NEWS ROUNDUP

Catron County Hires Wolf Investigator At the close of a long day of on-again, off-again discussions about a contract for wolf interaction investigation services, the Catron County Commission finally approved the professional services agreement with Jesse E. Carey. Carey, a Reserve business owner and former county sheriff, had been conducting research and investigating wolf incidents under the auspices of the county resource coordinator Alex Thal for several weeks. Carey will be responsible for investigations and communications of wolf incidents in the county. Not only will he participate in responding to the incidents, he will also establish a system for letting other residents in the area of the incident know about the location of the wolves. Carey and the commissioners discussed in depth the agreement’s clause covering wolf-human encounters resulting in physical or mental injuries or death, including “traumatic injuries of mothers and children who witness a wolf interaction with adults, children, pets, farm animals and livestock.” Having heard Carey describe his observations of the behavior of some residents of the county who have encountered wolves on their property, a child psychologist has tentatively diagnosed the symptoms as indicative of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Carey and Thal hope to have the psychologist actually visit with the traumatized mothers and children. Carey will also investigate wolf-animal interactions in cooperation with U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, the agency that determines causes of livestock deaths in suspected cases of wolf depredation. Carey also described his research into a method he hopes to develop to analyze the mummified carcasses of livestock for previously unsubstantiated evidence of wolf kills....
Governor eyes more changes in bison management More bison from Yellowstone National Park died this winter and spring because of the actions of state and federal authorities than in any of the past nine years. The increase has drawn renewed attention to how wandering bison are dealt with and prompted calls _ notably from Montana's governor _ for changes to the current management plan. Officials captured and sent to slaughter 899 bison under the state-federal plan that is aimed at reducing the potential spread of the disease brucellosis from bison to cattle in Montana. At least 12 other bison died as a result of other management actions dating to January, park and state Department of Livestock show. That is the most killed since the winter of 1996-97, in which authorities killed 1,084 bison, park spokesman Al Nash said. Gov. Brian Schweitzer intends to meet with state and federal officials soon to discuss potential management options, including greater tolerance of bison in Montana and the buy-out of grazing rights on lands near the park where cattle are run, his chief policy adviser, Hal Harper, said....
Clinton: "Get Off Our Butts" to Halt Global Warming Global warming is a greater threat than terrorism and the United States and other countries must "get off our butts" and do something about it, former President Bill Clinton told the graduating class at University of Texas' Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs on Saturday. "Climate change is more remote than terror but a more profound threat to the future of the children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren I hope all of you have," Clinton said. "It's the only thing we face today that has the power to remove the preconditions of civilized society," he said. Clinton said he is not pessimistic about the future of the world, "assuming we get off our butts and do something about climate change in a timely fashion." The former President said the United States should not have abandoned the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty to cut emissions of six greenhouse gases responsible for global warming....
Tribe Seeks Greater Freedom to Kill Eagles The Northern Arapaho Tribe and a man accused of shooting a bald eagle on the Wind River Indian Reservation say the federal government should make it easier for American Indians to apply to kill bald eagles for use in religious ceremonies. The tribe has filed a brief in the case of Winslow Friday, who allegedly shot the eagle without a permit in March 2005, and planned to make its arguments before U.S. District Judge William Downes on Monday. The case moves forward as the federal government considers removing protections for bald eagles as a threatened species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking public comments on the proposal through June 19. Federal law allows enrolled tribal members to get a permit to kill bald eagles in certain cases. But Friday and the Northern Arapaho say there is no clear way to apply for the permit. They also say the bald eagle population in Wyoming and other states has grown large enough to enable some of the birds to be killed with little harm to the species....
Hound has a nose for south end of a northbound whale Gator was having a rough Monday morning. The day before he had taken his first boat ride in preparation for a new assignment -- sniffing out the poop of orcas, a task scientists hope will help save the endangered marine mammals. But as handler Heath Smith put on Gator's working vest for a test finding wolverine scat, the dog was still eager to go. Anything for his buddy Smith -- but mostly for a chance to play with his beloved ball. Scientists hope that Gator will soon be on the front lines of saving orcas. He would apparently be the first dog in the world to sniff out orca droppings, which can tell scientists about the physical condition of the killer whales. "It's a fantastic way, without seeing any animals at all, to get comprehensive health information," Wasser said. Wasser, Smith and the rest of Wasser's team at UW's Center for Conservation Biology have perfected the art of using dogs to find the scat of rare animals. To qualify, the dogs must have keen sniffers and a pathologically powerful drive to play with a ball -- and they only get the ball when they locate the right kind of dung....
Power Lines and Pipelines Draw Closer to Parklands Under orders from Congress to move quickly, the Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management will approve thousands of miles of new power line and pipeline corridors on federal lands across the West in the next 14 months. The energy easements are likely to cross national parks, forests and military bases as well as other public land. Environmentalists and land managers worry about the risk of pipeline explosions and permanent scarring of habitat and scenery from pylons and trenches. Military officials have expressed concern that the installations could interfere with training. But industry lobbyists and congressional policymakers said expedited approvals for new corridors were vital to ensuring that adequate power from coal beds, oil fields and wind farms in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho reached the booming population centers of the Southwest. In California alone, officials predict they will need an additional 14,000 megawatts of electricity per year, over the current 57,000 megawatts, to serve an expected 13 million more people by 2014. ExxonMobil, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric and others have proposed corridors in the state across Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Lassen Volcanic national parks as well as the Mojave National Preserve, several military bases, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and seven national forests....
