NEWS ROUNDUP

Federal Hunt in Arizona Kills 200 Coyotes Federal authorities have killed 200 coyotes in southeast Arizona in the past three weeks after ranchers complained that they were eating calves. The hunt, which ended Friday, was conducted from aircraft as part of a program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The shootings took place on private and public land used by 10 to 15 ranchers, the Arizona Daily Star reported Sunday. No documentation was available last week on how many calves had been killed, but the government said it has confirmed losses. Rancher Rex Dalton said every lost calf costs him $500 to $650 _ the amount it could have fetched if it lived to maturity."I have seen coyotes attack my calves three times," Dalton said. "I've also seen others with their tails or noses chewed off." Environmentalists were upset that the government gave no advance public notice. They call the program inhumane and ineffective....
Federal agents shoot two Idaho wolves after cattle killed Federal agents in an airplane shot two wolves from a pack believed to have been preying on livestock in central Idaho, the first kills since state officials took over management of the predators earlier this month. The adult male and female killed on Jan. 19 were from the Buffalo Ridge Pack. On Jan. 15, members of the pack killed at least one calf in the pasture of a rancher in the Challis area near the Salmon River, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents in Idaho told The Associated Press. Wolf tracks were found around the carcass, the federal predator-control agency said. Although the state Department of Fish and Game assumed day-to-day management of Idaho’s 600 wolves from the U.S. Department of Interior as of Jan. 5, the federal government still assists the state with wolf predator control. Idaho wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, but can be shot legally if they are preying on livestock....
Solutions hard to find in Yellowstone bison controversy In the early 1980s, the Church Universal and Triumphant and the Fund for Animals struck an unusual bargain. The New Age religious sect and the animal-rights group put up a jackleg fence on the church's property along the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The goal was to fence in the park's wandering bison. It didn't work. Big bulls tore holes in the fence, while groups of cows and calves that tried to reenter the park found themselves locked out. National Park Service officials didn't like the idea of fencing the park -- they feared it would interfere with other wildlife -- but there wasn't much they could do about it. After a couple years, CUT and the Fund for Animals had a falling out. By the early 1990s, park rangers and Montana officials found a new use for the fence: it became a convenient gunrest when they shot bison trying to return to the park in the mornings, after grazing on church property at night. Welcome to bison management, a world of shifting alliances and evolving policies, a place where passions run high and solutions are hard to find....
Ranchers provide landmark boost to wild fish A recent agreement with a third-generation ranch family on the Middle Fork of the John Day River to provide more water for fish in the summer is the most significant water transaction in the 12-year history of the Oregon Water Trust, said Executive Director Fritz Paulus. OWT’s mission is to restore surface water flows for healthier streams in Oregon by using cooperative, free-market solutions, Paulus said. “We’ve had other significant agreements,” he said, “but it’s the amount of water, the place and the ecological benefit that makes this special.” In exchange for an undisclosed payment from OWT, ranchers Pat and Hedy Voigt have agreed to permanently shorten their irrigation season by 40 percent to leave water instream in late summer when fish need it most. Beginning on July 21 every year, 10 cubic-feet-per-second of additional water — or nearly 6.5 million gallons a day — will flow into the Middle Fork....
Wolverines: Mystery wrapped in muscle The slow and steady ring of steel on steel cracked winter's silence, hammer rising and falling with measured cadence as Rick Yates drove the great spike straight through a frozen beaver. “Beaver's best,” he said between blows. “Lot's of fat and stink. They come with the tails on, usually.” Yates is the lead field biologist on a project to study wolverines, and the beaver is his bait. He skied into this remote corner of Glacier National Park with carcass in tow, rattling along behind in a makeshift plastic sled. He crossed through dark subalpine forest, over plank bridges, down snowy slopes and across the frozen expanse of Swiftcurrent Lake to this protected place in the trees, where he kneels, hammer in hand, over the beaver. Nearby sits a tiny log cabin, about 6-by-3 and 4 feet tall. No windows, no doors; just a 200-pound log lid strapped to a contraption of levers and cables. It is a wolverine trap. Wire, threaded through the hole Yates is pounding into his bait, fastens the beaver inside, at the back of the trap. When the wolverine climbs in and tugs on the meat, the wire releases a pair of vice grips, which releases a cable, which releases the lid, which drops into place with a startling bang. He uses log traps because an ensnared wolverine, in its dogged ferocity, would snap its teeth trying to chew out of a metal trap. But the problem with this cabin is, if you don't let him out soon enough, a wolverine will just eat his way out through 8-inch logs and amble off about his business. “They're all teeth and muscle,” Yates marvels....
