Texas Cattle Groups Request World Trade Organization Action
The leaders of Texas' two largest cattle organizations, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) and Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA) have called upon the Bush Administration to pursue World Trade Organization action against those countries that continue to show an unwillingness to open their market for U.S. beef. Many countries closed their borders to imports of U.S. beef following the Dec. 23, 2003, announcement that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was detected in a cow from the state of Washington. Although 70 of those countries have again allowed U.S. beef imports, negotiations to reopen 28 other crucial markets have apparently stalled in spite of continued efforts by top Administration officials in the ensuing months. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that shortly after the BSE discovery, $4.8 billion in U.S. beef and beef product exports were banned by several countries. TSCRA President Dick Sherron of Beaumont and TCFA Chairman Charlie Sellers of Amarillo contend that U.S. trade with international customers should resume based on the Office of International Epizootics (OIE) recommendations. The OIE publishes health standards for international trade in animals and animal products. There are 167 member countries of the organization....
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Friday, August 05, 2005
Bad year for anthrax outbreaks in US livestock
Weather and soil conditions in several areas of the United States are leading to record livestock losses from anthrax. This summer, approximately 400 animals have died in North and South Dakota, Texas, and Minnesota. Anthrax is endemic in grazing animals in some regions where previous cases have occurred. If animals that die from anthrax are not properly buried or incinerated, the bacterium that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, can contaminate the ground under and around the carcass. The spores formed by B anthracis survive in the soil for decades, and heavy rain or construction-related disturbance can bring them to the surface, where grazing animals inhale or ingest them. The disease can be rapidly fatal in infected animals even before significant signs of illness have been noticed. South Dakota State Veterinarian Sam Holland said his state's outbreak began with a 660-head cattle and bison herd in Sully County. Since Jul 20, 155 animals from that herd have died, according to a Jul 29 press release. Anthrax has been confirmed in five additional herds, and laboratory test results are awaited for another four. Affected counties are located in the central and northeast parts of the state; Brown, Hyde, Marshall, Potter, and Sully counties all have confirmed or suspected infections. Nearly 200 animals have died in the state... North Dakota's producers are also experiencing extensive livestock losses from the disease. So far this year, approximately 200 grazing animals have died in 10 southeastern counties, according to an Aug 3 ProMED posting from Dr. Keller. A previous severe outbreak in North Dakota in 2000 killed nearly 150 animals. In Texas, the anthrax outbreak this year is notable not for the numbers but for the location. Anthrax in Texas livestock is reported nearly every year in the southwest region of the state, but recent discovery of the disease at two Sutton County ranches marks the first occurrence in that west central area in more than 20 years...Minnesota has also lost animals to anthrax this year. The outbreak includes an unusual case of apparent co-infection of a herd with bovine tuberculosis. Though not yet confirmed by the veterinary lab at North Dakota State University, anthrax is suspected in a herd of cattle already under quarantine for infection with bovine tuberculosis, according to Terry Boldingh, district veterinarian for the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. Bovine tuberculosis has not been seen in Minnesota since 1971....
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Weather and soil conditions in several areas of the United States are leading to record livestock losses from anthrax. This summer, approximately 400 animals have died in North and South Dakota, Texas, and Minnesota. Anthrax is endemic in grazing animals in some regions where previous cases have occurred. If animals that die from anthrax are not properly buried or incinerated, the bacterium that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, can contaminate the ground under and around the carcass. The spores formed by B anthracis survive in the soil for decades, and heavy rain or construction-related disturbance can bring them to the surface, where grazing animals inhale or ingest them. The disease can be rapidly fatal in infected animals even before significant signs of illness have been noticed. South Dakota State Veterinarian Sam Holland said his state's outbreak began with a 660-head cattle and bison herd in Sully County. Since Jul 20, 155 animals from that herd have died, according to a Jul 29 press release. Anthrax has been confirmed in five additional herds, and laboratory test results are awaited for another four. Affected counties are located in the central and northeast parts of the state; Brown, Hyde, Marshall, Potter, and Sully counties all have confirmed or suspected infections. Nearly 200 animals have died in the state... North Dakota's producers are also experiencing extensive livestock losses from the disease. So far this year, approximately 200 grazing animals have died in 10 southeastern counties, according to an Aug 3 ProMED posting from Dr. Keller. A previous severe outbreak in North Dakota in 2000 killed nearly 150 animals. In Texas, the anthrax outbreak this year is notable not for the numbers but for the location. Anthrax in Texas livestock is reported nearly every year in the southwest region of the state, but recent discovery of the disease at two Sutton County ranches marks the first occurrence in that west central area in more than 20 years...Minnesota has also lost animals to anthrax this year. The outbreak includes an unusual case of apparent co-infection of a herd with bovine tuberculosis. Though not yet confirmed by the veterinary lab at North Dakota State University, anthrax is suspected in a herd of cattle already under quarantine for infection with bovine tuberculosis, according to Terry Boldingh, district veterinarian for the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. Bovine tuberculosis has not been seen in Minnesota since 1971....
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Alabama limits eminent domain
Alabama yesterday became the first state to enact new protections against local-government seizure of property allowed under a Supreme Court ruling that has triggered an explosive grass-roots counteroffensive across the country. Republican Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill that was passed unanimously by a special session of the Alabama Legislature, which would prohibit governments from using their eminent-domain authority to take privately owned properties for the purpose of turning them over to retail, industrial, office or residential developers. Calling the high court's June 23 ruling "misguided" and a "threat to all property owners," Mr. Riley said, "A property rights revolt is sweeping the nation, and Alabama is leading it."....
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Alabama yesterday became the first state to enact new protections against local-government seizure of property allowed under a Supreme Court ruling that has triggered an explosive grass-roots counteroffensive across the country. Republican Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill that was passed unanimously by a special session of the Alabama Legislature, which would prohibit governments from using their eminent-domain authority to take privately owned properties for the purpose of turning them over to retail, industrial, office or residential developers. Calling the high court's June 23 ruling "misguided" and a "threat to all property owners," Mr. Riley said, "A property rights revolt is sweeping the nation, and Alabama is leading it."....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Former industry leader opposes drilling in area A former New Mexico Oil and Gas Association president says he opposes proposed coal-bed methane drilling in northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal. "I am a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry, and responsible drilling means there are some places we shouldn't drill," Gary Fonay said. He said Wednesday he is asking members of New Mexico's congressional delegation to permanently protect the Valle Vidal from mineral extraction. Fonay said drilling in the Valle Vidal "just changes what you have and changes the experience for people who are looking to see what Rocky Mountain life is all about." Houston-based El Paso Corp. has asked the Carson National Forest to open 40 percent of the 100,000-acre Valle Vidal for leases....
U.S. makes drilling compensation voluntary With drilling rigs sprouting across the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly made it voluntary for companies to compensate for oil and gas development by improving the environment. Environmentalists are concerned that the policy lets companies off the hook when it comes to fixing up areas near drilling sites, a process known as "offsite mitigation." "There's no excuse to so completely destroy a site that you need offsite mitigation," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. "(But) if offsite mitigation is going to be an outcome, then it should be required."....
Editorial: BLM must guard rock art in face of huge drilling proposal There is no doubt that drilling 750 natural gas wells on the West Tavaputs Plateau, near Nine Mile Canyon, the site of the highest concentration of Indian rock art in the West, would have an impact on the area. The development proposed by Bill Barrett Corp. would encompass 137,000 acres, or about 215 square miles on the back side of the Book Cliffs. Trucks that now rumble along the Nine Mile Canyon National Backcountry Byway would be joined by even more big trucks and semitrailers, making hundreds of trips past the irreplaceable art left by Fremont Indians who lived in the area from 400 to 1200 A.D. Another certainty is that exploration for gas and oil in the larger area around the San Rafael Swell is going to expand. The region contains some of the richest oil and gas deposits in the lower 48 states. Thousands of acres have been opened up for exploration through the sale of 10-year leases, which has rapidly accelerated under the Bush administration. The Bureau of Land Management has issued 4,000 to 5,000 new drilling permits in Utah in the past several years and expects 1,200 new applications this year. What is less certain is whether the BLM can protect the area's most sensitive lands while maximizing the region's energy development potential....
Judge orders parties to meet A federal magistrate this week ordered parties in a coalbed methane dispute to try to reach an agreement over the scope of an injunction. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson directed the parties to report by Sept. 7 whether they reached an agreement or to file a report identifying what issues remain in contention. Anderson will decide then whether to hold a hearing. The case involves a suit filed in 2003 by the Northern Plains Resource Council against the Bureau of Land Management. The lawsuit challenges BLM's approval of a coalbed methane expansion project by Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. in southeastern Montana. Earlier this year in a related suit, Anderson invalidated BLM's statewide environmental study on coalbed methane development and ordered the agency to further study of a phased-development alternative....
Experts warn of ‘dead zone' off Oregon coast The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University. This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. This year's ocean behavior is particularly bizarre, and there is no proof what is causing it. But extreme variability such as this, OSU researchers say, is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming....
Water war brewing in W. Utah Water, in the midst of a desert that is in the midst of a region experiencing unprecedented population growth, is a valuable thing. But farmers and ranchers in western Utah's Snake Valley say it's much more than that. They say it's a matter of survival, and that their survival is being challenged by Nevadans who want to funnel the water they have to Las Vegas. The Southern Nevada Water Authority counters, however, that it has no intention of descending with hood and scythe on ranches in western Utah and eastern Nevada, the rural lifestyle or the environment. Rather, it says, it is just trying to plan for growth. "We are growing at a rate of about 7,000 to 8,000 people per month, and we'll cross the 3 million population mark shortly," said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the water authority. "So we're growing . . . rather rapidly."....
Wolf kill policies illegal, groups charge Charging that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is authorizing the killing of endangered wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws, 12 conservation and animal protection groups today went to court to block the permits. The federal agency made an illegal end run around the public input process by failing to allow for any public comment on its actions. “Anyone who’s ever been involved in wolf conservation knows it’s an issue of immense public interest, yet the Service utterly shut the public out of the process,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, the lead plaintiff in the case. “In authorizing the killing of wolves in clear violation of federal law, they set a horrible precedent that can’t go unchallenged.”....
Column: Liberation Theology Under the heading, “Native American Genocide,” PETA draws parallels between the worst aspects of Western expansion and normal animal-control activities. “Settlers often treated Native Americans, whom they considered a nuisance, with shocking ruthlessness. . . Today people trap, shoot, and poison native wildlife because they are considered ‘pests.’ ” In other words, every time a rancher acts to control the coyote population to protect his cattle — animals that PETA believes are the moral equivalent of human slaves — it is a replay of Wounded Knee. If we are to understand the threat that the animal-rights and animal-liberation movement poses to human wellbeing, we must first comprehend this fundamental fact: When ALP places a photograph of hanged blacks with that of a dead cow being hoisted by a rope for butchering, it is because animal liberationists actually believe that the lynching of African Americans in the Jim-Crow south and slaughtering cattle are equivalent evils. Nobody in their right mind supports abusing animals. But human slavery was (and is) pure evil; keeping elephants in zoos is not. The Rwandan and Cambodian genocides were acts of pure evil; humanely slaughtering millions of animals to provide the multitudes with nourishing food is not. Mengele’s twin experiments were pure evil; testing new drugs or surgical procedures on animals to save children’s lives is not....
Welfare Farming Dating back to the Depression, subsidies were supposed to help small farmers through a rough patch by propping up prices during periods of economic crisis. They no longer achieve either purpose. There is no evidence that the prices of America's few subsidized crops, which account for about 20% of agricultural sales, are more stable than those of the hundreds of unsubsidized ones. As for helping out the family farmer, the number of farms has shrunk by half since 1960. In particular, fewer than a third of America's full-time farmers now fit the idealized image of Old McDonald and his family. Most of these small farmers get subsidies and are grateful to have them. But it is the biggest farms that get the most, turning subsidies into a particularly gross kind of corporate welfare. The largest 10% of farms get about 72% of the loot....
Artist receives ‘Engraver of the Year’ award It might have come as a bit of a surprise to Silver Springs resident and artist Virginia McCuin when she was chosen to receive the Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Engraver of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists (AWA); however, to those familiar with her work, the honor might be considered long overdue. “It was a shocker...a good shocker,” McCuin said of first learning she had won. “I was pretty impressed and pretty shocked.” McCuin, a member of the AWA, is no stranger to being honored for her work. In fact, she was chosen as one of the top ten engravers by the AWA in 1998. “The ranch has inspired my work,” she said noting her love for engraving equals her love for ranch work, though she no longer ranches....
Good Horse Wrecks My nephew, Blair, had a good wreck a week ago. He was crossing Robinson Creek on his horse Ajax behind some cows that he was going to take to Buckeye. The creek was high, Ajax is always a little touchy, and Blair had his border collie, Moss, with him. These were all the ingredients needed for this wreck. As he crossed the creek his dog crossed upstream and was washed down right under the ever skittish Ajax. The dog washed under the horse, the horse jumped for the heavens at the feel of the dog underneath him and Blair was pitched into the creek. My friend, Benny, who witnessed this wreck said that he heard a big splash and looked back just in time to see Blair swimming for all he was worth after his rapidly disappearing hat....
Ranchers Use Sensitivity Training to Fight Mad Cow Disease Unconfirmed sources report that the use of sensitivity training by US cattle ranchers has reduced the threat of Mad Cow disease. Scientists from the USDA and a small group of ranchers have been working on the secret project for almost three years and the project is showing very positive results. The results have been so striking that USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford has ended the study and rolled out the 'Nice Cow, Pretty Cow' program nation wide. The USDA and National Cattlemen's Beef Association have dispatched dozens of 'cowboy councilors' to hold sensitivity training sessions at ranches across the country to kick off the 'Nice Cow, Pretty Cow' program....
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Former industry leader opposes drilling in area A former New Mexico Oil and Gas Association president says he opposes proposed coal-bed methane drilling in northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal. "I am a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry, and responsible drilling means there are some places we shouldn't drill," Gary Fonay said. He said Wednesday he is asking members of New Mexico's congressional delegation to permanently protect the Valle Vidal from mineral extraction. Fonay said drilling in the Valle Vidal "just changes what you have and changes the experience for people who are looking to see what Rocky Mountain life is all about." Houston-based El Paso Corp. has asked the Carson National Forest to open 40 percent of the 100,000-acre Valle Vidal for leases....
U.S. makes drilling compensation voluntary With drilling rigs sprouting across the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly made it voluntary for companies to compensate for oil and gas development by improving the environment. Environmentalists are concerned that the policy lets companies off the hook when it comes to fixing up areas near drilling sites, a process known as "offsite mitigation." "There's no excuse to so completely destroy a site that you need offsite mitigation," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. "(But) if offsite mitigation is going to be an outcome, then it should be required."....
Editorial: BLM must guard rock art in face of huge drilling proposal There is no doubt that drilling 750 natural gas wells on the West Tavaputs Plateau, near Nine Mile Canyon, the site of the highest concentration of Indian rock art in the West, would have an impact on the area. The development proposed by Bill Barrett Corp. would encompass 137,000 acres, or about 215 square miles on the back side of the Book Cliffs. Trucks that now rumble along the Nine Mile Canyon National Backcountry Byway would be joined by even more big trucks and semitrailers, making hundreds of trips past the irreplaceable art left by Fremont Indians who lived in the area from 400 to 1200 A.D. Another certainty is that exploration for gas and oil in the larger area around the San Rafael Swell is going to expand. The region contains some of the richest oil and gas deposits in the lower 48 states. Thousands of acres have been opened up for exploration through the sale of 10-year leases, which has rapidly accelerated under the Bush administration. The Bureau of Land Management has issued 4,000 to 5,000 new drilling permits in Utah in the past several years and expects 1,200 new applications this year. What is less certain is whether the BLM can protect the area's most sensitive lands while maximizing the region's energy development potential....
Judge orders parties to meet A federal magistrate this week ordered parties in a coalbed methane dispute to try to reach an agreement over the scope of an injunction. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson directed the parties to report by Sept. 7 whether they reached an agreement or to file a report identifying what issues remain in contention. Anderson will decide then whether to hold a hearing. The case involves a suit filed in 2003 by the Northern Plains Resource Council against the Bureau of Land Management. The lawsuit challenges BLM's approval of a coalbed methane expansion project by Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. in southeastern Montana. Earlier this year in a related suit, Anderson invalidated BLM's statewide environmental study on coalbed methane development and ordered the agency to further study of a phased-development alternative....
Experts warn of ‘dead zone' off Oregon coast The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University. This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. This year's ocean behavior is particularly bizarre, and there is no proof what is causing it. But extreme variability such as this, OSU researchers say, is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming....
Water war brewing in W. Utah Water, in the midst of a desert that is in the midst of a region experiencing unprecedented population growth, is a valuable thing. But farmers and ranchers in western Utah's Snake Valley say it's much more than that. They say it's a matter of survival, and that their survival is being challenged by Nevadans who want to funnel the water they have to Las Vegas. The Southern Nevada Water Authority counters, however, that it has no intention of descending with hood and scythe on ranches in western Utah and eastern Nevada, the rural lifestyle or the environment. Rather, it says, it is just trying to plan for growth. "We are growing at a rate of about 7,000 to 8,000 people per month, and we'll cross the 3 million population mark shortly," said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the water authority. "So we're growing . . . rather rapidly."....
Wolf kill policies illegal, groups charge Charging that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is authorizing the killing of endangered wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws, 12 conservation and animal protection groups today went to court to block the permits. The federal agency made an illegal end run around the public input process by failing to allow for any public comment on its actions. “Anyone who’s ever been involved in wolf conservation knows it’s an issue of immense public interest, yet the Service utterly shut the public out of the process,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, the lead plaintiff in the case. “In authorizing the killing of wolves in clear violation of federal law, they set a horrible precedent that can’t go unchallenged.”....
Column: Liberation Theology Under the heading, “Native American Genocide,” PETA draws parallels between the worst aspects of Western expansion and normal animal-control activities. “Settlers often treated Native Americans, whom they considered a nuisance, with shocking ruthlessness. . . Today people trap, shoot, and poison native wildlife because they are considered ‘pests.’ ” In other words, every time a rancher acts to control the coyote population to protect his cattle — animals that PETA believes are the moral equivalent of human slaves — it is a replay of Wounded Knee. If we are to understand the threat that the animal-rights and animal-liberation movement poses to human wellbeing, we must first comprehend this fundamental fact: When ALP places a photograph of hanged blacks with that of a dead cow being hoisted by a rope for butchering, it is because animal liberationists actually believe that the lynching of African Americans in the Jim-Crow south and slaughtering cattle are equivalent evils. Nobody in their right mind supports abusing animals. But human slavery was (and is) pure evil; keeping elephants in zoos is not. The Rwandan and Cambodian genocides were acts of pure evil; humanely slaughtering millions of animals to provide the multitudes with nourishing food is not. Mengele’s twin experiments were pure evil; testing new drugs or surgical procedures on animals to save children’s lives is not....
Welfare Farming Dating back to the Depression, subsidies were supposed to help small farmers through a rough patch by propping up prices during periods of economic crisis. They no longer achieve either purpose. There is no evidence that the prices of America's few subsidized crops, which account for about 20% of agricultural sales, are more stable than those of the hundreds of unsubsidized ones. As for helping out the family farmer, the number of farms has shrunk by half since 1960. In particular, fewer than a third of America's full-time farmers now fit the idealized image of Old McDonald and his family. Most of these small farmers get subsidies and are grateful to have them. But it is the biggest farms that get the most, turning subsidies into a particularly gross kind of corporate welfare. The largest 10% of farms get about 72% of the loot....
