NEWS ROUNDUP

Ranchers, farmers divided over coal bed methane development A controversy is brewing in southeastern Montana over a source of natural gas that could mean billions of dollars in revenue for the state. Coal bed methane (CBM) is at the center of a fight between landowners in the Powder River Basin. CBM is the purest natural gas there is. The cleanest burning source of natural gas, it is economically very efficient because it requires no refining. The only waste product is water - and that is the problem. Found in coal seams, CBM is held in the coal by water pressure. It is extracted by pumping water from the coal seam to reduce the water pressure that holds the gas in the seam. CBM easily separates in water as pressure decreases and can be piped out of the well separately from the water. Montana is in an area ripe with coal. In fact, according to the United States Geological Survey, the Rocky Mountain Region bears some 30 to 58 trillion cubic feet of recoverable CBM. Currently, there are more than 800 wells located in southeastern Montana. This is nothing compared to the nearly 20,000 wells in Wyoming. Extracting CBM involves pumping large volumes of water from the coal seam to release the gas. What should and can be done with this water is in question. The controversy over CBM extraction lies with the environmental concerns surrounding this procedure. In the Powder River Basin there may be up to three wells per 80 acres. Each of these wells is pumping five to 20 gallons of water per minute. That means each well pumps somewhere around 20,000 gallons of water out of the ground each day....
Fish-seeking Researcher Looks for Effects of Coalbed Methane in Montana, Wyoming Windy Davis slogged through hip-hugging mud and endured ferocious deer flies to find the fish of southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. She crossed ranches on two-track roads, watched prairie thunderstorms flood dehydrated streams and had the simple pleasure of finding fish where ranchers and government officials thought there were none. "Sometimes a creek will be almost dry with a few pools. Then it will rain, and there will be a big blowout," Davis said, describing the flooded creeks she saw last summer. Davis is a Montana State University graduate student who spent May through August collecting information to see how coal bed methane development affects fish. Davis and technician Ryan White sampled about 6,500 fish in 19 tributaries of the Tongue River, Powder River and Little Powder River last summer. Davis plans to return this summer, possibly with two technicians, to the 54 sites she sampled in 2005 and 15 new sites on six more tributaries. All the streams are on private land. "The Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana is currently undergoing one of the world's largest coalbed natural gas developments with about 12,000 wells in place in 2003, 14,200 in 2005 and up to 70,000 projected over the next 20 to 30 years," Davis wrote in a project summary. "Because coalbed natural gas development involves production and disposal of large quantities of coalbed ground water that differs from surface waters, potential exists for substantial effects on aquatic ecosystems." High concentrations of dissolved solids, including sodium and bicarbonate ions, are typically found in water associated with coalbed methane, Davis said. Little is known about their effect on fish in the Powder River Basin, however....
Criticism over pace of federal oil and gas leasing heating up Federal land managers have backed off from allowing oil and gas leases next to a town's backup water supply, but critics say the fact the option was even considered shows there's a haphazard rush to open Colorado's federal lands to development. The Bureau of Land Management withdrew a 40-acre parcel in the Craig area from its May 11 auction, where about 170 parcels totaling nearly 197,000 acres will be up for bid. BLM spokeswoman Theresa Sauer said the agency will take another look at the site, where Craig wants to build boat ramps and develop a swim beach at the Elkhead Reservoir. The parcel could be offered at a later oil and gas sale. The Craig City Council is formally protesting the proposed lease. Environmentalists are protesting other leases, including a big swath of northwestern Colorado where 189 black-footed ferrets have been released since 2001 to restore the animal, one of the rarest in North America. The quarterly auctions, mandated by law, have produced a growing number of protests as the number of parcels up for bid has increased and the rate of natural gas drilling has shot up. The February auction, which generated a record $11.8 million, ignited a furor in the western Colorado communities of Grand Junction and Palisade because their watersheds are among the 134,582 acres that were leased....
