NEWS ROUNDUP

Growing Coalition Opposes Drilling Now, Valle Vidal has become a battleground in the drive to expand energy exploration on public land, attracting the attention of a growing coalition of hunters, anglers, environmentalists, ranchers, homeowners and politicians across the ideological spectrum. Here and elsewhere in the Western United States, this coalition is starting to resist the push for energy exploration in some of the nation's most prized wilderness areas. Although it remains unclear how successful they will be, these new activists -- including many who treasure Valle Vidal as a place to fish for cutthroat trout, hunt for elk and ride horses across its wide expanses -- have brought a new dynamic to the public debate over energy development in the West. "There's clearly a headlong rush into opening up these areas, but there's a recognition there's precious areas, beautiful landscapes that people appreciate and love," said Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.). "In those cases, the equation swings over to protection." Udall sponsored legislation to make Valle Vidal off-limits to oil and gas drilling and to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness in California, Idaho and Oregon. The House unanimously approved Udall's bill on Monday, and the issue is now before the Senate. In two other states, prominent GOP senators -- Conrad Burns (Mont.) and Craig Thomas (Wyo.) -- have also pushed in the past month to restrict energy exploration on public land....
As states ponder protection, roadless forests unravel The Clear Fork roadless area in western Colorado holds one of the largest expanses of aspen trees in the world. In 2001, the 24,000-acre tract in the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest was protected, part of 58.5 million acres preserved nationwide by President Clinton’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Shortly after taking office, President Bush abandoned his predecessor’s rule by failing to defend it against lawsuits. Then, last May, the administration unveiled its own version of the rule, and allowed individual governors a say in how roadless areas in their states are managed. While states consider whether to recommend protections — they have until Nov. 13 to submit petitions — the Forest Service promised not to move forward with any development in roadless areas. But even as Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, R, gathers public input, the Clear Fork may be headed for the auction block. Next month, at the behest of industry, federal officials plan to offer part of the area for natural gas exploration. At least 14 other roadless-area projects, ranging from energy development to logging and mining, are also in the works around the West....
BLM affirms Jack Morrow Hills plan A controversial plan to allow oil and gas development in the Jack Morrow Hills area of the Red Desert has been approved by the Bureau of Land Management, to the outcry of conservationists. The plan foresees development of 255 more wells in the 622,000-acre area, although it does not set a cap on the number of wells. Despite about 1,000 protest letters received by the BLM during the planning process, the BLM issued a final decision last week that basically mirrors its original plan. Joy Owen, statewide coordinator for Friends of the Red Desert, said she was surprised the agency signed off on a plan even after it received so many protests. The BLM also released an amendment to the Green River resource management plan along with the Jack Morrow Hills decision last week. The amendment explains in broad brush strokes how the BLM will manage for things including sage grouse and recreation, and is intended to address some of the protests....
Land issues help Dems hook rod and gun crowd As more oil and gas wells spring up throughout the Rocky Mountain West, moderate Democrats are telling hunters and ang lers worried about open space that they feel their pain. Hoping to capitalize on the frustration of outdoorsmen and women watching the mechanization of their playgrounds, Democrats are talking about responsible land policy that balances industrial and recreational needs. The approach has created some strange bedfellows. Sportsmen, traditionally leery of Democrats because of their pro gun-control stance, are coming to the table to talk about how to protect the land. And environmentalists, who in the past have demanded that all public land remain pristine, are softening enough to talk about responsible industrial land use. Democrats see this new group of disaffected hunters and mellowed greenies as one of the keys to electoral victory in the Rocky Mountain West....
Montana reviewing Wyoming water discharge permits Despite the verbal sparring between Wyoming and Montana over the release of water from coal-bed methane wells into rivers and streams, Montana regulators haven't objected to any water discharge permits issued by Wyoming. "Montana is reviewing every draft (water discharge) permit we put out," said John Wagner of the Water Quality Division in Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality. "So far, they have not had a problem with any permit we've put out." Richard Opper, director of Montana's Department of Environmental Quality, said Monday that his agency has offered comments on permit applications, though he couldn't characterize the nature of the comments and didn't immediately know how many applications the agency had weighed in on. As a matter of courtesy, he said, the agencies in both states have given each other copies of such applications. As for Montana's water quality standards, "We certainly don't feel Wyoming can violate that, and generally Wyoming hasn't violated that to date." Most of the debate centers around water quality in such rivers as the Powder and Tongue, which flow into Montana from northern Wyoming, where coal-bed methane development has taken off....
