NEWS ROUNDUP

Border rancher's state lease renewed despite protests Arizona State Land Department officials have renewed a grazing lease for a rancher who has become known for detaining illegal immigrants but warned that any violation would terminate it. The department acted despite requests from the Border Action Network and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund not to renew Roger Barnett's lease for 10 more years because of allegations that he's engaged in vigilante actions on land east of Douglas near the Mexican border. "Our staff and range manager went down and met with Mr. Barnett and his lawyer and advised that the commissioner is very concerned, and that if there was any violation of his lease that it would be terminated," Deputy Commissioner Richard Hubbard said....
Land trust helps forge deal to preserve organic farm For the past two decades, the Shoshone-area farm has been a living and working laboratory for farm managers Fred and Judy Brossy. Well-known nationwide among practitioners of low-impact, organic farming practices, the Brossys have made a living out of working the Barbara Farm in a sustainable manner. Earlier this month, the Brossy's sustainable efforts took a giant leap forward when they put pen to paper to finalize a deal long in the making to permanently preserve through a conservation easement the most productive and ecologically sensitive 396 acres of the Barbara Farm's roughly 1,800 total acres. The four-way deal—forged between the Brossys, Barbara Farm owner Ernest Bryant, the Hailey-based Wood River Land Trust and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service's Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program—was finalized several weeks ago....
Judge: 2003 Fire Retardant Use Broke Law The U.S. Forest Service violated federal environmental laws when it used a toxic fire retardant that killed thousands of fish in streams, a judge ruled. In a decision released Tuesday, District Judge Donald W. Molloy said the agency did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act when it skipped an open public process to examine the fire retardant's effects on the environment. Molloy also said the agency's actions appeared to be politically motivated, though he did not elaborate. Environmentalists and Democrats have complained the Bush administration goals of repealing environmental laws affect Forest Service decisions. The Forest Service had argued that the use of fire retardant was not a major federal action, but a series of smaller actions by fire commanders with no time to do a full environmental analysis....
GAO again rules in favor of reservation contract protester The Government Accounting Office for the second time has ruled in favor of Spherix Inc. of Beltsville, Md., in the vendor’s protest of the Agriculture Department’s award of its $97 million recreation information and reservation service contract to ReserveAmerica of Ballston Spa, N.Y. Agriculture’s Forest Service re-awarded the 10-year National Recreation Reservation System contract in June to ReserveAmerica, a subsidiary of Ticketmaster. GAO, in a decision last week, again found the Forest Service’s award of the recreation services contract to ReserveAmerica to be flawed. In December 2004, GAO sustained Spherix’s protest of the first award of the contract to ReserveAmerica. In its second protest to GAO, Spherix cited Agriculture’s failure to conduct adequate discussions, improper evaluations of its offers and failure to justify its choice of the substantially higher cost of ReserveAmerica's proposal, said Spherix spokeswoman Kathy Brailer....
Lawsuit could set precedent for mines A lawsuit challenging permits for the Kensington gold project north of Juneau could affect future mine development in Alaska and nationwide, parties on both sides of the litigation say. Depending on how a federal judge rules, the government's ability to authorize discharge of mine waste into lakes, streams, wetlands and other water bodies could be upheld or restricted. Several large mine prospects in Alaska, such as Pebble and Donlin Creek, could be affected, officials and lawyers for both sides agree. With so much riding on the outcome, the state attorney general's office this month sought court permission to join the case. Assistant attorney general Cam Leonard said in court papers that the lawsuit may set precedent and could cost the state millions of dollars in taxes and other revenue....
Rep. Pombo Seeks to Open National Parks to Mining Despite assurances that the House Resources Committee reconciliation package proposed by Chairman Richard Pombo (R-11-CA) would not make any national park lands available for sale, a new draft would do just that. Section 6204 (b) of the legislation now under consideration by the committee states, “notwithstanding any provision in law the Secretary of the Interior shall make mineral deposits and lands that contain them, including lands in which the valuable mineral deposit has been depleted, available for purchase to facilitate sustainable economic development.” By including this alarming provision in his new proposed reconciliation legislation, Chairman Pombo has shifted his focus from selling off 15 national park sites to offering the mining industry access to national parklands in approximately 12 states that have mineral deposits. The bill would also offer for sale several parcels of parkland in Washington, D.C....
