NEWS ROUNDUP
Interior pick calls land sale bad idea President Bush's plan to sell off tens of thousands of acres of federal lands in the West is in deep trouble, even drawing opposition from his choice to head the Interior Department. Interior Secretary nominee Dirk Kempthorne, governor of Idaho, came out against an administration plan to sell Bureau of Land Management land to help balance the budget during his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. The administration planned to sell $1 billion in Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land, but a House budget committee rejected the idea Thursday. Opposition from Kempthorne is yet another blow to a plan that has drawn bipartisan fire and has opponents declaring it dead on arrival....
Interior Nominee Faces a Handful of Holdouts Interior Secretary nominee Dirk Kempthorne appeared headed for a smooth confirmation process Thursday except for a single potential stumbling block: energy. Energy questions dominated a Senate hearing on the Idaho governor's appointment, and at least two senators have threatened to delay his confirmation pending resolution of gas and oil drilling issues in the Gulf of Mexico. Before then, however, Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) have threatened to delay Kempthorne's nomination over different — though related — concerns over gas and oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Nelson is concerned over a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the Energy Committee, to open for drilling 4 million acres of ocean floor off Florida's coast known as Lease Sale 181. Nelson and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) want to shrink the size of the drilling area. Landrieu is seeking to have more revenue from offshore oil drilling — including any new projects in Lease Sale 181 — returned to states rather than the federal government....
A cat attack? Ashton rancher Richard Ritz said he discovered the wounds on his white quarter horse early Monday morning. She came gingerly to the oat bucket to feed when he noticed the puncture under her right front leg. He thought perhaps she had caught herself somewhere in the corral, but hers is an all steel corral. There are no wires on which to catch herself. Then Ritz saw the other wounds. Punctures on her hind quarters, shoulder and back. Mauling on her neck and mane all matted with blood and mud. Wounds bigger than a dinner plate on Molly's side. "Something had to be big enough to get up high on her," Ritz said patting the eight-year-old mare's puncture-laden neck. Ritz said he thinks that something was a mountain lion. "It's possible," said St. Paul veterinarian Dan Nielsen, who has been treating Molly. "The wounds are on the sides and neck and show up everywhere. I've never seen anything like it."....
EPA to citizens: Frack you Susan Haire, a former elementary teacher who ranches on a small scale, has lived atop one of the surrounding mesas for nearly a decade. But she says the landscape has been turned against her. When she drives down this stretch of highway, her nose bleeds, her eyes burn, and her head pounds. She's taken to wearing a respirator, even in the car. Haire's doctor blames her health problems on the scenery's relatively recent addition: 600 natural gas wells, drilled by oil companies over the past two years. Every few feet, 150-foot-tall drill rigs, graced with American flags, rise upward into the sky. Compressor stations, banks of rectangular huts with five-foot-diameter fans, sit back from the road and pump the gas into underground pipelines. Scientists and environmentalists say the health hazards of the natural gas wells stem not only from air pollution but "fracking fluid," a mixture of carcinogenic chemicals, used in many of them. Laura Amos, 43, an outfitter who lives 20 miles from Haire, recently developed a tumor in her adrenal gland, which she blames on her exposure to the chemicals. Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a half century-old process in which a gas company injects water, sand and the chemicals into the wells. Developed by Halliburton, the corporation formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, fracking loosens the rock and maximizes the flow of gas to the surface. At least 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lie in the tight sand and coal bed formations below Garfield County, according to gas companies and industry geologists. Over the next eight years, energy companies expect to build more than 10,000 additional wells in the county. The most serious problems may stem from fracking. The chemicals pumped into the wells to aid the flow of gas to the surface include known carcinogens such as benzene, naphthalene, arsenic and lead. Several chemicals that may be injected can be lethal at levels as low as 0.1 part per million, according to the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. Up to 40 percent of the fracturing fluids remain in the formation, according to studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the oil and gas industry; that means that fluids such as diesel and benzene may seep into the surrounding soil, groundwater, and water wells. The wastewater that the industry recaptures after the well hole is drilled often sits in open evaporation pits for upward of a year. Because so many of the chemicals used in the fluid are proprietary, the industry isn't required to disclose their contents or ratios of concentration....
Churches pushing for wilderness In December, the National Council of Churches announced its platform for the year by saying, "Wilderness is one of earth's most precious and most threatened assets, and the call to preserve it will be among the National Council of Churches USA Eco-Justice Program's top issues for 2006." The NCC Public Lands Stewardship Initiative announced it plans to focus on "Wilderness and Wild Landscapes" for its second year and conduct activities focused on the importance of wilderness in Christianity and other faith traditions. "Wilderness was central to the spiritual journeys of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad and in the creation stories of many cultures," said .the Rev. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary. "Today public lands are important to many of us as a venue for peaceful reflection and reconnecting with the Creator." "Wild lands are also the connective tissue that holds together the glorious web of life by providing space for wildlife and undisturbed natural cycles," said Christine Hoekenga, NCC Lands Specialist. "But God's gift of wilderness is increasingly threatened by our swelling cities, growing highways, and increasing demand for resources like oil, gas, timber, and minerals. In light of this, we are called to remember and celebrate our Biblical heritage and examine our modern relationships to wilderness."....
Lawyer: Agents tricked firefighter Lawyers for the former commander of an elite wildfire team are asking a judge to suppress two signed statements the firefighter gave to federal investigators last year, one admitting he started two 2004 forest fires. Van Bateman once headed one of the nation's top wildfire teams, helping suppress the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, Arizona's largest wildfire ever. After the 9/11 attacks, he and his incident management team also assisted in recovery operations at the World Trade Center. But now he's trying to prove his innocence of charges that he set two fires in the Coconino National Forest in 2004. A federal grand jury indicted him last November on two counts of setting timber on fire, punishable by up to five years in prison, and two counts of arson on public lands, which could draw a sentence of up to 20 years. In their motion to suppress, Bateman's lawyers argue that Bateman was not told that he could leave an interview with two special agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's office of inspector general or that he could have a lawyer present. They said Bateman's statements were involuntary and that he was not warned of his Miranda rights. For both reasons, they contend, the statements are inadmissible....
Arivaca blaze started as immigrants' signal fire A wildland fire burning some 200 acres near Arivaca was started by two illegal immigrants, federal authorities said this morning.
The men started two fires, one a warming fire and the other a signal fire to seek help because one of the men was injured, authorities said. The two were taken into custody, questioned, and voluntarily returned to Mexico, federal officials said. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the men, officials said. The men were returned to Mexico Wednesday night, Border Patrol Agent Sean King said. A Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge employee on his way to work about 7 a.m. Wednesday spotted and reported the fire and Border Patrol agents arriving first at the fire found the two immigrants, one with a sprained ankle, said Dean McAllister, the Coronado's fire management officer.
Project to poison fish in lakes goes forward Plans to poison thousands of fish in 21 Montana lakes and then stock them with westslope cutthroat trout have final approval, and the work, still disputed by some state commissioners, is tentatively scheduled to start this fall. The project is meant to remove hybrid trout from the western Montana lakes, nearly half of them in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Genetically pure westslope cutthroat, the state fish, have been reduced to about 9 percent of their historic range and are threatened by hybrids, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said. Westslope cutthroat are classified as a "species of special concern" in Montana, and state officials say they want to prevent the fish from requiring protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Jim Satterfield Jr., regional administrator for Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Kalispell, announced Thursday that he has signed the agency's decision supporting the 10-year project in the South Fork Flathead River area....
Ethics group that targeted DeLay now seeks Pombo The same Washington-based interest group that convinced a Texas congressman to file an ethics complaint against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is hoping for similar help with a complaint against Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group allied with national Democrats, released a statement Thursday calling for a lawmaker to file its complaint with the House Ethics Committee. Outsiders are not allowed to file complaints with the committee; only members can do so. Pombo brushed off the complaint, calling it election-season partisan politics....
The Border's Pending Fight A showdown looms here, along this innocuous-looking stretch of chaparral near Campo in eastern San Diego County. On this untamed land, where mountain lions still roam, a potentially litigious fight is brewing over a plan to replace the rusty border fence with an impermeable barrier a football field wide. Congress is considering immigration reform legislation that could replace the lone barrier here with two 15-foot tall fences separated by a gravel road for Border Patrol vehicles. And thanks to a law enacted last year, the federal government can build the new barrier wherever it wants without considering its environmental impacts. Near Campo, the barrier could sever migratory routes as old as the land itself. Some are looking to the sage-smelling scrubland as the next battle in the debate between environmentalists and fence proponents....
Team to develop spotted owl recovery plan The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has formed a 12-member team to develop a recovery plan for the threatened northern spotted owl, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Members represent state and federal agencies and stakeholder groups and people with knowledge of forest management and northern spotted owl biology. A final plan is to be made public by November 2007 after a peer review. Dave Wesley, the service's Pacific Regions Deputy Director, will lead the team, which is to begin meeting this month. The owl was listed as threatened in 1990 and its critical habitat was designated in 1992, closing off vast tracts of federal forests to logging and plunging some timber-dependent regions into an economic slump. The designation led to an 80 percent cutback on logging in national forests and restrictions on private timberlands....
Oil drilling near Capitol Reef draws protest The National Park Service filed objections to federal plans for oil and gas drilling alongside Capitol Reef National Park, saying the rigs would spoil landscape views and bring machinery noise, dust and lights to a backcountry prized for its solitude. Albert J. Hendricks, Capitol Reef's superintendent, said the proposed drilling parcels - a cluster of 18, with some touching the park's northern boundary - also would fall within view of a remote corner of the park awaiting wilderness designation. Hendricks filed a three-page memo with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, recommending no rigs be allowed on three drilling parcels that touch the park's boundary. He took no position on the 15 other, adjoining parcels, except to express misgivings and point out the region's dirt roads can't support heavy trucks. His objections surfaced as other groups filed challenges to some of the 440,000 acres the BLM plans to put up for lease Tuesday in the largest government auction ever held in Utah for oil and gas drilling....
Eco-kids take on corporate scum to save the owls Pancakes or owls? For three middle-schoolers in the fictional Florida town of Coconut Cove, nature always trumps tummy. They give a hoot, which is why these teenage eco-warriors fight the developers clearing an owl habitat to build yet another Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House. In this installment of Smart Kids, Foolish Franchisers, the fight isn't fair, but it sure is funny. Based on the charming young-adult novel by Florida bard Carl Hiaasen, Hoot is a pleasant diversion on the order of a gloriously photographed after-school special. It boasts original songs from Sunshine State troubadour Jimmy Buffett, who also produced the film and has a small role as a laid-back marine-biology teacher....
$4 billion for farmers and ranchers passes Senate Legislation that would provide $4 billion in emergency disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers passed the Senate on Thursday, but the bill faces opposition, including a veto threat from President Bush. The money was added to a massive spending bill designed to pay for the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina. The Bush administration said last week that many crops had record or near-record production last year, and that the proposed level of assistance is "excessive." The bill would pay farmers and ranchers around the country for recent losses due to drought, flooding, disease and other disasters. It also would give many farmers an increase on their current federal subsidy check because of higher energy expenses. National Farmers Union President Tom Buis said the money is badly needed in farm country....
Argentina's Exporters Worried About Beef Stuck At Ports Argentine exporters are growing increasingly worried about the fate of at least 7,000 metric tons of beef exports that are being held by customs officials at local ports, said Pablo Kiryluk, a spokesman for the Argentine Beef Consortium, which represents Argentina's leading beef exporters. "There are about 350 containers beef that are stuck in Buenos Aires and Santa Fe, waiting to be shipped to Europe," he said. "Each container has 20-22 tons of beef but they can't be shipped because (Argentine) President (Nestor) Kirchner has made a decision to prevent them from being exported." The containers, which have been stuck for almost three weeks, hold about $55 million of processed, frozen and fresh beef, Kiryluk said. "There is no law that is stopping the meat from being shipped," he said. "It's not even legal to hold the beef, so this is quite problematic. The consequences are terrible for the beef industry."....
A bullet in the back Some people insist the western isn't dead. It's true one seems to come out every couple of years, but they tend to be anything but classic westerns: mad, special-effects sprees such as Wild Wild West, or stories of gay love, or displays of actorly narcissism. And, with the exception of Brokeback Mountain, they are usually unsuccessful. I recently came across a couple of photographs that made me think about this genre, which has, to all intents and purposes, died, and about what killed it. One of the photos was taken on the set of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, in Mexico, in 1972. It shows several of the cast and crew, including James Coburn and Harry Dean Stanton, carrying the director, Sam Peckinpah, on a hospital stretcher. One crew member is walking beside the prostrate Peckinpah, holding up a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. A drip feed runs from the bottle to Peckinpah's mouth....
Friday, May 05, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Column: Kemp"thorne" in Our Side As a Senator from 1992 until 1998, Kempthorne's score in the League of Conservation Voters' rating initially soared to 6 percent in 1993 before sinking back to a solid 0 every year from 1994 on. His abysmal average rating of 1.0 percent over that six-year period covers about 70 votes on a whole range of key votes affecting energy, biodiversity, public health, funding for environmental protection, private property rights, nuclear waste and public lands management from logging to mining to sell-offs. It may help in understanding that record to know that Rep. Richard Pombo earned a 6percent rating in 2005. Among Kempthorne's other accomplishments as a senator was the introduction of legislation supported by the American Forest and Paper Association, American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association and others, that would have weakened the Endangered Species Act. As a two-term governor of Idaho, Kempthorne joined forces with Boise Cascade in litigation to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from finishing the rulemaking process that culminated in the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protecting more than 58 million acres of undeveloped forests, which he also sued to overturn as governor. Kempthorne is quoted as calling the rule a "federal edict," apparently forgetting that national forests belong to all Americans rather than just Idaho residents. Kempthorne has remained an opponent of species protection, moving immediately to allow the killing of wolves after taking over management of the threatened species from the federal government in January....
Kempthorne backed sale of federal lands as U.S. senator In the six weeks since he was nominated as U.S. secretary of interior, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has sidestepped questions about whether he backs President Bush’s proposal to sell off public lands to reduce the deficit and help rural schools. But he’ll have to break his silence Thursday. Several members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee opposed to the land sales are expected to grill Kempthorne during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. Kempthorne is expected to support Bush’s plan to sell 125,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property and 300,000 acres of national forest land to the highest bidder to raise money for the U.S. Treasury. Although as governor he has pushed for greater state control over federal lands, he endorsed similar federal land-sale proposals while serving as a U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, Kempthorne sponsored an amendment to the Senate version of the fiscal 1999 budget resolution that allowed proceeds from the sale of public lands to be used to compensate private landowners for taking steps to conserve endangered species. Kempthorne’s amendment reversed an earlier amendment by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, that expressed the Senate’s objection to selling off public lands to finance the federal landowner compensation program. “This is not a question of whether we should sell excess BLM lands; it is taking place,’’ Kempthorne said on the Senate floor April 2, 1998. “It is a question of where the revenues should be utilized.’’....
State may acquire Chirikof Island, cattle A land trade between the State of Alaska and the federal government which politicians say would “preserve” the cattle of Chirikof Island could be complicated because Gov. Frank Murkowski has attached it to another land swap that would require an act of Congress. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton dated March 13, Murkowski attached a potential Chirikof deal to another goal some Alaskans have long coveted, a road from King Cove to Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. That road would go through designated wilderness within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and require permission from Congress. Administration officials said a deal that gives the state Chirikof Island, which the federal government is ready to give up, could make a road through Izembek more palatable in Congress. “The reason (Chirikof is) in there is just to sweeten the pot,” Ed Fogels, an Alaska Department of Natural Resources spokesman said. State officials want to trade two townships northeast of the town of Cold Bay — a tract of about 41,000 acres — in exchange for the roughly 206 acres of right-of-way needed to build a road between the two remote towns. The state land could then become a part of the Izembek refuge....
Column: Regulating Every Drop of Water Doesn’t Make Sense American farmers and ranchers have a good track record of taking care of the land and water through conservation, including wetlands protection and restoration. That’s why Farm Bureau is closely watching and awaiting a decision currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that could alter the Clean Water Act as we know it. At issue are two consolidated cases, Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. United States. The combined case, on which a decision is expected in early July, looks at whether wetlands should be subject to Clean Water Act protection based on remote or non-existent connections to navigable waters. In the Carabell situation, a lower court ruled that a wetland separated by a man-made berm from a ditch that connects through tributaries to navigable waters qualifies for Clean Water Act protection, even though there’s no hydrological connection between the two. Farm Bureau strongly believes that man-made drainage ditches, fields and pastures that have been used by farmers and ranchers for years should not be federally regulated in the same way as rivers, streams, swamps and bogs. Regulating a field with a few low spots is not logical....
