NEWS ROUNDUP
FWS biologist acknowledges wolf debate The federal wolf recovery coordinator for the lower 48 states says he understands the need to have one person speaking when it comes to federal wolf policy. Ed Bangs, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena, Mont., said too many people talking at once can be confusing when government officials are trying to work out policies. Bangs was responding to comments made by Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, who said in a meeting of state and federal officials last week that "some duct tape on Mr. Bangs' mouth" would be helpful while Wyoming negotiates with the federal government on wolf management. Childers said in an interview that Bangs has made "off-the-cuff" remarks that have hindered discussions in the Legislature. Childers didn't specify what those comments were. But he said Bangs told members of the Wyoming Stock Growers and Wyoming Wool Growers associations that he didn't expect many problems with wolves. "I'm not saying Ed's a bad man," Childers said. "I'm saying what he said, it didn't turn out that way."....
Study links fires, ocean temps Using fire scars on nearly 5,000 tree stumps dating back 450 years, scientists have found that extended periods of major wildfires in the West occurred when the North Atlantic Ocean was going through periodic warming. With the North Atlantic at the start of a recurring warming period that typically lasts 20 to 60 years, the West could be in for an extended period of multiple fires on the scale of those seen in 2002 and 2006, said Thomas W. Swetnam. He's director of the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona and a co-author of the study published in the Dec. 26 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This study and others have demonstrated that there is an underlying climatic influence on fuels and then on the weather conditions that promote fires," said Dan Cayan, climate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who did not take part in the study. Ron Neilson, a U.S. Forest Service scientist who has developed models that predict wildfire danger based on climate models, agreed with the study's conclusions, and noted all the oceans are affected by global warming. And that in turn could exacerbate the wildfire cycle. Scientists have long seen a relationship between weather in the United States and El Nino, a warming of water in the South Pacific. When El Nino is strong, the Northwest typically has drought and severe fire seasons, and the Southwest has rain. When the cycle reverses, known as La Nina, the South Pacific cools, the Northwest has more rain, and the Southwest has drought and fires....
Western energy corridors: comment period extended After receiving hundreds of comments in response to the release of preliminary working maps, the interagency team analyzing potential environmental effects of designating energy corridors in 11 Western States has decided that additional time will be needed to consider these comments as the agencies conduct an environmental review of proposed corridor locations. A recent press release stated that, in order to ensure full consideration of the more than 200 comments and suggestions on the preliminary maps, project managers from the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Agriculture-Forest Service, and the Department of Defense will take additional time to refine the alternatives to be presented in the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). The BLM and the Forest Service also must ensure that proposed routes and the analysis of their impacts are consistent with the resource management plans for lands they manage. The public will have an additional opportunity to comment on the Draft PEIS after it is published....
A casualty of the 'New West' One of the last miners in Pitkin County considers himself a casualty in the transition of the Old West into the New West. Robert Congdon on last week settled a dispute with the U.S. Forest Service, which might prevent him accessing a mine in the Crystal Valley that he rediscovered 20 years ago on the lower slopes of Mount Sopris. He wants the Maree Love Mine preserved as an important piece of the area's history. Congdon said he agreed to plead guilty to two charges - damaging natural features and maintaining or constructing a structure. In return, charges of interfering with a law enforcement officer and damaging a historical structure will be dropped. The Forest Service pursued charges against Congdon in December 2005 because agency officials felt his work put natural and historic resources at risk. A colony of rare Townsend's big-eared bats took up residence in the mine and the feds felt mining activity could bring them harm. The area is also sprinkled with mining relics that date to the late 1800s....
Groups aim to halt wild horse roundup Advocacy groups are asking a federal judge to stop the Bureau of Land Management from rounding up wild horses and burros next week in the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas. America's Wild Horse Advocates, based in Blue Diamond near Red Rock Canyon, and Wild Horses 4 Ever, of Logandale, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction indefinitely postponing the Jan. 2 roundup. No hearing was immediately scheduled. The injunction would remain in effect until a judge heard the groups' claim that the BLM plan, outlined in an environmental assessment released Friday, is flawed and that the roundup would undercut efforts to keep wild horses on the range....
Vehicle ban sought in remote Arch Canyon A coalition of environmentalists, outfitters and Navajo tribal leaders have submitted a petition to the Bureau of Land Management asking that the agency close Arch Canyon in southeast Utah to off-highway vehicle traffic in order to protect the area's cultural and natural resources. Liz Thomas, a Moab-based attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Wednesday that the group filed the formal petition this week after the BLM rejected what she called earlier, informal attempts to protect the area. The canyon is known for its large, though mostly unsurveyed, collection of Anasazi and Pueblo ruins and artifacts. Its year-round stream also is home to three native fish species - the flannel mouth sucker, blue head sucker and speckled dace. "We've been asking for this for a long time," Thomas said. "We understand that the BLM doesn't have the resources to do an inventory of the canyon. But until they know what's there, they need to protect those cultural resources and species until they have more information."....
Former Bush Interior Secretary Takes Job As Attorney For Shell Gale Norton is back providing oversight of energy development issues on public lands in the American West, this time as a key legal advisor for a major global oil company. Months after she resigned her cabinet post as President Bush's Interior Secretary—and then seemed to disappear from public view—the Coloradan apparently has accepted an offer to serve as counsel for Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Shell, one of the world's largest producers of oil, was also one of the companies that Norton's Interior Department routinely engaged on matters of drilling in sensitive ecological settings. According to Dow Jones Market Watch, which published her job announcement Wednesday, Norton will serve as general counsel for Shell's unconventional resources division. By "unconventional resources," a Shell spokesman said it pertained to emerging technology that targets such things as oil shale and extra heavy oil. Shell's U.S. subsidiary, Shell Oil Co., is based in Houston, but Norton will be allowed to render her legal expertise from Denver....
Editorial - A lucrative scheme to not develop land It's high time the Colorado legislature got a grip on the "conservation easement" program, which is costing the state tax revenues at an ever increasing rate. As News reporter Ann Imse noted the other day, the loss of state income taxes has risen from $2.3 million in 2000, when the program began, to $7.5 million in 2002, to $57.3 million in 2004 and to $85.1 million in 2005. That kind of exponential growth in lost revenue is not what lawmakers had in mind. Something's wrong somewhere. The predictability of revenues gained or lost is important to the state's budgeting process. The money is going out in tax credits to people who have managed to sell or donate the development rights to their land to Great Outdoors Colorado or to any of the numerous private land trusts. These groups are supposed to ensure that the owners - who in most cases continue to control the land and can restrict public access to it - never develop it. The problem is, no one seems to know exactly how much land has been preserved or where it is. The Department of Revenue has the raw information in its income tax returns but hasn't compiled it. It should, even if it takes a special appropriation to pay for the job. Only when the public can review the open space preserved can it decide whether the program is worth the cost. Even proponents admit that some people have been gaming the system. There are several ways to do it....
