NEWS ROUNDUP

Coyote bounty passed by House County boards may set coyote bounties under a bill passed by the House on Friday (May 13). Livestock ranchers testified at the Capitol that coyotes were killing their livestock. A Chippewa County sheep rancher told the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Game and Fish that he lost 116 lambs to coyote predation. Each lamb represented a $168 loss, explained Bob Padula, Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers Association President. Animal bounties were generally discarded nationwide during the 1960s, according to a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) official....
GRP easement aims at protecting prairie, working ranch Some 216 acres of prairie are now being held in perpetuity as native grassland, the result of an easement granted by the landowner to the federal government. It is the first such easement in Washington state. The acreage, a small part of the original homestead Ignatius Colvin first settled in 1865, will remain part of the family’s working cattle ranch. Present owner Fred Colvin, the great grandson of the founder, joined with his mother, Doris, in signing the easement. Gus Hughbanks, NRCS state conservationist for Washington, represented the federal government. According to Hughbanks, the Grassland Reserve Program is a voluntary effort offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore and enhance various forms of grassland, rangeland, pastures and shrub lands....
Senate panel moves ahead on bill to revise Measure 37 A bill that is intended to square the Measure 37 property rights law with Oregon's 30-year history of structured land-use planning was passed by a Senate panel on Tuesday. The bill sets out what type of land is eligible under Measure 37, establishes a compensation fund and develops a claims process. Local governments have been dealing with the claims on their own since they started rolling in last December. The Senate Environment and Land Use Committee passed the bill 3-2 and it will head to the full Senate for a vote as early as Monday. Supporters say it provides clarity for Measure 37 — and will give flexibility to the state's land-use planning system. Passed by 61 percent of the voters in November, Measure 37 requires governments to either pay property owners compensation or waive land-use laws for those whose property has been devalued by laws enacted after they purchased the land....
Montana prepares to sell off land under pilot program The sprawling Eastern Montana ranch holdings of Coffee Cattle Co. have long been dotted with thousands of acres of state land, but now the family-owned business has a chance to own those pieces of pasture. The Miles City-area ranch is among about a dozen lessees of state grazing land taking advantage of a new program that allows government to sell select parcels to stockpile money for buying replacement land offering more public access to state property. The land-banking program, a product of the 2003 Legislature and still in its infancy, already has about 115,000 acres suggested for sale. Bill Coffee, vice president of Coffee Cattle, said his family wants to buy the 3,200 acres of leased state land scattered among the ranch property to end the uncertainty that occurs every 10 years when the leases come up for renewal....
Cattle, critters thrive on parkland Grazing on national seashore is not just for picnickers and daydreaming but an everyday existence for cattle that call Point Reyes National Seashore home. A tour, sponsored by California Grazing Lands Coalition, was offered to grassland ecologists, rangeland management specialists, open space managers, ranchers, policy makers and wildlife experts. The tour was an opportunity to learn first-hand how grazing is used on public lands to achieve both livestock and biodiversity goals and how introduced grazing is enhancing “listed” species. It also showcased how the public and land managers are working together to maintain Bay area grasslands for multiple uses, and to see how conservation practices work....
Colorado County lifts deed restrictions on rural land The two new Mesa County commissioners took steps to make good on a campaign promise Monday, eliminating a damper on landowners’ development rights. Commissioners Craig Meis and Janet Rowland, along with commission Chairman Tillie Bishop, rolled back 10-year development-halting deed restrictions that were placed by the county on rural lands after approval of major subdivisions with density bonuses. Meis and Rowland campaigned for their posts last year saying that they wanted the county to resolve disputes on how to treat development proposals on certain rural lands zoned as agricultural, forested or in transition....
Parties discuss wolf payments When wolves kill livestock in Montana, the owners should be reimbursed. That's the general agreement of a group of about 30 government workers, ranchers, environmentalists and others who met four times in Helena this spring. The question now is how to make it work. "None of us have really been here before, so we're all learning together," said Carolyn Sime, wolf program coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Aside from the need for reimbursement for livestock losses, the group is also pushing nonlethal preventive measures to decrease conflicts between wolves and livestock. The work is part of Montana's effort to write the next chapter in the return of the wolf to the northern Rocky Mountains....
New salamander identified under canopy of Siskiyous A new species of salamander has been identified in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon and Northern California, demonstrating the biological richness of the region, researchers say. The Scott Bar salamander, classified as Plethodon asupak, had been considered to be a member of the Siskiyou Mountains salamander species, or Plethodon stormi, until genetic analysis showed a distinct evolutionary line, said Joseph Vaile of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland, Ore. "Everyone talks about how biologically rich the tropics are, but we are still discovering species right here in the Klamath-Siskiyou," Vaile said. The word "asupak" is the Shasta Indian name for Scott Bar, an area near the confluence of the Scott and Klamath rivers....
