NEWS ROUNDUP
Citizens launch water petition It's time the state reconsider what is truly a "beneficial use" of groundwater in the Powder River Basin, according to a grassroots campaign in northeast Wyoming. Nineteen landowners and the Powder River Basin Resource Council launched a citizens' petition Wednesday, asking the state to close what they consider to be a loophole in its policies regarding the management of coal-bed methane water. They said the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's policy of regulating only the quality of water discharged from coal-bed methane wells is based on an outdated assumption that the arid West needs, and can use, all the water that oil and gas operations can produce. "That is no longer a valid assumption," the landowners' petition states. "And the DEQ must manage CBM discharge water by recognizing that it is not generally being used; it is being disposed of. The exclusion has become a loophole stretched so far that in application it has lost all relation to logic." Water pressure locks methane gas into the cleats and pores of coal in the Powder River Basin. In order to produce the gas, the industry pumps large amounts of water from the coal aquifer to relieve the static pressure, allowing gas to rise to the surface. The industry produces some 550 million barrels of water annually....
Lawsuit asks colorado to regulate water Since coalbed methane development started in the county in 1988, residents have claimed it has damaged their water wells. But state and federal agencies have said that’s not their jurisdiction. Bayfield area ranchers Bill and Beth Vance and Jim and Terry Fitzgerald have filed suit in State Water Court in hopes of forcing the Colorado Division of Water Resources to take control of gas development impact on groundwater. It’s a change of strategy from lawsuits during the 1990s, where landowners tried unsuccessfully to sue gas companies for alleged damage to water wells. “This isn’t asking for damages,” Fitzgerald told the Times. “We want to determine the legal obligations of the State Engineer.” The suit names State Engineer Hal Simpson and District 7 Water Engineer Ken Beegles. Fitzgerald noted the northern San Juan Basin gas drilling draft Environmental Impact Statement lists drawdown of tributory water, wells and springs among the impacts of more gas well drilling....
Group sues over status of bighorn sheep The government isn't doing enough to protect the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, a population numbering only in the hundreds, an environmental group said in a federal lawsuit Thursday. Among the most pressing concerns is the proximity of domestic sheep to bighorn habitat, a situation biologists fear is spreading diseases between the two populations, the Center for Biological Diversity said in its lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Sacramento. The wild sheep live high in the Eastern Sierra, where they are threatened by mountain lions and genetic problems caused by inbreeding because of the small surviving population. Before the turn of the century, the number of wild bighorns in the Sierra numbered in the thousands. Only about 100 survived as recently as 1998, a number that has crept up to around 300 today....
Column: Free market can be a boon to environment A surprising thing happened to the Grand Canyon Trust as it tried to use free-market methods to protect the environment: It ran into opposition from conservative politicians who don't want to allow willing sellers to contract with willing buyers. Such is the way change comes to the West — inconsistently, piecemeal, with residents sometimes embracing the future while other times they struggle to hold back the tides. The Flagstaff-based trust started its free-market program in the mid-1990s, when it decided the best way to preserve endangered lands was to pay ranchers to forfeit their grazing rights. In the rock-layered lands along the Escalante River in southern Utah, many areas needed protection from overgrazing. Sometimes the trust approached ranchers to see whether they would accept payment to give up their grazing permits. Generally, however, the ranchers approached the trust, wanting to sell their permits, Bill Hedden, trust executive director, told me....
North Bay pest controllers strive to think outside of the bottle Michael Honig, president of Honig Winery in Napa, is in love. The object of his affection on this fall afternoon is a team of golden retriever puppies that are learning to "sniff out" the dread vine mealy bug. This tiny insect secretes honeydew, a sweet, sticky substance that provides an ideal environment for black mold and diseases that afflict grapevines. As it happens, honeydew is also a food delicious to ants. To ensure a food source, ants literally move female mealy bugs around the grapevines with them, spreading mold and disease in the process. As the golden retrievers leave their puppyhood behind them, they'll learn to stand at attention before an infested vine and bark an alert. Then, says Honig, "we'll pull the vine out," thus eliminating the need to spray the entire vineyard with toxic chemicals. Putting their money where their hearts are, Honig and other area county grape growers have contributed $32,000 to the puppies' first year of education at the Assistance Dog Institute in Santa Rosa....
Public included in grazing plans In an effort to keep transparent its ongoing livestock grazing impacts study on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Uncle Sam is mailing out an updated version this week. The 95-page plan expands on a much smaller study released in 2001 shortly after the 52,940-acre monument was created on the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District. However, no decisions have yet been made on future grazing on the monument, said Howard Hunter, the study’s project leader. "We want to get everybody up to speed," he said, noting that copies of the updated study are being sent to those who have participated in the process over the years. One of the recommendations made by the Southwest Oregon Provincial Advisory Committee was that the process be translucent and available to the public, Hunter said....
Column: When man alters nature wildlife loses — and wins Over the eons, the Montana prairie and its river corridors have naturally stabilized after undergoing geologic and climatic changes. But man-made changes such as ditching, diverting, damming and draining affect salt and mineral deposits, water salinity, sedimentation and even water flow. This, in turn, affects habitat and wildlife. A case in point is the change in the Teton River; there is neither single cause nor single solution. The Teton River flows southeast from the Lewis and Clark National Forest, where it meanders near Freezout and Priest Butte Lake. Russell Kastner of Conrad has fished the north and the south forks of the Teton River and has caught colorful brook trout. "Brook trout are an indicator species and thrive in cold, clear, and clean water, and the headwaters of the Teton River has it," he said....
Authorities arrests 6 ecoterror suspects Six people were arrested Wednesday in connection with Northwest eco-terror attacks dating back to 1998, including the 2001 arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms near Clatskanie. The arrests were made Wednesday in New York, Virginia, Oregon and Arizona, and each of the defendants has been indicted in Oregon or Washington, the U.S. attorney's office said. The attacks included three arsons in Oregon, the destruction of a research facility in Olympia and the toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration transmission tower near Bend. The underground Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front took credit for most of the acts. The May 21, 2001, explosive fire at Jefferson Poplar Farm destroyed two large storage buildings, shop equipment and 15 to 19 vehicles. Damage was estimated at more than $1 million....
Burns, Montana delegation opposed to public lands sale provision Montana Sen. Conrad Burns said Wednesday that he opposes legislation moving through Congress that would sell off some public lands. The issue should be left to local governments, he said. Burns joined Montana Sen. Max Baucus and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, both Democrats, and fellow Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg in denouncing the legislation, which is contained in a larger budget bill designed to cut federal spending. The House and Senate are currently negotiating a final version of the bill. The provision would overturn a decade-old congressional ban that prevents mineral companies from "patenting," or buying, public land at cheap prices if the land contains mineral deposits. In order to generate revenue, some House Republicans want to lift an 11-year-old congressional ban on new applications to buy public land for mining. Once a patent is granted, companies could buy the land for $1,000 per acre....
Hemlock Dam to be razed to aid fish Depression-era Hemlock Dam on Trout Creek northwest of Carson will be removed to improve fish passage for threatened steelhead, the Forest Service decided this week. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the 20-foot-high dam in 1935 to supply the Wind River Ranger District headquarters with electricity and provide irrigation water for the Wind River Nursery, which once grew conifer seedlings to reforest public lands throughout the Northwest. The nursery closed in 1996. The 16-acre reservoir behind the dam, now choked with sediment and only 2 feet deep in places, remains a popular recreation site for Skamania County residents....
Attorney: Activists' trial not about lions A federal prosecutor Wednesday told jurors that the trial of two animal rights activists accused of sabotaging mountain lion traps is not about mountain lions or whether they should be trapped. Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst then devoted most of his opening statement to the dangers the big cats posed in March 2004, when Rodney Adam Coronado, 39, of Tucson and Matthew Crozier, 33, of Prescott allegedly ruined traps to capture the pumas. The mountain lions were reported to have been wandering near the Sabino Canyon National Recreation Area's visitor center and into surrounding neighborhoods. Public pressure forced state wildlife managers to change plans from killing to capturing the mountain lions. Coronado and Crozier are accused of entering the closed park on March 24, 2004, and pulling up traps....
Congressmen and Environmental Groups Disagree on Forest Recovery Bill After two years of conversation, a bill that would allow the U.S. Forest Service to take quick action to restore forests after catastrophic disasters remains a source for debate. But some environmental groups argue that the restoration treatments, such as cutting dead and damaged trees, will cause more harm to the forests. The House Committee on Agriculture discussed the "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act" at a hearing Wednesday. The bill encourages removing dead and damaged trees as well as reforestation, using native plants to restore damaged areas. It also supports developing scientific input and public participation in revitalizing the areas. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore, said that delays in restoring damaged forests can result in significant losses. Walden said the bill secures rehabilitation and maintains environmental standards. Certain actions can help to save forests if they are completed quickly after the disaster, he said....
State plans to shrink sea A state advisory group agreed Thursday to consider five options to drastically reduce the size of the Salton Sea in hopes of maintaining the desert lake as a key wildlife refuge. Under five scenarios devised Thursday, the Salton Sea can shrink to between 27,000 acres and 40,000 acres. The sea is currently 35 miles by 15 miles and about 233,000 acres. The largest the lake would be, under any of the state's ideas, is one-sixth its current size. Despite the dismal outlook for the salty lake, local plans to build up to 185,000 homes on the sea's shores moved forward Thursday. The Salton Sea Authority, made up of Riverside and Imperial county officials, agreed at a meeting in La Quinta to enter into negotiations with Citigroup and New River Development Co. to finance and oversee the development plans. "Clearly the larger the lake the better," said Donald Rogers of New River's San Bernardino office. "Reducing it that much substantially reduces the development potential." In a presentation by Russell Hunt, a planning consultant hired by the authority, the proposed development would include water taxis connecting seaside villages and marinas and public beaches. Those features, however, may be impossible if the state's plans go forward as is....
Alaska Again Targets Wolves for Aerial Killing Defenders of Wildlife today condemned the killing of the first wolves in this year's state aerial gunning program and the state's decision to soon approve numerous additional permits for aerial gunners to track and shoot wolves using aircraft in other areas of the state. As of December 2, permits were issued to 63 pilots and 54 gunners. Last season, the state targeted more than 1400 wolves for removal. More than 400 wolves have been killed since the Alaska Board of Game resumed the practice of aerial killing, despite the fact Alaskans have twice voted to ban the practice (1996 and 2000) in statewide referenda....
Canadian mining company agrees to comprehensive environmental review A Canadian company that wants to develop a coal mine north of Glacier National Park has agreed to subject the project to a comprehensive environmental review rather than try to open a smaller mine and then expand it. Kathy Eichenberger, regional manager for British Columbia’s Ministry of Environment, told the Flathead Basin Commission about the company’s change in plans Wednesday. The news that Cline Mining Corp.’s proposal will undergo a full environmental review was welcome, especially among those concerned that mine waste could pollute waters in and around Glacier National Park. ‘‘An entire economy has developed because of this pristine environment,’’ said Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger. ‘‘Our trade and travel economies depend on the protection of this water resource.’’ Cline Mining as recently as a month ago told shareholders it planned to pursue ‘‘fast-track’’ approval of the project, seeking a small mine permit with coal production limited to 250,000 tons per year. Such a permit does not require a full environmental analysis....
Japan considers lifting ban on U.S. cattle American beef moved closer to the highly profitable Japanese market after a two-year ban Thursday when Japan’s food safety commission unanimously declared that meat from U.S. cattle 20 months or younger is safe from mad-cow disease. The prolonged import ban has been a major irritant in relations between the two otherwise friendly nations. The Food Safety Commission’s findings go to the health and agriculture ministries, which will make a final recommendation to the government, The Associated Press said. It quoted Japanese media reports as saying the Cabinet could decide to lift the U.S. beef ban as early as Dec. 12. Asahi Shimbun, one of the country’s leading newspapers, earlier in the week quoted government sources as saying the first shipments of American beef cuts could be in Japanese meat counters by late this month....
Celebrating cowboy culture A group of cowboys will gather at Osceola Heritage Park Saturday to celebrate a 10-year reunion of the Great Florida Cattle Drive of 1995. Gates to the event, to be held at the KVLS facility in OHP, open at 10 a.m. Doyle Conner Jr., the chairman of the 1995 cattle drive and reunion organizer, said the latest event, dubbed a frolic/reunion, is an opportunity to celebrate the state’s cowboy history and culture. “We’re using the cattle drive reunion to kick off the first cowboy culture celebration,” Conner said of the event that organizers plan to stage annually in Kissimmee. The goal is to one day expand the celebration into a week-long one such as The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in Elko, Nev., according to Conner, who works in the Tallahassee office of the state Department of Agriculture....
Friday, December 09, 2005
FLE
Compromise Reached on Renewing Patriot Act
House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise agreement Thursday to extend the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, but critics from both parties said they found the plan unacceptable because it did not go far enough in protecting Americans' civil liberties. The plan is expected to come up for final votes in the House and Senate early next week, but its passage was uncertain Thursday, with some Democrats, including Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, threatening a filibuster to block a vote. After weeks of what negotiators described as extremely difficult negotiations, the compromise plan would retain most of the expanded surveillance and investigative powers given to the federal government after the Sept. 11 attacks, permanently extending 14 of 16 provisions set to expire at the end of the year. But it would also put in place additional judicial oversight and safeguards against abuse. Three of the most-debated measures would have to be reviewed again by Congress in four years, rather than the seven-year window originally favored by some House leaders in a tentative agreement that was reached last month but then derailed by last-minute concerns from members of both parties. Those measures that would be extended for four years involve the government's ability to demand records from libraries and other institutions, conduct "roving wiretaps" in surveillance operations and single out "lone wolf" terrorists who operate independently of a larger group. In another concession to lawmakers who pushed for greater government restrictions, the plan agreed to on Thursday eliminated a proposal that would make it a crime punishable by one year in prison for anyone receiving certain types of records demands from the government to disclose them publicly....
Reform the Patriot Act
Despite the insistence of the White House and the Republican congressional leadership that the Patriot Act be fully reauthorized before the Thanksgiving break, a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators blocked the Senate-House conference report until vital changes in the Patriot Act are made. They have rising support around the nation when Congress returns on Dec. 16. Dec. 15 is Bill of Rights Day, celebrating the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, without which our founding document would not have become the law of the land. I congratulate the patriotic resisters in and out of the Senate for not allowing the administration to retain sections of the Patriot Act, which 399 towns and cities across the country and seven state legislatures had told their representatives in Congress to change in compliance with the Bill of Rights. Begun in Northampton, Mass., in November 2001, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, led by Nancy Talanian, has been instrumental in the national organizing of these resolutions to Congress through a subsequent alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union and a range of conservative libertarian organizations. Currently among those insisting on essential Patriot Act reforms are the American Conservative Union, the American Library Association and such business groups as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. These business organizations have joined with civil libertarians to focus on the Patriot Act's sweeping expansion of government powers to obtain a huge range of personal information by claiming only that the records are "relevant to an authorized investigation" on terrorism....
Ex-Professor Acquitted in Patriot Act Test Case
In a case closely watched as a key test of the Patriot Act, a former university professor accused of helping lead a Palestinian terrorist organization was acquitted Tuesday on nearly half of the charges against him, and the jury deadlocked on the rest. Sami Al-Arian, who taught computer engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, wept and embraced his lawyer after the federal jury found him not guilty on eight of 17 counts — including conspiring to murder and maim people outside the United States. The panel deadlocked on charges that he had, among other things, engaged in money laundering and attempted to illegally obtain U.S. citizenship. The government also failed to secure convictions against three codefendants with alleged ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 100 people in Israel and the occupied territories. Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut were acquitted on all charges. Hatem Naji Fariz was found not guilty on 24 counts, and jurors failed to reach a verdict on eight others. Federal prosecutors had no comment Tuesday on what was, for them, a dismaying outcome after 13 days of jury deliberations and five months of detailed testimony. U.S. Atty. Paul Perez said he and his staff would review the case before deciding whether to retry Al-Arian, 47. Until then, he will remain in jail....
Report Finds Cover-Up in an F.B.I. Terror Case
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation mishandled a Florida terror investigation, falsified documents in the case in an effort to cover repeated missteps and retaliated against an agent who first complained about the problems, Justice Department investigators have concluded. In one instance, someone altered dates on three F.B.I. forms using correction fluid to conceal an apparent violation of federal wiretap law, according to a draft report of an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general's office obtained by The New York Times. But investigators were unable to determine who altered the documents. The agent who first alerted the F.B.I. to problems in the case, a veteran undercover operative named Mike German, was "retaliated against" by his boss, who was angered by the agent's complaints and stopped using him for prestigious assignments in training new undercover agents, the draft report concluded. Mr. German's case first became public last year, as he emerged as the latest in a string of whistle-blowers at the bureau who said they had been punished and effectively silenced for voicing concerns about the handling of terror investigations and other matters since Sept. 11, 2001. The inspector general's draft report, dated Nov. 15 and awaiting final review, validated most of Mr. German's central accusations in the case. But the former agent, who left the bureau last year after he said his career had been derailed by the Florida episode, said he felt more disappointment than vindication....
Crime Database Often Wrong on Immigration, Study Finds
More than 8,000 people have been mistakenly tagged for immigration violations as a result of the Bush administration's strategy of entering the names of thousands of immigrants in a national crime database meant to help apprehend terrorism suspects, according to a study released on Thursday. The study, conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, relied on statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security that covered 2002 to 2004. The study found that the national crime database was wrong in 42 percent of the cases in which it identified immigrants stopped by the local police as being wanted by domestic security officials. Many immigration violations, like overstaying a visa, are civil infractions, not criminal offenses typically handled by the police. But since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, domestic security officials have worked to encourage states and localities to help enforce immigration laws by adding the names of thousands of violators - like immigrants evading deportation orders - to the F.B.I. crime database....
Security Flaw Allows Wiretaps to Be Evaded, Study Finds
The technology used for decades by law enforcement agents to wiretap telephones has a security flaw that allows the person being wiretapped to stop the recorder remotely, according to research by computer security experts who studied the system. It is also possible to falsify the numbers dialed, they said. Someone being wiretapped can easily employ these "devastating countermeasures" with off-the-shelf equipment, said the lead researcher, Matt Blaze, an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. "This has implications not only for the accuracy of the intelligence that can be obtained from these taps, but also for the acceptability and weight of legal evidence derived from it," Mr. Blaze and his colleagues wrote in a paper that will be published today in Security & Privacy, a journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. According to the Justice Department's most recent wiretap report, state and federal courts authorized 1,710 "interceptions" of communications in 2004....
An apology and check from Ranger Roger Mayo
The denouement of a shameful episode which began in September 2003 – involving an off duty National Park ranger, a dozen motorcyclists, a garden hose and a cup of coffee – was played out a week ago when $400 in settlement money was donated to the Stinson Beach Fire Department. The 2003 incident and subsequent events would reverberate through the community, altering dramatically the life of the ranger and the newspaper publisher that pursued his exposé. In the incident which occurred on Sept. 21, 2003, storied National Park Service ranger Roger Mayo turned a garden hose on a group of motorcyclists northbound on Highway 1 in front of his then Park Service home in the Olema Valley. Subsequent to the garden hose event, Roger Mayo was one of two Point Reyes National Seashore rangers who took part in a July 28, 2004 incident involving the pepper-spraying of an Inverness Park girl, 17, and her brother, 18, in Point Reyes Station. The two, Jessica and Chris Miller, were bystanders at a minor law-enforcement matter and tried to find out what was going on. Neither was charged with wrongdoing, and their Civil Rights lawsuit against rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio, as well as National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher and chief ranger Colin Smith, was filed in federal court. In a settlement reached last September, the US Department of the Interior agreed to pay two Inverness Park teenagers $50,000 in compensation....