Tortoise plan crawling toward finish line After nearly two decades of study, a delicate balancing act to expand military maneuvers at Fort Irwin while protecting habitat of the endangered desert tortoise is nearing completion. The Army has issued a revised version of an environmental-impact statement for the proposed 118,000-acre expansion of its National Training Center at Fort Irwin. Other alternatives in the plan provide for adding 150,500 to 185,300 acres for military maneuvers. Congress has authorized spending $75 million to acquire land for tortoise habitat lost due to expansion of training into Superior Valley, a prime habitat area on the fort's west edge. Public comments on the document will be accepted until Feb. 18. Expansion of the 642,000-acre fort, 37 miles northeast of Barstow, will enable the Army to train additional brigades with the most modern high-tech weaponry, military officials say....
Potential reservoir sites studied along Columbia The year was 1929. The tall sagebrush at the far end of Central Washington's Moses Coulee hinted at a generous water supply and good soil, despite the arid habitat, so the Billingsley family settled in. It hasn't always been easy raising cattle in the stark environment, but the one thing the Billingsleys haven't had to worry about all those years is water. They've had plenty to get by. Water could pose a different threat if Moses Coulee becomes the site of a new reservoir to store Columbia River water for dry years. A new study for the state and federal government narrowed a list of potential reservoir sites to 11, including a 20-mile-long reservoir that would flood the tiny post office, elementary school and farm-family homes that make up Palisades....
Platte River recovery Colorado will ante up nearly $24 million to buy land and secure water for endangered birds and fish that rely on the Platte River in Nebraska. The hard-fought agreement with Nebraska, Wyoming and the federal government allows water utilities from Denver to Fort Collins to meet their obligations to protect four endangered species on the waterway: three birds - whooping cranes, piping plovers and interior least terns - and one fish - the pallid sturgeon. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, which is overseeing Colorado's role, approved the financing plan last week and expects the agreement to be signed by the governors of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. Department of the Interior secretary, in October. The idea is to lease or purchase some 10,000 acres of land and use water from federal reservoirs in Wyoming and Nebraska's Lake McConaughey, as well as some from Colorado, to replenish the river's flows in a stretch of the Platte near Kearney, Neb....
Judge says Colorado River fish plan inadequate A federal judge has ruled that a recovery plan for an endangered Colorado River fish isn't good enough. U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone rejected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan for the humpback chub, ruling it didn't lay out a timeline for the fish population's recovery and didn't allocate any money to get the job done. The lawsuit brought by the environmental groups Grand Canyon Trust and Earthjustice sought a more comprehensive recovery plan and argued that the federal government had not met the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. ''I'd say it's a pretty big win for people who care about the fish because the recovery goals were being misused,'' said Nikolai Ramsey of the Grand Canyon Trust. The government must now rewrite the plan to include more specific goals and lay out a timeline for recovery. The humpback chub population in the Grand Canyon has gone down by about two-thirds in the past 13 years, from 10,500 in 1989 to 3,500 in 2002....
