NEWS ROUNDUP

Fire forces ranch to move cattle A Meeteetse rancher is suffering through smoke and endured a midweek scramble to move horses and employees, but otherwise is surviving a forest fire just fine. Jack Turnell of the Pitchfork Ranch this week had to bring riders and horses out of Washakie wilderness area where the Little Venus fire erupted to 13,000 acres earlier this week. It is now estimated to be 27,000 acres -- more than 40 square miles. For a month or so, the fire was allowed to burn unhindered due to its remote and rugged location. That changed when the fire suddenly flared up Tuesday, leaving the wilderness area and threatening structures. Crews are now battling the blaze. Turnell said he had to move his cattle to a more concentrated area, which is less desirable. The new area is out of the timber. His employees trailed the cattle down earlier this week when the fire erupted, but most of the cows started down on their own. "They're not dumb," he said. He also said the thick smoke makes it hard for people to breathe, and it may affect the cattle, too....
Rancher mulls future after fire In rapid staccato, rancher John Patterson describes his situation: "My summer pasture is gone. My winter pasture is gone." "This is a good fire. Nobody died." "Wendy Kucera saved my hay and my house." "I have not shot a cow." "The story is that I have about 950 cows and calves that are unharmed. I have 37 confirmed dead." "They are either dead or unhurt." Patterson's ranch sits about 40 miles east of Billings. He estimates that 90 percent of his 70-section ranch in eastern Yellowstone and northern Big Horn counties was charred by the Pine Ridge complex of fires last week. Patterson's ranch sits in the middle of the complex of fires that blackened more than 122,000 acres over the past week and half in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties south of the Yellowstone River. The fires on the Patterson Ranch - three of them - began just before midnight July 11. The next afternoon, a fierce windstorm swept through the area, sending the fire racing across the grazing lands, through the coulees and draws, creating fire twisters, which Ruth Ann Patterson has on videotape. On Saturday and Sunday, the flames threatened the home built in 2001-02....
Cowboy rides a Caterpillar Scrapers swirl in maneuvers calculated to prepare the way for one more natural gas well among the many thousands planned for the big basins of Wyoming. Rancher Rob Hendry visits with an Encana Oil and Gas (USA) engineer, chit-chatting about this and that, watching the mechanical crawlers rearrange the powdery earth of the Frenchie Draw Field. There is no conflict here, no frustrated words about split estates or access through pasturelands. The cowboy and the engineer are on the same page. Hendry is making money off the energy boom. He figured early on that mineral royalties -- of which he holds few beneath the surface of his ranch -- were not a path to acquiring wealth. But hard work was. "That's just almost as good as mineral rights," he says. Hendry carved out a niche by providing construction services to oil and gas companies operating on the deeded and Bureau of Land Management surface that comprises his Clear Creek Cattle Company in the Fremont-Natrona County border country. It's been about three years since Hendry asked Encana to give him a shot at a reclamation project. They did. So he fired up equipment on hand at the ranch and went to work. He did a few reclamation jobs, then other tasks. Today Hendry takes on all sorts of projects, from cutting roads and leveling well pads, to reseeding projects and landscaping....
Lawsuit targets water standards A regional landowners group has filed a motion to join a case that is pitting three coal-bed methane companies and the State of Wyoming against Montana and its water quality standards for the Powder and Tongue rivers. The Powder River Basin Resource Council on Thursday said that lifting more stringent water quality standards set by Montana that reduce the salinity and runoff in the rivers would adversely impact Wyoming ranchers. Removing “constraints that Montana rules place on Wyoming permits to discharge coal-bed methane water ... would cause further damage to PRBRC members' crops, forage and soils,” the council wrote in its filing with the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. The motion comes in a case in which Devon Energy Co., Marathon Oil Co. and Pennaco Energy Inc., along with the State of Wyoming have challenged federal approval of the Montana rules, calling the action an unconstitutional control on interstate business....
The battle to drill A growing property rights controversy between the oil and gas industry and property owners in Northeastern Colorado may be decided by voters in November. As oil and gas industries rally for more effective drilling rights in Colorado, developers and other landowners are rallying for the right to be compensated when mineral extractors drill on their land. As the demand for oil and gas soars, so does the incentive for mining companies to extract as much as possible from each site. Oil and gas companies want more rights to assure they are drilling to capacity, leaving as little resources behind as possible. Landowners, who don't always own mineral rights beneath their land, want better compensation from those same companies. Colorado Land Owners for Fairness, organized by Glenwood Springs real estate agent John Gorman, last week started collecting the 68,000 signatures needed to place a proposed initiative on the November ballot. The ballot initiative would ask voters, "Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution requiring a mineral extractor to pay the fair value of damages brought about in the development per extraction of a mineral, including oil and gas?"....
