NEWS ROUNDUP

To die on the plain And it was there on the plain last spring, with life raging all around her, where 46-year-old Marlene Braun ended her life with a blue steel .38-caliber revolver. While the sound of the discharge slowly dissolved in the valley, BLM officials in Bakersfield, who received an e-mail from Braun, began scrambling. Braun was the Carrizo Plain National Monument Manager; a position that was created after President Clinton proclaimed the Carrizo a national monument days before he left office in 2001. As its first manager, Braun was hired to carry out a controversial mandate: developing a resource management plan that would put for the first time the health of native species ahead of cattle grazing interests at the Carrizo. During her tenure the Carrizo became a symbolic theater for a heated debate over private grazing on public lands. "I had been working on [the plan] for over 2 years," Braun wrote in a 30-page chronicle of events, recently provided to New Times, leading to her own death....
Milestone Approaches in Bid to Restore the Great Plains "Got to feed my buffies," Bill Willcutt, a black silk kerchief tied around his neck, says as he jockeys a pickup truck into place behind a large, round bale of hay. Two metal arms swing down and pick up the roll and drop it in front of 16 bison in a pen made of hay bales. Mr. Willcutt is no ordinary rancher. He manages more than 31,000 acres here in the heart of Phillips County, one of the most remote counties in the continental United States. He has been entrusted with the bison, which are seed stock for the start of a restoration project by the American Prairie Foundation, which owns 11,000 acres and leases 20,000 more. On Nov. 17, the bison will be turned out of their pen onto the dun-colored prairie in the middle of their ancestral home. The foundation's project is one of several major independent efforts under way across the West intended to re-create North America's ancient prairie. The players include the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund and Ted Turner, the media mogul, who owns a large bison herd....
Roads to Nowhere Then, late last year, Habbeshaw and Smith upped the ante, erecting county markers on many of the same disputed roadways, often side-by-side with the replaced BLM markers. There was a stark difference between the two competing signs: The BLM has banned all-terrain and off-highway vehicles, while the county has explicitly allowed them. This added gas to a smoldering fire, igniting questions about the county’s conduct. “These unilateral actions taken by Kane County are hugely problematic,” said BLM spokesman Don Banks. “It shows a clear disregard for governmental cooperation and clear disregard for the law.” In the face of continued defiance, the BLM referred the case to U.S. Attorney Paul Warner’s office. But this new round of legal action has been slow to come. Some wonder why government agencies seem hesitant to litigate. Some wonder if political motivations aren’t at play. But Kane County officials have no problem being sued. What’s more, they intend on making this an all-out fight. The county has retained the high-profile legal team of Ron Yengich and Shawn Welch, and the more Habbeshaw talks, the clearer it becomes that he relishes the situation....
In the Tetons with grizzly bear researchers As we unload our backpacks on an aluminum-gray day, an elk hunter warns us of a grizzly bear lurking in the willows up the trail. It is feeding on a carcass and, as everyone in the group knows, a grizzly dining on elk meat doesn't like uninvited guests. The bear had lunged at a hunter on horseback earlier this morning. It's no surprise that we're in the company of bears. I'm tagging along with Shannon Podruzny, an ecologist who studies grizzlies, and her team of researchers. They're heading into the woods to unlock more of the mysteries of one of the most fascinating and fearsome animals on earth. The idea is to study the grizzly's habitat, its diet and daybeds, but not to encounter the big bruins....
Report says preserve’s trust must improve A fire plan, liability coverage and an annual audit are just a few of the issues the Valles Caldera Trust needs to resolve in managing the 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report released Wednesday. Frequent turnover in the trust’s board members and key staff has further hindered efforts to manage the preserve, said the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. The board in general agreed with a draft of the report but believes the trust already is addressing some of the concerns, board chairwoman Tracy Hephner said. “We didn’t think we were perfect,” she said of the preserve’s first review by the GAO. “I actually think it’s helpful at this point in the organization’s development.”....
National Energy Corridors May Impact Navajo Reservation Land U.S. government plans to designate national energy corridors on federal lands in 11 western states surrounding the Navajo Nation, appear to be building toward a legal takeover of Indian land through rights-of-way agreements the tribe could be forced to accept. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 enacted in August directs the secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and the Interior to designate federal land in 11 western states for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, and electricity transmission and distribution facilities, or energy corridors. The federal agencies must amend their land use plans to designate the series of corridors on federal lands in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and have been conducting hearings on the issue, though none in Navajo Indian Country. mapFederal lands are a combination of public domain lands, including state property and lands administered by agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which holds 56 million acres in trust status on behalf of Indian nations and individuals....
Wyoming governor: Don't wait to delist grizzlies Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he hopes there's no delay in removing Wyoming's grizzly bears from the federal endangered species list. This week's announcement by the federal government that it intends to remove grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area from the list gives the state a chance to chart a positive future for the animals, Freudenthal said. Freudenthal said he sees the grizzly bear at a crossroads in Wyoming. If the proposed federal rule announced this week becomes final and the grizzly is removed from the endangered species list, he said, the fear and hostility that he senses are currently building in the state will ease. He says that would benefit both the bears and the people who live with them. U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton announced federal plans to remove the grizzly from the endangered species list Tuesday. She said they could be removed from the list as soon as next year but acknowledged that litigation from environmental groups could delay the move....
