Will feds assert wildlife control? An official with the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was short on answers Tuesday as Wyoming residents hammered him with questions about a recent memorandum outlining disease eradication in wildlife and livestock. Ryan Clarke, a regional epidemiologist with APHIS, repeatedly said he did not know ultimately how much power the federal agency would assert over states when working to eradicate the disease brucellosis in wildlife and livestock. Brucellosis can cause cattle and wildlife to abort, and has been a source of consternation for government agencies, ranchers and conservationists in northwest Wyoming. Clarke also repeatedly said the mission of his agency is to work cooperatively with state wildlife managers. Clarke made his comments to the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee at a meeting in Jackson. His comments related to a March 23 memorandum from APHIS that said the agency has "broad and expansive authority to seize and dispose of any animal, including wildlife" in the event of "an extraordinary disease emergency." APHIS has long had a hands-off approach to wildlife management, but it also has taken the position that brucellosis should be eradicated, not simply controlled. The elk and bison of the greater Yellowstone area constitute the sole remaining reservoir of brucellosis-infected animals in the country....
Horse rancher finds bridge between old, new Undulating waves of gold rise and fall amid the turbulent sea of the eastern Wyoming plains. Thin white wisps streak across a pastel blue canvas above. The wind eddies in draws and whips through the dormant grass and stunted scrub brush. Against this stark but beautiful backdrop, Steve Mantle ekes out a life in the tradition of ranchers and cowboys before him who tamed the wildness as much as it would permit. "Change is the only constant," Mantle says, brushing his hand through wiry brown hair with a dusting of gray. On the 3,020-acre expanse of land nestled midway between Chugwater and Wheatland known as Mantle Ranch, owner and operator Mantle works to tame wild horses like his father and grandfather before him....
Robert Duvall's path leads down 'Broken Trail' At 75, Robert Duvall is open to new trails. "I always try to think to myself, up to until the day I stop, that life is about being in the potential," he says in a telephone interview. "I always want to have something to give and learn." Despite being nominated for five Academy Awards, Duvall doesn't dismiss television. He is the star and executive producer of "Broken Trail," a two-part Old West miniseries airing 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday, June 25-26, on American Movie Classics (AMC). "Trail" marks the first original miniseries for the channel, known for playing such decades-old iconic films as "The Man From Snowy River" or "The Day The Earth Stood Still." Veteran film director Walter Hill ("Last Man Standing") was behind the camera of "Broken Trail," which was inspired by a true story. Production took four months and was shot mainly in Canada. Duvall plays Print Ritter, an uncle who enlists his estranged nephew (Church) to help in a drive of horses across the Midwest near the end of the 1800s. "I think the western is ours," says Duvall who was also part of CBS's epic western miniseries "Lonesome Dove." "The English have Shakespeare. The French have Moliere. The Russians have Chekhov ... and the western is uniquely ours ... it is our genre, and it's our thing."....
It's All Trew: Past generations better at doing without There's a big difference in the seemingly "throwaway world" of today and the "save it, use it up" world of yesterday. Our modern endless garage sales, acres of flea markets and thrift stores on every corner could not have operated in the past because the public saved and used their items until used up. Only an occasional estate sale featured such items. Yesterday, entire personal wardrobes could be hung behind a bedroom door on nails and the other items placed in a single dresser drawer. Sunday clothes and shoes were only for dress-up, patches were neat, showing pride and frugality, with the latest fashions often missing. Girls were taught almost from birth to save and make items for their dowry, with many owning "hope-chests" or receiving cedar chests upon graduation from high school. Yesterday, young married couples lived for years on less than many weddings cost today. Much of the old-time frugality came because credit did not exist except for business or serious purchases. Few items could be charged unless you were a well-known customer. Few charge accounts were allowed to continue long without payment in full. Saving and doing without was probably easier at this time because most people had just survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl....