NEWS ROUNDUP

Ft. Carson expansion: land given to environmental group A Fort Carson proposal to preserve some of the land it might buy in southeast Colorado by giving it to an environmental group is fueling anger and conspiracy theories among ranchers already staunchly opposed to expanding the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Army has proposed a massive expansion of the training site, but some of that acreage near the Purgatoire River may be placed under the protection of an environmental group. Ranchers on the arid prairie the Army is looking to buy say the environmental deal is part of a federal plot to turn the scenic Purgatoire canyon from working ranch to an environmentalist experiment. “It’s our worst fear,” said Steve Wooten, a rancher whose spread includes part of the red rock canyon that dives from short-grass flatland to the narrow river. The preservation plan is intended to compensate for the environmental damage that would come with a large increase in training at the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, 150 miles southeast of Fort Carson, the Army said in its expansion proposal. The Army has asked the Department of Defense to approve the acquisition of up to 418,000 acres to be added to the training site based on a Fort Carson study that says the existing 235,000-acre acre site is too small for future needs. The proposal also includes the establishment of a “conservation area” around the river “to offset the environmental impacts of this project.” The area would be managed by an outside environmental group whose name was redacted from a copy of the proposal obtained by The Gazette under the federal Freedom of Information Act....
Courts Striking Property Rights Initiatives It was only a week or two ago that the machine of libertarian political initiatives was rolling swiftly around the West. We recently wrote about the “Kelo-plus” property rights initiatives funded by a New York real estate developer and longtime Libertarian Party activist, Howard Rich. Rich and his allies have pushed those and also parallel initiatives to limit government spending and institute term limits in states from Oregon to Arizona. But the hired help has fouled up the works. Courts in Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Michigan and Missouri have disqualified part or entire initiatives that otherwise would have gone to voters. The decisions come in reaction to complaints about petition-circulators’ problematic, or illegal, signature-gathering tactics. Some are said to have tricked people who would sign one of Rich’s petition by into signing others (“we need to get multiple copies, ma’am”) or by misrepresenting the initiatives themselves. The Nevada Supreme Court struck the Tax and Spending Control (or, TASC) measure from the November ballot, for example, when activists there filed one version with the state and sent out another for residents’ signatures. And because Rich, his front organizations like Americans for Limited Government and U.S. Term Limits, and fellow libertarian activists, shared not just ideas and money, but also nomadic signature-gatherers, some of the same problems hopped from state to state...
Tough questioning for key witness in Nevada water hearings A key witness endorsed a bid to pump billions of gallons of groundwater from rural Nevada to booming Las Vegas - but agreed under questioning Tuesday that state law bars approval of pumping that would interfere with existing rights. Mike Turnipseed, a former conservation agency chief and state water engineer, also agreed under repeated questioning from a hearing officer that Nevada law doesn't make municipal use the highest and best use of groundwater. Susan Joseph-Taylor, the hearing officer for the state engineer's office, focused on the laws during the second week of hearings on the Southern Nevada Water Authority request to draw more than 90,000 acre-feet of groundwater from Spring Valley, in White Pine County. The Spring Valley plan is a main element of a $2 billion plan to send more than 180,000 acre-feet of water a year from rural valleys to southern Nevada. The SNWA hopes to expand that through reuse and other means to about 300,000 acre-feet a year. That's enough water to supply several hundred thousand households....
Review Underway On Bruneau Snail Status The future of a tiny Idaho snail could resurrect a showdown between environmentalists and ranchers. U.S. Fish and Wildlife managers are now conducting a five year review of the Bruneau Hot Springs Snail, listed as an endangered species in 1998. The snail only lives in Idaho's geothermal spring water and the Bruneau River. Environmentalists are worried that it's de-listing could lead to more challenges for other endangered species. In 1992 cattleman fought the endangered listing, saying it would limit how much water they could pump from an aquifer near the river.
Colorado State professor disputes global warming is human-caused Global warming is happening, but humans are not the cause, one of the nation’s top experts on hurricanes said Monday morning. Gray, who is a professor at Colorado State University, said human-induced global warming is a fear perpetuated by the media and scientists who are trying to get federal grants. “I think we’re coming out of the little ice age, and warming is due to changes to ocean circulation patterns due to salinity variations,” Gray said. “I’m sure that’s it.” Gray’s view has been challenged, however. Roger Pielke Jr., director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, said in an interview later Monday that climate scientists involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that most of the warming is due to human activity. At the breakfast, Gray said Earth was warmer in some medieval periods than it is today. Current weather models are good at predicting weather as far as 10 days in advance, but predicting up to 100 years into the future is “a great act of faith, and I don’t believe any of it,” he said....
