken Johnsen said the sale will take place in two transactions. One transaction is a "pure water rights sale" worth approximately $74 million. The other sale is part of the $19 million transfer of company real estate, water rights and emission credits to Denver's Summit Energy, which is building a $330 million natural gas-fired power plant on 62 acres of the former mill site on the eastern shore of Utah Lake....
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
U.S. to Pay $16 Million in Water Rights Case The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $16.7 million to a group of Central Valley farmers and irrigation districts whose water deliveries were cut to protect endangered fish. State officials had strongly urged the administration not to settle the farmers' claims, arguing that such a precedent could make it prohibitively expensive to protect endangered species. But the payment was immediately hailed as a significant victory by property rights advocates and critics of the Endangered Species Act. "This is a very strong precedent," said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the House Resources Committee, which is headed by one of the act's most vocal detractors, Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy). "This should really fire a shot across the bow of federal regulators, reminding them that their actions have consequences and their actions cost money." The U.S. Department of Justice settled the case despite widespread warnings that it would lead to a flood of similar claims. The California attorney general's office, the Schwarzenegger administration and attorneys for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration all wrote the Justice Department in the last year, asking the Bush administration to appeal a U.S. Court of Claims ruling in favor of the farmers....
Forest Service going ahead with plan to poison high Cascade lake The U.S. Forest Service has approved a plan to draw down Diamond Lake and poison small nonnative fish that have triggered massive algae blooms and hurt trout fishing. After years of study, Umpqua National Forest Supervisor Jim Caplan on Monday signed a record of decision, the last step in an environmental impact study examining the problem at the high Cascade Range resort lake east of Roseburg. The Forest Service, which manages the land where the 3,000-acre lake is located, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which stocks the lake with trout, are splitting the estimated cost of about $3.5 million over the next three years, said Umpqua National Forest spokeswoman Sharon Johnson....
Boom: Logging begins anew Loaded log trucks headed to mills near and far ... Men in pickup trucks stacked with chain saws and fuel containers ... The sound of ringing cash registers ... In northern Klamath County, it's like the 1970s and '80s all over again. The industry that created the side-by-side communities of Gilchrist and Crescent and kept the region content for decades is undergoing a revival. Logging companies are scurrying to harvest timberland damaged by the 2003 Davis fire....
Judge upholds driving on beach A small, federally protected shorebird shouldn't stand in the way of beach driving at one of the most popular surf spots in Florida, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory A. Presnell ruled that the fact cars and trucks may bother the piping plover isn't enough to halt driving near Ponce de Leon Inlet, at the north end of New Smyrna Beach. During court arguments Dec. 15, the judge watched a pair of short videos showing the birds feeding on the wet sand, then running or flying away as vehicles approached. Godwin and Reynolds' attorney, Ross Burnaman, argued the harassment violates the Endangered Species Act. However, the judge, in his eight-page ruling, wrote that was not enough proof the birds would actually be harmed. "Apparently, vehicles interrupt the plovers' foraging and resting, but it is entirely unclear whether such interruptions cause any more than momentary inconvenience," he wrote....
Judge: Cutthroat trout may need protection Yellowstone cutthroat trout may need federal protection to ensure the species' survival, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Phillip S. Figa in Colorado said Friday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2001 illegally rejected a petition to designate the fish as threatened on the endangered species list. Saying there was "substantial evidence" that a federal listing may be warranted, Figa ordered the FWS to undertake a yearlong comprehensive review of the Yellowstone cutthroat and reconsider whether to apply federal protections. Environmental groups praised the decision not only for criticizing procedural steps taken by FWS but also for addressing "substantive" issues over the status of Yellowstone cutthroat....
Developer's hope for reimbursement falls short Jim Doyle will have to keep waiting for a check from the government. The Utah land developer once again came up short in his quest for legislation requiring the federal government to pay him for 1,550 acres the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared critical breeding grounds for endangered desert tortoises. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, sponsored legislation directing the Department of Interior to purchase Doyle's land. The measure cleared the Senate earlier this month on the evening before Congress adjourned for the year. But the tactic of attaching it and other Senate public lands bills to an unrelated measure that was headed for easy passage backfired, and the package died in the House....
Editorial: Richardson stands up to protect Otero Mesa Gov. Bill Richardson, who can hardly be called anti-development, has wisely and appropriately drawn a line in the sand on development of New Mexico's precious Otero Mesa - public land in which the public's interest and wishes are being compromised for private gain. Elsewhere - for example in the Owyhee Mountains of southeastern Idaho - various competing interests have been able to reach a consensus and compromise that protects large tracts of otherwise vulnerable public lands. To date, the federal government shows no such inclination regarding Otero, rejecting conservationists and Richardson's calls for more stringent environmental safeguards. Hence Richardson's threats earlier this month to put himself and Santa Fe squarely in the BLM's and the drilling industry's selfish ways, including using state permit and review powers to stop or stall the process....
U.S. to Pay $16 Million in Water Rights Case The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $16.7 million to a group of Central Valley farmers and irrigation districts whose water deliveries were cut to protect endangered fish. State officials had strongly urged the administration not to settle the farmers' claims, arguing that such a precedent could make it prohibitively expensive to protect endangered species. But the payment was immediately hailed as a significant victory by property rights advocates and critics of the Endangered Species Act. "This is a very strong precedent," said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the House Resources Committee, which is headed by one of the act's most vocal detractors, Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy). "This should really fire a shot across the bow of federal regulators, reminding them that their actions have consequences and their actions cost money." The U.S. Department of Justice settled the case despite widespread warnings that it would lead to a flood of similar claims. The California attorney general's office, the Schwarzenegger administration and attorneys for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration all wrote the Justice Department in the last year, asking the Bush administration to appeal a U.S. Court of Claims ruling in favor of the farmers....
Forest Service going ahead with plan to poison high Cascade lake The U.S. Forest Service has approved a plan to draw down Diamond Lake and poison small nonnative fish that have triggered massive algae blooms and hurt trout fishing. After years of study, Umpqua National Forest Supervisor Jim Caplan on Monday signed a record of decision, the last step in an environmental impact study examining the problem at the high Cascade Range resort lake east of Roseburg. The Forest Service, which manages the land where the 3,000-acre lake is located, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which stocks the lake with trout, are splitting the estimated cost of about $3.5 million over the next three years, said Umpqua National Forest spokeswoman Sharon Johnson....
Boom: Logging begins anew Loaded log trucks headed to mills near and far ... Men in pickup trucks stacked with chain saws and fuel containers ... The sound of ringing cash registers ... In northern Klamath County, it's like the 1970s and '80s all over again. The industry that created the side-by-side communities of Gilchrist and Crescent and kept the region content for decades is undergoing a revival. Logging companies are scurrying to harvest timberland damaged by the 2003 Davis fire....