MSP To Test Behavioral Screening System
St. Paul International Airport will begin testing next month of a new passenger-screening system that gives greater weight to how people act than to what they're carrying. Airport police said Saturday that a unit trained by former Israeli airport security experts in "behavioral pattern recognition" will begin work in January. The unit will work with the Transportation Security Administration, which began testing a similar system at the airport last month. The announcement follows one Friday from the TSA that said travelers could resume carrying items such as small scissors and screwdrivers on planes starting Dec. 22. It makes sense to focus on people instead of what's in their pockets, said Jim Welna, deputy federal security director for the Twin Cities, Rochester and St. Cloud airports. "We're looking for a needle in a haystack every day," he said. "And most days, the needle is not there." The new units, he said, will look for anxious, frightened or deceptive behaviors. Travelers who arouse suspicion will be questioned, and their answers will be scored against a secret index. When people scores high, screeners will call airport police, who would then decide whether to ask the travelers more questions, call counterterrorism agents, or allow them to go on their way. Welna said Minneapolis is the second large U.S. airport to test the new system, called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT. Boston's Logan International Airport was the first....
Compromise Reached on Renewing Patriot Act
House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise agreement Thursday to extend the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, but critics from both parties said they found the plan unacceptable because it did not go far enough in protecting Americans' civil liberties. The plan is expected to come up for final votes in the House and Senate early next week, but its passage was uncertain Thursday, with some Democrats, including Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, threatening a filibuster to block a vote. After weeks of what negotiators described as extremely difficult negotiations, the compromise plan would retain most of the expanded surveillance and investigative powers given to the federal government after the Sept. 11 attacks, permanently extending 14 of 16 provisions set to expire at the end of the year. But it would also put in place additional judicial oversight and safeguards against abuse. Three of the most-debated measures would have to be reviewed again by Congress in four years, rather than the seven-year window originally favored by some House leaders in a tentative agreement that was reached last month but then derailed by last-minute concerns from members of both parties. Those measures that would be extended for four years involve the government's ability to demand records from libraries and other institutions, conduct "roving wiretaps" in surveillance operations and single out "lone wolf" terrorists who operate independently of a larger group. In another concession to lawmakers who pushed for greater government restrictions, the plan agreed to on Thursday eliminated a proposal that would make it a crime punishable by one year in prison for anyone receiving certain types of records demands from the government to disclose them publicly....
Reform the Patriot Act
Despite the insistence of the White House and the Republican congressional leadership that the Patriot Act be fully reauthorized before the Thanksgiving break, a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators blocked the Senate-House conference report until vital changes in the Patriot Act are made. They have rising support around the nation when Congress returns on Dec. 16. Dec. 15 is Bill of Rights Day, celebrating the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, without which our founding document would not have become the law of the land. I congratulate the patriotic resisters in and out of the Senate for not allowing the administration to retain sections of the Patriot Act, which 399 towns and cities across the country and seven state legislatures had told their representatives in Congress to change in compliance with the Bill of Rights. Begun in Northampton, Mass., in November 2001, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, led by Nancy Talanian, has been instrumental in the national organizing of these resolutions to Congress through a subsequent alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union and a range of conservative libertarian organizations. Currently among those insisting on essential Patriot Act reforms are the American Conservative Union, the American Library Association and such business groups as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. These business organizations have joined with civil libertarians to focus on the Patriot Act's sweeping expansion of government powers to obtain a huge range of personal information by claiming only that the records are "relevant to an authorized investigation" on terrorism....
Ex-Professor Acquitted in Patriot Act Test Case
In a case closely watched as a key test of the Patriot Act, a former university professor accused of helping lead a Palestinian terrorist organization was acquitted Tuesday on nearly half of the charges against him, and the jury deadlocked on the rest. Sami Al-Arian, who taught computer engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, wept and embraced his lawyer after the federal jury found him not guilty on eight of 17 counts — including conspiring to murder and maim people outside the United States. The panel deadlocked on charges that he had, among other things, engaged in money laundering and attempted to illegally obtain U.S. citizenship. The government also failed to secure convictions against three codefendants with alleged ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 100 people in Israel and the occupied territories. Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut were acquitted on all charges. Hatem Naji Fariz was found not guilty on 24 counts, and jurors failed to reach a verdict on eight others. Federal prosecutors had no comment Tuesday on what was, for them, a dismaying outcome after 13 days of jury deliberations and five months of detailed testimony. U.S. Atty. Paul Perez said he and his staff would review the case before deciding whether to retry Al-Arian, 47. Until then, he will remain in jail....
Report Finds Cover-Up in an F.B.I. Terror Case
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation mishandled a Florida terror investigation, falsified documents in the case in an effort to cover repeated missteps and retaliated against an agent who first complained about the problems, Justice Department investigators have concluded. In one instance, someone altered dates on three F.B.I. forms using correction fluid to conceal an apparent violation of federal wiretap law, according to a draft report of an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general's office obtained by The New York Times. But investigators were unable to determine who altered the documents. The agent who first alerted the F.B.I. to problems in the case, a veteran undercover operative named Mike German, was "retaliated against" by his boss, who was angered by the agent's complaints and stopped using him for prestigious assignments in training new undercover agents, the draft report concluded. Mr. German's case first became public last year, as he emerged as the latest in a string of whistle-blowers at the bureau who said they had been punished and effectively silenced for voicing concerns about the handling of terror investigations and other matters since Sept. 11, 2001. The inspector general's draft report, dated Nov. 15 and awaiting final review, validated most of Mr. German's central accusations in the case. But the former agent, who left the bureau last year after he said his career had been derailed by the Florida episode, said he felt more disappointment than vindication....
Crime Database Often Wrong on Immigration, Study Finds
More than 8,000 people have been mistakenly tagged for immigration violations as a result of the Bush administration's strategy of entering the names of thousands of immigrants in a national crime database meant to help apprehend terrorism suspects, according to a study released on Thursday. The study, conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, relied on statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security that covered 2002 to 2004. The study found that the national crime database was wrong in 42 percent of the cases in which it identified immigrants stopped by the local police as being wanted by domestic security officials. Many immigration violations, like overstaying a visa, are civil infractions, not criminal offenses typically handled by the police. But since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, domestic security officials have worked to encourage states and localities to help enforce immigration laws by adding the names of thousands of violators - like immigrants evading deportation orders - to the F.B.I. crime database....
Security Flaw Allows Wiretaps to Be Evaded, Study Finds
The technology used for decades by law enforcement agents to wiretap telephones has a security flaw that allows the person being wiretapped to stop the recorder remotely, according to research by computer security experts who studied the system. It is also possible to falsify the numbers dialed, they said. Someone being wiretapped can easily employ these "devastating countermeasures" with off-the-shelf equipment, said the lead researcher, Matt Blaze, an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. "This has implications not only for the accuracy of the intelligence that can be obtained from these taps, but also for the acceptability and weight of legal evidence derived from it," Mr. Blaze and his colleagues wrote in a paper that will be published today in Security & Privacy, a journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. According to the Justice Department's most recent wiretap report, state and federal courts authorized 1,710 "interceptions" of communications in 2004....
An apology and check from Ranger Roger Mayo
The denouement of a shameful episode which began in September 2003 – involving an off duty National Park ranger, a dozen motorcyclists, a garden hose and a cup of coffee – was played out a week ago when $400 in settlement money was donated to the Stinson Beach Fire Department. The 2003 incident and subsequent events would reverberate through the community, altering dramatically the life of the ranger and the newspaper publisher that pursued his exposé. In the incident which occurred on Sept. 21, 2003, storied National Park Service ranger Roger Mayo turned a garden hose on a group of motorcyclists northbound on Highway 1 in front of his then Park Service home in the Olema Valley. Subsequent to the garden hose event, Roger Mayo was one of two Point Reyes National Seashore rangers who took part in a July 28, 2004 incident involving the pepper-spraying of an Inverness Park girl, 17, and her brother, 18, in Point Reyes Station. The two, Jessica and Chris Miller, were bystanders at a minor law-enforcement matter and tried to find out what was going on. Neither was charged with wrongdoing, and their Civil Rights lawsuit against rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio, as well as National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher and chief ranger Colin Smith, was filed in federal court. In a settlement reached last September, the US Department of the Interior agreed to pay two Inverness Park teenagers $50,000 in compensation....
MSP To Test Behavioral Screening System
St. Paul International Airport will begin testing next month of a new passenger-screening system that gives greater weight to how people act than to what they're carrying. Airport police said Saturday that a unit trained by former Israeli airport security experts in "behavioral pattern recognition" will begin work in January. The unit will work with the Transportation Security Administration, which began testing a similar system at the airport last month. The announcement follows one Friday from the TSA that said travelers could resume carrying items such as small scissors and screwdrivers on planes starting Dec. 22. It makes sense to focus on people instead of what's in their pockets, said Jim Welna, deputy federal security director for the Twin Cities, Rochester and St. Cloud airports. "We're looking for a needle in a haystack every day," he said. "And most days, the needle is not there." The new units, he said, will look for anxious, frightened or deceptive behaviors. Travelers who arouse suspicion will be questioned, and their answers will be scored against a secret index. When people scores high, screeners will call airport police, who would then decide whether to ask the travelers more questions, call counterterrorism agents, or allow them to go on their way. Welna said Minneapolis is the second large U.S. airport to test the new system, called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT. Boston's Logan International Airport was the first....
Thursday, December 08, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Martinez cattle case moves to federal court A case involving the impoundment of cattle by the U.S. Forest Service is headed to federal court. That, and not the county superior court, is where Forest Service officials and the Greenlee County Attorney say the matter belongs. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque moved the case to the federal district court in Phoenix on Nov. 29. The move was made after the cattle's owner filed an injunction locally to prevent sale of the cattle, most of which have already been shipped to Texas for sale. The cattle, belonging to the Martinez family, were impounded by the Forest Service in October and November. The Forest Service said the cattle were illegally grazing on two allotments on Forest Service land near the Martinez Ranch northeast of Clifton. The USFS said the Martinez family's grazing permit for the Pleasant Valley was canceled in 2004 and the Martinezes never had a permit for the Hickey allotment. Dan Martinez, who is the spokesman for the ranch he owns with his two brothers, adamantly disagrees with the Forest Service and said removal of the cattle is a criminal act on the part of the federal agency. Waiver of a grazing permit is at the center of the dispute between the USFS and the Martinezes....
Rancher sacrifices land for a conservation easement Jay Platt and his brothers were prepared to carve their ranch south of Datil into 10- and 20-acre chunks and sell the pieces off. Then Platt learned about the federal government's Forest Legacy Program, which soon will pay $2.5 million to buy the development rights on 8,000 to 10,000 acres of the ranch's piñon-juniper and Ponderosa pine-studded hills to prevent subdivision and protect a prime wildlife corridor. "This ranch would have done very well as a subdivision, but the more time I spent out there, I didn't want to chop it up," Platt said. "I like ranching." The conservation easement deal for Platt's ranch was featured in a recent Parade magazine article about federal pork projects. The Horse Springs Ranch easement bans subdivision, the building of permanent structures, mining and conversion of forest land to pasture. In addition, Platt must adopt a forest stewardship plan that will guide any future tree cutting and cannot sell water rights off the land. The easement restrictions are permanent and remain on the land even when it is sold or inherited. Cattle ranching and hunting still will be allowed, however...
Park snowmobile changes have little effect on surrounding forests With all the confusion about snowmobiling in Wyoming's national parks, you'd think there would be more sled traffic in the national forests. You'd be wrong. According to U.S. Forest Service officials, changes in snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have not resulted in an increase in traffic in neighboring national forests. Any increase is a result of good snow conditions, and visitors seeking out the good snow. Mary Cernicek, spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton, said the clientele that comes to snowmobile in the parks is not interested in the national forests. "It's the destination, and they're terrified to be out on open snow that's not groomed," she said. "They want to be in line, behind the guide, and see Old Faithful."....
Decision on road may stand The assistant supervisor of Pike National Forest doesn’t expect the agency to change its mind about reopening a section of Gold Camp Road to vehicles despite Tuesday’s withdrawal of the decision to correct a technical omission. The agency announced late in the day that it had withdrawn its July decision to allow the reopening of an 8.8-mile section of the scenic mountain road. The agency, Brian Ferebee said, recently discovered it violated internal rules when it failed to have the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service review a biological assessment that was used to make the decision. Ferebee said Wednesday that it could be a couple of months before that review comes back. He speculated that the controversial decision to reopen the historic road would not be changed, although how to do it could be modified....
Hungry Horse land sells for $2.38 million An auction to sell off about 90 acres of Forest Service land in Hungry Horse has closed, with the high bidder purchasing the entire property for $2.381 million. That includes several parcels of land as well as the old Hungry Horse Ranger Station. The high bidder was Stephan Byrd. Linda Perry, of the General Services Administration, which handled the online auction, declined to release Byrd's address and other information, noting an official press release on the sale had not been prepared and the sale itself had not been closed. The Forest Service auction started off slowly, but then ramped up substantially in the past couple of months, gaining almost $1 million in value over the past few weeks....
Report on avalanche death faults southern Nevada ski resort A U.S Forest Service investigation faulted a southern Nevada ski area for inadequate avalanche prevention and rescue training before a cascade of snow swept a teenage snowboarder off a chair lift to his death early this year. The report of the January death of Brett Hutchison, obtained Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal under a freedom of information request, called heavy snowfall before the fatal avalanche extraordinary in the 40-year history of the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort. It determined the Mount Charleston resort had not complied with an avalanche control plan, did not have rescue equipment in position and had not adequately prepared employees for search and rescue....
Firefighting helicopters heading to Iraq in 2006 Most of the Colorado National Guard's 12 firefighting helicopters will be in Iraq during next summer's forest fire season. "Next fire season will be a challenge for us," Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney, adjutant general of Colorado's Guard, told the legislature's Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday. He said it is possible that the helicopters' 18-month deployment will keep them out of the state for the 2007 fire season as well. Rich Homann, fire supervisor for the Colorado State Forest Service, said the state has other aircraft available for firefighting and can manage without the Guard's helicopters. But at least two National Guard helicopters were among nine used to scoop water from cattle ponds to help prevent the approaching Mason Gulch Fire from burning the town of Beulah last summer. That fire forced the evacuation of 5,000 people and burned 11,300 acres....
Lizard gets second chance at life Responding to a court order, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said Wednesday they will again consider adding an Inland reptile to the federal endangered species list. The sand-dwelling flat-tailed horned lizard once lived across the Coachella Valley, southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico, but now resides in small areas. A federal judge ordered the agency to consider the shrinking habitat of the flat-tailed horned lizard when making a decision. The wildlife agency, the judge said in recent rulings, violated federal law in 2003 when it withdrew a proposal to declare the lizard a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act without taking into account loss of habitat. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake in Phoenix ordered the agency to make a new decision by April 30. The small, sand-dwelling reptile has two rows of fringed scales on each side of its body. It was widespread across the Coachella Valley, southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico, but now only lives in pockets. They feed on harvester ants, consuming up to 200 each day....
American Rivers opposes more Columbia water for irrigation Taking more water from the Columbia River system to expand irrigated farming would actually hurt farmers in the state by producing a glut of produce, an environmental group contended Wednesday. A proposal to devote an additional 1 million acre-feet of water to farming would cost farmers about $70 million a year for 20 years, according to a study for American Rivers conducted by scientists at Texas A&M University. "This study shows that too much irrigation is bad not only for fish, but for farmers too," said Rob Masonis, Northwest regional director for American Rivers. It was commissioned in response to renewed efforts by the state of Washington to expand the water supply for farmers in the arid Columbia River Basin, which runs from Grand Coulee Dam to the Tri-Cities....
Threats to Yellowstone cutthroat could lead to federal protection The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has long said the population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake was abundant enough to keep the fish off of the federal endangered species list, but a new federal study casts serious doubts on the agency's ability to further rely on the lake's bounty. The population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake, the fish's historic epicenter and stronghold, has decreased by 60 percent and their recovery "appears to be in peril," states a report released last month by National Park Service biologists. "The cutthroat trout population size of this system was once considered to be in the millions," the report states. "However, current abundance indices suggest that only a fraction of that population exists today."....
Fine-spotted cutthroat seen as separate subspecies As U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials determine whether the Yellowstone cutthroat is deserving of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, a debate rages over whether a certain population of the fish are actually a separate subspecies. Complicating matters are visible and potentially genetic differences between some Yellowstone cutthroat, which is one of 14 subspecies of native Western cutthroat. The Snake River, which forms in western Wyoming before flowing into eastern Idaho, is home to a native population of Yellowstone cutthroat. But there may actually be two different subspecies....
Local agencies frown on federal protection for cutthroat trout Earlier this fall, a gathering of Greater Yellowstone Area biologists, scientists, state and federal Fish and Game officials, environmentalists, fishing guides and general trout enthusiasts met in Idaho Falls for a symposium on the status of the Yellowstone cutthroat. All agree that the fish is special and recovery efforts, while promising, must continue. But there is ongoing debate over whether the Yellowstone cutthroat should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Generally speaking, Fish and Game officials in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana frown on an ESA listing while environmental groups and trout activists are split....
Air Force secretary supports efforts to block Skull Valley waste site Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne has expressed support for legislation that would block a proposed railroad spur to haul highly radioactive nuclear waste to a proposed storage site in Skull Valley. The legislation, introduced by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, also would designate wilderness in the Cedar Mountains. Both provisions are part of legislation dealing with land-use planning on the Utah Test and Training Range imbedded in the 2006 defense authorization act. Minnesota-based Private Fuel Storage LLC has proposed a temporary storage site for up to 44,000 tons of spent fuel stored in up to 4,000 steel-lined concrete casks on 820 acres leased from the Goshute Tribe on the reservation in Skull Valley. The company's proposal includes building a railroad spur from the Union Pacific Railroad's mainline. But the spur would cross public land and would need a right of way grant from the BLM....
Governor sees problems with drilling plan Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he sees problems with a Colorado company's plans to pump saline waste water from its drilling operations into Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is taking public comment now on its proposal to allow Dudley and Associates LLC of Denver to pump water from its planned Seminoe Road coal-bed methane development into the reservoir. The company plans to drill up to 1,240 wells over the next 10 years. "I think that somebody who's talking about putting highly saline water into a natural water course has got some problems," Freudenthal said Wednesday during his weekly news conference....
State orders permit for Otero Mesa wells The New Mexico Environment Department says it wants more information before it will allow any gas well flaring on Otero Mesa. In a release issued late Tuesday, the department said it has asked Roswell-based Harvey E. Yates Co. for more information on its proposal to flare gas wells on the mesa. The department noted that a federal permit issued to the company would likely result in carbon monoxide emissions that exceed the state's air quality threshold. The company has permission from the Bureau of Land Management to flare. But the state department indicated the company will need a state air quality permit as well. The department's news release said it was informed this month that BLM would allowing the flaring of two natural gas wells on Otero Mesa without "evaluating cumulative air quality impacts to the region, or conferring with the department to determine if an air quality permit might be required." BLM's permit allows two gas wells in the Bennett Ranch Unit to flare gas for 30 days, or 50 million cubic feet of gas, whichever occurs first. The company must notify BLM two weeks prior to flaring....
'A new day' in Yellowstone When the winter season opens in Yellowstone National Park this month, visitors may be more likely to hear the swish of cross-country skis than the buzz of snowmobiles. The business of Yellowstone in winter is undergoing a shift that seems less focused on resolving the long-standing dispute over snowmobiles and more about in adapting to a changing market. Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the largest concessions company in Yellowstone, is offering a slew of new services this winter, including more groomed trails for cross-country skiing, ice skating near Old Faithful and massage therapy at Snow Lodge. The company still offers snowmobile tours, but it's no longer the dominant force it once was in Yellowstone....
