NEWS ROUNDUP

Voter initiative calls for removal of all wolves from Idaho Ron Gillett wants Idaho voters to get a chance to vote to remove wolves from Idaho. The president of the Idaho Anti-wolf Coalition and his supporters are circulating petitions demanding the removal of the more than 500 wolves in Idaho's backcountry "by any means necessary," including killing them. The coalition has gathered 5,000 to 6,000 signatures in the few weeks it has circulated petitions, Gillett said. Most so far have come from rural areas like Challis. He was setting up stations to gather signatures in Boise on Wednesday. Gillett's first challenge is time. He needs signatures of 47,000 registered voters by May 1 to put the measure on the ballot in November. His second challenge is lack of organizational support. Natural allies like the Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Idaho Farm Bureau, the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association and the Idaho Cattle Association all oppose the petition, even though they dislike wolves....
Report: Clean up Western coal If Wyoming doesn't develop a cleaner design for coal-based power plants, it will begin to lose coal customers and an estimated $60 million per year in taxes and royalty revenues, according to a new study released this week. Western Resource Advocates issued a report Thursday detailing a financial analysis of a new "clean" coal market. The report argues that failure to demonstrate coal gasification and other advanced coal technologies with Western coal threatens not only the region's environmental quality, but could also lead to a loss of market share for Western coal producers, harming local economies. "Electric utilities in the Midwest -- where a lot of Wyoming coal is shipped -- have announced their intention to go to (coal gasification), not using Western coal," said Bruce Driver, co-author of the report titled "Western Coal at the Crossroads."....
Forest roads a legal puzzle After a decade-long fight over the Endangered Species Act, property rights and a threatened fish called the bull trout, the fate of a two-mile stretch of national forest road in one of the most remote canyons in the West might come down to a simple question: Who was there first? Was the dirt road in northeast Nevada built before Congress added the wildly rugged terrain to the Humboldt National Forest on Jan. 20, 1909? It's a dispute that's playing out in several states as more and more rural counties stake claims to roads the government insists are federal property -- a legal and political divide the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described in a ruling in Utah earlier this year as "one of the more contentious land use issues in the West." A federal court ruling expected this summer might be viewed as a precedent in jurisdictions with similar conflicts. The issue in Elko County's Jarbidge Canyon is how much of South Canyon Road leading to federally protected wilderness should be off-limits to motorized vehicles given its proximity to the southernmost population of the bull trout in the U.S. The concern is that vehicles traveling the road that follows and sometimes crosses the Jarbidge River could damage the stream bed and push the fish into extinction....
County set to buy Six-Bar Ranch Pima County is about to add another spread to it's ranch holdings: the 3,300-acre Six-Bar Ranch in the San Pedro River Valley. County officials are negotiating a deal to buy the ranch from its private owner for $11.6 million to acquire land that officials say includes great examples of riverfront cottonwood-willow habitat, along with Sonoran Desert scrub, mesquite and grasslands. Six-Bar would be the sixth ranch acquired with a total of $44.5 million from the county's 1997 and 2004 open-space bonds. Most of those purchases were financed by the more recent bond of $174 million. The purchase matches County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry's strategy of targeting ranches far outside the city in hopes of building a ring around the metro area's edges to prevent urban sprawl from moving into now-rural areas. The county is particularly interested in this area because of the presence of Edgar and Buehmann Canyons, both on tributaries to the San Pedro, the Southwest's last major, free-flowing desert river. Edgar Canyon runs from the Catalina Mountains down to the river, and this parcel includes 2,000 acres along the canyon....
Montana BER takes first step in protecting Water Beyond Methane The Montana Board of Environmental Review (BER) took an important first step in protecting Montana's farmers and ranchers from the negative impacts of Coal Bed Methane. The seven member board met on Thursday, March 23rd and voted to protect Montana's existing water quality, by instituting a non-degradation policy. This policy protects the existing water quality of Montana River's upon which irrigators depend on for their livelihood, including protection for Montana fisheries and aquatic life. The proposal, titled Water Beyond Methane, did not pass in it's entirety. The Board rejected the portion of the proposal that called for CBM produced water to be reinjected into shallow aquifers citing the reason that the BER did not have the legal authority to require reinjection. The Board postponed another aspect of the petition that would call for CBM producers to remove salts before discharging water into surface ponds or irrigating with it. Water Beyond Methane is backed by conservation groups, local farmers and ranchers, and area irrigators. Lead by Northern Plains Resource Council, grassroots family farm and conservation organization that petitioned the state last year to strengthen water pollution standards for the coal bed methane industry, the proposed rule before the Board was intended to achieve stronger protections of water quality, ensuring that there will be water beyond methane....
