NEWS ROUNDUP

Timothy Treadwell’s deadly obsession The short, heartless version of the story was simply: "The Doofus Dies." At least, that's how some Alaskans saw it, says Nick Jans, the Juneau-based author of a new book, "The Grizzly Maze," about Timothy Treadwell's fatal obsession with Alaska's huge coastal brown bears. Two years ago, he might not have argued, knowing only the earliest details of how a big grizzly had just killed Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, in a bear-haunted thicket of Katmai National Park. While German filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his critically acclaimed documentary “Grizzly Man,” appropriated more than a hundred hours of Treadwell’s films to paint a vivid portrait of his volatile persona, Jans used his own knowledge of the Alaska Bush — as a nature writer and longtime teacher in northwest Alaska — to analyze Treadwell’s special relationship with bears. In fact, his book is as much about bears as Treadwell, Jans said. “Timothy Treadwell is just the lens. Timothy Treadwell is dead as a doornail on Page 111, and the book is 274 pages long,” he said. “The book is dedicated to bears, and I think he would have liked that.”....
Keeping them out of the haystacks Tucked into the hillsides near the Gros Ventre River, down a long dirt road at the base of the giant landslide near Kelly that created Slide Lake, Glenn Taylor and his family pass their days with cattle and wildlife. Taylor, 71, moved with his parents in 1950 to the Taylor Ranch, where they raised cattle. He later took over the business. Although not an "old-timer" by early Jackson Hole standards, Taylor is certainly an old-timer for today. He lived up the Gros Ventre before the three elk feedgrounds there -- Alkali, Patrol Cabin and Fish Creek -- were officially established and stocked by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "The elk have always been here," Taylor said. "But we haven't encouraged them to stay." The Taylors have maintained elk-proof haystacks with fencing since 1955. Game and Fish provide the fence, which the Taylors install. It is because of people including Taylor who came to Jackson Hole as homesteaders -- and ultimately the 18,000 people in Teton County today -- that the elk feedground system was established....
'Fence Pulling' Becomes a Wilderness Pastime If you had wanted to visit with John Witzel one recent warm and cloudless day, you would have driven 20 miles outside town, along a dusty ranch road here in the high desert of southeastern Oregon, then jumped on a horse. You would have ridden five miles through the bull thistle cactus, juniper trees and lupin that dot the brown hills. Once you got to Straw Hat Pass and let your horse have a drink at Wildhorse Creek, you would have traveled up a rust-colored canyon and come upon Witzel, a sinewy man wearing jeans, chaps and a purple cowboy shirt. He stood firmly, his arms circling as he cranked a large aluminum spool, and his face was dripping sweat. Witzel looked as if he were trying to land a giant fish — though he was reeling in a 100-foot strand of rusty barbed-wire fence. Here in the nation's first officially designated "cow-free wilderness," Witzel and dozens of other volunteers have been using Witzel's invention, a non-mechanized roller, to remove mile after mile of fencing, not far from the border with Nevada....
Buffer zone around Fort Hood draws fire from landowners Army officials here hoped they could create a buffer zone around the nation's largest military base through friendly negotiations – offering neighbors cash to keep their land rural. What they didn't expect was that landowners would view the buffer zone as a battle front in an epic war over property rights. Fort Hood is seeking to participate in the new “Army Compatible Use Buffer” program, which is intended to prevent residential and commercial development near military training ranges. Authorized by Congress in 2003, the program is also intended to help protect wildlife habitat around Army bases and relieve the pressure to protect endangered species on bases. Fort Hood is considering a buffer of about 90,000 acres, said Maj. Gen. James Simmons, III Corps deputy commanding general and the post's No. 2 official. Gen. Simmons said the agreements would be completely voluntary, and the terms, such as the length of the agreement, would be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. “It is an incentive program that says, we want to pay you to keep your land in its current rural condition, as opposed to selling your land for a subdivision or business entity,” Simmons said....