Endangered Species Act failed, report says The Endangered Species Act has failed to help most threatened and endangered species, according to a report released Tuesday by a Republican lawmaker who has made rewriting the law a top priority. Environmentalists and Democrats quickly criticized the report prepared for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Committee, as politically motivated and misleading. The report by the panel's oversight and investigations staff doesn't include independent investigations, but draws on existing federal agency data to highlight the record of the landmark 1973 law. Among its findings: • Only 10 of nearly 1,300 domestic species of plants and animals listed under the act have recovered. • Of the listed species, 77 percent have met 0 percent to 25 percent of the Fish and Wildlife Service's recovery objectives for them. Only 2 percent have met 76 percent to 100 percent of recovery objectives. • The recovery status of 60 percent of listed species is classified as either "uncertain" or "declining," while 30 percent of species are stable and 6 percent are improving. Of the listed species, 3 percent — 35 in all — are classified as possibly extinct....go here(pdf) to view the report....
World-renowned scientists caution senate on endangered species protection Led by Harvard University's E.O. Wilson, ten prominent scientists in biology and other environmental fields today called on the U.S. Senate to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, rather than heed industry calls to weaken it, in order to help stem a worldwide mass extinction crisis. Today's letter stands in stark contrast to a report by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo opposing the Act, noting instead the law's success as an "alarm system" and bulwark against the finality of extinction. Read the letter. "The Endangered Species Act represents our nation's most determined effort to take responsibility for preserving its precious biological diversity. By offering strict federal protections to the species that are included on the list, the government has drawn a line which it will not allow human pressures to cross over. That line is extinction," the letter reads. "In both its scope and its irreversibility, extinction is the most frightening, most conclusive word in our language. When a species has been declared extinct, not only have all its individuals died, but the possibility of any such individuals ever existing again has been foreclosed. The variety of life with which we share the earth is sadly in rapid decline. Life is grounded in biological diversity, and the fate of this diversity, which created and sustains us, is now in our hands."....go here(pdf) to see the letter....
U.S. fish and wildlife service fails to protect mexican garter snake The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) over their failure to list the Mexican garter snake as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in response to a December 15, 2003 petition filed by the group. The species is an aquatic garter snake with a range-wide distribution in Arizona, southwest New Mexico, and Mexico. It is one of hundreds of native riparian species that are threatened by the destruction and degradation of rivers and streams in the Southwest. The Mexican garter snake has been extirpated from most of its U.S. range, including the Colorado, Gila, and much of the Santa Cruz and San Pedro Rivers. The decline of the Mexican garter snake is closely linked to the deteriorating quality of streamside habitats and the disappearance of native frogs and native fishes. “Widespread degradation of southwest rivers and introduction of dozens of exotic species necessitates protection of the Mexican garter snake under the ESA,” states Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity. Populations of the Mexican garter snake are severely fragmented and isolated due to loss and destruction of suitable habitat, which consists of riparian areas with permanent water, streamside vegetation for cover, and native prey species. Livestock grazing, urbanization, pollution, loss of native prey species, and exotic species have resulted in the loss of greater than 90% of the Southwest’s riparian habitat and the listing of 30 species under the ESA. “Southwest rivers have been under massive assault for over a century,” states Greenwald. “To protect southwest riparian species, livestock must be removed from all southwest rivers and streams on public lands, instream flows must be established, and further introduction of non-native species must be prohibited.”....
U.S. fish and wildlife fails to protect 286 threatened and endangered species The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released last week a new “candidate notice of review,” designating 286 species as candidates for listing as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In the review, FWS acknowledges that these species warrant protection, but argues that such protection is precluded by other actions to protect species. Based on an analysis of the list and past lists, the Center for Biological Diversity has determined that most of these species have been waiting for years to receive protection and that the Bush Administration has made little progress towards providing protection to these species. Candidate designation doesn’t provide any protection to species. Of the 286 species currently recognized as candidates, 265 (93%) have been waiting for protection for five or more years, 224 (78%) have been waiting 10 or more years, 178 (62%) have been waiting 15 or more years, 117 (41%) have been waiting 20 or more years, and 73 (26%) have been waiting 25 or more years. On average, these species have been waiting for protection for over 17 years. Delays in protection have real consequences with at least 27 species having gone extinct after designation as a candidate.....go here(pdf) to see the candidate notice of review....