Forest Guardians Report Falcon Sighting An endangered northern aplomado falcon has been spotted on Otero Mesa in southern New Mexico, according to an environmental group that has been trying to stop plans for oil and gas drilling in the area. The sighting was the eighth in just as many months, and environmentalists are calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hold off on a reintroduction plan that would remove habitat protection for wild falcons in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. "We are now seeing aplomado falcons year-round in New Mexico, yet the Fish and Wildlife Service is determined to strip away the vital safety net the Endangered Species Act provides these rare raptors," said Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director for Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians. The groups have said the falcon is being threatened by oil and gas drilling in its habitat — including Otero Mesa, site of a challenged Bureau of Land Management plan for drilling. The falcon was listed as endangered in 1986. The government said at that time that factors contributing to the listing included destruction and modification of the bird‘s habitat by overgrazing, use of pesticides, suppression of range fires and the failure to protect the habitat by regulations.
DNR receives permit for control of problem wolves The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can now trap troublesome wolves using both lethal and non-lethal means. The received permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is for 2006 an allows the DNR to trap up to 46 wolves that are killing livestock and domestic animals. A preliminary count by the DNR of Wisconsin's gray wolf population for the winter of 2005-2006 shows that there are from 450 to 520 wolves in the state. Wisconsin has had authority from the federal government to trap and translocate or use lethal control on depredating wolves in the past, say wildlife officials, but temporarily lost that authority while the status of wolves across North America was examined in the courts. "The ability to remove depredating wolves is necessary in our efforts to address landowner problems," said Holtz. "The state will use this authority to reduce damages caused to owners of hunting dogs and livestock from depredating wolves." Wolves currently are listed as a federally endangered species in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board reclassified wolves from endangered to threatened in 1999, and delisted wolves to protected wild animal status on August 1, 2004. However, the federal listing takes precedence....
Wildlife poop is scientist's treasure DNA comes in all kinds of packages. The boxes that fill Lisette Waits' work space contain stuff most people can't imagine saving: wild poop. But the test tubes of bear, fox and snow leopard scat may hold answers that help endangered animals. As genetic science has mushroomed, wildlife biologists like Waits are using newfangled genetics to learn more about rare and remote species. "When I was getting my Ph.D., I was really worried I wouldn't be able to find a job," said Waits, an associate professor of conservation biology and researcher at the University of Idaho. "A wildlife geneticist? Now everyone's saying, 'We need a geneticist."'A decade ago, scientists needed a piece of flesh or skin to really analyze the DNA of a wild creature making it difficult to do much genetic work on elusive and rare species. But recent advances make it possible to use the tiny amounts of DNA in droppings, hair and other things animals leave behind. The implications for learning about elusive and endangered species are huge....
Column: What The Owl Did In The Northwest, The Lynx Will Do To You The Canada Lynx Critical Habitat proposal deadline for comment is April 30th. The Canada Lynx is the spotted owl on steroids - and is a threat to our jobs, our recreation and our private property. It is the Endangered Species Act (ESA) run amok. We can and should save species but we need to do it by making allies out of landowners who have species on their property, not enemies. Landowners should be rewarded for having endangered species, not penalized. Throughout history this has always gotten better results. Up to now, the ESA has largely failed because it has only recovered 10 species out of 1,300. That?s less than one percent. 18,000 square miles of mostly private ground is at risk - and hundreds of millions of acres are in the proponents? long term plan for this effort. The Lynx ESA set aside could include parts of Oregon, Washington, Maine, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Michigan. Even if you do not live in one of these states, your comments are critical. I've traveled the country for nearly twenty years asking that folks use one hour a week of their time to fight for our way of life. I'm asking you to use three of those minutes to comment on this issue. We've made it easy to comment. It takes literally a minute if you visit our website at www.lynxnothijinks.com. From the site you can quickly build a comment, send your comment to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and send your comment to your congressional delegation. We also encourage you to send your comment to your local media - and send the link to your e-mail list of family and friends....
