GAO
Department of the Interior: Major Management Challenges, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the House Committee on Natural Resources. GAO-07-502T, February 16.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-502T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07502thigh.pdf
Friday, February 16, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Auto Industry Would Benefit if Congress Mandated Fuel Efficiency Requirements, Group Says An environmental and science policy think tank released a study Wednesday, saying that Detroit and the big three American automakers have "misread" consumer demands and could be helped by a congressional mandate for more fuel-efficient cars. "America is literally stuck in reverse when it comes to fuel-efficient vehicles, and U.S. consumers want Congress to take action to correct the situation," Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute, said during a conference call briefing. Greg Martin, General Motor's Washington spokesman, called the assessment "simplistic, patronizing and wrong." Solo said that the study "looked at the fuel-efficient car gap, and ... found that the United States is even farther behind the rest of the world today than it was in 2005." "Eighty-eight percent of Americans think U.S. consumers should have access to the dozens of more fuel-efficient cars available from U.S. and foreign automakers overseas, but not available in this country."....
White Dress, 'Green' Wedding The World Wildlife Fund is urging engaged couples to make their wedding day "environmentally friendly." The group has unveiled a "green weddings" website where couples can "choose to enhance their wedding by contributing to conservation and reducing the impact their activities have on the planet." The website includes a gift registry where wedding guests may donate to WWF's worldwide conservation programs instead of giving traditional wedding gifts. And instead of buying party favors, couples can choose to make a donation to WWF in honor of their wedding guests. Table cards announcing the couple's donation may be downloaded from the site for display on reception tables. In addition to the wedding gift registry, the site offers "helpful tips" on planning a green wedding -- details such as selecting an "eco-friendly" reception venue (natural light for daytime weddings; candlelight for evening events); photography (go digital) and food caterers (go organic). And don't forget the "eco-honeymoon" (think carbon emission offsets).....
Passaic erred in seizing property, court says He's an average Joe who fought the law and won. When the city attempted to take away his property through eminent domain, Charles Shennett fought back. Now, the state's appellate court has sided with him. The court said the city's taking of Shennett's property at 254 Summer St. was void, because Shennett did not receive notice of a May 2004 condemnation hearing. The city claimed that its attempt to serve Shennett with notification of the hearing was returned by the post office with no forwarding address. But the court determined the city could have easily looked at its tax rolls to get it. The city's technical blunders in trying to notify Shennett led the court to rule that Shennett did not receive due process of law. "The circumstances here are so egregious that no remedy will suffice but to void the judgment," the court wrote in an opinion published last Friday. Shennett has long maintained that the city never notified him that it was going to condemn his property, adding that he only found out about it when he didn't receive a tax bill for 2005. According to court documents, after condemning Shennett's land in May 2004, the city sold the property for $60,000 to Wayne Asset Management,LLC, of Kinnelon, a company owned by Wayne Alston, a former Passaic councilman. Alston put a two-story house on the vacant lot and sold it for $425,000 in October 2005 to Cerda Orlando , according to property records....
Bill to protect owners of land being drilled for gas, oil production advances in NM House A bill that supporters says would protect landowners when oil and gas companies drill on their property was heard Thursday in New Mexico's House of Representative Health and Government Affairs Committee. It now heads to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The legislation was introduced in 2006 but failed to pass. Crafters of the bill have made some revisions and continue to negotiate with the oil and gas industry on language and issues in the bill, said Alisa Ogden, a Carlsbad farmer and rancher who serves as president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. The bill has received strong endorsement from her organization, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, New Mexico Oil and Gas Network — Oil and Gas Accountability Project and the New Mexico Chapter of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. Supporters of House Bill 827, the Surface Owners' Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nunez, D-Hatch, say that currently oil and gas companies are not required to have a written agreement with a homeowner of landowner before they drill a well, nor are they required to pay for the use of the land surface. They maintain that increasingly ranchers, landowners and residents are running into conflict with drilling companies....
Catron Commission Wants To Protect People From Wolves Playing to a packed house, the Catron County Commission set the stage for a showdown with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the Mexican Grey Wolf reintroduction program at its February 7 meeting. More than 120 people, including a TV crew from Albuquerque, filled the courtroom as the commission listened to public comments about its proposed “Wolf-Human Incident Emergency Protective Measures” ordinance. The ordinance will allow county personnel to immediately remove “habituated wolves that have caused or have a high probability of causing physical and/or psychological damage to children or other defenseless persons.” The ordinance also dictates procedures for killing “habituated wolves, whether or not they have threatened persons.” The ordinance will allow county personnel to immediately remove “habituated wolves that have caused or have a high probability of causing physical and/or psychological damage to children or other defenseless persons.” The ordinance also dictates procedures for killing “habituated wolves, whether or not they have threatened persons.” “The county ordinance doesn’t follow federal law,” according to Elizabeth Slown, a public information officer with the regional office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque. “The ordinance does not follow the process we already have to deal with nuisance wolves.” Commissioner Hugh B. McKeen, a Glenwood area rancher, said, “The ordinance is a step over the line. They’ll come after us,” he said in reference to the Fish and Wildlife Service....
Jury awards ranchers $3.3m A jury on Wednesday said the federal government should pay more than $3.3 million to compensate three ranchers for a high-tension power line that bisects their lands along the San Joaquin Valley's western fringes. It was a mixed decision handed down by the U.S. District Court jury -- well above the $85,000 offered by the government, but far below the nearly $12 million sought by the three landowners. "I felt the government's offer was insulting and am glad we refused it and went to court to secure a compensation the taking that was closer to fair," said John Harris, CEO and chairman of Harris Farms, which holds an interest in one of the properties. "While the verdict was clearly lower than what we feel the damages are, we must now move on." Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Enos, one of the attorneys who argued the case on behalf of the government, said he was "more pleased about some aspects of the verdicts than others." He did not elaborate....
Army given go-ahead on Pinon Canyon Ranchers around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site officially received news Wednesday that the Defense Department has approved the Army's request to start the process of adding 418,000 acres to the training area southwest of La Junta. Lon Robertson, a Kim-area rancher and president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, acknowledged that rural families around the maneuver site have been dreading the news for more than a year, since Army officials first hinted they wanted to significantly expand the 238,000-acre training area that straddles the Purgatoire River. "But we're not going to take this lying down," Robertson said. "This would be a total misuse of taxpayers' dollars to take our land, our heritage, from families who have lived here for a long time." Keith Eastin, assistant defense secretary for installations, told some Colorado lawmakers about the Pentagon decision Tuesday, but most people were given word by Fort Carson officials Wednesday....
Model rancher: 'It's sad' Cattle rancher Abel Benevidez knew something was going down involving the Army’s proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site when he heard a nearby landowner had been approached recently to sell his property. The official announcement came on St. Valentine's Day that the Pentagon had given Army officials permission to begin negotiations to purchase land from private owners in the Pinon Canyon Maneuvers Site. The decision opens the door for the Army to potentially acquire up to 418,577 acres of land. "It’s sad," Benevidez said Wednesday. Benevidez runs a 800-acre cow-calf operation that may be within the expansion area. He was voted Stockman of the Year 2006 by the Southern Colorado Livestock Association....
Column - Taking on the Army Want to bend your mind around the magnitude of 418,000 acres - the amount of land the Army plans to "acquire" to expand a training facility in southern Colorado? Think of roughly 650 square miles - or more than four times the size of the city of Denver. Or think of the entire developed metro area - except that even it doesn't encompass as much land as the Army now has its eye on. What the Army covets is a monster territory that it would add to the 238,000 acres that already comprise the giant Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. Giving our troops what they need should be everybody's goal. But what if the military insists the troops need a ranch that's been in someone's family for generations?....
Idaho Senate OKs elk licensing An industry-backed plan to regulate Idaho elk ranches trumped stricter proposals Thursday during Senate debate that included talk of "grain-fed monsters" and "French-kissing" elk spreading disease through fences. The Senate Agriculture Affairs Committee voted 7-1 for a licensing program for Idaho's nearly 80 elk ranches, 17 of which offer "shooter-bull" fenced hunts. The ranches have come under scrutiny since up to 160 animals bolted from an eastern Idaho preserve last year. If it becomes law, the plan passed Thursday calls for a $5 licensing fee for the state's nearly 6,000 farm-raised elk, a $200 fee for state Department of Agriculture inspections, and the authority to shut down operations not abiding by the rules. Ag officials could also order double fences where needed, according to the bill now headed to the full Senate....
Sportsmen in D.C. lobby for Wyoming Range restrictions Three members of the Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range traveled to Washington this week to lobby federal officials for legislation that would set aside the area from oil and gas drilling. Tom Reed of Trout Unlimited was joined on the trip by Terry Pollard, an outfitter from Pinedale, and Bill Perkins of Rock Springs. In two days of meetings, they sat down with Wyoming's members of Congress and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to pitch their proposal. "What our group would like the delegation to consider is similar to what happened to the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana where there was a buy-back option for lease holders on leased lands, gas and oil companies," Reed said. "To actually have them, if they wanted, to sell their lease so it could be retired. And also not to have any new leasing." Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range is a coalition of 13 sporting and outdoors groups advocating for protection of about 400,000 acres on the western edge of the state, running south from Hoback Junction....
Freudenthal outlines plan for wolf bill In new language for a wolf bill, the state would seek assurances from the federal government it can manage for a limited number of wolves before control of the animal is formally transferred to the state. The new language, submitted by Gov. Dave Freudenthal, would require the federal government to amend its rule guiding management of wolves in the interim period between proposed and formal delisting in the next year. The changes to the so-called 10(j) rule would say the state can kill wolves impacting big game herds as long as there are 17 breeding pairs in the recovery area of Wyoming, including national parks. This new language would be tacked on to an existing working bill in the Legislature, in which trophy game area would be designated and the state agrees to maintain 15 breeding pairs. Last week legislators said the wolf bill appeared dead because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would not give the state permission to kill wolves impacting big game herds before delisting....
Interstate wildfire compact Wildfires, especially big wildfires, can act like the proverbial black hole when it comes to personnel and equipment n sucking a state’s resources and then some. That’s why a bill in the Wyoming Legislature will be of help in future wildfire seasons n allowing the Cowboy State to join an interstate wildfire-fighting compact. “There are seven interstate compacts in the United States,” said Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser. “We’ll be joining the eighth interstate compact n the Great Plains compact.” House Bill 67 has enjoyed unanimous support in the House and passed on second reading in the Senate on Wednesday n seemingly well on its way to final passage and the governor’s signature. Sen. Pat Aullman, R-Thayne, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said interstate cooperation in fighting wildfires is a critical issue in Star Valley, on the Wyoming/Idaho border. “We’ve seen forest fires from one state into the other and back again,” she said, so sharing wildfire-fighting resources is of benefit to Wyoming and all its neighboring states....
Montana Senate Votes Against Coalbed-Methane Reclamation Bill With Republicans arguing that effective standards already exist, the Senate on Thursday rejected a bill 33-17 that would have established reclamation requirements for coalbed-methane development. “Record profits from oil and gas companies have led to increased exploration,” said the bill’s sponsor, Carol Kaufmann, D-Helena. “The current reclamation requirements are simply not adequate to accommodate the anticipated demand for coalbed-methane.” Senate Bill 341 would require a reclamation plan accompany any new application to drill. When possible, drillers would need to begin reclamation while drilling projects were still ongoing, or have the reclamation underway two years after the abandonment of a project, at the latest. Those reclamation plans would have to include provisions to restore soil, vegetation and manage the wastewater and saline seep that are the byproducts of coalbed-methane development. “Can you really look Montana farmers and ranchers in the eye and say, ‘Property rights are paramount, just not yours’?” Kaufmann asked in her conclusion....
Activists say lawmaker too cozy with lawsuit A Southern Utah legislator is drawing fire from environmental groups that complain he is steering state money to two rural counties in a way that could, at least indirectly, benefit a member of his family. But Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, insists that there is no conflict of interest, and calls that charge simply the latest in a series of "personal attacks" on him by environmentalists. Noel earlier in the legislative session sought a state appropriation of $326,000 to help Kane and Garfield counties defray the legal costs of lawsuits they have filed, and have been filed against them, in ongoing disputes over road claims and grazing permits in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Grand Canyon Trust charge that the portion of the money set aside for the grazing suit will benefit Trevor D. Stewart, one of the area ranchers who is part of the suit - and is Noel's son-in-law....
Water rights proving to be tense issue in Montana The landowner's actions represented the prevailing belief in Montana that groundwater and surface water are two separate entities, and that taking water from one has no effect on the other. But last April, Montana's Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion that not only rejects that belief but raises the stakes in an already tense competition among farmers, ranchers, developers and recreationists for the state's most precious resource. The court ruled that, in much of Montana, rivers and streams depend on groundwater for part of their flows. New wells in such areas could effectively siphon water from those streamflows - and from those who own the rights to such surface water. In recognizing the “connectivity” between surface water and groundwater, the court's so-called “Smith River” opinion prevents the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation from issuing any permits for ground or surface water in the Upper Missouri basin - a so-called “closed” drainage because all available water rights have been claimed. The Upper Clark Fork and Upper Bitterroot river basins are also closed. Legislators and lobbyists this session are scrambling to deal with the ruling's implications through changes in Montana water law....
Sheriff's department reports killing of livestock he Eddy County Sheriff's Department reported that they received a report of suspect(s) killing livestock west of Carlsbad Feb. 10, according to a press release. Deputy Ken McAnally received a report from ranchers that five head of cattle had been shot on the Hugh Kincaid Ranch west of Carlsbad. The report indicates that the cattle were killed between Feb. 3 and Feb. 9. McAnally, while examining the livestock, observed that the cattle had been shot "and just left lying" in that they had not been butchered. The black Brangus cattle were pregnant with calves at the time of the killing, increasing the value of the cattle. The reported loss is estimated at $4,100 for the five head....
‘American West’ shows us ourselves Stanford is the final venue for the 20th-anniversary tour of this exhibition of Avedon’s oversized images of working-class Westerners. It’s almost as if you become the viewed and they become the viewers. Richard Avedon, originally famous for helping to raise fashion photography to a fine art, was commissioned in 1979 to take portraits of those living in the American West. Thirteen states, 189 towns, 17,000 sheets of 8” by 10” film and five-and-a-half years later, Avedon exhibited the original “In the American West” exhibit in 1985 at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Now two decades later, and two years after Avedon’s death, Stanford is showing 63 of the original 124 pieces, including all of the most famous and notable portraits. For the subject of his portraits, Avedon focused on the working class, both those living close to the land and on the margins of society. He photographed farmers, coal miners, rodeo contestants, housewives, construction workers, ranchers, truckers, waitresses, carneys and oil field workers....
Auto Industry Would Benefit if Congress Mandated Fuel Efficiency Requirements, Group Says An environmental and science policy think tank released a study Wednesday, saying that Detroit and the big three American automakers have "misread" consumer demands and could be helped by a congressional mandate for more fuel-efficient cars. "America is literally stuck in reverse when it comes to fuel-efficient vehicles, and U.S. consumers want Congress to take action to correct the situation," Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute, said during a conference call briefing. Greg Martin, General Motor's Washington spokesman, called the assessment "simplistic, patronizing and wrong." Solo said that the study "looked at the fuel-efficient car gap, and ... found that the United States is even farther behind the rest of the world today than it was in 2005." "Eighty-eight percent of Americans think U.S. consumers should have access to the dozens of more fuel-efficient cars available from U.S. and foreign automakers overseas, but not available in this country."....
White Dress, 'Green' Wedding The World Wildlife Fund is urging engaged couples to make their wedding day "environmentally friendly." The group has unveiled a "green weddings" website where couples can "choose to enhance their wedding by contributing to conservation and reducing the impact their activities have on the planet." The website includes a gift registry where wedding guests may donate to WWF's worldwide conservation programs instead of giving traditional wedding gifts. And instead of buying party favors, couples can choose to make a donation to WWF in honor of their wedding guests. Table cards announcing the couple's donation may be downloaded from the site for display on reception tables. In addition to the wedding gift registry, the site offers "helpful tips" on planning a green wedding -- details such as selecting an "eco-friendly" reception venue (natural light for daytime weddings; candlelight for evening events); photography (go digital) and food caterers (go organic). And don't forget the "eco-honeymoon" (think carbon emission offsets).....
Passaic erred in seizing property, court says He's an average Joe who fought the law and won. When the city attempted to take away his property through eminent domain, Charles Shennett fought back. Now, the state's appellate court has sided with him. The court said the city's taking of Shennett's property at 254 Summer St. was void, because Shennett did not receive notice of a May 2004 condemnation hearing. The city claimed that its attempt to serve Shennett with notification of the hearing was returned by the post office with no forwarding address. But the court determined the city could have easily looked at its tax rolls to get it. The city's technical blunders in trying to notify Shennett led the court to rule that Shennett did not receive due process of law. "The circumstances here are so egregious that no remedy will suffice but to void the judgment," the court wrote in an opinion published last Friday. Shennett has long maintained that the city never notified him that it was going to condemn his property, adding that he only found out about it when he didn't receive a tax bill for 2005. According to court documents, after condemning Shennett's land in May 2004, the city sold the property for $60,000 to Wayne Asset Management,LLC, of Kinnelon, a company owned by Wayne Alston, a former Passaic councilman. Alston put a two-story house on the vacant lot and sold it for $425,000 in October 2005 to Cerda Orlando , according to property records....