House passes property rights protection act The U.S. House of Representatives is moving to curb the actions of local government and states that receive federal economic development funds who use eminent domain to acquire property for such purposes. The Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005 (HR 4128) was co-sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-New Mexico, who said the passage of the bill reaffirms owners' private property rights as a value of American society. But the bill, which now goes before the U.S. Senate, could have serious implications for the city of Albuquerque, which has already expended $1.6 million dollars to acquire blighted property in the Southeast Heights quadrant of the city that it would like to redevelop into affordable housing. If a version of the legislation is agreed to by both the House and Senate, President Bush must sign it before it can become law. Under the newest bill, a court can reimburse attorneys' fees to a property owner who was the target of an improper eminent domain action. The bill also extends its protection to farmers and ranchers with rural or agricultural properties. The bill does not prevent the continued use of eminent domain for public health and safety or other public uses, such as roads and public utilities....
Judge's land-use suit adds ethics to Measure 37 saga Just when Oregon's property rights drama seemed to be stabilizing, a Marion County judge wrote a Shakespearean twist. Paul Lipscomb, who overthrew Measure 37's predecessor four years ago, sued the state this week for approving his neighbor's application to split farmland into 5-acre plots. His litigation comes weeks after colleague Mary Mertens James tossed out Measure 37. The clincher: The case will be heard in Marion Circuit Court, where Lipscomb is the presiding judge. "You don't see this every day," said Kevin Neely of the state attorney general's office. No kidding. The saga -- which is raising new questions about Measure 37 and judicial ethics -- started in earnest five years ago....
Wolf v. Elk: Jury Still Out On Which Totemic Beast Will Rule The West Robert Fanning, Jr. calls the whole idea of wolf recovery a "fraud." He's the founder of the congenial-enough sounding "Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd," a Montana-based faction of 3,742 hunters, big game outfitters and fans of blood sports who, like Wyoming, are challenging the federal government's dominion over state wildlife rights. Admittedly, the group's name rings ironic‹ as a principal FNYEH goal is to restore elk to happy-making numbers, so members can resume hunting them before, as they say, wolves gobble up the last of their dearly beloved and decimated herds. "The introduction of the gray wolf, canis lupus, on top of the indigenous timber wolf, canis irremotus, well," Fanning paused, measuring his words, "I hesitate to even call it a 'reintroduction,' because it's not." While at a loss for the Latinate nuances in this crazy-making tongue of eco-speak, my inner city slicker still recognized potent fighting words when it heard them. Fanning is a gregariously well-spoken, passionately devout Catholic, ex-Notre Damer. At 55, the Pray, Mont., rancher, retired CEO and corporate refugee, with a degree in biology, is on a crusade to make "wolf control" a national debate. He'll even take it all the way to the Supreme Court, he says, if he has to....
Cattlemen oppose grazing cuts in wilderness bill A congressional hearing last week on a wilderness bill proposed by Rep. Mike Simpson R-Idaho, brought together some unlikely forces. The Idaho Cattle Association, federal land management agencies and singer-songwriter Carole King all expressed concerns about the bill, which sets aside 300,000 acres in the Boulder-White Cloud mountains in central Idaho as wilderness. The opposition, however, came about for quite different reasons. Cattlemen are concerned because the bill would end livestock grazing in much of the region. Ranchers have already had their grazing permits drastically reduced in the region, said ICA President-elect Mike Webster, a rancher from Roberts, Idaho. “Livestock grazing is a wise and sustainable use of the land and, as a sound management tool, should never be removed from consideration,” Webster said. In addition to its role is sustaining local economies in Idaho, public lands grazing fosters a good ecological balance as it promotes good grass growth, prevents or lessens the threat of wildfires and controls the spread of weeds, he said....
