NEWS ROUNDUP

U.S. needs domestic production, by responsible means Midland native Doug Burger began his presentation to the Permian Basin Petroleum Association Thursday by holding up a supermarket tabloid with a headline blaring "No More Oil! World to run out in six months!" As district manager for the Pecos district, Bureau of Land Management, Burger told his laughing audience, "I see a different picture." He reeled off several statistics: His district encompasses four counties in southeastern New Mexico: Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt; these four counties produce 61 million barrels of crude annually, of which 45 percent is from federal leases and 568 billion cubic feet of gas, of which 48 percent is on federal lands; of the royalties the federal government collects, half is given to the state of New Mexico and Burger estimated that the federal government has recently given the state $1 million a day in royalties; approximately 95 percent of the state's entire production is from that four-county district, which holds 6,000 federal leases, 3 million leased acres total and 30,000 producing wells, of which 41 percent or 12,181 are on federal lands. The point of those statistics, Burger said, is that "We need domestic production." The key to developing that production, especially on federal lands, is to develop it under a multiple-use format and in an environmentally responsible way. Multiple-use means not only developing oil and natural gas production but allowing that land to be used by farmers, ranchers and for recreation, he said. And the key to maintaining multiple-use access to those federal lands is successful reclamation of those lands by producing companies....
Congressman, attorney general seek to block drilling on part of national forest in New Mexico A Democratic congressman and the state's attorney general are trying to block oil and natural gas drilling on 100,000 acres of federal land in northern New Mexico. Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced legislation Thursday to prohibit oil and gas development on the Valle Vidal unit of the Carson National Forest. Attorney General Patricia Madrid, in a separate move, warned the Forest Service that she would fight any attempts by the agency to allow oil and gas exploration and production on the Valle Vidal. The potential for natural gas drilling on the public land looms as a major political and environmental fight in New Mexico. Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who's running for re-election next year and is considered a potential candidate for president in 2008, opposes oil and gas leasing on the Valle Vidal. New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday that he's developing legislation to protect the Valle Vidal. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., has declared her opposition to drilling in the Valle Vidal — the first Republican in the state's congressional delegation to do so....
Conservation Groups File Appeal to Halt Oil Drilling Expansion in Los Padres National Forest Three conservation groups today filed an administrative appeal challenging a recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service to expand oil drilling in California’s Los Padres National Forest. The California Attorney General’s Office filed a separate appeal of the decision on Tuesday. In late July, the Forest Service approved a plan to allow oil drilling on an additional 52,075 acres of land in the Los Padres National Forest. The decision threatens popular recreation areas, wild lands, clean air and water, and habitat for several endangered species, including the California condor. “The Los Padres National Forest is already contributing its fair share of oil development to the nation. In fact, the Los Padres has the highest rate of oil drilling in California. Our communities should not have to sacrifice even more of our clean water, scenic vistas, and recreation opportunities for less than a day’s supply of oil,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch....
Column: Readers vent over suicide I hope the federal Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees hundreds of millions of acres of public land – the vast majority of it in the West and Alaska – is listening. I hope that members of Congress are paying attention, and the Western governors with BLM holdings inside their states, and the assortment of varying stakeholders, and citizens who own those lands as part of their birthright. A few weeks ago, I penned a column about the suicide of Marlene Braun, the late manager of Carrizo Plain National Monument, a quarter-million-acre protected area administered by the BLM in California. Last May, Ms. Braun took her own life with a firearm in the wake of an ongoing dispute with her BLM boss. The incident has ignited a growing debate inside civil service ranks about the state of morale among public servants working for U.S. land management agencies. Could the BLM have prevented Braun’s death? Is the agency guilty of quashing dissent within its ranks? Was Braun punished for her overt support of a plan to reduce livestock grazing in order to protect native wildlife? Rarely have I witnessed a greater and more emotional response....