Judge upholds driving on beach A small, federally protected shorebird shouldn't stand in the way of beach driving at one of the most popular surf spots in Florida, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory A. Presnell ruled that the fact cars and trucks may bother the piping plover isn't enough to halt driving near Ponce de Leon Inlet, at the north end of New Smyrna Beach. During court arguments Dec. 15, the judge watched a pair of short videos showing the birds feeding on the wet sand, then running or flying away as vehicles approached. Godwin and Reynolds' attorney, Ross Burnaman, argued the harassment violates the Endangered Species Act. However, the judge, in his eight-page ruling, wrote that was not enough proof the birds would actually be harmed. "Apparently, vehicles interrupt the plovers' foraging and resting, but it is entirely unclear whether such interruptions cause any more than momentary inconvenience," he wrote....
Judge: Cutthroat trout may need protection Yellowstone cutthroat trout may need federal protection to ensure the species' survival, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Phillip S. Figa in Colorado said Friday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2001 illegally rejected a petition to designate the fish as threatened on the endangered species list. Saying there was "substantial evidence" that a federal listing may be warranted, Figa ordered the FWS to undertake a yearlong comprehensive review of the Yellowstone cutthroat and reconsider whether to apply federal protections. Environmental groups praised the decision not only for criticizing procedural steps taken by FWS but also for addressing "substantive" issues over the status of Yellowstone cutthroat....
Developer's hope for reimbursement falls short Jim Doyle will have to keep waiting for a check from the government. The Utah land developer once again came up short in his quest for legislation requiring the federal government to pay him for 1,550 acres the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared critical breeding grounds for endangered desert tortoises. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, sponsored legislation directing the Department of Interior to purchase Doyle's land. The measure cleared the Senate earlier this month on the evening before Congress adjourned for the year. But the tactic of attaching it and other Senate public lands bills to an unrelated measure that was headed for easy passage backfired, and the package died in the House....
Editorial: Richardson stands up to protect Otero Mesa Gov. Bill Richardson, who can hardly be called anti-development, has wisely and appropriately drawn a line in the sand on development of New Mexico's precious Otero Mesa - public land in which the public's interest and wishes are being compromised for private gain. Elsewhere - for example in the Owyhee Mountains of southeastern Idaho - various competing interests have been able to reach a consensus and compromise that protects large tracts of otherwise vulnerable public lands. To date, the federal government shows no such inclination regarding Otero, rejecting conservationists and Richardson's calls for more stringent environmental safeguards. Hence Richardson's threats earlier this month to put himself and Santa Fe squarely in the BLM's and the drilling industry's selfish ways, including using state permit and review powers to stop or stall the process....
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Editorial: Forest Service racketeering alleged
....Enter San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, who in 1981 bought 12 acres on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, east of San Bernardino -- formerly the site of a trailer camp. Last year, he announced plans to cut down 338 trees and build 132 condominiums and a 175-slip marina.
But the project came to a screeching halt in May, when a federal judge found two activist groups, Friends of Fawnskin and the Center for Biological Diversity, had demonstrated the development had "the potential to both harass and harm the bald eagles," which winter in the area.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin briefly cited a report on the eagles written by Forest Service employee Robin Eliason, who coincidentally is a member of the activist group "Friends of Fawnskin" and who -- with her husband and fellow Forest Service employee, Scott -- owns a home nearby.
Now, Mr. Okovita has filed a lawsuit against the Eliasons and their boss, contending the government workers used their positions "under color of law" to advance their personal and political agendas.
Mr. Okovita's attorney argues the defendants wanted to kill the project because doing so "would serve to increase their own property values." The suit alleges Scott Eliason improperly advised Friends of Fawnskin on ways the project might be derailed, and that Robin Eliason prepared an inaccurate report on the bald eagle as part of that alleged conspiracy.
The defendants argue they were only doing their jobs.
"Government employees, just like private citizens, can join the Boy Scouts, ... Sierra Club, National Rifle Association, or Friends of Fawnskin," argues Andy Stahl, director of a Forest Service employees group.
Yes, but is it proper for them to use the power of their government offices -- and inside information gained there -- to thwart Mr. Okovita in the exercise of his property rights, while furthering their own agendas or quasi-religious environmental beliefs?....
....Enter San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, who in 1981 bought 12 acres on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, east of San Bernardino -- formerly the site of a trailer camp. Last year, he announced plans to cut down 338 trees and build 132 condominiums and a 175-slip marina.
But the project came to a screeching halt in May, when a federal judge found two activist groups, Friends of Fawnskin and the Center for Biological Diversity, had demonstrated the development had "the potential to both harass and harm the bald eagles," which winter in the area.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin briefly cited a report on the eagles written by Forest Service employee Robin Eliason, who coincidentally is a member of the activist group "Friends of Fawnskin" and who -- with her husband and fellow Forest Service employee, Scott -- owns a home nearby.
Now, Mr. Okovita has filed a lawsuit against the Eliasons and their boss, contending the government workers used their positions "under color of law" to advance their personal and political agendas.
Mr. Okovita's attorney argues the defendants wanted to kill the project because doing so "would serve to increase their own property values." The suit alleges Scott Eliason improperly advised Friends of Fawnskin on ways the project might be derailed, and that Robin Eliason prepared an inaccurate report on the bald eagle as part of that alleged conspiracy.
The defendants argue they were only doing their jobs.
"Government employees, just like private citizens, can join the Boy Scouts, ... Sierra Club, National Rifle Association, or Friends of Fawnskin," argues Andy Stahl, director of a Forest Service employees group.
Yes, but is it proper for them to use the power of their government offices -- and inside information gained there -- to thwart Mr. Okovita in the exercise of his property rights, while furthering their own agendas or quasi-religious environmental beliefs?....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Spotted knapweed threatening Western livelihoods Spotted knapweed is a national menace, a weed of mass destruction. In Montana alone it covers some 4.5 million acres and costs ranchers more than $40 million annually in herbicide and lost productivity. Native of Central Europe and Siberia, spotted knapweed reached North America in the late 19th century. It invades pastureland and renders huge tracts commercially useless, because cattle, horses and most other animals turn up their noses at it. The purple-flowered pest, which some nonranchers regard as beautiful, has become so rampant that elk have changed their migration routes to avoid it. New research points to an unusual reason for the plant's success. Ragan Callaway of the University of Montana in Missoula, who studies how plants interact with one another, and Jorge Vivanco of Colorado State University have found that spotted knapweed conducts chemical warfare on its neighbors - the first comprehensive evidence of an invasive plant using an offensive chemical weapon....