West Enders urged to ready for gas development With 50,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montrose County pending in an Aug. 10 auction, West End residents received a primer Sunday on what to expect should development come their way. Since almost all of that acreage sits in the West End, the Uncompahgre Valley Association, a Montrose-based community group, hosted a panel of local and federal officials to field queries and explain the planning process for oil and gas development. Former La Plata County Commissioner Josh Joswick urged landowners to learn about their rights. The upcoming auction includes 9,979 acres of split-estate parcels, in which the land above the mineral is privately owned. Should an energy company try to develop on private property, the landowner can have a say in the location well pads, roads, compressor station and what will happen to the property’s water supply. “Everything except your name and the legal description of your property is negotiable,” said Joswick, who served 12 years as a commissioner. For much of the 1990s, La Plata County worked to find regulations that would protect landowners who saw a deterioration in their water quality and methane gas creeping up through their foundations. The county finally discovered a way to implement protections in their land-use regulations after a number of court battles, but Joswick urged residents to investigate their options sooner rather than later....
Oregon’s Property Rights Law Kicks In, Easing Rigid Rules Voter approval of Measure 37 was a shot heard around the property rights world. Several states, including neighboring Idaho and Washington, now have similar measures on their ballots this fall. The Oregon law could remake the face of the state, where some of the most restrictive land-use rules in the nation are designed to keep forest and farm areas intact and cities compact. After a bumpy ride through the courts, backers of the measure were handed a clear victory this year. Government officials say the measure has essentially knocked out “the Oregon way,” the distinct set of rules that have long angered many property owners but delighted the urban-planning community. It has made for chaos at the county level, many officials say, by taking away local government’s ability to plan for development in an orderly fashion. Since the measure was approved, Oregon property owners had filed 2,755 claims covering 150,455 acres, according to the university’s Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, which is tracking the measure’s impact. If all the claims were paid, state officials say, it could amount to more than $3 billion in compensation. But not a single claim has been paid, the institute reported. Instead of paying property owners, local government agencies have routinely chosen to waive the regulations, clearing the way for numerous developments in rural areas. But supporters of the measure, which was approved by 61 percent of voters, say that the worst fears of opponents have not been realized, and that the law simply gives Oregon property owners the right to basic compensation when regulations harm the value of their land....
Column - Taking Liberties Libertarians and property-rights activists believe that a huge array of common government regulations on real estate, such as zoning or subdivision limits, "take" away property value. Therefore, they say, the government should compensate the owner, or back off. The extreme view of "regulatory takings" is really at the core of this campaign — not eminent domain. The campaign to pass regulatory-takings laws began in the 1980s, when libertarians seized on the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says: "Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." They’ve tried to use Congress, state legislatures and ballot initiatives to pass laws that would treat most regulations as takings. Their first big win came in November 2004, when they persuaded Oregon’s voters to pass Measure 37. That initiative blew holes in the strictest land-use system in the country, allowing longtime landowners to escape many state, county and city regulations (HCN, 11/22/04: In Oregon, a lesson learned the hard way). The impacts of Measure 37 have been delayed by court battles, and the libertarians are determined to turn the delays to their advantage. Before the fallout in Oregon can be fully understood, they are rushing to pass similar ballot initiatives in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and California. While each initiative has its own sales pitch, they all deliberately tuck the notion inside the unrelated eminent domain controversy....
Study bolsters protecting Western jumping mouse A tiny mouse vying for survival in the Rocky Mountains may have gained an upper hand over Western developers. Scientists hired to review contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies, limited to parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, obtained Sunday by The Associated Press, would help justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act. The mouse, which uses its 6-inch tail and strong hind legs to jump a foot and a half in the air, inhabits grasslands that include prime real estate along Colorado's fast-growing Front Range. Fish and Wildlife is expected to decide by early August whether the mouse should stay on the endangered species list. The decision affects nearly 31,000 acres designated as critical habitat to help the mouse recover. Its population has dwindled to an average of 44 mice per mile of stream because of urban sprawl....
Biologist backs delisting Preble's mouse Denver-area biologist Rob Roy Ramey said Monday that the latest attack on his Preble's meadow jumping mouse research - this time from an expert panel appointed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - doesn't change the bottom line: The Colorado-dwelling mouse is nearly identical to other meadow jumping mice and doesn't deserve the special protections it enjoys as a "threatened" subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. "If you're willing to keep this listed as a subspecies, then how far are you willing to go?" said Ramey, a former Denver Museum of Nature & Science curator who now works as an Interior Department consultant. "We basically have lowered the bar to the point where we can list almost anything" on the federal list of threatened and endangered wildlife, he said....