Forest ranger station and land sells for $1.3 million If all holds true, the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and several parcels of surrounding land will have sold for about $1.3 million, according to Linda Perry of the Forest Service. The Forest Service put the surplus land up for sale via an online auction in June. At first, the land appeared to be going at bargain basement prices. For example, the initial bid for the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and surrounding five acre tract was a paltry $4,500 back in June. That all changed, however, as the auction attracted some press and also came under what's known as a soft close status. A soft close happens when there are no bids on parcels for a 24 hour period. That's when the bidding actually heated up, Perry noted, with parcel prices jumping as much as $74,000 over a weekend. The sale includes not only the ranger station and surrounding land, but also about 92 acres of land in the townsite, most of which would make good housing lots. The bid price right now is about $14,100 an acre....
Column: The Ages-Old Beat Between Man and Beasts Goes On Katrina stories about pets have endeared and dismayed. But the story of man's relationship with the animal world has lately changed - principally because of (a) the reintroduction of certain species into areas where their ranks were running thin, and (b) suburbia becoming superb wildlife habitat. Perhaps the most widely perceived animal issue is posed by the white-tailed deer. Even with regular hunting seasons, many states in the East (such as Virginia) boast about as many as estimated at the Founding. We have removed many of their natural predators and feed them with our crops and milady's ornamentals. Some of our toniest neighborhoods have hired archers and sharpshooters to keep them out of back yards. Various programs direct the venison to, among others, the homeless. Urban parks wrestle with the deer question, too. Last year, motorists killed at least 39 whitetails in the 1,755-acre Rock Creek Park bordering pricey parcels in the nation's capitol - not counting the grazes, near-misses and unreported encounters. The National Park Service is wrestling with what to do. Coyotes across the landscape prey on livestock. Ditto gray wolves (a.k.a. timber wolves) reintroduced in places such as Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - and causing friction between ranchers in states that allow wolf culling and those in states that do not....
Better Endangered Species Incentives Needed Testifying today on behalf of AFBF, Bob Peterson, an Ohio grain and livestock farmer told a House subcommittee that farmers working cooperatively with government agencies would help make species recovery a positive benefit for all parties. “Farmers and ranchers enjoy the benefit of having wildlife on their land,” Peterson said. “Most farmers and ranchers are already taking measures on their own to protect listed species and habitat. They need the tools to be able to do it better.” Peterson explained that several programs are available to help animal species before they are listed as endangered, but once a species is listed, most of those opportunities disappear. “Farm Bureau has long supported the use of cooperative conservation as a way to implement the Endangered Species Act,” Peterson said. “We are convinced that cooperative conservation is the way to make the Endangered Species Act work for both landowners and for species, producing a win-win situation for both.”....
Drawing a bead on bison If the infamous hunts of the late 1980s and early 1990s are any indication as to how Montana’s latest experiment with a bison-hunting season will go, the state might want to get out the makeup and prepare for a whopper of a black eye. On Sept. 8 the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission approved a plan to allow 50 hunters to kill bison as they leave Yellow-stone National Park, clearing the way for the first hunt of its kind in Montana in nearly 15 years to start Nov. 15. The state put an end to bison hunting in the early 1990s after graphic images of the hunts sparked international criticism and protests, including tourist boycotts. During those hunts, wardens led hunters into the field where some animals were shot at close range while grazing. Wildlife officials promise this year’s hunt won’t be anything like previous incarnations. Gov. Brian Schweitzer called off a 30-day bison hunt scheduled for Jan. 15 after commissioners said they wanted to ensure a fair-chase hunt and a longer season with broader hunting opportunities. The revised hunt plan includes more than 460,000 acres of wildlife habitat near the Yellowstone border. However, opponents say the hunt is anything but “fair chase.”....
Horses in Arizona forest: wild or domestic strays? The future of several hundred horses roaming across portions of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest could hinge on their history and DNA. And their fate also depends on whether a federal judge finds that officials have taken all the steps required to protect the animals. U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone in Phoenix will decide at a hearing Sept. 23 whether to issue a preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up some 300 to 400 horses for slaughter. Last week, Martone granted a temporary restraining order to keep the service from awarding a contract for rounding up the animals. The government contends that most of the horses now on the forest strayed onto it during or after the Rodeo-Chediski forest fire in 2002. The fire, Arizona's largest-ever blaze, burned 469,000 acres, including miles of fencing separating the Apache-Sitgreaves and the White Mountain Apache Reservation....
