NEWS ROUNDUP

Standing his ground - Jesse Hardy Once, the land under Jesse Hardy's feet was an underwater reef, and nobody owned it and nobody wanted it. It was harsh, unlovely land, miles from anything, with rocky ground, slash pines, swamp cabbage and sand gnat swarms so thick he had to hold his breath. No electricity or sewer or water. Hardy built a shed, then a house. Dug a well. For 30 years, nobody bothered him. Now they won't leave him alone. The state wants to buy Hardy's property for its $8-billion Everglades restoration project, which, in theory, would flood his land and everything around it. But first, Hardy has to get out of the way, and he is not inclined to go....
Governor seeks species law changes The Endangered Species Act should be renewed by Congress but with changes that give states more say in how and which species are protected and delisted, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said. Freudenthal presented his recommendations for improving the act to the National Governors Association's natural resources committee in Washington, D.C., on Monday. His recommendations include: # Allowing delisting in a state if a protected species is doing well there, regardless of the species' status in other states. # Allocating more federal mineral royalties to states to help develop habitat and programs dealing with endangered species. # Providing more money to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for recovery and delisting efforts. # Allowing state game and fish agencies to participate in selecting the scientists who review scientific evidence for listing and delisting species. # Allowing states to participate in the process of listing and delisting species, although states would not have a say in the final decision....
Evidence shows lynx in Bridger-Teton Biologists on the Bridger-Teton National Forest confirmed the presence of the threatened Canada lynx in February after it was thought the animal was extirpated from the area. Four samples of hair and scat found on the Buffalo Ranger District of the forest -- areas around Moran -- concluded the presence of at least one lynx. Nathan D. Berg, president and project biologist for Endeavor Wildlife Research -- a coalition of scientists -- said evidence suggests there are at least two animals in the area. "We know from stride -- how many inches each track is from the other track -- that we have at least two individuals," he said. "DNA only confirms one, but based on our track measurements we have at least two."....
Forest Service Allowed Timber Industry To Rewrite Sierra Plan The U.S. Forest Service allowed the timber industry to rewrite a comprehensive plan for managing 11 national forests in California, according to a legal claim made today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER is filing to intervene in a California Forestry Association lawsuit that seeks to triple the annual timber harvest from national forests in the Sierra Nevada – an increased rate of logging that the Bush Administration is also seeking through an administrative route by its rewrite of the Sierra management plan. PEER is acting to prevent the Bush Administration and the timber industry from cementing in the higher logging levels through a settlement of the industry suit brought against the Forest Service in Washington, D.C. PEER contends that, despite the suggestion of a disagreement implied by a lawsuit, the industry and the Bush Administration actually agree with each other and that a friendly settlement of the suit would insulate their deal from legal challenges brought by conservation groups....
A creek croaks Not even torrential rain may save one of the best and most accessible trout streams in Southern California from drying up this year under a new water management plan that could be approved this month The plan would protect an amphibian and return a creek to its natural state. For decades, fly-fishers have worked the shady reaches of Piru Creek, a 50-mile waterway between Pyramid Lake and Lake Piru north of Castaic. Continuous releases of cool water upstream during summer keep riverbanks lush and fishing holes deep and ensure a steady supply of stocked trout. As long as the tap continues to run, the stream stays cool — warm water kills trout — and doesn't dry up as it would naturally. But the California Department of Water Resources is poised to reduce the summertime stream flow from Pyramid Lake by as much as 80% — a level scientists and anglers acknowledge will dry up parts of Piru Creek and kill many trout. Agency officials say current flows benefit bullfrogs, which eat the endangered southwestern arroyo toad. The plan could go into effect March 15....
Low stocks mean fishing cutbacks Fisheries managers say ocean salmon fishing seasons for Northern California and Oregon face sharp cutbacks this year to protect low projected returns of Klamath River wild chinook, a perennial weak spot in efforts to rebuild West Coast salmon runs. Federal fishery managers for the West Coast — who are meeting in Sacramento, Calif., next week — will also have to wrestle with forecasts of low returns of hatchery coho from the Columbia River and Oregon Coast, which are likely to prompt sharp cutbacks for recreational fishermen off Oregon and Washington. Overall, seasons are likely to be good between San Francisco and Monterey, Calif., a little tighter than last year off Washington, and a lot tighter between Fort Bragg, Calif., and Newport, Ore., said Chuck Tracy, salmon staffer for the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which sets ocean salmon seasons....