A Legendary Sage Reflects On A Current Threat: "The Whole Process is Upside Down" Despite denials from the National Park Service that there is a problem; and in spite of assurances from the agency's public affairs office in Washington D.C. that rank-and-file rangers across the country support changes to the Park Service operating manual being expedited in lone-wolf fashion by Deputy Asssistant Interior Secretary Paul Hoffman, everything I'm hearing suggests that just the opposite is true. Never before in the history of the Park Service have such a large number of retired employees banded together and risen up to challenge what they perceive to be the undoing of their much-beloved public agency. What would cause them to do that? Senior level managers, who collectively have thousands of years of professional experience overseeing our national parks on behalf of we citizens, are in an uproar over the changes that Mr. Hoffman, still, to this day, is trying to implement....
Martinez cattle case moves to federal court A case involving the impoundment of cattle by the U.S. Forest Service is headed to federal court. That, and not the county superior court, is where Forest Service officials and the Greenlee County Attorney say the matter belongs. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque moved the case to the federal district court in Phoenix on Nov. 29. The move was made after the cattle's owner filed an injunction locally to prevent sale of the cattle, most of which have already been shipped to Texas for sale. The cattle, belonging to the Martinez family, were impounded by the Forest Service in October and November. The Forest Service said the cattle were illegally grazing on two allotments on Forest Service land near the Martinez Ranch northeast of Clifton. The USFS said the Martinez family's grazing permit for the Pleasant Valley was canceled in 2004 and the Martinezes never had a permit for the Hickey allotment. Dan Martinez, who is the spokesman for the ranch he owns with his two brothers, adamantly disagrees with the Forest Service and said removal of the cattle is a criminal act on the part of the federal agency. Waiver of a grazing permit is at the center of the dispute between the USFS and the Martinezes....
Rancher sacrifices land for a conservation easement Jay Platt and his brothers were prepared to carve their ranch south of Datil into 10- and 20-acre chunks and sell the pieces off. Then Platt learned about the federal government's Forest Legacy Program, which soon will pay $2.5 million to buy the development rights on 8,000 to 10,000 acres of the ranch's piñon-juniper and Ponderosa pine-studded hills to prevent subdivision and protect a prime wildlife corridor. "This ranch would have done very well as a subdivision, but the more time I spent out there, I didn't want to chop it up," Platt said. "I like ranching." The conservation easement deal for Platt's ranch was featured in a recent Parade magazine article about federal pork projects. The Horse Springs Ranch easement bans subdivision, the building of permanent structures, mining and conversion of forest land to pasture. In addition, Platt must adopt a forest stewardship plan that will guide any future tree cutting and cannot sell water rights off the land. The easement restrictions are permanent and remain on the land even when it is sold or inherited. Cattle ranching and hunting still will be allowed, however...
Park snowmobile changes have little effect on surrounding forests With all the confusion about snowmobiling in Wyoming's national parks, you'd think there would be more sled traffic in the national forests. You'd be wrong. According to U.S. Forest Service officials, changes in snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have not resulted in an increase in traffic in neighboring national forests. Any increase is a result of good snow conditions, and visitors seeking out the good snow. Mary Cernicek, spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton, said the clientele that comes to snowmobile in the parks is not interested in the national forests. "It's the destination, and they're terrified to be out on open snow that's not groomed," she said. "They want to be in line, behind the guide, and see Old Faithful."....
Decision on road may stand The assistant supervisor of Pike National Forest doesn’t expect the agency to change its mind about reopening a section of Gold Camp Road to vehicles despite Tuesday’s withdrawal of the decision to correct a technical omission. The agency announced late in the day that it had withdrawn its July decision to allow the reopening of an 8.8-mile section of the scenic mountain road. The agency, Brian Ferebee said, recently discovered it violated internal rules when it failed to have the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service review a biological assessment that was used to make the decision. Ferebee said Wednesday that it could be a couple of months before that review comes back. He speculated that the controversial decision to reopen the historic road would not be changed, although how to do it could be modified....
Hungry Horse land sells for $2.38 million An auction to sell off about 90 acres of Forest Service land in Hungry Horse has closed, with the high bidder purchasing the entire property for $2.381 million. That includes several parcels of land as well as the old Hungry Horse Ranger Station. The high bidder was Stephan Byrd. Linda Perry, of the General Services Administration, which handled the online auction, declined to release Byrd's address and other information, noting an official press release on the sale had not been prepared and the sale itself had not been closed. The Forest Service auction started off slowly, but then ramped up substantially in the past couple of months, gaining almost $1 million in value over the past few weeks....
Report on avalanche death faults southern Nevada ski resort A U.S Forest Service investigation faulted a southern Nevada ski area for inadequate avalanche prevention and rescue training before a cascade of snow swept a teenage snowboarder off a chair lift to his death early this year. The report of the January death of Brett Hutchison, obtained Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal under a freedom of information request, called heavy snowfall before the fatal avalanche extraordinary in the 40-year history of the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort. It determined the Mount Charleston resort had not complied with an avalanche control plan, did not have rescue equipment in position and had not adequately prepared employees for search and rescue....
Firefighting helicopters heading to Iraq in 2006 Most of the Colorado National Guard's 12 firefighting helicopters will be in Iraq during next summer's forest fire season. "Next fire season will be a challenge for us," Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney, adjutant general of Colorado's Guard, told the legislature's Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday. He said it is possible that the helicopters' 18-month deployment will keep them out of the state for the 2007 fire season as well. Rich Homann, fire supervisor for the Colorado State Forest Service, said the state has other aircraft available for firefighting and can manage without the Guard's helicopters. But at least two National Guard helicopters were among nine used to scoop water from cattle ponds to help prevent the approaching Mason Gulch Fire from burning the town of Beulah last summer. That fire forced the evacuation of 5,000 people and burned 11,300 acres....
Lizard gets second chance at life Responding to a court order, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said Wednesday they will again consider adding an Inland reptile to the federal endangered species list. The sand-dwelling flat-tailed horned lizard once lived across the Coachella Valley, southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico, but now resides in small areas. A federal judge ordered the agency to consider the shrinking habitat of the flat-tailed horned lizard when making a decision. The wildlife agency, the judge said in recent rulings, violated federal law in 2003 when it withdrew a proposal to declare the lizard a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act without taking into account loss of habitat. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake in Phoenix ordered the agency to make a new decision by April 30. The small, sand-dwelling reptile has two rows of fringed scales on each side of its body. It was widespread across the Coachella Valley, southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico, but now only lives in pockets. They feed on harvester ants, consuming up to 200 each day....
American Rivers opposes more Columbia water for irrigation Taking more water from the Columbia River system to expand irrigated farming would actually hurt farmers in the state by producing a glut of produce, an environmental group contended Wednesday. A proposal to devote an additional 1 million acre-feet of water to farming would cost farmers about $70 million a year for 20 years, according to a study for American Rivers conducted by scientists at Texas A&M University. "This study shows that too much irrigation is bad not only for fish, but for farmers too," said Rob Masonis, Northwest regional director for American Rivers. It was commissioned in response to renewed efforts by the state of Washington to expand the water supply for farmers in the arid Columbia River Basin, which runs from Grand Coulee Dam to the Tri-Cities....
Threats to Yellowstone cutthroat could lead to federal protection The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has long said the population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake was abundant enough to keep the fish off of the federal endangered species list, but a new federal study casts serious doubts on the agency's ability to further rely on the lake's bounty. The population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake, the fish's historic epicenter and stronghold, has decreased by 60 percent and their recovery "appears to be in peril," states a report released last month by National Park Service biologists. "The cutthroat trout population size of this system was once considered to be in the millions," the report states. "However, current abundance indices suggest that only a fraction of that population exists today."....
Fine-spotted cutthroat seen as separate subspecies As U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials determine whether the Yellowstone cutthroat is deserving of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, a debate rages over whether a certain population of the fish are actually a separate subspecies. Complicating matters are visible and potentially genetic differences between some Yellowstone cutthroat, which is one of 14 subspecies of native Western cutthroat. The Snake River, which forms in western Wyoming before flowing into eastern Idaho, is home to a native population of Yellowstone cutthroat. But there may actually be two different subspecies....
Local agencies frown on federal protection for cutthroat trout Earlier this fall, a gathering of Greater Yellowstone Area biologists, scientists, state and federal Fish and Game officials, environmentalists, fishing guides and general trout enthusiasts met in Idaho Falls for a symposium on the status of the Yellowstone cutthroat. All agree that the fish is special and recovery efforts, while promising, must continue. But there is ongoing debate over whether the Yellowstone cutthroat should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Generally speaking, Fish and Game officials in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana frown on an ESA listing while environmental groups and trout activists are split....
Air Force secretary supports efforts to block Skull Valley waste site Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne has expressed support for legislation that would block a proposed railroad spur to haul highly radioactive nuclear waste to a proposed storage site in Skull Valley. The legislation, introduced by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, also would designate wilderness in the Cedar Mountains. Both provisions are part of legislation dealing with land-use planning on the Utah Test and Training Range imbedded in the 2006 defense authorization act. Minnesota-based Private Fuel Storage LLC has proposed a temporary storage site for up to 44,000 tons of spent fuel stored in up to 4,000 steel-lined concrete casks on 820 acres leased from the Goshute Tribe on the reservation in Skull Valley. The company's proposal includes building a railroad spur from the Union Pacific Railroad's mainline. But the spur would cross public land and would need a right of way grant from the BLM....
Governor sees problems with drilling plan Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he sees problems with a Colorado company's plans to pump saline waste water from its drilling operations into Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is taking public comment now on its proposal to allow Dudley and Associates LLC of Denver to pump water from its planned Seminoe Road coal-bed methane development into the reservoir. The company plans to drill up to 1,240 wells over the next 10 years. "I think that somebody who's talking about putting highly saline water into a natural water course has got some problems," Freudenthal said Wednesday during his weekly news conference....
State orders permit for Otero Mesa wells The New Mexico Environment Department says it wants more information before it will allow any gas well flaring on Otero Mesa. In a release issued late Tuesday, the department said it has asked Roswell-based Harvey E. Yates Co. for more information on its proposal to flare gas wells on the mesa. The department noted that a federal permit issued to the company would likely result in carbon monoxide emissions that exceed the state's air quality threshold. The company has permission from the Bureau of Land Management to flare. But the state department indicated the company will need a state air quality permit as well. The department's news release said it was informed this month that BLM would allowing the flaring of two natural gas wells on Otero Mesa without "evaluating cumulative air quality impacts to the region, or conferring with the department to determine if an air quality permit might be required." BLM's permit allows two gas wells in the Bennett Ranch Unit to flare gas for 30 days, or 50 million cubic feet of gas, whichever occurs first. The company must notify BLM two weeks prior to flaring....
'A new day' in Yellowstone When the winter season opens in Yellowstone National Park this month, visitors may be more likely to hear the swish of cross-country skis than the buzz of snowmobiles. The business of Yellowstone in winter is undergoing a shift that seems less focused on resolving the long-standing dispute over snowmobiles and more about in adapting to a changing market. Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the largest concessions company in Yellowstone, is offering a slew of new services this winter, including more groomed trails for cross-country skiing, ice skating near Old Faithful and massage therapy at Snow Lodge. The company still offers snowmobile tours, but it's no longer the dominant force it once was in Yellowstone....
A Legendary Sage Reflects On A Current Threat: "The Whole Process is Upside Down" Despite denials from the National Park Service that there is a problem; and in spite of assurances from the agency's public affairs office in Washington D.C. that rank-and-file rangers across the country support changes to the Park Service operating manual being expedited in lone-wolf fashion by Deputy Asssistant Interior Secretary Paul Hoffman, everything I'm hearing suggests that just the opposite is true. Never before in the history of the Park Service have such a large number of retired employees banded together and risen up to challenge what they perceive to be the undoing of their much-beloved public agency. What would cause them to do that? Senior level managers, who collectively have thousands of years of professional experience overseeing our national parks on behalf of we citizens, are in an uproar over the changes that Mr. Hoffman, still, to this day, is trying to implement....
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Editorial: Market conservation in the cross-hairs A conservationist effort to restore depleted grazing land in southern Utah is in trouble because of local opposition. According to The New York Times, the Grand Canyon Trust has spent more than $1 million to end grazing on more than 400,000 acres near the Escalante River. The trust cut deals with willing ranchers whose cows couldn't get fat on the hard, dry soil anyway and were happy to sell off their grazing rights. But now these deals are under unfair attack by local politicians who've filed suit to roll back the agreements. The case is pending before an administrative law judge in the Interior Department, and could end up in federal court. Michael E. Noel, the Republican state representative leading the attack, claims that allowing the sale of some grazing rights means "we go down the path of eliminating all grazing on public lands." That's preposterous, but the fact that the deals are under attack points up how even the best-intentioned activities can be thwarted when they're conducted on public lands. The government is the owner, and the government is always subject to shifting political winds....
Supreme Court reviews Clean Water Act Several U.S. farm groups are raising concerns about a Supreme Court case that has two Michigan land owners pitted against the Army Corps of Engineers. In both instances, the residents were denied the right to develop land they own because of wetlands that exist on the properties. Both the National Pork Producers Council and the Farm Bureau have stepped into the case, concerned that the outcome could impact American farmers and ranchers. Late last week, NPPC asked the Court to reverse a lower court ruling on the Clean Water Act that could adversely affect livestock operations. The farm groups have asked for a ruling that ditches, drainage ways or wetlands with only indirect connections to navigable waters not be subject to the provisions of the Clean Water Act. That federal mandate requires a permit to release anything into a navigable body of water. Both Farm Bureau and NPPC filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the consolidated case – Rapanos, et., al. v. United States of America and Carabell, et. al. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, et. al. It the two cases before the Supreme Court, neither property owner’s land adjoins or drains directly into navigable waterways, which are broadly defined as waters of the United States. The Corps of Engineers and EPA contend that the Clean Water Act prohibits without a permit discharges of pollutants, including agricultural waste, into waters with any hydrologic connection to navigable waters....
Timber sale reduced by 85% Helena National Forest officials and a local environmental group have reached a compromise over a timber sale near Lincoln, which reduces the amount to be logged by about 85 percent. The new agreement calls for 4 million board feet of timber to be logged from the mountainsides that burned two years ago during the Snow/Talon wildfires, instead of the almost 27 million board feet the Lincoln Ranger District initially had offered for sale. “It’s a sale we can live with and they’re still getting to cut 4 million board feet, which is a substantial amount by itself,” said Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “We have a new (Helena National Forest) supervisor who worked things out with us, and we think this gets everybody off to a good start. “We’re glad we could talk and reach a compromise without going to court.” Kevin Riordan, who took over the helm of the Helena forest in July, said economics were the main reason to reduce the size of the timber sale, but added that lessening the threat of a lawsuit also played into his decision....
Global Warming Blues The 11th annual meeting of global warming enthusiasts in Montreal isn’t turning out to be a very happy event. Even though this is the first opportunity for the burgeoning global climate bureaucracy to celebrate the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the realities of science, economics and politics are raining on its parade. First, a new study published this week in the journal Nature (Dec. 1) turns global warming alarmism on its head. British researchers reported that the ocean current responsible for the tropical winds that warm Europe’s climate has decreased by an estimated 30 percent since 1957. The headline of the New Scientist report (Nov. 30) on the study nicely captured its import, “Failing ocean current raises fear of mini ice age.” That conclusion, however, doesn’t jibe at all with the reality of European climate, which began warming 200 years ago and is now setting the modern records for warm temperatures that the pro-Kyoto crowd likes to hyperventilate about. The European Environment Agency, in fact, claimed on Nov. 29 that Europe is currently facing the “worst” warming in 5,000 years with 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004 being the four hottest years on record. While temperatures can only go up or down at any given moment, global warmers seem to want to have it both ways so that any change in climate, regardless of direction, can be attributed to human activity....
Pact Signed for Prototype of Coal Plant Under pressure from other industrialized countries at talks here on global warming, the Bush administration announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with a coalition of energy companies to build a prototype coal-burning power plant with no emissions. The project, called FutureGen, has been in planning stages since 2003. But the Energy Department said here that a formal agreement had been signed under which companies would contribute $250 million of a cost estimated at $1 billion. Environmental advocates at the talks criticized the announcement, saying it was intended to distract from continuing efforts by the American delegation to block discussion of new international commitments to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that scientists link to global warming....
Column: Pombo's plan must be stopped What is it, exactly, that makes the West special? There are certainly many answers to that question, but perhaps the one that Westerners would give more than any other is our "wide open spaces." Despite much development, there is still open space in the West: space to hike, to hunt, to breathe free, to escape the hemmed-in life that most of us lead too much of the time. That space is our birthright: It is America's public land, held in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The region is what it is because there is so much publicly owned land. California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, wants to change all that. Working behind the scenes, he succeeded in attaching a series of amendments to the Deficit Reduction Act (that is, the Budget Bill) that was recently passed by the House. These provisions, adopted with little debate, have the potential to destroy the West as we know it. The amendments are ostensibly reforms to the Mining Law of 1872, the antiquated statute that still governs mining claims on public land. But their impact would extend far beyond mineral extraction....
Toll Road Would Cross Park After six years of environmental studies, Orange County toll road agency staff members recommended Tuesday that a controversial tollway be built through San Onofre State Beach — a popular coastal park that contains endangered species, unspoiled wetlands and world-renowned surfing spots. The 16-mile route, one of eight options considered, would cause the least harm to natural resources and avoid the possibility of condemning hundreds of homes in San Clemente, the Transportation Corridor Agencies staff concluded. "This culminates a lot of years of work," said Macie Cleary-Milan, the TCA's deputy director of environmental planning. "We've balanced all the issues to come up with the best project that is environmentally sensitive and does not have community impacts." The recommended route, which also would cut through a preserve set aside by developers as permanent open space, represents the final link in Orange County's network of tollways....
The people’s champion But today, while PGE is still in the news, Tuttle bird-dogs a different cause. The 59-year-old Tuttle’s arch-nemesis is now a 133-year-old federal mining law that has for decades resisted reform efforts by both liberals and conservatives. His favorite issue recently became a hot topic in Washington, D.C., thanks to a push to rework the law to let private interests acquire pristine federal land — including property inside national forests — for just $1,000 an acre. While some environmental groups focus on publicity, membership and fundraising, Tuttle and his son, John, work quietly out of a nondescript, low-rent downtown Portland office, dispensing low-key wit and engaging in behind-the-scenes bureaucratic combat. Tuttle is considered the pre-eminent mining activist in Oregon. In his 2004 book, “Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me,” environmental writer Jeffrey St. Clair said Tuttle’s group “may be the mining industry’s biggest pain in the ass.”....
Grand Staircase manager leaving for new job in D.C. David Hunsaker is stepping up in his Bureau of Land Management career by stepping down as manager of southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In March, Hunsaker will move to Washington, D.C., to become deputy director of the National Landscape Conservation System, which oversees the BLM's specially designated lands, including monuments, wilderness study areas and scenic rivers and trails. "I've been offered the job, and I've accepted," he said Tuesday. Hunsaker, who took the reins of the 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase in 2001, said his departure has nothing to do with the BLM's ongoing road battles with Kane and Garfield counties....
Arizona, Sonora join up to promote 'geotourism' We all know about the world-class spas and golf resorts.