Editorial - Global warming's poster cubs CONSIDER THE humble polar bear: Ursus maritimus to the scientists who admire it for its intelligence. Now consider President Bush, who might be classified as Executum obstreperum by the thousands of scientists who say his administration fails to appreciate the gravity of global warming. Is it possible that the polar bear can do what the scientists cannot? What the polar bear could do, essentially, is force the administration to take steps to curb global warming. With its proposal, announced Wednesday, to list polar bears as a threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the first time acknowledged that global warming is the driving force behind an animal's potential extinction. If the polar bear is listed as endangered, then the U.S. government would be bound by law to protect it — and protecting it may require regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the polar bear, the administration may have met its match. This isn't just any animal — it is a creature at once majestic and cuddly, the star attraction at countless zoos and featured in so many TV commercials it practically qualifies for a SAG card. If that's not enough, the same type of habitat loss threatening the bears' survival also endangers the penguin, which had a better year at the box office than all but a few humans. Less popular is the administration's stance on global warming. Bush has acknowledged the phenomenon, but he's reluctant to require industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions. If the polar bear is listed as an endangered species, would the government have to crack down on the carbon emissions that are threatening its existence?...
Aligning Horse Owners with Conservationists America cannot afford to lose the horse industry; its economic alone impact is huge. According to the American Horse Council’s study, the horse industry directly produces goods and services of $25.3 billion and has a total impact of $112.1 billion on U.S. gross domestic product. This same study reveals that there are 7.1 million people involved in the horse industry, with 1.9 million of those actually owning horses. All over the country, equestrians are faced with the impending loss of their open land. Leading horse organizations have identified loss of open land as the greatest threat to their future and the need to address this problem is urgent. According to David O’Connor, president of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, “With the suburban sprawl that is going on around the country, people who ride horses are losing vital resources. Partnerships … are needed to guarantee the future of equestrian sports and all types of equestrian access.” Equestrians share a special privilege: the permission to ride over magnificent open spaces on private land. They owe a debt of gratitude to the landowners who have conserved their land for future generations. The good news is that the rate of land has tripled in the last five years. Private voluntary land conservation is an important American tradition. The future of America’s natural heritage and the horse industry may well depend on it....
Preserve aims to save traditional 'hair' sheep When you talk about sheep, most people think about the short, white animals with wool covering their bodies. Don Chavez y Gilbert would like that to change. The wind blows wickedly at times through the trees at the Terra Patre Wildlife Preserve, but Chavez y Gilbert hardly notices as he talks about the hair sheep he is breeding. Chavez y Gilbert believes the days of the wool sheep, or "woolies" as he calls them, are numbered as far as the livestock industry goes. And he's doing what he can to adapt — by breeding a hair sheep that is closer in look, habit and structure to the sheep the Spanish colonizers originally brought to New Mexico than the woolies you see being raised now. "A woolie is just an unnaturally selective bred sheep that had a recessive gene where their wool didn't fall out," he explains as he walks part of Terra Patre's 20 acres and shows off the sheep he is breeding — which are of a Mouflon variety....
Beautifully felt: Popular art form turns rough wool into soft fabric It's like watching a sow's ear transform itself into a silk purse before your very eyes. But in this case, it's wool that magically turns into felt - with a little help from Black Forest, Colo., llama rancher Marlice Van Zandt. She starts by spreading puffs of multicolored llama wool in an attractive pattern on a bamboo mat, tops it with a plastic liner, then adds another layer of wool. She sprinkles the wool with hot water, rubs it with a soapy goo and whacks the heck out of it with a meat cleaver. That done, she rolls up the mat and rocks it back and forth zillions of times. When her arms get tired, she sits down and rolls it back and forth with her feet. Eventually, she unwraps the mat, and there - in soggy splendor - is beige felt with a brown design, soon to be turned into a purse. Van Zandt is one of the many crafters breathing new life into the 8,000-year-old art of felting, turning animal fibers into vests, boots, pillows, wall hangings, masks, jewelry and more....
Friday, December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Bureau of Land Management Head Resigns
Kathleen Clarke, the first woman to head the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, resigned Thursday to return to her home state of Utah. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Clarke had created more recreational opportunities for Americans and sped up "environmentally sensitive" oil and natural gas production on federal lands since taking over the agency in January 2002. BLM manages 258 million acres, about one-eighth of the land in the United States. Most of that land _ grasslands, forests, high mountains, arctic tundra and deserts _ is in the West. It also oversees about 700 million acres of minerals below the land's surface. "Our public lands, our forests and our landscapes are better off" because of Clarke's service, Kempthorne said Thursday. Before taking over BLM, Clarke had worked as executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and as a top aide to former Rep. James Hansen, a Utah Republican who once headed the House Resources Committee. She also had co-owned a construction and real estate business in Kaysville, Utah and had been on the staff of Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, who is now deceased. BLM was headed during the Clinton administration by another Utah resident, Patrick Shea, who had been a lawyer, educator and businessman before taking over the agency.
Kathleen Clarke, the first woman to head the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, resigned Thursday to return to her home state of Utah. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Clarke had created more recreational opportunities for Americans and sped up "environmentally sensitive" oil and natural gas production on federal lands since taking over the agency in January 2002. BLM manages 258 million acres, about one-eighth of the land in the United States. Most of that land _ grasslands, forests, high mountains, arctic tundra and deserts _ is in the West. It also oversees about 700 million acres of minerals below the land's surface. "Our public lands, our forests and our landscapes are better off" because of Clarke's service, Kempthorne said Thursday. Before taking over BLM, Clarke had worked as executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and as a top aide to former Rep. James Hansen, a Utah Republican who once headed the House Resources Committee. She also had co-owned a construction and real estate business in Kaysville, Utah and had been on the staff of Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, who is now deceased. BLM was headed during the Clinton administration by another Utah resident, Patrick Shea, who had been a lawyer, educator and businessman before taking over the agency.
