Studies Say Clearing Land for Biofuels Will Increase Warming Clearing land to produce biofuels such as ethanol will do more to exacerbate global warming than using gasoline or other fossil fuels, two scientific studies show. The independent analyses, which will be published today in the journal Science, could force policymakers in the United States and Europe to reevaluate incentives they have adopted to spur production of ethanol-based fuels. President Bush and many members of Congress have touted expanding biofuel use as an integral element of the nation's battle against climate change, but these studies suggest that this strategy will damage the planet rather than help protect it. One study -- written by a group of researchers from Princeton University, Woods Hole Research Center and Iowa State University along with an agriculture consultant -- concluded that over 30 years, use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline. Another analysis, written by a Nature Conservancy scientist along with University of Minnesota researchers, found that converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands in Southeast Asia and Latin America to produce biofuels will increase global warming pollution for decades, if not centuries. Tim Searchinger, who conducts research at Princeton and the D.C-based German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the research he and his colleagues did is the first to reveal the hidden environmental cost of producing biofuels....
Fish and Wildlife finishes counting Mexican gray wolves Fifty-two Mexican gray wolves are roaming southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona—seven fewer than last year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's just completed annual count of the animals. The survey, released Thursday, counted 29 wolves in Arizona and 23 in New Mexico. Environmentalists said Fish and Wildlife has not done enough to protect the wolves and increase their numbers. On the other hand, the manager of Catron County, home to many of the wolves in New Mexico, said he believes the count is low. Counts are done each January. In 2007, the survey found 59 wolves, about half in each state. The federal program removed 22 wolves from the wild in 2007—19 of them either for killing livestock or because they were young pups associated with a parent wolf that killed livestock. Two were removed for moving outside the wolves' designated range, and the other was removed for "nuisance behavior," Fish and Wildlife said. In addition, three wolves disappeared in November from the Gila National Forest of southwestern New Mexico. The agency is investigating the disappearance of the alpha pair of the Durango pack and a pup....
Resolution Urges Congress to Leave Utah's Wilderness Alone The future of 9 million acres of public land is in limbo. Congress is considering declaring the Utah parcels federal wilderness, including acreage in the Uintah Basin. In response, Utah lawmakers are moving a resolution that sends a clear message to Congress - "keep your hands off our land." "It's frustrating to me that so many of these discussions come from people who are not from the West, (not) from Utah certainly," Ogden Representative Kerry Gibson says. "I think that many of these people would be highly offended if we came into their state and designated large swaths of their state as unaccessable [sic]. It's quite offensive." Gibson and his colleagues on the House Natural Resources Committee voted unanimously Wednesday for the resolution. H.J.R. 10 urges Congress not to designate additional wilderness areas in Utah without the support of the state's congressional delegation. It also stresses such a wilderness designation could tie up the state's untapped energy resources. However, designated wilderness areas and energy speculation are not mutually exclusive, according to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. The group's attorney, Stephen Block, says the vast majority of new oil and gas drilling is not slated for the land in question. "I think it's entirely consistent to protect these public lands here in our state at the same time that we have a very robust energy sector," Block says. The bill garnered the support of the Utah Petroleum Association, Responsible Energy Developers and the Farm Bureau, which represents ranchers whose income depends on grazing cattle on public lands....
Gov. Freudenthal seeks delay on Wyo. Range drilling plan Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday to delay acting on a proposal to drill for natural gas in the Wyoming Range, a popular hunting and recreation area within the Bridger-Teton National Forest near the Idaho border. Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Co. wants to drill 136 gas wells on 17 well pads spread over about 10,000 acres on the northeast corner of the Wyoming Range. Some of the acreage is near a rural subdivision of expensive homes and cabins. The Forest Service says the Plains Exploration plan would disturb about 400 acres and result in building about 15 miles of road. "In a historical context, such a proposal is quite modest," Freudenthal said in a letter to the Forest Service. "In the Wyoming Range, this proposal is monumental, far reaching and fraught with controversy." He noted that a second energy company has proposed drilling some 200 wells in the same area, raising fears he expressed earlier of industrializing the Wyoming Range....
Forest Service Pushes New Logging Rule In its effort to boost commercial logging, the Bush administration on Thursday proposed giving managers of the nation's 155 federal forests greater discretion in letting timber companies cut down more trees on the federally controlled land. The new planning rule is the latest response by the Forest Service to court rulings that have rejected previous policies as not doing enough to protect wildlife and the environment. Officials said the new rule would ensure public involvement in the nation's 193 million acres of national forests. But environmentalists said the Bush administration was again trying to strip important protections for wildlife and clean water for the benefit of the timber industry. Administration officials said last month they had decided it was quicker and cheaper to do an environmental impact statement on the 2005 rule, as ordered by a judge, rather than wait for a federal appeals court to consider the case. "We're proud of this vitally important planning process, and yet we recognize that improvements were needed to emphasize more public collaboration, to be more adaptive to changing environmental conditions and to ensure the protection of wildlife," said Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System....
Tester assails Bush budget's approach to rural issues Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., on Wednesday slammed the president's proposed 2009 budget as a failure for rural Americans. "He absolutely got an F," Tester said during a call with reporters. " 'Incomplete' could also apply. I almost think maybe he just dropped out before the budget even got started." Tester criticized proposed cuts to some rural health care and development programs, Essential Air Service, Amtrak and the U.S. Forest Service. He said Bush would raise some fees on veterans using VA facilities and faulted the president for not putting money toward a permanent agriculture disaster relief fund. "The list goes on and on with this budget," he said. "I cannot tell you how disappointed I am, and how really out of touch this budget is with what's going on in America, particularly rural America." Tester and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., made the call in conjunction with the release of a "Rural Report Card" by the Democratic Policy Committee that condemned Bush's budget....
Crow Tribe signs economic compact Leaders from the Crow Tribe, the state of Montana and the federal government gathered in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for the signing of a first-of-its-kind compact that will aid economic development on the Crow Reservation. The agreement addresses the lack of legal framework that had kept many on the reservation from borrowing money and getting the financing they needed for all kinds of investments. The compact makes it easier for banks to file secured loans on the reservation, which will lead to a greater flow of capital to the Crow community. Tribal leaders in war bonnets and traditional dress stood behind Crow Chairman Carl Venne and Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson as they put their signatures to the compact. The agreement covers transactions in which personal property is used as collateral for loans, including bank loans for business startups, auto loan financing and revolving lines of credit. Such transactions usually fall under state law, but as sovereign nations Indian tribes are not subject to state laws. That made it very difficult for banks to make secured loans in those communities. A bank's claim on collateral is filed as a lien with the secretary of state's office, and the agreement will allow such liens to be enforceable on the reservation....
Southwestern treasures "Yes, the same thing done on public and private land could mean the difference between ending up in jail and walking out scot-free with plenty of money in your pockets," Ms. Farnsworth added with a sad smile. What she was trying to explain sounded bizarre, but the hard facts backed her up. In this archaeologically rich region of the country, a law enacted during the presidency of Jimmy Carter made a peculiar zigzag: It accepted the importance of cultural preservation on government property, but all but brushed it off on private land. Under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, hunting for Anasazi artifacts and selling them to the highest bidder is legal if you do it on private ranches, but is forbidden if you step onto federal or tribal property. The federal government appears to lack strong convictions about what it should protect and where. "Only 15 percent of the Four Corners area has been surveyed and inventoried by archaeologists," Ms. Farnsworth said. "The rest is still untouched. We suspect there are somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 unexplored archaeological sites out there."....
Group seeks protection for walrus under Endangered Species Act A conservation group filed today to protect Pacific walruses because of the threat to their northern habitat by global warming. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list walruses as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of warming and its effect on sea ice used by the animals as a feeding and resting platform. The group also said oil and gas development throughout the animals' range was a threat. Bruce Woods, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, said he had not seen the petition and could not comment. The listing request was filed as the Fish and Wildlife Service decides whether to list polar bears as threatened because sea ice has diminished due to global warming. "The Arctic is in crisis from global warming," said Shaye Wolf, lead author of the petition and a biologist with the conservation group....
The Fluid Envelope - A Case Against Climate Alarmism The notion of a static, unchanging climate is foreign to the history of the earth or any other planet with a fluid envelope. The fact that the developed world went into hysterics over changes in global mean temperature of a few tenths of a degree will astound future generations. Such hysteria simply represents the scientific illiteracy of much of the public, the susceptibility of the public to the Goebbelian substitution of repetition for truth, and the exploitation of these weaknesses by politicians, environmental promoters, and, after 20 years of media drum beating, many others as well. Climate is always changing. We have had ice ages and warmer periods when alligators were found in Spitzbergen. Ice ages have occurred in a hundred thousand year cycle for the last 700 thousand years, and previous warm periods appear to have been warmer than the present despite CO2 levels being lower than they are now. More recently, we have had the medieval warm period and the little ice age. During the latter, alpine glaciers advanced to the chagrin of overrun villages. Since the beginning of the 19th Century these glaciers have been retreating. Frankly, we dont fully understand either the advance or the retreat....
Bush threatens farm bill veto if goals missed President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday he will veto the new U.S. farm law if it raises taxes or fails to cut off subsidies to farmers and land owners making more than $200,000 a year. "I'm confident we can come together and get a good farm bill," Bush told Agriculture Department employees. "But if Congress sends me legislation that raises taxes or (does) not make needed reforms, I'm going to veto it." It was the strongest statement yet to Congress from the administration of its goals for the omnibus farm law, which covers farm subsidies, land stewardship, nutrition programs like food stamps and rural economic development. Lawmakers and the administration have been deadlocked since the start of the year over the five-year, $286 billion bill....
White House race seen shunning agriculture The next president of the United States has so far said very little about agriculture, cattle or livestock, which the president of the nation's largest cattle group called "kind of scary." "As I have listened to the candidates in their primaries for the last two or three months, I have yet to hear anything mentioning the word agriculture, mentioning the livestock industry or mentioning the cattle industry," John Queen, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told Reuters on Wednesday. "It is kind of scary to me." The NCBA has about 30,000 members and more than 5,000 of them are in Reno this week for the group's annual convention. Queen said he would welcome the chance to question any of the candidates about their policies on agriculture, livestock, ethanol and energy, and conservation....
Ewe gives birth to 4 lambs If there's a mother-of-the-year award for sheep, a ewe belonging to a Powell couple deserves consideration. The ewe gave birth to four lambs Jan. 19 and is busily engaged in the job of raising them. Steve Martin and his wife have kept a flock of sheep and raised lambs for more than 20 years. They say quadruplets are rare among sheep. Martin says it's also notable that the new mother has tended to all four lambs. A ewe often will reject one lamb after a multiple birth....
Painting the West William Matthews is a well-respected and nationally known Western watercolor artist who will sign his new book "Working in the West" today from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Broschofsky Galleries, in The Courtyard at 360 East Ave. in Ketchum. "I'm a cowboy, and I work all the time always focusing on painting," Matthews said. Matthews spends time on ranches depicting the older traditional way of ranching as opposed to modern methods by which ranchers use ATVs, trucks and helicopters. "I prefer the old and more traditional ranching techniques of cowboys on horseback with teams of horses," Matthews said. "I pick and choose where I paint, and it's about the attitude and ranch methodology and respect for the tradition of ranching." Matthews said watercolor painting is a difficult medium, and it is unforgiving because he can not cover up his mistakes. "That's why I love it," Matthews said. "It's the most impressive medium and every day it is a challenge."....
The cowboy way Dusty Richards sometimes thinks he was born at the wrong time. The award-winning novelist feels right at home in the hardscrabble world of America’s Wild West, where cowboys went on cattle drives and men enforced the law on horseback with a pistol. In his most recent book, Montana Revenge, Richards writes about one such sheriff and his horse: “The horse between his knees was still breathing hard and snorting out his nose from the long run. Repeatedly bobbing his head, Cob danced some coming downhill, as if he knew more than his rider did about what this place might hold for him.” Richards, 70, says his love of the West is a deep connection he has felt since childhood. But the writer says he is grateful he “didn’t have to live as tough a life as it would have been then.” He’s happy where he is, sitting in the lakefront home he shares with Pat, his wife of 47 years, writing books and short stories about the cowboy life. The Arkansas resident is comfortable wearing Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. He writes his vivid Western tales on a laptop computer. This modern-day cowboy writer’s cell phone rings to the tune of “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” He also has a pair of spurs — on the wall. Richards won these Spurs — awards — fair and square last year from the Western Writers of America....