Bill to protect owners of land being drilled for gas, oil production advances in NM House A bill that supporters says would protect landowners when oil and gas companies drill on their property was heard Thursday in New Mexico's House of Representative Health and Government Affairs Committee. It now heads to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The legislation was introduced in 2006 but failed to pass. Crafters of the bill have made some revisions and continue to negotiate with the oil and gas industry on language and issues in the bill, said Alisa Ogden, a Carlsbad farmer and rancher who serves as president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. The bill has received strong endorsement from her organization, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, New Mexico Oil and Gas Network — Oil and Gas Accountability Project and the New Mexico Chapter of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. Supporters of House Bill 827, the Surface Owners' Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nunez, D-Hatch, say that currently oil and gas companies are not required to have a written agreement with a homeowner of landowner before they drill a well, nor are they required to pay for the use of the land surface. They maintain that increasingly ranchers, landowners and residents are running into conflict with drilling companies....
Catron Commission Wants To Protect People From Wolves Playing to a packed house, the Catron County Commission set the stage for a showdown with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the Mexican Grey Wolf reintroduction program at its February 7 meeting. More than 120 people, including a TV crew from Albuquerque, filled the courtroom as the commission listened to public comments about its proposed “Wolf-Human Incident Emergency Protective Measures” ordinance. The ordinance will allow county personnel to immediately remove “habituated wolves that have caused or have a high probability of causing physical and/or psychological damage to children or other defenseless persons.” The ordinance also dictates procedures for killing “habituated wolves, whether or not they have threatened persons.” The ordinance will allow county personnel to immediately remove “habituated wolves that have caused or have a high probability of causing physical and/or psychological damage to children or other defenseless persons.” The ordinance also dictates procedures for killing “habituated wolves, whether or not they have threatened persons.” “The county ordinance doesn’t follow federal law,” according to Elizabeth Slown, a public information officer with the regional office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque. “The ordinance does not follow the process we already have to deal with nuisance wolves.” Commissioner Hugh B. McKeen, a Glenwood area rancher, said, “The ordinance is a step over the line. They’ll come after us,” he said in reference to the Fish and Wildlife Service....
Jury awards ranchers $3.3m A jury on Wednesday said the federal government should pay more than $3.3 million to compensate three ranchers for a high-tension power line that bisects their lands along the San Joaquin Valley's western fringes. It was a mixed decision handed down by the U.S. District Court jury -- well above the $85,000 offered by the government, but far below the nearly $12 million sought by the three landowners. "I felt the government's offer was insulting and am glad we refused it and went to court to secure a compensation the taking that was closer to fair," said John Harris, CEO and chairman of Harris Farms, which holds an interest in one of the properties. "While the verdict was clearly lower than what we feel the damages are, we must now move on." Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Enos, one of the attorneys who argued the case on behalf of the government, said he was "more pleased about some aspects of the verdicts than others." He did not elaborate....
Army given go-ahead on Pinon Canyon Ranchers around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site officially received news Wednesday that the Defense Department has approved the Army's request to start the process of adding 418,000 acres to the training area southwest of La Junta. Lon Robertson, a Kim-area rancher and president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, acknowledged that rural families around the maneuver site have been dreading the news for more than a year, since Army officials first hinted they wanted to significantly expand the 238,000-acre training area that straddles the Purgatoire River. "But we're not going to take this lying down," Robertson said. "This would be a total misuse of taxpayers' dollars to take our land, our heritage, from families who have lived here for a long time." Keith Eastin, assistant defense secretary for installations, told some Colorado lawmakers about the Pentagon decision Tuesday, but most people were given word by Fort Carson officials Wednesday....
Model rancher: 'It's sad' Cattle rancher Abel Benevidez knew something was going down involving the Army’s proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site when he heard a nearby landowner had been approached recently to sell his property. The official announcement came on St. Valentine's Day that the Pentagon had given Army officials permission to begin negotiations to purchase land from private owners in the Pinon Canyon Maneuvers Site. The decision opens the door for the Army to potentially acquire up to 418,577 acres of land. "It’s sad," Benevidez said Wednesday. Benevidez runs a 800-acre cow-calf operation that may be within the expansion area. He was voted Stockman of the Year 2006 by the Southern Colorado Livestock Association....
Column - Taking on the Army Want to bend your mind around the magnitude of 418,000 acres - the amount of land the Army plans to "acquire" to expand a training facility in southern Colorado? Think of roughly 650 square miles - or more than four times the size of the city of Denver. Or think of the entire developed metro area - except that even it doesn't encompass as much land as the Army now has its eye on. What the Army covets is a monster territory that it would add to the 238,000 acres that already comprise the giant Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. Giving our troops what they need should be everybody's goal. But what if the military insists the troops need a ranch that's been in someone's family for generations?....
Idaho Senate OKs elk licensing An industry-backed plan to regulate Idaho elk ranches trumped stricter proposals Thursday during Senate debate that included talk of "grain-fed monsters" and "French-kissing" elk spreading disease through fences. The Senate Agriculture Affairs Committee voted 7-1 for a licensing program for Idaho's nearly 80 elk ranches, 17 of which offer "shooter-bull" fenced hunts. The ranches have come under scrutiny since up to 160 animals bolted from an eastern Idaho preserve last year. If it becomes law, the plan passed Thursday calls for a $5 licensing fee for the state's nearly 6,000 farm-raised elk, a $200 fee for state Department of Agriculture inspections, and the authority to shut down operations not abiding by the rules. Ag officials could also order double fences where needed, according to the bill now headed to the full Senate....
Sportsmen in D.C. lobby for Wyoming Range restrictions Three members of the Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range traveled to Washington this week to lobby federal officials for legislation that would set aside the area from oil and gas drilling. Tom Reed of Trout Unlimited was joined on the trip by Terry Pollard, an outfitter from Pinedale, and Bill Perkins of Rock Springs. In two days of meetings, they sat down with Wyoming's members of Congress and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to pitch their proposal. "What our group would like the delegation to consider is similar to what happened to the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana where there was a buy-back option for lease holders on leased lands, gas and oil companies," Reed said. "To actually have them, if they wanted, to sell their lease so it could be retired. And also not to have any new leasing." Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range is a coalition of 13 sporting and outdoors groups advocating for protection of about 400,000 acres on the western edge of the state, running south from Hoback Junction....
Freudenthal outlines plan for wolf bill In new language for a wolf bill, the state would seek assurances from the federal government it can manage for a limited number of wolves before control of the animal is formally transferred to the state. The new language, submitted by Gov. Dave Freudenthal, would require the federal government to amend its rule guiding management of wolves in the interim period between proposed and formal delisting in the next year. The changes to the so-called 10(j) rule would say the state can kill wolves impacting big game herds as long as there are 17 breeding pairs in the recovery area of Wyoming, including national parks. This new language would be tacked on to an existing working bill in the Legislature, in which trophy game area would be designated and the state agrees to maintain 15 breeding pairs. Last week legislators said the wolf bill appeared dead because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would not give the state permission to kill wolves impacting big game herds before delisting....
Interstate wildfire compact Wildfires, especially big wildfires, can act like the proverbial black hole when it comes to personnel and equipment n sucking a state’s resources and then some. That’s why a bill in the Wyoming Legislature will be of help in future wildfire seasons n allowing the Cowboy State to join an interstate wildfire-fighting compact. “There are seven interstate compacts in the United States,” said Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser. “We’ll be joining the eighth interstate compact n the Great Plains compact.” House Bill 67 has enjoyed unanimous support in the House and passed on second reading in the Senate on Wednesday n seemingly well on its way to final passage and the governor’s signature. Sen. Pat Aullman, R-Thayne, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said interstate cooperation in fighting wildfires is a critical issue in Star Valley, on the Wyoming/Idaho border. “We’ve seen forest fires from one state into the other and back again,” she said, so sharing wildfire-fighting resources is of benefit to Wyoming and all its neighboring states....
Montana Senate Votes Against Coalbed-Methane Reclamation Bill With Republicans arguing that effective standards already exist, the Senate on Thursday rejected a bill 33-17 that would have established reclamation requirements for coalbed-methane development. “Record profits from oil and gas companies have led to increased exploration,” said the bill’s sponsor, Carol Kaufmann, D-Helena. “The current reclamation requirements are simply not adequate to accommodate the anticipated demand for coalbed-methane.” Senate Bill 341 would require a reclamation plan accompany any new application to drill. When possible, drillers would need to begin reclamation while drilling projects were still ongoing, or have the reclamation underway two years after the abandonment of a project, at the latest. Those reclamation plans would have to include provisions to restore soil, vegetation and manage the wastewater and saline seep that are the byproducts of coalbed-methane development. “Can you really look Montana farmers and ranchers in the eye and say, ‘Property rights are paramount, just not yours’?” Kaufmann asked in her conclusion....
Activists say lawmaker too cozy with lawsuit A Southern Utah legislator is drawing fire from environmental groups that complain he is steering state money to two rural counties in a way that could, at least indirectly, benefit a member of his family. But Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, insists that there is no conflict of interest, and calls that charge simply the latest in a series of "personal attacks" on him by environmentalists. Noel earlier in the legislative session sought a state appropriation of $326,000 to help Kane and Garfield counties defray the legal costs of lawsuits they have filed, and have been filed against them, in ongoing disputes over road claims and grazing permits in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Grand Canyon Trust charge that the portion of the money set aside for the grazing suit will benefit Trevor D. Stewart, one of the area ranchers who is part of the suit - and is Noel's son-in-law....
Water rights proving to be tense issue in Montana The landowner's actions represented the prevailing belief in Montana that groundwater and surface water are two separate entities, and that taking water from one has no effect on the other. But last April, Montana's Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion that not only rejects that belief but raises the stakes in an already tense competition among farmers, ranchers, developers and recreationists for the state's most precious resource. The court ruled that, in much of Montana, rivers and streams depend on groundwater for part of their flows. New wells in such areas could effectively siphon water from those streamflows - and from those who own the rights to such surface water. In recognizing the “connectivity” between surface water and groundwater, the court's so-called “Smith River” opinion prevents the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation from issuing any permits for ground or surface water in the Upper Missouri basin - a so-called “closed” drainage because all available water rights have been claimed. The Upper Clark Fork and Upper Bitterroot river basins are also closed. Legislators and lobbyists this session are scrambling to deal with the ruling's implications through changes in Montana water law....
Sheriff's department reports killing of livestock he Eddy County Sheriff's Department reported that they received a report of suspect(s) killing livestock west of Carlsbad Feb. 10, according to a press release. Deputy Ken McAnally received a report from ranchers that five head of cattle had been shot on the Hugh Kincaid Ranch west of Carlsbad. The report indicates that the cattle were killed between Feb. 3 and Feb. 9. McAnally, while examining the livestock, observed that the cattle had been shot "and just left lying" in that they had not been butchered. The black Brangus cattle were pregnant with calves at the time of the killing, increasing the value of the cattle. The reported loss is estimated at $4,100 for the five head....
‘American West’ shows us ourselves Stanford is the final venue for the 20th-anniversary tour of this exhibition of Avedon’s oversized images of working-class Westerners. It’s almost as if you become the viewed and they become the viewers. Richard Avedon, originally famous for helping to raise fashion photography to a fine art, was commissioned in 1979 to take portraits of those living in the American West. Thirteen states, 189 towns, 17,000 sheets of 8” by 10” film and five-and-a-half years later, Avedon exhibited the original “In the American West” exhibit in 1985 at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Now two decades later, and two years after Avedon’s death, Stanford is showing 63 of the original 124 pieces, including all of the most famous and notable portraits. For the subject of his portraits, Avedon focused on the working class, both those living close to the land and on the margins of society. He photographed farmers, coal miners, rodeo contestants, housewives, construction workers, ranchers, truckers, waitresses, carneys and oil field workers....
Thursday, February 15, 2007
FLE
Congressman: Probe Mexico's role in prosecutions A Republican congressman is asking a Democrat colleague to hold hearings to investigate the involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez and Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean for shooting incidents involving illegal immigrants. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND his office is writing a memo to Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., after WND's story this week disclosing the involvement of the Mexican Consulate in both cases. "It appears we are giving more credence to directions from Mexican government officials than we are to the dictates of our own Constitution and the security of the people of the United States," Rohrabacher told WND. The congressman is the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Delahunt has taken Rohrabacher's place as chairman....
Discrepancies in case against Border Patrol unresolved A series of unexplained discrepancies and contradictions mar the Report of Investigation that was released recently by the Department of Homeland Security to Congress over the case involving former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. For example, the heavily redacted report left unclear what the relationship is between Willcox, Ariz-based Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez and drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, with whom Sanchez supposedly grew up in Mexico. Ramos and Compean were charged, tried and convicted of shooting Aldrete-Davil, a fleeing drug smuggler, in the buttocks. They were given sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison, while federal prosecutors granted the drug smuggler immunity to return to the United States and testify against the law enforcement officers. The circumstances of the case have outraged many concerned over the problems of illegal immigration and running drugs from Mexico into the United States. Dozens of members of Congress as well as several activist groups have called for the officers to be pardoned. But the investigation into the record is further complicated, not only by the redactions in the report, but by the failure of the U.S. District Court in El Paso to produce a transcript of the trial, now some 11 months after the trial was completed. Moreover, the Homeland Security document refers to many investigative reports not included in the redacted report. Similarly unanswered is exactly who Aldrete-Davila is and how he entered the United States on Feb. 17, 2005. Government investigators and the prosecutor do not have a consistent answer to this important question, one considered central to the entire case. "The prosecutors did not know who Aldrete-Davila really was," Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol told WND, "nor did they care to find out. Once [prosecutor] Johnny Sutton found the drug smuggler, he set his mind on prosecuting the Border Patrol agents. There is nothing in the record to suggest Sutton ever spent a single minute investigating the drug smuggler for prosecution, or finding out who might be related to the drug smuggler that he could prosecute."....
Mexico demanded U.S. prosecute sheriff, agents The Mexican Consulate played a previously undisclosed role in the events leading to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's high-profile prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving 11 and 12 year sentences for their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler, according to documents obtained by WND. And Mexican consular officials also demanded the prosecution of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez, who subsequently was brought to trial by Sutton, the documents reveal. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas – among a number of congressman who have fiercely opposed the prosecution of Ramos and Compean – told WND he has "long suspected that Mexican government officials ordered the prosecution of our law enforcement agents." "Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing," Culberson said. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged. "The Mexican government should do more to keep illegals from Mexico from crossing into the United States, especially drug dealers, rather than be concerned about our border agents," he told WND. "The U.S. Justice Department should not be working for the Mexican government." The White House and Sutton's office in El Paso, Texas, did not respond to calls from WND asking for comment....
Border Patrol agent shoots at migrants throwing rocks A Border Patrol agent in El Paso opened fire at a group of suspected migrants who were throwing rocks, in what officials described as part of a growing number of assaults on agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The agent, whose name was not released, was not hurt and no one was believed to have been shot in the incident. It happened Tuesday along the Rio Grande off the César Chávez Border Highway near Fonseca Drive, agency spokesman Doug Mosier said. About 8 p.m., the agent, who was alone, approached a group of four or five men who began throwing rocks, one of which came close to hitting the agent in the head, Mosier said. The agent fired his handgun at least once at the group, which dispersed and ran into Mexico. "We are still not sure where the rocks were thrown from, but we do believe they (attackers) started out on the U.S. side of the river and ended up south in Mexico. The whole incident took place in the riverbed," Mosier said. Authorities in Juárez were contacted, but the men were not found. An investigation into the shooting continues....
On US-Mexico border, illegal crossings drop One phrase sums up both the chief achievement and complaint of National Guard soldiers and airmen posted along this dusty strip of border with Mexico: "Nothing happening." That's good news for Operation Jumpstart, President Bush's eight-month-old initiative to reinforce America's southern border with National Guard troops until enough border patrol agents are trained. The extra troops appear to be discouraging people from trying to cross illegally. Apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the Yuma sector – one of the busiest for the past two years and a top target for the operation – have dropped 62 percent in the last four months compared with the same period a year ago. That's the biggest drop of all nine border patrol sectors on the frontier with Mexico and double the average decline. The amount of marijuana seized in the Yuma sector fell 36 percent for the same period. The figures for the entire southern border – a 27 decline in apprehensions and a 51 percent increase in marijuana seized – are encouraging, experts say. "If those numbers hold [for the entire fiscal year], that would indeed represent a significant drop," says Luis Cabrera, an expert on transnational justice issues at Arizona State University in Tempe. "We're pretty sure there's a deterrence effect."....
Congressman: Probe Mexico's role in prosecutions A Republican congressman is asking a Democrat colleague to hold hearings to investigate the involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez and Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean for shooting incidents involving illegal immigrants. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND his office is writing a memo to Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., after WND's story this week disclosing the involvement of the Mexican Consulate in both cases. "It appears we are giving more credence to directions from Mexican government officials than we are to the dictates of our own Constitution and the security of the people of the United States," Rohrabacher told WND. The congressman is the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Delahunt has taken Rohrabacher's place as chairman....
