NEWS ROUNDUP

Utah lawmakers recognize rancher who kept Range Creek secret Waldo Wilcox was a little-known Utah rancher for more than 50 years, the way he preferred to keep it. Now his name is known around the world from stories about hundreds of spectacular archaeological sites he left untouched on his 4,350-acre ranch in a remote eastern Utah canyon. Wilcox sold the ranch and retired, and Utah gained title to it last year. Archaeologists have spent three summers doing surveys, but news stories about the still-unfolding finds didn't surface until last June. Rep. Brad King, D-Price, on Monday showed other lawmakers some of the press Wilcox has attracted from the German publication Wissen to Discover magazine, which ranked it No. 16 on a list of the top 100 science stories of 2004. Reader's Digest and the Smithsonian and National Geographic magazines are working other stories....
Editorial: Common sense on wolf management A broad-based group of citizens and experts has offered common-sense recommendations about how to manage future wild wolf populations in Colorado, although several issues remain. Wolves are likely to show up on our doorstep, either through natural migration or by being deliberately reintroduced by humans. The wolves may decide the issue for themselves, though: Packs brought to Yellowstone National Park in the 1980s thrived and expanded their territory. Last summer, one Yellowstone wolf was found dead near Interstate 70 in Colorado. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) began working on a wolf management plan even before the carcass was found in Colorado. The DOW hopes to base its plan on science and real-life problems associated with human-wolf conflicts....
Weyerhaeuser harvests first timber in Mount St. Helens blast zone Weyerhaeuser Co. has begun harvesting trees that were planted 25 years ago in the ashes of the Mount St. Helens blast zone. In January, contract loggers began thinning stands of Douglas Fir from land that once looked like it might never produce another tree. In the Green River Valley, near the outer fringe of the blast zone, there are now no obvious signs of the volcano's May 18, 1980, catastrophic eruption. The forest floor is shaded under a canopy of green. Ash that once blanketed the ground has long since mixed into the soil. "It's a time of immense pride for all of us at Weyerhaeuser," spokeswoman Jackie Lang said. "By all definitions (the blast zone) was a wasteland 25 years ago. It's a complex and healthy forest today because of our active forest management."....
Bush “Healthy Forest” Plans Hemorrhage Red Ink The first national forest plans developed under the Bush Administration’s “Healthy Forest” rules are big money losers for the taxpayer, according to agency documents compiled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Plans from just three Rocky Mountain forests would cost in excess of $1.5 billion from unprofitable timber sales and associated expenses – an amount more than four times the total U.S. commitment for tsunami relief. In each case, the Forest Service rejected the “environmentally preferred alternative” identified in the required review under the National Environmental Policy Act even though the environmentally preferred alternative was significantly less costly. Instead, the Forest Service selected the more intensive and expensive alternatives favored by the timber industry....
Canine crime-fighter Move over, Smokey Bear: There's a new animal patrolling the forests now, and his name is Urko. He's the new canine unit for the Coconino National Forest and is expected to be a proficient, new tool for law enforcement. Urko (pronounced yer-ko) is a German shepherd that has been trained to perform such duties as drug-sniffing, officer protection and search and rescue. The Forest Service decided to start its own canine unit after much success with temporary units....
House Panel to Vote on Alaska Refuge Drilling A House committee is expected to vote next week to revive a broad energy bill that would allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a key part of the Bush administration's national energy plan that faces opposition in the Senate. In addition to opening ANWR, the House Resources Committee also is expected to vote to speed up government approval of drilling permits for U.S. areas already open to energy exploration, cut federal royalties on low-volume oil and natural gas wells, and promote development of geothermal energy on public lands, the panel's spokesman said on Monday. The committee will meet on Feb. 9 to consider the portions of a broad energy bill similar to one passed last year....
Editorial: The ANWR debate: Time to drill With a stronger Republican majority in Congress and an energy secretary nominee who doesn't mince words, the nation is closer than ever to hitting black gold in ANWR. ANWR is the acronym for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It's also the battle cry of environmentalists and energy foes who have blocked oil and gas exploration in a small portion of the region. Energy Secretary-designate Samuel W. Bodman, who knows his way around Washington, is a plain-talking advocate of ANWR drilling. Contrary to the claims of opponents, Mr. Bodman says drilling offers great rewards with minimal ecological risks. Of course, energy independence means developing alternate fuels and new technologies. All of which are worthwhile but still several decades away. In the interim, the United States needs oil. It remains dependent on foreign and, in some cases, unfriendly sources....
Column: Neocons for Conservation? President Bush has a simple policy about energy: produce more of it. The former oilman has packed his administration with veterans of the oil and coal industries. And for most of the first Bush term, his energy policy and his foreign policy were joined at the hip. Since the Bush administration believed that controlling the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf was critically important to the American economy, the invasion of Iraq seemed to serve both the president's energy goals and his foreign policy ones. But a curious transformation is occurring in Washington, D.C., a split of foreign policy and energy policy: Many of the leading neoconservatives who pushed hard for the Iraq war are going green....
Climate: Low-carbing the atmosphere Carbon sequestration has become the leading weapon in the U.S. government's arsenal against climate change. There is a hoary saying in the business world that is easier to save a dollar than to make a dollar, but this advice seems to be cheerfully ignored in the U.S. climate policy arena. There, a technology-investment fix is being promoted over a regulatory approach that restricts carbon emissions -- that is, not emitting the greenhouse gas in the first place....