Island rounds up resident roamers -- In 1893, bison -- all but wiped out after decades of slaughter -- came to Antelope Island, but not because of the Endangered Species Act or a firestorm from environmentalists. They came because businessmen, cattle ranchers and hunters wanted their chance -- so common in 1850, so rare in 1890 -- to drop the one-ton beasts. By 1893, an Antelope Island State Park brochure estimates there were only about 800 bison -- down from a high of at least 45 million -- remaining in the United States that year, when the first dozen were shipped to the island. It wasn't a reintroduction. There is no evidence that bison roamed Antelope Island before Kit Carson named it for the herds of antelope found there. There were mule deer, coyotes, bobcats and bighorn sheep, and maybe the occasional mountain lion or elk, according to Clay Shelley, curator of Fielding Garr Ranch. But no bison. It wasn't an attempt to save the species, either. Opportunity simply knocked -- when William Glasmann couldn't draw people to his Buffalo Park on the Great Salt Lake's south shore, he put his dozen bison on the auction block -- and Antelope Island owner John Dooly answered....
Snowy plover hatchlings thrive on coast The western snowy plover had another good year on the Oregon Coast, with hatchlings reaching 77, the second-highest numbers on record. The 77 survived long enough during this year's nesting season to fly and leave their parents, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. There were 107 last year, but it's still more than twice the average of 37 since biologists began tracking the birds in 1990. As of now from 153 to 158 plovers live on the Oregon Coast, the highest number since monitoring began. In 1993, the shorebirds were listed by the Fish & Wildlife Service as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. "We are thrilled to see another record year for nesting plovers," said Kerrie Palermo, senior wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Land Management in Coos Bay. "We believe it shows all the effort we put into coordinated plover management is worth it. Of course, nature has a hand in this success as well." Biologists credit restored habitat, predator control and separation of beach users from plover nesting areas....
Bigfork bears like lunch served tall, thin Imagine a 300-pound beaver with a propensity for power poles. That's essentially what they're dealing with at Bigfork in northern Minnesota. It seems that tough-mouthed black bears there have a strange hankering for wooden power poles. The bruins are standing on their rear feet and chewing the poles to the core about 6 feet above ground, threatening a bear-induced blackout.
About 22 poles owned by North Itasca Electric Cooperative might need to be replaced, at a cost of up to $60,000....
Column: The big rush to drill There's a big push by the oil and gas industries and their political allies to reduce public oversight and roll back protections for wildlife in order to increase energy production in the West. For decades, the industry has complained that it is locked out of Western public lands that could free America from dependence on foreign oil. "We've taken large chunks of the country and put it off limits to any kind of exploration or development," Vice President Dick Cheney, a former oilman, told a town hall meeting in Arkansas last year. "Large parts of the Rocky Mountain West are off limits." Government data tell a far different story: Oil and gas companies have enjoyed widespread access to public lands but have produced precious little energy to show for it....
Old claims being mined for new digs At 11,400 feet, the chilly mountain wind whistles through the blank windows of the abandoned Paris Mill, a ghostly relic from the mining boom and an improbable anchor for a modern-day land rush. Here in Buckskin Gulch, 2 miles up a washboard road from the collection of false-fronted buildings of Alma, developers Bill Cincilla and Jeff Wright envision five new homes on some of Colorado's last affordable mountain real estate: patented mining claims. "This is one of those rare opportunities where we have a unique site, just absolutely drop-dead gorgeous surroundings, where we can do something like this," said Cincilla, an engineer describing his first foray as a developer. They have a contract on four adjacent mining claims that cover 94 acres and currently are listed together for $445,000, while similar undeveloped home sites 20 minutes away in Breckenridge fetch as much as $1 million an acre. Cincilla and Wright are among a growing legion of real estate investors driven by high prices out of Colorado's resort towns and up into the nearby hills, where mining claims dating from the late 1800s remain available for development - and present a lingering conundrum for government agencies, conservation groups and historical preservationists....