Artist receives ‘Engraver of the Year’ award It might have come as a bit of a surprise to Silver Springs resident and artist Virginia McCuin when she was chosen to receive the Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Engraver of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists (AWA); however, to those familiar with her work, the honor might be considered long overdue. “It was a shocker...a good shocker,” McCuin said of first learning she had won. “I was pretty impressed and pretty shocked.” McCuin, a member of the AWA, is no stranger to being honored for her work. In fact, she was chosen as one of the top ten engravers by the AWA in 1998. “The ranch has inspired my work,” she said noting her love for engraving equals her love for ranch work, though she no longer ranches....
Good Horse Wrecks My nephew, Blair, had a good wreck a week ago. He was crossing Robinson Creek on his horse Ajax behind some cows that he was going to take to Buckeye. The creek was high, Ajax is always a little touchy, and Blair had his border collie, Moss, with him. These were all the ingredients needed for this wreck. As he crossed the creek his dog crossed upstream and was washed down right under the ever skittish Ajax. The dog washed under the horse, the horse jumped for the heavens at the feel of the dog underneath him and Blair was pitched into the creek. My friend, Benny, who witnessed this wreck said that he heard a big splash and looked back just in time to see Blair swimming for all he was worth after his rapidly disappearing hat....
Ranchers Use Sensitivity Training to Fight Mad Cow Disease Unconfirmed sources report that the use of sensitivity training by US cattle ranchers has reduced the threat of Mad Cow disease. Scientists from the USDA and a small group of ranchers have been working on the secret project for almost three years and the project is showing very positive results. The results have been so striking that USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford has ended the study and rolled out the 'Nice Cow, Pretty Cow' program nation wide. The USDA and National Cattlemen's Beef Association have dispatched dozens of 'cowboy councilors' to hold sensitivity training sessions at ranches across the country to kick off the 'Nice Cow, Pretty Cow' program....
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Thursday, August 04, 2005
ESA
For those of you interested in Chairman Pombo's draft legislation to amend the Endangered Species Act, you can download a copy here. Keep in mind Pombo's spokesman has said this is "an old document".
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For those of you interested in Chairman Pombo's draft legislation to amend the Endangered Species Act, you can download a copy here. Keep in mind Pombo's spokesman has said this is "an old document".
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GAO REPORT
Environmental Justice: EPA Should Devote More Attention to Environmental Justice When Developing Clean Air Rules. GAO-05-289, July 22.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-289
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05289high.pdf
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Environmental Justice: EPA Should Devote More Attention to Environmental Justice When Developing Clean Air Rules. GAO-05-289, July 22.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-289
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05289high.pdf
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NEWS ROUNDUP
USFS, Martinezes clash on grazing permit issue A rancher whose cattle are scheduled to be removed from two grazing allotments for which he does not hold permits has asked Arizona's governor to "send out the state militia." The U.S. Forest Service announced in a news release last week that it plans to remove cattle from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest's Pleasant Valley and Hickey grazing allotments on which the Martinez family has cattle if the Martinezes do not remove the cattle. Forest Supervisor Elaine Zieroth said the Martinez grazing permit on the Pleasant Valley allotment expired last August. The Martinezes also have cattle on the Hickey allotment, for which they have not previously had a permit. The Martinezes reportedly have around 250 cattle grazing there. The Martinez Ranch, located northeast of Clifton, was owned for decades by Abelardo "Abe" Martinez Sr. It was purchased by Martinez's three sons. One of those sons, Dan, has been highly vocal in opposition to removal of the cattle. He said the Forest Service is trampling on his federal and state Constitutional rights. He also said the USFS has failed to use due process and does not have a court order to remove the cattle....
Column: Land-use planning for Arizona way past due You may think I am one of those environmentalists who wants to take away the rights of the average citizen to use their property as best suits them. Quite the contrary. The laws as they stand are mostly in favor of special interests; among these are ranchers and farmers. Agriculture in Arizona has long been a threat to this frail land and is becoming even more so. Water is very much an issue here, with more people moving into the area. Yet most of it is used for farming in Arizona, wasted on high- water crops not viable for this climate. The University of Arizona Extension Service could tell you this, but whatever knowledge they have to offer is trumped by politics....
Calif. fire report faults escape routes Firefighters failed to give themselves enough escape routes while battling a wildfire in the Stanislaus National Forest last fall, according to a report by state and federal investigators Wednesday. Three firefighters were injured and one was killed. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighter Eva Schicke, a star athlete in college, was not able to outclimb the wildfire up a steep slope to a safe zone a mere 35 feet away. The firefighters started backfires designed to burn toward the wildfire. But when the wind suddenly shifted, the backfires themselves were what burned over the crew, the report concluded. The crew immediately began running to their previously identified safety zones - a riverbed below and a road above. "However, due to the steepness of the slope and rapid change in fire behavior, they did not all reach safety," concludes the report by a joint investigative team of the state forestry department and the U.S. Forest Service. The report said the fire burned over crew members in just 30 seconds. They never had time to unfold their tent-like fire shelters; the entire flare-up lasted less than two minutes....
Legal wrangling may end access to Colorado's top peaks Four 14,000-foot peaks declared off-limits this summer may be the first in a series of trail closures on private mining claims throughout Colorado. Or they may be a precaution meant to head off lawsuits, with little more daily consequence than a printed warning on a takeout coffee cup. U.S. Forest Service rangers started handing out fliers in and around this former mining town at the end of June warning hikers that Mount Bross, Mount Cameron, Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln were closed because getting to their summits would mean crossing private mining claims whose owners no longer welcomed hikers. Because they all can be climbed in a one-day hike, the four peaks are among the most popular 14,000-foot peaks, or fourteeners, in Colorado....
Fast track to drilling The federal government is on course to drastically overhaul the regulatory process to further speed up oil and natural gas drilling on Colorado's public lands. It is turning five regulatory hoops into one. The Glenwood Springs division of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will become an umbrella office for four federal agencies to consolidate the process for reviewing drilling permits. Those agencies are the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. Energy companies have to apply for permits from these agencies and get their approval before they can drill oil and natural gas wells on public lands. The office in Glenwood Springs is among eight BLM offices in five states - Colorado, Utah, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming - that will be converted into umbrella offices. The government will spend $20 million on the conversion, Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of land and minerals management at the U.S. Department of Interior, said Wednesday at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's conference in Denver. After three years, if the pilot program is found successful, it will be expanded to other states....
On Indian land, a twist on church vs. state The relationship between government and religion has been a complicated issue ever since the architects of the new American republic made it the lead item in the First Amendment to the US Constitution and Thomas Jefferson argued for "a wall of separation between church and state." It remains a difficult legal and political issue, as witness the US Supreme Court's recent split decisions on public displays of the Ten Commandments. It may be even more complex involving claims by native Americans, whose spiritual and religious practices are so connected to what they see as holy ground. A series of court cases and federal agency policy decisions have attempted to thread subtle differences between the constitutional protection of the "free exercise" of religion and the equally important prohibition against the "establishment" of religion. As with the Supreme Court's two-way decisions on the Ten Commandments, federal courts seem to have moved in conflicting directions....
Chapman recalls his ‘Smokey’ past At the age of 20, most men and women today are just finding their feet in the world. Some are attending college, while others have gone into the workplace, but all are eager to make their mark. In May 1950, G.W. Chapman was 20 years old, and little did he know, his actions to save a small bear cub would change the course of U.S. Forest Service history. In May 1950, Chapman and his fellow employees were working on a bridge when they got the call to attend to a fire near Capitan. Near the end of the main fire, Chapman said, 20 men were dispatched to a small canyon where the fire was still strong. The men were doing well, he said, until the wind picked up....
Deal could resolve dispute over Mount Hood slope The bitter dispute over the future of Mount Hood's northern slope took a peaceful turn this week when developers, environmentalists and Hood River Valley residents agreed on a potential solution. The agreement calls for Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort to trade approximately 775 acres it owns near Cooper Spur for 120 acres in the Mount Hood National Forest near Government Camp. The Government Camp parcels -- a 40-acre plot east of the unincorporated town and an 80-acre plot to the west -- are zoned for residential development and could accommodate 480 single-family homes. Mt. Hood Meadows has lobbied for years to plant more lodging close to its resort, 70 miles east of Portland. Meadows would give up its plans to expand the Cooper Spur Ski Area and build a resort there, would agree not to acquire more property on the mountain's northern slope and would relinquish its lease on the small ski area....
Trekkers eager to be moonstruck An ancient moon-watching pilgrimage that has not been made for nearly a millennium begins again on a high stony mesa in southwestern Colorado. This year, for the first time, after consultation with Pueblo tribes, the U.S. Forest Service is allowing people to resume the trek up narrow cliff trails to the mesa top to see an astronomical event called the lunar standstill. It is believed ancient Puebloans traveled here to witness the infrequent event. Not since their pilgrimages ended with the burning and abandonment of this site in the year 1125 have people come to wait and watch for the moon to rise between two stone pillars jutting high above the Piedra River Valley. It is no ordinary moonrise. And the place, Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, is no ordinary observation point....
Burrowing owls on the field have sidelined Boca High's football team Their mascot is the Bobcats, but it's burrowing owls that have taken center stage on Boca Raton High's athletic fields. And these owls, which have made a home on the stadium's 5-yard line, are proving threatening enough to kick an entire football team and band off their fields. Some teachers and students playing Ultimate Frisbee discovered the protected species last month, Principal Geoff McKee said. When not in their nest, the birds can frequently be seen resting on the goal post. The Bobcats are waiting to hear whether they can hold their first game, a preseason kickoff with Jupiter High, at their regular stadium. School officials are awaiting permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove the owls, or fill the hole in the field where they've been nesting....
Dissension on the Chesapeake A Maryland environmentalist alarmed by the steady decline of the Chesapeake Bay's native oyster population is trying to get it on the federal Endangered Species list -- a proposal that has sparked an uproar of opposition in the oyster industry from Maine to Louisiana. Wolf-Dieter Busch, an environmental consultant, believes bay pollution and ineffective regulations could prove fatal to the eastern oyster. Ravaged in the past by overfishing, and now undermined by disease, 99 percent of the eastern oyster population in the bay has disappeared since the late 19th century, according to federal fisheries statistics. In January, Busch petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the oyster on the Endangered Species list, despite the existence of millions of oysters living in the bay and thriving oyster populations elsewhere along the East Coast and in the Gulf states....
BLM seeks tougher measures to protect Sand Mountain butterfly Off-highway vehicle riders will face fines for venturing off designated routes at Sand Mountain under new regulations sought by the Bureau of Land Management. The federal agency that oversees management of the popular recreation site 30 miles east of Fallon tried voluntary restrictions two years ago to protect the rare Sand Mountain blue butterfly. But officials and conservationists say more needs to be done to force compliance. "Our compliance monitoring of the voluntary route system for the last year has shown it to be pretty much a failure," said Elayn Briggs, BLM associate field manager. "So even the OHV groups are saying at this point we need to do something to make it work better."....
Plan calls for moving some minnows to Texas The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has introduced a proposal that would call for moving some captive Rio Grande silvery minnows to a new home in Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in Texas. The endangered fish once swarmed the waters of the lower Pecos River and most of the Rio Grande to the U.S.-Mexico border before the 1970s. But habitat has dwindled, and now the fish is found only in the Rio Grande between Cochiti Dam and Elephant Butte Reservoir. Officials said a new population in Texas would make the minnow less vulnerable to catastrophic events such as prolonged or widespread river drying. The proposal states that the Big Bend stretch of the Rio Grande is a good bet for the tiny fish because other similar species are found there, water quality is good and flows are relatively stable....
Eagle plumage a hot item with both legal and illegal buyers Demand for eagle feathers, taken from one of the most coveted icons in America today, is soaring. Eagles figure large in American Indian spiritualism, and their feathers are an integral part of tribal members' ceremonies. But the bird is a threatened species. Possession of eagle feathers is so tightly controlled by the government that unauthorized possession - even from picking up fallen feathers - is against the law, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to a year in jail. Only members of federally recognized tribes are permitted to buy or own feathers, and there is only one place to buy them: the National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City....
Grizzlies have great sniffers When it comes to grizzly bears, the nose knows - boy does it know. Dr. George Stevenson, a retired neurosurgeon from Jackson Hole, Wyo. has been examining the brains of grizzly bears for the past year. Within nine months to a year, Stevenson and a team of neuroscience students hope to publish a "rough" atlas of the grizzly bear's brain. What he's seen to date is fascinating, Stevenson said earlier this week. For example, a grizzly bear's nose is highly developed - thousands of times more developed than a human's, and far better than the best tracking dog's nose. "They have the greatest olfactory (mechanism) on earth," Stevenson said....
Will Nine Mile get drilling project? A massive natural gas development contemplated for a plateau near eastern Utah's Nine Mile Canyon will be discussed publicly and go through extensive environmental analysis, say federal officials — once the plan is formally announced. That announcement might be weeks away. But already the project is drawing controversy to the area, which in the past has been the focus of fierce battles pitting developers against advocates for preserving the ancient Indian rock art and the natural setting. Bill Barrett Corp., based in Denver, has proposed developing up to 750 gas wells on West Tavaputs Plateau, part of which overlooks Nine Mile Canyon from the south, according to the BLM. The world-famous canyon is home to some 700 panels of rock art. It also hosts pipelines, ranching and tourism. Patrick Gubbins, BLM Price field manager, said Barrett has a "proposal for a full-field development on the West Tavaputs" Plateau. That's in addition to wells already in the region....
Drilling slowed by challenges A more than sixfold increase in challenges to federal oil and gas leases has slowed the Bush administration's plan to open more federal land to energy development, a top Interior Department official said Wednesday. Challenges to individual leases rose to 4,425 this year from 664 in 2001. Appeals filed after the leases were issued increased to 925 from 266 during the same period. The challenges - mainly from environmental groups and landowners - are clogging the permit process, said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the Interior Department....
Thousands write to say don't drill in scenic area Federal officials have received more than 74,000 comments from citizens regarding Garfield County's Roan Plateau, a majority of them opposing oil and natural gas drilling on top of the scenic area. Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of land and minerals management at the U.S. Department of Interior, disclosed the figure Wednesday. "We got comments from as far as Australia," Watson said at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's conference in Denver. "We are taking a look at them, reviewing the comments." "I believe it will take us several more months to make a decision, maybe well into next year." The Roan Plateau is a prime example of the ongoing conflict between environmentalists and energy producers in much of the country. Those who want to protect the plateau are pitted against gas companies that are keen to develop it, given that it sits on 5.2 trillion cubic feet of gas - enough to heat 2.5 million homes for 20 years to 30 years....
Copper Mine to Open Near Moab Twelve years after it was first proposed, an open-pit copper mine is on the verge of opening in the Lisbon Valley southeast of Moab. Over the past year, Denver-based Constellation Copper Corp. has accelerated development of mining pits, crushing facilities and leaching ponds in anticipation of producing its first batch of cathode copper by mid-November. After the southeastern Utah operation reaches full production capacity by February of 2006, company officials expect the facility to employ 145 Utahns and to produce 54 million pounds of refined copper annually. "We certainly like to see mining going on in the state of Utah, and any time one of these operations comes on line, it's exciting," said Darren Haddock, a permit supervisor with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. Constellation Copper, a mid-tier mining company, is investing an estimated $55 million into the project. Over the past year, as China's booming economy increased demand for copper and raised prices to record levels, Constellation accelerated development of the site....
Energy bill effects begin as refiner exits MTBE business The most ambitious federal energy legislation in decades began to have an impact less than a week after its passage by Congress and before President George W. Bush's scheduled Aug. 8 signing of the bill into law (OGJ, Aug. 1, 2005, p. 25). But the effect probably wasn't what lawmakers and administration officials had in mind. Valero Energy Corp. announced plans to quit producing methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to reduce its product liability lawsuit exposure. The action, which will cut gasoline production at its refineries by about 60,000 b/d, came after the House-Senate conference removed MTBE defective-product liability protection from the energy bill. Refiners were disappointed that the provision, which was part of the original House bill, did not survive. "This means that industry resources—better employed to produce fuel—will have to be used instead to contest legal actions that seek to penalize our members for obeying the requirements of the Clean Air Act," the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association said in a statement....
Groups call for phased drilling Conservation groups are urging federal officials to pace natural drilling in the Jonah Field near Pinedale to reduce wildlife, air quality and social impacts. Five conservation groups outlined their hopes in a "position paper" released recently as the Bureau of Land Management mulls several alternatives for more drilling in the massive gas field. The main message, according to Linda Baker, community organizer with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, is "get the gas, but do it right." "The first thing that we're concerned about is correctly analyzing impacts and potential impacts," Baker said. "We do need to be able to accurately predict impacts in order to mitigate those impacts effectively." The groups, including the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and the Wilderness Society, say the BLM has inadequately forecast impacts in past analyses....
BLM plans land sale in northeastern Nevada About 3,900 acres of publicly owned lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are proposed for auction this fall. The BLM said the 11 parcels in Elko and Lander counties range is size from 80 to 663 acres. Officials with the federal agency said they've been meeting with the local governments for more than year to discuss the proposed sales. Federal law allows the agency to sell public lands that it has identified as uneconomic or difficult to manage....
Nevada water authority sees canal lawsuit as threat to supply Nevada's largest water agency intends to ask a federal judge not to block a plan to improve a canal just north of the Mexico border, arguing that stalling the project could threaten Nevada's share of Colorado River water. The authority will submit documents later this month to intervene in the All-American Canal lawsuit because it has "a direct tie to Southern Nevada's water supply," Mulroy said. A Mexican organization and two U.S. nonprofit groups filed the lawsuit June 19 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. They want a judge to stop the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation from lining a porous 23-mile stretch of the All-American Canal with concrete. No hearing has been set....
Dam and Waste Will Go, Freeing Two Rivers Since 1907, the Milltown Dam just east of Missoula, Mont., has held back two of the state's major rivers and trapped tons of toxic mining waste that once washed down one of them from more than 100 miles upstream. An agreement announced this week, however, will allow work to begin on the removal of the decaying timber-and-stone structure and the waste behind it. The job is a technically challenging one that aims to restore the two rivers, the Blackfoot and the Clark Fork, to free-flowing conditions by 2009 at a cost of about $100 million. Three years of negotiations centered on who would pay how much for the removal of the waste, which previously flowed from one of the country's largest copper mines, by now long shuttered. Under the deal, the Atlantic Richfield Company, which in 1977 inherited a legacy of pollution here in buying the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the mine's previous owner, is to pay $80 million; Northwestern Energy, which owns the dam, $11.6 million; and the State of Montana $7.6 million....
It's raining insect poop out here! It was literally raining insect poop along much of the Grafton Loop Trail this weekend. Honest! Hiking up Puzzle Mountain on Saturday I stopped to rest. And that's when I first heard it. The sound of rain. But it couldn't be because the sun was out and the sky was bright blue. I waited, listened some more, looked up, and realized that what I was hearing were insects eating away the leaves of the hardwood trees and dropping poop all over the place, and occasionally dropping themselves onto the forest floor....
US beef industry hails clearance of mad cow A final round of tests cleared an elderly US cow of mad cow disease, the government said yesterday, prompting cheers from the country's beleaguered beef industry. US beef exports plummeted after the first US case of the brain-destroying disease, in a dairy cow, in December 2003. While Americans are eating more beef than ever, major export customers such as Japan and South Korea still ban US beef. The Agriculture Department said conclusive tests at its animal disease laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and a respected British lab in Weybridge, England, showed the animal did not have mad cow disease. The cow had trouble calving and died in April. ''It certainly lifts a cloud off the current situation," said Richard Fritz of the US Meat Export Federation....