Huntsman continues to court outdoor environmental lobby Despite Utah's involvement in a lawsuit challenging the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Gov. Jon Huntsman assured a powerful environmental lobby the state had no intention of shrinking the monument's borders. Huntsman told members of the Outdoor Industry Association on Saturday that "Your association wants the same thing I want: to protect Utah's lands." The twice-yearly trade show put on by the association means an estimated $32 in direct spending in Utah -- and the group used that clout to influence Utah's environmental policy by threatening to pull out if the state missteps on wilderness and recreation. Huntsman began his speech to retailers by reminding them he is the first governor to address their twice-yearly Outdoor Retailer show, which landed in Utah in 1996....
Column: Too Many Boats in the Canyon Each year, nearly 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon, most traveling to the South Rim where they spend as much time looking for a parking place as they do looking at the canyon. Only a few venture below the rim on a trail. Another 22,000 people a year see the canyon from the bottom up, enjoying a week or more of spectacular scenery while running rapids, hiking to waterfalls hidden in side canyons and sleeping on sand next to the river under a sky studded with stars. It's not for everyone. But for some, the experience beats most pleasures known to man. And there's the rub: Interest in whitewater boating has grown steadily over the years, and there's not enough room in the canyon for everybody to be there at once....
CRMWA to close deal for ranch's water rights The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority is expected to close a deal today that marks the beginning of a new stage in water rights acquisition. The Duncan Ranch in Roberts County has agreed to sell 8,777 acres of water rights to the authority for $2.3 million. The deal is CRMWA's second groundwater purchase ever and its first acquisition since it bought the acreage for its Roberts County well field in 1996....
Editorial: Cooperation would end water wars The battle among Tucson, Marana and the Flowing Wells Irrigation District is a clear illustration of why southern Arizona water providers should craft a means to approach water issues through regional cooperation. This battle is not over the Flowing Wells district itself. It is over 1,500 acre-feet of water from the Central Arizona Project - water that Flowing Wells had planned to sell to Marana until Tucson intervened. Which provider should get the water? Whichever one needs it most. If Tucson, Marana, Flowing Wells, Oro Valley and the private Metro Water District - and maybe even Green Valley and Sahuarita - would come together in a regional authority, they all would have far more clout and available water, regardless of the source, would be better used....
Water bank applications flood Bureau A late surge of applications from irrigators who want to take part in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's water bank has left the Bureau "cautiously optimistic" that it will meet its goal. The Bureau wants to idle enough land in the Klamath Reclamation Project to set aside 50,000 acre-feet to benefit coho salmon in the lower Klamath River. After seeing a meager initial response to a request for applications, Bureau officials became concerned they might not be able to set aside enough water. But business picked up last week, officials said....
Canada Plans to Allow More Imports of U.S. Beef Canada plans to allow imports of U.S. cattle born in 1998 or later and meat from cattle of any age that have had brains, spines and other mad cow risk materials removed, officials said on Monday. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it would accept comments on the new rule for the next 30 days. Canada temporarily banned some imports of U.S. cattle and beef after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was found in Washington state in December 2003. The ban kept out meat from cattle over 30 months of age, but allowed young live animals destined for slaughter....
Course on mules kicks off at Pierce College "Mule professor" Steve Edwards swung his spurs over his saddle, hit the Pierce College corral and let out a piercing cowboy holler. "Yahhh, yahhh, yahhh!" The mule didn't flinch -- testament to the Arizona rancher's renown at handling horse-and-ass hybrids. And for mule skinners at the world's only college program for riding, training and packing mules, it was a sheer urban-agricultural joy. "The program is great -- it brings back the Old West," said Christy Johnson, 37, of Acton, the youngest of seven women to enroll in the five-day program last week....
"Cowboys - Wild Mustangs" to Premiere on Tuesday Dayton O. Hyde, President and Founder of the Institute of Range and the American Mustang and the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary will be the featured guest star on the upcoming Outdoor Channel cable network's new series titled, "Cowboys - Wild Mustangs" to premiere Tuesday, February 1, 12 am ET (10 pm MT), Thursday, February 3, 6:30 pm ET (4:30 pm MT) and Sunday, February 6, 12:30 pm ET (10:30 am MT), 2005. "Cowboys" will bring the Old West and the New West to the Outdoor Channel. The show is produced by the award winning team of Robin Berg and Michael Bane, and features Richard "Tequila" Young, a five- time cowboy action shooting world champion. "Cowboys" will cover every facet of the American cowboy from stories of the old west to modern stories including cowboy action shooting, wild mustang round-ups, today's cowboys who still live on the range, and rodeo heroes. The show will reintroduce the Western culture and educate future generations on the philosophy of the old west. Twelve episodes have been filmed and additional episodes are planned with 26 productions being shown on TV in 2005....
It's All Trew: Evolving farms grew to look like small towns Many early-day farms and ranches appeared to be small towns because of all the out-buildings on the premises. The small additions were added as families grew and when prosperity allowed the expenditure. An original homestead usually consisted of a dugout, half-dugout or small frame dwelling. This often evolved into basements or root-cellars as homes were enlarged or remodeled. A much-needed addition sometimes came as porches and verandas were added for hot weather relief and shade, a scarce item on the treeless prairie....