Firefighter indicted for arson A 33-year-old Kennard firefighter is charged with setting 23 fires in the Davy Crockett National Forest over the past year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. A federal grand jury seated in Beaumont has indicted Ryan James Eff on a charge of arson, according to Matthew D. Orwig, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. "While forest service firefighters put their lives at risk and worked tirelessly to extinguish the fires, they realized a number of them were a result of criminal activity by one of their own," Orwig said in a press release issued late Wednesday. Eff worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, assigned to perform firefighter duties in the Davy Crockett National Forest, according to the indictment. He is charged with intentionally setting fires in or near the national forest from about May 2005 to April 2006. "During each of these fires, USFS personnel responded and worked to suppress and extinguish the fires using aircraft and heavy equipment in extremely dangerous conditions," the U.S. Attorney's press release stated....
Environmental groups merge The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network, two of the groups critical of federal forest management in the Northern Rockies, have merged. Operating jointly as the new WildWest Institute with some 800 members will improve the groups' effectiveness, Executive Director Matthew Koehler said Wednesday from the organization's Missoula office. Koehler is one of two staff members and said a third will be on board within a few weeks. A news release said WildWest will be a "leading public lands watchdog in the Northern Rockies," monitoring nearly 20 national forests. Areas of concern for the group include removal of trees, watershed quality and the future of roadless lands. The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network last week asked a federal judge to stop the U.S. Forest Service from beginning a forest-thinning project in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. A lawsuit filed by those groups and Friends of the Bitterroot charges the project on almost 5,000 acres jeopardizes the environment and amounts to industrial logging, rather than being the "healthy forest" plan advanced by the Forest Service....
Colorado forester tapped for Washington post Jim Bedwell, supervisor on Colorado's Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, has been selected to serve as national director of recreation and heritage resources in Washington. "Jim has outstanding leadership skills from his many challenging and diverse assignments throughout the outfit, including being the lead forest supervisor for Colorado state officials on issues of statewide importance," U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said. "His exceptional skills in working collaboratively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders will serve him well in this new assignment." In his new role, Bedwell will lead the recreational programs on the national forests and grasslands, from primitive backcountry to highly developed activities like alpine skiing....
Congress Sneaks Through Recreation Access Tax Although widely and wildly opposed by hundreds of recreation groups and the legislatures in several western states, Congress has just slipped through the Recreation Access Tax (RAT) in the dark of night. This means more access fees for hiking, skiing or mountain biking on federal land, driving on Forest Service roads, and even parking at public trailheads. Right now, such fees, called RATs by opponents, are uncommon in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but that’s about to change. RATs are already common in Colorado and Pacific Coast states. In April, the RAT was tacked on—or “earmarked”—as a rider on a monstrous ($388 billion) omnibus spending bill and passed without public hearings or even the knowledge of most representatives and senators who voted for it. It extends and widens a temporary RAT passed in 1996. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) voted for the bill without knowing the RAT was piggybacked onto it. Baucus "is absolutely furious that this provision was stuffed in the spending bill in the dark of night," aide Barrett Kaiser told Scott McMillion at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Kaiser also said Baucus plans to “readdress” the issue as soon as possible. The measure is supposed to raise about $200 million in new revenue for recreation projects on public lands....
Wolves to be removed from lands The Hon-Dah pack of Mexican wolves is to be removed permanently from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The removal is the result of the pack being directly involved in five confirmed cattle depredations and one confirmed cattle injury on Tribal lands since June 7, 2005. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the Hon-Dah Pack permanent removal order on April 19, at the request of the tribal council. Tribal Wildlife Services, assisted by the Interagency Field Team and USDA Wildlife Services, began trapping operations immediately. Trapping is the method of first choice for removal. If trapping fails, then lethal methods will be employed. The service has an agreement with the White Mountain Apache Tribe that allows for removal (including lethal take when circumstances dictate) of livestock depredating wolves on Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The Hon-Dah pack was transferred to a release pen on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation on June 23, 2003. The pack's territory is exclusively within the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. On April 20, a pack member was successfully live captured and removed to the Ladder Ranch captive breeding facility in southwestern New Mexico. Trapping efforts continue for the remaining pack members....
Roundtail and Headwater Chubs Illegally Denied Protection Under Endangered Species Act In response to a petition and lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that two native southwest fish, the roundtail and headwater chubs, will not receive protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In making its determination, the FWS did not find the two fish species are safe from extinction, but rather denied protection based on technical grounds. To date, the Bush administration has protected only 41 species under the Endangered Species Act, compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under Bush senior’s administration. The Bush administration has delayed and denied protection for hundreds of known imperiled species. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal scientific petition to gain protection for the two chubs in April 2003, documenting a precipitous decline in both species....
Bald Eagle Fights Don't Mean Habitat Is Full, Experts Say Recent violent territorial disputes among bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay could be nature's way of controlling the birds' increasing numbers, experts suggest. But, they add, there is still enough habitat in the region for nesting, and despite media reports, the conflicts may not be a nationwide pattern. "For every population there is a gradient of habitat," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society. "In other words, there is the best habitat and the good habitat, which is not as good as the best. "So what we're seeing [with the eagles] is competition for prime location. It doesn't really mean all the habitat has been used up." According to government estimates, about 7,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles now exist in the wild.....
Not enough wolves killed, officials say Wildlife officials say the number of wolves collected in the state's aerial wolf-control program this winter was less than half of what was expected. Officials had hoped for a harvest of up to 400 wolves this season in five areas of Alaska. Aerial gunners so far have reported taking 153 wolves through the program, which ended April 30. High fuel prices, bad weather and a court ruling that halted the entire program for a week in January likely contributed to lower-than-expected wolf kills, wildlife officials said. A closure of one of the culling areas west of Anchorage during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race also shortened the season....
House Passes Measure to Allow Game Hunting in Calif. National Park Privately hunted deer and elk would be allowed to remain on a national park island off the coast of California under legislation approved late Wednesday by a congressional panel. The House Armed Services Committee passed the measure despite objections from the National Park Service that trophy game hunts on Santa Rosa Island restrict public access and interfere with native species. The 53,000-acre island 40 miles off Santa Barbara is part of the Channel Islands National Park. The legislation, sponsored by committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., would void a court-ordered settlement that requires the deer and elk to be removed from the island by 2011....
Bill on widow, her park home goes to Bush Legislation allowing an 83-year-old widow to keep her summer home in Rocky Mountain National Park is headed to the president's desk. House members voted unanimously Tuesday for a bill that would let Betty Dick keep the cabin near the park's west entrance, which she has used for decades. The bill previously had been amended and approved by the Senate. "After a two-year bureaucratic battle, Betty can return to Colorado this spring with the peace of mind that she will be able to keep her home for the rest of her life," Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said in a statement. Udall, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and others in Colorado took up Dick's cause after the National Park Service threatened to evict her. Park officials have testified to Congress that tailoring legislation to one person would set a bad precedent for other agreements on national park land....That's right Parkies, screw the 83 year-old widow because helping her would set a bad precedent. Another fine example of the government's attitude towards it's citizens.
Park Service keeps ban on most ads in parks Strict prohibitions on allowing advertising and marketing in the national parks in return for donations will remain, spelling an end to a National Park Service proposal that called for looser restrictions. The Park Service proposed last year letting some employees solicit donations, accepting alcohol and tobacco company donations for the first time and giving donors the right to put their names on rooms, benches and bricks. All were dropped in new guidelines issued Monday by Park Service Director Fran Mainella. About $100 million in donations and $150 million in entrance fees augment the taxpayer funds that support the national park system. The 390-unit system has an annual budget of about $2.2 billion. Deciding what donations park managers can accept -- and the level of recognition that can be granted in return -- has been a touchy subject for the Park Service. Park rangers and other employees, advocacy groups and environmentalists complained that last year's proposal went too far by opening the door to an unseemly amount of commercialization....
State control of resources raises oil costs A principal reason fuel prices are high and likely to remain so is a trend worldwide toward state ownership and control of oil resources that is raising questions about how quickly large tracts of oil and gas will be developed and made available to consumers. While some state-owned oil companies, such as Saudi Arabia's Aramco, readily develop their vast oil reserves to help hold down prices and satisfy the demands of consuming nations, other major tracts of oil have fallen into the hands of governments that are less attuned or outright hostile to pleas from drivers around the world who want them to continue the flow of cheap and readily available fuel. Bolivia, with the second-largest reserves of natural gas and oil in South America, this week became the latest example of a nation to seize control of critical energy facilities that had been operated by private companies that were gearing up to produce the fuel needed by hungry markets....
Bipartisan Bill Extends Farm Bill Until WTO Negotiation Completion Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., introduced legislation to extend the current farm bill until the World Trade Organization negotiations are complete. Talent and Lincoln, both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, support extending the bill until global trading rules are in place before writing the next farm bill. The current farm bill, passed in 2002, is scheduled to expire in 2007. "A farm bill extension, pending a fair agreement at the WTO, sends a signal to our trading partners," says Talent, Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection and Product Promotion. "We will not unilaterally disarm farmers and ranchers in Missouri without assurances that we will get real and meaningful reforms from them in return. We must maintain the current framework until we know the rules of the game." Charlie Kruse, president of Missouri Farm Bureau says he believes extending the 2002 farm bill puts the most pressure on the Europeans to come to the table and discuss meaningful trade reform in the WTO....
Column: Kemp"thorne" in Our Side As a Senator from 1992 until 1998, Kempthorne's score in the League of Conservation Voters' rating initially soared to 6 percent in 1993 before sinking back to a solid 0 every year from 1994 on. His abysmal average rating of 1.0 percent over that six-year period covers about 70 votes on a whole range of key votes affecting energy, biodiversity, public health, funding for environmental protection, private property rights, nuclear waste and public lands management from logging to mining to sell-offs. It may help in understanding that record to know that Rep. Richard Pombo earned a 6percent rating in 2005. Among Kempthorne's other accomplishments as a senator was the introduction of legislation supported by the American Forest and Paper Association, American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association and others, that would have weakened the Endangered Species Act. As a two-term governor of Idaho, Kempthorne joined forces with Boise Cascade in litigation to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from finishing the rulemaking process that culminated in the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protecting more than 58 million acres of undeveloped forests, which he also sued to overturn as governor. Kempthorne is quoted as calling the rule a "federal edict," apparently forgetting that national forests belong to all Americans rather than just Idaho residents. Kempthorne has remained an opponent of species protection, moving immediately to allow the killing of wolves after taking over management of the threatened species from the federal government in January....
Kempthorne backed sale of federal lands as U.S. senator In the six weeks since he was nominated as U.S. secretary of interior, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has sidestepped questions about whether he backs President Bush’s proposal to sell off public lands to reduce the deficit and help rural schools. But he’ll have to break his silence Thursday. Several members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee opposed to the land sales are expected to grill Kempthorne during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. Kempthorne is expected to support Bush’s plan to sell 125,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property and 300,000 acres of national forest land to the highest bidder to raise money for the U.S. Treasury. Although as governor he has pushed for greater state control over federal lands, he endorsed similar federal land-sale proposals while serving as a U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, Kempthorne sponsored an amendment to the Senate version of the fiscal 1999 budget resolution that allowed proceeds from the sale of public lands to be used to compensate private landowners for taking steps to conserve endangered species. Kempthorne’s amendment reversed an earlier amendment by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, that expressed the Senate’s objection to selling off public lands to finance the federal landowner compensation program. “This is not a question of whether we should sell excess BLM lands; it is taking place,’’ Kempthorne said on the Senate floor April 2, 1998. “It is a question of where the revenues should be utilized.’’....
State may acquire Chirikof Island, cattle A land trade between the State of Alaska and the federal government which politicians say would “preserve” the cattle of Chirikof Island could be complicated because Gov. Frank Murkowski has attached it to another land swap that would require an act of Congress. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton dated March 13, Murkowski attached a potential Chirikof deal to another goal some Alaskans have long coveted, a road from King Cove to Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. That road would go through designated wilderness within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and require permission from Congress. Administration officials said a deal that gives the state Chirikof Island, which the federal government is ready to give up, could make a road through Izembek more palatable in Congress. “The reason (Chirikof is) in there is just to sweeten the pot,” Ed Fogels, an Alaska Department of Natural Resources spokesman said. State officials want to trade two townships northeast of the town of Cold Bay — a tract of about 41,000 acres — in exchange for the roughly 206 acres of right-of-way needed to build a road between the two remote towns. The state land could then become a part of the Izembek refuge....
Column: Regulating Every Drop of Water Doesn’t Make Sense American farmers and ranchers have a good track record of taking care of the land and water through conservation, including wetlands protection and restoration. That’s why Farm Bureau is closely watching and awaiting a decision currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that could alter the Clean Water Act as we know it. At issue are two consolidated cases, Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. United States. The combined case, on which a decision is expected in early July, looks at whether wetlands should be subject to Clean Water Act protection based on remote or non-existent connections to navigable waters. In the Carabell situation, a lower court ruled that a wetland separated by a man-made berm from a ditch that connects through tributaries to navigable waters qualifies for Clean Water Act protection, even though there’s no hydrological connection between the two. Farm Bureau strongly believes that man-made drainage ditches, fields and pastures that have been used by farmers and ranchers for years should not be federally regulated in the same way as rivers, streams, swamps and bogs. Regulating a field with a few low spots is not logical....
Firefighter indicted for arson A 33-year-old Kennard firefighter is charged with setting 23 fires in the Davy Crockett National Forest over the past year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. A federal grand jury seated in Beaumont has indicted Ryan James Eff on a charge of arson, according to Matthew D. Orwig, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. "While forest service firefighters put their lives at risk and worked tirelessly to extinguish the fires, they realized a number of them were a result of criminal activity by one of their own," Orwig said in a press release issued late Wednesday. Eff worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, assigned to perform firefighter duties in the Davy Crockett National Forest, according to the indictment. He is charged with intentionally setting fires in or near the national forest from about May 2005 to April 2006. "During each of these fires, USFS personnel responded and worked to suppress and extinguish the fires using aircraft and heavy equipment in extremely dangerous conditions," the U.S. Attorney's press release stated....
Environmental groups merge The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network, two of the groups critical of federal forest management in the Northern Rockies, have merged. Operating jointly as the new WildWest Institute with some 800 members will improve the groups' effectiveness, Executive Director Matthew Koehler said Wednesday from the organization's Missoula office. Koehler is one of two staff members and said a third will be on board within a few weeks. A news release said WildWest will be a "leading public lands watchdog in the Northern Rockies," monitoring nearly 20 national forests. Areas of concern for the group include removal of trees, watershed quality and the future of roadless lands. The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network last week asked a federal judge to stop the U.S. Forest Service from beginning a forest-thinning project in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. A lawsuit filed by those groups and Friends of the Bitterroot charges the project on almost 5,000 acres jeopardizes the environment and amounts to industrial logging, rather than being the "healthy forest" plan advanced by the Forest Service....
Colorado forester tapped for Washington post Jim Bedwell, supervisor on Colorado's Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, has been selected to serve as national director of recreation and heritage resources in Washington. "Jim has outstanding leadership skills from his many challenging and diverse assignments throughout the outfit, including being the lead forest supervisor for Colorado state officials on issues of statewide importance," U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said. "His exceptional skills in working collaboratively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders will serve him well in this new assignment." In his new role, Bedwell will lead the recreational programs on the national forests and grasslands, from primitive backcountry to highly developed activities like alpine skiing....
Congress Sneaks Through Recreation Access Tax Although widely and wildly opposed by hundreds of recreation groups and the legislatures in several western states, Congress has just slipped through the Recreation Access Tax (RAT) in the dark of night. This means more access fees for hiking, skiing or mountain biking on federal land, driving on Forest Service roads, and even parking at public trailheads. Right now, such fees, called RATs by opponents, are uncommon in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but that’s about to change. RATs are already common in Colorado and Pacific Coast states. In April, the RAT was tacked on—or “earmarked”—as a rider on a monstrous ($388 billion) omnibus spending bill and passed without public hearings or even the knowledge of most representatives and senators who voted for it. It extends and widens a temporary RAT passed in 1996. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) voted for the bill without knowing the RAT was piggybacked onto it. Baucus "is absolutely furious that this provision was stuffed in the spending bill in the dark of night," aide Barrett Kaiser told Scott McMillion at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Kaiser also said Baucus plans to “readdress” the issue as soon as possible. The measure is supposed to raise about $200 million in new revenue for recreation projects on public lands....
Wolves to be removed from lands The Hon-Dah pack of Mexican wolves is to be removed permanently from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The removal is the result of the pack being directly involved in five confirmed cattle depredations and one confirmed cattle injury on Tribal lands since June 7, 2005. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the Hon-Dah Pack permanent removal order on April 19, at the request of the tribal council. Tribal Wildlife Services, assisted by the Interagency Field Team and USDA Wildlife Services, began trapping operations immediately. Trapping is the method of first choice for removal. If trapping fails, then lethal methods will be employed. The service has an agreement with the White Mountain Apache Tribe that allows for removal (including lethal take when circumstances dictate) of livestock depredating wolves on Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The Hon-Dah pack was transferred to a release pen on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation on June 23, 2003. The pack's territory is exclusively within the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. On April 20, a pack member was successfully live captured and removed to the Ladder Ranch captive breeding facility in southwestern New Mexico. Trapping efforts continue for the remaining pack members....