Friday, February 08, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Five Minutes With Trent Loos, Rancher-Activist-Advocate For Farmers & Producers
If you want to get Trent Loos to sit still for an interview, you’d better be prepared to work around his schedule, which includes hosting radio shows, launching promotional campaigns, creating a regular e-newsletter and speaking at dozens of agricultural meetings and conferences every year. And try not to schedule a conversation during a raging blizzard sweeping over the Loup, Nebraska, area where he farms and ranches – especially not when his goats are delivering kids and a mountain lion roaming the area has already picked off two of his herd. But when he’s not tracking cougars or caring for livestock, Loos puts his passion into a cause that ought to be a priority with all farmers and ranchers, no matter what they’re raising: Communicating to consumers the benefits of our food production system and the safe, abundant, affordable sustenance we all too often take for granted. His radio programming, which encompasses an audience of more than four million on 100-plus stations across the country, includes daily Loos Tales and Rural Route programming, various “Trails & Tales” and a Truth Be Told show. His Loos Tales TV programming, which examines the people, places and policies affecting rural America, airs weeknights at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central on Dish Network 9411. Loos says that in his interviews and professional speaking engagements, he’s seeing a new sense of urgency among farmers and producers trying to convince both policymakers and the public that a viable system of agriculture is vital to America’s security and well-being. He argues that “the stakes are high,” and that the time for action is now....
If you want to get Trent Loos to sit still for an interview, you’d better be prepared to work around his schedule, which includes hosting radio shows, launching promotional campaigns, creating a regular e-newsletter and speaking at dozens of agricultural meetings and conferences every year. And try not to schedule a conversation during a raging blizzard sweeping over the Loup, Nebraska, area where he farms and ranches – especially not when his goats are delivering kids and a mountain lion roaming the area has already picked off two of his herd. But when he’s not tracking cougars or caring for livestock, Loos puts his passion into a cause that ought to be a priority with all farmers and ranchers, no matter what they’re raising: Communicating to consumers the benefits of our food production system and the safe, abundant, affordable sustenance we all too often take for granted. His radio programming, which encompasses an audience of more than four million on 100-plus stations across the country, includes daily Loos Tales and Rural Route programming, various “Trails & Tales” and a Truth Be Told show. His Loos Tales TV programming, which examines the people, places and policies affecting rural America, airs weeknights at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central on Dish Network 9411. Loos says that in his interviews and professional speaking engagements, he’s seeing a new sense of urgency among farmers and producers trying to convince both policymakers and the public that a viable system of agriculture is vital to America’s security and well-being. He argues that “the stakes are high,” and that the time for action is now....
Sen. Kerry Blames Tornados on Global Warming Kerry appeared on MSNBC on February 6 to discuss storms that have killed at least 50 people throughout the Southeastern United States. So, of course, Kerry used the platform to advance global warming alarmism. “[I] don’t want to sort of leap into the larger meaning of, you know, inappropriately, but on the other hand, the weather service has told us we are going to have more and more intense storms,” Kerry said. “And insurance companies are beginning to look at this issue and understand this is related to the intensity of storms that is related to the warming of the earth. And so it goes to global warming and larger issues that we’re not paying attention to. The fact is the hurricanes are more intensive, the storms are more intensive and the rainfall is more intense at certain places at certain times and the weather patterns have changed.” Kerry’s assertion tornado activity is related to any type of climate change is questionable based on the writings of at least one meteorologist. Roger Edwards, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., has doubts about any global warming and tornado relationship. “As of this writing, no scientific studies solidly relate climatic global temperature trends to tornadoes,” Edwards wrote on the Earth & Sky Web site in April 2007. “I don’t expect any such results in the near future either, because tornadoes are too small, short–lived, hard to measure and count, and too dependent on day to day, even minute to minute weather conditions.”
Gov again slams royalty cut A federal plan to keep a bigger share of federal mineral royalties is designed to recoup costs for paperwork and manpower required for collection and distribution of the money, a federal Minerals Management Service Spokesman says. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, meanwhile, says the change is "an absolute crime." While the states and the federal government used to split those royalties 50-50, the split is now 52-48 with the federal government getting the larger share. The change first became law as part of a spending bill signed by President Bush in December. Bush suggested extending the provision by another year in his proposed budget released Monday. Gary Strasburg, a spokesman for the Minerals Management Service, which is part of the Interior Department, said the extra money for the federal government is intended to cover the administrative costs. But it will be deposited into the general treasury, he said....
The Collapse of Central Valley Salmon The latest federal government data on 2007's salmon run on the Sacramento River point to an "unprecedented collapse" in the fishery considered for years to be one of the most healthy on the West Coast. If the data is verified in upcoming meetings of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California and Oregon ocean waters and recreational salmon fishing in Central Valley rivers could be closed or severely restricted in 2008. This alarming news couldn't come at a worse time, since recreational and commercial fishermen are already reeling from draconian restrictions on rockfish, lingcod and other groundfish in California. "The magnitude of the low abundance, should it be confirmed in verification efforts now underway, is such that the opening of all marine and freshwater fisheries impacting this important salmon stock will be questioned in the upcoming Council process to set 2008 ocean salmon seasons," according to an internal memo of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) by Donald O. McIsaac, Ph. D, Executive Director....
Snow news good news for Colorado River area A snowy January on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains has water managers crossing their fingers for something they haven't seen for a while: a truly wet year on the Colorado River. The latest forecast calls for the river to receive 120 percent of its normal inflow from melting mountain snow. If that prediction comes to pass, 2008 would go down as the best year on the Colorado in more than a decade. As of Tuesday, snow levels were above average by as much as 56 percent in parts of central and western Colorado credited with supplying large amounts of water to the river system. Elsewhere in the high country of Colorado, Utah and Arizona, the snowpack is almost double what it normally is this time of year with more winter storms in the forecast for this weekend....
Power Struggle The first sign that there might be something wrong with the water on Craig Duderstadt’s south Texas ranch was when the cows wouldn’t drink. Last summer, they began to bypass their special groundwater well-fed trough, preferring to drink from a muddy puddle of rainwater. “This is a full water trough, and they’d walk a couple hundred yards and drink from a water hole. They’d walk right past that water trough,” Duderstadt said. “You can’t make ‘em drink.” About that same time, the well water used inside the house for everything from showering to drinking started running red and slimy. A well filter that would normally last six months plugged up in a matter of hours—one time, Craig couldn’t even get it out of the filter casing because of all the sediment. The Duderstadts stopped drinking the water, too. A Culligan driver now brings four blue jugs of clean water a month from Victoria, the nearest big town, about a 30-minute drive northeast. The culprit, they say, is a uranium mining operation 1,250 feet from their front door. They say the water turns bad when the mining company drills exploration wells nearby....
Judge delays decision on eagle's status Calling the fate of Arizona's eagles "an important issue for our district and the United States," a federal judge in Phoenix postponed a decision Tuesday about protections for the state's desert-nesting bald eagles. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Murguia will decide if federal officials acted too hastily in removing Arizona's smaller, lighter bald eagles from the federal endangered-species list. Arizona's small band of raptors was removed from endangered-species protections in August along with the nation's other 11,000 bald eagles in the lower 48 states. The action to include Arizona eagles was protested by Gov. Janet Napolitano, U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell and Raul Grijalva, all three Democrats, along with conservation groups and Indian tribes. In a courtroom filled with more than 75 tribal leaders and members of the public, lawyers for the Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon, the groups that filed the lawsuit, asked that the Arizona birds be put back on the endangered-species list, at least until their status can be reviewed by wildlife officials....
Cost to save bighorn pegged at $26.7m Saving the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep could cost at least $26.7 million over the next 20 years, a new federal study estimates. Environmentalists and federal officials consider this a good investment in protecting a shaggy, endangered mammal that is found from Tuolumne to Tulare counties and across to the Sierra Nevada's remote east side. "It looks like a fair amount of money," Bob Williams, Nevada field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday, "but compared to other species, this is relatively small, and the costs are in line with what the species needs." The public costs cover state and federal dollars directly spent on bighorn sheep monitoring and recovery. But they also include the potential sacrifice of fees that ranchers pay so their animals can graze on federal lands. To help the sheep, some such grazing would be restricted....
Uranium Exploration Near Grand Canyon With minimal public notice and no formal environmental review, the Forest Service has approved a permit allowing a British mining company to explore for uranium just outside Grand Canyon National Park, less than three miles from a popular lookout over the canyon’s southern rim. If the exploration finds rich uranium deposits, it could lead to the first mines near the canyon since the price of uranium ore plummeted nearly two decades ago. A sharp increase in uranium prices over the past three years has led individuals to stake thousands of mining claims in the Southwest, including more than 1,000 in the Kaibab National Forest, near the Grand Canyon. To drill exploratory wells on the claims in the Kaibab forest requires Forest Service approval. Vane Minerals, the British company, received such approval for seven sites in December. The Forest Service granted the approvals without a full-dress environmental assessment, ruling that the canyon could be “categorically excluded” from such a review because exploration would last less than a year and might not lead to mining activity....
Voices in the Wild Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer will decide in February whether to allow construction of a 90-foot-tall communications stealth tower (cleverly disguised as a pine tree) on the 8,700-foot summit. The tower would provide cellular coverage from Galena Lodge to Petit Lake, including much of the village of Smiley Creek in the Stanley Basin. Proponents of the tower argue for public safety along Highway 75, which connects the towns of Ketchum and Sun Valley with Galena Summit and the Stanley Basin to the north, where stranded motorists could call for help. Others say backcountry skiers and hikers could call for help in an emergency. Critics of the tower plan say it will be unsightly and detract from the splendor of the area, popular with backcountry skiers, snowboarders and hikers. On a clear day, Galena Summit affords views from Stanley to Bald Mountain, a distance of 60 miles, as well as the Sawtooth, Boulder and White Cloud mountains. Jackie Richter, U.S. Forest Service project leader for the proposed Galena Summit Tower study, has collected 94 comments on both sides of the issue and is awaiting an environmental assessment before the Forest Service can proceed with a decision....all this over a fake tree, a "cleverly disguised" fake tree.
Limestone Madness Nothing loves limestone more than the native ocotillo that covers the Empire Valley hills, southeast of Tucson. The problem is, mining interests including California Portland Cement have their own brand of love for those same hills just above Vail. The result is a four-year battle between the community-based Empire-Fagan Coalition, mining companies and the Arizona State Land Department, which approved new leases last year for three limestone-mining claims. The leases--still working their way through litigation--bring up the on-again, off-again debate about Arizona's laws that govern mining and state trust land reform. Empire High School teacher Mike Carson heads the Empire-Fagan Coalition, which questions if the land department is doing the right thing by approving mining leases near a growing residential area dependent on well water. Despite the land department's lease approvals, Carson and his neighbors are optimistic they will prevail....
BLM tries to balance gas, art An ongoing dust-up may have just gained clarity over how to further develop natural gas resources in the nearly 138,000 acres known as the West Tavaputs Plateau Project Area. A main issues is how to preserve "the world's longest rock art gallery" amid gas operations that critics say are already ruining centuries-old petroglyphs. "We've had to take a hard look at all the issues in that area," said Brad Higdon, planning and environmental coordinator in the Bureau of Land Management's Price field office. "Certainly, cultural resources are key issues because of the sensitivity of the area." The BLM announced Friday that the draft environmental impact statement for a proposal by Colorado-based Bill Barrett Corp. and other operators is now available for public comment until May 1. The BLM is scheduling public meetings to be held between now and May 1 in the Salt Lake City, Price and Roosevelt areas. The plan proposed by Barrett Corp. and others is to drill up to 807 more natural gas wells in the Tavaputs Plateau. At full production from those added wells, the area could some day produce more than 50 percent of Utah's demand for natural gas, Higdon estimated....
