NEWS ROUNDUP
Record $135 million land purchase in north Phoenix Two homebuilders paid a record $135 million Thursday for 502 acres of state trust land in north Phoenix. Pulte Homes and Toll Brothers Homes, two companies that usually compete for land and homebuyers, teamed up to bid on a parcel in the Desert Ridge community north of Loop 101. The previous record for a single trust land sale was set in May 2004, when Pulte paid $100.5 million for 276 acres, also in Desert Ridge. The per-acre price of $270,000 was not a record; in 2004, Gray Development paid more than $780,000 per acre for a 41-acre parcel also in the Desert Ridge community. The company planned to build a multi-family project on the land....
Plague found in reservation prairie dog colony Sylvatic plague has been found in a huge prairie dog colony on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the second such case in South Dakota in a year. Plague was confirmed in two prairie dogs after ranchers and others noticed a drop in prairie dog numbers, said Diane Mann-Klager, regional wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. One carcass tested positive for sylvatic plague on July 28 and the other last week, Mann-Klager said. They were found about 10 miles northwest of Oglala. The colony is one of the largest prairie dog complexes in the world....
Pneumonia kills more endangered bighorns Pneumonia has killed two more Peninsular bighorn sheep and scientists say they fear an epidemic is brewing that could wipe out the endangered species. The sheep, one a yearling, were found Saturday and Monday in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains, said Jim DeForge, director of the nonprofit Bighorn Institute. That makes seven deaths in less than three weeks among a population of just 705 animals. "Our big concern is that, with this relatively large number of deaths due to pneumonia, we're at the beginning of an epidemic," said Walter Boyce, director of the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center....
Mission: To protect and preserve Ward, conservation director for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, is leading the group's campaign to get 265,000 acres of public forest land designated as wilderness, removing key recreation and roadless areas from potential timber harvests. The 1.1 million-acre national forest includes 189,000 acres of designated wilderness, which makes it off limits to timber harvesting. Logging on public and private land is a major problem for the Pacific Crest Trail as it winds 2,650 miles through California, Oregon and Washington. Its designation as a national scenic trail does nothing officially to protect the land around it. Some 300 miles of the trail go through private land, and government funds to purchase those properties or buy adjacent land have been severely cut since 2000. Logging in Northern California, Southern Oregon and southern Washington has taken a toll on the trail, forcing advocacy groups and land managers to relocate or re-establish its path through clearcuts....
Agencies target overgrown juniper The federal Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and four northeastern California counties are planning to restore 6.5 million acres of sagebrush-steppe impacted by western juniper, which has expanded out of its natural habitat. Juniper stands, normally confined to rocky hillsides, have increased 15-fold over the past century, spreading into rangeland and reducing its productivity for livestock grazing, said Rob Jeffers, project manager for the Modoc National Forest. Left unmanaged, these encroaching juniper stands will crowd out plant species that are important to deer, antelope, sage grouse and other wildlife, BLM officials said. After more than a year of study, the agencies are developing a management plan that uses fire and mechanical treatments to encourage more diverse vegetation....
White Mountain Apaches lauded for conservation work The White Mountain Apache Tribe has been selected as an outstanding example of conservation partnerships and will give a presentation at the upcoming White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The tribe, which has 1.6 million acres in eastern Arizona, was chosen for its stewardship and efforts to preserve rare fish and wildlife. Matt Hogan, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, praised the tribe for its thriving economy based on logging, ranching, world-class elk hunts and endangered species conservation....
Uproar Over Grizzlies' Likely Loss of Endangered Status The rebounding grizzly bears of Yellowstone may be taken off the U.S. endangered species list as early as next month. Should the move be cheered as a conservation triumph? Or will it spur a slide back into endangerment? And is there an ulterior motive—to open bear habitats to the oil, gas, and timber industries? It depends who you ask. The proposed lifting of U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection for grizzlies in the so-called Greater Yellowstone Area follows a 30-year period of recovery. In that time Yellowstone grizzly numbers have grown from 200 to more than 600 today. The Greater Yellowstone Area crosses the borders of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Its 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) encompass Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, six national forests, two national wildlife refuges, Native American reservations, and assorted private properties....
With Fresh Blood, Inbred Florida Panthers Rebound A controversial breeding program has improved the genetic diversity of inbred Florida panthers and the endangered animals are on the rebound, scientists announced today. Yet while the hybrid cats are spreading their range, they're not out of the woods yet. As few as 30 wild panthers roamed the Florida Everglades in the early 1990s. Abnormalities such as low sperm counts and heart defects were becoming common, studies found, and the kittens had low survival rates. In 1995, researchers outfitted some female Texas panthers with radio collars and introduced them into four sections of the Florida Everglades. Some Florida panthers were also tagged. Researchers monitored the cats and kittens and found that the hybrids had better survival rates, presumably because they were more genetically diverse. By 2003, three of the Texas panthers were still alive, and they were removed -- scientists figured enough fresh blood had been injected into the Florida population and they wanted to keep outside genetic exposure to a minimum. Today, there are at least 87 wild panthers in Florida....
Partnership helps ferret program Conservationists and members of the oil and gas industry teamed up this week to fund a reintroduction program for black-footed ferrets in the Shirley Basin. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance of Laramie and the Bill Barrett Corp. of Denver are putting $25,000 toward a project to release about 50 ferrets into the area this fall. The release is spearheaded by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Prairie Wildlife Research of Wall, S.D. The money comes from a 2004 settlement on the Big Porcupine coal-bed methane project on the Thunder Basin National Grassland. That settlement, also involving the Wyoming Outdoor Council, arranged for Bill Barrett to engage in voluntary conservation measures while the groups dropped their lawsuit. Money was paid to the conservation groups to be used for on-the-ground conservation measures in Wyoming....
Land swap's aim: better access The exchange between the federal Bureau of Land Management and adjacent ranch owner Paul Tudor Jones II, a multimillionaire commodities trader, has taken five years of planning to reach its public debut, and feelings are decidedly mixed on what the public will get - and what it will lose. "This is one of the pieces that definitely is one of the toughest to give up, and we acknowledge that," Adam Poe of the Western Land Group, which is pushing for the trade on behalf of Jones, said about Parcel I. "But it is an exchange." The proposed deal would swap 1,773 acres of public land for 2,015 acres of private land in the lower Blue Valley, cleaning up property boundaries, opening up landlocked chunks of public property, disposing of inaccessible land, providing new access to a pristine canyon and preserving natural areas such as Green Mountain....
Column: A mighty wind Witness the current fight in Cape Cod over an effort to build wind farms just offshore. It features sanctimonious environmentalists, super-rich property owners, and super-rich, property-owning, sanctimonious environmentalists feeding on each other like big hungry sharks in a small tank. The basic situation is that some environmentalists and a company called Cape Wind want to build 130 windmills way out in the ocean to help offset energy costs in the region — and to satisfy all those demands that we find substitutes for evil fossil fuels. Meanwhile, other environmentalists and conservationists are eager to stop the wind farm from being built, largely because it will mar the view from their extravagant coastal homes. Leading this charge is Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose famous compound would have a nice view of the turbines....
Rider rambles through on cross-country trip He's 35 years old for the second time, he laughs, as his suntanned face peeks out from underneath his cowboy hat. Thumbs in his blue jeans pockets, 70-year-old Gene Glasscock kicks up a little gravel as his horses stand calmly at his side. It must be the cowboy in him. "Forty-eight state capitals, 20,000 miles on horseback!" reads the side of one of his packs as Glasscock points to where the grain feed is kept for his horses. His clothes - three outfits, to be exact - are stuffed in the other. "This makes 43," Glasscock said, explaining how Wisconsin will be the 43rd state of his journey, which entirely has been ridden on horses....
Pink Higgins: Bringing Peace To The Frontier Of course, those less honest would get out on the range early and go to branding calves with their own brand, regardless of the mother's mark. Many a gunfight occurred when a cow and her calf were found to be wearing different brands. The Horrell brothers were willing to take those chances in order to build up their herd. They thought they were plenty tough enough to deal with any arguments from their neighbors. They figured without Pink Higgins. Some say that the Horrell-Higgins Feud started when Pink drove some of his cows to the Horrell's pens and paired them up with a bunch of calves that were longing to taste their mothers' milk. In ranch country that's usually proof enough, but a trial jury decided that while the calves obviously belonged to Higgins, the Horrells were not guilty of a crime. For his part Higgins decided that the jury didn't know how to properly deal with cow thieves. He vowed to just skip this jury business if any more cattle thefts occurred. In about 1877 Pink again found that someone was tampering with his cattle. It didn't take much investigation for Pink to decide that Merritt Horrell was the guilty party. Pink checked the loads in his ever-present Winchester Model 73 carbine, probably in .44-40 caliber, and went hunting for Horrell. He found his man in the Matador Saloon in Lampasas and shot him four times as quick as anyone had ever seen a lever-action rifle fired. His laconic remark just before firing was, "Mr. Horrell, this is to settle some cow business."....
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Friday, August 19, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005
FLE
CRIME IN FORESTS AND ON PUBLIC LANDS A GROWING CONCERN As the summer travel season hits full swing, new studies suggest that recreational users of national forests in the United States should be aware of increased levels of theft, violent crime, drug production and even gang activity - and take necessary precautions. About 35 percent of law enforcement officers in the Forest Service have been assaulted, experts say. There is a perception among enforcement officials that crimes such as property theft, indiscriminate shootings, criminal damage and production of methamphetamine is significantly increased in many areas. And the number of crimes and related incidents on national forests and grasslands doubled in one recent five-year period, while the number of law enforcement officers was the same or lower. Those findings are from a study concluded last month by researchers from Oregon State University and the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. The study will be released first to the Forest Service, which provided the funding. And another paper to be published in the Journal of Forestry, called "Crime in National Forests: A Call for Research," summarizes previous findings and suggests that more research on crime in national forests is necessary and long overdue....
Wiretap the Internet? Not So Fast, Say Some The federal courts may soon face the first round in a battle over the U.S. Department of Justice's demand that federal wiretapping requirements be extended to certain Internet services for the first time. The Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others said last week that they are considering legal challenges to an Aug. 5 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to require providers of certain broadband and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol services to accommodate law enforcement wiretaps in their designs and applications. Those groups and some legal scholars said that the FCC decision --sought more than a year ago by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration -- is based on a seriously flawed interpretation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act....
Prosecutors ask judge to seal some evidence in FBI murder case Prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to shield from public view sensitive U.S. government evidence in the case of a former FBI agent accused in the 1982 murder of a Miami gambling executive. The ex-agent, 64-year-old John J. Connolly Jr., is already serving a 10-year prison sentence for his conviction on federal racketeering charges for his role in protecting top members of Boston's Winter Hill Gang, including fugitive mob leader James "Whitey" Bulger. Connolly, who was not present in court Thursday, is charged along with Bulger and two other men with the killing of former World Jai Alai president John Callahan, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of his Cadillac in the parking lot at Miami International Airport. He had been shot twice in the head....
Soldier Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Smuggling A Fort Bliss soldier has pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine into the United States from Colombia using military aircraft, a post spokeswoman said Saturday. Specialist Francisco Rosa, 25, pleaded guilty Wednesday to using, possessing and distributing cocaine and making a false official statement, said the spokeswoman, Jean Offutt. Military investigators have said that Specialist Rosa and Staff Sgts. Daniel Rosas, Victor Portales and Kevin G. Irizarry-Melendez played roles in a plot to smuggle the drugs from a United States base in Colombia, where they had been stationed. All four are being held in a military jail at Fort Bliss....
Kennedy Letting Personal History Dictate Gun Policy, Group Says A gun rights group has issued a controversial challenge to one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures - Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts - on the issue of safety for America's police officers. The challenge, issued by the Second Amendment Foundation, references the number of police officers who were killed last year in the line of duty as a result of gunfire and the number killed in automobile crashes. Kennedy, whose two brothers - John and Robert - were assassinated by gunmen, is a staunch supporter of gun control and wants the so-called "cop-killer" bullets banned. "Where's Ted Kennedy, and why isn't he demanding that automakers be sued into financial oblivion the same way he wants America's gun industry to be devastated?" asked Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). Gottlieb points out that one-third of the police officers killed last year in the line of duty were shot, while one-half died in car crashes....
TSA ready for private screening, but airports aren't biting The government is ready to let private contractors take over passenger and baggage screening at the nation's airports, but most air facilities intend to keep federal screeners unless they are given better incentives to switch, according to government and industry officials. The Transportation Security Administration has designated 34 companies as qualified to provide security screening at airports. But only seven out of about 430 airports across the country have applied to have private companies take over. "We have a significant number of airports that want no part of it, no way, under no circumstances," said Stephen Van Beek, vice president of policy for Airports Council International-North America, which represents the nation's commercial airports. Airports are worried about what kind of liability they might have if they opt out, he said, and they also would like greater control over screening operations....
Complaints Signal Tension Between F.B.I. and Congress Disputes between the Justice Department and some of its Congressional allies over the Federal Bureau of Investigation's performance, leadership vacancies and management issues are spurring tensions at a time when the department is seeking to remake its antiterrorism operations. Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, the influential chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview on Friday that he was deeply dissatisfied with the pace of reforms at the F.B.I. and that he hoped the national intelligence director's new role in overseeing its terrorism operations would spur greater accountability at the Justice Department. Among the issues that have divided them are the failure of the bureau's $170 million software overhaul, after repeated assertions by Mr. Mueller that it was on track, as well as F.B.I. turf battles with immigration agents, questions about the training and experience of bureau counterterrorism supervisors, and complaints from lawmakers who learned that Mr. Mueller had not been writing or reviewing written Congressional responses that bore his name....
Hurdles for High-Tech Efforts to Track Who Crosses Borders The federal government has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the once-obscure science called biometrics, producing some successes but also fumbles in a campaign intended to track foreigners visiting the country and the activities of some Americans. Hoping to block the entry of criminals and terrorists into the United States and to improve the enforcement of immigration laws, government officials have in the past several years created enormous new repositories of digitally recorded biometric data - including fingerprints and facial characteristics - that can be used to identify more than 45 million foreigners. Federal agencies have also assembled data on more than 70 million Americans in an effort to speed law-abiding travelers through checkpoints and to search for domestic terrorists. The immigration control and antiterrorism campaign was spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent Congressional mandates to improve the nation's security. But the effort has fallen far short of its goals, provoking criticism that the government is committed to a technological solution so ambitious that it will either never work or be achieved only at an unacceptably high price....
The State Of Surveillance Lost in the recent London bombings, along with innocent lives, was any illusion that today's surveillance technology can save us from evildoers. Britain has 4 million video cameras monitoring streets, parks, and government buildings, more than any other country. London alone has 500,000 cameras watching for signs of illicit activity. Studying camera footage helped link the July 7 bombings with four men -- but only after the fact. The disaster drove home some painful reminders: Fanatics bent on suicide aren't fazed by cameras. And even if they are known terrorists, most video surveillance software won't pick them out anyway. Tomorrow's surveillance technology may be considerably more effective. But each uptick in protection will typically come at the cost of more intrusion into the privacy of ordinary people. For now, the public seems to find that trade-off acceptable, so scientists around the world have intensified efforts to perfect the art of surveillance, hoping to catch villains before they strike. Research laboratories envision tools that could identify and track just about every person, anywhere -- and sound alarms when the systems encounter hazardous objects or chemical compounds. Many such ideas seem to leap from the pages of science fiction: An artificial nose in doorways and corridors sniffs out faint traces of explosives on someone's hair. Tiny sensors floating in reservoirs detect a deadly microbe and radio a warning. Smart cameras ID people at a distance by the way they walk or the shape of their ears. And a little chemical lab analyzes the sweat, body odor, and skin flakes in the human thermal plume -- the halo of heat that surrounds each person....
Creepy Cams Abound in NYC Six could be seen peering out from a chain drug store on Broadway. One protruded awkwardly from the awning of a fast-food restaurant. A supersized, domed version hovered like a flying saucer outside Columbia University. All were surveillance cameras and -- to the dismay of civil libertarians and with the approval of law enforcement -- they've been multiplying at a dizzying rate all over Manhattan. At last count in 1998, the organization found 2,397 cameras used by a wide variety of private businesses and government agencies throughout Manhattan. This time, after canvassing less than a quarter of the borough, the interns so far have spotted more than 4,000. The preliminary total "only provides a glimpse of the magnitude of the problem," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "Nobody has a clue how many there really are." But aside from sheer numbers, the NYCLU says it's concerned about the increasing use of newer, more powerful digital cameras that -- unlike boxy older models -- can be controlled remotely and store more images....