Editorial: Who's Really in Cahoots? San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, whose attempt to build luxury condos in a bald eagle habitat near Big Bear has been blocked by a federal judge, wants the court to reconsider. But as he pursued that request, he must also have sensed something in the air, something emboldening in the way the Bush administration is eroding environmental protections. Okovita went to court and accused three U.S. Forest Service employees of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to block his Marina Point development at Big Bear Lake. Okovita's lawsuit, under a 1970 law designed to help prosecute mobsters, has the feel of using a howitzer to shoot deer. But the government, instead of jumping to offer legal counsel to its employees, has so far offered nothing, inexcusably leaving these civil servants on their own....
Animal Protection Groups Say 'You Better Be Good 'Fur' Goodness Sake The Fund for Animals and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are urging consumers to "fake it" for the holidays and buy faux fur or other cruelty-free garments instead. "With the many warm and elegant alternatives available, it is simply unnecessary to buy clothes made from real fur that was ripped or peeled off the backs of animals," said Pierre Grzybowski, grassroots coordinator for The Fund for Animals. According to The Fund, animals raised in fur factories are confined in tiny cages until they are put out of their misery by neck-breaking or anal electrocution....
Wolf population declines in park Yellowstone National Park may have about all the wolves it can handle. For the first time since wolves were reintroduced to the park 10 years ago, the population has likely reached a plateau. Gone are the days when the wolf population jumped 40 or 50 percent a year. Even more recent growth rates - around 10 percent a year - may be tapering off. Preliminary estimates show there are now about 169 wolves in 15 packs, down from 174 the year before, according to Doug Smith, Yellowstone's lead wolf biologist. On Yellowstone's Northern Range, the wolf population dropped by 10 to 15 wolves in the last year, primarily because of competition. "I'd say that wolves are approaching carrying capacity in the park," Smith said Monday....
Milltown Dam removal plan finalized Twenty-three years after a Missoula County sanitarian found arsenic in Milltown's tap water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a final plan for excavating the sediments that brought the poison to town and taking Milltown Dam out of the river so it doesn't happen again. "A lot of people thought this would never happen in their lifetimes," said Chuck Erickson, president of Friends of Two Rivers, a group of Milltown and Bonner residents who lobbied for removal of the dam and millions of cubic yards of tainted reservoir sediments. Work at Milltown Reservoir will begin this winter, with removal of the dam as early as January 2006. Then will come the excavation of 2.6 million cubic yards of contaminated reservoir sediments, a two-year job....
Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says. The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey....
EPA takes over lead role in cleanup of mine The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assumed the lead role Monday in directing the cleanup of an abandoned, contaminated copper mine in Northern Nevada. The federal agency is assuming primary responsibility for the cleanup of the former Anaconda copper mine under a provision of the Superfund law because of growing health and safety concerns, EPA officials said. Federal officials said they decided to grant the state’s request because of the complexity of the contaminants at the site near Yerington, about 55 miles southeast of Reno....
Milk River panel's co-chairs appointed The Bureau of Reclamation's top official in Montana will be co-chairman of a United States-Canada committee examining whether water from the Milk River system is allocated fairly north and south of the border. Appointment of the bureau's Daniel Jewell and Ross Herrington, a water policy adviser for the Canadian government's environmental agency, was announced Monday by the International Joint Commission. The IJC works to prevent and resolve water disputes between the United States and Canada. The commission recently decided to appoint a committee to work on issues involving the Milk River system, which flows along the border between Montana and Canadian provinces....
Officials revamp, expand program for rangeland insurance A pilot program for rangeland insurance, criticized by some for how it calculated losses, has been revamped and expanded to include more producers in Montana and Wyoming, a federal agriculture official said Monday. Beginning with the 2005 crop year, ranchers in 39 Montana counties and 10 Wyoming counties will be eligible for coverage under the Group Risk Plan Rangeland Pilot Program, said Dave Nickless, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency in Billings. The program will be much different from the pilot that started in 1999, Nickless said. One of the big differences involves the trigger for which losses could be calculated....
Polo horses get posh pad The snow polo horses got some upscale digs for their fifth annual visit to Aspen this weekend. Seventeen thoroughbreds were boarded at the Limelite Lodge - in a small grassy part of the lodge, that is, rather than in rooms. Barry Stout, a New Castle rancher and event director for the World Snow Polo Championship, said the horses have stayed in Aspen's Wagner Park, where the match is played, in the past. But this year the city wasn't interested in allowing the horses to overnight at the park, so Stout asked his friends at the Limelite for help....
Man hits the trail to repay a favor It’s roughly 1,200 miles from Houston to Cheyenne, Wyo. You or I could make the trip by car in little less than 24 hours, and that’s with pit stops along the way. Mike Hansen will make the trip in five months. Mike’s in the process of planning his single-man trail ride he’s dubbed Old Trails and New Legends. He and Drifter, along with a pack mule to be named later, plan to saddle up at the base of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo trail ride Feb. 26 and make the trek north the Wyoming just in time for the Frontier Days rodeo. In doing so, he will cover much of the same ground cattle drives did in the 1800s when Texas herds where taken to Kansas City, Wichita or Denver to be shipped east via rail. Likewise, cattle from Wyoming made it south to the same rail yards to feed a hungry eastern seaboard starving for prime beef. Mike isn’t making this ride, though, to hearken back to the days of old, but rather to repay a debt and give thanks....
It's All Trew: Return to old ways is progress? If you can remember when it took both hands and feet to drive a car you probably remember these terms: footfeed, spark, crank, choke, throttle, gear shift and steering knob. Today, few know what the terms mean. I recently followed a young lady down main street in Pampa who was talking on her cell phone, combing her hair and driving. She stopped at a green signal forcing me to hit my brakes and ran the next two red lights narrowly missing a collision....
Spotted knapweed threatening Western livelihoods Spotted knapweed is a national menace, a weed of mass destruction. In Montana alone it covers some 4.5 million acres and costs ranchers more than $40 million annually in herbicide and lost productivity. Native of Central Europe and Siberia, spotted knapweed reached North America in the late 19th century. It invades pastureland and renders huge tracts commercially useless, because cattle, horses and most other animals turn up their noses at it. The purple-flowered pest, which some nonranchers regard as beautiful, has become so rampant that elk have changed their migration routes to avoid it. New research points to an unusual reason for the plant's success. Ragan Callaway of the University of Montana in Missoula, who studies how plants interact with one another, and Jorge Vivanco of Colorado State University have found that spotted knapweed conducts chemical warfare on its neighbors - the first comprehensive evidence of an invasive plant using an offensive chemical weapon....
Editorial: Who's Really in Cahoots? San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, whose attempt to build luxury condos in a bald eagle habitat near Big Bear has been blocked by a federal judge, wants the court to reconsider. But as he pursued that request, he must also have sensed something in the air, something emboldening in the way the Bush administration is eroding environmental protections. Okovita went to court and accused three U.S. Forest Service employees of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to block his Marina Point development at Big Bear Lake. Okovita's lawsuit, under a 1970 law designed to help prosecute mobsters, has the feel of using a howitzer to shoot deer. But the government, instead of jumping to offer legal counsel to its employees, has so far offered nothing, inexcusably leaving these civil servants on their own....
