NEWS ROUNDUP

Up to the antlers in elk There’s a pest ruining Bud Gates’ haystacks, tearing down his fences and eating his crops. The lifelong cattle rancher lives in rural, northwestern Eagle County, and is a less-than-enthusiastic neighbor to the largest elk herd in North America. Elk, after all, don’t pay much attention to trespassing laws. “It’s not so much what they eat, it’s what they destroy,” Gates said. “By the time they urinate all over the haystacks, the cattle won’t even eat it.” State wildlife officials estimate just under 42,000 elk live in the northwest corner of Eagle County, near the communities of Sweetwater and Burns....
BLM airs out position on air quality on Roan The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will be better off working to prevent air pollution on the Roan Plateau than monitoring it, an agency official said Tuesday. Jamie Connell, manager of the BLM’s Glenwood Springs Field Office, explained the agency’s plans for protecting air quality on the plateau during a meeting in Parachute. The BLM got together with representatives of government agencies cooperating with the BLM as it prepares its management plan for the plateau. Nicholls said the activity contemplated for the plateau is projected to result in visibility standards being exceeded in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Montrose and the Mount Zirkel wilderness near Steamboat Springs one day per year at most. Benzene and formaldehyde emissions could exceed standards regionally but would still be within the Environmental Protection Agency’s acceptable range, he said. Parachute town administrator Juanita Satterfield reiterated concerns the town has about sufficiently protecting the Roan Plateau watershed, the source of the town’s water supply. She said sediment from well pads and other gas drilling activity has doubled sediment in that water supply in just the past two years. Satterfield also is worried about the prospect of illegal use of water on the plateau for drilling on top....
BLM drops oil, gas plans The Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday dropped plans for oil and gas drilling near the border of Canyonlands National Park in eastern Utah. The National Park Service had objected to the plans, saying drilling rigs would mar the spectacular views at the 527-square-mile park. BLM spokesman Don Banks said the bureau is reevaluating oil and gas development around the park with an eye to reducing the historic impact. "In the Canyonlands region, much of the land is currently under lease and over the years, dating back a half-century or so, more than 50 wells have been drilled. But there's been very little activity recently, and those old disturbances have been reclaimed," Banks said Tuesday. The BLM had previously withdrawn two parcels in the park's "viewshed," and on Tuesday dropped another two parcels about four miles east of the Canyonland's Needles district....
Gas group hears lawsuit warning Get a handle on who will be responsible for monitoring energy development in the Pinedale Anticline, or a judge most likely will decide for you, a state planning official told members of a federal advisory group here Tuesday. The group should decide soon who will ultimately be responsible for oversight of measures outlined in the final decision issued by the Bureau of Land Management in 2000 for the big natural gas project, Rob Sanford with the governor's planning office told members of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group. "You need to look at that decision and see if it's being done on the ground and determine who's responsible for this oversight of the terms of the decision...," Sanford said. "Will it be this group or the task groups or the BLM? You have to decide that, or a judge will answer that question for you."....
New energy law limits public's say in decisions A day after President Bush signed into law the sweeping Energy Policy Act, environmental and citizen activist organizations continued their angry denouncements of the bill they say is a multibillion-dollar giveaway to wealthy energy companies undeserving of taxpayer subsidies. But those who want to speak out against the new law may be in for a shock: Its provisions include new limits on public participation in energy-related decisions, alterations of clean water law and pre-emption of states' rights when it comes to building electricity transmission lines and liquefied natural gas port facilities. The bill alters the National Environmental Policy Act to allow the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to take shortcuts when granting permits for oil and gas drilling and essentially cuts the public out of the process, said Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance....
Chinese rig at work The first wave of Chinese workers and their rigs are up and running in the Piceance Basin in Garfield County, the state's oil and natural gas hot spot. Last week, a rig built in China's Sichuan province - set up by Chinese engineers and managed by a company run by Pakistani immigrants - began drilling its first well near Parachute, west of Rifle. And next month, two more Chinese rigs and workers will start drilling wells in Garfield and Moffat counties. A U.S. shortage of labor and equipment is driving local energy companies to seek out partnerships with the Chinese. "It is a matter of price and time," explained Bill Croyle, a partner in Western Energy Advisors....