Biometric IDs could see massive growth But now, the government's small, 13-month-old test program known as Registered Traveler is provoking an intense and increasingly complicated debate about privacy and the proper roles of government and business. The resolution could have far-reaching implications not only for how Americans travel by air, but how they conduct their daily lives and commerce. Government background checks conducted for the Registered Traveler program, and the biometric ID cards issued to those who enroll, could in the future determine how someone makes a purchase on credit, enters an office building or arena, turns on a cell phone or boards a train. Frank Fitzsimmons, CEO of iris-scan developer Iridian Technologies, says millions of travelers using biometrics at airport security "will have dramatic effect on their acceptance in other markets" - activation of cash machines, cell phones and computers, for example....
Wireless World: Chips track license plates A controversial plan to embed radio frequency identification chips in license plates in the United Kingdom also may be coming to the United States, experts told UPI's Wireless World. The so-called e-Plate, developed by the British firm Hills Numberplates, is a license plate that also transmits a vehicle's unique identification via encryption that can be read by a small detector, whose output can be used locally or communicated to a distant host. "RFID is all the rage these days," said Bradley Gross, chairman of Becker & Poliakoff, a law firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., "but my fear is that this use of the technology is tracking at its worst." The reason for the concern in the legal and privacy-rights communities is that e-plates may expand the ability of police to track individuals by the movement of their vehicles. A single RFID reader can identify dozens of vehicles fitted with e-plates moving at any speed at a distance of about 100 yards. The e-plate looks just like a standard plate, but it contains an embedded chip that cannot be seen or removed. It is self-powered with a battery life of up to 10 years....
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CRIME IN FORESTS AND ON PUBLIC LANDS A GROWING CONCERN As the summer travel season hits full swing, new studies suggest that recreational users of national forests in the United States should be aware of increased levels of theft, violent crime, drug production and even gang activity - and take necessary precautions. About 35 percent of law enforcement officers in the Forest Service have been assaulted, experts say. There is a perception among enforcement officials that crimes such as property theft, indiscriminate shootings, criminal damage and production of methamphetamine is significantly increased in many areas. And the number of crimes and related incidents on national forests and grasslands doubled in one recent five-year period, while the number of law enforcement officers was the same or lower. Those findings are from a study concluded last month by researchers from Oregon State University and the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. The study will be released first to the Forest Service, which provided the funding. And another paper to be published in the Journal of Forestry, called "Crime in National Forests: A Call for Research," summarizes previous findings and suggests that more research on crime in national forests is necessary and long overdue....
Wiretap the Internet? Not So Fast, Say Some The federal courts may soon face the first round in a battle over the U.S. Department of Justice's demand that federal wiretapping requirements be extended to certain Internet services for the first time. The Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others said last week that they are considering legal challenges to an Aug. 5 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to require providers of certain broadband and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol services to accommodate law enforcement wiretaps in their designs and applications. Those groups and some legal scholars said that the FCC decision --sought more than a year ago by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration -- is based on a seriously flawed interpretation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act....
Prosecutors ask judge to seal some evidence in FBI murder case Prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to shield from public view sensitive U.S. government evidence in the case of a former FBI agent accused in the 1982 murder of a Miami gambling executive. The ex-agent, 64-year-old John J. Connolly Jr., is already serving a 10-year prison sentence for his conviction on federal racketeering charges for his role in protecting top members of Boston's Winter Hill Gang, including fugitive mob leader James "Whitey" Bulger. Connolly, who was not present in court Thursday, is charged along with Bulger and two other men with the killing of former World Jai Alai president John Callahan, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of his Cadillac in the parking lot at Miami International Airport. He had been shot twice in the head....
Soldier Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Smuggling A Fort Bliss soldier has pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine into the United States from Colombia using military aircraft, a post spokeswoman said Saturday. Specialist Francisco Rosa, 25, pleaded guilty Wednesday to using, possessing and distributing cocaine and making a false official statement, said the spokeswoman, Jean Offutt. Military investigators have said that Specialist Rosa and Staff Sgts. Daniel Rosas, Victor Portales and Kevin G. Irizarry-Melendez played roles in a plot to smuggle the drugs from a United States base in Colombia, where they had been stationed. All four are being held in a military jail at Fort Bliss....
Kennedy Letting Personal History Dictate Gun Policy, Group Says A gun rights group has issued a controversial challenge to one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures - Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts - on the issue of safety for America's police officers. The challenge, issued by the Second Amendment Foundation, references the number of police officers who were killed last year in the line of duty as a result of gunfire and the number killed in automobile crashes. Kennedy, whose two brothers - John and Robert - were assassinated by gunmen, is a staunch supporter of gun control and wants the so-called "cop-killer" bullets banned. "Where's Ted Kennedy, and why isn't he demanding that automakers be sued into financial oblivion the same way he wants America's gun industry to be devastated?" asked Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). Gottlieb points out that one-third of the police officers killed last year in the line of duty were shot, while one-half died in car crashes....
TSA ready for private screening, but airports aren't biting The government is ready to let private contractors take over passenger and baggage screening at the nation's airports, but most air facilities intend to keep federal screeners unless they are given better incentives to switch, according to government and industry officials. The Transportation Security Administration has designated 34 companies as qualified to provide security screening at airports. But only seven out of about 430 airports across the country have applied to have private companies take over. "We have a significant number of airports that want no part of it, no way, under no circumstances," said Stephen Van Beek, vice president of policy for Airports Council International-North America, which represents the nation's commercial airports. Airports are worried about what kind of liability they might have if they opt out, he said, and they also would like greater control over screening operations....
Complaints Signal Tension Between F.B.I. and Congress Disputes between the Justice Department and some of its Congressional allies over the Federal Bureau of Investigation's performance, leadership vacancies and management issues are spurring tensions at a time when the department is seeking to remake its antiterrorism operations. Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, the influential chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview on Friday that he was deeply dissatisfied with the pace of reforms at the F.B.I. and that he hoped the national intelligence director's new role in overseeing its terrorism operations would spur greater accountability at the Justice Department. Among the issues that have divided them are the failure of the bureau's $170 million software overhaul, after repeated assertions by Mr. Mueller that it was on track, as well as F.B.I. turf battles with immigration agents, questions about the training and experience of bureau counterterrorism supervisors, and complaints from lawmakers who learned that Mr. Mueller had not been writing or reviewing written Congressional responses that bore his name....
Hurdles for High-Tech Efforts to Track Who Crosses Borders The federal government has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the once-obscure science called biometrics, producing some successes but also fumbles in a campaign intended to track foreigners visiting the country and the activities of some Americans. Hoping to block the entry of criminals and terrorists into the United States and to improve the enforcement of immigration laws, government officials have in the past several years created enormous new repositories of digitally recorded biometric data - including fingerprints and facial characteristics - that can be used to identify more than 45 million foreigners. Federal agencies have also assembled data on more than 70 million Americans in an effort to speed law-abiding travelers through checkpoints and to search for domestic terrorists. The immigration control and antiterrorism campaign was spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent Congressional mandates to improve the nation's security. But the effort has fallen far short of its goals, provoking criticism that the government is committed to a technological solution so ambitious that it will either never work or be achieved only at an unacceptably high price....
The State Of Surveillance Lost in the recent London bombings, along with innocent lives, was any illusion that today's surveillance technology can save us from evildoers. Britain has 4 million video cameras monitoring streets, parks, and government buildings, more than any other country. London alone has 500,000 cameras watching for signs of illicit activity. Studying camera footage helped link the July 7 bombings with four men -- but only after the fact. The disaster drove home some painful reminders: Fanatics bent on suicide aren't fazed by cameras. And even if they are known terrorists, most video surveillance software won't pick them out anyway. Tomorrow's surveillance technology may be considerably more effective. But each uptick in protection will typically come at the cost of more intrusion into the privacy of ordinary people. For now, the public seems to find that trade-off acceptable, so scientists around the world have intensified efforts to perfect the art of surveillance, hoping to catch villains before they strike. Research laboratories envision tools that could identify and track just about every person, anywhere -- and sound alarms when the systems encounter hazardous objects or chemical compounds. Many such ideas seem to leap from the pages of science fiction: An artificial nose in doorways and corridors sniffs out faint traces of explosives on someone's hair. Tiny sensors floating in reservoirs detect a deadly microbe and radio a warning. Smart cameras ID people at a distance by the way they walk or the shape of their ears. And a little chemical lab analyzes the sweat, body odor, and skin flakes in the human thermal plume -- the halo of heat that surrounds each person....
Creepy Cams Abound in NYC Six could be seen peering out from a chain drug store on Broadway. One protruded awkwardly from the awning of a fast-food restaurant. A supersized, domed version hovered like a flying saucer outside Columbia University. All were surveillance cameras and -- to the dismay of civil libertarians and with the approval of law enforcement -- they've been multiplying at a dizzying rate all over Manhattan. At last count in 1998, the organization found 2,397 cameras used by a wide variety of private businesses and government agencies throughout Manhattan. This time, after canvassing less than a quarter of the borough, the interns so far have spotted more than 4,000. The preliminary total "only provides a glimpse of the magnitude of the problem," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "Nobody has a clue how many there really are." But aside from sheer numbers, the NYCLU says it's concerned about the increasing use of newer, more powerful digital cameras that -- unlike boxy older models -- can be controlled remotely and store more images....
Biometric IDs could see massive growth But now, the government's small, 13-month-old test program known as Registered Traveler is provoking an intense and increasingly complicated debate about privacy and the proper roles of government and business. The resolution could have far-reaching implications not only for how Americans travel by air, but how they conduct their daily lives and commerce. Government background checks conducted for the Registered Traveler program, and the biometric ID cards issued to those who enroll, could in the future determine how someone makes a purchase on credit, enters an office building or arena, turns on a cell phone or boards a train. Frank Fitzsimmons, CEO of iris-scan developer Iridian Technologies, says millions of travelers using biometrics at airport security "will have dramatic effect on their acceptance in other markets" - activation of cash machines, cell phones and computers, for example....
Wireless World: Chips track license plates A controversial plan to embed radio frequency identification chips in license plates in the United Kingdom also may be coming to the United States, experts told UPI's Wireless World. The so-called e-Plate, developed by the British firm Hills Numberplates, is a license plate that also transmits a vehicle's unique identification via encryption that can be read by a small detector, whose output can be used locally or communicated to a distant host. "RFID is all the rage these days," said Bradley Gross, chairman of Becker & Poliakoff, a law firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., "but my fear is that this use of the technology is tracking at its worst." The reason for the concern in the legal and privacy-rights communities is that e-plates may expand the ability of police to track individuals by the movement of their vehicles. A single RFID reader can identify dozens of vehicles fitted with e-plates moving at any speed at a distance of about 100 yards. The e-plate looks just like a standard plate, but it contains an embedded chip that cannot be seen or removed. It is self-powered with a battery life of up to 10 years....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Scientists suggest relocating Africa's poster species to North American ranchland Lions stalking deer in the stubble of a Nebraska corn field. Elephants trumpeting across Colorado's high plains. Cheetah slouching through the West Texas scrub. Prominent ecologists are floating an audacious plan that sounds like a "Jumanji" sequel - transplant African wildlife to the Great Plains of North America. The scientists' plan appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. It echoes the controversial 1987 Buffalo Commons proposal by Frank and Deborah Popper of Rutgers University to cut down fences of abandoned farms and reconnect corridors for native prairie wildlife. The idea of "rewilding" the Great Plains grew from a retreat at Ladder Ranch near Truth or Consequences, N.M. The 155,550-acre property is owned by media mogul and conservationist Ted Turner. Ecologists at the ranch are planning to reintroduce the Bolson tortoise. These 100-pound burrowers were found across the Southwest, but now survive in a corner of northern Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert....
Lawsuit seeks to ban snowmobiles near caribou winter range Only a handful of endangered caribou remain in the remote Selkirk Mountains near the Canadian border, and a federal court lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks to ban snowmobiles from their winter range. The lawsuit filed here would limit snowmobile access on 450,000 acres of high-elevation forest in a sliver of Eastern Washington and northern Idaho near the snowmobiling hotspot of Priest Lake, Idaho. The lawsuit said only three mountain caribou were seen in the area this year, although about 30 live on the Canadian side of the border....
US Senators: Global Warming Obvious in Far North Fresh from visits to Canada's Yukon Territory and Alaska's northernmost city, four US senators said on Wednesday that signs of rising temperatures on Earth are obvious and they called on Congress to act. "If you can go to the Native people and listen to their stories and walk away with any doubt that something's going on, I just think you're not listening," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York told reporters in Anchorage that Inupiat Eskimo residents in Barrow, Alaska, have found their ancestral land and traditional lifestyle disrupted by disappearing sea ice, thawing permafrost, increased coastal erosion and changes to wildlife habitat. Heat-stimulated beetle infestation has also killed vast amounts of the spruce forest in the Yukon Territory, they said....
Park Service director still traveling The National Park Service is looking to hire a travel coordinator, 18 months after director Fran Mainella was reprimanded by Congress for traveling too much. The Park Service has posted a job opening for a "scheduling and advance coordinator" to "analyze key or critical issues confronting the director's scope of travel and mission needs." The employee must also prepare "detailed, minute-by-minute itineraries for the director's travel." The scheduling and advance coordinator will make between $52,468 and $68,209, according to the posting. Lawmakers who oversee the Park Service budget called Mainella to Capitol Hill in March 2004 after records showed she and other agency employees had spent $94 million on travel in the previous two years. In one case, an official took a $9,315 trip to Africa....
Creative way to develop Roan Plateau gas sought A proposal to allow natural-gas development on top of the Roan Plateau through blocks of 2,500-acre leases that would be designated as one large federal unit was hailed by area governments Tuesday. Colorado Department of Natural Resources Deputy Director Shane Henry said a “creative way” of developing the gas resource was sought. “We wanted something that would require operators to share facilities and roads to avoid duplication and mitigate the impacts,” he said. “That led us to the unitization concept.” Federal units are large blocks of land where a single company jointly develops the underground minerals. The idea was presented in Rifle at a meeting of cooperating agencies to the Bureau of Land Management’s resource management plan and environmental impact statement for the 73,602 acres of public lands between Rifle and Parachute....
Victims of Their Own Success Niemeyer gave the order to kill the Copper Basin pack on July 20, after nearly a year of trying to keep the wolves away from livestock with everything from radio-collar-activated noisemaking devices to rubber bullets. He and other FWS agents were also responsible for relocating hundreds of wolves away from livestock in the years following the 1995 reintroduction of 35 gray wolves to Idaho. But they don't relocate wolves anymore; Niemeyer says Idaho's wolves have multiplied so dramatically, there's nowhere left to release them where they won't face brutal competition from already established packs. The cruel irony in this situation, he says, is that "killing wolves demonstrates the success of wolf recovery." Just how successful are wolves in Idaho? Currently, according to the 2004 Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Report, put out by FWS, the original 35 have expanded to well over 400. The service's original goal of 30 breeding pairs throughout central Idaho, Northwestern Montana and Yellowstone National Park was met in 2002-today, 30 pairs reside in Idaho alone. And though FWS agents killed 30 wolves linked to depredation in 2004, and despite estimates of between 44 and 65 wolves killed illegally by private citizens, the state's population has grown by eight new packs since 2003. According to Suzanne Stone, the Rocky Mountain field representative and wolf specialist for the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, that success has produced a genetically strong, healthy wolf population-as well as some expansions into troublesome areas....
Newmont Mining Corporation Buys Historic Horseshoe Ranch Mason & Morse Ranch Company (http://www.ranchland.com), one of the nation's leading ranch real estate brokerages, announced today the sale of historic Horseshoe Ranch in central Nevada to the world's largest gold mining company, Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation. Mason & Morse Ranch Company negotiated the sale of the nearly 60,000-acre ranch on behalf of Zeda Inc. and J.B.B. Inc., owners of the property since 1979. The purchase of Horseshoe Ranch will add to Newmont Corporation's portfolio of ranchland property which includes TS Ranch, a 450,000-acre cattle and alfalfa ranch, located in northern Nevada. Both properties are owned and managed by Elko Land and Livestock Company, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining
Corporation. Mason & Morse Ranch Company listed the ranch as a turnkey operation including equipment and cattle for $11 million....
Hundreds of cattle dead; anthrax leaves ranchers scrambling For three decades, Andrew Peterson has been a calming influence on farmers and ranchers, taking care of their sick animals. Lately, comforting words have not come easy to the longtime veterinarian. An outbreak of livestock anthrax has killed hundreds of cows in North Dakota and South Dakota, and put at least two ranches under quarantine in Texas. North Dakota officials call it the worst such outbreak in state history. Some farmers and ranchers wonder about their future. "A lot of them are just devastated," said Peterson, sitting in an examination room at the Enderlin Veterinary Clinic. "It's not just the financial losses, it's the mental anguish."....