Discrepancies in case against Border Patrol unresolved A series of unexplained discrepancies and contradictions mar the Report of Investigation that was released recently by the Department of Homeland Security to Congress over the case involving former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. For example, the heavily redacted report left unclear what the relationship is between Willcox, Ariz-based Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez and drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, with whom Sanchez supposedly grew up in Mexico. Ramos and Compean were charged, tried and convicted of shooting Aldrete-Davil, a fleeing drug smuggler, in the buttocks. They were given sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison, while federal prosecutors granted the drug smuggler immunity to return to the United States and testify against the law enforcement officers. The circumstances of the case have outraged many concerned over the problems of illegal immigration and running drugs from Mexico into the United States. Dozens of members of Congress as well as several activist groups have called for the officers to be pardoned. But the investigation into the record is further complicated, not only by the redactions in the report, but by the failure of the U.S. District Court in El Paso to produce a transcript of the trial, now some 11 months after the trial was completed. Moreover, the Homeland Security document refers to many investigative reports not included in the redacted report. Similarly unanswered is exactly who Aldrete-Davila is and how he entered the United States on Feb. 17, 2005. Government investigators and the prosecutor do not have a consistent answer to this important question, one considered central to the entire case. "The prosecutors did not know who Aldrete-Davila really was," Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol told WND, "nor did they care to find out. Once [prosecutor] Johnny Sutton found the drug smuggler, he set his mind on prosecuting the Border Patrol agents. There is nothing in the record to suggest Sutton ever spent a single minute investigating the drug smuggler for prosecution, or finding out who might be related to the drug smuggler that he could prosecute."....
Mexico demanded U.S. prosecute sheriff, agents The Mexican Consulate played a previously undisclosed role in the events leading to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's high-profile prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving 11 and 12 year sentences for their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler, according to documents obtained by WND. And Mexican consular officials also demanded the prosecution of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez, who subsequently was brought to trial by Sutton, the documents reveal. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas – among a number of congressman who have fiercely opposed the prosecution of Ramos and Compean – told WND he has "long suspected that Mexican government officials ordered the prosecution of our law enforcement agents." "Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing," Culberson said. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged. "The Mexican government should do more to keep illegals from Mexico from crossing into the United States, especially drug dealers, rather than be concerned about our border agents," he told WND. "The U.S. Justice Department should not be working for the Mexican government." The White House and Sutton's office in El Paso, Texas, did not respond to calls from WND asking for comment....
Border Patrol agent shoots at migrants throwing rocks A Border Patrol agent in El Paso opened fire at a group of suspected migrants who were throwing rocks, in what officials described as part of a growing number of assaults on agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The agent, whose name was not released, was not hurt and no one was believed to have been shot in the incident. It happened Tuesday along the Rio Grande off the César Chávez Border Highway near Fonseca Drive, agency spokesman Doug Mosier said. About 8 p.m., the agent, who was alone, approached a group of four or five men who began throwing rocks, one of which came close to hitting the agent in the head, Mosier said. The agent fired his handgun at least once at the group, which dispersed and ran into Mexico. "We are still not sure where the rocks were thrown from, but we do believe they (attackers) started out on the U.S. side of the river and ended up south in Mexico. The whole incident took place in the riverbed," Mosier said. Authorities in Juárez were contacted, but the men were not found. An investigation into the shooting continues....
On US-Mexico border, illegal crossings drop One phrase sums up both the chief achievement and complaint of National Guard soldiers and airmen posted along this dusty strip of border with Mexico: "Nothing happening." That's good news for Operation Jumpstart, President Bush's eight-month-old initiative to reinforce America's southern border with National Guard troops until enough border patrol agents are trained. The extra troops appear to be discouraging people from trying to cross illegally. Apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the Yuma sector – one of the busiest for the past two years and a top target for the operation – have dropped 62 percent in the last four months compared with the same period a year ago. That's the biggest drop of all nine border patrol sectors on the frontier with Mexico and double the average decline. The amount of marijuana seized in the Yuma sector fell 36 percent for the same period. The figures for the entire southern border – a 27 decline in apprehensions and a 51 percent increase in marijuana seized – are encouraging, experts say. "If those numbers hold [for the entire fiscal year], that would indeed represent a significant drop," says Luis Cabrera, an expert on transnational justice issues at Arizona State University in Tempe. "We're pretty sure there's a deterrence effect."....
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
No 'Global Warming' on List of Anticipated Threats American adults asked to anticipate "major threats to the United States in the next five years" picked a variety of worrisome scenarios -- but "global warming" wasn't among them. According to the Harris Poll, more than half of adults (55 percent) think it is extremely or very likely that a large number of illegal immigrants coming into this country will be a threat in the next five years. The Harris Poll noted that Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to see large-scale illegal immigration as an extremely or very likely threat. Fifty-two percent of adults (more Democrats than Republicans) believe that a significant loss of jobs to foreign countries is an extremely or very likely threat. Forty-three percent of adults believe it is extremely or very likely that a significant natural disaster will destroy parts of a major city in the next five years; 40 percent worried about U.S. energy needs exceeding supplies; and 35 percent mentioned a trade imbalance leading to foreign ownership of the nation's debt and property....
Giuliani 'Definitely' Believes in Global Warming Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, insisting he is "100 percent committed" to running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, wooed Silicon Valley's tech leaders Monday -- saying he "definitely'' believes in global warming, praising Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for being a "progressive'' leader on the environment and calling for immigration policies that welcome "people who make contributions" to America's economy. The former New York mayor, in his informal address to the Churchill Club, strode before the audience with no notes and a microphone, tackled issues that ranged from a defense of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and the war on terror to the challenges of the global economy. But he also took positions on the environment and immigration which -- while posing potential problems with conservative Republicans on the right -- are likely to endear him to the moderate high-tech crowd courted by candidates on both sides as a potential source of big campaign dollars. "I do believe there's global warming, yes,'' said Giuliani, in response to reporters' questions following his talk to the Churchill Club. "The big question has always been how much of it is happening because of natural climate changes and how much of it is happening because of human intervention.''....
Upcoming forum will examine agriculture and the global climate The 2007 Colorado Agricultural Outlook Forum will focus on the facts, effects and policies associated with global climate change. The forum will provide opportunities for agriculturalists to examine how evolving climates can affect agriculture. The forum, "From Colorado to the Clouds: Agriculture and a Changing Global Climate," will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the Double Tree Hotel, 3203 Quebec St. in Denver. The annual forum is sponsored by Colorado State University, the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Agricultural Rural Leadership graduates. State and national experts will present facts about climate change and engage in question-and-answer sessions with the audience. Opportunities for agriculture to curb the emission of greenhouse gasses and farm policies related to climate change also will be discussed. Speakers include Naomi Pena of the PEW Center for Global Climate Change; Bill Hohenstein of the USDA-Office of the Chief Economist; John Sheehan, a senior strategic analyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden; and Colorado State University professors Bill Cotton, Dennis Ojima and Keith Paustian....
HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?” The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later....
Light Truck Owners Unite Against Misguided CO2 Law Farmers, ranchers, small businesses, contractors, boaters, campers, RV owners and families are among the millions of light truck owners in California who will be adversely affected by a new law unless it is overturned, according to new advertisements by the SUV Owners of America (SUVOA), the first of which will be placed in the Wednesday, February 14 editions of the Sacramento, Modesto and Fresno Bee newspapers. SUVOA Communications Director Ron DeFore said, "Our goal is to alert California consumers before it's too late. Like many laws passed with swell- sounding intentions and no public debate, years down the road there will be a great reckoning when the price tag and other consequences are felt. Hang on to your wallet because this one is going to cost you big time." Known as AB 1493 when California passed it in 2002, the law is currently scheduled to take affect in model year 2009, just 18 months from now. If it is not repealed or overturned in the courts, the law will force higher prices for pick-ups, SUVs, vans and other light trucks, and it will most likely reduce their safety, utility, and towing and hauling capacity....
Double take I THINK we need another Roger Sherman. You know, Roger Sherman? The Connecticut patriot? Signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate to the Constitutional Convention and all-around nice guy? That Roger Sherman? Sigh. I’ll grant you, Roger’s not exactly box-office these days. For most Americans anymore, a New England patriot is somebody who didn’t quite make the Super Bowl this year. And I guarantee you, this one won’t be winning any rushing titles. But we can still use him. Or at least his ideas. Anything, really, that can find the right balance between Kansas cities and Kansas counties. It’s an old battle that never really dies. Back when the frontier was being settled, the legendary fight was between the farmer and the rancher. Now it has evolved to the rural and the urban, the county resident and the city-dweller. When they cooperate, they’re unbeatable. But when they clash, everyone knows it. There’s been a lot of clashing lately....
Ranchers, politicians celebrate water victory Ranchers, lawmakers, county commissioners and the lieutenant governor celebrated Monday, following the Legislature's unopposed passage of a resolution about the Utah-Nevada groundwater issue. HJR1 passed the Senate by 26-0, three not voting, and the House by 73-2, two not voting. The measure concerns plans by the Las Vegas Water District to pump underground water from two aquifers and send it to the Las Vegas area. One of these is in Snake Valley, whose water is both in eastern Nevada and western Utah. The Snake Valley project would use about 27,000 acre-feet of water, which worries ranchers and conservationists concerning the impact on resources in both states. The resolution calls on Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. to consider the consequences of the project, involve the citizens in any agreement with Nevada and "refrain from entering into the ... agreement with Nevada until scientific studies have been completed." Cecil Garland, a rancher from Callao, Juab County, who has headed opposition to the project, said the western desert region does not have a surplus of water — "we have a deficit." Drought and use of the aquifer already are impacting the land, he said. Meanwhile, the resolution — with its call for involvement by local residents in decision-making — sets a precedent for future decisions, he said....
U.S. doesn't hold federal rangeland water rights: Idaho SC Private ranchers who have been grazing livestock on federal rangeland prior to the passage of a U.S. grazing act hold instream water rights, the Idaho Supreme Court recently ruled. In the case of Joyce Livestock Co. vs. the United States of America (No. 39576) the Supreme Court affirmed a district court ruling that Joyce Livestock staked its water rights claim by grazing livestock beginning in 1898. This predates the federal government's Taylor Grazing Act in 1934. "Joyce Livestock's predecessors obtained water rights on federal land for stock watering simply by applying the water to a beneficial use through watering their livestock in the springs, creeks, and rivers on the range they used for forage," the Supreme Court ruled. The Supreme Court also agreed with the district court's denial of water rights to the federal government "based upon appropriations by those it permitted to use the rangeland after enactment of the Taylor Grazing Act."....
New Forest Service chief gets rough treatment in Congress New Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell received a less than gracious welcome Tuesday as she appeared before Congress for the first time as chief. Defending the president's spending request for the next budget year, Kimbell came under fire from all sides. "This is a rough and, in my view, a very unworkable budget," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee. "I feel sorry for you, having to support this 'let's pretend' budget," added Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Kimbell, the first woman to head the Forest Service, began her new post Feb. 5, the same day President Bush announced a budget request that cuts Forest Service spending by 2 percent and eliminates more than 2,100 jobs in the budget year that starts in October. Bush's $4.1 billion budget request for the 2008 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 represents a 1.6 percent cut from estimated spending for the current year, and is down nearly 4 percent from fiscal year 2006. Even so, the plan would boost spending to fight forest fires by 23 percent to $911 million, a recognition that firefighting costs have topped $1 billion in four of the past seven years....
Tribes want to expand 1873 pact When the Ute Indians were forced from large portions of western Colorado to smaller reservations in the 1870s, one of the key documents was the Brunot Treaty of 1873. This treaty, the result of negotiation between the famed Ute Chief Ouray and Felix Brunot, opened the mineral-rich San Juan Mountains to European settlers while giving tribal members perpetual hunting rights in a large rectangle of southwestern Colorado encompassing nearly 4 million square acres. Although the hunting has in the past been primarily deer and elk, the two tribes in November asked the Colorado Wildlife Commission to renegotiate their hunting operations to include bighorn sheep, mountain goats and moose. According to the treaty, which gives the tribes the right to hunt “as long as the grass grows,” the tribes don’t need the wildlife commission’s permission to expand their hunting activities, said Tony Gurzick, assistant Southwest Regional manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife in Durango. “Congress never declared the Brunot Treaty of 1873 was void,” Gurzick said. “And courts have in the past ruled if Congress never overturned or negated treaties, the rights still are applicable today. As far as the Division of Wildlife is concerned, the Ute Mountain Utes and the Southern Ute Indian tribes have off-reservation hunting rights.”....
Indicted fire crew boss misses court date in marijuana case A U.S. Forest Service fire crew boss charged with manslaughter failed to appear in court for arraignment on a marijuana charge and is being sought on an arrest warrant, officials said. Grant County District Court Commissioner Douglas K. Earl issued the warrant Monday after Ellreese Daniels, 46, of Leavenworth, missed his court date. Daniels is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of lying to investigators about his role in the Thirtymile Fire in July 2001, when four firefighters were trapped by the flames and died in the Okanogan National Forest. Daniels appeared Jan. 4 before a U.S. magistrate in Spokane in that case and was released on his own recognizance. Later that day the car in which he was riding was stopped by a state trooper on Interstate 90 near Moses Lake, and he was charged with possession of marijuana and having an open container of alcohol....
Proposal to Sell Public Lands Provides Good Test of Ownership Ideal, Says NCPA Is the Bush administration proposal to sell U.S. Forest Service land a good idea, or would it be a case of sacrificing the environment for money? Contrary to what some critics charge, the idea offers a "win-win" for both the government and the environment, according to a scholar with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). "This is a baby step, but a good one," said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. "It would provide good test cases for extending the ownership society ideal to natural resources without posing a threat to the environment." Burnett noted that government has poorly managed the public's natural resources as it struggles to balance public land uses, such as logging and recreation, with preservation of lands in their original state. As a result, public lands have been degraded and the wildlife that depends on them destroyed. For instance, logging and the roads built in national forests to access timber have often been environmentally destructive. Alternatively, the Forest Service has also tried the "let-nature-take-its- course" approach by designating roadless areas and limiting logging. But the forests' health has continued to decline because they are overcrowded with too many living, dying and dead trees....
Groups Sue to Protect Marine Mammals Two conservation groups sued the federal government Tuesday claiming marine mammal regulators are not doing enough to protect polar bears and walruses against the combined threat of oil and gas exploration and global warming. The groups say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not fully consider the effects of global warming, such as diminished sea ice, as it wrote regulations allowing for incidental harassment of polar bears and walruses by the industry in the Beaufort Sea and nearby coastal areas. Polar bears depend on sea ice for their main prey, ringed seals and bearded seals. Beaufort Sea females use coastal land or sea ice for digging snow caves to give birth....
Both sides cry wolf Abortion. Death penalty. Wolf. The words have nothing in common except their ability to conjure polemical phrases and strong emotions – much stronger than issues such as taxes that may have a greater impact on many people’s lives. In Wyoming, wolf management has been a divisive issue that currently has state and federal leaders locked in an impasse. The issue and the controversy it elicits raise questions about what is driving the debate. Have Wyoming’s leaders lost sight of the goal – creating a reasonable state plan for managing the reintroduced predators – and instead favor taking defiant stances that garner votes but rarely resolve problems? Or is the federal government unwilling to accept a plan, backed by lawmakers and the governor, that puts a Wyoming interest – protecting wildlife such as elk – ahead of protecting what many see as deadly predators?....
Canada lynx shot to death A radio-collared Canada lynx was found shot to death north of Seeley Lake in early February, and authorities want to track down the shooter. Rick Branzell, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the cat was an adult male that was collared last summer. It was removed Feb. 3. A reward of up to $1,000 is available for information leading to finding the person or people involved in the shooting. Montana supports the healthiest lynx population in the lower 48 states, but it was still one of 16 states to place the animal on the endangered species list in 2000, according to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Web site. “Despite the fact that Montana's lynx population is well distributed and at good numbers, the lynx was listed based on its status throughout the northern portion of the U.S., not on a state-by-state basis,” said Brian Giddings, furbearer coordinator for FWP. Trapping or shooting a lynx is a federal offense and carries a fine of up to $100,000 and/or one year in jail....
Sharing of Bison Range Management Breaks Down An effort to have two Indian tribes assist government officials in operating a federal wildlife refuge that is surrounded by their reservation has collapsed amid accusations of racism, harassment, intimidation and poor performance. But top federal officials say they are determined to resurrect it. The plan for the tribes and the government to jointly run the National Bison Range in western Montana, just north of Missoula, had long been viewed as unworkable by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Interior branch that manages wildlife refuges. But top Interior Department officials say that despite the objections, they are committed to transferring some responsibility for the range from the wildlife service to a tribal government. “There’s a shared sense of mission between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the tribes,” said Shane Wolf, a department spokesman. Representative Denny Rehberg, Republican of Montana, asked the Government Accountability Office and the House Resources Committee in late January to investigate the disagreement and the problems plaguing the range. Among them is whether political appointees at the Interior Department pressured the wildlife service into the pact. The department’s inspector general and its Office of Equal Opportunity are also investigating....Does anybody really believe the USFWS would share management or delegate authority to anyone if they weren't "pressured" to do so? If political appointees can't seek to change federal agencies, why do we have elections?