NEWS ROUNDUP
37 Endangered Tortoises Move to N.M. Deep in burrows in southern New Mexico, the only genetically pure bolson tortoises in the United States are waiting out the winter. Thirty-seven of the endangered creatures, the largest tortoises found in North America at up to 18 inches long, came to New Mexico this year from a ranch in Arizona. Most are at Ted Turner's Armendaris Ranch near Truth or Consequences. "We work to recover endangered species on all our properties in the United States," ranch manager Tom Waddell said. "It's just another one on the list, but it is exciting and fun." Turner's ranches in New Mexico also are home to endangered Mexican gray wolves, black-footed ferrets and aplomado falcons. The bolson tortoises are believed to have been in the Southwest for thousands of years but were discovered by scientists only in the late 1950s in Mexico. "They're kind of prehistoric," Waddell said. "It's kind of like finding a dinosaur." There are 26 adult tortoises in a pair of 8-acre pens at the Armendaris and four tortoises at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. And additional seven young tortoises that hatched this summer are at Turner's Ladder Ranch, also near T or C. Bolson tortoises once were found in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma, as well as in Mexico. The only ones left in the wild now are a small population in the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico....
Column - Losing to the Greens "I've never seen industry so deathly afraid of the current politics surrounding climate change policy," a Bush administration environmental official told me. With good reason. As Democrats take control of Congress, once-firm opposition to the green lobby's campaign of imposing carbon emission controls is weak. Panicky captains of industry have themselves largely to blame for failing to respond to the environmentalists' well-financed propaganda operation. One government official says "industry appears utterly helpless and utterly clueless as to how to respond." But the Bush administration itself is a house divided, with support for greens and severe carbon regulation inside the Department of Energy rampant, reaching up to the secretary himself. None of this necessarily means climate change will become law during the next two years, with President Bush wielding his veto pen if any bill escapes the Senate's gridlock. Rep. John Dingell of Detroit, reassuming chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee after a dozen years' absence, will try to protect the automotive industry from Draconian regulation. But over the long term, industry is losing to the greens....
After Long Struggle, Whooping Crane Population Hits Milestone One of the most beloved groups of winter Texans is back, in the largest number in a century and with a record 45 youngsters in tow, including an even rarer seven pairs of twins. They flew 2,400 miles from Canada's Northwest Territories and can be seen munching on blue crabs and bright red-orange wolfberries among the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, whose numbers dwindled to fewer than 20 in 1941, is not only back from the brink of extinction but also thriving -- a comeback story, federal wildlife officials say, that illustrates how a coordinated conservation effort can save a species....
Schwarzenegger Remakes Himself as Environmentalist Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the type of guy you would necessarily associate with tree hugging. When he bought a Hummer in the early 1990s, it kicked off a nationwide craze for the gas-guzzling behemoths. His lighter-fluid-dowsed action flicks and protein-packed chest bespoke more of American excess than environmentalism, more violence than vegan. But as governor of California, Schwarzenegger has engaged in a savvy makeover, befitting a Hollywood star. He retooled one of his four Hummers to run on alternative fuels and is quickly fashioning himself into one of the most aggressively pro-environment governors in a state known for leading the nation on that issue. This year he signed the nation's first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California's coast. And now Schwarzenegger, a Republican, wants to use his star power to turn global warming into an issue in the 2008 presidential election. "There is a whole new movement because of the change of people sent to Washington," Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week, referring to the Democratic Party's impending takeover of Congress. "We want to put the spotlight on this issue in America. It has to become a debate in the presidential election. It has to become an issue."....
Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true. As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented....
Polar Bears Proposed for U.S. Endangered Species List The U.S. government today proposed listing polar bears as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act because the animals' sea ice habitat is melting. "Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors," Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told reporters today at a press conference. "They are able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments. But there's concern that their habitat may literally be melting." The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure that all activities the government approves will not harm listed species or their habitats. Environmental groups quickly connected the announcement with scientific evidence that climate change is melting the iconic bear's Arctic habitat, causing the animals to go hungry and give birth less often....
Tour shows participants why environmentalists value Red Desert Gay, like many in the group, fears the peace of Wyoming's isolated ecosystems if the Red Desert is opened to natural gas development, a move currently being mulled over by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The proposed action would result in at least 255 gas wells in the scenic Jack Morrow Hills within the Red Desert in south central Wyoming, according to the watchdog group Friends of the Red Desert, which co-sponsored the Nov. 11 tour. Hundreds more wells could go in throughout the 8-million-acre Red Desert, group officials said. The Red Desert is home to petroglyphs and other American Indian artifacts, outlaw trails (the area was once used as a hideout for Butch Cassidy), and herds of wild horses, elk and antelope. Friends of the Red Desert currently is pushing for a National Conservation Area-status for the northern portion of the desert, which includes the Jack Morrow Hills. In all, about 650,000 acres would be set aside. The group said such designation would protect the area from mineral development, ensuring its wildlife and culturally and geographically significant sites would remain intact....
Editorial - It's the Forest Service, not fire department An audit completed late last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General hammers the Forest Service for burning money in the way it fights forest fires. Although auditors conclude the agency wastes money through poor cost containment and by fighting fires that might actually do more good than harm by thinning overgrown forests, much of the high cost of firefighting comes from protecting private property, not the national forests. Indeed, depending on the degree of development, between 50 percent and 95 percent of the cost of firefighting may be attributable to protecting homes and other structures on private property, the auditors found. That's not altogether surprising to anyone here in Montana or elsewhere in the West, where every summer we see the Forest Service pulling out all the stops to protect lives and structures - small armies of men and women on the ground, helicopters and bombers aloft, huge fleets of vehicles and a massive organization providing logistical support. When smoke's rising, virtually no one questions expenditures aimed at protecting private property - unless it's to complain they're insufficient. Obviously, people and their property need protection from fire. The question is whether that should be the Forest Service's job. Moreover, we should also consider whether all of us might do more to protect ourselves from forest fires, most of all by making better decisions about where and how we develop property. People who are smart enough not to build in flood plains and avalanche chutes and steep, slide-prone hillsides are all too willing to build their houses in densely forested settings where wildfire is more dependably predictable than floods, avalanches and mudslides....
Simpson still pushing for Idaho wilderness bill U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson says he will take a picture of every acre of public land that his Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill would transfer to Custer County to convince Democrats in Congress that the federal government is not giving away pristine national forest. "This is sagebrush desert," Simpson, R-Idaho, told the Idaho Falls Post-Register. Simpson said some House Democrats, including the incoming chairman of the influential House Resources Committee, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, have been persuaded by "all the bull that's going on" to oppose the wilderness bill. Last year, opponents of Simpson's Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act bought advertisements depicting the 3,600 acres to be transferred as pristine wilderness rather than harsh desert terrain. With Democrats taking control of the House and Senate, Simpson will have to sway a new set of congressional leaders. Some Democrats, including Rahall, have pledged to defeat the bill because of provisions that would give public land to Custer County and other localities in exchange for 312,000 acres of new wilderness in the surrounding Boulder-White Cloud Mountains. If the land exchange were eliminated, the entire bill likely would fail, said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League....