Students trace history of Buffalo Soldiers in Guadalupe Mountains In June 1866, an act of Congress authorized the creation of six regiments of black soldiers _ two cavalry and four infantry. The two cavalries would later go down in history as the "Buffalo Soldiers." Now, 139 years later, a group of black and American Indian college and high school students dug in the dirt for hours under a hot sun in Guadalupe Mountains National Park to learn more about the Buffalo Soldiers and the Apache Indians. But the task was more than just digging to find evidence of the soldiers and their turbulent co-existence with the Apaches, who had a strong presence in the area during the 1800s....
Fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements dies at 77 Vassar Clements, the "Hillbilly Jazz" stylist whose genre-bounding fiddle work marked him as one of Nashville's most accomplished, versatile and adventurous musicians, died at 7:20 yesterday morning at home in Goodlettsville. He was 77 and had been battling cancer. "He was one of the greatest, most creative fiddlers in country and bluegrass music history," said Mark O'Connor, a virtuoso fiddler who counted Mr. Clements among his musical heroes. Mr. Clements worked with music greats including Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, The Band, The Byrds, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Grateful Dead, Tom T. Hall, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt. He was appreciated not only for his expansive musicality but also for a personality that led Kristofferson to deem him, "The nicest person I ever met in the music business." Born in Kinard, Fla., and raised in Kissimmee, Fla., Mr. Clements had a professional career that began at age 14, when he became a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1949. From 1958 to 1961, he worked with bluegrass stars Jim & Jesse. Although Mr. Clements later became recognized for his remarkable improvisational and interpretive skills, his early work as a bluegrass fiddle player was quite influential....
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Scientists suggest relocating Africa's poster species to North American ranchland Lions stalking deer in the stubble of a Nebraska corn field. Elephants trumpeting across Colorado's high plains. Cheetah slouching through the West Texas scrub. Prominent ecologists are floating an audacious plan that sounds like a "Jumanji" sequel - transplant African wildlife to the Great Plains of North America. The scientists' plan appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. It echoes the controversial 1987 Buffalo Commons proposal by Frank and Deborah Popper of Rutgers University to cut down fences of abandoned farms and reconnect corridors for native prairie wildlife. The idea of "rewilding" the Great Plains grew from a retreat at Ladder Ranch near Truth or Consequences, N.M. The 155,550-acre property is owned by media mogul and conservationist Ted Turner. Ecologists at the ranch are planning to reintroduce the Bolson tortoise. These 100-pound burrowers were found across the Southwest, but now survive in a corner of northern Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert....
Lawsuit seeks to ban snowmobiles near caribou winter range Only a handful of endangered caribou remain in the remote Selkirk Mountains near the Canadian border, and a federal court lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks to ban snowmobiles from their winter range. The lawsuit filed here would limit snowmobile access on 450,000 acres of high-elevation forest in a sliver of Eastern Washington and northern Idaho near the snowmobiling hotspot of Priest Lake, Idaho. The lawsuit said only three mountain caribou were seen in the area this year, although about 30 live on the Canadian side of the border....
US Senators: Global Warming Obvious in Far North Fresh from visits to Canada's Yukon Territory and Alaska's northernmost city, four US senators said on Wednesday that signs of rising temperatures on Earth are obvious and they called on Congress to act. "If you can go to the Native people and listen to their stories and walk away with any doubt that something's going on, I just think you're not listening," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York told reporters in Anchorage that Inupiat Eskimo residents in Barrow, Alaska, have found their ancestral land and traditional lifestyle disrupted by disappearing sea ice, thawing permafrost, increased coastal erosion and changes to wildlife habitat. Heat-stimulated beetle infestation has also killed vast amounts of the spruce forest in the Yukon Territory, they said....
Park Service director still traveling The National Park Service is looking to hire a travel coordinator, 18 months after director Fran Mainella was reprimanded by Congress for traveling too much. The Park Service has posted a job opening for a "scheduling and advance coordinator" to "analyze key or critical issues confronting the director's scope of travel and mission needs." The employee must also prepare "detailed, minute-by-minute itineraries for the director's travel." The scheduling and advance coordinator will make between $52,468 and $68,209, according to the posting. Lawmakers who oversee the Park Service budget called Mainella to Capitol Hill in March 2004 after records showed she and other agency employees had spent $94 million on travel in the previous two years. In one case, an official took a $9,315 trip to Africa....
Creative way to develop Roan Plateau gas sought A proposal to allow natural-gas development on top of the Roan Plateau through blocks of 2,500-acre leases that would be designated as one large federal unit was hailed by area governments Tuesday. Colorado Department of Natural Resources Deputy Director Shane Henry said a “creative way” of developing the gas resource was sought. “We wanted something that would require operators to share facilities and roads to avoid duplication and mitigate the impacts,” he said. “That led us to the unitization concept.” Federal units are large blocks of land where a single company jointly develops the underground minerals. The idea was presented in Rifle at a meeting of cooperating agencies to the Bureau of Land Management’s resource management plan and environmental impact statement for the 73,602 acres of public lands between Rifle and Parachute....
Victims of Their Own Success Niemeyer gave the order to kill the Copper Basin pack on July 20, after nearly a year of trying to keep the wolves away from livestock with everything from radio-collar-activated noisemaking devices to rubber bullets. He and other FWS agents were also responsible for relocating hundreds of wolves away from livestock in the years following the 1995 reintroduction of 35 gray wolves to Idaho. But they don't relocate wolves anymore; Niemeyer says Idaho's wolves have multiplied so dramatically, there's nowhere left to release them where they won't face brutal competition from already established packs. The cruel irony in this situation, he says, is that "killing wolves demonstrates the success of wolf recovery." Just how successful are wolves in Idaho? Currently, according to the 2004 Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Report, put out by FWS, the original 35 have expanded to well over 400. The service's original goal of 30 breeding pairs throughout central Idaho, Northwestern Montana and Yellowstone National Park was met in 2002-today, 30 pairs reside in Idaho alone. And though FWS agents killed 30 wolves linked to depredation in 2004, and despite estimates of between 44 and 65 wolves killed illegally by private citizens, the state's population has grown by eight new packs since 2003. According to Suzanne Stone, the Rocky Mountain field representative and wolf specialist for the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, that success has produced a genetically strong, healthy wolf population-as well as some expansions into troublesome areas....
Newmont Mining Corporation Buys Historic Horseshoe Ranch Mason & Morse Ranch Company (http://www.ranchland.com), one of the nation's leading ranch real estate brokerages, announced today the sale of historic Horseshoe Ranch in central Nevada to the world's largest gold mining company, Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation. Mason & Morse Ranch Company negotiated the sale of the nearly 60,000-acre ranch on behalf of Zeda Inc. and J.B.B. Inc., owners of the property since 1979. The purchase of Horseshoe Ranch will add to Newmont Corporation's portfolio of ranchland property which includes TS Ranch, a 450,000-acre cattle and alfalfa ranch, located in northern Nevada. Both properties are owned and managed by Elko Land and Livestock Company, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining
Corporation. Mason & Morse Ranch Company listed the ranch as a turnkey operation including equipment and cattle for $11 million....
Hundreds of cattle dead; anthrax leaves ranchers scrambling For three decades, Andrew Peterson has been a calming influence on farmers and ranchers, taking care of their sick animals. Lately, comforting words have not come easy to the longtime veterinarian. An outbreak of livestock anthrax has killed hundreds of cows in North Dakota and South Dakota, and put at least two ranches under quarantine in Texas. North Dakota officials call it the worst such outbreak in state history. Some farmers and ranchers wonder about their future. "A lot of them are just devastated," said Peterson, sitting in an examination room at the Enderlin Veterinary Clinic. "It's not just the financial losses, it's the mental anguish."....
Students trace history of Buffalo Soldiers in Guadalupe Mountains In June 1866, an act of Congress authorized the creation of six regiments of black soldiers _ two cavalry and four infantry. The two cavalries would later go down in history as the "Buffalo Soldiers." Now, 139 years later, a group of black and American Indian college and high school students dug in the dirt for hours under a hot sun in Guadalupe Mountains National Park to learn more about the Buffalo Soldiers and the Apache Indians. But the task was more than just digging to find evidence of the soldiers and their turbulent co-existence with the Apaches, who had a strong presence in the area during the 1800s....
Fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements dies at 77 Vassar Clements, the "Hillbilly Jazz" stylist whose genre-bounding fiddle work marked him as one of Nashville's most accomplished, versatile and adventurous musicians, died at 7:20 yesterday morning at home in Goodlettsville. He was 77 and had been battling cancer. "He was one of the greatest, most creative fiddlers in country and bluegrass music history," said Mark O'Connor, a virtuoso fiddler who counted Mr. Clements among his musical heroes. Mr. Clements worked with music greats including Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, The Band, The Byrds, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Grateful Dead, Tom T. Hall, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt. He was appreciated not only for his expansive musicality but also for a personality that led Kristofferson to deem him, "The nicest person I ever met in the music business." Born in Kinard, Fla., and raised in Kissimmee, Fla., Mr. Clements had a professional career that began at age 14, when he became a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1949. From 1958 to 1961, he worked with bluegrass stars Jim & Jesse. Although Mr. Clements later became recognized for his remarkable improvisational and interpretive skills, his early work as a bluegrass fiddle player was quite influential....
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
Plants Cited For Mad Cow Offenses
Inspectors have found more than 1,000 violations of rules aimed at preventing mad cow disease from reaching humans, the Agriculture Department said. No contaminated meat reached consumers, the agency said. The rules were created in response to the nation's first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. They require that brains, spinal cords and other nerve parts — which can carry mad cow disease — be removed when older cows are slaughtered. The at-risk tissues are removed from cows older than 30 months because infection levels are believed to rise with age. The Agriculture Department said Monday it had cited beef slaughterhouses or processing plants 1,036 times for failing to comply with rules on removing those tissues, which are commonly called specified risk materials or SRMs. The violations occurred over 17 months, ending in May. The number of violations amounts to less than 1 percent of all citations at those plants, said USDA spokeswoman Lisa Wallenda Picard....
Consumer Group Calls the Thousand Meat Plant Violations Another Example of Flaws in Federal Mad Cow Response
Responding to information released by the US Department of Agriculture that over 1,000 meat packers had been cited for failing to take required steps to protect consumers from Mad Cow Disease, Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) called for increased front-end Mad Cow protections, steps to be taken before the meat is processed. "This new USDA data illustrates that we cannot rely only on end-product steps to protect the American public," stated Richard Wood, FACT's Executive Director. "Front-end protections must be increased, focusing on cattle feed and cattle surveillance," he stated. On August 15th, USDA made public information that showed it had cited meat packers for failing to take steps to adequately remove brains and spinal cords from older cattle to reduce the risk to consumers from Mad Cow Disease. USDA enacted this new rule in January 2004, after an infected cow was detected in Washington State. The brain and spinal cord ban is necessary because these tissues are most likely to contain prions, the protein that leads to Mad Cow and the related human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease. These high-risk tissues are called specified risk materials (SRMs). The over 1000 citations were given because of: failures to have plans in place to adequately remove the high-risk tissues; cross-contamination between high-risk and edible meat; poor-record keeping; and inadequate age determination. Age determination is important because infectivity builds up in cattle over time....
Cattle tracked with radio tags to trace disease
Metal bars inside a Cullman Stockyard cattle chute squeeze around a black cow as a worker clamps a quarter-sized medallion onto its left ear. The bovine jewelry will be used to track cattle during their journey into the nation's food supply, part of a pilot project to devise a system to make the nation's meat safer. The tracking system is designed to help federal agriculture officials identify the source of a cattle disease outbreak. Diseases such as foot and mouth and bovine spongiform encephalopathy - mad cow disease - can spread quickly, contaminating herds and the food supply. Outbreaks of such diseases have been reported in other countries in recent years, and two cases of mad cow disease have been confirmed in the United States since 2003. The federal government is mandating that, by 2009, the nation have a system in place to track infected animals to their farm of origin. "The whole thing is to try to give confidence to consumers as to where their food came from - that it can be traced, and it's safe," said Lisa Kriese-Anderson, extension animal scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System....
Britain to Revise Mad Cow Measures in Autumn
Britain's farm ministry said on Tuesday it would decide in the autumn whether or not to lift one of the last remaining mad cow disease control measures, which would give a major boost to UK beef exporters. Britain's beef export industry collapsed in 1995 following an outbreak of mad cow in British herds. An estimated 141 British people are thought to have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), while up to 7.3 million animals had been slaughtered under disease control measures by the end of June 2004. The restriction that the ministry proposes to lift is called the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule, and its effect is to stop older cows entering the food chain. Lifting the OTM restriction would pave the way for a resumption of full beef exports....
Brain-disease deaths investigated
In late May, Marjorie Skinner played golf well enough to place fourth in a Memorial Day weekend tournament. Yet within weeks, the previously vibrant retiree started losing her ability to speak. By the time her family buried her Friday, she was the fifth suspected victim in the same sparsely populated area of Idaho of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain-wasting disease that typically afflicts only one in a million people. As word of the latest death spread yesterday, local and federal health specialists sifted through clues about an illness different from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease. ''Five [cases] in one valley is pretty serious," said Sue Skinner, Marjorie's daughter-in-law. ''It's a grave concern in our family." The mystery has deepened in recent weeks. At the end of May, another elderly woman died of the incurable disease involving a malformed protein, or prion, that kills brain cells. After that, health officials learned of three other suspected cases, including one CJD death in February that was reported only last month. ''Is what is happening in Idaho an anomaly, a statistical fluke? That is possible," said Ermias Belay, a top CJD expert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta who is helping advise officials in Idaho. ''But once it exceeds 1.5 or 2 per million, you start asking questions." ''If they are all confirmed, it could be odd," he said....
Plants Cited For Mad Cow Offenses
Inspectors have found more than 1,000 violations of rules aimed at preventing mad cow disease from reaching humans, the Agriculture Department said. No contaminated meat reached consumers, the agency said. The rules were created in response to the nation's first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. They require that brains, spinal cords and other nerve parts — which can carry mad cow disease — be removed when older cows are slaughtered. The at-risk tissues are removed from cows older than 30 months because infection levels are believed to rise with age. The Agriculture Department said Monday it had cited beef slaughterhouses or processing plants 1,036 times for failing to comply with rules on removing those tissues, which are commonly called specified risk materials or SRMs. The violations occurred over 17 months, ending in May. The number of violations amounts to less than 1 percent of all citations at those plants, said USDA spokeswoman Lisa Wallenda Picard....
Consumer Group Calls the Thousand Meat Plant Violations Another Example of Flaws in Federal Mad Cow Response
Responding to information released by the US Department of Agriculture that over 1,000 meat packers had been cited for failing to take required steps to protect consumers from Mad Cow Disease, Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) called for increased front-end Mad Cow protections, steps to be taken before the meat is processed. "This new USDA data illustrates that we cannot rely only on end-product steps to protect the American public," stated Richard Wood, FACT's Executive Director. "Front-end protections must be increased, focusing on cattle feed and cattle surveillance," he stated. On August 15th, USDA made public information that showed it had cited meat packers for failing to take steps to adequately remove brains and spinal cords from older cattle to reduce the risk to consumers from Mad Cow Disease. USDA enacted this new rule in January 2004, after an infected cow was detected in Washington State. The brain and spinal cord ban is necessary because these tissues are most likely to contain prions, the protein that leads to Mad Cow and the related human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease. These high-risk tissues are called specified risk materials (SRMs). The over 1000 citations were given because of: failures to have plans in place to adequately remove the high-risk tissues; cross-contamination between high-risk and edible meat; poor-record keeping; and inadequate age determination. Age determination is important because infectivity builds up in cattle over time....
Cattle tracked with radio tags to trace disease
Metal bars inside a Cullman Stockyard cattle chute squeeze around a black cow as a worker clamps a quarter-sized medallion onto its left ear. The bovine jewelry will be used to track cattle during their journey into the nation's food supply, part of a pilot project to devise a system to make the nation's meat safer. The tracking system is designed to help federal agriculture officials identify the source of a cattle disease outbreak. Diseases such as foot and mouth and bovine spongiform encephalopathy - mad cow disease - can spread quickly, contaminating herds and the food supply. Outbreaks of such diseases have been reported in other countries in recent years, and two cases of mad cow disease have been confirmed in the United States since 2003. The federal government is mandating that, by 2009, the nation have a system in place to track infected animals to their farm of origin. "The whole thing is to try to give confidence to consumers as to where their food came from - that it can be traced, and it's safe," said Lisa Kriese-Anderson, extension animal scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System....