Roundtail and Headwater Chubs Illegally Denied Protection Under Endangered Species Act In response to a petition and lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that two native southwest fish, the roundtail and headwater chubs, will not receive protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In making its determination, the FWS did not find the two fish species are safe from extinction, but rather denied protection based on technical grounds. To date, the Bush administration has protected only 41 species under the Endangered Species Act, compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under Bush senior’s administration. The Bush administration has delayed and denied protection for hundreds of known imperiled species. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal scientific petition to gain protection for the two chubs in April 2003, documenting a precipitous decline in both species....
Bald Eagle Fights Don't Mean Habitat Is Full, Experts Say Recent violent territorial disputes among bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay could be nature's way of controlling the birds' increasing numbers, experts suggest. But, they add, there is still enough habitat in the region for nesting, and despite media reports, the conflicts may not be a nationwide pattern. "For every population there is a gradient of habitat," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society. "In other words, there is the best habitat and the good habitat, which is not as good as the best. "So what we're seeing [with the eagles] is competition for prime location. It doesn't really mean all the habitat has been used up." According to government estimates, about 7,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles now exist in the wild.....
Not enough wolves killed, officials say Wildlife officials say the number of wolves collected in the state's aerial wolf-control program this winter was less than half of what was expected. Officials had hoped for a harvest of up to 400 wolves this season in five areas of Alaska. Aerial gunners so far have reported taking 153 wolves through the program, which ended April 30. High fuel prices, bad weather and a court ruling that halted the entire program for a week in January likely contributed to lower-than-expected wolf kills, wildlife officials said. A closure of one of the culling areas west of Anchorage during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race also shortened the season....
House Passes Measure to Allow Game Hunting in Calif. National Park Privately hunted deer and elk would be allowed to remain on a national park island off the coast of California under legislation approved late Wednesday by a congressional panel. The House Armed Services Committee passed the measure despite objections from the National Park Service that trophy game hunts on Santa Rosa Island restrict public access and interfere with native species. The 53,000-acre island 40 miles off Santa Barbara is part of the Channel Islands National Park. The legislation, sponsored by committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., would void a court-ordered settlement that requires the deer and elk to be removed from the island by 2011....
Bill on widow, her park home goes to Bush Legislation allowing an 83-year-old widow to keep her summer home in Rocky Mountain National Park is headed to the president's desk. House members voted unanimously Tuesday for a bill that would let Betty Dick keep the cabin near the park's west entrance, which she has used for decades. The bill previously had been amended and approved by the Senate. "After a two-year bureaucratic battle, Betty can return to Colorado this spring with the peace of mind that she will be able to keep her home for the rest of her life," Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said in a statement. Udall, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and others in Colorado took up Dick's cause after the National Park Service threatened to evict her. Park officials have testified to Congress that tailoring legislation to one person would set a bad precedent for other agreements on national park land....That's right Parkies, screw the 83 year-old widow because helping her would set a bad precedent. Another fine example of the government's attitude towards it's citizens.
Park Service keeps ban on most ads in parks Strict prohibitions on allowing advertising and marketing in the national parks in return for donations will remain, spelling an end to a National Park Service proposal that called for looser restrictions. The Park Service proposed last year letting some employees solicit donations, accepting alcohol and tobacco company donations for the first time and giving donors the right to put their names on rooms, benches and bricks. All were dropped in new guidelines issued Monday by Park Service Director Fran Mainella. About $100 million in donations and $150 million in entrance fees augment the taxpayer funds that support the national park system. The 390-unit system has an annual budget of about $2.2 billion. Deciding what donations park managers can accept -- and the level of recognition that can be granted in return -- has been a touchy subject for the Park Service. Park rangers and other employees, advocacy groups and environmentalists complained that last year's proposal went too far by opening the door to an unseemly amount of commercialization....
State control of resources raises oil costs A principal reason fuel prices are high and likely to remain so is a trend worldwide toward state ownership and control of oil resources that is raising questions about how quickly large tracts of oil and gas will be developed and made available to consumers. While some state-owned oil companies, such as Saudi Arabia's Aramco, readily develop their vast oil reserves to help hold down prices and satisfy the demands of consuming nations, other major tracts of oil have fallen into the hands of governments that are less attuned or outright hostile to pleas from drivers around the world who want them to continue the flow of cheap and readily available fuel. Bolivia, with the second-largest reserves of natural gas and oil in South America, this week became the latest example of a nation to seize control of critical energy facilities that had been operated by private companies that were gearing up to produce the fuel needed by hungry markets....
Bipartisan Bill Extends Farm Bill Until WTO Negotiation Completion Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., introduced legislation to extend the current farm bill until the World Trade Organization negotiations are complete. Talent and Lincoln, both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, support extending the bill until global trading rules are in place before writing the next farm bill. The current farm bill, passed in 2002, is scheduled to expire in 2007. "A farm bill extension, pending a fair agreement at the WTO, sends a signal to our trading partners," says Talent, Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection and Product Promotion. "We will not unilaterally disarm farmers and ranchers in Missouri without assurances that we will get real and meaningful reforms from them in return. We must maintain the current framework until we know the rules of the game." Charlie Kruse, president of Missouri Farm Bureau says he believes extending the 2002 farm bill puts the most pressure on the Europeans to come to the table and discuss meaningful trade reform in the WTO....
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Mother mauled by a bear leaves hospital An Ohio woman mauled by a bear that killed her 6-year-old daughter and seriously injured her 2-year-old son April 13 at a U.S. Forest Service recreation area returned home Tuesday. Greg Rush, owner of Jim Rush Funeral Homes in Cleveland, Tenn., said the body of Elora Petrasek was returned to Ohio for a planned Saturday funeral. He said the girl's mother, Susan Cenkus, of Clyde, Ohio, traveled home with other family members in a privately owned airplane. "All that happened today," Rush said. "I think it will be fine to report the family is back in Ohio." Jan Powell, a spokeswoman at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, said Cenkus has been released. Powell said she could not provide any other information. Luke Cenkus, 2, underwent surgery and was released earlier. Tennessee wildlife officials said Monday that results from samples taken during a necropsy on a bear captured three days after the attack were not expected before next week...
Yellowstone Wolf Population Tops 1,000, States Seek Delisting The population of gray wolves in and around Yellowstone Park has reached more than 1,000, according to a March 10 federal government report. The number of wolves, including nearly 100 breeding pairs, is more than sufficient for the wolves' removal from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. But disagreements between Wyoming and the federal government have delayed the wolves' delisting. By 2003, the gray wolf population in and around Yellowstone had reached approximately 760 animals, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined was sufficient to remove the animals from ESA protection. While protection was considered no longer necessary, FWS nevertheless required Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to submit wolf management plans as a prerequisite to delisting the wolf, to satisfy FWS that the wolves will not fall back into endangered status. Two years ago, the FWS approved the wolf management plans submitted by Idaho and Montana, but it has refused to approve Wyoming's proposal. Until an agreement is reached between Wyoming and the federal government, wolves cannot be delisted in any of the three states. The Wyoming-FWS dispute is currently being litigated in a federal appellate court. Wyoming is seeking to the court determine whether its proposed management plan meets the criteria for ESA delisting. The FWS argues Wyoming's plan will be ripe for litigation only after the federal office issues a final and formal decision, due in July, on the proposed plan. Wyoming counters that the agency's repeated objections to its plan, while approving the plans of Idaho and Montana, amounts to an FWS denial that is suitable for litigation. By stalling on a "final" decision, Wyoming argues, the FWS has benefitted from more than two years of a de facto decision without having to defend it in federal court....
Officials Ponder Return of the Panther Florida panthers once roamed much of the southeastern United States. Today, fewer than a hundred live in a protected South Florida preserve. But this subspecies of the American mountain lion has now outgrown that habitat. So the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft plan to reintroduce the endangered cat to its historic range… including wilderness areas in Alabama, Mississippi and the interior highlands of Arkansas. But wildlife officials in Arkansas are at odds about bringing the panther back. Before they were exterminated by bounty hunters and loggers in the early 20th century, Florida panthers prowled Arkansas's bayous and mountains. Today, deep in the Ozarks National Forest, USDA Forest Service biologist Joe Neal explores the historic panther habitat. He surveys the trail that leads high up to a ridge of immense limestone boulders, collapsed into crevices and caves. "I assume places like that would be ideal for panthers," he explains, "because there would be places they could den, places they could raise young and the big ledges exposed to the sunlight would be perfect for sunning." And that's why federal wildlife officials have included the one point two million hectare Ozark and Ouachita National Forests in their Panther Recovery Plan....
Wolf found dead near Winona A gray wolf that likely wandered into Minnesota from Wisconsin was found dead just south of Winona. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist Eric Nelson said Tuesday that the 80-pound male, recovered a week ago on U.S. Highway 61, appeared to be a gray wolf. Ron Refsnider, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist in St. Paul, said it would be rare but not surprising to find a wolf in Winona. “Wisconsin has wolf packs in the Fort McCoy and Black River State Forest areas, only about 50 miles from Winona,” he said. “Individual wolves could easily make the trip from Ft. McCoy to Winona in a week or so.” Wolves can cross the river when it’s frozen and are capable swimmers....
Groups to sue over cutthroat Three conservation groups said Tuesday they plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency's decision to not give the Yellowstone cutthroat trout special protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers Council said they filed a required 60-day notice of intent to sue over what they see as the agency's illegal denial of special federal protection for the fish. "It's well known and acknowledged that the species has declined and is facing a multitude of threats," Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday. Among the threats he cited are disease and habitat loss. Fish and Wildlife has twice said in recent years that the fish did not warrant Endangered Species Act protection. The first decision pertained to the sufficiency of the petition, an agency spokeswoman said; the more recent decision was issued this year....
Oregon fishermen argue for larger salmon harvest Property rights advocates joined commercial fishermen in a federal appeals court Monday to argue that hatchery fish should be counted along with wild fish in deciding whether to restrict the commercial ocean harvest of Klamath River fall chinook salmon. But lawyers for the government and Indian tribes argued the law that sets the minimum number of salmon returning to the Klamath cannot be changed simply to boost the total number of fish when the wild fish run declines. "To come in 17 years after the fact and challenge the framework upsets the entire system," said Mark Haag, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. But Russell Brooks, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights public interest law firm based in Sacramento, Calif., argued that NOAA Fisheries has the authority to include hatchery fish in that number. "The only time they're treated separately is when they return," said Brooks, representing the Oregon Trollers Association....
A Historical Perspective of Environmental Sense and Nonsense One has to be about 80 years old to remember when homes were lit by kerosene lamps, which released smoke continually; when homes were heated with wood or coal stoves that belched smoke or soot into the air constantly and into the room most every time the stove door was opened for refilling; when minimally treated sewage was discharged into the nearest river or lake; when city streets were littered with horse manure; when laundry could not be hung outdoors during cold weather because of soot; when small dust clouds followed moving vehicles on unpaved streets; and when garden pests were controlled with deadly poisonous arsenic, lead, and mercury compounds which persisted almost indefinitely in the soil. The goals of environmental protection are stimulating and exciting. Because everyone believes in a good environment, working toward this goal can be a uniting force for many diverse elements in our society. Unfortunately, finding whipping boys for environmental problems--many real, some imaginary, and nearly all exaggerated--was an integral part of the early period of environmental discontent and continues today. The search for better ways to protect our environment turned to some extent into a vendetta aimed at big business, government officials, and the "establishment" in general. Hysteria was effective in gaining attention, focusing on environmental problems, and initiating action to correct them. But hysteria's time has past....
Palisade courting ways to protect its watershed n the David-versus-Goliath battle of the town of Palisade against the Bureau of Land Management over gas leasing in the town’s Grand Mesa watershed, the little guys are proving to be resilient and tenacious. The latest evidence was the announcement over the weekend by Palisade Mayor Doug Edwards that the town is prepared to sue, if need be, to prevent drilling in its watershed. And, while such a lawsuit would be expensive, Edwards said the town has received offers of free legal assistance to seek a temporary restraining order to keep drillers out its watershed. The small town at the east end of the Grand Valley and its holdings on Grand Mesa could create a serious challenge to the Bush administration’s effort to lease as much of the West for drilling as rapidly as possible. Edwards made it clear that a lawsuit is the option of last resort for the town. For the time being, Palisade is pursuing other means to protect its watershed....
Experts doubt oil shale answer to energy crisis Massive deposits of oil shale are locked up under America's Western prairies, but even with crude prices at historic highs, some experts doubt it will become economical to extract it anytime soon. The Energy Department remains enthusiastic about the prospects of using the deposits, saying the United States needs to take a second look at this "strategically located, long-term source of reliable, affordable and secure oil." The Bureau of Land Management says it is reviewing proposals from eight companies to conduct research into how to extract the oil from shale in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. U.S. deposits of oil shale hold the potential of providing enough oil "to meet U.S. demand for oil at current levels for 110 years," the agency says. With oil hitting record prices on the world market, projects once shelved as impossibly uneconomical when oil was $30 a barrel are now getting a second look. But Walter Youngquist, a retired University of Oregon geology professor, says he's considered ways of exploiting America's untapped oil shale resources for 40 years and concludes that extracting commercial amounts is like a mirage: every time it is approached, it just keeps retreating into the distance....
Kempthorne may play bigger role in energy decisions Energy has played a small role in Dirk Kempthorne’s governorship, but it may hog the spotlight in his job as Interior secretary. Fast-rising gasoline prices have made energy a major political issue for President Bush and Congress. The Interior Department controls two-thirds of the nation’s oil and gas reserves, including 1.76 billion acres of the Continental Shelf that geologists say has billions of gallons of oil waiting for the taking. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he told Kempthorne that increasing the nation’s energy supplies should be his top priority. Already, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson has put a hold on Kempthorne’s nomination to protest the administration’s plan to allow drilling off the Florida coast. Kempthorne testifies Thursday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on his nomination. Except for Nelson’s hold, Kempthorne is expected to enjoy smooth sailing to confirmation in the Senate, said Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig....
Report Links Corps' Planning to Inadequacies in Levee System The Army Corps of Engineers did not shift course to meet the needs of the changing landscape of New Orleans, and as a result the city did not get the hurricane protection system that it needed, a panel of outside engineers said in a report yesterday. The report, prepared by members of the American Society of Civil Engineers at the request of the corps, was stinging in its criticism of the corps' planning and development of New Orleans's hurricane protection system in the decades after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. It said the corps did not follow its own procedures in monitoring the rate at which land was subsiding and water was rising around the city, and it criticized the corps as designing the levee system around outdated data that left floodwalls nearly two feet lower than they should have been....
Digging up history Dozens of cattle skulls, some with horns, have been unearthed from construction sites near Memorial Coliseum, and local historians have two explanations. They believe the carcasses were either the dinner leftovers of Gen. Zachary Taylor's 4,000 troops in 1845 or they are refuse from a post-Civil War beef packery operated by famed South Texas rancher Richard King. Historical references confirm that cattle were herded from the north and corralled on the south side of Taylor's encampment, which ran along Corpus Christi Bay from the Corpus Christi Beach area to Artesian Park. "Taylor's army encampment was much of the town at the time," said Caller-Times historian Murphy Givens. "They lived mostly on beef; there were no canned rations."....
Mother mauled by a bear leaves hospital An Ohio woman mauled by a bear that killed her 6-year-old daughter and seriously injured her 2-year-old son April 13 at a U.S. Forest Service recreation area returned home Tuesday. Greg Rush, owner of Jim Rush Funeral Homes in Cleveland, Tenn., said the body of Elora Petrasek was returned to Ohio for a planned Saturday funeral. He said the girl's mother, Susan Cenkus, of Clyde, Ohio, traveled home with other family members in a privately owned airplane. "All that happened today," Rush said. "I think it will be fine to report the family is back in Ohio." Jan Powell, a spokeswoman at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, said Cenkus has been released. Powell said she could not provide any other information. Luke Cenkus, 2, underwent surgery and was released earlier. Tennessee wildlife officials said Monday that results from samples taken during a necropsy on a bear captured three days after the attack were not expected before next week...