Americans Spending Less Time in Nature Anyone who has ever tried to book a room near Yellowstone National Park in August knows that natural places can get very crowded. But biologist Oliver Pergams says those crowds can hide an important trend: Every year, a smaller percentage of Americans are fishing, camping or engaging in other nature-based activities. Since the late 1980s, the percentage of Americans taking part in such activities has declined at slightly more than 1 percent a year. The total effect, Pergams says, is that participation is down 18 percent to 25 percent from peak levels. Pergams teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For several years now, he has been collecting outdoor head counts kept not only by national parks, but also by state and local parks, the U.S. Forest Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management and commercial polling firms. "We've got data for hunting licenses, fishing licenses, three different data sources for camping and backpacking and hiking," Pergams says....
Valentine's Day goes green with eco-friendly flowers, treats You drive a hybrid, bring your own bags to the market, keep tabs on your carbon footprint. As an eco-conscious individual, you practice what you preach. So, what are the eco-sensitive to do on Valentine's Day? What of the emissions created by flying and trucking those beautiful flowers (treated with who knows what) across the globe? What about the wine? The chocolate? Turns out the floral industry's been listening to such concerns. Programs like Florverde in Colombia and VeriFlora Certified Sustainably Grown in the United States help ensure participating floral farms, handlers, and distributors abide by environmental and social best-practice standards. European flowers, too, have their own certification standards in place. Not every farm and flower is Earth-perfect. But the tide is turning. Organic chocolate is easier to find, especially at chain retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and at local shops such as Flat Black Coffee Co., Savenor's Market, Cardullo's in Harvard Square, and Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge (and South End). Look for the USDA Organic and Fair Trade logos on chocolate from makers Dagoba, Lake Champlain, Art Bar, and Green & Black's. Endangered Species Chocolates puts an eco-twist on chocolate by donating 10 percent of its net profits to environmental organizations....well, I needed some help with my chocolate addiction, and this just might do it.
US Arctic drilling rights sale smashes record A sale of oil and gas rights in U.S. waters of the Chukchi Sea, off the northwestern coast of Alaska, has brought in a record $2.66 billion despite protests over the opening the environmentally sensitive area to drilling. Oil company bidding for the acreage being offered by the federal government's Minerals Management Service surpassed the previous record set in the early 1980s, underscoring how high oil prices have transformed undesirable high cost regions into exploration hotspots. The federal government, in its latest budget, had estimated it would receive only $67 million for the acreage, said MMS Director Randall Luthi, who traveled from Washington to attend the sale. A small group of protesters, one dressed in a polar bear costume, braved temperatures of -24 degrees Celsius (-11 Fahrenheit) outside the public library in Anchorage where the lease sale was being held....
Helping wildlife cross roads In the mountains near Vail, the state is planning to build the first wildlife bridge in Colorado history, while near Boulder, wildlife specialists are considering protecting elk by either building a wildlife underpass or fitting the animals with collars that would trigger lights warning of their presence. The measures are a result of an upsurge in car-animal accidents as human use of highways grows and habitats shrink. Nine Canada lynx — listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — have been killed in recent years in Colorado, two on Interstate 70 on West Vail Pass. Now, a coalition that includes the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and natural-resource agencies wants to build a bridge over I-70 in that area to reconnect critical wildlife habitat. The goal of the bridge is to not only protect the Canada lynx, but other wildlife including moose, mountain lion, black bear and elk....
Judge spurns timber group's suit over bird A federal judge Tuesday rejected an attempt by the timber industry to remove federal protections for the marbled murrelet, an imperiled Northwest seabird that nests in coastal forests and stands in the way of logging. The American Forest Resource Council, an industry group based in Portland, sued the federal government arguing the bird should be removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington, D.C., turned down the lawsuit Tuesday, concluding that there had been no official federal decision to keep the bird protected, and therefore there was nothing for the timber group to challenge in court. He said, however, that the timber group could still petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the bird from the list. Chris West, vice president of the council, said Tuesday that the group is assessing its options and may do that. The Forest Resource Council tried to force the issue in court after the Bush administration concluded that marbled murrelets in the Northwest do not differ enough from more plentiful birds in Alaska to merit protection on their own. But the administration, through the Fish and Wildlife Service, has not taken any further action on that conclusion. Instead, the federal agency said it would first review the condition of the entire murrelet population, including the Alaska birds....
Turner 'almost done' buying up ranchland CNN founder Ted Turner, the largest private landowner in Nebraska and the United States and the nation's largest bison rancher, said Wednesday that he is about done buying new ranches. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns. "I'm almost done. I've got enough," said Turner, who was visiting Omaha for the reopening and renaming of one of his 54 bison restaurants, now called Ted's Nebraska Grill. The 69-year-old billionaire, philanthropist and conservationist said he isn't interested in free-standing ranches anymore, only "reasonably priced" parcels adjacent to his current operations, which include five ranches in Nebraska near Gordon, Oshkosh and Mullen. The ranches cover 425,221 acres, an area larger than Douglas and Sarpy Counties combined. "You know what 2 million acres is?" Turner asked over a plate of bison miniburgers and transfat-free onion rings. "If my land was all connected, in one long straight line, a mile deep, it would stretch from New York to San Francisco." Then he joked: "I've been thinking about doing some swaps. I'd be able to cut the United States in half and charge people from going from the north to the south."....I always wondered what his ego was like. Now I know.
Cloning Splits Meat Industry The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently deemed cloned meat to be as safe to eat as meat from traditionally bred livestock, but it still looks to be a tough sell in Montana, with a state representative already planning legislation opposing it, insiders in the meat industry expressing skepticism and a public that remains wary. To be sure, livestock cloning has its share of proponents in the state, and elsewhere throughout the nation. Included among them are officials from the Montana Stockgrowers Association and a cross-section of ranchers, though not all support it. To skeptics, however, the FDA’s decision is unfavorable for different reasons. Some say it came too soon. Others have moral and ethical qualms. And still others just don’t know what to think about it – they feel we’ve stepped into strange futuristic territory, which can be unnerving....
USDA shuts down supplier of beef to schools The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down operations at a Chino slaughterhouse accused of supplying meat from at-risk cattle and treating weak animals cruelly. The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Tuesday that it was indefinitely suspending inspection at Hallmark Meat Packing, an action that in effect bars the supplier from slaughtering and producing meat while authorities investigate the allegations. The meatpacker clearly violated "federal regulations and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act," USDA undersecretary for food safety Richard Raymond said in a statement. After the release of a video from the Humane Society of the United States, the USDA last week suspended the company's contracts for federal food programs. The video showed slaughterhouse workers forcing "downer" cows to their feet using sticks, electric prods and water hoses. Westland Meat Co., Hallmark's distributor and a ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program, voluntarily halted operations at the time....
The Other Side of Los Angeles There was a time not too long ago that great herds of antelope roamed the western Mojave. In the 1880s, driven by heavy snows across the valley floor, they headed east toward their feeding grounds. The Indians were already long gone from the region, and, like the mighty buffalo of the Great Plains, the antelope’s days were numbered. A few months after Custer and his gray horse unit were killed in the horrific clash in the greasy grass, a sporting party gathered at the arroyos and foothills of the Antelope Valley where the fleet animal liked to range. “They came on horseback and in springboard wagons,” says valley historian Gloria Gine Hossard. “Their faces flushed with excitement and the effects of an ample supply of liquid spirits. Their suits were of the latest fashion and cut from the most expensive material deemed suitable for the hunting field. Packed inside the felt-lined leather boxes were the latest in firearms, new Sharps and Henry rifles, well oiled, manicured and pampered....
Chupacabra update: Mystery grows with new test results Its DNA has been flown across the continent as Cuero residents search for a final answer about their mysterious, blood-sucking beast. The much-anticipated results are back from experts at the University of California at Davis. Last year, the KENS I-Team had scientists from Texas State University evaluate DNA from the animal Canion found. The animal was one of three peculiar, lavender-colored, dog-like animals Cuero residents found last July. Results from Texas State University stated the animal is from the coyote family. But Canion wanted to know more, so she sent more DNA, tooth and tissue samples, off to California. Results from the University of California at Davis show the animal is in fact a mutt: on the mother's side it is part coyote. "On the paternal side, it had Mexican wolf in it," said Canion. Scientists from the University of California at Davis say they can't tell when the Mexican wolf heritage made its way into the gene pool. "It was a hybrid, because it has this other breed in it," she said. Canion is referring to the hairless, odd-colored skin originally thought to be caused by parasites or disease. Now, experts aren't so sure. The Cuero rancher said she expects further testing to find out where all the hair has gone and why the animal, she says, seems to crave just blood from its victims. "We still can't figure that one out," she said....
Gov again slams royalty cut A federal plan to keep a bigger share of federal mineral royalties is designed to recoup costs for paperwork and manpower required for collection and distribution of the money, a federal Minerals Management Service Spokesman says. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, meanwhile, says the change is "an absolute crime." While the states and the federal government used to split those royalties 50-50, the split is now 52-48 with the federal government getting the larger share. The change first became law as part of a spending bill signed by President Bush in December. Bush suggested extending the provision by another year in his proposed budget released Monday. Gary Strasburg, a spokesman for the Minerals Management Service, which is part of the Interior Department, said the extra money for the federal government is intended to cover the administrative costs. But it will be deposited into the general treasury, he said....
The Collapse of Central Valley Salmon The latest federal government data on 2007's salmon run on the Sacramento River point to an "unprecedented collapse" in the fishery considered for years to be one of the most healthy on the West Coast. If the data is verified in upcoming meetings of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California and Oregon ocean waters and recreational salmon fishing in Central Valley rivers could be closed or severely restricted in 2008. This alarming news couldn't come at a worse time, since recreational and commercial fishermen are already reeling from draconian restrictions on rockfish, lingcod and other groundfish in California. "The magnitude of the low abundance, should it be confirmed in verification efforts now underway, is such that the opening of all marine and freshwater fisheries impacting this important salmon stock will be questioned in the upcoming Council process to set 2008 ocean salmon seasons," according to an internal memo of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) by Donald O. McIsaac, Ph. D, Executive Director....
Snow news good news for Colorado River area A snowy January on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains has water managers crossing their fingers for something they haven't seen for a while: a truly wet year on the Colorado River. The latest forecast calls for the river to receive 120 percent of its normal inflow from melting mountain snow. If that prediction comes to pass, 2008 would go down as the best year on the Colorado in more than a decade. As of Tuesday, snow levels were above average by as much as 56 percent in parts of central and western Colorado credited with supplying large amounts of water to the river system. Elsewhere in the high country of Colorado, Utah and Arizona, the snowpack is almost double what it normally is this time of year with more winter storms in the forecast for this weekend....
Power Struggle The first sign that there might be something wrong with the water on Craig Duderstadt’s south Texas ranch was when the cows wouldn’t drink. Last summer, they began to bypass their special groundwater well-fed trough, preferring to drink from a muddy puddle of rainwater. “This is a full water trough, and they’d walk a couple hundred yards and drink from a water hole. They’d walk right past that water trough,” Duderstadt said. “You can’t make ‘em drink.” About that same time, the well water used inside the house for everything from showering to drinking started running red and slimy. A well filter that would normally last six months plugged up in a matter of hours—one time, Craig couldn’t even get it out of the filter casing because of all the sediment. The Duderstadts stopped drinking the water, too. A Culligan driver now brings four blue jugs of clean water a month from Victoria, the nearest big town, about a 30-minute drive northeast. The culprit, they say, is a uranium mining operation 1,250 feet from their front door. They say the water turns bad when the mining company drills exploration wells nearby....