Britain to Revise Mad Cow Measures in Autumn
Britain's farm ministry said on Tuesday it would decide in the autumn whether or not to lift one of the last remaining mad cow disease control measures, which would give a major boost to UK beef exporters. Britain's beef export industry collapsed in 1995 following an outbreak of mad cow in British herds. An estimated 141 British people are thought to have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), while up to 7.3 million animals had been slaughtered under disease control measures by the end of June 2004. The restriction that the ministry proposes to lift is called the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule, and its effect is to stop older cows entering the food chain. Lifting the OTM restriction would pave the way for a resumption of full beef exports....
Brain-disease deaths investigated
In late May, Marjorie Skinner played golf well enough to place fourth in a Memorial Day weekend tournament. Yet within weeks, the previously vibrant retiree started losing her ability to speak. By the time her family buried her Friday, she was the fifth suspected victim in the same sparsely populated area of Idaho of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain-wasting disease that typically afflicts only one in a million people. As word of the latest death spread yesterday, local and federal health specialists sifted through clues about an illness different from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease. ''Five [cases] in one valley is pretty serious," said Sue Skinner, Marjorie's daughter-in-law. ''It's a grave concern in our family." The mystery has deepened in recent weeks. At the end of May, another elderly woman died of the incurable disease involving a malformed protein, or prion, that kills brain cells. After that, health officials learned of three other suspected cases, including one CJD death in February that was reported only last month. ''Is what is happening in Idaho an anomaly, a statistical fluke? That is possible," said Ermias Belay, a top CJD expert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta who is helping advise officials in Idaho. ''But once it exceeds 1.5 or 2 per million, you start asking questions." ''If they are all confirmed, it could be odd," he said....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Forest Service agrees to suspend grazing rules, take public comment The U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn proposed rules on issuing grazing permits for federal grasslands, and will solicit public comment on the regulations for four months. Gov. John Hoeven and North Dakota's U.S. senators, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, had complained about the policies, which the senators said would prevent ranchers who lease property or livestock from getting grazing permits in the Little Missouri and Sheyenne national grasslands. The policies had taken effect July 19, when the Forest Service issued a new handbook on grazing permit rules. An agency statement on Tuesday said two chapters on grazing permit administration have been withdrawn. They will be republished on Friday, which will begin the 120-day public comment period....
Mountain lion numbers up in Texas John Young is a mammalogist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin. He has been working in wildlife biology for 16 years, and has kept up with mountain lion projects and numbers throughout the state. “Analysis of (Texas Wildlife Services’) animal control activities indicates that the mountain lion population appears to have been slowly growing since the 1930s,” said Young. He credited the increase in population to several factors. He said many poisons that were used to control nuisance predators in the 1930s and 1940s have since been outlawed, there has been an increased availability of food (such as white-tailed deer), and a regeneration of brush areas suitable for mountain lion habitat has occurred. Young also noted that predator control, due to the decreasing number of sheep and goat ranchers in Texas, has declined....
Heading toward packer permits How many Environmental Impact Statements does it take to get a mule into a Wilderness Area? Apparently, two. But burros, horses and llamas will be able to get in, too. The Inyo National Forest is preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement which should clear the trail for 10 existing pack stations to obtain long-term permits to operate in nearby Wilderness Areas and forest land. Also in line for outfitter/guide permits is an existing outfitting outfit that uses burros as a primary beast of burden and a guide proposing to use llamas to haul people and supplies into the high country. The DEIS for the packers' permits will actually be riding piggyback on the more in-depth and detailed EIS nearing completion that addresses Trail and Commercial Pack Stock Management in the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses, said Roger Porter, the team leader on the permit DEIS effort. That larger EIS, and a Record of Decision, is expected to be completed by yearend....
Off-road enthusiasts to pay for using Lefthand Canyon Drivers who patronize the Lefthand Canyon off-road area will have to pay an entrance fee under a plan nearing approval by the U.S. Forest Service. In the Forest Service’s “preferred alternative,” off-highway drivers would pay an as-yet-undetermined fee to use the popular area near Jamestown. The proposal also calls for closing about half of the roads in the area, including the much-loved rock-crawling route called Carnage Canyon. The Forest Service plan aims to bring some semblance of management to an area that has been inundated by users clamoring for a place to test their skills and vehicles....
Appeal denied in Missouri River flow Environmental groups lost their appeal Tuesday of a ruling allowing the Missouri River to be controlled without changes they say will save endangered fish and birds. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in Minnesota, who ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The agency has proceeded with its new plan to keep summer water levels high enough for barge shipping. Conservationists and the fishing and recreation industry in Montana and the Dakotas opposed the agency's new plan. They want a more seasonal spring rise and lower summer flows that would mimic how the river flowed naturally for centuries. Downstream farming and shipping interests argued that changing to an ebb-and-flow would end barge shipping and cause flooding....
Southern California land deal satisfies economic, environmental demands at Rancho Mission Viejo A settlement reached Tuesday will allow the construction of thousands of houses on the site of California's historic Rancho Mission Viejo while preserving vast areas of open space that are home to some of the region's most fragile creatures, participants said. The deal between environmentalists, Orange County officials and private landowners was hammered out after five environmental groups sued last year over plans to develop what remains of Rancho Mission Viejo, a 200,000-acre Mexican land grant that dates to the 1800s. The ranch, now about 23,000 acres, has been owned by the same family since 1882. The settlement allows for the construction of 14,000 homes while protecting more than 17,000 acres of land. It increases the amount of open space by 13 percent over the previous proposal and reduces development by 25 percent....
The cost of saving birds and their range Setting aside 17,000 acres of West Coast beaches as critical habitat for the western snowy plover, a threatened species, will cost coastal economies between $273 million and $645 million over the next 20 years, primarily from lost recreation, according to a draft study released Tuesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Economic impacts could be so great to small businesses in some beach communities from Monterey, Calif., south to San Diego that Fish and Wildlife said it is considering excluding them from the critical habitat designation. Two beaches on Monterey Bay and one each at Pismo Beach, Morro Bay and Coronado's Silver Strand account for three-quarters of the total impacts, according to the study....
Turtles stall Freetown development Plans to develop an East Freetown subdivision have been slowed to a crawl by the presence of endangered turtles. Identified by its distinctive black shell and small yellow spots, the spotted turtle, also known by its scientific name, Clemmys guttata, measures 3½-5 inches. But the likelihood that the intersection of Bullock and Quanapoag roads is called home by the little reptiles has created big problems for Partners Reality Trust, the Rehoboth-based developers who have been trying for several years to split the parcel into house lots. The state's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has determined the proposed subdivision is part of a "Priority Habitat of Rare Species." That means the spotted turtle -- a creature listed as a "special concern" by the state -- must be protected....
CONSERVATION GROUPS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO PROVIDE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROTECTIONS FOR 286 SPECIES ON WAITING LIST A coalition of conservation groups released a report today demonstrating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is failing to make “expeditious progress” protecting known imperiled species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, leading to a backlog of 286 plants and animals on the candidate waiting list. Based on the Administration’s lack of progress, the coalition today filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue. The report and notice call for an agreement and comprehensive plan to list all 286 species over the next five years. “The Bush Administration is failing to protect the Nation’s wildlife,” states Noah Greenwald, Conservation Biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Endangered Species Act is an effective tool for saving wildlife from the abyss of extinction, and the Administration isn’t using it.” The Bush Administration has refused to list a single species under the Endangered Species Act—America’s safety net for plants, wildlife, and fish on the brink of extinction—except under court order or threat of lawsuit. Instead, the Administration has referred many imperiled plants and animals to the candidate waiting list, which confers no legal protections. Candidate status signifies that FWS has determined that the species is in need of listing as threatened or endangered, but the listing is deferred due to other priorities. There are currently 286 unprotected candidate species that have on average been waiting for protection for 17 years....go here(pdf) to view the report....
Fees to protect endangered mouse Land developers and new residents, both blamed for threatening to squeeze the Perdido Key beach mouse out of existence, may instead help save the endangered rodent through impact fees proposed by state and federal wildlife officials. They released a revised plan Monday to Escambia County commissioners, who are likely to vote on it Sept. 1. Developers had objected to an earlier proposal calling for a one-time $198,000 per acre fee and annual $100 per unit assessment. The new proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would give developers two options: A one-time fee of $157,000 per acre plus $100 per unit annually or a one-time fee of $100,000 per acre with $201 per unit annually....
Group: Oil, gas bonding isn't enough Taxpayers are shouldering an unjust burden when it comes to cleaning up after oil and gas companies on public and private lands, according to a Montana-based group. The Western Organization of Resource Councils said Tuesday oil and gas companies are not paying enough in bonding to ensure areas are properly reclaimed after natural resources are extracted. The cleanup responsibility then can become a problem for public land agencies or private landowners. "The overall industrywide liability is estimated in the billions of dollars, and just a few bad-actor companies could saddle taxpayers and landowners with millions of dollars of cleanup liability," said Jim Kuipers, an engineer with Kuipers and Associates of Butte, Mont....go here to download the report....
Successful Lateral Well Using the latest drilling technology, Ward Williston has announced that it has successfully drilled a lateral well at its North Westhope field in Bottineau County. The Mallard H-1 is the first lateral well in the field, located in Bottineau County, North Dakota. Commenting on the success of the well, the company's CEO Thomas Cunnington, stated, "We are very pleased with the preliminary results of the well." He added that the well went on production the beginning of August 2005. Ward Williston has developed a drilling program that will allow drilling beneath the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge and under the Souris River into a virgin reservoir. Ward Williston is working in cooperation with the Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management on the project. "Drilling isn't what it used to be," said Cunnington. "Technology has begun to play a major role in the drilling process," she said....
Lush River Struggles to Survive The San Pedro has been a life-giving river for thousands of years, archeologists believe, its lush banks providing a desert refuge for travelers since Francisco Vasquez de Coronado passed by in 1540 on his quest for the seven cities of gold. Today, however, the Spanish explorer would find the San Pedro's welcome wearing thin. Renowned for its wealth of wildlife and as one of the Southwest's last free-flowing rivers, the San Pedro has begun to dry up. Last month, a measuring instrument placed at the river's high-water mark failed to register any flow for the first time in 70 years. "When the water goes at the Charleston gauge, it's the last bastion, so to speak," said Tom Maddock, head of the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology and Water Resources in Tucson. "My feeling is that we are just watching the demise of another river system. We might be able to save it for a while, but this river is going to go." Until now, the gauge, just east of Sierra Vista, had marked the deepest, lushest section of the river....
PETA uses semi-nude woman to protest circus The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put on a display in downtown Des Moines today (Tuesday) to protest the upcoming visit of a circus. Katy Robertson, an actress from South Africa, posed semi-nude in front of a sign decrying cruelty to circus animals. Robertson (shown in above photo) had chains on her legs and arms and fake stripes placed on her bare back to simulate the whip marks trainers inflict on their animals. She says she "exposed a little skin to expose the cruelty to circus animals." She says, "I'm proud of doing this, and it's the most worthwhile thing I could be doing." Robertson posed in front of a sign that says "circus animals are shackled, lonely and beaten." She says she wants people to chose an "animal free circus."....
USDA proposes to ease mad cow ban on Japan beef The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday proposed allowing imports of Japan's Kobe beef, easing a nearly four-year ban imposed because of mad cow disease concerns. An activist farm group criticized the proposed rule, saying the USDA was sacrificing U.S. food safety to appease the Japanese government. "We are having to compromise our health and safety standards in order to restore that market," said Bill Bullard, chief executive of ranchers group R-CALF USA. The United States banned Japanese beef imports after the Asian country discovered its first case of mad cow disease in September 2001. Japan has found more than a dozen new cases since then. Japan took similar action after the United States found its first case of the brain-wasting disease in a Washington state dairy cow in December 2003. As part of a trade pact reached last October, the USDA agreed to conduct a risk assessment on Japan's Kobe beef with a view to resume imports so both countries can reopen their borders in tandem....
Ranch dogs exhibit talent Most handlers won't take a stock dog to trials unless he has first proved his worth on the ranch. But once the dog has exhibited the finesse and obedience at home, he learns to love showing off in the arena. "On my place, they've got to be a ranch dog before a trial dog," handler and Aladdin rancher Gerald Bunney explained, one hand caressing border collie Ladd's head. "They've got to earn their keep." After four years on the ranch, Ladd has demonstrated the qualities Bunney seeks in a stock dog. The border collie is keen but obedient, strong around cattle yet anxious to heed his handler's commands....
The Legend Of The Apache Kid General George Crook had hit on the idea of using Apaches to fight Apaches. He had enlisted Apaches from San Carlos and other reservations to serve as scouts. These enlisted Apaches could read sign and could locate the trails their outlaw relatives traveled. They could also lead the army to waterholes that were known only to the Apache. More than any other factor, these Apache scouts caused the breakup of the Apache war clans that had ravaged the country for so long. General Nelson Miles had replaced General Crook by the time Geronimo agreed to surrender in Skeleton Canyon in southeastern Arizona in 1886. Miles's plan was to deliver the outlaw Apaches to the closest railhead and send them to confinement in Florida. Miles also devised the terrible plan to disarm the Apache scouts and send them to the Florida prison, too. Why Miles chose to repay the faithfulness of the scouts with this sort of treachery will never be known, but his foolish move brought about many more years of terror for the settlers and spawned the legend of the Apache Kid....
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Forest Service agrees to suspend grazing rules, take public comment The U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn proposed rules on issuing grazing permits for federal grasslands, and will solicit public comment on the regulations for four months. Gov. John Hoeven and North Dakota's U.S. senators, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, had complained about the policies, which the senators said would prevent ranchers who lease property or livestock from getting grazing permits in the Little Missouri and Sheyenne national grasslands. The policies had taken effect July 19, when the Forest Service issued a new handbook on grazing permit rules. An agency statement on Tuesday said two chapters on grazing permit administration have been withdrawn. They will be republished on Friday, which will begin the 120-day public comment period....
Mountain lion numbers up in Texas John Young is a mammalogist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin. He has been working in wildlife biology for 16 years, and has kept up with mountain lion projects and numbers throughout the state. “Analysis of (Texas Wildlife Services’) animal control activities indicates that the mountain lion population appears to have been slowly growing since the 1930s,” said Young. He credited the increase in population to several factors. He said many poisons that were used to control nuisance predators in the 1930s and 1940s have since been outlawed, there has been an increased availability of food (such as white-tailed deer), and a regeneration of brush areas suitable for mountain lion habitat has occurred. Young also noted that predator control, due to the decreasing number of sheep and goat ranchers in Texas, has declined....
Heading toward packer permits How many Environmental Impact Statements does it take to get a mule into a Wilderness Area? Apparently, two. But burros, horses and llamas will be able to get in, too. The Inyo National Forest is preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement which should clear the trail for 10 existing pack stations to obtain long-term permits to operate in nearby Wilderness Areas and forest land. Also in line for outfitter/guide permits is an existing outfitting outfit that uses burros as a primary beast of burden and a guide proposing to use llamas to haul people and supplies into the high country. The DEIS for the packers' permits will actually be riding piggyback on the more in-depth and detailed EIS nearing completion that addresses Trail and Commercial Pack Stock Management in the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses, said Roger Porter, the team leader on the permit DEIS effort. That larger EIS, and a Record of Decision, is expected to be completed by yearend....
Off-road enthusiasts to pay for using Lefthand Canyon Drivers who patronize the Lefthand Canyon off-road area will have to pay an entrance fee under a plan nearing approval by the U.S. Forest Service. In the Forest Service’s “preferred alternative,” off-highway drivers would pay an as-yet-undetermined fee to use the popular area near Jamestown. The proposal also calls for closing about half of the roads in the area, including the much-loved rock-crawling route called Carnage Canyon. The Forest Service plan aims to bring some semblance of management to an area that has been inundated by users clamoring for a place to test their skills and vehicles....
Appeal denied in Missouri River flow Environmental groups lost their appeal Tuesday of a ruling allowing the Missouri River to be controlled without changes they say will save endangered fish and birds. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in Minnesota, who ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The agency has proceeded with its new plan to keep summer water levels high enough for barge shipping. Conservationists and the fishing and recreation industry in Montana and the Dakotas opposed the agency's new plan. They want a more seasonal spring rise and lower summer flows that would mimic how the river flowed naturally for centuries. Downstream farming and shipping interests argued that changing to an ebb-and-flow would end barge shipping and cause flooding....
