NEWS ROUNDUP

Aid to Ranchers Was Diverted For Big Profits When a drought left pastures in a handful of Plains states parched in 2003, ranchers turned to the federal government for help. Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture quickly responded with what they considered an innovative plan. They decided to dip into massive stockpiles of powdered milk that the agency had stored in warehouses nationwide as part of its milk price-support program. Livestock owners could get the protein-rich commodity free and feed it to their cattle and calves. The milk would help ranchers weather the drought while the government reduced its growing stockpile. But within months, the program spawned a lucrative secondary market in which ranchers, feed dealers and brokers began trading the powdered milk in a daisy chain of transactions, generating millions of dollars in profits. Tens of millions of pounds of powdered milk intended solely for livestock owners in drought-stricken states went to states with no drought or were sold to middlemen in Mexico and other countries, a Washington Post investigation found. Taxpayers paid at least $400 million for the emergency milk program, one of an array of costly relief plans crafted by Congress and the USDA to insulate farmers and ranchers from risk. In some cases, ownership of the powdered milk changed hands half a dozen times or more in a matter of days, with the price increasing each time. A commodity that started out being sold for almost nothing was soon trading for hundreds of dollars a ton....
Group Wants To Save Utah's Open Lands And Waters Gov. Jon Huntsman on Tuesday helped launch a campaign by The Nature Conservancy to raise $43 million over four years for land and water conservation projects in Utah. A report released by the Oquirrh Institute found that Utah was losing 15,000 acres of ranch and farm land and open space every year. At that rate of development, Utah's populated Wasatch Front corridor will sprawl over 308 square miles – the size of New York City – by 2030, the report said. The Nature Conservancy said the report highlighted the need to act quickly to preserve some of Utah's unspoiled lands. It said it had reached agreement to buy a conservation easement on a Cache County ranch for $3.7 million. For the 6,700-acre Selman Ranch in the Little Bear River drainage, the conservancy still has to raise $2.3 million of the easement price. ``We are excited about working with the conservancy on this easement because we feel like somewhere, sometime, someone needs to save a place for Utah's wildlife,'' rancher Bret Selman said Tuesday in a statement....
Horned weed eaters attack noxious plant To most creatures, a noxious weed called leafy spurge is the part of the meal that gets pushed off to the side and ignored. For a herd of goats in eastern Idaho, the noxious weed is like eating dessert first. "They look like kids after you give them ice cream and they play in the dirt," Stan Jensen told the Standard Journal. Jensen and his wife, Bonnie, own about 1,000 goats that they hire out to eat noxious weeds in California and Idaho. Leafy spurge is a problem in places of eastern Idaho, where it grows with a 25-foot-long tap root. It chokes out grasses and is inedible to cattle and horses because of a milky secretion the plant produces that can cause blistering, as well as blindness. But goats find the plant with 28 percent protein irresistible. The sticky secretion doesn't seem to bother them and they finish the day with dirt stuck around their mouths....
Industry must tighten CBM water rules, state says A proposal to tighten rules on coal-bed methane water management will continue because it is an issue that persists under the state's current regulatory oversight, according to the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council. In a near unanimous vote, the council on Monday denied a motion by coal-bed methane producers to dismiss a proposed rule by the Powder River Basin Resource Council and several other petitioners who seek to avoid damages from issues surrounding coal-bed methane water. Council members Monday said a lack of coal-bed methane water management is a problem that will persist unless changes are made. "We're pleased. We've said all along that this is a problem that needs to be addressed, and we're glad to see a big majority of the council agree with us," said John Vanvig, organizer for the resource group. The petition for rulemaking was filed late last year, noting that a majority of the industry's daily 1.5 million barrels of coal-bed methane water production isn't put to a specific beneficial use. For years, the state and industry has said that by-product water not put to a specific agricultural use, such as irrigation, is available for wildlife. So far, the preferred management method has been to dump coal-bed methane water on the surface to run down draws that are otherwise dry most of the year. Many ranchers complain that yearly flows of high-salinity water cause more harm than good to their ranching operations....
Price tag for Mike Horse Dam removal nearly $30 million The costs of totally removing the Mike Horse Tailings Dam and cleaning up nearby mine wastes would approach nearly $30 million, according to a draft economic analysis released this week by the U.S. Forest Service. Those costs could be cut by more than half by removing only a portion of the troublesome dam - an approach the Forest Service appears to favor. The Clark Fork Coalition and Trout Unlimited support full removal of the 500-foot-long, 60-foot-high structure. The draft Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis evaluates five reclamation options for the dam and impounded tailings, as well as the estimated costs and effectiveness of removing environmental and public health risks. The Forest Service hasn't selected a preferred alternative, but a cover letter said Regional Forester Gail Kimbell has expressed interest in the two options that would remove only a portion of the tailings dam....