Wild about the West Twenty-five years after John Travolta rode a mechanical bull and roped Debra Winger's heart, urban cowboys are having another day in the sun. Turns out, New York is wild about the Wild West. Just check out clothing-store windows, a spate of new restaurants and even the tunes on our iPods (wasn't that you twanging out to Willie Nelson on the subway last week?). "It's a culture we all find absorbing," says Hollie Bendewald, owner of Whiskey Dust, a West Village shop specializing in new and used Western duds and gear. "There's a strong code of ethics as well as a simplicity about the West."....
Author Jane Kirkpatrick will discuss new book at Lincoln County Historical Society The appearance is sponsored by the Lincoln County Historical Society, and the author will discuss her new book, "A Land of Sheltered Promise," as well as offer insight into the historical research she did when writing "A Gathering of Finches," which takes place on the Oregon coast in the early 1900s. Based on real people and events, "A Land of Sheltered Promise" is a historical novel which takes place over a century and tells the stories of three women seekers on an infamous ranch near Antelope, Oregon. A hundred years ago, the property was known as the Big Muddy Ranch. Kirkpatrick is the best-selling author of two nonfiction books and 11 historical novels. Her commitment to research and her love for the West allow her to paint a convincing portrait of the Old West. Kirkpatrick's books reveal the timeless themes of courage, hardiness, faith, commitment, hope and love. Her novel "A Sweetness to the Soul" won the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, an award earned previously by Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry and James Michener....
Festival in Wellsville celebrates the Wild American West The Wild West has changed a bit since the early 1900s, the era depicted at the American West Heritage Center. But visitors to the Festival of the American West in Wellsville said Wednesday that the area has never been more beautiful. Julie Lee, a Rexburg resident who has traveled throughout the United States performing with Americana equestrian team, said the setting of the historically authentic arena where she performed Wednesday with dozens of other girls can't be beat. “It's incredible. It's just breathtaking,” Lee said shortly after the Americanas showcased their talents - standing up, playing violins and displaying American flags - all while mounted on the backs of 45 black horses....
10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo Texas It’s the Real Deal! 10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo Nov. 10-13, 2005. It all started as a dream of a few people- building a rodeo that reflected the activity of a working ranch while giving the public a great snapshot of this unique lifestyle. Now it’s ten years later and the World Championship Ranch Rodeo, sponsored by the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA), has grown into one of the largest annual events in Amarillo and a major western lifestyle event in the U.S. If you have ever dreamed of living the cowboy life of independence, wide open spaces, handshakes, honesty, hard work and traditional family values, then Amarillo is the place for you in November. More than 100 cowboys and cowgirls from ranches across the western U.S. and Canada will be in town for the 10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo....
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USFS, Martinezes clash on grazing permit issue A rancher whose cattle are scheduled to be removed from two grazing allotments for which he does not hold permits has asked Arizona's governor to "send out the state militia." The U.S. Forest Service announced in a news release last week that it plans to remove cattle from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest's Pleasant Valley and Hickey grazing allotments on which the Martinez family has cattle if the Martinezes do not remove the cattle. Forest Supervisor Elaine Zieroth said the Martinez grazing permit on the Pleasant Valley allotment expired last August. The Martinezes also have cattle on the Hickey allotment, for which they have not previously had a permit. The Martinezes reportedly have around 250 cattle grazing there. The Martinez Ranch, located northeast of Clifton, was owned for decades by Abelardo "Abe" Martinez Sr. It was purchased by Martinez's three sons. One of those sons, Dan, has been highly vocal in opposition to removal of the cattle. He said the Forest Service is trampling on his federal and state Constitutional rights. He also said the USFS has failed to use due process and does not have a court order to remove the cattle....
Column: Land-use planning for Arizona way past due You may think I am one of those environmentalists who wants to take away the rights of the average citizen to use their property as best suits them. Quite the contrary. The laws as they stand are mostly in favor of special interests; among these are ranchers and farmers. Agriculture in Arizona has long been a threat to this frail land and is becoming even more so. Water is very much an issue here, with more people moving into the area. Yet most of it is used for farming in Arizona, wasted on high- water crops not viable for this climate. The University of Arizona Extension Service could tell you this, but whatever knowledge they have to offer is trumped by politics....
Calif. fire report faults escape routes Firefighters failed to give themselves enough escape routes while battling a wildfire in the Stanislaus National Forest last fall, according to a report by state and federal investigators Wednesday. Three firefighters were injured and one was killed. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighter Eva Schicke, a star athlete in college, was not able to outclimb the wildfire up a steep slope to a safe zone a mere 35 feet away. The firefighters started backfires designed to burn toward the wildfire. But when the wind suddenly shifted, the backfires themselves were what burned over the crew, the report concluded. The crew immediately began running to their previously identified safety zones - a riverbed below and a road above. "However, due to the steepness of the slope and rapid change in fire behavior, they did not all reach safety," concludes the report by a joint investigative team of the state forestry department and the U.S. Forest Service. The report said the fire burned over crew members in just 30 seconds. They never had time to unfold their tent-like fire shelters; the entire flare-up lasted less than two minutes....
Legal wrangling may end access to Colorado's top peaks Four 14,000-foot peaks declared off-limits this summer may be the first in a series of trail closures on private mining claims throughout Colorado. Or they may be a precaution meant to head off lawsuits, with little more daily consequence than a printed warning on a takeout coffee cup. U.S. Forest Service rangers started handing out fliers in and around this former mining town at the end of June warning hikers that Mount Bross, Mount Cameron, Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln were closed because getting to their summits would mean crossing private mining claims whose owners no longer welcomed hikers. Because they all can be climbed in a one-day hike, the four peaks are among the most popular 14,000-foot peaks, or fourteeners, in Colorado....
Fast track to drilling The federal government is on course to drastically overhaul the regulatory process to further speed up oil and natural gas drilling on Colorado's public lands. It is turning five regulatory hoops into one. The Glenwood Springs division of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will become an umbrella office for four federal agencies to consolidate the process for reviewing drilling permits. Those agencies are the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. Energy companies have to apply for permits from these agencies and get their approval before they can drill oil and natural gas wells on public lands. The office in Glenwood Springs is among eight BLM offices in five states - Colorado, Utah, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming - that will be converted into umbrella offices. The government will spend $20 million on the conversion, Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of land and minerals management at the U.S. Department of Interior, said Wednesday at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's conference in Denver. After three years, if the pilot program is found successful, it will be expanded to other states....
On Indian land, a twist on church vs. state The relationship between government and religion has been a complicated issue ever since the architects of the new American republic made it the lead item in the First Amendment to the US Constitution and Thomas Jefferson argued for "a wall of separation between church and state." It remains a difficult legal and political issue, as witness the US Supreme Court's recent split decisions on public displays of the Ten Commandments. It may be even more complex involving claims by native Americans, whose spiritual and religious practices are so connected to what they see as holy ground. A series of court cases and federal agency policy decisions have attempted to thread subtle differences between the constitutional protection of the "free exercise" of religion and the equally important prohibition against the "establishment" of religion. As with the Supreme Court's two-way decisions on the Ten Commandments, federal courts seem to have moved in conflicting directions....
Chapman recalls his ‘Smokey’ past At the age of 20, most men and women today are just finding their feet in the world. Some are attending college, while others have gone into the workplace, but all are eager to make their mark. In May 1950, G.W. Chapman was 20 years old, and little did he know, his actions to save a small bear cub would change the course of U.S. Forest Service history. In May 1950, Chapman and his fellow employees were working on a bridge when they got the call to attend to a fire near Capitan. Near the end of the main fire, Chapman said, 20 men were dispatched to a small canyon where the fire was still strong. The men were doing well, he said, until the wind picked up....
Deal could resolve dispute over Mount Hood slope The bitter dispute over the future of Mount Hood's northern slope took a peaceful turn this week when developers, environmentalists and Hood River Valley residents agreed on a potential solution. The agreement calls for Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort to trade approximately 775 acres it owns near Cooper Spur for 120 acres in the Mount Hood National Forest near Government Camp. The Government Camp parcels -- a 40-acre plot east of the unincorporated town and an 80-acre plot to the west -- are zoned for residential development and could accommodate 480 single-family homes. Mt. Hood Meadows has lobbied for years to plant more lodging close to its resort, 70 miles east of Portland. Meadows would give up its plans to expand the Cooper Spur Ski Area and build a resort there, would agree not to acquire more property on the mountain's northern slope and would relinquish its lease on the small ski area....
Trekkers eager to be moonstruck An ancient moon-watching pilgrimage that has not been made for nearly a millennium begins again on a high stony mesa in southwestern Colorado. This year, for the first time, after consultation with Pueblo tribes, the U.S. Forest Service is allowing people to resume the trek up narrow cliff trails to the mesa top to see an astronomical event called the lunar standstill. It is believed ancient Puebloans traveled here to witness the infrequent event. Not since their pilgrimages ended with the burning and abandonment of this site in the year 1125 have people come to wait and watch for the moon to rise between two stone pillars jutting high above the Piedra River Valley. It is no ordinary moonrise. And the place, Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, is no ordinary observation point....
Burrowing owls on the field have sidelined Boca High's football team Their mascot is the Bobcats, but it's burrowing owls that have taken center stage on Boca Raton High's athletic fields. And these owls, which have made a home on the stadium's 5-yard line, are proving threatening enough to kick an entire football team and band off their fields. Some teachers and students playing Ultimate Frisbee discovered the protected species last month, Principal Geoff McKee said. When not in their nest, the birds can frequently be seen resting on the goal post. The Bobcats are waiting to hear whether they can hold their first game, a preseason kickoff with Jupiter High, at their regular stadium. School officials are awaiting permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove the owls, or fill the hole in the field where they've been nesting....
Dissension on the Chesapeake A Maryland environmentalist alarmed by the steady decline of the Chesapeake Bay's native oyster population is trying to get it on the federal Endangered Species list -- a proposal that has sparked an uproar of opposition in the oyster industry from Maine to Louisiana. Wolf-Dieter Busch, an environmental consultant, believes bay pollution and ineffective regulations could prove fatal to the eastern oyster. Ravaged in the past by overfishing, and now undermined by disease, 99 percent of the eastern oyster population in the bay has disappeared since the late 19th century, according to federal fisheries statistics. In January, Busch petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the oyster on the Endangered Species list, despite the existence of millions of oysters living in the bay and thriving oyster populations elsewhere along the East Coast and in the Gulf states....
BLM seeks tougher measures to protect Sand Mountain butterfly Off-highway vehicle riders will face fines for venturing off designated routes at Sand Mountain under new regulations sought by the Bureau of Land Management. The federal agency that oversees management of the popular recreation site 30 miles east of Fallon tried voluntary restrictions two years ago to protect the rare Sand Mountain blue butterfly. But officials and conservationists say more needs to be done to force compliance. "Our compliance monitoring of the voluntary route system for the last year has shown it to be pretty much a failure," said Elayn Briggs, BLM associate field manager. "So even the OHV groups are saying at this point we need to do something to make it work better."....
Plan calls for moving some minnows to Texas The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has introduced a proposal that would call for moving some captive Rio Grande silvery minnows to a new home in Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in Texas. The endangered fish once swarmed the waters of the lower Pecos River and most of the Rio Grande to the U.S.-Mexico border before the 1970s. But habitat has dwindled, and now the fish is found only in the Rio Grande between Cochiti Dam and Elephant Butte Reservoir. Officials said a new population in Texas would make the minnow less vulnerable to catastrophic events such as prolonged or widespread river drying. The proposal states that the Big Bend stretch of the Rio Grande is a good bet for the tiny fish because other similar species are found there, water quality is good and flows are relatively stable....
Eagle plumage a hot item with both legal and illegal buyers Demand for eagle feathers, taken from one of the most coveted icons in America today, is soaring. Eagles figure large in American Indian spiritualism, and their feathers are an integral part of tribal members' ceremonies. But the bird is a threatened species. Possession of eagle feathers is so tightly controlled by the government that unauthorized possession - even from picking up fallen feathers - is against the law, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to a year in jail. Only members of federally recognized tribes are permitted to buy or own feathers, and there is only one place to buy them: the National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City....
Grizzlies have great sniffers When it comes to grizzly bears, the nose knows - boy does it know. Dr. George Stevenson, a retired neurosurgeon from Jackson Hole, Wyo. has been examining the brains of grizzly bears for the past year. Within nine months to a year, Stevenson and a team of neuroscience students hope to publish a "rough" atlas of the grizzly bear's brain. What he's seen to date is fascinating, Stevenson said earlier this week. For example, a grizzly bear's nose is highly developed - thousands of times more developed than a human's, and far better than the best tracking dog's nose. "They have the greatest olfactory (mechanism) on earth," Stevenson said....
Will Nine Mile get drilling project? A massive natural gas development contemplated for a plateau near eastern Utah's Nine Mile Canyon will be discussed publicly and go through extensive environmental analysis, say federal officials — once the plan is formally announced. That announcement might be weeks away. But already the project is drawing controversy to the area, which in the past has been the focus of fierce battles pitting developers against advocates for preserving the ancient Indian rock art and the natural setting. Bill Barrett Corp., based in Denver, has proposed developing up to 750 gas wells on West Tavaputs Plateau, part of which overlooks Nine Mile Canyon from the south, according to the BLM. The world-famous canyon is home to some 700 panels of rock art. It also hosts pipelines, ranching and tourism. Patrick Gubbins, BLM Price field manager, said Barrett has a "proposal for a full-field development on the West Tavaputs" Plateau. That's in addition to wells already in the region....
Drilling slowed by challenges A more than sixfold increase in challenges to federal oil and gas leases has slowed the Bush administration's plan to open more federal land to energy development, a top Interior Department official said Wednesday. Challenges to individual leases rose to 4,425 this year from 664 in 2001. Appeals filed after the leases were issued increased to 925 from 266 during the same period. The challenges - mainly from environmental groups and landowners - are clogging the permit process, said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the Interior Department....
Thousands write to say don't drill in scenic area Federal officials have received more than 74,000 comments from citizens regarding Garfield County's Roan Plateau, a majority of them opposing oil and natural gas drilling on top of the scenic area. Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of land and minerals management at the U.S. Department of Interior, disclosed the figure Wednesday. "We got comments from as far as Australia," Watson said at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's conference in Denver. "We are taking a look at them, reviewing the comments." "I believe it will take us several more months to make a decision, maybe well into next year." The Roan Plateau is a prime example of the ongoing conflict between environmentalists and energy producers in much of the country. Those who want to protect the plateau are pitted against gas companies that are keen to develop it, given that it sits on 5.2 trillion cubic feet of gas - enough to heat 2.5 million homes for 20 years to 30 years....
Copper Mine to Open Near Moab Twelve years after it was first proposed, an open-pit copper mine is on the verge of opening in the Lisbon Valley southeast of Moab. Over the past year, Denver-based Constellation Copper Corp. has accelerated development of mining pits, crushing facilities and leaching ponds in anticipation of producing its first batch of cathode copper by mid-November. After the southeastern Utah operation reaches full production capacity by February of 2006, company officials expect the facility to employ 145 Utahns and to produce 54 million pounds of refined copper annually. "We certainly like to see mining going on in the state of Utah, and any time one of these operations comes on line, it's exciting," said Darren Haddock, a permit supervisor with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. Constellation Copper, a mid-tier mining company, is investing an estimated $55 million into the project. Over the past year, as China's booming economy increased demand for copper and raised prices to record levels, Constellation accelerated development of the site....
Energy bill effects begin as refiner exits MTBE business The most ambitious federal energy legislation in decades began to have an impact less than a week after its passage by Congress and before President George W. Bush's scheduled Aug. 8 signing of the bill into law (OGJ, Aug. 1, 2005, p. 25). But the effect probably wasn't what lawmakers and administration officials had in mind. Valero Energy Corp. announced plans to quit producing methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to reduce its product liability lawsuit exposure. The action, which will cut gasoline production at its refineries by about 60,000 b/d, came after the House-Senate conference removed MTBE defective-product liability protection from the energy bill. Refiners were disappointed that the provision, which was part of the original House bill, did not survive. "This means that industry resources—better employed to produce fuel—will have to be used instead to contest legal actions that seek to penalize our members for obeying the requirements of the Clean Air Act," the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association said in a statement....
Groups call for phased drilling Conservation groups are urging federal officials to pace natural drilling in the Jonah Field near Pinedale to reduce wildlife, air quality and social impacts. Five conservation groups outlined their hopes in a "position paper" released recently as the Bureau of Land Management mulls several alternatives for more drilling in the massive gas field. The main message, according to Linda Baker, community organizer with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, is "get the gas, but do it right." "The first thing that we're concerned about is correctly analyzing impacts and potential impacts," Baker said. "We do need to be able to accurately predict impacts in order to mitigate those impacts effectively." The groups, including the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and the Wilderness Society, say the BLM has inadequately forecast impacts in past analyses....
BLM plans land sale in northeastern Nevada About 3,900 acres of publicly owned lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are proposed for auction this fall. The BLM said the 11 parcels in Elko and Lander counties range is size from 80 to 663 acres. Officials with the federal agency said they've been meeting with the local governments for more than year to discuss the proposed sales. Federal law allows the agency to sell public lands that it has identified as uneconomic or difficult to manage....
Nevada water authority sees canal lawsuit as threat to supply Nevada's largest water agency intends to ask a federal judge not to block a plan to improve a canal just north of the Mexico border, arguing that stalling the project could threaten Nevada's share of Colorado River water. The authority will submit documents later this month to intervene in the All-American Canal lawsuit because it has "a direct tie to Southern Nevada's water supply," Mulroy said. A Mexican organization and two U.S. nonprofit groups filed the lawsuit June 19 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. They want a judge to stop the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation from lining a porous 23-mile stretch of the All-American Canal with concrete. No hearing has been set....
Dam and Waste Will Go, Freeing Two Rivers Since 1907, the Milltown Dam just east of Missoula, Mont., has held back two of the state's major rivers and trapped tons of toxic mining waste that once washed down one of them from more than 100 miles upstream. An agreement announced this week, however, will allow work to begin on the removal of the decaying timber-and-stone structure and the waste behind it. The job is a technically challenging one that aims to restore the two rivers, the Blackfoot and the Clark Fork, to free-flowing conditions by 2009 at a cost of about $100 million. Three years of negotiations centered on who would pay how much for the removal of the waste, which previously flowed from one of the country's largest copper mines, by now long shuttered. Under the deal, the Atlantic Richfield Company, which in 1977 inherited a legacy of pollution here in buying the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the mine's previous owner, is to pay $80 million; Northwestern Energy, which owns the dam, $11.6 million; and the State of Montana $7.6 million....
It's raining insect poop out here! It was literally raining insect poop along much of the Grafton Loop Trail this weekend. Honest! Hiking up Puzzle Mountain on Saturday I stopped to rest. And that's when I first heard it. The sound of rain. But it couldn't be because the sun was out and the sky was bright blue. I waited, listened some more, looked up, and realized that what I was hearing were insects eating away the leaves of the hardwood trees and dropping poop all over the place, and occasionally dropping themselves onto the forest floor....
US beef industry hails clearance of mad cow A final round of tests cleared an elderly US cow of mad cow disease, the government said yesterday, prompting cheers from the country's beleaguered beef industry. US beef exports plummeted after the first US case of the brain-destroying disease, in a dairy cow, in December 2003. While Americans are eating more beef than ever, major export customers such as Japan and South Korea still ban US beef. The Agriculture Department said conclusive tests at its animal disease laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and a respected British lab in Weybridge, England, showed the animal did not have mad cow disease. The cow had trouble calving and died in April. ''It certainly lifts a cloud off the current situation," said Richard Fritz of the US Meat Export Federation....
Wild about the West Twenty-five years after John Travolta rode a mechanical bull and roped Debra Winger's heart, urban cowboys are having another day in the sun. Turns out, New York is wild about the Wild West. Just check out clothing-store windows, a spate of new restaurants and even the tunes on our iPods (wasn't that you twanging out to Willie Nelson on the subway last week?). "It's a culture we all find absorbing," says Hollie Bendewald, owner of Whiskey Dust, a West Village shop specializing in new and used Western duds and gear. "There's a strong code of ethics as well as a simplicity about the West."....