Southern California land deal satisfies economic, environmental demands at Rancho Mission Viejo A settlement reached Tuesday will allow the construction of thousands of houses on the site of California's historic Rancho Mission Viejo while preserving vast areas of open space that are home to some of the region's most fragile creatures, participants said. The deal between environmentalists, Orange County officials and private landowners was hammered out after five environmental groups sued last year over plans to develop what remains of Rancho Mission Viejo, a 200,000-acre Mexican land grant that dates to the 1800s. The ranch, now about 23,000 acres, has been owned by the same family since 1882. The settlement allows for the construction of 14,000 homes while protecting more than 17,000 acres of land. It increases the amount of open space by 13 percent over the previous proposal and reduces development by 25 percent....
The cost of saving birds and their range Setting aside 17,000 acres of West Coast beaches as critical habitat for the western snowy plover, a threatened species, will cost coastal economies between $273 million and $645 million over the next 20 years, primarily from lost recreation, according to a draft study released Tuesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Economic impacts could be so great to small businesses in some beach communities from Monterey, Calif., south to San Diego that Fish and Wildlife said it is considering excluding them from the critical habitat designation. Two beaches on Monterey Bay and one each at Pismo Beach, Morro Bay and Coronado's Silver Strand account for three-quarters of the total impacts, according to the study....
Turtles stall Freetown development Plans to develop an East Freetown subdivision have been slowed to a crawl by the presence of endangered turtles. Identified by its distinctive black shell and small yellow spots, the spotted turtle, also known by its scientific name, Clemmys guttata, measures 3½-5 inches. But the likelihood that the intersection of Bullock and Quanapoag roads is called home by the little reptiles has created big problems for Partners Reality Trust, the Rehoboth-based developers who have been trying for several years to split the parcel into house lots. The state's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has determined the proposed subdivision is part of a "Priority Habitat of Rare Species." That means the spotted turtle -- a creature listed as a "special concern" by the state -- must be protected....
CONSERVATION GROUPS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO PROVIDE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROTECTIONS FOR 286 SPECIES ON WAITING LIST A coalition of conservation groups released a report today demonstrating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is failing to make “expeditious progress” protecting known imperiled species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, leading to a backlog of 286 plants and animals on the candidate waiting list. Based on the Administration’s lack of progress, the coalition today filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue. The report and notice call for an agreement and comprehensive plan to list all 286 species over the next five years. “The Bush Administration is failing to protect the Nation’s wildlife,” states Noah Greenwald, Conservation Biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Endangered Species Act is an effective tool for saving wildlife from the abyss of extinction, and the Administration isn’t using it.” The Bush Administration has refused to list a single species under the Endangered Species Act—America’s safety net for plants, wildlife, and fish on the brink of extinction—except under court order or threat of lawsuit. Instead, the Administration has referred many imperiled plants and animals to the candidate waiting list, which confers no legal protections. Candidate status signifies that FWS has determined that the species is in need of listing as threatened or endangered, but the listing is deferred due to other priorities. There are currently 286 unprotected candidate species that have on average been waiting for protection for 17 years....go here(pdf) to view the report....
Fees to protect endangered mouse Land developers and new residents, both blamed for threatening to squeeze the Perdido Key beach mouse out of existence, may instead help save the endangered rodent through impact fees proposed by state and federal wildlife officials. They released a revised plan Monday to Escambia County commissioners, who are likely to vote on it Sept. 1. Developers had objected to an earlier proposal calling for a one-time $198,000 per acre fee and annual $100 per unit assessment. The new proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would give developers two options: A one-time fee of $157,000 per acre plus $100 per unit annually or a one-time fee of $100,000 per acre with $201 per unit annually....
Group: Oil, gas bonding isn't enough Taxpayers are shouldering an unjust burden when it comes to cleaning up after oil and gas companies on public and private lands, according to a Montana-based group. The Western Organization of Resource Councils said Tuesday oil and gas companies are not paying enough in bonding to ensure areas are properly reclaimed after natural resources are extracted. The cleanup responsibility then can become a problem for public land agencies or private landowners. "The overall industrywide liability is estimated in the billions of dollars, and just a few bad-actor companies could saddle taxpayers and landowners with millions of dollars of cleanup liability," said Jim Kuipers, an engineer with Kuipers and Associates of Butte, Mont....go here to download the report....
Successful Lateral Well Using the latest drilling technology, Ward Williston has announced that it has successfully drilled a lateral well at its North Westhope field in Bottineau County. The Mallard H-1 is the first lateral well in the field, located in Bottineau County, North Dakota. Commenting on the success of the well, the company's CEO Thomas Cunnington, stated, "We are very pleased with the preliminary results of the well." He added that the well went on production the beginning of August 2005. Ward Williston has developed a drilling program that will allow drilling beneath the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge and under the Souris River into a virgin reservoir. Ward Williston is working in cooperation with the Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management on the project. "Drilling isn't what it used to be," said Cunnington. "Technology has begun to play a major role in the drilling process," she said....
Lush River Struggles to Survive The San Pedro has been a life-giving river for thousands of years, archeologists believe, its lush banks providing a desert refuge for travelers since Francisco Vasquez de Coronado passed by in 1540 on his quest for the seven cities of gold. Today, however, the Spanish explorer would find the San Pedro's welcome wearing thin. Renowned for its wealth of wildlife and as one of the Southwest's last free-flowing rivers, the San Pedro has begun to dry up. Last month, a measuring instrument placed at the river's high-water mark failed to register any flow for the first time in 70 years. "When the water goes at the Charleston gauge, it's the last bastion, so to speak," said Tom Maddock, head of the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology and Water Resources in Tucson. "My feeling is that we are just watching the demise of another river system. We might be able to save it for a while, but this river is going to go." Until now, the gauge, just east of Sierra Vista, had marked the deepest, lushest section of the river....
PETA uses semi-nude woman to protest circus The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put on a display in downtown Des Moines today (Tuesday) to protest the upcoming visit of a circus. Katy Robertson, an actress from South Africa, posed semi-nude in front of a sign decrying cruelty to circus animals. Robertson (shown in above photo) had chains on her legs and arms and fake stripes placed on her bare back to simulate the whip marks trainers inflict on their animals. She says she "exposed a little skin to expose the cruelty to circus animals." She says, "I'm proud of doing this, and it's the most worthwhile thing I could be doing." Robertson posed in front of a sign that says "circus animals are shackled, lonely and beaten." She says she wants people to chose an "animal free circus."....
USDA proposes to ease mad cow ban on Japan beef The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday proposed allowing imports of Japan's Kobe beef, easing a nearly four-year ban imposed because of mad cow disease concerns. An activist farm group criticized the proposed rule, saying the USDA was sacrificing U.S. food safety to appease the Japanese government. "We are having to compromise our health and safety standards in order to restore that market," said Bill Bullard, chief executive of ranchers group R-CALF USA. The United States banned Japanese beef imports after the Asian country discovered its first case of mad cow disease in September 2001. Japan has found more than a dozen new cases since then. Japan took similar action after the United States found its first case of the brain-wasting disease in a Washington state dairy cow in December 2003. As part of a trade pact reached last October, the USDA agreed to conduct a risk assessment on Japan's Kobe beef with a view to resume imports so both countries can reopen their borders in tandem....
Ranch dogs exhibit talent Most handlers won't take a stock dog to trials unless he has first proved his worth on the ranch. But once the dog has exhibited the finesse and obedience at home, he learns to love showing off in the arena. "On my place, they've got to be a ranch dog before a trial dog," handler and Aladdin rancher Gerald Bunney explained, one hand caressing border collie Ladd's head. "They've got to earn their keep." After four years on the ranch, Ladd has demonstrated the qualities Bunney seeks in a stock dog. The border collie is keen but obedient, strong around cattle yet anxious to heed his handler's commands....
The Legend Of The Apache Kid General George Crook had hit on the idea of using Apaches to fight Apaches. He had enlisted Apaches from San Carlos and other reservations to serve as scouts. These enlisted Apaches could read sign and could locate the trails their outlaw relatives traveled. They could also lead the army to waterholes that were known only to the Apache. More than any other factor, these Apache scouts caused the breakup of the Apache war clans that had ravaged the country for so long. General Nelson Miles had replaced General Crook by the time Geronimo agreed to surrender in Skeleton Canyon in southeastern Arizona in 1886. Miles's plan was to deliver the outlaw Apaches to the closest railhead and send them to confinement in Florida. Miles also devised the terrible plan to disarm the Apache scouts and send them to the Florida prison, too. Why Miles chose to repay the faithfulness of the scouts with this sort of treachery will never be known, but his foolish move brought about many more years of terror for the settlers and spawned the legend of the Apache Kid....
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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Use of anti-racketeering law costs attorneys Lawyers who leveled racketeering allegations last year against three U.S. Forest Service employees and a Big Bear-area environmentalist were sanctioned Monday in federal court for filing a frivolous lawsuit, attorneys said. Wayne Rosenbaum and Suzanne Washington of Foley and Lardner, a San Diego-based firm, will have to pay attorneys fees and costs amounting to $267,000, according to Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. Jon Wilson, who heads litigation for Foley and Lardner, said the firm plans to appeal. The suit, filed on behalf of developers of a disputed condominium project in Fawnskin, was the first known attempt by builders to use the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to combat opposition to such a project....
Frogs trump fish ANGLERS can expect to get skunked at some Sierra lakes this summer as crews kill trout to protect a rare frog. Officials are eliminating the prized game fish from 22 lakes, mainly in and around Sequoia National Park and the Eastern Sierra. The fish eat mountain yellow-legged frogs and their tadpoles, pushing the amphibian closer to the endangered species list. The frogs have declined by at least 80% since the 1950s. For anglers, the fish-removal program puts their conservation credentials to the test. While some say losing a few trout to save nature is a fair exchange, others fear it's the beginning of the end for high-country fishing. "It makes no sense killing trout to save frogs. It's environmentalism gone too far," says Tom Raftican, president of United Anglers of Southern California. For years, Bob Tanner has been taking anglers to fish via his Red's Meadow Pack Train near Mammoth Lakes. He says his clients ride mules into the high country to fish; they surely won't come for frogs. He fears too many environmental restrictions will hurt his business....
Judge Halts Oil and Gas Lease Extensions Off California Coast A federal judge on Friday barred the government from extending 37 undeveloped oil and gas leases off California's coast, declaring that the government improperly considered risks to the ocean and marine life. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled from the bench in Oakland federal court even before issuing a written opinion because if she had waited, the government could have extended the leases as early as today. The judge's ruling came one day after the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Thursday to reject the proposal to extend the leases by the Mineral Management Service (MMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Interior. Still, the MMS could have extended the leases over the commission's objection. Attorneys for 10 conservation groups that sued to block the agency hailed the judge's decision....
Nesting Of Endangered Birds Suspends Rail-Line Construction Work on the North County Transit District's Sprinter track will be put on hold through Sept. 15, when the nesting season ends for an endangered species of birds that has taken over the construction area. Biologists discovered the least Bell's vireo this spring and continue to monitor a three-mile section of the train track inhabited by the nesting birds, North County Transit District spokesman Tom Kelleher said Friday. Sprinter construction crews were scheduled this summer to install drainage pipes and a basin to collect overflow from the nearby Loma Alta Creek. Work cannot resume until the birds leave the area, Kelleher said....
Editorial: Land mismanagement A CAPTIVE REGULATOR is one that has so thoroughly internalized the priorities of the industry it is supposed to be regulating that it acts more like a lobbyist than a watchdog. The Bureau of Land Management has managed to give this venerable Washington tradition a new twist: instead of merely acceding to industry's wishes, it has hired industry consultants. The BLM is facing a severe backlog in processing applications for oil and gas drilling, which have more than tripled to nearly 6,400 in the last five years. This year, the office in Vernal, Utah, the agency's second-busiest, allowed an oil and gas industry group to "donate" some experts to help review projects. The result was predictable: A report that was favorable to industry. After environmentalists and other federal agencies protested, the BLM had to withdraw it. Chronic understaffing is a problem at the BLM. But the response should not be to ask consultants from the National Foxes Assn. to help design a henhouse management plan. The BLM should have funds adequate to protect the public interest....
N.M. Lawmakers to Consider Landowner Protection Against Oil, Gas Firms Legislators were urged Thursday to consider offering some kind of protection for landowners when they have disputes with oil or gas companies drilling on their property. Mark Fesmire, director of the state's Oil Conservation Division, told members of the Legislative Finance Committee that "split estates", where the mineral rights are held by one person and the land ownership rights by another, is one of the most pressing issues facing his department. Under the law as it stands now, owners of the mineral rights are allowed to use as much land as is "reasonably necessary." Land owners are not entitled to compensation for damage done during drilling, except for that caused by negligence, Fesmire said. That has caused problems for some, like San Juan County rancher Tim Gomez. "Some of them are really good and try to work with the ranchers, and some of them aren't," Gomez said. "We should come up with some kind of fair-market value for damage done to the property. "A lot of these companies feel like they've got the rights to drill, and they just walk all over you." A bill was introduced in the Legislature last year by Rep. Andy Nunez, D-Hatch, that would have been the most restrictive in the nation toward oil and gas companies, Fesmire said....
Otero Mesa fight pits state officials against each other New Mexico's Commissioner of Public Lands, Patrick Lyons, on Monday sought to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the governor and attorney general to restrict development on Otero Mesa. Lyons, a Republican, filed a motion today to join the federal Bureau of Land Management in its efforts to open the region to natural gas and oil development. Gov. Bill Richardson and New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who sued the BLM in federal court to limit development there, are Democrats. The land commissioner said he supports responsible energy exploration and development on the mesa "under tight controls proposed by the BLM," according to a news release from Lyons' office. The motion to intervene would allow the land commissioner to be a party in the lawsuit and to join the federal agency in its "fight against the governor and attorney general."....
Residents seek to deflect plan to boost Front Range drilling Farmers, ranchers and real-estate developers on Monday urged the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to reject a plan to increase oil and natural-gas drilling in Weld and Adams counties. About 75 landowners told members of the commission that increased drilling could lead to a range of problems - from interference with crop irrigation to plummeting property values. "The more you chop it up, it's like someone reaching into your retirement account and taking a $10,000 bill out," said Linda Shoeneman, who owns property near Roggen. Under a proposal before the commission, energy companies EnCana Corp., Kerr-McGee Corp. and Noble Energy Inc. are seeking to drill more wells in an area roughly bounded by Byers to the east, Interstate 25 to the west, Denver International Airport to the south and Fort Collins to the north. Lance Astrella, an attorney for the landowners, said the plan would allow companies to drill a well on every 20 acres instead of the currently permitted 40 acres....
Legislative Action On Trust Land Reform Hinted Backers of a new state trust land reform ballot initiative say their package avoids the pitfalls of previously unsuccessful measures, but lawmakers who say they were left out of the process are suggesting that a legislative solution might be necessary. The proposed constitutional change, dubbed Conserving Arizona’s Future, has three primary aims. If enough signatures are gathered to place it on the November 2006 general election ballot, and if a majority of voters who vote on it approve, the initiative would set aside 694,000 acres for conservation, provide state and local authorities with the power to limit and control development and guarantee a funding stream for public education. The initiative establishes a board of trustees to oversee transactions and provides funding for the Arizona Land Department from a percentage of the proceeds of trust land sales, making the agency more self-sufficient and less dependent on the state General Fund....
Ancient floor a work of nature, not nurture The 67-year-old western Colorado mystery of the cellar with a tiled floor has an explanation now, and the Western Investigations Team has a new notch in its belt. The solution is that the seeming inlaid-tile floor discovered in 1937 by Collbran-area rancher Tom Kenney was one of nature's little twists. It was not, as had been speculated, placed and fitted by man thousands of years before. Rather, it was the handiwork of nature. For years, though, said members of the investigations team made up of the Museum of Western Colorado and Mesa State College, the tiled floor was the stuff of archaeological dreams....
Editorial: N.M. makes a stand at border New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson took an extraordinary step last week, declaring a state of emergency in four Mexico border counties, areas crippled by the burgeoning effects of illegal immigration. His move not only needles the federal government for its ineffective immigration policy, but it sounds the call for national reform. Congress is in its August recess but could take up immigration legislation when it returns. Richardson, however, isn't waiting. Fresh from a helicopter and ground tour of the area near Columbus, N.M., the Democratic governor last week declared in an executive order that the region has been "devastated by the ravages and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnapping, murder, destruction of property and the death of livestock." The immigration issue seems to be moving to a boiling point in this country, and Richardson's voice, as a Democrat and Hispanic, is a welcome addition to the call for sensible reform....
It's All Trew: What a smoker smokes can reveal personality I venture to guess that almost every family history contains one or more members who seemed to always be smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe. For some reason, smoking a cigar or pipe seemed different from smoking a cigarette. My grandfather Charley Trew was a devout Christian yet smoked a Roi Tan cigar once a week during his favorite Sunday-morning church radio broadcast. I can still smell the cigar odor and see grandma fanning to clear the air as she sat nearby piecing quilt tops. Remember the little square table in many houses with an ash tray and pipe holder on top? When you opened the small door the smell of blended tobacco contained in a press-top can was presented. In addition to the tobacco humidor other smoking aids might be present....