Editorial: Chinese rigs will ease bottleneck We hope the news that a Chinese drilling rig with several Chinese technicians is now operating in Colorado's Piceance Basin doesn't trigger more alarm about the outsourcing - or insourcing, as it should be called in this case - of American jobs to foreigners. One big reason for the Chinese rigs and crews (more are on the way) is that energy production is already at full tilt and Americans trained for these jobs for the most part have more than they can do. During the resulting labor and equipment shortage, searching offshore for help is a no-brainer strategy for relieving a major bottleneck to energy production. This nation benefits in many ways, including the creation of good ancillary jobs....
Editorial: Huntsman must act to protect Utah's outdoor treasures The tsunami-like rush of oil and gas companies to explore and drill in some of the most scenic places in Utah will have a lasting impact, one that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. should be taking a lead role in mitigating. The governor promised during his election campaign last year that he would "expend political capital" to protect the economic interests of Utahns. When he spoke to the Outdoor Retailers Association in January, he vowed to make protection of Utah's precious recreational treasures a priority. So far, however, Huntsman's leadership on the issue of what reasonable limits might be placed on the extractive industries in order to protect Utah's $5 billion-a-year tourism has been notably lacking. Which raises this question: If the governor isn't willing to speak and to act boldly to preserve Utah lands that are highly favored for river-running, fishing, hunting, hiking, backpacking and trail riding by off-road-vehicles, how effective a champion of economic development can he be?....
Thar's Uranium in Them Thar Hills Would-be uranium miners are dusting off their Geiger counters. A worldwide shortage of uranium is pumping up prices and has led to a rush for mining claims in the western United States. More than 15,000 new claims have been filed in uranium-rich states in the last year, up from just a few the year before. "This year alone we've received about 6,000," said Pam Stilles at the Bureau of Land Management's office in Cheyenne, Wyoming. "It's happened overnight." Wyoming, which has some of the biggest uranium deposits in the United States, hadn't seen more than 100 new mining claims over the last 10 years combined. But now claim offices are jumping across the region. Utah and Colorado, two big players in the market, have gone from virtually no new claims for years, according to the BLM, to a combined 8,500 and rising in uranium-rich counties in 2005....
U.S. Bureau of Land Management backtracks on grazing rules The Center for Biological Diversity expressed skepticism today regarding the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) announcement that it plans to supplement its June 2005 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed national rule changes that seek to “improve the agency’s working relationship with ranchers.” The original EIS is full of doctored science and controversial policies that jeopardize the health of 160 million acres of public land and cut the public out of the decision-making process. “We sincerely hope that the BLM has reconsidered its decision and will produce a supplement to the EIS that dramatically improves the rules and contains sound scientific opinion, wildlife protection measures, and more opportunities for public participation,” said Greta Anderson, botanist and range restoration coordinator with the Center for Biological Diversity. “However, we suspect that the agency is only trying to cover its tracks and avoid legal action on their seriously flawed EIS.”....
Feds claim ranch owners negligent in starting fire The U.S. government filed a lawsuit Monday against the owners of a western Colorado hunting ranch, alleging employees ignited a 2003 wildfire that burned about 5,300 acres and cost more than $2 million to fight. Federal prosecutors claim the owners and employees of Colorado Nature Ranch acted negligently when they started the Brush Mountain Fire while trying to clear brush on the ranch about 30 miles northeast of Grand Junction. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. According to the lawsuit, ranch employees were involved in a brush-clearing project on the ranch in the spring and summer of 2003 and continued to burn piles of brush even after Garfield County commissioners issued a fire ban July 1....
Federal judge blocks another timber sale A federal judge has blocked a third planned sale of timber from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, ruling the U.S. Forest Service failed to fully assess the impacts of the logging on the environment. The ruling Monday byU.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee said the forest service must consider the cumulative impacts of six national forest timber sales approved by the agency in 2003 instead of assessing the sales individually. The ruling blocked the timber sale of about 5,600 acres that straddle Sawyer and Ashland counties near Clam Lake until the federal government complies the National Environmental Policy Act....
Horseback riders repair stretch of Spanish Creek Trail Volunteers at the Spanish Creek Campground shoveled 30 pounds of gravel into buckets and then dumped six of them into mules' packs. The mules mostly did the rest. "I'm just like a truck driver or an engineer on a train," Bob Hoverson, who on Tuesday was leading the Nine Mile Mule Pack Train, of the U.S. Forest Service, from the campground into the Gallatin National Forest's wilderness. There, volunteers with Gallatin Valley Backcountry Horsemen were repairing a one-and-a-half-mile stretch of the Spanish Creek Trail. Hikers, bikers and horseback riders use the trail, and the Horsemen adopted it so that everyone could continue to enjoy it, Rich Inman, president of the organization supporting backcountry recreation on horseback, said. The team of stock animals, based near Missoula, were to make six trips into the woods Tuesday and several more on Wednesday and Thursday, hauling gravel that one or two volunteers then spread out over the trail....
