NEWS ROUNDUP

Testimony Supports More Cattle Grazing on Public Lands Dr. Richard L. Knight, Colorado State University Professor of Wildlife Conservation, testified today before the Senate’s Energy & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. A noted wildlife biologist, Knight called ranching “the oldest sustainable use of Western lands” and said “more than any other justification, the timeless traditions of ranching legitimizes its existence and continuation.” Chairman Larry Craig (R-Idaho) called the hearing to review the grazing programs of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, including proposed changes to grazing regulations, and the status of grazing permit renewals, monitoring programs and allotment restocking plans. Knight’s testimony focused on scientific evidence supporting ranching’s benefits to biodiversity and chastised politically-motivated attempts to end public lands grazing. “The reciprocal demonization of ranchers and environmentalists – the so-called ‘rangeland conflict’ – has dominated public debate for too long. It has not contributed to on-the-ground solutions,” says Knight. “It has divided people who might otherwise be united by common goals: the conservation of magnificent open spaces, scarce water resources, and imperiled wildlife. If it continues, both sides will lose what they purport to defend.”....
Historic kane and two mile ranches bought by the grand canyon trust and the conservation fund The Grand Canyon Trust (GCT) and The Conservation Fund (TCF) announced today that they have finalized the landmark $4.5 million conservation purchase of the Kane and Two Mile ranches from the Kane Ranch Land Stewardship and Cattle Company. The ranches, consisting of approximately 1000 acres of private land and associated water rights, and 850,000 acres of grazing leases on public lands managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Arizona State Land Department, stretch from the Grand Canyon’s north rim to the Utah border and connect three national monuments, two national recreation areas and eight wilderness areas. The Trust and The Conservation Fund have created North Rim Ranch LLC as the official holding company to own and operate the ranches. “The purchase of the Kane and Two Mile Ranches demonstrates one of the most important and innovative public-private conservation efforts of our time. Thanks to the leadership, vision and support of our partners, we will be able to do our part to make sure that this spectacular landscape and vital wildlife habitat will be preserved for future generations,” said Mike Ford, Nevada and Southwest Director of The Conservation Fund, which led the fundraising effort. “BLM looks forward to partnering with Grand Canyon Trust and The Conservation Fund to continue the multiple-use management of the public lands on the Kane and Two Mile ranches,” said Rob Roudabush, acting BLM Arizona Strip District Manager....
House set to act on overhaul of Endangered Species Act The nation's most prominent and contentious environmental law, the 1973 Endangered Species Act, could be in line for a major overhaul that would limit habitat protections while giving new rights to property owners. Legislation by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo would eliminate "critical habitat" for plants and animals where development is limited; would allow political appointees to make some scientific determinations; and would require the federal government to compensate property owners whose development plans are blocked to protect species. The fast-moving bill was approved by the Resources Committee last week and was set for a House vote Thursday. Pombo, a conservative rancher from California's Central Valley, has been aiming for more than a decade to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, arguing it forces landowners to bear unreasonable burdens to protect plants and animals, leads to costly lawsuits and isn't successful enough in recovering species....
Environmental Groups Applaud Efforts to Secure Strong Endangered Species Act In an attempt to thwart efforts by Congressman Pombo to weaken the Endangered Species Act, Congressmen Miller (D-CA), Boehlert (R-NY), Dingell (D-MI), Gilchrest (R-MD), Dicks (D-WA), Saxton (R-NJ), Tauscher (D-CA), and Kirk (R-IL) have introduced a bi-partisan amendment that would eliminate Rep. Pombo's damaging provisions and preserve the intent of the act to recover threatened and endangered plants and animals. The amendment is supported by a wide array of conservation organizations, including the Izaak Walton League of America, Trout Unlimited, the American Bird Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, The Ocean Conservancy, and the The Wilderness Society, in addition to Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense, and the World Wildlife Fund. "This bi-partisan amendment is a responsible alternative to Congressman Pombo's irresponsible bill," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "We applaud these members' efforts to secure a stronger and more effective Endangered Species Act." The legislation not only addresses the current problems in Congressman Pombo's bill, but also improves the current law....