Author Jane Kirkpatrick will discuss new book at Lincoln County Historical Society The appearance is sponsored by the Lincoln County Historical Society, and the author will discuss her new book, "A Land of Sheltered Promise," as well as offer insight into the historical research she did when writing "A Gathering of Finches," which takes place on the Oregon coast in the early 1900s. Based on real people and events, "A Land of Sheltered Promise" is a historical novel which takes place over a century and tells the stories of three women seekers on an infamous ranch near Antelope, Oregon. A hundred years ago, the property was known as the Big Muddy Ranch. Kirkpatrick is the best-selling author of two nonfiction books and 11 historical novels. Her commitment to research and her love for the West allow her to paint a convincing portrait of the Old West. Kirkpatrick's books reveal the timeless themes of courage, hardiness, faith, commitment, hope and love. Her novel "A Sweetness to the Soul" won the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, an award earned previously by Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry and James Michener....
Festival in Wellsville celebrates the Wild American West The Wild West has changed a bit since the early 1900s, the era depicted at the American West Heritage Center. But visitors to the Festival of the American West in Wellsville said Wednesday that the area has never been more beautiful. Julie Lee, a Rexburg resident who has traveled throughout the United States performing with Americana equestrian team, said the setting of the historically authentic arena where she performed Wednesday with dozens of other girls can't be beat. “It's incredible. It's just breathtaking,” Lee said shortly after the Americanas showcased their talents - standing up, playing violins and displaying American flags - all while mounted on the backs of 45 black horses....
10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo Texas It’s the Real Deal! 10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo Nov. 10-13, 2005. It all started as a dream of a few people- building a rodeo that reflected the activity of a working ranch while giving the public a great snapshot of this unique lifestyle. Now it’s ten years later and the World Championship Ranch Rodeo, sponsored by the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA), has grown into one of the largest annual events in Amarillo and a major western lifestyle event in the U.S. If you have ever dreamed of living the cowboy life of independence, wide open spaces, handshakes, honesty, hard work and traditional family values, then Amarillo is the place for you in November. More than 100 cowboys and cowgirls from ranches across the western U.S. and Canada will be in town for the 10th World Championship Ranch Rodeo....
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
FLE
Other arms of the law Police officers, sheriff deputies and state troopers aren't the only authorities who can enforce laws - and use lethal force - in the Klamath Basin. Rangers who work for a variety of state and federal agencies are also authorized to draw weapons, though they rarely do. Last Wednesday, a National Park Service ranger at Crater Lake shot and killed an unruly camper. Rangers and witnesses said the man threatened two rangers and approached them with a 2-foot-long club. Officials are still investigating the incident, but it served as a reminder that National Park rangers can use lethal force. They aren't alone. Several kinds of public lands rangers may carry weapons, and have the authority to use them if they have gone through law enforcement training. Among them are agents of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, as well as the California Department of Fish and Game....
Extent, But Not Details, of FBI Spying on Nonprofit Groups Revealed Recent filings in a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other nonprofits expose FBI use of counterterrorism task forces to monitor and investigate the activities of groups that have vocally opposed Bush administration policies. The suit, brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeks expedited processing of the ACLU's request for records on surveillance of nonprofit groups and information about the structure and funding of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force program. The Justice Department, representing the FBI, says it needs up to a year to process the FOIA request....
Senate Passes Gun Control Amidst Protection For Gun Makers The U.S. Senate passed legislation (S. 397) protecting the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits by a vote of 65-31 this afternoon. It should have been a joyous occasion for the entire gun community. But just when it seemed that the majority party was about to deal a knockout blow, the Republican leadership dropped their gloves and allowed anti-gun Democrats to land a hard uppercut on the chin. As a result of that lack of resolve, America will be saddled with mandatory trigger locks unless the House of Representatives acts in a more responsible manner....
Federal Judge Says Patriot Act Too Vague A federal judge has ruled that some provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act dealing with foreign terrorist organizations remain too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and are therefore unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins found that Congress failed to remedy all the problems she defined in a 2004 ruling that struck down key provisions of the act. Her decision was handed down Thursday and released Friday. "Even as amended, the statute fails to identify the prohibited conduct in a manner that persons of ordinary intelligence can reasonably understand," the ruling said. Collins issued an injunction against enforcement of the sections she found vague but specified that her ruling applies only to the named plaintiffs and does not constitute a nationwide injunction....
What the FDA Won’t Tell You about the VeriChip A little electronic capsule, smaller than a dime, could be one of the biggest technological advances in how we share and store private medical records. It may also be one of the most controversial. Known as the VeriChip, it is a microchip that is implanted under a person's skin, and then scanned with a special reader device to reveal important medical data about that person. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the VeriChip implant for medical use in humans in October, a huge victory for Applied Digital. Consumer privacy advocate Katherine Albrecht said, "There are millions of people that have read the press reports about all the positives of this technology, but really have no idea about its dangers." Albrecht strongly opposes the VeriChip for the physical risks it poses, as well as the privacy risks. She has been called "the Erin Brokovich of RFID chips." On her Web site, www.spychips.com, Albrecht reveals the potential dangers of the VeriChip and other radio frequency identification methods....
Calif. girl, 11, avoids felony trial An 11-year-old girl who threw a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight escaped jail time Wednesday on a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge after lawyers worked out a deal in the emotionally charged case. Maribel Cuevas was ordered to meet with her young victim and talk about the fight under the deal — reached on the same day the girl was to stand trial in juvenile court. She did not have to plead guilty, and the charges will be dismissed if she stays in school and keeps out of trouble. Maribel spent five days in juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after throwing a 2-pound rock at 8-year-old Elijah Vang, cutting his forehead after he pelted her with a water balloon in April. The gash required Elijah to receive stitches. Police responded with three cars while a helicopter hovered overhead, and said they arrested Maribel for resisting arrest and scratching an officer's arm....
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Other arms of the law Police officers, sheriff deputies and state troopers aren't the only authorities who can enforce laws - and use lethal force - in the Klamath Basin. Rangers who work for a variety of state and federal agencies are also authorized to draw weapons, though they rarely do. Last Wednesday, a National Park Service ranger at Crater Lake shot and killed an unruly camper. Rangers and witnesses said the man threatened two rangers and approached them with a 2-foot-long club. Officials are still investigating the incident, but it served as a reminder that National Park rangers can use lethal force. They aren't alone. Several kinds of public lands rangers may carry weapons, and have the authority to use them if they have gone through law enforcement training. Among them are agents of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, as well as the California Department of Fish and Game....
Extent, But Not Details, of FBI Spying on Nonprofit Groups Revealed Recent filings in a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other nonprofits expose FBI use of counterterrorism task forces to monitor and investigate the activities of groups that have vocally opposed Bush administration policies. The suit, brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeks expedited processing of the ACLU's request for records on surveillance of nonprofit groups and information about the structure and funding of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force program. The Justice Department, representing the FBI, says it needs up to a year to process the FOIA request....
Senate Passes Gun Control Amidst Protection For Gun Makers The U.S. Senate passed legislation (S. 397) protecting the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits by a vote of 65-31 this afternoon. It should have been a joyous occasion for the entire gun community. But just when it seemed that the majority party was about to deal a knockout blow, the Republican leadership dropped their gloves and allowed anti-gun Democrats to land a hard uppercut on the chin. As a result of that lack of resolve, America will be saddled with mandatory trigger locks unless the House of Representatives acts in a more responsible manner....
Federal Judge Says Patriot Act Too Vague A federal judge has ruled that some provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act dealing with foreign terrorist organizations remain too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and are therefore unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins found that Congress failed to remedy all the problems she defined in a 2004 ruling that struck down key provisions of the act. Her decision was handed down Thursday and released Friday. "Even as amended, the statute fails to identify the prohibited conduct in a manner that persons of ordinary intelligence can reasonably understand," the ruling said. Collins issued an injunction against enforcement of the sections she found vague but specified that her ruling applies only to the named plaintiffs and does not constitute a nationwide injunction....
What the FDA Won’t Tell You about the VeriChip A little electronic capsule, smaller than a dime, could be one of the biggest technological advances in how we share and store private medical records. It may also be one of the most controversial. Known as the VeriChip, it is a microchip that is implanted under a person's skin, and then scanned with a special reader device to reveal important medical data about that person. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the VeriChip implant for medical use in humans in October, a huge victory for Applied Digital. Consumer privacy advocate Katherine Albrecht said, "There are millions of people that have read the press reports about all the positives of this technology, but really have no idea about its dangers." Albrecht strongly opposes the VeriChip for the physical risks it poses, as well as the privacy risks. She has been called "the Erin Brokovich of RFID chips." On her Web site, www.spychips.com, Albrecht reveals the potential dangers of the VeriChip and other radio frequency identification methods....
Calif. girl, 11, avoids felony trial An 11-year-old girl who threw a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight escaped jail time Wednesday on a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge after lawyers worked out a deal in the emotionally charged case. Maribel Cuevas was ordered to meet with her young victim and talk about the fight under the deal — reached on the same day the girl was to stand trial in juvenile court. She did not have to plead guilty, and the charges will be dismissed if she stays in school and keeps out of trouble. Maribel spent five days in juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after throwing a 2-pound rock at 8-year-old Elijah Vang, cutting his forehead after he pelted her with a water balloon in April. The gash required Elijah to receive stitches. Police responded with three cars while a helicopter hovered overhead, and said they arrested Maribel for resisting arrest and scratching an officer's arm....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Bush administration's changes to forest plan illegal, judge says A federal judge has concluded that the Bush administration broke environmental laws last year when it cleared the way for more commercial logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest and northern California. In 1994, the government adopted a set of environmental protections and limits on timber harvesting - the Northwest Forest plan - designed to halt the decline of the northern spotted owl and other wildlife that depend on large, old trees. Last year the administration dropped part of that plan - a requirement that, before logging, federal forest managers search for rare plants and animals associated with old growth and, if the species turn up, alter logging plans to prevent any harm to the ecosystem. The administration complained that the surveys were expensive, time-consuming and had made it impossible for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to conduct the volume of logging permitted under the Northwest plan. Ruling Monday in a case filed by a coalition of environmental groups, District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle said the agencies had violated the law by not fully analyzing the environmental impact of eliminating the survey program. The government had argued that another conservation measure would protect many of the species covered by the survey requirement, but Pechman noted that there was no guarantee those species would be included in the other program....
Developers play mitigation game When SunCal Cos. wanted to build a 2,200-unit housing development in Chino, the project was stopped because burrowing owls were found on the site. SunCal set aside 39 acres for the displaced birds, and the College Park development got the green light. Was anyone pleased with the deal? Not in the real world. Mitigation. It's one of those legalese/bureaucratese terms that usually means no one is happy. It's from the Latin mitigatus: to make mild, soft or tender. Convicts use it to try to persuade the judge to go easy. But in the endangered-species game, it means trade-offs in which no one really gets what they want, including the critter. Habitat mitigation has its critics, but it's the dance that developers and conservationists do to get things done....
BLM Shows Horse Sense A select group of Idaho media members were given an opportunity last Thursday to watch the federal government play God-or at least to help clean up His holy mess. In the aftermath of the lightning-started, nearly 250,000-acre Clover fire in the south-central Idaho rangelands, approximately 350 wild horses living south of Glenns Ferry were left with little vegetation on which to graze. In response, the Bureau of Land Management quickly organized an emergency roundup of the entire equine community, from the most grizzled stud to the freshest filly, until the rangeland could be reseeded to handle what will soon be a drastically smaller herd....
Tribes getting land back after 90 years More than 15,000 acres off Interstate 10 in western Arizona that were taken from the Colorado River Indian Tribes' reservation 90 years ago are being returned under a bill President Bush signed into law on Tuesday. The nearly 25-square-mile parcel about 175 miles west of Phoenix near Quartzsite and the California-Arizona line is known as the La Paz lands. It was removed from the reservation by President Woodrow Wilson amid tribal disputes with miners and cattlemen. Bush offered no comment in signing the bill, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz....
Governors call for new duck habitat legislation Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco are urging Congress to pass legislation that would use money from duck stamps to pay for conservation of migratory waterfowl habitat. The governors are proposing the 2006 Emergency Wetlands Loan Act, which would double the amount of money available to purchase the habitat. In a letter sent out Tuesday, they urge their fellow governors to lobby lawmakers for the legislation. Federal duck stamps are pictorial stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service for the government, but they are not valid for postage. Among other things, they serve as the federal license to hunt waterfowl, and currently raise between $40 million and $50 million a year for habitat protection, Pawlenty said. Under the governors' proposal, the Federal Duck Stamp Program would borrow $400 million against future duck stamp fees to buy up land at current prices. That would double the amount of money for land acquisitions each year, Pawlenty said....
The nature of the beast They were paddling easily in the endless Arctic sunlight when they spotted the bear, its blond-brown fur blending into the surrounding tundra. Perhaps 500 pounds, they guessed, but at close range all grizzlies look big, and they were spectacularly close to this one. Kalin Grigg and Jennifer Stark were thrilled. They paddled slowly, so their oars would not splash or flash in the sun. They wanted to photograph the animal and hoped not to spook him, but as they reached for their binoculars and camera, they noticed something else. The river they were rafting, the Hulahula, bent left. On the far bank, just beyond the bear, a tumble of brightly colored camping gear was scattered across the beach. Their guide, Robert Thompson, first spotted the strange disarray. This doesn't look good, he said quietly, almost to himself. It looked as if a small tornado had razed someone's bivouac. Robert was Inupiat. He had grown up in Alaska, and he knew what he was seeing....
Senator Crapo to speak at Ranchland protection celebration Senator Mike Crapo will deliver the keynote speech at an August 10 event celebrating the protection of working ranches through the Henry’s Lake Ranchland Protection Project. The event will be held at the Meadow Vue Ranch, on the south shore of Henry’s Lake. Staff members of Senator Larry Craig and Representative Mike Simpson are also expected to attend the event. The event will celebrate recent successes in protecting working ranches in the area through conservation protection agreements, also commonly known as conservation easements. These agreements are voluntary, legal agreements that allow the owners to continue traditional uses of their land while protecting wildlife habitat and open space from development in perpetuity. A recent conservation protection agreement funded with Land and Water Conservation Funds through the Bureau of Land Management protects Meadow Vue Ranch, a Henry’s Lake property owned by the Moedl family. The ranch is operated as a working ranch and youth camp. It hosts weekly rodeos and barbecues for tourists and is the site of a renowned cutting horse competition....
South Dakota anthrax cases reach 15 Humid, hot weather this summer has contributed to a near record number of anthrax cases in South Dakota, the state veterinarian said Tuesday. Five new cases of the disease were reported Monday, bringing the total number in the state to 15, Dr. Sam Holland said. Between 5-10 other cases are believed to be anthrax but have not yet been confirmed, said Holland. By comparison, one case of anthrax was reported in cattle in South Dakota during 2004. In 2003, there were two cases. Nine cases were reported in 2002....
Column: Time bombs lace most U.S. meat Because she knew how the animals had been raised, she could say with confidence that they weren't laced with antibiotics and they weren't hosts for antibiotic-resistant bacteria like most of the animals raised for meat in America. And this was one crowd that could really appreciate it. The guests of the natural-meat activist were scientists and activists who lobby Congress and federal agencies to take action to preserve antibiotics for essential medical treatment. And unlike most of us, they pay very close attention to what they eat....
Oregon gives worm ranchers a break Worm rancher Dan Holcombe is finally getting some respect, along with his squiggly, slithering livestock. Worm wrangling is right up there with cattle ranching and wheat farming, at least in Oregon. A bill signed last week by Oregon's governor will add worms to the state's list of tax-exempt farm products. Holcombe believes it's about time worms got some recognition. He says his Red Wigglers eat garbage and create prized compost. Not to mention the fish bait....wonder what kind of brand laws Oregon has....
Windmills provide the back beat to the rhythm of the West Texas landscape The windmill is the supreme icon of the Llano Estacado. The region was not permanently settled until windmills were invented. During the hey-day of the cattle baron travelers navigated the vast prairie using windmills as landmarks. Windmills were named -- sometimes fancifully (High Lonesome) or by location (South Pasture No. 3.) Around a homeplace windmills meant that shade trees and vegetable gardens could be nurtured, "spring houses" could be erected to preserve meat, milk and vegetables, and horses and milk cows kept close to the house. The windmill's creaking and thumping became the back beat to the rhythm of ranch life, a comforting sound intrinsic to the well-being of the heart and soul of the people dependent on its bringing water to the surface of the land....
Family a part of XIT reunion The XIT Rodeo Reunion is more than a day full of fun and free food for Doyle Hanbury. It is a day for family history and family reunions. Both of his grandfathers were cowboys on the XIT ranch when it was a working ranch. He and several family members, including both of his sons and his father-in-law, have served as directors of the XIT Rodeo Reunion Association. "It is always a time for our family to get together for a reunion," Hanbury said. "All five of my kids and eight grandchildren will all be here this year."....
Navasota cowboy has wild week traveling circuit But last week will be one 14-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Ricky Canton will never forget. Canton, who lives in Navasota, broke the world tie-down roping record Thursday at the Strathmore Stampede in Strathmore, Alberta, Canada. On Sunday, he won the tie-down roping title at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo. In Strathmore, the 39-year-old Canton won in 6.3 seconds during the second round of slack, a performance that features an overflow of competitors who are not in the main shows. The previous record was 6.5 seconds, held jointly by five-time world champion Cody Ohl (2003 NFR) and Clint Robinson (Amarillo in 2004). In Cheyenne, Canton won the title with an aggregate time of 37.6 seconds on three head and earned $21,106, catapulting him to eighth from 18th in the Professional Rodeo weekly world tie-down roping standings. He has $56,629 in season earnings....
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Bush administration's changes to forest plan illegal, judge says A federal judge has concluded that the Bush administration broke environmental laws last year when it cleared the way for more commercial logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest and northern California. In 1994, the government adopted a set of environmental protections and limits on timber harvesting - the Northwest Forest plan - designed to halt the decline of the northern spotted owl and other wildlife that depend on large, old trees. Last year the administration dropped part of that plan - a requirement that, before logging, federal forest managers search for rare plants and animals associated with old growth and, if the species turn up, alter logging plans to prevent any harm to the ecosystem. The administration complained that the surveys were expensive, time-consuming and had made it impossible for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to conduct the volume of logging permitted under the Northwest plan. Ruling Monday in a case filed by a coalition of environmental groups, District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle said the agencies had violated the law by not fully analyzing the environmental impact of eliminating the survey program. The government had argued that another conservation measure would protect many of the species covered by the survey requirement, but Pechman noted that there was no guarantee those species would be included in the other program....
Developers play mitigation game When SunCal Cos. wanted to build a 2,200-unit housing development in Chino, the project was stopped because burrowing owls were found on the site. SunCal set aside 39 acres for the displaced birds, and the College Park development got the green light. Was anyone pleased with the deal? Not in the real world. Mitigation. It's one of those legalese/bureaucratese terms that usually means no one is happy. It's from the Latin mitigatus: to make mild, soft or tender. Convicts use it to try to persuade the judge to go easy. But in the endangered-species game, it means trade-offs in which no one really gets what they want, including the critter. Habitat mitigation has its critics, but it's the dance that developers and conservationists do to get things done....
BLM Shows Horse Sense A select group of Idaho media members were given an opportunity last Thursday to watch the federal government play God-or at least to help clean up His holy mess. In the aftermath of the lightning-started, nearly 250,000-acre Clover fire in the south-central Idaho rangelands, approximately 350 wild horses living south of Glenns Ferry were left with little vegetation on which to graze. In response, the Bureau of Land Management quickly organized an emergency roundup of the entire equine community, from the most grizzled stud to the freshest filly, until the rangeland could be reseeded to handle what will soon be a drastically smaller herd....