Yellowstone Wolf Population Tops 1,000, States Seek Delisting The population of gray wolves in and around Yellowstone Park has reached more than 1,000, according to a March 10 federal government report. The number of wolves, including nearly 100 breeding pairs, is more than sufficient for the wolves' removal from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. But disagreements between Wyoming and the federal government have delayed the wolves' delisting. By 2003, the gray wolf population in and around Yellowstone had reached approximately 760 animals, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined was sufficient to remove the animals from ESA protection. While protection was considered no longer necessary, FWS nevertheless required Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to submit wolf management plans as a prerequisite to delisting the wolf, to satisfy FWS that the wolves will not fall back into endangered status. Two years ago, the FWS approved the wolf management plans submitted by Idaho and Montana, but it has refused to approve Wyoming's proposal. Until an agreement is reached between Wyoming and the federal government, wolves cannot be delisted in any of the three states. The Wyoming-FWS dispute is currently being litigated in a federal appellate court. Wyoming is seeking to the court determine whether its proposed management plan meets the criteria for ESA delisting. The FWS argues Wyoming's plan will be ripe for litigation only after the federal office issues a final and formal decision, due in July, on the proposed plan. Wyoming counters that the agency's repeated objections to its plan, while approving the plans of Idaho and Montana, amounts to an FWS denial that is suitable for litigation. By stalling on a "final" decision, Wyoming argues, the FWS has benefitted from more than two years of a de facto decision without having to defend it in federal court....
Officials Ponder Return of the Panther Florida panthers once roamed much of the southeastern United States. Today, fewer than a hundred live in a protected South Florida preserve. But this subspecies of the American mountain lion has now outgrown that habitat. So the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft plan to reintroduce the endangered cat to its historic range… including wilderness areas in Alabama, Mississippi and the interior highlands of Arkansas. But wildlife officials in Arkansas are at odds about bringing the panther back. Before they were exterminated by bounty hunters and loggers in the early 20th century, Florida panthers prowled Arkansas's bayous and mountains. Today, deep in the Ozarks National Forest, USDA Forest Service biologist Joe Neal explores the historic panther habitat. He surveys the trail that leads high up to a ridge of immense limestone boulders, collapsed into crevices and caves. "I assume places like that would be ideal for panthers," he explains, "because there would be places they could den, places they could raise young and the big ledges exposed to the sunlight would be perfect for sunning." And that's why federal wildlife officials have included the one point two million hectare Ozark and Ouachita National Forests in their Panther Recovery Plan....
Wolf found dead near Winona A gray wolf that likely wandered into Minnesota from Wisconsin was found dead just south of Winona. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist Eric Nelson said Tuesday that the 80-pound male, recovered a week ago on U.S. Highway 61, appeared to be a gray wolf. Ron Refsnider, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist in St. Paul, said it would be rare but not surprising to find a wolf in Winona. “Wisconsin has wolf packs in the Fort McCoy and Black River State Forest areas, only about 50 miles from Winona,” he said. “Individual wolves could easily make the trip from Ft. McCoy to Winona in a week or so.” Wolves can cross the river when it’s frozen and are capable swimmers....
Groups to sue over cutthroat Three conservation groups said Tuesday they plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency's decision to not give the Yellowstone cutthroat trout special protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers Council said they filed a required 60-day notice of intent to sue over what they see as the agency's illegal denial of special federal protection for the fish. "It's well known and acknowledged that the species has declined and is facing a multitude of threats," Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday. Among the threats he cited are disease and habitat loss. Fish and Wildlife has twice said in recent years that the fish did not warrant Endangered Species Act protection. The first decision pertained to the sufficiency of the petition, an agency spokeswoman said; the more recent decision was issued this year....
Oregon fishermen argue for larger salmon harvest Property rights advocates joined commercial fishermen in a federal appeals court Monday to argue that hatchery fish should be counted along with wild fish in deciding whether to restrict the commercial ocean harvest of Klamath River fall chinook salmon. But lawyers for the government and Indian tribes argued the law that sets the minimum number of salmon returning to the Klamath cannot be changed simply to boost the total number of fish when the wild fish run declines. "To come in 17 years after the fact and challenge the framework upsets the entire system," said Mark Haag, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. But Russell Brooks, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights public interest law firm based in Sacramento, Calif., argued that NOAA Fisheries has the authority to include hatchery fish in that number. "The only time they're treated separately is when they return," said Brooks, representing the Oregon Trollers Association....
A Historical Perspective of Environmental Sense and Nonsense One has to be about 80 years old to remember when homes were lit by kerosene lamps, which released smoke continually; when homes were heated with wood or coal stoves that belched smoke or soot into the air constantly and into the room most every time the stove door was opened for refilling; when minimally treated sewage was discharged into the nearest river or lake; when city streets were littered with horse manure; when laundry could not be hung outdoors during cold weather because of soot; when small dust clouds followed moving vehicles on unpaved streets; and when garden pests were controlled with deadly poisonous arsenic, lead, and mercury compounds which persisted almost indefinitely in the soil. The goals of environmental protection are stimulating and exciting. Because everyone believes in a good environment, working toward this goal can be a uniting force for many diverse elements in our society. Unfortunately, finding whipping boys for environmental problems--many real, some imaginary, and nearly all exaggerated--was an integral part of the early period of environmental discontent and continues today. The search for better ways to protect our environment turned to some extent into a vendetta aimed at big business, government officials, and the "establishment" in general. Hysteria was effective in gaining attention, focusing on environmental problems, and initiating action to correct them. But hysteria's time has past....
Palisade courting ways to protect its watershed n the David-versus-Goliath battle of the town of Palisade against the Bureau of Land Management over gas leasing in the town’s Grand Mesa watershed, the little guys are proving to be resilient and tenacious. The latest evidence was the announcement over the weekend by Palisade Mayor Doug Edwards that the town is prepared to sue, if need be, to prevent drilling in its watershed. And, while such a lawsuit would be expensive, Edwards said the town has received offers of free legal assistance to seek a temporary restraining order to keep drillers out its watershed. The small town at the east end of the Grand Valley and its holdings on Grand Mesa could create a serious challenge to the Bush administration’s effort to lease as much of the West for drilling as rapidly as possible. Edwards made it clear that a lawsuit is the option of last resort for the town. For the time being, Palisade is pursuing other means to protect its watershed....
Experts doubt oil shale answer to energy crisis Massive deposits of oil shale are locked up under America's Western prairies, but even with crude prices at historic highs, some experts doubt it will become economical to extract it anytime soon. The Energy Department remains enthusiastic about the prospects of using the deposits, saying the United States needs to take a second look at this "strategically located, long-term source of reliable, affordable and secure oil." The Bureau of Land Management says it is reviewing proposals from eight companies to conduct research into how to extract the oil from shale in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. U.S. deposits of oil shale hold the potential of providing enough oil "to meet U.S. demand for oil at current levels for 110 years," the agency says. With oil hitting record prices on the world market, projects once shelved as impossibly uneconomical when oil was $30 a barrel are now getting a second look. But Walter Youngquist, a retired University of Oregon geology professor, says he's considered ways of exploiting America's untapped oil shale resources for 40 years and concludes that extracting commercial amounts is like a mirage: every time it is approached, it just keeps retreating into the distance....
Kempthorne may play bigger role in energy decisions Energy has played a small role in Dirk Kempthorne’s governorship, but it may hog the spotlight in his job as Interior secretary. Fast-rising gasoline prices have made energy a major political issue for President Bush and Congress. The Interior Department controls two-thirds of the nation’s oil and gas reserves, including 1.76 billion acres of the Continental Shelf that geologists say has billions of gallons of oil waiting for the taking. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he told Kempthorne that increasing the nation’s energy supplies should be his top priority. Already, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson has put a hold on Kempthorne’s nomination to protest the administration’s plan to allow drilling off the Florida coast. Kempthorne testifies Thursday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on his nomination. Except for Nelson’s hold, Kempthorne is expected to enjoy smooth sailing to confirmation in the Senate, said Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig....
Report Links Corps' Planning to Inadequacies in Levee System The Army Corps of Engineers did not shift course to meet the needs of the changing landscape of New Orleans, and as a result the city did not get the hurricane protection system that it needed, a panel of outside engineers said in a report yesterday. The report, prepared by members of the American Society of Civil Engineers at the request of the corps, was stinging in its criticism of the corps' planning and development of New Orleans's hurricane protection system in the decades after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. It said the corps did not follow its own procedures in monitoring the rate at which land was subsiding and water was rising around the city, and it criticized the corps as designing the levee system around outdated data that left floodwalls nearly two feet lower than they should have been....
Digging up history Dozens of cattle skulls, some with horns, have been unearthed from construction sites near Memorial Coliseum, and local historians have two explanations. They believe the carcasses were either the dinner leftovers of Gen. Zachary Taylor's 4,000 troops in 1845 or they are refuse from a post-Civil War beef packery operated by famed South Texas rancher Richard King. Historical references confirm that cattle were herded from the north and corralled on the south side of Taylor's encampment, which ran along Corpus Christi Bay from the Corpus Christi Beach area to Artesian Park. "Taylor's army encampment was much of the town at the time," said Caller-Times historian Murphy Givens. "They lived mostly on beef; there were no canned rations."....
FLE
FBI and the USA Patriot Act in the spotlight as Congress considers how to fight terror
In another line of questioning, senators questioned why so much surveillance of Americans had taken place out of range of a judge. In a report to House leaders last Friday, the FBI disclosed that it had issued more than 9,200 National Security Letters (NSL) last year, covering more than 3,500 citizens or legal residents. An NSL is a tool provided by the USA Patriot Act that allows agents to access Internet records and business files of Americans without court approval. Moreover, individuals or groups targeted by such investigative tools are under a gag order not to discuss or disclose them. In fact, that figure does not cover the total number of NSLs - which may be much larger - because it does not include phone or Internet records, said Sen. Russ Feingold (D) of Wisconsin - an assertion that Mueller confirmed. The FBI reports only 155 applications for access to business records using Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act - a move that does require a court order. "It's a great disparity, and to me it points to a need for even greater protections on NSLs," said Senator Feingold, who voted against the USA Patriot Act. Senators also challenged the director to be more responsive to congressional concerns, especially on issues relating to the expansion of executive power....
F.B.I. Director Is Bombarded by Stinging Questions at Senate Hearing
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, came under sharp questioning from senators of both parties yesterday on matters that included slow progress in intelligence sharing and the effort to search the files of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson. In a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the committee, cited what he said was evidence of more than 100 instances in which F.B.I. agents had improperly conducted surveillance of antiwar groups. He said the list included Quakers, a Catholic antiwar organization and the Raging Grannies, which Mr. Leahy sarcastically called "a scary group." While Mr. Leahy and his Democratic colleagues were most critical of Mr. Mueller, and by extension, the Bush administration, the F.B.I. director heard little praise from Republicans on the committee. Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and the panel's chairman, asked Mr. Mueller about a report issued last month by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, that he said "raises questions about the adequacy of information sharing" between the F.B.I. and other agencies involved in counterterrorism. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, asked Mr. Mueller about reports that F.B.I. agents had "tried to trick" Mr. Anderson's 79-year-old widow into allowing a search of his files after being turned down by her son and the family's lawyer. And Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, a close ally of the Bush administration, told the F.B.I. director that he was troubled by the agency's actions in the case of an Oregon lawyer who was arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004 based on mistaken fingerprint evidence. After describing how a report had concluded that it was the "arrogance" of agents in the F.B.I. laboratory that led them to disregard doubts raised by Spanish fingerprint experts, Mr. Cornyn told Mr. Mueller, "I certainly hope that strong actions will be taken" if that was true....
Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Suit
When the government told a court Friday that it wanted a class-action lawsuit regarding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping on Americans dismissed, its lawyers wielded one of the most powerful legal tools available to the executive branch -- the state secrets privilege. That privilege allows the government to tell a judge that a civil case may expose information detrimental to national security, and to ask that testimony or documents be hidden or a lawsuit dismissed. That extraordinary executive power was established in English common law and upheld in a 1953 Supreme Court case involving the fatal crash of a secret bomber. In this case, the government will be asking a federal judge in California to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T for its alleged complicity in warrantless government surveillance of its customer's internet and telephone communications. The EFF alleges that AT&T gave the government access to a massive phone billing database and helped the NSA spy on its customers' internet use. But what exactly is the privilege, and how powerful is it? The state secrets privilege cannot be found in the U.S. Code, the code of federal regulations or the Constitution. Instead, it is a part of common law, the body of laws and precedents created over centuries of legal decisions. When the government believes that a civil suit might reveal secrets injurious to the country, the head of the appropriate government agency must review the matter and submit a signed affidavit attesting to the danger of the lawsuit or documents that might be disclosed. Judges almost invariably agree to such requests, according to William Weaver, a law professor and senior adviser to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. "It's like one of magic rings from The Lord of the Rings," Weaver said. "You slip it on and you are invisible -- you are now secret. "Ostensibly judges could have flexibility, but they have not done that," Weaver said. "There has never been an unsuccessful invocation of the state secrets privilege when national security is involved. The (EFF) suit is over."....
Data Show How Patriot Act Used
The FBI issued thousands of subpoenas to banks, phone companies and Internet providers last year, aggressively using a power enhanced under the Patriot Act to monitor the activities of U.S. citizens, Justice Department data released late Friday showed. The report given to members of Congress was the first to detail the government's use of a controversial form of administrative subpoena that has drawn fire because it can be issued by investigators without court oversight. The Justice Department report also disclosed that its use of electronic surveillance and search warrants in national security investigations jumped 15% in 2005. The report includes the first look at the use of what are known as national security letters, which let the FBI obtain phone logs, Internet traffic records, and bank and credit information about individuals without a court order. The Bush administration had fought the release of the information on grounds that it could imperil national security. But Congress ordered the release when it reauthorized portions of the Patriot Act this year. According to the new report, the FBI issued 9,254 national security letters in 2005, covering 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal foreign residents. The Justice Department said the data did not include what probably were thousands of additional letters issued to obtain more limited information about some individuals — such as a home address — or letters that were issued about targets who were in the U.S. illegally. The original Patriot Act, enacted weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, made it easier for the FBI to issue the letters, and for the first time permitted agents based outside Washington to issue the letters. "These used to be fairly difficult to obtain, and now the authorities have been delegated very widely," said Michael Woods, former head of the FBI national-security law unit. "I think [the report] primarily shows that they are a lot easier to get." The Justice Department report also included an annual update on the number of warrants that the department had obtained through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret federal court for intelligence and terrorism investigations. Applications for electronic surveillance and physical search warrants — which almost always are approved by the court — rose to 2,074 in 2005, compared with 1,758 in 2004. Last year's total was more than double the number sought in 2000. That court is the tribunal that the Bush administration has been bypassing in a warrantless domestic surveillance program since shortly after Sept. 11....
Bush challenges hundreds of laws
President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional. Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power. But with the disclosure of Bush's domestic spying program, in which he ignored a law requiring warrants to tap the phones of Americans, many legal specialists say Bush is hardly reluctant to bypass laws he believes he has the constitutional authority to override. Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work. Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ''signing statements" -- official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register. In his signing statements, Bush has repeatedly asserted that the Constitution gives him the right to ignore numerous sections of the bills -- sometimes including provisions that were the subject of negotiations with Congress in order to get lawmakers to pass the bill. He has appended such statements to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed....
FBI and the USA Patriot Act in the spotlight as Congress considers how to fight terror
In another line of questioning, senators questioned why so much surveillance of Americans had taken place out of range of a judge. In a report to House leaders last Friday, the FBI disclosed that it had issued more than 9,200 National Security Letters (NSL) last year, covering more than 3,500 citizens or legal residents. An NSL is a tool provided by the USA Patriot Act that allows agents to access Internet records and business files of Americans without court approval. Moreover, individuals or groups targeted by such investigative tools are under a gag order not to discuss or disclose them. In fact, that figure does not cover the total number of NSLs - which may be much larger - because it does not include phone or Internet records, said Sen. Russ Feingold (D) of Wisconsin - an assertion that Mueller confirmed. The FBI reports only 155 applications for access to business records using Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act - a move that does require a court order. "It's a great disparity, and to me it points to a need for even greater protections on NSLs," said Senator Feingold, who voted against the USA Patriot Act. Senators also challenged the director to be more responsive to congressional concerns, especially on issues relating to the expansion of executive power....
F.B.I. Director Is Bombarded by Stinging Questions at Senate Hearing
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, came under sharp questioning from senators of both parties yesterday on matters that included slow progress in intelligence sharing and the effort to search the files of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson. In a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the committee, cited what he said was evidence of more than 100 instances in which F.B.I. agents had improperly conducted surveillance of antiwar groups. He said the list included Quakers, a Catholic antiwar organization and the Raging Grannies, which Mr. Leahy sarcastically called "a scary group." While Mr. Leahy and his Democratic colleagues were most critical of Mr. Mueller, and by extension, the Bush administration, the F.B.I. director heard little praise from Republicans on the committee. Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and the panel's chairman, asked Mr. Mueller about a report issued last month by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, that he said "raises questions about the adequacy of information sharing" between the F.B.I. and other agencies involved in counterterrorism. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, asked Mr. Mueller about reports that F.B.I. agents had "tried to trick" Mr. Anderson's 79-year-old widow into allowing a search of his files after being turned down by her son and the family's lawyer. And Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, a close ally of the Bush administration, told the F.B.I. director that he was troubled by the agency's actions in the case of an Oregon lawyer who was arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004 based on mistaken fingerprint evidence. After describing how a report had concluded that it was the "arrogance" of agents in the F.B.I. laboratory that led them to disregard doubts raised by Spanish fingerprint experts, Mr. Cornyn told Mr. Mueller, "I certainly hope that strong actions will be taken" if that was true....
Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Suit
When the government told a court Friday that it wanted a class-action lawsuit regarding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping on Americans dismissed, its lawyers wielded one of the most powerful legal tools available to the executive branch -- the state secrets privilege. That privilege allows the government to tell a judge that a civil case may expose information detrimental to national security, and to ask that testimony or documents be hidden or a lawsuit dismissed. That extraordinary executive power was established in English common law and upheld in a 1953 Supreme Court case involving the fatal crash of a secret bomber. In this case, the government will be asking a federal judge in California to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T for its alleged complicity in warrantless government surveillance of its customer's internet and telephone communications. The EFF alleges that AT&T gave the government access to a massive phone billing database and helped the NSA spy on its customers' internet use. But what exactly is the privilege, and how powerful is it? The state secrets privilege cannot be found in the U.S. Code, the code of federal regulations or the Constitution. Instead, it is a part of common law, the body of laws and precedents created over centuries of legal decisions. When the government believes that a civil suit might reveal secrets injurious to the country, the head of the appropriate government agency must review the matter and submit a signed affidavit attesting to the danger of the lawsuit or documents that might be disclosed. Judges almost invariably agree to such requests, according to William Weaver, a law professor and senior adviser to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. "It's like one of magic rings from The Lord of the Rings," Weaver said. "You slip it on and you are invisible -- you are now secret. "Ostensibly judges could have flexibility, but they have not done that," Weaver said. "There has never been an unsuccessful invocation of the state secrets privilege when national security is involved. The (EFF) suit is over."....
Data Show How Patriot Act Used
The FBI issued thousands of subpoenas to banks, phone companies and Internet providers last year, aggressively using a power enhanced under the Patriot Act to monitor the activities of U.S. citizens, Justice Department data released late Friday showed. The report given to members of Congress was the first to detail the government's use of a controversial form of administrative subpoena that has drawn fire because it can be issued by investigators without court oversight. The Justice Department report also disclosed that its use of electronic surveillance and search warrants in national security investigations jumped 15% in 2005. The report includes the first look at the use of what are known as national security letters, which let the FBI obtain phone logs, Internet traffic records, and bank and credit information about individuals without a court order. The Bush administration had fought the release of the information on grounds that it could imperil national security. But Congress ordered the release when it reauthorized portions of the Patriot Act this year. According to the new report, the FBI issued 9,254 national security letters in 2005, covering 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal foreign residents. The Justice Department said the data did not include what probably were thousands of additional letters issued to obtain more limited information about some individuals — such as a home address — or letters that were issued about targets who were in the U.S. illegally. The original Patriot Act, enacted weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, made it easier for the FBI to issue the letters, and for the first time permitted agents based outside Washington to issue the letters. "These used to be fairly difficult to obtain, and now the authorities have been delegated very widely," said Michael Woods, former head of the FBI national-security law unit. "I think [the report] primarily shows that they are a lot easier to get." The Justice Department report also included an annual update on the number of warrants that the department had obtained through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret federal court for intelligence and terrorism investigations. Applications for electronic surveillance and physical search warrants — which almost always are approved by the court — rose to 2,074 in 2005, compared with 1,758 in 2004. Last year's total was more than double the number sought in 2000. That court is the tribunal that the Bush administration has been bypassing in a warrantless domestic surveillance program since shortly after Sept. 11....
Bush challenges hundreds of laws
President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional. Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power. But with the disclosure of Bush's domestic spying program, in which he ignored a law requiring warrants to tap the phones of Americans, many legal specialists say Bush is hardly reluctant to bypass laws he believes he has the constitutional authority to override. Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work. Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ''signing statements" -- official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register. In his signing statements, Bush has repeatedly asserted that the Constitution gives him the right to ignore numerous sections of the bills -- sometimes including provisions that were the subject of negotiations with Congress in order to get lawmakers to pass the bill. He has appended such statements to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed....
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
Alliance Against Reservation Shopping
PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604
(360) 687-3087 – Fax: (360) 687-2973
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003 landrightsnet@yahoo.com -- 202-489-4893
Henry Paulson: Raiding the U.S. Treasury???
DANGER!!!
The United States Treasury Department may be taken over by The Nature Conservancy’s Chairman, Mr. Henry Paulson!!!
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the world’s most powerful and scandal-plagued environmental group, with assets of more than FOUR BILLION DOLLARS and annual income of EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, may reach its paws DIRECTLY into your pocketbook!!!
YOU HEARD RIGHT!!!
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the world’s most profitable "non-profit" corporation, may gain massive new EXPANDED ACCESS into United States Government taxpayer funds. This means more grant money, behind-closed-door tax breaks only an accounting expert could figure out, and special land sale "flips" to turn a quick profit for the "non-profit" TNC - all at taxpayer expense.
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???
The current Treasury Secretary, John Snow, is expected to leave office within the next couple of months. President Bush will name a new nominee to take Snow’s place. TNC Chairman Henry Paulson has been promoting himself for several months now to be Snow’s replacement.
WHO IS HENRY PAULSON?
What does Henry Paulson do for a living when he is not acting as Chairman of TNC’s Worldwide Board of Governors, defending TNC’s insider trading deals among its board and big contributors?
Paulson is Chief Executive Officer of the giant Wall Street financial conglomerate Goldman Sachs Corporation. His personal worth is several hundred million dollars.
AND:
Paulson was a fundraising "Pioneer" for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, meaning he raised more than $100,000 for the Bush re-election campaign.
AND:
Paulson has friends in very high places. President Bush’s new White House Chief of Staff, Josh Bolton, worked at Goldman Sachs with Paulson for many years.
Due to his big money and high level connections, Paulson is a VERY SERIOUS CONTENDER to become Treasury Secretary. This will place the land grabbing, tax money mooching Nature Conservancy right at the center of where it wants to be - the Treasury Department - WHERE THE MONEY IS!!!
Paulson wants the job. He has been campaigning for it since the 2004 election, and now events are finally coming to a head. Not campaigning like you and me, going door to door or stuffing envelopes. CEOs don’t like to get their fingernails dirty, and have a different way of campaigning. Paulson has had articles favorable to him placed in Fortune Magazine, CNNMoney.com, the Wall Street Journal, and most recently the New York Times.
That’s right. The notoriously leftwing, extreme environmentalist New York Times editorial board wrote an editorial praising Henry Paulson just two weeks ago. They claim he has a "sense of moral purpose" and "could be a true economic steward." Do you want a Treasury Secretary who has been endorsed by the leftwing NEW YORK TIMES???
Think about it! Do you want the land grabbing Nature Conservancy to have its Chairman in President’s Bush’s cabinet? Do you want a "Republican" who is so leftwing on environmental issues that he is supported by the New York Times as Treasury Secretary?
ACTION ITEMS:
Tell President Bush, Vice President Cheney and your two Senators what you think!
Here are the e-mails, phone and fax for President Bush and Vice President Cheney:
Your statements DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
No, the President and VP will not personally read your email - at least it is very, very unlikely. However, their staff does read them, and they see what people have on their minds, and then many comments and emails are taken to the top levels, and some to the President and VP.
Tell the President, VP and your Senators that The Nature Conservancy has enough power, it does not need any more. Henry Paulson is NOT a good choice for Treasury Secretary because he will open up the Treasury to millions more in taxpayer handouts and land grab opportunities to The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy already has FOUR BILLION dollars in assets, they can save the world with their own funds, not the American taxpayers.
comments@whitehouse.gov
vice_president@whitehouse.gov
Phone 202-456-1111
Fax 202-456-2461
Please also contact both of your United States Senators, since whoever the nominee is, he must be confirmed by the Senate. Any Senator may be called at (202) 224-3121.
American Land Rights Association
Alliance Against Reservation Shopping
PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604
(360) 687-3087 – Fax: (360) 687-2973
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003 landrightsnet@yahoo.com -- 202-489-4893
Henry Paulson: Raiding the U.S. Treasury???
DANGER!!!
The United States Treasury Department may be taken over by The Nature Conservancy’s Chairman, Mr. Henry Paulson!!!
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the world’s most powerful and scandal-plagued environmental group, with assets of more than FOUR BILLION DOLLARS and annual income of EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, may reach its paws DIRECTLY into your pocketbook!!!
YOU HEARD RIGHT!!!
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the world’s most profitable "non-profit" corporation, may gain massive new EXPANDED ACCESS into United States Government taxpayer funds. This means more grant money, behind-closed-door tax breaks only an accounting expert could figure out, and special land sale "flips" to turn a quick profit for the "non-profit" TNC - all at taxpayer expense.
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???
The current Treasury Secretary, John Snow, is expected to leave office within the next couple of months. President Bush will name a new nominee to take Snow’s place. TNC Chairman Henry Paulson has been promoting himself for several months now to be Snow’s replacement.
WHO IS HENRY PAULSON?
What does Henry Paulson do for a living when he is not acting as Chairman of TNC’s Worldwide Board of Governors, defending TNC’s insider trading deals among its board and big contributors?
Paulson is Chief Executive Officer of the giant Wall Street financial conglomerate Goldman Sachs Corporation. His personal worth is several hundred million dollars.
AND:
Paulson was a fundraising "Pioneer" for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, meaning he raised more than $100,000 for the Bush re-election campaign.
AND:
Paulson has friends in very high places. President Bush’s new White House Chief of Staff, Josh Bolton, worked at Goldman Sachs with Paulson for many years.
Due to his big money and high level connections, Paulson is a VERY SERIOUS CONTENDER to become Treasury Secretary. This will place the land grabbing, tax money mooching Nature Conservancy right at the center of where it wants to be - the Treasury Department - WHERE THE MONEY IS!!!
Paulson wants the job. He has been campaigning for it since the 2004 election, and now events are finally coming to a head. Not campaigning like you and me, going door to door or stuffing envelopes. CEOs don’t like to get their fingernails dirty, and have a different way of campaigning. Paulson has had articles favorable to him placed in Fortune Magazine, CNNMoney.com, the Wall Street Journal, and most recently the New York Times.
That’s right. The notoriously leftwing, extreme environmentalist New York Times editorial board wrote an editorial praising Henry Paulson just two weeks ago. They claim he has a "sense of moral purpose" and "could be a true economic steward." Do you want a Treasury Secretary who has been endorsed by the leftwing NEW YORK TIMES???
Think about it! Do you want the land grabbing Nature Conservancy to have its Chairman in President’s Bush’s cabinet? Do you want a "Republican" who is so leftwing on environmental issues that he is supported by the New York Times as Treasury Secretary?
ACTION ITEMS:
Tell President Bush, Vice President Cheney and your two Senators what you think!
Here are the e-mails, phone and fax for President Bush and Vice President Cheney:
Your statements DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
No, the President and VP will not personally read your email - at least it is very, very unlikely. However, their staff does read them, and they see what people have on their minds, and then many comments and emails are taken to the top levels, and some to the President and VP.
Tell the President, VP and your Senators that The Nature Conservancy has enough power, it does not need any more. Henry Paulson is NOT a good choice for Treasury Secretary because he will open up the Treasury to millions more in taxpayer handouts and land grab opportunities to The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy already has FOUR BILLION dollars in assets, they can save the world with their own funds, not the American taxpayers.
comments@whitehouse.gov
vice_president@whitehouse.gov
Phone 202-456-1111
Fax 202-456-2461
Please also contact both of your United States Senators, since whoever the nominee is, he must be confirmed by the Senate. Any Senator may be called at (202) 224-3121.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Mountain lion attacks animals near Silt Residents in the Silt area say a mountain lion has been attacking their farm animals, but some of them differ on what should be done about it. Sheep rancher James Bair said he'd like the Colorado Division of Wildlife to kill the cat that killed at least two of his sheep up First Street several weeks ago. There was also a report of a lion sighting on the bike path at the Eagle View Subdivision about six weeks ago, Silt Police Chief Paul Taylor said. Bair said he continues to hear of sightings and thinks one is still in the area. "If nobody has killed him he's still around," Bair said. The same lion may have killed a chicken in a subdivision north of Silt about a week ago and attacked an old horse. Heather Tharp, who lives on Panoramic Drive, said a neighbor saw a lion attack a chicken in the middle of the afternoon....
Jaguar sighted this year during N.M. hunt trip At first, when the mountain lion hunters in the hills of Southwest New Mexico saw that one of their dogs had its throat cut, they thought the attacker was a javelina, protecting its young. Instead, it turned out to be a jaguar, the third recent confirmed in-person sighting of the big cat in the Southwestern United States. This one occurred in the "Boot Heel" country of the Animas Mountains about 15 miles east of the Arizona border and a mile and a half north of the Mexican border. The man who spotted and photographed this jaguar on Feb. 20 was Warner Glenn, a Douglas-area rancher and lion hunter who made the first recent confirmed U.S. jaguar sighting in March 1996. Glenn saw the jaguar under a tree at the bottom of a hillside while chasing one of his dogs. The dog had gotten away from the rancher's lion-hunting party of seven people, including his daughter Kelly Kimbro. It took me five minutes to ride down there, to get down the mountain," Glenn recalled last week in an interview. "It was pretty rough. I got to the bottom where the dogs were baying the jaguar, who was backed up under a cedar tree. At that point, I told them on the radio to get down there and help me. He had bitten three of the dogs."...
Bear traps removed from area near attack in Tennessee Wildlife officers removed the last trap from the recreation area where a 6-year-old Ohio girl was killed and her mother and brother were seriously hurt in a bear attack last month, officials said Monday. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said it hasn't found any more bear activity in the campground in the Cherokee National Forest where the attack took place. Officers set traps around a swimming hole where Elora Petrasek of Clyde, Ohio, was playing April 13 before she was mauled by a black bear and her mother, Susan Cenkus, 45, and 2-year-old brother Luke Cenkus were seriously injured. Luke Cenkus underwent surgery and has been released from Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. Susan Cenkus was recovering in stable and improving condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. The U.S. Forest Service has indefinitely closed the campground and recreation area and several roads and trails in the vicinity, the wildlife agency said. The area is expected to remain closed until a forensic analysis on a previously trapped bear is completed and all baiting smells that could attract other bears are gone....
Anti-wolf initiative may not make the ballot Shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline Monday, Ron Gillett rushed from county to county submitting signatures for his anti-wolf initiative. "It's just been overwhelming -- the support for this," Gillett said. But, the support may not be enough to get Gillett's initiative on the November ballot. For more than a decade, Gillett has been an outspoken opponent of the 1995 reintroduction of gray wolves in Idaho. This year, the Stanley outfitter's Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition wanted to have voters decide whether the federal government should remove wolves from the state. Monday afternoon, Gillett's group didn't appear to have the required 47,881 signatures from registered voters necessary to get their initiative on the ballot....
Landowner's Coalition Demands Repeal of ESA "Fed up" landowners have said "enough" to feeble efforts by Congress to "fix" the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That's why a coalition of property rights groups, led by the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range, the American Policy Center, Liberty Matters, and the PFUSA Grange have now gathered more than 6,300 signatures to a letter calling for repeal of the ESA. The letter is being delivered to Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. His committee will soon consider legislation to "update" and "improve" the ESA. The House has already passed the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA). The Senate is considering a bill sponsored by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) called the Collaboration and Recovery of Endangered Species Act (CRESA). While the House version makes at least a weak attempt to compensate landowners when the ESA is invoked, the Senate version offers nothing for them. Both bills confirm the worst fears of landowners about how serious Congress is to actually addressing the real problems of the ESA. In part, the letter says, "Congress needs to revisit the wisdom of the Founding Fathers who believed the ownership of property must be secured from government intervention for liberty to exist. Take that security away through environmental laws like the ESA, and not only is liberty not secure, it no longer exists. You have only to look at the past 30 years since the enactment of the ESA to see what it has produced - the dramatic destruction of property rights and the failure to recover species."....Go here to read the letter.
