NEWS ROUNDUP


Appeals court rejects Bush administration forest rules A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned 2003 Bush administration forest rules while upholding a lower court decision giving the public greater say in national forest management. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the U.S. Forest Service must take public comments and consider appeals on projects such as prescribed burns and timber sales on public lands. Thursday's decision stemmed from a 2003 lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the harvest of burned trees in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California - a plan approved without public comment or appeals. The administration argued it was necessary to curtail public comments when it came to thinning burned forests or controlling infestations because the quicker the work could be done, the better off the environment would be. The San Francisco-based appeals court said the administration's position was "contrary to Congressional intent."....go here(pdf) to read the decision.
Judge blocks state from killing problem wolves A federal judge on Thursday stopped authorities in Wisconsin from killing problem wolves after animal welfare advocates said the practice violated the Endangered Species Act. The decision could spur the illegal shooting of wolves, a spokesman for cattle ranchers in Wisconsin said. Meanwhile, authorities said they will stop killing wolves starting today on three farms in Burnett and Bayfield counties that are believed to be threatening livestock. So far this year, federal authorities have killed 18 gray wolves in Wisconsin under a special permit system approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency had allowed authorities to kill up to 43 wolves. But Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rights groups by ruling that authorities could not kill wolves because of federal protections. "Simply put," she wrote in her decision, "the recovery of the gray wolf is not supported by killing 43 gray wolves."....
Editorial - A sound plan for state roadless areas Last week, the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force took a major step in the process of determining the future of 4.1 million acres of Colorado roadless areas. It was public policy the way it should be done: a balanced group of experts, representing a wide variety of interests, reached compromise conclusions designed to serve the public interest. The task force settled on recommendations that would uphold the overwhelming public opposition to building new roads in undeveloped areas while adhering to the reasonable needs demonstrated by forest managers and industry. After the Bush administration overturned President Clinton's poorly regarded roadless policy in 2001, the government asked individual states to recommend how Washington should handle the areas within their borders. In May 2005, the U.S. Forest Service gave governors 18 months to provide plans for roadless protection in their states. Five states - California, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have already responded....
Roadless areas leased over protests The 14 parcels of roadless Forest Service land leased for energy development Thursday went for premium prices compared with bids on unprotected areas. The top bid on a roadless area was $300 per acre for 1,117 acres in Mesa County near Grand Junction, said Vaughn Whatley of the Bureau of Land Management. The average price on the 118 parcels offered, totaling 139,555 acres, was $32.97 per acre, but the bid on many parcels was $2 an acre - the lowest allowed - Whatley said. The identities of the oil and gas companies that purchased the leases weren't available, officials said. The 14 roadless parcels, about 14,400 acres and 11 percent of the land drawing bids, were promised roadless protections by the Bush administration in 2005. In all, 158 parcels of Forest Service, BLM and private land were offered for sale, 127 had protests filed and only 118 drew bids. While most of the protests were filed by Colorado conservation groups, the Gunnison County commissioners protested six leases on roadless areas in their county....
Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock: A Documentary that Shows What Goes into the Creation of the Weeklong Event Burning Man is a phenomenon that is held in the deserts of Black Rock, Nevada, 100 miles north of Reno. In 1990, 80 people were in attendance; last year’s attendance rose to 36,500. It is a gathering of artists and like-minded individuals who come to express themselves and their creativity at a weeklong Brigadoon that vanishes back into the desert without a trace to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management will allow them to return. The event culminates in the burning of a wooden sculpture of a man that has ranged in height from 40 to 80 feet over the years. The filmmakers were granted access to many of those involved with the creation of the event as it led up to the 2003 Burning Man. They reveal the enormous effort that goes into creating this temporary artistic community. Some participating artists, such as David Best who creates very large pieces, also added their voices because many start planning their projects the day Burning Man ends and work on it up to the event....
River's wonder has the ability to lift spirits A sign along Arizona 95 alerts motorists that beneath the bridge they're crossing flows the Bill Williams River, but even then most people probably miss it. The river's mouth lies hidden in broad cattail marsh on the eastern shore of Lake Havasu, and the highway twists past a ridge after just a teasing glimpse upstream. Its headwaters gather in similar obscurity above Alamo Lake, nearly three hours west of Phoenix in a maze of desert arroyos and bluffs that only hint at the nearness of water. For nearly 40 miles, the river winds through the tight canyons of the Buckskin Mountains, passing sheer walls that afford no passage to the channel, dipping below ground at times as desert rivers do. This protective landscape and the isolation it affords are why the Bill Williams lives while other Arizona rivers edge toward extinction. Aside from a few ranchers over the years, no one has plundered this river for its water. Only a few scattered wells punch into the aquifers on either side of it. The greatest threat, a plan by Scottsdale to export water from a ranch that sits astride the river, dissolved this summer when the city sold the property to mining giant Phelps-Dodge for care as a wildlife preserve....