Bush administration scales back conservation program Changes are in store for a conservation program that pays farmers to take fragile land out of production, the Bush administration said Wednesday. An estimated 35 million acres of farmland are idled each year at a cost of nearly $2 billion through the Conservation Reserve Program, the Agriculture Department's biggest farm conservation effort. The department on Wednesday announced that only farmers and ranchers who own the most environmentally sensitive land would get new 10- to 15-year contracts, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. Other farmers and ranchers who have gotten such contracts in the past will be offered only contract extensions of two to five years. "We'll offer re-enrollments for those contracts that provide the highest level of environmental benefits, and extensions for the vast majority of other contracts," Johanns said. Contracts will expire on an estimated 26 million acres from 2007 through 2009. Officials expect many farmers and ranchers will drop out because they don't want short-term contracts....
Feds answer governor's roadless questions A federal official told Gov. Dave Freudenthal this week he expects the state and the federal agency to come to an agreement on roadless areas should Wyoming choose to petition for a certain fate. U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey told Freudenthal in a letter dated Monday that a national committee will review state-submitted petitions for roadless areas, but stopped short of saying what that committee will look for. "We foresee that each petition will be unique and specific to the management, resources, and other circumstances for inventoried roadless areas in that State; therefore, each petition will be evaluated on its own merits rather than against specific criteria beyond those already provided in the rule," Rey wrote. And, in answer to Freudenthal's questions submitted to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in July, Rey said there is no standard to which petitions will be held. "We expect that the final decision will be one in which the Governor and the Secretary of Agriculture will be in agreement," Rey said....
Group pledges funds for ranchers An environmental group has offered to help pay ranchers for livestock killed by wolves if Rocky Mountain National Park decides to reintroduce the predators to reduce its overabundant elk population. Washington-based Defenders of Wildlife has paid more than $500,000 to ranchers in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico for confirmed losses to wolves and bears. The group also has spent $470,000 on projects to keep wolves away from livestock. It pledges similar support in Colorado. "No matter how and when wolves come to Colorado, we will commit these funds," said Jonathan Proctor, who heads the group's Denver office. "We hope to save wolves by preventing conflicts in the first place," he said. Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Vaughan Baker said the group's offer would be taken into account when a decision is made....
Prairie dog poisoning postponed Appeals filed by opposing sides over a new U.S. Forest Service plan to control prairie dogs will delay prairie-dog poisoning for at least 60 days on federal grasslands in South Dakota and Nebraska. The poisoning could have begun next week but now will be delayed at least until late November, Forest Service officials say. The Nebraska National Forest, which administers the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre national grasslands in South Dakota and Oglala National Grassland in Nebraska, on Aug. 3 issued an amendment to its forest management plan that would have allowed prairie-dog poisoning to begin shortly after Saturday, Oct. 1. The control plan is aimed at preventing prairie dogs on federal grasslands from encroaching onto adjoining private land. But seven conservation groups appealed the amendment, contending it would kill too many prairie dogs. On the other end of the argument, six counties and six grazing groups in South Dakota and Nebraska filed an appeal Monday, contending that the amendment would not kill enough prairie dogs....
Land swap plan raises concerns A proposed three-way land exchange that could significantly alter public holdings near two Wyoming communities has many Platte County residents deeply concerned, although people in the Big Horn Basin were expected to show strong support. Although the exchange has not yet been formally proposed, Western Land Group of Colorado, hired by Wheatland-area Notch Peak Ranch owner Pat Broe to facilitate the transfer, held public open houses this week in Wheatland and Lovell to gauge public opinion. The deal would take away some Forest Service lands from users in southeast Wyoming, while opening new areas to public use in the Big Horns. As it stands, Broe would trade off about 2,979 acres of scenic land at Devil's Canyon near Lovell to the Bureau of Land Management. In return, the U.S. Forest Service would give Broe about 4,597 acres adjoining his ranch in the Laramie Mountains, and the BLM would turn over about 483 acres in the same area. The Forest Service would acquire from Broe three separate parcels in southeast Wyoming totaling 804 acres. In all, 3,783 private acres would go to the Forest Service and BLM. Federal lands which would become private total 5,080 acres. After appraisals, Broe has agreed to pay a dollar value on any discrepancy in the exchange to the federal government....