Finding love no longer like a needle in a haystack Just over a year ago, Jerry Miller had an idea. He thought American farmers needed a break, and we're not talking subsidies here. He thought they needed spouses, partners, mates. At least those who didn't already have one. So he launched FarmersOnly.com. Today the website has 50,000 members, and Miller takes credit for at least 20 marriages in less than 12 months. Not bad for a novice matchmaker. Miller says the site has become the place for "farmers, ranchers and down-to-earth people who relate to the agricultural lifestyle" to meet their match. Instead of asking members about their astrological signs, Miller matches folks by animal preference. Alpacas. Horses. Cattle. Chickens. Goats. Sheep....
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
No 'Global Warming' on List of Anticipated Threats American adults asked to anticipate "major threats to the United States in the next five years" picked a variety of worrisome scenarios -- but "global warming" wasn't among them. According to the Harris Poll, more than half of adults (55 percent) think it is extremely or very likely that a large number of illegal immigrants coming into this country will be a threat in the next five years. The Harris Poll noted that Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to see large-scale illegal immigration as an extremely or very likely threat. Fifty-two percent of adults (more Democrats than Republicans) believe that a significant loss of jobs to foreign countries is an extremely or very likely threat. Forty-three percent of adults believe it is extremely or very likely that a significant natural disaster will destroy parts of a major city in the next five years; 40 percent worried about U.S. energy needs exceeding supplies; and 35 percent mentioned a trade imbalance leading to foreign ownership of the nation's debt and property....
Giuliani 'Definitely' Believes in Global Warming Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, insisting he is "100 percent committed" to running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, wooed Silicon Valley's tech leaders Monday -- saying he "definitely'' believes in global warming, praising Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for being a "progressive'' leader on the environment and calling for immigration policies that welcome "people who make contributions" to America's economy. The former New York mayor, in his informal address to the Churchill Club, strode before the audience with no notes and a microphone, tackled issues that ranged from a defense of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and the war on terror to the challenges of the global economy. But he also took positions on the environment and immigration which -- while posing potential problems with conservative Republicans on the right -- are likely to endear him to the moderate high-tech crowd courted by candidates on both sides as a potential source of big campaign dollars. "I do believe there's global warming, yes,'' said Giuliani, in response to reporters' questions following his talk to the Churchill Club. "The big question has always been how much of it is happening because of natural climate changes and how much of it is happening because of human intervention.''....
Upcoming forum will examine agriculture and the global climate The 2007 Colorado Agricultural Outlook Forum will focus on the facts, effects and policies associated with global climate change. The forum will provide opportunities for agriculturalists to examine how evolving climates can affect agriculture. The forum, "From Colorado to the Clouds: Agriculture and a Changing Global Climate," will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the Double Tree Hotel, 3203 Quebec St. in Denver. The annual forum is sponsored by Colorado State University, the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Agricultural Rural Leadership graduates. State and national experts will present facts about climate change and engage in question-and-answer sessions with the audience. Opportunities for agriculture to curb the emission of greenhouse gasses and farm policies related to climate change also will be discussed. Speakers include Naomi Pena of the PEW Center for Global Climate Change; Bill Hohenstein of the USDA-Office of the Chief Economist; John Sheehan, a senior strategic analyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden; and Colorado State University professors Bill Cotton, Dennis Ojima and Keith Paustian....
HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?” The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later....
Light Truck Owners Unite Against Misguided CO2 Law Farmers, ranchers, small businesses, contractors, boaters, campers, RV owners and families are among the millions of light truck owners in California who will be adversely affected by a new law unless it is overturned, according to new advertisements by the SUV Owners of America (SUVOA), the first of which will be placed in the Wednesday, February 14 editions of the Sacramento, Modesto and Fresno Bee newspapers. SUVOA Communications Director Ron DeFore said, "Our goal is to alert California consumers before it's too late. Like many laws passed with swell- sounding intentions and no public debate, years down the road there will be a great reckoning when the price tag and other consequences are felt. Hang on to your wallet because this one is going to cost you big time." Known as AB 1493 when California passed it in 2002, the law is currently scheduled to take affect in model year 2009, just 18 months from now. If it is not repealed or overturned in the courts, the law will force higher prices for pick-ups, SUVs, vans and other light trucks, and it will most likely reduce their safety, utility, and towing and hauling capacity....
Double take I THINK we need another Roger Sherman. You know, Roger Sherman? The Connecticut patriot? Signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate to the Constitutional Convention and all-around nice guy? That Roger Sherman? Sigh. I’ll grant you, Roger’s not exactly box-office these days. For most Americans anymore, a New England patriot is somebody who didn’t quite make the Super Bowl this year. And I guarantee you, this one won’t be winning any rushing titles. But we can still use him. Or at least his ideas. Anything, really, that can find the right balance between Kansas cities and Kansas counties. It’s an old battle that never really dies. Back when the frontier was being settled, the legendary fight was between the farmer and the rancher. Now it has evolved to the rural and the urban, the county resident and the city-dweller. When they cooperate, they’re unbeatable. But when they clash, everyone knows it. There’s been a lot of clashing lately....
Ranchers, politicians celebrate water victory Ranchers, lawmakers, county commissioners and the lieutenant governor celebrated Monday, following the Legislature's unopposed passage of a resolution about the Utah-Nevada groundwater issue. HJR1 passed the Senate by 26-0, three not voting, and the House by 73-2, two not voting. The measure concerns plans by the Las Vegas Water District to pump underground water from two aquifers and send it to the Las Vegas area. One of these is in Snake Valley, whose water is both in eastern Nevada and western Utah. The Snake Valley project would use about 27,000 acre-feet of water, which worries ranchers and conservationists concerning the impact on resources in both states. The resolution calls on Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. to consider the consequences of the project, involve the citizens in any agreement with Nevada and "refrain from entering into the ... agreement with Nevada until scientific studies have been completed." Cecil Garland, a rancher from Callao, Juab County, who has headed opposition to the project, said the western desert region does not have a surplus of water — "we have a deficit." Drought and use of the aquifer already are impacting the land, he said. Meanwhile, the resolution — with its call for involvement by local residents in decision-making — sets a precedent for future decisions, he said....
U.S. doesn't hold federal rangeland water rights: Idaho SC Private ranchers who have been grazing livestock on federal rangeland prior to the passage of a U.S. grazing act hold instream water rights, the Idaho Supreme Court recently ruled. In the case of Joyce Livestock Co. vs. the United States of America (No. 39576) the Supreme Court affirmed a district court ruling that Joyce Livestock staked its water rights claim by grazing livestock beginning in 1898. This predates the federal government's Taylor Grazing Act in 1934. "Joyce Livestock's predecessors obtained water rights on federal land for stock watering simply by applying the water to a beneficial use through watering their livestock in the springs, creeks, and rivers on the range they used for forage," the Supreme Court ruled. The Supreme Court also agreed with the district court's denial of water rights to the federal government "based upon appropriations by those it permitted to use the rangeland after enactment of the Taylor Grazing Act."....
New Forest Service chief gets rough treatment in Congress New Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell received a less than gracious welcome Tuesday as she appeared before Congress for the first time as chief. Defending the president's spending request for the next budget year, Kimbell came under fire from all sides. "This is a rough and, in my view, a very unworkable budget," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee. "I feel sorry for you, having to support this 'let's pretend' budget," added Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Kimbell, the first woman to head the Forest Service, began her new post Feb. 5, the same day President Bush announced a budget request that cuts Forest Service spending by 2 percent and eliminates more than 2,100 jobs in the budget year that starts in October. Bush's $4.1 billion budget request for the 2008 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 represents a 1.6 percent cut from estimated spending for the current year, and is down nearly 4 percent from fiscal year 2006. Even so, the plan would boost spending to fight forest fires by 23 percent to $911 million, a recognition that firefighting costs have topped $1 billion in four of the past seven years....
Tribes want to expand 1873 pact When the Ute Indians were forced from large portions of western Colorado to smaller reservations in the 1870s, one of the key documents was the Brunot Treaty of 1873. This treaty, the result of negotiation between the famed Ute Chief Ouray and Felix Brunot, opened the mineral-rich San Juan Mountains to European settlers while giving tribal members perpetual hunting rights in a large rectangle of southwestern Colorado encompassing nearly 4 million square acres. Although the hunting has in the past been primarily deer and elk, the two tribes in November asked the Colorado Wildlife Commission to renegotiate their hunting operations to include bighorn sheep, mountain goats and moose. According to the treaty, which gives the tribes the right to hunt “as long as the grass grows,” the tribes don’t need the wildlife commission’s permission to expand their hunting activities, said Tony Gurzick, assistant Southwest Regional manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife in Durango. “Congress never declared the Brunot Treaty of 1873 was void,” Gurzick said. “And courts have in the past ruled if Congress never overturned or negated treaties, the rights still are applicable today. As far as the Division of Wildlife is concerned, the Ute Mountain Utes and the Southern Ute Indian tribes have off-reservation hunting rights.”....
Indicted fire crew boss misses court date in marijuana case A U.S. Forest Service fire crew boss charged with manslaughter failed to appear in court for arraignment on a marijuana charge and is being sought on an arrest warrant, officials said. Grant County District Court Commissioner Douglas K. Earl issued the warrant Monday after Ellreese Daniels, 46, of Leavenworth, missed his court date. Daniels is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of lying to investigators about his role in the Thirtymile Fire in July 2001, when four firefighters were trapped by the flames and died in the Okanogan National Forest. Daniels appeared Jan. 4 before a U.S. magistrate in Spokane in that case and was released on his own recognizance. Later that day the car in which he was riding was stopped by a state trooper on Interstate 90 near Moses Lake, and he was charged with possession of marijuana and having an open container of alcohol....
Proposal to Sell Public Lands Provides Good Test of Ownership Ideal, Says NCPA Is the Bush administration proposal to sell U.S. Forest Service land a good idea, or would it be a case of sacrificing the environment for money? Contrary to what some critics charge, the idea offers a "win-win" for both the government and the environment, according to a scholar with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). "This is a baby step, but a good one," said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. "It would provide good test cases for extending the ownership society ideal to natural resources without posing a threat to the environment." Burnett noted that government has poorly managed the public's natural resources as it struggles to balance public land uses, such as logging and recreation, with preservation of lands in their original state. As a result, public lands have been degraded and the wildlife that depends on them destroyed. For instance, logging and the roads built in national forests to access timber have often been environmentally destructive. Alternatively, the Forest Service has also tried the "let-nature-take-its- course" approach by designating roadless areas and limiting logging. But the forests' health has continued to decline because they are overcrowded with too many living, dying and dead trees....
Groups Sue to Protect Marine Mammals Two conservation groups sued the federal government Tuesday claiming marine mammal regulators are not doing enough to protect polar bears and walruses against the combined threat of oil and gas exploration and global warming. The groups say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not fully consider the effects of global warming, such as diminished sea ice, as it wrote regulations allowing for incidental harassment of polar bears and walruses by the industry in the Beaufort Sea and nearby coastal areas. Polar bears depend on sea ice for their main prey, ringed seals and bearded seals. Beaufort Sea females use coastal land or sea ice for digging snow caves to give birth....
Both sides cry wolf Abortion. Death penalty. Wolf. The words have nothing in common except their ability to conjure polemical phrases and strong emotions – much stronger than issues such as taxes that may have a greater impact on many people’s lives. In Wyoming, wolf management has been a divisive issue that currently has state and federal leaders locked in an impasse. The issue and the controversy it elicits raise questions about what is driving the debate. Have Wyoming’s leaders lost sight of the goal – creating a reasonable state plan for managing the reintroduced predators – and instead favor taking defiant stances that garner votes but rarely resolve problems? Or is the federal government unwilling to accept a plan, backed by lawmakers and the governor, that puts a Wyoming interest – protecting wildlife such as elk – ahead of protecting what many see as deadly predators?....
Canada lynx shot to death A radio-collared Canada lynx was found shot to death north of Seeley Lake in early February, and authorities want to track down the shooter. Rick Branzell, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the cat was an adult male that was collared last summer. It was removed Feb. 3. A reward of up to $1,000 is available for information leading to finding the person or people involved in the shooting. Montana supports the healthiest lynx population in the lower 48 states, but it was still one of 16 states to place the animal on the endangered species list in 2000, according to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Web site. “Despite the fact that Montana's lynx population is well distributed and at good numbers, the lynx was listed based on its status throughout the northern portion of the U.S., not on a state-by-state basis,” said Brian Giddings, furbearer coordinator for FWP. Trapping or shooting a lynx is a federal offense and carries a fine of up to $100,000 and/or one year in jail....
Sharing of Bison Range Management Breaks Down An effort to have two Indian tribes assist government officials in operating a federal wildlife refuge that is surrounded by their reservation has collapsed amid accusations of racism, harassment, intimidation and poor performance. But top federal officials say they are determined to resurrect it. The plan for the tribes and the government to jointly run the National Bison Range in western Montana, just north of Missoula, had long been viewed as unworkable by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Interior branch that manages wildlife refuges. But top Interior Department officials say that despite the objections, they are committed to transferring some responsibility for the range from the wildlife service to a tribal government. “There’s a shared sense of mission between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the tribes,” said Shane Wolf, a department spokesman. Representative Denny Rehberg, Republican of Montana, asked the Government Accountability Office and the House Resources Committee in late January to investigate the disagreement and the problems plaguing the range. Among them is whether political appointees at the Interior Department pressured the wildlife service into the pact. The department’s inspector general and its Office of Equal Opportunity are also investigating....Does anybody really believe the USFWS would share management or delegate authority to anyone if they weren't "pressured" to do so? If political appointees can't seek to change federal agencies, why do we have elections?
Finding love no longer like a needle in a haystack Just over a year ago, Jerry Miller had an idea. He thought American farmers needed a break, and we're not talking subsidies here. He thought they needed spouses, partners, mates. At least those who didn't already have one. So he launched FarmersOnly.com. Today the website has 50,000 members, and Miller takes credit for at least 20 marriages in less than 12 months. Not bad for a novice matchmaker. Miller says the site has become the place for "farmers, ranchers and down-to-earth people who relate to the agricultural lifestyle" to meet their match. Instead of asking members about their astrological signs, Miller matches folks by animal preference. Alpacas. Horses. Cattle. Chickens. Goats. Sheep....
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Anchorage residents learn to live with large numbers of urban moose Folks in the Lower 48 may complain about deer, but mulies and whitetails are small fry compared to the urban moose roaming the streets of Anchorage. An estimated 700 to 1,000 moose wander through the greater metropolitan area, which is about the size of Delaware, this time of year. “There’s moose on playgrounds and moose crossing the road every day,” Alaska Fish and Game biologist Rick Sinnott said. “Amid the skyscrapers, there’s usually a few moose. They’re all around.” A 1996 Colorado State University study of residents’ attitudes toward moose showed a majority of Anchorage citizens would support shooting the animals, but almost 70 percent thought too few or “about the right amount” of the large herbivores traipse through the city. Public meetings over the years have shown about the same level of acceptance, Sinnott said. “There’s an awful lot of tolerance to having moose in the city,” he said. “They’re kind of more iconic in the north country. It makes people in Anchorage feel like they’re living in Alaska.” Aside from the occasional aggressive animal, city and state agencies don’t kill moose here. Insurance claims adjuster David Rosenkotter, a recent transplant from Nebraska, said the lumbering beasts are “one of those things you’ve got to get used to.”....
Contract to cut fire risk disputed A contract for tree thinning and other work the U.S. Forest Service sought as a way to reduce wildfire fuels has been awarded, even though a lawsuit to block the project remains pending. Ranger Bill Avey of the Gallatin National Forest said he is confident the Forest Service will prevail in the court case. If the agency loses, it could end up paying damages to the logging company that received the contract for work in the Boulder River Canyon south of Big Timber. Last summer, just-in-time rain fell on a fire that almost reached the canyon. It is a busy seasonal recreation area with 250 homes and cabins, six church camps and up to 3,000 visitors on some summer days. Gallatin officials have been working on the fuel reduction project for more than four years. Besides reducing the fire risk, they say, the project is intended to improve escape routes. Canyon access is via just one narrow road....
Appeals Court: Live trees must be protected pending ruling Big trees that survived a wildfire on the Umatilla National Forest in Eastern Washington must be left standing pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the decision to cut them for timber, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that U.S. District Judge Lonny R. Suko in Spokane, Wash., erred when he failed to grant a preliminary injunction halting logging on 9,423 acres of salvage timber sales in an area burned by the 2005 School fire. The appeals court agreed with conservation groups that a prohibition against logging "live trees" larger than 21 inches in diameter, known as the Eastside Screens, applies to all trees that are not dead yet, even if the U.S. Forest Service has decided they will be dead soon. Neither the National Forest Management Act, nor the local forest plan defines the term "live trees," so the common meaning that they are all trees that have not yet died applies, wrote Judge Susan Graber. "The Forest Service is free, of course, to amend the Eastside Screens to allow logging of old-growth dying trees," the judge wrote. "Unless and until it does so, there is no basis to adopt its proposed definition."....