Editorial: Setback for drilling agreement House Bill 1185, a measure giving landowners more say over oil and gas drilling on their properties, died recently in the Colorado legislature, leaving a nettlesome problem unsolved. A compromise should have been possible, but both the energy industry on one side and a broad coalition of ranchers, homebuilders, environmentalists and real estate firms on the other asked for too much. Colorado law separates the right to develop oil and gas from ownership of the surface, typically favoring mineral development. Disputes about such "split estates" have escalated in recent years along with the intensity and density of energy drilling. Subdivisions are encroaching on the traditional landscape of farms, pasture and drilling rigs on the plains of northeastern Colorado. In the western part of the state, second homes and ranches lie in the path of the rush to pump more natural gas. The issue is a hot one around the West, with Wyoming, Kansas and North Dakota adopting reforms last year; Montana is studying the issue. In New Mexico, an move to bolster landowner rights also stalled this year. In Colorado, two Democrats, Rep. Kathleen Curry of Gunnison and Sen. Jim Isgar of Hesperus, tried to balance mineral and surface-owner rights in HB 1185....
Ranchers go off road, into the sky Idaho's congressional delegation and the administration of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne spent two years persuading the Federal Aviation Administration to give ranchers permits to shoot coyotes and other wild predators while flying overhead in powered parachutes and ultralight flying machines. After initially refusing to allow the state to issue aerial gunning permits for experimental aircraft operated by noncertified pilots, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey relented last spring and agreed to come up with "the most appropriate means of accommodation," according to correspondence obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. The FAA is now allowing Idaho to issue permits to ranchers for aerial shooting of predators to protect livestock if their vehicle qualifies as a "light sport aircraft" under new FAA regulations. The new category has spawned a squadron of unconventional flying craft known as "aerial ATVs." "These are the newest, hottest things for ranchers," said Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the FAA in Renton, Wash. But wildlife activists say the use of kit-built and experimental flying contraptions for airborne attacks on wild animals is dangerous and absurd....
Grazing in '06 proceeds under current rules There won't be any new rules this summer for one of the largest, unfenced public land grazing allotments in the United States. The Green Mountain Common Allotment won’t get new grazing regulations until the 2007 spring turnout, said John Likins, rangeland management specialist for the Bureau of Land Management’s Lander Field Office. In an open house meeting Thursday afternoon, Likins said he was leaning toward 60 percent of authorized use for the 500,000 acres between the Red Desert and Jeffrey City, Bairoil and the Sweetwater River. The unfenced allotment has been the subject of concerns about drought and overgrazing in recent years. Depending on which pasture is used for spring turnout, Likins said livestock can enter the allotment sometime between May 10 and 20. He added that the maximum grazing season this year will be May 10 through Oct. 1, though that could be extended a bit with good moisture....
Fishlake thinning plans upheld by appeals court A federal appeals court has upheld a proposed Forest Service thinning and timber sale project on the Fishlake National Forest that seeks to curb spruce beetle infestation. A local environmental group, the Utah Environmental Congress, challenged the project on the grounds that the Forest Service acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" by failing to consider effects on fish and wildlife in implementing the Seven Mile Project, thus violating federal environmental laws. But a district court upheld the Forest Service proposal, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the decision, ruling that the agency's 123-acre project met federal environmental guidelines. "We've felt strongly all along that this is a good project which promotes sound stewardship of the forest and meets our obligations, both procedural and substantive. The 10th Circuit Court decision supports this view," Fishlake National Forest supervisor Mary Erickson said in a statement....
So Many Bald Eagles, So Little Room Left to Nest The dramatic aerial battle this month between two bald eagles contending for territory on the Potomac River south of Washington is a sign that their population rebound has been so successful they are running out of habitat. The number of breeding pairs of eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region grew from fewer than 100 in the late 1970s to about 1,000 this year. Eagles are crowding together more closely, and a growing number of birds are being treated for injuries suffered in turf battles. The nonprofit Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro treated six eagles last year that had wounds consistent with fights with other eagles, compared with two the year before, said its president, Ed Clark. At Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research in Newark, Del., another nonprofit facility, the bald eagle injured near Washington was the fifth one brought in this year from Maryland with fight injuries....
Busy off-road weekend sees 25 hurt, 1 fatal drug overdose An estimated 30,000 off-road enthusiasts converged on the dunes, trails and sagebrush flats of Little Sahara State Recreation Area for the Easter weekend, one of the busiest of the year. About 70 law enforcement officers from the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, Juab County and the Utah Highway Patrol were on hand to provide emergency assistance and help curtail serious injuries, but dozens of off-roaders were hurt - some seriously - and one person died of a drug overdose, said BLM spokeswoman Lisa Reid. "These numbers are good," she said. "They are really low numbers. . . . But, people underestimate the hill they're going up." Fourteen people were treated since Friday at the BLM-owned recreation center medical office for minor injuries involving accidents, Reid said. Six more were taken by ambulance and five others were flown to area hospitals for more serious injuries....