No protected status for amphibian Colorado's boreal toad was removed as a candidate for the federal endangered-species list Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That could be good news for ski-slope developers - and maybe even for the toad itself. An exotic fungus that is hammering the warty, high-elevation amphibian made it a candidate for endangered-species protection in 1995. One of the mountain toad's habitats was right on the Breckenridge hillside the Vail Resorts Development Co. wanted for its Peak 7 expansion. To win approval for the project, the developer agreed to deed 56 acres of sensitive wetlands to the town, build new toad habitat when it builds a new base area and fund a toad study. "Would we have agreed to build new toad habitat or fund the study if it was not a candidate for listing?" said Alex Iskenderian, Vail's vice president of development. "No. Significant moneys were involved." Several state road projects have added costly toad underpasses....
U.S. Bans Beluga Caviar Imports to Protect Sturgeon The U.S., which imports three-fifths of the world's beluga caviar, will ban shipments of the eggs from the Caspian Sea region to protect falling sturgeon stocks. Legal trade in caviar is worth about $100 million a year, with black market trade worth as much as five times that amount, says CITES, the Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which lists sturgeon as threatened, rather than near extinction. Stocks of the fish have declined as much as 30 percent since mid-2004, according to a study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Sept. 16. The Bush administration in March gave nations around the Caspian Sea -- Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Russia -- six months to furnish the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service with a coordinated management plan to address over-fishing and poaching of sturgeon or face a halt to trade....
Editorial: Endangering species ALTHOUGH THE South was victimized by two devastating hurricanes this year, it was also the site of a heartening natural event: the discovery that the rare ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct after all. There will be fewer such hair's-breadth escapes from extinction, though, if Congress passes pending legislation that would gut the Endangered Species Act. The law has been a bulwark of environmental protection since it was enacted in 1973 with unanimous approval from the Senate and just five opposing votes in the House. Without it, the grizzly bear, the American alligator, the Florida panther, the bald eagle, and the peregrine falcon would likely no longer exist in the lower 48 states. To increase the lamentably short roster of saved species, Congress should be working to strengthen the law, not weaken it. Legislation in the House, which could be acted on as soon as today, strikes at the existing law's core by greatly limiting the designation of critical habitat land. Under the bill, that designation would go only to areas that are necessary to save a species from imminent extinction but not to areas needed for its long-time recovery, a goal of the current law. Congressman Martin Meehan of Lowell, a critic of the bill, believes that the change would create small, isolated habitat ''islands" that could not lead to species survival....
BLM will go forward with horse contraception The Department of Interior ruled Wednesday that birth control may be used on the Pryor Mountain herd of wild horses in Montana and Wyoming. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management put off plans to inject 20 mares with contraceptives after two wild horse advocacy groups petitioned to block the program earlier this month. The department's board of appeals ruled that there is not sufficient evidence to show that the action should be blocked. The fertility control effort in the Pryor Mountain herd is overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which uses the contraceptive PZP, porcine zona pellucida, to control the number of wild horses. The herd, which ranges on the Wyoming-Montana state line south of Billings, has about 165 horses. The BLM has said its target population, based on the size and quality of the existing rangeland, is between 45 and 142 horses....