Animal Protection Groups Say 'You Better Be Good 'Fur' Goodness Sake The Fund for Animals and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are urging consumers to "fake it" for the holidays and buy faux fur or other cruelty-free garments instead. "With the many warm and elegant alternatives available, it is simply unnecessary to buy clothes made from real fur that was ripped or peeled off the backs of animals," said Pierre Grzybowski, grassroots coordinator for The Fund for Animals. According to The Fund, animals raised in fur factories are confined in tiny cages until they are put out of their misery by neck-breaking or anal electrocution....
Wolf population declines in park Yellowstone National Park may have about all the wolves it can handle. For the first time since wolves were reintroduced to the park 10 years ago, the population has likely reached a plateau. Gone are the days when the wolf population jumped 40 or 50 percent a year. Even more recent growth rates - around 10 percent a year - may be tapering off. Preliminary estimates show there are now about 169 wolves in 15 packs, down from 174 the year before, according to Doug Smith, Yellowstone's lead wolf biologist. On Yellowstone's Northern Range, the wolf population dropped by 10 to 15 wolves in the last year, primarily because of competition. "I'd say that wolves are approaching carrying capacity in the park," Smith said Monday....
Milltown Dam removal plan finalized Twenty-three years after a Missoula County sanitarian found arsenic in Milltown's tap water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a final plan for excavating the sediments that brought the poison to town and taking Milltown Dam out of the river so it doesn't happen again. "A lot of people thought this would never happen in their lifetimes," said Chuck Erickson, president of Friends of Two Rivers, a group of Milltown and Bonner residents who lobbied for removal of the dam and millions of cubic yards of tainted reservoir sediments. Work at Milltown Reservoir will begin this winter, with removal of the dam as early as January 2006. Then will come the excavation of 2.6 million cubic yards of contaminated reservoir sediments, a two-year job....
Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says. The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey....
EPA takes over lead role in cleanup of mine The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assumed the lead role Monday in directing the cleanup of an abandoned, contaminated copper mine in Northern Nevada. The federal agency is assuming primary responsibility for the cleanup of the former Anaconda copper mine under a provision of the Superfund law because of growing health and safety concerns, EPA officials said. Federal officials said they decided to grant the state’s request because of the complexity of the contaminants at the site near Yerington, about 55 miles southeast of Reno....
Milk River panel's co-chairs appointed The Bureau of Reclamation's top official in Montana will be co-chairman of a United States-Canada committee examining whether water from the Milk River system is allocated fairly north and south of the border. Appointment of the bureau's Daniel Jewell and Ross Herrington, a water policy adviser for the Canadian government's environmental agency, was announced Monday by the International Joint Commission. The IJC works to prevent and resolve water disputes between the United States and Canada. The commission recently decided to appoint a committee to work on issues involving the Milk River system, which flows along the border between Montana and Canadian provinces....
Officials revamp, expand program for rangeland insurance A pilot program for rangeland insurance, criticized by some for how it calculated losses, has been revamped and expanded to include more producers in Montana and Wyoming, a federal agriculture official said Monday. Beginning with the 2005 crop year, ranchers in 39 Montana counties and 10 Wyoming counties will be eligible for coverage under the Group Risk Plan Rangeland Pilot Program, said Dave Nickless, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency in Billings. The program will be much different from the pilot that started in 1999, Nickless said. One of the big differences involves the trigger for which losses could be calculated....
Polo horses get posh pad The snow polo horses got some upscale digs for their fifth annual visit to Aspen this weekend. Seventeen thoroughbreds were boarded at the Limelite Lodge - in a small grassy part of the lodge, that is, rather than in rooms. Barry Stout, a New Castle rancher and event director for the World Snow Polo Championship, said the horses have stayed in Aspen's Wagner Park, where the match is played, in the past. But this year the city wasn't interested in allowing the horses to overnight at the park, so Stout asked his friends at the Limelite for help....
Man hits the trail to repay a favor It’s roughly 1,200 miles from Houston to Cheyenne, Wyo. You or I could make the trip by car in little less than 24 hours, and that’s with pit stops along the way. Mike Hansen will make the trip in five months. Mike’s in the process of planning his single-man trail ride he’s dubbed Old Trails and New Legends. He and Drifter, along with a pack mule to be named later, plan to saddle up at the base of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo trail ride Feb. 26 and make the trek north the Wyoming just in time for the Frontier Days rodeo. In doing so, he will cover much of the same ground cattle drives did in the 1800s when Texas herds where taken to Kansas City, Wichita or Denver to be shipped east via rail. Likewise, cattle from Wyoming made it south to the same rail yards to feed a hungry eastern seaboard starving for prime beef. Mike isn’t making this ride, though, to hearken back to the days of old, but rather to repay a debt and give thanks....
It's All Trew: Return to old ways is progress? If you can remember when it took both hands and feet to drive a car you probably remember these terms: footfeed, spark, crank, choke, throttle, gear shift and steering knob. Today, few know what the terms mean. I recently followed a young lady down main street in Pampa who was talking on her cell phone, combing her hair and driving. She stopped at a green signal forcing me to hit my brakes and ran the next two red lights narrowly missing a collision....
Monday, December 20, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Ranchers disagree on split estates Such voluntary agreements between landowners and natural gas developers are common in Wyoming. But now, some landowners, conservationists and others are pushing the state Legislature to make such negotiations mandatory when it convenes next month. They say such a law is needed to give landowners more bargaining power in dealings where developers often hold the upper hand. Even in Montana, which has a similar law on the books, one group is hoping to strengthen surface owner rights by requiring that the two sides try to reach agreement on such things as road placement and efforts to minimize dust and other disturbances....
Builder Sues Forest Service Workers Under RICO Act But now Eliason, her husband, Scott, a Forest Service botanist, and their boss, San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman, have had to hire their own attorney to defend them in a lawsuit accusing them of racketeering. San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, who filed the suit, alleges that the Eliasons, Zimmerman and Sandy Steers, a local environmental activist, engaged in a criminal conspiracy to block the Marina Point development, a luxury condominium project Okovita wants to develop with an Arizona company in this hamlet on the north shore of Big Bear Lake. Okovita sued under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a statute originally passed in 1970 to strengthen the government's arsenal against mobsters and drug lords....
Oregon's National Forests to announce job cuts Job cuts are in the works at two National Forests in Oregon. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is cutting 47 positions. That's about 15 percent of its staff. And Mount Hood National Forest is getting rid of 18 jobs. That's a reduction of about eight percent. More job cuts could be in the cards at other forests in the state. The Forest Service has been downsizing for a decade because of declining timber sales revenue....