Group opposes ‘rags’ over river When she looks at the Arkansas River, Cathey Young sees something that won’t be made more beautiful by a giant canopy of fabric. She doesn’t look at the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s conceptual drawings and see anything she’d call art. Instead, she sees traffic backed up for miles, ambulances that can’t get up or down U.S. Highway 50 and birds and bighorn sheep frightened away from their river. “We just don’t want to see this thing come,” Young said of the proposal to drape six miles of the river with huge panels of clear fabric....
Long delays seen for pipeline plan Approval for a 235-mile pipeline to bring water to Las Vegas from rural Nevada could face long delays, legislators were told Tuesday. If the Bureau of Land Management approves the right of way for the $2 billion project, opponents could appeal first to an Interior Department review board and then to federal courts. State BLM Director Ron Wenker told the Legislative Committee on Public Lands that the agency will start accepting public comment next year on the application to transport water from White Pine and Lincoln counties to the Las Vegas area. Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, said there could be objections to the right of way "by third parties -- environmentalists come to mind."....
Loophole For Hunters Targeted Big-game hunters will find it far more difficult and less lucrative to donate their extra trophy mounts and claim charitable tax deductions under new tax rules being debated this week on the Senate floor. Tightening the trophy-mount tax break, and making sure that museums do not accept donated items with the intention of quickly selling them off, have been identified as priorities by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. New language that would substantially close the loopholes was voted out of the Finance Committee on Tuesday. Grassley said yesterday that he expects Senate approval and that "I hope my House colleagues will see it's only fair to taxpayers to rein in trophy abuse." The loophole Grassley said he is seeking to close allows big-game hunters to deduct some or all of the cost of their safaris if they later donate to a museum some of the trophy animals they kill and have mounted....
Where medicine, fishery management merge Today, modern fish culture and medicine again merge at the Bozeman station where Henshall once lived and worked. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership (AADAP) program is based there. This national program is designed to generate, compile, and manage much of the complex information needed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for one purpose — to get new aquatic animal drugs and theraputants on the market and in use. No matter if the drug is to be used for treating parasitic infection in largemouth bass, gill disease in walleye, or bacterial infection in salmon and trout — fish you might find on the end of your line or under plastic at the grocery — AADAP plays a major role in channeling that information to the FDA. Dr. Dave Erdahl, AADAP director, holds a shovelnose sturgeon from the Yellowstone River. The fish is used as a surrogate to the endangered pallid sturgeon to determine dispersal patterns of larval fish drifting in the current. It's an arduous process to get a new aquatic animal drug approved, and it can take years of research and millions of dollars....
Senators: Take USDA logo off imported beef Several senators are proposing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture take its logo off certain cuts of imported meat, a move that could make the market more favorable for some U.S. ranchers. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit labels such as "USDA prime" or "USDA choice" on packages of imported beef and lamb. The bill, which is co-sponsored by North Dakota Democrats Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, would prevent the Agricultural Marketing Service from grading those meats. Johnson's bill is in response to several delays for a mandatory meat labeling law authorized in the 2002 farm bill. Originally scheduled to begin in 2004, the law was delayed until 2006 two years ago and then, just last month, to 2008. On Thursday, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and other senators from the region will introduce separate legislation that would repeal the most recent delay, moving the law's start date back to 2006....
U.S. officials to seek lifting all mad cow restrictions on Canadian cattle The Department of Agriculture will propose by next year lifting all mad cow-related restrictions on imports of Canadian cattle, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The restrictions, in place since Canada's first case of mad cow disease was disclosed in 2003, were eased earlier this year to allow younger cattle to enter the United States. A prohibition has remained on Canadian animals older than 30 months. Levels of infection from the disease are thought to increase with age. Industry officials argue that rules for how cattle are slaughtered would keep the disease from ever entering the human or animal food supply. There has also been a ban on the shipment of Canadian beef and dairy breeding cattle to the United States. The USDA said it is writing a rule that would lift remaining restrictions on Canadian cattle. Ron DeHaven, administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the rule will be proposed in six to eight months....
Panel targets border policies The House battle over border security began yesterday, with the Homeland Security Committee passing an amendment that would compensate local governments for some incurred law-enforcement costs as part of a broad immigration-enforcement bill. The overall bill, which would end the government's "catch-and-release" policy for illegals from countries other than Mexico and require a border-barrier system, is expected to pass the committee today. The measure also would require the Homeland Security and Defense departments to coordinate a border strategy and would require the former to provide 100 percent coverage of the borders through fences, aerial surveillance and other technology. Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, said the Border Patrol refuses to police some areas within five miles of the border and that the fences of ranchers in his district are being destroyed by illegal border crossings....
Rodeo champ died tragically It began as a celebratory day with floats, a marching band and several riders on horseback participating in a Chandler rodeo parade on Arizona Avenue. It ended shortly thereafter in tragedy when two runaway horses plowed into world champion bareback rider Carl Dossey, sending the retired cowboy tumbling to the pavement with a serious head injury and broken arm. Dossey, who was 37 at the time of the 1955 accident, never regained consciousness and died early the next morning. "He was a hero," said Eddie Dossey, Carl's son. "He saved my life." Carl Dossey, who won the bareback crown in 1940 and later became a respected rodeo judge for 12 years, is one of eight former athletes, three coaches and the 1976 state champion Chandler High basketball team being inducted into the Chandler Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday at Hamilton High. Eddie and other witnesses remember Carl putting himself between his son and the two horses that had bolted from a buggy about three blocks behind the Dosseys. Eddie, who suffered a broken right leg when the Shetland pony he was riding fell to the asphalt, and other witnesses said Carl's response also prevented the horses from veering into several band members....