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Use of anti-racketeering law costs attorneys Lawyers who leveled racketeering allegations last year against three U.S. Forest Service employees and a Big Bear-area environmentalist were sanctioned Monday in federal court for filing a frivolous lawsuit, attorneys said. Wayne Rosenbaum and Suzanne Washington of Foley and Lardner, a San Diego-based firm, will have to pay attorneys fees and costs amounting to $267,000, according to Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. Jon Wilson, who heads litigation for Foley and Lardner, said the firm plans to appeal. The suit, filed on behalf of developers of a disputed condominium project in Fawnskin, was the first known attempt by builders to use the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to combat opposition to such a project....
Frogs trump fish ANGLERS can expect to get skunked at some Sierra lakes this summer as crews kill trout to protect a rare frog. Officials are eliminating the prized game fish from 22 lakes, mainly in and around Sequoia National Park and the Eastern Sierra. The fish eat mountain yellow-legged frogs and their tadpoles, pushing the amphibian closer to the endangered species list. The frogs have declined by at least 80% since the 1950s. For anglers, the fish-removal program puts their conservation credentials to the test. While some say losing a few trout to save nature is a fair exchange, others fear it's the beginning of the end for high-country fishing. "It makes no sense killing trout to save frogs. It's environmentalism gone too far," says Tom Raftican, president of United Anglers of Southern California. For years, Bob Tanner has been taking anglers to fish via his Red's Meadow Pack Train near Mammoth Lakes. He says his clients ride mules into the high country to fish; they surely won't come for frogs. He fears too many environmental restrictions will hurt his business....
Judge Halts Oil and Gas Lease Extensions Off California Coast A federal judge on Friday barred the government from extending 37 undeveloped oil and gas leases off California's coast, declaring that the government improperly considered risks to the ocean and marine life. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled from the bench in Oakland federal court even before issuing a written opinion because if she had waited, the government could have extended the leases as early as today. The judge's ruling came one day after the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Thursday to reject the proposal to extend the leases by the Mineral Management Service (MMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Interior. Still, the MMS could have extended the leases over the commission's objection. Attorneys for 10 conservation groups that sued to block the agency hailed the judge's decision....
Nesting Of Endangered Birds Suspends Rail-Line Construction Work on the North County Transit District's Sprinter track will be put on hold through Sept. 15, when the nesting season ends for an endangered species of birds that has taken over the construction area. Biologists discovered the least Bell's vireo this spring and continue to monitor a three-mile section of the train track inhabited by the nesting birds, North County Transit District spokesman Tom Kelleher said Friday. Sprinter construction crews were scheduled this summer to install drainage pipes and a basin to collect overflow from the nearby Loma Alta Creek. Work cannot resume until the birds leave the area, Kelleher said....
Editorial: Land mismanagement A CAPTIVE REGULATOR is one that has so thoroughly internalized the priorities of the industry it is supposed to be regulating that it acts more like a lobbyist than a watchdog. The Bureau of Land Management has managed to give this venerable Washington tradition a new twist: instead of merely acceding to industry's wishes, it has hired industry consultants. The BLM is facing a severe backlog in processing applications for oil and gas drilling, which have more than tripled to nearly 6,400 in the last five years. This year, the office in Vernal, Utah, the agency's second-busiest, allowed an oil and gas industry group to "donate" some experts to help review projects. The result was predictable: A report that was favorable to industry. After environmentalists and other federal agencies protested, the BLM had to withdraw it. Chronic understaffing is a problem at the BLM. But the response should not be to ask consultants from the National Foxes Assn. to help design a henhouse management plan. The BLM should have funds adequate to protect the public interest....
N.M. Lawmakers to Consider Landowner Protection Against Oil, Gas Firms Legislators were urged Thursday to consider offering some kind of protection for landowners when they have disputes with oil or gas companies drilling on their property. Mark Fesmire, director of the state's Oil Conservation Division, told members of the Legislative Finance Committee that "split estates", where the mineral rights are held by one person and the land ownership rights by another, is one of the most pressing issues facing his department. Under the law as it stands now, owners of the mineral rights are allowed to use as much land as is "reasonably necessary." Land owners are not entitled to compensation for damage done during drilling, except for that caused by negligence, Fesmire said. That has caused problems for some, like San Juan County rancher Tim Gomez. "Some of them are really good and try to work with the ranchers, and some of them aren't," Gomez said. "We should come up with some kind of fair-market value for damage done to the property. "A lot of these companies feel like they've got the rights to drill, and they just walk all over you." A bill was introduced in the Legislature last year by Rep. Andy Nunez, D-Hatch, that would have been the most restrictive in the nation toward oil and gas companies, Fesmire said....
Otero Mesa fight pits state officials against each other New Mexico's Commissioner of Public Lands, Patrick Lyons, on Monday sought to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the governor and attorney general to restrict development on Otero Mesa. Lyons, a Republican, filed a motion today to join the federal Bureau of Land Management in its efforts to open the region to natural gas and oil development. Gov. Bill Richardson and New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who sued the BLM in federal court to limit development there, are Democrats. The land commissioner said he supports responsible energy exploration and development on the mesa "under tight controls proposed by the BLM," according to a news release from Lyons' office. The motion to intervene would allow the land commissioner to be a party in the lawsuit and to join the federal agency in its "fight against the governor and attorney general."....
Residents seek to deflect plan to boost Front Range drilling Farmers, ranchers and real-estate developers on Monday urged the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to reject a plan to increase oil and natural-gas drilling in Weld and Adams counties. About 75 landowners told members of the commission that increased drilling could lead to a range of problems - from interference with crop irrigation to plummeting property values. "The more you chop it up, it's like someone reaching into your retirement account and taking a $10,000 bill out," said Linda Shoeneman, who owns property near Roggen. Under a proposal before the commission, energy companies EnCana Corp., Kerr-McGee Corp. and Noble Energy Inc. are seeking to drill more wells in an area roughly bounded by Byers to the east, Interstate 25 to the west, Denver International Airport to the south and Fort Collins to the north. Lance Astrella, an attorney for the landowners, said the plan would allow companies to drill a well on every 20 acres instead of the currently permitted 40 acres....
Legislative Action On Trust Land Reform Hinted Backers of a new state trust land reform ballot initiative say their package avoids the pitfalls of previously unsuccessful measures, but lawmakers who say they were left out of the process are suggesting that a legislative solution might be necessary. The proposed constitutional change, dubbed Conserving Arizona’s Future, has three primary aims. If enough signatures are gathered to place it on the November 2006 general election ballot, and if a majority of voters who vote on it approve, the initiative would set aside 694,000 acres for conservation, provide state and local authorities with the power to limit and control development and guarantee a funding stream for public education. The initiative establishes a board of trustees to oversee transactions and provides funding for the Arizona Land Department from a percentage of the proceeds of trust land sales, making the agency more self-sufficient and less dependent on the state General Fund....
Ancient floor a work of nature, not nurture The 67-year-old western Colorado mystery of the cellar with a tiled floor has an explanation now, and the Western Investigations Team has a new notch in its belt. The solution is that the seeming inlaid-tile floor discovered in 1937 by Collbran-area rancher Tom Kenney was one of nature's little twists. It was not, as had been speculated, placed and fitted by man thousands of years before. Rather, it was the handiwork of nature. For years, though, said members of the investigations team made up of the Museum of Western Colorado and Mesa State College, the tiled floor was the stuff of archaeological dreams....
Editorial: N.M. makes a stand at border New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson took an extraordinary step last week, declaring a state of emergency in four Mexico border counties, areas crippled by the burgeoning effects of illegal immigration. His move not only needles the federal government for its ineffective immigration policy, but it sounds the call for national reform. Congress is in its August recess but could take up immigration legislation when it returns. Richardson, however, isn't waiting. Fresh from a helicopter and ground tour of the area near Columbus, N.M., the Democratic governor last week declared in an executive order that the region has been "devastated by the ravages and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnapping, murder, destruction of property and the death of livestock." The immigration issue seems to be moving to a boiling point in this country, and Richardson's voice, as a Democrat and Hispanic, is a welcome addition to the call for sensible reform....
It's All Trew: What a smoker smokes can reveal personality I venture to guess that almost every family history contains one or more members who seemed to always be smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe. For some reason, smoking a cigar or pipe seemed different from smoking a cigarette. My grandfather Charley Trew was a devout Christian yet smoked a Roi Tan cigar once a week during his favorite Sunday-morning church radio broadcast. I can still smell the cigar odor and see grandma fanning to clear the air as she sat nearby piecing quilt tops. Remember the little square table in many houses with an ash tray and pipe holder on top? When you opened the small door the smell of blended tobacco contained in a press-top can was presented. In addition to the tobacco humidor other smoking aids might be present....
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Monday, August 15, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Ranch's Easement Spawns Controversy With a rugged grandeur that harks to the Old West, Las Tablas Ranch embraces more than 10 square miles of oak-draped hills and rolling pastures. The cattle ranch is 20 miles west of here, near Lake Nacimiento, where vineyards and home construction have been consuming open space and oak woodlands. So neighbors and local conservationists were much relieved when the owners, the family of rancher Mike Bonnheim, signed an agreement a few years ago to forever protect most of their land from development. But soon they were startled and dismayed to hear the piercing whine of chain saws and see pallets of freshly cut and split oak trucked from the ranch, bound for firewood markets. Veesart's criticism is part of the nationwide debate over how best to structure and police conservation easements to ensure that natural resources are protected and that the public dollars that often help underwrite the easements are well spent. The easements have become an important tool for preserving land and habitat while keeping it in private hands. But abuses and weaknesses, including spotty monitoring, have emerged with the rapid expansion of easements, which cover millions of acres across the country that are supposed to be supervised by thousands of private land trusts....
100 years of grazing ends on national forest About a century of cattle grazing has ended on more than 24,000 acres south of Eagar and Springerville in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest as a result of an agreement the Arizona Elk Society negotiated with ranchers and the U.S. Forest Service. The deal opens the way for extensive environmental restoration and better hiking, hunting and fishing opportunities, said Gilbert resident John Koleszar, vice president of the Arizona Elk Society. Without cattle dominating the landscape, restoration can be done more easily, said Apache-Sitgreaves Forest Service biologist Vicente Ordoñez. It will enable officials "to address a lot of ecosystem issues," said Bob Broscheid, head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s habitat management program. The Arizona Elk Society paid about $315,000 to compensate the ranching family with the biggest interest in the area’s Burro Creek grazing allotment. The Forest Service gave other ranchers better grazing lands in exchange for their pastures in the area, said John MacIvor, chief ranger for the Apache-Sitgreaves forest’s Springerville District....
Column: Ranchers denied due process in courtroom Last week's ruling by Judge Lynn B. Winmill, which will force ranchers in Southeastern Idaho to remove cattle from their grazing allotments in the middle of the season, is seen as one of the most egregious examples of due process violations by property rights advocates. "This Judge ignored current studies conducted by BLM experts and denied the affected parties a fair hearing, in order to justify a ruling that promotes the environmental organization's radical goal of eliminating productive use of the federal lands," commented Fred Grant, litigation chairman of Stewards of the Range. The organization points out that Winmill's handling of the case clearly favors anti-grazing environmental groups, and illustrates how one-sided the judicial process can be on resource issues. The ranchers did try to intervene, as judicial rules allow, but were blocked from exercising their full rights by the judge. "They were allowed to intervene, but only as to the issue of whether an injunction should be issued, not with evidence as to the merits of the case which shows that sage grouse are not declining in the County. Winmill based his decision on information collected over two decades ago," Grant explained....
Forests' Recreational Value Is Scaled Back Forest Service officials have scaled back their assessment of how much recreation on national forest land contributes to the American economy, concluding that these activities generate just a tenth of what the Clinton administration estimated. Under President Clinton, the Forest Service projected that by 2000, recreation in U.S. forests would contribute nearly $111 billion to the nation's annual gross domestic product, or GDP. Bush administration officials, by contrast, have determined that in 2002 these activities generated about $11 billion. Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System, said the revised numbers may spur the administration to shift some of its recreation dollars within the system but will not prompt it to downgrade activities such as hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching....
Bill would raise pay for federal firefighters Federal firefighters would receive 24-hour pay when assigned to battle wildfires under proposed legislation that is being opposed by the Bush administration. "It's a very, very tough job," said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who led a congressional subcommittee hearing Friday to explore the issue of compensation for federal firefighters. "I want to make sure they are compensated properly." House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., introduced legislation in January that would provide "portal-to-portal" compensation to pay firefighters from the time they leave the fire station for a wildfire until they return....
A stain on the land The route up to Mount of the Holy Cross through its namesake wilderness area is lined with a rainbow of blue columbine, magenta fireweed and golden aster - and now, thanks to a spray-can-wielding itinerant, white paint. Officials at the U.S. Forest Service recently learned that an unknown vandal has marked dozens of rocks and even a tree trunk with 2-foot-long painted arrows to mark a little-used descent route on one of the most revered and beloved of Colorado's fourteeners, the 54 peaks that are 14,000 feet or higher. "For over 100 years, people thought of this place as pristine, so the damage cuts to the core of the basic concept of wilderness," said Beth Boyst, wilderness specialist for the White River National Forest....
Appeals court puts stop to Elkhorn logging plan A federal appeals court has halted a logging and burning project on 655 acres in the Elkhorn Mountains southwest of here, citing Helena National Forest miscalculations in hiding cover for elk that broke federal laws. This week's decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a lower federal court ruling giving a green light to the proposal last year. Forest officials were dismayed by the decision, but the head of one of two environmental groups that sued to stop the work said she was thrilled. "We look forward to working with the Helena National Forest in coming up with management options that truly reflect wildlife and recreational values in the Elkhorns," said Sara Johnson, of the Native Ecosystems Council in Three Forks. Johnson's group argued the logging would destroy big-game cover and harm songbirds....
Rules streamline ski-area planning Most of Colorado's large ski areas are revising their master plans for future development under a new Forest Service policy that eliminates intensive environmental reviews during the early stages of planning. All four Aspen ski areas, as well as all resorts in Summit and Eagle counties, are working on their plans, said Ed Ryberg, the Forest Service's regional winter sports administrator. Steamboat just completed an update, while Crested Butte and Durango Mountain Resort also are laying out changes, Ryberg said. The aim is to cut through regulatory gridlock, Ryberg said, describing a process that can end up being a "massive waste of time and money." But cutting upfront environmental studies could be controversial, as watchdog groups have criticized resort expansions for chipping away at important wildlife habitat....
Hunt is on for rare, wild huckleberry The Cambodian and Laotian pickers from California arrived in mid-July. Then came the caravans of migrant workers from Eastern Washington. Soon, women and children from the Yakama Nation showed up. The annual huckleberry hunt is on in these forests and fields south and west of Mount Adams, where some of the region's sweetest and juiciest berries are found. The surging demand is creating conflicts among Native Americans, commercial pickers and families who visit their favorite fields each year to collect enough of the sweet-tart fruit for pies and jams. The Forest Service is scrambling to figure out how to manage the limited berry supply, which also is a favorite food for the black bears that prowl these woods....
Column: Oil and gas exploration: Short-term gains, long-term loss In the age of $2.50 for a gallon of gas, the fever for wholesale drilling for oil and gas on public lands has reached new levels. Nowhere is this more evident than the environs around Strawberry Reservoir. At this time, leases on Uinta National Forest lands in the Strawberry basin and the Diamond Fork drainage are slated for sale by the Bureau of Land Management. Many of these leases are for exploration and development of gas and oil reserves in roadless areas, in regions important for big game herds, along spawning tributaries for Strawberry cutthroat trout, and in the Diamond Fork watershed which is inhabited by Bonneville cutthroats, a trout listed as "sensitive" by the state. In addition to the Forest Service land leases, an exploration agreement is being negotiated without the public's knowledge or participation for the land immediately surrounding (and conceivably under) the reservoir itself....
Company looks at 'mat' drilling Conservationists and oil and gas industry officials are optimistic about a proposal to experiment with "mat" drilling in the Jonah natural gas field near Pinedale. The technique refers to overlaying mats on the ground instead of building roads and well pads directly into the soil. While the practice compacts soil and vegetation, it does not dig vegetation up or remove topsoil, as is the common practice. Jeff Johnson, production team leader for the Jonah Field for EnCana Oil and Gas Inc., said a pilot project testing the system may lead to widespread use on the field....