Judge delays decision on eagle's status Calling the fate of Arizona's eagles "an important issue for our district and the United States," a federal judge in Phoenix postponed a decision Tuesday about protections for the state's desert-nesting bald eagles. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Murguia will decide if federal officials acted too hastily in removing Arizona's smaller, lighter bald eagles from the federal endangered-species list. Arizona's small band of raptors was removed from endangered-species protections in August along with the nation's other 11,000 bald eagles in the lower 48 states. The action to include Arizona eagles was protested by Gov. Janet Napolitano, U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell and Raul Grijalva, all three Democrats, along with conservation groups and Indian tribes. In a courtroom filled with more than 75 tribal leaders and members of the public, lawyers for the Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon, the groups that filed the lawsuit, asked that the Arizona birds be put back on the endangered-species list, at least until their status can be reviewed by wildlife officials....
Cost to save bighorn pegged at $26.7m Saving the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep could cost at least $26.7 million over the next 20 years, a new federal study estimates. Environmentalists and federal officials consider this a good investment in protecting a shaggy, endangered mammal that is found from Tuolumne to Tulare counties and across to the Sierra Nevada's remote east side. "It looks like a fair amount of money," Bob Williams, Nevada field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday, "but compared to other species, this is relatively small, and the costs are in line with what the species needs." The public costs cover state and federal dollars directly spent on bighorn sheep monitoring and recovery. But they also include the potential sacrifice of fees that ranchers pay so their animals can graze on federal lands. To help the sheep, some such grazing would be restricted....
Uranium Exploration Near Grand Canyon With minimal public notice and no formal environmental review, the Forest Service has approved a permit allowing a British mining company to explore for uranium just outside Grand Canyon National Park, less than three miles from a popular lookout over the canyon’s southern rim. If the exploration finds rich uranium deposits, it could lead to the first mines near the canyon since the price of uranium ore plummeted nearly two decades ago. A sharp increase in uranium prices over the past three years has led individuals to stake thousands of mining claims in the Southwest, including more than 1,000 in the Kaibab National Forest, near the Grand Canyon. To drill exploratory wells on the claims in the Kaibab forest requires Forest Service approval. Vane Minerals, the British company, received such approval for seven sites in December. The Forest Service granted the approvals without a full-dress environmental assessment, ruling that the canyon could be “categorically excluded” from such a review because exploration would last less than a year and might not lead to mining activity....
Voices in the Wild Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer will decide in February whether to allow construction of a 90-foot-tall communications stealth tower (cleverly disguised as a pine tree) on the 8,700-foot summit. The tower would provide cellular coverage from Galena Lodge to Petit Lake, including much of the village of Smiley Creek in the Stanley Basin. Proponents of the tower argue for public safety along Highway 75, which connects the towns of Ketchum and Sun Valley with Galena Summit and the Stanley Basin to the north, where stranded motorists could call for help. Others say backcountry skiers and hikers could call for help in an emergency. Critics of the tower plan say it will be unsightly and detract from the splendor of the area, popular with backcountry skiers, snowboarders and hikers. On a clear day, Galena Summit affords views from Stanley to Bald Mountain, a distance of 60 miles, as well as the Sawtooth, Boulder and White Cloud mountains. Jackie Richter, U.S. Forest Service project leader for the proposed Galena Summit Tower study, has collected 94 comments on both sides of the issue and is awaiting an environmental assessment before the Forest Service can proceed with a decision....all this over a fake tree, a "cleverly disguised" fake tree.
Limestone Madness Nothing loves limestone more than the native ocotillo that covers the Empire Valley hills, southeast of Tucson. The problem is, mining interests including California Portland Cement have their own brand of love for those same hills just above Vail. The result is a four-year battle between the community-based Empire-Fagan Coalition, mining companies and the Arizona State Land Department, which approved new leases last year for three limestone-mining claims. The leases--still working their way through litigation--bring up the on-again, off-again debate about Arizona's laws that govern mining and state trust land reform. Empire High School teacher Mike Carson heads the Empire-Fagan Coalition, which questions if the land department is doing the right thing by approving mining leases near a growing residential area dependent on well water. Despite the land department's lease approvals, Carson and his neighbors are optimistic they will prevail....
BLM tries to balance gas, art An ongoing dust-up may have just gained clarity over how to further develop natural gas resources in the nearly 138,000 acres known as the West Tavaputs Plateau Project Area. A main issues is how to preserve "the world's longest rock art gallery" amid gas operations that critics say are already ruining centuries-old petroglyphs. "We've had to take a hard look at all the issues in that area," said Brad Higdon, planning and environmental coordinator in the Bureau of Land Management's Price field office. "Certainly, cultural resources are key issues because of the sensitivity of the area." The BLM announced Friday that the draft environmental impact statement for a proposal by Colorado-based Bill Barrett Corp. and other operators is now available for public comment until May 1. The BLM is scheduling public meetings to be held between now and May 1 in the Salt Lake City, Price and Roosevelt areas. The plan proposed by Barrett Corp. and others is to drill up to 807 more natural gas wells in the Tavaputs Plateau. At full production from those added wells, the area could some day produce more than 50 percent of Utah's demand for natural gas, Higdon estimated....
Americans Spending Less Time in Nature Anyone who has ever tried to book a room near Yellowstone National Park in August knows that natural places can get very crowded. But biologist Oliver Pergams says those crowds can hide an important trend: Every year, a smaller percentage of Americans are fishing, camping or engaging in other nature-based activities. Since the late 1980s, the percentage of Americans taking part in such activities has declined at slightly more than 1 percent a year. The total effect, Pergams says, is that participation is down 18 percent to 25 percent from peak levels. Pergams teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For several years now, he has been collecting outdoor head counts kept not only by national parks, but also by state and local parks, the U.S. Forest Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management and commercial polling firms. "We've got data for hunting licenses, fishing licenses, three different data sources for camping and backpacking and hiking," Pergams says....
Valentine's Day goes green with eco-friendly flowers, treats You drive a hybrid, bring your own bags to the market, keep tabs on your carbon footprint. As an eco-conscious individual, you practice what you preach. So, what are the eco-sensitive to do on Valentine's Day? What of the emissions created by flying and trucking those beautiful flowers (treated with who knows what) across the globe? What about the wine? The chocolate? Turns out the floral industry's been listening to such concerns. Programs like Florverde in Colombia and VeriFlora Certified Sustainably Grown in the United States help ensure participating floral farms, handlers, and distributors abide by environmental and social best-practice standards. European flowers, too, have their own certification standards in place. Not every farm and flower is Earth-perfect. But the tide is turning. Organic chocolate is easier to find, especially at chain retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and at local shops such as Flat Black Coffee Co., Savenor's Market, Cardullo's in Harvard Square, and Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge (and South End). Look for the USDA Organic and Fair Trade logos on chocolate from makers Dagoba, Lake Champlain, Art Bar, and Green & Black's. Endangered Species Chocolates puts an eco-twist on chocolate by donating 10 percent of its net profits to environmental organizations....well, I needed some help with my chocolate addiction, and this just might do it.
US Arctic drilling rights sale smashes record A sale of oil and gas rights in U.S. waters of the Chukchi Sea, off the northwestern coast of Alaska, has brought in a record $2.66 billion despite protests over the opening the environmentally sensitive area to drilling. Oil company bidding for the acreage being offered by the federal government's Minerals Management Service surpassed the previous record set in the early 1980s, underscoring how high oil prices have transformed undesirable high cost regions into exploration hotspots. The federal government, in its latest budget, had estimated it would receive only $67 million for the acreage, said MMS Director Randall Luthi, who traveled from Washington to attend the sale. A small group of protesters, one dressed in a polar bear costume, braved temperatures of -24 degrees Celsius (-11 Fahrenheit) outside the public library in Anchorage where the lease sale was being held....
Helping wildlife cross roads In the mountains near Vail, the state is planning to build the first wildlife bridge in Colorado history, while near Boulder, wildlife specialists are considering protecting elk by either building a wildlife underpass or fitting the animals with collars that would trigger lights warning of their presence. The measures are a result of an upsurge in car-animal accidents as human use of highways grows and habitats shrink. Nine Canada lynx — listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — have been killed in recent years in Colorado, two on Interstate 70 on West Vail Pass. Now, a coalition that includes the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and natural-resource agencies wants to build a bridge over I-70 in that area to reconnect critical wildlife habitat. The goal of the bridge is to not only protect the Canada lynx, but other wildlife including moose, mountain lion, black bear and elk....
Judge spurns timber group's suit over bird A federal judge Tuesday rejected an attempt by the timber industry to remove federal protections for the marbled murrelet, an imperiled Northwest seabird that nests in coastal forests and stands in the way of logging. The American Forest Resource Council, an industry group based in Portland, sued the federal government arguing the bird should be removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington, D.C., turned down the lawsuit Tuesday, concluding that there had been no official federal decision to keep the bird protected, and therefore there was nothing for the timber group to challenge in court. He said, however, that the timber group could still petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the bird from the list. Chris West, vice president of the council, said Tuesday that the group is assessing its options and may do that. The Forest Resource Council tried to force the issue in court after the Bush administration concluded that marbled murrelets in the Northwest do not differ enough from more plentiful birds in Alaska to merit protection on their own. But the administration, through the Fish and Wildlife Service, has not taken any further action on that conclusion. Instead, the federal agency said it would first review the condition of the entire murrelet population, including the Alaska birds....
Turner 'almost done' buying up ranchland CNN founder Ted Turner, the largest private landowner in Nebraska and the United States and the nation's largest bison rancher, said Wednesday that he is about done buying new ranches. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns. "I'm almost done. I've got enough," said Turner, who was visiting Omaha for the reopening and renaming of one of his 54 bison restaurants, now called Ted's Nebraska Grill. The 69-year-old billionaire, philanthropist and conservationist said he isn't interested in free-standing ranches anymore, only "reasonably priced" parcels adjacent to his current operations, which include five ranches in Nebraska near Gordon, Oshkosh and Mullen. The ranches cover 425,221 acres, an area larger than Douglas and Sarpy Counties combined. "You know what 2 million acres is?" Turner asked over a plate of bison miniburgers and transfat-free onion rings. "If my land was all connected, in one long straight line, a mile deep, it would stretch from New York to San Francisco." Then he joked: "I've been thinking about doing some swaps. I'd be able to cut the United States in half and charge people from going from the north to the south."....I always wondered what his ego was like. Now I know.
Cloning Splits Meat Industry The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently deemed cloned meat to be as safe to eat as meat from traditionally bred livestock, but it still looks to be a tough sell in Montana, with a state representative already planning legislation opposing it, insiders in the meat industry expressing skepticism and a public that remains wary. To be sure, livestock cloning has its share of proponents in the state, and elsewhere throughout the nation. Included among them are officials from the Montana Stockgrowers Association and a cross-section of ranchers, though not all support it. To skeptics, however, the FDA’s decision is unfavorable for different reasons. Some say it came too soon. Others have moral and ethical qualms. And still others just don’t know what to think about it – they feel we’ve stepped into strange futuristic territory, which can be unnerving....
USDA shuts down supplier of beef to schools The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down operations at a Chino slaughterhouse accused of supplying meat from at-risk cattle and treating weak animals cruelly. The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Tuesday that it was indefinitely suspending inspection at Hallmark Meat Packing, an action that in effect bars the supplier from slaughtering and producing meat while authorities investigate the allegations. The meatpacker clearly violated "federal regulations and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act," USDA undersecretary for food safety Richard Raymond said in a statement. After the release of a video from the Humane Society of the United States, the USDA last week suspended the company's contracts for federal food programs. The video showed slaughterhouse workers forcing "downer" cows to their feet using sticks, electric prods and water hoses. Westland Meat Co., Hallmark's distributor and a ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program, voluntarily halted operations at the time....