Forest-fee foes lobby against Ohio congressman The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition announced Saturday that it is calling on its members and supporting organizations to oppose the selection of Congressman Ralph Regula (R-OH) as Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee when the new Congress convenes in January. The Coalition is asking House leadership to bypass Congressman Regula and appoint either Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) or Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) to lead the Committee for the next six years. The move comes in response to Regula’s abuse of power in attaching a permanent public lands recreation fee program to the omnibus spending bill that was passed in a lame duck session of the outgoing Congress....
Records show Interior aide assisted endangered species challenge A series of e-mails and telephone calls related to two high-profile environmental decisions in California has prompted criticism that business interests may be gaining too much influence over the U.S. Interior Department. According to court records, Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald tried to change scientific recommendations related to protecting wetland species and endangered fish. In the first instance, the correspondence was between MacDonald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managers and the California Farm Bureau Federation in April. A month later, the federation used the information to back a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn the service's decision continuing protection for the delta smelt....
Editorial: Saving the salmon THE 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition should be an occasion to restore the salmon runs that impressed and sustained the explorers when they reached the nation's Northwest. Instead, the Bush administration is acting to hinder recovery of many endangered salmon species. The State of Oregon and environmentalists should press their suit to compel the federal government to abide by the Endangered Species Act and protect the fish and their habitat. A major obstacle to salmon recovery is a system of four dams on the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia. Oregon and the National Wildlife Federation have sued to get the federal government to take whatever steps are needed, including removal of the dams, to bring the salmon back. At the end of last month the administration ruled out dam removal as an option. This is a change from the position of the Clinton administration, which said dam removal should be considered....
Scrub jay stands in the way of woman's home Born with cerebral palsy, Lynde Mongiovi has had to battle her entire life. She worked hard to earn a master's degree in education. She worked hard to become a Brevard County school teacher. She worked hard to save money to buy a piece of land. And she worked hard to maintain an apartment that was wheelchair-accessible. Then came the hurricanes. She lost the apartment to a leaky roof and mold infestation. Now, she has one more battle to wage before she can settle down to the life she has always wanted. Her obstacle? A little bird. Mongiovi would like to build a home on the little lot she owns on Douglas Street in Palm Bay. But she can't because scrub jays — an endangered bird — sometimes inhabit that area....
Column: Case of the red-tailed hawks The story has all the elements of melodrama: a cruel landlord, a penniless family, eviction in midwinter. In the hypothetical case of 927 Fifth Avenue v. Pale Male, my sympathies lie with the defendant. Yet the case is not entirely one-sided, and judgment prudently should be withheld. According to The New York Times, the civil proceeding was initiated a year ago by the board of managers of a sumptuous co-op apartment at Fifth Avenue and East 74th Street. Among the complainant managers are Richard Cohen, a real estate developer, and his wife, the newscaster Paula Zahn. The defendants are Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk, and his current mate, Lola. If that fact prejudices you as a potential juror, one way or the other, you may be excused. Some people may not like hawks. For that matter, some people may not like newscasters. We should put such sentiments aside....
Yosemite rangers called overzealous in law enforcement Andre Vischer was frisked, handcuffed, read his rights and taken away by two rangers. Another ranger drove the couple's rental car while Margaret Vischer remained at the side of the road where a male ranger frisked her, handcuffed her and took her to Yosemite's small jail to spend the night. There she was fingerprinted, photographed, questioned and told to strip, shower and put on an orange jumpsuit. When she asked why she was being jailed even though her blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit and she was not driving, she said rangers told her they considered her a danger to herself and others. The next day, she was released without being charged....
Redskins owner skins slope of foliage Logs and tree limbs litter the steep slope behind the limestone and stucco Potomac, Md., mansion of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. In the otherwise unbroken ribbon of forest separating his and other handsome estates from the old C&O Canal, there is suddenly a yawning gap. Last month, to the surprise of neighbors and conservation groups, Snyder hired workers to take chain saws to several acres of woodlands, giving him a panoramic view of the Potomac River from the $10 million home he purchased three years ago from Queen Noor, widow of Jordan's King Hussein....
West Nile loosens grip on grouse West Nile virus claimed a lighter toll on Wyoming's sage grouse this year, the Game and Fish Department said. Testing of dead grouse found this summer revealed that only two had died from the disease compared to 16 last year. Both of those testing positive for the mosquito-borne virus were found in the Powder River Basin, officials said Friday in a release. "The decline is good news, but it doesn't indicate any sort of trend," said Tom Christiansen, the agency's sage grouse coordinator. "If there is another bad mosquito year, there will likely be more sage grouse mortality."....
BLM approves exploratory methane drilling project Federal officials have approved another in a series of exploratory coal-bed methane projects to help determine whether large-scale development in south-central Wyoming is feasible. The Jolly Roger Pod project is one of nine drilling endeavors that will allow for about 200 wells in the Atlantic Rim area southwest of Rawlins, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said. Several operators want to drill up to 3,800 natural gas and coal-bed methane wells near the rim over the next several years....
A Year After Mad Cow, Ranchers Rejoice Sergio Madrigal watched in despair as federal officials hauled away his 449 calves to be killed after the nation's first case of mad cow disease was discovered in a nearby dairy cow. A year later, Madrigal looks out at his rebuilt herd and smiles just one of many signs that American ranchers suffered few long-term ill effects from the cow that ruined Christmas 2003. Beef prices are high, and so are spirits. "I'm at another level now," Madrigal said in Spanish through a translator, as he sat in his kitchen after tending his herd now numbered at more than 500 calves. But what a year it's been for the country's $44 billion cattle industry....
Pendleton wants its past designed into its future Remnants of the dance halls, opera houses, brothels and "secret society" meeting rooms of a century ago still occupy some of the vacant upper floors in downtown Pendleton's business district. But those floors could be transformed into glitzy professional offices and residential apartments by an urban renewal project that has residents in this old rodeo town puzzling about how to preserve the past while making way for the future. On any given day, visitors are as likely to see a rancher decked out in a Stetson and boots as an executive with a cell phone and briefcase. No one wants to get rid of the special ambiance that prompted True West Magazine to list Pendleton among the nation's "best Wild West towns" in its October edition....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Endangered list gone to dogs - prairie dogs The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog will be removed as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. It was one of those headlines that make one shake his head in wonder. It's like hearing George W. Bush announce that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be removed from consideration as the Republican candidate for vice president or comparing the Iraq prison scandal to the savagery of Saddam Hussein, or hearing, "Extensive studies show that more women than men burn their bras!" How much money has been spent, smoke created, and emperor's clothes stolen to reach this obvious prairie dog conclusion?....
Ranchers disagree on split estates Such voluntary agreements between landowners and natural gas developers are common in Wyoming. But now, some landowners, conservationists and others are pushing the state Legislature to make such negotiations mandatory when it convenes next month. They say such a law is needed to give landowners more bargaining power in dealings where developers often hold the upper hand. Even in Montana, which has a similar law on the books, one group is hoping to strengthen surface owner rights by requiring that the two sides try to reach agreement on such things as road placement and efforts to minimize dust and other disturbances....