Agency refuses to protect songbird The Black Hills population of American dipper songbirds will not be listed as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. The agency on Thursday rejected a request from four environmental groups for an emergency listing under the Endangered Species Act. The petition did not prove that Black Hills dippers were a “distinct population segment,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said. Jeremy Nichols of the Wyoming-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said his group would challenge the finding in federal court. Pete Gober of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Pierre agreed that the Black Hills population of dippers was small, but he said the population here “wasn’t unique enough” to be critical to the survival of the species as a whole, in part because American dippers were common along mountain streams throughout the West....
Editorial: Bill goes too far on drilling deals With the boom in oil and gas drilling, some kind of legislation may be needed to mediate the relationship between those who own the surface rights and those who own the mineral rights. But it's not House Bill 1185 as introduced. The measure is akin to the first demand by a union in labor negotiations. It's a wish list that bears little relation to reality. Even those who testified on behalf of H.B. 1185 this week at a House hearing conceded that most energy producers are responsible, working out a surface use agreement with the landowner before beginning to drill - even though one isn't legally required. It's the occasional bad apple that bothers them, the company that makes no effort to minimize damage to the crops, the animals, the view. To catch the bad drillers, the bill would punish them all and thus discourage the oil and gas production the nation needs to keep the price of energy as low as possible....
Off-site mitigation would be first for Wyo Many believe $24.5 million to improve habitat around the Jonah natural gas field outside Pinedale would be helpful, but some are questioning how much an improvement there will be. Linda Baker with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition said EnCana Oil and Gas Inc.'s pledge of the millions in exchange for large-scale drilling may not go far, as the habitat outside Jonah appears to be "in pretty good shape." "There's place for some degree of success with off-site mitigation," Baker said. But she said habitat outside Jonah supports one of the country's largest populations of mule deer and antelope and a cattle industry. "There's no indication of to what degree mitigation will occur, what they will do and how far beyond they will improve it," she said. Off-site mitigation was voluntarily proposed by EnCana. The company offered varying amounts based on how much surface area it could disturb on the 31,000-acre Jonah Field. More on-site disturbance -- like that proposed in the Bureau of Land Management's preferred alternative -- meant more off-site mitigation money. Less total disturbed acres on the field meant the company was engaging in on-site mitigation, coming at a price on site, according to EnCana....
BLM may delay auction of leases Communities in western Colorado, where energy development is booming, have gained support from the state’s congressional delegation as they try to keep drilling out of areas that supply their drinking water. Palisade and Grand Junction are protesting plans to sell federal oil and gas leases in their watersheds at a Bureau of Land Management auction Feb. 9. Democrats Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar have asked the BLM to postpone any action so the potential effects on the springs and other water sources can be studied. “We need to take the time to do this the right way,” said John Salazar, whose district includes the two communities. The 10 parcels totaling 16,500 acres on the Grand Mesa include about 70 percent of Palisade’s watershed and are among 167,345 acres the BLM will offer for lease. Most of the land is in western Colorado, where much of the state’s record natural gas production is taking place....
BLM defers Otero Mesa lease The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday afternoon that is deferring a lease sold in July last year for oil and gas drilling on the Bennett Ranch Unit of Otero Mesa. BLM's decision has been the subject of legal action, including an April 23 lawsuit brought by the state of New Mexico that seeks to challenge the federal government's decision to open the mesa to drilling. Environmental groups filed a separate suit, alleging BLM failed to adequately evaluate the impact of drilling on the environment. BLM said Thursday will hold off until Feb. 15 this year as part of an agreement to accelerate the hearing schedule at the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque....
BLM returned $700,000 in Nevada mine cleanup funds While state and federal regulators were scrambling to find money to start cleaning up one of Nevada's most contaminated mines, the Bureau of Land Management returned $700,000 that had been earmarked for the job that may end up costing more than $100 million, documents show. BLM officials in Nevada told agency budget officers in November 2004 the $700,000 wasn't needed because one of the responsible parties, Atlantic Richfield Co., had agreed to do additional monitoring of air and water pollution at the former Anaconda copper mine on the edge of Yerington, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Since then, however, Atlantic Richfield has come under fire from local residents for failing to adequately address the contamination, which includes numerous heavy metals and radioactive waste apparently produced as a byproduct of the copper processing decades ago. Critics say the new disclosure raises questions about BLM's claims it lacks the funds needed to put up new fences and boost security at the 6-square-mile mine....