Drillers want year-round access For the second winter in a row, federal land managers have approved a short-term exemption for a small-scale "demonstration" of winter drilling in critical big game winter range in the Pinedale Anticline. The day after that Sept. 15 approval, a trio of natural gas developers jointly submitted another proposal, this time asking that seasonal stipulations be removed altogether and year-round drilling become the industry standard in the winter ranges. Anschutz Pinedale Corp., Shell Exploration & Production Co. and Ultra Resources say a year-round drilling scenario "will shorten the development time period in all areas affected by seasonal restrictions by up to 50 percent lessening habitat and wildlife disturbances overall," according to the proposal. Bureau of Land Management officials are moving quickly to process calls to remove seasonal restrictions in critical big game wintering ranges in the area, citing the many benefits of a year-round drilling program. The general idea is to allow the construction phase to happen without delay so the production and reclamation phases can begin sooner....
Ski area gets BLM pass Colorado's most extreme venue for skiing received long-sought approval Wednesday to let skiers venture out on its daunting slopes without guides. The remote Silverton Mountain ski area, whose easiest run is equivalent to the most difficult at most resorts, previously had held only a short-term permit to take 80 skiers a day out in guided groups. After three years of review, the Bureau of Land Management agreed to let Silverton lease 1,300 acres of terrain for the next 40 years, with up to 475 skiers a day allowed to take to the ultra-steep runs. "It's pretty big news," said Silverton Mountain owner Aaron Brill, who several years ago pored over topographical maps to find a site for the type of ski area he wanted to create. Now headed into its fifth season, the area will provide guided-only skiing options this winter because of the preparation involved in getting the area ready for unguided skiing, Brill said. Unguided skiing likely will begin in April after the most extreme avalanche danger has passed....
BLM raising fees at Sand Mountain User fees for off-road vehicles at Sand Mountain will double beginning Saturday in a move the Bureau of Land Management says is needed to maintain the recreation site and protect a rare butterfly. "The BLM is not driven by specific profit margin objectives as are private sector businesses, but it must attempt to recover costs for which funding is no longer available through appropriated funding sources," said Don Hicks, BLM field manager in Carson City. "We want to continue providing a clean and enjoyable recreation experience at Sand Mountain." Under the new rates, annual passes will jump from $45 to $90. Weekly passes will cost $40, up from $20....
Diminishing water supply threatens E. Washington farmers Without water, the Columbia Basin region would look like the sagebrush-covered desert it was before farmers and irrigators transformed it into some of the top-producing farmland in the United States. Thanks to water, 119 crops are grown in the Columbia Basin. In fact, Grant, Franklin and Adams counties are the first-, second- and fifth-largest potato-producing counties in the U.S. But this region's future is endangered because of its diminishing water supply. Much of the region relies on the vast Odessa sub-area aquifer for its water. But more water is being withdrawn from the aquifer than is being recharged. Wells in the sub-area are drying up or seeing a significant reduction in output due to the aquifer's dropping water table — as much as 400 feet since the 1960s. In fact, some wells are 2,000 feet deep. Farmers and people in area communities can't afford to continue drilling deeper for water because it's so expensive....
Portable sawmill offers unique on-site service Buying rough sawn lumber and beams at wholesale pricing, while enjoying excellent customer service, used to be a dream for local homeowners, ranchers and woodworkers. Thanks to Timberline Custom Saw-milling, it is now a dream come true. Since April, owners Mike and Barb Miller have offered lumber and beams for builders and private parties for use in homebuilding, barns, corrals, decks, fencing and crafts — all at the customer’s own site. Timberline’s way of doing business is the opposite of traditional sawmilling, where customers must trans-port their own logs to a stationary mill and later return to pick up the sawn lumber. “The portable sawmill is unique in that it can be transported to the log site and the logs are milled to the customer’s specifications on the spot,” said Mike Miller. This saves time, effort and expense — savings that are passed on to the customer....