Builder Sues Forest Service Workers Under RICO Act But now Eliason, her husband, Scott, a Forest Service botanist, and their boss, San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman, have had to hire their own attorney to defend them in a lawsuit accusing them of racketeering. San Diego businessman Irving Okovita, who filed the suit, alleges that the Eliasons, Zimmerman and Sandy Steers, a local environmental activist, engaged in a criminal conspiracy to block the Marina Point development, a luxury condominium project Okovita wants to develop with an Arizona company in this hamlet on the north shore of Big Bear Lake. Okovita sued under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a statute originally passed in 1970 to strengthen the government's arsenal against mobsters and drug lords....
Oregon's National Forests to announce job cuts Job cuts are in the works at two National Forests in Oregon. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is cutting 47 positions. That's about 15 percent of its staff. And Mount Hood National Forest is getting rid of 18 jobs. That's a reduction of about eight percent. More job cuts could be in the cards at other forests in the state. The Forest Service has been downsizing for a decade because of declining timber sales revenue....
Forest-fee foes lobby against Ohio congressman The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition announced Saturday that it is calling on its members and supporting organizations to oppose the selection of Congressman Ralph Regula (R-OH) as Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee when the new Congress convenes in January. The Coalition is asking House leadership to bypass Congressman Regula and appoint either Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) or Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) to lead the Committee for the next six years. The move comes in response to Regula’s abuse of power in attaching a permanent public lands recreation fee program to the omnibus spending bill that was passed in a lame duck session of the outgoing Congress....
Records show Interior aide assisted endangered species challenge A series of e-mails and telephone calls related to two high-profile environmental decisions in California has prompted criticism that business interests may be gaining too much influence over the U.S. Interior Department. According to court records, Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald tried to change scientific recommendations related to protecting wetland species and endangered fish. In the first instance, the correspondence was between MacDonald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managers and the California Farm Bureau Federation in April. A month later, the federation used the information to back a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn the service's decision continuing protection for the delta smelt....
Editorial: Saving the salmon THE 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition should be an occasion to restore the salmon runs that impressed and sustained the explorers when they reached the nation's Northwest. Instead, the Bush administration is acting to hinder recovery of many endangered salmon species. The State of Oregon and environmentalists should press their suit to compel the federal government to abide by the Endangered Species Act and protect the fish and their habitat. A major obstacle to salmon recovery is a system of four dams on the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia. Oregon and the National Wildlife Federation have sued to get the federal government to take whatever steps are needed, including removal of the dams, to bring the salmon back. At the end of last month the administration ruled out dam removal as an option. This is a change from the position of the Clinton administration, which said dam removal should be considered....
Scrub jay stands in the way of woman's home Born with cerebral palsy, Lynde Mongiovi has had to battle her entire life. She worked hard to earn a master's degree in education. She worked hard to become a Brevard County school teacher. She worked hard to save money to buy a piece of land. And she worked hard to maintain an apartment that was wheelchair-accessible. Then came the hurricanes. She lost the apartment to a leaky roof and mold infestation. Now, she has one more battle to wage before she can settle down to the life she has always wanted. Her obstacle? A little bird. Mongiovi would like to build a home on the little lot she owns on Douglas Street in Palm Bay. But she can't because scrub jays — an endangered bird — sometimes inhabit that area....
Column: Case of the red-tailed hawks The story has all the elements of melodrama: a cruel landlord, a penniless family, eviction in midwinter. In the hypothetical case of 927 Fifth Avenue v. Pale Male, my sympathies lie with the defendant. Yet the case is not entirely one-sided, and judgment prudently should be withheld. According to The New York Times, the civil proceeding was initiated a year ago by the board of managers of a sumptuous co-op apartment at Fifth Avenue and East 74th Street. Among the complainant managers are Richard Cohen, a real estate developer, and his wife, the newscaster Paula Zahn. The defendants are Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk, and his current mate, Lola. If that fact prejudices you as a potential juror, one way or the other, you may be excused. Some people may not like hawks. For that matter, some people may not like newscasters. We should put such sentiments aside....
Yosemite rangers called overzealous in law enforcement Andre Vischer was frisked, handcuffed, read his rights and taken away by two rangers. Another ranger drove the couple's rental car while Margaret Vischer remained at the side of the road where a male ranger frisked her, handcuffed her and took her to Yosemite's small jail to spend the night. There she was fingerprinted, photographed, questioned and told to strip, shower and put on an orange jumpsuit. When she asked why she was being jailed even though her blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit and she was not driving, she said rangers told her they considered her a danger to herself and others. The next day, she was released without being charged....
Redskins owner skins slope of foliage Logs and tree limbs litter the steep slope behind the limestone and stucco Potomac, Md., mansion of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. In the otherwise unbroken ribbon of forest separating his and other handsome estates from the old C&O Canal, there is suddenly a yawning gap. Last month, to the surprise of neighbors and conservation groups, Snyder hired workers to take chain saws to several acres of woodlands, giving him a panoramic view of the Potomac River from the $10 million home he purchased three years ago from Queen Noor, widow of Jordan's King Hussein....
West Nile loosens grip on grouse West Nile virus claimed a lighter toll on Wyoming's sage grouse this year, the Game and Fish Department said. Testing of dead grouse found this summer revealed that only two had died from the disease compared to 16 last year. Both of those testing positive for the mosquito-borne virus were found in the Powder River Basin, officials said Friday in a release. "The decline is good news, but it doesn't indicate any sort of trend," said Tom Christiansen, the agency's sage grouse coordinator. "If there is another bad mosquito year, there will likely be more sage grouse mortality."....
BLM approves exploratory methane drilling project Federal officials have approved another in a series of exploratory coal-bed methane projects to help determine whether large-scale development in south-central Wyoming is feasible. The Jolly Roger Pod project is one of nine drilling endeavors that will allow for about 200 wells in the Atlantic Rim area southwest of Rawlins, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said. Several operators want to drill up to 3,800 natural gas and coal-bed methane wells near the rim over the next several years....
A Year After Mad Cow, Ranchers Rejoice Sergio Madrigal watched in despair as federal officials hauled away his 449 calves to be killed after the nation's first case of mad cow disease was discovered in a nearby dairy cow. A year later, Madrigal looks out at his rebuilt herd and smiles just one of many signs that American ranchers suffered few long-term ill effects from the cow that ruined Christmas 2003. Beef prices are high, and so are spirits. "I'm at another level now," Madrigal said in Spanish through a translator, as he sat in his kitchen after tending his herd now numbered at more than 500 calves. But what a year it's been for the country's $44 billion cattle industry....
