Pythons could squeeze lower third of USA As climate change warms the nation, giant Burmese pythons could colonize one-third of the USA, from San Francisco across the Southwest, Texas and the South and up north along the Virginia coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps released Wednesday. The pythons can be 20 feet long and 250 pounds. They are highly adaptable to new environments. Two federal agencies — the USGS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — are investigating the range of nine invasive snakes in Florida, concerned about the danger they now pose to endangered species. The agencies are collecting data to aid in the control of these populations. They examined Burmese pythons first and, based on where they live in Asia, estimated where they might live here. One map shows where the pythons could live today, an area that expands when scientists use global warming models for 2100....So there you have it folks. Either fight global warming or be crushed to death by a giant snake. Only at the very end of the article do you find, "The Burmese python is not poisonous and not considered a danger to humans."
GM exec stands by calling global warming a "crock" General Motors Corp Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has defended remarks he made dismissing global warming as a "total crock of s---," saying his views had no bearing on GM's commitment to build environmentally friendly vehicles. Lutz, GM's outspoken product development chief, has been under fire from Internet bloggers since last month when he was quoted as making the remark to reporters in Texas. In a posting on his GM blog on Thursday, Lutz said those "spewing virtual vitriol" at him for minimizing the threat of climate change were "missing the big picture." "What they should be doing in earnest is forming opinions, not about me but about GM and what this company is doing that is ... hugely beneficial to the causes they so enthusiastically claim to support," he said in a posting titled, "Talk About a Crock."....
Move Over, Oil, There’s Money in Texas Wind The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks’s ranch are twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he is paid $500 a month apiece to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76 more on the way. “That’s just money you’re hearing,” he said as they hummed in a brisk breeze recently. Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines. Texans are even turning tapped-out oil fields into wind farms, and no less an oilman than Boone Pickens is getting into alternative energy. “I have the same feelings about wind,” Mr. Pickens said in an interview, “as I had about the best oil field I ever found.” He is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself....
Wolf debate not over yet Gray wolves, whose howls nearly disappeared from the Northern Rockies almost a century ago, have rebounded so strongly they can be removed from the endangered species list, federal officials said Thursday. The decision marks a milestone in the saga of wolves, which were given federal protection in 1973 after hunting, trapping and poisoning nearly exterminated them in the Lower 48 states by the 1930s. Federal and state officials hailed the delisting, calling it an unprecedented success in America's effort to find a place on the modern landscape for its most imperiled species. They said wolves have filled most of the suitable habitat that has plentiful wilderness and prey and limited livestock and humans in the Northern Rockies. "This is a significant day in the history of conservation." said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. But conservation groups vowed to sue the federal government to stop the delisting, which will turn over wolf management to the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The states' plans include hunting seasons for wolves, which will be regulated like elk, black bears, mountain lions and other game species....
Celebrate Wolf Recovery, Delisting, And Stop Slinging Arrows In 1987, when Yellowstone wolf reintroduction was a hope, not a reality, I was one of a small group of wildlife conservationists seeking to work cooperatively with the federal land managers and the state wildlife agencies to create a popular consensus for wolf reintroduction. At the outset, we recognized that while recovery of an endangered species was both legally required and ecologically desirable, there was an overall need to build a popular support for wolves among the humans who would have to live with them as neighbors. We recognized that it was not sufficient merely to speak of “the national interest” or cite the faceless millions who might gain satisfaction from merely knowing that the wolf exists in someone else’s back yard. Our experience told us that successful wolf recovery required the citizens of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to be convinced that sharing the land with wolves worked in their best interest and need not result in socioeconomic loss. Twenty years later, the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction has succeeded beyond anything we could have imaged in 1987. The wolves have proven themselves to be adaptable, resilient and generally good neighbors. Many dedicated people have toiled on their behalf. So with the news that the gray wolf is proposed to be delisted, why aren’t the wolf supporters celebrating? Instead of champagne we have threatened law suits. Instead of “congratulations” and “thanks yous” to ranchers, forest rangers, and environmentalists – all who played a role in the wolf’s success– we get doomsday forecasts and changing agendas....