Conservation easement donated The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust has announced the donation of a 2,000-acre conservation easement near Dayton. The easement, the second donated to the trust by the Padlock Ranch Company, will limit development on approximately 2,000 acres located north of U.S. 14 and State Highway 343. A substantial portion of land along Columbus Creek and Smith Creek is included in this parcel. Homer Scott started the Padlock Ranch with 3,000 acres and 300 cows in 1943. The ranch headquarters are located at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming. Today, the Scott family along with 45 employees raise and market more than 9,000 calves a year with half of those through Country Natural Beef. "We are very appreciative of the Homer Scott family for their generous contribution toward conserving ranchlands," said Glenn Pauley, executive director of the trust. "The Padlock Ranch Company has been a good steward of that property and we look forward to working with them in the future."....
Smith falls short in timber filibuster An attempted filibuster by Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith fell short Monday as procedural wrangling foiled his bid to extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging. The filibuster ended after less than an hour, when Senate leaders invoked rules preventing him from taking over the Senate as he had threatened. "I'm just getting to the good part," complained Smith, a Republican who had initiated the filibuster effort to protest Congress's failure to renew the so-called county payments program. Smith had been prepared to read local Oregon phone books, histories of the state and a status report on the northern spotted owl for what he called his version of the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Instead he was told to surrender the floor after just 20 minutes to comply with Senate rules. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also held the floor for 20 minutes, and the pair were later given another hour-plus of debate as they told their colleagues about the program's importance to Oregon....
Desert Bighorn Sheep Population Rising Amid Development After a population crash, the desert bighorn sheep in the San Bernardino and Angeles national forests are making a comeback, spurring hope the sure-footed animals will be scampering around the local mountains for years to come. The sheep population in the area reached about 740 in the early 1980s. But by the mid 1990s, the count dropped to about 100. Now, the population has climbed to about 300. "Things are looking pretty good for the sheep," said Jeff Villepique, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. Officials say a federal, state and local partnership in 2003 brought renewed energy to understanding how the sheep live and what threats they face....
Bill calls for acquiring federal lands Coincident with a Bush administration budget proposal to sell off federal lands, a Wyoming state senator has drafted a bill designed to administer federal lands not wanted by federal agencies. The Bush administration released a 2008 budget proposal last week that would require the Forest Service to raise $800 million through land sales and use half of the proceeds for payments to states and half for land acquisition and other programs. A similar proposal last year met with strong bipartisan opposition from state and federal lawmakers as well as hunting, fishing, and other recreation and conservation groups. National forests in Wyoming have identified 15,498 acres in northeast Wyoming to be sold. Tracts range from 18 acres to 425 acres, scattered in Weston, Crook, Albany, Platte, Converse, Natrona and Campbell counties. State Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, said he’d anticipated that idea would come up again, and figured Wyoming should be ready for it. His bill, Senate File 103, would “facilitate the transfer of management responsibilities for specified federal lands in Wyoming from federal land management agencies” to a new program within the State Office of Public Lands....
Wolf dispute could extend for years For a brief moment, it appeared that Wyoming and the federal government might finally reach accord on the state's disputed wolf management plan. The possibility slipped away last week when negotiations broke down over the state's inability to control wolves that prey on elk. Now, state and federal officials say they will resume separate paths toward a resolution. For Wyoming, that means a continuation of its lawsuit challenging federal rejection last summer of its management plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its intention to move ahead with delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies without Wyoming. Meanwhile, wolf numbers continue to grow. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates a total of 310 wolves in Wyoming in 35 packs, including 22 packs outside Yellowstone National Park....
Company aims to transmit 'clean' power A proposed transmission line to carry "clean" electricity generated in the Powder River Basin and southeast Montana to markets in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix could be operating by 2012 -- about the same time several large generation projects are expected to be up and running. TransCanada, a North American energy transportation and power services company, is about four years into planning NorthernLights, a major transmission project, representatives told the Converse County commissioners last week. The NorthernLights “Inland Project” would build two 1,000-mile transmission lines, one each starting in the Powder River Basin and in southeast Montana. Those lines would carry up to 3,000 megawatts each of electricity to Las Vegas, where supplies could help address growing power needs, and possibly on to Los Angeles and Phoenix....
Settlement would keep wilderness land wild A proposed settlement of a federal lawsuit will place some of the last remaining private lands in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness into public hands if a judge approves. T-Lazy-Seven owner Rick Deane and the U.S. Forest Service have negotiated a deal that would give the agency possession of seven mining claims totaling 67.25 acres in some of the most pristine wilderness areas around Aspen. In addition to the mining claims in wilderness, Deane would convey two other properties of nearly 20 acres to the government. Those lands, the Diamond and Ophir mining claims, are between Midnight Mine and Richmond Ridge. In return, the feds would carve 2.25 acres out of the two mining claims and convey them back to Deane. The site that Deane would own includes a small, rustic cabin. The site is outside wilderness, along an existing road and developed area, the settlement said....
Proposal: No water deal until study is done Utah lawmakers are in unanimous agreement: There should be no deal with Nevada to share groundwater resources along the state line in Snake Valley until ongoing scientific studies are complete. The question now is, can they make the nonbinding resolution stick? Lawmakers, Millard County commissioners and West Desert ranchers and business owners gathered Monday at the Capitol to celebrate final passage of HJR1. The legislation calls on Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to refrain from signing any water-sharing agreement with Utah's next-door neighbor until studies being conducted by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Geological Survey are finished, perhaps by 2008. Language added to the resolution in the Senate now makes those requirements specific. Millard County Commissioner John Cooper calls the resolution a strong message that he and other backers hope will resonate across the state line. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed pumping groundwater in eastern Nevada as part of a massive pipeline project to provide water to Las Vegas....
Random horse slaughters stir protest in Canada They are the iconic symbol of North America’s wide-open spaces - wild horses galloping across the western plains and mountain foothills. But in Canada and the United States, the fight is on between wild horse advocacy groups and the governments tasked to manage the animals. In Canada, the issue has taken a sinister turn. In the province of Alberta, an anonymous shooter is killing horses, a total of 20 since 2004, leaving their carcasses left to rot or be scavenged by wild animals. The killings have alarmed conservationists, who worry about the threat to an already sparse population - an estimated 200 wild horses living on public lands in the region. According to the Wild Horse Society of Alberta (WHOAS), the horses have been killed as they grazed, shot several at a time outside the town of Sundre, 120 kilometres north-west of Calgary in the foothills of the Rockie Mountains....
Alternatives to gas drilling possible for Roan Plateau Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall, D-Colo., are exploring possibilities for legislation for the future of the Roan Plateau and are looking for alternatives to the Bureau of Land Management’s plan for energy development there, Salazar spokesman Rich Baca said Monday. Legislation and other possibilities for the Roan are “things he’s going to be exploring,” Baca said. Salazar and Udall will meet Feb. 22 with six groups who previously made formal proposals for the management of the Roan, possibly including Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Haupt, and representatives of the city of Rifle, Wilderness Society, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Mule Deer Association. Salazar and Udall aren’t inviting many spectators, however, and that includes the BLM....
Crude Awakening: Interior Faces Congress This week looks to be a busy one for the Department of the Interior (DOI). Three Congressional committees have scheduled hearings, and between new twists in the Abramoff scandal and royalties mismanagement, Interior officials will have plenty of explaining to do. On Tuesday, the Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will meet to examine Interior’s management of offshore oil and gas royalties. Discussion is sure to turn quickly to the botched 1998-99 offshore leases that could result in the loss of several billion dollars in royalty revenues. Also prepare for some possible awkwardness on the part of Interior officials. Just last week, Minerals Management Service (MMS) Director “Johnnie” Burton announced the promotion of Chris Oynes, the person who was entrusted with overseeing the ’98-’99 leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Oynes will now be in charge of MMS’ entire offshore program. This is some tough news to chew on considering that the agency has already created a new five-year plan to lease out previously-prohibited offshore areas. Meanwhile, Burton has yet to appear publicly before Congress to explain why she failed to act on the ’98-’99 leases. Next in line, Wednesday’s hearing will mark the opening salvo of what promises to be a series of oversight hearings in the House Committee on Natural Resources....
Fight over blood line, deer kill is on docket A 4-year-old court case that involves jurisdiction over 2 million acres of hunting and fishing land in the Uintah Basin will be heard by the Utah Supreme Court later this month. The high court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 28 in Utah v. Ricky L. Reber to determine whether the Utah Court of Appeals erred when it dismissed a hunting violation against Reber, a 54-year-old former Uintah County man who claimed his Native American heritage as a "non-terminated" Uinta band member allowed him to hunt without a state license. Reber was found guilty in 2002 by an 8th District Court jury in Vernal of helping his 13-year-old son take a trophy buck without a state hunting permit. However, in September 2005, the Court of Appeals ruled on a matter of jurisdiction, determining that the trophy buck that Reber assisted his son in taking was on tribal "trust" lands, which meant the Ute Indian Tribe, not the state, was the victim. The decision vacated Reber's conviction in 8th District Court and was a surprising upset to state prosecutors, who maintained that the case was not about jurisdiction but about whether Reber, who claimed just 4 percent Native American blood lines, was considered a Native American when it came to hunting privileges. The land in question is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, with the exception of hunting and fishing, which is overseen by the state Division of Wildlife Resources. Since the appellate court ruling, the state's conservation officers, who are cross-deputized to act as federal law-enforcement officers, have continued to provide law enforcement for the area....
A fishy way to track climate change In a modern update of "fish and chips," researchers are planning a worldwide effort to track the movement of sea creatures tagged with tiny electronic devices. After pilot testing in the north Pacific, the Ocean Tracking Network will expand to the Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico. Sea life ranging from salmon to whales, turtles to sharks, will be tagged so they can be tracked as they swim past arrays of sensors placed at critical locations in the oceans. The network "will foster the development of new Canadian technology, a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change and help shape fisheries and endangered species management worldwide," Peter MacKay, Canada's minister of foreign affairs and minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said in a statement. Initial research for the effort was done as a joint U.S.- Canada project in the north Pacific....
Levees quickly fixed -- at environmental cost? Bill Shelton has lived in Walnut Grove since 1926. In that time, he's seen a lot of things in the Sacramento River. But the retired pear farmer said he has never seen anything like this: the town's waterfront transformed into a bleak and forbidding corridor of rock. "This is ridiculously offensive," said Shelton, 85, who supervised several local levee districts over the decades. "Some amount of rock might have been reasonable, but to put in a pile like that and destroy everything in sight, it's almost unbelievable." When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a levee emergency last year, state and federal agencies agreed to accelerate environmental reviews that had routinely delayed necessary levee upgrades. It was one of the trade-offs California made in its rush to hold together an ailing levee system for a few more winters....
Wild pigs bring pseudorabies to Platte County Wild pigs have brought a swine disease that can devastate pork operations to Platte County in central Nebraska, the state Department of Agriculture said. The sow and nine piglets, likely hybrids of domestic hogs and Eurasian wild boars, were killed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Tests of the pigs revealed pseudorabies, a contagious viral disease that mostly affects swine, although cattle, sheep, dogs and cats also can be infected. The disease isn't considered a threat to humans. Agriculture officials will contact farmers and ranchers in the area to tell them to watch for symptoms of pseudorabies: respiratory illness, trembling, sudden death of piglets and pregnant female aborting....
Denial of blizzard aid blasted Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to deny disaster relief to 10 southeastern Colorado counties walloped by back-to-back blizzards that killed about 10,000 cattle. The USDA, in a letter dated Feb. 5, said farmers and ranchers didn't qualify for low-interest operating loans. Countywide, the losses did not equal 30 percent or more of production, which would include cattle, calves and winter wheat. The USDA has approved low-cost loans on a case-by-case basis for physical losses. Ritter had asked the USDA to help people in Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Lincoln, Otero and Prowers counties where livestock was trapped in 15-foot drifts and unable to reach food or water for days after the late-December blizzards. The USDA requires production losses - not economic losses - of 30 percent before declaring a disaster. The Colorado Department of Agriculture estimates 10,000 cattle died after the second blizzard, about 3 percent of the 345,000 cattle in southeastern Colorado. Calving season is underway, and it's expected there will be more losses....
Long-lost bar from historic Anaconda hotel returns Ethel Christopher's fondest memories play against the backdrop of the grand Montana Hotel. "When I got married, I had my wedding reception there," she said. As a little girl in the 1920s, she accompanied her mother to work as cloakroom watchwoman for elite parties. "That (hotel) was one of the best things that Anaconda ever had," she said. She was among mourning masses when the hotel - an architectural masterpiece and copper king Marcus Daly's thumbprint on the city he founded - was stripped bare in the 1970s, its contents sold. "It was a shame that people didn't try harder to save it," she said. But Friday, hope for restoration came in boxes and crates - the back bar and accessories from the original Tammany Lounge. Owner Jill Robison was seeking volunteers to move the bar and to help assemble and restore it....
It's All Trew: Coal workers suffered The next time you travel north toward Denver, take a break at the Ludlow Exit just north of Trinidad, Colo. A good paved road leads west about two miles to the huge and educational Ludlow Massacre Monument. I promise an interesting visit. On this spot on April 20, 1914, 20 people, including two women and 13 children, died during violence associated with a coal mine strike. All were shot or consumed by fire when the strikers' tent community came under fire by a mining company and Colorado Militia machine guns. Earlier, on Sept. 23, 1913, 9,000 miners walked out of the company-owned camp. They settled in tent cities located on private land. They were protesting poor mine safety conditions, low wages of $1.68 per 10-hour day, being forced to use company-owned stores with inflated prices, company controlled schools and churches. The song "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford described the conditions protested....
Anchorage residents learn to live with large numbers of urban moose Folks in the Lower 48 may complain about deer, but mulies and whitetails are small fry compared to the urban moose roaming the streets of Anchorage. An estimated 700 to 1,000 moose wander through the greater metropolitan area, which is about the size of Delaware, this time of year. “There’s moose on playgrounds and moose crossing the road every day,” Alaska Fish and Game biologist Rick Sinnott said. “Amid the skyscrapers, there’s usually a few moose. They’re all around.” A 1996 Colorado State University study of residents’ attitudes toward moose showed a majority of Anchorage citizens would support shooting the animals, but almost 70 percent thought too few or “about the right amount” of the large herbivores traipse through the city. Public meetings over the years have shown about the same level of acceptance, Sinnott said. “There’s an awful lot of tolerance to having moose in the city,” he said. “They’re kind of more iconic in the north country. It makes people in Anchorage feel like they’re living in Alaska.” Aside from the occasional aggressive animal, city and state agencies don’t kill moose here. Insurance claims adjuster David Rosenkotter, a recent transplant from Nebraska, said the lumbering beasts are “one of those things you’ve got to get used to.”....
Contract to cut fire risk disputed A contract for tree thinning and other work the U.S. Forest Service sought as a way to reduce wildfire fuels has been awarded, even though a lawsuit to block the project remains pending. Ranger Bill Avey of the Gallatin National Forest said he is confident the Forest Service will prevail in the court case. If the agency loses, it could end up paying damages to the logging company that received the contract for work in the Boulder River Canyon south of Big Timber. Last summer, just-in-time rain fell on a fire that almost reached the canyon. It is a busy seasonal recreation area with 250 homes and cabins, six church camps and up to 3,000 visitors on some summer days. Gallatin officials have been working on the fuel reduction project for more than four years. Besides reducing the fire risk, they say, the project is intended to improve escape routes. Canyon access is via just one narrow road....
Appeals Court: Live trees must be protected pending ruling Big trees that survived a wildfire on the Umatilla National Forest in Eastern Washington must be left standing pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the decision to cut them for timber, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that U.S. District Judge Lonny R. Suko in Spokane, Wash., erred when he failed to grant a preliminary injunction halting logging on 9,423 acres of salvage timber sales in an area burned by the 2005 School fire. The appeals court agreed with conservation groups that a prohibition against logging "live trees" larger than 21 inches in diameter, known as the Eastside Screens, applies to all trees that are not dead yet, even if the U.S. Forest Service has decided they will be dead soon. Neither the National Forest Management Act, nor the local forest plan defines the term "live trees," so the common meaning that they are all trees that have not yet died applies, wrote Judge Susan Graber. "The Forest Service is free, of course, to amend the Eastside Screens to allow logging of old-growth dying trees," the judge wrote. "Unless and until it does so, there is no basis to adopt its proposed definition."....
Conservation easement donated The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust has announced the donation of a 2,000-acre conservation easement near Dayton. The easement, the second donated to the trust by the Padlock Ranch Company, will limit development on approximately 2,000 acres located north of U.S. 14 and State Highway 343. A substantial portion of land along Columbus Creek and Smith Creek is included in this parcel. Homer Scott started the Padlock Ranch with 3,000 acres and 300 cows in 1943. The ranch headquarters are located at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming. Today, the Scott family along with 45 employees raise and market more than 9,000 calves a year with half of those through Country Natural Beef. "We are very appreciative of the Homer Scott family for their generous contribution toward conserving ranchlands," said Glenn Pauley, executive director of the trust. "The Padlock Ranch Company has been a good steward of that property and we look forward to working with them in the future."....
