NEWS ROUNDUP

More Than 50 Black Bears Killed in N.J. As opponents turned out to denounce them, hunters killed more than 50 bears Monday at the start of a state-authorized hunt aimed at thinning New Jersey's burgeoning bear population. The hunt, restricted to the state's northwestern corner and open to about 4,400 hunters with permits, got under way in freezing weather after legal challenges by animal rights groups failed. Black bears, once near extinction in the state, are now a common sight, menacing people, scampering through yards and rummaging in trash. "Bears are beautiful animals, but they've got to be controlled," said Joe Giunta, 59, who bagged one Monday morning....
Environmentalists, rancher challenge northwestern New Mexico pipeline A rancher and an environmental group are challenging a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to build an eight-mile pipeline through areas set aside for bald eagles and deer. The administrative challenge by Tweeti Blancett and Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians also raised concerns about the pipeline's impact on livestock grazing. They want the BLM to reroute the pipeline away from sensitive areas to lessen its impact on endangered species, wildlife and livestock. The challenge asks the BLM's state director, Linda Rundell, to review the Farmington field office's decision to approve the pipeline, contending the approval violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the BLM, said Monday the agency was still reviewing the request to take another look at the decision....
Drilling vs. dwelling Bailey Dotson walks across a 160-acre field that once produced corn and sunflowers, but will soon grow another crop: homes for families flocking to northern Colorado. “You could see that happening in the late '90s,” Dotson, the chief executive of Best Buy Homes, said of the northward movement out of the Denver area, 25 miles to the south. But one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation sits on top of one of the more productive natural gas fields, setting up a collision of developers, land owners and companies drawn by soaring gas prices and demand for energy. Land owners, farmers and ranchers along this northern stretch of Colorado's Front Range have long coexisted with oil and gas wells. New tensions are erupting, however, as energy companies ask to drill more wells amid the new subdivisions and shopping centers. Area residents and business people have filed a protest, worried about losses in property values....
Gas producer aims to send water to reservoir A massive coal-bed methane development proposed for the west side of the Hanna Basin would direct most of its production water into Seminoe Reservoir, according to company plans. The Bureau of Land Management released its environmental study last week of Dudley and Associates LCC's proposed Seminoe Road Gas Development Project. The company is seeking federal permission to drill and develop up to 1,240 new coal-bed methane wells in the area, which is located about 20 miles north of Sinclair in Carbon County. Coal-bed methane is found by tapping into reservoirs of gas buried deep in coal beds. The natural gas is trapped in the fissures and fractures of the beds by the pressure of underground aquifers. The gas is released when the water is pumped to the surface, easing the pressure and allowing the gas to follow the water up. Water disposal has been one of the significant environmental concerns in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, where the majority of the state's coal-bed methane development has occurred. The BLM's Seminoe Road project study estimates from 29 to 44 gallons of water per minute would be produced from each well. Molvar estimated that would initially result in between 51 million and 78 million gallons of water per day being discharged....
Map maker, map maker Reed mines streams of scientific and geographic data, contemporary satellite images and historic photos in his work as a map maker. He's not a cartographer in the classic sense. Instead, he merges geographic information with existing maps to provide clients with a better understanding of place. The process, known as geographic information systems or GIS, is an exploding field, used by world health researchers, environmentalists, social scientists, even ordinary people trying to locate their house on a downloaded satellite image. A month ago he knocked off a map for environmental activist Mary O'Brien that shows how the embattled West Eugene Parkway cuts through wetlands that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to set aside as critical habitat for three endangered species - two plants and a butterfly. Now Reed is putting the finishing touches on a more complex map for the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council that pinpoints all of the culverts in the basin - more than 500 - that move water under roads. The map shows the waterways, from the rivers themselves to their feeder creeks and streams; the known areas where endangered and threatened fish live and spawn in the watershed; and the mix of public and private landowners in the area - from timber companies to the U.S. Forest Service....
Editorial: Protecting pineros The truism, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," applies to the U.S. Forest Service contractor abuses of migrant workers reported by The Bee in 1993 and again in November. But with a renewed commitment to congressional oversight, that pattern of abuse without penalties can be broken. Four members of Congress requested hearings. All that remains is for House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, to schedule them. After The Bee series "Shame of the Forest" in 1993, the House Committee on Government Operations held hearings and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service ordered a crackdown on contractors who abuse migrant workers in the agency's tree-planting and thinning programs. Then-Chief F. Dale Robertson issued a nationwide directive ordering stricter scrutiny of suspiciously low bids by contractors, better monitoring of working conditions and pay, and more cooperation with other agencies. In November, The Bee's series "The Pineros: Men of the Pines" revealed that little has changed. It documented clear safety violations; unreported injuries; workers cheated out of pay; contractors with a history of violating federal labor laws and government contracts still getting jobs; Forest Service staff witnessing violations but doing nothing....
Utah loses nuclear waste round The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Utah's request to hear its case involving state laws designed to regulate and tax the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear waste storage site. This was the state's last chance in this portion of its fight against the site. The state's laws may not be able to block it, but Denise Chancellor, an assistant attorney general, said there are "still a number of avenues" the state can take to attempt to block the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies from storing its spent nuclear fuel on the Goshutes' Skull Valley land in Tooele County. Between 1998 and 2001, in an attempt to discourage the project, the state passed several laws to regulate and tax the 40,000 tons of used nuclear fuel slated to go to the PFS site. But a federal judge in Salt Lake City struck down the laws, ruling that federal law pre-empts state laws in matters of nuclear safety. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and Monday's decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case keeps the laws unenforceable....
