NEWS ROUNDUP

Column: When the wolf is at the door It takes an idealist to think livestock, hunting, academic and ecology groups could agree about what to do when wolves move into Utah. The legendary predator creates a visceral reaction. To ranchers and hunters, that reaction is strongly negative. Most view wolves as a threat to sheep, livestock and big game. Ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts see the big predator as not only a symbol of wilderness, but, at the top of the food chain, as a necessary component of a functioning ecosystem....
Ranchers reach easement deal A conservation easement signed by two ranchers will restrict development on their 6,300-acre property in the Big Hole Valley. In the agreement with The Nature Conservancy, John and Gail Dooling forego the right to subdivide their land but retain the right to continue current ranch operations. The agreement is binding on any future owners of the ranch. "This valley is one of the few that is still wide open, with very little development," John Dooling said. "I'd like this valley to stay in agriculture and wish other ranchers here would sign conservation easements to make sure we keep the valley like it is."....
Coyotes are a menace for local ranchers and farmers They’re cunning. They’re clever. And they’re everywhere. The critters in question are the coyote — and area hunters revere them as some of the smartest varmints they have ever met. Coyote are can also be cunning in the way they capture their prey, he said. “They know when an animal is at its weakest point,” Tivis said, pointing out coyotes will attack young cattle on the back of their leg, ripping out their hamstrings. No longer able to stand, the crippled calves collapse in a heap. Tivis also said he has seen coyotes snatch the calf from a cow giving birth. “One coyote will distract the mother,” he said, “while another one snatches the calf.” A carnivorous animal not much bigger than most family dogs, the coyote is one of the most adaptable yet hated animals in the Southwest....
Whistleblower files complaint, claims Forest Service retribution The U.S. Forest Service has suspended a top regional official who recently complained that some of the agency's managers ignored rules and environmental laws in spraying pesticides and weed-killing chemicals on forests in the Southwest. Doug Parker, pesticide coordinator and assistant director of forestry and forest health for the agency's Southwestern Region, is accused of failing to follow a direct order to train and certify employees each month in the use of pesticides. Parker, who has worked for the agency for nearly 38 years, also is accused of failing to submit one monthly progress report on the training. Deputy Regional Forester Lucia Turner spelled out the reasons for the 10-day suspension in a letter sent to Parker on Thursday....
Hotshots cut to restore meadows Today, there are meadows where yesterday there were none, thanks to the Sierra Hotshots. The 20-person U.S. Forest Service firefighting crew cut a wide swath through the pines Friday, and there wasn't a blaze anywhere to fight. Instead of battling fires, the hotshots were fighting the growth of pine trees - using chain saws to carve out clearings in Black Hills National Forest about 10 miles southwest of Spearfish. Forest Service officials believe the clearings - once a common part of the forest ecosystem that has been lost in many areas to encroaching pine growth - will benefit wildlife and allow aspen and other vegetation to flourish. They will also create safety zones that might save the lives of firefighters in the future....
Wyoming opal rush causes headaches for federal land managers The scattershot markers of different sizes and colors stand out among the sagebrush with nothing more than a lonely, sauntering wild horse as far as the eye can see. The markers are monuments to a 21st century rush of prospectors. They descended on this remote, hilly area in south-central Wyoming last March with grand hopes and dreams of striking it rich by finding a precious gemstone called opal. The rush caught federal officials off guard, resulted in a bureaucratic paper jam that has delayed actual mining and prompted authorities to take measures to protect an endangered flower from being trampled....
Ranchers alarmed by brucellosis in elk The upper Madison Valley is the state of Montana's hot spot for brucellosis in elk, state officials told a group of ranchers here Thursday. But despite a spike in the infection rate that showed up in Madison Valley elk based on random sampling, officials said a much larger sample is needed to discern whether the disease is spreading among elk. "We don't want to be pushing any panic buttons," Montana State Veterinarian Tom Linfield told a skeptical crowd of about 60 people, mostly area ranchers. "But we are facing a risk of infection from elk-cattle interaction."....
SUMMARY OF 21ST MEETING OF THE CITES ANIMALS COMMITTEE The 21st meeting of the Animals Committee (AC-21) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convened from 20-25 May 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. On 20 and 21 May, a joint session with the 15th session of CITES Plants Committee (PC-15) was held. The Animals Committee (AC) discussed 23 agenda items on issues including: the implementation of the Strategic Vision until 2007 and the establishment of priorities; the review of trade in animal species included in the Appendices and significant trade in Appendix II species; transport of live animals; and trade in sea cucumbers, sharks and great apes. The joint session addressed issues of common interest to both Committees, including: the Strategic Vision and Plan until 2013; the review of Scientific Committees and regional communication; the study of production systems for specimens of CITES-listed species; and the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)....