Wyoming Plans Another Ferret Release Encouraged by the successful reintroduction of black-footed ferrets into central Wyoming's Shirley Basin, state wildlife managers plan to release more ferrets into the same area. Martin Grenier, a nongame mammal biologist with the state Game and Fish Department, told Game and Fish commissioners last week that the agency plans to release 40 more black-footed ferrets in the north and south ends of Shirley Basin, mostly likely in October. Grenier said releasing more black-footed ferrets close to the established population in the basin should help ensure the long-term stability of the species and bring new blood into the population. "This also provides some additional security against (possible disease) outbreaks" in the basin population, he said. The black-footed ferret was officially listed as an endangered species in 1967. Biologists feared the species was extinct before the discovery of a colony on a ranch near Meeteetse in 1981....
FS plans don’t support ski resort The U.S. Forest Service on Monday released revised plans for managing the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests that agency officials say do not support a proposed ski resort on state and private land. The developer of that planned resort, Tom Maclay, said he was disappointed, but not surprised by the agency’s draft plans. ‘‘There are communities moving aggressively to embrace the healthy fun and tourism revenue that come with developed recreation. We hope Missoula will too,’’ he said in a written statement. Bitterroot Resort submitted a revised request to the Bitterroot National Forest last month for a special permit to develop 1,780 acres into alpine ski runs on Lolo Peak. The resort’s original proposal, which called for developing about 11,000 acres including a portion of a research natural area, was turned down by both the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests last year. The newest proposal removed development in the natural area and focused development on the Bitterroot National Forest side....
Power, water - and money Denver has built itself into a corner, a very dry corner. Denver needs water, especially during drought years. One very attractive source is the Shoshone hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Springs. Xcel Energy acquired the Shoshone power plant through a series of mergers in the 1990s. The plant is valuable, not only because it has produced clean, sustainable electricity for nearly a century, but because it comes with the most senior water right on the Colorado River -1902. Denver covets that senior water right for a transmountain diversion to the Eastern Slope, which Xcel is willing to enable by reducing Shoshone's water use at certain times. This means curtailing energy production at the power plant, which is a worthwhile tradeoff since the company derives more income from the transfer of water than on what it loses in hydropower generation. The impact of that seemingly sound business decision is felt downstream on the Colorado River and also upstream in the Roaring Fork and Crystal valleys. When Denver takes water from Shoshone, it also takes from all water users down the line who depend on the river for municipal, agricultural, environmental and recreational uses. Shoshone's senior rights could trump junior water rights if calls are made in low-water years....
State's major packing plants closed by immigration rallies All five of Kansas' major beef packers were closed today to allow workers to participate in rallies on immigration reform. Kansas is the nation's second-largest producer of red meat and hides, and packing plants employ a heavily immigrant workforce. More than 12,000 people work in beef packing in Kansas at Tyson packing plants at Emporia and Holcomb; at National Beef in Liberal; at Cargill in Dodge City, and at Creekstone Farms in Arkansas City. Major packers across the country gave employees the day off today, creating a back-up of cattle in feedlots because no cattle were marketed. "We're already looking at a building oversupply that will drive down prices," said Jim Reeves, a Butler County rancher. "This really isn't what the market needs." At the same time, he said, he understands why major packers would close down. "I've worked the kill floor in both beef and pork plants," Reeves said. "You really can't do the job unless most of the workers are there."
Life is a grand ride for this trick roper As a child, Nolan Leach watched famed trick roper Kevin Fitzpatrick's San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo performance in amazement. As a young man, Leach could give Fitzpatrick a run for his money. "I always wondered what kept the rope open like that," Leach said. "So I started messing around on the ranch." That was seven years ago. Today, the 18-year-old performs a trick roping and bullwhip act at rodeos, halftime shows and other events around the world, including the Stockholm International Horse Show. Leach, who grew up on a small family ranch in New Braunfels, started performing publicly at 12 and has been refining his skills and show with his mustang Bravo since then....
It's All Trew: Great Depression brought many programs Imagine if you will, the following scenario. The stock market crashed, sending the economy into a tailspin. Banks are closing right and left and 40 percent of the people are part-time employed or unemployed. Black clouds of dust arrive daily from The Dust Bowl and there seems to be no relief in sight from any direction. Many are saying the end is coming and all should make preparations. This scene was exactly what newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited when he took office in 1932. In order to provide relief and sustenance to those suffering, he initiated many programs, which were promptly named “The New Deal.” Reams of information have been written about these programs, some extremely successful, others not so successful. That period of time became known as the greatest environmental disaster in American history, resulting in the largest migration ever to occur in America, and marked a complete turnaround in governmental thinking about financial and economic planning....
Mountain lion attacks animals near Silt Residents in the Silt area say a mountain lion has been attacking their farm animals, but some of them differ on what should be done about it. Sheep rancher James Bair said he'd like the Colorado Division of Wildlife to kill the cat that killed at least two of his sheep up First Street several weeks ago. There was also a report of a lion sighting on the bike path at the Eagle View Subdivision about six weeks ago, Silt Police Chief Paul Taylor said. Bair said he continues to hear of sightings and thinks one is still in the area. "If nobody has killed him he's still around," Bair said. The same lion may have killed a chicken in a subdivision north of Silt about a week ago and attacked an old horse. Heather Tharp, who lives on Panoramic Drive, said a neighbor saw a lion attack a chicken in the middle of the afternoon....
Jaguar sighted this year during N.M. hunt trip At first, when the mountain lion hunters in the hills of Southwest New Mexico saw that one of their dogs had its throat cut, they thought the attacker was a javelina, protecting its young. Instead, it turned out to be a jaguar, the third recent confirmed in-person sighting of the big cat in the Southwestern United States. This one occurred in the "Boot Heel" country of the Animas Mountains about 15 miles east of the Arizona border and a mile and a half north of the Mexican border. The man who spotted and photographed this jaguar on Feb. 20 was Warner Glenn, a Douglas-area rancher and lion hunter who made the first recent confirmed U.S. jaguar sighting in March 1996. Glenn saw the jaguar under a tree at the bottom of a hillside while chasing one of his dogs. The dog had gotten away from the rancher's lion-hunting party of seven people, including his daughter Kelly Kimbro. It took me five minutes to ride down there, to get down the mountain," Glenn recalled last week in an interview. "It was pretty rough. I got to the bottom where the dogs were baying the jaguar, who was backed up under a cedar tree. At that point, I told them on the radio to get down there and help me. He had bitten three of the dogs."...
Bear traps removed from area near attack in Tennessee Wildlife officers removed the last trap from the recreation area where a 6-year-old Ohio girl was killed and her mother and brother were seriously hurt in a bear attack last month, officials said Monday. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said it hasn't found any more bear activity in the campground in the Cherokee National Forest where the attack took place. Officers set traps around a swimming hole where Elora Petrasek of Clyde, Ohio, was playing April 13 before she was mauled by a black bear and her mother, Susan Cenkus, 45, and 2-year-old brother Luke Cenkus were seriously injured. Luke Cenkus underwent surgery and has been released from Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. Susan Cenkus was recovering in stable and improving condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. The U.S. Forest Service has indefinitely closed the campground and recreation area and several roads and trails in the vicinity, the wildlife agency said. The area is expected to remain closed until a forensic analysis on a previously trapped bear is completed and all baiting smells that could attract other bears are gone....
Anti-wolf initiative may not make the ballot Shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline Monday, Ron Gillett rushed from county to county submitting signatures for his anti-wolf initiative. "It's just been overwhelming -- the support for this," Gillett said. But, the support may not be enough to get Gillett's initiative on the November ballot. For more than a decade, Gillett has been an outspoken opponent of the 1995 reintroduction of gray wolves in Idaho. This year, the Stanley outfitter's Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition wanted to have voters decide whether the federal government should remove wolves from the state. Monday afternoon, Gillett's group didn't appear to have the required 47,881 signatures from registered voters necessary to get their initiative on the ballot....
Landowner's Coalition Demands Repeal of ESA "Fed up" landowners have said "enough" to feeble efforts by Congress to "fix" the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That's why a coalition of property rights groups, led by the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range, the American Policy Center, Liberty Matters, and the PFUSA Grange have now gathered more than 6,300 signatures to a letter calling for repeal of the ESA. The letter is being delivered to Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. His committee will soon consider legislation to "update" and "improve" the ESA. The House has already passed the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA). The Senate is considering a bill sponsored by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) called the Collaboration and Recovery of Endangered Species Act (CRESA). While the House version makes at least a weak attempt to compensate landowners when the ESA is invoked, the Senate version offers nothing for them. Both bills confirm the worst fears of landowners about how serious Congress is to actually addressing the real problems of the ESA. In part, the letter says, "Congress needs to revisit the wisdom of the Founding Fathers who believed the ownership of property must be secured from government intervention for liberty to exist. Take that security away through environmental laws like the ESA, and not only is liberty not secure, it no longer exists. You have only to look at the past 30 years since the enactment of the ESA to see what it has produced - the dramatic destruction of property rights and the failure to recover species."....Go here to read the letter.
Wyoming Plans Another Ferret Release Encouraged by the successful reintroduction of black-footed ferrets into central Wyoming's Shirley Basin, state wildlife managers plan to release more ferrets into the same area. Martin Grenier, a nongame mammal biologist with the state Game and Fish Department, told Game and Fish commissioners last week that the agency plans to release 40 more black-footed ferrets in the north and south ends of Shirley Basin, mostly likely in October. Grenier said releasing more black-footed ferrets close to the established population in the basin should help ensure the long-term stability of the species and bring new blood into the population. "This also provides some additional security against (possible disease) outbreaks" in the basin population, he said. The black-footed ferret was officially listed as an endangered species in 1967. Biologists feared the species was extinct before the discovery of a colony on a ranch near Meeteetse in 1981....
FS plans don’t support ski resort The U.S. Forest Service on Monday released revised plans for managing the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests that agency officials say do not support a proposed ski resort on state and private land. The developer of that planned resort, Tom Maclay, said he was disappointed, but not surprised by the agency’s draft plans. ‘‘There are communities moving aggressively to embrace the healthy fun and tourism revenue that come with developed recreation. We hope Missoula will too,’’ he said in a written statement. Bitterroot Resort submitted a revised request to the Bitterroot National Forest last month for a special permit to develop 1,780 acres into alpine ski runs on Lolo Peak. The resort’s original proposal, which called for developing about 11,000 acres including a portion of a research natural area, was turned down by both the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests last year. The newest proposal removed development in the natural area and focused development on the Bitterroot National Forest side....
Power, water - and money Denver has built itself into a corner, a very dry corner. Denver needs water, especially during drought years. One very attractive source is the Shoshone hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Springs. Xcel Energy acquired the Shoshone power plant through a series of mergers in the 1990s. The plant is valuable, not only because it has produced clean, sustainable electricity for nearly a century, but because it comes with the most senior water right on the Colorado River -1902. Denver covets that senior water right for a transmountain diversion to the Eastern Slope, which Xcel is willing to enable by reducing Shoshone's water use at certain times. This means curtailing energy production at the power plant, which is a worthwhile tradeoff since the company derives more income from the transfer of water than on what it loses in hydropower generation. The impact of that seemingly sound business decision is felt downstream on the Colorado River and also upstream in the Roaring Fork and Crystal valleys. When Denver takes water from Shoshone, it also takes from all water users down the line who depend on the river for municipal, agricultural, environmental and recreational uses. Shoshone's senior rights could trump junior water rights if calls are made in low-water years....
State's major packing plants closed by immigration rallies All five of Kansas' major beef packers were closed today to allow workers to participate in rallies on immigration reform. Kansas is the nation's second-largest producer of red meat and hides, and packing plants employ a heavily immigrant workforce. More than 12,000 people work in beef packing in Kansas at Tyson packing plants at Emporia and Holcomb; at National Beef in Liberal; at Cargill in Dodge City, and at Creekstone Farms in Arkansas City. Major packers across the country gave employees the day off today, creating a back-up of cattle in feedlots because no cattle were marketed. "We're already looking at a building oversupply that will drive down prices," said Jim Reeves, a Butler County rancher. "This really isn't what the market needs." At the same time, he said, he understands why major packers would close down. "I've worked the kill floor in both beef and pork plants," Reeves said. "You really can't do the job unless most of the workers are there."
Life is a grand ride for this trick roper As a child, Nolan Leach watched famed trick roper Kevin Fitzpatrick's San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo performance in amazement. As a young man, Leach could give Fitzpatrick a run for his money. "I always wondered what kept the rope open like that," Leach said. "So I started messing around on the ranch." That was seven years ago. Today, the 18-year-old performs a trick roping and bullwhip act at rodeos, halftime shows and other events around the world, including the Stockholm International Horse Show. Leach, who grew up on a small family ranch in New Braunfels, started performing publicly at 12 and has been refining his skills and show with his mustang Bravo since then....
It's All Trew: Great Depression brought many programs Imagine if you will, the following scenario. The stock market crashed, sending the economy into a tailspin. Banks are closing right and left and 40 percent of the people are part-time employed or unemployed. Black clouds of dust arrive daily from The Dust Bowl and there seems to be no relief in sight from any direction. Many are saying the end is coming and all should make preparations. This scene was exactly what newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited when he took office in 1932. In order to provide relief and sustenance to those suffering, he initiated many programs, which were promptly named “The New Deal.” Reams of information have been written about these programs, some extremely successful, others not so successful. That period of time became known as the greatest environmental disaster in American history, resulting in the largest migration ever to occur in America, and marked a complete turnaround in governmental thinking about financial and economic planning....
Monday, May 01, 2006
Jaguar Conservation Team Meeting - April 27th & 28th - Update
First, we would like to thank everyone that was able to attend the Jaguar Conservation Team meeting last Thursday and Friday in Lordsburg, NM. Your support was greatly appreciated and we have some good news to report.
A coalition of NM Soil and Water Conservation District representatives showed up to express their concerns with the mapping/conservation effort and asked that they be allowed to become signators on the Memorandum of Agreement. After a very long discussion with Terry Johnson, Chairman of the Jaguar Conservation Team, it was voted by the signators at the meeting to allow the NRCD's to become members.
Later in the meeting, another vote was taken that limited the priority conservation area for jaguar to Hidalgo County, NM., and Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona.
Our next task will be to send in comments on the new conservation framework - so your involvement is critical!!
If you have not signed up for the jaguar update list on the Arizona Game and Fish Department's website, we would encourage you to do so. To receive electronic updates, including the public notices of upcoming JAGCT meetings, visit the JAGCT’s webpage at: http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/es/jaguar_management.shtml. You can also download the new Jaguar Conservation Framework (on the right side of the website under downloads) from this website. To subscribe to the Endangered Species Update listserver go to: http://www.azgfd.gov/signup .
If you see anything that needs to be amended in the Framework, let us know. We will be developing a set of talking points to help everyone with comments. It is critical written comments be submitted by May 19th.
There will also be public meetings in Tucson, Arizona and Lordsburg, New Mexico, simultaneously, to receive comments on the Jaguar Framework - May 19th. Be sure and have your comments in writing if you wait for the meetings. Notice with times and places will be coming via the Endangered Species Update listserver so be sure and sign on to it.
Following the comment period, the Framework will be amended and presented to the full Jaguar Conservation Team in Douglas, Arizona - June 29th. It will be very important to have a representative with a proxy from your county or NRCD at the Douglas meeting.
It is our goal to keep the new jaguar conservation framework/strategy achievable by developing realistic measures that will conserve any jaguars wandering into the area. At the same time, we hope to avoid any enforcement mechanisms in the final Conservation Strategy that might create an economic hardship on the individuals and counties within the priority areas.
If you agree, please lend us a hand. Counties and Conservation Districts may request involvement on the Jaguar Conservation Team by asking for signator status on the Memorandum of Agreement by writing Terry Johnson, Chief of Non-Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ., 85023.
Now that voting powers have been restored to this process, we believe we can get a Conservation Agreement/Strategy that will be more realistic and achievable than what has been proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the other non-governmental organizations (ngos).
Although we were able to restrict the conservation area to four counties, we encourage everyone to stay involved in this process until all the issues have been resolved. The organizations that are promoting jaguar conservation in its "historical range" (about 2/3rds of New Mexico and 2/3rds of Arizona) were not pleased by the voting results. Based on prior history they will be hoping we become complacent. They will, however, show up in force at the Douglas meeting and will be sending in their comments by the hundreds.
We're sure you agree, we are all in favor of conserving and protecting jaguars that might wander into the U.S. from Mexico. However, these protection measures must be achievable and developed in a manner that does not create unnecessary restrictions or an economic hardship on the individuals and counties in Arizona and New Mexico.
Again, thanks to everyone that attended the meeting. We look forward to your continued support. Mark May19th and June 29th on your calendars!
Judy Keeler and Sue Krentz
Jaguar Working Group Members
First, we would like to thank everyone that was able to attend the Jaguar Conservation Team meeting last Thursday and Friday in Lordsburg, NM. Your support was greatly appreciated and we have some good news to report.
A coalition of NM Soil and Water Conservation District representatives showed up to express their concerns with the mapping/conservation effort and asked that they be allowed to become signators on the Memorandum of Agreement. After a very long discussion with Terry Johnson, Chairman of the Jaguar Conservation Team, it was voted by the signators at the meeting to allow the NRCD's to become members.