Canines vs. cattle When wolves moved into the area, rancher Dave Vaughan got out of the cow-calf business, he said. In his barn last week, on a bright and windless winter morning, Vaughan used a tin can to scoop grain for the horses, as he described the events that precipitated his decision to call it quits. "As soon as we lost those calves, I said, 'I'm not going to do this anymore,"' he said. Wolves were confirmed on Vaughan's ranch in January 2003 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but he's pretty sure they arrived in 2002. That's when he saw his calf survival rate take a sudden dip, he said. On average, about 96 percent of Vaughan's new calves survived every year, and in recent seasons he'd had two years with 98 percent and two with 100 percent survival. By the start of this decade Vaughan had managed the ranch for almost 20 years, and he'd kept meticulous records and statistics. Suddenly, in 2002, his calf survival rate dipped to 90 percent. And in 2003, after wolves were confirmed in the area, only 85 percent of his new calves lived -- an unprecedented number for his operation, he said. In the winter before the 2003 calving season, gray wolves were running the cows, consistently moving them around and keeping them nervous, Vaughan said. The added stress took a 10 percent bite out of his profits. "We started calving on the 17th of February, and the first calf that was born was dead. Out of my 70 mother cows, I ended up with seven dead calves," he said. "They were stillborn from the stress of the wolves being there." All told, in 2003 Vaughan lost 13 calves, "which is totally unheard of," he said. "The only thing you can get compensated for is confirmed kills. Not stress. But the stress causes them to abort calves. And out on our pasture, which is six miles long and two mile wide, sometimes you don't find any evidence of the ones they do kill; the wolves eat everything sometimes, even the tag."....
Idaho wolf hunters could kill up to 300 Idaho hunters would be allowed to kill somewhere between 100 and 300 gray wolves this fall under a plan proposed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game after Thursday's federal decision to remove the animals from the endangered species list. The plan next goes to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission for approval. The commission is scheduled to meet March 6 to vote on the Idaho Wolf Population Management Plan 2008-2012. Idaho had an estimated 732 wolves at the end of 2007, said Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for the department. He predicted the population will increase about 15 percent to 20 percent by this fall. He said the department's goal for the next five years is to keep the Idaho population between the 518 counted in 2005 and 732. "We're going to manage for a viable, healthy population," Nadeau said. "We've managed big game for a long time, and we're good at it." Still, he said the department planned to take a conservative approach the first several years while it learns how to manage wolves....
'It's really been a bad deal' Wolves are starting to ruin what used to be an elk-hunting paradise, according to the president of the Dubois Outfitters Association. Fritz Meyer wishes more people would take note. While many citizens and government officials celebrate the recovery of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, Meyer said he believes the mid-1990s federal reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park was a terrible mistake from the start. Not only has it hurt his business, he said, but it has taken a serious toll on elk herds in the Upper Wind River Valley. "The one thing that's really been sad to a lot of us is since the reintroduction of wolves, we've seen a steady decline in our elk and moose numbers," Meyer said. "Today somebody will come up and tell you when they see a moose. In the past we used to see them everywhere." Meyer has owned an outfitting business in Dubois for about 20 years and has been a guide for more than 30, he said. In previous years, a significant part of Meyer's business was guiding elk hunters on "antlerless" hunts. "Now the wolves are thinning the herds, and there are not many left for hunters," he said. "That hurts the whole community here, because the hunters spend money in the motels, gas stations, restaurants. And this is just one small area -- it's hurting the whole state the same way."....
'A real efficient killer' One morning Joe Thomas sat atop a hill with binoculars, scanning his pasture land, when he spotted two wolves coming down from the timberline. They approached his 1,000 head of cows from two different directions, picked out a small group and started herding them around. "The older ones were teaching the younger ones how to hunt," Thomas said. "They were working in a half circle, like a good set of stock dogs would. I got to witness the whole thing." Over the years, wolves have killed about 20 calves on Thomas's ranch near the Greybull River, 20 miles west of Meeteetse. Last year the canines killed six. "They are a really efficient killer," he said. It was a dumb thing to reintroduce wolves into the Northern Rockies, Thomas said, but now that they're here, he's learned to adapt, and he said he's accepted that Wyoming will need to manage them for the long run. Thomas's ranch lies within Wyoming's trophy game management zone, as defined by the state's management plan, which means it will be illegal, in most cases, to kill a wolf there without a permit. But after delisting, a provision in the plan allows stockgrowers to shoot wolves if they are attacking or "harassing" livestock. Thomas, however, isn't overly excited about the prospect of the new provision. "It's not as easy as they make it sound, because it's your word against somebody else's," Thomas said. "Instead, I think it will be better to just take pictures, cover the evidence with a tarp and work with the game warden."....