New group forms to combat Wyoming Range drilling A new group has formed in western Wyoming that aims to protect the Wyoming Range from energy leasing and development, according to organizers. "Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range" hosted a kick-off barbequet at a ranch in Daniel Wednesday evening to launch the new organization. Comprised of local landowners, outfitters, business owners and ranchers, the group will work to prohibit new energy development in the Wyoming Range, according to the organization's mission statement. "The Wyoming Range is fundamental to why many choose to live here and the tourism revenue the range generates is a mainstay of our local economy," the statement said. "With so much development already happening next door to the Wyoming Range on Bureau of Land Management, state and private lands, it just doesn't make sense to let it expand onto the national forest."....
Enviro group warns against gas leases in Montrose County A meeting about gas leases on private property and public land at the Naturita Community Center on Sunday afternoon brought dire warnings from environmental groups and reassurances from representatives of the federal government. Sponsored by the Uncompahgre Valley Association, a community group of Western Colorado Congress, much of the meeting was devoted to warnings about what could happen from a former LaPlata County commissioner. The meeting was prompted by a planned auction of 50,000 acres of Montrose County land on Aug. 10 by the federal government on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management, said Peter Crowell, vice president of the association, who moderated the meeting. Crowell said his organization will file a protest with the federal government Tuesday to delay the auction so the land up for lease can be more carefully studied. “In some cases they are roadless areas and watershed areas,” he said. “We will ask the BLM to postpone or withdraw leasing of certain parcels.”....
Western Ranchers Join Lawsuit To Defend Grazing Regulations The Public Lands Council (PLC), an organization of public lands ranchers throughout the West, has joined in a lawsuit to help defend the final grazing regulations issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The PLC represents the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Sheep Industry and the Association of National Grasslands. “The new regulations stabilize the climate for operating ranches on BLM lands by encouraging good stewardship of those lands,” says PLC Executive Director Jeff Eisenberg. “In developing these final rules, the BLM has restored the balance between resource conservation and range management. These are policies PLC and its members are willing to protect with their hard earned dollars.” Upon publication on July 12, the Western Watersheds Project immediately filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Idaho to block the regulations. A second suit was also filed by the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Idaho Conservation League, and the Idaho Wildlife Federation. PLC has retained Bill Thomas of the law firm Best Best & Kreiger to represent the ranchers’ views in this matter. Each side has the opportunity to make arguments at a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for July 28 in Boise, Idaho....
Interior Dept. deputy kills a bison, then resigns after money questions The American bison, once hunted almost to extinction, is now so revered in the United States that its image graces the seal of the Interior Department, where it stands proudly in the shadow of mountains. Still, a senior political appointee at Interior apparently thought that the real thing might look better stuffed and mounted -- so he shot one. David Smith, a hunter who until last Friday was deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, shot and killed a bison grazing at a friend's ranch in Texas in December 2004. He had the hoofs made into bookends and kept the skull, wrapped in taxidermy packaging, in the garage of his home. Smith broke no laws by shooting the semi-domesticated animal in the head with a rifle from 50 yards away. But in a new report, Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney found that Smith violated rules banning federal officials from accepting gifts from people who are regulated by, or might do business with, their agency....
Proposal leaves riders in a rut Mark Powell says Jeep drivers have been trying to show that they care about the environment by picking up litter along Springhill Road. So he and other members of Capital City Jeepers say they're concerned that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to close land along Springhill Road to off-road vehicles because of damage they are causing. "Those of us who like to ride legally have very few areas left where we can ride," Powell said. "We try to promote responsible use of the resource." The Forest Service is proposing to temporarily close 11,625 acres to vehicles including Jeeps, trucks, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. Licensed vehicles can continue to drive through those areas on official forest roads. The proposed closed areas would be in addition to 6,814 acres that were closed temporarily in 2004 and haven't been reopened....
Fat Tire Festival Every year, thousands of fat-tire enthusiasts descend on this timber town to ride the surrounding trails. Oakridge sits more than 1,000 feet above sea level, and the mountains ringing it rise thousands of feet higher. It's a jumping-off point for scenic pedals and gnarly trail rides, as well as a growing number of races and festivals. This weekend, mountain bikers from all over America will make the trek to Oakridge to ride and relax at the Fat Tire Festival. The community is actively working to replace its once-booming timber industry with "adventure tourism."....