Tribes getting land back after 90 years More than 15,000 acres off Interstate 10 in western Arizona that were taken from the Colorado River Indian Tribes' reservation 90 years ago are being returned under a bill President Bush signed into law on Tuesday. The nearly 25-square-mile parcel about 175 miles west of Phoenix near Quartzsite and the California-Arizona line is known as the La Paz lands. It was removed from the reservation by President Woodrow Wilson amid tribal disputes with miners and cattlemen. Bush offered no comment in signing the bill, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz....
Governors call for new duck habitat legislation Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco are urging Congress to pass legislation that would use money from duck stamps to pay for conservation of migratory waterfowl habitat. The governors are proposing the 2006 Emergency Wetlands Loan Act, which would double the amount of money available to purchase the habitat. In a letter sent out Tuesday, they urge their fellow governors to lobby lawmakers for the legislation. Federal duck stamps are pictorial stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service for the government, but they are not valid for postage. Among other things, they serve as the federal license to hunt waterfowl, and currently raise between $40 million and $50 million a year for habitat protection, Pawlenty said. Under the governors' proposal, the Federal Duck Stamp Program would borrow $400 million against future duck stamp fees to buy up land at current prices. That would double the amount of money for land acquisitions each year, Pawlenty said....
The nature of the beast They were paddling easily in the endless Arctic sunlight when they spotted the bear, its blond-brown fur blending into the surrounding tundra. Perhaps 500 pounds, they guessed, but at close range all grizzlies look big, and they were spectacularly close to this one. Kalin Grigg and Jennifer Stark were thrilled. They paddled slowly, so their oars would not splash or flash in the sun. They wanted to photograph the animal and hoped not to spook him, but as they reached for their binoculars and camera, they noticed something else. The river they were rafting, the Hulahula, bent left. On the far bank, just beyond the bear, a tumble of brightly colored camping gear was scattered across the beach. Their guide, Robert Thompson, first spotted the strange disarray. This doesn't look good, he said quietly, almost to himself. It looked as if a small tornado had razed someone's bivouac. Robert was Inupiat. He had grown up in Alaska, and he knew what he was seeing....
Senator Crapo to speak at Ranchland protection celebration Senator Mike Crapo will deliver the keynote speech at an August 10 event celebrating the protection of working ranches through the Henry’s Lake Ranchland Protection Project. The event will be held at the Meadow Vue Ranch, on the south shore of Henry’s Lake. Staff members of Senator Larry Craig and Representative Mike Simpson are also expected to attend the event. The event will celebrate recent successes in protecting working ranches in the area through conservation protection agreements, also commonly known as conservation easements. These agreements are voluntary, legal agreements that allow the owners to continue traditional uses of their land while protecting wildlife habitat and open space from development in perpetuity. A recent conservation protection agreement funded with Land and Water Conservation Funds through the Bureau of Land Management protects Meadow Vue Ranch, a Henry’s Lake property owned by the Moedl family. The ranch is operated as a working ranch and youth camp. It hosts weekly rodeos and barbecues for tourists and is the site of a renowned cutting horse competition....
South Dakota anthrax cases reach 15 Humid, hot weather this summer has contributed to a near record number of anthrax cases in South Dakota, the state veterinarian said Tuesday. Five new cases of the disease were reported Monday, bringing the total number in the state to 15, Dr. Sam Holland said. Between 5-10 other cases are believed to be anthrax but have not yet been confirmed, said Holland. By comparison, one case of anthrax was reported in cattle in South Dakota during 2004. In 2003, there were two cases. Nine cases were reported in 2002....
Column: Time bombs lace most U.S. meat Because she knew how the animals had been raised, she could say with confidence that they weren't laced with antibiotics and they weren't hosts for antibiotic-resistant bacteria like most of the animals raised for meat in America. And this was one crowd that could really appreciate it. The guests of the natural-meat activist were scientists and activists who lobby Congress and federal agencies to take action to preserve antibiotics for essential medical treatment. And unlike most of us, they pay very close attention to what they eat....
Oregon gives worm ranchers a break Worm rancher Dan Holcombe is finally getting some respect, along with his squiggly, slithering livestock. Worm wrangling is right up there with cattle ranching and wheat farming, at least in Oregon. A bill signed last week by Oregon's governor will add worms to the state's list of tax-exempt farm products. Holcombe believes it's about time worms got some recognition. He says his Red Wigglers eat garbage and create prized compost. Not to mention the fish bait....wonder what kind of brand laws Oregon has....
Windmills provide the back beat to the rhythm of the West Texas landscape The windmill is the supreme icon of the Llano Estacado. The region was not permanently settled until windmills were invented. During the hey-day of the cattle baron travelers navigated the vast prairie using windmills as landmarks. Windmills were named -- sometimes fancifully (High Lonesome) or by location (South Pasture No. 3.) Around a homeplace windmills meant that shade trees and vegetable gardens could be nurtured, "spring houses" could be erected to preserve meat, milk and vegetables, and horses and milk cows kept close to the house. The windmill's creaking and thumping became the back beat to the rhythm of ranch life, a comforting sound intrinsic to the well-being of the heart and soul of the people dependent on its bringing water to the surface of the land....
Family a part of XIT reunion The XIT Rodeo Reunion is more than a day full of fun and free food for Doyle Hanbury. It is a day for family history and family reunions. Both of his grandfathers were cowboys on the XIT ranch when it was a working ranch. He and several family members, including both of his sons and his father-in-law, have served as directors of the XIT Rodeo Reunion Association. "It is always a time for our family to get together for a reunion," Hanbury said. "All five of my kids and eight grandchildren will all be here this year."....
Navasota cowboy has wild week traveling circuit But last week will be one 14-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Ricky Canton will never forget. Canton, who lives in Navasota, broke the world tie-down roping record Thursday at the Strathmore Stampede in Strathmore, Alberta, Canada. On Sunday, he won the tie-down roping title at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo. In Strathmore, the 39-year-old Canton won in 6.3 seconds during the second round of slack, a performance that features an overflow of competitors who are not in the main shows. The previous record was 6.5 seconds, held jointly by five-time world champion Cody Ohl (2003 NFR) and Clint Robinson (Amarillo in 2004). In Cheyenne, Canton won the title with an aggregate time of 37.6 seconds on three head and earned $21,106, catapulting him to eighth from 18th in the Professional Rodeo weekly world tie-down roping standings. He has $56,629 in season earnings....
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Judge halts grazing on 800,000 acres near Jarbidge Livestock grazing on roughly 800,000 acres of public lands in the Jarbidge area will come to a halt under an order issued Friday in district court. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill rendered his decision on a lawsuit brought by Western Watersheds Project against the Bureau of Land Management over the agency's handling of grazing permits for 28 allotments in the Jarbidge Resource Area. The environmental group had claimed that the BLM violated federal policies as well as the agency's own guidelines when it increased grazing levels in the area -- a move that compromises sage grouse and other wildlife habitat, Western Watersheds said. "I think this is the first time a court has halted grazing because of its impact on sage grouse," said Laird Lucas, attorney for Western Watersheds Project. "I think the court is very clear that grazing needs to stop and to stop right now."....
The public-land challenge The meadows at the Valles Caldera National Preserve stretch for miles, providing some of the most scenic grazing land in northern New Mexico. Cows grow fat on the tall and protein-rich grasses in this Jemez Mountain valley - a lush bowl of land formed when an ancient volcano blew up more than a million years ago. The cows' access is limited, however, when they approach the streams lacing the fields. Two full-time cowboys coax the cows away after they have had a chance to drink so that their hooves don't trample the stream banks. The added work is time-consuming and something that doesn't usually happen on public land, according to the preserve's ranch foreman. At this 89,000-acre preserve, they have no choice....
Backcountry riders keep wolves at bay in Montana's Madison Valley The first rays of light slowly ignite sagebrush-speckled Antelope Basin as two riders move quietly among the herd. Calves nurse at their mothers' sides then frisk off in a series of ungainly hops to play. And this morning, as they do on most mornings, the cattle rest easy. But a far-off, deep-throated howl rising to a keening high note reminds the riders why they're here: to protect these Montana cattle from wolves. Livestock losses occur for a number of reasons, and each one impacts a rancher's ability to make a living. For many ranchers, the successful reintroduction of wolves to historical home ranges in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming has added yet another piece to the subsistence puzzle. To help solve that conundrum in Montana's Madison Valley, conservationists and ranchers worked together to find a traditional solution to a modern problem....
West Desert Residents Plan Water Protest Residents of the West Desert are angry about a Las Vegas proposal to pump water out of their region, and they're organizing an unusual event to dramatize their concerns. They plan to run, day and night, along the Old Pony Express trail, carrying water and messages of protest. They're calling it the "Water Express Run." It starts in Nevada at dawn, one week from Monday. By the time runners make it into Salt Lake City a couple of days and nights later, they hope they'll have made their point. They won't tolerate a water grab by Las Vegas, or anyone else....
Liquid asset It's not exactly Los Angeles traffic, but a rush-hour queue of kayak-topped cars and school buses towing inflatable rafts crowds this Rocky Mountain town, the hub of one of the busiest whitewater destinations in the nation. A main attraction along the Arkansas River is a manmade water park where gyrating kayaks perform aerials as spectators watch from footpaths and terraces. Colorado has built more such places than any other state, and dozens of others have popped up in Reno and elsewhere in the West as towns install them to enliven waterfronts and city coffers. In California, communities along the Feather, Kern and American rivers are considering building the parks. Yet as these riffled play zones change the face of small-town USA, they are also shaking up water law. It takes lots of liquid to generate the waves and holes that nimble kayaks require. And in the arid West, where ranchers, growers and cities control seemingly every drop, whitewater enthusiasts are the new guys contending for a big gulp....
Scorched desert defies rehabilitation Arizona's wildfires are winding down as the state's rainy season gets under way, and attention is turning to reclaiming burned areas. But fire officials say the desert fires that have predominated this year defy usual attempts at rehabilitation. Reseeding efforts and other rehabilitation techniques that work in forests wouldn't be effective, said Judy Wood, a fire information officer for the state forest service. "There's absolutely no way to rehabilitate the desert," Wood said....
State pays to clear Diamond Lake of unwanted tui chub Oregon will pay $375,000 to help rid Diamond Lake of tui chub, a small, plankton-eating fish that is destroying the lake's ecosystem and strangling its tourist trade. Rep. Susan Morgan, R-Myrtle Creek, got approval for the funding from House and Senate leaders last week. "This appropriation is the final piece of funding for restoration work,'' she said. The money will go to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The U.S. Forest Service will spend more than $1 million and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a private conservation group, is conducting a fund-raising effort....
Helicopter logging is proving effective Helicopters are hoisting dead trees out of the San Bernardino National Forest to ease the danger of wildfires, a method that lessens environmental damage and allows timber removal in areas too steep for logging vehicles. Helicopter logging started last year over 2,750 acres and is expected to continue through 2006 in areas from Lake Arrowhead to Idyllwild. The mission is to remove dead trees to create fire buffer zones around mountain communities. "If it's too steep for a bulldozer, it's not too steep for a helicopter. Essentially it's a real useful tool to do a good job environmentally for the forest,' said Bob Sommer, the forest's fuels officer who is managing the helicopter logging effort....
Energy leases at Strawberry alarm fishing group The federal government has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past two decades to restore Strawberry Reservoir and its tributaries as a blue-ribbon fishery. Now, an angling group is charging that continued gas and oil leasing around the reservoir is jeopardizing that investment. Trout Unlimited late last week filed a protest over a new round of leases the Forest Service will put up for auction Aug. 16, a sale that will increase the total number of parcels available for energy exploration around Strawberry to 89. Approximately one-quarter of those leases are in roadless areas. "We are very, very concerned, but until now we haven't gone public, so the angling community as a whole really is just starting to get a feel for what's going on," said Paul Dremann, Trout Unlimited's Utah chapter vice president for conservation. "All you have to do is look at a place like Pinedale [Wyo.] to see how horrendous this could become. We don't think it will come to that, but it could."....
From Defender of Nature to 'Eco-Terrorist' The obvious first question is, Did he do it? "I have been emphatic in declaring my innocence," Arrow says. "The kind of activism I engage in has been well documented as being non-violent civil disobedience." He said he's only run afoul with the law for civil disobedience, for which he has received community service. Never anything violent. Besides, Arrow says arson is incongruent with his beliefs. His law, he says, is that of the Iroquois: "In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation. That's how I live my life, so even when I sleep in the woods, I don't burn twigs because of the carbon dioxide," he said. "I would never endorse arson because of the pollution involved in burning tires and plastic." Arrow doesn't hesitate when asked about why he got locked up. "Basically, the FBI targeted me because I'm an activist," he said. "That's the FBI's modus operandi: They target anyone who gets in the way of the status quo, anyone they view as a threat, or as subversive. They view me as a threat because I talk about truth and expose lies. And my civil disobedience has been effective."....
Feinstein, Republicans Call For Marijuana Crackdown Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and a group of Republican representatives called on the National Park Service Friday to crack down on illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands. The group of legislators wrote, in a letter to Park Service Director Fran Mainella, "We are stunned by the fact that in 2004 alone, authorities seized 200,000 marijuana plants worth approximately $800 million in a single California county, Tulare County. Most of these marijuana plants were cultivated, presumably by individuals linked to Mexican drug cartels, in both the Sequoia National Park and Sequoia National Forest." The letter went on to describe smuggling operations that utilized Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve as "thoroughfares for marijuana drug smuggling into Mexico."....
Fire access roads closed Ron Albright wonders what he would do if a wildfire threatened his home today like one did a couple of years ago. Back then, he and his wife were able to flee the burning San Bernardino Mountains by taking a fire access road. Granted, it was dusty and bumpy, but at least it wasn't in gridlock like the paved roads hopelessly clogged with his retreating neighbors. Now, though, taking that less-traveled road wouldn't be an option because it is closed for repairs. Powerful winter storms damaged more than 2,000 miles of fire access roads used to protect 2.3 million acres of forests in Southern California. "We're vulnerable now more than ever," said Mr. Albright, 58, who has lived in the mountains for 30 years and twice fled approaching flames....
Funding for Natural Resources Agencies Falls Short of Needs Congress approved a $26.3 billion budget for the Interior Department and other natural resources agencies before leaving Friday for summer recess. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the legislation. Controversial funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which the House had previously voted to eliminate, was restored, although at the lowest level of funding provided since 1999. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is the nation’s primary source of money to conserve land. Each year the fund is authorized to receive $900 million in royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling and to reinvest those funds to purchase new lands for and protect America’s national forests, parks and wildlife refuges. But all of that amount is rarely appropriated to the LWDF. The final bill provides $114 million for federal land acquisition, down from $169 million last year, and $28 million for state park and recreation projects, a reduction from the $92.5 million approved last year....
Agency proposes pulling owl from endangered list A federal agency announced Monday that it will propose the removal of the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl in Arizona from the list of threatened and endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's action follows years of legal battles, including an appellate court decision which the agency cited as the basis for its new proposal. The wildlife service listed the pygmy owls as endangered in 1997, followed by the agency's 2002 proposed designation of 1.2 million acres in Arizona as critical habitat. The proposed delisting, to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register, also includes the critical habitat proposal, wildlife service officials said during a telephone news conference. Ruling on a 2001 lawsuit filed by homebuilding groups, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled in 2003 that the agency had not justified its listing of the owls as significant when considered separately from a broader population that includes owls in areas along Mexico's western coast....
Feds to study roadkill thanks to highway bill The federal government will take a hard look at why roadkill happens thanks to a provision in the transportation bill recently passed by Congress. The Bozeman-based conservation group American Wildlands is praising the study as a starting point in mitigating the effect of roadkill on wildlife populations. The group led an effort to get 38 environmental groups in 10 Western states to back wildlife-friendly provisions in the bill. The study is the first national effort of its kind, the group said....
Adaptation: a bird's tale ON May 23, 1833, John James Audubon, traveling on the U.S. revenue-cutter Swiftsure, landed on New Brunswick's White Head Island to look for a particular bird. The bird in question would have been on the endangered species list if such a list had existed in his day. Last year I visited White Head to search for the same bird, to see how it had fared (or indeed if it had fared) over the past 172 years. Shortly after the ferry from the neighboring island of Grand Manan docked, a man in a geriatric pickup truck offered me a lift. I started telling the driver about Audubon and his visit to the island, but he interrupted me. Audubon, he said, had stayed with a long-dead relative, William Frankland. According to family lore, because there wasn't any salt on the table at the time, the artist-naturalist cheerfully sprinkled gunpowder on his food....
Finding of shrimp delays opening of Mira Mesa school Jonas Salk Elementary School in Mira Mesa will open at least a year behind schedule and cost several million dollars more than estimated because of endangered shrimp found at the site. The school's opening date has been pushed back to September 2007, at the earliest. The issue has outraged some Mira Mesa residents, whose plans for a community park were dashed five years ago – also by environmental restrictions. The 13-acre school site at Parkdale Avenue and Flanders Drive is home to the San Diego fairy shrimp, tiny crustaceans that measure less than an inch long and usually thrive from January to March....
Nine Mile Canyon: Controversy over proposed drilling in the region A Denver-based energy exploration company is proposing to drill 750 natural gas wells on Utah's West Tavaputs Plateau near Nine Mile Canyon, a request that could trigger new battles over an area revered for its ancient Indian rock art and rugged beauty. Bill Barrett Corp., which created a furor among conservationists when it received permits in 2002 to drill 38 wells on about 89 square miles on the back side of the remote Book Cliffs, now is pursuing "full-field development" of the Stone Cabin and Peters Point gas fields. The development on the border of Carbon and Duschesne counties would encompass 137,000 acres, or about 215 square miles, and could yield 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The company notified the U.S. Department of the Interior in May of its intent, and now is working with Interior to craft a plan that could be published in the Federal Register by the end of the summer....
Interior threatens whistle-blower According to the filing, the plaintiffs called Ronnie Levine, chief information officer at the Bureau of Land Management, to testify in support of their position that Interior be ordered to disconnect from the Internet and shut down insecure IT systems to safeguard trust data. “Moments before Ms. Levine took the stand for her final day of testimony, she was told that she would be removed as bureau CIO and transferred to a non-information technology position in a bureau office that is targeted for closure,” the document states. “Under oath, Ms. Levine confirmed the chilling effect such retaliation had had on her forthcoming testimony and her fear of further retaliation. The message was delivered with absolute clarity: If you testify truthfully, you will be punished.” Agency officials took the bureau’s Web sites off-line for two months this spring after Interior’s inspector general issued a report warning that the agency’s IT systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks....
Horses, Cattle, Cowboys and Cow Dogs The rolling hills of Tehama County in northern Cali-fornia are covered with live-oak trees, pines and open savannahs with lush green grass. Red Bank Creek flows through the area, completing the pastoral scene, and the result is a great location for a ranch and a working-cow-dog clinic and field trial. It all came together last March with a four-day clinic and the open Ranch Dog Trials, hosted by Merle and Sandi Newton, and their friends and neighbors, Bill and Sandy Renihan of the Indian Oaks Ranch. The Newtons' ranch, located near the town of Red Bluff, is home to their Crystal Rose Cowdog College, where Merle and Sandi breed, train and sell Border Collies as working cow dogs. Anyone who attended the clinic and trials undoubtedly left believing, as the Newtons do, that Border Collies are best when it comes to working cattle. What these dogs can accomplish in moving and holding cattle is amazing. "Border Collies can replace two or three average hands on a ranch," says Sandi, "and they don't go to town on the weekend and forget to come back on Monday."....