Disclosure of opal mine may trigger rush to Wyo. The discovery of a 34-pound opal in central Wyoming could trigger an old-fashioned mineral rush this week. On Friday, the Wyoming State Geological Survey will publicly release the location of an enormous opal deposit found near Riverton in central Wyoming, probably one of the biggest opal formations in the country, said Dan Hausel, a state geologist. The giant opal is a common type, not particularly valuable itself, experts said. But its discovery raises the possibility that the deposit hosts substantial amounts of fiery orange opal and the precious iridescent variety. Geologists already have seen traces of these more valuable types....
Report: Road network harms wildlife A sprawling network of roads supporting oil and gas development in the Upper Green River Valley of western Wyoming is harming wildlife, according to a new report issued Monday by The Wilderness Society. Roads in the gas-rich, 50,000-acre Jonah field and the 200,000-acre Pinedale Anticline gas field are already encroaching on core crucial winter range, endangering wildlife and fragmenting habitat, the report concludes. The report encourages the Bureau of Land Management to adopt measures to close and reclaim unnecessary roads and regulate remaining and future roads so that profitable natural gas extraction and healthy wildlife populations can coexist in the Upper Green River Valley, the group says....Go here to read the report....
Arizona ruling worries states A successful court challenge to Arizona regulations limiting the number of nonresidents who could hunt big game in the state is sending a ripple of concern through the West, where many states -- including Wyoming -- have similar rules. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out Arizona's 10 percent cap on nonresident big-game licenses. Nevada's nonresident caps also are being contested, and sportsmen and officials across the West are watching the shakeout warily....
Off-road alliance favors designated riding areas Almost 200 people, including Victor Valley residents and recreational riders, attended a two-day conference over the weekend to discuss the problem of illegal off-road vehicle use. The conference, sponsored by the Alliance for Responsible Recreation, exemplifies problems High Desert residents are being confronted with more frequently as off-road vehicle use increases. Invasions of private property, destruction of desert habitat, noise and dust pollution were all discussed. In the coming months legislation at the county and state levels could be introduced to confine off-road vehicles to designated areas, conferees learned....
Editorial: Big fight? Not this time Alaskans know all too well how bitter political warfare can break out when environmental concerns collide with economic interests. And that's what could have happened when researchers began discovering that fragile, ecologically significant corals and sponges in parts of Alaska's oceans were being chewed up by the bottom-fishing industry. Those coral gardens are the ocean equivalent of old-growth forest. The long-lived corals provide rich habitat for fish. Once disturbed, corals take decades upon decades to grow back. It is exactly the kind of essential fish habitat that is supposed to be identified and protected, thanks to a federal law passed in the mid-1990s with strong backing from Alaska's U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young....
Manure Rules Said Not Protecting Water A federal appeals court has ruled that new federal clean-water regulations aren't protecting the nation's waters from the manure pollution of large farms. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Monday it agreed with environmentalists who claimed in lawsuits that the rules failed to provide meaningful review of plans developed by the farms to limit the pollution. The appeals court said the rules imposed in February 2003 by the Environmental Protection Agency were arbitrary and capricious and did "nothing to ensure" that each large farm was complying with requirements to control the pollution....
Anti-Sprawl Laws, Property Rights Collide in Oregon The nation's strongest laws against sprawl are beginning to buckle here in Oregon under pressure from an even stronger, voter-approved law that trumps growth restrictions with property rights. In a collision between two radically different visions of how cities should grow, claims under Oregon's new law are pitting neighbor against neighbor, rattling real estate values, unnerving bankers and spooking politicians. The law compels the government to pay cash to longtime property owners when land-use restrictions reduce the value of their property -- or, if the government can't pay, to allow owners to develop their land as they see fit. Because there is virtually no local or state money to pay landowners, Measure 37 is starting to unravel smart-growth laws that have defined living patterns, set land prices and protected open space in this state for more than three decades....
The mild and mostly wooly history of keeping warm No one knows who figured out how to shear sheep, spin the fleece into thread or yarn, and weave (or knit) it into woolen garments. But by 1900 BC, wool was big business in Ur, in what is modern-day Iraq. The earliest surviving woolen textile - found in a Danish bog - dates to 1500 BC. And while synthetic fleece may be lighter and more fashionable today, wool is still used widely. Why? Because wool fibers are kinky. Wool fibers are naturally wavy. The kinks form tiny air pockets in wool fleece, yarn, thread, and felt (wool fibers compressed into a thick cloth). The air pockets keep the air from moving. Since it can't move, it can't carry heat away from the body. The heat stays in, and the person wearing wool stays warm. Wool is also coated with lanolin, a fat that repels water....