But Arizona is also home to the Sonoran Desert, and with help from the National Geographic Society, some regional tourism offices are hoping to capitalize on the Arizona-Sonora region's cultural heritage. In the process, they hope, they can keep a unique desert region safe from harmful tourist expansion. On Saturday, the directors of the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Sonora Commission for Tourism Promotion signed a bi-national charter to promote "geotourism." Geotourism is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, its environment, culture and heritage, and the well-being of its residents. The concept is different from ecotourism, which focuses on the environment to the exclusion of local people, said Jonathan Tourtellot, director for the National Geographic Center of Sustainable Destinations in Washington, D.C....
A passion for the heartland: Rapid development doesn't deter hunters, erase memories It’s an hour before dawn on the plains about 50 miles northeast of Denver and this once-dark prairie is ablaze with lights. Development in the form of bi-level homes, three-car garages and 24-hour convenience stores has come to rural Weld County, where 20 years ago the few lights scattered across the short-grass prairie belonged to a sprinkling of oil wells or the occasional distant farmhouse. Headlamps would glimmer and then fade as ranchers and farmers drove the winding prairie roads, and the distant glow to the southwest was the only sign of the urban octopus reaching out its tentacles. The octopus’ warning lights aren’t so distant anymore....
Researchers trail horses in study of wayward seeds Bonnie Davis spent the past several months gathering horse manure. And she was paid to do it. Davis, a researcher working with a college north of San Francisco and the federal government, is trying to learn whether horses, by doing what comes naturally, are spreading non-native plants in California's parks. Davis gathered 270 samples of "road apples" on trails and at trailheads at several northern California national parks, including Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, to determine what makes it through a horse's digestive system. The project entails finding whole seeds in the manure and getting them to grow in a hothouse to identify what type of plant they produce. The National Park Service has given Dominican University in San Rafael $100,000 to study how non-native plants are creeping into parks, in many cases forcing out native plants....
Bill to let woman stay in national park stalls For the second time in a month, a procedural squabble in Congress on Tuesday stalled legislation to let octogenarian Betty Dick continue living at her seasonal home in Rocky Mountain National Park. Earlier this year, the National Park Service threatened to enforce a 25-year lease agreement and evict Dick from the land where she and her late husband had lived part- time since the 1970s. In 1979, they negotiated an agreement that they thought would allow them to stay on the land for the rest of their lives. But, Betty Dick told a congressional committee, a last-minute change converted it into a 25-year limit. The Senate and House of Representatives passed different versions of legislation to let her remain on the land for the rest of her life....
Administration keeps workers' names secret Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. "Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government," said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information act to get the data. Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data are often used by reporters and government watchdog groups to monitor policies and detect waste or abuse....
Retired park managers see danger signs Policies proposed by the Bush administration could weaken protections for the natural qualities that make national parks special places to visit, according to two dozen retired National Park Service managers. In a letter to Park Service Director Fran Mainella, the retirees said the rules - still in draft form - are a “drastic and dangerous departure from a longstanding national consensus” about how parks should be run. The rules could tip the scale in favor of recreation and lessen the importance of conserving and protecting the parks' natural resources, the retirees said. The letter released Tuesday is signed by 25 retirees who worked as park superintendents, regional supervisors for several states or others in executive positions. “None of the people on this list are zealots,” said Bob Barbee, Yellowstone National Park's superintendent from 1983 to 1994....
Ranchers' hopes evaporating With hay costing about twice its normal price, little if any feed on the ground and water levels in stock tanks receding daily, ranchers across Texas recognize that their run of good fortune may be drying up. "Ranchers hoped to put three good years of rainfall together, but 2005 did not work out that way," said Matt Brockman, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. "It's dealt us a setback this year." How much of a setback still is being calculated because the drought — a phenomenon nearly statewide that reminds ranchers of the severe conditions they faced in 1996 — is just getting started. Cattle prices have stayed high, but there are concerns they may not last much longer, especially if the drought forces ranchers to sell off their herds....
Nebraska farm leader concerned about proposed reality TV show We're not hayseeds, says a Nebraska farm leader, worried about how accurately a new TV reality show will portray farmers and their problems. John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union fears that The Farmer Wants a Wife intends to turn its rural reality cast into media fodder as naive bumpkins. And he has no plans to be of any assistance. "I'm not inclined to be helpful to any of those efforts that would trivialize the enormous problems that farm and ranch families face," he said. The premise of the show is to make a match between lonely young farmers with no time to date and women who dream of living a traditional, small-town lifestyle....
Cowboy Angel Fights Attack on Christmas! CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN: THE STORY OF A COWBOY ANGEL has been released on DVD and is available through www.Customflix.com or www.Amazon.com “I’m tired of the unrelenting attack on Christmas and the Christmas spirit. It’s Holiday this. Happy Holiday that. Well, I got news for you. This film is about Christmas. Christmas Spirit and an Angel trying to earn his wings,” said actor-writer-producer Mark Miller about his reasons for re-releasing Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel. “What has happened to Christmas films with heart, spirit and soul – that the whole family can watch?” Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel is a heartwarming Christmas tale featuring American leading man Mark Miller - writer, producer and star of SAVANNAH SMILES - and his boisterous comic-sidekick, the immortal, eternally lovable, Slim Pickens. Imprisoned, down-on-his-luck drifter, Gabe Sweet (Mark Miller) is forced to seek redemption by undertaking a Christmas charity mission on behalf of the town. There's only one problem - the "charity" is as empty as the hearts of the townspeople themselves. But, with the help of a dearly-departed Angel wannabe (Slim Pickens), Gabe quickly learns that the ones truly in need are the ones who already have the most....
Editorial: Market conservation in the cross-hairs A conservationist effort to restore depleted grazing land in southern Utah is in trouble because of local opposition. According to The New York Times, the Grand Canyon Trust has spent more than $1 million to end grazing on more than 400,000 acres near the Escalante River. The trust cut deals with willing ranchers whose cows couldn't get fat on the hard, dry soil anyway and were happy to sell off their grazing rights. But now these deals are under unfair attack by local politicians who've filed suit to roll back the agreements. The case is pending before an administrative law judge in the Interior Department, and could end up in federal court. Michael E. Noel, the Republican state representative leading the attack, claims that allowing the sale of some grazing rights means "we go down the path of eliminating all grazing on public lands." That's preposterous, but the fact that the deals are under attack points up how even the best-intentioned activities can be thwarted when they're conducted on public lands. The government is the owner, and the government is always subject to shifting political winds....
Supreme Court reviews Clean Water Act Several U.S. farm groups are raising concerns about a Supreme Court case that has two Michigan land owners pitted against the Army Corps of Engineers. In both instances, the residents were denied the right to develop land they own because of wetlands that exist on the properties. Both the National Pork Producers Council and the Farm Bureau have stepped into the case, concerned that the outcome could impact American farmers and ranchers. Late last week, NPPC asked the Court to reverse a lower court ruling on the Clean Water Act that could adversely affect livestock operations. The farm groups have asked for a ruling that ditches, drainage ways or wetlands with only indirect connections to navigable waters not be subject to the provisions of the Clean Water Act. That federal mandate requires a permit to release anything into a navigable body of water. Both Farm Bureau and NPPC filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the consolidated case – Rapanos, et., al. v. United States of America and Carabell, et. al. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, et. al. It the two cases before the Supreme Court, neither property owner’s land adjoins or drains directly into navigable waterways, which are broadly defined as waters of the United States. The Corps of Engineers and EPA contend that the Clean Water Act prohibits without a permit discharges of pollutants, including agricultural waste, into waters with any hydrologic connection to navigable waters....
Timber sale reduced by 85% Helena National Forest officials and a local environmental group have reached a compromise over a timber sale near Lincoln, which reduces the amount to be logged by about 85 percent. The new agreement calls for 4 million board feet of timber to be logged from the mountainsides that burned two years ago during the Snow/Talon wildfires, instead of the almost 27 million board feet the Lincoln Ranger District initially had offered for sale. “It’s a sale we can live with and they’re still getting to cut 4 million board feet, which is a substantial amount by itself,” said Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “We have a new (Helena National Forest) supervisor who worked things out with us, and we think this gets everybody off to a good start. “We’re glad we could talk and reach a compromise without going to court.” Kevin Riordan, who took over the helm of the Helena forest in July, said economics were the main reason to reduce the size of the timber sale, but added that lessening the threat of a lawsuit also played into his decision....
Global Warming Blues The 11th annual meeting of global warming enthusiasts in Montreal isn’t turning out to be a very happy event. Even though this is the first opportunity for the burgeoning global climate bureaucracy to celebrate the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the realities of science, economics and politics are raining on its parade. First, a new study published this week in the journal Nature (Dec. 1) turns global warming alarmism on its head. British researchers reported that the ocean current responsible for the tropical winds that warm Europe’s climate has decreased by an estimated 30 percent since 1957. The headline of the New Scientist report (Nov. 30) on the study nicely captured its import, “Failing ocean current raises fear of mini ice age.” That conclusion, however, doesn’t jibe at all with the reality of European climate, which began warming 200 years ago and is now setting the modern records for warm temperatures that the pro-Kyoto crowd likes to hyperventilate about. The European Environment Agency, in fact, claimed on Nov. 29 that Europe is currently facing the “worst” warming in 5,000 years with 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004 being the four hottest years on record. While temperatures can only go up or down at any given moment, global warmers seem to want to have it both ways so that any change in climate, regardless of direction, can be attributed to human activity....
Pact Signed for Prototype of Coal Plant Under pressure from other industrialized countries at talks here on global warming, the Bush administration announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with a coalition of energy companies to build a prototype coal-burning power plant with no emissions. The project, called FutureGen, has been in planning stages since 2003. But the Energy Department said here that a formal agreement had been signed under which companies would contribute $250 million of a cost estimated at $1 billion. Environmental advocates at the talks criticized the announcement, saying it was intended to distract from continuing efforts by the American delegation to block discussion of new international commitments to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that scientists link to global warming....
Column: Pombo's plan must be stopped What is it, exactly, that makes the West special? There are certainly many answers to that question, but perhaps the one that Westerners would give more than any other is our "wide open spaces." Despite much development, there is still open space in the West: space to hike, to hunt, to breathe free, to escape the hemmed-in life that most of us lead too much of the time. That space is our birthright: It is America's public land, held in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The region is what it is because there is so much publicly owned land. California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, wants to change all that. Working behind the scenes, he succeeded in attaching a series of amendments to the Deficit Reduction Act (that is, the Budget Bill) that was recently passed by the House. These provisions, adopted with little debate, have the potential to destroy the West as we know it. The amendments are ostensibly reforms to the Mining Law of 1872, the antiquated statute that still governs mining claims on public land. But their impact would extend far beyond mineral extraction....
Toll Road Would Cross Park After six years of environmental studies, Orange County toll road agency staff members recommended Tuesday that a controversial tollway be built through San Onofre State Beach — a popular coastal park that contains endangered species, unspoiled wetlands and world-renowned surfing spots. The 16-mile route, one of eight options considered, would cause the least harm to natural resources and avoid the possibility of condemning hundreds of homes in San Clemente, the Transportation Corridor Agencies staff concluded. "This culminates a lot of years of work," said Macie Cleary-Milan, the TCA's deputy director of environmental planning. "We've balanced all the issues to come up with the best project that is environmentally sensitive and does not have community impacts." The recommended route, which also would cut through a preserve set aside by developers as permanent open space, represents the final link in Orange County's network of tollways....
The people’s champion But today, while PGE is still in the news, Tuttle bird-dogs a different cause. The 59-year-old Tuttle’s arch-nemesis is now a 133-year-old federal mining law that has for decades resisted reform efforts by both liberals and conservatives. His favorite issue recently became a hot topic in Washington, D.C., thanks to a push to rework the law to let private interests acquire pristine federal land — including property inside national forests — for just $1,000 an acre. While some environmental groups focus on publicity, membership and fundraising, Tuttle and his son, John, work quietly out of a nondescript, low-rent downtown Portland office, dispensing low-key wit and engaging in behind-the-scenes bureaucratic combat. Tuttle is considered the pre-eminent mining activist in Oregon. In his 2004 book, “Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me,” environmental writer Jeffrey St. Clair said Tuttle’s group “may be the mining industry’s biggest pain in the ass.”....
Grand Staircase manager leaving for new job in D.C. David Hunsaker is stepping up in his Bureau of Land Management career by stepping down as manager of southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In March, Hunsaker will move to Washington, D.C., to become deputy director of the National Landscape Conservation System, which oversees the BLM's specially designated lands, including monuments, wilderness study areas and scenic rivers and trails. "I've been offered the job, and I've accepted," he said Tuesday. Hunsaker, who took the reins of the 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase in 2001, said his departure has nothing to do with the BLM's ongoing road battles with Kane and Garfield counties....
Arizona, Sonora join up to promote 'geotourism' We all know about the world-class spas and golf resorts.
But Arizona is also home to the Sonoran Desert, and with help from the National Geographic Society, some regional tourism offices are hoping to capitalize on the Arizona-Sonora region's cultural heritage. In the process, they hope, they can keep a unique desert region safe from harmful tourist expansion. On Saturday, the directors of the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Sonora Commission for Tourism Promotion signed a bi-national charter to promote "geotourism." Geotourism is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, its environment, culture and heritage, and the well-being of its residents. The concept is different from ecotourism, which focuses on the environment to the exclusion of local people, said Jonathan Tourtellot, director for the National Geographic Center of Sustainable Destinations in Washington, D.C....
A passion for the heartland: Rapid development doesn't deter hunters, erase memories It’s an hour before dawn on the plains about 50 miles northeast of Denver and this once-dark prairie is ablaze with lights. Development in the form of bi-level homes, three-car garages and 24-hour convenience stores has come to rural Weld County, where 20 years ago the few lights scattered across the short-grass prairie belonged to a sprinkling of oil wells or the occasional distant farmhouse. Headlamps would glimmer and then fade as ranchers and farmers drove the winding prairie roads, and the distant glow to the southwest was the only sign of the urban octopus reaching out its tentacles. The octopus’ warning lights aren’t so distant anymore....
Researchers trail horses in study of wayward seeds Bonnie Davis spent the past several months gathering horse manure. And she was paid to do it. Davis, a researcher working with a college north of San Francisco and the federal government, is trying to learn whether horses, by doing what comes naturally, are spreading non-native plants in California's parks. Davis gathered 270 samples of "road apples" on trails and at trailheads at several northern California national parks, including Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, to determine what makes it through a horse's digestive system. The project entails finding whole seeds in the manure and getting them to grow in a hothouse to identify what type of plant they produce. The National Park Service has given Dominican University in San Rafael $100,000 to study how non-native plants are creeping into parks, in many cases forcing out native plants....
Bill to let woman stay in national park stalls For the second time in a month, a procedural squabble in Congress on Tuesday stalled legislation to let octogenarian Betty Dick continue living at her seasonal home in Rocky Mountain National Park. Earlier this year, the National Park Service threatened to enforce a 25-year lease agreement and evict Dick from the land where she and her late husband had lived part- time since the 1970s. In 1979, they negotiated an agreement that they thought would allow them to stay on the land for the rest of their lives. But, Betty Dick told a congressional committee, a last-minute change converted it into a 25-year limit. The Senate and House of Representatives passed different versions of legislation to let her remain on the land for the rest of her life....
Administration keeps workers' names secret Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. "Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government," said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information act to get the data. Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data are often used by reporters and government watchdog groups to monitor policies and detect waste or abuse....
Retired park managers see danger signs Policies proposed by the Bush administration could weaken protections for the natural qualities that make national parks special places to visit, according to two dozen retired National Park Service managers. In a letter to Park Service Director Fran Mainella, the retirees said the rules - still in draft form - are a “drastic and dangerous departure from a longstanding national consensus” about how parks should be run. The rules could tip the scale in favor of recreation and lessen the importance of conserving and protecting the parks' natural resources, the retirees said. The letter released Tuesday is signed by 25 retirees who worked as park superintendents, regional supervisors for several states or others in executive positions. “None of the people on this list are zealots,” said Bob Barbee, Yellowstone National Park's superintendent from 1983 to 1994....
Ranchers' hopes evaporating With hay costing about twice its normal price, little if any feed on the ground and water levels in stock tanks receding daily, ranchers across Texas recognize that their run of good fortune may be drying up. "Ranchers hoped to put three good years of rainfall together, but 2005 did not work out that way," said Matt Brockman, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. "It's dealt us a setback this year." How much of a setback still is being calculated because the drought — a phenomenon nearly statewide that reminds ranchers of the severe conditions they faced in 1996 — is just getting started. Cattle prices have stayed high, but there are concerns they may not last much longer, especially if the drought forces ranchers to sell off their herds....
Nebraska farm leader concerned about proposed reality TV show We're not hayseeds, says a Nebraska farm leader, worried about how accurately a new TV reality show will portray farmers and their problems. John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union fears that The Farmer Wants a Wife intends to turn its rural reality cast into media fodder as naive bumpkins. And he has no plans to be of any assistance. "I'm not inclined to be helpful to any of those efforts that would trivialize the enormous problems that farm and ranch families face," he said. The premise of the show is to make a match between lonely young farmers with no time to date and women who dream of living a traditional, small-town lifestyle....
Cowboy Angel Fights Attack on Christmas! CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN: THE STORY OF A COWBOY ANGEL has been released on DVD and is available through www.Customflix.com or www.Amazon.com “I’m tired of the unrelenting attack on Christmas and the Christmas spirit. It’s Holiday this. Happy Holiday that. Well, I got news for you. This film is about Christmas. Christmas Spirit and an Angel trying to earn his wings,” said actor-writer-producer Mark Miller about his reasons for re-releasing Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel. “What has happened to Christmas films with heart, spirit and soul – that the whole family can watch?” Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel is a heartwarming Christmas tale featuring American leading man Mark Miller - writer, producer and star of SAVANNAH SMILES - and his boisterous comic-sidekick, the immortal, eternally lovable, Slim Pickens. Imprisoned, down-on-his-luck drifter, Gabe Sweet (Mark Miller) is forced to seek redemption by undertaking a Christmas charity mission on behalf of the town. There's only one problem - the "charity" is as empty as the hearts of the townspeople themselves. But, with the help of a dearly-departed Angel wannabe (Slim Pickens), Gabe quickly learns that the ones truly in need are the ones who already have the most....
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Court: Property owner's rights violated in condemnation case
A U.S. District Court of Appeals yesterday ruled in favor of a businessman who had bought and renovated four buildings in Port Chester, only to lose them through condemnation to further a downtown redevelopment effort. The 2nd Circuit Court in Manhattan unanimously ruled that Bill Brody's right to due process was violated because the state's eminent domain law provided for insufficient notice that Port Chester could take his property through eminent domain. Brody's buildings were torn down, and a portion of The Waterfront at Port Chester, a retail and entertainment complex, was built on the site. The 5-year-old Brody case received nationwide attention, coming at a time when municipal governments increasingly were turning to eminent domain to encourage private development projects, especially in older commercial districts. The trend shows little sign of abating. The case now goes back to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to determine whether Brody is to be awarded damages and, if so, how much. The court agreed with Brody's key contention, that a small legal advertisement in a newspaper was insufficient notice of the eminent domain process, said Dana Berliner, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va., nonprofit group, which represented Brody at no charge. "New York's notice procedure was utterly inadequate," Berliner said yesterday. "The court confirmed that people do indeed have the right to challenge whether the government can take their property." Brody did not return a call to his office yesterday. Largely as a result of Brody's legal battle, New York state last year changed its eminent domain law to require that governments notify property owners of eminent domain plans by certified mail or personal delivery. The notice is considered crucial because property owners have only 30 days to challenge the eminent domain plan....