Dobson family in Covance battle A member of a prominent Chandler pioneer family has joined the battle between a global biotechnology firm and animal-rights activists, firing the latest shot in the form of a mass mailing sent to registered voters throughout the city. The story of Carol Dobson, 68, is told in the mailing, detailing her battle with breast cancer and her use of tamoxifen, the most commonly prescribed drug to treat breast cancer since its approval in the 1970s by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Covance Inc., which sent the mailing to about 70,000 homes in Chandler, is seeking zoning to build one of its largest facilities near Price and Germann roads. Officials for the company have said that about one-third of the operation would involve animal testing, which has drawn the ire of groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Dobson, whose cancer is in remission six years after her diagnosis, says in the mailing that "without the life-saving treatments Covance is developing, a miracle like mine may never have happened."....
Column: Drought relief likely to be hot issue in October Farm-state senators struck out in their first attempt to pass a new emergency assistance bill when Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., attempted to attach it to a port security bill. But, even if Republicans continue to bottle up the legislation, they are likely to hear plenty about it when they return to the campaign trail for the Nov. 7 elections. Nelson’s amendment failed to get a vote on Sept. 14 after Republicans said it wasn’t germane to the port security bill. Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Nelson and Conrad Burns, R-Mont., say they will keep trying to find a way to pass the measure before Congress recesses on Sept. 28. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi gave Republicans a taste of what might be in store for them when she issued called on Republican leaders to pass comprehensive agriculture disaster relief before Sept. 28. “Disaster assistance to compensate farmers and ranchers for the weather-related losses they sustain will strengthen the agriculture economy and our nation’s economy,” she said. “This isn’t a partisan issue, but we need Republicans to join with us to provide our farmers and ranchers with the help they so desperately need.”....
Immigration and Education Key Indicators of West’s Ag Economy It’s clear from the headlines that the West’s agriculture economy is being eaten away by development. What’s not so clear is what is happening with what’s left of that economy, and how the change is affecting the Old West. One of the biggest factors affecting today’s agricultural economy, besides finding land that isn’t being used to cultivate condos and office space, is finding people to do the work. In recent years, immigrants, both legal and illegal, have handled much of the region’s agricultural work. But with the U.S. Congress mired in stalled reform bills and states passing their own measure that differ from one to another, that labor pool isn’t as reliable as it once was. In Idaho, reports the Associated Press, potato farmers are stuck with plenty of spuds but no help to pick them. Immigrants are scared away at the border by talks of more troops and bigger fences. Meanwhile, when and if immigrants do make it into the United States, the rules to live are confusing and varying, depending on which state you end up in. Idaho farmers, the story says, are clamoring for some real reform that includes a guest-worker program, which would be beneficial to the farmers and the Mexicans. They say Idaho lawmakers in Congress aren’t delivering. Next door in Montana, reports the Montana Standard, a U.S. Department of Labor program is performing just the service the Idaho potato farmers seem to need. Montana farmers can apply to the federal program to find Mexican workers, who can legally come north and work for several months....
Sheep dog championships Sept 28 to Oct 1 Some of the best working sheep dogs in North America will be competing in Klamath Falls between Sept. 26th and October 1 for the title of National Sheep Dog Champion of North America of 2006. The sport is now finding its place in the United States, as more and more ranchers learn the value of a good dog in managing their livestock. Every year the United States Border Collie Handlers Association and The American Border Collie Association sponsor the National Sheepdog Finals. The annual event showcases the top 150 dogs in North America who have to qualified for the right to compete in the Championship Trial. Each dog will arrive in Klamath Falls as a champion from their own across the United States and Canada. A preliminary round of the open finals starts at noon on Sept. 26....
Real-life and commercial shepherd Choperena dies Dionisio Choperena, who rose from lowly shepherd to fame when he was cast in AT&T television commercials making cell phone calls among his remote flock, has died. He was 51. Choperena died Sept. 12 at his Petaluma home. Sonoma County officials didn't immediately release the cause of death. "He was such a strong person," Kathy, his second wife, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Up until the day he passed away, he was working and making plans with me. He even had a glass of port that day with his lunch." Choperena was cast in 2000 when an agent arrived in rural Marin County looking for a "rancher type" who looked comfortable with a flock of sheep and found Choperena drinking beer at a tavern. The ads featured Choperena using an AT&T cell phone to summon a New York taxi cab and others to his field or depicted him followed by a herd of sheep as he called family or traded stocks on the phone. He was so natural in the role that the camera crew called him "one-take Dio," his wife said. Choperena was born in 1954 and grew up poor in the Basque region of Spain. He left school at 13 to tend sheep for his father. At 17, he immigrated to the United States to work at a Wyoming sheep ranch....