Assault on pike is urged Eight years and more than $15 million after dumping chemicals into Lake Davis to eradicate northern pike, state Department of Fish and Game officials are proposing to do it again. Plans to be announced today by department Director Ryan Broddrick propose treating the Plumas County reservoir with liquid rotenone, the same chemical used in 1997 to kill the pike discovered in 1994. The 4,000-acre reservoir now harbors more than a million pike, a voracious Midwestern native species that feeds on trout and other fish. Armed with spines lining their mouths, pike have the potential to cause irreversible damage to the Feather River below Lake Davis and Sacramento River system farther downstream, Broddrick said. "It's time to evaluate treating the lake in a way that will eliminate northern pike for the long-term benefit of the ecosystem and the community," he said....
Man Who Shot Hunters Says He Feared For His Life A Hmong man accused of killing six hunters and wounding two others said Thursday that he feared for his life as he was confronted for trespassing. Chai Soua Vang, who came to the United States from Laos more than 20 years ago, said he began shooting after he thought one of the hunters had shot at him and the others were going for more guns. As he stood on the witness stand, Vang pretended he had a rifle in his arms and detailed the order in which he shot at them. He said he reloaded his gun twice. Two survivors of the shooting testified that no shots were fired at Vang before he started shooting. The truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. If convicted, he could face mandatory life in prison. On Thursday, Vang, 36, said he was lost in the isolated Sawyer County woods on Nov. 21, found a tree stand he thought was on public property and climbed into it to get the lay of the land. He said Terry Willers approached him and told him he was on private property and should climb down....
Conservation study places GarCo on endangered list Garfield County has been identified as one of 12 places where threat of development and inability to preserve open space are greatest in Colorado. A study by the nonprofit Colorado Conservation Trust said Garfield County's soaring population will gobble about 18,660 of its 1.8 million acres between 2000 and 2030. While other counties, mostly in the Front Range, will see more growth, they also have more groups with more financial resources working on preservation of open space. When development threat is combined with funds available to buy and protect open space, Garfield County ranked as one of Colorado's 12 endangered counties. The study estimated $8.5 million is needed to buy and preserve about 10,000 of the most endangered acres in Garfield County....
Editorial: Time for Skico to make a bold statement The time has come for the Aspen Skiing Co. to make the ultimate environmental statement - it must abandon its plan to expand further onto Burnt Mountain. The Skico has deservedly earned a reputation over the last decade as an environmental leader in the ski industry. We believe the efforts headed by Director of Environmental Affairs Auden Schendler and guided by Chief Executive Officer Pat O'Donnell are sincere and enlightened. Corporations of any and all types would do well to follow the Skico's example. But to reach full credibility, the company must end an expansion plan that raises legitimate and grave concerns in its own back yard. The Skico wants to add about 500 acres of terrain in the trees of Burnt Mountain. It currently has one trail there called Long Shot. Skiers and riders must hike to the trail; it isn't served by a chairlift. Like Long Shot, the other proposed trails would guide skiers and riders through glades on ungroomed terrain....
Campers have fewer places to pitch tents Your tax dollars are only partially at work at U.S. Forest Service campgrounds near Aspen this fall. Three major campgrounds east of Aspen closed right after Labor Day weekend even though September is one of the most scenic times of the year. Lost Man, Lincoln Gulch and Weller campgrounds, which provide 26 sites easily accessible off Highway 82, are locked up for the season. Difficult Campground, the largest and closest to town, remains open until Sept. 25. It offers 47 sites. A concessionaire, One Thousand Trails, operates all four of those sites. The White River National Forest hired the national company five years ago to administer several of its campgrounds. The company collects the $15 camping fees, gives the Forest Service its cut, plows a certain amount of revenues back into improvements and maintenance, and keeps the remainder as profit. Its key to turning a profit is reducing costs, so One Thousands Trails is reluctant to stay open when cooler weather eliminates all but the heartiest campers with good sleeping bags....