The Other Side of Los Angeles There was a time not too long ago that great herds of antelope roamed the western Mojave. In the 1880s, driven by heavy snows across the valley floor, they headed east toward their feeding grounds. The Indians were already long gone from the region, and, like the mighty buffalo of the Great Plains, the antelope’s days were numbered. A few months after Custer and his gray horse unit were killed in the horrific clash in the greasy grass, a sporting party gathered at the arroyos and foothills of the Antelope Valley where the fleet animal liked to range. “They came on horseback and in springboard wagons,” says valley historian Gloria Gine Hossard. “Their faces flushed with excitement and the effects of an ample supply of liquid spirits. Their suits were of the latest fashion and cut from the most expensive material deemed suitable for the hunting field. Packed inside the felt-lined leather boxes were the latest in firearms, new Sharps and Henry rifles, well oiled, manicured and pampered....
Chupacabra update: Mystery grows with new test results Its DNA has been flown across the continent as Cuero residents search for a final answer about their mysterious, blood-sucking beast. The much-anticipated results are back from experts at the University of California at Davis. Last year, the KENS I-Team had scientists from Texas State University evaluate DNA from the animal Canion found. The animal was one of three peculiar, lavender-colored, dog-like animals Cuero residents found last July. Results from Texas State University stated the animal is from the coyote family. But Canion wanted to know more, so she sent more DNA, tooth and tissue samples, off to California. Results from the University of California at Davis show the animal is in fact a mutt: on the mother's side it is part coyote. "On the paternal side, it had Mexican wolf in it," said Canion. Scientists from the University of California at Davis say they can't tell when the Mexican wolf heritage made its way into the gene pool. "It was a hybrid, because it has this other breed in it," she said. Canion is referring to the hairless, odd-colored skin originally thought to be caused by parasites or disease. Now, experts aren't so sure. The Cuero rancher said she expects further testing to find out where all the hair has gone and why the animal, she says, seems to crave just blood from its victims. "We still can't figure that one out," she said....
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Pinon Canyon meetings planned The Army has authorized several meetings this week with focus groups in La Junta and Trinidad to talk about the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The move has opponents of the expansion protesting that the Army is defying a new federal budget law, while Fort Carson officials argue they only are fulfilling a different mandate from Congress. Lt. Col. Jim Rice, the Pinon Canyon project manager at Fort Carson, confirmed Monday that Kreativo, a Pueblo public relations firm owned by Glenn Ballantyne, had been contracted to conduct invitation-only meetings this week with community members in La Junta and Trinidad. The meetings come approximately a month after President Bush signed the 2008 omnibus budget bill, which includes a one-year ban on the Army spending any money this year on the proposed 414,000-acre expansion of the training site northeast of Trinidad. That ban was authored by Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and John Salazar, a Republican and Democrat who are opposed to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training area. Ranchers opposed to the expansion call the meetings the latest example of the Army disregarding the funding ban....
Texas farmers take water war with Mexico to Canada More than 40 Texas farmers, ranchers and irrigation districts are gearing up to take their long-standing water war with Mexico to the next level, in this case a Canadian judge. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs came to the Rio Grande Valley for a pep talk Tuesday, to reinvigorate farmers who have been fighting for three years and running up legal bills near $500,000. "You roll over now and you won't be in good shape," Combs told a room full of farmers and ranchers. In 2004, the farmers and ranchers sued Mexico for $500 million, arguing that their southern neighbor had shorted them on Rio Grande water from 1992 to 2002 in violation of a 1944 treaty. In June, a tribunal operating under the North American Free Trade Agreement decided it did not have jurisdiction, stalling the case before it got started. Most frustrating to the landowners was that the U.S. State Department had intervened at the last moment and sided with Mexico. "When they did that it really just hit you in the stomach," said Joe Barrera, general manager of the Brownsville Irrigation District....
Land agencies could endure heavy cuts President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would shrink the funding for every land management agency except the National Park Service. Under Bush's plan, the U.S. Forest Service discretionary budget would fall $373 million from 2008 levels, to $4.1 billion. Money for state and private forestry programs, research, maintenance, management and law enforcement would decrease from 2008. Dollars would be cut from wildfire preparedness, hazardous fuels suppression and other fire operations but would be boosted for fire suppression. The overall U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget would shrink by $65 million from 2008 levels, the Bureau of Land Management by $30 million and the Bureau of Indian Affairs by $100 million. While Bush proposes the levels as a first step, Congress has ultimate say over how much gets spent. The Park Service would see a slight overall increase of $14 million, to $2.4 billion. While its operating budget would shoot up by $161 million, its finances for construction and maintenance would drop by $46 million and land acquisition would fall by $48 million....
Lawmakers will debate tax credits for land conservation Idaho lawmakers will consider a bill that would offer income tax credits to farmers, ranchers and forest owners as an incentive to preserve their land. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted 13 to 4 today to consider a bill that would fund up to $3 million in tax credits per year. The measure would offer up to $500,000 for landowners who donate conservation easements on their property. The easements would have to last at least 30 years. A coalition of ranchers, growers, loggers, sportsmen and conservationists is pushing the bill. The group commissioned a poll in November that found 83% of Idaho voters supportive of using tax credits to encourage the protection of ranches, farms, private forests and open space.
Feds anticipate sage grouse decision in 2009 Federal officials may recommend by the end of the year whether to extend protections to the greater sage grouse in Montana, Wyoming and other Western states. In December, a federal judge in Idaho said the Bush administration's 2005 decision not to place the bird on the endangered-species list was "tainted by the inexcusable conduct" of a senior Interior Department official and done without considering information from experts. In the wake of the decision, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct a yearlong, intensive review of the bird and decide whether it should be placed on the list, Diane Katzenberger, an agency spokeswoman in Denver, said Tuesday afternoon. A notice of the decision to conduct that status review is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week, Katzenberger said....
Will the 'domino' fall? A diverse and ostensibly powerful alliance of organizations and elected officials has been opposing new oil and gas drilling projects in the Wyoming Range for about three years. It's unclear what the campaign has yielded, if anything. Those who have joined to protect the mountain range in the western part of the state are an eclectic group of people and organizations, including Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, the Wilderness Society, the National Outdoor Leadership School, miners, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and even some gas patch workers. A bill to protect the range, introduced by Barrasso five months ago, would stop the sale of any future leases there, and allow for negotiated buyouts -- and the subsequent permanent retirement of existing leases. But the bill has languished in the Senate, and is still waiting for its first hearing in a subcommittee. Meanwhile, in what Freudenthal has characterized as "the first domino" toward industrialization of the Wyoming Range, Plains Exploration and Production Co. is moving forward with plans for a 17-pad, 136-well development of legally valid gas leases it owns in the Upper Hoback River Basin, just south of Bondurant....
Does state have a say? When it comes to energy development in the Wyoming Range, do residents of the Equality State have a say in the matter? At least one cattle rancher in Daniel is beginning to wonder. If the federal government sells oil and gas leases in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, could Wyoming residents -- even if a majority agree they don't want drilling there -- do anything at all to stop it? For J.J. Healy, who runs a cow-calf operation near a proposed drilling site south of Bondurant, these are two of the most basic questions that emerge for him when he considers the big picture. Today, if he looks out his ranch window, he'll see a familiar panorama: rolling, sage-speckled hills, behind them a slow dip into a hay meadow, and beyond that the gentle, but majestic rise of the wooded and snow-covered peaks of the Wyoming Range. What Healey sees has been relatively untouched by industrialization thus far. That holds true for most of the range, but recent plans to develop gas leases in this mountain forest would change everything, he said....
Fish and Game proposes grizzly bear compensation Idaho lawmakers will hold a hearing on a proposal to compensate ranchers when grizzly bears kill livestock in eastern Idaho. The Senate Resources and Environment Committee voted Monday to hold the hearing, likely to be scheduled for next week, after a 12-member Idaho Department of Fish and Game advisory group introduced the legislation. The compensation would come from Fish and Game's Big Game Depredation Fund. A deductible of $1,000 would be required before a claim could be filed. Idaho ranchers and landowners already can be compensated by the state for damage caused by black bears and mountain lions. Last April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted Endangered Species Act protections for the estimated 500 grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park. Fish and Game now manages the population in the eastern part of Idaho, thought to be about 40 bears. Ken Marlor, chairman of the Fish and Game advisory group, said there have been a few cases of grizzlies causing damage to property in eastern Idaho. He said it's difficult to track the incidents because the bears are always on the move, the Post Register reported....
Ridley agrees to $6M settlement in BSE lawsuit Winnipeg feed maker Ridley Inc. will pay $6 million to Canada's cattle producers to end its exposure to class actions over the arrival of mad cow disease. The company said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $6 million into a plaintiffs' settlement trust fund to settle claims against it in four co-ordinated lawsuits filed by ranchers in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. "Ridley makes no admission of liability or wrongdoing in the matter and we will continue to contest any allegation we were responsible for the plaintiffs' damages," said Ridley CEO Steve VanRoekel in the company's release. However, he said, "resolving these lawsuits now minimizes the costs associated with defending an already lengthy litigation, eliminates the uncertainty, and allows us to move our business forward." The proposed suits had alleged that negligence by both Ridley and the federal government led to the the infection of an Alberta cow with mad cow disease, and the subsequent BSE crisis starting in May 2003....
Texas farmers take water war with Mexico to Canada More than 40 Texas farmers, ranchers and irrigation districts are gearing up to take their long-standing water war with Mexico to the next level, in this case a Canadian judge. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs came to the Rio Grande Valley for a pep talk Tuesday, to reinvigorate farmers who have been fighting for three years and running up legal bills near $500,000. "You roll over now and you won't be in good shape," Combs told a room full of farmers and ranchers. In 2004, the farmers and ranchers sued Mexico for $500 million, arguing that their southern neighbor had shorted them on Rio Grande water from 1992 to 2002 in violation of a 1944 treaty. In June, a tribunal operating under the North American Free Trade Agreement decided it did not have jurisdiction, stalling the case before it got started. Most frustrating to the landowners was that the U.S. State Department had intervened at the last moment and sided with Mexico. "When they did that it really just hit you in the stomach," said Joe Barrera, general manager of the Brownsville Irrigation District....
Land agencies could endure heavy cuts President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would shrink the funding for every land management agency except the National Park Service. Under Bush's plan, the U.S. Forest Service discretionary budget would fall $373 million from 2008 levels, to $4.1 billion. Money for state and private forestry programs, research, maintenance, management and law enforcement would decrease from 2008. Dollars would be cut from wildfire preparedness, hazardous fuels suppression and other fire operations but would be boosted for fire suppression. The overall U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget would shrink by $65 million from 2008 levels, the Bureau of Land Management by $30 million and the Bureau of Indian Affairs by $100 million. While Bush proposes the levels as a first step, Congress has ultimate say over how much gets spent. The Park Service would see a slight overall increase of $14 million, to $2.4 billion. While its operating budget would shoot up by $161 million, its finances for construction and maintenance would drop by $46 million and land acquisition would fall by $48 million....
Lawmakers will debate tax credits for land conservation Idaho lawmakers will consider a bill that would offer income tax credits to farmers, ranchers and forest owners as an incentive to preserve their land. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted 13 to 4 today to consider a bill that would fund up to $3 million in tax credits per year. The measure would offer up to $500,000 for landowners who donate conservation easements on their property. The easements would have to last at least 30 years. A coalition of ranchers, growers, loggers, sportsmen and conservationists is pushing the bill. The group commissioned a poll in November that found 83% of Idaho voters supportive of using tax credits to encourage the protection of ranches, farms, private forests and open space.
Feds anticipate sage grouse decision in 2009 Federal officials may recommend by the end of the year whether to extend protections to the greater sage grouse in Montana, Wyoming and other Western states. In December, a federal judge in Idaho said the Bush administration's 2005 decision not to place the bird on the endangered-species list was "tainted by the inexcusable conduct" of a senior Interior Department official and done without considering information from experts. In the wake of the decision, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct a yearlong, intensive review of the bird and decide whether it should be placed on the list, Diane Katzenberger, an agency spokeswoman in Denver, said Tuesday afternoon. A notice of the decision to conduct that status review is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week, Katzenberger said....