National designation for Sedona's Red Rock area? The idea has been kicked around for much of the past decade and appeared to be on the fast track two years ago. After all, it seemed to be a natural pairing - the awe-inspiring Red Rock country in the Sedona area becoming a federally designated National Scenic Area, like the Columbia River Gorge in the Pacific Northwest and California's Mono Lake. But even with Coconino National Forest, the city of Sedona and supervisors of Coconino and Yavapai counties supporting the measure, it has died on the vine thus far among the Arizona congressional delegation. Sedona-area realtors complain that such a designation would tie the hands of private-property interests and have found a receptive ear in U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., who represents the Sedona area....
Witwer aims to protect landowners, access to 14ers Private landowners who allow hikers on their property should be protected from lawsuits when those hikers get hurt, a Genesee lawmaker said last week. Rep. Rob Witwer reserved a bill title last week in response to several landowners who have asked hikers to stay off their property. Those landowners own private mining claims around four of the state's 14,000-foot peaks. The issue made headlines earlier this year when three landowners with mining claims around four fourteeners — Mount Democrat, Mount Bross, Mount Cameron and Mount Lincoln — told the U.S. Forest Service they didn't want hikers crossing their claims in order to reach the famed summits. The mountains are popular because they're straightforward hikes and all four can be climbed in a day....
Horse power helps maintain the trail The Pacific Crest Trail is not just a hiking trail but an equestrian freeway spanning three states. It's built to specifications that horses can handle, with more gentle descents than some hiking trails, one reason hikers find it so enjoyable. While about 300 hikers attempt the full 2,650-mile trail each year, only four parties on horseback are known to have completed it. Most equestrians use the trail for weekend or weeklong adventures. And, similar to conflicts between cars and big rigs on the freeway, there is friction between hikers and horseback riders on the Pacific Crest Trail....
Details scant on federal plan for spotted owl The shy northern spotted owl – last decade’s symbol of the Pacific Northwest logging wars – once again finds itself at the center of the dispute. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has agreed to develop a recovery plan for the rare bird, which has been listed as threatened with extinction since 1990. It’s too early to say whether it would further restrict logging in forests where the owl lives. “We are in the very early stages of developing a process for doing this,” said Joan Jewett, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spokeswoman in Portland. The move comes about nine months after the service reaffirmed its decision to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the creature....
Starting from scratch The crux of the effort is a transplant procedure that more recently features Zimmerman Lake as an important hub in providing a source of eggs from a free-ranging stock. Trouble is, DNA testing now reveals that the greenbacks established in Zimmerman in 1996 are not genetically pure. The current Zimmerman greenbacks resemble the pure strain in every way discernible to the unscientific eye. But continued use of progeny from this source to establish populations in additional waters would perpetuate a genetic flaw. Faced with hard choices, the recovery team elected to err on the side of caution. The solution? Eliminate the Zimmerman stock and start over, which is precisely what DOW biologist Ken Kehmeier and his crew will accomplish with a massive injection of the chemical Fintrol....
Three snails, one shrimp designed as endangered species The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it will list four invertebrates found in New Mexico and Texas as endangered and designate critical habitat for them. The decision settles a federal lawsuit filed in April 2004 by the Center for Biological Diversity and Forest Guardians. The groups sued the agency and Interior Secretary Gale Norton, claiming the survival of the four species was being threatened by groundwater depletion, water pollution, oil and gas development and destruction of their habitat. The four species are three types of tiny snails - the Roswell springsnail, Koster's tryonia and Pecos assiminea - and a freshwater shrimp called Noel's amphipod. All four are found within the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Roswell, N.M. The Pecos assiminea also is found in West Texas....
In switch, scientist backs dam removal An Idaho biologist who argued for a quarter-century that fish ladders were good enough to prevent salmon from dying out now says four dams on the Snake River in Washington state ought to be removed to help the endangered fish. Don Chapman, 74, wants to get rid of the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dams, between the Idaho border and where the Snake River flows into the Columbia River. They produce an average of 1,239 megawatts of power, enough to light Seattle, and allow barge shipping of grain and other goods from Lewiston, Idaho, to Portland. Chapman for years worked as a consultant for electric utilities, arguing that man-made bypass systems for fish, such as ladders and barges, were enough to keep salmon populations viable. He now says warming of the Columbia River and its tributaries, and changes in the Pacific Ocean that may be caused by global warming, necessitate breaching of barriers to help fish migrate upstream....
