NEWS ROUNDUP
Column: When the wolf is at the door It takes an idealist to think livestock, hunting, academic and ecology groups could agree about what to do when wolves move into Utah. The legendary predator creates a visceral reaction. To ranchers and hunters, that reaction is strongly negative. Most view wolves as a threat to sheep, livestock and big game. Ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts see the big predator as not only a symbol of wilderness, but, at the top of the food chain, as a necessary component of a functioning ecosystem....
Ranchers reach easement deal A conservation easement signed by two ranchers will restrict development on their 6,300-acre property in the Big Hole Valley. In the agreement with The Nature Conservancy, John and Gail Dooling forego the right to subdivide their land but retain the right to continue current ranch operations. The agreement is binding on any future owners of the ranch. "This valley is one of the few that is still wide open, with very little development," John Dooling said. "I'd like this valley to stay in agriculture and wish other ranchers here would sign conservation easements to make sure we keep the valley like it is."....
Coyotes are a menace for local ranchers and farmers They’re cunning. They’re clever. And they’re everywhere. The critters in question are the coyote — and area hunters revere them as some of the smartest varmints they have ever met. Coyote are can also be cunning in the way they capture their prey, he said. “They know when an animal is at its weakest point,” Tivis said, pointing out coyotes will attack young cattle on the back of their leg, ripping out their hamstrings. No longer able to stand, the crippled calves collapse in a heap. Tivis also said he has seen coyotes snatch the calf from a cow giving birth. “One coyote will distract the mother,” he said, “while another one snatches the calf.” A carnivorous animal not much bigger than most family dogs, the coyote is one of the most adaptable yet hated animals in the Southwest....
Whistleblower files complaint, claims Forest Service retribution The U.S. Forest Service has suspended a top regional official who recently complained that some of the agency's managers ignored rules and environmental laws in spraying pesticides and weed-killing chemicals on forests in the Southwest. Doug Parker, pesticide coordinator and assistant director of forestry and forest health for the agency's Southwestern Region, is accused of failing to follow a direct order to train and certify employees each month in the use of pesticides. Parker, who has worked for the agency for nearly 38 years, also is accused of failing to submit one monthly progress report on the training. Deputy Regional Forester Lucia Turner spelled out the reasons for the 10-day suspension in a letter sent to Parker on Thursday....
Hotshots cut to restore meadows Today, there are meadows where yesterday there were none, thanks to the Sierra Hotshots. The 20-person U.S. Forest Service firefighting crew cut a wide swath through the pines Friday, and there wasn't a blaze anywhere to fight. Instead of battling fires, the hotshots were fighting the growth of pine trees - using chain saws to carve out clearings in Black Hills National Forest about 10 miles southwest of Spearfish. Forest Service officials believe the clearings - once a common part of the forest ecosystem that has been lost in many areas to encroaching pine growth - will benefit wildlife and allow aspen and other vegetation to flourish. They will also create safety zones that might save the lives of firefighters in the future....
Wyoming opal rush causes headaches for federal land managers The scattershot markers of different sizes and colors stand out among the sagebrush with nothing more than a lonely, sauntering wild horse as far as the eye can see. The markers are monuments to a 21st century rush of prospectors. They descended on this remote, hilly area in south-central Wyoming last March with grand hopes and dreams of striking it rich by finding a precious gemstone called opal. The rush caught federal officials off guard, resulted in a bureaucratic paper jam that has delayed actual mining and prompted authorities to take measures to protect an endangered flower from being trampled....
Ranchers alarmed by brucellosis in elk The upper Madison Valley is the state of Montana's hot spot for brucellosis in elk, state officials told a group of ranchers here Thursday. But despite a spike in the infection rate that showed up in Madison Valley elk based on random sampling, officials said a much larger sample is needed to discern whether the disease is spreading among elk. "We don't want to be pushing any panic buttons," Montana State Veterinarian Tom Linfield told a skeptical crowd of about 60 people, mostly area ranchers. "But we are facing a risk of infection from elk-cattle interaction."....
SUMMARY OF 21ST MEETING OF THE CITES ANIMALS COMMITTEE The 21st meeting of the Animals Committee (AC-21) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convened from 20-25 May 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. On 20 and 21 May, a joint session with the 15th session of CITES Plants Committee (PC-15) was held. The Animals Committee (AC) discussed 23 agenda items on issues including: the implementation of the Strategic Vision until 2007 and the establishment of priorities; the review of trade in animal species included in the Appendices and significant trade in Appendix II species; transport of live animals; and trade in sea cucumbers, sharks and great apes. The joint session addressed issues of common interest to both Committees, including: the Strategic Vision and Plan until 2013; the review of Scientific Committees and regional communication; the study of production systems for specimens of CITES-listed species; and the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)....
Editorial: The Path to Splendor The mission of the National Park Service has been inherently contradictory since its establishment by Congress in 1916: to conserve federal lands while maximizing public enjoyment of them. This has frustrated both those who want the parks pristine and those who want comfortable lodging and other amenities — to say nothing of the park managers who try to satisfy these competing interests. An immediate case in point is the much-heralded, and somewhat maligned, approach to the base of 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park. Here's the conflict in microcosm: How to make the falls pleasantly accessible to more than 1 million visitors each year without trashing the natural setting....
Column: One Man's Meat Is Another Man's Money I yield to no man in my appreciation for beef, so I don't need the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board to tell me what's for dinner. If I were completely unconcerned about cholesterol, beef might be for breakfast and lunch too. I'm not the only one who finds the ads unhelpful. Some of the ranchers who are forced to pay for them, through a government-imposed annual assessment of $1 per head of cattle, complain that generic beef promotion undermines their attempts to distinguish their products from the other guy's. If consumers believe, as the ads imply, that all beef is pretty much the same, they are not likely to specifically look for, say, grass-fed beef, Angus beef, or Hereford beef. These dissenters argue that forcing them to subsidize messages with which they disagree violates their constitutional right to freedom of speech, which includes the right to remain silent....
California cattle truck restrictions impact ranchers A California vehicle code limiting the types of livestock trucks that can move cattle out of Humboldt County is forcing ranchers into a legislative battle during the busy shipping season. A local exemption allows semi-trailers up to 70 feet long on narrow portions of area highways. But a clause in the vehicle code states 65- to 70-foot trucks need 40 feet from the kingpin to the rear axle, which livestock trucks don’t have. The 70-foot trucks are the standardized method of hauling cattle. “That clause effectively negates our 70-foot exemption,” said Humboldt Auction Yard owner and rancher Lee Mora in a phone interview from his Fortuna, Calif., office. “Those are the only trucks available to us.” Buyers from outside the state buy 90 percent of the cattle raised in Humboldt County. The buyers demand the larger trucks that give cattle more room to lie down, which is better for their health, said Mora....
The Horse Hugger MATT Farley does not look like a touchy-feely guy. Standing 6 feet 1, weighing 240 pounds and packing a tin of chewing tobacco in his back pocket, the horse trainer looks like a cross between a linebacker and a cowboy. But his approach to animals is hardly macho. "Oh, he loves the rubbin'," said Farley as he used a stick-and-string device to massage the underbelly of a paint horse named Mike. "Rub, rub, rub." A few moments later, Farley lay peacefully on Mike's back, giving the huge animal the weight of his body. Farley and his wife, April Schneider, are the owners of Park Pacifica Stables, a 120-acre ranch in a valley east of Linda Mar. Both grew up with horses, but Farley, son of a Gold Country rancher, learned the "old school" approach to training horses....
Coverage Of Dutch-Oven Event To Air In July The Food Network has announced the premier showing of the Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off on the "All-American Festivals" show. The premier is scheduled for Monday, July 25. The Food Network/Food TV is broadcast on cable and satellite stations throughout the world. Check your local cable company listing for the Food Network's channel listing. The Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off features historic cooking and recipes prepared in Dutch ovens that could have been enjoyed by travelers visiting the Great Plains more than 200 years ago. Bison is the featured entree because the buffalo was the primary source of food for our ancestors. Today's bison rancher raises the same high quality product that was enjoyed so many years ago. July is National Bison Month and this is a perfect opportunity for you to enjoy the unique way of preparing bison and the great recipes by our Cook-off contestants. For more information about 2005's Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven Cook-off log on to: www.dutchovencookoff.com....
Living like an outlaw It was a wind-burned, tired and saddle-sore bunch that rode into the De Baca County Fairgrounds after seven days and 125 miles on the Billy the Kid Trail. Twenty-five riders, ages 15 to 70, set out from Lincoln on April 28 to follow, as best they could, the trail the Kid took when he shot his way out of jail in Lincoln in 1881 and rode hellbent for leather to his eventual doom in Fort Sumner. Now, on May 4, they were at the end of their ride. Waiting for them in the shade of the fairground barn were 80 fourth-graders from Capitan and Fort Sumner, cheering the riders as if they were movie cowboy heroes or the cavalry come to the rescue. The kids, following a curriculum created by Coda Omness, curator of education at the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, had been studying the ride - everything from the physiology of a horse, to the geography of the trail, to how much stuff could be carried horseback....
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Saturday, May 28, 2005
Friday, May 27, 2005
Rodeo great Linderman dies
Former rodeo great Walt Linderman passed away Wednesday at the age of 69 at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings. Linderman was part of the famed Linderman rodeo family of Red Lodge. Older brothers Bill and Bud Linderman were former PRCA world champions. Walt Linderman was a nine-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier in steer wrestling. He was second three times - 1966, 1970 and 1971 - in the final world standings. Linderman won the NFR steer wrestling aggregate title, the second-most coveted buckle in professional rodeo, in 1967. Linderman was also known for his famed steer wrestling horse, Scott. Purchased for $1,600, Scott won more than $2 million dollars in earnings for cowboys who rode the large chestnut gelding. Scott carried Harley May to a steer wrestling title in 1965 and Jack Roddy to world championships in 1966 and 1968. Following his retirement from professional rodeo, Linderman worked 20 years for the Montana State Highway Department out of White Sulphur Springs. He and wife moved back to Billings five years ago. Born in Billings to John and Margaret Linderman, Walt Linderman had four brothers and one sister. He embarked on his rodeo career immediately after graduating from Belfry High School. Linderman won steer wrestling titles at most of the major rodeos, including Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Calgary Stampede and the Pendleton Round-Up. Linderman is survived by his wife of 52 years Dorothy (Nauman), daughter Vickie (Curt) Brass of Billings and son Jay (Chrissy) Linderman of Savery, Wyo. Funeral services for Linderman will be Sunday, May 29 at 2 p.m. at Smith-Olcott Funeral Chapel in Red Lodge....
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Former rodeo great Walt Linderman passed away Wednesday at the age of 69 at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings. Linderman was part of the famed Linderman rodeo family of Red Lodge. Older brothers Bill and Bud Linderman were former PRCA world champions. Walt Linderman was a nine-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier in steer wrestling. He was second three times - 1966, 1970 and 1971 - in the final world standings. Linderman won the NFR steer wrestling aggregate title, the second-most coveted buckle in professional rodeo, in 1967. Linderman was also known for his famed steer wrestling horse, Scott. Purchased for $1,600, Scott won more than $2 million dollars in earnings for cowboys who rode the large chestnut gelding. Scott carried Harley May to a steer wrestling title in 1965 and Jack Roddy to world championships in 1966 and 1968. Following his retirement from professional rodeo, Linderman worked 20 years for the Montana State Highway Department out of White Sulphur Springs. He and wife moved back to Billings five years ago. Born in Billings to John and Margaret Linderman, Walt Linderman had four brothers and one sister. He embarked on his rodeo career immediately after graduating from Belfry High School. Linderman won steer wrestling titles at most of the major rodeos, including Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Calgary Stampede and the Pendleton Round-Up. Linderman is survived by his wife of 52 years Dorothy (Nauman), daughter Vickie (Curt) Brass of Billings and son Jay (Chrissy) Linderman of Savery, Wyo. Funeral services for Linderman will be Sunday, May 29 at 2 p.m. at Smith-Olcott Funeral Chapel in Red Lodge....
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Yukon the Polar Bear Has 'Breath Surgery'
Yukon the polar bear underwent surgery that zookeepers hope will clear the air. The 16-year-old polar bear got an infected tooth pulled Thursday at Seneca Park Zoo. A team of veterinarians used a small hammer and chisel to remove it. The 805-pound bear was the perfect patient. He remained still on a large examination table, sighing occasionally during the hour-long procedure, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported Friday. Of course, he was sedated. The doctors linked the tooth to Yukon's bad breath. "You can just enter his den and you can smell it," said Dr. Jeff Wyatt, the zoo's director of Animal Health and Conservation. "It's kinda funky." Wyatt, who performed the surgery, said Yukon's tooth problem is actually quite common in older bears....
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Yukon the polar bear underwent surgery that zookeepers hope will clear the air. The 16-year-old polar bear got an infected tooth pulled Thursday at Seneca Park Zoo. A team of veterinarians used a small hammer and chisel to remove it. The 805-pound bear was the perfect patient. He remained still on a large examination table, sighing occasionally during the hour-long procedure, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported Friday. Of course, he was sedated. The doctors linked the tooth to Yukon's bad breath. "You can just enter his den and you can smell it," said Dr. Jeff Wyatt, the zoo's director of Animal Health and Conservation. "It's kinda funky." Wyatt, who performed the surgery, said Yukon's tooth problem is actually quite common in older bears....
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Energy Package Clears Senate Committee
A Senate panel reached bipartisan agreement on energy legislation yesterday, after years of failing to craft a measure that had broad support. Supporters said the legislation would help ease high prices by encouraging the development of more energy. The bill provides incentives for construction of nuclear plants, renewable energy facilities, and plants that burn coal using technology that spews fewer pollutants than traditional plants. It also seeks more oil and natural gas development on federal land. The Senate bill lacks a number of controversial provisions included in energy legislation approved by the House last month -- setting the stage for difficult negotiations when the two bills go to a House-Senate conference committee. The House legislation calls for drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the Senate version does not. Both chambers have approved budget resolutions that anticipate revenue from drilling in the refuge, and lawmakers must approve additional legislation before drilling can occur. The Senate bill contains some measures that opponents said would be likely to face debate when the full Senate considers it -- including a provision to give federal regulators authority over states on locating liquefied natural gas terminals....
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A Senate panel reached bipartisan agreement on energy legislation yesterday, after years of failing to craft a measure that had broad support. Supporters said the legislation would help ease high prices by encouraging the development of more energy. The bill provides incentives for construction of nuclear plants, renewable energy facilities, and plants that burn coal using technology that spews fewer pollutants than traditional plants. It also seeks more oil and natural gas development on federal land. The Senate bill lacks a number of controversial provisions included in energy legislation approved by the House last month -- setting the stage for difficult negotiations when the two bills go to a House-Senate conference committee. The House legislation calls for drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the Senate version does not. Both chambers have approved budget resolutions that anticipate revenue from drilling in the refuge, and lawmakers must approve additional legislation before drilling can occur. The Senate bill contains some measures that opponents said would be likely to face debate when the full Senate considers it -- including a provision to give federal regulators authority over states on locating liquefied natural gas terminals....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Government Shirked Its Duty to Wild Fish, a Judge Rules A federal judge in Oregon ruled Thursday that the Bush administration had arbitrarily limited and skewed its analysis of the harm that 14 federal dams cause to endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead. As a result, Judge James A. Redden of Federal District Court ruled, the administration had shirked its duty to ensure that government actions were not likely to jeopardize the survival of the species. The ruling came in a challenge by environmentalists, fishing groups and Indian tribes to the administration's determination that the harm the hydropower dams were posing to the young salmon and steelhead could be remedied over the next 10 years by $6 billion in improvements to the dams, including spillways designed to get the fish through safely. The ruling sends the issue back to the National Marine Fisheries Service for the third time. It also paves the way for the judge to rule on other pending requests by the same groups that the fish have a greater claim than they have had on limited water resources, especially when the Army Corps of Engineers manages the rate of flow this summer during the annual out-migration of year-old fish....
Island pigs slaughter protested at Norton event in Santa Barbara About two-dozen demonstrators greeted Interior Secretary Gale Norton with signs Thursday calling for an end to the slaughter of feral pigs on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park. The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy, which co-own the island, have hired a professional hunter to kill the pigs as part of its effort to protect endangered island foxes. Parks officials say the pigs attract nonnative golden eagles to the island that then also prey on the dwindling fox population. There are fewer than 100 foxes left on the island today. Norton was visiting Santa Barbara for the dedication of the city's Spanish colonial courthouse as a national historic landmark. She did not address the demonstrators during her prepared remarks, which were met with a few jeers....