Feds rejected state's earlier request Gov. Dave Freudenthal's request for removal of wolves from lambing grounds marks the second occasion in recent months in which state officials have asked the federal wildlife agency take action to control wolves. In January, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department complained about wolves displacing elk off five western Wyoming elk feedgrounds and onto private property. The state agency asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to relocate or remove the Daniel wolf pack, but Fish and Wildlife declined to take action at that time, stating: "We are not prepared to routinely relocate wolves found on or near the numerous elk feeding grounds in the state..." In his recent letter, Freudenthal noted that "in the absence of state-sanctioned wolf management, the people of the state of Wyoming must recurrently turn to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for day-to-day management of the species, including conflict mitigation."....
Proposal to reclassifying Gila trout is questioned A proposal to reclassify the Gila trout as threatened instead of endangered has drawn questions from a conservation group.
The chairman of Trout Unlimited in New Mexico, Bill Schudlich, says the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service hasn't met its own recovery plan for the fish. The agency reviewed its recovery plan in 2003. The plan lists three criteria that need to be met before the species is reclassified. Schudlich says the agency admits in the document that it didn't meet two of the three criteria. The Gila trout was listed as endangered in 1967....
Horse advocates seek halt to roundups Wild horse protection advocates urged the Bureau of Land Management Tuesday to suspend all roundups of the mustangs in Nevada until Congress makes it illegal again to sell the older, excess, unwanted ones for slaughter. But BLM officials said halting plans to gather as many as 4,000 mustangs from the Nevada range in the coming year would cripple a long-term effort that's within a year of bringing horse numbers down to sustainable levels. The horse advocates are backing an effort in Congress to reinstate a provision of a 1971 law that made it illegal to sell wild horses rounded up on federal land for slaughter....
Online database allows pesticide users to identify wildlife habitat An online database announced Tuesday is replacing the cumbersome paper guides that pesticide applicators must consult to find out if they're within the habitat of protected plants or animals, officials with California's Department of Pesticide Regulation announced. The new tool lets applicators -- and anyone who's interested -- find out with a few clicks of the mouse what endangered, rare or protected species live in an area, and what special precautions they are required to take. "This will make it easier for people to do right by the environment," said DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam. "It also minimizes the excuses people have for not complying."....go here to see the new search tool....
Time running out on a legend On the side of a steep mountain in the Superstition Wilderness, tucked beneath a dense canopy of trees, several men have spent eight months excavating what they hope is an old Mexican mine. These modern-day treasure seekers are not the first to look for gold or silver in the land of the Lost Dutchman Mine, but they likely are the last. And they are racing against time. A rarely granted Treasure Trove permit that allows them to dig in the wilderness east of the Valley expires at the end of this month. "If we find what we're looking for, I don't think the Forest Service would pull the permit. It'd be insanity," said Ron Feldman, who with fellow members of Historic Exploration And Treasures obtained the right to excavate. "If we don't find what we're looking for, it will end."....
Reward offered in search for 'Bart' fire culprit A $5,000 reward was offered Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of whoever started the "Bart" fire, which has swept through 11,500 acres of Sonoran Desert 10 miles northeast of Scottsdale. Roads to both Bartlett and Horseshoe lakes are expected to remain closed until the blaze is contained, possibly by Friday, fire officials said. The fire broke out at 5 p.m. Sunday north of Bartlett Dam Road, mere minutes after crews contained the 1,920-acre "St. Clair" fire to the east. Officials say the St. Clair blaze was sparked by a Jeep Cherokee and are investigating the origins of both fires....
Picuris Pueblo reclaims clay site Capping years of effort, Picuris Pueblo has regained the traditional area where its people gather clay for making pottery. The pueblo announced Monday that it has acquired the mica mine on U.S. Hill from Oglebay Norton Specialty Minerals Inc., an Ohio mining company. The Pueblo people had gathered micaceous clay at the site for centuries before mining operations began. Details of the acquisition weren’t released in a joint news release from the pueblo and the company. Oglebay Norton, which has other mineral interests around the country and operates a shipping line in the Great Lakes, filed for federal bankruptcy protection last year. In the news release, Picuris Gov. Richard Mermejo said the recovery of the clay-gathering site was of tremendous cultural significance to the pueblo and its remaining potters....