A U.S. District Court of Appeals yesterday ruled in favor of a businessman who had bought and renovated four buildings in Port Chester, only to lose them through condemnation to further a downtown redevelopment effort. The 2nd Circuit Court in Manhattan unanimously ruled that Bill Brody's right to due process was violated because the state's eminent domain law provided for insufficient notice that Port Chester could take his property through eminent domain. Brody's buildings were torn down, and a portion of The Waterfront at Port Chester, a retail and entertainment complex, was built on the site. The 5-year-old Brody case received nationwide attention, coming at a time when municipal governments increasingly were turning to eminent domain to encourage private development projects, especially in older commercial districts. The trend shows little sign of abating. The case now goes back to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to determine whether Brody is to be awarded damages and, if so, how much. The court agreed with Brody's key contention, that a small legal advertisement in a newspaper was insufficient notice of the eminent domain process, said Dana Berliner, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va., nonprofit group, which represented Brody at no charge. "New York's notice procedure was utterly inadequate," Berliner said yesterday. "The court confirmed that people do indeed have the right to challenge whether the government can take their property." Brody did not return a call to his office yesterday. Largely as a result of Brody's legal battle, New York state last year changed its eminent domain law to require that governments notify property owners of eminent domain plans by certified mail or personal delivery. The notice is considered crucial because property owners have only 30 days to challenge the eminent domain plan....
NEWS ROUNDUP
More Than 50 Black Bears Killed in N.J. As opponents turned out to denounce them, hunters killed more than 50 bears Monday at the start of a state-authorized hunt aimed at thinning New Jersey's burgeoning bear population. The hunt, restricted to the state's northwestern corner and open to about 4,400 hunters with permits, got under way in freezing weather after legal challenges by animal rights groups failed. Black bears, once near extinction in the state, are now a common sight, menacing people, scampering through yards and rummaging in trash. "Bears are beautiful animals, but they've got to be controlled," said Joe Giunta, 59, who bagged one Monday morning....
Environmentalists, rancher challenge northwestern New Mexico pipeline A rancher and an environmental group are challenging a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to build an eight-mile pipeline through areas set aside for bald eagles and deer. The administrative challenge by Tweeti Blancett and Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians also raised concerns about the pipeline's impact on livestock grazing. They want the BLM to reroute the pipeline away from sensitive areas to lessen its impact on endangered species, wildlife and livestock. The challenge asks the BLM's state director, Linda Rundell, to review the Farmington field office's decision to approve the pipeline, contending the approval violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the BLM, said Monday the agency was still reviewing the request to take another look at the decision....
Drilling vs. dwelling Bailey Dotson walks across a 160-acre field that once produced corn and sunflowers, but will soon grow another crop: homes for families flocking to northern Colorado. “You could see that happening in the late '90s,” Dotson, the chief executive of Best Buy Homes, said of the northward movement out of the Denver area, 25 miles to the south. But one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation sits on top of one of the more productive natural gas fields, setting up a collision of developers, land owners and companies drawn by soaring gas prices and demand for energy. Land owners, farmers and ranchers along this northern stretch of Colorado's Front Range have long coexisted with oil and gas wells. New tensions are erupting, however, as energy companies ask to drill more wells amid the new subdivisions and shopping centers. Area residents and business people have filed a protest, worried about losses in property values....
Gas producer aims to send water to reservoir A massive coal-bed methane development proposed for the west side of the Hanna Basin would direct most of its production water into Seminoe Reservoir, according to company plans. The Bureau of Land Management released its environmental study last week of Dudley and Associates LCC's proposed Seminoe Road Gas Development Project. The company is seeking federal permission to drill and develop up to 1,240 new coal-bed methane wells in the area, which is located about 20 miles north of Sinclair in Carbon County. Coal-bed methane is found by tapping into reservoirs of gas buried deep in coal beds. The natural gas is trapped in the fissures and fractures of the beds by the pressure of underground aquifers. The gas is released when the water is pumped to the surface, easing the pressure and allowing the gas to follow the water up. Water disposal has been one of the significant environmental concerns in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, where the majority of the state's coal-bed methane development has occurred. The BLM's Seminoe Road project study estimates from 29 to 44 gallons of water per minute would be produced from each well. Molvar estimated that would initially result in between 51 million and 78 million gallons of water per day being discharged....
Map maker, map maker Reed mines streams of scientific and geographic data, contemporary satellite images and historic photos in his work as a map maker. He's not a cartographer in the classic sense. Instead, he merges geographic information with existing maps to provide clients with a better understanding of place. The process, known as geographic information systems or GIS, is an exploding field, used by world health researchers, environmentalists, social scientists, even ordinary people trying to locate their house on a downloaded satellite image. A month ago he knocked off a map for environmental activist Mary O'Brien that shows how the embattled West Eugene Parkway cuts through wetlands that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to set aside as critical habitat for three endangered species - two plants and a butterfly. Now Reed is putting the finishing touches on a more complex map for the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council that pinpoints all of the culverts in the basin - more than 500 - that move water under roads. The map shows the waterways, from the rivers themselves to their feeder creeks and streams; the known areas where endangered and threatened fish live and spawn in the watershed; and the mix of public and private landowners in the area - from timber companies to the U.S. Forest Service....
Editorial: Protecting pineros The truism, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," applies to the U.S. Forest Service contractor abuses of migrant workers reported by The Bee in 1993 and again in November. But with a renewed commitment to congressional oversight, that pattern of abuse without penalties can be broken. Four members of Congress requested hearings. All that remains is for House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, to schedule them. After The Bee series "Shame of the Forest" in 1993, the House Committee on Government Operations held hearings and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service ordered a crackdown on contractors who abuse migrant workers in the agency's tree-planting and thinning programs. Then-Chief F. Dale Robertson issued a nationwide directive ordering stricter scrutiny of suspiciously low bids by contractors, better monitoring of working conditions and pay, and more cooperation with other agencies. In November, The Bee's series "The Pineros: Men of the Pines" revealed that little has changed. It documented clear safety violations; unreported injuries; workers cheated out of pay; contractors with a history of violating federal labor laws and government contracts still getting jobs; Forest Service staff witnessing violations but doing nothing....
Utah loses nuclear waste round The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Utah's request to hear its case involving state laws designed to regulate and tax the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear waste storage site. This was the state's last chance in this portion of its fight against the site. The state's laws may not be able to block it, but Denise Chancellor, an assistant attorney general, said there are "still a number of avenues" the state can take to attempt to block the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies from storing its spent nuclear fuel on the Goshutes' Skull Valley land in Tooele County. Between 1998 and 2001, in an attempt to discourage the project, the state passed several laws to regulate and tax the 40,000 tons of used nuclear fuel slated to go to the PFS site. But a federal judge in Salt Lake City struck down the laws, ruling that federal law pre-empts state laws in matters of nuclear safety. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and Monday's decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case keeps the laws unenforceable....
BLM is looking to sell 188 acres on North Spit The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to sell 188 acres of Coos Bay North Spit land and is taking public comments on the proposal. The agency is beginning an environmental assessment process to offer for lease or sale the parcel located along TransPacific Parkway. It’s just south of the Weyerhaeuser effluent pond and southwest of the BLM boat ramp. The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay wants to lease and then buy the land. BLM plans to maintain public access to nearby lands through a right-of-way....
Promised lands Thanks to the single-minded dedication of conservation groups, land trusts, conservancies, private companies and government organizations, forgotten canyons are becoming nature preserves, oil lands are returning to wetlands, and parklands are expanding into larger wildlife sanctuaries. As communities push back with evermore vigor, the wild side of the region is becoming as vital as the subdivisions that edge up against it. Whales, blue herons, falcons and gnatcatchers live in our midst, and if we dare to look ahead, we might find an urban landscape in search of harmony with nature. Here are five sites where the future is circling back to the past....
Taos Ski Valley: Sheer pluck In the spring of 1954, Ernie Blake and his friend Pete Totemoff hiked through snow to an old mining camp at the back of a remote canyon in northern New Mexico. They looked up at a towering mountain. "Pete, this is the place," Blake said. "It's too far from anywhere," Totemoff said. "The slopes are too steep." "This is the place," Blake said. And so began the legend of Taos Ski Valley. Fifty years after its 1955 opening, Taos has earned the highest compliment in the sport. It's a skiers' mountain. "In the ski universe, Taos is an American classic, no question about it," says Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of Ski Magazine. "It's a place where you truly earn your turns."....
Free-range cows The search for the wayward cows continues. Long before Reggie the alligator made headlines by evading trappers at Lake Machado near Harbor City the feral cattle of Cheeseboro and Palo Camado canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area stayed one hoof ahead of authorities. Though rarely seen, rangers insist the heifers are holed up in oaks and chaparral in the canyons and rolling hills near Simi Valley. Five years ago, 15 head of livestock escaped from a pen in Ahmanson Ranch and disappeared into the national park. A break in the search came in September when a wildfire stripped away vegetation and forced the cows into the open. A rancher who owns the cows baited a pen with corn, hay and other cow chow and snared six hungry animals. Nine renegade cattle remain — the smartest ones left in the herd — and continue to evade their captors. How can livestock — 1,000 pounds of hoofed sirloin — elude capture for five years in a popular park adjacent to a busy freeway? Bill Plummer, an animal science professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, says farm animals unleash their wild instincts after an escape....
Foundations fuel equine education The Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) are launching a public-education initiative called HORSE FACTS. "The goal of this program (is) to promote the little-known fact that biomedical research involving lab animals plays a key role in advancing veterinary medicine as well as human medicine," says FBR President Frankie L. Trull. "The fact that horses, house pets, wildlife and endangered species benefit from biomedical research involving lab animals is one that has long been missing from public discussion on this subject." The program, planned to be announced tomorrow during the 51st-annual AAEP Conference, is geared toward those who ride, raise, train, race and show horses, as well as other equine enthusiasts....
Carey horse trainer favors buffalo over cows Move over cows. Horse trainers are finding it better to work with buffalo. Leta West, of the James E. West Memorial Ranch (named for her late husband) in Dry Creek, is doing just that. West has 13 head of buffalo that she keeps on her ranch, using them primarily for working her many horses. "Buffalo are better than cows to work the horses on, because cows get sour and won't move," West said. "But a buffalo is very smart, they love to run, and really seem to enjoy the exercise." Riding horses through, around, behind, buffalo or cows, make them "cowey" -- slang for a horse that will watch the animal it is pursuing. This coweyness is what ranchers, ropers, cutters and working cow people are looking for. Traditionally a horse trainer will use cows for this practice, West said, "There are a lot of people moving to buffalo for training working cow horses."....
Young farrier brings experience, love of work to craft Two things become apparent when visiting with Avery Bush of rural Gordon, Neb., about his chosen occupation of farrier. He has a broad base of knowledge and experience and a love of all things equine. Avery left home a few days before his 14th birthday and has traveled all across the country doing a variety of work, starting with his first job of working for a horse trader for $10 a day. He ultimately settled on being a farrier and has worked at it full-time since 1998 and part-time for 10 years prior to that. “When I first started shoeing all I had to work with was a railroad iron, claw hammer and a rasp,” he recalled. Avery got his start indirectly by riding bulls and broncs in the PRCA for a number of years. After winning a bull riding in Salt Lake City he took his winnings and attended shoeing school at Oklahoma State University. Avery has tallied an enormous amount of life experiences in the horse world. He has started young reining and cutting prospects and still does some horse training. He gathered wild burros and horses for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and when he was in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada he hired on for “Wild Cow Contracts.” This work was precipitated by large ranching concerns who hired cowboys to gather wild cattle that had been missed at various gatherings, with the ranchers splitting up the bunch at the end of the gather....
It's All Trew: Small storage drawer contained treasure of supplies, memories Gerald Atchison of Amarillo reminded me of a special place in many early day homes. At his house it was "Papa's Drawer." At the Trew house it was "Mama's Drawer." This small storage area, usually a drawer in the kitchen cabinets or buffet, contained a treasure trove of tools and supplies needed for everyday residence operation. Money was scarce and times were hard. Pennies and nickels were as valuable then as dollars are today. "Waste not, want not" was the popular advice at the time. Nothing was thrown away without examination. This do-it-yourself tool kit and supply source contained pliers, screwdrivers, whet-rock, old ice pick, a dull pocket knife, an assortment of small nails, screws, tacks, a roll of Bull Dog friction tape, a small roll of black stove wire, a sack sewing needle and a needle for adding air to a football. It might also contain the small pump to add air to a gas iron....
More Than 50 Black Bears Killed in N.J. As opponents turned out to denounce them, hunters killed more than 50 bears Monday at the start of a state-authorized hunt aimed at thinning New Jersey's burgeoning bear population. The hunt, restricted to the state's northwestern corner and open to about 4,400 hunters with permits, got under way in freezing weather after legal challenges by animal rights groups failed. Black bears, once near extinction in the state, are now a common sight, menacing people, scampering through yards and rummaging in trash. "Bears are beautiful animals, but they've got to be controlled," said Joe Giunta, 59, who bagged one Monday morning....
Environmentalists, rancher challenge northwestern New Mexico pipeline A rancher and an environmental group are challenging a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to build an eight-mile pipeline through areas set aside for bald eagles and deer. The administrative challenge by Tweeti Blancett and Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians also raised concerns about the pipeline's impact on livestock grazing. They want the BLM to reroute the pipeline away from sensitive areas to lessen its impact on endangered species, wildlife and livestock. The challenge asks the BLM's state director, Linda Rundell, to review the Farmington field office's decision to approve the pipeline, contending the approval violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the BLM, said Monday the agency was still reviewing the request to take another look at the decision....
Drilling vs. dwelling Bailey Dotson walks across a 160-acre field that once produced corn and sunflowers, but will soon grow another crop: homes for families flocking to northern Colorado. “You could see that happening in the late '90s,” Dotson, the chief executive of Best Buy Homes, said of the northward movement out of the Denver area, 25 miles to the south. But one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation sits on top of one of the more productive natural gas fields, setting up a collision of developers, land owners and companies drawn by soaring gas prices and demand for energy. Land owners, farmers and ranchers along this northern stretch of Colorado's Front Range have long coexisted with oil and gas wells. New tensions are erupting, however, as energy companies ask to drill more wells amid the new subdivisions and shopping centers. Area residents and business people have filed a protest, worried about losses in property values....
Gas producer aims to send water to reservoir A massive coal-bed methane development proposed for the west side of the Hanna Basin would direct most of its production water into Seminoe Reservoir, according to company plans. The Bureau of Land Management released its environmental study last week of Dudley and Associates LCC's proposed Seminoe Road Gas Development Project. The company is seeking federal permission to drill and develop up to 1,240 new coal-bed methane wells in the area, which is located about 20 miles north of Sinclair in Carbon County. Coal-bed methane is found by tapping into reservoirs of gas buried deep in coal beds. The natural gas is trapped in the fissures and fractures of the beds by the pressure of underground aquifers. The gas is released when the water is pumped to the surface, easing the pressure and allowing the gas to follow the water up. Water disposal has been one of the significant environmental concerns in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, where the majority of the state's coal-bed methane development has occurred. The BLM's Seminoe Road project study estimates from 29 to 44 gallons of water per minute would be produced from each well. Molvar estimated that would initially result in between 51 million and 78 million gallons of water per day being discharged....
Map maker, map maker Reed mines streams of scientific and geographic data, contemporary satellite images and historic photos in his work as a map maker. He's not a cartographer in the classic sense. Instead, he merges geographic information with existing maps to provide clients with a better understanding of place. The process, known as geographic information systems or GIS, is an exploding field, used by world health researchers, environmentalists, social scientists, even ordinary people trying to locate their house on a downloaded satellite image. A month ago he knocked off a map for environmental activist Mary O'Brien that shows how the embattled West Eugene Parkway cuts through wetlands that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to set aside as critical habitat for three endangered species - two plants and a butterfly. Now Reed is putting the finishing touches on a more complex map for the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council that pinpoints all of the culverts in the basin - more than 500 - that move water under roads. The map shows the waterways, from the rivers themselves to their feeder creeks and streams; the known areas where endangered and threatened fish live and spawn in the watershed; and the mix of public and private landowners in the area - from timber companies to the U.S. Forest Service....
Editorial: Protecting pineros The truism, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," applies to the U.S. Forest Service contractor abuses of migrant workers reported by The Bee in 1993 and again in November. But with a renewed commitment to congressional oversight, that pattern of abuse without penalties can be broken. Four members of Congress requested hearings. All that remains is for House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, to schedule them. After The Bee series "Shame of the Forest" in 1993, the House Committee on Government Operations held hearings and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service ordered a crackdown on contractors who abuse migrant workers in the agency's tree-planting and thinning programs. Then-Chief F. Dale Robertson issued a nationwide directive ordering stricter scrutiny of suspiciously low bids by contractors, better monitoring of working conditions and pay, and more cooperation with other agencies. In November, The Bee's series "The Pineros: Men of the Pines" revealed that little has changed. It documented clear safety violations; unreported injuries; workers cheated out of pay; contractors with a history of violating federal labor laws and government contracts still getting jobs; Forest Service staff witnessing violations but doing nothing....
Utah loses nuclear waste round The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Utah's request to hear its case involving state laws designed to regulate and tax the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear waste storage site. This was the state's last chance in this portion of its fight against the site. The state's laws may not be able to block it, but Denise Chancellor, an assistant attorney general, said there are "still a number of avenues" the state can take to attempt to block the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies from storing its spent nuclear fuel on the Goshutes' Skull Valley land in Tooele County. Between 1998 and 2001, in an attempt to discourage the project, the state passed several laws to regulate and tax the 40,000 tons of used nuclear fuel slated to go to the PFS site. But a federal judge in Salt Lake City struck down the laws, ruling that federal law pre-empts state laws in matters of nuclear safety. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and Monday's decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case keeps the laws unenforceable....
BLM is looking to sell 188 acres on North Spit The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to sell 188 acres of Coos Bay North Spit land and is taking public comments on the proposal. The agency is beginning an environmental assessment process to offer for lease or sale the parcel located along TransPacific Parkway. It’s just south of the Weyerhaeuser effluent pond and southwest of the BLM boat ramp. The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay wants to lease and then buy the land. BLM plans to maintain public access to nearby lands through a right-of-way....
Promised lands Thanks to the single-minded dedication of conservation groups, land trusts, conservancies, private companies and government organizations, forgotten canyons are becoming nature preserves, oil lands are returning to wetlands, and parklands are expanding into larger wildlife sanctuaries. As communities push back with evermore vigor, the wild side of the region is becoming as vital as the subdivisions that edge up against it. Whales, blue herons, falcons and gnatcatchers live in our midst, and if we dare to look ahead, we might find an urban landscape in search of harmony with nature. Here are five sites where the future is circling back to the past....
Taos Ski Valley: Sheer pluck In the spring of 1954, Ernie Blake and his friend Pete Totemoff hiked through snow to an old mining camp at the back of a remote canyon in northern New Mexico. They looked up at a towering mountain. "Pete, this is the place," Blake said. "It's too far from anywhere," Totemoff said. "The slopes are too steep." "This is the place," Blake said. And so began the legend of Taos Ski Valley. Fifty years after its 1955 opening, Taos has earned the highest compliment in the sport. It's a skiers' mountain. "In the ski universe, Taos is an American classic, no question about it," says Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of Ski Magazine. "It's a place where you truly earn your turns."....
Free-range cows The search for the wayward cows continues. Long before Reggie the alligator made headlines by evading trappers at Lake Machado near Harbor City the feral cattle of Cheeseboro and Palo Camado canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area stayed one hoof ahead of authorities. Though rarely seen, rangers insist the heifers are holed up in oaks and chaparral in the canyons and rolling hills near Simi Valley. Five years ago, 15 head of livestock escaped from a pen in Ahmanson Ranch and disappeared into the national park. A break in the search came in September when a wildfire stripped away vegetation and forced the cows into the open. A rancher who owns the cows baited a pen with corn, hay and other cow chow and snared six hungry animals. Nine renegade cattle remain — the smartest ones left in the herd — and continue to evade their captors. How can livestock — 1,000 pounds of hoofed sirloin — elude capture for five years in a popular park adjacent to a busy freeway? Bill Plummer, an animal science professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, says farm animals unleash their wild instincts after an escape....