Forest Service reactivates tankers The Forest Service will reinstate a fleet of 25 heavy tankers and other large aircraft to join hundreds of smaller planes and helicopters in combatting what is expected to be another tough wildfire season this summer. Officials said Thursday that despite some recent safety concerns, they have contracted to use nine P2V tankers and seven former Navy P-3 Orion turboprops to fight wildfires across the West. The large fixed-wing aircraft can drop up to 3,000 gallons of chemical fire retardant on blazes. In addition, an old Douglas DC-7 propeller-driven airliner, retrofitted with fire monitoring equipment, will be used to gather data on wildfires. Eight of the military's enormous C-130 transport planes, each outfitted with firefighting gear, also are being made available for use....
Study: Aspen declines in West Stands of white-barked aspens across the West are facing a similar fate. Decades of fire suppression have left the sensitive trees unable to compete in forests overcrowded with pine and fir trees and shrubs. Historically, frequent, low-intensity fires burned away trees and brush and encouraged new growth in aspen populations, which sprout from a massive, fire-resilient root system, Mueller said. The tree is known for its distinctive bark and fluttering leaves and valued as prime elk, deer and bird habitat. Without fire or other disturbances, the massive, interconnected root systems that link entire stands of aspens put all their energy into the larger trees, which emit a hormone that suppresses new sprouts. Those trees, which have little tolerance for competition, are slowly being overrun by conifers and shrubs. The root systems, which can live and produce trees for thousands of years, are shrinking....
U.S. judge throws out Columbia dams plan A federal judge yesterday rejected the Bush administration's $6 billion plan to improve the Columbia Basin hydroelectric dam system, saying it violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect threatened and endangered salmon. Noting that federal law puts salmon "on an equal footing with power production," U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland ruled in favor of a challenge by environmentalists, Indian tribes and fishermen to a NOAA Fisheries plan for balancing dams against salmon. That plan, called a biological opinion, contended that $6 billion in improvements to the dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and other measures would eliminate threats to the future survival of threatened and endangered salmon....
Interior chief pans Hetch Hetchy plan The nation's top natural resources official cast a cup of cold, mountain water Wednesday on an ambitious proposal to tear out a century-old dam and restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. "We have not closed any doors on anything, but what I see is a scarcity of water throughout the West," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Norton made the remarks during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters after speaking here to the Commonwealth Club of California....
Part of Alaska's Denali Closed After Bear Attack Rangers have temporarily closed a popular section of Denali National Park and Preserve after a grizzly bear attacked a hiker earlier this week, officials said on Thursday. The hiker, Joanne Saunders of Poquoson, Virginia, suffered cuts, bruises and a broken nose on Monday when the bear grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her onto the ground, the Park Service said. Saunders was treated and released from a Fairbanks hospital. The attack, which lasted just a few seconds before the bear fled into the brush, occurred when Saunders and her husband were standing on a rock outcropping to get a better view while hiking in an off-trail area with heavy brush and poor visibility, officials said....
Land swap proposed Utah's Republican Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch are wading into the shark-infested Colorado River — or at least they are wading into the land politics of southeastern Utah. And the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is praising the move. Both senators introduced legislation Thursday calling for an exchange of state School Trust lands in the Moab area for an equal amount of land somewhere else that can be developed. The trust "currently owns some of the most spectacular lands in America, located along the Colorado River in southeastern Utah," Bennett said. The legislation will trade those lands "into federal ownership and for the benefit of future generations." According to Bennett, the state would give up roughly 40,000 acres along the Colorado River corridor to better protect views of Arches National Park, the famous Kokopelli and Slickrock bicycle trails, wilderness study areas and Westwater Canyon, one of the world's premier whitewater rafting destinations....
Sportsmen and Conservation Groups Act to Save Otero Mesa From Giveaway to Big Industry Sportsmen and Conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit today in federal district court in Albuquerque seeking to save New Mexico’s Otero Mesa from the onslaught of oil and gas development. The conservation groups’ lawsuit supports a similar legal challenge filed in April by the state of New Mexico. Today’s suit claims the federal government failed to disclose the true effects of the oil and gas development on water resources, wildlife, and archaeological sites, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit also contends that the development plan fails to protect wildlife and plants in the most environmentally sensitive areas. On April 22, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid filed suit on behalf of New Mexico against the federal Bureau of Land Management in federal district court in Santa Fe. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has repeatedly asked the federal government to consider state interests and scale back the oil and gas development plans at Otero Mesa. The New Mexico lawsuit says that BLM violated federal laws by refusing to consider state interests when it adopted its aggressive oil and gas development scheme....
Land swap pushed for new mine Arizona lawmakers introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday that would help pave the way for a new underground copper mine near Superior. Versions of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2005 were introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jon Kyl and in the House by Rep. Rick Renzi. The act would convey 3,155 acres of federal lands to Resolution Copper Co. and the town of Superior in exchange for 4,814 environmentally sensitive acres owned or controlled by Resolution Copper. Resolution's holdings include 3,073 acres along the lower San Pedro River in Pinal County, the 1,030-acre Appleton Ranch in Santa Cruz County and smaller sites near Superior and north of Phoenix....
Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust Launched with $20 Million Vowing to create a "new standard" for conservation stewardship and outdoor recreation, Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren today announced creation of the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust covering 50,000 acres on the Irvine Ranch. The Reserve stretches from the mountains to the sea in central Orange County and covers more than 145 square miles. Speaking in Irvine Regional Park to 200 invited environmentalists, city, county, state and federal officials, Reserve landowners, and outdoor and environmental advocates, Bren said the Bren Foundation would make a $20 million gift to the Trust to support enhanced conservation and recreation on the Reserve. The non-profit organization will encourage far-reaching and cooperative efforts among more than 30 public entities involved with the Reserve....
Norton has harsh words for enviros, critical habitat lawsuits Escalating the rhetoric over congressional efforts to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Gale Norton accused environmentalists yesterday of focusing on litigation and fundraising at the expense of conservation and species recovery. "It certainly is far easier -- and more lucrative -- for some organizations to put out a press release or file a lawsuit than it is to restore a wetland or eradicate invasive weeds," Norton told a gathering of hunters and conservationists in Washington. "I am concerned about the polarization and politicizing of conservation. Instead of cooperation and consensus, we often see conflict," Norton said in an address to the American Wildlife Conservation Partners Conference. "This conflict frequently is spurred more by the desire to do fundraising than out of genuine concern for the resource."...
Brucellosis eradication debated for Yellowstone ecosystem A proposal to eradicate brucellosis from the greater Yellowstone ecosystem has raised concern from conservationists and praise from ranchers. Conservationists say they worry the proposal signals a shift toward more aggressive tactics to combat the disease that would treat wildlife like livestock. Cattle ranchers say a more aggressive approach is long overdue. At a meeting of the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee on Wednesday, a new "memorandum of understanding" to guide the group was proposed that includes language to eliminate the disease that causes cattle to abort. The current agreement only calls for developing plans to eradicate the disease. Rob Hendry of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association said the committee has been talking about getting rid of brucellosis in Yellowstone for the last 10 years without much progress....
Legends of Jim Hathaway One of the most notorious cases during his eight years as constable in Nogales was the Mother Modie incident. On Oct. 19, 1925, the townsfolk of Nogales were horrified to learn of a terrible crime committed against one of their most beloved citizens. Gertrude "Mother" Modie ran a lodging house in town. She was known as a soft touch because she would never turn anyone away from her door if they needed a place to stay. She was well known and loved by every rancher, prospector, homesteader and cowboy on both sides of the border. Constable Jim Hathaway got the call early in the morning and hurried to the rooming house where he found Mother Modie lying in a pool of blood, dangerously near death. The 72-year-old woman had been beaten, slashed with a knife. The odor of charred flesh in the room led to the grisly discovery that her hands and feet had been brutally burned....
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Government Shirked Its Duty to Wild Fish, a Judge Rules A federal judge in Oregon ruled Thursday that the Bush administration had arbitrarily limited and skewed its analysis of the harm that 14 federal dams cause to endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead. As a result, Judge James A. Redden of Federal District Court ruled, the administration had shirked its duty to ensure that government actions were not likely to jeopardize the survival of the species. The ruling came in a challenge by environmentalists, fishing groups and Indian tribes to the administration's determination that the harm the hydropower dams were posing to the young salmon and steelhead could be remedied over the next 10 years by $6 billion in improvements to the dams, including spillways designed to get the fish through safely. The ruling sends the issue back to the National Marine Fisheries Service for the third time. It also paves the way for the judge to rule on other pending requests by the same groups that the fish have a greater claim than they have had on limited water resources, especially when the Army Corps of Engineers manages the rate of flow this summer during the annual out-migration of year-old fish....
Island pigs slaughter protested at Norton event in Santa Barbara About two-dozen demonstrators greeted Interior Secretary Gale Norton with signs Thursday calling for an end to the slaughter of feral pigs on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park. The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy, which co-own the island, have hired a professional hunter to kill the pigs as part of its effort to protect endangered island foxes. Parks officials say the pigs attract nonnative golden eagles to the island that then also prey on the dwindling fox population. There are fewer than 100 foxes left on the island today. Norton was visiting Santa Barbara for the dedication of the city's Spanish colonial courthouse as a national historic landmark. She did not address the demonstrators during her prepared remarks, which were met with a few jeers....
Forest Service reactivates tankers The Forest Service will reinstate a fleet of 25 heavy tankers and other large aircraft to join hundreds of smaller planes and helicopters in combatting what is expected to be another tough wildfire season this summer. Officials said Thursday that despite some recent safety concerns, they have contracted to use nine P2V tankers and seven former Navy P-3 Orion turboprops to fight wildfires across the West. The large fixed-wing aircraft can drop up to 3,000 gallons of chemical fire retardant on blazes. In addition, an old Douglas DC-7 propeller-driven airliner, retrofitted with fire monitoring equipment, will be used to gather data on wildfires. Eight of the military's enormous C-130 transport planes, each outfitted with firefighting gear, also are being made available for use....
Study: Aspen declines in West Stands of white-barked aspens across the West are facing a similar fate. Decades of fire suppression have left the sensitive trees unable to compete in forests overcrowded with pine and fir trees and shrubs. Historically, frequent, low-intensity fires burned away trees and brush and encouraged new growth in aspen populations, which sprout from a massive, fire-resilient root system, Mueller said. The tree is known for its distinctive bark and fluttering leaves and valued as prime elk, deer and bird habitat. Without fire or other disturbances, the massive, interconnected root systems that link entire stands of aspens put all their energy into the larger trees, which emit a hormone that suppresses new sprouts. Those trees, which have little tolerance for competition, are slowly being overrun by conifers and shrubs. The root systems, which can live and produce trees for thousands of years, are shrinking....
U.S. judge throws out Columbia dams plan A federal judge yesterday rejected the Bush administration's $6 billion plan to improve the Columbia Basin hydroelectric dam system, saying it violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect threatened and endangered salmon. Noting that federal law puts salmon "on an equal footing with power production," U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland ruled in favor of a challenge by environmentalists, Indian tribes and fishermen to a NOAA Fisheries plan for balancing dams against salmon. That plan, called a biological opinion, contended that $6 billion in improvements to the dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and other measures would eliminate threats to the future survival of threatened and endangered salmon....
Interior chief pans Hetch Hetchy plan The nation's top natural resources official cast a cup of cold, mountain water Wednesday on an ambitious proposal to tear out a century-old dam and restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. "We have not closed any doors on anything, but what I see is a scarcity of water throughout the West," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Norton made the remarks during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters after speaking here to the Commonwealth Club of California....
Part of Alaska's Denali Closed After Bear Attack Rangers have temporarily closed a popular section of Denali National Park and Preserve after a grizzly bear attacked a hiker earlier this week, officials said on Thursday. The hiker, Joanne Saunders of Poquoson, Virginia, suffered cuts, bruises and a broken nose on Monday when the bear grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her onto the ground, the Park Service said. Saunders was treated and released from a Fairbanks hospital. The attack, which lasted just a few seconds before the bear fled into the brush, occurred when Saunders and her husband were standing on a rock outcropping to get a better view while hiking in an off-trail area with heavy brush and poor visibility, officials said....
Land swap proposed Utah's Republican Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch are wading into the shark-infested Colorado River — or at least they are wading into the land politics of southeastern Utah. And the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is praising the move. Both senators introduced legislation Thursday calling for an exchange of state School Trust lands in the Moab area for an equal amount of land somewhere else that can be developed. The trust "currently owns some of the most spectacular lands in America, located along the Colorado River in southeastern Utah," Bennett said. The legislation will trade those lands "into federal ownership and for the benefit of future generations." According to Bennett, the state would give up roughly 40,000 acres along the Colorado River corridor to better protect views of Arches National Park, the famous Kokopelli and Slickrock bicycle trails, wilderness study areas and Westwater Canyon, one of the world's premier whitewater rafting destinations....
Sportsmen and Conservation Groups Act to Save Otero Mesa From Giveaway to Big Industry Sportsmen and Conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit today in federal district court in Albuquerque seeking to save New Mexico’s Otero Mesa from the onslaught of oil and gas development. The conservation groups’ lawsuit supports a similar legal challenge filed in April by the state of New Mexico. Today’s suit claims the federal government failed to disclose the true effects of the oil and gas development on water resources, wildlife, and archaeological sites, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit also contends that the development plan fails to protect wildlife and plants in the most environmentally sensitive areas. On April 22, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid filed suit on behalf of New Mexico against the federal Bureau of Land Management in federal district court in Santa Fe. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has repeatedly asked the federal government to consider state interests and scale back the oil and gas development plans at Otero Mesa. The New Mexico lawsuit says that BLM violated federal laws by refusing to consider state interests when it adopted its aggressive oil and gas development scheme....
Land swap pushed for new mine Arizona lawmakers introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday that would help pave the way for a new underground copper mine near Superior. Versions of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2005 were introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jon Kyl and in the House by Rep. Rick Renzi. The act would convey 3,155 acres of federal lands to Resolution Copper Co. and the town of Superior in exchange for 4,814 environmentally sensitive acres owned or controlled by Resolution Copper. Resolution's holdings include 3,073 acres along the lower San Pedro River in Pinal County, the 1,030-acre Appleton Ranch in Santa Cruz County and smaller sites near Superior and north of Phoenix....
Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust Launched with $20 Million Vowing to create a "new standard" for conservation stewardship and outdoor recreation, Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren today announced creation of the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust covering 50,000 acres on the Irvine Ranch. The Reserve stretches from the mountains to the sea in central Orange County and covers more than 145 square miles. Speaking in Irvine Regional Park to 200 invited environmentalists, city, county, state and federal officials, Reserve landowners, and outdoor and environmental advocates, Bren said the Bren Foundation would make a $20 million gift to the Trust to support enhanced conservation and recreation on the Reserve. The non-profit organization will encourage far-reaching and cooperative efforts among more than 30 public entities involved with the Reserve....
Norton has harsh words for enviros, critical habitat lawsuits Escalating the rhetoric over congressional efforts to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Gale Norton accused environmentalists yesterday of focusing on litigation and fundraising at the expense of conservation and species recovery. "It certainly is far easier -- and more lucrative -- for some organizations to put out a press release or file a lawsuit than it is to restore a wetland or eradicate invasive weeds," Norton told a gathering of hunters and conservationists in Washington. "I am concerned about the polarization and politicizing of conservation. Instead of cooperation and consensus, we often see conflict," Norton said in an address to the American Wildlife Conservation Partners Conference. "This conflict frequently is spurred more by the desire to do fundraising than out of genuine concern for the resource."...
Brucellosis eradication debated for Yellowstone ecosystem A proposal to eradicate brucellosis from the greater Yellowstone ecosystem has raised concern from conservationists and praise from ranchers. Conservationists say they worry the proposal signals a shift toward more aggressive tactics to combat the disease that would treat wildlife like livestock. Cattle ranchers say a more aggressive approach is long overdue. At a meeting of the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee on Wednesday, a new "memorandum of understanding" to guide the group was proposed that includes language to eliminate the disease that causes cattle to abort. The current agreement only calls for developing plans to eradicate the disease. Rob Hendry of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association said the committee has been talking about getting rid of brucellosis in Yellowstone for the last 10 years without much progress....