Pendleton wants its past designed into its future Remnants of the dance halls, opera houses, brothels and "secret society" meeting rooms of a century ago still occupy some of the vacant upper floors in downtown Pendleton's business district. But those floors could be transformed into glitzy professional offices and residential apartments by an urban renewal project that has residents in this old rodeo town puzzling about how to preserve the past while making way for the future. On any given day, visitors are as likely to see a rancher decked out in a Stetson and boots as an executive with a cell phone and briefcase. No one wants to get rid of the special ambiance that prompted True West Magazine to list Pendleton among the nation's "best Wild West towns" in its October edition....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Endangered list gone to dogs - prairie dogs The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog will be removed as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. It was one of those headlines that make one shake his head in wonder. It's like hearing George W. Bush announce that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be removed from consideration as the Republican candidate for vice president or comparing the Iraq prison scandal to the savagery of Saddam Hussein, or hearing, "Extensive studies show that more women than men burn their bras!" How much money has been spent, smoke created, and emperor's clothes stolen to reach this obvious prairie dog conclusion?....
Sunday, December 19, 2004
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
I just received Randy Huston's new cd in the mail today. It's entitled "There's A Hole In Daddy's Rope." I will review the cd in the next editon of Saturday Night At The Westerner (I may skip Christmas). Remember, if you've written something you'd like to see posted here, just email it to me. So far we could just call this "Carter's Corner".
The Christmas Pony
By Julie Carter
My dad hated ponies, Shetland or otherwise. His heartfelt belief was that if you wanted to ride--ride a real horse.
No one seems to really know what possessed him to bring home a Shetland pony for his kids that Christmas. We owned plenty of “real” horses.
Somehow in a horse trade he ended up with this short, barrel round, pitch black, Shetland. He was trading off a perfectly good bay two-year-old real horse for some cash. Somewhere in the deal, this small want-to-be horse got hauled back to the ranch.
He named him Mickey Mouse. Not for his color and not for the Disney character but because this midget was a mickey mouse version of what a horse was supposed to be.
Mickey repeatedly proved my dad’s theory on why not to own a Shetland pony and it began on Christmas morning.
At daylight, Dad went to the barn to do chores. He had the pony hidden in the barn but Mickey needed water. We had no water hydrants or tanks in the barn or the corrals. Water was the creek that ran along the bottom of the small trap below the corrals.
So Dad bridled the wee equine and jumped on him bareback to ride him to water. At some point during the process Mickey reared up, sliding Dad off his back. He landed hard on his back pockets on the hard frozen ground, breaking his tailbone.
Mickey Mouse defined in every way spoiled, barn soured, obnoxious and aggravating. If you rode him anywhere, he spent the entire time figuring out a way to unload you and make a run for the barn. His only redeeming quality was he’d run away with his head high and to the side so as not to break the dragging bridle reins.
While not our preference for a saddle horse, we did use him in other ways. He made a comical if not functional pack horse for our “kid” pack trips. We would cinch a pack saddle to him and tie to that all our treasures for the day that had been wrapped in an old green army blanket.
The mound on his back would be so huge it usually took a kid walking on each side holding the pack to keep it on the top side. Off we would go, lumbering up the road a mile or so to create our pretend world of cowboys and Indians and hunting camps.
In the height of his career, Mickey became the source of total indignation for my brother. Summer was irrigation time for all those hay meadows and Mickey was the assigned mode of transportation for the boy.
Shovel in hand, he would slip up on the pony bareback and head off for a day of directing water over hay fields. Dad told him he couldn’t waste a good saddle horse on that job.
In the winter Mickey pulled a toboggan in the meadow for us-- but only one direction. We’d jimmy rig some sort of harness for him and hook it to the sled. Then we lead him to the top end of a long meadow, turned him towards home and let him go. Dependably, he would run as hard as he could back to the barn. It was always a wild ride.
None of us kids have ever forgotten Mickey Mouse. And none of us have owned a pony since then. Some lessons tend to take better than others.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2004
I just received Randy Huston's new cd in the mail today. It's entitled "There's A Hole In Daddy's Rope." I will review the cd in the next editon of Saturday Night At The Westerner (I may skip Christmas). Remember, if you've written something you'd like to see posted here, just email it to me. So far we could just call this "Carter's Corner".
The Christmas Pony
By Julie Carter
My dad hated ponies, Shetland or otherwise. His heartfelt belief was that if you wanted to ride--ride a real horse.
No one seems to really know what possessed him to bring home a Shetland pony for his kids that Christmas. We owned plenty of “real” horses.
Somehow in a horse trade he ended up with this short, barrel round, pitch black, Shetland. He was trading off a perfectly good bay two-year-old real horse for some cash. Somewhere in the deal, this small want-to-be horse got hauled back to the ranch.
He named him Mickey Mouse. Not for his color and not for the Disney character but because this midget was a mickey mouse version of what a horse was supposed to be.
Mickey repeatedly proved my dad’s theory on why not to own a Shetland pony and it began on Christmas morning.
At daylight, Dad went to the barn to do chores. He had the pony hidden in the barn but Mickey needed water. We had no water hydrants or tanks in the barn or the corrals. Water was the creek that ran along the bottom of the small trap below the corrals.
So Dad bridled the wee equine and jumped on him bareback to ride him to water. At some point during the process Mickey reared up, sliding Dad off his back. He landed hard on his back pockets on the hard frozen ground, breaking his tailbone.
Mickey Mouse defined in every way spoiled, barn soured, obnoxious and aggravating. If you rode him anywhere, he spent the entire time figuring out a way to unload you and make a run for the barn. His only redeeming quality was he’d run away with his head high and to the side so as not to break the dragging bridle reins.
While not our preference for a saddle horse, we did use him in other ways. He made a comical if not functional pack horse for our “kid” pack trips. We would cinch a pack saddle to him and tie to that all our treasures for the day that had been wrapped in an old green army blanket.
The mound on his back would be so huge it usually took a kid walking on each side holding the pack to keep it on the top side. Off we would go, lumbering up the road a mile or so to create our pretend world of cowboys and Indians and hunting camps.
In the height of his career, Mickey became the source of total indignation for my brother. Summer was irrigation time for all those hay meadows and Mickey was the assigned mode of transportation for the boy.
Shovel in hand, he would slip up on the pony bareback and head off for a day of directing water over hay fields. Dad told him he couldn’t waste a good saddle horse on that job.
In the winter Mickey pulled a toboggan in the meadow for us-- but only one direction. We’d jimmy rig some sort of harness for him and hook it to the sled. Then we lead him to the top end of a long meadow, turned him towards home and let him go. Dependably, he would run as hard as he could back to the barn. It was always a wild ride.
None of us kids have ever forgotten Mickey Mouse. And none of us have owned a pony since then. Some lessons tend to take better than others.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2004
OPINION/COMMENTARY
ENVIRO-MYTHS VS. REALITY
Michael Crichton’s new book, “State of Fear,” centers on a group of fictional environmentalists who propagate exaggerated claims about the effects of global warming.