Beef rule heading to court A last-ditch effort to keep the U.S. border closed to Canadian live cattle under 30 months of age and beef will play out in federal district court in Billings Wednesday. A request for an injunction against the U.S. Department of Agriculture from implementing its "final rule" on the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" disease, in the Canadian cattle herd will be heard from 8 a.m. to noon before federal Judge Richard Cebull. R-CALF, a national cattlemen's group based in Billings, seeks the injunction until its lawsuit against USDA's final rule can be heard. "The way I see it happening is the judge will grant a temporary restraining order before Friday," said Leo McDonnell Jr., president of R-CALF. "Then there will be a hearing on the injunction request about mid-March. "That will be the full-blown deal with all the witnesses," he said....
Site of Old Gilley's Honky-Tonk to Be a School A quarter-century after Gilley's Club became the world's most famous honky-tonk, local school officials plan to turn the site into a middle school. The Pasadena Independent School District bought the nearly 15-acre site where the club - which with its mechanical bull ride became an international tourist draw after it was featured in the 1980 movie "Urban Cowboy" - once stood in this Houston suburb. The club, named after country singer Mickey Gilley, shut down in 1989 after Gilley and partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after....
Crossing the state by horse The boys wore baseball caps, the girls wore halter tops and every other cowboy seemed to carry a cell phone, but the Florida Cracker Trail Ride kept faith with tradition. After a long day on horseback, recreating an old cattle drive across the state, young riders broke out their rawhide whips. They knew how to use them. Psst … whoosh … crack! That startling sound, like a pistol shot, is what gave the Florida cowboy his name. It echoed across the 120-mile trail this week from rural Manatee County to downtown Fort Pierce....
Jon Roeser is the 2005 World's Greatest Horseman Very Smart Remedy (Smart Little Lena x Remedys Response) carried Jon Roeser to the 2005 World's Greatest Horseman title on Saturday night. The cow work competition of the World's Greatest Horseman was the finale performance of the 2005 Bayer Legend™ Celebration of Champions at the Lone Star Arena in Stephenville, Texas. Roeser has ridden the stallion, which is owned by Anne Reynolds of King Hill, Idaho, since he was a 2-year-old. The LeGrand, California trainer has seen phenomenal success with the young stallion, having won the National Reined Cow Horse Association Derby two years in a row and the Hackamore Classic. "I was really happy with him," Roeser said of Very Smart Remedy. "He's a phenomenal horse, just a great horse. He's one of those once-in-a-lifetime individuals that can dominate events like he has and I feel fortunate to have been able to ride him."....
Monsieur Moore Monsieur Moore, a northeast Oklahoman who died at age 94 just one mile from where he was born, is seen by many as the embodiment of a true pioneer. A founder, president and board member of the American Quarter Horse Association, Moore also was involved in other areas of equine activity and in many aspects of life in Washington County, Oklahoma, from his birth, Sept. 18, 1903, to his death, April 4, 1994. The official start of AQHA is alleged to have taken place March 15, 1940, during the Fort Worth Livestock Show. However, a lot of thought went into it before that date. "The Quarter Horse association was really founded under a tree on the campus of Oklahoma State University (Oklahoma A&M, as it was known at that time) in 1940," asserts Moore's daughter, Marilyn Moore Tate....
Ranch Horse Rotations Cowboys working a big ranch are delegated a string of horses from the company cavvy or remuda. The March 2005 feature "Pacing the Ranch Horse" discusses the strategy cowboys use to keep their strings healthy and sound. Here, we'll discuss the types of horses in a string and how cowboys rotate mounts. Cowboys and buckaroos on big ranches draw their horse strings (usually eight horses) from large cavviatas (remudas). The cavviata might include 100 rideable horses, and among those there might be 20 horses under 4 years of age, 20 5- to 8-year-old up-and-coming bridle/hackamore horses, and 20 excellent 8- to 14-year-old bridle horses. The remaining 40 head are 6 to 14 years old and considered good using horses or primary circle horses....
The Voice of Rodeo The gritty voice of rodeo announcer Bob Tallman, 57, can energize an audience simply with the turn of a phrase or by sharing a heartwarming story. After 35 years on the job, he has a voice that’s as familiar to rodeo fans as a pair of well-worn boots. “He’s the greatest announcer that ever lived,” says rodeo producer Bob Thain of Alturas, Calif. “He’s just got a God-given talent.” Tallman, of Weatherford, Texas (pop. 19,800), is on the road 270 days a year announcing everything from small, two-day events to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), held each December in Las Vegas....