Editorial: The Path to Splendor The mission of the National Park Service has been inherently contradictory since its establishment by Congress in 1916: to conserve federal lands while maximizing public enjoyment of them. This has frustrated both those who want the parks pristine and those who want comfortable lodging and other amenities — to say nothing of the park managers who try to satisfy these competing interests. An immediate case in point is the much-heralded, and somewhat maligned, approach to the base of 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park. Here's the conflict in microcosm: How to make the falls pleasantly accessible to more than 1 million visitors each year without trashing the natural setting....
Column: One Man's Meat Is Another Man's Money I yield to no man in my appreciation for beef, so I don't need the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board to tell me what's for dinner. If I were completely unconcerned about cholesterol, beef might be for breakfast and lunch too. I'm not the only one who finds the ads unhelpful. Some of the ranchers who are forced to pay for them, through a government-imposed annual assessment of $1 per head of cattle, complain that generic beef promotion undermines their attempts to distinguish their products from the other guy's. If consumers believe, as the ads imply, that all beef is pretty much the same, they are not likely to specifically look for, say, grass-fed beef, Angus beef, or Hereford beef. These dissenters argue that forcing them to subsidize messages with which they disagree violates their constitutional right to freedom of speech, which includes the right to remain silent....
California cattle truck restrictions impact ranchers A California vehicle code limiting the types of livestock trucks that can move cattle out of Humboldt County is forcing ranchers into a legislative battle during the busy shipping season. A local exemption allows semi-trailers up to 70 feet long on narrow portions of area highways. But a clause in the vehicle code states 65- to 70-foot trucks need 40 feet from the kingpin to the rear axle, which livestock trucks don’t have. The 70-foot trucks are the standardized method of hauling cattle. “That clause effectively negates our 70-foot exemption,” said Humboldt Auction Yard owner and rancher Lee Mora in a phone interview from his Fortuna, Calif., office. “Those are the only trucks available to us.” Buyers from outside the state buy 90 percent of the cattle raised in Humboldt County. The buyers demand the larger trucks that give cattle more room to lie down, which is better for their health, said Mora....
The Horse Hugger MATT Farley does not look like a touchy-feely guy. Standing 6 feet 1, weighing 240 pounds and packing a tin of chewing tobacco in his back pocket, the horse trainer looks like a cross between a linebacker and a cowboy. But his approach to animals is hardly macho. "Oh, he loves the rubbin'," said Farley as he used a stick-and-string device to massage the underbelly of a paint horse named Mike. "Rub, rub, rub." A few moments later, Farley lay peacefully on Mike's back, giving the huge animal the weight of his body. Farley and his wife, April Schneider, are the owners of Park Pacifica Stables, a 120-acre ranch in a valley east of Linda Mar. Both grew up with horses, but Farley, son of a Gold Country rancher, learned the "old school" approach to training horses....
Coverage Of Dutch-Oven Event To Air In July The Food Network has announced the premier showing of the Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off on the "All-American Festivals" show. The premier is scheduled for Monday, July 25. The Food Network/Food TV is broadcast on cable and satellite stations throughout the world. Check your local cable company listing for the Food Network's channel listing. The Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off features historic cooking and recipes prepared in Dutch ovens that could have been enjoyed by travelers visiting the Great Plains more than 200 years ago. Bison is the featured entree because the buffalo was the primary source of food for our ancestors. Today's bison rancher raises the same high quality product that was enjoyed so many years ago. July is National Bison Month and this is a perfect opportunity for you to enjoy the unique way of preparing bison and the great recipes by our Cook-off contestants. For more information about 2005's Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off log on to: www.dutchovencookoff.com....
Living like an outlaw It was a wind-burned, tired and saddle-sore bunch that rode into the De Baca County Fairgrounds after seven days and 125 miles on the Billy the Kid Trail. Twenty-five riders, ages 15 to 70, set out from Lincoln on April 28 to follow, as best they could, the trail the Kid took when he shot his way out of jail in Lincoln in 1881 and rode hellbent for leather to his eventual doom in Fort Sumner. Now, on May 4, they were at the end of their ride. Waiting for them in the shade of the fairground barn were 80 fourth-graders from Capitan and Fort Sumner, cheering the riders as if they were movie cowboy heroes or the cavalry come to the rescue. The kids, following a curriculum created by Coda Omness, curator of education at the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, had been studying the ride - everything from the physiology of a horse, to the geography of the trail, to how much stuff could be carried horseback....

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