Carson forests wants ranchers to remove cows Carson National Forest wants some ranchers to remove their cattle from forest land by the end of the month, and the ranchers are fighting the decision. Due to the drought, Jarita Mesa cannot support the nearly 500 head of cattle grazing on the mesa this summer along with wild horses and wildlife, forest officials say. Ranchers who hold 18 permits for the allotment have asked Rio Arriba County officials to intervene. The County Commission last week adopted a resolution supporting the critical role of agriculture on the county's economy and culture. The Forest Service's actions threaten to "negatively and irreversibly impact the lives, the economy, the culture and reshape the natural and human environments of Rio Arriba County," the resolution states. Commissioner Felipe Martinez of El Rito said the commission might draft another resolution requesting that Sheriff Joe Mascarenas "take action to protect private property rights of these folks." Mascarenas said he would do what he could for the ranchers as long as it's "within the law." Ranchers and their supporters blame more than the drought for the shortage of forage. They say the Forest Service hasn't done an adequate job of managing Jarita Mesa's elk and wild horse populations. According to the Forest Service, as many as 150 of the horses roam the 54,000-acre Jarita Mesa Wild Horse Territory northeast of El Rito....
Big California Wildfire Likely from Illegal Immigrant Campfire A 7,000-acre wildfire that forced the evacuation of more than a hundred homes near the California-Mexico border may have been caused by an abandoned campfire set by illegal immigrants, authorities said Monday. The fire had burned nearly 11 square miles of brush and chaparral in the Cleveland National Forest in southern San Diego County. It appeared to have spread early Saturday from an abandoned campfire set in a side drainage of a canyon, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. Evidence at the scene suggested “the campfire was left by undocumented immigrants,” it said. Forest Service spokeswoman Anabele Cornejo said investigators found food containers and bottles off a park trail. “Based on collected evidence, we’re making an educated guess that it was probably started by immigrants,” Cornejo said. She did not immediately know whether anyone was detained in connection with the fire....
Forest Service to Revise Trail Classification System The U.S. Forest Service is currently soliciting public comments as it revises its National Trail Classification System (TCS). This process will result in new guidelines for trail classification, design and implementation on all 133,000 miles of National Forest System trails. IMBA is currently evaluating the 75-page document and will send official comments to the Forest Service in the near future. Interested mountain bikers should check the IMBA website in mid-August, 2006, to view IMBA's comments and for assistance preparing individual comments. The official deadline for public comments is Sept. 1. The draft TCS is largely positive for mountain biking and should be a major improvement over the document it replaces. In particular, the draft includes revised trail design parameters and language to manage mountain biking much like hiking and horse use, and separate from motorized recreation. Mountain biking is also categorized, along with hiking, as an activity generally acceptable on all trail classes. Read the Forest Service's Federal Register notice for more information on the TCS revision and instructions for public comment.
Editorial - Prison will provide time to ponder: What were they thinking? What were they thinking? Members of the so-called Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front are probably wondering that themselves. Six of them pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Eugene to a string of arsons or attempted arsons across the West from 1996 to 2001. Their targets included the U.S. Forest Service Detroit Ranger Station in October 1996 and the offices of Boise Cascade Co. in Monmouth on Christmas Day 1999. These wannabe radicals surely never planned to exit in a welter of plea-bargains. Maybe they finally figured it out: They may have done an estimated $100 million worth of damage, but they didn’t change the world. They probably didn’t change anyone’s mind. What did they expect: That people would read of an arson at an auto-sales lot and say, “I’ve seen the light. I’m going to ditch my SUV?”....
Forest Service Overrides EPA Drinking Water Contamination Objections The U.S. Forest Service is breaking environmental protection rules and endangering public health in approving a major expansion of a lakeside resort, according to a formal appeal filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The resort sits on Fremont Lake which provides unfiltered drinking water for the city of Pinedale, in western Wyoming. The Bridger Teton National Forest has green-lighted this large-scale expansion of an old lake resort by deciding that the project has no significant environmental impact meriting further study or public input. This finding comes despite a warning by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the project “will increase the likelihood of contamination, and generally degrade the microbiological and chemical quality of water in Fremont Lake.” Pushed by a former district ranger, the resort project involves construction of a pavilion and 25-unit lodge, a marina with 39 boat slips, 10 duplex cabins, a restaurant expansion, access roads and parking lots. Year-round occupancy of the resort complex will rise to more than 200 people. The only proposed water treatment is an expanded septic system....