Jumbo jet among advances firefighters using against SoCal blazes The DC-10 swoops in just above the trees, its belly opens and disgorges onto flaming terrain 12,000 gallons of pink retardant - up to 10 times more than what a traditional firefighting plane can release. With airborne firefighting getting more sophisticated, a cluster of wildfires in the desert east of Los Angeles has become a laboratory of sorts. For the first time, a jetliner outfitted to carry retardant instead of passengers was used on an active wildfire. The first person to spot one of the fires was piloting a military-style helicopter with infrared sensors that peer through plumes of smoke and pinpoint hotspots. And there is more in the wings. The U.S. Forest Service plans to send up unmanned drones to watch for fires across the West, with test flights scheduled for next month. Jumbo jets with payloads twice as large as the DC-10 have been tested....
Satellites watch wildfires burn A joint effort by a handful of agencies and a university has made it possible to track the progress of wildfires in the United States with maps updated several times a day and posted online for the public. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) imaging devices mounted on two NASA satellites monitor the earth and can pinpoint a fire within a 500-meter distance. NASA, the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Maryland and the National Interagency Fire Center all participate in the program....
Forest Service plans to poison 10,000 prairie dogs Some 10,000 prairie dogs will be killed with poison this fall on the Little Missouri National Grasslands around Watford City. The U.S. Forest Service is taking comments on its plan to poison the burrowing animals scattered throughout 11 colonies on 310 acres in western North Dakota. The colonies are not the only prairie dog sites on that part of the grasslands, but they are all encroaching on private and state-owned land. The Forest Service says it will only kill the prairie dogs in areas where the adjoining landowner does the same. So far, it appears nearly all private parties are interested in a cooperative project, said Gary Petik, Forest Service range specialist....
'No thanks' to uranium waste plans An environmental group doesn't want nearly 32,000 tons of what it calls radioactive waste from Oklahoma to travel down the main streets of Moab, Monticello and Blanding on its way to a disposal facility on White Mesa in San Juan County. The Glen Canyon Group of the Sierra Club's nuclear-waste committee recently filed a petition with the Utah Division of Radiation Control to stop the waste coming from FMRI Inc., in Muskogee, Okla., into Utah. The waste would be shipped to the International Uranium Corp.'s mill on White Mesa, a sparsely populated plateau in southeastern Utah. Earlier this month, the DRC granted an amendment request by the mill's owners to accept the new waste, which the DRC calls "alternate feed material." "I know there are people on White Mesa who are concerned about various health problems," said Sarah Fields, chairwoman of the Glen Canyon Group's nuclear-waste committee. One of the fears about the waste from FMRI Inc. is over thorium, found naturally in the earth's crust and contained in the waste from Oklahoma. As thorium decays, it produces the radioactive gas radon. The concern about radon is that it could cause lung cancer in humans. In a hearing last January in front of the DRC, Thelma Whiskers, a Ute Indian, asked the DRC to move the mill to protect Utes living nearby from getting sick. She says activity at the mill, which has been in operation for more than 20 years, is making people ill....
Ranch Purchase to Aid Truckee River Restoration The federal government has acquired part of an historic ranch east of Sparks in a deal that conservationists say will aid restoration work on the lower Truckee River. The Bureau of Land Management has purchased 128 acres of the 102 Ranch in a 500,000 deal funded through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Michael Cameron with The Nature Conservancy says the acquisition is a key component to river restoration efforts. Cameron says work along a 2 mile stretch of river will begin by the end of the decade. The 12 (m) million dollar project will include returning the river to a natural, meandering state and replacing vegetation....
The Greater Yellowstone Area: Conserving a Beacon of Hope and a Western Icon, Together Read most any newspaper in the Inter-Mountain West on the subject of natural resources and you probably come away feeling depressed. There is no shortage of negative articles on water conservation, environment, natural resources, and public lands. Whether focusing on the Forest Service selling off public land, budget cuts for federal resource management agencies, the continued expansion of resort communities gobbling up pristine habitat, various lawsuits for and against the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding species listings and de-listings, the common themes are negativity and government-bashing. The reasons for the negativity are many; controversy and negativity sell copy, people don’t like government, the government has a long history of ineptitude, and public lands issues are polarizing. But a small, dedicated group of natural resource professionals want to change this negativity and connect local people with their local resources. To appreciate these efforts, it is important to understand the complexity of our various environmental issues and how our government is taking a new tact to address this complexity....
