NEWS ROUNDUP

The Rancher's Revenge Jim Chilton doesn't just admire cowboy values. He believes in them. And, like any true believer, he's eager to share the gospel in well-rehearsed sound bites, whenever the situation allows. Ask him, for example, why he decided to sue one of the West's most prominent environmental groups. "I laid in bed at night, wondering if I was a cowboy or a wimp," he'll reply. "If you're a cowboy, you stand up and fight for truth, justice, integrity and honor. If you're a wimp, you lay there and go to sleep." Or, ask about nature. "For a cowboy," he'll tell you, "every day is Earth Day." That's why Chilton got so mad at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center tried to make him the bad guy when he, the cowboy, was supposed to be the hero. And that was an attack no cowboy could forgive. (Forgiveness, after all, is for wimps.) And so he sued -- a switch, given that the Center is normally the one filing the lawsuits. Chilton took the case to trial, and won one of the biggest punitive damage awards Arizona is likely to see this year....
Wife of Mexican peasant ecologist recounts attack on family The wife of a Mexican environmental activist ambushed last week by gunman described on Wednesday the flash of muzzles, a hail of bullets outside her home and futile screams to stop the attack that killed two of her children. "I was screaming at them not to shoot," said Reyna Mojica, the wife of Albertano Penaloza, a founder of the embattled Organization of Peasant Ecologists in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. "Even with me screaming, with my children, they still kept firing hard." Mexican and international rights groups on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation of the unsolved killings of Penaloza's sons and for protection of the family....
SPECIAL REPORT: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ERODING ON MANY FRONTS The US federal government is in the midst of a broad campaign to revamp one of the bedrock US environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A slew of developments are highlighted in this TipSheet, but there are more out there, and likely more to come. Since the vast majority of these changes are new, or still in process, it's too early to tell how they will work out. But in general, many business groups are applauding, and many environmental groups are concerned. Since 1969, NEPA has provided a way to gauge the effects of major development on public lands, look at alternatives, and give the public a chance to comment. In recent decades many business and industry interests have complained that NEPA has "morphed into an all-purpose delaying tactic," in the words of the Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman (202-608-6139). But much less time could be spent in the environmental evaluation process if it were addressed upfront with initial project planning, as it often isn't, says the Sierra Club's Neha Bhatt (202-548-4596, NEPA page)....
Column:Is the Mississippi Corridor changing into the Mississippi Wildlands? A $216 million-plus regulatory package has been given to “reduce the human stress on the fragile river environment and improve wild habitats” on the Upper Mississippi. “This is big stuff. It really gouges a lot of folks,” said Ron Nicklaus, 56, of Genoa, Wis., an avid duck hunter who camps every summer on the Mississippi in a recent Associated Press report. “It (the Mississippi) doesn’t belong to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It belongs to the folks.” Regulations through the year 2020 can be found in a 600-page document with designs for 240,000 acres of the Upper Mississippi floodplain designated as a national wildlife refuge. Who owns that property now? Local residents wonder who will pay for all the federal officials to enforce the 600 pages of regulations. Most believe this is jurisdiction that should stay in the hands of state and local government....
Editorial: Endangered species, endangered sense What the environmentalists now beating the Bushes to save endangered species won't tell you is that the Endangered Species Act itself makes genetic science irrelevant. The Endangered Species Act defines a species for the purposes of the act as a "species," a "subspecies" or a "distinct population segment." If only a "distinct population segment" of a species is in danger of extinction, then the "species" can be listed as endangered. In practice, the results are silly. Sometimes the only difference between an endangered animal and an unendangered animal is the shade of the spots (maroon is endangered, candy apple red is not). In California, an owl on one side of a highway is endangered while an identical bird on the other side is not. In Michigan, the difference between a "threatened" flatbelly snake and a snake without federal protection is a county line or the measure of latitude. Of course, minor color variations, roads and political geography have little to do with whether a species is endangered or not. If such ludicrous standards were applied to humans, blacks in South Dakota would be endangered. Taking note of the fact that few humans live in northern parts of Alaska or the Arizona desert, Fish and Wildlife Service scientists could apply for endangered species status for humans....
Southwest, Rockies and Alaska primed for active fire season Federal wildfire forecasters say unusual rainfall patterns in the West this winter and spring have boosted growth of grasses and low-lying vegetation that will dry to fuel, setting the stage for a worse than normal fire season in the Southwest, Northern Rockies and Alaska. "We are very concerned because we've had all the grass growth but the forests in the higher elevations of the Northwest and the Northern Rockies have missed out on all their snowpack," Rick Ochoa, the national fire weather program manager for the National Weather Service, said Wednesday at a briefing with federal land agency fire managers. "Usually, when that snowpack gradually melts, you are basically watering the trees every day, but we're missing that this year." While the Rocky Mountain region had a dry winter and wet spring, the precipitation pattern flip-flopped in the Southwest. A wetter-than-normal winter caused flooding and mudslides in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Nevada and Southern California, followed by a dry spring....