Ag chief accepts Idaho roadless plan Idaho's proposed management plan for 9.3 million acres of federal roadless areas within national forests was accepted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on Friday and now will move forward in the process of becoming a federal rule. The procedural action came a day after the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee recommended Johanns accept the petition submitted by Idaho Gov. Jim Risch. The plan Risch put forward last month limits development of 3.1 million acres — even more than protections in a 2001 Clinton administration rule. The plan would allow temporary road-building on another 5.5 million acres, only to the extent that it had already been allowed by Clinton officials to boost forest health. Another 500,000 acres would be opened to logging and road building....
Ranchers point to coyote predation Sportsmen blame a lack of harvestable deer in southeastern North Dakota on coyotes at the same time area ranchers report seeing coyotes close to their homes and blame them for herd predation. One area rancher even switched livestock varieties after losing about 10 percent of his lambs to coyotes. While wildlife experts say coyote numbers are not necessarily increasing in this area, ranchers aren't too sure about this revelation. Tam Griepentrog had a cow calving early a few years ago. He knew the calf wouldn’t make it and watched the cow struggle to birth her calf. The cow was in a bad spot in the pasture so he chose to move her closer to the yard. By the time he got to his cow, coyotes had eaten the dead calf’s ear and tongue, while the calf was still in the cow. It is a common occurrence to see coyotes in the middle of his pasture looking for an opportunity at a newborn calf. The laboring cow is too busy pushing a calf to worry about coyotes, but the rest of the cows chase the predators off, usually, Griepentrog said....
FDA Set to OK Food From Cloned Animals The government has decided that food from cloned animals is safe to eat and does not require special labeling. The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement Thursday morning. The FDA indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month. Consumer groups say labels are a must, because surveys have shown people to be uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock. However, FDA concluded that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and that no identification is needed to judge their safety for the food supply....
Rancher's 15 minutes of fame, a decade later If Oakdale rancher Bill Fogarty wonders what he looked like 10 years ago, he needs only to drop by the local RadioShack store. When you enter the store, there's a display for Cingular, a cellular phone company. The photo in the display is of a 40-something cowboy standing in front of a horse and holding the reins. That cowboy is Fogarty. What makes this interesting is that the 40-something cowboy is now a 50-something cowboy. The photo was taken a decade ago, yet is now on Cingular displays throughout the state. Fogarty stands out clearly. The horse is mostly blocked by other elements of the display. Here's the back story: About 10 years ago, a photography crew came to Oakdale looking for someone to help them do a photo shoot with a Western theme. They somehow met Lynn Ferreira, who is Fogarty's cousin, who put them in contact with Fogarty. He is a rancher whose great-grandfather homesteaded the family ranch east of Oakdale in 1873, according to Fogarty's sister, Janet Medina....
Capitol's last cowboys ride on Politics is a lot like ranching. It's just the art of herding people instead of cattle. Throughout its 94-year history, Arizona has had so many rancher politicians (more than 120 in all) that, at one point, critics took to calling the state's government the "Cowboy Legislature." But like so much of the state's rural roots, that era is coming to an end. Sen. Jake Flake and his lifelong friend Rep. Jack Brown, with a combined 22 years in elected office, are the last active ranchers in the Arizona Legislature. Just as Arizona has drifted away from the "Five C's" emblazoned on the state seal (cattle, cotton, copper, citrus and climate) to more of a service, manufacturing and knowledge economy, political power long ago shifted to the urban areas surrounding Phoenix and Tucson. "These guys are a symbol of the Old West that many of us want to hold on to," Arizona historian Jack August said. "They represent a way of life that all of us want to keep in our hopes and dreams. A part of our intellectual warehouse as Arizonans includes a guy on a horse rounding up cattle in the fall." As ranchers leave the Legislature, Arizona loses ties to its rural roots Much of Arizona's political zeitgeist, from a barebones state government and local control of schools to fierce protection of private property, water and gun rights, is rooted in its cowboy past....
Saddle Saga Someone has said, "the institution is the shadow of the man." The Visalia Stock Saddle Company is the progressive living shadow of three men of three generations: Dave E. Walker, its founder, Edmund Walker Weeks, his nephew and successor, and Leland B. Bergen, the latter's stepson and present owner and manager. In this series of "Saddle Saga," we would seek to bring to you tales of events and men of the three periods of the cattle business which coincide with the seventy-year era already served by the Visalia Stock Saddle Company. From 1519, when Cortez brought with him to Mexico the Spanish saddles-not so very different from those used by the knights in medieval Europe-not a single improvement of note was made to add to the comfort or practicability of saddles until in 1868 when there came into an obscure harness and saddlery shop in Hornitos, near Visalia, California, one of these crude saddles for repair. These old Mexican-type saddles were cumbersome atrocities in most cases, and could be almost depended upon to cause sores on the horses' backs. The tree itself was really little more than a wooden frame, rawhide covered, while over all was thrown the loose-fitting leather cover called the mochilla. The stirrup leathers had no fenders or rasderos, so of necessity the rider wore leather leggings to protect himself. For 350 years then the knights of the American cattle range, from Mexico north, endured this discomfort until the day Ricardo Mattley determined to improve upon the Mexican saddle brought to his humble shop for repair....
It's All Trew: 'Old-time sayings' pique readers' interests On a regular basis I receive responses about my columns and questions about old-time sayings and terms. Some are familiar and others I have never heard before. Here are a few samples that I found interesting. The term "give them the whole nine yards" was explained recently. It seems in WWI, the old water-cooled machine guns fired bullets attached to a belt unfolding from an ammo box holding 27 feet of loaded belting. Since twenty-seven feet is nine yards, when the enemy attacked they said, "Give them the whole nine-yards." My article about "kissing-kin" being distant kin on which you could legally practice your kissing skills generated several responses. Some believe you can be kissing kin and not be blood related. Others said a "kissing cousin" was far enough removed from being kin that marriage to them was permitted. For example, a seventh cousin might be fair prey....
It’s The Pitts: In Truck Years You can’t talk for ten minutes with a rancher without him comparing the cost of calves and cars. “I can remember when it only took twenty calves to buy a new pickup. Now it takes a hundred,” or so they’ll say. My response is that fellow ought to either buy a cheaper truck or a better bull. We haven’t made near the improvement in our calves as Detroit has with trucks. They are highly polished, tough, slick, bold and formidable. And that’s just the salesman... you should see the trucks. Three doors or four, short bed or long, bucket seats and back seats. And enough toys to please the most discriminating grown-up child. If we had made as much improvement with our cattle the last twenty years as they have with pickups our calves would dress and deliver themselves. In a moment of weakness I actually considered buying a new truck. My cowboy carriage was made in 1985 but in dog years that’s 147 years old! (It’s a well known fact that dogs and ranch trucks age seven years for every human year.) My old truck burns more oil than it does gas and when I asked the wrecker if the truck was worth anything to haul away he wanted to know how much gas was in the tank. I guess at three bucks a gallon it makes a big difference in the blue book price for a truck as old as mine....