Legends of Jim Hathaway One of the most notorious cases during his eight years as constable in Nogales was the Mother Modie incident. On Oct. 19, 1925, the townsfolk of Nogales were horrified to learn of a terrible crime committed against one of their most beloved citizens. Gertrude "Mother" Modie ran a lodging house in town. She was known as a soft touch because she would never turn anyone away from her door if they needed a place to stay. She was well known and loved by every rancher, prospector, homesteader and cowboy on both sides of the border. Constable Jim Hathaway got the call early in the morning and hurried to the rooming house where he found Mother Modie lying in a pool of blood, dangerously near death. The 72-year-old woman had been beaten, slashed with a knife. The odor of charred flesh in the room led to the grisly discovery that her hands and feet had been brutally burned....
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Thursday, May 26, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
World Health Body Backs Beef Trade From BSE Countries The World Organization of Animal Health said countries with mad-cow disease should be allowed to export certain cuts of beef, allowing for a lifting of bans on U.S. and European Union meat. Red-muscle meat without bones is safe if the animal isn't suspected of having the brain-wasting disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, Alex Thiermann, an official from the organization, said at a press conference in Paris today. The body is responsible for setting animal health standards. ``It applies to all countries in all categories of risk,'' said Thiermann, who heads the unit governing animal health trade. ``I would hope that the bans would be minimized.'' The change, from previous rules allowing beef to be banned after just one case of mad-cow disease is found, may help the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Beef exports in all three nations plunged after the illness was diagnosed in their herds. World Trade Organization rules state that standards set at the 167-nation animal-health group must be followed unless scientific evidence is produced to justify otherwise. ``Many of the bans as they exist today are not based on'' the organization's standards, Thiermann said. For the first year, only meat from cattle younger than 30 months will benefit from the new rule. The age limit will be reconsidered next year....
Statement By Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns Regarding The OIE'S Adoption Of Changes To The International Animal Health Code Chapter On BSE "I applaud the leadership of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in modernizing the international approach to the safe trade of beef products by updating the BSE guidelines to reflect current science. "The United States and several other countries have advocated for guidelines that reflect science, the low risk associated with BSE, and the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures. I applaud the OIE for developing guidelines that incorporate all such factors. The international standard for to BSE is now based on the same information that has guided the United States' current practices and the proposed minimal risk rule. "Among other items, the OIE has now officially recognized additions to the list of non-risk products-most significantly to include boneless beef that can be traded without regard to a country's BSE status. "The OIE has also adopted a new, streamlined system for classifying countries according to relative risk for BSE in a manner that reflects the steps they have implemented to manage and reduce that risk....
Economic impact of BSE still playing out, says economist Two years after the North American beef industry was rocked by BSE's arrival, the economic impact continues to play out, University of Nebraska-Lincoln specialists say. The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a cow in Canada in May 2003 led the US to shut down imports of Canadian cattle. Seven months later, a BSE case was discovered in Washington state, which led to a loss of most US beef export markets. Different sectors of the US beef industry have been affected very differently by the discoveries of mad cow disease. US meatpackers that rely on Canadian imports to meet their processing capacity have been hard hit. A Kansas State University estimate is that 5,000 American meatpackers lost their jobs in the last two years as Canadian imports dried up. Some US cow-calf producers may see Canada's woes as helping their situation. In the short term, that may be so, but the long-term outlook is less certain, said Dillon Feuz, UNL agriculture marketing specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff. The bottom line, Feuz said, is that all sectors in the beef industry are best served by a robust, open trade environment. From 1998 to 2002, the last full year before BSE was discovered on this continent, open trade benefitted the U.S. economy significantly, as the nation annually imported $3.7 billion in cattle, beef and byproducts and exported $5.1 billion. That's a $1.4 billion annual trade balance in the black....
First Technology to Remove Prions that Cause vCJD From Blood Launched The risk of receiving blood contaminated with variant Cruetzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) prions may no longer be a concern for the thousands of people who require a transfusion. Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) announced today the Council of Europe (CE) marking of its Leukotrap® Affinity Prion Reduction Filter System. It is the first and only technology that removes infectious prions that may be the causative agent of vCJD from red cells, the most commonly transfused blood component. Variant CJD, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, is the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease. The CE mark means the new prion reduction filter meets pan-European essential requirements for safety of medical devices. "The availability of our prion reduction filter is a seminal event heralding a new era in blood safety," says Eric Krasnoff, Chairman and CEO of Pall Corporation. "We are working very closely with health authorities, starting with the nations hardest hit by vCJD, to help protect the safety of the blood supply and prevent the spread of this insidious disease."....
Agents of brain-wasting disease observed Scientists for the first time have watched agents of brain-wasting diseases, called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), as they invade a nerve cell and then travel along wire-like circuits to points of contact with other cells. These findings will help scientists better understand TSE diseases and may lead to ways to prevent or minimize their effects. TSE, or prion, diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats; chronic wasting disease in deer and elk; mad cow disease in cattle; and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans." These findings offer intriguing leads toward developing therapies to stop the spread of TSE and possibly other degenerative brain diseases," says NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. "Potentially, it may be possible to block the pathways that prions use to invade cells, their exit to other cells or their replication within the cells."....
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World Health Body Backs Beef Trade From BSE Countries The World Organization of Animal Health said countries with mad-cow disease should be allowed to export certain cuts of beef, allowing for a lifting of bans on U.S. and European Union meat. Red-muscle meat without bones is safe if the animal isn't suspected of having the brain-wasting disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, Alex Thiermann, an official from the organization, said at a press conference in Paris today. The body is responsible for setting animal health standards. ``It applies to all countries in all categories of risk,'' said Thiermann, who heads the unit governing animal health trade. ``I would hope that the bans would be minimized.'' The change, from previous rules allowing beef to be banned after just one case of mad-cow disease is found, may help the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Beef exports in all three nations plunged after the illness was diagnosed in their herds. World Trade Organization rules state that standards set at the 167-nation animal-health group must be followed unless scientific evidence is produced to justify otherwise. ``Many of the bans as they exist today are not based on'' the organization's standards, Thiermann said. For the first year, only meat from cattle younger than 30 months will benefit from the new rule. The age limit will be reconsidered next year....
Statement By Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns Regarding The OIE'S Adoption Of Changes To The International Animal Health Code Chapter On BSE "I applaud the leadership of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in modernizing the international approach to the safe trade of beef products by updating the BSE guidelines to reflect current science. "The United States and several other countries have advocated for guidelines that reflect science, the low risk associated with BSE, and the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures. I applaud the OIE for developing guidelines that incorporate all such factors. The international standard for to BSE is now based on the same information that has guided the United States' current practices and the proposed minimal risk rule. "Among other items, the OIE has now officially recognized additions to the list of non-risk products-most significantly to include boneless beef that can be traded without regard to a country's BSE status. "The OIE has also adopted a new, streamlined system for classifying countries according to relative risk for BSE in a manner that reflects the steps they have implemented to manage and reduce that risk....
Economic impact of BSE still playing out, says economist Two years after the North American beef industry was rocked by BSE's arrival, the economic impact continues to play out, University of Nebraska-Lincoln specialists say. The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a cow in Canada in May 2003 led the US to shut down imports of Canadian cattle. Seven months later, a BSE case was discovered in Washington state, which led to a loss of most US beef export markets. Different sectors of the US beef industry have been affected very differently by the discoveries of mad cow disease. US meatpackers that rely on Canadian imports to meet their processing capacity have been hard hit. A Kansas State University estimate is that 5,000 American meatpackers lost their jobs in the last two years as Canadian imports dried up. Some US cow-calf producers may see Canada's woes as helping their situation. In the short term, that may be so, but the long-term outlook is less certain, said Dillon Feuz, UNL agriculture marketing specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff. The bottom line, Feuz said, is that all sectors in the beef industry are best served by a robust, open trade environment. From 1998 to 2002, the last full year before BSE was discovered on this continent, open trade benefitted the U.S. economy significantly, as the nation annually imported $3.7 billion in cattle, beef and byproducts and exported $5.1 billion. That's a $1.4 billion annual trade balance in the black....
First Technology to Remove Prions that Cause vCJD From Blood Launched The risk of receiving blood contaminated with variant Cruetzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) prions may no longer be a concern for the thousands of people who require a transfusion. Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) announced today the Council of Europe (CE) marking of its Leukotrap® Affinity Prion Reduction Filter System. It is the first and only technology that removes infectious prions that may be the causative agent of vCJD from red cells, the most commonly transfused blood component. Variant CJD, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, is the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease. The CE mark means the new prion reduction filter meets pan-European essential requirements for safety of medical devices. "The availability of our prion reduction filter is a seminal event heralding a new era in blood safety," says Eric Krasnoff, Chairman and CEO of Pall Corporation. "We are working very closely with health authorities, starting with the nations hardest hit by vCJD, to help protect the safety of the blood supply and prevent the spread of this insidious disease."....
Agents of brain-wasting disease observed Scientists for the first time have watched agents of brain-wasting diseases, called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), as they invade a nerve cell and then travel along wire-like circuits to points of contact with other cells. These findings will help scientists better understand TSE diseases and may lead to ways to prevent or minimize their effects. TSE, or prion, diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats; chronic wasting disease in deer and elk; mad cow disease in cattle; and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans." These findings offer intriguing leads toward developing therapies to stop the spread of TSE and possibly other degenerative brain diseases," says NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. "Potentially, it may be possible to block the pathways that prions use to invade cells, their exit to other cells or their replication within the cells."....
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USDA CLOSES BORDER TO CATTLE FROM DURANGO, MEXICO
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has closed the U.S. border to cattle from the Mexican state of Durango due to inadequacies with that state's bovine tuberculosis (TB) management program. Durango is essentially divided into two sections for the purposes of exporting cattle to the United States with one section allowed to export and one that is not. During a review of Durango's TB management practices, APHIS found that animals from the section not allowed to export were being moved into the region that is allowed to export. This, combined with other conflicts with APHIS guidelines, led to the border closing. "I called Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Javier Usabiaga Monday evening to discuss this development and he fully understands the safety concerns that prompted our action," Johanns said. "He also expressed his appreciation for our willingness to assist Mexico with corrective measures so we can resume normal trade with Durango." In order to resume trade, Durango must meet all APHIS guidelines, including the recommendations by the APHIS review team, such as: prohibiting the movement of dairy heifers from herds in the known infected region into the exporting region; requiring quarantine and tests of animals in any heifer raising operation in the exporting region that has received cattle from dairy herds in the known infected region; and requiring quarantine and tests for herds along Durango's internal regional border if one or more animal in the herd has tested positive....
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Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has closed the U.S. border to cattle from the Mexican state of Durango due to inadequacies with that state's bovine tuberculosis (TB) management program. Durango is essentially divided into two sections for the purposes of exporting cattle to the United States with one section allowed to export and one that is not. During a review of Durango's TB management practices, APHIS found that animals from the section not allowed to export were being moved into the region that is allowed to export. This, combined with other conflicts with APHIS guidelines, led to the border closing. "I called Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Javier Usabiaga Monday evening to discuss this development and he fully understands the safety concerns that prompted our action," Johanns said. "He also expressed his appreciation for our willingness to assist Mexico with corrective measures so we can resume normal trade with Durango." In order to resume trade, Durango must meet all APHIS guidelines, including the recommendations by the APHIS review team, such as: prohibiting the movement of dairy heifers from herds in the known infected region into the exporting region; requiring quarantine and tests of animals in any heifer raising operation in the exporting region that has received cattle from dairy herds in the known infected region; and requiring quarantine and tests for herds along Durango's internal regional border if one or more animal in the herd has tested positive....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
The Rancher's Revenge Jim Chilton doesn't just admire cowboy values. He believes in them. And, like any true believer, he's eager to share the gospel in well-rehearsed sound bites, whenever the situation allows. Ask him, for example, why he decided to sue one of the West's most prominent environmental groups. "I laid in bed at night, wondering if I was a cowboy or a wimp," he'll reply. "If you're a cowboy, you stand up and fight for truth, justice, integrity and honor. If you're a wimp, you lay there and go to sleep." Or, ask about nature. "For a cowboy," he'll tell you, "every day is Earth Day." That's why Chilton got so mad at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center tried to make him the bad guy when he, the cowboy, was supposed to be the hero. And that was an attack no cowboy could forgive. (Forgiveness, after all, is for wimps.) And so he sued -- a switch, given that the Center is normally the one filing the lawsuits. Chilton took the case to trial, and won one of the biggest punitive damage awards Arizona is likely to see this year....
Wife of Mexican peasant ecologist recounts attack on family The wife of a Mexican environmental activist ambushed last week by gunman described on Wednesday the flash of muzzles, a hail of bullets outside her home and futile screams to stop the attack that killed two of her children. "I was screaming at them not to shoot," said Reyna Mojica, the wife of Albertano Penaloza, a founder of the embattled Organization of Peasant Ecologists in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. "Even with me screaming, with my children, they still kept firing hard." Mexican and international rights groups on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation of the unsolved killings of Penaloza's sons and for protection of the family....
SPECIAL REPORT: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ERODING ON MANY FRONTS The US federal government is in the midst of a broad campaign to revamp one of the bedrock US environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A slew of developments are highlighted in this TipSheet, but there are more out there, and likely more to come. Since the vast majority of these changes are new, or still in process, it's too early to tell how they will work out. But in general, many business groups are applauding, and many environmental groups are concerned. Since 1969, NEPA has provided a way to gauge the effects of major development on public lands, look at alternatives, and give the public a chance to comment. In recent decades many business and industry interests have complained that NEPA has "morphed into an all-purpose delaying tactic," in the words of the Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman (202-608-6139). But much less time could be spent in the environmental evaluation process if it were addressed upfront with initial project planning, as it often isn't, says the Sierra Club's Neha Bhatt (202-548-4596, NEPA page)....
Column:Is the Mississippi Corridor changing into the Mississippi Wildlands? A $216 million-plus regulatory package has been given to “reduce the human stress on the fragile river environment and improve wild habitats” on the Upper Mississippi. “This is big stuff. It really gouges a lot of folks,” said Ron Nicklaus, 56, of Genoa, Wis., an avid duck hunter who camps every summer on the Mississippi in a recent Associated Press report. “It (the Mississippi) doesn’t belong to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It belongs to the folks.” Regulations through the year 2020 can be found in a 600-page document with designs for 240,000 acres of the Upper Mississippi floodplain designated as a national wildlife refuge. Who owns that property now? Local residents wonder who will pay for all the federal officials to enforce the 600 pages of regulations. Most believe this is jurisdiction that should stay in the hands of state and local government....
Editorial: Endangered species, endangered sense What the environmentalists now beating the Bushes to save endangered species won't tell you is that the Endangered Species Act itself makes genetic science irrelevant. The Endangered Species Act defines a species for the purposes of the act as a "species," a "subspecies" or a "distinct population segment." If only a "distinct population segment" of a species is in danger of extinction, then the "species" can be listed as endangered. In practice, the results are silly. Sometimes the only difference between an endangered animal and an unendangered animal is the shade of the spots (maroon is endangered, candy apple red is not). In California, an owl on one side of a highway is endangered while an identical bird on the other side is not. In Michigan, the difference between a "threatened" flatbelly snake and a snake without federal protection is a county line or the measure of latitude. Of course, minor color variations, roads and political geography have little to do with whether a species is endangered or not. If such ludicrous standards were applied to humans, blacks in South Dakota would be endangered. Taking note of the fact that few humans live in northern parts of Alaska or the Arizona desert, Fish and Wildlife Service scientists could apply for endangered species status for humans....
Southwest, Rockies and Alaska primed for active fire season Federal wildfire forecasters say unusual rainfall patterns in the West this winter and spring have boosted growth of grasses and low-lying vegetation that will dry to fuel, setting the stage for a worse than normal fire season in the Southwest, Northern Rockies and Alaska. "We are very concerned because we've had all the grass growth but the forests in the higher elevations of the Northwest and the Northern Rockies have missed out on all their snowpack," Rick Ochoa, the national fire weather program manager for the National Weather Service, said Wednesday at a briefing with federal land agency fire managers. "Usually, when that snowpack gradually melts, you are basically watering the trees every day, but we're missing that this year." While the Rocky Mountain region had a dry winter and wet spring, the precipitation pattern flip-flopped in the Southwest. A wetter-than-normal winter caused flooding and mudslides in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Nevada and Southern California, followed by a dry spring....