Eco-vigilantes: All in 'The Family?' The group called itself "The Family." After meticulously casing a horsemeat packing plant in Redmond, Ore., they made a firebomb using soap and petroleum products (a napalm-like substance known as "vegan Jell-O") and a time-delayed incendiary device called a "Cat's Cradle." Arriving at the staging area after dark, they dressed in dark clothing, masks, and gloves, and checked their walkie-talkies and police radio scanner. Quietly, they crept through the sagebrush toward the target. They drilled holes through the wall so the fuel would pour into the building. Then, they set the firebomb against the wall and retreated to the staging area. There, they dumped their dark clothes and shoes into a hole and poured in acid to destroy DNA and other evidence. By the time the packing plant, Cavel West, Inc., was engulfed in flames, "The Family" had vanished into the night. Five days later, through an anonymous communiqué, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took credit for the fire that destroyed the facility in July of 1997. But it would be years before the alleged plotters were apprehended. And until then, according to a 65-count indictment announced last week by the US Justice Department, the 11-member group of activists launched 17 similar attacks across Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, and California in what authorities consider one of the most extensive campaigns of "ecoterrorism" in US history....
Some cattle brand inspectors get the boot The North Dakota Stockmen's Association has informed more than 30 local cattle brand inspectors it no longer needs their work, a move that some inspectors say may be motivated by policy disagreements. Rod Froelich, a Selfridge rancher and state legislator, said he was told he was being dropped because he doesn't inspect many cattle. However, the closest nearby inspector does even less, and he was not terminated, Froelich said. He has been critical of how the Stockmen's Association selects members of its board of directors, which represent six districts but are elected at large. Froelich compared the procedure to allowing Fargo voters to pick legislators for his rural southwestern district, which includes Grant and Sioux counties and parts of Morton and Hettinger counties. "This is a vendetta, because I spoke out against them," Froelich said. "What about free speech? They're saying they can't have Rod working for them, while he's badmouthing the Stockmen's Association."....
USDA backs off on centralized database and mandatory ID There won’t be a mandatory U.S. animal identification program by 2009, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dropped a 6-month-old plan for contracting with a privatized central database to launch the cattle segment of ID. That’s the message Neil Hammerschmidt, the USDA’s National Animal Identification System coordinator, brought last week to Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America. “We won on ID,” R-CALF President Chuck Kiker said after listening to Hammerschmidt’s presentation Jan. 20. R-CALF and other ID critics questioned the USDA’s intention to concentrate the data with a system the rival National Cattlemen’s Beef Association organized, then spun off as a free-standing nonprofit organization. The U.S. Animal Identification Organization, a consortium pushed by the NCBA, formed Jan. 10. Apparently, it won’t handle all of the ID action that promises to unfold in coming years. He told R-CALF members that on the practical side it would take 2 to 2 1/2 years for USDA to write and get public comment on complex rules needed to implement a mandatory ID scheme....
Mooing tax breaks annoy appraisers Steve Maland rides herd on 400 cattle, yet he doesn't have an acre of pastureland to his name. The Windermere resident's cattle are spread across 6,000 acres in four Central Florida counties. Their hooves on the ground allow Maland's clients -- mostly developers and land speculators -- to cash in on controversial loopholes in the state "greenbelt" law that grants tax breaks for agricultural businesses. In return, Maland and his partners get grazing rights on pastureland that they could not afford to buy. "There is a symbiotic relationship in our service," Maland said. "If a landowner is staring down the barrel of the tax gun, he might see what we do as beneficial." Maland's niche business is legal, but county property appraisers throughout Florida say developers and land speculators are abusing the agriculture exemptions and want it stopped....