Will the 'domino' fall? A diverse and ostensibly powerful alliance of organizations and elected officials has been opposing new oil and gas drilling projects in the Wyoming Range for about three years. It's unclear what the campaign has yielded, if anything. Those who have joined to protect the mountain range in the western part of the state are an eclectic group of people and organizations, including Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, the Wilderness Society, the National Outdoor Leadership School, miners, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and even some gas patch workers. A bill to protect the range, introduced by Barrasso five months ago, would stop the sale of any future leases there, and allow for negotiated buyouts -- and the subsequent permanent retirement of existing leases. But the bill has languished in the Senate, and is still waiting for its first hearing in a subcommittee. Meanwhile, in what Freudenthal has characterized as "the first domino" toward industrialization of the Wyoming Range, Plains Exploration and Production Co. is moving forward with plans for a 17-pad, 136-well development of legally valid gas leases it owns in the Upper Hoback River Basin, just south of Bondurant....
Does state have a say? When it comes to energy development in the Wyoming Range, do residents of the Equality State have a say in the matter? At least one cattle rancher in Daniel is beginning to wonder. If the federal government sells oil and gas leases in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, could Wyoming residents -- even if a majority agree they don't want drilling there -- do anything at all to stop it? For J.J. Healy, who runs a cow-calf operation near a proposed drilling site south of Bondurant, these are two of the most basic questions that emerge for him when he considers the big picture. Today, if he looks out his ranch window, he'll see a familiar panorama: rolling, sage-speckled hills, behind them a slow dip into a hay meadow, and beyond that the gentle, but majestic rise of the wooded and snow-covered peaks of the Wyoming Range. What Healey sees has been relatively untouched by industrialization thus far. That holds true for most of the range, but recent plans to develop gas leases in this mountain forest would change everything, he said....
Fish and Game proposes grizzly bear compensation Idaho lawmakers will hold a hearing on a proposal to compensate ranchers when grizzly bears kill livestock in eastern Idaho. The Senate Resources and Environment Committee voted Monday to hold the hearing, likely to be scheduled for next week, after a 12-member Idaho Department of Fish and Game advisory group introduced the legislation. The compensation would come from Fish and Game's Big Game Depredation Fund. A deductible of $1,000 would be required before a claim could be filed. Idaho ranchers and landowners already can be compensated by the state for damage caused by black bears and mountain lions. Last April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted Endangered Species Act protections for the estimated 500 grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park. Fish and Game now manages the population in the eastern part of Idaho, thought to be about 40 bears. Ken Marlor, chairman of the Fish and Game advisory group, said there have been a few cases of grizzlies causing damage to property in eastern Idaho. He said it's difficult to track the incidents because the bears are always on the move, the Post Register reported....
Ridley agrees to $6M settlement in BSE lawsuit Winnipeg feed maker Ridley Inc. will pay $6 million to Canada's cattle producers to end its exposure to class actions over the arrival of mad cow disease. The company said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $6 million into a plaintiffs' settlement trust fund to settle claims against it in four co-ordinated lawsuits filed by ranchers in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. "Ridley makes no admission of liability or wrongdoing in the matter and we will continue to contest any allegation we were responsible for the plaintiffs' damages," said Ridley CEO Steve VanRoekel in the company's release. However, he said, "resolving these lawsuits now minimizes the costs associated with defending an already lengthy litigation, eliminates the uncertainty, and allows us to move our business forward." The proposed suits had alleged that negligence by both Ridley and the federal government led to the the infection of an Alberta cow with mad cow disease, and the subsequent BSE crisis starting in May 2003....
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Oregon coastal coho listed as threatened — again The Oregon coastal coho, the subject of bitter court battles for years, is once again a threatened species. The decision Monday by NOAA Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of restoring declining salmon populations, came in response to a federal court ruling that an earlier decision not to protect the fish violated the Endangered Species Act and could not be supported by science. Bob Lohn, northwest regional director of NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement that the tight schedule under the court ruling made it difficult to reach any other conclusion, and he still believed that Oregon's plan for restoring coho largely through voluntary measures was working. Oregon coastal coho were originally listed as threatened in 1997 under a federal court ruling, then dropped in 2001 after property rights advocates convinced a federal judge that NOAA Fisheries had improperly distinguished between wild and hatchery fish. Putting Oregon coastal coho back brings to 27 the number of Pacific salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act and adds another layer of regulation to logging and other land use decisions on federal, state and private lands in the central Oregon Coast Range, particularly a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan to ramp up logging to boost federal revenues paid to timber-dependent counties....
Interior Department plans to boost border security The Interior Department plans to boost border security by deploying more law enforcement officers along the Southwest border to deter drug smugglers that are endangering local residents and federal workers and damaging fragile ecosystems. The department controls large areas of land along the border with Mexico, either through the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service or Bureau of Indian Affairs. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office says he's asking for an $8 million boost in spending for fiscal year 2009. Most of the money would be spent on adding law enforcement officers to border areas. About $2 million will go towards cleaning up environmental damage caused by smugglers and illegal border crossers and on improved radios....
The West, Washington, D.C., and Weapons n 1989, John Shuler of rural Dupuyer, Montana, heard grizzly bears outside his house; fearing they would kill his sheep, he grabbed his rifle and ran into the night. The good news is he survived his encounter with four grizzly bears, as did his sheep. The bad news is his lawyers spent eight years and a quarter of a million dollars to get him acquitted of charges that he violated the Endangered Species Act by killing one of those bears. Early on in that legal battle, the federal government ruled that, although Shuler justifiably feared “death or serious bodily injury”—the test for a self-defense claim—he had no right to arm himself and enter into what the government called “the zone of imminent danger.” That conclusion conflicted directly with an 1895 opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which, quoting authority, the Court ruled, “Where an attack is made with murderous intent . . . the person attacked is under no duty to flee. He may stand his ground, and, if need be, kill his adversary.” Moreover, the government’s view of Shuler’s right to arm himself and confront danger conflicted with the ethos of the American West, a vast area from the midst of the Great Plains to the Cascades, from Canada to Mexico....
A look at the biology of wolves in Montana If all goes as planned, then the gray wolf of the Northern Rockies will become just the 18th of 1,255 animals to leave the endangered species list as a recovered species. That's scheduled to happen within the next 60 days and to better understand how the wolf came back from the brink, we took a closer look at the unique biology of a predator that evokes all kinds of emotion. No Montana animal evokes emotion like the wolf and one reason for that is a misunderstanding brought on by myths. "We grew up reading Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and that's sometimes our only experience with wolves" says Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wolf Management Specialist Liz Bradley. Real wolves feed on elk and even that spurs controversy as some say wolves help elk....
BLM recommends reducing wild horse herd A wild horse herd along the Montana-Wyoming border that traces its ancestry to the mounts ridden by Spanish conquistadors could be reduced through adoption by more than 35 percent, under recommendations released Monday by federal officials. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says a decade-long drought – coupled with overgrazing by the herd – is severely degrading portions of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range near Lovell, Wyo. To reverse that trend, BLM officials in a new study recommended reducing the herd through adoption to as few as 92 adult horses. The herd currently numbers 143 adults and several dozen foals. “There's definitely drought, but having too many horses during drought years magnifies the situation,” said BLM wild horse specialist Jared Bybee. Wild horse advocates warn that shrinking the herd so drastically would be disastrous. They say it could end up ruining one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the country....
World’s Greatest Horseman to be Featured on RFD-TV On Wide World of Horses A special program on the 2008 National Reined Cow Horse Association World’s Greatest Horseman will appear on Wide World of Horses, on RFD-TV. Filmed by Envision! of San Antonio, Texas, the program will feature the excitement and thrills of one of the horse world’s most popular events. The World’s Greatest Horseman contest is part of the NRCHA Fort Dodge Animal Health Celebration of Champions, slated for February 16-24 in Stephenville, Texas. Billed as “one horse, one rider and one very special title,” the event is just that, featuring some of the top trainers in the world, including former champions Ted Robinson, Bob Avila, Jon Roeser, Ron Ralls and Andy Adams. The 30-minute highlight show will air on Monday night, April 7, at 9:30 pm CST and also on Monday at 11:30 am CST. It will air again on Sunday, April 13, at 6:30 am CST. Wide World of Horses airs on RFD-TV (DIRECT TV 379 and DISH NETWORK 231). The National Reined Cow Horse Association, the governing body of cow horse competition, is responsible for promoting the sport, insuring high standards of competition and educating members and the public about the history and tradition of the cow horse....
Interior Department plans to boost border security The Interior Department plans to boost border security by deploying more law enforcement officers along the Southwest border to deter drug smugglers that are endangering local residents and federal workers and damaging fragile ecosystems. The department controls large areas of land along the border with Mexico, either through the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service or Bureau of Indian Affairs. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office says he's asking for an $8 million boost in spending for fiscal year 2009. Most of the money would be spent on adding law enforcement officers to border areas. About $2 million will go towards cleaning up environmental damage caused by smugglers and illegal border crossers and on improved radios....
The West, Washington, D.C., and Weapons n 1989, John Shuler of rural Dupuyer, Montana, heard grizzly bears outside his house; fearing they would kill his sheep, he grabbed his rifle and ran into the night. The good news is he survived his encounter with four grizzly bears, as did his sheep. The bad news is his lawyers spent eight years and a quarter of a million dollars to get him acquitted of charges that he violated the Endangered Species Act by killing one of those bears. Early on in that legal battle, the federal government ruled that, although Shuler justifiably feared “death or serious bodily injury”—the test for a self-defense claim—he had no right to arm himself and enter into what the government called “the zone of imminent danger.” That conclusion conflicted directly with an 1895 opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which, quoting authority, the Court ruled, “Where an attack is made with murderous intent . . . the person attacked is under no duty to flee. He may stand his ground, and, if need be, kill his adversary.” Moreover, the government’s view of Shuler’s right to arm himself and confront danger conflicted with the ethos of the American West, a vast area from the midst of the Great Plains to the Cascades, from Canada to Mexico....
A look at the biology of wolves in Montana If all goes as planned, then the gray wolf of the Northern Rockies will become just the 18th of 1,255 animals to leave the endangered species list as a recovered species. That's scheduled to happen within the next 60 days and to better understand how the wolf came back from the brink, we took a closer look at the unique biology of a predator that evokes all kinds of emotion. No Montana animal evokes emotion like the wolf and one reason for that is a misunderstanding brought on by myths. "We grew up reading Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and that's sometimes our only experience with wolves" says Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wolf Management Specialist Liz Bradley. Real wolves feed on elk and even that spurs controversy as some say wolves help elk....
BLM recommends reducing wild horse herd A wild horse herd along the Montana-Wyoming border that traces its ancestry to the mounts ridden by Spanish conquistadors could be reduced through adoption by more than 35 percent, under recommendations released Monday by federal officials. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says a decade-long drought – coupled with overgrazing by the herd – is severely degrading portions of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range near Lovell, Wyo. To reverse that trend, BLM officials in a new study recommended reducing the herd through adoption to as few as 92 adult horses. The herd currently numbers 143 adults and several dozen foals. “There's definitely drought, but having too many horses during drought years magnifies the situation,” said BLM wild horse specialist Jared Bybee. Wild horse advocates warn that shrinking the herd so drastically would be disastrous. They say it could end up ruining one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the country....
World’s Greatest Horseman to be Featured on RFD-TV On Wide World of Horses A special program on the 2008 National Reined Cow Horse Association World’s Greatest Horseman will appear on Wide World of Horses, on RFD-TV. Filmed by Envision! of San Antonio, Texas, the program will feature the excitement and thrills of one of the horse world’s most popular events. The World’s Greatest Horseman contest is part of the NRCHA Fort Dodge Animal Health Celebration of Champions, slated for February 16-24 in Stephenville, Texas. Billed as “one horse, one rider and one very special title,” the event is just that, featuring some of the top trainers in the world, including former champions Ted Robinson, Bob Avila, Jon Roeser, Ron Ralls and Andy Adams. The 30-minute highlight show will air on Monday night, April 7, at 9:30 pm CST and also on Monday at 11:30 am CST. It will air again on Sunday, April 13, at 6:30 am CST. Wide World of Horses airs on RFD-TV (DIRECT TV 379 and DISH NETWORK 231). The National Reined Cow Horse Association, the governing body of cow horse competition, is responsible for promoting the sport, insuring high standards of competition and educating members and the public about the history and tradition of the cow horse....