Nature Preserve Designed for 100,000 Acres of Tejon Ranch The design for a 100,000 acre nature preserve on the Tejon Ranch was unveiled Wednesday at the ranch after nearly two years of scientific study to identify the best of the natural resources on the historic ranch. The Tejon Ranch Preserve protects the habitat of threatened and endangered species, preserves wilderness areas and provides public access as the preserve design includes a realignment through Tejon Ranch of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 mile long congressionally designated scenic trail from the Mexican border to Canada. Representatives of Tejon Ranch and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) gathered at the ranch 60 miles north of Los Angeles to share the new design - the result of consultation and recommendations by a scientific peer review panel and an independent environmental advisory group....
Predator in the Crosshairs Almost two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery trudged across Lemhi Pass from western Montana and began a memorable 105-day culinary tour of Idaho. When traversing the Bitterroot Mountains, they had a lean snack of coyote and crayfish. Starving near the Clearwater River, they dined on huckleberries and horsemeat. At one point, dried salmon and camas root were a welcome gift from some sympathetic Nez Perce; alas, it resulted in food poisoning. But the Corps found the pinnacle of the Gem State cornucopia at what is often called Camp Chopunnish, on the western fringe of the current Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Here, the adventurers developed a hankering for the gamey flesh of North America's largest predator, the grizzly bear. Over a month-long stay, they killed and consumed no less than seven bears, including a mother and two cubs, by utilizing a Nez Perce cooking technique that Captain Lewis thought made the bear extra-tender. Two centuries and several brushes with extinction later, Idaho hunters may once again have the opportunity to bring home the bear-bacon....
Conservation Groups Intervene to Protect 27 Endangered California Species A coalition of conservation groups yesterday sought to intervene in a lawsuit brought by housing developers that would eliminate habitat protections for 27 of California's most endangered plants and animals. The developers' lawsuit challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of "critical habitat" for the species under the Endangered Species Act. It was filed March 30 by the Home Builders Association of Northern California, Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation, California Building Industry Association, California State Grange and Greenhorn Grange. (Click here for a factsheet about the species challenged by the developers' lawsuit.) "The California building industry is trying to sink Noah's Ark," said Peter Galvin, Conservation Director for the Center for Biological Diversity (Center), one of the groups intervening in the case....
Council OKs plan to let ranchers kill wolves At 10 minutes after midnight on Wednesday morning, local wildlife representatives voted 7-4 in favor of allowing wolves to be shot on public and private land. Friends and foes of wolves had gathered in Springville for a meeting of the Central Utah Regional Advisory Council that began at 6:30 p.m. The vote followed hours of public comment on the subject. The proposed plan, drafted over two years, had recommended using rubber bullets and other nonlethal control methods before allowing farmers and ranchers to shoot the animals. The Springville meeting -- the fourth of five public hearings on the wolf plan -- was the fourth in a row to add amendments allowing ranchers, their families and employees to shoot wolves on public and private land. The state Wildlife Board is expected to make a binding vote on the plan next month....
Landowner kills wolf that was chasing livestock A landowner legally shot and killed a wolf chasing livestock on private property near Hall, 50 miles southeast of Missoula, on Monday morning, according to state wildlife officials. Federal rules now in effect in a portion of western Montana allow ranchers to kill wolves that are actively attacking, chasing or harassing livestock, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Under the rule, which offers Montana more wolf management authority and flexibility, anyone who shoots or kills a wolf must report the incident within 24 hours. In addition, evidence of the actual wolf attack, or evidence that an attack was imminent, must be available for state and federal inspectors....
Disease-resistant trout studied A team of Utah researchers has received an $83,000 grant to study rainbow trout with a "significant resistance" to whirling disease found in a Madison County reservoir. "They are not absolutely resistant, but they are significantly resistant," said Richard Vincent, who works with Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Montana State University. Researchers haven't found a solution for whirling disease, which has infected more than 130 streams in Montana, but Vincent said the Willow Creek Reservoir trout warrant continued study. The encouraging strain of fish came from Wyoming between 1977 and 1981. Before that, the fish came to Wyoming from California....
To Protect Mustangs, BLM Imposes New Rules on Animal Sales The Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for the horses, announced last week that it has beefed up legal protections for the animals and will resume selling them as early as this week. The BLM also said it is attempting to strike an agreement with the nation's three horse slaughterhouses to reject wild horses, identifiable by government freeze brands. The announcement, which some advocacy groups for wild horses have greeted with skepticism, comes five months after President Bush signed a measure into law ordering the agency to sell some of the wild horses and burros roaming the West. The agency estimates there are still 31,000 out there, scattered across 10 states. An additional 22,000 excess horses have been rounded up and put in government holding facilities. Excess horses are those deemed by the bureau to be more than their environs can sustain. Wild horses are allowed to roam on 201 separate patches of federal land totaling about 29.5 million acres. The BLM estimates the land supports, at most, 28,000....
Fisherman swaps rare turtle for Mercedes An Albanian net fisherman has enraged biologists by swapping an endangered leatherback turtle weighing 806 kilos for a used Mercedes from an Italian fish trader. Hysni Xhemali told the Metropol newspaper he was out fishing in Albania's Ionian Sea waters, as he had done for the past 10 years, when he saw "a big black thing in the net." Five of his friends came to his help to drag the turtle close to shore, but in the end they needed a mechanical excavator to beach it. Xhemali said he was immediately approached by an Italian fish trader but refused to deal. He reconsidered when offered a "nearly new" Mercedes and the turtle was reportedly shipped to a zoo in Rome....
Free Trade Agreement Gains Support from Agriculture and Manufacturing A new push for Congressional approval of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has officially begun. During April, separate agricultural and manufacturing coalitions released studies proclaiming the benefits of expanding free trade. Farmers rallied for CAFTA-DR on April 11. More than 50 organizations, coming together as the Agriculture Coalition for CAFTA-DR, were joined by Mike Johanns, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other public and private officials at a media event in the nation's capitol. The groups are urging Congress to "pass the already negotiated agreement." According to the coalition, the trade deal would yield nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. agricultural exports to the CAFTA-DR region, providing significant opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers. The nations of CAFTA-DR represent the second largest market in Latin America for U.S. products. "When you look at the aggregate, CAFTA-DR is a net positive for [U.S.] agriculture," said American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman. "The agreement will generate millions of dollars annually by eliminating tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods." Tariffs on almost all U.S. products exported to CAFTA-DR nations will decrease to zero after full implementation. Currently, U.S. agriculture products entering the region without the agreement are subject to up to 60 percent tariffs....
R-CALF USA Court Case Attacked by State Cattle Groups As a possible hearing date in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looms on the horizon, members of some local cattle-producer organizations from Georgia, to Louisiana, to Colorado and beyond, seem to be experiencing some frustration and confusion as members learn their state associations signed on to a court document that supports the immediate reopening of the Canadian border – but without input from the local level. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) have filed an amicus brief (friend of the court brief) in the 9th Circuit, which fully supports the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Final Rule that calls for the immediate reopening of the Canadian border to live cattle and additional beef products. A total of 29 cattlemen’s organizations are signatories on the document....
Editorial: Beef decision undercuts free speech You don't have to care about "What's for Dinner" to have a beef with a decision the U.S. Supreme Court just dished out. A six-justice majority on Monday ruled that fees levied on ranchers don't violate the free-speech rights of ranchers hurt by the advertising campaign bankrolled by the fees - $1 a head, totaling some $80 million a year. Many small operators object to the "Beef: It's what's for dinner" advertising campaign because it doesn't promote American-grown beef. Indeed, promotion of generic beef is just as likely to help foreign beef producers whose imports to the United States are a worrisome source of competition for domestic producers. The ruling itself is as disappointing as a well-done rib-eye. The reasoning behind the majority's change in perspective is as hard to swallow as a big gob of fat and gristle....
Celebratory mood on centennial trail drive In May 1966, Texans who owned longhorn cattle embarked on an elaborate commemoration of the centennial of the first Texas cattle drives. From soon after the Civil War through the 1870s, thousands of Texas-raised cattle were driven north almost 500 miles to the railhead in Dodge City, Kan. A drive took about three months, and weather, stampedes and hostile Indians were constant concerns. One of the participants in the Texas Longhorn Centennial Trail Drive was Hood County rancher Courts K. Cleveland Jr., 82, a decorated infantry second lieutenant and a veteran of the European front in World War II. Cleveland owned dozens of longhorns and belonged to the new Texas Longhorn Breeders Association. "As the trail from San Antonio began, the drovers outnumbered the cattle," Cleveland recalls. "We started with 93 steers and about 200 people on horseback or in wagons and stagecoaches." Charlie Schreiner III, owner of the famous Hill Country YO Ranch, provided several ranch cowboys to handle the cattle, Cleveland said. "The rest of us were pretty much along for the fun of the ride," he said....
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The Rancher's Revenge Jim Chilton doesn't just admire cowboy values. He believes in them. And, like any true believer, he's eager to share the gospel in well-rehearsed sound bites, whenever the situation allows. Ask him, for example, why he decided to sue one of the West's most prominent environmental groups. "I laid in bed at night, wondering if I was a cowboy or a wimp," he'll reply. "If you're a cowboy, you stand up and fight for truth, justice, integrity and honor. If you're a wimp, you lay there and go to sleep." Or, ask about nature. "For a cowboy," he'll tell you, "every day is Earth Day." That's why Chilton got so mad at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center tried to make him the bad guy when he, the cowboy, was supposed to be the hero. And that was an attack no cowboy could forgive. (Forgiveness, after all, is for wimps.) And so he sued -- a switch, given that the Center is normally the one filing the lawsuits. Chilton took the case to trial, and won one of the biggest punitive damage awards Arizona is likely to see this year....
Wife of Mexican peasant ecologist recounts attack on family The wife of a Mexican environmental activist ambushed last week by gunman described on Wednesday the flash of muzzles, a hail of bullets outside her home and futile screams to stop the attack that killed two of her children. "I was screaming at them not to shoot," said Reyna Mojica, the wife of Albertano Penaloza, a founder of the embattled Organization of Peasant Ecologists in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. "Even with me screaming, with my children, they still kept firing hard." Mexican and international rights groups on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation of the unsolved killings of Penaloza's sons and for protection of the family....
SPECIAL REPORT: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ERODING ON MANY FRONTS The US federal government is in the midst of a broad campaign to revamp one of the bedrock US environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A slew of developments are highlighted in this TipSheet, but there are more out there, and likely more to come. Since the vast majority of these changes are new, or still in process, it's too early to tell how they will work out. But in general, many business groups are applauding, and many environmental groups are concerned. Since 1969, NEPA has provided a way to gauge the effects of major development on public lands, look at alternatives, and give the public a chance to comment. In recent decades many business and industry interests have complained that NEPA has "morphed into an all-purpose delaying tactic," in the words of the Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman (202-608-6139). But much less time could be spent in the environmental evaluation process if it were addressed upfront with initial project planning, as it often isn't, says the Sierra Club's Neha Bhatt (202-548-4596, NEPA page)....
Column:Is the Mississippi Corridor changing into the Mississippi Wildlands? A $216 million-plus regulatory package has been given to “reduce the human stress on the fragile river environment and improve wild habitats” on the Upper Mississippi. “This is big stuff. It really gouges a lot of folks,” said Ron Nicklaus, 56, of Genoa, Wis., an avid duck hunter who camps every summer on the Mississippi in a recent Associated Press report. “It (the Mississippi) doesn’t belong to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It belongs to the folks.” Regulations through the year 2020 can be found in a 600-page document with designs for 240,000 acres of the Upper Mississippi floodplain designated as a national wildlife refuge. Who owns that property now? Local residents wonder who will pay for all the federal officials to enforce the 600 pages of regulations. Most believe this is jurisdiction that should stay in the hands of state and local government....
Editorial: Endangered species, endangered sense What the environmentalists now beating the Bushes to save endangered species won't tell you is that the Endangered Species Act itself makes genetic science irrelevant. The Endangered Species Act defines a species for the purposes of the act as a "species," a "subspecies" or a "distinct population segment." If only a "distinct population segment" of a species is in danger of extinction, then the "species" can be listed as endangered. In practice, the results are silly. Sometimes the only difference between an endangered animal and an unendangered animal is the shade of the spots (maroon is endangered, candy apple red is not). In California, an owl on one side of a highway is endangered while an identical bird on the other side is not. In Michigan, the difference between a "threatened" flatbelly snake and a snake without federal protection is a county line or the measure of latitude. Of course, minor color variations, roads and political geography have little to do with whether a species is endangered or not. If such ludicrous standards were applied to humans, blacks in South Dakota would be endangered. Taking note of the fact that few humans live in northern parts of Alaska or the Arizona desert, Fish and Wildlife Service scientists could apply for endangered species status for humans....
Southwest, Rockies and Alaska primed for active fire season Federal wildfire forecasters say unusual rainfall patterns in the West this winter and spring have boosted growth of grasses and low-lying vegetation that will dry to fuel, setting the stage for a worse than normal fire season in the Southwest, Northern Rockies and Alaska. "We are very concerned because we've had all the grass growth but the forests in the higher elevations of the Northwest and the Northern Rockies have missed out on all their snowpack," Rick Ochoa, the national fire weather program manager for the National Weather Service, said Wednesday at a briefing with federal land agency fire managers. "Usually, when that snowpack gradually melts, you are basically watering the trees every day, but we're missing that this year." While the Rocky Mountain region had a dry winter and wet spring, the precipitation pattern flip-flopped in the Southwest. A wetter-than-normal winter caused flooding and mudslides in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Nevada and Southern California, followed by a dry spring....
Nature Preserve Designed for 100,000 Acres of Tejon Ranch The design for a 100,000 acre nature preserve on the Tejon Ranch was unveiled Wednesday at the ranch after nearly two years of scientific study to identify the best of the natural resources on the historic ranch. The Tejon Ranch Preserve protects the habitat of threatened and endangered species, preserves wilderness areas and provides public access as the preserve design includes a realignment through Tejon Ranch of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 mile long congressionally designated scenic trail from the Mexican border to Canada. Representatives of Tejon Ranch and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) gathered at the ranch 60 miles north of Los Angeles to share the new design - the result of consultation and recommendations by a scientific peer review panel and an independent environmental advisory group....
Predator in the Crosshairs Almost two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery trudged across Lemhi Pass from western Montana and began a memorable 105-day culinary tour of Idaho. When traversing the Bitterroot Mountains, they had a lean snack of coyote and crayfish. Starving near the Clearwater River, they dined on huckleberries and horsemeat. At one point, dried salmon and camas root were a welcome gift from some sympathetic Nez Perce; alas, it resulted in food poisoning. But the Corps found the pinnacle of the Gem State cornucopia at what is often called Camp Chopunnish, on the western fringe of the current Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Here, the adventurers developed a hankering for the gamey flesh of North America's largest predator, the grizzly bear. Over a month-long stay, they killed and consumed no less than seven bears, including a mother and two cubs, by utilizing a Nez Perce cooking technique that Captain Lewis thought made the bear extra-tender. Two centuries and several brushes with extinction later, Idaho hunters may once again have the opportunity to bring home the bear-bacon....
Conservation Groups Intervene to Protect 27 Endangered California Species A coalition of conservation groups yesterday sought to intervene in a lawsuit brought by housing developers that would eliminate habitat protections for 27 of California's most endangered plants and animals. The developers' lawsuit challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of "critical habitat" for the species under the Endangered Species Act. It was filed March 30 by the Home Builders Association of Northern California, Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation, California Building Industry Association, California State Grange and Greenhorn Grange. (Click here for a factsheet about the species challenged by the developers' lawsuit.) "The California building industry is trying to sink Noah's Ark," said Peter Galvin, Conservation Director for the Center for Biological Diversity (Center), one of the groups intervening in the case....
Council OKs plan to let ranchers kill wolves At 10 minutes after midnight on Wednesday morning, local wildlife representatives voted 7-4 in favor of allowing wolves to be shot on public and private land. Friends and foes of wolves had gathered in Springville for a meeting of the Central Utah Regional Advisory Council that began at 6:30 p.m. The vote followed hours of public comment on the subject. The proposed plan, drafted over two years, had recommended using rubber bullets and other nonlethal control methods before allowing farmers and ranchers to shoot the animals. The Springville meeting -- the fourth of five public hearings on the wolf plan -- was the fourth in a row to add amendments allowing ranchers, their families and employees to shoot wolves on public and private land. The state Wildlife Board is expected to make a binding vote on the plan next month....