Water rights dispute settled out of court A talc mine dropped its lawsuit and restraining order Monday that aimed to force a Madison Valley rancher to quit flowing irrigation water through its pond. Luzenac America Inc., which operates the mine in the central Madison Valley, also agreed to pay the attorney's fees for Eugene Walsh, a rancher who owns land next to the mine. "The Walshes understandably feel abused by the process, but reasonably satisfied with the outcome," said Bill Hritsco, a Dillon attorney representing Walsh. "(Luzenac) agreed to leave Mr. Walsh alone." Luzenac's Montana Operations Director Pat Downey said in a telephone interview that the company was glad to settle the case and move on with improving its stormwater control system....
Plan to drain tainted farm water triggers worries A federal plan to drain mineral-laden irrigation water from farms includes a proposal similar to one that caused an environmental disaster more than two decades ago, leading to bird deformities and deaths. Environmentalists fear that leaving the tainted water to accumulate in evaporation ponds, even if it's treated to reduce most of the toxic minerals, could lead to problems similar to what happened in the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in the 1980s, when entire colonies of birds died and many were born with missing limbs. But the federal officials who run the Central Valley Project, a massive irrigation complex that makes farming possible in the arid western half of the Central Valley, remain under court order to find a way to dispose of the tainted water. And forming new evaporation ponds is one of several options outlined in a draft environmental impact report to be released this month by the Bureau of Reclamation. Another option in the draft report is taking poorly drained land out of farming, but that would rob some farmers of their livelihoods and is strongly opposed by the agriculture industry....
Farm Bureau prevails in court ruling on waiver A Sacramento County Superior Court judge last week agreed with California Farm Bureau Federation's position that the State Water Resources Control Board and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) abused their discretion and overstepped their bounds in adopting a waiver for farm-water discharges that violated private property and privacy rights. In addition, the court said the RWQCB must clarify the applicability of the waiver as to natural water courses, constructed drains, or waterways dominated by return flows from irrigated agriculture. The court granted Farm Bureau's petition for writ of mandate and directed the RWQCB to correct the flaws in its regulations within 120 days. The court also granted Farm Bureau the right to file a motion to recover attorneys' fees for having to bring the state to court to settle these matters. "Despite the successful outcome of this litigation, Farm Bureau still believes that self-determined, incentive-based natural resource programs are the best approach to protecting the environment," said Brenda Jahns Southwick, managing counsel for the CFBF Natural Resources and Environmental Division....
US beef industry needs Canadian cattle: USDA head The U.S. beef industry will be permanently hurt if imports of young Canadian cattle do not soon resume because Canada is restructuring its industry and expanding, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Tuesday. "The market is restructuring before our eyes. American producers and processors will be left out in the cold if the border is not re-opened soon," Johanns told reporters. "My concern is that as more and more processing moves to Canada, production follows."....
Trade pact roadblock: Idaho sugar beets U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is traveling the West, stumping for President Bush's free-trade agreement with Central American and Caribbean nations. He's run into a roadblock: Idaho sugar beets. While growers and producers of other agricultural products, including potatoes, wheat, fruit and beef, back the plan, farmers of the bulbous roots are leading a charge to ditch the agreement that Bush lauds as a way of promoting democracy in Latin America and boosting U.S. security by spreading prosperity. They're demanding that the Central American Free Trade Agreement - signed by Bush last May, but still in need of congressional approval - be stripped of provisions allowing 107,000 metric tons of sugar, or about 1 percent of total domestic sugar consumption, to be imported into the U.S....
Editorial: CAFTA would be harvest for Panhandle agriculture NAFTA's aim was to open up trade corridors among the United States, Mexico and Canada. CAFTA could open up potentially huge new markets for agricultural commodities such as beef, corn, cotton and dairy - all of which are produced in abundance throughout the Panhandle. The Texas Farm Bureau has signed on big time to CAFTA, calling it "close to being a no-brainer." Farm Bureau figures show that Texas' farm cash receipts totaled $15.3 billion in 2003, with about 25 percent of all farm exports - estimated at $3.4 billion - going into foreign markets. CAFTA provisions include a 30-percent reduction in beef tariffs, providing a huge new market for the area's enormous fed beef industry....
USTR's Allgeier Defends WTO as House Moves to Vote on Withdrawal A top U.S. trade official has defended continued U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO), while members of a congressional panel have predicted that Congress would reject a bill requiring U.S. withdrawal from the WTO. At a May 17 hearing in the House of Representatives, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier testified that U.S. leadership in the global trading system is critical for continuing U.S. prosperity and securing world stability. At issue was a bill submitted by WTO opponents calling for U.S. withdrawal from WTO membership. Under the 1994 law approving U.S. participation in the then just-forming trade organization, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) must report to Congress once every five years a detailed analysis of U.S. participation’s costs and benefits. The Bush administration submitted its 2005 report March 1. After submission of such a report any member of Congress is allowed to introduce a bill for WTO withdrawal and leaders of Congress must allow a vote on the bill to occur. In the first such vote in 2000, the House rejected a withdrawal resolution 363-56. Supporters of withdrawal argue that WTO membership amounts to a surrender of U.S. sovereignty to an international organization....