Embattled ag undersecretary makes no apologies for timber policies He overhauled federal forest policy to cut more trees -- and became a lightning rod for environmentalists who say he is intent on logging every tree in his reach. After nearly seven years in office, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey still has a long to-do list. Near the top: Persuade a federal judge to keep him out of jail. Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist who has directed U.S. forest policy since 2001, also wants to set up state rules making it easier to build roads in remote national forests and to restore overgrown, unhealthy forests by clearing them of small trees and debris that can stoke wildfires. And he wants to streamline cumbersome regulations that can paralyze actions on public lands. A Montana judge, accusing Rey of deliberately skirting the law so the Forest Service can keep fighting wildfires with a flame retardant that kills fish, has threatened to put him behind bars. For Rey, who faces a court date Tuesday, the prospect of jail time is daunting. But it's just one more obstacle as he attempts to rid federal policies of pesky paperwork and endless litigation that slows forest managers from cutting down trees....And so far as I know, he hasn't changed one single grazing regulation left over from the Clinton Administration. If you know why grazing has been left out of the regulatory changes of the Forest Service, please share it with me. For the last eight years it would be interesting to know: Did the total number of animal units grazed increase or decrease? Did the number of range improvements authorized increase or decrease? Did the number of vacant allotments increase or decrease? What significant changes in Forest Service grazing policy did our national livestock organizations propose and how many were implemented?
Boom a boost - but is it best? This desolate one-time cattle town is poised to become the Western Slope's next oil-and-gas boomtown. With Chevron beefing up operations to the north and EnCana to the east, town officials are bracing for a development rush seen by the likes of Parachute and Battlement Mesa. Prospects for rapid growth are setting up a classic boomtown debate. Some welcome the anticipated economic boost; others fear the town will lose its historic character. Already, the surge in activity has pulverized the bridge over the Colorado River at the town's entrance, forcing Mesa County and the state to spend $1.6 million on an upgrade. A Kum & Go gas station and quick-service restaurant, the town's first commercial chain, is set to break ground in August and open in December at the De Beque exit off Interstate 70, about 30 miles east of Grand Junction. A 100-room motel is being discussed for adjacent land. Schlumberger, the world's largest oil-field- services company, confirmed last week that it is acquiring about 375 acres across the interstate for an operations center. In January, a Montana rancher bought the nearby Nichols Ranch for $2.8 million with plans to turn it into a 526-acre mixed-used development with 1,200 single-family and multi-unit homes. The action is swirling around a dusty town that sits in the heart of oil-and-gas country but tallies a 2006 Census Bureau population of just 481....
Montana FWP ignores ranchers, landowner concerns The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) is asking Montana’s ranchers, landowners, outfitters, and sportsmen to denounce the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Commission’s recently adopted archery elk permit proposal. Despite overwhelming comment in opposition and historical amounts of comment from ranchers, landowners, outfitters, local businesses, local governments, and many archery sportsmen, Montana’s FWP Commission voted to severely reduce elk archery permits. What was presumed to be a proposal for just the Missouri River Breaks ended up spanning twenty-three vast Montana hunting districts. The goal of this change is a veiled attempt to eliminate the certainty of outfitter licenses and to eliminate the leasing of private land for hunting. Elk populations in Montana are greater than ever and one of the tools to increase elk harvests has just been arbitrarily discarded by the commission. It appears as though the commission’s intent is to manipulate access to private land, not manage wildlife, said Montana Stockgrowers....
Growth cap under fire in name of land preservation Citing concerns that development could get out of hand, Douglas County's commissioners expressed concerns about a measure that could exempt ranchers from the county's growth cap, provided they cluster their developments. "We provided a density bonus for ranchers. To exempt them from the building permit allocation system skirts the intent of the growth ordinance. I have a problem with that," said Commissioner David Brady. "The unintended consequences have not been thought out fully and could have wide-ranging effects." In an effort to preserve open space and encourage ranching in Carson Valley, commissioners approved a ranch heritage ordinance in January, giving ranchers the right to increase their allotment for clustered development on agricultural parcels, the number of homes they can develop, by 150 percent. In exchange, the balance of the property, or 70 percent, is to be held in a conservation easement and the water rights are tied to the land. The ranch heritage parcel provision was approved in January and in February, a proposal was introduced that would exempt ranchers from Douglas County's building allotment, an additional perk....
Tales of old roads and past settlers in landlocked trial Gates, the owner of Nevada County Free Range Beef, was the latest witness to testify in an ongoing civil case between Garfinkel and defendants Nevada County Land Trust and Bill and Anna Trabucco. Gates leases land from the Trabuccos to run his cattle. Garfinkel is the owner of what he calls a landlocked piece of land that sits adjacent to land owned by the Trabuccos. He wishes to access his property by crossing the Trabuccos' land using roads he said have existed since the Gold Rush. The defendants argue no such roads exist and to allow access would invalidate a conservation easement. Earlier in the week, an historian called on by Garfinkel's lawyer presented old assessor records from the 1800s showing taxed property owned by people who lived in structures around Garfinkel's property, said his wife, Susie Garfinkel. She contends if people lived on the property, they must have had a road to get there. "It's undeniable. There were people here," Susie Garfinkel said. On Wednesday, Ian Garfinkel testified that several years ago Gates pointed to his property and told him an old stage coach road traversed it....