Landowner kills wolf that was chasing livestock A landowner legally shot and killed a wolf chasing livestock on private property near Hall, 50 miles southeast of Missoula, on Monday morning, according to state wildlife officials. Federal rules now in effect in a portion of western Montana allow ranchers to kill wolves that are actively attacking, chasing or harassing livestock, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Under the rule, which offers Montana more wolf management authority and flexibility, anyone who shoots or kills a wolf must report the incident within 24 hours. In addition, evidence of the actual wolf attack, or evidence that an attack was imminent, must be available for state and federal inspectors....
Disease-resistant trout studied A team of Utah researchers has received an $83,000 grant to study rainbow trout with a "significant resistance" to whirling disease found in a Madison County reservoir. "They are not absolutely resistant, but they are significantly resistant," said Richard Vincent, who works with Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Montana State University. Researchers haven't found a solution for whirling disease, which has infected more than 130 streams in Montana, but Vincent said the Willow Creek Reservoir trout warrant continued study. The encouraging strain of fish came from Wyoming between 1977 and 1981. Before that, the fish came to Wyoming from California....
To Protect Mustangs, BLM Imposes New Rules on Animal Sales The Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for the horses, announced last week that it has beefed up legal protections for the animals and will resume selling them as early as this week. The BLM also said it is attempting to strike an agreement with the nation's three horse slaughterhouses to reject wild horses, identifiable by government freeze brands. The announcement, which some advocacy groups for wild horses have greeted with skepticism, comes five months after President Bush signed a measure into law ordering the agency to sell some of the wild horses and burros roaming the West. The agency estimates there are still 31,000 out there, scattered across 10 states. An additional 22,000 excess horses have been rounded up and put in government holding facilities. Excess horses are those deemed by the bureau to be more than their environs can sustain. Wild horses are allowed to roam on 201 separate patches of federal land totaling about 29.5 million acres. The BLM estimates the land supports, at most, 28,000....
Fisherman swaps rare turtle for Mercedes An Albanian net fisherman has enraged biologists by swapping an endangered leatherback turtle weighing 806 kilos for a used Mercedes from an Italian fish trader. Hysni Xhemali told the Metropol newspaper he was out fishing in Albania's Ionian Sea waters, as he had done for the past 10 years, when he saw "a big black thing in the net." Five of his friends came to his help to drag the turtle close to shore, but in the end they needed a mechanical excavator to beach it. Xhemali said he was immediately approached by an Italian fish trader but refused to deal. He reconsidered when offered a "nearly new" Mercedes and the turtle was reportedly shipped to a zoo in Rome....
Free Trade Agreement Gains Support from Agriculture and Manufacturing A new push for Congressional approval of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has officially begun. During April, separate agricultural and manufacturing coalitions released studies proclaiming the benefits of expanding free trade. Farmers rallied for CAFTA-DR on April 11. More than 50 organizations, coming together as the Agriculture Coalition for CAFTA-DR, were joined by Mike Johanns, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other public and private officials at a media event in the nation's capitol. The groups are urging Congress to "pass the already negotiated agreement." According to the coalition, the trade deal would yield nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. agricultural exports to the CAFTA-DR region, providing significant opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers. The nations of CAFTA-DR represent the second largest market in Latin America for U.S. products. "When you look at the aggregate, CAFTA-DR is a net positive for [U.S.] agriculture," said American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman. "The agreement will generate millions of dollars annually by eliminating tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods." Tariffs on almost all U.S. products exported to CAFTA-DR nations will decrease to zero after full implementation. Currently, U.S. agriculture products entering the region without the agreement are subject to up to 60 percent tariffs....
R-CALF USA Court Case Attacked by State Cattle Groups As a possible hearing date in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looms on the horizon, members of some local cattle-producer organizations from Georgia, to Louisiana, to Colorado and beyond, seem to be experiencing some frustration and confusion as members learn their state associations signed on to a court document that supports the immediate reopening of the Canadian border – but without input from the local level. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) have filed an amicus brief (friend of the court brief) in the 9th Circuit, which fully supports the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Final Rule that calls for the immediate reopening of the Canadian border to live cattle and additional beef products. A total of 29 cattlemen’s organizations are signatories on the document....
Editorial: Beef decision undercuts free speech You don't have to care about "What's for Dinner" to have a beef with a decision the U.S. Supreme Court just dished out. A six-justice majority on Monday ruled that fees levied on ranchers don't violate the free-speech rights of ranchers hurt by the advertising campaign bankrolled by the fees - $1 a head, totaling some $80 million a year. Many small operators object to the "Beef: It's what's for dinner" advertising campaign because it doesn't promote American-grown beef. Indeed, promotion of generic beef is just as likely to help foreign beef producers whose imports to the United States are a worrisome source of competition for domestic producers. The ruling itself is as disappointing as a well-done rib-eye. The reasoning behind the majority's change in perspective is as hard to swallow as a big gob of fat and gristle....
Celebratory mood on centennial trail drive In May 1966, Texans who owned longhorn cattle embarked on an elaborate commemoration of the centennial of the first Texas cattle drives. From soon after the Civil War through the 1870s, thousands of Texas-raised cattle were driven north almost 500 miles to the railhead in Dodge City, Kan. A drive took about three months, and weather, stampedes and hostile Indians were constant concerns. One of the participants in the Texas Longhorn Centennial Trail Drive was Hood County rancher Courts K. Cleveland Jr., 82, a decorated infantry second lieutenant and a veteran of the European front in World War II. Cleveland owned dozens of longhorns and belonged to the new Texas Longhorn Breeders Association. "As the trail from San Antonio began, the drovers outnumbered the cattle," Cleveland recalls. "We started with 93 steers and about 200 people on horseback or in wagons and stagecoaches." Charlie Schreiner III, owner of the famous Hill Country YO Ranch, provided several ranch cowboys to handle the cattle, Cleveland said. "The rest of us were pretty much along for the fun of the ride," he said....
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005
GAO TESTIMONY
Natural Resources: Federal Agencies Are Engaged in Numerous Woody Biomass Utilization Activities, but Significant Obstacles May Impede Their Efforts, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, House Committee on Resources. GAO-05-741T, May 24. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-741T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05741thigh.pdf
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Natural Resources: Federal Agencies Are Engaged in Numerous Woody Biomass Utilization Activities, but Significant Obstacles May Impede Their Efforts, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, House Committee on Resources. GAO-05-741T, May 24. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-741T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05741thigh.pdf
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Indian ranchers battling over grazing rates American Indian ranchers are involved in a long legal battle over reservation grazing rates. The disputes usually have centered on whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs illegally tried to increase rates in the middle of contracts. the BIA sent out a notice of a rate increase to members of the Fort Berthold Land and Livestock Association in 1999. Solly Danks said the BIA proposed raising the $4.30 per animal unit lease rate to $6.92 per animal unit. Attorney Sarah Vogel calls it "torture of the Native American rancher by the BIA.'" "They don't know what their rates will be, don't know if they have a half-million dollars liability for prior years, don't know whether to sell their cows or whether they should breed. It's outrageous mismanagement by the federal government," she said....
Critics say new BLM rules won't save wild horses from slaughter Safeguards adopted by the Bureau of Land Management last week to protect wild horses removed from federal lands in the West are not strict enough to keep the mustangs out of slaughterhouses, critics said Tuesday. "The protections are very weak, surprisingly weak," said Nancy Perry, vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. "They will not stop horses from being sold for slaughter." Advocacy groups want the Senate to approve a measure passed by the House last week to reinstate full protection for the horses under a 1971 law - prohibiting sales outside the BLM's adoption program....
Tiller huckleberries get special status American Indians once spent late summer and fall gathering huckleberries near Tiller. They'd camp until the first frost, drying the berries on a flat, hot rock to provide food for winter. Over the years, fire repression has allowed conifers to begin encroaching in the open old growth forests and around the perimeter of meadows where the berries thrive. Left alone, young trees could eventually shade out native plants. To preserve the "Huckleberry Patch" area, the U.S. Forest Service is in the process of designating as a special interest area a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District, part of the Rogue River National Forest. The designation will allow land managers to conduct projects that benefit huckleberries, such as prescribed burning or thinning to create meadows, which would also benefit wildlife that need open areas, such as deer, elk and songbirds. The agency could also install interpretive signs to inform visitors of the huckleberry tradition in the area....
BLM report calls for restoring marbled murrelet population An effort to revamp the bird's population is the mainstay of a report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Coos Bay office. The draft outlines a multi-million-dollar proposal aimed at restoring natural resources to levels existing before more than 70,000 gallons of oil spewed from the 660-foot cargo ship. With about $4 million in funds reaped from a lawsuit settlement with the New Carissa owners, Green Atlas Shipping S.A., and its insurance company, along with an as-yet undetermined sum of federal money earmarked for oil spill recovery, the plan calls for acquisition of almost 1,300 acres of private timberland from willing sellers. But the acreage figure is likely to end up being three to five times greater, Mangan said, because the plan calls for purchase land surrounding murrelet habitat. He said that's a measure to avoid the creation of island parcels, which are likely to be surrounded by access roads....
Riders hosting lecture on land access, forest trails Horse trail riders plan to hold an informational lecture tonight in Goreville about the controversy over private land access to public trails in the Shawnee National Forest. Scott said many private lots in Southern Illinois border the Shawnee National Forest, and a good portion of them are used by horse riders, who pay top dollar in property taxes to have that proximity. Riders fear the forest service is considering a policy that restricts private-path access to the public trails and would have some horse riders hauling their trailers and trucks miles to the starting point of the trails, even though forest land may sit adjacent to their back yards. Scott said the U.S. Forest Service has been particularly heavy-handed in addressing trail riders' concerns, which he plans to address in his lecture....
Western Coalition Defeats Another Major Endangered Species Listing A Western coalition of agriculture, small business, industry, recreation, local government and property right advocates are applauding Friday's decision by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service not to add the Pygmy Rabbit to the federal Endangered Species list. The pygmy rabbit decision is the second major defeat for environmental activists on endangered species listings this year, following the refusal by federal officials in January to place the Greater Sage-grouse on the endangered list. The Partnership for the West spearheaded campaigns in both cases to convince federal officials that the listings would be harmful to the species because they would chill state and local conservation efforts. "This is first and foremost a victory for the pygmy rabbit," said Diane Hoppe, Chair of the Partnership for the West grassroots alliance and a Colorado State legislator. "Given that less than one percent of all species that get placed on the federal Endangered Species list actually recover to biological health, a listing for pygmy rabbit would probably have spelled doom for this species....
Western governors to meet in Breckenridge Governors from 18 western states and three Pacific territories will descend on Breckenridge June 12-14 for the annual Western Governors Association conference. Colorado is host because Gov. Bill Owens' is chairman of the group. The conference focus is on the Western economy and the role it plays in the U. S. economy, energy and the West's role in international trade, according to the Western Governors Web site. Mexico President Vincente Fox is invited, but the keynote speaker is unconfirmed, according to a preliminary agenda posted on the Web site. The agenda also lists U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who oversees the National Forest Service, as a speaker....
Water, anger rise as a result of flow test The Bureau of Reclamation has begun a flow test experiment at Flaming Gorge Dam to assess endangered fish species in conditions designed to mimic the natural flow of the Green River downstream from the dam. But the high-water conditions are also creating something else downstream: anger. With flows increased to a maximum 4,600 cubic feet per second out of the dam and as high as 19,500 cfs at Jensen, Uintah County officials say farms along the Green River are being flooded, and crops are being ruined, and that their pleas to reduce the higher flows have gone unheeded....
Column: $30-Million & Counting The Stupidity The US Bureau of Reclamation now estimates that removal of Savage Rapids Dam, located on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon, will cost an astonishing $30-Million. With BoR's foreknowledge that this dam does not kill the very salmon and steelhead its removal is supposedly going to protect, this dam removal project is a testimonial to the corruption of environmentalism. This dam removal project is also a testimonial to the infinite stupidity of the US Government, and to the environmental complicity of the media. Removing Savage Rapids Dam was the brainchild of Bob Hunter, founder and former executive director of WaterWatch of Oregon. Hunter is now just a staff attorney for this environmental law firm that he founded. Hunter personally led the efforts of radical enviros who wanted to remove Savage Rapids Dam. I know Hunter personally, and I have complete contempt for him and his "environmental" organization....
Feds reject Utah appeal The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on Tuesday rejected Utah's appeal to thwart the stockpiling of spent nuclear fuel rods at an American Indian reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The ruling comes after an appeals hearing in April, when the state argued that radiation could escape from waste casks if an outer protective shield was breached -- even if the interior lead-lined canister holding the fuel rods remained fully intact. The Goshute tribe is trying to build a waste station for spent rods at the tribe's reservation in Skull Valley....
GAO finds room for improvement in FWS science The US Fish and Wildlife Service must do more to integrate new research into ongoing species management decisions, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Despite its conclusion, the congressional watchdog office found that the agency generally used the best available information in making such decisions. The GAO cites an instance when the Bureau of Land Management eliminated sheep grazing on tortoise habitat in California, but neither the bureau nor FWS ensured that necessary research was conducted to assess if this action actually benefited the tortoise. “Unless managers link research findings to recovery actions, they cannot develop a scientific basis to make decisions about whether land use restrictions—such as limiting grazing or other activities in tortoise habitat—should remain unchanged, be strengthened, or whether alternative actions are more appropriate,” the report states....
Editorial: High court errs on beef checkoff But the ruling in our view makes it all too easy for government to compel support for a type of advertising, and drown out any dissent. Is it any wonder dairy farmers who object to the "Got Milk?" promotion, also paid with fees, filed a brief in the case? The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled in favor of the ranchers, following a 2001 Supreme Court case that invalidated a very similar promotional plan for mushroom growers. But the beef checkoff is different, the high court said, because the beef promotion program was created by Congress, and its content is entirely under the control of the Department of Agriculture. Therefore, whatever is being said to promote generic beef is government speech, and thus immune to the First Amendment argument. Why, who knew? The ads don't say they're brought to you by the U.S. government. And as Justice David Souter said in his dissent, why would anyone even think to look? "No one hearing a commercial for Pepsi or Levi's thinks Uncle Sam is the man talking behind the curtain," Justice David Souter wrote. As long as the government's role is so obscured, Souter said, the ranchers should not be compelled to pay for spreading a message they don't want to be associated with. We agree....
Japan Gov't Asks Food Commission to Rule on U.S. Beef Trade Japan's agriculture and health ministries have asked the country's Food Safety Commission to rule whether it is safe to import and consume U.S. beef, a decision that could lead to the end of Japan's 17-monthlong ban on the meat. ``We have asked the Food Safety Commission to determine if resuming U.S. beef imports under certain conditions can endanger Japan's food safety,'' Kazuhiro Yoshida, a food safety official at the agriculture ministry, said today in Tokyo. The commission's agreement that U.S. beef poses no health risk to Japanese consumers is one of the steps necessary before Japan will resume imports of beef from the U.S....
Vampire bats plague cattle, cheer scientists Cattleman Francisco Oliva was on a roundup - of vampire bats. After a swarm of the blood-slurping creatures dive-bombed his herd and drank their fill one recent night, he corralled several dozen of them in special contraptions that look like giant badminton nets. He put each bat in a cage and then applied a poison called vampirin to their backs with a brush before releasing them. Back in the bat roost, the animals would be groomed by as many as 20 other bats, causing their deaths. (Or so Oliva hoped.) "We have to look for answers, because this little animal is very stubborn," Oliva said days after the capture, surveying his 300-head herd, most of them bearing bat-fang markings and red stains from the nightly bloodletting. Oliva said he would exterminate every single bat if he could....
Rare white bison born in B.C. A buffalo rancher near Fort St. John in northeastern B.C. is bracing for scores of visitors following the recent birth of a rare white calf. It's only been a few days since the birth was announced, but rancher Karen Blatz says people are already dropping by to take a look. And Blatz says she expects those numbers will grow as word gets out. "This is the first white calf that was born in Canada. I know there was a few in the States but not too many." When a white bison was born in Wisconsin in 1994, half a million people turned out to see it. Aboriginal legend holds that the white bison is a harbinger of peace and unity. And in that spirit, Blatz says she has named the male calf Spirit of Peace. "To them a white buffalo is a symbol of hope, rebirth or unity and also peace. And because he was born north of Peace River, we thought Peace would be a good name."....
Hyde to sign his new book Dayton O. Hyde will kick-off his book signing tour of his new novel from Arcade Publishing, "The Pastures of Beyond, An Old Cowboy Looks Back At The Old West" on Saturday, May 28 from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the Black Hills Books & Treasures in Hot Springs. The Old West lives in Dayton Hyde, an authentic American original whose colorful tales of cowboys, Indians, and the horses they rode have the grace of poetry and the power of myth....