37 Endangered Tortoises Move to N.M. Deep in burrows in southern New Mexico, the only genetically pure bolson tortoises in the United States are waiting out the winter. Thirty-seven of the endangered creatures, the largest tortoises found in North America at up to 18 inches long, came to New Mexico this year from a ranch in Arizona. Most are at Ted Turner's Armendaris Ranch near Truth or Consequences. "We work to recover endangered species on all our properties in the United States," ranch manager Tom Waddell said. "It's just another one on the list, but it is exciting and fun." Turner's ranches in New Mexico also are home to endangered Mexican gray wolves, black-footed ferrets and aplomado falcons. The bolson tortoises are believed to have been in the Southwest for thousands of years but were discovered by scientists only in the late 1950s in Mexico. "They're kind of prehistoric," Waddell said. "It's kind of like finding a dinosaur." There are 26 adult tortoises in a pair of 8-acre pens at the Armendaris and four tortoises at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. And additional seven young tortoises that hatched this summer are at Turner's Ladder Ranch, also near T or C. Bolson tortoises once were found in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma, as well as in Mexico. The only ones left in the wild now are a small population in the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico....
Column - Losing to the Greens "I've never seen industry so deathly afraid of the current politics surrounding climate change policy," a Bush administration environmental official told me. With good reason. As Democrats take control of Congress, once-firm opposition to the green lobby's campaign of imposing carbon emission controls is weak. Panicky captains of industry have themselves largely to blame for failing to respond to the environmentalists' well-financed propaganda operation. One government official says "industry appears utterly helpless and utterly clueless as to how to respond." But the Bush administration itself is a house divided, with support for greens and severe carbon regulation inside the Department of Energy rampant, reaching up to the secretary himself. None of this necessarily means climate change will become law during the next two years, with President Bush wielding his veto pen if any bill escapes the Senate's gridlock. Rep. John Dingell of Detroit, reassuming chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee after a dozen years' absence, will try to protect the automotive industry from Draconian regulation. But over the long term, industry is losing to the greens....
After Long Struggle, Whooping Crane Population Hits Milestone One of the most beloved groups of winter Texans is back, in the largest number in a century and with a record 45 youngsters in tow, including an even rarer seven pairs of twins. They flew 2,400 miles from Canada's Northwest Territories and can be seen munching on blue crabs and bright red-orange wolfberries among the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, whose numbers dwindled to fewer than 20 in 1941, is not only back from the brink of extinction but also thriving -- a comeback story, federal wildlife officials say, that illustrates how a coordinated conservation effort can save a species....
Schwarzenegger Remakes Himself as Environmentalist Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the type of guy you would necessarily associate with tree hugging. When he bought a Hummer in the early 1990s, it kicked off a nationwide craze for the gas-guzzling behemoths. His lighter-fluid-dowsed action flicks and protein-packed chest bespoke more of American excess than environmentalism, more violence than vegan. But as governor of California, Schwarzenegger has engaged in a savvy makeover, befitting a Hollywood star. He retooled one of his four Hummers to run on alternative fuels and is quickly fashioning himself into one of the most aggressively pro-environment governors in a state known for leading the nation on that issue. This year he signed the nation's first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California's coast. And now Schwarzenegger, a Republican, wants to use his star power to turn global warming into an issue in the 2008 presidential election. "There is a whole new movement because of the change of people sent to Washington," Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week, referring to the Democratic Party's impending takeover of Congress. "We want to put the spotlight on this issue in America. It has to become a debate in the presidential election. It has to become an issue."....
Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true. As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented....
Polar Bears Proposed for U.S. Endangered Species List The U.S. government today proposed listing polar bears as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act because the animals' sea ice habitat is melting. "Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors," Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told reporters today at a press conference. "They are able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments. But there's concern that their habitat may literally be melting." The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure that all activities the government approves will not harm listed species or their habitats. Environmental groups quickly connected the announcement with scientific evidence that climate change is melting the iconic bear's Arctic habitat, causing the animals to go hungry and give birth less often....
Tour shows participants why environmentalists value Red Desert Gay, like many in the group, fears the peace of Wyoming's isolated ecosystems if the Red Desert is opened to natural gas development, a move currently being mulled over by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The proposed action would result in at least 255 gas wells in the scenic Jack Morrow Hills within the Red Desert in south central Wyoming, according to the watchdog group Friends of the Red Desert, which co-sponsored the Nov. 11 tour. Hundreds more wells could go in throughout the 8-million-acre Red Desert, group officials said. The Red Desert is home to petroglyphs and other American Indian artifacts, outlaw trails (the area was once used as a hideout for Butch Cassidy), and herds of wild horses, elk and antelope. Friends of the Red Desert currently is pushing for a National Conservation Area-status for the northern portion of the desert, which includes the Jack Morrow Hills. In all, about 650,000 acres would be set aside. The group said such designation would protect the area from mineral development, ensuring its wildlife and culturally and geographically significant sites would remain intact....
Editorial - It's the Forest Service, not fire department An audit completed late last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General hammers the Forest Service for burning money in the way it fights forest fires. Although auditors conclude the agency wastes money through poor cost containment and by fighting fires that might actually do more good than harm by thinning overgrown forests, much of the high cost of firefighting comes from protecting private property, not the national forests. Indeed, depending on the degree of development, between 50 percent and 95 percent of the cost of firefighting may be attributable to protecting homes and other structures on private property, the auditors found. That's not altogether surprising to anyone here in Montana or elsewhere in the West, where every summer we see the Forest Service pulling out all the stops to protect lives and structures - small armies of men and women on the ground, helicopters and bombers aloft, huge fleets of vehicles and a massive organization providing logistical support. When smoke's rising, virtually no one questions expenditures aimed at protecting private property - unless it's to complain they're insufficient. Obviously, people and their property need protection from fire. The question is whether that should be the Forest Service's job. Moreover, we should also consider whether all of us might do more to protect ourselves from forest fires, most of all by making better decisions about where and how we develop property. People who are smart enough not to build in flood plains and avalanche chutes and steep, slide-prone hillsides are all too willing to build their houses in densely forested settings where wildfire is more dependably predictable than floods, avalanches and mudslides....