On a Clear Day, You Can't See the Pollution Views are getting better at some of America's national parks, but that doesn't mean visitors will necessarily breathe easier. New National Park Service data show that while visibility at some parks in the West has improved, ozone pollution has worsened significantly between 1995 and 2004 at 10 of them: Canyonlands, Craters of the Moon, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, North Cascades, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yellowstone. The park service did not publicize the new findings, posted on its website, but a national environmental group said that, with summer visits by millions of Americans approaching, it was important to get the word out. Breathing ozone can cause asthma attacks, lung inflammation and other respiratory illnesses. Ozone pollution also damages plants, including giant sequoias, other native vegetation and crops....
Senators to tour sites of potential oil shale projects As sky-high energy prices continue to worry lawmakers in Congress, senators are taking a field trip to see oil shale operations in the West that they hope will one day provide a rich domestic source of oil. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and others next week will tour sites in Colorado and Utah where some energy companies think there is a good chance they can tap the petroleum locked in deposits beneath federal land. The senators also are expected to hear from industry and residents. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., also have said they will attend the end-of-May event. Their interest comes at a time when lawmakers are eager to show they are taking action to stem soaring gas prices and reduce the country's reliance on foreign energy. "One sure way to drive oil prices down is to increase the supply of oil, especially here at home," said Hatch, a longtime champion of oil shale development. "We have more recoverable oil in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado than there is in the Middle East."....
Critics cry foul over drilling-study process Seven oil and gas drillers are choosing the company that will study how much drilling should be allowed on 1.5 million acres of public land in northwestern Colorado and will pay most of the study's costs. The arrangement has sparked protests from environmental groups that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is giving too much power to industry. "This gives the industry excessive influence over the BLM office," said Nada Culver of the Wilderness Society. "It's not even behind the scenes." But officials at the BLM's White River Field Office in Meeker say there are safeguards in place to make sure the study doesn't take an industry perspective. "I know that is a perception. But it is not a reality," BLM field-office manager Kent Walter said. "While industry is paying for it, they don't get any special treatment." The arrangement comes as the Bush administration and Congress are pushing the BLM and other agencies that administer public land to increase domestic production of energy. The two-year environmental-impact study, estimated to cost $4 million to $6 million, will be largely paid for by a consortium of seven oil and gas companies....
Lack of formal plan may block animal I.D. system Lawmakers are threatening to cut off funding for a national animal identification system unless the U.S. Agriculture Department details how the program will work. A USDA appropriations bill under consideration in the House would block the funding for the project as of Oct. 1 until USDA issues a formal plan for the ID program, which has divided livestock producers. The program is supposed to enable government investigators to track the location and history of any farm animal within 48 hours. The Bush administration promised to speed development of the system after the discovery of the nation’s first case of mad cow disease in 2003. The administration recently set a series of target dates for getting farms to participate in the program. The spending bill, which was approved by the House Appropriations Committee, says that USDA has sent “mixed signals” about whether farms will ever be required to register their livestock. The legislation would require USDA to publish the detailed plan, known as an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking,” and then take public comment on the proposal....
The last roundup Cowboy Duce has made it clear he’s not hanging up his spurs. “I’m not retiring, I’m just quitting this job,” he said a week and a half ago as he and a couple of “the bosses” were tying up panels to form corrals before riding out to round up cattle around Brink Spring. The area is just off Blue Hills Road south of Canyonlands Field, the Moab, Utah, airport. Duce Danuser will turn 70 in December, and there are just “too many damn tourists anymore” around Moab. A few weeks ago, a Jeep came roaring through his camp and ran over one of his dogs. “I about got arrested on that,” Duce said. If Duce weren’t a short-timer, “I’d have shot the guy,” he said. Instead, he got mad and called in the sheriff. Forgive Duce if he’s cranky about the tourists. By himself, Duce has been taking care of 900 head of cattle for the past 24 winters, and it was only last year that he got an indoor bathroom at his camp near Dead Horse Point. He has not learned how to avoid false-teeth mishaps. One night, Duce kept waking up and hearing this crunching sound. The next morning he found that his dog had chewed up his false teeth. “And that was a $600 dog,” he said. “I’ve coughed them out of a truck twice,” he said. That was before he quit drinking. Both times it was night. Finding false teeth on the side of the road in the dark is a chore, even worse when you’re half shot, he said. Then there was the trip where he didn’t have anything to soak his false teeth in and decided to put them in Listerine. “When I got up in the morning and put them in, they were blue.”....
It's All Trew: 'Greatest Generation’ kept America together When Tom Brokaw coined the descriptive phrase and book title “The Greatest Generation,” most people knew immediately who he meant. Those who had fought and won the battles of World War II were the same people who had survived The Great Depression and Dust Bowl eras. Few generations before or since have withstood similar circumstances. With all due respect to the WWII veterans and those who died in the war, the efforts of those remaining on the home front should never be forgotten. Never before or since has so much been asked of America’s citizens....