Smith falls short in timber filibuster An attempted filibuster by Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith fell short Monday as procedural wrangling foiled his bid to extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging. The filibuster ended after less than an hour, when Senate leaders invoked rules preventing him from taking over the Senate as he had threatened. "I'm just getting to the good part," complained Smith, a Republican who had initiated the filibuster effort to protest Congress's failure to renew the so-called county payments program. Smith had been prepared to read local Oregon phone books, histories of the state and a status report on the northern spotted owl for what he called his version of the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Instead he was told to surrender the floor after just 20 minutes to comply with Senate rules. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also held the floor for 20 minutes, and the pair were later given another hour-plus of debate as they told their colleagues about the program's importance to Oregon....
Desert Bighorn Sheep Population Rising Amid Development After a population crash, the desert bighorn sheep in the San Bernardino and Angeles national forests are making a comeback, spurring hope the sure-footed animals will be scampering around the local mountains for years to come. The sheep population in the area reached about 740 in the early 1980s. But by the mid 1990s, the count dropped to about 100. Now, the population has climbed to about 300. "Things are looking pretty good for the sheep," said Jeff Villepique, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. Officials say a federal, state and local partnership in 2003 brought renewed energy to understanding how the sheep live and what threats they face....
Bill calls for acquiring federal lands Coincident with a Bush administration budget proposal to sell off federal lands, a Wyoming state senator has drafted a bill designed to administer federal lands not wanted by federal agencies. The Bush administration released a 2008 budget proposal last week that would require the Forest Service to raise $800 million through land sales and use half of the proceeds for payments to states and half for land acquisition and other programs. A similar proposal last year met with strong bipartisan opposition from state and federal lawmakers as well as hunting, fishing, and other recreation and conservation groups. National forests in Wyoming have identified 15,498 acres in northeast Wyoming to be sold. Tracts range from 18 acres to 425 acres, scattered in Weston, Crook, Albany, Platte, Converse, Natrona and Campbell counties. State Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, said he’d anticipated that idea would come up again, and figured Wyoming should be ready for it. His bill, Senate File 103, would “facilitate the transfer of management responsibilities for specified federal lands in Wyoming from federal land management agencies” to a new program within the State Office of Public Lands....
Wolf dispute could extend for years For a brief moment, it appeared that Wyoming and the federal government might finally reach accord on the state's disputed wolf management plan. The possibility slipped away last week when negotiations broke down over the state's inability to control wolves that prey on elk. Now, state and federal officials say they will resume separate paths toward a resolution. For Wyoming, that means a continuation of its lawsuit challenging federal rejection last summer of its management plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its intention to move ahead with delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies without Wyoming. Meanwhile, wolf numbers continue to grow. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates a total of 310 wolves in Wyoming in 35 packs, including 22 packs outside Yellowstone National Park....
Company aims to transmit 'clean' power A proposed transmission line to carry "clean" electricity generated in the Powder River Basin and southeast Montana to markets in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix could be operating by 2012 -- about the same time several large generation projects are expected to be up and running. TransCanada, a North American energy transportation and power services company, is about four years into planning NorthernLights, a major transmission project, representatives told the Converse County commissioners last week. The NorthernLights “Inland Project” would build two 1,000-mile transmission lines, one each starting in the Powder River Basin and in southeast Montana. Those lines would carry up to 3,000 megawatts each of electricity to Las Vegas, where supplies could help address growing power needs, and possibly on to Los Angeles and Phoenix....
Settlement would keep wilderness land wild A proposed settlement of a federal lawsuit will place some of the last remaining private lands in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness into public hands if a judge approves. T-Lazy-Seven owner Rick Deane and the U.S. Forest Service have negotiated a deal that would give the agency possession of seven mining claims totaling 67.25 acres in some of the most pristine wilderness areas around Aspen. In addition to the mining claims in wilderness, Deane would convey two other properties of nearly 20 acres to the government. Those lands, the Diamond and Ophir mining claims, are between Midnight Mine and Richmond Ridge. In return, the feds would carve 2.25 acres out of the two mining claims and convey them back to Deane. The site that Deane would own includes a small, rustic cabin. The site is outside wilderness, along an existing road and developed area, the settlement said....
Proposal: No water deal until study is done Utah lawmakers are in unanimous agreement: There should be no deal with Nevada to share groundwater resources along the state line in Snake Valley until ongoing scientific studies are complete. The question now is, can they make the nonbinding resolution stick? Lawmakers, Millard County commissioners and West Desert ranchers and business owners gathered Monday at the Capitol to celebrate final passage of HJR1. The legislation calls on Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to refrain from signing any water-sharing agreement with Utah's next-door neighbor until studies being conducted by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Geological Survey are finished, perhaps by 2008. Language added to the resolution in the Senate now makes those requirements specific. Millard County Commissioner John Cooper calls the resolution a strong message that he and other backers hope will resonate across the state line. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed pumping groundwater in eastern Nevada as part of a massive pipeline project to provide water to Las Vegas....
Random horse slaughters stir protest in Canada They are the iconic symbol of North America’s wide-open spaces - wild horses galloping across the western plains and mountain foothills. But in Canada and the United States, the fight is on between wild horse advocacy groups and the governments tasked to manage the animals. In Canada, the issue has taken a sinister turn. In the province of Alberta, an anonymous shooter is killing horses, a total of 20 since 2004, leaving their carcasses left to rot or be scavenged by wild animals. The killings have alarmed conservationists, who worry about the threat to an already sparse population - an estimated 200 wild horses living on public lands in the region. According to the Wild Horse Society of Alberta (WHOAS), the horses have been killed as they grazed, shot several at a time outside the town of Sundre, 120 kilometres north-west of Calgary in the foothills of the Rockie Mountains....
Alternatives to gas drilling possible for Roan Plateau Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall, D-Colo., are exploring possibilities for legislation for the future of the Roan Plateau and are looking for alternatives to the Bureau of Land Management’s plan for energy development there, Salazar spokesman Rich Baca said Monday. Legislation and other possibilities for the Roan are “things he’s going to be exploring,” Baca said. Salazar and Udall will meet Feb. 22 with six groups who previously made formal proposals for the management of the Roan, possibly including Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Haupt, and representatives of the city of Rifle, Wilderness Society, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Mule Deer Association. Salazar and Udall aren’t inviting many spectators, however, and that includes the BLM....
Crude Awakening: Interior Faces Congress This week looks to be a busy one for the Department of the Interior (DOI). Three Congressional committees have scheduled hearings, and between new twists in the Abramoff scandal and royalties mismanagement, Interior officials will have plenty of explaining to do. On Tuesday, the Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will meet to examine Interior’s management of offshore oil and gas royalties. Discussion is sure to turn quickly to the botched 1998-99 offshore leases that could result in the loss of several billion dollars in royalty revenues. Also prepare for some possible awkwardness on the part of Interior officials. Just last week, Minerals Management Service (MMS) Director “Johnnie” Burton announced the promotion of Chris Oynes, the person who was entrusted with overseeing the ’98-’99 leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Oynes will now be in charge of MMS’ entire offshore program. This is some tough news to chew on considering that the agency has already created a new five-year plan to lease out previously-prohibited offshore areas. Meanwhile, Burton has yet to appear publicly before Congress to explain why she failed to act on the ’98-’99 leases. Next in line, Wednesday’s hearing will mark the opening salvo of what promises to be a series of oversight hearings in the House Committee on Natural Resources....
Fight over blood line, deer kill is on docket A 4-year-old court case that involves jurisdiction over 2 million acres of hunting and fishing land in the Uintah Basin will be heard by the Utah Supreme Court later this month. The high court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 28 in Utah v. Ricky L. Reber to determine whether the Utah Court of Appeals erred when it dismissed a hunting violation against Reber, a 54-year-old former Uintah County man who claimed his Native American heritage as a "non-terminated" Uinta band member allowed him to hunt without a state license. Reber was found guilty in 2002 by an 8th District Court jury in Vernal of helping his 13-year-old son take a trophy buck without a state hunting permit. However, in September 2005, the Court of Appeals ruled on a matter of jurisdiction, determining that the trophy buck that Reber assisted his son in taking was on tribal "trust" lands, which meant the Ute Indian Tribe, not the state, was the victim. The decision vacated Reber's conviction in 8th District Court and was a surprising upset to state prosecutors, who maintained that the case was not about jurisdiction but about whether Reber, who claimed just 4 percent Native American blood lines, was considered a Native American when it came to hunting privileges. The land in question is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, with the exception of hunting and fishing, which is overseen by the state Division of Wildlife Resources. Since the appellate court ruling, the state's conservation officers, who are cross-deputized to act as federal law-enforcement officers, have continued to provide law enforcement for the area....
A fishy way to track climate change In a modern update of "fish and chips," researchers are planning a worldwide effort to track the movement of sea creatures tagged with tiny electronic devices. After pilot testing in the north Pacific, the Ocean Tracking Network will expand to the Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico. Sea life ranging from salmon to whales, turtles to sharks, will be tagged so they can be tracked as they swim past arrays of sensors placed at critical locations in the oceans. The network "will foster the development of new Canadian technology, a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change and help shape fisheries and endangered species management worldwide," Peter MacKay, Canada's minister of foreign affairs and minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said in a statement. Initial research for the effort was done as a joint U.S.- Canada project in the north Pacific....
Levees quickly fixed -- at environmental cost? Bill Shelton has lived in Walnut Grove since 1926. In that time, he's seen a lot of things in the Sacramento River. But the retired pear farmer said he has never seen anything like this: the town's waterfront transformed into a bleak and forbidding corridor of rock. "This is ridiculously offensive," said Shelton, 85, who supervised several local levee districts over the decades. "Some amount of rock might have been reasonable, but to put in a pile like that and destroy everything in sight, it's almost unbelievable." When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a levee emergency last year, state and federal agencies agreed to accelerate environmental reviews that had routinely delayed necessary levee upgrades. It was one of the trade-offs California made in its rush to hold together an ailing levee system for a few more winters....
Wild pigs bring pseudorabies to Platte County Wild pigs have brought a swine disease that can devastate pork operations to Platte County in central Nebraska, the state Department of Agriculture said. The sow and nine piglets, likely hybrids of domestic hogs and Eurasian wild boars, were killed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Tests of the pigs revealed pseudorabies, a contagious viral disease that mostly affects swine, although cattle, sheep, dogs and cats also can be infected. The disease isn't considered a threat to humans. Agriculture officials will contact farmers and ranchers in the area to tell them to watch for symptoms of pseudorabies: respiratory illness, trembling, sudden death of piglets and pregnant female aborting....
Denial of blizzard aid blasted Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to deny disaster relief to 10 southeastern Colorado counties walloped by back-to-back blizzards that killed about 10,000 cattle. The USDA, in a letter dated Feb. 5, said farmers and ranchers didn't qualify for low-interest operating loans. Countywide, the losses did not equal 30 percent or more of production, which would include cattle, calves and winter wheat. The USDA has approved low-cost loans on a case-by-case basis for physical losses. Ritter had asked the USDA to help people in Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Lincoln, Otero and Prowers counties where livestock was trapped in 15-foot drifts and unable to reach food or water for days after the late-December blizzards. The USDA requires production losses - not economic losses - of 30 percent before declaring a disaster. The Colorado Department of Agriculture estimates 10,000 cattle died after the second blizzard, about 3 percent of the 345,000 cattle in southeastern Colorado. Calving season is underway, and it's expected there will be more losses....
Long-lost bar from historic Anaconda hotel returns Ethel Christopher's fondest memories play against the backdrop of the grand Montana Hotel. "When I got married, I had my wedding reception there," she said. As a little girl in the 1920s, she accompanied her mother to work as cloakroom watchwoman for elite parties. "That (hotel) was one of the best things that Anaconda ever had," she said. She was among mourning masses when the hotel - an architectural masterpiece and copper king Marcus Daly's thumbprint on the city he founded - was stripped bare in the 1970s, its contents sold. "It was a shame that people didn't try harder to save it," she said. But Friday, hope for restoration came in boxes and crates - the back bar and accessories from the original Tammany Lounge. Owner Jill Robison was seeking volunteers to move the bar and to help assemble and restore it....
It's All Trew: Coal workers suffered The next time you travel north toward Denver, take a break at the Ludlow Exit just north of Trinidad, Colo. A good paved road leads west about two miles to the huge and educational Ludlow Massacre Monument. I promise an interesting visit. On this spot on April 20, 1914, 20 people, including two women and 13 children, died during violence associated with a coal mine strike. All were shot or consumed by fire when the strikers' tent community came under fire by a mining company and Colorado Militia machine guns. Earlier, on Sept. 23, 1913, 9,000 miners walked out of the company-owned camp. They settled in tent cities located on private land. They were protesting poor mine safety conditions, low wages of $1.68 per 10-hour day, being forced to use company-owned stores with inflated prices, company controlled schools and churches. The song "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford described the conditions protested....
Monday, February 12, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Wyo-fed wolf talks fail Hopes for an out-of-court agreement between Wyoming and the federal government over wolves appear to be dead after federal officials Friday refused Wyoming's request to begin killing wolves that are hurting big game herds. "Placeholder" bills to change the state's wolf management plan are still alive until Monday in the Legislature, but unless the federal government changes its position, "It would be extremely difficult to revive," Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said Friday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Wyoming legislators have pushed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Wyoming more latitude in killing wolves that are hurting big game herds before wolves are formally removed from federal protection. That could take several years of litigation before a final order, despite a proposal released last month. In a high-spirited, often angry and name-calling press conference Friday in Cheyenne, Schiffer said it appears the Fish and Wildlife Service's idea of managing wildlife is to manage solely for wolves, and Freudenthal said he was surprised the federal agency appears to be the "Fish and Wolf Service."....
Lots of howling as wolf numbers grow Wolf recovery has been a success, some reckon too much of a success. After a 10-year legislative tug-of-war, Canadian wolves were introduced to Yellowstone National Park and the Idaho wilderness in 1995 and 1996. The notion was to reintroduce a top predator that had been hunted to extinction in the Lower 48 by the first part of the 20th century. Wolf numbers grew slowly at first, but the firestorm of controversy erupted immediately. Ranchers claimed the wolves were killing cattle. Hunters screamed that the wolves were decimating elk populations. Conservationists claimed the wolves were a natural part of the ecosystem and had a right to be there. In Yellowstone, wolf watchers became one of the park's major user groups and a new economic shot in the arm for the surrounding communities. The wolves themselves were busy being wolves, making more wolves. And since wolves are very territorial critters, the youngsters had to move to new territories where they could make their own new wolves....
Energy and wildlife: New federal-state effort aims to help Wyo habitat Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in seven Western states. More than half the money, $11.5 million, will be directed to southwest Wyoming, where intense natural gas development is affecting the habitat of sage grouse, antelope, deer, moose, elk and other species. "The budget proposal reflects the importance of Wyoming nationally," said Steven Hall, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. Congress would have to approve the appropriation. The initiative in Wyoming developed by eight state and federal agencies would help reclaim land affected by natural gas development and study how development of all kinds is affecting wildlife and habitat in the Green River Basin, which encompasses about 15 million acres....Isn't the BLM supposed to assess the impact on wildlife PRIOR to issuing the leases? Aren't the oil and gas companies supposed to reclaim the land they have leased? Are we spending $22 million because the BLM is not doing their job and the oil and gas companies are not in compliance with the law?
Montana looks at park expansion For Montanans of ordinary means, parks and other public land may be as close as they get to owning recreation property in Big Sky Country, where wealthy outsiders pay jaw-dropping prices for scenic places to play. Sellers of a southwestern Montana ranch with lakes and a private fish hatchery in a mountain setting are asking $20 million. Far to the north at Little Bitterroot Lake, a 14-acre parcel with some shoreline is listed at $2.9 million, and at fashionable Whitefish Lake, the asking price for just half an acre is $3.9 million. It is against this backdrop that Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer wants to spend $15 million on land for addition to the state system of parks and waterfront sites. Schweitzer says now is the time to buy, before land prices shoot still higher. He sees expansion of state parkland as a gift to future generations....
Predator attacks on livestock and game are rising Poisons, bounties and sharpshooters in helicopters haven't been able to stop an increase of animal attacks on smaller livestock and game as drought forces the predators to travel farther to find food. Hunters and ranchers say more coyotes, hogs, bobcats and foxes are preying on livestock, game and even pets across the Hill Country. The area's available water, thick brush and remote canyons provide ideal hiding and resting spots for predators that search by night for lambs, goats or other meals. "The problem is not new, but it's a little worse this year," Bandera County Commissioner Richard Keese said. "We've got a severe drought, so lots of coyotes from South Texas have moved north." The drought, which means less food and cover, is also a factor behind reduced stocks of deer and exotic game. And then there's the hit-or-miss predator management approach in a region that's seen rapid residential growth and a rise in absentee land ownership. "We have less ranchers actively trying to control predators," County Judge Richard Evans said. "If you work at the problem on your ranch and your neighbor doesn't, they (the animals) just move over there."...