BLM expects rise in drilling permit applications The Bureau of Land Management expects the number of applications for oil and gas drilling on federal land to jump 32 percent from 2004 to 2006, the agency's director said Tuesday. The agency expects to receive about 9,200 new applications in 2006, Director Kathleen Clarke said at a hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. She said the agency estimates another 10,000 applications in 2007. To handle the increase, the agency is drawing staff from other agencies and putting them in seven offices in five states. As directed in an energy bill pilot program, BLM will provide work space for experts from the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to help process the permits. The BLM offices receiving additional workers are in Rawlins and Buffalo, Wyo.; Miles City, Mont.; Farmington and Carlsbad, N.M.; Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, Colo.; and Vernal, Utah. These offices process 70 percent of all permit applications submitted to the BLM, the agency said....
Clashing wishes surface when talk is energy wells Land managers approved a record 7,018 oil and gas wells on Western federal lands last year, and when the Bush administration announced the figure Tuesday, Western Republican senators scolded them for not allowing more. The number of permitted wells for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was an 8.8 percent increase from the previous year, when 6,452 were approved in the West, and double the number approved in 2002. And the number of permits stayed well ahead of drilling by the oil and gas industry, which sank 4,682 wells. Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke said she expects demand to keep increasing because of high natural-gas prices. She predicted 9,200 requests for permits this year, which would be an increase of nearly one-third over last fiscal year....
BLM studies year-round drilling proposal The public has until Nov. 19 to comment on a proposal to allow year-round drilling for natural gas on the Pinedale Anticline. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management currently bars winter drilling in the area to avoid disturbing big game. But the agency is preparing a new environmental study of the effects of year-round drilling at the request of three energy companies: Anschutz Pinedale Corp., Shell Exploration & Production Co., and Ultra Resources. Matt Anderson, project manager for the BLM in Pinedale, said preparing the study on the effects of year-round drilling would probably take a year. If year-round drilling is authorized, Anderson said companies could consolidate drilling pads in a way that reduces habitat fragmentation and protects more land in winter ranges....
Amazon parrot serenades Pa. senators A yellow-naped Amazon parrot sang "How much is that doggie in the window?" and "Alouette" to surprised senators. The parrot, named Groucho, sat on a perch in a Senate visitors' balcony and sang in a warbling, croaking voice for several minutes after Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll formally recognized the bird from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and an aviary staff member with it. Immediately afterward, Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer, the chamber's president pro tempore, was seen scolding Knoll on the Senate floor. Knoll's spokeswoman Johnna A. Pro said Knoll was simply recognizing the bird after Jubelirer approved the gesture. The parrot's visit to Harrisburg with aviary staff was intended to raise awareness for World Rainforest Week, and how destruction of the rainforest affects endangered species, according to a letter from Sen. Wayne Fontana to Knoll....
Habitat to protect endangered salamanders pegged at $336 million Setting aside habitat in Sonoma County for the endangered California tiger salamander would cost $336 million in lost development opportunities over the next 20 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday. The agency released the estimate as part of a draft economic analysis of a proposal to protect 74,000 acres on the Santa Rosa Plain as the stocky amphibian's "critical habitat" - a designation that would restrict development on the land. The study, conducted by a private consulting firm, found that setting aside the land would cost $210 million in mitigation costs and $114 million in delays in processing development proposals. But the analysis concluded the designation would have only a modest impact on the region's $28 billion in economic output....
Two plead not guilty to killing grizzly cub Two men accused of killing a grizzly bear cub near Island Park three years ago pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Tim L. Brown of Island Park and Brad Hoopes of St. Anthony are scheduled to stand trial on the misdemeanor charge in U.S. District Court in Pocatello on Dec. 5, said Jean McNeil, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office. In a separate case, Dan Walters, a bow hunter from Kentucky, has been ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution for killing the grizzly cub’s mother. Walters, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor in January, also had his hunting privileges revoked for two years. Grizzly bears are threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, making it illegal to kill the animals. Scott Bragonier, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Walters told investigators that he was hunting alone when he spotted the adult female grizzly and the yearling cub and mistook them for black bears. Walters shot the adult animal with his bow and arrow, and then tracked it until evening....
Texas game wardens’ authority spelled out With fall firearms white-tail deer season fast approaching, landowners may begin seeing unfamiliar faces in the area, among those will be the Texas game wardens. Texas game wardens work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD throughout the year, but attempt to become more visible during major hunting seasons in order to curb violations in the state. TPWD employs more than 500 law enforcement specialists throughout the state. These figures carry a great deal of authority and responsibility. They enforce all areas of the TPWD code, regulations, Texas Penal Code and several specific regulations that relate to the environment. In 2004, Texas game wardens became federally commissioned. According to TPWD, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to provide training to TPWD game wardens about federal laws and their enforcement. Texas game wardens then had the authority to make arrests and seizures in federal wildlife violations. In return, TPWD offered training to federal agents and provided them with jurisdiction within the state of Texas....
Former federal employee sentenced on child porn charge A former U-S Fish and Wildlife Service employee has been sentenced to 21 months in prison on a federal charge of possessing child pornography. Federal prosecutors say 59-nine-year-old Gary Heet of Gulliver also has been sentenced to two years of supervised release and fined five-thousand dollars. Heet pleaded guilty to the charge in April and was sentenced Thursday in Marquette. Prosecutors say more than two-thousand explicit images were found on the hard drive of his work computer at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula's Schoolcraft County....
Wild Birds Probed as Possible Agent of Flu to U.S. U.S. officials are considering new measures to monitor whether migratory birds arriving next spring will be the first to carry the avian influenza to the nation. The influenza working group of the U.S. Agriculture and Interior Departments has urged the expansion of bird testing beyond Alaska to other U.S. states and territories, said Christopher Brand, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, in a telephone interview Oct. 20. The recommendations weren't formally announced, Brand said. Brand, who is a member of the group, said it also called for studies of bird-disease outbreaks for signs of the virus, called H5N1, programs to sample ducks and geese caught by hunters for the virus, inspections of backyard ponds for pet ducks and testing of wetlands for signs of the virus in water....
White House accused of politicizing Park Service workforce The Bush administration is enforcing hiring practices on National Park Service bosses that one national environmental group is calling an "unprecedented political intrusion." Everybody applying for a top job in any park must show "ability to lead employees" in achieving President Bush's "Management Agenda," according to an Oct. 11 memo from NPS director Fran Mainella. The management agenda is a 65-page document that calls for increased faith-based incentives, more outsourcing of government work and other controversial steps. "We view it as politicizing the civil service," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. That's a misunderstanding, according to Al Nash, NPS spokesman in Washington, D.C....
Wind farm may yield windfall for Texans Paving the way for Texas to be home to the first wind farm along the U.S. coast, the state has leased an 11,000-acre swath of the Gulf of Mexico, seven miles off Galveston Island, for gigantic wind turbines that could eventually power 40,000 homes and generate millions of dollars for state schools. The lease, the first granted by any government agency in the nation for an offshore wind project, marks a new era of pollution-free energy production for the Gulf, which for decades has been the site of thousands of wells and platforms tapping the Earth's depths for air-polluting natural gas and oil. It also signals the migration of Texas' wind industry — which ranks second in the nation behind California in kilowatt hours produced by breezes and gusts — from the Panhandle and western parts of the state to the coast, where winds are more consistent during peak daylight hours and large population centers such as Houston aren't as far away....