Monday, February 04, 2008
Budgets
President Proposes Budget for BLM in FY 2009 With a focus on the protection and sustainable development of public land resources, the Administration today requested a $1.002 billion gross budget for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Fiscal Year 2009. The FY 2009 budget proposal includes a $10 million increase for the BLM’s role in implementing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne’s Healthy Lands Initiative, which supports landscape-level restoration work in key areas across eight Western states....
Agency budget highlights Interior The White House is proposing a 3.7 percent cut in the Interior Department’s budget. The budget proposes $141 million in savings from the elimination or reduction of nine programs. The budget proposes to eliminate the Bureau of Land Management’s $10 million range improvement fund. Eliminating the fund will shift the responsibility of building and maintaining public land projects to those using the land, the administration said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs budget for road maintenance would get cut by $13 million. The administration says tribes could use Transportation Department funds for maintaining roads on Indian reservations. The Office of Surface Mining would receive $20 million less in discretionary grants for projects related to restoring lands affected by coal mining. The administration said this program duplicates efforts being undertaken through the office’s recently revised abandoned mine land grant program....
USDA Total USDA expenditures are estimated at $95 billion in FY 2009, which is approximately the same level as FY 2008. Roughly 76 percent of expenditures, or $72 billion in 2009, will be for mandatory programs that provide services required by law, which include many of the nutrition assistance, commodity, export promotion and conservation programs. Wildland Fires. The budget continues implementation of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative to mitigate the threat of catastrophic wildfires. Resources proposed in the budget will reduce hazardous fuels on almost 2.5 million acres of land. By the end of FY 2009, Federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior, will have treated hazardous fuels and accomplished landscape restoration activities on 29.9 million acres of the Nation's forests and wooded rangelands since the beginning of FY 2001. The budget for the Forest Service also provides increased wildland fire resources to protect communities and natural resources, and provides for sustainable forests and communities through full funding of the Northwest Forest Plan....
USFWS The President's $2.2 billion FY 2009 budget request provides significant increases for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for bird conservation and habitat work on private lands across the nation, while sustaining increases in the National Wildlife Refuge System budget and supporting other key Service priorities. The $1.3 billion FY 2009 discretionary budget request represents a reduction of $64.6 million compared to the 2008 enacted level, with most reductions resulting from lowered proposed spending in construction and land acquisition. The request for the Endangered Species Program is $146.8 million. This reflects a decrease of $3.7 million from the 2008 enacted level to eliminate unrequested funding increases and cost savings through reduced administrative costs. The Service?s land acquisition account has been decreasing over the years to reflect our efforts to focus on our current management responsibilities. The request for land acquisition is $10.2 million, a $24.4 million reduction compared to the 2008 enacted level which includes reducing administrative and related costs to a level more in line with the current size of the program....
Park Service President Bush today proposed $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2009 for the National Park Service, including $2.13 billion for operation of the National Park System. This $160.9 million increase over the FY 2008 request for park operations will bolster visitor services and protect park resources and facilities. The request includes increases of nearly $45 million for targeted park base core operations, $36 million for parks’ fixed costs, $22.8 million for cyclic maintenance, $20 million for natural resource health and $ 8.0 million for Service-wide training and professional development programs....
Lawmakers complain Bush budget cuts fire prevention money President Bush's 2009 budget plan would slash money for fire prevention and preparedness in the wake of last fall's devastating wildfires in California, prompting an outcry from Democratic lawmakers who warned of massive layoffs at the Forest Service. Bush did propose a slight increase in money to respond to fires. Among the proposed cuts was a $13 million decrease in money for the Forest Service to clear debris and small trees that can pose a risk of fire. Money for preparedness and readiness, such as firefighter training and equipment, would fall from $942 million to $866 million, according to Democratic aides. Overall the budget for the U.S. Forest Service would decline from $4.5 billion in 2008 to $4.1 billion in 2009 under Bush's proposal. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee, called the proposed cuts to the Forest Service "breathtaking" and said they could result in a layoff of nearly 1,200 employees—10 percent of the agency's work force....
National Parks Conservation Association Calls on Congress to Improve Proposed Parks Budget The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), today praised the Administration’s $161-million proposed operating increase for national parks, while criticizing cuts to other critical park programs that undermine this much-needed operating increase. “The $161-million operating increase is an important step toward restoring our national parks, but cutting other critical Park Service funding will impede these efforts to fully restore the park system by its 2016 centennial,” said National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan. The National Parks Conservation Association is concerned that continuing to cut overall spending in the Department of the Interior will ultimately thwart efforts to restore the parks by their 2016 centennial. The overall fiscal year 2009 Interior budget is down $388 million or 3.5 percent from the current enacted level. The Administration’s overall fiscal year 2009 budget request for the National Park Service is approximately $2.4 billion—an increase of only $14 million over the current fiscal year 2008 budget....
President Proposes Budget for BLM in FY 2009 With a focus on the protection and sustainable development of public land resources, the Administration today requested a $1.002 billion gross budget for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Fiscal Year 2009. The FY 2009 budget proposal includes a $10 million increase for the BLM’s role in implementing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne’s Healthy Lands Initiative, which supports landscape-level restoration work in key areas across eight Western states....
Agency budget highlights Interior The White House is proposing a 3.7 percent cut in the Interior Department’s budget. The budget proposes $141 million in savings from the elimination or reduction of nine programs. The budget proposes to eliminate the Bureau of Land Management’s $10 million range improvement fund. Eliminating the fund will shift the responsibility of building and maintaining public land projects to those using the land, the administration said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs budget for road maintenance would get cut by $13 million. The administration says tribes could use Transportation Department funds for maintaining roads on Indian reservations. The Office of Surface Mining would receive $20 million less in discretionary grants for projects related to restoring lands affected by coal mining. The administration said this program duplicates efforts being undertaken through the office’s recently revised abandoned mine land grant program....
USDA Total USDA expenditures are estimated at $95 billion in FY 2009, which is approximately the same level as FY 2008. Roughly 76 percent of expenditures, or $72 billion in 2009, will be for mandatory programs that provide services required by law, which include many of the nutrition assistance, commodity, export promotion and conservation programs. Wildland Fires. The budget continues implementation of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative to mitigate the threat of catastrophic wildfires. Resources proposed in the budget will reduce hazardous fuels on almost 2.5 million acres of land. By the end of FY 2009, Federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior, will have treated hazardous fuels and accomplished landscape restoration activities on 29.9 million acres of the Nation's forests and wooded rangelands since the beginning of FY 2001. The budget for the Forest Service also provides increased wildland fire resources to protect communities and natural resources, and provides for sustainable forests and communities through full funding of the Northwest Forest Plan....
USFWS The President's $2.2 billion FY 2009 budget request provides significant increases for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for bird conservation and habitat work on private lands across the nation, while sustaining increases in the National Wildlife Refuge System budget and supporting other key Service priorities. The $1.3 billion FY 2009 discretionary budget request represents a reduction of $64.6 million compared to the 2008 enacted level, with most reductions resulting from lowered proposed spending in construction and land acquisition. The request for the Endangered Species Program is $146.8 million. This reflects a decrease of $3.7 million from the 2008 enacted level to eliminate unrequested funding increases and cost savings through reduced administrative costs. The Service?s land acquisition account has been decreasing over the years to reflect our efforts to focus on our current management responsibilities. The request for land acquisition is $10.2 million, a $24.4 million reduction compared to the 2008 enacted level which includes reducing administrative and related costs to a level more in line with the current size of the program....
Park Service President Bush today proposed $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2009 for the National Park Service, including $2.13 billion for operation of the National Park System. This $160.9 million increase over the FY 2008 request for park operations will bolster visitor services and protect park resources and facilities. The request includes increases of nearly $45 million for targeted park base core operations, $36 million for parks’ fixed costs, $22.8 million for cyclic maintenance, $20 million for natural resource health and $ 8.0 million for Service-wide training and professional development programs....
Lawmakers complain Bush budget cuts fire prevention money President Bush's 2009 budget plan would slash money for fire prevention and preparedness in the wake of last fall's devastating wildfires in California, prompting an outcry from Democratic lawmakers who warned of massive layoffs at the Forest Service. Bush did propose a slight increase in money to respond to fires. Among the proposed cuts was a $13 million decrease in money for the Forest Service to clear debris and small trees that can pose a risk of fire. Money for preparedness and readiness, such as firefighter training and equipment, would fall from $942 million to $866 million, according to Democratic aides. Overall the budget for the U.S. Forest Service would decline from $4.5 billion in 2008 to $4.1 billion in 2009 under Bush's proposal. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee, called the proposed cuts to the Forest Service "breathtaking" and said they could result in a layoff of nearly 1,200 employees—10 percent of the agency's work force....
National Parks Conservation Association Calls on Congress to Improve Proposed Parks Budget The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), today praised the Administration’s $161-million proposed operating increase for national parks, while criticizing cuts to other critical park programs that undermine this much-needed operating increase. “The $161-million operating increase is an important step toward restoring our national parks, but cutting other critical Park Service funding will impede these efforts to fully restore the park system by its 2016 centennial,” said National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan. The National Parks Conservation Association is concerned that continuing to cut overall spending in the Department of the Interior will ultimately thwart efforts to restore the parks by their 2016 centennial. The overall fiscal year 2009 Interior budget is down $388 million or 3.5 percent from the current enacted level. The Administration’s overall fiscal year 2009 budget request for the National Park Service is approximately $2.4 billion—an increase of only $14 million over the current fiscal year 2008 budget....
USDA urges new user fees to boost meat inspections In the wake of several high-profile food recalls, the White House on Monday proposed two new user fees that would provide $96 million to help pay for additional meat inspections. The Bush administration proposed in its fiscal 2009 budget one plan that would generate $92 million through a licensing fee that all meat plants would pay based on production levels. An additional $4 million would be collected from plants that require additional testing, have recalls or inspections linked to an outbreak of food-borne illnesses. "Every other facility in this country that can impact your health or any other person that can impact your health ... has to have a license," said Agriculture Undersecretary Richard Raymond. Meat plants "bear some responsibility to pay for part of their inspection fee." The White House said the proposal, which requires congressional approval, would generate fees that will reduce appropriation needs in the future....
Animal activists take to the states Dozens of new provisions were added to both the House and Senate farm bills this year, but noticeably absent was a new "animal welfare" title that would have required strict new rules regarding the care and feeding of livestock. That's not to say that so-called "animal rights" groups aren't trying. Several bills have been introduced in Congress, including one that would curb the use of antibiotics and another bill requiring new standards for any meat products purchased by the federal government. But absent a lot of momentum on the federal stage, groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) are increasingly turning to the states to push new bills or adopt ballot initiatives. And more often than not, they are succeeding. As HSUS points out on their web site: "Between 1990 and 2006, animal advocates squared off against hunters and other animal industries in 38 statewide ballot campaigns, winning in 26 campaigns and marking a huge surge in the use of the process on animal issues. To provide a contrast, in the previous 50 years--between 1940 and 1990--there were about a half dozen animal-related initiatives, and our movement prevailed in only one campaign--and that measure was later overturned by a subsequent ballot measure advanced by opponents of the reform." In the last couple of years, HSUS won big with livestock initiatives in Florida and Arizona. Now, California, New Hampshire and Colorado are facing some of the same....