Walden urges summit to kick-start Klamath water talks Faced with an alarming crash in West Coast salmon fishing, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden is asking three cabinet secretaries and a White House official to lead a summit this fall to kick-start government efforts to help Klamath Basin fish and farms. A stalwart defender of farmers during the 2001 shutoff of federal irrigation water to 1,000 farms to protect endangered fish, the Oregon Republican said Monday that efforts need to get back on track to restore certainty for Indian tribes and fishermen who depend on salmon as well as farmers who depend on irrigation water. "I think we are at a key tipping point," Walden said from Washington, D.C. "A huge majority of people are saying 'Let's sit down and try to figure out how to work this out -- find a solution that will give us certainty whether you are a tribal family, a coastal fishing family or an inland farming family. But we need the government to say: Here is a list of things you need to do."' The region became a flashpoint in 2001, when drought triggered the shutoff under the Endangered Species Act of federal irrigation water to the Klamath Reclamation Project. Farmers and anti-government protesters faced off with federal marshals for months over headgates that kept the water for endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River....
Wildlife service downlists endangered Gila trout Though they dream of one day fishing for a lovely Gila trout, some avid anglers adamantly oppose a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to ease protections on the endangered species. The agency, which says the species in Southern New Mexico and east-central Arizona has made a comeback, published a rule Tuesday that will allow limited recreational fishing for Gila trout for the first time since 1966. An advocacy group, however, says it might go to court in an effort to stop the government from downlisting the trout's status from endangered to threatened. "When people fish for a species, they get accustomed to catching it, and they care for the fish," Elizabeth Slown, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman, said. "It's been so long since anyone fished for Gila trout, no one remembers them."....
Building dispute blooms Did someone in this wine-country town illegally plant an endangered flower to sabotage a proposed housing development? That is the question at the center of a quarrel that folks here have dubbed "Foamgate." Bob Evans, a 72-year-old retired elementary school principal, said he was walking with his dog last year when he came upon the tiny white flowers of Sebastopol meadowfoam poking from shallow pools of water in a grassy field. The former bean farm happens to be the site chosen for the 20-acre Laguna Vista housing development. Mr. Evans and other opponents seized on the discovery of the federally protected species in hopes that it would force the developer to scale back plans for 145 houses and apartments. "It was the bad luck of the developer that it popped up," Mr. Evans said. But state wildlife officials investigated and concluded that the meadowfoam had been transplanted there. They ordered it dug up. This year, the flowers returned, and with them the controversy. The dispute has held up final approval of the building project....
Falcons get glimpse of new Texas habitat Chirping like hungry seagulls, the birds flapped their narrow wings and fluttered around the boxes lined with straw and the remains of Japanese quail, the snack their handlers fed them during the 1,360-mile ride from Boise, Idaho, in the back of a minivan. Groups of the birds were lifted into small wooden boxes that will be home until they get their first shot at flight in about a week. Part of the nearly two-decade-old Peregrine Fund plan to return the birds to their natural habitat, 126 aplomado falcons are to be released in about 10 West Texas locations this year. The fund started as an effort to replenish peregrine falcons, which has succeeded. The aplomado falcons - 12 inches to 16 inches long with a wingspan from 2 1/2 feet to 3 feet - disappeared from Texas, New Mexico and Arizona about 50 years ago, and raptor biologist Bill Heinrich said it's unclear why. Now Heinrich hopes there are enough survivors to mate and revitalize a species listed as endangered since 1986, but he only expects half of those released this year to make it. When they reach 40 weeks and leave the "hack box," a white plywood structure protecting them from roaming cattle and other prey by a narrow strip of electrified tape, the aplomado falcons will have to learn to fly and hunt....
Federal agency tells Kurt Busch wedding plans have some bugs Something else has been bugging NASCAR's Kurt Busch beyond the fact he's stalled outside of the Chase for the Nextel Cup in 14th place. The tiger beetle! "Those are the insects I guess that have their natural habitat on the Chesapeake Bay in the area we were looking to get married," Busch said in a conference call Tuesday. "Their mating season is the months of June and July. With this being July, the environmentalists said, 'Whoa. Whoa. We can't have a bunch of guys out there building a pier and dock for this wedding because it's going to disrupt the environment.' " Actually, it was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "In terms of being environmentalist, we are part of the federal government and charged with protecting the public's natural resources, including endangered species," said Karen Mayne, field supervisor for the agency's office in Gloucester, Va. Mayne said the temporary pier Busch wanted constructed on land owned by developer Dan Hoffler on Virginia's Eastern Shore could have harmed the tiger beetles, which are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act....
Endangered cress grows at Tahoe A unique and endangered yellow mustard plant has found places to grow despite high Lake Tahoe levels this year. Tahoe yellow cress grows only on beaches at Lake Tahoe, which have shrunk this year because the water level is higher than it's been in five years, at 6,229 feet above sea level. "With the high lake elevation, the yellow cress has moved into very discrete locations along the beaches that are not flooded," said Rick Robinson, who manages watershed restoration for the California Tahoe Conservancy. "The real concern is that the plant is sharing the same sandy beach as the public, and with there being so little beach available for both, it makes the plant more subject to being trampled," he said....