Officials consider importing water to Reno-Sparks Aqua Trac is the latest water-importation project that could ease demand from the Truckee River and chill the feverish market for water rights. Proposed by Summit Engineering president Tom Gallagher, the $250 million project would involve exporting 100,000 acre-feet of water a year from the valleys east of Pyramid Lake, including the Winnemucca Lake Valley, Kumiva Valley and Granite Springs Valley. Gallagher said the water could be delivered to Fernley, Wadsworth, Sutcliffe and Nixon and on to Spanish Springs Valley north of Sparks. Permits are pending with the Nevada state engineer's office and a major environmental study would be required for the wells and the pipeline system on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. As the cost for water rights continue to climb in Northern Nevada, more developers are seeking other water-importation projects to provide water to areas that need it and to slow the spike in prices. A run-up in Truckee River water rights to $50,000 an acre-foot was set off in March when Washoe County auctioned 174 acre-feet of water in Lemmon Valley....
THE CALIFORNIA WATER WARS: WATER FLOWING TO FARMS, NOT FISH After 50 years of legal infighting, a victor has emerged in California's water wars -- agriculture. A decade after environmentalists prevailed in getting more fresh water down the north state's rivers and estuaries to improve fisheries and wildlife habitat, farmers are again triumphant. Central Valley irrigation districts are signing federal contracts that assure their farms ample water for the next 25 to 50 years. The Bush administration is driving the trend, reversing Clinton-era policies that eased agriculture's grip on the state's reservoirs and aqueducts....
Lightning eyed as cause of horses' deaths Lightning appears to be the cause in the deaths of 16 horses found in a pasture east of Colorado Springs over the weekend, El Paso County sheriff's investigators said Tuesday. Veterinarian John Heikkila "is fairly confident" the animals were killed by lightning, investigators said. The horses were found Saturday. Six other horses and a burro were found dead in a pasture in the same area on Oct. 11. The cause of death in that incident has not been determined....
A Horse for Rumsfeld, but, Whoa, There's a Snag Mongolia has 131 soldiers in Iraq, and on Saturday it received an official American statement of gratitude from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld came to Ulan Bator to deliver that message personally, and he was given a horse. In dazzling sunlight on the grounds of the Mongolian Defense Ministry, Mr. Rumsfeld took the reins of the calm gelding and said, "I am proud to be the owner of that proud animal." He immediately announced that he would name the horse Montana, because the dusty plains and mountains that ring the Mongolian capital reminded him of that Rocky Mountain state. The entire exchange recalled an ancient era of alliance and conquest, when a warrior's word was law and the long knives were carried in the open. The horse, a rich latte hue with a mane and tail the color of dark-roast coffee, was described by local officials as a traditional domesticated Mongolian breed. Mr. Rumsfeld owns a ranch in New Mexico, where the high plains and sharp peaks would offer pleasant life to an expatriate horse, even one descended from the sturdy steeds that carried Genghis Khan and his successors across the steppes and the Gobi Desert to conquer most of Asia in the 13th century.
But transport for Mr. Rumsfeld's gift posed a problem....
"It's Shippin' Time" It’s shippin’ time out west. There’s a fine poem by Bruce Kiskaddon called, “When They’ve Finished Shippin’ Cattle in the Fall.” It’s recited by lots of cowboy poets. It goes on about rounding up the cattle, herding them to the home ranch, memories of friends, cookie’s offerings, dances till dawn — a wonderful rhyming piece of nostalgia about how things used to be at shippin’ time. These days, shippin’ time is much the same but with variations. Drive past the stockyards and you’ll see huge semi trucks, the kind with the metal slatted sides, grouped like a bunch of grazing mammoths. In the yard pens, cattle mill around, bawling their confusion. Ranch trucks and trailers, loaded with calves and cull cows, pull up to chutes and funnel the critters into pens where they’ll be sorted and grouped and funneled back up another chute and into the waiting maw of one of the behemoth trucks. Or perhaps the rancher hauls a trailer load of his cattle to the auction yards in the city to be sold in one of the regular livestock auctions. Either way, selling the calves is the annual windup ritual in the beef-growing business; it’s the final step in a year of tending cattle; it’s when the check comes in and ranchers pay their bills at the feedstore, make machinery payments; pay up on leases of pastures....

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