The book mirrors the claims of real-life environmental activists, says Ronald Bailey, Reason magazine’s science correspondent, who reviews “State of Fear” for the Wall Street Journal. Crichton, however, dispelled such myths, and many others, in a speech at the Commonwealth Club last year, says Bailey. According to Crichton:
---Greenland’s ice cap will not likely melt anytime soon given that average temperatures in the area have declined by about 2.2 degrees Celsius since 1987.
---As for temperatures in most of Antarctica, they have been falling for nearly 50 years, and ice there has been accumulating rather than melting.
---The World Conservation Union estimates that since 1600, only 258 animal species, 368 insect species, and 384 vascular plant species have become extinct -- a far cry from the thousands annually estimated by eco-activists.
---Furthermore, the ban on the pesticide DDT, a move often praised by environmentalists, is estimated to be responsible for about 50 million unnecessary deaths from malaria worldwide.
Crichton’s novel features global warming as a key issue, but real evidence suggests that by the end of this century, the planet may warm to 0.8 degrees Celsius, which is hardly a cause for alarm. Yet the environmental lobby spends about $1.95 billion per year to influence Washington, says Bailey.
Besides entertainment, “State of Fear” provides informative truths amid the scaremongering that dominates environmental issues, says Bailey.
Source: Ronald Bailey, “A Chilling Tale,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2004; and Michael Crichton, “State of Fear,” HarperCollins, December 7, 2004.
For WSJ text (subscription required):
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110263812346896330,00.html
ENVIRO-MYTHS VS. REALITY
Michael Crichton’s new book, “State of Fear,” centers on a group of fictional environmentalists who propagate exaggerated claims about the effects of global warming.
The book mirrors the claims of real-life environmental activists, says Ronald Bailey, Reason magazine’s science correspondent, who reviews “State of Fear” for the Wall Street Journal. Crichton, however, dispelled such myths, and many others, in a speech at the Commonwealth Club last year, says Bailey. According to Crichton:
---Greenland’s ice cap will not likely melt anytime soon given that average temperatures in the area have declined by about 2.2 degrees Celsius since 1987.
---As for temperatures in most of Antarctica, they have been falling for nearly 50 years, and ice there has been accumulating rather than melting.
---The World Conservation Union estimates that since 1600, only 258 animal species, 368 insect species, and 384 vascular plant species have become extinct -- a far cry from the thousands annually estimated by eco-activists.
---Furthermore, the ban on the pesticide DDT, a move often praised by environmentalists, is estimated to be responsible for about 50 million unnecessary deaths from malaria worldwide.
Crichton’s novel features global warming as a key issue, but real evidence suggests that by the end of this century, the planet may warm to 0.8 degrees Celsius, which is hardly a cause for alarm. Yet the environmental lobby spends about $1.95 billion per year to influence Washington, says Bailey.
Besides entertainment, “State of Fear” provides informative truths amid the scaremongering that dominates environmental issues, says Bailey.
Source: Ronald Bailey, “A Chilling Tale,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2004; and Michael Crichton, “State of Fear,” HarperCollins, December 7, 2004.
For WSJ text (subscription required):
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110263812346896330,00.html
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Science for the Birds
A study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that ten-percent of the world's bird species will be extinct, and as many as 25-percent may be functionally extinct, by the year 2100. “A careful study of extinction rates so far, conservation measures underway and climate and environmental change,” the Stanford researchers told CNN, “shows that at least 1,200 species of birds will be gone by 2100. And that is a conservative estimate.” If only modeling nature was that easy… Substituting adjectives for analysis, the researchers followed in the tracks of an increasing number of scientists and described their study and its results as “careful" and "conservative" to cover up the inherently shaky nature of wildlife modeling. Two years ago, I studied wildlife population modeling from one of the top wildlife ecologists in the world, Oz Schmitz. Prof. Schmitz strives to teach his students the unspoken reality of wildlife modeling: expect faulty results due to inadequacies in the models' basic assumptions. There is rarely enough information to say anything reliable about wildlife populations, so most scientists cut a lot of corners and build inferences upon inferences to arrive at their predictions. They then call the predictions conservative by simply taking the most conservative number from the range that results from their study....
Science for the Birds
A study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that ten-percent of the world's bird species will be extinct, and as many as 25-percent may be functionally extinct, by the year 2100. “A careful study of extinction rates so far, conservation measures underway and climate and environmental change,” the Stanford researchers told CNN, “shows that at least 1,200 species of birds will be gone by 2100. And that is a conservative estimate.” If only modeling nature was that easy… Substituting adjectives for analysis, the researchers followed in the tracks of an increasing number of scientists and described their study and its results as “careful" and "conservative" to cover up the inherently shaky nature of wildlife modeling. Two years ago, I studied wildlife population modeling from one of the top wildlife ecologists in the world, Oz Schmitz. Prof. Schmitz strives to teach his students the unspoken reality of wildlife modeling: expect faulty results due to inadequacies in the models' basic assumptions. There is rarely enough information to say anything reliable about wildlife populations, so most scientists cut a lot of corners and build inferences upon inferences to arrive at their predictions. They then call the predictions conservative by simply taking the most conservative number from the range that results from their study....
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Climate Confusion
The current debate over climate change runs the gamut from C to shining C. It's about climate. It's about catastrophe. It's about consensus. It's about carbon. It's about condemnation. Most of all, though, it's about confusion. There was a lot of confusion Monday at the 10th Annual Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Buenos Aires, particular about data. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change offered two papers up that demonstrate how confused the climate change issue has become. Now, everybody agrees that there has been some warming over the last century, to the tune of about 0.6 degrees Celsius (about 1.1 degree Fahrenheit). And a consensus of scientists agrees that man's emission of greenhouse gases in that period -- particularly carbon dioxide, which has risen from 0.028% of the atmosphere to 0.037% -- must have had some kind of an impact. The consensus breaks down when you get into a discussion of how much and what kind of an impact....
Climate Confusion
The current debate over climate change runs the gamut from C to shining C. It's about climate. It's about catastrophe. It's about consensus. It's about carbon. It's about condemnation. Most of all, though, it's about confusion. There was a lot of confusion Monday at the 10th Annual Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Buenos Aires, particular about data. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change offered two papers up that demonstrate how confused the climate change issue has become. Now, everybody agrees that there has been some warming over the last century, to the tune of about 0.6 degrees Celsius (about 1.1 degree Fahrenheit). And a consensus of scientists agrees that man's emission of greenhouse gases in that period -- particularly carbon dioxide, which has risen from 0.028% of the atmosphere to 0.037% -- must have had some kind of an impact. The consensus breaks down when you get into a discussion of how much and what kind of an impact....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)