Nature Preserve Designed for 100,000 Acres of Tejon Ranch The design for a 100,000 acre nature preserve on the Tejon Ranch was unveiled Wednesday at the ranch after nearly two years of scientific study to identify the best of the natural resources on the historic ranch. The Tejon Ranch Preserve protects the habitat of threatened and endangered species, preserves wilderness areas and provides public access as the preserve design includes a realignment through Tejon Ranch of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 mile long congressionally designated scenic trail from the Mexican border to Canada. Representatives of Tejon Ranch and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) gathered at the ranch 60 miles north of Los Angeles to share the new design - the result of consultation and recommendations by a scientific peer review panel and an independent environmental advisory group....
Predator in the Crosshairs Almost two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery trudged across Lemhi Pass from western Montana and began a memorable 105-day culinary tour of Idaho. When traversing the Bitterroot Mountains, they had a lean snack of coyote and crayfish. Starving near the Clearwater River, they dined on huckleberries and horsemeat. At one point, dried salmon and camas root were a welcome gift from some sympathetic Nez Perce; alas, it resulted in food poisoning. But the Corps found the pinnacle of the Gem State cornucopia at what is often called Camp Chopunnish, on the western fringe of the current Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Here, the adventurers developed a hankering for the gamey flesh of North America's largest predator, the grizzly bear. Over a month-long stay, they killed and consumed no less than seven bears, including a mother and two cubs, by utilizing a Nez Perce cooking technique that Captain Lewis thought made the bear extra-tender. Two centuries and several brushes with extinction later, Idaho hunters may once again have the opportunity to bring home the bear-bacon....
Conservation Groups Intervene to Protect 27 Endangered California Species A coalition of conservation groups yesterday sought to intervene in a lawsuit brought by housing developers that would eliminate habitat protections for 27 of California's most endangered plants and animals. The developers' lawsuit challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of "critical habitat" for the species under the Endangered Species Act. It was filed March 30 by the Home Builders Association of Northern California, Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation, California Building Industry Association, California State Grange and Greenhorn Grange. (Click here for a factsheet about the species challenged by the developers' lawsuit.) "The California building industry is trying to sink Noah's Ark," said Peter Galvin, Conservation Director for the Center for Biological Diversity (Center), one of the groups intervening in the case....
Council OKs plan to let ranchers kill wolves At 10 minutes after midnight on Wednesday morning, local wildlife representatives voted 7-4 in favor of allowing wolves to be shot on public and private land. Friends and foes of wolves had gathered in Springville for a meeting of the Central Utah Regional Advisory Council that began at 6:30 p.m. The vote followed hours of public comment on the subject. The proposed plan, drafted over two years, had recommended using rubber bullets and other nonlethal control methods before allowing farmers and ranchers to shoot the animals. The Springville meeting -- the fourth of five public hearings on the wolf plan -- was the fourth in a row to add amendments allowing ranchers, their families and employees to shoot wolves on public and private land. The state Wildlife Board is expected to make a binding vote on the plan next month....
Landowner kills wolf that was chasing livestock A landowner legally shot and killed a wolf chasing livestock on private property near Hall, 50 miles southeast of Missoula, on Monday morning, according to state wildlife officials. Federal rules now in effect in a portion of western Montana allow ranchers to kill wolves that are actively attacking, chasing or harassing livestock, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Under the rule, which offers Montana more wolf management authority and flexibility, anyone who shoots or kills a wolf must report the incident within 24 hours. In addition, evidence of the actual wolf attack, or evidence that an attack was imminent, must be available for state and federal inspectors....
Disease-resistant trout studied A team of Utah researchers has received an $83,000 grant to study rainbow trout with a "significant resistance" to whirling disease found in a Madison County reservoir. "They are not absolutely resistant, but they are significantly resistant," said Richard Vincent, who works with Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Montana State University. Researchers haven't found a solution for whirling disease, which has infected more than 130 streams in Montana, but Vincent said the Willow Creek Reservoir trout warrant continued study. The encouraging strain of fish came from Wyoming between 1977 and 1981. Before that, the fish came to Wyoming from California....