Sage grouse will keep BLM protections The Bureau of Land Management plans to continue upholding protections for the Gunnison sage grouse, despite the fact the bird was determined healthy enough to stay off the endangered species list last week. “Right now we’re going to continue as is,” said Theresa Sauer, spokeswoman for the Colorado state office of the BLM. “We will still do the efforts we have been doing because we still want to keep the Gunnison sage grouse off the endangered species list.” Sauer said the agency was working on a strategy with the state and other partner agencies to come up with a plan to manage habitat occupied by the grouse. Until the strategy is complete, Sauer said, the BLM’s protection efforts would not change. More than 50 percent of the grouse’s habitat is on land managed by the BLM, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The BLM has afforded protections to the bird, particularly for oil and gas drilling....
World’s tallest horse wows ’em in Jerseyville Visitors wanting to get a peek at the world’s tallest horse Saturday had to hoof it to a farm supply store in Jerseyville because of the large crowd it drew. The parking lot at the Jerseyville Farm and Home Supply store, 725 Shipman St., was full of cars, as were the streets lining the store. Families pushing strollers, farmers and just plain curious folk wanted to see the horse in person. Radar, a Belgian draft horse, appeared calm while standing in a pile of straw where half of the sporting goods section previously had been at Farm and Home Supply. The 2,400-pound gelding stands 6 feet 7 inches tall at the withers, or the top of the shoulders, and only blinked when children tried to get his attention and camera flashes temporarily blinded him....
Montana’s horse-racing history runs deep American Indians brought horses into Montana in the 1700s, beginning a stellar history of horse racing that spans several centuries. The tiny town of Racetrack near Deer Lodge commemorates the earliest form of the sport. According to local tradition, Indian horsemen raced their fast ponies along its straightaway. Billy Bay was Montana’s first famous thoroughbred. Native people reportedly brought the Kentucky stallion here from the region north of the Great Salt Lake. Trader Malcolm Clarke, whose stage stop was the site of the present Sieben Ranch headquarters, acquired the horse from his Blackfeet in-laws. Billy Bay already had a reputation for winning inter-tribal races. Miners loved a good race, and the streets of most mining camps served as early racetracks. Virginia Slade, an expert horsewoman, acquired Billy Bay from Clarke and rode him in the Sunday races held in the streets of Virginia City. It was Billy Bay that carried his mistress hell-bent down the road into Virginia City to save her miscreant husband, hanged by the vigilantes in March of 1864. That wild ride was one race Billy Bay did not win....
Staging a Texas Legacy A lone cowboy on horseback, holding a fluttering Texas flag, stands at the edge of a high ridge in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Suddenly, fireworks explode in the evening sky, signaling the start of a historical summer pageant that has celebrated the Texas Panhandle's ranching heritage for 40 years. As sparks fade, the audience in Pioneer Amphitheatre cheers wildly while the rider races along the ridge's edge and vanishes into the darkness. "I remember seeing that cliff rider as a child, and I always wanted to be one,” says Shannon Timberlake, 47, of nearby Canyon, Texas (pop. 12,857). "Now I am, and I can't explain the feeling I get when I hear people whooping as I ride away. It's awesome.” Canyon's relationship with cowboys, cattle and the 120-mile-long Palo Duro Canyon—known as the Grand Canyon of Texas—is legendary and undisputable. In 1887, cattle rancher Lincoln Guy Conner founded the town, which residents named after Palo Duro Canyon. When the railroad arrived a decade later, Canyon City—renamed Canyon in 1911—became a major shipping center for cattle and cotton....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Infinite time affects natural gas boom Infinite Time: The way I've been able to absorb the concept of 'No beginning and no end' is that time must be like a rolling ball. Of course, in my mind time recycles itself over a long period. Thus my surprise when I read about the natural gas boom in Pinedale, Wyo., and the record high price of farmland in Iowa. Take yourself back 25 years. In the early '80s, the population of Casper, Wyo., was nearly 80,000. Commuter airlines into Wyoming were full of engineers and roughnecks from Houston, real estate agents were giddy, the city had discontinued its traditional Ranch City banquet, all eyes were on the oil. Meanwhile in Iowa, farmland was increasing in value proportionate to the 14-percent inflation rate that was roaring through the country. The price of cattle, corn and soybeans remained at subsistence levels, but banks were lending money using the inflated land values as collateral. Farmers were buying more land and more machinery, ag lenders felt like Santa Claus....