Pleasanton hangs its hat on history And while Pleasanton is just one of many small South Texas towns peppering the region with stories of hardened cowboys flourishing across the vast, unfenced plains, a sign posted at its city limits makes an enormous claim. Beneath a cartoon of a longhorn steer carrying a newborn babe, the words "Birthplace of the Cowboy" greet passers-by. An explanation provided by the Longhorn Museum tempers this Texas-size declaration with a sly caveat. But according to Texas historian Robert H. Thornhoff, Pleasanton's claim may carry more weight than the town's official explanation lets on. The cowboy tradition can be traced in earnest back to the Middle Ages in Spain. In 1720, Thornhoff said, Spanish missionaries founded Texas' first mission ranch between present-day Pleasanton and Poteet. Pastia Indian residents, working there as cowboys, raised cattle that had been imported from Spain — the ancestors of the Texas longhorn. Pleasanton "has a valid claim," Thornhoff said....
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Judge halts grazing on 800,000 acres near Jarbidge Livestock grazing on roughly 800,000 acres of public lands in the Jarbidge area will come to a halt under an order issued Friday in district court. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill rendered his decision on a lawsuit brought by Western Watersheds Project against the Bureau of Land Management over the agency's handling of grazing permits for 28 allotments in the Jarbidge Resource Area. The environmental group had claimed that the BLM violated federal policies as well as the agency's own guidelines when it increased grazing levels in the area -- a move that compromises sage grouse and other wildlife habitat, Western Watersheds said. "I think this is the first time a court has halted grazing because of its impact on sage grouse," said Laird Lucas, attorney for Western Watersheds Project. "I think the court is very clear that grazing needs to stop and to stop right now."....
The public-land challenge The meadows at the Valles Caldera National Preserve stretch for miles, providing some of the most scenic grazing land in northern New Mexico. Cows grow fat on the tall and protein-rich grasses in this Jemez Mountain valley - a lush bowl of land formed when an ancient volcano blew up more than a million years ago. The cows' access is limited, however, when they approach the streams lacing the fields. Two full-time cowboys coax the cows away after they have had a chance to drink so that their hooves don't trample the stream banks. The added work is time-consuming and something that doesn't usually happen on public land, according to the preserve's ranch foreman. At this 89,000-acre preserve, they have no choice....
Backcountry riders keep wolves at bay in Montana's Madison Valley The first rays of light slowly ignite sagebrush-speckled Antelope Basin as two riders move quietly among the herd. Calves nurse at their mothers' sides then frisk off in a series of ungainly hops to play. And this morning, as they do on most mornings, the cattle rest easy. But a far-off, deep-throated howl rising to a keening high note reminds the riders why they're here: to protect these Montana cattle from wolves. Livestock losses occur for a number of reasons, and each one impacts a rancher's ability to make a living. For many ranchers, the successful reintroduction of wolves to historical home ranges in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming has added yet another piece to the subsistence puzzle. To help solve that conundrum in Montana's Madison Valley, conservationists and ranchers worked together to find a traditional solution to a modern problem....
West Desert Residents Plan Water Protest Residents of the West Desert are angry about a Las Vegas proposal to pump water out of their region, and they're organizing an unusual event to dramatize their concerns. They plan to run, day and night, along the Old Pony Express trail, carrying water and messages of protest. They're calling it the "Water Express Run." It starts in Nevada at dawn, one week from Monday. By the time runners make it into Salt Lake City a couple of days and nights later, they hope they'll have made their point. They won't tolerate a water grab by Las Vegas, or anyone else....
Liquid asset It's not exactly Los Angeles traffic, but a rush-hour queue of kayak-topped cars and school buses towing inflatable rafts crowds this Rocky Mountain town, the hub of one of the busiest whitewater destinations in the nation. A main attraction along the Arkansas River is a manmade water park where gyrating kayaks perform aerials as spectators watch from footpaths and terraces. Colorado has built more such places than any other state, and dozens of others have popped up in Reno and elsewhere in the West as towns install them to enliven waterfronts and city coffers. In California, communities along the Feather, Kern and American rivers are considering building the parks. Yet as these riffled play zones change the face of small-town USA, they are also shaking up water law. It takes lots of liquid to generate the waves and holes that nimble kayaks require. And in the arid West, where ranchers, growers and cities control seemingly every drop, whitewater enthusiasts are the new guys contending for a big gulp....
Scorched desert defies rehabilitation Arizona's wildfires are winding down as the state's rainy season gets under way, and attention is turning to reclaiming burned areas. But fire officials say the desert fires that have predominated this year defy usual attempts at rehabilitation. Reseeding efforts and other rehabilitation techniques that work in forests wouldn't be effective, said Judy Wood, a fire information officer for the state forest service. "There's absolutely no way to rehabilitate the desert," Wood said....
State pays to clear Diamond Lake of unwanted tui chub Oregon will pay $375,000 to help rid Diamond Lake of tui chub, a small, plankton-eating fish that is destroying the lake's ecosystem and strangling its tourist trade. Rep. Susan Morgan, R-Myrtle Creek, got approval for the funding from House and Senate leaders last week. "This appropriation is the final piece of funding for restoration work,'' she said. The money will go to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The U.S. Forest Service will spend more than $1 million and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a private conservation group, is conducting a fund-raising effort....
Helicopter logging is proving effective Helicopters are hoisting dead trees out of the San Bernardino National Forest to ease the danger of wildfires, a method that lessens environmental damage and allows timber removal in areas too steep for logging vehicles. Helicopter logging started last year over 2,750 acres and is expected to continue through 2006 in areas from Lake Arrowhead to Idyllwild. The mission is to remove dead trees to create fire buffer zones around mountain communities. "If it's too steep for a bulldozer, it's not too steep for a helicopter. Essentially it's a real useful tool to do a good job environmentally for the forest,' said Bob Sommer, the forest's fuels officer who is managing the helicopter logging effort....
Energy leases at Strawberry alarm fishing group The federal government has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past two decades to restore Strawberry Reservoir and its tributaries as a blue-ribbon fishery. Now, an angling group is charging that continued gas and oil leasing around the reservoir is jeopardizing that investment. Trout Unlimited late last week filed a protest over a new round of leases the Forest Service will put up for auction Aug. 16, a sale that will increase the total number of parcels available for energy exploration around Strawberry to 89. Approximately one-quarter of those leases are in roadless areas. "We are very, very concerned, but until now we haven't gone public, so the angling community as a whole really is just starting to get a feel for what's going on," said Paul Dremann, Trout Unlimited's Utah chapter vice president for conservation. "All you have to do is look at a place like Pinedale [Wyo.] to see how horrendous this could become. We don't think it will come to that, but it could."....
From Defender of Nature to 'Eco-Terrorist' The obvious first question is, Did he do it? "I have been emphatic in declaring my innocence," Arrow says. "The kind of activism I engage in has been well documented as being non-violent civil disobedience." He said he's only run afoul with the law for civil disobedience, for which he has received community service. Never anything violent. Besides, Arrow says arson is incongruent with his beliefs. His law, he says, is that of the Iroquois: "In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation. That's how I live my life, so even when I sleep in the woods, I don't burn twigs because of the carbon dioxide," he said. "I would never endorse arson because of the pollution involved in burning tires and plastic." Arrow doesn't hesitate when asked about why he got locked up. "Basically, the FBI targeted me because I'm an activist," he said. "That's the FBI's modus operandi: They target anyone who gets in the way of the status quo, anyone they view as a threat, or as subversive. They view me as a threat because I talk about truth and expose lies. And my civil disobedience has been effective."....
Feinstein, Republicans Call For Marijuana Crackdown Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and a group of Republican representatives called on the National Park Service Friday to crack down on illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands. The group of legislators wrote, in a letter to Park Service Director Fran Mainella, "We are stunned by the fact that in 2004 alone, authorities seized 200,000 marijuana plants worth approximately $800 million in a single California county, Tulare County. Most of these marijuana plants were cultivated, presumably by individuals linked to Mexican drug cartels, in both the Sequoia National Park and Sequoia National Forest." The letter went on to describe smuggling operations that utilized Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve as "thoroughfares for marijuana drug smuggling into Mexico."....
Fire access roads closed Ron Albright wonders what he would do if a wildfire threatened his home today like one did a couple of years ago. Back then, he and his wife were able to flee the burning San Bernardino Mountains by taking a fire access road. Granted, it was dusty and bumpy, but at least it wasn't in gridlock like the paved roads hopelessly clogged with his retreating neighbors. Now, though, taking that less-traveled road wouldn't be an option because it is closed for repairs. Powerful winter storms damaged more than 2,000 miles of fire access roads used to protect 2.3 million acres of forests in Southern California. "We're vulnerable now more than ever," said Mr. Albright, 58, who has lived in the mountains for 30 years and twice fled approaching flames....
Funding for Natural Resources Agencies Falls Short of Needs Congress approved a $26.3 billion budget for the Interior Department and other natural resources agencies before leaving Friday for summer recess. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the legislation. Controversial funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which the House had previously voted to eliminate, was restored, although at the lowest level of funding provided since 1999. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is the nation’s primary source of money to conserve land. Each year the fund is authorized to receive $900 million in royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling and to reinvest those funds to purchase new lands for and protect America’s national forests, parks and wildlife refuges. But all of that amount is rarely appropriated to the LWDF. The final bill provides $114 million for federal land acquisition, down from $169 million last year, and $28 million for state park and recreation projects, a reduction from the $92.5 million approved last year....
Agency proposes pulling owl from endangered list A federal agency announced Monday that it will propose the removal of the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl in Arizona from the list of threatened and endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's action follows years of legal battles, including an appellate court decision which the agency cited as the basis for its new proposal. The wildlife service listed the pygmy owls as endangered in 1997, followed by the agency's 2002 proposed designation of 1.2 million acres in Arizona as critical habitat. The proposed delisting, to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register, also includes the critical habitat proposal, wildlife service officials said during a telephone news conference. Ruling on a 2001 lawsuit filed by homebuilding groups, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled in 2003 that the agency had not justified its listing of the owls as significant when considered separately from a broader population that includes owls in areas along Mexico's western coast....
Feds to study roadkill thanks to highway bill The federal government will take a hard look at why roadkill happens thanks to a provision in the transportation bill recently passed by Congress. The Bozeman-based conservation group American Wildlands is praising the study as a starting point in mitigating the effect of roadkill on wildlife populations. The group led an effort to get 38 environmental groups in 10 Western states to back wildlife-friendly provisions in the bill. The study is the first national effort of its kind, the group said....
Adaptation: a bird's tale ON May 23, 1833, John James Audubon, traveling on the U.S. revenue-cutter Swiftsure, landed on New Brunswick's White Head Island to look for a particular bird. The bird in question would have been on the endangered species list if such a list had existed in his day. Last year I visited White Head to search for the same bird, to see how it had fared (or indeed if it had fared) over the past 172 years. Shortly after the ferry from the neighboring island of Grand Manan docked, a man in a geriatric pickup truck offered me a lift. I started telling the driver about Audubon and his visit to the island, but he interrupted me. Audubon, he said, had stayed with a long-dead relative, William Frankland. According to family lore, because there wasn't any salt on the table at the time, the artist-naturalist cheerfully sprinkled gunpowder on his food....
Finding of shrimp delays opening of Mira Mesa school Jonas Salk Elementary School in Mira Mesa will open at least a year behind schedule and cost several million dollars more than estimated because of endangered shrimp found at the site. The school's opening date has been pushed back to September 2007, at the earliest. The issue has outraged some Mira Mesa residents, whose plans for a community park were dashed five years ago – also by environmental restrictions. The 13-acre school site at Parkdale Avenue and Flanders Drive is home to the San Diego fairy shrimp, tiny crustaceans that measure less than an inch long and usually thrive from January to March....
Nine Mile Canyon: Controversy over proposed drilling in the region A Denver-based energy exploration company is proposing to drill 750 natural gas wells on Utah's West Tavaputs Plateau near Nine Mile Canyon, a request that could trigger new battles over an area revered for its ancient Indian rock art and rugged beauty. Bill Barrett Corp., which created a furor among conservationists when it received permits in 2002 to drill 38 wells on about 89 square miles on the back side of the remote Book Cliffs, now is pursuing "full-field development" of the Stone Cabin and Peters Point gas fields. The development on the border of Carbon and Duschesne counties would encompass 137,000 acres, or about 215 square miles, and could yield 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The company notified the U.S. Department of the Interior in May of its intent, and now is working with Interior to craft a plan that could be published in the Federal Register by the end of the summer....
Interior threatens whistle-blower According to the filing, the plaintiffs called Ronnie Levine, chief information officer at the Bureau of Land Management, to testify in support of their position that Interior be ordered to disconnect from the Internet and shut down insecure IT systems to safeguard trust data. “Moments before Ms. Levine took the stand for her final day of testimony, she was told that she would be removed as bureau CIO and transferred to a non-information technology position in a bureau office that is targeted for closure,” the document states. “Under oath, Ms. Levine confirmed the chilling effect such retaliation had had on her forthcoming testimony and her fear of further retaliation. The message was delivered with absolute clarity: If you testify truthfully, you will be punished.” Agency officials took the bureau’s Web sites off-line for two months this spring after Interior’s inspector general issued a report warning that the agency’s IT systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks....
Horses, Cattle, Cowboys and Cow Dogs The rolling hills of Tehama County in northern Cali-fornia are covered with live-oak trees, pines and open savannahs with lush green grass. Red Bank Creek flows through the area, completing the pastoral scene, and the result is a great location for a ranch and a working-cow-dog clinic and field trial. It all came together last March with a four-day clinic and the open Ranch Dog Trials, hosted by Merle and Sandi Newton, and their friends and neighbors, Bill and Sandy Renihan of the Indian Oaks Ranch. The Newtons' ranch, located near the town of Red Bluff, is home to their Crystal Rose Cowdog College, where Merle and Sandi breed, train and sell Border Collies as working cow dogs. Anyone who attended the clinic and trials undoubtedly left believing, as the Newtons do, that Border Collies are best when it comes to working cattle. What these dogs can accomplish in moving and holding cattle is amazing. "Border Collies can replace two or three average hands on a ranch," says Sandi, "and they don't go to town on the weekend and forget to come back on Monday."....
Pleasanton hangs its hat on history And while Pleasanton is just one of many small South Texas towns peppering the region with stories of hardened cowboys flourishing across the vast, unfenced plains, a sign posted at its city limits makes an enormous claim. Beneath a cartoon of a longhorn steer carrying a newborn babe, the words "Birthplace of the Cowboy" greet passers-by. An explanation provided by the Longhorn Museum tempers this Texas-size declaration with a sly caveat. But according to Texas historian Robert H. Thornhoff, Pleasanton's claim may carry more weight than the town's official explanation lets on. The cowboy tradition can be traced in earnest back to the Middle Ages in Spain. In 1720, Thornhoff said, Spanish missionaries founded Texas' first mission ranch between present-day Pleasanton and Poteet. Pastia Indian residents, working there as cowboys, raised cattle that had been imported from Spain — the ancestors of the Texas longhorn. Pleasanton "has a valid claim," Thornhoff said....
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Monday, August 01, 2005
Just read an interesting article over at NEW WEST. Entitled "The Pathetically Western Reply", Christian Probasco begins by giving a nice summary of Wallace Stegner's critique of the west. He then replies, part of which follows:
They can answer that the cowboys who herd cattle in wilderness areas generally don’t want to conduct their operations under somebody else’s control or even surveillance, and if they did, they wouldn’t belong on that frontier in the first place. They can answer that westerners whose livelihoods are tied to the surrounding land don’t mistrust federal intervention just because it comes from outside, they mistrust it because it is based on whims and because it seesaws, and because they suspect the federal government is ultimately after control of their water and their environment and hence, them. They can reply that individualism, with all its inherent flaws, is also the cornerstone of every freedom we now enjoy....
They can answer that the cowboys who herd cattle in wilderness areas generally don’t want to conduct their operations under somebody else’s control or even surveillance, and if they did, they wouldn’t belong on that frontier in the first place. They can answer that westerners whose livelihoods are tied to the surrounding land don’t mistrust federal intervention just because it comes from outside, they mistrust it because it is based on whims and because it seesaws, and because they suspect the federal government is ultimately after control of their water and their environment and hence, them. They can reply that individualism, with all its inherent flaws, is also the cornerstone of every freedom we now enjoy....
NEWS ROUNDUP
HD Mountains in drilling tug-of-war When snows drive deer and elk from the rugged slopes north of this town near the New Mexico border, outfitter Mike Murphy herds hunters into the HD Mountains. The HDs, named for a 19th century cattle company, are filled with deer, elk, mountain lions and wild turkeys. The HDs also hold more than $7.5 billion in coal-bed methane gas already leased to gas companies. Now, Murphy worries that a Forest Service proposal to bulldoze roads into the mountains' more than 34,000 roadless acres threatens his business, and a way of life. "There's no question the HDs have a lot of gas, and I think the companies are going to get it," said the 55-year-old Murphy, who has been an outfitter for 27 years. "But a road up every valley and every ridge is not what we want." For Petrox Resources Inc. and Elm Ridge Resources Inc., two companies holding leases on public and private land in the roadless study area, the HDs also are a valuable resource....
State Board to consider new water rules State regulators agreed Friday to potentially overhaul the rules dealing with two of Montana's thorniest environmental issues: the often salty water displaced in drilling coal bed methane and the water that washes over shuttered metal mines. The Board of Environmental Review, a seven-member, governor-appointed panel that writes Montana's environmental rules, overwhelmingly voted to consider new, stricter rules for dealing with coal bed methane water and metal mine waste water. Coal bed methane is natural gas sandwiched in a bubble underground between coal and water. In order to extract the methane, drillers have to first pump out the water that holds the gas bubble in place. In some parts of the Powder River Basin, where Montana's richest methane pockets are, that groundwater is salty. Farmers worry that piping the water into the Tongue River one of the main waterways in the area or holding it in ponds will damage irrigation water and potentially sterilize the land with white saline deposits....
Texas Family Fights Uranium Mining The extended Garcia family has lived for five generations in a cluster of frame and trailer homes here that now has a sad distinction: Their water is contaminated with uranium at levels so high the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration has told them to stop drinking it and see their doctors. State environmental officials and the company that has been mining uranium in the area for much of the last 20 years say the contamination is natural seepage from a vein of the radioactive material that runs near their well. But the Garcias and other Kleberg County residents don't accept that explanation and are fighting to prevent further mining....
Eradication of Brucellosis in Bison, Elk Sought When cattle in western Wyoming became infected with brucellosis two years ago, suspicion fell almost immediately on the area's diseased elk. It was a scenario ranchers feared would eventually happen, and it lent renewed urgency to the federal government's effort to eliminate brucellosis -- once and for all -- from the bison and elk herds that roam the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. State wildlife managers say they support the idea of eradication, but not at any price. And they question whether it's even possible - - in the next few years or in their lifetimes -- given the politics, emotion and biology surrounding into the issue. "In theory, it's doable; in theory, about anything is doable," said Terry Kreeger, of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "In practice, that's another question."....
TOO MANY ELK: HOW ABOUT A WOLF PACK IN NATIONAL PARK? The problem: elk chewing the beejeebers out of Rocky Mountain National Park. One solution: adding a pack of wolves to the park. Another problem: wolves wandering into nearby Boulder and Loveland. Still, the National Park Service is slated this week to propose as one alternative, adding a wolf pack, outfitted with radio collars, to chase the elk herds ravaging the park's aspen and willow stands. Wolf biologists have already warned that keeping the animals in the 226,000-acre park may be next to impossible. "I can't conceive of a way to keep wolves in the park," said University of Minnesota biologist and wolf expert David Mech. "I just don't know how one would do that."....