Foundations fuel equine education The Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) are launching a public-education initiative called HORSE FACTS. "The goal of this program (is) to promote the little-known fact that biomedical research involving lab animals plays a key role in advancing veterinary medicine as well as human medicine," says FBR President Frankie L. Trull. "The fact that horses, house pets, wildlife and endangered species benefit from biomedical research involving lab animals is one that has long been missing from public discussion on this subject." The program, planned to be announced tomorrow during the 51st-annual AAEP Conference, is geared toward those who ride, raise, train, race and show horses, as well as other equine enthusiasts....
Carey horse trainer favors buffalo over cows Move over cows. Horse trainers are finding it better to work with buffalo. Leta West, of the James E. West Memorial Ranch (named for her late husband) in Dry Creek, is doing just that. West has 13 head of buffalo that she keeps on her ranch, using them primarily for working her many horses. "Buffalo are better than cows to work the horses on, because cows get sour and won't move," West said. "But a buffalo is very smart, they love to run, and really seem to enjoy the exercise." Riding horses through, around, behind, buffalo or cows, make them "cowey" -- slang for a horse that will watch the animal it is pursuing. This coweyness is what ranchers, ropers, cutters and working cow people are looking for. Traditionally a horse trainer will use cows for this practice, West said, "There are a lot of people moving to buffalo for training working cow horses."....
Young farrier brings experience, love of work to craft Two things become apparent when visiting with Avery Bush of rural Gordon, Neb., about his chosen occupation of farrier. He has a broad base of knowledge and experience and a love of all things equine. Avery left home a few days before his 14th birthday and has traveled all across the country doing a variety of work, starting with his first job of working for a horse trader for $10 a day. He ultimately settled on being a farrier and has worked at it full-time since 1998 and part-time for 10 years prior to that. “When I first started shoeing all I had to work with was a railroad iron, claw hammer and a rasp,” he recalled. Avery got his start indirectly by riding bulls and broncs in the PRCA for a number of years. After winning a bull riding in Salt Lake City he took his winnings and attended shoeing school at Oklahoma State University. Avery has tallied an enormous amount of life experiences in the horse world. He has started young reining and cutting prospects and still does some horse training. He gathered wild burros and horses for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and when he was in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada he hired on for “Wild Cow Contracts.” This work was precipitated by large ranching concerns who hired cowboys to gather wild cattle that had been missed at various gatherings, with the ranchers splitting up the bunch at the end of the gather....
It's All Trew: Small storage drawer contained treasure of supplies, memories Gerald Atchison of Amarillo reminded me of a special place in many early day homes. At his house it was "Papa's Drawer." At the Trew house it was "Mama's Drawer." This small storage area, usually a drawer in the kitchen cabinets or buffet, contained a treasure trove of tools and supplies needed for everyday residence operation. Money was scarce and times were hard. Pennies and nickels were as valuable then as dollars are today. "Waste not, want not" was the popular advice at the time. Nothing was thrown away without examination. This do-it-yourself tool kit and supply source contained pliers, screwdrivers, whet-rock, old ice pick, a dull pocket knife, an assortment of small nails, screws, tacks, a roll of Bull Dog friction tape, a small roll of black stove wire, a sack sewing needle and a needle for adding air to a football. It might also contain the small pump to add air to a gas iron....
Monday, December 05, 2005
NATIONAL FINALS RODEO
Go here for all the results, including the aggregate standings.
Lord takes second straight barrel racing win, grabs lead Shali Lord of Lamar, Colo., raced to her second straight barrel racing victory Sunday night in the National Finals Rodeo, finishing in 14.04 seconds to take the lead in the season standings. Lord has earned $40,637 in the first three rounds of the NFR to push her season total to $113,185. Linda Vick of Hesperia, Calif., shut out in the first three rounds, is second with $110,866. “The only thing that feels much different is that Slider is running harder to the first barrel each night,” Lord said. “He is feeling great.” Sheri Sinor Estrada of Alamogordo, N.M., was second Sunday at 14:19, and Terri Kaye Kirkland of Billings, Mont., followed in 14:21....
Clay Tryan reclaims 1st place at NFR The third time was a charm Sunday night at the National Finals Rodeo. After posting no times in the first two rounds in team roping, Clay Tryan of Billings and Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, won in 4.0 seconds to reclaim first place in the world standings with $102,735 apiece. Travis Tryan of Billings and Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas, were second in 4.2 seconds. "It's a one-header every night, and if the rounds get tough we've just got to buck up and get it done," Clay Tryan said. "There's no backing off no matter what steer we have. We got to go for first every night."....
Urban cowboys make a fashion statement With the National Finals Rodeo in full swing, cowboy fashion will be on display around town this week. From custom-made cowboy hats, big, flashy belt buckles and designer jeans, the aesthetic beauty of Western wear is alive and well in and around the Thomas & Mack Center. An essential piece of equipment for any cowboy worth his salt is the hand-made cowboy boot. "There is a big-time demand, if you can get to those people," said David Moore Sr., a custom cowboy boot maker from Nogales, Ariz. "But finding people that produce the quality of boot a guy wants produced is tough." A customer can saunter into Moore's store and plop down at least $375 for a pair of ostrich smooth boots. The store's Web site also advertises bull shoulder, water buffalo and Teju lizard-skin boots, all starting at $375. Other styles of ostrich boots range from $400-$475, with Caiman crocodile belly starting at $650 and Hornback alligator priced at $1,000. Kangaroo is also available....
Animal rights advocates in Vegas protesting rodeo animal handling Animal protectionists plan an event in Las Vegas today to call attention to what they say is mistreatment of animals during the National Finals Rodeo. Two groups -- called "Showing Animals Respect and Kindness" and "In Defense of Animals" -- say they want a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association judge to investigate their complaints. The groups say they intend to make public a videotape showing violent ways animals are roped and tied during rodeo events....
Porum rookie shines t’s been a rigorous schedule this year for Porum’s Justin McDaniel. But it’s been an award-winning one as well for the 19-year-old cowboy from Porum. After competing in bareback riding for an estimated 62 rodeos, McDaniel picked up the Rookie of the Year award in the event. He receives his honor in ceremonies at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. on Wednesday. “I got a letter in the mail saying I was in the running for the award, so I kept up with it on the Internet,” McDaniel said. “I had a pretty good idea last month that I was going to win it.” The 2005 Porum High School actually won the coveted award with winnings of $30,271, according to standings on ESPN.com. Josh Shackleford of Elkmont, Ala., was a distant second with earnings of $25,100. Not competing in this year’s National Finals, McDaniel finished the 2005 season with earnings totaling $48,871. He finished as the runner-up for all-around Rookie of the Year to Steve Woolsey of Spanish Fork, Utah, and his earnings of $83,006....
Utahn leading overall in bull riding Spanish Fork's Steve Woolsey had another successful bull ride at the third performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on Sunday. He had an 82-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo's Jungle Boogie, good for a fourth-place tie and $5,300. More importantly for the Resistol Rookie of the Year, he has taken the lead in the aggregate and is the only man to have ridden all three of his bulls. Woolsey's take so far is over $20,000 with seven more rounds to go. It was a rough night for Wesley Silcox, from Payson, who failed to last eight seconds on Salt River Rodeo's Geronimo. Rusty Allen and Cody Wright are still neck and neck in the saddle bronc aggregate. Allen has 259 points on three and Wright is just one point behind him. Wright, from Milford, finished in third place on Sunday, and Allen, from Lehi, finished in fourth. Allen's take so far is over $34,000 and Wright has won over $31,000....
Brazile looking to gain momentum Most of the talk about an all-around world championship at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has centered on Ryan Jarrett. Jarrett, of Summerville, Ga., qualified for the 47th NFR in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, making him the most serious competition for three-time and defending winner Trevor Brazile of Decatur. Brazile has been atop the world standings for most of the season. However, he only qualified for the NFR in one event, the tie-down roping. Each round pays more than $15,000, but Brazile leads by more than $20,000. This year's NFR has been slow for Brazile, who got his first check in the third round. He finished fifth with an 8.9-second run, good for $4,038, the same amount Jarrett has won here. "It didn't start off the way I had hoped for," Brazile said. "Last year I came in here and won the first round in tie-down. Then things kind of fell apart. This year started slow, so hopefully the momentum will pick up now."....
Go here for all the results, including the aggregate standings.
Lord takes second straight barrel racing win, grabs lead Shali Lord of Lamar, Colo., raced to her second straight barrel racing victory Sunday night in the National Finals Rodeo, finishing in 14.04 seconds to take the lead in the season standings. Lord has earned $40,637 in the first three rounds of the NFR to push her season total to $113,185. Linda Vick of Hesperia, Calif., shut out in the first three rounds, is second with $110,866. “The only thing that feels much different is that Slider is running harder to the first barrel each night,” Lord said. “He is feeling great.” Sheri Sinor Estrada of Alamogordo, N.M., was second Sunday at 14:19, and Terri Kaye Kirkland of Billings, Mont., followed in 14:21....
Clay Tryan reclaims 1st place at NFR The third time was a charm Sunday night at the National Finals Rodeo. After posting no times in the first two rounds in team roping, Clay Tryan of Billings and Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, won in 4.0 seconds to reclaim first place in the world standings with $102,735 apiece. Travis Tryan of Billings and Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas, were second in 4.2 seconds. "It's a one-header every night, and if the rounds get tough we've just got to buck up and get it done," Clay Tryan said. "There's no backing off no matter what steer we have. We got to go for first every night."....
Urban cowboys make a fashion statement With the National Finals Rodeo in full swing, cowboy fashion will be on display around town this week. From custom-made cowboy hats, big, flashy belt buckles and designer jeans, the aesthetic beauty of Western wear is alive and well in and around the Thomas & Mack Center. An essential piece of equipment for any cowboy worth his salt is the hand-made cowboy boot. "There is a big-time demand, if you can get to those people," said David Moore Sr., a custom cowboy boot maker from Nogales, Ariz. "But finding people that produce the quality of boot a guy wants produced is tough." A customer can saunter into Moore's store and plop down at least $375 for a pair of ostrich smooth boots. The store's Web site also advertises bull shoulder, water buffalo and Teju lizard-skin boots, all starting at $375. Other styles of ostrich boots range from $400-$475, with Caiman crocodile belly starting at $650 and Hornback alligator priced at $1,000. Kangaroo is also available....
Animal rights advocates in Vegas protesting rodeo animal handling Animal protectionists plan an event in Las Vegas today to call attention to what they say is mistreatment of animals during the National Finals Rodeo. Two groups -- called "Showing Animals Respect and Kindness" and "In Defense of Animals" -- say they want a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association judge to investigate their complaints. The groups say they intend to make public a videotape showing violent ways animals are roped and tied during rodeo events....
Porum rookie shines t’s been a rigorous schedule this year for Porum’s Justin McDaniel. But it’s been an award-winning one as well for the 19-year-old cowboy from Porum. After competing in bareback riding for an estimated 62 rodeos, McDaniel picked up the Rookie of the Year award in the event. He receives his honor in ceremonies at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. on Wednesday. “I got a letter in the mail saying I was in the running for the award, so I kept up with it on the Internet,” McDaniel said. “I had a pretty good idea last month that I was going to win it.” The 2005 Porum High School actually won the coveted award with winnings of $30,271, according to standings on ESPN.com. Josh Shackleford of Elkmont, Ala., was a distant second with earnings of $25,100. Not competing in this year’s National Finals, McDaniel finished the 2005 season with earnings totaling $48,871. He finished as the runner-up for all-around Rookie of the Year to Steve Woolsey of Spanish Fork, Utah, and his earnings of $83,006....
Utahn leading overall in bull riding Spanish Fork's Steve Woolsey had another successful bull ride at the third performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on Sunday. He had an 82-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo's Jungle Boogie, good for a fourth-place tie and $5,300. More importantly for the Resistol Rookie of the Year, he has taken the lead in the aggregate and is the only man to have ridden all three of his bulls. Woolsey's take so far is over $20,000 with seven more rounds to go. It was a rough night for Wesley Silcox, from Payson, who failed to last eight seconds on Salt River Rodeo's Geronimo. Rusty Allen and Cody Wright are still neck and neck in the saddle bronc aggregate. Allen has 259 points on three and Wright is just one point behind him. Wright, from Milford, finished in third place on Sunday, and Allen, from Lehi, finished in fourth. Allen's take so far is over $34,000 and Wright has won over $31,000....
Brazile looking to gain momentum Most of the talk about an all-around world championship at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has centered on Ryan Jarrett. Jarrett, of Summerville, Ga., qualified for the 47th NFR in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, making him the most serious competition for three-time and defending winner Trevor Brazile of Decatur. Brazile has been atop the world standings for most of the season. However, he only qualified for the NFR in one event, the tie-down roping. Each round pays more than $15,000, but Brazile leads by more than $20,000. This year's NFR has been slow for Brazile, who got his first check in the third round. He finished fifth with an 8.9-second run, good for $4,038, the same amount Jarrett has won here. "It didn't start off the way I had hoped for," Brazile said. "Last year I came in here and won the first round in tie-down. Then things kind of fell apart. This year started slow, so hopefully the momentum will pick up now."....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Editorial: Ranchers are howling A year ago, a citizen task force made up of ranchers, conservationists, hunters, economists and tribal representatives attained what many thought was impossible: agreement on a strategy to make Oregon the first Western state to independently embrace the return of gray wolves. It was a visionary, practical - and, above all, balanced - strategy that called for dividing Oregon into zones, with a goal of establishing a minimum number of breeding pairs in each. The plan acknowledged the legitimate concerns of ranchers by giving them the legal right to shoot wolves that attacked and killed livestock on private lands or on public lands where grazing permits exist. It also called for the establishment of a fund to compensate ranchers for losses from confirmed wolf attacks. It was an impressive accomplishment that was rightly hailed as a national model and embraced by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission. This improbably diverse group of citizens crafted a strategy that promised to allow wolves to re-establish themselves in Oregon while giving ranchers both the lethal and nonlethal tools they needed to protect their economic interests. Enter the 2005 Oregon Legislature, which failed to pass the legislation allowing ranchers to shoot wolves and to provide compensation for losses to wolf attacks. What had been a carefully crafted plan that recognized and met the needs of all key parties became a lopsided one that left ranchers out in the cold....
Land wrangle An unusual land deal promises a shot at salvation for Fort Carson but could mean a lifetime in limbo for residents along the southeastern border of the massive Army post. The complex agreement among developers, the Army and El Paso County would slow or stop development in a 4,515-acre, 1½-mile-wide swath of the Rancho Colorado subdivision on the eastern edge of the post’s artillery range. The deal would use $2.8 million in taxpayer money and potentially much more to buy vacant lots and, more importantly, divert water that could have been used to expand a housing development within Rancho. The story of Rancho Colorado is a classic Western tale. It’s about what is possible in the West — and what isn’t — without water. It’s about the legacy of what many have called a brazen land scam. And it’s about the enduring power of the federal government over local land-use decisions....
Forest Service seeks to buy Badlands ranch The U.S. Forest Service is interested in buying a picturesque Badlands ranch in the area where Theodore Roosevelt raised cattle. Brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families have tried unsuccessfully to sell their ranch, first to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and then to the state of North Dakota. They lost a court battle over Billings County's plans to build a road through the property. Dave Pieper, a Forest Service supervisor, said the agency hopes to "reprogram" money in its budget to buy the Eberts ranch in three phases. The Ebertses own 5,225 acres across the valley from Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch, which is part of the larger national park named for the conservation-minded president. Roosevelt ranched there in the 1880s and ran cattle across on the Eberts land, describing in a letter the view of it from his cabin porch....
Ranchers: Gas drilling, water don’t mix A lawsuit by two ranching families in the heart of coal-bed methane gas country east of Durango could require gas-extracting companies statewide to protect the water rights of others. The plaintiffs - Jim and Terry Fitzgerald in La Plata County and Bill and Beth Vance in Archuleta County - allege that the extraction of water from coal-bed seams should be subject to the same regulations as agricultural or sand/gravel operations. Methane gas producers, they say, should have well permits and a plan for replacing water taken in the course of their work. Otherwise, the extraction of water during gas drilling could dry up wells, contaminate ground water or result in flammable tap water, according to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 21 in District Court in Durango. Methane-gas producers dispose of water extracted from coal seams in deep wells or evaporation ponds. Water is extracted to free methane gas from the coal-bed....
Snowmobile dispute rekindles rancor over motors and BWCAW A short snowmobile trail to a popular ice fishing lake has become the latest flash point in the ongoing rancor over the use of motors in and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Residents in the area and the Cook County Board of Commissioners have asked the U.S. Forest Service to build a new trail into South Fowl Lake on the Ontario border to allow for easy access from McFarland Lake at the end of the Arrowhead Trail. The trail would replace an illegal trail that for years ran, officially unnoticed, just inside the eastern end of the wilderness area, where motors have been banned since 1978. After Forest Service rangers discovered that the trail ran within the BWCAW and began issuing citations, local snowmobilers demanded a new access to South Fowl....
Indicted fire manager pleads not guilty A former National Forest Service incident commander charged with setting two wildfires had pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in January. Van Bateman, 55, of Flagstaff, worked for the Coconino National Forest since 1971, battling some of the nation's largest wildfires. He also helped in recovery efforts at the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bateman was indicted last month on charges he started two wildfires in the Coconino National Forest. The largest burned only 21 acres....
Former Nevada BLM boss condemns mining measure The former top U.S. land manager for the biggest gold mining state in the nation says a proposal in Congress to privatize public mining lands "would be catastrophic, both environmentally and economically." Bob Abbey, considered an ally of the mining industry before his retirement in June as the Bureau of Land Management's state director for Nevada, said the proposal by Republican Reps. Richard Pombo of California and Jim Gibbons of Nevada offers false hopes to rural communities to attract new businesses. "There is nothing positive about this bill unless you happen to have ownership in a mining company," Abbey said. "Having spent half my life managing the public's land and being a proponent of responsible mining, I assure you this legislation is bad for American taxpayers," he said in a letter first published Thursday in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Gibbons, chairman of the House Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, disputed Abbey's assertions Friday. He said the proposed changes in the 1872 Mining Law that are included in a budget bill headed for a House-Senate conference committee are needed to allow companies to purchase -- or "patent" -- the federal land that housed their mining operations....
Drilling in the Wyoming Range? A Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale slated for Tuesday will auction a 1,280-acre parcel in the foothills of the Wyoming Range that conservationists say will likely jump-start other suspended leases in the area. Peter Aengst with the Bozeman, Mont.-based Wilderness Society said some leases on federal land in the area west of Merna were suspended in recent years as developers said they needed more acreage to drill to make the area economically viable for gas extraction. Those developers were involved in persuading Bridger-Teton National Forest officials to release acreage in the area for possible lease sales, he said. The BLM handles oil and gas leasing on national forest lands released by the Forest Service for that purpose. "It's the dark secret on the Bridger-Teton," Aengst said. "This new leasing by the Bridger-Teton in the Wyoming Range is not only about expanding the existing area controlled for oil and gas, but it's also potentially the key to unlock the door to allow more drilling on existing leases."....