Rodeo fans mourn loss of cowboy Dick Hemsted, 81 The rodeo was Dick Hemsted's life. He was, simply put, a cowboy's cowboy. And he came from good stock. The 81-year-old Hemsted died Friday at his Anderson ranch. He was a Redding native and a well-known rodeo stock contractor. Hemsted was a longtime central figure in the annual Redding Rodeo and the Red Bluff Round-Up, among other rodeos. "He was a real legend around these parts," said Jan Mikkelson, Hemsted's niece. A touching tribute was paid to Hemsted during this weekend's Redding Rodeo as a riderless horse was escorted around the arena. More tributes are planned during rodeos throughout the West....
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Indian ranchers battling over grazing rates American Indian ranchers are involved in a long legal battle over reservation grazing rates. The disputes usually have centered on whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs illegally tried to increase rates in the middle of contracts. the BIA sent out a notice of a rate increase to members of the Fort Berthold Land and Livestock Association in 1999. Solly Danks said the BIA proposed raising the $4.30 per animal unit lease rate to $6.92 per animal unit. Attorney Sarah Vogel calls it "torture of the Native American rancher by the BIA.'" "They don't know what their rates will be, don't know if they have a half-million dollars liability for prior years, don't know whether to sell their cows or whether they should breed. It's outrageous mismanagement by the federal government," she said....
Critics say new BLM rules won't save wild horses from slaughter Safeguards adopted by the Bureau of Land Management last week to protect wild horses removed from federal lands in the West are not strict enough to keep the mustangs out of slaughterhouses, critics said Tuesday. "The protections are very weak, surprisingly weak," said Nancy Perry, vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. "They will not stop horses from being sold for slaughter." Advocacy groups want the Senate to approve a measure passed by the House last week to reinstate full protection for the horses under a 1971 law - prohibiting sales outside the BLM's adoption program....
Tiller huckleberries get special status American Indians once spent late summer and fall gathering huckleberries near Tiller. They'd camp until the first frost, drying the berries on a flat, hot rock to provide food for winter. Over the years, fire repression has allowed conifers to begin encroaching in the open old growth forests and around the perimeter of meadows where the berries thrive. Left alone, young trees could eventually shade out native plants. To preserve the "Huckleberry Patch" area, the U.S. Forest Service is in the process of designating as a special interest area a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District, part of the Rogue River National Forest. The designation will allow land managers to conduct projects that benefit huckleberries, such as prescribed burning or thinning to create meadows, which would also benefit wildlife that need open areas, such as deer, elk and songbirds. The agency could also install interpretive signs to inform visitors of the huckleberry tradition in the area....
BLM report calls for restoring marbled murrelet population An effort to revamp the bird's population is the mainstay of a report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Coos Bay office. The draft outlines a multi-million-dollar proposal aimed at restoring natural resources to levels existing before more than 70,000 gallons of oil spewed from the 660-foot cargo ship. With about $4 million in funds reaped from a lawsuit settlement with the New Carissa owners, Green Atlas Shipping S.A., and its insurance company, along with an as-yet undetermined sum of federal money earmarked for oil spill recovery, the plan calls for acquisition of almost 1,300 acres of private timberland from willing sellers. But the acreage figure is likely to end up being three to five times greater, Mangan said, because the plan calls for purchase land surrounding murrelet habitat. He said that's a measure to avoid the creation of island parcels, which are likely to be surrounded by access roads....
Riders hosting lecture on land access, forest trails Horse trail riders plan to hold an informational lecture tonight in Goreville about the controversy over private land access to public trails in the Shawnee National Forest. Scott said many private lots in Southern Illinois border the Shawnee National Forest, and a good portion of them are used by horse riders, who pay top dollar in property taxes to have that proximity. Riders fear the forest service is considering a policy that restricts private-path access to the public trails and would have some horse riders hauling their trailers and trucks miles to the starting point of the trails, even though forest land may sit adjacent to their back yards. Scott said the U.S. Forest Service has been particularly heavy-handed in addressing trail riders' concerns, which he plans to address in his lecture....
Western Coalition Defeats Another Major Endangered Species Listing A Western coalition of agriculture, small business, industry, recreation, local government and property right advocates are applauding Friday's decision by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service not to add the Pygmy Rabbit to the federal Endangered Species list. The pygmy rabbit decision is the second major defeat for environmental activists on endangered species listings this year, following the refusal by federal officials in January to place the Greater Sage-grouse on the endangered list. The Partnership for the West spearheaded campaigns in both cases to convince federal officials that the listings would be harmful to the species because they would chill state and local conservation efforts. "This is first and foremost a victory for the pygmy rabbit," said Diane Hoppe, Chair of the Partnership for the West grassroots alliance and a Colorado State legislator. "Given that less than one percent of all species that get placed on the federal Endangered Species list actually recover to biological health, a listing for pygmy rabbit would probably have spelled doom for this species....
Western governors to meet in Breckenridge Governors from 18 western states and three Pacific territories will descend on Breckenridge June 12-14 for the annual Western Governors Association conference. Colorado is host because Gov. Bill Owens' is chairman of the group. The conference focus is on the Western economy and the role it plays in the U. S. economy, energy and the West's role in international trade, according to the Western Governors Web site. Mexico President Vincente Fox is invited, but the keynote speaker is unconfirmed, according to a preliminary agenda posted on the Web site. The agenda also lists U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who oversees the National Forest Service, as a speaker....
Water, anger rise as a result of flow test The Bureau of Reclamation has begun a flow test experiment at Flaming Gorge Dam to assess endangered fish species in conditions designed to mimic the natural flow of the Green River downstream from the dam. But the high-water conditions are also creating something else downstream: anger. With flows increased to a maximum 4,600 cubic feet per second out of the dam and as high as 19,500 cfs at Jensen, Uintah County officials say farms along the Green River are being flooded, and crops are being ruined, and that their pleas to reduce the higher flows have gone unheeded....
Column: $30-Million & Counting The Stupidity The US Bureau of Reclamation now estimates that removal of Savage Rapids Dam, located on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon, will cost an astonishing $30-Million. With BoR's foreknowledge that this dam does not kill the very salmon and steelhead its removal is supposedly going to protect, this dam removal project is a testimonial to the corruption of environmentalism. This dam removal project is also a testimonial to the infinite stupidity of the US Government, and to the environmental complicity of the media. Removing Savage Rapids Dam was the brainchild of Bob Hunter, founder and former executive director of WaterWatch of Oregon. Hunter is now just a staff attorney for this environmental law firm that he founded. Hunter personally led the efforts of radical enviros who wanted to remove Savage Rapids Dam. I know Hunter personally, and I have complete contempt for him and his "environmental" organization....
Feds reject Utah appeal The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on Tuesday rejected Utah's appeal to thwart the stockpiling of spent nuclear fuel rods at an American Indian reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The ruling comes after an appeals hearing in April, when the state argued that radiation could escape from waste casks if an outer protective shield was breached -- even if the interior lead-lined canister holding the fuel rods remained fully intact. The Goshute tribe is trying to build a waste station for spent rods at the tribe's reservation in Skull Valley....
GAO finds room for improvement in FWS science The US Fish and Wildlife Service must do more to integrate new research into ongoing species management decisions, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Despite its conclusion, the congressional watchdog office found that the agency generally used the best available information in making such decisions. The GAO cites an instance when the Bureau of Land Management eliminated sheep grazing on tortoise habitat in California, but neither the bureau nor FWS ensured that necessary research was conducted to assess if this action actually benefited the tortoise. “Unless managers link research findings to recovery actions, they cannot develop a scientific basis to make decisions about whether land use restrictions—such as limiting grazing or other activities in tortoise habitat—should remain unchanged, be strengthened, or whether alternative actions are more appropriate,” the report states....
Editorial: High court errs on beef checkoff But the ruling in our view makes it all too easy for government to compel support for a type of advertising, and drown out any dissent. Is it any wonder dairy farmers who object to the "Got Milk?" promotion, also paid with fees, filed a brief in the case? The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled in favor of the ranchers, following a 2001 Supreme Court case that invalidated a very similar promotional plan for mushroom growers. But the beef checkoff is different, the high court said, because the beef promotion program was created by Congress, and its content is entirely under the control of the Department of Agriculture. Therefore, whatever is being said to promote generic beef is government speech, and thus immune to the First Amendment argument. Why, who knew? The ads don't say they're brought to you by the U.S. government. And as Justice David Souter said in his dissent, why would anyone even think to look? "No one hearing a commercial for Pepsi or Levi's thinks Uncle Sam is the man talking behind the curtain," Justice David Souter wrote. As long as the government's role is so obscured, Souter said, the ranchers should not be compelled to pay for spreading a message they don't want to be associated with. We agree....
Japan Gov't Asks Food Commission to Rule on U.S. Beef Trade Japan's agriculture and health ministries have asked the country's Food Safety Commission to rule whether it is safe to import and consume U.S. beef, a decision that could lead to the end of Japan's 17-monthlong ban on the meat. ``We have asked the Food Safety Commission to determine if resuming U.S. beef imports under certain conditions can endanger Japan's food safety,'' Kazuhiro Yoshida, a food safety official at the agriculture ministry, said today in Tokyo. The commission's agreement that U.S. beef poses no health risk to Japanese consumers is one of the steps necessary before Japan will resume imports of beef from the U.S....
Vampire bats plague cattle, cheer scientists Cattleman Francisco Oliva was on a roundup - of vampire bats. After a swarm of the blood-slurping creatures dive-bombed his herd and drank their fill one recent night, he corralled several dozen of them in special contraptions that look like giant badminton nets. He put each bat in a cage and then applied a poison called vampirin to their backs with a brush before releasing them. Back in the bat roost, the animals would be groomed by as many as 20 other bats, causing their deaths. (Or so Oliva hoped.) "We have to look for answers, because this little animal is very stubborn," Oliva said days after the capture, surveying his 300-head herd, most of them bearing bat-fang markings and red stains from the nightly bloodletting. Oliva said he would exterminate every single bat if he could....
Rare white bison born in B.C. A buffalo rancher near Fort St. John in northeastern B.C. is bracing for scores of visitors following the recent birth of a rare white calf. It's only been a few days since the birth was announced, but rancher Karen Blatz says people are already dropping by to take a look. And Blatz says she expects those numbers will grow as word gets out. "This is the first white calf that was born in Canada. I know there was a few in the States but not too many." When a white bison was born in Wisconsin in 1994, half a million people turned out to see it. Aboriginal legend holds that the white bison is a harbinger of peace and unity. And in that spirit, Blatz says she has named the male calf Spirit of Peace. "To them a white buffalo is a symbol of hope, rebirth or unity and also peace. And because he was born north of Peace River, we thought Peace would be a good name."....
Hyde to sign his new book Dayton O. Hyde will kick-off his book signing tour of his new novel from Arcade Publishing, "The Pastures of Beyond, An Old Cowboy Looks Back At The Old West" on Saturday, May 28 from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the Black Hills Books & Treasures in Hot Springs. The Old West lives in Dayton Hyde, an authentic American original whose colorful tales of cowboys, Indians, and the horses they rode have the grace of poetry and the power of myth....
Rodeo fans mourn loss of cowboy Dick Hemsted, 81 The rodeo was Dick Hemsted's life. He was, simply put, a cowboy's cowboy. And he came from good stock. The 81-year-old Hemsted died Friday at his Anderson ranch. He was a Redding native and a well-known rodeo stock contractor. Hemsted was a longtime central figure in the annual Redding Rodeo and the Red Bluff Round-Up, among other rodeos. "He was a real legend around these parts," said Jan Mikkelson, Hemsted's niece. A touching tribute was paid to Hemsted during this weekend's Redding Rodeo as a riderless horse was escorted around the arena. More tributes are planned during rodeos throughout the West....
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Tuesday, May 24, 2005
GAO REPORTS
Natural Resources: Federal Agencies Are Engaged in Various Efforts to Promote the Utilization of Woody Biomass, but Significant Obstacles to Its Use Remain. GAO-05-373, May 13. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-373
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05373high.pdf
Motor Fuels: Understanding the Factors That Influence the Retail Price of Gasoline. GAO-05-525SP, May 2005. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-525SP
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Natural Resources: Federal Agencies Are Engaged in Various Efforts to Promote the Utilization of Woody Biomass, but Significant Obstacles to Its Use Remain. GAO-05-373, May 13. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-373
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05373high.pdf
Motor Fuels: Understanding the Factors That Influence the Retail Price of Gasoline. GAO-05-525SP, May 2005. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-525SP
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NEWS ROUNDUP
New Rule on Endangered Species in the Southwest The southwestern regional director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has instructed members of his staff to limit their use of the latest scientific studies on the genetics of endangered plants and animals when deciding how best to preserve and recover them. At issue is what happens once a fish, animal, plant or bird is included on the federal endangered species list as being in danger of extinction and needing protection. Dale Hall, the director of the southwestern region, in a memorandum dated Jan. 27, said that all decisions about how to return a species to robust viability must use only the genetic science in place at the time it was put on the endangered species list - in some cases the 1970's or earlier - even if there have been scientific advances in understanding the genetic makeup of a species and its subgroups in the ensuing years. His instructions can spare states in his region the expense of extensive recovery efforts. Mr. Hall's ruling fits squarely into the theory advanced by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights group in California, that endangered species be considered as one genetic unit for purposes of being put on the endangered species list and in subsequent management plans....
Experts tout wolf breeding breakthrough Two artificially inseminated Mexican gray wolves recently birthed a combined eight living pups at a research site founded by late naturalist Marlin Perkins, marking perhaps the first time the non-surgical technique has worked with endangered wolves. Wildlife officials cheered word of the newcomers to the St. Louis-area Wild Canid Survival and Research Center - the world's largest holder and breeder of Mexican gray wolves - as proof of the technology's usefulness in rebuilding the population of the animals. Among other things, the "phenomenal" breakthrough someday may enable noninvasive fertilization of female wolves in the wild, no longer requiring them to be caged or disruptively brought in for insemination, said Kim Scott, the center's assistant director....
Geese damage fields; bill aims to reduce populations Approached from hundreds of feet away, the skein takes heed, rolling its winged percussion as the evening sky turns black with flapping silhouettes over the New River. A cannon sounds in the distance. The time-released propane blasts are all ranchers can use to haze the geese and reduce the massive grazing. But if legislation passed unanimously by the House last month in Salem becomes law, these stewards of the land could have a few more tools next year to control the population. They say sections of the fields can be transformed from lush green to brown muck in a matter of hours. To the Aleutian Canada geese, the grassland is effectively a massive lunch, providing the energy they need to make the journey back to breeding grounds in their namesake Alaskan islands, some 3,000 miles away....
Groups challenge refusal to protect trout Environmental groups are back in court seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the westslope cutthroat trout, a fish the groups say inhabits only a fraction of its historic range in the Northern Rockies. A lawsuit delivered Monday to U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says the fish is at greater risk than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges. The lawsuit, expected to be officially filed later this week, asks the court to scrap the agency's finding that protection under the act is not warranted, and order further study....
Predators in Yellowstone Decade of the Wolf Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson Lyons Press, $23.95 Their names are lifeless numbers: 10, 42, 21. But their stories are full of the drama of survival in the wild. Authors Douglas Smith and Gary Ferguson capture that spirit in this book detailing the 10-year effort to reintroduce the fierce canines to Yellowstone National Park after a 70-year absence. Smith, the park's Wolf Project leader, and nature writer Ferguson recount the highs and lows of the controversial program, which began in 1995 with the release of 31 Canadian gray wolves. Along with the historical account is a close look at individual wolves that excelled in bravery, boldness or cunning. It was their adaptability, along with help from conservationists, that made the program a success: Nearly 200 wolves now roam the park and its environs. Smith and Ferguson recount the duties that make a wolf biologist's job extraordinary — looking into the eyes of a wolf just darted with a tranquilizer gun, soaring over the park in a spotter plane, dodging the slings and arrows of the anti-wolf segment of the population, many of whom are hunters and ranchers who long opposed the project....
Grand Canyon tests check sounds of nature Standing about ear high on tripods, microphones attached to sound level meters and computers are trying to capture the sound of quiet at the Grand Canyon. When the chatter of hikers, the rumble of idling cars and the buzz of air traffic are removed, what does nature sound like around the landmark? Grand Canyon National Park officials hope to help answer that question with data now being collected. The information will be used in computer models that will help determine how noisy the park would be without human intrusion and whether current regulations on tour flights adequately limit noise....