Ferrets get status review The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has initiated a five-year review of the status of the black-footed ferret across the West, federal officials said this week. The review aims to ensure that the listing classification of the black-footed ferret is accurate as required by the federal Endangered Species Act, according to Service spokesman Pete Gober. Black-footed ferrets were officially listed as endangered in 1967. Because Wyoming's black-footed ferret population was reintroduced from 1991-94, the species in Wyoming is classified as an "experimental population," which means there are no public or private-land use restrictions as a result of the listing....
Feds consider delisting grizzly bears Federal officials are getting ready to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears that live in and near Yellowstone National Park. It's going to be a long process. It almost surely will be argued in court. And it's not just about bears. It's also about the wild habitat they need, and the people who live and work there. Chris Servheen, who has run the government's grizzly bear recovery team for 24 years, says he's positive the bears are ready for delisting. That position is backed by the state governments of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, plus members of Congress from those states. This week, the nation's largest environmental group also endorsed delisting. "The National Wildlife Federation will be supporting delisting," said Sterling Miller, a veteran bear scientist from Alaska who now works for the Federation in Missoula....
Bear dog trainers warned of wolf attacks Two bear hounds have been killed and another injured by wolves while being trained in two separate areas of northern Wisconsin this summer, triggering the state Department of Natural Resources to establish two wolf caution areas to alert individuals training bear dogs who want to reduce risk of conflict with wolves. Two hounds were killed in separate incidents when they approached what biologists believe is a wolf rendezvous area northeast of Ladysmith where adult wolves had left their pups. In the third incident a bear dog was injured while being trained in Lincoln County west of Merrill. Bear dog training is allowed in parts of northern Wisconsin from July 1 through Aug. 30....
Judge may alter water contracts Water contracts that often turn 60 miles of California's second-longest river into a sandy desert fail to adequately take into account the damage to endangered species, a federal judge has ruled. But he did not immediately alter the agreements that send San Joaquin River water flowing to 15,000 central California farmers and cities. The 25-year water contracts signed four years ago divert water at the Friant Dam near Fresno that otherwise would flow down the San Joaquin River and help sustain species there and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco. The water instead goes to a million acres of farmland and to cities in Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley. U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ruled Thursday in Sacramento that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by deciding the contracts would not harm fragile species, including salmon....
Water issues linked to tribal quest for land By definition, “termination” means end. But for the Klamath Tribes, the word is the start of controversy. The 1954 federal termination of what was then called the Klamath Tribe left the American Indian group that had been based in Chiloquin, Ore., without a reservation, some of its members with loads of cash, some with land held in trust, and all members free of federal oversight. A half-century after the end of the reservation, Klamath leaders are talking about a restored reservation. Federal officials have been in discussions with them about the possibility, fueling rumors and speculation about what might happen in the perennially water-short Klamath Basin....
Court rules in favor of Santa Fe, N.M., environmental group A Santa Fe environmental group is entitled to federal records showing that ranchers in the West are using federal grazing permits as collateral to secure bank loans, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled this month that Forest Guardians of Santa Fe doesn't have to pay the U.S. Bureau of Land Management some $88,000 in copying fees before it may inspect agency records of the loan program. The ruling overturns an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court in New Mexico. Billy Stern, grazing-reform program coordinator for Forest Guardians, said Thursday that his group filed the lawsuit against the BLM in 2002....
Ranch goes public Hartman works for the Bureau of Land Management, which last month completed the second phase of a three-part land sale of the 5,636-acre McMaster ranch. Long coveted by developers wanting to subdivide this prime piece of real estate, the ranch instead is becoming public property. Small brown signs erected last week show the designated entrance to the parcel east of Highway 12, a few miles north of Winston. People can now ride bikes, hike, hunt and take horses onto this 2,500-acre part of the ranch; motorized use is restricted. The same regulations apply to the 1,900 acres of the McMaster Ranch below Canyon Ferry Dam that was transferred to the BLM as part of the first phase of the project last year. Dolly and her brother, James "Bud" McMaster worked with Hartman and Gates Watson of the nonprofit Conservation Fund for at least five years, hammering out details on how to ensure that this beloved family heirloom would be protected from development....
BLM proposal raises concerns among subsistence hunters A proposal by a federal agency to transfer land along the Richardson Highway into state hands is raising concerns among federally qualified subsistence hunters in the Copper River basin. The plan by the Bureau of Land Management would transfer management of more than 400,000 acres along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline between Thompson Pass and the Alaska Range to the state. The proposal says transferring the land to the state could have a "significant" impact on subsistence hunters in Game Management Unit 13. The pipeline property along the Richardson Highway amounts to 63 percent of the federal hunting area in unit 13 that's administered by BLM, said Elijah Waters, subsistence coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management in Glennallen....
BLM, cooperating agencies move toward agreement on Roan The Bureau of Land Management and its cooperating agencies on the Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan got a few steps closer to consensus Friday. Although the meeting was to discuss protection for wildlife, talk turned to oil and gas development on the gas rich plateau. Among the cooperating agencies are the cities of Rifle and Glenwood Springs, the town of Parachute, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, and state agencies, including the Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Notably, the group appeared to agree that surface well spacing, staging and having one operator drill and produce gas for a number of lease holders may be the keys to the best management of the plateau....
Utah's energy boom: It brings big bucks to eastern Utah - along with a plague of growth problems The eastern Utah high-desert city of Vernal is smack in the middle of the resurgent Rocky Mountain natural gas rush spurred by the price of energy and the Bush administration's directive to encourage exploration and development. "Anytime you have an energy boom, you're reaping the glory of good, high-paying jobs," said Bill Johnson, director of economic development for Uintah County. "Everybody is running to the bank with smiles on their faces." The rural region bereft of an airport, railroad or interstate highway has been through this before with the energy exploration boom and bust of the early 1980s. Now, amid hope and dread, the city is struggling with problems as dense as the rock the drills must penetrate to get at the buried riches....
Environmentalists question BLM's role as land steward Thousands of well sites. Hundreds of roads. Miles of pipeline. A horizon crowned with rigs. All of it fanning out, like some fantastic network of spider webs across the high valleys of the Rocky Mountain West. Whether it's Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico or Colorado, natural gas development looks much the same. It's dusty. It's noisy. And it leaves giant footprints. At the same time, the ground that makes up the West's oil and gas patches supports a complex ecosystem that nurtures vital wildlife, plant habitat and cultural sites. Rangeland, wild horses, wilderness, wildlife, fisheries, threatened and endangered plant species, wetlands, archaeological resources, wild rivers, recreation and ranching must coexist with the Rockies' biggest energy boom in decades. But how?....
Editorial - Hatch Amendment: Senator wrong to kill BLM's sensible fee proposal The number of applications for permits to drill for gas and oil on federal land far exceeds the ability of the Bureau of Land Management to process them and at the same time enforce regulations that protect the land, wildlife and water sources. Because compromising the agency's stewardship over the public lands of the West is not acceptable, charging oil and natural gas companies a fee of $4,000 seems to us a sensible way to help the BLM shoulder the added burden of processing drilling applications. Unfortunately, Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch doesn't see it that way. His amendment to the Energy Bill killed a fee plan proposed by the BLM that would have generated $23.5 million. Those funds could have helped BLM offices end the unseemly practice of allowing consultants hired by the gas and oil companies to do the agency's environmental assessments, expediting the application-review process....
Energy bill may help Colorado oil-shale site Energy legislation approved Friday by Congress will help move an experimental oil-shale project in northwestern Colorado closer to production, but energy giant Shell Oil Co. is still a long way from saying whether and when it will happen. Though Shell’s Mahogany research center near Rangely is producing promising results, no decision on commercial production is likely until the end of the decade, said Terry O’Connor, a Shell vice president working on the project in Denver. “I believe the bill will help get the project off the ground because it sends a strong signal that the U.S. government believes oil should be an important part of our domestic energy mix if it can be done in an environmentally acceptable and economically feasible manner,” O’Connor said....
BLM to remove all monuments from Sand Mountain Oct. 1 While some see them as tributes to lost friends at Sand Mountain, the Bureau of Land Management views them as something else - illegal. BLM officials recently announced that all monuments on top of Sand Mountain will be removed Oct. 1. Anyone who owns any items sitting at the site has until that date to recover them. The decision to strip the items from the popular recreational area was made due to two reasons - the illegal placement of monuments on public land and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe's recognition of that area of Sand Mountain as a sacred place....
Ranching: the land's good friend To keep a ranch viable for next year, and for the next generation, requires that a rancher take care of his land, including grazing permits. Some of those less-than-educated cowboys who over-grazed the land and distorted the riparian areas went out of business (as they should have) in the last century and are no longer an accepted lot in the West with today's media and market savvy agricultural producers. Unfortunately, many of today's "commentators" on overgrazing, cheap grazing fees and methane rich bovines (ad infinitum) have no idea of what they're talking about, other than to visit the sins of the fathers upon the producers of today in a blanket of erroneous claims and thoughts that do nothing other than create a divide between two groups who should be working together. Ninety-nine percent of the population wouldn't know a grazed pasture from an ungrazed one, let alone an overgrazed meadow from anything else, and that includes the group of "commentators" mentioned above. Use of such buzz words as "overgrazing" generally only serves to inflame those who are easily influenced....
Court decision delays logging A 10th Circuit Court ruling has halted a logging project near Utah's Fishlake National Forest. The Utah Environmental Congress asked the courts to delay work on the Seven Mile timber sale, 10 miles north of Fish Lake, because of the negative effect logging would have on wildlife. The three-toed wood pecker and the northern goshawk, both species struggling to remain viable, live in the forest, the environmental group said. The U.S. Forest Service had approved the logging project in 2000 under the Healthy Forest Initiative which is designed to control an advanced beetle outbreak. Kevin Mueller, director of the environmental group said the Forest Service often tried to ignore the environmental impact of logging projects....
Beetles shaping Montana's forest lands Montana's forests are under attack. Hundreds of thousands of acres across the state are falling prey to hordes of hungry beetles not much bigger than a pencil eraser. The beetles' spread is being fueled by a deadly combination of prolonged drought, overstocked and even-aged forest stands, and trees weakened by wildfire. Their march is marked by timbered hillsides pocked with differing shades of gray, red and pale green in stands of Douglas fir, lodgepole and whitebark pine. And there's pitifully little anyone can do to stop it. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that nearly 90,000 acres of Douglas fir trees in Montana were infested with Douglas fir beetles last year. An estimated half-million acres of lodgepole and ponderosa pine are under attack by mountain pine beetles. The whitebark pine faces a double threat from both the mountain pine beetle and a deadly blister rust fungus. In some cases, stands of whitebark pine have suffered losses nearing 95 percent....
Benefits of Planned Forest Fires Are Cited Firefighters have battled blazes on nearly 4 million acres of public and private land so far this year -- and federal officials are on track to deliberately burn 2.5 million more. This is not a case of rampant arson. Federal and state officials, joined by some environmentalists and academics, increasingly advocate deliberately setting fires in wild areas to restore ecosystems and prevent wildfires from raging out of control. Fires are part of the natural life cycle of forests, they argue, and help maintain a broader diversity of habitats for wildlife. After decades of fire suppression and Smokey Bear, the government now embraces "prescribed fire" as a key tool in managing the nation's forests. The policy began under President Bill Clinton and has accelerated under President Bush, but as it has grown, so has the controversy it inspires. Some community activists complain that prescribed fires pollute the air and damage valuable hardwoods, and logging companies say the strategy deprives them of valuable timber. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) is calling on the Forest Service to reexamine the impact on logging, and environmentalists are divided on the issue....
Mules rule in High Uintas cleanup campaign Sometimes an ass makes a good father. Riders in the Rocky Mountain Mule Association will tell you there's nothing better in rugged country than the sure-footed offspring of a female horse and male donkey. "They don't need much food and they don't need much water," says club member John Jacobson. "And mules are dang smart animals." This week, the mule club is helping the U.S. Forest Service clean up and repair trails and campsites in the Granddaddy Lakes region of the Uinta Mountains in Duchesne County. Among other things, the 20 riders and 50 mules on this trip are hauling out the rusted wreckage of a plane believed to have gone down in Four Lakes Basin more than 40 years ago....
Little land on Earth is still untouched Pristine lands, by the strictest definition, no longer exist, scientists say. Atmospheric pollution has settled on every earthly surface. Human-induced climate change is affecting ecosystems across the planet. Untrammeled landscapes are fragmented and shrinking. Where is the last of the truly wild? The Wildlife Conservation Society, with the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, assembled satellite and land-use data to plot the extent of the global human footprint. On its colorful maps, the zones closest to pristine pop out as patches of leafy green. Worldwide, the society found that 17 percent of land is still virtually untouched — mostly because it is inhospitable to humans. In areas capable of growing basic crops, and therefore most able to support people, untouched lands have diminished to 2 percent of the total....
Rescuers seek missing ranger A search continued Sunday for a park ranger who went missing Friday. More than 50 people helped scour drainages in the Mummy Range in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday for Jeff Christensen, 31, of Fraser, who was last seen by his co-workers at 11 a.m. Friday at the Chapin Pass Trailhead off Old Fall River Road. Volunteers were called off the search at nightfall and were expected to return to continue the search this morning. Christensen, an experienced mountaineer and EMT, was planning to do a backcountry patrol to the Lawn Lake Trailhead Friday evening, according to Rocky Mountain National Park officials. When he did not contact park dispatch that evening as is routine and did not arrive for his shift on Saturday, a wide-range search began that morning....
Column: Tell the story of today's West Dear Steven Spielberg: Have we got a deal for you -- today's West! We watched your Into the West. We had such hopes for what you could do with a six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries that took up much of TNT's weekend prime time this summer. But we have to admit we were disappointed that you went with the 19th century West. But while it is important to look back and tell the stories of the 19th century's westward expansion, Americans also must examine the present West and tell its stories if they are to figure out how best to go forward into the future. So how about taking another 12 hours to dramatize today?....
Cows trump drivers There was the time a logging truck plowed into a herd, making hamburger. Then there was the time the cattle kicked back, leaving hoof prints in a fender. Cow encounters don't occur every day in Eastern Oregon, but enough have happened that the Baker County Cattlewomen thought now was a good time to educate motorists -- again -- on the proper etiquette when stuck in a bovine bottleneck. The Cattlewomen, a club that promotes beef, just updated an old brochure on cattle drive protocol after copies dried up at the chamber of commerce and area hotels. Should you honk? Absolutely not. Besides being tiresome, honking won't make the cows move any faster, said Myrna Morgan, a rancher and president of the group....
Ranchers bemoan persistence of an Old West tradition: rustling City slickers who thought cattle rustlers and their ilk had gone the way of the American frontier, ''Gunsmoke'' reruns and the covered wagon should talk to Madison County ranchers. The Lyman Creek Grazing Association in this eastern Idaho county says thieves stole or shot thousands of dollars worth of its ranchers' livestock last year. The loss has prompted ranchers to team with law enforcement to offer $5,000 in rewards for information leading to the arrest of rustlers or vandals who shoot cows. ''We'll do whatever we can to stop it,'' Madison County Sheriff Roy Klingler said. One rancher believes he lost 25 cows last year to rustlers, worth as much as $50,000. And just last week, a cow worth about $1,000 was found shot to death, which brings to at least eight the number of cows that have been shot and killed since 2004....
History, legend meld to form fascinating novel While traveling through northern Mexico a few years ago, novelist Jim Fergus met an old man who told him the story of a young Apache girl captured by a hunter and brought to Cosas Grandes, Chihuahua, in 1932. The girl proved so unmanageable and dangerous the sheriff threw her in a cell and then charged the curious an admission fee to look at the recalcitrant Apache. The old Mexican remembers paying to see the girl, but he couldn't - or wouldn't - tell Fergus the girl's fate. The story haunted the author and eventually spawned "The Wild Girl," an absorbing historical novel. Ned Giles, a 17-year-old orphan from Chicago, is Fergus' narrator. On the death of his parents, Ned heads west seeking adventure and a career as a photographer. His immediate goal is Douglas, Ariz., where he hopes to land a job as the official photographer of the Great Apache Expedition....
Duvall filming near Cowtown A Hollywood veteran is back in the saddle on the outskirts of Calgary after returning to Alberta to film a western miniseries. Robert Duvall, famous for his roles in The Godfather films, Lonesome Dove and Apocalypse Now, is in Calgary for preproduction work on Daughters of Joy. Duvall, who praised Alberta after a stint filming here in 2002 for Kevin Costner's western Open Range, said it feels good to be back. The Academy Award-winning actor (for 1983's Tender Mercies) has spent the last three days riding with Peter Bews on ranches south of the city, including the Bar U Ranch about 100 kilometres southwest of Calgary. "He rides well, especially for a guy who's 74 years old," Bews said Thursday. Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures is co-producing the series in which Duvall plays a rancher who takes enslaved Chinese labourers with him as he moves 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming....
Finals a calming influence When he competes in a major National Cutting Horse Association show, Greg Coalson makes sure that his mare, Fancy Nancy Dually, is calm and collected. "It's very important that you don't get her rattled," Coalson said. "You just keep her slowed down. She will work a cow well as long as you keep her calm." At the NCHA Summer Spectacular 4-year-old non-pro semifinal round on Friday at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, Fancy Nancy Dually coolly and methodically entered the herd and turned a score of 219. The lofty score advanced the Weatherford duo to the final round at 3 p.m. Sunday....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Nature one of more formidable foes I was reminded of that day last winter when a visitor stared out on a flat Arizona desert pasture packed paddle to paddle, joint to joint with prickly pear and cholla. He remarked that it looked like a xeriscaped garden featured in Arizona Highways magazine. But, as any cow, cowboy or horse can tell you, a chase through a cholla forest is akin to being attacked by an army of maddened kindergarten teachers armed with staple guns! I learned later after chasing a cow through the palmetto that it, too, is not as innocent as brushing up against a feather boa. It grows in giant clumps of tangly roots and stems. Rough and hard as cottonwood bark, big as small culverts with stiff, sharp, spiny saw tooth leaves. Riding through it can be compared to tip-toeing through a bed of petrified sewer pipe all wrapped in porcupine coats....
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HD Mountains in drilling tug-of-war When snows drive deer and elk from the rugged slopes north of this town near the New Mexico border, outfitter Mike Murphy herds hunters into the HD Mountains. The HDs, named for a 19th century cattle company, are filled with deer, elk, mountain lions and wild turkeys. The HDs also hold more than $7.5 billion in coal-bed methane gas already leased to gas companies. Now, Murphy worries that a Forest Service proposal to bulldoze roads into the mountains' more than 34,000 roadless acres threatens his business, and a way of life. "There's no question the HDs have a lot of gas, and I think the companies are going to get it," said the 55-year-old Murphy, who has been an outfitter for 27 years. "But a road up every valley and every ridge is not what we want." For Petrox Resources Inc. and Elm Ridge Resources Inc., two companies holding leases on public and private land in the roadless study area, the HDs also are a valuable resource....
State Board to consider new water rules State regulators agreed Friday to potentially overhaul the rules dealing with two of Montana's thorniest environmental issues: the often salty water displaced in drilling coal bed methane and the water that washes over shuttered metal mines. The Board of Environmental Review, a seven-member, governor-appointed panel that writes Montana's environmental rules, overwhelmingly voted to consider new, stricter rules for dealing with coal bed methane water and metal mine waste water. Coal bed methane is natural gas sandwiched in a bubble underground between coal and water. In order to extract the methane, drillers have to first pump out the water that holds the gas bubble in place. In some parts of the Powder River Basin, where Montana's richest methane pockets are, that groundwater is salty. Farmers worry that piping the water into the Tongue River one of the main waterways in the area or holding it in ponds will damage irrigation water and potentially sterilize the land with white saline deposits....