Grizzlies on rivers put managers on edge From her office across from the confluence of the Kenai and Russian rivers, Dianne Owens watches a daily dance of grizzly bears and people and wonders what's next. Already this year, a sow grizzly has been wounded in a spray of gunfire near the Sportsman's Landing campground; one of her cubs was injured when hit by a car on the Sterling Highway. The sow subsequently disappeared and is now presumed dead. The fate of the yearling cub hit by the car remains unknown. Meanwhile, two other yearling cubs appear to have taken up residence adjacent to the campground since their mother died. With the yearlings hanging around, the manager of the Russian River ferry said human-bear encounters have become an all-too-regular occurrence. "Every day, two or three times a day," she said. "We're sitting on a time bomb here."....
Feds ax Colorado public lands jobs Public lands managers are bracing for three years of federal budget cuts and job losses to help pay for homeland security and the war in Iraq. With the belt-tightening, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management expect to trim more than 60 jobs in Southwest Colorado, according to a memo sent to some 220 Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service employees working in areas from Pagosa Springs to the Utah state line. Officials said it's unclear how the public will be affected by the reducti0ns, but at least half the job cuts will be positions that are currently unfilled. "Since 2001, Congress and the administration have intensified scrutiny of domestic spending because of national and international pressures," reads the June memo from San Juan Public Lands Center officials. "The Forest Service and BLM expect to see shrinking and performance-based budgets for the foreseeable future."....
'Wild and Scenic River' U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi plan to introduce legislation next week to include Fossil Creek in the nation's Wild and Scenic River System. The unique waters form in the Fossil Creek Wilderness Area along the Yavapai County border near Strawberry. The creek runs 14 miles through the national forest to the Verde River southeast of Camp Verde. A stretch of the Verde River currently has the only Wild and Scenic River designation in Arizona. "Fossil Creek is one of the most valuable natural treasures in Arizona, and I'm prepared to take the necessary steps to ensure it's preserved for generations to come," Renzi said Friday when he confirmed plans to introduce legislation next week....
Pipeline plan draws no opposition Based on the amount of public comment at a hearing for a proposed natural gas pipeline from Merna to Jackson, it appears everyone is in favor of the project. Either that, or no one knew about the hearing. Not one member of the public showed up Thursday night to ask questions or give testimony about a proposed pipeline that will cross the Hoback River nine times, will snake along a highway and through some rugged terrain. In fact, all 10 people at the hearing, in front of members of the Wyoming Public Service Commission, were representatives of Lower Valley Energy, the company proposing the 49.7-mile pipeline. But the PSC staff asked some tough questions that members of the public might be wondering. David Piroutek, the commission's engineering supervisor, asked about the river crossings. Chad Jensen, vice president of Lower Valley, said Bridger-Teton National Forest officials have advised the company to "get in and get out," and the pipeline can be trenched and laid in the river bed in four hours....
On Public Land, Sunday in the Park With Prayer This is what church looked like to Deana Wingert on a recent Sunday: the wind ruffled the lake behind the pulpit, evergreens towered above the pews, a yellow butterfly danced over a sunny patch of grass, and the scent of lighter fluid wafted through, followed by the smell of meat grilling. Most members in the congregation did not know one another. They had come, like the Wingerts, to Cowans Gap, about 100 miles southwest of Harrisburg, to camp, swim and picnic. But it was Sunday, and for the 100 or so Christians with baseball caps and bug spray who wanted to worship, the park offered itself as their church. “This is the day that the Lord has made,” the congregation sang to the cloudless sky, as the chaplain, Bruce Carriker, strummed the guitar and began the service. “We shall rejoice and be glad in it.” From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 42 state, national and private parks in Pennsylvania hold nondenominational Christian worship services. It is the only state with such a program, said the Rev. Paul L. Herring of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. The chaplains come from local towns and faraway states, as do the worshipers, mostly Protestants. Last year, 18,000 people attended services in Pennsylvania parks....