Kane-BLM feud still simmers; some flexibility emerges The contentious argument between Kane County and the federal government over ownership of roads that spider web across Bureau of Land Management land took on some new signs of trouble and some of flexibility Monday. Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw said during a County Commission meeting that he and county work crews have voluntarily removed 52 signs erected by the county from the BLM-administered Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He also said someone has been covering county stickers encouraging ATV use that are posted on road markers with stickers prohibiting ATVs on those roads. The new stickers resemble official BLM stickers. Eight other county signs have been pulled up on the monument....
Column: America's Self-Imposed Energy Shortage Many think America is suffering from an unavoidable energy shortage. In truth, we’re failing to harness the energy we have. Standing between this energy and the public are brigades of environmental lawyers using federal statutes to block projects they dislike. These lawyers, and the laws that make their efforts possible, pose a serious challenge to a secure energy future, a challenge that Washington has yet to address. Examples can be found nationwide: One environmental group recently announced a lawsuit to stop construction of a power plant in southern Illinois that would have used abundant local coal. Other groups are suing to block natural gas production throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Still others lost a case trying to restrict new oil wells in Alaska but have just launched a separate lawsuit to do the same. Such lawsuits have become the norm. Almost every major energy project in the U.S. can expect a court battle before moving forward....
Column: Environmental Progress, Despite the Greens Recent opinion surveys have found sharp changes in attitudes about environmental issues. A recent Harris Poll reported that 56 percent of Americans are now optimistic about our environmental future, and other polls show the public is tuning out environmentalists. Public perception is finally starting to catch up to reality, as the data show that most -- most, though not all -- environmental problems in the United States have been getting better for a long while now. The gloom-and-doom messages of environmental activist groups and the bad-news inclinations of the news media have obscured these trends, but eventually the public has started to notice the massive improvements in air quality and the rebirth of America's forestlands....
Bush: EPA Chief Will Emphasize Science President Bush, in a rare visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, pledged Monday that science would be at the heart of the nation's air, water and land policies. Bush attended a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony for Stephen Johnson, the first career employee to take over the agency's reins. Johnson, a 24-year EPA veteran, also is the first administrator with a science background. "With this background, Steve will help us continue to place sound scientific analysis at the heart of all major environmental decisions," Bush said at a 15-minute ceremony in which White House chief of staff Andy Card administered the oath of office....
Banks Go for Green It's every corporation's nightmare: a throng of rowdy activists gathers outside company buildings to demonstrate against alleged environmental and human-rights abuses. That was the scene in New York City and Chicago last month as dozens of people in white haz-mat suits converged on the offices of JPMorgan Chase to protest what they claimed was the bank's underwriting of illegal logging in Indonesia and human-rights abuses tied to a Chase-funded mining operation in Peru. Oil companies and industrial giants may be accustomed to such treatment, but not JPMorgan Chase, the second largest bank in the U.S. Two weeks later, the company announced that it would introduce policies to promote sustainable forestry and indigenous people's rights and would block funding that could be used for illegal logging. It also promised to reduce its carbon emissions and those of its clients. Chalk up another victory for environmentally and socially responsible finance. Ten years ago, big private banks were not featured on environmentalists' hit lists. Activists focused on large corporate polluters in the oil and timber industries. Over time, though, green groups have realized that one effective way to halt destructive practices is to take on the institutions that bankroll them....
Judicial pick may be fall guy in political fight In backroom negotiations to defuse the looming showdown over the Senate filibuster rule, a group of centrist Republicans and Democrats has singled out Myers as an expendable nominee whose hopes for a lifetime appointment to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may be crushed for the sake of a deal, along with Michigan nominee Henry Saad. As a longtime Western lobbyist for grazing and energy interests, and a conservative advocate with a self-confessed knack for "bombastic" rhetorical warfare, the former Interior Department solicitor has won the enmity of a formidable roster of environmental, American Indian and civil-rights organizations....
Column: The Courthouse Effect: How to win a global-warming suit In his recent novel State of Fear, Michael Crichton centers his plot on a global-warming lawsuit that has been threatened by a leading environmental group on behalf of a small Pacific island nation allegedly menaced by rising sea levels. In Crichton's fictional universe, the science of global warming is a big joke, and the suit turns out to be a publicity stunt. In real life, though, environmentalists and their allies aren't bluffing. Frustrated by the Bush administration's seeming indifference to climate change, they've plotted their legal strategy carefully and have so far filed three test cases. Federal courts in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco heard arguments in two cases last month that challenge the failure of federal agencies to address global warming. One of the suits takes on the Environmental Protection Agency for not regulating carbon dioxide emissions; the other targets the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for funding fossil-fuel projects without assessing the environmental impact. A third case, brought by eight states last summer against five major electric utilities, argues that the companies' carbon dioxide emissions are a public nuisance because they trigger global warming and attendant effects like heat waves and beach erosion. Finally, the Arctic Inuit have announced plans to challenge the United States over global warming before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an action that could lay the groundwork for a future trip to court....
Rural Western towns face grim choice: Grow or die Take a turn off the main road here, where the constant Wyoming wind blows, and it's almost like entering a faded postcard of Americana. A lonely town hall, a glistening white library and a one-counter post office where no one waits in line. But Chugwater's main street, with its shuttered businesses and boarded windows, is empty, and the cattle easily outnumber the town's 244 people. Even the River Rocks Steakhouse, once billed as "the most rocking place in Chugwater" is closed. No grocery store. No traffic. No doctor. Some worry whether that all adds up to something else: No future. Here and across the rural West, little towns like Chugwater face big choices: Grow or die....
Jimmy Martin, 1928–2005 Jimmy Martin, the self-styled "King of Bluegrass," died at a hospice near his home in Hermitage, TN on May 14. Martin had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2003, but the progress of the disease was slow, and the first of two hospice stays was cut short by an apparent recovery. Significantly, Martin never gave up his plans to perform at this year's Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, IN. Born in rural Sneedville, TN in 1928, Jimmy Martin showed a talent for singing early in life, and as a child he and his brothers and friends used homemade instruments to imitate the sounds of the string bands they heard on the radio. Martin's desire to pursue a music career only grew as the years went by, and in 1949, newly fired from a paint crew in Morristown, TN, he traveled to the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville, talked his way backstage, and launched into an impromptu audition for bandleader Bill Monroe—who hired Martin on the spot as a singer and rhythm guitar player. A coda to that story, possibly apocryphal, has Jimmy driving all the way back to Morristown, finding his old boss, and telling him, "Thanks for firing me, you horse's ass—and if you want to hear about my new job, tune your radio to WSM next Saturday night!"....
Lawmakers unhappy with bootmaker Authorities have heeled a San Antonio man who they say conned more than 30 members of the 2003 Legislature and dozens of staff members and lobbyists into paying thousands of dollars for custom-made cowboy boots that in many cases were never delivered. Harry Henze Jr., 45, was picked up Wednesday by Department of Public Safety troopers at a shoe repair shop he'd opened in the Alamo City. He's being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the Travis County Correctional Complex on two felony charges of aggravated theft. Indictments list more than 80 alleged instances of theft from January through September 2003....
24th Annual “End of Trail” Shooting Festival In the late 1800s, a gathering of 2,000 cowboys, cowgirls, gamblers, gentleman shootists, saloon girls, and Civil War veterans — each one packing pistols, rifles, and/or double-barrel shotguns — would have been a location for respectable citizens to avoid at all costs. Nowadays, people purchase tickets and use vacation time to witness the spectacle. The 24th annual End of Trail Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting & Wild West Jubilee took place east of Albuquerque, N.M., during the last weekend of April. Though 2005 marked the first time the Single Action Shooting Society’s (SASS) yearly festival was held outside the state of California, the change is a permanent one, with SASS purchasing a more central location of almost 500 picturesque acres in rugged New Mexico. Along with the above-mentioned 2,000 shooters/vendors/sponsors, another 5,000 visitors bought tickets over the spring weekend for the chance absorb sights and sounds (and shopping!) of all things Old West. Rubbing elbows with dusty hombres bearing names like Judge Roy Bean, General U.S. Grant, Johnnie Concho, Latigo Lady, Buckskin Doc, and Wildcat Kate helped to make the overall experience larger than life....
Code of the West teaches youngsters solid values Mention the West, and images of noble cowboys, clearly identified good guys versus baddies, and agreements sealed with a handshake instead of a formal contract all come to mind. What is often called the Code of the West – those same core values – is being used by Cowboys and Kids in a character-building program designed with elementary students in mind. “We use cowboys and rodeoing as an attention-getter to teach children honesty, respect for others, responsibility and having a good attitude. In the process, we also teach them something about what cowboys really do,” said Janet Lemmons, West Coast representative for the nonprofit organization. The organization’s stated mission: “To reach youth with a message of character-branding truths for today and tomorrow.”....
"Good Medicine" “Laffin’” is always better when there is more than one of you enjoying that good medicine. “Good Medicine” is also the title of a book just released by Cowboy Magazine. The foreword is by Baxter Black and I have a small part in the book by having one story and several illustrations for some of the other funny, funny stories. “Good Medicine” is a collection of really cute, funny stories written by cowboys themselves about situations they have found themselves or someone they know in. I think it would make a really great Father’s Day gift for the head wrangler. In all the years that I punched cows, I found myself in situations that were certainly not funny at the time, however, reflecting back on them, I had to “laff.” There was the time a horse tried his best to drown both of us and one of my cowboys rode up and roped the hoss and pulled him out of the water before he tossed me a line....
It's All Trew: Autograph book reveals mother's girlhood On December 25, 1916, my mother Naoma Simmons received an autograph book for Christmas. Measuring only 4x7 inches, it contained blank pages edged in gold for autographs of her family and friends. Naoma was only 8 years old and the first entry was by her father who wrote, "Love many and trust few, but always paddle your own canoe. Respectfully, your Papa." The second entry was by her mother who penned: "Dear Naoma, Keep a watch on your words my dear for words are a wonderful thing. They are sweet like the bee's honey, or like bees they have a terrible sting. Lovingly, your Mama." I can see my mother now as a cute little girl progressing from sister to sister and on to anyone who came, handing her new book and pencil and begging for autographs. At that age, I doubt if she could read well enough to see what each verse said....
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DARLIN'
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New Rule on Endangered Species in the Southwest The southwestern regional director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has instructed members of his staff to limit their use of the latest scientific studies on the genetics of endangered plants and animals when deciding how best to preserve and recover them. At issue is what happens once a fish, animal, plant or bird is included on the federal endangered species list as being in danger of extinction and needing protection. Dale Hall, the director of the southwestern region, in a memorandum dated Jan. 27, said that all decisions about how to return a species to robust viability must use only the genetic science in place at the time it was put on the endangered species list - in some cases the 1970's or earlier - even if there have been scientific advances in understanding the genetic makeup of a species and its subgroups in the ensuing years. His instructions can spare states in his region the expense of extensive recovery efforts. Mr. Hall's ruling fits squarely into the theory advanced by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights group in California, that endangered species be considered as one genetic unit for purposes of being put on the endangered species list and in subsequent management plans....
Experts tout wolf breeding breakthrough Two artificially inseminated Mexican gray wolves recently birthed a combined eight living pups at a research site founded by late naturalist Marlin Perkins, marking perhaps the first time the non-surgical technique has worked with endangered wolves. Wildlife officials cheered word of the newcomers to the St. Louis-area Wild Canid Survival and Research Center - the world's largest holder and breeder of Mexican gray wolves - as proof of the technology's usefulness in rebuilding the population of the animals. Among other things, the "phenomenal" breakthrough someday may enable noninvasive fertilization of female wolves in the wild, no longer requiring them to be caged or disruptively brought in for insemination, said Kim Scott, the center's assistant director....
Geese damage fields; bill aims to reduce populations Approached from hundreds of feet away, the skein takes heed, rolling its winged percussion as the evening sky turns black with flapping silhouettes over the New River. A cannon sounds in the distance. The time-released propane blasts are all ranchers can use to haze the geese and reduce the massive grazing. But if legislation passed unanimously by the House last month in Salem becomes law, these stewards of the land could have a few more tools next year to control the population. They say sections of the fields can be transformed from lush green to brown muck in a matter of hours. To the Aleutian Canada geese, the grassland is effectively a massive lunch, providing the energy they need to make the journey back to breeding grounds in their namesake Alaskan islands, some 3,000 miles away....
Groups challenge refusal to protect trout Environmental groups are back in court seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the westslope cutthroat trout, a fish the groups say inhabits only a fraction of its historic range in the Northern Rockies. A lawsuit delivered Monday to U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says the fish is at greater risk than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges. The lawsuit, expected to be officially filed later this week, asks the court to scrap the agency's finding that protection under the act is not warranted, and order further study....
Predators in Yellowstone Decade of the Wolf Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson Lyons Press, $23.95 Their names are lifeless numbers: 10, 42, 21. But their stories are full of the drama of survival in the wild. Authors Douglas Smith and Gary Ferguson capture that spirit in this book detailing the 10-year effort to reintroduce the fierce canines to Yellowstone National Park after a 70-year absence. Smith, the park's Wolf Project leader, and nature writer Ferguson recount the highs and lows of the controversial program, which began in 1995 with the release of 31 Canadian gray wolves. Along with the historical account is a close look at individual wolves that excelled in bravery, boldness or cunning. It was their adaptability, along with help from conservationists, that made the program a success: Nearly 200 wolves now roam the park and its environs. Smith and Ferguson recount the duties that make a wolf biologist's job extraordinary — looking into the eyes of a wolf just darted with a tranquilizer gun, soaring over the park in a spotter plane, dodging the slings and arrows of the anti-wolf segment of the population, many of whom are hunters and ranchers who long opposed the project....
Grand Canyon tests check sounds of nature Standing about ear high on tripods, microphones attached to sound level meters and computers are trying to capture the sound of quiet at the Grand Canyon. When the chatter of hikers, the rumble of idling cars and the buzz of air traffic are removed, what does nature sound like around the landmark? Grand Canyon National Park officials hope to help answer that question with data now being collected. The information will be used in computer models that will help determine how noisy the park would be without human intrusion and whether current regulations on tour flights adequately limit noise....
Kane-BLM feud still simmers; some flexibility emerges The contentious argument between Kane County and the federal government over ownership of roads that spider web across Bureau of Land Management land took on some new signs of trouble and some of flexibility Monday. Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw said during a County Commission meeting that he and county work crews have voluntarily removed 52 signs erected by the county from the BLM-administered Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He also said someone has been covering county stickers encouraging ATV use that are posted on road markers with stickers prohibiting ATVs on those roads. The new stickers resemble official BLM stickers. Eight other county signs have been pulled up on the monument....
Column: America's Self-Imposed Energy Shortage Many think America is suffering from an unavoidable energy shortage. In truth, we’re failing to harness the energy we have. Standing between this energy and the public are brigades of environmental lawyers using federal statutes to block projects they dislike. These lawyers, and the laws that make their efforts possible, pose a serious challenge to a secure energy future, a challenge that Washington has yet to address. Examples can be found nationwide: One environmental group recently announced a lawsuit to stop construction of a power plant in southern Illinois that would have used abundant local coal. Other groups are suing to block natural gas production throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Still others lost a case trying to restrict new oil wells in Alaska but have just launched a separate lawsuit to do the same. Such lawsuits have become the norm. Almost every major energy project in the U.S. can expect a court battle before moving forward....
Column: Environmental Progress, Despite the Greens Recent opinion surveys have found sharp changes in attitudes about environmental issues. A recent Harris Poll reported that 56 percent of Americans are now optimistic about our environmental future, and other polls show the public is tuning out environmentalists. Public perception is finally starting to catch up to reality, as the data show that most -- most, though not all -- environmental problems in the United States have been getting better for a long while now. The gloom-and-doom messages of environmental activist groups and the bad-news inclinations of the news media have obscured these trends, but eventually the public has started to notice the massive improvements in air quality and the rebirth of America's forestlands....
Bush: EPA Chief Will Emphasize Science President Bush, in a rare visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, pledged Monday that science would be at the heart of the nation's air, water and land policies. Bush attended a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony for Stephen Johnson, the first career employee to take over the agency's reins. Johnson, a 24-year EPA veteran, also is the first administrator with a science background. "With this background, Steve will help us continue to place sound scientific analysis at the heart of all major environmental decisions," Bush said at a 15-minute ceremony in which White House chief of staff Andy Card administered the oath of office....