Simpson still pushing for Idaho wilderness bill U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson says he will take a picture of every acre of public land that his Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill would transfer to Custer County to convince Democrats in Congress that the federal government is not giving away pristine national forest. "This is sagebrush desert," Simpson, R-Idaho, told the Idaho Falls Post-Register. Simpson said some House Democrats, including the incoming chairman of the influential House Resources Committee, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, have been persuaded by "all the bull that's going on" to oppose the wilderness bill. Last year, opponents of Simpson's Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act bought advertisements depicting the 3,600 acres to be transferred as pristine wilderness rather than harsh desert terrain. With Democrats taking control of the House and Senate, Simpson will have to sway a new set of congressional leaders. Some Democrats, including Rahall, have pledged to defeat the bill because of provisions that would give public land to Custer County and other localities in exchange for 312,000 acres of new wilderness in the surrounding Boulder-White Cloud Mountains. If the land exchange were eliminated, the entire bill likely would fail, said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League....
Ag chief accepts Idaho roadless plan Idaho's proposed management plan for 9.3 million acres of federal roadless areas within national forests was accepted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on Friday and now will move forward in the process of becoming a federal rule. The procedural action came a day after the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee recommended Johanns accept the petition submitted by Idaho Gov. Jim Risch. The plan Risch put forward last month limits development of 3.1 million acres — even more than protections in a 2001 Clinton administration rule. The plan would allow temporary road-building on another 5.5 million acres, only to the extent that it had already been allowed by Clinton officials to boost forest health. Another 500,000 acres would be opened to logging and road building....
Ranchers point to coyote predation Sportsmen blame a lack of harvestable deer in southeastern North Dakota on coyotes at the same time area ranchers report seeing coyotes close to their homes and blame them for herd predation. One area rancher even switched livestock varieties after losing about 10 percent of his lambs to coyotes. While wildlife experts say coyote numbers are not necessarily increasing in this area, ranchers aren't too sure about this revelation. Tam Griepentrog had a cow calving early a few years ago. He knew the calf wouldn’t make it and watched the cow struggle to birth her calf. The cow was in a bad spot in the pasture so he chose to move her closer to the yard. By the time he got to his cow, coyotes had eaten the dead calf’s ear and tongue, while the calf was still in the cow. It is a common occurrence to see coyotes in the middle of his pasture looking for an opportunity at a newborn calf. The laboring cow is too busy pushing a calf to worry about coyotes, but the rest of the cows chase the predators off, usually, Griepentrog said....
FDA Set to OK Food From Cloned Animals The government has decided that food from cloned animals is safe to eat and does not require special labeling. The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement Thursday morning. The FDA indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month. Consumer groups say labels are a must, because surveys have shown people to be uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock. However, FDA concluded that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and that no identification is needed to judge their safety for the food supply....
Rancher's 15 minutes of fame, a decade later If Oakdale rancher Bill Fogarty wonders what he looked like 10 years ago, he needs only to drop by the local RadioShack store. When you enter the store, there's a display for Cingular, a cellular phone company. The photo in the display is of a 40-something cowboy standing in front of a horse and holding the reins. That cowboy is Fogarty. What makes this interesting is that the 40-something cowboy is now a 50-something cowboy. The photo was taken a decade ago, yet is now on Cingular displays throughout the state. Fogarty stands out clearly. The horse is mostly blocked by other elements of the display. Here's the back story: About 10 years ago, a photography crew came to Oakdale looking for someone to help them do a photo shoot with a Western theme. They somehow met Lynn Ferreira, who is Fogarty's cousin, who put them in contact with Fogarty. He is a rancher whose great-grandfather homesteaded the family ranch east of Oakdale in 1873, according to Fogarty's sister, Janet Medina....
Capitol's last cowboys ride on Politics is a lot like ranching. It's just the art of herding people instead of cattle. Throughout its 94-year history, Arizona has had so many rancher politicians (more than 120 in all) that, at one point, critics took to calling the state's government the "Cowboy Legislature." But like so much of the state's rural roots, that era is coming to an end. Sen. Jake Flake and his lifelong friend Rep. Jack Brown, with a combined 22 years in elected office, are the last active ranchers in the Arizona Legislature. Just as Arizona has drifted away from the "Five C's" emblazoned on the state seal (cattle, cotton, copper, citrus and climate) to more of a service, manufacturing and knowledge economy, political power long ago shifted to the urban areas surrounding Phoenix and Tucson. "These guys are a symbol of the Old West that many of us want to hold on to," Arizona historian Jack August said. "They represent a way of life that all of us want to keep in our hopes and dreams. A part of our intellectual warehouse as Arizonans includes a guy on a horse rounding up cattle in the fall." As ranchers leave the Legislature, Arizona loses ties to its rural roots Much of Arizona's political zeitgeist, from a barebones state government and local control of schools to fierce protection of private property, water and gun rights, is rooted in its cowboy past....
Saddle Saga Someone has said, "the institution is the shadow of the man." The Visalia Stock Saddle Company is the progressive living shadow of three men of three generations: Dave E. Walker, its founder, Edmund Walker Weeks, his nephew and successor, and Leland B. Bergen, the latter's stepson and present owner and manager. In this series of "Saddle Saga," we would seek to bring to you tales of events and men of the three periods of the cattle business which coincide with the seventy-year era already served by the Visalia Stock Saddle Company. From 1519, when Cortez brought with him to Mexico the Spanish saddles-not so very different from those used by the knights in medieval Europe-not a single improvement of note was made to add to the comfort or practicability of saddles until in 1868 when there came into an obscure harness and saddlery shop in Hornitos, near Visalia, California, one of these crude saddles for repair. These old Mexican-type saddles were cumbersome atrocities in most cases, and could be almost depended upon to cause sores on the horses' backs. The tree itself was really little more than a wooden frame, rawhide covered, while over all was thrown the loose-fitting leather cover called the mochilla. The stirrup leathers had no fenders or rasderos, so of necessity the rider wore leather leggings to protect himself. For 350 years then the knights of the American cattle range, from Mexico north, endured this discomfort until the day Ricardo Mattley determined to improve upon the Mexican saddle brought to his humble shop for repair....
It's All Trew: 'Old-time sayings' pique readers' interests On a regular basis I receive responses about my columns and questions about old-time sayings and terms. Some are familiar and others I have never heard before. Here are a few samples that I found interesting. The term "give them the whole nine yards" was explained recently. It seems in WWI, the old water-cooled machine guns fired bullets attached to a belt unfolding from an ammo box holding 27 feet of loaded belting. Since twenty-seven feet is nine yards, when the enemy attacked they said, "Give them the whole nine-yards." My article about "kissing-kin" being distant kin on which you could legally practice your kissing skills generated several responses. Some believe you can be kissing kin and not be blood related. Others said a "kissing cousin" was far enough removed from being kin that marriage to them was permitted. For example, a seventh cousin might be fair prey....