Reading, Writing, and Global Warming for British Students Students at state-funded schools in Britain will learn about global warming, the government announced this week -- and former Vice President Al Gore's provocative views on the issue will get maximum exposure. As part of the new school curriculum for 11- to 14-year-olds, the government said students will be taught about how the earth's climate is changing and about the importance of "sustainable development." A government spokeswoman said Friday that all state schools and all faith-based school getting state funding -- most of them do -- are required to follow the curriculum. Private schools are "strongly encouraged" to do so. A spokesman for the UK government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) told Cybercast News Service that under the new plan, teachers will not be given a set number of hours each week to teach about global warming....
Mystery Ailment Strikes Honeybees A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination. Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder. Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers who often keep thousands of colonies have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer. "We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees. Along with being producers of honey, commercial bee colonies are important to agriculture as pollinators, along with some birds, bats and other insects. A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel rely on pollinators for fertilization....
Ranchers not yet free of winter's ruthless scourge The young, red steer fought to live, flailing against the ground to stand. "If you save one, that's a victory," said cattleman Bill Wilkinson, 47, who lives on the ranch where he was raised 200 miles south of Denver. "If you lose one, that's a loss." Wilkinson's herds are among the thousands of animals in the pastures of southeast Colorado still struggling to survive the calamitous snowstorms that hit in two consecutive weeks at the end of December. The young, red steer is only one victim of this awful winter, which will take seasons to overcome. His struggle to live is only one anonymous tragedy being played out in the region's vast pastures....
Packer May Seek Equity, Partners for Australian Cattle Business James Packer, Australia's richest man, may seek partners or private equity funds for his family cattle company Consolidated Pastoral Co. to help fund any future expansion as demand for beef grows in countries such as China. ``Now is the time to do it because there is so much interest and there's quite a bit of cash around,'' Ken Warriner, managing director of Northern Territory-based Consolidated Pastoral, said Feb. 9. The company is looking to split its ranches from its meat-processing and live cattle-exporting businesses, he said. Australia is the world's second-largest beef exporter. Packer has already teamed up with buyout firm CVC Asia- Pacific Ltd., selling half of Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.'s media assets into a joint venture and raising A$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion). Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest securities firm, is setting up a fund to buy sheep and cattle ranches to meet rising meat demand in China and India. Consolidated Pastoral, Australia's second-largest cattle rancher, was formed in 1983 when Kerry Packer, James's father bought Newcastle Waters Station. The group's 16 properties in four states, cover more than 10 million acres of land, or an area bigger than Maryland. It's aiming to boost cattle numbers by about 10 percent to 280,000 in two years....
Records detail fatal ranch dispute Four cows that had gone missing from their spread in Eastern Oregon led cattlemen Dennis Beach and his son, Travis, to a cousin's ranch about eight miles away. What happened next was like a scene out of the Old West - a tragedy of cousin against cousin, a man shot off his horse by a lever-action rifle, and two dead ranchers. It's a tale as tangled as tumbleweeds in barbed wire. The ranch owner, Tom Beach, wasn't there when Dennis and Travis Beach arrived to fetch their cows. But the ranch caretakers were: Shane Huntsman and Donna Carol Beach Dunning, who is Tom Beach's sister. An argument over ownership of the cattle ensued. ''This ends now,'' Huntsman told Dennis and Travis Beach, according to an affidavit filed in court by a Wallowa County deputy sheriff. Huntsman killed Dennis Beach, shooting him off his horse with a .30-30 caliber rifle. Travis scuffled with Huntsman, who hit Travis in the head with a rock. Travis wrestled the rifle from Huntsman and shot him, according to the affidavit. The Wallowa County district attorney has decided not to press charges against Travis Beach for Huntsman's death, saying he acted in self-defense. But the case isn't over....
Arrowheads, by another name The same can't be said for an arrowhead. If it looks like an arrowhead, and smells like an arrowhead, and feels like an arrowhead, it might not be a bona fide, 5,000-year-old killing tool crafted by the hand of ancient man at all. It might be nothing more than a hunk of rock. Woody Blackwell is something of a legendary figure among flintknappers. Those are the folks who can take a piece of flint and beat it into the likeness of an 11,000-year-old mammoth-stabbing Clovis point, or a sleek and graceful Agate Basin. The trouble starts when a flintknapper forgets to tell someone who might be interested in buying his semi-translucent, Knife River Flint beauty that it was not actually made 11,000 years ago. That's when a reproduction becomes a fake....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Playing the agriculture odds is addictive I was having a chat with one of my cattle-feeding friends. I often think of these calls as therapy - for both of us. He gets to release all of his frustrations about the injustice of corn farmers being allowed to make a profit due to the demand created by ethanol production.
"Talk about ingratitude! Never once did I complain about the price of corn when feeders went from 98 cents to a $1.04! I hung with 'em, fed as many as I could just to keep demand up. Now, when finished cattle prices are dropping, they are raisin' the price of corn! Can you believe it! And I just bought new tires for the front-end loader and donated a new wing for the library at the U of Nebraska! Go Huskers! What's a man supposed to do? And they want to raise the check-off to $2 a head! Shoot, the Cowbelles used to do it for free!....
Wyo-fed wolf talks fail Hopes for an out-of-court agreement between Wyoming and the federal government over wolves appear to be dead after federal officials Friday refused Wyoming's request to begin killing wolves that are hurting big game herds. "Placeholder" bills to change the state's wolf management plan are still alive until Monday in the Legislature, but unless the federal government changes its position, "It would be extremely difficult to revive," Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said Friday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Wyoming legislators have pushed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Wyoming more latitude in killing wolves that are hurting big game herds before wolves are formally removed from federal protection. That could take several years of litigation before a final order, despite a proposal released last month. In a high-spirited, often angry and name-calling press conference Friday in Cheyenne, Schiffer said it appears the Fish and Wildlife Service's idea of managing wildlife is to manage solely for wolves, and Freudenthal said he was surprised the federal agency appears to be the "Fish and Wolf Service."....
Lots of howling as wolf numbers grow Wolf recovery has been a success, some reckon too much of a success. After a 10-year legislative tug-of-war, Canadian wolves were introduced to Yellowstone National Park and the Idaho wilderness in 1995 and 1996. The notion was to reintroduce a top predator that had been hunted to extinction in the Lower 48 by the first part of the 20th century. Wolf numbers grew slowly at first, but the firestorm of controversy erupted immediately. Ranchers claimed the wolves were killing cattle. Hunters screamed that the wolves were decimating elk populations. Conservationists claimed the wolves were a natural part of the ecosystem and had a right to be there. In Yellowstone, wolf watchers became one of the park's major user groups and a new economic shot in the arm for the surrounding communities. The wolves themselves were busy being wolves, making more wolves. And since wolves are very territorial critters, the youngsters had to move to new territories where they could make their own new wolves....
Energy and wildlife: New federal-state effort aims to help Wyo habitat Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in seven Western states. More than half the money, $11.5 million, will be directed to southwest Wyoming, where intense natural gas development is affecting the habitat of sage grouse, antelope, deer, moose, elk and other species. "The budget proposal reflects the importance of Wyoming nationally," said Steven Hall, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. Congress would have to approve the appropriation. The initiative in Wyoming developed by eight state and federal agencies would help reclaim land affected by natural gas development and study how development of all kinds is affecting wildlife and habitat in the Green River Basin, which encompasses about 15 million acres....Isn't the BLM supposed to assess the impact on wildlife PRIOR to issuing the leases? Aren't the oil and gas companies supposed to reclaim the land they have leased? Are we spending $22 million because the BLM is not doing their job and the oil and gas companies are not in compliance with the law?
Montana looks at park expansion For Montanans of ordinary means, parks and other public land may be as close as they get to owning recreation property in Big Sky Country, where wealthy outsiders pay jaw-dropping prices for scenic places to play. Sellers of a southwestern Montana ranch with lakes and a private fish hatchery in a mountain setting are asking $20 million. Far to the north at Little Bitterroot Lake, a 14-acre parcel with some shoreline is listed at $2.9 million, and at fashionable Whitefish Lake, the asking price for just half an acre is $3.9 million. It is against this backdrop that Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer wants to spend $15 million on land for addition to the state system of parks and waterfront sites. Schweitzer says now is the time to buy, before land prices shoot still higher. He sees expansion of state parkland as a gift to future generations....
Predator attacks on livestock and game are rising Poisons, bounties and sharpshooters in helicopters haven't been able to stop an increase of animal attacks on smaller livestock and game as drought forces the predators to travel farther to find food. Hunters and ranchers say more coyotes, hogs, bobcats and foxes are preying on livestock, game and even pets across the Hill Country. The area's available water, thick brush and remote canyons provide ideal hiding and resting spots for predators that search by night for lambs, goats or other meals. "The problem is not new, but it's a little worse this year," Bandera County Commissioner Richard Keese said. "We've got a severe drought, so lots of coyotes from South Texas have moved north." The drought, which means less food and cover, is also a factor behind reduced stocks of deer and exotic game. And then there's the hit-or-miss predator management approach in a region that's seen rapid residential growth and a rise in absentee land ownership. "We have less ranchers actively trying to control predators," County Judge Richard Evans said. "If you work at the problem on your ranch and your neighbor doesn't, they (the animals) just move over there."...
Reading, Writing, and Global Warming for British Students Students at state-funded schools in Britain will learn about global warming, the government announced this week -- and former Vice President Al Gore's provocative views on the issue will get maximum exposure. As part of the new school curriculum for 11- to 14-year-olds, the government said students will be taught about how the earth's climate is changing and about the importance of "sustainable development." A government spokeswoman said Friday that all state schools and all faith-based school getting state funding -- most of them do -- are required to follow the curriculum. Private schools are "strongly encouraged" to do so. A spokesman for the UK government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) told Cybercast News Service that under the new plan, teachers will not be given a set number of hours each week to teach about global warming....
Mystery Ailment Strikes Honeybees A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination. Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder. Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers who often keep thousands of colonies have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer. "We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees. Along with being producers of honey, commercial bee colonies are important to agriculture as pollinators, along with some birds, bats and other insects. A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel rely on pollinators for fertilization....
Ranchers not yet free of winter's ruthless scourge The young, red steer fought to live, flailing against the ground to stand. "If you save one, that's a victory," said cattleman Bill Wilkinson, 47, who lives on the ranch where he was raised 200 miles south of Denver. "If you lose one, that's a loss." Wilkinson's herds are among the thousands of animals in the pastures of southeast Colorado still struggling to survive the calamitous snowstorms that hit in two consecutive weeks at the end of December. The young, red steer is only one victim of this awful winter, which will take seasons to overcome. His struggle to live is only one anonymous tragedy being played out in the region's vast pastures....
Packer May Seek Equity, Partners for Australian Cattle Business James Packer, Australia's richest man, may seek partners or private equity funds for his family cattle company Consolidated Pastoral Co. to help fund any future expansion as demand for beef grows in countries such as China. ``Now is the time to do it because there is so much interest and there's quite a bit of cash around,'' Ken Warriner, managing director of Northern Territory-based Consolidated Pastoral, said Feb. 9. The company is looking to split its ranches from its meat-processing and live cattle-exporting businesses, he said. Australia is the world's second-largest beef exporter. Packer has already teamed up with buyout firm CVC Asia- Pacific Ltd., selling half of Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.'s media assets into a joint venture and raising A$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion). Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest securities firm, is setting up a fund to buy sheep and cattle ranches to meet rising meat demand in China and India. Consolidated Pastoral, Australia's second-largest cattle rancher, was formed in 1983 when Kerry Packer, James's father bought Newcastle Waters Station. The group's 16 properties in four states, cover more than 10 million acres of land, or an area bigger than Maryland. It's aiming to boost cattle numbers by about 10 percent to 280,000 in two years....
Records detail fatal ranch dispute Four cows that had gone missing from their spread in Eastern Oregon led cattlemen Dennis Beach and his son, Travis, to a cousin's ranch about eight miles away. What happened next was like a scene out of the Old West - a tragedy of cousin against cousin, a man shot off his horse by a lever-action rifle, and two dead ranchers. It's a tale as tangled as tumbleweeds in barbed wire. The ranch owner, Tom Beach, wasn't there when Dennis and Travis Beach arrived to fetch their cows. But the ranch caretakers were: Shane Huntsman and Donna Carol Beach Dunning, who is Tom Beach's sister. An argument over ownership of the cattle ensued. ''This ends now,'' Huntsman told Dennis and Travis Beach, according to an affidavit filed in court by a Wallowa County deputy sheriff. Huntsman killed Dennis Beach, shooting him off his horse with a .30-30 caliber rifle. Travis scuffled with Huntsman, who hit Travis in the head with a rock. Travis wrestled the rifle from Huntsman and shot him, according to the affidavit. The Wallowa County district attorney has decided not to press charges against Travis Beach for Huntsman's death, saying he acted in self-defense. But the case isn't over....
Arrowheads, by another name The same can't be said for an arrowhead. If it looks like an arrowhead, and smells like an arrowhead, and feels like an arrowhead, it might not be a bona fide, 5,000-year-old killing tool crafted by the hand of ancient man at all. It might be nothing more than a hunk of rock. Woody Blackwell is something of a legendary figure among flintknappers. Those are the folks who can take a piece of flint and beat it into the likeness of an 11,000-year-old mammoth-stabbing Clovis point, or a sleek and graceful Agate Basin. The trouble starts when a flintknapper forgets to tell someone who might be interested in buying his semi-translucent, Knife River Flint beauty that it was not actually made 11,000 years ago. That's when a reproduction becomes a fake....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Playing the agriculture odds is addictive I was having a chat with one of my cattle-feeding friends. I often think of these calls as therapy - for both of us. He gets to release all of his frustrations about the injustice of corn farmers being allowed to make a profit due to the demand created by ethanol production.
"Talk about ingratitude! Never once did I complain about the price of corn when feeders went from 98 cents to a $1.04! I hung with 'em, fed as many as I could just to keep demand up. Now, when finished cattle prices are dropping, they are raisin' the price of corn! Can you believe it! And I just bought new tires for the front-end loader and donated a new wing for the library at the U of Nebraska! Go Huskers! What's a man supposed to do? And they want to raise the check-off to $2 a head! Shoot, the Cowbelles used to do it for free!....
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Storms never last, do they baby
By Julie Carter
If the title lyric is tickling your memory banks, it is because it isn't original. It belongs to Waylon Jennings and Jessie Coulter. But the memories are mine.
There are many ways to take nostalgic trips through the recesses of your mind. Some work faster and better than others, but it's a journey we all need to take from time to time.
Flipping through old photo albums is a surefire way to bring back flashes of the past when people were younger, thinner, and married to somebody else.
There is something better for the journey than being faced with pictorial proof of how different things are now. That vehicle is music.
Music is a venue of travel into yesteryear that seems to evoke more emotion and less reality than old photos.
An old familiar melody has a way of quickly reaching inside our hearts and souls and touching feelings that, long ago, were pushed behind us as we dove headlong into life.
Lyrics might tell a story that was your story and in doing so, they speak for you.
A song might bring recall of parents dancing to the melody as it played on the radio or at an old country dance that gathered people from the hills and vales to socialize in hard times.
I can promise you, I'll never, ever hear Hank Locklin sing "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On" without remembering my grandmother's caterwauling of those lyrics as she went about her daily chores.
Musical memories are never better than when they are shared remembrances. They don't have to be specific but memories of an era can bring people to common ground. People that didn't share directly in your life 30-40 years ago, very likely heard the same music you did.
Circumstances may vary but the emotions that erupt do not.
Nothing will turn back the hands of time like an evening with some heart-tugging, boot-scootin', make-me-think-I-can-sing music to put you over the top.
When the fiddle bow strikes, the guitar strings hum and melodic voices fall into a lyrical tour of fine old country music, today ceases to exist.
For a space of time, the room becomes a world of its own in a place a long time ago.
Whether you are swaying to Lefty Frizzell's "Waltz of the Angels" or hearing the alluring Bob Wills' "Faded Love," something begins to happen to your heart.
Traveling down the melody lane, you arrive at a place in the recesses of your mind that everyone should visit. Whether it is the lyrics, the melody or both, something begins to chip away at the shellacked veneer that day-to-day living paints over us for survival.
The musical map carries you forward through decades of "classic country" that becomes a slide show of loving, laughing, crying, and dying.
Waylon's words are immortal in many lives and certainly in mine. Storms never last do they baby. Bad times all pass with the wind. Your hand in mine stills the thunder. And you make the sun want to shine.
I'm very glad I got the chance for him to remind me of that.
© Julie Carter 2007
By Julie Carter
If the title lyric is tickling your memory banks, it is because it isn't original. It belongs to Waylon Jennings and Jessie Coulter. But the memories are mine.
There are many ways to take nostalgic trips through the recesses of your mind. Some work faster and better than others, but it's a journey we all need to take from time to time.
Flipping through old photo albums is a surefire way to bring back flashes of the past when people were younger, thinner, and married to somebody else.
There is something better for the journey than being faced with pictorial proof of how different things are now. That vehicle is music.