Banks Go for Green It's every corporation's nightmare: a throng of rowdy activists gathers outside company buildings to demonstrate against alleged environmental and human-rights abuses. That was the scene in New York City and Chicago last month as dozens of people in white haz-mat suits converged on the offices of JPMorgan Chase to protest what they claimed was the bank's underwriting of illegal logging in Indonesia and human-rights abuses tied to a Chase-funded mining operation in Peru. Oil companies and industrial giants may be accustomed to such treatment, but not JPMorgan Chase, the second largest bank in the U.S. Two weeks later, the company announced that it would introduce policies to promote sustainable forestry and indigenous people's rights and would block funding that could be used for illegal logging. It also promised to reduce its carbon emissions and those of its clients. Chalk up another victory for environmentally and socially responsible finance. Ten years ago, big private banks were not featured on environmentalists' hit lists. Activists focused on large corporate polluters in the oil and timber industries. Over time, though, green groups have realized that one effective way to halt destructive practices is to take on the institutions that bankroll them....
Judicial pick may be fall guy in political fight In backroom negotiations to defuse the looming showdown over the Senate filibuster rule, a group of centrist Republicans and Democrats has singled out Myers as an expendable nominee whose hopes for a lifetime appointment to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may be crushed for the sake of a deal, along with Michigan nominee Henry Saad. As a longtime Western lobbyist for grazing and energy interests, and a conservative advocate with a self-confessed knack for "bombastic" rhetorical warfare, the former Interior Department solicitor has won the enmity of a formidable roster of environmental, American Indian and civil-rights organizations....
Column: The Courthouse Effect: How to win a global-warming suit In his recent novel State of Fear, Michael Crichton centers his plot on a global-warming lawsuit that has been threatened by a leading environmental group on behalf of a small Pacific island nation allegedly menaced by rising sea levels. In Crichton's fictional universe, the science of global warming is a big joke, and the suit turns out to be a publicity stunt. In real life, though, environmentalists and their allies aren't bluffing. Frustrated by the Bush administration's seeming indifference to climate change, they've plotted their legal strategy carefully and have so far filed three test cases. Federal courts in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco heard arguments in two cases last month that challenge the failure of federal agencies to address global warming. One of the suits takes on the Environmental Protection Agency for not regulating carbon dioxide emissions; the other targets the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for funding fossil-fuel projects without assessing the environmental impact. A third case, brought by eight states last summer against five major electric utilities, argues that the companies' carbon dioxide emissions are a public nuisance because they trigger global warming and attendant effects like heat waves and beach erosion. Finally, the Arctic Inuit have announced plans to challenge the United States over global warming before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an action that could lay the groundwork for a future trip to court....
Rural Western towns face grim choice: Grow or die Take a turn off the main road here, where the constant Wyoming wind blows, and it's almost like entering a faded postcard of Americana. A lonely town hall, a glistening white library and a one-counter post office where no one waits in line. But Chugwater's main street, with its shuttered businesses and boarded windows, is empty, and the cattle easily outnumber the town's 244 people. Even the River Rocks Steakhouse, once billed as "the most rocking place in Chugwater" is closed. No grocery store. No traffic. No doctor. Some worry whether that all adds up to something else: No future. Here and across the rural West, little towns like Chugwater face big choices: Grow or die....
Jimmy Martin, 1928–2005 Jimmy Martin, the self-styled "King of Bluegrass," died at a hospice near his home in Hermitage, TN on May 14. Martin had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2003, but the progress of the disease was slow, and the first of two hospice stays was cut short by an apparent recovery. Significantly, Martin never gave up his plans to perform at this year's Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, IN. Born in rural Sneedville, TN in 1928, Jimmy Martin showed a talent for singing early in life, and as a child he and his brothers and friends used homemade instruments to imitate the sounds of the string bands they heard on the radio. Martin's desire to pursue a music career only grew as the years went by, and in 1949, newly fired from a paint crew in Morristown, TN, he traveled to the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville, talked his way backstage, and launched into an impromptu audition for bandleader Bill Monroe—who hired Martin on the spot as a singer and rhythm guitar player. A coda to that story, possibly apocryphal, has Jimmy driving all the way back to Morristown, finding his old boss, and telling him, "Thanks for firing me, you horse's ass—and if you want to hear about my new job, tune your radio to WSM next Saturday night!"....
Lawmakers unhappy with bootmaker Authorities have heeled a San Antonio man who they say conned more than 30 members of the 2003 Legislature and dozens of staff members and lobbyists into paying thousands of dollars for custom-made cowboy boots that in many cases were never delivered. Harry Henze Jr., 45, was picked up Wednesday by Department of Public Safety troopers at a shoe repair shop he'd opened in the Alamo City. He's being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the Travis County Correctional Complex on two felony charges of aggravated theft. Indictments list more than 80 alleged instances of theft from January through September 2003....
24th Annual “End of Trail” Shooting Festival In the late 1800s, a gathering of 2,000 cowboys, cowgirls, gamblers, gentleman shootists, saloon girls, and Civil War veterans — each one packing pistols, rifles, and/or double-barrel shotguns — would have been a location for respectable citizens to avoid at all costs. Nowadays, people purchase tickets and use vacation time to witness the spectacle. The 24th annual End of Trail Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting & Wild West Jubilee took place east of Albuquerque, N.M., during the last weekend of April. Though 2005 marked the first time the Single Action Shooting Society’s (SASS) yearly festival was held outside the state of California, the change is a permanent one, with SASS purchasing a more central location of almost 500 picturesque acres in rugged New Mexico. Along with the above-mentioned 2,000 shooters/vendors/sponsors, another 5,000 visitors bought tickets over the spring weekend for the chance absorb sights and sounds (and shopping!) of all things Old West. Rubbing elbows with dusty hombres bearing names like Judge Roy Bean, General U.S. Grant, Johnnie Concho, Latigo Lady, Buckskin Doc, and Wildcat Kate helped to make the overall experience larger than life....
Code of the West teaches youngsters solid values Mention the West, and images of noble cowboys, clearly identified good guys versus baddies, and agreements sealed with a handshake instead of a formal contract all come to mind. What is often called the Code of the West – those same core values – is being used by Cowboys and Kids in a character-building program designed with elementary students in mind. “We use cowboys and rodeoing as an attention-getter to teach children honesty, respect for others, responsibility and having a good attitude. In the process, we also teach them something about what cowboys really do,” said Janet Lemmons, West Coast representative for the nonprofit organization. The organization’s stated mission: “To reach youth with a message of character-branding truths for today and tomorrow.”....
"Good Medicine" “Laffin’” is always better when there is more than one of you enjoying that good medicine. “Good Medicine” is also the title of a book just released by Cowboy Magazine. The foreword is by Baxter Black and I have a small part in the book by having one story and several illustrations for some of the other funny, funny stories. “Good Medicine” is a collection of really cute, funny stories written by cowboys themselves about situations they have found themselves or someone they know in. I think it would make a really great Father’s Day gift for the head wrangler. In all the years that I punched cows, I found myself in situations that were certainly not funny at the time, however, reflecting back on them, I had to “laff.” There was the time a horse tried his best to drown both of us and one of my cowboys rode up and roped the hoss and pulled him out of the water before he tossed me a line....
It's All Trew: Autograph book reveals mother's girlhood On December 25, 1916, my mother Naoma Simmons received an autograph book for Christmas. Measuring only 4x7 inches, it contained blank pages edged in gold for autographs of her family and friends. Naoma was only 8 years old and the first entry was by her father who wrote, "Love many and trust few, but always paddle your own canoe. Respectfully, your Papa." The second entry was by her mother who penned: "Dear Naoma, Keep a watch on your words my dear for words are a wonderful thing. They are sweet like the bee's honey, or like bees they have a terrible sting. Lovingly, your Mama." I can see my mother now as a cute little girl progressing from sister to sister and on to anyone who came, handing her new book and pencil and begging for autographs. At that age, I doubt if she could read well enough to see what each verse said....
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DARLIN'
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Monday, May 23, 2005
BEEF CHECKOFF
Beef Ad Fees Are Upheld The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the cattle industry fees that fund the ``Beef: It's What's for Dinner'' advertising campaign, rejecting arguments the program violates constitutionally protected speech rights. The justices today said the mandatory $1-per-head assessments on cattle pay for a valid program of ``government speech,'' directed by the Agriculture Department. The 6-3 ruling set aside an appeals court decision, returning the case to the lower court to consider other arguments against the fees. The decision bolsters the legal case for a similar pork- industry program, which a lower court had declared unconstitutional, as well as promotion fees assessed on milk, eggs, cotton and soybeans. Altogether, producers in 17 industries paid $693.2 million in mandatory fees in 2003. In the $170 billion beef business alone, producers and importers paid $83.6 million in ``checkoff'' fees during fiscal 2003. The money goes toward research and education in addition to promotion....
NCBA says decision in favor of checkoff was expected Jim McAdams, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) says the group is "elated" that the US Supreme Court has ruled the Beef Checkoff Program constitutional, overturning an appeals court ruling that found the federal Beef Promotion and Research Act in violation of the First Amendment. "Throughout the lengthy litigation process, we believed in the merits of our case and the merits of the Beef Checkoff. We anticipated a positive decision. This is a victory for all producers who want demand-building efforts in beef safety, nutrition and promotion continued. "It is time now for industry groups to put aside their differences and move forward together," McAdams said. After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, Veneman v. Livestock Marketing Association, 113 state and national beef industry and general agriculture organizations signed a friend-of-the-court amicus brief in support of the checkoff....
NFU: Supreme Court Beef Checkoff Decision Surprising and Disappointing National Farmers Union President Dave Frederickson made the following statement regarding today's Supreme Court Ruling: "Monday's U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling by a 6 to 3 vote to uphold the beef checkoff program is both surprising and disappointing. The ruling is surprising because the Court ruled the mandatory beef checkoff program is a U.S. government program and the Constitution’s First Amendment free speech rights of producers funding the program do not apply. This contradicts mandatory checkoff proponents’ arguments that the program is run and controlled by the producers....
OCM: Checkoff Decision Violates Democracy – Funding Meat Packer/NCBA Lobby The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) expressed its disappointment with the Supreme Court’s ruling the beef checkoff is a mandatory tax which does not violate the U.S. Constitution. Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion rejected the argument the mandatory checkoff is forced speech compelling all producers to support to the meat packer/NCBA message. Rather, he found the program a “compelled subsidy.” “This is a sad day for liberty and democracy,” said Keith Mudd, OCM president. “U.S. cattle producers were told to vote for checkoff implementation because it was a self help program with no government control. When the program was taken over by the meat packer/importer interests, USDA denied producers a vote in a petition drive. Now the Supreme Court says the program is no different than any other tax, or any other government program.”....
AFBF Statement “We are happy the Supreme Court supported the beef checkoff and that the checkoff will continue to play a vital role in promoting beef consumption, as well as defending the beef industry from food safety and nutrition challenges. It was a six-to-three decision handed down by the Supreme Court that affirmed the federal beef checkoff program will remain in effect. We will be analyzing the ruling further, but we see it as a win for farmers and ranchers. “Farm Bureau policy supports commodity checkoff programs, and the beef checkoff court ruling strengthens other commodity checkoff programs endorsed by Farm Bureau members....
LMA Statement “We are deeply disappointed in the Court’s decision. Given the two strong decisions supporting our position, from the federal district court and the court of appeals, we had high hopes the Supreme Court would have decided otherwise. “However, we respect the legal system and the Court’s deliberations in this case, and we reluctantly accept their decision and will move on from here. “LMA started this effort to give America’s producers greater say over how their checkoff dollars would be spent, and by whom. We hope that message will not be lost with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and other beef industry leaders. We hope they try and become more inclusive of differing views, and make sure that producers large and small, and from every sector, have a greater voice in checkoff affairs....
USDA "I am extremely pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the lower courts' decisions and ruled in favor of the Beef Checkoff Program," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "This is certainly a win for the many producers who recognize the power of pooled resources. As this administration has always contended, USDA regards such programs, when properly administered, as effective tools for market enhancement." As a result of this decision, the Beef Checkoff Program will continue without interruption. USDA is reviewing this decision to determine its implications for other first amendment challenges to checkoff programs....
Go here to read the decision.
===
Beef Ad Fees Are Upheld The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the cattle industry fees that fund the ``Beef: It's What's for Dinner'' advertising campaign, rejecting arguments the program violates constitutionally protected speech rights. The justices today said the mandatory $1-per-head assessments on cattle pay for a valid program of ``government speech,'' directed by the Agriculture Department. The 6-3 ruling set aside an appeals court decision, returning the case to the lower court to consider other arguments against the fees. The decision bolsters the legal case for a similar pork- industry program, which a lower court had declared unconstitutional, as well as promotion fees assessed on milk, eggs, cotton and soybeans. Altogether, producers in 17 industries paid $693.2 million in mandatory fees in 2003. In the $170 billion beef business alone, producers and importers paid $83.6 million in ``checkoff'' fees during fiscal 2003. The money goes toward research and education in addition to promotion....
NCBA says decision in favor of checkoff was expected Jim McAdams, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) says the group is "elated" that the US Supreme Court has ruled the Beef Checkoff Program constitutional, overturning an appeals court ruling that found the federal Beef Promotion and Research Act in violation of the First Amendment. "Throughout the lengthy litigation process, we believed in the merits of our case and the merits of the Beef Checkoff. We anticipated a positive decision. This is a victory for all producers who want demand-building efforts in beef safety, nutrition and promotion continued. "It is time now for industry groups to put aside their differences and move forward together," McAdams said. After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, Veneman v. Livestock Marketing Association, 113 state and national beef industry and general agriculture organizations signed a friend-of-the-court amicus brief in support of the checkoff....
NFU: Supreme Court Beef Checkoff Decision Surprising and Disappointing National Farmers Union President Dave Frederickson made the following statement regarding today's Supreme Court Ruling: "Monday's U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling by a 6 to 3 vote to uphold the beef checkoff program is both surprising and disappointing. The ruling is surprising because the Court ruled the mandatory beef checkoff program is a U.S. government program and the Constitution’s First Amendment free speech rights of producers funding the program do not apply. This contradicts mandatory checkoff proponents’ arguments that the program is run and controlled by the producers....
OCM: Checkoff Decision Violates Democracy – Funding Meat Packer/NCBA Lobby The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) expressed its disappointment with the Supreme Court’s ruling the beef checkoff is a mandatory tax which does not violate the U.S. Constitution. Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion rejected the argument the mandatory checkoff is forced speech compelling all producers to support to the meat packer/NCBA message. Rather, he found the program a “compelled subsidy.” “This is a sad day for liberty and democracy,” said Keith Mudd, OCM president. “U.S. cattle producers were told to vote for checkoff implementation because it was a self help program with no government control. When the program was taken over by the meat packer/importer interests, USDA denied producers a vote in a petition drive. Now the Supreme Court says the program is no different than any other tax, or any other government program.”....
AFBF Statement “We are happy the Supreme Court supported the beef checkoff and that the checkoff will continue to play a vital role in promoting beef consumption, as well as defending the beef industry from food safety and nutrition challenges. It was a six-to-three decision handed down by the Supreme Court that affirmed the federal beef checkoff program will remain in effect. We will be analyzing the ruling further, but we see it as a win for farmers and ranchers. “Farm Bureau policy supports commodity checkoff programs, and the beef checkoff court ruling strengthens other commodity checkoff programs endorsed by Farm Bureau members....
LMA Statement “We are deeply disappointed in the Court’s decision. Given the two strong decisions supporting our position, from the federal district court and the court of appeals, we had high hopes the Supreme Court would have decided otherwise. “However, we respect the legal system and the Court’s deliberations in this case, and we reluctantly accept their decision and will move on from here. “LMA started this effort to give America’s producers greater say over how their checkoff dollars would be spent, and by whom. We hope that message will not be lost with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and other beef industry leaders. We hope they try and become more inclusive of differing views, and make sure that producers large and small, and from every sector, have a greater voice in checkoff affairs....
USDA "I am extremely pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the lower courts' decisions and ruled in favor of the Beef Checkoff Program," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "This is certainly a win for the many producers who recognize the power of pooled resources. As this administration has always contended, USDA regards such programs, when properly administered, as effective tools for market enhancement." As a result of this decision, the Beef Checkoff Program will continue without interruption. USDA is reviewing this decision to determine its implications for other first amendment challenges to checkoff programs....
Go here to read the decision.
===
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