Cuba drills for oil off Florida Cuba is drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida with help from China, Canada and Spain even as Congress struggles to end years of deadlock over drilling for what could be a treasure trove of offshore oil and gas. Republicans in Congress have tried repeatedly in the past decade to open up the outer continental shelf to exploration, and Florida's waters hold some of the most promising prospects for major energy finds. Their efforts have been frustrated by opposition from Florida, California and environmental-minded legislators from both parties. Florida's powerful tourism and booming real estate industries fear that oil spills could cost them business. Lawmakers from the state are so adamantly opposed to drilling that they have bid to extend the national ban on drilling activity from 100 miles to as far as 250 miles offshore, encompassing the island of Cuba. Cuba is exploring in its half of the 90-mile-wide Straits of Florida within the internationally recognized boundary as well as in deep-water areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The impoverished communist nation is eager to receive any economic boost that would come from a major oil find....
Bush Pollution Curbs Are Rated Equal to Clinton's The Bush administration's new program to cut harmful pollutants from utilities through a cap-and-trade system will do nearly as much to clean the nation's air as the Clinton administration's effort to make aging power plants install pollution controls when they modernize or expand, a report by an independent scientific panel has concluded. The report from the National Academy of Sciences, released yesterday, represents the latest effort to assess how best to reduce air pollution estimated to cause as many as 24,000 premature deaths each year. The panel concluded that an earlier Bush plan would have allowed pollution to increase over a dozen years, but it found that the administration's more recent Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) -- which targets emissions from power plants in 22 states and the District of Columbia -- would help clean the air over the next two decades. The CAIR approach aims to reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by 70 percent by 2025 at the latest, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, through a system that would allow utilities to sell and buy pollution credits as long as industry emissions as a whole stayed below a pre-set cap. The Clinton administration had focused on cutting emissions under the 1970 Clean Air Act through a program called New Source Review (NSR), now discarded, which required aging plants to install new, cleaner technology every time they upgraded facilities....
Kansan popularized Smokey Bear Kansan Rudolph Wendelin may not have created Smokey Bear, but he did his best to make him a national icon. For nearly four decades, Wendelin illustrated Smokey for the U.S. Forest Service in TV ads, billboards, posters, newspapers and magazine with the warning: "Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires." After the war, he helped launch the Smokey Bear project. The character was based on a live bear cub that survived a 1950 New Mexico forest fire. At least 10 other artists turned out earlier versions of the bear, but Wendelin is credited with giving Smokey his friendliness and popularity. Wendelin's bear wore jeans and a green ranger's hat and carried a shovel. According to the Web site Smokeybear.com, Smokey's correct, full name is Smokey Bear. A song in 1952 called "Smokey the Bear" added a "the" to his name. That same year, Smokey was so popular he was given his own ZIP code -- 20252 -- because of the volume of mail he was receiving....
Where global warming's welcome Stefan Magnusson lives at the foot of a giant, melting glacier. Some think he's living on the brink of a cataclysm. He believes he's on the cusp of creation. The 49-year-old reindeer rancher says a warming trend in Greenland over the past decade has caused the glacier on his farm to retreat 300 feet, revealing land that hasn't seen the light of day for hundreds of years, if not more. Where ice once gripped the earth, he says, his reindeer now graze on wild thyme amid the purple blooms of Niviarsiaq flowers. The melting glacier near Mr. Magnusson's home is pouring more water into the river, which he hopes soon to harness for hydroelectricity. "We are seeing genesis by the edge of the glacier," he says. Average temperatures in Greenland have risen by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 30 years -- more than double the global average, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute. By the end of the century, the institute projects, temperatures could rise another 14 degrees....
WTO talks slip deeper into crisis, no breakthrough Last ditch talks to keep hopes alive of a global free deal faced a deepening crisis on Monday after trading powers failed to achieve a breakthrough at a marathon first session, diplomats said. The so-called G6 -- Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, the European Union and the United States -- must reach agreement on how to boost trade in farm and industrial goods or risk seeing nearly five years of WTO negotiations crumble in failure. But 14 hours of negotiations on Sunday, chaired by World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy, who has the task of brokering a deal, failed to advance in the key area of farm subsidies, known as domestic support, where the United States is under pressure to make further concessions. Washington has been insisting that the EU and other WTO members that it calls "protectionist" go further in agreeing to lowering farm tariff barriers before it moves further on subsidies....