2 leave BLM group Two members have left a federal group that advises the Bureau of Land Management on natural gas development in southwest Wyoming. Kirby Hedrick was the latest member of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group to leave. He resigned last week, saying the BLM was not listening to the group's advice. The BLM set up the 9-member group to help oversee drilling activity in the gas-rich Pinedale Anticline area and how it affects water, air, wildlife and the economy. "I think (all this) has taken a toll on the group's morale, and I fear we still may lose more members," Linda Baker, who chairs the group, said. "I feel as if we've been disenfranchised."....
Group seeks outside help A federal group advising the Bureau of Land Management on energy development in the gas-rich Pinedale Anticline will bring in a facilitator for the next meeting, officials said. "We decided because nobody was really opposed to it that we would go ahead and try it, but we're not committing to it," Pinedale Anticline Working Group Chairwoman Linda Baker said. She said the nine-member group -- now short two members -- will employ the services of facilitator Dick Gross of the North Dakota-based Consensus Council at its Oct. 25 meeting in Pinedale. BLM Pinedale Field Manager Prill Mecham suggested the group consider using a facilitator as a way to keep focused on the goal of studying monitoring and mitigation in the anticline and making recommendations to the agency on possible changes....
Oil Leases Endanger Brant, Coalition Says An 11-state organization that helps manage migratory birds is urging federal land managers to back off a plan to expand oil and gas leasing on the tundra north of Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The land is vital to black brant, a goose whose population is in steep decline and now stands at a record low, according to a letter from the Pacific Flyway Council to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The worry is that drilling, roads and other industry activity could disturb the geese at a critical time when they're trying to feed and grow new feathers, worsening their decline, the letter says. Already, regulators are imposing drastic cutbacks on sport and subsistence hunting in Alaska, down the West Coast and into Mexico to protect the brant, the letter adds....
Roaring Back A close encounter with a grizzly bear in a bad mood is a terrifying thing. The monstrous beasts can weigh in at nearly 900 lbs. and stand more than 9 ft. tall when they rear up on their hind legs, brandishing their 5-in. claws. And unlike many wild animals, grizzlies are not more afraid of you than you are of them. Unless you're carrying a powerful gun when you meet one, there's a reasonable chance you will end up as lunch--as anyone seeing Werner Herzog's new documentary, Grizzly Man, will learn in particularly gruesome fashion. But while it's no contest when a bear meets an unarmed human, the same goes in reverse when humans move en masse into bear habitat. That's why the grizzly, which roamed the American West by the tens of thousands before white settlers arrived--and which still has a population of several thousand in Alaska and Canada--eventually saw its numbers dwindle to just a few isolated populations of a few hundred bears apiece in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. It's also why the bear was formally put under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act in 1975....
Dog owners wary of wolves As Wisconsin’s timber wolf population expands, attacks on hunting dogs have become more frequent, particularly in the northern half of the state where the bulk of wolf habitat lies. “Since 1986, when the first claim was filed, we’ve had 82 dogs killed by wolves and 27 injured that we know of,” said Adrian Wydeven, Department of Natural Resources wolf expert. “We paid for most of those claims, but there were a few cases when people did not request payment. “As of the end of June, we had paid $144,200 for the 82 dogs killed and about $10,000 for veterinarian bills, most of it for dogs but for other animals as well.” Hunting dog fatalities were infrequent until the mid-1990s....
Gov't cuts back Pacific salmon habitat The federal government has cut back the critical habitat for 19 species of threatened and endangered Pacific salmon, arguing that an earlier designation demanded by environmentalists was poorly executed and that voluntary habitat improvements will work better. The move announced Friday reduces the miles of protected river in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California by 80 percent - from 167,700 miles to 33,300. In those areas, activities such as logging, construction and livestock grazing is restricted to avoid disturbing the stream beds where the salmon migrate and spawn. NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for bringing more than two dozen salmon and steelhead species in the Northwest and California back from the danger of extinction, agreed to revise the habitats after being sued by the National Association of Home Builders for failing to include an economic impact analysis when they were set. The new designation includes only rivers salmon currently occupy, and it identifies whether a portion of a river is used for spawning or just migration, which will help in determining whether a nearby project could harm the fish....
Access to the water The 1980s lapel buttons had been stored for years in Tom Bugni's home, leftovers from the successful campaign for a Montana law guaranteeing public access to streams for fishing and floating. But this summer, Bugni retrieved the Montana Coalition for Stream Access buttons, handing them out to some of the dozens of people who descended on the Ruby River in southwestern Montana last month to reassert the public's right to be on the water. They rafted about 10 miles, passing through private land where access to the Ruby is under dispute -- some fishing lodges advertise the Ruby as a "private river" -- even as the stream access law marks its 20th anniversary. Reduced to its simplest, the statute says that even where they flow through private land, Montana's rivers and streams are open to all if reached from public property; the land between the normal high-water marks belongs to the public. The law has been challenged in court with little success and continues to provide fodder for politicians....
Red-letter day for Animas-La Plata Thirty-seven years ago Congress approved construction of the Animas-La Plata Project, a settlement of American Indian water-right claims. On Friday, a ceremony marked the raising of the dam at Ridges Basin where 120,000 acre-feet of water eventually will be stored for three tribes and other water users. The dam is slated for completion in 2008. Two hundred people gathered at the dam site southwest of Durango to watch workers spread three loads of impervious clay on the excavated floor of the reservoir as a symbol of the task ahead. A number of those in attendance have been involved in A-LP since the beginning. Members from the tribes gathered at the site earlier for a private blessing ceremony....
Midwest Drought Threatens Crops and Shuts River As the worst drought since 1988 has deepened across parts of the Midwest, low-water levels are doing more than just inconveniencing gamblers. They are turning parts of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers into virtual sandbars, causing towboats and barges to run aground and delaying shipments of petroleum products, coal, chemicals, agricultural goods and road-paving materials. The delays are threatening construction projects throughout the region, and the higher transportation costs could ultimately make this year's harvest of corn and other crops too expensive for some international markets, commodity analysts and barge-shipping officials said. "There is high anxiety that we are close to shutting down the river," said Lynn Muench, vice president for the mid-continent region of the American Waterways Operators, a trade group representing tugboat, towboat and barge operators. "This is looking as bad or worse than 1988." Her fear was realized on Friday, when the Coast Guard ordered a seven-mile stretch of the Ohio River closed, north of its intersection with the Mississippi River. The drought, which has mostly affected parts of Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, has also dried up wells, caused insect infestations and wreaked havoc on corn and soybean fields. A government report on Friday confirmed that corn in Illinois, the second-biggest producer after Iowa, had suffered irreversible harm, with production down 12 percent from last year's record harvest....
Environmentalists Uncertain on Roberts (subscription) The environmental community looks at Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as something of a chameleon. As a result, it is having a hard time deciding how green he is and whether to join other liberal groups in opposing his nomination to the Supreme Court. As a private lawyer, he won a big case for environmentalists that slowed development in Lake Tahoe. As a judge, he later issued an opinion on the Endangered Species Act considered troubling to supporters of that measure. Doug Kendall of Community Rights Council, an environmental-law organization that helps to rate judicial nominees' green credentials, worked on the Lake Tahoe case that blocked development for years while a preservation plan was completed. He says Judge Roberts "wrote the best brief I've ever read." Yet he's "pretty skeptical" about whether Judge Roberts would be an ally on the court....
Roberts no stranger to environmental issues Supreme Court nominee John Roberts once offered the National Mining Association some unpaid advice on how to intervene in other people's court cases. Two years later he was hired by the group to argue against a citizens group trying to stop coal companies from shearing off the tops of West Virginia's mountains. That relationship is among a number of situations where Roberts - as a government lawyer, private attorney and federal appeals judge - has become involved in environmental issues. His critics say he tended generally to side with the views of industry. "He defers to economic interests over the public health, to executive agencies over the Congress, and to secrecy over the public's right-to-know," complains Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, a major environmental protection group. "He's always tweaking the facts to the benefit of insiders."....
Mexico, the epic narrative Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel, "The Hummingbird's Daughter," is a masterpiece of storytelling. It is the sort of sweeping historical epic that looms before you like the deepest, darkest ocean, begging you to dive in and explore the vast and wild world below its surface. I eagerly took the plunge, and 500-plus pages later, I still haven't managed to come up for air. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to. In a body of work that already has garnered Urrea a Pulitzer Prize nomination, an American Book Award, a Lannan Literary Award and induction into the Latino Literary Hall of Fame, "The Hummingbird's Daughter" stands out as a profound and transcendent achievement....
Saddled up in the High Sierras As the violet twilight settled over the Marie Lakes and the Ritter Range, a bunch of us would-be cowboys relaxed after a day in the saddle by lounging around a campfire . . . sipping Sierra Vista white. We'd spent the day on horses that knew to follow the John Muir Trail through the High Sierra wilderness. Now we were swapping tales and basking in luxury. We could hear the 12 horses and nine pack mules cropping nearby clumps of grass. Their steady chomping made a comforting sound. Our host/guide, Dave Dohnel, looked on with satisfaction. Life was good, indeed. What once was rough adventure pursued by men - and pretty much only men - of Muir's intrepid bent, now is a pleasurable experience geared to city folk. In fact, until our five-day horseback ride through California's highest mountain range, those at the campfire - a banker, a civil engineer, a Realtor, a teacher, a nurse, a police officer, a store manager and two journalists - were mostly tenderfoots, unskilled in the ways of the horse....
Seminoles become temporary cowboys By 10 a.m. it's so hot that calves may start dropping dead. Herd dogs are exhausted, which is too bad because rows of sweaty horses under sweaty riders could use the help. A 6-year-old boy swings a lasso and watches from horseback, ignored by dusty men still needing to catch, sort and ship 500 head by nightfall. Work is long, the pay lousy, but more people join in as the caravan heads to the next pasture. In a few hours, Seminole Indian women and children will prepare lunch for the ranchers, as they have for generations. The tribe no longer needs the cattle business to survive, but $300 million in casino profits hasn't erased centuries of tradition. For a few weeks each summer, Indians become cowboys, past becomes present and 60,000 acres become the place Seminoles celebrate their history, even as they brand cattle with computer chips and prepare for a high-tech future....
Humbling beauty There's an agelessness to Garfield County, in the slickrock, the forested mountains and the grand sweep of the Escalante Canyons. So it is with Veda's face, her hands. She's like the land, weathered, strong and beautiful. If chance takes you to Veda's garden, you can see: She's 90 years old, shelling peas on her front porch after tending to squash that sits hard by the gladioluses, the corn she's "venturing" on this year in hopes the deer won't get at it. Veda Behunin. Born on Boulder Mountain, instructed by a ranching family of 14 that worked like hell every day. The kids rode horses five miles to school at a time when the world consisted of log cabins, cattle, hunting and fishing, raising children and stopping from time to time to dance....
Open range suits this ranch regular just fine In this quiet little ranching town east of Abilene, actor Robert Duvall once caused a stir at Dairy Queen. Prior to filming the movie Open Range with Kevin Costner, Duvall was interviewing a real cowboy about cattle drives and chuck wagons. Johnnie Hudman set up the interview. Hudman has been mistaken for a real cowboy, himself. He has a deep voice, a quick wit and a repertoire of classic yarns. His skin is cured by exposure to the relentless West Texas sun so it resembles the leather of a well-used saddle. You'd never suspect Hudman has a list of acquaintances that stretches to the White House. Hudman knows Duvall, President George W. Bush and most of his family, Gov. Rick Perry and a list of movers and shakers that goes beyond American shores. Hudman is the wildlife manager for Stasney's Cook Ranch, a 25,000-acre working ranch in Shackelford County....
Bolts mark rancher's life, love Carl Wendt will never forgive lightning for shocking him into letting go of his new bride's hand. And even half a century later, as he and Barbara near their golden anniversary, Baker County's summer storms still seem to hold a high-voltage grudge against their family. On the last day of July, a bolt blasted the ground between Carl Wendt, 78, and his son, Clint, 44, while they rode home after herding a neighbor's cattle off their ranch between Haines and North Powder. "To me, it looked like I was going to get hit right square between the eyes," said Carl Wendt, who was riding a four-wheeler about 100 yards from Clint, who was on horseback. "But neither one of us got even a tickle out of it." Once, though, lightning gave Carl quite a bit more than a tickle....
Baxter Black: Being mule-headed loftier than being stubborn Johnny was a mule man. That is a statement of fact and also the name of a poem I once wrote. To me, there are two sides to mule people: the brainy side and the stubborn side. They are deep thinkers mostly because they always feel the need to explain why they ride mules. This creates a natural stubbornness because mules are smarter than horses and mule people are indignant that everyone doesn't know that! Johnny liked mules because he wasn't comfortable with horses. He liked to look at them, but I think they were too frivolous, too "fragile" for him. He didn't have time for nuance - with animals or employees. I suspect, though he's long dead, he would lump the modern gentle horse training techniques in with "time outs" for undisciplined children, and investing in miniature cattle....
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Ranch's Easement Spawns Controversy With a rugged grandeur that harks to the Old West, Las Tablas Ranch embraces more than 10 square miles of oak-draped hills and rolling pastures. The cattle ranch is 20 miles west of here, near Lake Nacimiento, where vineyards and home construction have been consuming open space and oak woodlands. So neighbors and local conservationists were much relieved when the owners, the family of rancher Mike Bonnheim, signed an agreement a few years ago to forever protect most of their land from development. But soon they were startled and dismayed to hear the piercing whine of chain saws and see pallets of freshly cut and split oak trucked from the ranch, bound for firewood markets. Veesart's criticism is part of the nationwide debate over how best to structure and police conservation easements to ensure that natural resources are protected and that the public dollars that often help underwrite the easements are well spent. The easements have become an important tool for preserving land and habitat while keeping it in private hands. But abuses and weaknesses, including spotty monitoring, have emerged with the rapid expansion of easements, which cover millions of acres across the country that are supposed to be supervised by thousands of private land trusts....
100 years of grazing ends on national forest About a century of cattle grazing has ended on more than 24,000 acres south of Eagar and Springerville in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest as a result of an agreement the Arizona Elk Society negotiated with ranchers and the U.S. Forest Service. The deal opens the way for extensive environmental restoration and better hiking, hunting and fishing opportunities, said Gilbert resident John Koleszar, vice president of the Arizona Elk Society. Without cattle dominating the landscape, restoration can be done more easily, said Apache-Sitgreaves Forest Service biologist Vicente Ordoñez. It will enable officials "to address a lot of ecosystem issues," said Bob Broscheid, head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s habitat management program. The Arizona Elk Society paid about $315,000 to compensate the ranching family with the biggest interest in the area’s Burro Creek grazing allotment. The Forest Service gave other ranchers better grazing lands in exchange for their pastures in the area, said John MacIvor, chief ranger for the Apache-Sitgreaves forest’s Springerville District....
Column: Ranchers denied due process in courtroom Last week's ruling by Judge Lynn B. Winmill, which will force ranchers in Southeastern Idaho to remove cattle from their grazing allotments in the middle of the season, is seen as one of the most egregious examples of due process violations by property rights advocates. "This Judge ignored current studies conducted by BLM experts and denied the affected parties a fair hearing, in order to justify a ruling that promotes the environmental organization's radical goal of eliminating productive use of the federal lands," commented Fred Grant, litigation chairman of Stewards of the Range. The organization points out that Winmill's handling of the case clearly favors anti-grazing environmental groups, and illustrates how one-sided the judicial process can be on resource issues. The ranchers did try to intervene, as judicial rules allow, but were blocked from exercising their full rights by the judge. "They were allowed to intervene, but only as to the issue of whether an injunction should be issued, not with evidence as to the merits of the case which shows that sage grouse are not declining in the County. Winmill based his decision on information collected over two decades ago," Grant explained....
Forests' Recreational Value Is Scaled Back Forest Service officials have scaled back their assessment of how much recreation on national forest land contributes to the American economy, concluding that these activities generate just a tenth of what the Clinton administration estimated. Under President Clinton, the Forest Service projected that by 2000, recreation in U.S. forests would contribute nearly $111 billion to the nation's annual gross domestic product, or GDP. Bush administration officials, by contrast, have determined that in 2002 these activities generated about $11 billion. Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System, said the revised numbers may spur the administration to shift some of its recreation dollars within the system but will not prompt it to downgrade activities such as hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching....
Bill would raise pay for federal firefighters Federal firefighters would receive 24-hour pay when assigned to battle wildfires under proposed legislation that is being opposed by the Bush administration. "It's a very, very tough job," said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who led a congressional subcommittee hearing Friday to explore the issue of compensation for federal firefighters. "I want to make sure they are compensated properly." House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., introduced legislation in January that would provide "portal-to-portal" compensation to pay firefighters from the time they leave the fire station for a wildfire until they return....