Later in the meeting, another vote was taken that limited the priority conservation area for jaguar to Hidalgo County, NM., and Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona.
Our next task will be to send in comments on the new conservation framework - so your involvement is critical!!
If you have not signed up for the jaguar update list on the Arizona Game and Fish Department's website, we would encourage you to do so. To receive electronic updates, including the public notices of upcoming JAGCT meetings, visit the JAGCT’s webpage at: http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/es/jaguar_management.shtml. You can also download the new Jaguar Conservation Framework (on the right side of the website under downloads) from this website. To subscribe to the Endangered Species Update listserver go to: http://www.azgfd.gov/signup .
If you see anything that needs to be amended in the Framework, let us know. We will be developing a set of talking points to help everyone with comments. It is critical written comments be submitted by May 19th.
There will also be public meetings in Tucson, Arizona and Lordsburg, New Mexico, simultaneously, to receive comments on the Jaguar Framework - May 19th. Be sure and have your comments in writing if you wait for the meetings. Notice with times and places will be coming via the Endangered Species Update listserver so be sure and sign on to it.
Following the comment period, the Framework will be amended and presented to the full Jaguar Conservation Team in Douglas, Arizona - June 29th. It will be very important to have a representative with a proxy from your county or NRCD at the Douglas meeting.
It is our goal to keep the new jaguar conservation framework/strategy achievable by developing realistic measures that will conserve any jaguars wandering into the area. At the same time, we hope to avoid any enforcement mechanisms in the final Conservation Strategy that might create an economic hardship on the individuals and counties within the priority areas.
If you agree, please lend us a hand. Counties and Conservation Districts may request involvement on the Jaguar Conservation Team by asking for signator status on the Memorandum of Agreement by writing Terry Johnson, Chief of Non-Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ., 85023.
Now that voting powers have been restored to this process, we believe we can get a Conservation Agreement/Strategy that will be more realistic and achievable than what has been proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the other non-governmental organizations (ngos).
Although we were able to restrict the conservation area to four counties, we encourage everyone to stay involved in this process until all the issues have been resolved. The organizations that are promoting jaguar conservation in its "historical range" (about 2/3rds of New Mexico and 2/3rds of Arizona) were not pleased by the voting results. Based on prior history they will be hoping we become complacent. They will, however, show up in force at the Douglas meeting and will be sending in their comments by the hundreds.
We're sure you agree, we are all in favor of conserving and protecting jaguars that might wander into the U.S. from Mexico. However, these protection measures must be achievable and developed in a manner that does not create unnecessary restrictions or an economic hardship on the individuals and counties in Arizona and New Mexico.
Again, thanks to everyone that attended the meeting. We look forward to your continued support. Mark May19th and June 29th on your calendars!
Judy Keeler and Sue Krentz
Jaguar Working Group Members
NEWS ROUNDUP
Federal Land Management Agencies Release Joint Strategy For Reducing Fuels On Land At Risk To Catastrophic Wildfire The U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture today released a new joint strategy for addressing hazardous fuels to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires on more than 180 million acres of public forests, woodlands and rangelands. Many of today's forests have unprecedented levels of flammable materials, including underbrush, needles and leaves. Trees in tightly-packed forests are also smaller, weaker, and more susceptible to insects and diseases. These forests form huge reservoirs of fuel awaiting ignition, and pose an even more significant threat when drought is a factor. Removing hazardous fuels, either through prescribed burning or mechanical treatments, make them unavailable for fire's inevitable appearance. For example, firefighters were able to contain this year's February wildfire in Arizona because it burned into an area that had been treated to reduce hazardous fuels. The 60-page report, Protecting People and Natural Resources: A Cohesive Fuels Treatment Strategy ( www.fireplan.gov), outlines a coordinated approach to fuels treatment adopted by the five major federal land management agencies: DOI's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service; and USDA's Forest Service....
Falls Creek case not an isolated one The issue over access at Falls Creek is being replicated at private forest inholdings throughout the West, and is likely to continue as long as homeowners seek isolated lots, officials say. More and more frequently, homeowners moving into the forest expect access to their home or subdivision through a Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management road, said Ann Bond, public affairs officer with the San Juan National Forest. But unpaved Forest Service roads that now lead to private properties were not built for heavy traffic or winter snowplowing, she said, and it is not appropriate for federal land agencies to use taxpayer dollars to provide access to private property. Cindy Hockelberg, lands forester with the Columbine Ranger District, said the Forest Service is increasing efforts to educate prospective homeowners on the realities of living in remote areas....
Editorial: Finally, a habitat even a frog can live with WE may never know how much wood a woodchuck can chuck, but we do know that the red-legged frog will be making do with far less critical habitat in California. But that may not be such a bad thing. At one point during a 10-year bureaucratic and legal battle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated more than 4.1 million acres as critical habitat for the frogs. That 2001 fabrication would have created a barrier to further development in almost all of the greater Bay Area. But this month, Fish and Wildlife decided to impose restrictions on 450,000 acres in 20 counties that biologists consider critical to the frogs' survival and recovery. The restrictions take place only when public money is being spent on a project and if an Army Corps of Engineers permit is required. The restrictions also mean Fish and Wildlife will work cooperatively — rather than adversarially — with ranchers and landowners to help preserve habitat in private hands rather than imposing sanctions. Without addressing the particulars of where the frogs dwell and what areas are most vital for their survival, this designation seems much better than those that went before, especially the one in 2001....
Wildlife group steps up to safeguard pygmy owlThe cactus ferruginous pygmy owl is on the verge of losing its status as an endangered species. The removal from the endangered species list is scheduled to take place May 15, unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision is overruled in court. Fewer than 20 of the tiny owls are known to live in Arizona, most of them in an area northwest of Tucson. The delisting decision followed a lawsuit by the home-building industry that wants to develop the area. Jamie Rappaport Clark, a vice president with the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife who visited Arizona last week, said the battle is not over. Clark, former head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, says Defenders and other groups have taken the next step in challenging the decision....
Citing oil, gas lease sales, environmental groups sue BLM Three environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management, claiming an oil and gas lease sale in 2004 violated federal protections. The action was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, based in Salt Lake City; Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York; and The Wilderness Society, based in Washington, D.C. Defendants are the Interior Department, the BLM and acting Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett. It challenges the leasing of 28 parcels among 219 leased at the time. The 28, largely in eastern Utah, amount to 35,000 acres. The environmentalists argue, ''In its hurry to lease public lands, the BLM has ignored important environmental and cultural laws requiring it to 'look before it leaps,' and to fully evaluate, analyze and disclose the impacts'' of leasing and development. The 28 leases were issued in September 2004 ''without adequate environmental analysis, without cultural review and consultation, and without appropriate protective lease applications.'' Between 1996 and 1999, the BLM compiled new information and concluded that many of these sites possess wilderness characteristics, meaning they were in natural condition with little or no evidence of the presence of man, and offered ''outstanding opportunities for solitude and for primitive and unconfined recreation'' in the terms of the Wilderness Act....
Drilling for gas threatens popular Fruita bike trails Cyclists who make regular pilgrimages from the Roaring Fork Valley to Fruita's popular mountain bike trails might be in a for a surprise in the near future. Fruita's diverse network of singletrack trails offer everything from gentle, rolling hills to steep plunges that make even the most grizzled veterans pucker up. But riders of all levels could get more than they bargained for if hazards like drilling rigs and flare pits pop up in the North Fruita Desert. The potential exists because the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will offer gas leases on thousands of acres of federal land north of Grand Junction and Fruita in a May 11 auction. The revelation of the gas lease sale in early April sparked disbelief and "outrage" among cycling clubs, according to Chris Herrman, president of the Grand Junction-based Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association. The group builds trails and works on cycling issues, often with the BLM. Herrman said the gas drilling threat is difficult to understand because the BLM recently concluded a four-year planning process which dedicated a portion of the North Fruita Desert to mountain biking....
Working in the wilderness Sales of public lands and restricted access to it is becoming more frequent, but one organization is working hard at keeping wilderness trails open and preserving and protecting America's back country. The Middle Rio Grande Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen Association was founded in 1997 by members of the Pecos chapter. There are seven active chapters across the state that are dedicated to preserving the back country wilderness. In New Mexico alone, there are more than 200 chapter members and 16,000-plus members nationwide. The Back Country Horsemen work with the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and other agencies that work towards maintaining the trails on government lands, while at the same time enjoying the natural beauty of the land....
Anti-nuclear-waste rallies held in state Capitol and cyberspace Two rallies - one in a state office building and another in cyberspace - gathered together largely left-leaning environmentalists and largely right-leaning politicians Friday against nuclear-waste storage in Utah's Skull Valley. Nancy Marshall of Murray, holding a lunchtime sandwich in a state Capitol auditorium, was one of the few ordinary Utahns who came out for the latest opposition pep talk. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch and U.S. Reps. Chris Cannon and Jim Matheson exhorted the audience of about 100 to tell the federal Bureau of Land Management why the storage site should be denied a crucial permit. And Marshall took the message to heart, snatching pre-addressed anti-waste form letters to distribute at her office and among her neighbors. “I'm just a citizen,” she said. “I do not want this nuclear waste in my state. It threatens my family, my children and their children. It threatens my neighborhood and my city.”....
New national park fees stun wildlife documentary filmmakers Wildlife photographers and documentary filmmakers say a new fee schedule for commercial filming in Yellowstone and other national parks could put them out of business. "It won't just be the filmmakers and photographers affected by this, it'll be the whole country," said Jeff Hogan, a documentary filmmaker in Jackson, Wyo., who has shot wildlife programs for National Geographic and the BBC. "People will have less exposure to these beautiful places and exciting animal behaviors," he said. "There will be less opportunity for people to learn about wildlife." The interim fees, scheduled to go into effect May 15, would charge filmmakers at least $150 per day for filming in the park. They now pay just $200 per year, plus fees for any park services or assistance they require. Bob Landis, an Emmy-winning filmmaker for his 2004 documentary "Wolf Pack," said the National Park Service probably needs to charge filmmakers more for filming than it currently does, but not as much as the new fee structure. Under the new schedule, Landis -- who said he shoots at least 300 days a year in Yellowstone -- would have to pay at least $45,000 a year....
Judge awards $4M to owners of razed tower After years of legal wrangling, a federal judge has ordered the National Park Service to pay $4 million to the owners of an observation tower that once stood near Gettysburg National Military Park. The federal government took the land by eminent domain in 2000 and demolished the steel structure as part of a campaign to restore the area to the way it looked during the Civil War. "This is a tremendous relief for me, I don't even care about the money anymore," said landowner Hans Engrenn, 77, of New Oxford. "My wife and I could have had a lot of fun with that money 10 years ago. Now, we don't even buy green bananas." U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo set the award at about $4,035,000 in a ruling in April, after an appeals court ordered her to reconsider her previous $6.6 million ruling. Government lawyers once argued the tower and its souvenir store were worth only $2.5 million....
RTI renews national park deal, pockets $2.3M RTI International has landed a five-year, $2.3 million contract extension with the U.S. National Park Service to analyze air samples for pollution in the nation's parks. Under the terms of the contract, RTI researchers will scrutinize air samples from a nationwide network of monitoring devices for chloride and for sulphur and nitrogen compounds. Those chemicals and compounds could indicate the presence of acid in the atmosphere in more than 150 U.S. national parks and wilderness areas. RTI scientists will also monitor the air for harmful ozone levels that damage vegetation and ecosystems and can trigger a variety of health problems in humans. The air monitoring project is part of the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments program, an ongoing effort to protect and enhance park resources....
Cameras spotlight water issue Removing four Klamath River dams would do the most to restore salmon populations to their traditional numbers, a California tribal official said Thursday. Leaf Hillman, vice chairman of the Karuk Tribal Council, added that fish hatcheries also have hurt salmon. Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, appeared with Hillman. The two agreed on many issues related to boosting salmon numbers on the Klamath River - a departure from more adversarial stances taken by irrigators and Native Americans in the past. Addington said the Klamath Water Users Association could support dam removal if irrigators were promised three things in return. He said farmers need a dependable supply of water each year, they need affordable electrical power to run irrigation pumps, and they need to be protected from harmful sanctions if another endangered species - salmon - was reintroduced to the Upper Klamath Basin....
Pack Animals Rescued After Slipping Off Trail Los Angeles County firefighters pulled two donkeys, a mule and a horse to safety Saturday after their pack train slid off a trail and down an 80-foot embankment the night before. Rescuers brought in a helicopter to hoist the sedated horse, which had suffered cuts and facial fractures and was too weak to walk out on its own, to a road near the Chantry Flats campground, Fire Capt. Mark Savage said. The U.S. Forest Service and a Sierra Madre search and rescue team participated in the effort. At 5 p.m. Friday, the pack train was returning from bringing supplies to 80 cabins tucked about two miles back from the road when one of the animals slipped off the trail, dragging the others with it. They were attached to one another by a rope, Savage said....
USDA Wants To Slash `Mad Cow' Surveillance Funding The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to slash spending on its controversial "mad cow" disease-surveillance program, declaring that the disease is very rare in the U.S. The USDA said Friday that the results of screening brain samples from 696,000 U.S. cattle since June 2004 show that the brain-wasting disease infects fewer than one in a million adult cattle in the U.S. Based on statistical models used by the agency, the number of infected adult cattle could range from a single animal to 24 across the entire country. The government has been spending about $1 million weekly to screen high-risk cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which can trigger a fatal neurological disease in people who eat products from infected cattle. While three infected cows have been found in the U.S. since December 2003, the human form of the disease has never been tied to the consumption of U.S. beef. In a press conference, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said "there's little justification for continuing surveillance at this level" if the USDA's calculations are confirmed by independent experts. While many consumer advocates agree that the incidence of "mad cow" disease is low in U.S. livestock, the government's calculation - and plans to scale back testing -nonetheless sparked criticism....
Genome technology heads to the table Max Rothschild has been trying to "build" a better pig for almost 30 years, since he took a job cleaning up after the hogs at his alma mater, the University of California, Davis. He's now a renowned swine scientist who has traded the dirty pigpens of his undergraduate days for a glistening Iowa State University laboratory dedicated to producing tastier chops, safer pork and healthier pigs. Rothschild is part of a national collaboration that earlier this year received a $10 million federal grant to map pig genes. Researchers from the University of Illinois-led project promise it will help take the guesswork out of breeding. The idea is to find and exploit the genetic variations of the best pigs, which Rothschild and like-minded agricultural researchers say will radically change the industry. Already, chicken and cow genomes — complete genetic maps of each species — have been published, and race horse breeders have applied to the National Human Genome Research Institute for a grant to run an equine DNA sequence. Most animal genetic sequences are now done with the support of the institute because of its expertise, and comparing animal genomes to the human genome helps with medical research....
Destructive fires can't burn Panhandle spirit The Texas Forest Service reported that there have been 11,353 wildland fires in Texas that burned an estimated 1.5 million acres so far this year. The federal government reports that, since the first of the year, there have been 32,934 wildland fires nationwide that consumed around 2.2 million acres. Texas alone can claim the dubious distinction of being home to about one-third of all the fires in the country. What's more, 71 percent of all the acres burned in the United States are in Texas. And around half of all the acres burned so far this year, nationwide, are right here in the Panhandle. Were it not for the heroic efforts of volunteer fire departments and firefighters from throughout the region and state, that figure could easily have been much higher. Estimates vary, and it will be awhile yet before we have final figures on the total loss associated with the large fires that burned recently in the Panhandle area. But most likely, cattle losses will be somewhere around 5,000 head. The estimated value of the cattle lost in the Panhandle fires is $4 million....
The Cowboy an endangered species The cowboy is one of America's most cherished and mythical figures. He symbolizes the mystique of the American west, a caricature of frontier courage, independence, and rugged masculinity. The iconical cowboy brings to mind, horses, cattle, the howl of a coyote, and wide-open spaces, the cowboy riding off into the sunset. In the west all these things are still alive and well but sadly the cowboy may be riding off into the sunset for good. Once cowboy poet and humorist Baxter Black was asked: What made you decide to become a cowboy? He replied: You either are one, or you aren't, You never have to decide. Recently the media has glamorized the West for a lot of other things besides the western culture. Our mountains and valleys have left indelible impressions on our minds from movies since the days of John Ford, but the last couple of decades magazines like Outside, Skiing, Backpacker, Flyfisherman, and Men’s Journal have romanticized western living for many of its other offerings and has fueled an influx of newcomers who often find fault with the cowboy culture they find there....