Cattle broker won't face charges A Utah livestock broker who arranged the illegal import of 920 head of cattle into Sublette County earlier this year probably won’t be prosecuted because current state regulations do not provide for such prosecution, local ranchers were told this week. State Veterinarian Dwayne Oldham told about 30 area cattle producers that as state livestock regulations currently stand, there is not sufficient language to prosecute someone acting as a broker in illegally importing cattle into Wyoming. Under current regulations, only the livestock haulers can be charged, not the person who conspired to have the illegal import occur. Although the hole in the regulations was revealed to state officials in 2003, and the Wyoming Livestock Board drafted changes to the regulations, the regulations were never finalized. In late May, state livestock officials learned that 16 loads of central Utah cattle with paperwork calling for a Woodruff, Utah, destination had been delivered to two Sublette County ranches instead. Having the Woodruff destination on the Utah brand inspection allowed the animals to get through the Evanston port of entry without health inspections required for delivery into Wyoming. Because the 15-month-old cattle were not certified as having been vaccinated for brucellosis and had not been spayed, Wyoming animal health officials would not have allowed the animals to be imported under state rules....
Cowboys enjoy their day in the sun Every cowboy gets his day. On a blistering Saturday afternoon at California Rodeo Salinas, state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, presented officials with a resolution passed by the California Legislature declaring July 22 as National Day of the Cowboy. "It recognizes our pioneering men and women that make up our cowboys in the nation," he said. During a break in the competition, Denham presented a framed copy of the resolution to California Rodeo president Jim Slaten in front of a crowd of about 7,000 people. Slaten was joined by Marianne Johnson Schaeffler, the rodeo's hostess 50 years ago, and Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee Doc Etienne. "Falling on our day, it's special for us. It's an honor," said Slaten. "All the cowboys really appreciate it because cowboys don't get a lot of recognition as athletes," he said. Denham said the day symbolizes not only the rodeo, but ranchers and "an ongoing commitment to a way of life in our rural communities."....
Boots 'n' Britches prepares small riders for the rodeo circuit Maureen Weishaupt just wanted to give Fallon youngsters a chance to compete in rodeo events at a fun level in an event that came to be called Boots 'n' Britches Play Day. Twenty-two years later, she's still giving them the chance. "I grew up being in the Junior Rodeo and had such good memories," said Weishaupt, whose family moved to Fallon in 1960. "So, Candy Moffitt and I worked on getting it started." At the time, Weishaupt was the leader of a 4-H horse group. Now Boots 'n' Britches includes anyone who wants to participate. "The event is practice for the events the young cowboys and cowgirls do at Junior Rodeo, and to help prepare them for high school rodeo competition," said Weishaupt. On the average, some 60 to 70 riders compete in breakaway roping, pole bending, goat tying, goat tail un-decorating, and barrel racing....
My grandfather knew Billy the Kid Having been born on my grandparents ranch in Ancho, Lincoln County, was more by accident than on purpose. My mother was visiting her parents in New Mexico from our home in West Virginia, and overextended her stay, which resulted in my being a native New Mexican. Our family eventually settled in Albuquerque around 1935. My father named me after my step-grandfather, whom I always considered to be my grandfather, because my real grandfather, Rosalio Lopez, died during the 1918 flu epidemic long before I was born. My mother not only lost her father to the flu, but also her only brother that same year. We visited Ancho often and I remember spending a few summers at the ranch. My step-grandfather, Nick Maes, often spoke of Billy the Kid — or el Chivato (little kid), as he was affectionately referred to by the native Hispanics. He always said he was muy valiente y muy vaquero. As I was still pretty much a kid myself, these tales didn't mean much to me at the time. It wasn't until many years later, and after old Nick Maes died in 1939, that my late cousin, Manuel Lopez, who was about eight or nine years older than me, told me about some events I either did not know or did not recall....
Trew: Long-gone community leaves mark on the prairie Rockledge, 5 miles west of Alanreed, just off to the south of Interstate 40, was such a place. Located on Rockwall County School Land, named for the deep canyons nearby, the land is part of the Trew Ranch today. Hartley Davis, the resident section foreman, recalled an incident he witnessed while replacing ties at Rockledge. One morning the train stopped to allow a real estate agent from Amarillo off. A buggy approached from the east with two people aboard. The men talked, argued and the man from Amarillo pulled a gun and shot one of the other men. He turned and ran toward the section crew working nearby when the second man shot and killed him. The crew stopped the next train and sent the bodies on to Alanreed to the funeral parlor. Rockledge figured prominently in the news in 1939 when two men robbed the bank in Alanreed of $3,000. They escaped west on Route 66 until their car quit near Rockledge. They fled into the deep canyons nearby where the law surrounded the area and arrested the pair....