Huntsville man locked in property dispute It used to be a good thing to be “land rich” in Texas - a family's legacy, wide-open spaces, tracts of property to build homes or businesses. But one local man has come head to head with the U.S. government over what's his and what they have rights to commandeer. Gregory Colson's family has owned 19 acres off FM 1374, bordering the Sam Houston National Forest, since 1925. The old homestead where his mother was born still stands, and the land is as untouched as it was then - that was until the mid-1990s when Colson decided to erect a gate. “We were having a lot of people coming out there, dumping things and poaching wildlife,” he said. “I put up a gate, and I've been going to court ever since then.” The question of land ownership surrounds one piece of that 19 acres that is being tagged a “road” by the U.S. government, but Colson's lawyers at Moak & Moak argue any semblance of a designated roadway. “The area in question is claimed by the United States to be an old wagon trail that went from Huntsville to Montgomery,” said attorney J. Paxton Adams. “Today, however, nobody that views the property would recognize any road or even the remnants of a road. We don't believe it ever was the road the United States now claims it to be.”....
Interest wanes in wildlife work Dan Cacho walks through thigh-high weeds along the South Platte River, shiny badge on his chest, handgun on hip, watching for hunters as a Labrador retriever bounds through the brush, more interested in blazing a trail for Cacho than flushing out birds. The self-described big-city boy is a long way from Cleveland and right in the middle of a dream come true. The 25-year-old Cacho is nearing the end of 10 months of training and will soon become one of six new district managers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "It's the best thing that's happened to me," Cacho said during a recent ride-along with veteran Bill Miles, whose district takes in some of the state's eastern plains. A declining number of people share Cacho's passion: Wildlife agencies across the country are struggling with the double-whammy of mass retirements and declining interest from young people seemingly disconnected from hunting, fishing and rural life....
Land in Roosevelt Park is up in price, acreage Land for sale inside the boundary of Theodore Roosevelt National Park has gone up both in price and size in the past two weeks. The land is the only private property, or inholding, in the park. The National Park Service is trying to buy it at the same time it's listed for sale with Pifer-Swann Realty. Two weeks ago, the realty firm described the land as 176 acres in two parcels for sale for $352,000. Now, the parcels are described as 191 acres for sale for $477,000. The park disputes the new acreage description and says the deed recorded in the Billings County Courthouse is for the smaller number of acres. The new number is apparently based on a global positioning system measurement. The park says buying the land is a high priority to maintain the park's appearance and integrity....
Park service says it's not obliged to allow road to land The National Park Service, which is trying to buy private land within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park's south unit, is not obliged to provide road access to the property, a spokesman says. The issue will influence whether the property is sold, to whom and for how much. The property is surrounded by federal park land, and would be much less valuable without a road. The access question will have to be settled in court, said Barney Olson, a Park Service spokesman. The land's owner, Norbert Sickler, of Dickinson, initially sought $352,000 for the 176 acres of land, which is next to Interstate 94. He has since upped the price to $477,000, saying he actually owns 191 acres. Olson said the service recently sent Sickler a letter detailing its views on road access to his property and asserting that his tract covers 176 acres, not 191 acres. The property deed in the Billings County Courthouse supports the lesser figure, Olson said....
Feds give chairlift ads a green light Advertisements for private jet clubs and credit cards on chairlifts at local ski areas might become a permanent fixture after a ruling last week by the U.S. Forest Service. The Washington, D.C., office of the agency issued an "interim directive" saying that ads for products and services are acceptable inside buildings and other "interior spaces" operated by concessionaires or permit holders, like the Aspen Skiing Co., on national forests. The directive defined the safety bars of chairlifts as an interior space. That means ads are allowed on chairlifts as long as they are on the safety bars facing riders and not hanging off the back of the lift, said Kristi Ponozzo, spokeswoman for the White River National Forest....
6 guvs protest bill's public land sale Six western governors put Congress on notice this week they oppose a measure pending in the U.S. Senate that would open millions of acres of public lands for sale to mining companies. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., of the Senate Budget Committee, on Thursday saying the sale of public lands in a budget reconciliation bill passed by the House could cut off public access for recreation and deny the states billions of dollars in mineral royalties. The letter states the House bill would net only $158 million over five years, while current royalties yield more than $2 billion a year, split between the federal government and the states. The letter was signed by Govs. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, and Christine Gregoire of Washington. All are Democrats....
This Land May Not Be Your Land Standing at the foot of billion-year-old Stripe Mountain, acting park chief Larry Whalon gazed up at ancient slopes banded in limestone and copper. "In 10 years, there could be a big house right here. Lots of houses," Whalon said. The entire mountain in the desert preserve west of Las Vegas is covered by federal mining claims, and newly proposed legislation would allow claim holders to purchase this land outright. Supporters say the mining law changes, part of a spending bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, are intended to revive dying rural mining towns. But the possible consequences have provoked fierce disagreement. A House-Senate conference committee is expected in the near future to begin work to resolve the differences between the House bill and one passed by the Senate. The Senate bill does not contain the mining provisions, but it does include an equally contentious measure, rejected by the House, that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling....
Oil boom a dilemma for site of artifacts Given the ongoing oil boom in the nearby Uinta Basin, questions linger over the future of Range Creek's mineral resources. Range Creek, home to hundreds of pristine Fremont Indian archaeological sites, is believed to hold some gas and/or oil deposits. The former property owner, Waldo Wilcox, still holds mineral rights for much of the land. Wilcox maintains the state should consider offering to buy the mineral rights if it wants to protect the sites, but the state so far has not contacted him. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages the old 4,200-acre Wilcox Ranch, including its nearly untouched collection of archaeological sites that could enhance knowledge of the mysterious Fremont culture....
Inside America's Most Beloved Agency: Part II The Gateway Alliance was lead by Paul Hoffman who has come under fire for orchestrating another “brainstorming session,” this time at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Hoffman was once a congressional aide to Dick Cheney and parlayed his friendship with the vice president into a key job in Washington, D.C. Beyond public scrutiny (until recently), he had been quietly rewriting the government manual that guides management principles in our national parks. What Mr. Hoffman failed to achieve in Yellowstone in 1995 he is now attempting, more ambitiously, to bring to every wildland national park in the country. What is his agenda? Answer: To weaken the verbal legal framework that protects national parks so that natural resource exploiters are given equal, if not greater, say over park management than park managers themselves....
Column: Inside the Climate of Fear in the National Park Service The plight of whistleblowers – those employees who sound the alarm about anything from dangerous conditions in the workplace to missed or ignored intelligence regarding our nation's security – is a story that seems to grow stronger and with more frequency every day. My guess is that those stories have always been there; I suspect I am just paying closer attention to them now. You see, I joined the "ranks" of whistleblowers on December 2, 2003, when a major newspaper printed a story in which I confirmed for them what many of us already knew – we, the members of the United States Park Police, could no longer provide the level of service that citizens and visitors had grown to expect in our parks and on our parkways in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. The world changed for all of us on September 11, 2001, and the expectations of police agencies across the country grew exponentially overnight. As the Chief of the United States Park Police, an organization responsible for the safety and security of some of America's most valued and recognizable symbols of freedom – including such notable sites as the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, and the Golden Gate Bridge area – I knew it was my duty, as chiefs of police across the country do every day, to inform the community of the realities of the situation....
Park Service wants death lawsuit dismissed The National Park Service is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit that alleges Yosemite National Park was negligent in the death of an experienced climber who was killed by a rockfall. The parents of Peter Terbush, 22, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2001 seeking $10 million in damages. Terbush, a student at Western State College, in Gunnison, Colo., was climbing with two friends 240 feet above Curry Village, a combination of visitor cabins and duplexes, when he was killed by a falling rock in June 1999. Both sides presented opposing views in U.S. District Court in Fresno on Friday. National Park Service lawyer Kristi Kapetan argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because Yosemite has immunity from such civil action, noting that Congress has given rangers discretion on when and where to warn the public of potential dangers....
Conservation Groups Benefit from Sales of New Book A new book about national parks is now available through several major conservation groups and profits from each purchase benefit those organizations. Here's a winning combination: give someone a fun, affordable gift or get a book for your own reading pleasure and help support the work of groups such as the National Parks Conservation Association, African Wildlife Foundation, Hawk Mountain, Monarch Watch, National Wildlife Federation and others. Proceeds from these sales help support groups which are working to protect parks, wildlife and other natural resources in the U.S. or abroad. The book is also available at some of the bookstores operated by non-profit Cooperating Associations at national park service sites. Revenues from those stores help parks with visitor programs and other projects which would otherwise go unfunded. Written by a 30-year veteran park ranger, "Hey Ranger! True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from America’s National Parks" is a book that everyone from experienced outdoorsmen to armchair travelers will find both entertaining and informative. Unlike many other outdoor books about the serious side of life in the parks or expeditions with tragic endings, "Hey Ranger!" focuses on the lighter side of outdoor misadventures....
Bank executive's signature on letter prompts apology Wells Fargo Bank Alaska has apologized for a letter one of its senior vice presidents signed that described the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as "junk science." "The letter was not reviewed and approved by the company and it doesn't represent our official views," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elaine Junge said Friday. The Oct. 21 letter, co-signed by Anchorage-based Wells Fargo banker James L. Cloud, was part of a fall fundraising campaign for Pacific Legal Foundation, a national law firm that advocates for property and access rights, and less government regulation, particularly in wetlands and coastal areas....
Ballad ends on sour note for final Everglades holdout Nothing will make Jesse James Hardy a happy man these days. Not the $4.95 million the state paid him for his land. Not the big and modern home he’s buying with chandeliers and fancy-schmancy rooms such as a foyer and lanai. And not his status as the last Everglades holdout in Collier County that elevated him into a folk hero. The Ballad of Jesse Hardy, sung by the Sawgrass Boys, sums up his feelings: “Oh, Jesse’s had his good times, and Jesse’s had his bad, But these are the worst times that he’s ever had; He’s been deviled by greeners, and deviled by the mob That come from Tallahassee to steal from him and rob!” Hardy spits fire when he talks about having to move next month to his new $750,000 house that has just a few more amenities than the rustic cabin he built in the Everglades with his own sweat more than a quarter-century ago. “You could have gold-plated plumbing, but it won’t wash your hands any better than what I got now,” he says. He would prefer that the state take back the money it paid him for his 160-acre homestead and let him stay in the hinterlands east of Naples....
Climate Official's Work Is Questioned Environmentalists are unhappy with the job the lead U.S. climate negotiator, Harlan Watson, has been doing in the ongoing Montreal talks on how to combat global warming. Watson has spent the past week in Montreal touting the administration's record on climate change. He said there is no reason the United States and other countries that oppose mandatory carbon dioxide limits should have to talk about what should be done once the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to cut global greenhouse gases by 7 percent by 2012, expires. Watson's position and the environmentalists' reaction should hardly be surprising -- considering his apparent popularity with the oil industry....
New federal rules would exempt industry from pollution reporting New federal rules would exempt dozens of Oregon companies from making some pollution and emissions information public. Industry officials are all for the changes proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying they would relieve a tremendous paperwork burden. But environmental advocates worry that the changes would leave residents in the dark about how much pollution is in their air and water. The changes would be to the Toxics Release Inventory Program, begun in 1987 as the nation's public right-to-know program for toxic pollution and toxic waste. Under the program, approximately 26,000 industrial facilities report information about any of the 650 chemicals in the program. Environmentalists credit the program with a 60 percent reduction of the disposals or releases of 299 chemicals nationally....
Water use threatens river life, group says Several environmental groups are accusing a local water district of blocking salmon and steelhead runs on the Calaveras River in an apparent violation of the Endangered Species Act. They've also filed a complaint with state water officials claiming the Stockton East Water District and other agencies violated state law by misusing the river and, in some cases, allowing fish to die. Stockton East is the primary agency that delivers drinking water to Stockton businesses and residents. Some of its water comes from the Calaveras River, which the district controls through water releases at New Hogan Dam. In recent years, low water flows have prevented salmon and steelhead from moving upstream to spawn. That's a particular problem for steelhead, which are listed as a threatened species....
Battle brews over water from Salt Basin A battle is brewing between New Mexicans and Texans over water from an underground reserve. The Salt Basin under Otero and Chaves counties holds an estimated 15 million acre-feet of drinking water and 15 million acre-feet of brackish water. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, which can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households. The water originates in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, but part of the basin stretches south into Texas. Farmers in Dell City, Texas, are using it to irrigate thousands of acres of alfalfa, chili and other crops. Texans also are interested in selling the water to thirsty cities. "New Mexico needs to do something to protect its water," said Jerry King, an assistant commissioner of the state Land Office. "In my opinion, Texas is stealing our water." New Mexico State Engineer John D'Antonio said, "if Texas were to continually develop that area, it could affect supplies within New Mexico, and that's why we want to develop that water."....
School finds way to stay open In an era when many North Dakota schools have closed due to lack of enrollment or to consolidation with neighboring school districts, tiny Horse Creek School carries on a large part of this state's history. A mere six students attend classes at Horse Creek, in the heart of rugged and remote ranching country south of Cartwright. Horse Creek School District 32 of McKenzie County maintains a kindergarten through eight-grade curriculum. This year it is heavy with second graders - three of them. One student in fourth grade and a set of twins in the seventh grade complete the school's enrollment. Aleah Thingstad is the teacher. The old Horse Creek School, just a few miles from the current one, used to have a barn where students could keep their horses. There's no barn at the current Horse Creek School, just a house for the teacher, but all the students are ranch kids and have their own horses....
The Whole Town's Talking: Cody hen lays magical 'sunshine' egg When rural Cody resident Deb Chenoweth first saw the egg, laid by her favorite hen, she didn't realize what it was. "At first, it just looked bumpy and kind of deformed," she said. Looking closer, she was shocked to see a raised image of the sun surrounded by 15 or so evenly spaced rays covering the egg's golden yellow surface. "It blew my mind," Chenoweth told the Powell Tribune. Chenoweth hopes the "sunny-side up" egg will attract generous financial attention when she posts it on eBay "as soon as I get my act together." In the meantime, the egg safely resides in her refrigerator....
TheWaggoner Ranch The waggoner ranch's 520,000 acres cover some 812 square miles, making it the largest Texas ranch behind one fence. Cattle have always been on the outfit,and oil was found there, as well, but the ranch is best known for its good horses. The ranch's long, colorful history began with Dan Waggoner, back in the days before statehood, when Texas was a republic. Dan was born in Tennessee in 1828, and journeyed with his family to Texas in 1838. His father died a year later, and it was up to young Dan to take care of his mother and seven siblings. In 1849, Dan married 16-year-old Nancy Moore. Nancy died young, a mere year after their son, William Tom, called ÒW.T.,%d3; was born in 1852. After her death, Dan left W.T. in the care of his mother and sisters and rode west to look for more land. At that time, thousands of acres of free land were available for settlement. Dan quickly filed on 160 acres on Cattle Creek, near the present town of Decatur in Wise County, Texas. He moved there in 1854 with his mother, siblings, son, 240 Longhorns, and six horses. Shortly thereafter he began to seriously accumulate land....
Rodeos lasso a new type of fan When Trevor Brazile left his home in Decatur, Texas, to become a professional cowboy, he was prepared for all the traditional rigors of the rodeo circuit: ornery steers, tumbleweed towns, tiny prize purses and the occasional busted tooth. His notion of "fame" was being asked to sign autographs at the smokeless tobacco booth. But in the last few years, the 29-year-old has found himself square in the middle of a trend he never imagined. When he's not promoting his new line of cowboy hats or traveling the country in a complimentary 35-foot custom trailer with leather window treatments, he's eating steamed artichokes with sponsors and mingling with celebrity fans. At this weekend's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the sport's equivalent of the Super Bowl, he's been put up at the Mirage. "It all feels so foreign to me," says Brazile, a three-time national champion. "I'm a small-town guy." So long, lonely campfires. Thanks to a convergence of factors from the recent arena-building boom to the expansion of cable sports channels to a growing number of celebrities latching on to all things Western, the manly, dusty sport of rodeo is getting an overhaul. In smaller burgs like Greeley, Colo., and more cosmopolitan cities like Chicago and Houston, rodeos are moving to bigger, fancier venues....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Potential new endangered species act a hit That huge gasp, clutching at the chest and cracking of a big smile that was heard across the US of A this fall was farmers and ranchers reading the headline, "U.S. House of Representatives pass bill to restrict Endangered Species Act!" Even though we know the Senate may not sign on, it's a step in the right direction. For some of us, it is too late. It's a little bit like wanting a bicycle when you were 10 years old in 1973 and now, 30 years later, it's under the Christmas tree, but it's not the same. What offended most was the injustice of the law and then its blatant misuse by the Anti's to inflict economic injury on those they seek to destroy....
Editorial: Ranchers are howling A year ago, a citizen task force made up of ranchers, conservationists, hunters, economists and tribal representatives attained what many thought was impossible: agreement on a strategy to make Oregon the first Western state to independently embrace the return of gray wolves. It was a visionary, practical - and, above all, balanced - strategy that called for dividing Oregon into zones, with a goal of establishing a minimum number of breeding pairs in each. The plan acknowledged the legitimate concerns of ranchers by giving them the legal right to shoot wolves that attacked and killed livestock on private lands or on public lands where grazing permits exist. It also called for the establishment of a fund to compensate ranchers for losses from confirmed wolf attacks. It was an impressive accomplishment that was rightly hailed as a national model and embraced by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission. This improbably diverse group of citizens crafted a strategy that promised to allow wolves to re-establish themselves in Oregon while giving ranchers both the lethal and nonlethal tools they needed to protect their economic interests. Enter the 2005 Oregon Legislature, which failed to pass the legislation allowing ranchers to shoot wolves and to provide compensation for losses to wolf attacks. What had been a carefully crafted plan that recognized and met the needs of all key parties became a lopsided one that left ranchers out in the cold....
Land wrangle An unusual land deal promises a shot at salvation for Fort Carson but could mean a lifetime in limbo for residents along the southeastern border of the massive Army post. The complex agreement among developers, the Army and El Paso County would slow or stop development in a 4,515-acre, 1½-mile-wide swath of the Rancho Colorado subdivision on the eastern edge of the post’s artillery range. The deal would use $2.8 million in taxpayer money and potentially much more to buy vacant lots and, more importantly, divert water that could have been used to expand a housing development within Rancho. The story of Rancho Colorado is a classic Western tale. It’s about what is possible in the West — and what isn’t — without water. It’s about the legacy of what many have called a brazen land scam. And it’s about the enduring power of the federal government over local land-use decisions....
Forest Service seeks to buy Badlands ranch The U.S. Forest Service is interested in buying a picturesque Badlands ranch in the area where Theodore Roosevelt raised cattle. Brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families have tried unsuccessfully to sell their ranch, first to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and then to the state of North Dakota. They lost a court battle over Billings County's plans to build a road through the property. Dave Pieper, a Forest Service supervisor, said the agency hopes to "reprogram" money in its budget to buy the Eberts ranch in three phases. The Ebertses own 5,225 acres across the valley from Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch, which is part of the larger national park named for the conservation-minded president. Roosevelt ranched there in the 1880s and ran cattle across on the Eberts land, describing in a letter the view of it from his cabin porch....
Ranchers: Gas drilling, water don’t mix A lawsuit by two ranching families in the heart of coal-bed methane gas country east of Durango could require gas-extracting companies statewide to protect the water rights of others. The plaintiffs - Jim and Terry Fitzgerald in La Plata County and Bill and Beth Vance in Archuleta County - allege that the extraction of water from coal-bed seams should be subject to the same regulations as agricultural or sand/gravel operations. Methane gas producers, they say, should have well permits and a plan for replacing water taken in the course of their work. Otherwise, the extraction of water during gas drilling could dry up wells, contaminate ground water or result in flammable tap water, according to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 21 in District Court in Durango. Methane-gas producers dispose of water extracted from coal seams in deep wells or evaporation ponds. Water is extracted to free methane gas from the coal-bed....