Editorial: Utah should be skeptical of city's designs on water You can't drink the bottom half of a glass of water. Yet the ranchers who eke out a living along the Utah-Nevada border have good reason to believe that that is exactly what Las Vegas is trying to do, and they rightly fear what may happen to the top half as a result. The water authority that serves the mushrooming city of light says it is not casting its thirsty eye on the water that by law and tradition belongs to - or at least is used by - ranchers and other Snake Valley residents. It just wants the water next to it, and under it, as it reaches out to slake the growth of a community that has more than doubled in population in the past 15 years. The plan is to sink some wells near Baker, Nev., and pipe 25,000 acre-feet of water a year via a 500-mile pipeline into the parched cisterns of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Even though the pipeline won't cross the state line, it is clear that the project will have a hydrological impact on Utah. And, so, Utah state officials must sign off on it. Those officials should be very reluctant to do so, certainly not without exhaustive scientific study that has yet to be done. If the ranchers are right, they are far from the only ones who would suffer from the Vegas plan....
Column: The beginning of everywhere For me, this is the crux of the matter, because a local rancher, Tom Maclay, has proposed turning Lob Peak into a year-round resort, including ski lifts, a golf course and condos. He's carved ski runs into the hillside above his home on his land and has petitioned the forest service to extend his operation all the way to the summit of Lob Peak. He envisions a little Vail or Sun Valley, I imagine, or Alta. Although current land-use plans forbid development, he's looking for loopholes and ways around it -- which he just might find. What is at stake, I believe, is not one more mountain, one less mountain lion, or 10,000 more jobs. It is a sense of wholeness, of integrity and the idea of proportion. What's only now becoming understood, and still very hazily, is the idea that the interior and exterior landscapes depend on each other. What is unhealthy in one is reflected in the other. Emerson called us "part and parcel of nature," but we behave as though nature is something "out there."....
FDA: Progress Made In Revising Cattle Feed Ban The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has still made no changes to its mad-cow safeguard policy for cattle 18 months after announcing it needed to be strengthened, but officials are now claiming progress in the agency's efforts. Review of public feedback on FDA proposals to overhaul its "feed ban" is finished, spokeswoman Rae Jones said, and the agency has drafted a new rule being considered for publication. If the rule is agreed upon at the FDA, the agency will once again hold a public comment session. "A draft proposed regulation is under review," Jones said. The FDA oversees the safety of animal feed, and mad-cow disease - or bovine spongiform encephalopathy - is believed to spread through feed if it contains infected bovine material....
Rooster's tale The bright colors belie a bleak future for the 600-acre ranch. D.C. Cogburn, 66, lost a torturous two-year-long lawsuit against two hot-air balloonists who he claims panicked his ostriches into a lethal stampede. Disaster blew in on Feb. 3, 2002 - "my birthday," Cogburn noted - when two enormous hot-air balloons, propane burners roaring, loomed over his ranch near Picacho Peak. Cogburn said the ostriches mistook the balloons for predators. The ostriches stampeded, trampling 7,000 feet of fence to the ground. Two dozen ostriches died of injuries within days....
Woman hopes to lasso help to honor the last of the cowboys Anita Witt reluctantly accepts the fact that ranching is disappearing in the Roaring Fork Valley. But she's determined to preserve the legacy of the ranchers and cowboys. Witt, a longtime Missouri Heights resident and historian, wrote a book recently that tells the story of the last of the cowboys. Now she's part of a team that's trying to preserve interviews with those old cowpokes on film. Witt is working with the Mt. Sopris Historical Society, American Spirit Productions, and producers Chip Comins & Jolie Ramo to condense 20 hours of interviews into a 30-minute or so documentary called "Last of the Cowboys." It's important, she said, for future generations to understand what the valley was like before it was developed. The interviews were with 26 ranchers living in the Roaring Fork or lower Colorado River valleys. All subjects are elderly men who are second- or third-generation ranchers....
Home on the ranch Nowadays, people may think of the American cowboy's life as simplistic, as Hollywood portrays it in movies. But John Smith's life has been far from simple. On March 15, 1925, the day Smith was born, he began his life on a Texas ranch, and his future as a cowboy, on the 44,000-acre Smith Ranch, between Childress and Wellington, Texas, near the Red River. "My grandmother would put a pillow on the saddle horn and Granddaddy would put me in front and he rode in a trot, just riding," Smith said....

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