Bill Would Let E.P.A. Relax Rules for Cleanup The Environmental Protection Agency could suspend any law governing air, water or land in responding to Hurricane Katrina under a measure introduced Thursday by the chairman of the Senate environment committee. The legislation, which drew immediate criticism from environmental groups, would create a 120-day period in which the agency's administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, could waive or modify laws if it became "necessary to respond in a timely and effective manner" to a situation created by the storm. The proposal would allow changes in law at the discretion of the Bush administrator in consultation with the governor of "any affected state." "This legislation is purely about providing E.P.A. the clarity and certainty it will need down the road to ensure a timely and effective response," said Bill Holbrook, a spokesman for the chairman, Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma. Mr. Holbrook added, "As Administrator Johnson indicated yesterday, there are a number of uncertainties remaining, and we, as well as the administration, do not want those uncertainties to delay actions that affect people's health."....
Provision blocks Interior from moving on waste site Utah officials and the Bureau of Land Management say a key piece of a plan to build a nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation is blocked -- at least for now. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week approved a license for Private Fuel Storage to build and operate the facility, which would temporarily store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The commission's OK was a major move forward for the company. Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities, now wants permission to build a rail spur to the Union Pacific Railroad main line so it can haul the enormous waste containers to their resting spot on the Goshute Reservation. But the Bureau of Land Management says it can't consider a right of way for the spur because five years ago, then Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, inserted language into a defense bill that prohibits it. Hansen's language prevents the BLM from amending any land-use plans until the Pentagon studies how wilderness areas on the Utah Test and Training Range would affect training readiness....
8 companies apply for BLM oil shale leases The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management has received 10 applications from eight companies for its new oil shale leasing program. The small-scale leasing program will allow groups to test oil-shale extraction technology in the public lands of Colorado. The lease program allows companies to explore the resource, which could produce as much as 2.6 trillion barrels of oil, by granting 160-acre tracts of land and 10 years time to worthy applicants. “There are some bigger companies like Shell that have applied, and some of the companies are really small,” said Karen Zurek, acting head of the BLM’s solid minerals division....
Warning Of Spread Of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever An infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins who has spent nearly three decades studying the life-threatening, tick-borne infection known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever warns that the first widespread outbreak of the bacterial disease in Arizona is a growing and dangerous sign of how humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries. In an article to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the Hopkins pathologist and microbiologist J. Stephen Dumler, M.D., a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, highlights the importance of the recent outbreak in Arizona as the first confirmed cases that could be traced back to ticks carried into to the state on feral dogs, an animal group whose population has markedly increased. And, as the number of dogs has increased, so have the number of ticks. A detailed study of this latest outbreak by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is featured in the same edition of the NEJM online Aug. 11. According to Dumler, the disease, most often marked by a telltale spotty rash that appears five to 10 days after the first signs of infection, has been largely confined to the South Central and Southeastern United States, although sporadic cases have been reported in all 48 continental states, mostly North Carolina. (Hopkins’ home state of Maryland is among the top 10 states for the disease, with at least 79 cases reported in 2004, up from 19 in 2000.) The scientist also reports that the number of people infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is fatal in up to 10 percent of those who contract it, has peaked for the third known time this century, with more than 1,800 cases reported nationally in 2003 and 2004. However, scientists believe the number of unreported cases is much greater....
Anthrax kills 37 cattle on montana ranch Anthrax has killed 37 cattle on a ranch in northeast Montana, and additional cases wouldn't be surprising, the state veterinarian said Thursday. The ranch, northwest of Culbertson, is under quarantine and has been since Monday, when the state Department of Livestock first learned that anthrax was suspected, Tom Linfield said. It has since been confirmed. Hundreds of remaining cattle were moved to a different pasture, and animals deemed susceptible or possibly exposed were given antibiotics and vaccinations, he said. A second round of vaccinations is due in about a week, and the property will be under quarantine for about 40 days, the department said. Ranchers in the area have been notified, and vigilance is being encouraged. Linfield said it's reasonable to expect more local cases following an outbreak. Anthrax was last confirmed in the state in 1999, the department said. Hundreds of cases have been reported this year in North Dakota and South Dakota....