Snowmobile dispute rekindles rancor over motors and BWCAW A short snowmobile trail to a popular ice fishing lake has become the latest flash point in the ongoing rancor over the use of motors in and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Residents in the area and the Cook County Board of Commissioners have asked the U.S. Forest Service to build a new trail into South Fowl Lake on the Ontario border to allow for easy access from McFarland Lake at the end of the Arrowhead Trail. The trail would replace an illegal trail that for years ran, officially unnoticed, just inside the eastern end of the wilderness area, where motors have been banned since 1978. After Forest Service rangers discovered that the trail ran within the BWCAW and began issuing citations, local snowmobilers demanded a new access to South Fowl....
Indicted fire manager pleads not guilty A former National Forest Service incident commander charged with setting two wildfires had pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in January. Van Bateman, 55, of Flagstaff, worked for the Coconino National Forest since 1971, battling some of the nation's largest wildfires. He also helped in recovery efforts at the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bateman was indicted last month on charges he started two wildfires in the Coconino National Forest. The largest burned only 21 acres....
Former Nevada BLM boss condemns mining measure The former top U.S. land manager for the biggest gold mining state in the nation says a proposal in Congress to privatize public mining lands "would be catastrophic, both environmentally and economically." Bob Abbey, considered an ally of the mining industry before his retirement in June as the Bureau of Land Management's state director for Nevada, said the proposal by Republican Reps. Richard Pombo of California and Jim Gibbons of Nevada offers false hopes to rural communities to attract new businesses. "There is nothing positive about this bill unless you happen to have ownership in a mining company," Abbey said. "Having spent half my life managing the public's land and being a proponent of responsible mining, I assure you this legislation is bad for American taxpayers," he said in a letter first published Thursday in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Gibbons, chairman of the House Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, disputed Abbey's assertions Friday. He said the proposed changes in the 1872 Mining Law that are included in a budget bill headed for a House-Senate conference committee are needed to allow companies to purchase -- or "patent" -- the federal land that housed their mining operations....
Drilling in the Wyoming Range? A Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale slated for Tuesday will auction a 1,280-acre parcel in the foothills of the Wyoming Range that conservationists say will likely jump-start other suspended leases in the area. Peter Aengst with the Bozeman, Mont.-based Wilderness Society said some leases on federal land in the area west of Merna were suspended in recent years as developers said they needed more acreage to drill to make the area economically viable for gas extraction. Those developers were involved in persuading Bridger-Teton National Forest officials to release acreage in the area for possible lease sales, he said. The BLM handles oil and gas leasing on national forest lands released by the Forest Service for that purpose. "It's the dark secret on the Bridger-Teton," Aengst said. "This new leasing by the Bridger-Teton in the Wyoming Range is not only about expanding the existing area controlled for oil and gas, but it's also potentially the key to unlock the door to allow more drilling on existing leases."....
Huntsville man locked in property dispute It used to be a good thing to be “land rich” in Texas - a family's legacy, wide-open spaces, tracts of property to build homes or businesses. But one local man has come head to head with the U.S. government over what's his and what they have rights to commandeer. Gregory Colson's family has owned 19 acres off FM 1374, bordering the Sam Houston National Forest, since 1925. The old homestead where his mother was born still stands, and the land is as untouched as it was then - that was until the mid-1990s when Colson decided to erect a gate. “We were having a lot of people coming out there, dumping things and poaching wildlife,” he said. “I put up a gate, and I've been going to court ever since then.” The question of land ownership surrounds one piece of that 19 acres that is being tagged a “road” by the U.S. government, but Colson's lawyers at Moak & Moak argue any semblance of a designated roadway. “The area in question is claimed by the United States to be an old wagon trail that went from Huntsville to Montgomery,” said attorney J. Paxton Adams. “Today, however, nobody that views the property would recognize any road or even the remnants of a road. We don't believe it ever was the road the United States now claims it to be.”....
Interest wanes in wildlife work Dan Cacho walks through thigh-high weeds along the South Platte River, shiny badge on his chest, handgun on hip, watching for hunters as a Labrador retriever bounds through the brush, more interested in blazing a trail for Cacho than flushing out birds. The self-described big-city boy is a long way from Cleveland and right in the middle of a dream come true. The 25-year-old Cacho is nearing the end of 10 months of training and will soon become one of six new district managers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "It's the best thing that's happened to me," Cacho said during a recent ride-along with veteran Bill Miles, whose district takes in some of the state's eastern plains. A declining number of people share Cacho's passion: Wildlife agencies across the country are struggling with the double-whammy of mass retirements and declining interest from young people seemingly disconnected from hunting, fishing and rural life....
Land in Roosevelt Park is up in price, acreage Land for sale inside the boundary of Theodore Roosevelt National Park has gone up both in price and size in the past two weeks. The land is the only private property, or inholding, in the park. The National Park Service is trying to buy it at the same time it's listed for sale with Pifer-Swann Realty. Two weeks ago, the realty firm described the land as 176 acres in two parcels for sale for $352,000. Now, the parcels are described as 191 acres for sale for $477,000. The park disputes the new acreage description and says the deed recorded in the Billings County Courthouse is for the smaller number of acres. The new number is apparently based on a global positioning system measurement. The park says buying the land is a high priority to maintain the park's appearance and integrity....
Park service says it's not obliged to allow road to land The National Park Service, which is trying to buy private land within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park's south unit, is not obliged to provide road access to the property, a spokesman says. The issue will influence whether the property is sold, to whom and for how much. The property is surrounded by federal park land, and would be much less valuable without a road. The access question will have to be settled in court, said Barney Olson, a Park Service spokesman. The land's owner, Norbert Sickler, of Dickinson, initially sought $352,000 for the 176 acres of land, which is next to Interstate 94. He has since upped the price to $477,000, saying he actually owns 191 acres. Olson said the service recently sent Sickler a letter detailing its views on road access to his property and asserting that his tract covers 176 acres, not 191 acres. The property deed in the Billings County Courthouse supports the lesser figure, Olson said....
Feds give chairlift ads a green light Advertisements for private jet clubs and credit cards on chairlifts at local ski areas might become a permanent fixture after a ruling last week by the U.S. Forest Service. The Washington, D.C., office of the agency issued an "interim directive" saying that ads for products and services are acceptable inside buildings and other "interior spaces" operated by concessionaires or permit holders, like the Aspen Skiing Co., on national forests. The directive defined the safety bars of chairlifts as an interior space. That means ads are allowed on chairlifts as long as they are on the safety bars facing riders and not hanging off the back of the lift, said Kristi Ponozzo, spokeswoman for the White River National Forest....
6 guvs protest bill's public land sale Six western governors put Congress on notice this week they oppose a measure pending in the U.S. Senate that would open millions of acres of public lands for sale to mining companies. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., of the Senate Budget Committee, on Thursday saying the sale of public lands in a budget reconciliation bill passed by the House could cut off public access for recreation and deny the states billions of dollars in mineral royalties. The letter states the House bill would net only $158 million over five years, while current royalties yield more than $2 billion a year, split between the federal government and the states. The letter was signed by Govs. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, and Christine Gregoire of Washington. All are Democrats....
This Land May Not Be Your Land Standing at the foot of billion-year-old Stripe Mountain, acting park chief Larry Whalon gazed up at ancient slopes banded in limestone and copper. "In 10 years, there could be a big house right here. Lots of houses," Whalon said. The entire mountain in the desert preserve west of Las Vegas is covered by federal mining claims, and newly proposed legislation would allow claim holders to purchase this land outright. Supporters say the mining law changes, part of a spending bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, are intended to revive dying rural mining towns. But the possible consequences have provoked fierce disagreement. A House-Senate conference committee is expected in the near future to begin work to resolve the differences between the House bill and one passed by the Senate. The Senate bill does not contain the mining provisions, but it does include an equally contentious measure, rejected by the House, that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling....
Oil boom a dilemma for site of artifacts Given the ongoing oil boom in the nearby Uinta Basin, questions linger over the future of Range Creek's mineral resources. Range Creek, home to hundreds of pristine Fremont Indian archaeological sites, is believed to hold some gas and/or oil deposits. The former property owner, Waldo Wilcox, still holds mineral rights for much of the land. Wilcox maintains the state should consider offering to buy the mineral rights if it wants to protect the sites, but the state so far has not contacted him. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages the old 4,200-acre Wilcox Ranch, including its nearly untouched collection of archaeological sites that could enhance knowledge of the mysterious Fremont culture....
Inside America's Most Beloved Agency: Part II The Gateway Alliance was lead by Paul Hoffman who has come under fire for orchestrating another “brainstorming session,” this time at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Hoffman was once a congressional aide to Dick Cheney and parlayed his friendship with the vice president into a key job in Washington, D.C. Beyond public scrutiny (until recently), he had been quietly rewriting the government manual that guides management principles in our national parks. What Mr. Hoffman failed to achieve in Yellowstone in 1995 he is now attempting, more ambitiously, to bring to every wildland national park in the country. What is his agenda? Answer: To weaken the verbal legal framework that protects national parks so that natural resource exploiters are given equal, if not greater, say over park management than park managers themselves....
Column: Inside the Climate of Fear in the National Park Service The plight of whistleblowers – those employees who sound the alarm about anything from dangerous conditions in the workplace to missed or ignored intelligence regarding our nation's security – is a story that seems to grow stronger and with more frequency every day. My guess is that those stories have always been there; I suspect I am just paying closer attention to them now. You see, I joined the "ranks" of whistleblowers on December 2, 2003, when a major newspaper printed a story in which I confirmed for them what many of us already knew – we, the members of the United States Park Police, could no longer provide the level of service that citizens and visitors had grown to expect in our parks and on our parkways in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. The world changed for all of us on September 11, 2001, and the expectations of police agencies across the country grew exponentially overnight. As the Chief of the United States Park Police, an organization responsible for the safety and security of some of America's most valued and recognizable symbols of freedom – including such notable sites as the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, and the Golden Gate Bridge area – I knew it was my duty, as chiefs of police across the country do every day, to inform the community of the realities of the situation....
Park Service wants death lawsuit dismissed The National Park Service is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit that alleges Yosemite National Park was negligent in the death of an experienced climber who was killed by a rockfall. The parents of Peter Terbush, 22, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2001 seeking $10 million in damages. Terbush, a student at Western State College, in Gunnison, Colo., was climbing with two friends 240 feet above Curry Village, a combination of visitor cabins and duplexes, when he was killed by a falling rock in June 1999. Both sides presented opposing views in U.S. District Court in Fresno on Friday. National Park Service lawyer Kristi Kapetan argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because Yosemite has immunity from such civil action, noting that Congress has given rangers discretion on when and where to warn the public of potential dangers....
Conservation Groups Benefit from Sales of New Book A new book about national parks is now available through several major conservation groups and profits from each purchase benefit those organizations. Here's a winning combination: give someone a fun, affordable gift or get a book for your own reading pleasure and help support the work of groups such as the National Parks Conservation Association, African Wildlife Foundation, Hawk Mountain, Monarch Watch, National Wildlife Federation and others. Proceeds from these sales help support groups which are working to protect parks, wildlife and other natural resources in the U.S. or abroad. The book is also available at some of the bookstores operated by non-profit Cooperating Associations at national park service sites. Revenues from those stores help parks with visitor programs and other projects which would otherwise go unfunded. Written by a 30-year veteran park ranger, "Hey Ranger! True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from America’s National Parks" is a book that everyone from experienced outdoorsmen to armchair travelers will find both entertaining and informative. Unlike many other outdoor books about the serious side of life in the parks or expeditions with tragic endings, "Hey Ranger!" focuses on the lighter side of outdoor misadventures....
Bank executive's signature on letter prompts apology Wells Fargo Bank Alaska has apologized for a letter one of its senior vice presidents signed that described the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as "junk science." "The letter was not reviewed and approved by the company and it doesn't represent our official views," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elaine Junge said Friday. The Oct. 21 letter, co-signed by Anchorage-based Wells Fargo banker James L. Cloud, was part of a fall fundraising campaign for Pacific Legal Foundation, a national law firm that advocates for property and access rights, and less government regulation, particularly in wetlands and coastal areas....
Ballad ends on sour note for final Everglades holdout Nothing will make Jesse James Hardy a happy man these days. Not the $4.95 million the state paid him for his land. Not the big and modern home he’s buying with chandeliers and fancy-schmancy rooms such as a foyer and lanai. And not his status as the last Everglades holdout in Collier County that elevated him into a folk hero. The Ballad of Jesse Hardy, sung by the Sawgrass Boys, sums up his feelings: “Oh, Jesse’s had his good times, and Jesse’s had his bad, But these are the worst times that he’s ever had; He’s been deviled by greeners, and deviled by the mob That come from Tallahassee to steal from him and rob!” Hardy spits fire when he talks about having to move next month to his new $750,000 house that has just a few more amenities than the rustic cabin he built in the Everglades with his own sweat more than a quarter-century ago. “You could have gold-plated plumbing, but it won’t wash your hands any better than what I got now,” he says. He would prefer that the state take back the money it paid him for his 160-acre homestead and let him stay in the hinterlands east of Naples....
Climate Official's Work Is Questioned Environmentalists are unhappy with the job the lead U.S. climate negotiator, Harlan Watson, has been doing in the ongoing Montreal talks on how to combat global warming. Watson has spent the past week in Montreal touting the administration's record on climate change. He said there is no reason the United States and other countries that oppose mandatory carbon dioxide limits should have to talk about what should be done once the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to cut global greenhouse gases by 7 percent by 2012, expires. Watson's position and the environmentalists' reaction should hardly be surprising -- considering his apparent popularity with the oil industry....
New federal rules would exempt industry from pollution reporting New federal rules would exempt dozens of Oregon companies from making some pollution and emissions information public. Industry officials are all for the changes proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying they would relieve a tremendous paperwork burden. But environmental advocates worry that the changes would leave residents in the dark about how much pollution is in their air and water. The changes would be to the Toxics Release Inventory Program, begun in 1987 as the nation's public right-to-know program for toxic pollution and toxic waste. Under the program, approximately 26,000 industrial facilities report information about any of the 650 chemicals in the program. Environmentalists credit the program with a 60 percent reduction of the disposals or releases of 299 chemicals nationally....
Water use threatens river life, group says Several environmental groups are accusing a local water district of blocking salmon and steelhead runs on the Calaveras River in an apparent violation of the Endangered Species Act. They've also filed a complaint with state water officials claiming the Stockton East Water District and other agencies violated state law by misusing the river and, in some cases, allowing fish to die. Stockton East is the primary agency that delivers drinking water to Stockton businesses and residents. Some of its water comes from the Calaveras River, which the district controls through water releases at New Hogan Dam. In recent years, low water flows have prevented salmon and steelhead from moving upstream to spawn. That's a particular problem for steelhead, which are listed as a threatened species....
Battle brews over water from Salt Basin A battle is brewing between New Mexicans and Texans over water from an underground reserve. The Salt Basin under Otero and Chaves counties holds an estimated 15 million acre-feet of drinking water and 15 million acre-feet of brackish water. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, which can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households. The water originates in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, but part of the basin stretches south into Texas. Farmers in Dell City, Texas, are using it to irrigate thousands of acres of alfalfa, chili and other crops. Texans also are interested in selling the water to thirsty cities. "New Mexico needs to do something to protect its water," said Jerry King, an assistant commissioner of the state Land Office. "In my opinion, Texas is stealing our water." New Mexico State Engineer John D'Antonio said, "if Texas were to continually develop that area, it could affect supplies within New Mexico, and that's why we want to develop that water."....
School finds way to stay open In an era when many North Dakota schools have closed due to lack of enrollment or to consolidation with neighboring school districts, tiny Horse Creek School carries on a large part of this state's history. A mere six students attend classes at Horse Creek, in the heart of rugged and remote ranching country south of Cartwright. Horse Creek School District 32 of McKenzie County maintains a kindergarten through eight-grade curriculum. This year it is heavy with second graders - three of them. One student in fourth grade and a set of twins in the seventh grade complete the school's enrollment. Aleah Thingstad is the teacher. The old Horse Creek School, just a few miles from the current one, used to have a barn where students could keep their horses. There's no barn at the current Horse Creek School, just a house for the teacher, but all the students are ranch kids and have their own horses....
The Whole Town's Talking: Cody hen lays magical 'sunshine' egg When rural Cody resident Deb Chenoweth first saw the egg, laid by her favorite hen, she didn't realize what it was. "At first, it just looked bumpy and kind of deformed," she said. Looking closer, she was shocked to see a raised image of the sun surrounded by 15 or so evenly spaced rays covering the egg's golden yellow surface. "It blew my mind," Chenoweth told the Powell Tribune. Chenoweth hopes the "sunny-side up" egg will attract generous financial attention when she posts it on eBay "as soon as I get my act together." In the meantime, the egg safely resides in her refrigerator....
TheWaggoner Ranch The waggoner ranch's 520,000 acres cover some 812 square miles, making it the largest Texas ranch behind one fence. Cattle have always been on the outfit,and oil was found there, as well, but the ranch is best known for its good horses. The ranch's long, colorful history began with Dan Waggoner, back in the days before statehood, when Texas was a republic. Dan was born in Tennessee in 1828, and journeyed with his family to Texas in 1838. His father died a year later, and it was up to young Dan to take care of his mother and seven siblings. In 1849, Dan married 16-year-old Nancy Moore. Nancy died young, a mere year after their son, William Tom, called ÒW.T.,%d3; was born in 1852. After her death, Dan left W.T. in the care of his mother and sisters and rode west to look for more land. At that time, thousands of acres of free land were available for settlement. Dan quickly filed on 160 acres on Cattle Creek, near the present town of Decatur in Wise County, Texas. He moved there in 1854 with his mother, siblings, son, 240 Longhorns, and six horses. Shortly thereafter he began to seriously accumulate land....
Rodeos lasso a new type of fan When Trevor Brazile left his home in Decatur, Texas, to become a professional cowboy, he was prepared for all the traditional rigors of the rodeo circuit: ornery steers, tumbleweed towns, tiny prize purses and the occasional busted tooth. His notion of "fame" was being asked to sign autographs at the smokeless tobacco booth. But in the last few years, the 29-year-old has found himself square in the middle of a trend he never imagined. When he's not promoting his new line of cowboy hats or traveling the country in a complimentary 35-foot custom trailer with leather window treatments, he's eating steamed artichokes with sponsors and mingling with celebrity fans. At this weekend's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the sport's equivalent of the Super Bowl, he's been put up at the Mirage. "It all feels so foreign to me," says Brazile, a three-time national champion. "I'm a small-town guy." So long, lonely campfires. Thanks to a convergence of factors from the recent arena-building boom to the expansion of cable sports channels to a growing number of celebrities latching on to all things Western, the manly, dusty sport of rodeo is getting an overhaul. In smaller burgs like Greeley, Colo., and more cosmopolitan cities like Chicago and Houston, rodeos are moving to bigger, fancier venues....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Potential new endangered species act a hit That huge gasp, clutching at the chest and cracking of a big smile that was heard across the US of A this fall was farmers and ranchers reading the headline, "U.S. House of Representatives pass bill to restrict Endangered Species Act!" Even though we know the Senate may not sign on, it's a step in the right direction. For some of us, it is too late. It's a little bit like wanting a bicycle when you were 10 years old in 1973 and now, 30 years later, it's under the Christmas tree, but it's not the same. What offended most was the injustice of the law and then its blatant misuse by the Anti's to inflict economic injury on those they seek to destroy....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)