Music is a venue of travel into yesteryear that seems to evoke more emotion and less reality than old photos.
An old familiar melody has a way of quickly reaching inside our hearts and souls and touching feelings that, long ago, were pushed behind us as we dove headlong into life.
Lyrics might tell a story that was your story and in doing so, they speak for you.
A song might bring recall of parents dancing to the melody as it played on the radio or at an old country dance that gathered people from the hills and vales to socialize in hard times.
I can promise you, I'll never, ever hear Hank Locklin sing "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On" without remembering my grandmother's caterwauling of those lyrics as she went about her daily chores.
Musical memories are never better than when they are shared remembrances. They don't have to be specific but memories of an era can bring people to common ground. People that didn't share directly in your life 30-40 years ago, very likely heard the same music you did.
Circumstances may vary but the emotions that erupt do not.
Nothing will turn back the hands of time like an evening with some heart-tugging, boot-scootin', make-me-think-I-can-sing music to put you over the top.
When the fiddle bow strikes, the guitar strings hum and melodic voices fall into a lyrical tour of fine old country music, today ceases to exist.
For a space of time, the room becomes a world of its own in a place a long time ago.
Whether you are swaying to Lefty Frizzell's "Waltz of the Angels" or hearing the alluring Bob Wills' "Faded Love," something begins to happen to your heart.
Traveling down the melody lane, you arrive at a place in the recesses of your mind that everyone should visit. Whether it is the lyrics, the melody or both, something begins to chip away at the shellacked veneer that day-to-day living paints over us for survival.
The musical map carries you forward through decades of "classic country" that becomes a slide show of loving, laughing, crying, and dying.
Waylon's words are immortal in many lives and certainly in mine. Storms never last do they baby. Bad times all pass with the wind. Your hand in mine stills the thunder. And you make the sun want to shine.
I'm very glad I got the chance for him to remind me of that.
© Julie Carter 2007
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Not So Dire After All
This morning the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report, but just in the form of a 12-page Summary for Policymakers. The report itself, about 1,600 pages, will be available only in May. The IPCC explains it needs time to adjust the scientific report to make it consistent with its summary. The summary actually is a semipolitical document negotiated by delegates from 150 governments. Evidently, the IPCC, which prides itself on being strictly scientific and policy-neutral, wants to make its report politically correct. This raises legitimate doubts about the scientific credibility of the IPCC's conclusions. The cleansing of the report — and the attendant delay in publication — is also feeding wild speculation about climate catastrophes, with many leaks to compliant newspapers. Compared to earlier reports, the Fourth Assessment is really quite sober, perhaps because a real scientist less given to ideology heads the effort. The summary projects slightly lower temperature increases than previous reports, for example. Also, the last report, in 2001, featured the Hockeystick, a graph that purportedly illustrated that the 20th century was unusually warm. Its underlying science was flawed by incorrect statistics, and apparently the IPCC now implicitly agrees, for the Hockeystick does not appear in the summary. The IPCC's estimates for sea-level rise are about half of previous values given. The IPCC is under attack by extremist scientists who think it is too optimistic and that the numbers should be more catastrophic. NASA scientist Jim Hansen's sea-level value is about 20 times higher than that of the IPCC. I suppose that makes him, as well as Al Gore, a climate contrarian. Notwithstanding these more restrained points, the IPCC fails to provide any real support for its key conclusion: It is very likely that anthropogenic greenhouse-gas increases caused most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century. The IPCC ignores contrary evidence....
Should We Believe the Latest UN Climate Report?
The UN Climate Change panel is asserting—again—that humans are overheating the planet. Again, they have no evidence to support their claim—but they want the U.S. to cut its energy use by perhaps 80 percent just in case. Stabilizing greenhouse gases means no personal cars, no air-conditioning, no vacation travel. It’s a remarkably sweeping demand, given that the earth has warmed less than 1 degree C, over 150 years. This on a planet where the ice cores and seabed sediments tell us the climate has been either warming abruptly or cooling suddenly for the past million years. The first long ice cores from Greenland and Antarctic were brought up in the 1980s. The ice layers showed the earth warming 1–2 degrees roughly every 1,500 years—usually suddenly. The natural warmings often gained half their total strength in a few decades, then waffled erratically for centuries—rather like our planet’s temperature pattern since 1850. History tells us the coolings, not the warmings, have been the bad part. After the Medieval Warming ended about 1300, Europe was hit by huge storms, gigantic sea floods, crop failures, and plagues of disease. My big gripe with the IPCC is that they’re still keeping this climate cycle a virtual secret from the public. What does the IPCC say about hundreds of long-dead trees on California’s Whitewing Mountain that tell us the earth was 3.2 degrees C warmer in the year 1350 than today? In that year, seven different tree species were killed—while growing above today’s tree line—by a volcanic explosion. The trees’ growth rings, species and location confirm that the climate was much warmer that of today, says C. I. Millar of the U.S. Forest Service, reporting in Quaternary Research, Nov. 27, 2006....
Climate Bills Are Self-defeating
Will 2007 be the year that the U.S. signs up for global warming regulation? After looking at the five climate bills being considered so far in the 110th Congress, I’m not so sure it will be. A bill drafted by Senate Energy Committee chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is the most economically palatable bill and seems to have the most interest on Capitol Hill. But it would likely accomplish little in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- the ostensible purpose of global warming regulation. Bingaman’s bill calls for reductions in the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent per year from 2012-2021 and by 3.0 percent per year starting in 2022. Bingaman’s focus on reducing emissions intensity – rather than reducing absolute emissions of greenhouse gases – is what sets it apart from the other climate bills, which are all geared toward reducing total emissions. What’s the difference between reducing “emissions intensity” and total or absolute emissions? Conceptually, reducing absolute emissions is relatively straightforward. The goal would be to simply cut greenhouse gas emissions by specified amounts. Despite its apparent simplicity, emissions reduction is complicated by the fact that there is no general agreement as to how to measure greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. So far, emissions have been generally guess-timated based on energy production and/or use levels for a limited number of sources. Emission cuts also do not take into consideration the likely economic impacts of any attendant reductions in energy use. Emissions intensity, by contrast, attempts to relate emissions to economic productivity. Let’s say, for example, that a company’s total amount of greenhouse gas emissions doubled from 2000 to 2005. If over the same period of time its economic output also doubled, then the company’s emissions intensity remained constant. But if the company’s economic productivity had quadrupled, then its emissions intensity would have been cut in half. Emissions intensity, then, is a measure of efficiency, where the goal is higher economic output per unit of greenhouse gas emissions....
ARE POLAR BEARS VICTIMS?
Polar bear populations are decreasing in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska and the western and southern Hudson Bay in Canada. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service accepted a proposal last December to designate polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, says Scienceline.
Some prominent researchers suspect that changes in the climate are a leading threat to polar bear survival. Polar bears are especially vulnerable to rising Arctic temperatures because they hunt, mate and usually make their dens on sea ice. "There is no evidence they can survive on land without sea ice," says environmentalist Deborah Williams.
But, not everyone is convinced:
* Mitchell Taylor, a polar bear researcher for the Canadian province of Nunavut, has submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opposing listing polar bears as threatened, stating that only two populations of bears are decreasing.
* H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow from the National Center for Policy Analysis noted the overall polar bear population has rebounded from about 10,000 to 20,000 and asserted that warm temperatures in the 1930s were similar to current conditions, yet polar bears survived then.
Those that see the general rise in polar bear population dislike the possibility of regulation for a species they feel doesn't need it. "The law doesn't say to look at any possible future threat. It says look at the data…if it's not endangered then it's not endangered," said Burnett. What counts is the number of polar bears that exist right now, not some possible decrease in the future.
Source: Emily V. Driscoll, "Are Polar Bears Victims of the New Cold War?" Scienceline, February 5, 2007.
For text:http://scienceline.org/2007/02/05/health_driscoll_polarbears/
Chicken Little and global warming
YOU KNOW that big United Nations report on global warming that appeared last week amid so much media sound and fury? Here's a flash: It wasn't the big, new United Nations report on global warming. Oddly enough, most of the news coverage neglected to mention that the document released on Feb. 2 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was not the latest multiyear assessment report, which will run to something like 1,500 pages when it is released in May. It was only the 21-page "Summary for Policymakers," a document written chiefly by government bureaucrats -- not scientists -- and intended to shape public opinion. Perhaps the summary will turn out to be a faithful reflection of the scientists' conclusions, but it wouldn't be the first time if it doesn't. In years past, scientists contributing to IPCC assessment reports have protested that the policymakers' summary distorted their findings -- for example, by presenting as unambiguous what were actually only tentative conclusions about human involvement in global warming. This time around, the summary is even more confident: It declares it "unequivocal" that the Earth has warmed over the past century and "very likely" -- meaning more than 90 percent certain -- that human activity is the cause. That climate change is taking place no one doubts; the Earth's climate is always in flux. But is it really so clear-cut that the current warming, which amounts to less than 1 degree Celsius over the past century, is anthropogenic? Or that continued warming will lead to the meteorological chaos and massive deaths that alarmists predict? It is to the media. By and large they relay only the apocalyptic view: Either we embark on a radical program to slash carbon-dioxide emissions -- that is, to arrest economic growth -- or we are doomed, as NBC's Matt Lauer put it last week, to "what literally could be the end of the world as we know it." Perhaps the Chicken Littles are right and the sky really is falling, but that opinion is hardly unanimous. There are quite a few skeptical scientists, including eminent climatologists, who doubt the end-of-the-world scenario. Why don't journalists spend more time covering all sides of the debate instead of just parroting the scaremongers?...
Not So Dire After All
This morning the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report, but just in the form of a 12-page Summary for Policymakers. The report itself, about 1,600 pages, will be available only in May. The IPCC explains it needs time to adjust the scientific report to make it consistent with its summary. The summary actually is a semipolitical document negotiated by delegates from 150 governments. Evidently, the IPCC, which prides itself on being strictly scientific and policy-neutral, wants to make its report politically correct. This raises legitimate doubts about the scientific credibility of the IPCC's conclusions. The cleansing of the report — and the attendant delay in publication — is also feeding wild speculation about climate catastrophes, with many leaks to compliant newspapers. Compared to earlier reports, the Fourth Assessment is really quite sober, perhaps because a real scientist less given to ideology heads the effort. The summary projects slightly lower temperature increases than previous reports, for example. Also, the last report, in 2001, featured the Hockeystick, a graph that purportedly illustrated that the 20th century was unusually warm. Its underlying science was flawed by incorrect statistics, and apparently the IPCC now implicitly agrees, for the Hockeystick does not appear in the summary. The IPCC's estimates for sea-level rise are about half of previous values given. The IPCC is under attack by extremist scientists who think it is too optimistic and that the numbers should be more catastrophic. NASA scientist Jim Hansen's sea-level value is about 20 times higher than that of the IPCC. I suppose that makes him, as well as Al Gore, a climate contrarian. Notwithstanding these more restrained points, the IPCC fails to provide any real support for its key conclusion: It is very likely that anthropogenic greenhouse-gas increases caused most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century. The IPCC ignores contrary evidence....
Should We Believe the Latest UN Climate Report?
The UN Climate Change panel is asserting—again—that humans are overheating the planet. Again, they have no evidence to support their claim—but they want the U.S. to cut its energy use by perhaps 80 percent just in case. Stabilizing greenhouse gases means no personal cars, no air-conditioning, no vacation travel. It’s a remarkably sweeping demand, given that the earth has warmed less than 1 degree C, over 150 years. This on a planet where the ice cores and seabed sediments tell us the climate has been either warming abruptly or cooling suddenly for the past million years. The first long ice cores from Greenland and Antarctic were brought up in the 1980s. The ice layers showed the earth warming 1–2 degrees roughly every 1,500 years—usually suddenly. The natural warmings often gained half their total strength in a few decades, then waffled erratically for centuries—rather like our planet’s temperature pattern since 1850. History tells us the coolings, not the warmings, have been the bad part. After the Medieval Warming ended about 1300, Europe was hit by huge storms, gigantic sea floods, crop failures, and plagues of disease. My big gripe with the IPCC is that they’re still keeping this climate cycle a virtual secret from the public. What does the IPCC say about hundreds of long-dead trees on California’s Whitewing Mountain that tell us the earth was 3.2 degrees C warmer in the year 1350 than today? In that year, seven different tree species were killed—while growing above today’s tree line—by a volcanic explosion. The trees’ growth rings, species and location confirm that the climate was much warmer that of today, says C. I. Millar of the U.S. Forest Service, reporting in Quaternary Research, Nov. 27, 2006....
Climate Bills Are Self-defeating
Will 2007 be the year that the U.S. signs up for global warming regulation? After looking at the five climate bills being considered so far in the 110th Congress, I’m not so sure it will be. A bill drafted by Senate Energy Committee chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is the most economically palatable bill and seems to have the most interest on Capitol Hill. But it would likely accomplish little in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- the ostensible purpose of global warming regulation. Bingaman’s bill calls for reductions in the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent per year from 2012-2021 and by 3.0 percent per year starting in 2022. Bingaman’s focus on reducing emissions intensity – rather than reducing absolute emissions of greenhouse gases – is what sets it apart from the other climate bills, which are all geared toward reducing total emissions. What’s the difference between reducing “emissions intensity” and total or absolute emissions? Conceptually, reducing absolute emissions is relatively straightforward. The goal would be to simply cut greenhouse gas emissions by specified amounts. Despite its apparent simplicity, emissions reduction is complicated by the fact that there is no general agreement as to how to measure greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. So far, emissions have been generally guess-timated based on energy production and/or use levels for a limited number of sources. Emission cuts also do not take into consideration the likely economic impacts of any attendant reductions in energy use. Emissions intensity, by contrast, attempts to relate emissions to economic productivity. Let’s say, for example, that a company’s total amount of greenhouse gas emissions doubled from 2000 to 2005. If over the same period of time its economic output also doubled, then the company’s emissions intensity remained constant. But if the company’s economic productivity had quadrupled, then its emissions intensity would have been cut in half. Emissions intensity, then, is a measure of efficiency, where the goal is higher economic output per unit of greenhouse gas emissions....
ARE POLAR BEARS VICTIMS?
Polar bear populations are decreasing in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska and the western and southern Hudson Bay in Canada. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service accepted a proposal last December to designate polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, says Scienceline.
Some prominent researchers suspect that changes in the climate are a leading threat to polar bear survival. Polar bears are especially vulnerable to rising Arctic temperatures because they hunt, mate and usually make their dens on sea ice. "There is no evidence they can survive on land without sea ice," says environmentalist Deborah Williams.
But, not everyone is convinced:
* Mitchell Taylor, a polar bear researcher for the Canadian province of Nunavut, has submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opposing listing polar bears as threatened, stating that only two populations of bears are decreasing.
* H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow from the National Center for Policy Analysis noted the overall polar bear population has rebounded from about 10,000 to 20,000 and asserted that warm temperatures in the 1930s were similar to current conditions, yet polar bears survived then.
Those that see the general rise in polar bear population dislike the possibility of regulation for a species they feel doesn't need it. "The law doesn't say to look at any possible future threat. It says look at the data…if it's not endangered then it's not endangered," said Burnett. What counts is the number of polar bears that exist right now, not some possible decrease in the future.
Source: Emily V. Driscoll, "Are Polar Bears Victims of the New Cold War?" Scienceline, February 5, 2007.
For text:http://scienceline.org/2007/02/05/health_driscoll_polarbears/
Chicken Little and global warming
YOU KNOW that big United Nations report on global warming that appeared last week amid so much media sound and fury? Here's a flash: It wasn't the big, new United Nations report on global warming. Oddly enough, most of the news coverage neglected to mention that the document released on Feb. 2 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was not the latest multiyear assessment report, which will run to something like 1,500 pages when it is released in May. It was only the 21-page "Summary for Policymakers," a document written chiefly by government bureaucrats -- not scientists -- and intended to shape public opinion. Perhaps the summary will turn out to be a faithful reflection of the scientists' conclusions, but it wouldn't be the first time if it doesn't. In years past, scientists contributing to IPCC assessment reports have protested that the policymakers' summary distorted their findings -- for example, by presenting as unambiguous what were actually only tentative conclusions about human involvement in global warming. This time around, the summary is even more confident: It declares it "unequivocal" that the Earth has warmed over the past century and "very likely" -- meaning more than 90 percent certain -- that human activity is the cause. That climate change is taking place no one doubts; the Earth's climate is always in flux. But is it really so clear-cut that the current warming, which amounts to less than 1 degree Celsius over the past century, is anthropogenic? Or that continued warming will lead to the meteorological chaos and massive deaths that alarmists predict? It is to the media. By and large they relay only the apocalyptic view: Either we embark on a radical program to slash carbon-dioxide emissions -- that is, to arrest economic growth -- or we are doomed, as NBC's Matt Lauer put it last week, to "what literally could be the end of the world as we know it." Perhaps the Chicken Littles are right and the sky really is falling, but that opinion is hardly unanimous. There are quite a few skeptical scientists, including eminent climatologists, who doubt the end-of-the-world scenario. Why don't journalists spend more time covering all sides of the debate instead of just parroting the scaremongers?...
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