Congressmen believe criticism is misleading Congressman Greg Walden said criticism by some environmentalists of the bill he and fellow Northwest Rep. Brian Baird introduced to speed up logging dead timber and planting new trees after catastrophic storms and wildfires has been misleading or downright preposterous. Walden, a Republican from Oregon, and Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, introduced the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act on Thursday in the nation’s capital. It has 98 co-sponsors representing both parties. “Today in America’s forests, it can take three years for the federal government to cut a burned, dead tree after a fire,” Walden said, and by then, most trees have rotted or become bug infested. His bill would speed up the scientific and environmental review process to about 120 days but still provide 90 days for public comment and preserve the right to administrative and judicial appeal....
Ferret recovery blooms in prairie "mansion" Unceremoniously named "Son of Alice" after his mother, the recent transfer from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs is one of about 200 ferrets housed at the new Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center. The $8 million facility north of Wellington in Larimer County is the epicenter for national efforts to help recover North America's only native ferret, among the nation's most endangered species. Once abundant in the West, the ferrets began disappearing at the turn of the century as a result of prairie dog eradication efforts and disease. In the mid-1970s, wildlife experts thought the ferret was extinct, until finding a small group near Meeteetse, Wyo....
Eskimos turn to supersonic 'grenade' for humane whale kills A supersonic explosive has begun to replace Yankee whaling-era black powder as Alaska Natives seek more humane weaponry in the traditional hunt for bowhead whales. "It's a lot safer," said Eugene Brower, a Barrow whaling captain who chairs the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission's weapons improvement program. Brower trains Native whaling captains to handle a harpoon-launched grenade loaded with penthrite, a World War I-era explosive used in demolition. "They love it," Brower said of captains from the North Slope villages of Kaktovik, Nuiqsit and Barrow who have converted to the penthrite device for the spring and fall hunts. "It's four times the strength of black powder. With black powder, the meat has a gas taste."....
Lawmaker warns of water concerns in arid Nevada Nevada, the most arid state in the nation, needs a thorough inventory of its water resources because of an unrelenting, growth-induced demand on those resources, a state lawmaker said Friday. Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, also said at a Carson River symposium that there are many questions about water right transfers and the point at which the state water engineer steps in to prevent excessive pumping. Goicoechea, a rancher who serves on an interim legislative panel studying possible water law changes, also said in an interview that he'd favor a new law calling for forfeiture of a water right for violations such as pumping too much. Currently, he said such violations are considered misdemeanors punishable by a fine of up to $500, so there's not much pressure on a violator to honor a cease-and-desist order from the state....
Conservationist: Rio Grande is headed for a train wreck It happened in late October 2001. The mighty Rio Grande, storied river of cowboy lore, icon of the West, petered out before it reached the sea. And the same thing happened the next year. A river that once disgorged a vast plume of fresh water into the Gulf of Mexico was transformed into little more than a brook that finally disappeared in the dry, flat country on the Texas and Mexico border, about 100 yards from the sea. To be sure, the mouth of the Rio Grande dried up during a drier-than-normal year that parched the western United States. But the drought was not the only reason the Rio Grande ran out of water, or even the major reason. From Colorado through New Mexico and all along the Texas and Mexico border that the river forms, the Rio Grande is tapped for agriculture and, in places, drinking water; so much so that the river’s flow is but a fraction of what it once was — and demand for its water continues to grow....
When Cleaner Air Is a Biblical Obligation In their long and frustrated efforts pushing Congress to pass legislation on global warming, environmentalists are gaining a new ally. With increasing vigor, evangelical groups that are part of the base of conservative support for leading Republicans are campaigning for laws that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which scientists have linked with global warming. In the latest effort, the National Association of Evangelicals, a nonprofit organization that includes 45,000 churches serving 30 million people across the country, is circulating among its leaders the draft of a policy statement that would encourage lawmakers to pass legislation creating mandatory controls for carbon emissions. Environmentalists rely on empirical evidence as their rationale for Congressional action, and many evangelicals further believe that protecting the planet from human activities that cause global warming is a values issue that fulfills Biblical teachings asking humans to be good stewards of the earth. "Genesis 2:15," said Richard Cizik, the association's vice president for governmental affairs, citing a passage that serves as the justification for the effort: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."....