Judge orders Interior to take bald eagle off endangered list A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Department of Interior to remove the bald eagle from the list of endangered species by Feb. 16 unless persuasive evidence is presented of the need for limited delay. Judge John R. Tunheim's order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property in Morrison County where there is an active bald eagle nest. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a letter recommending no development within 330 feet of the nest to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Eagle Protection Act, according to the court filing. Landowner Edmund Contoski, whose property abuts Sullivan Lake in central Minnesota, filed the lawsuit Oct. 31, 2005....Go here(pdf) to read the ruling.
Property Owner Sues to Strike Down Open Beaches Plan As Unconstitutional On July 26 Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit in federal court against government officials charged with enforcing the Texas Open Beaches Act, claiming that they are unconstitutionally depriving beachfront property owners of their private property rights. PLF is representing a homeowner forced to suffer a public invasion of private property and potential destruction of her homes under the Open Beaches Act simply because government officials have determined that the vegetation line has moved to the landward side of the homes. PLF’s suit demands that government officials cease applying the Act to strip property owners of their homes and land without just compensation. “For too long, state and local government officials have used the Open Beaches Act as an excuse to take valuable beachfront property without constitutional due process or just compensation,” said J. David Breemer, a lawyer with Pacific Legal Foundation. “This suit aims to strike down GLO Commissioner Patterson’s policy of applying the Act to impose the public beach on private property based on the movement of vegetation, in violation of the United States Constitution.”....Go here to view the lawsuit.
Column - A Cartel Worse Than OPEC Today the United States faces a cartel far more destructive of America's energy independence than OPEC's nine nations. This new cartel is composed of an assortment of envirocrat groups posing as environmentalists, endangered species advocates, animal rights promoters, property rights destroyers and assorted ice-age fanciers turned global warmers. Leaders among these envirocrats are Greenpeace, the Green Party, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Earth First, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Wilderness Society and Defenders of Wildlife, to name a few. Individuals such as former Presidential candidates Ralph Nader and former Vice President Albert A. Gore, Jr. are prominent spokesmen for the envirocrat causes. What has become the obvious intent of this cartel is the destruction of America's access to its own resources. Examples are: "protection" of a spotted owl despite near destruction of the timber industry in Oregon and Washington; desperately needed petroleum reserves set aside in Alaska to protect the sex habits of the caribou; the set-aside of vitally needed sulfur-free coal reserves in Utah; and denial of offshore drilling for a number of reasons, including the spoiling of the view of a few people by rigs 15 miles away. This list could continue for a full column. This cartel of envirocrat groups is permitted by both political parties in Congress to disrupt America's access to its own natural resources. Kneeling at the feet of the envirocrat intimidators, Congress accepts the barrage of false and phony claims that, if examined closely, would reveal the fraud....
Protecting the tortoises Already listed as a threatened species, the desert tortoise is facing even more obstacles in recent years. Lori Rose, a county biologist for the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, said the biggest challenge to protecting the tortoises once was just keeping them within the low fences surrounding the reserve. But recent droughts and wildfires have caused even more havoc for the tortoises. "We've found that fences don't work with fire and drought," she said. "You put those things together and we took two big hits back to back." In 2003 biologists recorded a 25 percent population decline because of the drought. They also estimate there was a 37 percent mortality rate among tortoises in areas of the 60,000-acre reserve that burned during 2005 wildfires. The wildfires burned 15,000 acres, including more than a quarter of the critical area that is prime habitat for the tortoises. Rose said more fires are likely because of the highly flammable, invasive cheat grass. Rose said Washington County had one of the healthiest and densest populations of desert tortoises in the Mojave range for a long time. Before the fires, biologists estimated the reserve's tortoise population to be 2,406....
Meeting on Bush enviro proposal draws disparate views Well, it was billed as a "listening session." More than 180 people signed up to speak at the first public hearing on the Bush administration's "cooperative conservation" plan, which is seeking ideas on how groups with radically different goals can work together to protect the environment. "I don't believe Washington, D.C., has all the answers. Neither does the president," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in opening the first of at least 24 planned public meetings. The Bush administration, which held a conference on the topic last year, defines cooperative conservation as the efforts of landowners, communities, conservation groups, industry and government to work together to preserve the environment. Many speakers applauded the concept, and some pointed to examples where groups had already cooperated to protect the environment, but many others were skeptical. Washington state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said it was paramount that private property rights be protected from bureaucrats and special interests. "Only the private property owner has anything tangible on the table," Kretz said....
Chief of Army Corps of Engineers Is Quitting The head of the Army Corps of Engineers will resign, the Army announced last night. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, the chief of engineers and commander of the corps since July 1, 2004, asked Francis J. Harvey, the secretary of the Army, that he be allowed to resign “based on family and personal reasons, which the secretary of the Army honors and supports,” according to the Army announcement. The chief of engineers runs a huge array of engineering and construction projects around the world, including work in the Iraq war and responding to natural disasters, including the recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as on flood control and environmental projects. The corps has come under fire for the progress of Iraq reconstruction and for the failures of the New Orleans levee system. In June, the corps report on the disaster called the levee system “a system in name only,” and Gen. Strock admitted that the corps had missed a flaw in the design that led to some of the most destructive breaches....