It’s The Pitts: In Truck Years You can’t talk for ten minutes with a rancher without him comparing the cost of calves and cars. “I can remember when it only took twenty calves to buy a new pickup. Now it takes a hundred,” or so they’ll say. My response is that fellow ought to either buy a cheaper truck or a better bull. We haven’t made near the improvement in our calves as Detroit has with trucks. They are highly polished, tough, slick, bold and formidable. And that’s just the salesman... you should see the trucks. Three doors or four, short bed or long, bucket seats and back seats. And enough toys to please the most discriminating grown-up child. If we had made as much improvement with our cattle the last twenty years as they have with pickups our calves would dress and deliver themselves. In a moment of weakness I actually considered buying a new truck. My cowboy carriage was made in 1985 but in dog years that’s 147 years old! (It’s a well known fact that dogs and ranch trucks age seven years for every human year.) My old truck burns more oil than it does gas and when I asked the wrecker if the truck was worth anything to haul away he wanted to know how much gas was in the tank. I guess at three bucks a gallon it makes a big difference in the blue book price for a truck as old as mine....
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Bald Eagle to Be Taken Off Endangered List
Seven years after the U.S. government moved to take the bald eagle off the endangered species list, the Bush administration intends to complete the step by February, prodded by a frustrated libertarian property owner in Minnesota. The delisting, supported by mainstream environmental groups, would represent a formal declaration that the eagle population has sufficiently rebounded, increasing more than 15-fold since its 1963 nadir to more than 7,000 nesting pairs. The next challenge is to ensure the national symbol's continued protection. "By February 16th, the bald eagle will be delisted," said Marshall Jones, deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We'll be clear so people won't think, 'It's open season on bald eagles.' No way." Although the majestic raptor will no longer be covered by the Endangered Species Act, two earlier laws and a few carefully written phrases are expected to balance respect for the eagle with an appreciation for property rights...It was a bald eagle's nest that undid Edmund Contoski. And it was Edmund Contoski who filed a federal lawsuit that prompted U.S. District Judge John Tunheim to set the February deadline for the government to act or explain why not. Contoski's problem, as he saw it, was the nest high in a pine on his property alongside Sullivan Lake, about 100 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. When the nest was reported to state environmental authorities, he was a few weeks away from carving out a road and several lots, hoping to make good on a family investment. No eagles were using the nest that year -- they returned later -- but the discovery meant that no one could build within 330 feet. The land was suddenly useless for development, and Contoski was steamed. "I can't even cut firewood," he said. "I can't trim a tree. I can't do anything." He tracked down the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has a record of challenging endangered-species rules. Better yet, Pacific attorney Damien Schiff was willing to file suit for free. For attorney and client, the case was more about principle than principal...A former city planner, published author and founder three decades ago of Minnesota's Libertarian Party, Contoski is not enthusiastic about government rules...When he studies his Constitution, he sees a guarantee of inalienable rights. "It doesn't say, 'unless eagles need a home.' It's unfair that we pay taxes all these years and now we can't recoup that. If it's public benefit, let the federal government or the state pay us for it."....
Seven years after the U.S. government moved to take the bald eagle off the endangered species list, the Bush administration intends to complete the step by February, prodded by a frustrated libertarian property owner in Minnesota. The delisting, supported by mainstream environmental groups, would represent a formal declaration that the eagle population has sufficiently rebounded, increasing more than 15-fold since its 1963 nadir to more than 7,000 nesting pairs. The next challenge is to ensure the national symbol's continued protection. "By February 16th, the bald eagle will be delisted," said Marshall Jones, deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We'll be clear so people won't think, 'It's open season on bald eagles.' No way." Although the majestic raptor will no longer be covered by the Endangered Species Act, two earlier laws and a few carefully written phrases are expected to balance respect for the eagle with an appreciation for property rights...It was a bald eagle's nest that undid Edmund Contoski. And it was Edmund Contoski who filed a federal lawsuit that prompted U.S. District Judge John Tunheim to set the February deadline for the government to act or explain why not. Contoski's problem, as he saw it, was the nest high in a pine on his property alongside Sullivan Lake, about 100 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. When the nest was reported to state environmental authorities, he was a few weeks away from carving out a road and several lots, hoping to make good on a family investment. No eagles were using the nest that year -- they returned later -- but the discovery meant that no one could build within 330 feet. The land was suddenly useless for development, and Contoski was steamed. "I can't even cut firewood," he said. "I can't trim a tree. I can't do anything." He tracked down the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has a record of challenging endangered-species rules. Better yet, Pacific attorney Damien Schiff was willing to file suit for free. For attorney and client, the case was more about principle than principal...A former city planner, published author and founder three decades ago of Minnesota's Libertarian Party, Contoski is not enthusiastic about government rules...When he studies his Constitution, he sees a guarantee of inalienable rights. "It doesn't say, 'unless eagles need a home.' It's unfair that we pay taxes all these years and now we can't recoup that. If it's public benefit, let the federal government or the state pay us for it."....
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Happy holly trails to you - fa la la la la
By Julie Carter
It's here. Christmas has arrived and the fun should begin anytime now.
Very soon people will start anticipating that magic day, Jan. 1.
You know the one - where you suddenly are going to get richer, thinner and better looking because you resolved you would.
But before we get to that, let me give you some advice that was passed to me about how to enjoy a party, of which by now, you have attended more than you wanted to with more to come.
Why not give yourself a genuine reason for those soon-to-be-made resolutions.
· Avoid the carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrot sticks, leave immediately and go next door where they are serving rum balls.
· Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. It's not addicting, its seasonal, and you won't see it again for a year. Pay no mind to the 10,000 calories-a-sip.
· If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy is not a stand-alone dish.
· If mashed potatoes are served, ask if they are made with skim or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
· Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free.
· Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when there is nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you will need after circling the buffet table with a 10-pound plate of food and drinking that vat of eggnog.
· Fruitcake? Okay, it has the mandatory celebratory calories but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
· " 'Twas the night before Christmas and all around my hips, were holiday candies sneaking past my lips." This happens all year so don't make it an issue just because it's Christmas.
· If you leave a party or get up from the table and you don't feel terrible, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read the tips and commit them to memory.