Appeals Court Dismisses Grand Staircase Challenge A decade after President Clinton shocked and angered Utah politicians by creating the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a federal appeals court on Monday said opponents had no standing to challenge the decision. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Utah judge’s decision to throw out the lawsuit filed by Denver-based Mountain States Legal Foundation. The foundation’s 1997 suit had been consolidated with a suit filed nine months earlier by the Utah Association of Counties, which didn’t join the appeal, and the state Schools and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, which dropped out before the appeal was filed. “Because we conclude that (Mountain States Legal Foundation) lacked standing to bring this suit, we dismiss the appeal,” appellate judges David M. Ebel, Paul J. Kelly and Stephanie Seymour wrote in a decision released late Monday. The judges said the legal foundation couldn’t produce a person who could show he was harmed by Clinton’s designation of the 1.9 million-acre monument, which opponents called an abuse of the president’s discretion under the 1906 Antiquities Act....
'Clark was here'? Signatures located all over area A graffiti-scarred patch of sandstone on the Rimrocks bears an inscription similar to Capt. William Clark's famous signature at Pompeys Pillar National Monument. Is it an artifact from the Lewis and Clark expedition? A Billings woman believes so. Doubters say it's a hoax concocted by somebody with a sense of humor and a passing knowledge of Montana history. Whatever the truth, the city of Billings, which owns the property where the inscription is located, has made an effort to protect it from weather and vandalism while attempts are made to determine its authenticity. As at Pompeys Pillar, the inscription is carved in a looping cursive script with Clark's first name abbreviated "Wm." The date attached to the Billings inscription is July 24, 1806. The date would mean that Clark landed near the site of Billings, hiked nearly two miles to the top of the Rims, carved his signature, hiked back and traveled to Pompeys Pillar the next day....
Grouse protections ‘good for industry’ Conservation groups say new guidelines will help keep sage grouse protected and off the endangered species list, benefitting not only the animals, but also industry. Several groups such as the Sagebrush Sea Campaign have thrown their support into a sage grouse conservation “blueprint” that aims to increase the animals’ population 33 percent by 2015, and distribution 20 percent by 2030. Written by Clait Braun, a biologist with Grouse Inc., the plan makes specific recommendations about a number of issues affecting sage grouse habitat including management of development, fire, grazing, and invasive species. Conservation groups plan to send the document to the Bureau of Land Management and state agencies in the coming weeks. “Gas development, primarily... is extremely negative,” biologist Erik Molvar with the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said in a teleconference Thursday. “We need to start thinking about setting aside some fairly large reserves that won’t be disturbed.”....
Wyoming loses try at delisting gray wolf The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied a petition from the state of Wyoming that had asked to remove the gray wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. The state promises a legal challenge. Wyoming officials had proposed a policy of allowing wolves to live unmolested in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. The state also proposes to allow trophy hunting for the animals in a large area immediately outside the parks while classifying them as predators that could be shot on sight elsewhere. In rejecting the state's petition, the Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that it couldn't remove federal protections for wolves in Wyoming until the state sets firm limits on how many could be killed. The federal agency also said the state needs to commit to maintaining a set minimum population of the animals. Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Monday that the federal agency's decision will make it easier for Wyoming to go to court and get a judge to decide whether the state's plan is scientifically adequate....
Wildlife refuge owner given house arrest, fine Amarillo Wildlife Refuge owner Charlie Azzopardi must spend 180 days in home confinement as part of his punishment for selling and transporting an endangered leopard species, according to federal court documents. U.S. Magistrate Judge Clinton Averitte on Friday also assessed Azzopardi a $2,000 fine and ordered that Azzopardi be placed on probation for three years, documents show. Azzopardi was indicted Jan. 18 on the selling charge and three counts of aiding and abetting the making of a false record stemming from an attempt to sell two clouded leopards for $5,000 each to a buyer at a Clinton, Okla., gas station in July 2005. The buyer was an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent....