'Rattlesnake Rob' time travels to 1867 If you had the chance to travel back in time, knowing that all the luxuries you are accustomed to today wouldn't be available, would you do it? One man did. Rob Wright, a Belen High School graduate, jumped at the chance to go back 139 years, to 1867, and live as a real life cowboy on a Texas ranch. The new PBS reality show, Texas Ranch House, takes men and women from all walks of life out of the 21st century and places them on a ranch in Texas where they have to live and work as folks did shortly after the Civil War. The chosen ones were assigned a job and, for eight weeks, their goal was to run the ranch and make a profit. Wright said being able to participate in the show made for the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. "As a kid, I always dreamed of having my own ranch," he said. "Being on the show just reinforced my respect for farmers, ranchers and cowboys."....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Lebkuchens: The all-purpose snack food Every Christmas, as regular as an insulin shot, we receive one of my favorite annual gifts. Sixteen square feet of Lebkuchens. My mother-in-law manufactures these unusual cookies in her garage - or possibly in her metallurgy studio. I've never asked about the recipe or the cooking directions. I assume she uses a cement mixer, pours the sticky dough out on the driveway to dry. It thickens in the sun, then is rolled flat by the kids next door. Once it has hardened it can be lifted like a sheet of plywood and allowed to age like fine wine, silage or Chinese 1,000-year eggs. Since she has no cellar, the sheets of dough are stacked like lumber behind the shop under a blue tarp. Time goes by. It is a secret how long the dough is allowed to molder, compress, steep, cure, condense and heal but I have seen newspapers stuck to the bottom with President Nixon's picture. I saw the initials BB carved in one like you would put your handprint in cement. I guessed it was Buffalo Bill's....
Federal Land Management Agencies Release Joint Strategy For Reducing Fuels On Land At Risk To Catastrophic Wildfire The U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture today released a new joint strategy for addressing hazardous fuels to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires on more than 180 million acres of public forests, woodlands and rangelands. Many of today's forests have unprecedented levels of flammable materials, including underbrush, needles and leaves. Trees in tightly-packed forests are also smaller, weaker, and more susceptible to insects and diseases. These forests form huge reservoirs of fuel awaiting ignition, and pose an even more significant threat when drought is a factor. Removing hazardous fuels, either through prescribed burning or mechanical treatments, make them unavailable for fire's inevitable appearance. For example, firefighters were able to contain this year's February wildfire in Arizona because it burned into an area that had been treated to reduce hazardous fuels. The 60-page report, Protecting People and Natural Resources: A Cohesive Fuels Treatment Strategy ( www.fireplan.gov), outlines a coordinated approach to fuels treatment adopted by the five major federal land management agencies: DOI's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service; and USDA's Forest Service....
Falls Creek case not an isolated one The issue over access at Falls Creek is being replicated at private forest inholdings throughout the West, and is likely to continue as long as homeowners seek isolated lots, officials say. More and more frequently, homeowners moving into the forest expect access to their home or subdivision through a Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management road, said Ann Bond, public affairs officer with the San Juan National Forest. But unpaved Forest Service roads that now lead to private properties were not built for heavy traffic or winter snowplowing, she said, and it is not appropriate for federal land agencies to use taxpayer dollars to provide access to private property. Cindy Hockelberg, lands forester with the Columbine Ranger District, said the Forest Service is increasing efforts to educate prospective homeowners on the realities of living in remote areas....
Editorial: Finally, a habitat even a frog can live with WE may never know how much wood a woodchuck can chuck, but we do know that the red-legged frog will be making do with far less critical habitat in California. But that may not be such a bad thing. At one point during a 10-year bureaucratic and legal battle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated more than 4.1 million acres as critical habitat for the frogs. That 2001 fabrication would have created a barrier to further development in almost all of the greater Bay Area. But this month, Fish and Wildlife decided to impose restrictions on 450,000 acres in 20 counties that biologists consider critical to the frogs' survival and recovery. The restrictions take place only when public money is being spent on a project and if an Army Corps of Engineers permit is required. The restrictions also mean Fish and Wildlife will work cooperatively — rather than adversarially — with ranchers and landowners to help preserve habitat in private hands rather than imposing sanctions. Without addressing the particulars of where the frogs dwell and what areas are most vital for their survival, this designation seems much better than those that went before, especially the one in 2001....
Wildlife group steps up to safeguard pygmy owlThe cactus ferruginous pygmy owl is on the verge of losing its status as an endangered species. The removal from the endangered species list is scheduled to take place May 15, unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision is overruled in court. Fewer than 20 of the tiny owls are known to live in Arizona, most of them in an area northwest of Tucson. The delisting decision followed a lawsuit by the home-building industry that wants to develop the area. Jamie Rappaport Clark, a vice president with the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife who visited Arizona last week, said the battle is not over. Clark, former head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, says Defenders and other groups have taken the next step in challenging the decision....
Citing oil, gas lease sales, environmental groups sue BLM Three environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management, claiming an oil and gas lease sale in 2004 violated federal protections. The action was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, based in Salt Lake City; Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York; and The Wilderness Society, based in Washington, D.C. Defendants are the Interior Department, the BLM and acting Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett. It challenges the leasing of 28 parcels among 219 leased at the time. The 28, largely in eastern Utah, amount to 35,000 acres. The environmentalists argue, ''In its hurry to lease public lands, the BLM has ignored important environmental and cultural laws requiring it to 'look before it leaps,' and to fully evaluate, analyze and disclose the impacts'' of leasing and development. The 28 leases were issued in September 2004 ''without adequate environmental analysis, without cultural review and consultation, and without appropriate protective lease applications.'' Between 1996 and 1999, the BLM compiled new information and concluded that many of these sites possess wilderness characteristics, meaning they were in natural condition with little or no evidence of the presence of man, and offered ''outstanding opportunities for solitude and for primitive and unconfined recreation'' in the terms of the Wilderness Act....
Drilling for gas threatens popular Fruita bike trails Cyclists who make regular pilgrimages from the Roaring Fork Valley to Fruita's popular mountain bike trails might be in a for a surprise in the near future. Fruita's diverse network of singletrack trails offer everything from gentle, rolling hills to steep plunges that make even the most grizzled veterans pucker up. But riders of all levels could get more than they bargained for if hazards like drilling rigs and flare pits pop up in the North Fruita Desert. The potential exists because the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will offer gas leases on thousands of acres of federal land north of Grand Junction and Fruita in a May 11 auction. The revelation of the gas lease sale in early April sparked disbelief and "outrage" among cycling clubs, according to Chris Herrman, president of the Grand Junction-based Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association. The group builds trails and works on cycling issues, often with the BLM. Herrman said the gas drilling threat is difficult to understand because the BLM recently concluded a four-year planning process which dedicated a portion of the North Fruita Desert to mountain biking....
Working in the wilderness Sales of public lands and restricted access to it is becoming more frequent, but one organization is working hard at keeping wilderness trails open and preserving and protecting America's back country. The Middle Rio Grande Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen Association was founded in 1997 by members of the Pecos chapter. There are seven active chapters across the state that are dedicated to preserving the back country wilderness. In New Mexico alone, there are more than 200 chapter members and 16,000-plus members nationwide. The Back Country Horsemen work with the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and other agencies that work towards maintaining the trails on government lands, while at the same time enjoying the natural beauty of the land....
Anti-nuclear-waste rallies held in state Capitol and cyberspace Two rallies - one in a state office building and another in cyberspace - gathered together largely left-leaning environmentalists and largely right-leaning politicians Friday against nuclear-waste storage in Utah's Skull Valley. Nancy Marshall of Murray, holding a lunchtime sandwich in a state Capitol auditorium, was one of the few ordinary Utahns who came out for the latest opposition pep talk. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch and U.S. Reps. Chris Cannon and Jim Matheson exhorted the audience of about 100 to tell the federal Bureau of Land Management why the storage site should be denied a crucial permit. And Marshall took the message to heart, snatching pre-addressed anti-waste form letters to distribute at her office and among her neighbors. “I'm just a citizen,” she said. “I do not want this nuclear waste in my state. It threatens my family, my children and their children. It threatens my neighborhood and my city.”....
New national park fees stun wildlife documentary filmmakers Wildlife photographers and documentary filmmakers say a new fee schedule for commercial filming in Yellowstone and other national parks could put them out of business. "It won't just be the filmmakers and photographers affected by this, it'll be the whole country," said Jeff Hogan, a documentary filmmaker in Jackson, Wyo., who has shot wildlife programs for National Geographic and the BBC. "People will have less exposure to these beautiful places and exciting animal behaviors," he said. "There will be less opportunity for people to learn about wildlife." The interim fees, scheduled to go into effect May 15, would charge filmmakers at least $150 per day for filming in the park. They now pay just $200 per year, plus fees for any park services or assistance they require. Bob Landis, an Emmy-winning filmmaker for his 2004 documentary "Wolf Pack," said the National Park Service probably needs to charge filmmakers more for filming than it currently does, but not as much as the new fee structure. Under the new schedule, Landis -- who said he shoots at least 300 days a year in Yellowstone -- would have to pay at least $45,000 a year....
Judge awards $4M to owners of razed tower After years of legal wrangling, a federal judge has ordered the National Park Service to pay $4 million to the owners of an observation tower that once stood near Gettysburg National Military Park. The federal government took the land by eminent domain in 2000 and demolished the steel structure as part of a campaign to restore the area to the way it looked during the Civil War. "This is a tremendous relief for me, I don't even care about the money anymore," said landowner Hans Engrenn, 77, of New Oxford. "My wife and I could have had a lot of fun with that money 10 years ago. Now, we don't even buy green bananas." U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo set the award at about $4,035,000 in a ruling in April, after an appeals court ordered her to reconsider her previous $6.6 million ruling. Government lawyers once argued the tower and its souvenir store were worth only $2.5 million....
RTI renews national park deal, pockets $2.3M RTI International has landed a five-year, $2.3 million contract extension with the U.S. National Park Service to analyze air samples for pollution in the nation's parks. Under the terms of the contract, RTI researchers will scrutinize air samples from a nationwide network of monitoring devices for chloride and for sulphur and nitrogen compounds. Those chemicals and compounds could indicate the presence of acid in the atmosphere in more than 150 U.S. national parks and wilderness areas. RTI scientists will also monitor the air for harmful ozone levels that damage vegetation and ecosystems and can trigger a variety of health problems in humans. The air monitoring project is part of the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments program, an ongoing effort to protect and enhance park resources....
Cameras spotlight water issue Removing four Klamath River dams would do the most to restore salmon populations to their traditional numbers, a California tribal official said Thursday. Leaf Hillman, vice chairman of the Karuk Tribal Council, added that fish hatcheries also have hurt salmon. Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, appeared with Hillman. The two agreed on many issues related to boosting salmon numbers on the Klamath River - a departure from more adversarial stances taken by irrigators and Native Americans in the past. Addington said the Klamath Water Users Association could support dam removal if irrigators were promised three things in return. He said farmers need a dependable supply of water each year, they need affordable electrical power to run irrigation pumps, and they need to be protected from harmful sanctions if another endangered species - salmon - was reintroduced to the Upper Klamath Basin....
Pack Animals Rescued After Slipping Off Trail Los Angeles County firefighters pulled two donkeys, a mule and a horse to safety Saturday after their pack train slid off a trail and down an 80-foot embankment the night before. Rescuers brought in a helicopter to hoist the sedated horse, which had suffered cuts and facial fractures and was too weak to walk out on its own, to a road near the Chantry Flats campground, Fire Capt. Mark Savage said. The U.S. Forest Service and a Sierra Madre search and rescue team participated in the effort. At 5 p.m. Friday, the pack train was returning from bringing supplies to 80 cabins tucked about two miles back from the road when one of the animals slipped off the trail, dragging the others with it. They were attached to one another by a rope, Savage said....
USDA Wants To Slash `Mad Cow' Surveillance Funding The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to slash spending on its controversial "mad cow" disease-surveillance program, declaring that the disease is very rare in the U.S. The USDA said Friday that the results of screening brain samples from 696,000 U.S. cattle since June 2004 show that the brain-wasting disease infects fewer than one in a million adult cattle in the U.S. Based on statistical models used by the agency, the number of infected adult cattle could range from a single animal to 24 across the entire country. The government has been spending about $1 million weekly to screen high-risk cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which can trigger a fatal neurological disease in people who eat products from infected cattle. While three infected cows have been found in the U.S. since December 2003, the human form of the disease has never been tied to the consumption of U.S. beef. In a press conference, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said "there's little justification for continuing surveillance at this level" if the USDA's calculations are confirmed by independent experts. While many consumer advocates agree that the incidence of "mad cow" disease is low in U.S. livestock, the government's calculation - and plans to scale back testing -nonetheless sparked criticism....
Genome technology heads to the table Max Rothschild has been trying to "build" a better pig for almost 30 years, since he took a job cleaning up after the hogs at his alma mater, the University of California, Davis. He's now a renowned swine scientist who has traded the dirty pigpens of his undergraduate days for a glistening Iowa State University laboratory dedicated to producing tastier chops, safer pork and healthier pigs. Rothschild is part of a national collaboration that earlier this year received a $10 million federal grant to map pig genes. Researchers from the University of Illinois-led project promise it will help take the guesswork out of breeding. The idea is to find and exploit the genetic variations of the best pigs, which Rothschild and like-minded agricultural researchers say will radically change the industry. Already, chicken and cow genomes — complete genetic maps of each species — have been published, and race horse breeders have applied to the National Human Genome Research Institute for a grant to run an equine DNA sequence. Most animal genetic sequences are now done with the support of the institute because of its expertise, and comparing animal genomes to the human genome helps with medical research....
Destructive fires can't burn Panhandle spirit The Texas Forest Service reported that there have been 11,353 wildland fires in Texas that burned an estimated 1.5 million acres so far this year. The federal government reports that, since the first of the year, there have been 32,934 wildland fires nationwide that consumed around 2.2 million acres. Texas alone can claim the dubious distinction of being home to about one-third of all the fires in the country. What's more, 71 percent of all the acres burned in the United States are in Texas. And around half of all the acres burned so far this year, nationwide, are right here in the Panhandle. Were it not for the heroic efforts of volunteer fire departments and firefighters from throughout the region and state, that figure could easily have been much higher. Estimates vary, and it will be awhile yet before we have final figures on the total loss associated with the large fires that burned recently in the Panhandle area. But most likely, cattle losses will be somewhere around 5,000 head. The estimated value of the cattle lost in the Panhandle fires is $4 million....
The Cowboy an endangered species The cowboy is one of America's most cherished and mythical figures. He symbolizes the mystique of the American west, a caricature of frontier courage, independence, and rugged masculinity. The iconical cowboy brings to mind, horses, cattle, the howl of a coyote, and wide-open spaces, the cowboy riding off into the sunset. In the west all these things are still alive and well but sadly the cowboy may be riding off into the sunset for good. Once cowboy poet and humorist Baxter Black was asked: What made you decide to become a cowboy? He replied: You either are one, or you aren't, You never have to decide. Recently the media has glamorized the West for a lot of other things besides the western culture. Our mountains and valleys have left indelible impressions on our minds from movies since the days of John Ford, but the last couple of decades magazines like Outside, Skiing, Backpacker, Flyfisherman, and Men’s Journal have romanticized western living for many of its other offerings and has fueled an influx of newcomers who often find fault with the cowboy culture they find there....
'Rattlesnake Rob' time travels to 1867 If you had the chance to travel back in time, knowing that all the luxuries you are accustomed to today wouldn't be available, would you do it? One man did. Rob Wright, a Belen High School graduate, jumped at the chance to go back 139 years, to 1867, and live as a real life cowboy on a Texas ranch. The new PBS reality show, Texas Ranch House, takes men and women from all walks of life out of the 21st century and places them on a ranch in Texas where they have to live and work as folks did shortly after the Civil War. The chosen ones were assigned a job and, for eight weeks, their goal was to run the ranch and make a profit. Wright said being able to participate in the show made for the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. "As a kid, I always dreamed of having my own ranch," he said. "Being on the show just reinforced my respect for farmers, ranchers and cowboys."....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Lebkuchens: The all-purpose snack food Every Christmas, as regular as an insulin shot, we receive one of my favorite annual gifts. Sixteen square feet of Lebkuchens. My mother-in-law manufactures these unusual cookies in her garage - or possibly in her metallurgy studio. I've never asked about the recipe or the cooking directions. I assume she uses a cement mixer, pours the sticky dough out on the driveway to dry. It thickens in the sun, then is rolled flat by the kids next door. Once it has hardened it can be lifted like a sheet of plywood and allowed to age like fine wine, silage or Chinese 1,000-year eggs. Since she has no cellar, the sheets of dough are stacked like lumber behind the shop under a blue tarp. Time goes by. It is a secret how long the dough is allowed to molder, compress, steep, cure, condense and heal but I have seen newspapers stuck to the bottom with President Nixon's picture. I saw the initials BB carved in one like you would put your handprint in cement. I guessed it was Buffalo Bill's....
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