Sentries in U.S. Seek Early Signs of the Avian Flu With the country waiting nervously for avian flu to arrive, catching wild birds is no hobby. It has become part of a national early detection effort, and Ms. Lee, a researcher at the University of California here, is a sentry on the country's epidemiological ramparts. She is one of hundreds of ornithologists, veterinarians, amateur bird-watchers, park rangers and others being recruited by the National Wildlife Health Center to join a surveillance effort along the major American migratory flyways. They will test wild birds caught in nets; birds shot by hunters on public lands, who must check in with game wardens; and corpses from large bird die-offs in public parks or on beaches. The plan also calls for sampling bodies of water for the influenza virus, which is shed in bird feces. And it is designating some ducks and geese - like those in backyard flocks or living year-round in park ponds - as "sentinels" to be captured, tested, released and periodically retested....
Help sought in cattle shootings The Oregon State Police put out a call for help, and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association pledged up to $1,000 in reward money after a roadside cattle shooting in rural Douglas County. On Wednesday, Smith River landowners added $4,000 to the reward, according to rancher Paul Bailey. Trooper Levi Harris said two black Angus cows were shot and killed in the Oct. 29 incident. Bailey, who lives at milepost 22, east of Reedsport up the Smith River, said it’s the second livestock shooting incident in as many years. In 2004 Bailey found a gunshot-killed calf near the county road. This time, he recalled hearing explosions – he thought maybe it was thunder – then hearing a diesel pickup truck drive off. Bailey found one cow, a bullet in its skull, Oct. 30. He called OSP. Harris said he found the second body while processing the crime scene Oct. 31....
85-year-old resident sells fresh eggs from his Menifee Road home The original sign was as sparse as the dirt road along which it was posted: "I got eggs." Frank Gomez never intended to spend his retirement selling eggs, however. The lifelong rancher and 13-year Menifee resident just wanted to keep active, and maintaining animals seemed second nature to him. "I bought so many chickens, so I had too many eggs," said Gomez, 85, whose street, Menifee Road, has since been paved. "So my wife said to put up a sign. That started the egg business." Soon after he bought the Menifee property, he was tending to sheep, goats, rabbits and chickens. "Now all I got are chickens," he said. "At my age, I couldn't handle anything else."....
McWhat? When Veronica Crowell walks her dog, Roscoe, in Riverside Park, as she often does, people always ask what kind of dog he is. When she tells them he's a McNab, they say, "A what?" McNabs were originally bred by a rancher named Alexander McNab, who moved from Scotland to Northern California in the mid-1800s. They are still bred in the area, mostly as cattle dogs, said Art Goldsmith of West Sacramento, Calif., who has owned and bred McNabs for 17 years. McNabs "are probably the toughest cattle dog in the world" and smarter than most people, Goldsmith said. "It's amazing what you can teach them. You can teach them anything." McNabs are not recognized by the American Kennel Club but are registered with the National Stockdog Registry. Goldsmith said McNabs are one-person dogs that are natural retrievers and tireless workers. "They will work all day and all night," he said....
Hall Ranch: A heritage of hospitality The Hall Ranch in Bruneau River Valley is not just a gathering place for horses and cattle. For more than 100 years, the 300-acre site and its 1879 two-story farmhouse have been a social center for the valley’s rural community. “At one time it was the finest home in Bruneau Valley,” said Berklee Cudmore of Boise, 80, whose grandparents, Albert and Mary Loveridge, owned the ranch prior to 1917. “The upstairs was a big room where they used to hold dances. At that time it was probably the only place large enough to have a big crowd.” The population was smaller back then, she said, and “of course, everybody knew everybody else.” In 1917, Fred and Betty Hall bought the ranch, moving in from a more remote homestead so their children could attend school. Their last child, Tom, the youngest of five, was born at the ranch house in 1923 and still lives there....