BLM is looking to sell 188 acres on North Spit The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to sell 188 acres of Coos Bay North Spit land and is taking public comments on the proposal. The agency is beginning an environmental assessment process to offer for lease or sale the parcel located along TransPacific Parkway. It’s just south of the Weyerhaeuser effluent pond and southwest of the BLM boat ramp. The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay wants to lease and then buy the land. BLM plans to maintain public access to nearby lands through a right-of-way....
Promised lands Thanks to the single-minded dedication of conservation groups, land trusts, conservancies, private companies and government organizations, forgotten canyons are becoming nature preserves, oil lands are returning to wetlands, and parklands are expanding into larger wildlife sanctuaries. As communities push back with evermore vigor, the wild side of the region is becoming as vital as the subdivisions that edge up against it. Whales, blue herons, falcons and gnatcatchers live in our midst, and if we dare to look ahead, we might find an urban landscape in search of harmony with nature. Here are five sites where the future is circling back to the past....
Taos Ski Valley: Sheer pluck In the spring of 1954, Ernie Blake and his friend Pete Totemoff hiked through snow to an old mining camp at the back of a remote canyon in northern New Mexico. They looked up at a towering mountain. "Pete, this is the place," Blake said. "It's too far from anywhere," Totemoff said. "The slopes are too steep." "This is the place," Blake said. And so began the legend of Taos Ski Valley. Fifty years after its 1955 opening, Taos has earned the highest compliment in the sport. It's a skiers' mountain. "In the ski universe, Taos is an American classic, no question about it," says Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of Ski Magazine. "It's a place where you truly earn your turns."....
Free-range cows The search for the wayward cows continues. Long before Reggie the alligator made headlines by evading trappers at Lake Machado near Harbor City the feral cattle of Cheeseboro and Palo Camado canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area stayed one hoof ahead of authorities. Though rarely seen, rangers insist the heifers are holed up in oaks and chaparral in the canyons and rolling hills near Simi Valley. Five years ago, 15 head of livestock escaped from a pen in Ahmanson Ranch and disappeared into the national park. A break in the search came in September when a wildfire stripped away vegetation and forced the cows into the open. A rancher who owns the cows baited a pen with corn, hay and other cow chow and snared six hungry animals. Nine renegade cattle remain — the smartest ones left in the herd — and continue to evade their captors. How can livestock — 1,000 pounds of hoofed sirloin — elude capture for five years in a popular park adjacent to a busy freeway? Bill Plummer, an animal science professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, says farm animals unleash their wild instincts after an escape....
Foundations fuel equine education The Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) are launching a public-education initiative called HORSE FACTS. "The goal of this program (is) to promote the little-known fact that biomedical research involving lab animals plays a key role in advancing veterinary medicine as well as human medicine," says FBR President Frankie L. Trull. "The fact that horses, house pets, wildlife and endangered species benefit from biomedical research involving lab animals is one that has long been missing from public discussion on this subject." The program, planned to be announced tomorrow during the 51st-annual AAEP Conference, is geared toward those who ride, raise, train, race and show horses, as well as other equine enthusiasts....
Carey horse trainer favors buffalo over cows Move over cows. Horse trainers are finding it better to work with buffalo. Leta West, of the James E. West Memorial Ranch (named for her late husband) in Dry Creek, is doing just that. West has 13 head of buffalo that she keeps on her ranch, using them primarily for working her many horses. "Buffalo are better than cows to work the horses on, because cows get sour and won't move," West said. "But a buffalo is very smart, they love to run, and really seem to enjoy the exercise." Riding horses through, around, behind, buffalo or cows, make them "cowey" -- slang for a horse that will watch the animal it is pursuing. This coweyness is what ranchers, ropers, cutters and working cow people are looking for. Traditionally a horse trainer will use cows for this practice, West said, "There are a lot of people moving to buffalo for training working cow horses."....
Young farrier brings experience, love of work to craft Two things become apparent when visiting with Avery Bush of rural Gordon, Neb., about his chosen occupation of farrier. He has a broad base of knowledge and experience and a love of all things equine. Avery left home a few days before his 14th birthday and has traveled all across the country doing a variety of work, starting with his first job of working for a horse trader for $10 a day. He ultimately settled on being a farrier and has worked at it full-time since 1998 and part-time for 10 years prior to that. “When I first started shoeing all I had to work with was a railroad iron, claw hammer and a rasp,” he recalled. Avery got his start indirectly by riding bulls and broncs in the PRCA for a number of years. After winning a bull riding in Salt Lake City he took his winnings and attended shoeing school at Oklahoma State University. Avery has tallied an enormous amount of life experiences in the horse world. He has started young reining and cutting prospects and still does some horse training. He gathered wild burros and horses for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and when he was in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada he hired on for “Wild Cow Contracts.” This work was precipitated by large ranching concerns who hired cowboys to gather wild cattle that had been missed at various gatherings, with the ranchers splitting up the bunch at the end of the gather....
It's All Trew: Small storage drawer contained treasure of supplies, memories Gerald Atchison of Amarillo reminded me of a special place in many early day homes. At his house it was "Papa's Drawer." At the Trew house it was "Mama's Drawer." This small storage area, usually a drawer in the kitchen cabinets or buffet, contained a treasure trove of tools and supplies needed for everyday residence operation. Money was scarce and times were hard. Pennies and nickels were as valuable then as dollars are today. "Waste not, want not" was the popular advice at the time. Nothing was thrown away without examination. This do-it-yourself tool kit and supply source contained pliers, screwdrivers, whet-rock, old ice pick, a dull pocket knife, an assortment of small nails, screws, tacks, a roll of Bull Dog friction tape, a small roll of black stove wire, a sack sewing needle and a needle for adding air to a football. It might also contain the small pump to add air to a gas iron....