A stain on the land The route up to Mount of the Holy Cross through its namesake wilderness area is lined with a rainbow of blue columbine, magenta fireweed and golden aster - and now, thanks to a spray-can-wielding itinerant, white paint. Officials at the U.S. Forest Service recently learned that an unknown vandal has marked dozens of rocks and even a tree trunk with 2-foot-long painted arrows to mark a little-used descent route on one of the most revered and beloved of Colorado's fourteeners, the 54 peaks that are 14,000 feet or higher. "For over 100 years, people thought of this place as pristine, so the damage cuts to the core of the basic concept of wilderness," said Beth Boyst, wilderness specialist for the White River National Forest....
Appeals court puts stop to Elkhorn logging plan A federal appeals court has halted a logging and burning project on 655 acres in the Elkhorn Mountains southwest of here, citing Helena National Forest miscalculations in hiding cover for elk that broke federal laws. This week's decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a lower federal court ruling giving a green light to the proposal last year. Forest officials were dismayed by the decision, but the head of one of two environmental groups that sued to stop the work said she was thrilled. "We look forward to working with the Helena National Forest in coming up with management options that truly reflect wildlife and recreational values in the Elkhorns," said Sara Johnson, of the Native Ecosystems Council in Three Forks. Johnson's group argued the logging would destroy big-game cover and harm songbirds....
Rules streamline ski-area planning Most of Colorado's large ski areas are revising their master plans for future development under a new Forest Service policy that eliminates intensive environmental reviews during the early stages of planning. All four Aspen ski areas, as well as all resorts in Summit and Eagle counties, are working on their plans, said Ed Ryberg, the Forest Service's regional winter sports administrator. Steamboat just completed an update, while Crested Butte and Durango Mountain Resort also are laying out changes, Ryberg said. The aim is to cut through regulatory gridlock, Ryberg said, describing a process that can end up being a "massive waste of time and money." But cutting upfront environmental studies could be controversial, as watchdog groups have criticized resort expansions for chipping away at important wildlife habitat....
Hunt is on for rare, wild huckleberry The Cambodian and Laotian pickers from California arrived in mid-July. Then came the caravans of migrant workers from Eastern Washington. Soon, women and children from the Yakama Nation showed up. The annual huckleberry hunt is on in these forests and fields south and west of Mount Adams, where some of the region's sweetest and juiciest berries are found. The surging demand is creating conflicts among Native Americans, commercial pickers and families who visit their favorite fields each year to collect enough of the sweet-tart fruit for pies and jams. The Forest Service is scrambling to figure out how to manage the limited berry supply, which also is a favorite food for the black bears that prowl these woods....
Column: Oil and gas exploration: Short-term gains, long-term loss In the age of $2.50 for a gallon of gas, the fever for wholesale drilling for oil and gas on public lands has reached new levels. Nowhere is this more evident than the environs around Strawberry Reservoir. At this time, leases on Uinta National Forest lands in the Strawberry basin and the Diamond Fork drainage are slated for sale by the Bureau of Land Management. Many of these leases are for exploration and development of gas and oil reserves in roadless areas, in regions important for big game herds, along spawning tributaries for Strawberry cutthroat trout, and in the Diamond Fork watershed which is inhabited by Bonneville cutthroats, a trout listed as "sensitive" by the state. In addition to the Forest Service land leases, an exploration agreement is being negotiated without the public's knowledge or participation for the land immediately surrounding (and conceivably under) the reservoir itself....
Company looks at 'mat' drilling Conservationists and oil and gas industry officials are optimistic about a proposal to experiment with "mat" drilling in the Jonah natural gas field near Pinedale. The technique refers to overlaying mats on the ground instead of building roads and well pads directly into the soil. While the practice compacts soil and vegetation, it does not dig vegetation up or remove topsoil, as is the common practice. Jeff Johnson, production team leader for the Jonah Field for EnCana Oil and Gas Inc., said a pilot project testing the system may lead to widespread use on the field....
2 leave BLM group Two members have left a federal group that advises the Bureau of Land Management on natural gas development in southwest Wyoming. Kirby Hedrick was the latest member of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group to leave. He resigned last week, saying the BLM was not listening to the group's advice. The BLM set up the 9-member group to help oversee drilling activity in the gas-rich Pinedale Anticline area and how it affects water, air, wildlife and the economy. "I think (all this) has taken a toll on the group's morale, and I fear we still may lose more members," Linda Baker, who chairs the group, said. "I feel as if we've been disenfranchised."....
Group seeks outside help A federal group advising the Bureau of Land Management on energy development in the gas-rich Pinedale Anticline will bring in a facilitator for the next meeting, officials said. "We decided because nobody was really opposed to it that we would go ahead and try it, but we're not committing to it," Pinedale Anticline Working Group Chairwoman Linda Baker said. She said the nine-member group -- now short two members -- will employ the services of facilitator Dick Gross of the North Dakota-based Consensus Council at its Oct. 25 meeting in Pinedale. BLM Pinedale Field Manager Prill Mecham suggested the group consider using a facilitator as a way to keep focused on the goal of studying monitoring and mitigation in the anticline and making recommendations to the agency on possible changes....
Oil Leases Endanger Brant, Coalition Says An 11-state organization that helps manage migratory birds is urging federal land managers to back off a plan to expand oil and gas leasing on the tundra north of Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The land is vital to black brant, a goose whose population is in steep decline and now stands at a record low, according to a letter from the Pacific Flyway Council to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The worry is that drilling, roads and other industry activity could disturb the geese at a critical time when they're trying to feed and grow new feathers, worsening their decline, the letter says. Already, regulators are imposing drastic cutbacks on sport and subsistence hunting in Alaska, down the West Coast and into Mexico to protect the brant, the letter adds....
Roaring Back A close encounter with a grizzly bear in a bad mood is a terrifying thing. The monstrous beasts can weigh in at nearly 900 lbs. and stand more than 9 ft. tall when they rear up on their hind legs, brandishing their 5-in. claws. And unlike many wild animals, grizzlies are not more afraid of you than you are of them. Unless you're carrying a powerful gun when you meet one, there's a reasonable chance you will end up as lunch--as anyone seeing Werner Herzog's new documentary, Grizzly Man, will learn in particularly gruesome fashion. But while it's no contest when a bear meets an unarmed human, the same goes in reverse when humans move en masse into bear habitat. That's why the grizzly, which roamed the American West by the tens of thousands before white settlers arrived--and which still has a population of several thousand in Alaska and Canada--eventually saw its numbers dwindle to just a few isolated populations of a few hundred bears apiece in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. It's also why the bear was formally put under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act in 1975....
Dog owners wary of wolves As Wisconsin’s timber wolf population expands, attacks on hunting dogs have become more frequent, particularly in the northern half of the state where the bulk of wolf habitat lies. “Since 1986, when the first claim was filed, we’ve had 82 dogs killed by wolves and 27 injured that we know of,” said Adrian Wydeven, Department of Natural Resources wolf expert. “We paid for most of those claims, but there were a few cases when people did not request payment. “As of the end of June, we had paid $144,200 for the 82 dogs killed and about $10,000 for veterinarian bills, most of it for dogs but for other animals as well.” Hunting dog fatalities were infrequent until the mid-1990s....
Gov't cuts back Pacific salmon habitat The federal government has cut back the critical habitat for 19 species of threatened and endangered Pacific salmon, arguing that an earlier designation demanded by environmentalists was poorly executed and that voluntary habitat improvements will work better. The move announced Friday reduces the miles of protected river in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California by 80 percent - from 167,700 miles to 33,300. In those areas, activities such as logging, construction and livestock grazing is restricted to avoid disturbing the stream beds where the salmon migrate and spawn. NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for bringing more than two dozen salmon and steelhead species in the Northwest and California back from the danger of extinction, agreed to revise the habitats after being sued by the National Association of Home Builders for failing to include an economic impact analysis when they were set. The new designation includes only rivers salmon currently occupy, and it identifies whether a portion of a river is used for spawning or just migration, which will help in determining whether a nearby project could harm the fish....
Access to the water The 1980s lapel buttons had been stored for years in Tom Bugni's home, leftovers from the successful campaign for a Montana law guaranteeing public access to streams for fishing and floating. But this summer, Bugni retrieved the Montana Coalition for Stream Access buttons, handing them out to some of the dozens of people who descended on the Ruby River in southwestern Montana last month to reassert the public's right to be on the water. They rafted about 10 miles, passing through private land where access to the Ruby is under dispute -- some fishing lodges advertise the Ruby as a "private river" -- even as the stream access law marks its 20th anniversary. Reduced to its simplest, the statute says that even where they flow through private land, Montana's rivers and streams are open to all if reached from public property; the land between the normal high-water marks belongs to the public. The law has been challenged in court with little success and continues to provide fodder for politicians....
Red-letter day for Animas-La Plata Thirty-seven years ago Congress approved construction of the Animas-La Plata Project, a settlement of American Indian water-right claims. On Friday, a ceremony marked the raising of the dam at Ridges Basin where 120,000 acre-feet of water eventually will be stored for three tribes and other water users. The dam is slated for completion in 2008. Two hundred people gathered at the dam site southwest of Durango to watch workers spread three loads of impervious clay on the excavated floor of the reservoir as a symbol of the task ahead. A number of those in attendance have been involved in A-LP since the beginning. Members from the tribes gathered at the site earlier for a private blessing ceremony....
Midwest Drought Threatens Crops and Shuts River As the worst drought since 1988 has deepened across parts of the Midwest, low-water levels are doing more than just inconveniencing gamblers. They are turning parts of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers into virtual sandbars, causing towboats and barges to run aground and delaying shipments of petroleum products, coal, chemicals, agricultural goods and road-paving materials. The delays are threatening construction projects throughout the region, and the higher transportation costs could ultimately make this year's harvest of corn and other crops too expensive for some international markets, commodity analysts and barge-shipping officials said. "There is high anxiety that we are close to shutting down the river," said Lynn Muench, vice president for the mid-continent region of the American Waterways Operators, a trade group representing tugboat, towboat and barge operators. "This is looking as bad or worse than 1988." Her fear was realized on Friday, when the Coast Guard ordered a seven-mile stretch of the Ohio River closed, north of its intersection with the Mississippi River. The drought, which has mostly affected parts of Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, has also dried up wells, caused insect infestations and wreaked havoc on corn and soybean fields. A government report on Friday confirmed that corn in Illinois, the second-biggest producer after Iowa, had suffered irreversible harm, with production down 12 percent from last year's record harvest....
Environmentalists Uncertain on Roberts (subscription) The environmental community looks at Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as something of a chameleon. As a result, it is having a hard time deciding how green he is and whether to join other liberal groups in opposing his nomination to the Supreme Court. As a private lawyer, he won a big case for environmentalists that slowed development in Lake Tahoe. As a judge, he later issued an opinion on the Endangered Species Act considered troubling to supporters of that measure. Doug Kendall of Community Rights Council, an environmental-law organization that helps to rate judicial nominees' green credentials, worked on the Lake Tahoe case that blocked development for years while a preservation plan was completed. He says Judge Roberts "wrote the best brief I've ever read." Yet he's "pretty skeptical" about whether Judge Roberts would be an ally on the court....
Roberts no stranger to environmental issues Supreme Court nominee John Roberts once offered the National Mining Association some unpaid advice on how to intervene in other people's court cases. Two years later he was hired by the group to argue against a citizens group trying to stop coal companies from shearing off the tops of West Virginia's mountains. That relationship is among a number of situations where Roberts - as a government lawyer, private attorney and federal appeals judge - has become involved in environmental issues. His critics say he tended generally to side with the views of industry. "He defers to economic interests over the public health, to executive agencies over the Congress, and to secrecy over the public's right-to-know," complains Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, a major environmental protection group. "He's always tweaking the facts to the benefit of insiders."....
Mexico, the epic narrative Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel, "The Hummingbird's Daughter," is a masterpiece of storytelling. It is the sort of sweeping historical epic that looms before you like the deepest, darkest ocean, begging you to dive in and explore the vast and wild world below its surface. I eagerly took the plunge, and 500-plus pages later, I still haven't managed to come up for air. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to. In a body of work that already has garnered Urrea a Pulitzer Prize nomination, an American Book Award, a Lannan Literary Award and induction into the Latino Literary Hall of Fame, "The Hummingbird's Daughter" stands out as a profound and transcendent achievement....
Saddled up in the High Sierras As the violet twilight settled over the Marie Lakes and the Ritter Range, a bunch of us would-be cowboys relaxed after a day in the saddle by lounging around a campfire . . . sipping Sierra Vista white. We'd spent the day on horses that knew to follow the John Muir Trail through the High Sierra wilderness. Now we were swapping tales and basking in luxury. We could hear the 12 horses and nine pack mules cropping nearby clumps of grass. Their steady chomping made a comforting sound. Our host/guide, Dave Dohnel, looked on with satisfaction. Life was good, indeed. What once was rough adventure pursued by men - and pretty much only men - of Muir's intrepid bent, now is a pleasurable experience geared to city folk. In fact, until our five-day horseback ride through California's highest mountain range, those at the campfire - a banker, a civil engineer, a Realtor, a teacher, a nurse, a police officer, a store manager and two journalists - were mostly tenderfoots, unskilled in the ways of the horse....
Seminoles become temporary cowboys By 10 a.m. it's so hot that calves may start dropping dead. Herd dogs are exhausted, which is too bad because rows of sweaty horses under sweaty riders could use the help. A 6-year-old boy swings a lasso and watches from horseback, ignored by dusty men still needing to catch, sort and ship 500 head by nightfall. Work is long, the pay lousy, but more people join in as the caravan heads to the next pasture. In a few hours, Seminole Indian women and children will prepare lunch for the ranchers, as they have for generations. The tribe no longer needs the cattle business to survive, but $300 million in casino profits hasn't erased centuries of tradition. For a few weeks each summer, Indians become cowboys, past becomes present and 60,000 acres become the place Seminoles celebrate their history, even as they brand cattle with computer chips and prepare for a high-tech future....
Humbling beauty There's an agelessness to Garfield County, in the slickrock, the forested mountains and the grand sweep of the Escalante Canyons. So it is with Veda's face, her hands. She's like the land, weathered, strong and beautiful. If chance takes you to Veda's garden, you can see: She's 90 years old, shelling peas on her front porch after tending to squash that sits hard by the gladioluses, the corn she's "venturing" on this year in hopes the deer won't get at it. Veda Behunin. Born on Boulder Mountain, instructed by a ranching family of 14 that worked like hell every day. The kids rode horses five miles to school at a time when the world consisted of log cabins, cattle, hunting and fishing, raising children and stopping from time to time to dance....
Open range suits this ranch regular just fine In this quiet little ranching town east of Abilene, actor Robert Duvall once caused a stir at Dairy Queen. Prior to filming the movie Open Range with Kevin Costner, Duvall was interviewing a real cowboy about cattle drives and chuck wagons. Johnnie Hudman set up the interview. Hudman has been mistaken for a real cowboy, himself. He has a deep voice, a quick wit and a repertoire of classic yarns. His skin is cured by exposure to the relentless West Texas sun so it resembles the leather of a well-used saddle. You'd never suspect Hudman has a list of acquaintances that stretches to the White House. Hudman knows Duvall, President George W. Bush and most of his family, Gov. Rick Perry and a list of movers and shakers that goes beyond American shores. Hudman is the wildlife manager for Stasney's Cook Ranch, a 25,000-acre working ranch in Shackelford County....
Bolts mark rancher's life, love Carl Wendt will never forgive lightning for shocking him into letting go of his new bride's hand. And even half a century later, as he and Barbara near their golden anniversary, Baker County's summer storms still seem to hold a high-voltage grudge against their family. On the last day of July, a bolt blasted the ground between Carl Wendt, 78, and his son, Clint, 44, while they rode home after herding a neighbor's cattle off their ranch between Haines and North Powder. "To me, it looked like I was going to get hit right square between the eyes," said Carl Wendt, who was riding a four-wheeler about 100 yards from Clint, who was on horseback. "But neither one of us got even a tickle out of it." Once, though, lightning gave Carl quite a bit more than a tickle....
Baxter Black: Being mule-headed loftier than being stubborn Johnny was a mule man. That is a statement of fact and also the name of a poem I once wrote. To me, there are two sides to mule people: the brainy side and the stubborn side. They are deep thinkers mostly because they always feel the need to explain why they ride mules. This creates a natural stubbornness because mules are smarter than horses and mule people are indignant that everyone doesn't know that! Johnny liked mules because he wasn't comfortable with horses. He liked to look at them, but I think they were too frivolous, too "fragile" for him. He didn't have time for nuance - with animals or employees. I suspect, though he's long dead, he would lump the modern gentle horse training techniques in with "time outs" for undisciplined children, and investing in miniature cattle....
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