Colorado considers recruiting farm workers from Mexico Each year, when many people are finishing up their Christmas lists, Colorado rancher Angela Ryden starts wading through red tape so she can get two legal guest workers from Mexico to help her during calving season in March. That’s the plan. Last year, even with the help of an employment agency, the two workers from Michoacan arrived a month late because of a paperwork problem. By then, half of Ryden’s calves had been born and three had died at her New Castle ranch on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. “It’s something every year and it seems like they change the rules all the time,” Ryden said of the federal H2-A visa program for farm workers. Frustrated with the federal bureaucracy and Congress’ failure to pass immigration reform, two Colorado lawmakers have proposed taking over a large part of the application process and opening offices in Mexico to find people who can arrive in time to pick the state’s crops and run cattle. Arizona is considering setting up its own temporary worker program to help all kinds of businesses suffering labor shortages....
Where were the USDA inspectors? The biggest meat recall in the history of the world topped the domestic news last week: 143-million pounds of beef, processed over the last two years, now scattered throughout the nation's schools and fast-food joints - all recalled. The USDA had little choice. An animal rights group released videotape of "downer" cows being pushed around by a fork lift, and being dragged across filthy floors, before joining healthy cows on the hamburger highway. The big question raised by everyone is, where were the USDA inspectors? Food safety is the most important responsibility of the USDA. The problem at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Chino, California, occurred two years ago. Had the secret video never appeared, the meat would have never been recalled. Why can the public not depend upon the USDA to keep the food safe during the processing operation? The USDA has misplaced priorities. For the last several years, the top priority at the USDA has not been food safety, but the creation of a National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Nearly $150-million has been spent on promoting NAIS. This money would have been better spent on more inspectors to oversee the meat processing plants. NAIS money is often spent to bribe non-government organizations into a Public/Private Partnership to promote the NAIS. The Future Farmers of America were paid $633,000 to encourage FFA kids to get their parents to register their property into the program. In fact, if an analysis of the not-for-profit organizations that are promoting NAIS were published, it would be a pretty complete list of where the USDA's $150-million NAIS money went....
Mexico to reopen borders to imports of Canadian calves next month Mexico will reopen its border to imports of Canadian calves, ending a ban imposed after a 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in Canada, the government said Saturday. Starting in March, Mexican ranchers will be allowed to import female cattle under 2½ years old for beef and dairy breeding, the Agriculture Department said. The animals will have to come from herds with no history of the disease.
'Animal rights activists gone wild' - no laughing matter We live in an era where one day it's perfectly legal and essential to water board a prisoner in order to obtain crucial intelligence information for the war on terror, and the next it's considered torture and illegal. Trying to come to an agreement on what constitutes inhumane treatment can be very difficult not only in regards to people but for animals as well. The recent debate sparked by a proposed county ordinance to ban Mexican-style rodeos, charreadas, further illustrates how we as a society are becoming more and more isolated and detached from our natural environment. The methods a rancher uses to move a 2,000 pound bull might seem cruel to those who have never worked with large livestock. In fact, any attempts by a rancher to justify those methods can be futile and fall on deaf ears of animal rights advocates. That's because for many animal rights advocates, any form of animal use, whether for food, clothing, or entertainment, is considered cruel or inhumane, and in some extreme cases even pet ownership falls into that category. By pushing this agenda - that animals do not exist for human use -- while concealed behind the cloak of animal cruelty, some of these advocate groups play a role in further isolating the interactions between people and animals....
Animal Producers From Mars, Animal Lovers From Venus? A woman from Australia married a dolphin recently. Sound impossible? It is just one of countless stories of the new roles animals play in people’s lives. “Animal welfare has absolutely nothing to do with animals,” says Wes Jamison, a professor of agricultural and natural resource politics. Jamison has been studying the animal rights and welfare movement for nearly two decades. He spoke here at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Young Farmer and Rancher Leadership Conference last weekend, proposing the notion that “animal producers are from Mars and animal lovers are from Venus” (a takeoff on the popular book called “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus”). The challenge lies in that agriculture is a small minority in this country. Only about 3 million out of the country’s 304 million people are in animal agriculture. Problems arise when the world of the consumer and animal agriculture collide. “You have a society and culture that does not understand what you do,” he said....