Early price tag: $1 billion in agriculture damage The early price tag for Hurricane Katrina's damage to Louisiana agriculture is $1 billion — but the eventual total will be much higher, a state expert said Monday. Figures compiled so far by the Louisiana State University AgCenter cover only lost revenue and increased production costs. They do not include damage to fences, equipment and buildings, trashed pasture land and other infrastructure losses, said AgCenter economist Kirk Guidry. "The numbers are getting bigger every day as we get more information," Guidry said. Although the vast majority of farmers were not affected by Katrina, the storm still had a devastating effect on southeastern Louisiana, an area better known for its cities than its agriculture. For example, 10,000 to 11,000 head of cattle south of Lake Pontchartrain are dead or missing, particularly in the flooded-out parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, Guidry said. "The ones that are alive, the problem is getting them feed and water," Guidry said. "We could see these number grow."....
USDA plan would close 665 local offices More than one-fourth of the nation's Farm Service Agency offices would close under a plan being pushed by the Agriculture Department, according to an agency document obtained by The Associated Press. As outlined in the document, the department would shutter an estimated 665 of the 2,353 offices nationwide. J.B. Penn, undersecretary for the Agriculture Department's Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, said that he had not seen the document obtained by the AP but that the numbers cited were inaccurate. Penn discussed the plan to modernize FSA offices in briefings this week with chairmen of the Senate Agriculture Committee and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. More congressional briefings were planned. State FSA directors are coming to Washington next week for a briefing on the plan....
Canadian mad cow recovery plan aims for 800,000 tonnes of annual exports by 2015 Canada's beef industry is working on an ambitious mad cow recovery plan that would ramp up exports sharply over the next decade while reducing reliance on the U.S. market. Ted Haney of the Canada Beef Export Federation says his members want exports of processed beef increased to 800,000 tonnes by 2015. The key is reducing trade dependency on the United States from what's currently about 90 per cent down to 50 per cent in a defined period, said Haney. How to reach those targets will be the focus of an industry strategy session on Saturday that will include input from producers, processors, exporters and governments....
Legacy Reaches for Restoration In 1859 five families settled along the Virgin River, about one mile downstream from modern-day Grafton. They built homes and a school as the town slowly began to grow. Friendly Paiute Indians even helped the settlers become established. The homes of those early settlers were washed away in a raging flood in 1862. Distraught but not defeated, the settlers moved their town one mile upstream to form Grafton. However, due to common flooding of the Virgin River, the settlers were destined to endure flood after flood, filling irrigation ditches with sand and requiring constant attention. Despite the problems in settling the town, residents remained optimistic and hopeful. The crops and fruit trees grew and produced food for the town. By 1886 the town had grown to 28 families, and a two-story schoolhouse was constructed, which attracted people from settlements all up and down the Virgin River for dances and plays....
102-year-old Mildred Wolters reflects on the people and places she's encountered over the last century On September 9, 1903, during President Theodore Roosevelt's first term in office, Mildred Pintler was born in a small wood-frame house near Providence, R.I. Last Friday, exactly 102 years later, Mildred Pintler Wolters celebrated her birthday with family and friends at Discovery Care Centre, where she's lived for the past two years. Sitting with 105 years of family history in the scrapbook next to her bed, Wolters recounted a few of the twists and turns on the long and sometimes dusty trail that brought her from the country's smallest state to the wide open frontier of Montana. The oldest of five children born to George and Hilda Pintler, Mildred moved several times with her family before arriving in Montana in 1917....
North Dakota rodeo star Dean Armstrong, 75, dies Dean Armstrong, one of the first rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, has died at his ranch near here. He was 75. “I think his heart just gave out,” said Fran Armstrong, his wife of 14 years. Armstrong, who died Tuesday, was a member of a group called the North Dakota “six-pack.” The Fort Berthold-area rodeo team was known for riding tough bucking horses during the 1950s. Armstrong also competed professionally in steer wrestling and calf roping and won 11 state titles from 1954 to 1962. His rodeo career ended in 1963, after a horse fell backward and dragged and kicked him, leaving him unconscious for weeks. Armstrong then trained and raced horses in Canada and Arizona for about 30 years, his wife said. Fran, a retired Beulah teacher, wrote several books of poetry about her husband and other cowboys and ranchers....

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