Groups halt prairie dog relocation A project to relocate prairie dogs from Cedar Ridge Golf Course and from land owned by the Paiute Tribe of Utah has been halted because of environmental group's objection to the plans. Nicole Rosmarino, director of the Forest Guardians endangered species program, contends the project is unnecessary and will lead the animals' extinction. "What's on the table is unacceptable," Rosmarino said. "There's no getting around it -- the picture on this animal is very bleak. The species is on the verge of extinction. It's in real trouble biologically." The prairie dogs have run rampant at the golf course, where 6,000 golfers play every month. Keith Day, state Division of Wildlife Resources wildlife biologist, estimates that there are more than 360 prairie dogs there alone. And the animals are breeding quickly on the Paiute Tribe's land, limiting use, tribal chairwoman Lora Tom said. "It is disappointing," Tom said. "I wish that those groups or individuals who feel that prairie dogs are endangered would look at some of the areas affected by prairie dogs." Plans were to trap the prairie dogs this summer, said Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherratt. Trapping season ends in August. Now, the tribe and the golf course will have to wait at least another year before permits could be issued because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must first resolve the environmental group's complaints, said Elise Boeke, a Fish and Wildlife Service ecologist....
Beavers keep homeowner concerns high Northern Nevada beavers are busy patching and rebuilding their dams and lodges damaged by high runoff on the Truckee River and other regional waterways, officials said. Beavers aren't usually a major problem in the area, but high-water years cause more beaver activity as they meticulously fix their trademark habitats when the water recedes, as it has now, officials said. "They have to go back to work," U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist Jack Spencer Jr. said, adding that most of the time, the animals go unnoticed until they eat someone's landscaping. "Aspen and cottonwoods are beaver favorites, and I've heard a number of reports of homes that have lost fruit trees," Spencer said. Homeowners and park managers can wrap trees in chicken wire to keep beavers away, and it is legal to trap them with a permit in season....
Private, Public Land Conservation Growing, Needs Better Coordination America is experiencing a huge growth in the conservation of land by private trusts, and new research has found that even more conservation benefits could be gained by coordination among different groups or government land-protection programs with similar goals. From 1998 to 2003, about 1,500 private trusts more than doubled the amount of land in the United States that such groups have been able to protect for conservation purposes, such as species protection, flood control or recreation. Two new studies by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Illinois outline the value of good coordination of such activities between private groups, and between these groups and state and federal governments. It’s also essential that government agencies better understand the effect they have on private activities in order to optimize the environmental and conservation goals that both sides hope to achieve, scientists say. In some cases, in fact, protection of lands by government agencies has actually served to repel private conservation on nearby lands – a situation that can defeat a frequent goal of creating larger, contiguous blocks of land for endangered species protection and other goals....
GOP's McCloskey endorsing Dem against Pombo Maverick former GOP Rep. Pete McCloskey took on his party's establishment - and lost - with a primary challenge to Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, chairman of the powerful House Resources Committee. Now McCloskey, 78, plans to urge Northern California voters who supported him in the state's June primary to vote for Pombo's Democratic opponent, wind engineer Jerry McNerney, in November. McCloskey won 32 percent of the Republican primary vote June 6 to 62 percent for Pombo. McNerney is "an honorable man that has not and will not seek to enrich himself and his family through his office," McCloskey said in an interview. His support for Democrats doesn't stop with McNerney. McCloskey, who served in Congress from 1967 to 1982 and was an original author of the Endangered Species Act, said he'd like to see his party lose control of the House of Representatives....
U.S. trade court backs Canada in lumber ruling Canada's forest industry is hailing its victory in the United States Court of International Trade, a ruling that may have ramifications for a controversial deal to end the long-running dispute over softwood lumber. The U.S. trade court yesterday backed a Canadian claim that the U.S. illegally continued to impose punitive tariffs on domestic lumber after a North American Free Trade Agreement ruled there was no basis for the duties. On the basis of the decision, the group representing British Columbia lumber interests says that the Canadian lumber industry should get back $1.2-billion (U.S.), or roughly 26 per cent of the $4.6-billion in duties it has paid out since May, 2002. The U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the lobby group representing lumber interests south of the border, immediately indicated yesterday that it will appeal the ruling....
Anthrax Risk High For South Dakota Livestock The drought has forced hundreds of KELOLAND ranchers to sell their herds. Now, hundreds more are taking extra steps to keep their livestock alive. The drought has made the spread of the anthrax spores easier. Animals are grazing closer to the ground and eating more dirt with the grass. And that's where the spores are usually found. Now, many ranchers are worried South Dakota is on the verge on an anthrax outbreak. Anthrax spores can lay dormant in dirt for decades, and now dry conditions are putting more KELOLAND livestock at risk for the illness. “We're on pins and needles waiting for it to break, and watching it very closely,” said Veterinarian Steve Tornberg. Recent hot temperatures combined with dry weather have created the perfect conditions for anthrax spores to flare up in areas where stock dams are drying up....