Texas Family Fights Uranium Mining The extended Garcia family has lived for five generations in a cluster of frame and trailer homes here that now has a sad distinction: Their water is contaminated with uranium at levels so high the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration has told them to stop drinking it and see their doctors. State environmental officials and the company that has been mining uranium in the area for much of the last 20 years say the contamination is natural seepage from a vein of the radioactive material that runs near their well. But the Garcias and other Kleberg County residents don't accept that explanation and are fighting to prevent further mining....
Eradication of Brucellosis in Bison, Elk Sought When cattle in western Wyoming became infected with brucellosis two years ago, suspicion fell almost immediately on the area's diseased elk. It was a scenario ranchers feared would eventually happen, and it lent renewed urgency to the federal government's effort to eliminate brucellosis -- once and for all -- from the bison and elk herds that roam the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. State wildlife managers say they support the idea of eradication, but not at any price. And they question whether it's even possible - - in the next few years or in their lifetimes -- given the politics, emotion and biology surrounding into the issue. "In theory, it's doable; in theory, about anything is doable," said Terry Kreeger, of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "In practice, that's another question."....
TOO MANY ELK: HOW ABOUT A WOLF PACK IN NATIONAL PARK? The problem: elk chewing the beejeebers out of Rocky Mountain National Park. One solution: adding a pack of wolves to the park. Another problem: wolves wandering into nearby Boulder and Loveland. Still, the National Park Service is slated this week to propose as one alternative, adding a wolf pack, outfitted with radio collars, to chase the elk herds ravaging the park's aspen and willow stands. Wolf biologists have already warned that keeping the animals in the 226,000-acre park may be next to impossible. "I can't conceive of a way to keep wolves in the park," said University of Minnesota biologist and wolf expert David Mech. "I just don't know how one would do that."....
Ferrets get status review The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has initiated a five-year review of the status of the black-footed ferret across the West, federal officials said this week. The review aims to ensure that the listing classification of the black-footed ferret is accurate as required by the federal Endangered Species Act, according to Service spokesman Pete Gober. Black-footed ferrets were officially listed as endangered in 1967. Because Wyoming's black-footed ferret population was reintroduced from 1991-94, the species in Wyoming is classified as an "experimental population," which means there are no public or private-land use restrictions as a result of the listing....
Feds consider delisting grizzly bears Federal officials are getting ready to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears that live in and near Yellowstone National Park. It's going to be a long process. It almost surely will be argued in court. And it's not just about bears. It's also about the wild habitat they need, and the people who live and work there. Chris Servheen, who has run the government's grizzly bear recovery team for 24 years, says he's positive the bears are ready for delisting. That position is backed by the state governments of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, plus members of Congress from those states. This week, the nation's largest environmental group also endorsed delisting. "The National Wildlife Federation will be supporting delisting," said Sterling Miller, a veteran bear scientist from Alaska who now works for the Federation in Missoula....
Bear dog trainers warned of wolf attacks Two bear hounds have been killed and another injured by wolves while being trained in two separate areas of northern Wisconsin this summer, triggering the state Department of Natural Resources to establish two wolf caution areas to alert individuals training bear dogs who want to reduce risk of conflict with wolves. Two hounds were killed in separate incidents when they approached what biologists believe is a wolf rendezvous area northeast of Ladysmith where adult wolves had left their pups. In the third incident a bear dog was injured while being trained in Lincoln County west of Merrill. Bear dog training is allowed in parts of northern Wisconsin from July 1 through Aug. 30....
Judge may alter water contracts Water contracts that often turn 60 miles of California's second-longest river into a sandy desert fail to adequately take into account the damage to endangered species, a federal judge has ruled. But he did not immediately alter the agreements that send San Joaquin River water flowing to 15,000 central California farmers and cities. The 25-year water contracts signed four years ago divert water at the Friant Dam near Fresno that otherwise would flow down the San Joaquin River and help sustain species there and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco. The water instead goes to a million acres of farmland and to cities in Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley. U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ruled Thursday in Sacramento that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by deciding the contracts would not harm fragile species, including salmon....
Water issues linked to tribal quest for land By definition, “termination” means end. But for the Klamath Tribes, the word is the start of controversy. The 1954 federal termination of what was then called the Klamath Tribe left the American Indian group that had been based in Chiloquin, Ore., without a reservation, some of its members with loads of cash, some with land held in trust, and all members free of federal oversight. A half-century after the end of the reservation, Klamath leaders are talking about a restored reservation. Federal officials have been in discussions with them about the possibility, fueling rumors and speculation about what might happen in the perennially water-short Klamath Basin....
Court rules in favor of Santa Fe, N.M., environmental group A Santa Fe environmental group is entitled to federal records showing that ranchers in the West are using federal grazing permits as collateral to secure bank loans, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled this month that Forest Guardians of Santa Fe doesn't have to pay the U.S. Bureau of Land Management some $88,000 in copying fees before it may inspect agency records of the loan program. The ruling overturns an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court in New Mexico. Billy Stern, grazing-reform program coordinator for Forest Guardians, said Thursday that his group filed the lawsuit against the BLM in 2002....
Ranch goes public Hartman works for the Bureau of Land Management, which last month completed the second phase of a three-part land sale of the 5,636-acre McMaster ranch. Long coveted by developers wanting to subdivide this prime piece of real estate, the ranch instead is becoming public property. Small brown signs erected last week show the designated entrance to the parcel east of Highway 12, a few miles north of Winston. People can now ride bikes, hike, hunt and take horses onto this 2,500-acre part of the ranch; motorized use is restricted. The same regulations apply to the 1,900 acres of the McMaster Ranch below Canyon Ferry Dam that was transferred to the BLM as part of the first phase of the project last year. Dolly and her brother, James "Bud" McMaster worked with Hartman and Gates Watson of the nonprofit Conservation Fund for at least five years, hammering out details on how to ensure that this beloved family heirloom would be protected from development....
BLM proposal raises concerns among subsistence hunters A proposal by a federal agency to transfer land along the Richardson Highway into state hands is raising concerns among federally qualified subsistence hunters in the Copper River basin. The plan by the Bureau of Land Management would transfer management of more than 400,000 acres along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline between Thompson Pass and the Alaska Range to the state. The proposal says transferring the land to the state could have a "significant" impact on subsistence hunters in Game Management Unit 13. The pipeline property along the Richardson Highway amounts to 63 percent of the federal hunting area in unit 13 that's administered by BLM, said Elijah Waters, subsistence coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management in Glennallen....
BLM, cooperating agencies move toward agreement on Roan The Bureau of Land Management and its cooperating agencies on the Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan got a few steps closer to consensus Friday. Although the meeting was to discuss protection for wildlife, talk turned to oil and gas development on the gas rich plateau. Among the cooperating agencies are the cities of Rifle and Glenwood Springs, the town of Parachute, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, and state agencies, including the Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Notably, the group appeared to agree that surface well spacing, staging and having one operator drill and produce gas for a number of lease holders may be the keys to the best management of the plateau....
Utah's energy boom: It brings big bucks to eastern Utah - along with a plague of growth problems The eastern Utah high-desert city of Vernal is smack in the middle of the resurgent Rocky Mountain natural gas rush spurred by the price of energy and the Bush administration's directive to encourage exploration and development. "Anytime you have an energy boom, you're reaping the glory of good, high-paying jobs," said Bill Johnson, director of economic development for Uintah County. "Everybody is running to the bank with smiles on their faces." The rural region bereft of an airport, railroad or interstate highway has been through this before with the energy exploration boom and bust of the early 1980s. Now, amid hope and dread, the city is struggling with problems as dense as the rock the drills must penetrate to get at the buried riches....
Environmentalists question BLM's role as land steward Thousands of well sites. Hundreds of roads. Miles of pipeline. A horizon crowned with rigs. All of it fanning out, like some fantastic network of spider webs across the high valleys of the Rocky Mountain West. Whether it's Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico or Colorado, natural gas development looks much the same. It's dusty. It's noisy. And it leaves giant footprints. At the same time, the ground that makes up the West's oil and gas patches supports a complex ecosystem that nurtures vital wildlife, plant habitat and cultural sites. Rangeland, wild horses, wilderness, wildlife, fisheries, threatened and endangered plant species, wetlands, archaeological resources, wild rivers, recreation and ranching must coexist with the Rockies' biggest energy boom in decades. But how?....
Editorial - Hatch Amendment: Senator wrong to kill BLM's sensible fee proposal The number of applications for permits to drill for gas and oil on federal land far exceeds the ability of the Bureau of Land Management to process them and at the same time enforce regulations that protect the land, wildlife and water sources. Because compromising the agency's stewardship over the public lands of the West is not acceptable, charging oil and natural gas companies a fee of $4,000 seems to us a sensible way to help the BLM shoulder the added burden of processing drilling applications. Unfortunately, Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch doesn't see it that way. His amendment to the Energy Bill killed a fee plan proposed by the BLM that would have generated $23.5 million. Those funds could have helped BLM offices end the unseemly practice of allowing consultants hired by the gas and oil companies to do the agency's environmental assessments, expediting the application-review process....
Energy bill may help Colorado oil-shale site Energy legislation approved Friday by Congress will help move an experimental oil-shale project in northwestern Colorado closer to production, but energy giant Shell Oil Co. is still a long way from saying whether and when it will happen. Though Shell’s Mahogany research center near Rangely is producing promising results, no decision on commercial production is likely until the end of the decade, said Terry O’Connor, a Shell vice president working on the project in Denver. “I believe the bill will help get the project off the ground because it sends a strong signal that the U.S. government believes oil should be an important part of our domestic energy mix if it can be done in an environmentally acceptable and economically feasible manner,” O’Connor said....
BLM to remove all monuments from Sand Mountain Oct. 1 While some see them as tributes to lost friends at Sand Mountain, the Bureau of Land Management views them as something else - illegal. BLM officials recently announced that all monuments on top of Sand Mountain will be removed Oct. 1. Anyone who owns any items sitting at the site has until that date to recover them. The decision to strip the items from the popular recreational area was made due to two reasons - the illegal placement of monuments on public land and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe's recognition of that area of Sand Mountain as a sacred place....
Ranching: the land's good friend To keep a ranch viable for next year, and for the next generation, requires that a rancher take care of his land, including grazing permits. Some of those less-than-educated cowboys who over-grazed the land and distorted the riparian areas went out of business (as they should have) in the last century and are no longer an accepted lot in the West with today's media and market savvy agricultural producers. Unfortunately, many of today's "commentators" on overgrazing, cheap grazing fees and methane rich bovines (ad infinitum) have no idea of what they're talking about, other than to visit the sins of the fathers upon the producers of today in a blanket of erroneous claims and thoughts that do nothing other than create a divide between two groups who should be working together. Ninety-nine percent of the population wouldn't know a grazed pasture from an ungrazed one, let alone an overgrazed meadow from anything else, and that includes the group of "commentators" mentioned above. Use of such buzz words as "overgrazing" generally only serves to inflame those who are easily influenced....
Court decision delays logging A 10th Circuit Court ruling has halted a logging project near Utah's Fishlake National Forest. The Utah Environmental Congress asked the courts to delay work on the Seven Mile timber sale, 10 miles north of Fish Lake, because of the negative effect logging would have on wildlife. The three-toed wood pecker and the northern goshawk, both species struggling to remain viable, live in the forest, the environmental group said. The U.S. Forest Service had approved the logging project in 2000 under the Healthy Forest Initiative which is designed to control an advanced beetle outbreak. Kevin Mueller, director of the environmental group said the Forest Service often tried to ignore the environmental impact of logging projects....
Beetles shaping Montana's forest lands Montana's forests are under attack. Hundreds of thousands of acres across the state are falling prey to hordes of hungry beetles not much bigger than a pencil eraser. The beetles' spread is being fueled by a deadly combination of prolonged drought, overstocked and even-aged forest stands, and trees weakened by wildfire. Their march is marked by timbered hillsides pocked with differing shades of gray, red and pale green in stands of Douglas fir, lodgepole and whitebark pine. And there's pitifully little anyone can do to stop it. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that nearly 90,000 acres of Douglas fir trees in Montana were infested with Douglas fir beetles last year. An estimated half-million acres of lodgepole and ponderosa pine are under attack by mountain pine beetles. The whitebark pine faces a double threat from both the mountain pine beetle and a deadly blister rust fungus. In some cases, stands of whitebark pine have suffered losses nearing 95 percent....
Benefits of Planned Forest Fires Are Cited Firefighters have battled blazes on nearly 4 million acres of public and private land so far this year -- and federal officials are on track to deliberately burn 2.5 million more. This is not a case of rampant arson. Federal and state officials, joined by some environmentalists and academics, increasingly advocate deliberately setting fires in wild areas to restore ecosystems and prevent wildfires from raging out of control. Fires are part of the natural life cycle of forests, they argue, and help maintain a broader diversity of habitats for wildlife. After decades of fire suppression and Smokey Bear, the government now embraces "prescribed fire" as a key tool in managing the nation's forests. The policy began under President Bill Clinton and has accelerated under President Bush, but as it has grown, so has the controversy it inspires. Some community activists complain that prescribed fires pollute the air and damage valuable hardwoods, and logging companies say the strategy deprives them of valuable timber. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) is calling on the Forest Service to reexamine the impact on logging, and environmentalists are divided on the issue....
Mules rule in High Uintas cleanup campaign Sometimes an ass makes a good father. Riders in the Rocky Mountain Mule Association will tell you there's nothing better in rugged country than the sure-footed offspring of a female horse and male donkey. "They don't need much food and they don't need much water," says club member John Jacobson. "And mules are dang smart animals." This week, the mule club is helping the U.S. Forest Service clean up and repair trails and campsites in the Granddaddy Lakes region of the Uinta Mountains in Duchesne County. Among other things, the 20 riders and 50 mules on this trip are hauling out the rusted wreckage of a plane believed to have gone down in Four Lakes Basin more than 40 years ago....
Little land on Earth is still untouched Pristine lands, by the strictest definition, no longer exist, scientists say. Atmospheric pollution has settled on every earthly surface. Human-induced climate change is affecting ecosystems across the planet. Untrammeled landscapes are fragmented and shrinking. Where is the last of the truly wild? The Wildlife Conservation Society, with the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, assembled satellite and land-use data to plot the extent of the global human footprint. On its colorful maps, the zones closest to pristine pop out as patches of leafy green. Worldwide, the society found that 17 percent of land is still virtually untouched — mostly because it is inhospitable to humans. In areas capable of growing basic crops, and therefore most able to support people, untouched lands have diminished to 2 percent of the total....
Rescuers seek missing ranger A search continued Sunday for a park ranger who went missing Friday. More than 50 people helped scour drainages in the Mummy Range in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday for Jeff Christensen, 31, of Fraser, who was last seen by his co-workers at 11 a.m. Friday at the Chapin Pass Trailhead off Old Fall River Road. Volunteers were called off the search at nightfall and were expected to return to continue the search this morning. Christensen, an experienced mountaineer and EMT, was planning to do a backcountry patrol to the Lawn Lake Trailhead Friday evening, according to Rocky Mountain National Park officials. When he did not contact park dispatch that evening as is routine and did not arrive for his shift on Saturday, a wide-range search began that morning....
Column: Tell the story of today's West Dear Steven Spielberg: Have we got a deal for you -- today's West! We watched your Into the West. We had such hopes for what you could do with a six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries that took up much of TNT's weekend prime time this summer. But we have to admit we were disappointed that you went with the 19th century West. But while it is important to look back and tell the stories of the 19th century's westward expansion, Americans also must examine the present West and tell its stories if they are to figure out how best to go forward into the future. So how about taking another 12 hours to dramatize today?....
Cows trump drivers There was the time a logging truck plowed into a herd, making hamburger. Then there was the time the cattle kicked back, leaving hoof prints in a fender. Cow encounters don't occur every day in Eastern Oregon, but enough have happened that the Baker County Cattlewomen thought now was a good time to educate motorists -- again -- on the proper etiquette when stuck in a bovine bottleneck. The Cattlewomen, a club that promotes beef, just updated an old brochure on cattle drive protocol after copies dried up at the chamber of commerce and area hotels. Should you honk? Absolutely not. Besides being tiresome, honking won't make the cows move any faster, said Myrna Morgan, a rancher and president of the group....
Ranchers bemoan persistence of an Old West tradition: rustling City slickers who thought cattle rustlers and their ilk had gone the way of the American frontier, ''Gunsmoke'' reruns and the covered wagon should talk to Madison County ranchers. The Lyman Creek Grazing Association in this eastern Idaho county says thieves stole or shot thousands of dollars worth of its ranchers' livestock last year. The loss has prompted ranchers to team with law enforcement to offer $5,000 in rewards for information leading to the arrest of rustlers or vandals who shoot cows. ''We'll do whatever we can to stop it,'' Madison County Sheriff Roy Klingler said. One rancher believes he lost 25 cows last year to rustlers, worth as much as $50,000. And just last week, a cow worth about $1,000 was found shot to death, which brings to at least eight the number of cows that have been shot and killed since 2004....
History, legend meld to form fascinating novel While traveling through northern Mexico a few years ago, novelist Jim Fergus met an old man who told him the story of a young Apache girl captured by a hunter and brought to Cosas Grandes, Chihuahua, in 1932. The girl proved so unmanageable and dangerous the sheriff threw her in a cell and then charged the curious an admission fee to look at the recalcitrant Apache. The old Mexican remembers paying to see the girl, but he couldn't - or wouldn't - tell Fergus the girl's fate. The story haunted the author and eventually spawned "The Wild Girl," an absorbing historical novel. Ned Giles, a 17-year-old orphan from Chicago, is Fergus' narrator. On the death of his parents, Ned heads west seeking adventure and a career as a photographer. His immediate goal is Douglas, Ariz., where he hopes to land a job as the official photographer of the Great Apache Expedition....
Duvall filming near Cowtown A Hollywood veteran is back in the saddle on the outskirts of Calgary after returning to Alberta to film a western miniseries. Robert Duvall, famous for his roles in The Godfather films, Lonesome Dove and Apocalypse Now, is in Calgary for preproduction work on Daughters of Joy. Duvall, who praised Alberta after a stint filming here in 2002 for Kevin Costner's western Open Range, said it feels good to be back. The Academy Award-winning actor (for 1983's Tender Mercies) has spent the last three days riding with Peter Bews on ranches south of the city, including the Bar U Ranch about 100 kilometres southwest of Calgary. "He rides well, especially for a guy who's 74 years old," Bews said Thursday. Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures is co-producing the series in which Duvall plays a rancher who takes enslaved Chinese labourers with him as he moves 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming....
Finals a calming influence When he competes in a major National Cutting Horse Association show, Greg Coalson makes sure that his mare, Fancy Nancy Dually, is calm and collected. "It's very important that you don't get her rattled," Coalson said. "You just keep her slowed down. She will work a cow well as long as you keep her calm." At the NCHA Summer Spectacular 4-year-old non-pro semifinal round on Friday at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, Fancy Nancy Dually coolly and methodically entered the herd and turned a score of 219. The lofty score advanced the Weatherford duo to the final round at 3 p.m. Sunday....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Nature one of more formidable foes I was reminded of that day last winter when a visitor stared out on a flat Arizona desert pasture packed paddle to paddle, joint to joint with prickly pear and cholla. He remarked that it looked like a xeriscaped garden featured in Arizona Highways magazine. But, as any cow, cowboy or horse can tell you, a chase through a cholla forest is akin to being attacked by an army of maddened kindergarten teachers armed with staple guns! I learned later after chasing a cow through the palmetto that it, too, is not as innocent as brushing up against a feather boa. It grows in giant clumps of tangly roots and stems. Rough and hard as cottonwood bark, big as small culverts with stiff, sharp, spiny saw tooth leaves. Riding through it can be compared to tip-toeing through a bed of petrified sewer pipe all wrapped in porcupine coats....
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