Cities, States Aren't Waiting For U.S. Action on Climate With Washington lawmakers deadlocked on how best to curb global warming, state and local officials across the country are adopting ambitious policies and forming international alliances aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. The initiatives, which include demands that utilities generate some of their energy using renewable sources and mandates for a reduction in emissions from motor vehicles, have emboldened clean-air advocates who hope they will form the basis for broader national action. But in the meantime, some businesses say the local and state actions are creating a patchwork of regulations that they must contend with. This flurry of action is part of a growing movement among state and local leaders who have given up hope that Congress and the administration will tackle major issues, and are launching their own initiatives on immigration, stem cell research and energy policy. Last week alone, former president Bill Clinton launched an effort with 22 of the world's largest cities to cut their emissions, while California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they will explore trading carbon dioxide pollution credits across the Atlantic. Recently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have set standards demanding that utilities generate a specific amount of energy -- in some cases, as high as 33 percent -- from renewable sources by 2020. And 11 states have set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050....
Niman Ranch Will Benefit From Significant New Resources Niman Ranch, Inc. has received a substantial capital investment and has hired a new CEO and three key executives with combined experience of more than 100 years in the natural meat industry. Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, continues in his role as Chairman. The new resources will allow Niman Ranch to focus on its core business and -- expand the supply of natural and organic beef, pork and lamb; -- further enhance product quality; and -- upgrade operations to improve customer service. Established in 1972, Niman Ranch and its network of more than 500 family farmers and ranchers raise livestock traditionally, humanely, and sustainably. Its meat routinely wins taste tests and is featured on the menus of the nation's most discerning chefs. Niman Ranch's independent family farmers practice the highest standards of traditional animal husbandry and environmental stewardship....
Horse Slaughter Ban Would Be A Blow To Production Agriculture I recently had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify on behalf of NCBA’s cattle producer-members on H.R. 503, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It is well-known that I am a great lover of horses. As I shared with the House Agriculture Committee, I regard horses not only as exceptional tools of the ranching trade and wonderful companions, but also as one of God’s great masterpieces. So it does not surprise me that some folks are repulsed by the idea of processing horses for food. My goal is not to persuade anyone that horse processing is desirable, but it certainly should not be outlawed as an option for managing horses. That’s precisely the goal of H.R. 503, and it is a serious threat to animal agriculture as we know it. When legislators are asked to ban horse processing based simply on the negative emotions it evokes in some people, we have started down a very slippery slope. I have all the confidence in the world that cattle are harvested in a humane, sanitary and defensible manner, because I’ve seen it personally. Horse processing faces all of the same scrutiny and inspections that other livestock slaughter plants do. The process is regulated by USDA under the Humane Slaughter Act. I believe eliminating the processing of horses as a management option actually poses a risk to horse welfare. At the hearing, the Ag Committee heard witnesses – including horse welfare and veterinary experts – discuss the options for handling as many as 90,000 unwanted or abandoned horses that will have to be cared for. They discussed the costs related to this care, the unintended mistreatment of these animals in non-regulated rescue facilities, and the environmental concerns of disposing of horse carcasses. The committee feels, and cattlemen agree, that HR 503 fails to address any of these issues....
Emergency hay delivery approved by Perry Gov. Rick Perry directed the Texas Department of Transportation to waive certain trucking restrictions. This action is to allow the emergency delivery of hay to help Texas farmers and ranchers recover from the drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated a 77 percent loss in hay production in Texas. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs and the Texas Farm Bureau requested that hay delivery be expedited. "Hay importation from neighboring states less affected by drought will help Texas producers survive the final hot months of the year," Perry wrote. In the same letter, he directed the Texas Department of Transportation to forgive normal transportation requirements, such as height restrictions for the round hay bales and permit fees. Normal requirements and restrictions will resume on Oct. 31....
Ranchers seeing life's work dry up Mondays are now the saddest day in Wise County. That's when ranchers who can no longer maintain their cattle in a prolonged drought deliver yet more animals to the weekly auction. Painfully, they are selling more of their core breeding animals -- the fruit of hands-on genetics, representing decades of work. Although the bred cows represent a bigger investment, calves are fetching better prices, said Hugh Pegues, a rancher forced to cull a number of both. "I've sold at least half of mine," said Pegues, 85, who has spent three decades improving his herd of Herefords since retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration. He's now down to about 70 head. "I'm trying to keep the seed stock so I can stay in business, if it ever rains again." Some producers are folding their cards and giving up. "We had a grown man crying because he had to sell his whole herd," said Kimberly Shaw, the Decatur Livestock Market's office manager. "He had no grass or water."....