Anthrax Reported in Texas It's the same song, yet another verse for naturally-occurring anthrax cases in livestock and wildlife in Val Verde and Kinney Counties in Southwest Texas. A little rain, a lot of hot weather and the invisible, spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis has resurfaced, putting unvaccinated livestock and grazing wildlife at risk in the area. "Anthrax has been confirmed in a pen of deer in Val Verde County, and in a Charolais bull in Kinney County. We know that that anthrax often goes under-reported, as we hear of anecdotal reports of livestock or deer losses without laboratory confirmation. Many ranchers forego the veterinary inspection and laboratory tests, and, instead, just begin vaccinating," reported Bob Hillman, DVM, Texas' state veterinarian and head of the Texas Animal Health Commission. "Anthrax cases are not unusual, but a laboratory confirmation should alert ranchers and livestock owners that it is time to vaccinate their animals in Val Verde, Kinney and surrounding counties." "Vacationers and hunters get concerned about anthrax, but there is no need to worry, if proper precautions are taken," said Hillman....
Farm groups, Congressmen declare support for U.S. WTO position The U.S. farm community appears to be lining up in support of U.S. trade officials’ decision to just say no to further concessions to the European Union and the so-called advanced developing countries in the Doha Development Round. Most of the country’s major farm and commodity organizations issued statements praising U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab’s and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns’ efforts after the Doha Round negotiations were suspended indefinitely in Geneva, Switzerland. Farm-state House members and senators also joined in supporting the Bush administration’s trade team, expressing the general sentiment that “no agreement was better than a bad agreement,” as Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, put it....
Calving at Maggie Creek Early morning sunshine brought the cold Maggie Creek calving barn to life. The buckaroos started their busy day in the pen behind the barn, stumbling over half-frozen turds, playing that same ol' game all ranch horses like to play when they see a cowboy show up with a halter in his hand. Snow, sprinkled across the surrounding hills like icing sugar, had no intention of leaving Nevada's high desert just yet. The night shift man was heading for the warm comfort of his bedroll. His hourly inspections, although cold, dark and lonely, would yield some amazing opportunities to stargaze, especially on those clear nights with no moon. Maggie Creek Ranch, with its headquarters in the Humboldt River valley just West of Elko, Nevada, has been in the Searle family for over 30 years. Its namesake watershed, Maggie Creek, actually originates in the Independence Mountains to the North, running into the Humboldt near the boisterous mining town of Carlin. Local buckaroos consider the ranch to be "a nice, tidy outfit" because it features a well-bred Angus-based commercial cowherd that runs on mostly deeded ground, somewhat of a rarity in the rugged, mountain state largely comprised of BLM (federal Bureau of Land Management) holdings. The ranch doesn't run a big cavvy these days, and many of the full and part time help take advantage of this opportunity to ride their own horses to work, which can be a pretty good deal when it comes time to release a good, broke ranch horse into a strong seller's market....
Missing Cracker horse may have been stolen Investigators are searching for the whereabouts of Sally Mae, a 5-year-old workhorse — and a descendant of Florida history — who went missing in Loxahatchee July 9. Sally Mae's owner, Casey Barnes, said he was riding the Cracker horse near 206th Terrace and 59th Lane North when he dismounted to discipline one of his dogs. Something spooked the horse, he said, and she galloped away. Sally Mae is also a descendant of Spanish horses first brought to Florida in 1521 by Ponce de Leon, said Palm Beach County Judge Nelson Bailey, a local historian and member of the Florida Cracker Horse Association. Bailey said Cracker horses were the first horses to step foot in the United States. He said they are also a domestic endangered species — with roughly 900 registered in North America....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Horse ride a real Kodak moment for new bride I've always had a soft spot in my heart for city girls who marry into an agricultural way of life. They are expected to learn, understand and participate in a culture that is as alien to them as the life of a New York cabbie, a San Francisco homeless person, or Donald Trump's butler is to us! But, to their credit, most of them try. Diana married into Barney's Ohio horse family. On her first visit to the grandparents, they arrived as Grandpa was trying out a new horse - a 3-year-old Palomino colt named Cody. "Would you like to ride him?" offered Grandpa. Diana was dressed for their airline flight scheduled later in the day. "I don't know if I ..." she started to say. "Oh, come on," said Grandpa, "I can tell he likes you." Diana thought to herself, 'Grandpa's 87 years old. They wouldn't let me get on an animal that could hurt me.' She kicked off her high-heeled sandals and put her bare left foot in the stirrup. Barney, her new husband, held Cody by the headstall. Their eyes met....