To Protect Mustangs, BLM Imposes New Rules on Animal Sales The Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for the horses, announced last week that it has beefed up legal protections for the animals and will resume selling them as early as this week. The BLM also said it is attempting to strike an agreement with the nation's three horse slaughterhouses to reject wild horses, identifiable by government freeze brands. The announcement, which some advocacy groups for wild horses have greeted with skepticism, comes five months after President Bush signed a measure into law ordering the agency to sell some of the wild horses and burros roaming the West. The agency estimates there are still 31,000 out there, scattered across 10 states. An additional 22,000 excess horses have been rounded up and put in government holding facilities. Excess horses are those deemed by the bureau to be more than their environs can sustain. Wild horses are allowed to roam on 201 separate patches of federal land totaling about 29.5 million acres. The BLM estimates the land supports, at most, 28,000....
Fisherman swaps rare turtle for Mercedes An Albanian net fisherman has enraged biologists by swapping an endangered leatherback turtle weighing 806 kilos for a used Mercedes from an Italian fish trader. Hysni Xhemali told the Metropol newspaper he was out fishing in Albania's Ionian Sea waters, as he had done for the past 10 years, when he saw "a big black thing in the net." Five of his friends came to his help to drag the turtle close to shore, but in the end they needed a mechanical excavator to beach it. Xhemali said he was immediately approached by an Italian fish trader but refused to deal. He reconsidered when offered a "nearly new" Mercedes and the turtle was reportedly shipped to a zoo in Rome....
Free Trade Agreement Gains Support from Agriculture and Manufacturing A new push for Congressional approval of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has officially begun. During April, separate agricultural and manufacturing coalitions released studies proclaiming the benefits of expanding free trade. Farmers rallied for CAFTA-DR on April 11. More than 50 organizations, coming together as the Agriculture Coalition for CAFTA-DR, were joined by Mike Johanns, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other public and private officials at a media event in the nation's capitol. The groups are urging Congress to "pass the already negotiated agreement." According to the coalition, the trade deal would yield nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. agricultural exports to the CAFTA-DR region, providing significant opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers. The nations of CAFTA-DR represent the second largest market in Latin America for U.S. products. "When you look at the aggregate, CAFTA-DR is a net positive for [U.S.] agriculture," said American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman. "The agreement will generate millions of dollars annually by eliminating tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods." Tariffs on almost all U.S. products exported to CAFTA-DR nations will decrease to zero after full implementation. Currently, U.S. agriculture products entering the region without the agreement are subject to up to 60 percent tariffs....
R-CALF USA Court Case Attacked by State Cattle Groups As a possible hearing date in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looms on the horizon, members of some local cattle-producer organizations from Georgia, to Louisiana, to Colorado and beyond, seem to be experiencing some frustration and confusion as members learn their state associations signed on to a court document that supports the immediate reopening of the Canadian border – but without input from the local level. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) have filed an amicus brief (friend of the court brief) in the 9th Circuit, which fully supports the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Final Rule that calls for the immediate reopening of the Canadian border to live cattle and additional beef products. A total of 29 cattlemen’s organizations are signatories on the document....
Editorial: Beef decision undercuts free speech You don't have to care about "What's for Dinner" to have a beef with a decision the U.S. Supreme Court just dished out. A six-justice majority on Monday ruled that fees levied on ranchers don't violate the free-speech rights of ranchers hurt by the advertising campaign bankrolled by the fees - $1 a head, totaling some $80 million a year. Many small operators object to the "Beef: It's what's for dinner" advertising campaign because it doesn't promote American-grown beef. Indeed, promotion of generic beef is just as likely to help foreign beef producers whose imports to the United States are a worrisome source of competition for domestic producers. The ruling itself is as disappointing as a well-done rib-eye. The reasoning behind the majority's change in perspective is as hard to swallow as a big gob of fat and gristle....
Celebratory mood on centennial trail drive In May 1966, Texans who owned longhorn cattle embarked on an elaborate commemoration of the centennial of the first Texas cattle drives. From soon after the Civil War through the 1870s, thousands of Texas-raised cattle were driven north almost 500 miles to the railhead in Dodge City, Kan. A drive took about three months, and weather, stampedes and hostile Indians were constant concerns. One of the participants in the Texas Longhorn Centennial Trail Drive was Hood County rancher Courts K. Cleveland Jr., 82, a decorated infantry second lieutenant and a veteran of the European front in World War II. Cleveland owned dozens of longhorns and belonged to the new Texas Longhorn Breeders Association. "As the trail from San Antonio began, the drovers outnumbered the cattle," Cleveland recalls. "We started with 93 steers and about 200 people on horseback or in wagons and stagecoaches." Charlie Schreiner III, owner of the famous Hill Country YO Ranch, provided several ranch cowboys to handle the cattle, Cleveland said. "The rest of us were pretty much along for the fun of the ride," he said....

===