Rural lifestyle shrinking in Summit County Spilling down the eastern slope of the Wasatch Range is this resort town, home to the Sundance Film Festival and all of the celebrities and paparazzi that come with it. Even farther to the east of Park City and its ski resorts are rural communities set in the canyons and lowlands of the western Uinta Mountains. That gives Summit County two distinct characters: the Park City cognoscenti and the men and women who work from sunrise to sundown in places like Oakley, Woodland, Kamas and Coalville. And many of those longtime residents who grew up in the small-town way wonder how long it will be before the Park City phenomenon heads east and drives them out, much like the cows they now herd on quiet country roads....
He knows the ropes The sun breaking over the barns reveals the bustling of boots and hooves, trailers and pickups. The sounds of bleating sheep and bellowing cattle mingle with chattering teens on cellphones.Days like these are the lifeblood of the Fort Worth stock show and the passion of W.R. Watt Jr. W.R. Watt Jr. is the current patriarch of the Fort Worth stock show family. His father ran the show for nearly 30 years before the reins were passed. The rodeo and the midway may be more colorful. But Mr. Watt looks forward to kids and families grooming animals in their stalls and greeting one another with a familiar slap on the back. The show's longtime president and general manager ensures that core values of family and tradition are showcased using an increasingly rare Old West approach: Treat others well and they'll come back. You're only as good as those you work with. Expect things done right and people will deliver. Called "Bob" by some, Mr. Watt is the current patriarch of the stock show family. His father ran the show for more than 30 years. Now, almost 30 years into his own tenure, Mr. Watt stages the city's signature event with a quiet, unassuming manner....
A gritty cowboy tale of pain, love Blackbelly By Heather Sharfeddin Bridge Works. 240 pp. $21.95 You've heard of the gritty city novel? Here's a good old-fashioned cowboy tale that's as gritty as they come. Chas lives on the Idaho sheep ranch his father gave him. He lives alone (but for his magnificent long-haired blackbelly sheep), drinks a lot of whiskey, and has a lot of regrets. For months now he's been looking for a nurse so he can bring his father back from a nursing home - where he's wasting away with Parkinson's - to the ranch to die. It's been hard finding a woman willing to come to this out-of-the-way place, especially since Chas is so crusty and mean. The idea of being stuck out here with this disagreeable, dirt-encrusted dude in the middle of nowhere - the closest town a place called Salmon City - wouldn't appeal to most women. In fact, after spending his life reluctantly raising and slaughtering sheep when he dreamed instead of seeing the world, Chas isn't too thrilled about it, either. Enter Mattie, a woman from Spokane with some secret regrets of her own. At first she's somewhat appalled at the dilapidated state of the place. But she's ready, for an as-yet-unknown reason, to make a fresh start far from home....
Off the hoof One 40-pound dog versus 100 skittish, kicking, 600-pound steers doesn't sound like the odds are stacked very well in Fido's favor. But in the world of cattle ranching, one well-trained border collie can hold his or her own against nearly three times that number. For hundreds of ranchers and cow dog enthusiasts Friday at the 65th annual Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale at the Tehama District Fair grounds, that ratio between dogs and cattle can mean big dollars. At an auction of 20 of the nation's top cow dogs Friday, one animal, a 2-year-old border collie named Maude, was sold for $15,500. The dog that drew the lowest bid sold for $2,000. A few thousand dollars is a small price to pay for a dog that drastically can cut the cost of labor when it comes time for a rancher to round up a herd....
On the Edge of Common Sense: For this ol' cowboy there ain't nothin' like a woman in chaps There's something oh, so charming about girls basketball/Or lawyers wearing pantyhose or sweethearts with a drawl/I like doctors with mascara and with painted fingernails/And flirty flight attendants with their pretty ponytails/There's school marms in the classroom, some are nice but some are meanies/And hurricanes named Rita and there's models in bikinis/I like pilots wearing lipstick, flying flappers flexing flaps/But in my heart my greatest love is women wearing chaps....