100 acres of springs to be designated critical habitat The federal government has agreed to name more than 100 acres of springs in Comal and Hays counties as critical habitat for two species of beetles and a shrimp-like crustacean. The Peck's cave amphipod, the Comal Springs riffle beetle and the Comal Springs dryopid beetle are found in only a few places in Central Texas. The move came nearly three years after the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the designation. Critical habitats are supposed to offer extra protection for endangered species and make it harder to pollute the springs or withdraw large quantities of water when a federal permit is needed or federal money is used. But the Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the program, said the designation is near-worthless and that it usually doesn't consider creating critical habitat unless ordered by a court. "In 30 years of implementing the ESA (Endangered Species Act), the service has found that designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection for most listed species," an agency news release said Monday....
Senate Bill: Superfund Does Not Apply to Livestock Legislation introduced in the Senate today would clarify that the severe regulatory provisions of the Superfund law, also known as CERCLA, should not apply to manure produced on livestock farms and ranches, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. According to AFBF President Bob Stallman, the Farm Bureau-supported bill would amend the Superfund law passed in 1980, reaffirming that it was never intended to apply to agriculture. The bipartisan measure, with lead sponsors Sens. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), currently has 23 co-sponsors. “Superfund regulations were enacted more than a quarter-century ago to rein in industrial polluters and clean up toxic waste sites, not to be imposed on America’s farmers and ranchers,” said Stallman. “We’re pleased that the Senate is serious about clarifying the intent of the Superfund law.”....
R-CALF Calls On Congress To Reform Beef Import Regulations Ranchers-Cattlemen's Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, has sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and five congressional leaders asking that USDA and Congress address issues such as country-of-origin labeling and segregation of Canadian and U.S. cattle at feedlots and at slaughter. Specifically, R-CALF USA is asking USDA to shelve the idea of allowing Canadian cattle over 30 months of age and beef from cattle over 30 months of age into the United States. The letter also asks USDA to rescind a rule allowing cattle and beef from cattle under 30 months into the country. Failing that, R-CALF is requesting that Canadian cattle be prevented from commingling with native-born cattle. R-CALF Chief Executive Bill Bullard, told Meatingplace.com that with new OIE standards in place, he believes Canada is arguably in the "undetermined" category for incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. OIE has shifted from a five-tier system that assessed risk by the number of BSE cases detected per million head of cattle to a more general three-tier system: "negligible," meaning no cases have been detected in the past 11 years; "controlled," meaning effective measures such as animal feed bans and specified risk material removal have been put in place to mitigate risk; and "undetermined," which means none of the above. "We would argue that Canada belongs in that last category," Bullard said, contending that the recent discovery of BSE in a Canadian dairy cow born four and a half years after Canada's feed ban was implemented indicates that the ban is either ineffective or inadequately enforced....
U.S. assists Canada in mad cow probe The USA is joining Canada's investigation into its most recent occurrence of mad cow disease, a case troubling to officials in both countries because of the youth of the infected animal. The age of the animal is crucial because all of the infected cattle until now had been more than 6 years old, and the assumption was made that they had been infected by contaminated feed. But the cow was born years after Canada and the USA imposed bans in 1997 on the use of ground-up animals in feed, the primary means by which the infection is transmitted from an infected cow. Now a group of U.S. cattle raisers wants the border closed again. To protect the U.S. herd, the USDA "must immediately" close the Canadian border to all beef and cattle, says Chuck Kiker, president of Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America in Billings, Mont. "Because of (the disease's) long incubation period, the U.S. needs to wait for perhaps several years before resuming trade in live Canadian cattle," he says....
Jackalope promoter makes final leap Bob Petley had a lot to answer for, not least the creation of a massive population of people who think there is an animal called a jackalope. The jackalope allegedly is found in the Arizona desert, a unique creature that looks suspiciously like a jack rabbit with antlers. If you see one, check your medication immediately. Peltey was 93 when he died. His funeral was held last week in Scottsdale. Years ago we knew a cowboy who claimed to have roped one in Wickenburg. Unfortunately, he could not prove the claim because when he tried to dally the creature to his saddle, it ripped off the horn and disappeared down Sol's Wash, such was the strength of the Arizona jackalope. The accompanying text, written by someone with a droll sense of humor and plenty of time, says, "The Jackalope (Lepus temperamentalus) is one of the rarest animals in the world. A cross between a now extinct pygmy-deer and a species of killer-rabbit, they are extremely shy unless approached. None have ever been captured alive and this rare photo (often criticized as fake) shows a mighty buck about to strike."....