Now that you are all done shopping (You are, aren't you?) and this year's gifts are bought with next year's money, you can congratulate yourself for observing this deeply religious holiday in your own way, usually by going to the mall of your choice.
You mailed everything plenty early so the post office had time to lose it in time for Christmas.
Tradition has become so dependable.
And somewhere there are those that still take the time and generation-honored skills to give only homemade gifts.
When I was in that I-made-it-myself mode, I tried to give my children away but they were returned to me immediately.
Erma Bombeck once said, "There is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."
But I think it would be sadder yet, to not wake up at all.
We are all children in some way and Christmas can be the very day we get to act like it. Try not to waste it.
One more Fa-la-la-la and you are out-of-here, making tracks into 2007.
Happy holly-laden trails to you and yours.
© Julie Carter 2006
New Hope
by Larry Gabriel
It is almost a new year. The new year will bring many new ideas, dreams, projects and change to South Dakota. They always do.
We have all heard the expression, "some things never change", but I have never seen a thing that did not change.
Technology changes so fast it is difficult to keep up at times. The weather, the road conditions, soil moisture, crop conditions, crop outlooks, what crops we plant, what kind of cattle we raise, the state of the economy, and a host of things that impact our lives change all the time.
Even people change. Have you noticed a more positive attitude in many of our rural communities? I have. Many communities which once accepted gradual population decline as an unchangeable trend are turning that around.
More of our rural communities will do so during this new year. Unimagined progress and improvement will be made in many aspects of rural life. New business will begin. New ideas will be explored. New people will arrive.
Not everyone believes that. There are always some doubters and naysayers in every crowd. But they are few. I don't enjoy listening to them. I listen politely with my ears, but I try not to take to heart what they say. I take to heart the voices of progress, improvement and optimism.
I believe things will improve, because optimism (like all attitudes) is contagious. Many have it. Many more will get it.
Also, I believe the leaders of our state and your community will succeed where others have failed, when they have a passion for what they are doing. When the people of a community care deeply about its future and spread their optimism, anything is possible.
There is a third reason to be optimistic about the new year. We are surrounded in South Dakota by a great natural abundance of fertile land, clean air and pure water. When you add the strong belief and work ethics of our people to those natural resources, only the imagination limits what we can achieve.
I am always positive about the start of a new year, just as I am about the start of a new day. The quiet of early morning is my favorite time to contemplate the blessings I have and the opportunities that will come with the new day.
I view the arrival of a new year in much the same way. My hope for you is that you will too.
Together we can meet any challenge, overcome any obstacle, pass any test, build any dream and best of all enjoy every minute of it, because we care about what we are doing.
May your new year be filled with hope and faith that better things are just around the corner.
Happy New Year to all!
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Happy Birthday to Jenna Rose DuBois who is 6 years old today!
By Julie Carter
It's here. Christmas has arrived and the fun should begin anytime now.
Very soon people will start anticipating that magic day, Jan. 1.
You know the one - where you suddenly are going to get richer, thinner and better looking because you resolved you would.
But before we get to that, let me give you some advice that was passed to me about how to enjoy a party, of which by now, you have attended more than you wanted to with more to come.
Why not give yourself a genuine reason for those soon-to-be-made resolutions.
· Avoid the carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrot sticks, leave immediately and go next door where they are serving rum balls.
· Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. It's not addicting, its seasonal, and you won't see it again for a year. Pay no mind to the 10,000 calories-a-sip.
· If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy is not a stand-alone dish.
· If mashed potatoes are served, ask if they are made with skim or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
· Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free.
· Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when there is nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you will need after circling the buffet table with a 10-pound plate of food and drinking that vat of eggnog.
· Fruitcake? Okay, it has the mandatory celebratory calories but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
· " 'Twas the night before Christmas and all around my hips, were holiday candies sneaking past my lips." This happens all year so don't make it an issue just because it's Christmas.
· If you leave a party or get up from the table and you don't feel terrible, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read the tips and commit them to memory.
Now that you are all done shopping (You are, aren't you?) and this year's gifts are bought with next year's money, you can congratulate yourself for observing this deeply religious holiday in your own way, usually by going to the mall of your choice.
You mailed everything plenty early so the post office had time to lose it in time for Christmas.
Tradition has become so dependable.
And somewhere there are those that still take the time and generation-honored skills to give only homemade gifts.
When I was in that I-made-it-myself mode, I tried to give my children away but they were returned to me immediately.
Erma Bombeck once said, "There is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."
But I think it would be sadder yet, to not wake up at all.
We are all children in some way and Christmas can be the very day we get to act like it. Try not to waste it.
One more Fa-la-la-la and you are out-of-here, making tracks into 2007.
Happy holly-laden trails to you and yours.
© Julie Carter 2006
New Hope
by Larry Gabriel
It is almost a new year. The new year will bring many new ideas, dreams, projects and change to South Dakota. They always do.
We have all heard the expression, "some things never change", but I have never seen a thing that did not change.
Technology changes so fast it is difficult to keep up at times. The weather, the road conditions, soil moisture, crop conditions, crop outlooks, what crops we plant, what kind of cattle we raise, the state of the economy, and a host of things that impact our lives change all the time.
Even people change. Have you noticed a more positive attitude in many of our rural communities? I have. Many communities which once accepted gradual population decline as an unchangeable trend are turning that around.
More of our rural communities will do so during this new year. Unimagined progress and improvement will be made in many aspects of rural life. New business will begin. New ideas will be explored. New people will arrive.
Not everyone believes that. There are always some doubters and naysayers in every crowd. But they are few. I don't enjoy listening to them. I listen politely with my ears, but I try not to take to heart what they say. I take to heart the voices of progress, improvement and optimism.
I believe things will improve, because optimism (like all attitudes) is contagious. Many have it. Many more will get it.
Also, I believe the leaders of our state and your community will succeed where others have failed, when they have a passion for what they are doing. When the people of a community care deeply about its future and spread their optimism, anything is possible.
There is a third reason to be optimistic about the new year. We are surrounded in South Dakota by a great natural abundance of fertile land, clean air and pure water. When you add the strong belief and work ethics of our people to those natural resources, only the imagination limits what we can achieve.
I am always positive about the start of a new year, just as I am about the start of a new day. The quiet of early morning is my favorite time to contemplate the blessings I have and the opportunities that will come with the new day.
I view the arrival of a new year in much the same way. My hope for you is that you will too.
Together we can meet any challenge, overcome any obstacle, pass any test, build any dream and best of all enjoy every minute of it, because we care about what we are doing.
May your new year be filled with hope and faith that better things are just around the corner.
Happy New Year to all!
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Happy Birthday to Jenna Rose DuBois who is 6 years old today!
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