Dry Southwest, Uncertain Summer IT was a beautiful day in the Santa Fe National Forest. Mike and Kathy Serk, hikers from the suburbs of Santa Fe, N.M., were taking a break along the Raven's Ridge Trail, sitting on fallen logs in a pool of sunlight for a leisurely lunch of sandwiches and potato chips. Around them, towering spruce trees and pale green aspens swayed gently in a mountain breeze. Songbirds flitted among the branches. Nearby on the clear, dry trail, hikers and mountain bikers occasionally passed by. But something was out of kilter. These conditions were perfectly normal for mid-June, but this was the first week of March. The trail should have been buried beneath several feet of snow. This year snow and rain have largely passed the Southwest by. The period from November through March was the driest in Santa Fe and Albuquerque since record-keeping began in 1892. Statewide in New Mexico, this was one of the driest seasons on record. Arizona set new records for winter drought, with Phoenix recording no rainfall for a stretch of 143 days and some Tucson residents reduced to watering the cactuses in their gardens. A smattering of spring storms have done little to make up for the missing moisture. The Serks and New Mexico's other seasoned nature lovers know well what drought like this portends in a national forest, and they are getting their outdoor time while they can. "We really love it up here, and plan on coming up a couple of times a week," Mr. Serk said. "Until they shut it down."....
Feral pigs invading Oregon, pose risk Feral pigs, which are responsible for an estimated $800 million in annual damages to agriculture commodities nationwide, are rapidly expanding their range across Oregon, according to a recent risk assessment conducted by Oregon State University scientists. Also called wild boars or wild swine, omnivorous feral pigs vary in appearance, but most have hairy coats, thick necks and shoulders and wedge-shaped heads suitable for digging and rooting. "These animals have the capability to create incredible damage across a large area," said Bruce Coblentz, a fisheries and wildlife scientist in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences. "One pig on one golf course in one night can cause $50,000 to $60,000 in damages. They are extreme generalists with a capacity for tremendous growth." The invasive pigs have been recorded in locations throughout southern and central Oregon, and their distribution may continue to spread as global climate change results in warmer temperatures farther north, said Coblentz, who authored the assessment with researcher Cassie Bouska. Feral pigs are most heavily concentrated in Florida, Hawaii, Texas and California. Despite not being native to the United States, their nationwide population is estimated at more than 4 million....
Editorial - A wrong road: Norton policy would open up lands to overuse As she departed her post as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior last month, Gale Norton left behind a new policy for deciding what constitutes a road on public lands. It is, unfortunately, a policy that could seriously endanger fragile wilderness, wilderness study areas, wildlife refuges and even national parks and national monuments by allowing vehicles to roam over trails and dirt tracks into wild places across the country that have so far been protected by federal agencies. Because of the policy's national scope and destructive potential, Congress should hold the feet of Interior Secretary-designee Dirk Kempthorne to the fire during confirmation hearings and demand that, if confirmed, he reject this unnecessary and overly broad policy. Norton rationalized her lame-duck action as necessary in light of a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last fall. But the court ruling did not require any change in Interior policy and clearly stated that federal courts should decide road claims under a Civil War-era law giving local governments rights of way across federal lands....
A true Florida pioneer — Cracker Horses Holder breeds Florida cracker horses, which have been in Florida since before it was even a state. Their ancestry dates back to the 1500s when Spain was exploring newly discovered land. As they set sail back to Spain, they left behind horses, cows and pigs to make room for their findings. The pioneering horses evolved over time as free roamers, turning into the slender, intelligent-looking horses that they are today. Cracker horses got their name from cracker cow hunters, who in turn received their name for the loud cracking noise their whips would make as they herded cattle. In addition to cracker horse, the breed is sometimes called the Florida horse, Seminole pony and prairie pony, among others. They're a mixture of the North African barb, the Spanish garraro pony, the sorraia and other various Iberian Peninsula horses. They range between 13.5 "hands" and 15 "hands" in height (with "hands" referring to human hands). Their weight ranges from 750 pounds to more than 1,000 pounds. Sam Getzen, a cracker horse breeder and charter member of the Florida Cracker Horse Association, describes cracker horses, which were used by early settlers to herd cattle, as having "a lot of cow in them." "They know what cows are and they have an instinct," he said. When around cows, the horses pin their ears down and watch the cattle. In addition to excelling as herders, the horses are known for their endurance, strength and quickness. This allowed them to be used for pulling wagons, plows, buggies and more....