Farm Bureau Backs WTO Oversight of Trade U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization is vital to the economic development of agriculture, and successful WTO Doha Round agricultural negotiations are the best way to expand foreign marketing of U.S. agricultural products, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. In testimony to the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, Minnesota Farm Bureau President Al Christopherson said U.S. agriculture's best opportunity to address critical trade issues is through the multilateral process. Christopherson is an AFBF board and executive committee member and presented AFBF’s perspective to the subcommittee. “U.S. membership in the WTO provides a trading system based on rules that helps maintain stable markets for our exports,” he said. “With the production of one-third of U.S. cropland destined for foreign markets, U.S. agriculture is strongly export-dependent. The 148-member World Trade Organization operates to provide a stable environment for continued growth in markets for America’s farmers and ranchers” Christopherson said....
COOL styled as packers v. producers Bills to delete mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat animals hit Congress last week, following up on the budgetary knock-out that delayed an October 2004 adoption of most provisions of the three-year-old law. Trade associations followed with their own spins, including several blasts characterizing the latest bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., as tailor-made to support the packing industry. Mandatory COOL is part of the 2002 farm bill law. Quietly in early April, USDA started mandatory labeling for fresh fish and shellfish. Under the law, a grocer who mislabels country of origin is subject to up to $10,000 civil penalties. Goodlatte, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, led an effort widely supported in Congress, to strip money for implementing fresh produce and meat provisions from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget. There are 34 co-sponsors to H.R. 2068, which requires implementation of a voluntary COOL program in the meat industry....
Subcommittee votes to delay meat labeling again Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., blasted a House subcommittee's approval late Monday night of a spending bill that includes another delay for mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat and meat products. Mandatory labeling, originally intended to go into effect in 2004, was delayed last year to 2006. The new COOL provision approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture would prevent the secretary of agriculture from spending any money in fiscal year 2006 to implement the food labeling rule that was originally signed into law as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. The language would delay the start of any preparation for COOL until October 2006, according to Herseth spokesman Russ Levsen. "It would certainly be many months to ramp up a system like that, in effect, delaying implementation until sometime in 2007."....
Certified beef to debut soon The certified beef program approved by the South Dakota Legislature this year is a great idea, said some beef producers selling cattle in Aberdeen on Monday. "It's the coming thing," said Jerome Schaefers of Miller. "We'd be foolish not to." But a good idea is worthless unless it becomes reality, several added. "I hope it's not just political propaganda, and that something actually happens," said cattle rancher Steve Swanson of Clark. And something is, said Mark Johnston, press secretary for Gov. Mike Rounds. An update on the program, which Rounds promoted to the Legislature, is scheduled to be released later this week, Johnston said Monday. He's cautiously optimistic that South Dakota Certified Beef will be available to consumers in a month to six weeks....
Cattle on Computers A fast-talking auctioneer in a cowboy hat closely watches his audience — mostly men in boots, jeans and coveralls — to catch subtle gestures that are bids on the cattle circling a small sale ring that separates wooden bleachers from the sale staff’s elevated desk. Buyers and sellers may break away over the noon hour to get a hamburger basket or hot beef sandwich at the sale barn cafe. But if they want to bid on a specific lot of consigned cattle or watch their cattle sell, they must be in the bleachers when the auctioneer makes his call....
Stage stop in QC preserved The once-thriving rest area and shipping center known as the Desert Wells Stage Stop just outside Queen Creek will forever be memorialized. Earlier this year, developers in the area threatened to tear down the 90-year-old adobe hut to make room for future housing subdivisions, but the San Tan Historical Society's efforts to preserve the stage stop have paid off. The town of Queen Creek recently acquired 32 acres surrounding the historical site, located near Combs and Schnepf roads, for the purpose of building a much-needed retention basin for Sonoqui Wash. Believed to have been built in the early 1900s, the one-room stage stop meant salvation for ranchers moving across the desert from Phoenix to the Florence Highway. Years of neglect have left the building covered with graffiti and littered with debris and garbage. But the stage stop qualifies as historically significant, Mr. Salge said....

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