Farm Freeloaders in Foreign-Aid Food Fight What's the WTO got against food aid? The organization has another word for sending developing countries free stuff: dumping. If that sounds a touch cynical, consider the circumstances under which the food aid program was developed in 1954. The U.S. was simultaneously experiencing a spike in agricultural production—notably wheat—and eager to solicit the goodwill of newly emerging states. Letting taxpayers buy and ship surplus carbohydrates evidently seemed like a good idea. Fifty years later, according to Oxfam, food aid still rises with surplus production and falls when supply is tight. When a bumper crop threatens to destabilize prices, the feds sweep in to buy and give away. Having trouble hawking California raisins? Soybean oil? Corn? Wheat? Rice? There's an African village with your name on it. The importance of food aid as an export outlet is nowhere near what it once was, but the business of disaster aid has given other industries an interest in maintaining the status quo. According to a July report by the Minnesota-based Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy (IATP), it's the shipping industry—not agribusiness—that has emerged as the lobbying behemoth behind food aid. The U.S. requires that 75 percent of procurement, processing, bagging and shipping be handled by U.S. firms. Fully a third of the money taxpayers spend sending free food (typically bought at 11 percent over market price) goes straight to shipping costs....
Empire Ranch where the real West was filmed The Old Tucson site was built as the set for "Arizona" starring Jean Arthur and William Holden in 1939. It just stayed in what is now Pima County's Tucson Mountain Park and grew as more films and TV shows were shot there. It came into its own in the 1960s when a man who's name is permanently linked with it took it over - Bob Shelton. Bob brought in the big guns. Space prohibits naming all the classics shot there over that great 30 years, but start with the classic John Wayne/Howard Hawks trilogy - "Rio Bravo" (1959), "El Dorado" (1966) and "Rio Lobo" (1970). But that wasn't the first time Hawks and Wayne were here. "Red River" (1948) was shot on the Empire Ranch, a bit further away and a lot closer to the real West. Started in 1876 on 160 acres bought by Walter Vail and Herbert Hislop, it grew to over 1 million acres at one point.
The discovery of silver helped and it was acquired by the Boice family in 1928 who sold it to Gulf American in 1969 but ranched it until 1975 when Anamax Mining bought it for its water and leased it to rancher John Donaldson. The Donaldsons still graze it, but the BLM acquired the ranch buildings and 42,000 acres in 1988. In 2000 it was designated the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. Every Year the Empire Ranch Foundation has a Round-up, Western Art Show, and sale from the very buildings were John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru and Montgomery Clift filmed "Red River" and where well before that, the Vails fought off real Apaches and others to build the biggest ranch in the Southwest....
Matagorda Heritage Day planned for Oct.8 Matagorda County residents can celebrate the history of one of Texas’s oldest towns on Oct. 8 at the annual Matagorda Heritage Day. The event that began over 40 years ago will include a parade, carnival, karaoke contest, barbecue, fish fry and beer garden. The Art League of Bay City will be sponsoring an art show and there will be the annual Charles Siringo look-a-like contest. Siringo was a cowboy turned author who was employed by famed rancher Shanghai Pierce and other Matagorda area ranchers during the 1800s. The contest is open to ages 16 and above and the entry fee is $25....
Cowboys help kids explore new frontiers in reading Floral City Elementary School students recently had a rootin', tootin' kickoff for this year's Accelerated Reader program. During the event, featuring real cowboys, students were encouraged to keep in mind this year's theme: To Explore New Frontiers - Read. Accelerated Reader, commonly known as AR, promotes reading on an individual level. When a student reads a book, he or she then takes a comprehension test on a computer and the child is awarded points. Points are rewarded in a variety of ways throughout participating schools. At Floral City, Accelerated Reader was highlighted in the school's outdoor pavilion with presentations by longtime local rancher Valentine Rooks and high school rodeo performer Dakota Shipp. Rooks, dressed in Wranglers, boots and cowboy hat, described the life of a rancher and demonstrated how to crack a whip. He told the children about early Florida Crackers and how they earned the name with their whips. He said his mama knew when to get dinner out when she heard the cracking whips getting close to home....

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