FSIS investigating inhumane handling allegations Calling the actions observed in the video from the Hallmark Meat Packing plant, supplied by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS), egregious and unacceptable humane handling practices, Dr. Kenneth Petersen with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) told reporters Thursday, Jan. 31 that a team is at the Westland Meat Company investigating the allegations. “Currently there is no evidence that any of the animals, downers in particular, did in fact enter the food supply, that is going to be one key activity we’re going to focus on,” said Dr. Petersen. Petersen also echoed U.S. Ag Secretary Ed Schafer’s concern that HSUS delayed the release and went public with the video before coming to USDA. “I have no reservations about anyone going public with any information they have, but sometimes if we can get a little bit of a lead time we can do our investigation a little differently,” Petersen said. Until the results of the multi-agency investigation are complete, Bill Sessions, Associate Deputy Administrator for Livestock and Seed Programs at the Agricultural Marketing Service says AMS will continue the suspension of product from the Westland Meat Company....
Bovine tuberculosis detected at Central Valley dairy A case of bovine tuberculosis has been found at a dairy in Fresno County, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said Friday. State and federal animal health officials are working with the dairy farmer and his veterinarians to implement control strategies to eradicate the disease. The name of the dairy and its specific location were not made public. The diagnosis of TB was made after a cow with suspicious lesions was found during routine slaughter inspection. This week, CDFA and USDA veterinarians completed tests on some herds that may have been exposed based on animal tracing records and determined that, to date, TB is present in just one herd. The tracing of related animal movement will continue, as will TB testing, the CDFA says....
It's All Trew: Brush up on the classic products I doubt many readers less than seventy years of age will know the term "Murphy Bed." It is simply a folding bed hidden behind beautiful cabinets. Founded in 1908 in San Francisco and later moved to Farmingdale, New York, the Murphy Bed Company, Inc. is still in business today. Best known for being more comfortable than conventional folding beds, it also utilized less space. Murphy beds were made famous by slapstick comedians like Red Skelton who could base an entire episode on being accidently folded up inside a Murphy bed. How about that Fuller Brush Company? In business for more than one-hundred years, the company now sells some 300 products with a "100% satisfaction guarantee attached or your money returned no questions asked." That's quite a guarantee in this day's world. Twenty-one-year-old Alfred Fuller set up shop in his sister's basement and began making custom brushes for personal and household use. With more customers than time to deliver products he initiated a program supplying dealers calling on homes throughout the U.S....
Animal activists take to the states Dozens of new provisions were added to both the House and Senate farm bills this year, but noticeably absent was a new "animal welfare" title that would have required strict new rules regarding the care and feeding of livestock. That's not to say that so-called "animal rights" groups aren't trying. Several bills have been introduced in Congress, including one that would curb the use of antibiotics and another bill requiring new standards for any meat products purchased by the federal government. But absent a lot of momentum on the federal stage, groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) are increasingly turning to the states to push new bills or adopt ballot initiatives. And more often than not, they are succeeding. As HSUS points out on their web site: "Between 1990 and 2006, animal advocates squared off against hunters and other animal industries in 38 statewide ballot campaigns, winning in 26 campaigns and marking a huge surge in the use of the process on animal issues. To provide a contrast, in the previous 50 years--between 1940 and 1990--there were about a half dozen animal-related initiatives, and our movement prevailed in only one campaign--and that measure was later overturned by a subsequent ballot measure advanced by opponents of the reform." In the last couple of years, HSUS won big with livestock initiatives in Florida and Arizona. Now, California, New Hampshire and Colorado are facing some of the same....
FSIS investigating inhumane handling allegations Calling the actions observed in the video from the Hallmark Meat Packing plant, supplied by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS), egregious and unacceptable humane handling practices, Dr. Kenneth Petersen with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) told reporters Thursday, Jan. 31 that a team is at the Westland Meat Company investigating the allegations. “Currently there is no evidence that any of the animals, downers in particular, did in fact enter the food supply, that is going to be one key activity we’re going to focus on,” said Dr. Petersen. Petersen also echoed U.S. Ag Secretary Ed Schafer’s concern that HSUS delayed the release and went public with the video before coming to USDA. “I have no reservations about anyone going public with any information they have, but sometimes if we can get a little bit of a lead time we can do our investigation a little differently,” Petersen said. Until the results of the multi-agency investigation are complete, Bill Sessions, Associate Deputy Administrator for Livestock and Seed Programs at the Agricultural Marketing Service says AMS will continue the suspension of product from the Westland Meat Company....
Bovine tuberculosis detected at Central Valley dairy A case of bovine tuberculosis has been found at a dairy in Fresno County, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said Friday. State and federal animal health officials are working with the dairy farmer and his veterinarians to implement control strategies to eradicate the disease. The name of the dairy and its specific location were not made public. The diagnosis of TB was made after a cow with suspicious lesions was found during routine slaughter inspection. This week, CDFA and USDA veterinarians completed tests on some herds that may have been exposed based on animal tracing records and determined that, to date, TB is present in just one herd. The tracing of related animal movement will continue, as will TB testing, the CDFA says....
It's All Trew: Brush up on the classic products I doubt many readers less than seventy years of age will know the term "Murphy Bed." It is simply a folding bed hidden behind beautiful cabinets. Founded in 1908 in San Francisco and later moved to Farmingdale, New York, the Murphy Bed Company, Inc. is still in business today. Best known for being more comfortable than conventional folding beds, it also utilized less space. Murphy beds were made famous by slapstick comedians like Red Skelton who could base an entire episode on being accidently folded up inside a Murphy bed. How about that Fuller Brush Company? In business for more than one-hundred years, the company now sells some 300 products with a "100% satisfaction guarantee attached or your money returned no questions asked." That's quite a guarantee in this day's world. Twenty-one-year-old Alfred Fuller set up shop in his sister's basement and began making custom brushes for personal and household use. With more customers than time to deliver products he initiated a program supplying dealers calling on homes throughout the U.S....
Gore claims scriptural mandate on environmental issues Protecting the earth from global warming is a mandatory part of following Jesus, former Vice President Al Gore said at a "Stewardship of the Earth" luncheon Jan. 31 during the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta. "This is not a political issue," Gore told a crowd of approximately 2,500 paying attendees. "It is a moral issue. It is an ethical issue. It is a spiritual issue." Gore quoted Scripture several times in his speech and repeated his views that increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere are causing a global climate crisis. Gore produced an Academy Award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," which also dealt with global climate change and is being shown at the New Baptist Covenant meeting. Gore, citing Luke 12:54-57 for scriptural support, argued that it is dishonest for anyone to claim that global warming is merely a theory rather than a scientific fact. "The evidence is there," he said. "The signal is on the mountain. The trumpet has blown. The scientists are screaming from the rooftops. The ice is melting. The land is parched. The seas are rising. The storms are getting stronger. Why do we not judge what is right?"....
U.S. close to decision on polar bears The Bush administration is nearing a decision that would officially acknowledge the environmental damage of global warming, and name its first potential victim: the polar bear. The Interior Department may act as soon as this week on its year-old proposal to make the polar bear the first species to be listed as threatened with extinction because of melting ice due to a warming planet. Both sides agree that conservationists finally have the poster species they have sought to use the Endangered Species Act as a lever to force federal limits on the greenhouse gases linked to global warming, and possibly to battle smokestack industry projects far from the Arctic. Federal government scientists have presented increasingly compelling evidence that the top predator at the top of the world is doomed if the polar regions get warmer and sea ice continues to melt as forecast. Two-thirds of the population could be gone by mid-century if current trends continue, experts say. Bears are beholden to sea ice, where they perch so they can pounce on unsuspecting seals, their primary food. Meanwhile, opposing forces representing the oil and gas industry, manufacturing and property-rights advocates have begun threatening counter-suits over the potential listing. "This is going to be the mother of all test cases," said Alison Rieser, a lawyer and ocean policy professor at the University of Hawaii. "The legal question is whether the emissions of a proposed power plant can be tied to the cumulative effect of carbon dioxide, which is adversely affecting sea ice -- critical polar bear habitat."....
Nelson says he’d fight to the death to protect ethanol tariff Eliminating the tariff on ethanol imports, an idea that the secretary of the Energy Department hinted this week the administration might push, seems to have as much future as a cornstalk in front of a combine. The combine in this case would be Congress, which would have to approve any effort to end the 54-cent tariff on ethanol prematurely. The tariff would expire at the end of this year unless Congress extends the tariff, which protects the domestic ethanol industry. Midwestern senators repeatedly have said they will resist efforts to attack the tariffs, and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on Wednesday indicated he wasn’t about to entertain a new effort to kill the protection. Eliminating the tariff would be of particular benefit to ethanol producers in Brazil, who produce sugarcane ethanol that is cheaper than the U.S. corn-based variety. Energy experts have argued one easy step policymakers could take to cut dependence on foreign oil and limit greenhouse gas emissions is to eliminate the ethanol tariff, opening the U.S. market to sugarcane ethanol. Domestic ethanol producers, who already benefit from a federal tax break and renewable fuel production mandates, have lobbied aggressively in recent years to maintain the tariff protection as well. But livestock producers and meat processors, who are paying high prices for feed because of the ethanol-fueled bump in crop prices, have lobbied for the tariff to be eliminated....
Feds faulted in Indian trust accounting A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Interior Department has "unreasonably delayed" its accounting for billions of dollars owed to Indian landholders. The federal agency "has not, and cannot, remedy the breach" of its responsibilities to account for the Indian money, U.S. District Judge James Robertson said in a 165-page decision in a federal lawsuit claiming mismanagement of Indian trust funds. "Indeed, it is now clear that completion of the required accounting is an impossible task" for the department, Robertson said, adding that he would schedule a hearing next month to discuss ways to solve the problem. He added that his conclusion that Interior is unable to perform an adequate accounting does not mean that the task is hopeless. "It does mean that a remedy must be found for the department's unrepaired, and irreparable, breach of its fiduciary duty over the last century. And it does mean that the time has come to bring this suit to a close," he said....
Global warming solution hurts people more than warming Participants in President Bush's international climate conference this week in Hawaii should know that the "solution" to global warming -- expensive energy -- slows economic growth, at enormous human cost. In fact, evidence suggests that policies to fight global warming are worse for human welfare than rising temperatures. By now it is common knowledge that climate change is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, which releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But fossil fuels generate 85 percent of the world's energy because they are the cheapest sources of energy on earth. So a move towards green energy is a move away from cheap energy. Not everyone admits the stark economic realities of fighting climate change. Representative from the European Union, for example, seem oblivious to the costs of the policies they propose. During negotiations last December in Bali, Indonesia, EU officials demanded that the world commit to steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, with the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. According to the International Energy Agency, the costs of meeting the EU's proposal are staggering. The IEA says that it would require the construction of 30 new nuclear power plants, 17,000 wind turbines, 400 biomass plants, two hydroelectric dams the size of China's Three Gorges Dam, and 42 coal fired power plants equipped with still-experimental systems to sequester their carbon-dioxide emissions undergroundeach year from 2013 to 2030. Of course, alternative energy sources cost more than conventional generation from fossil fuels -- that's why a green energy future is an expensive energy future....
A ‘Bold’ Step to Capture an Elusive Gas Falters CAPTURING heat-trapping emissions from coal-fired power plants is on nearly every climate expert’s menu for a planet whose inhabitants all want a plugged-in lifestyle. So there was much enthusiasm five years ago when the Bush administration said it would pursue “one of the boldest steps our nation has taken toward a pollution-free energy future” by building a commercial-scale coal-fire plant that would emit no carbon dioxide — the greenhouse gas that makes those plants major contributors to global warming. That bold step forward stumbled last week. With the budget of the so-called FutureGen project having nearly doubled, to $1.8 billion, and the government responsible for more than 70 percent of the eventual bill, the administration completely revamped the project. The Energy Department said it would pay for the gas-capturing technology, but industry would have to build and pay for the commercial plants that use the technology. Plans for the experimental plant were scratched....
Area once devoid of elk has grown rich in wildlife Gary Leppink, 61, said he's seen his neighborhood come full circle in his lifetime. Born and raised in the Two Dot area at the eastern base of the Crazy Mountains, Leppink now works for rancher Mac White. "Now there are hundreds of elk," Leppink said, and he has heard credible accounts of wolf sightings in the area. But when Leppink rode horseback in the area in the early 1960s, he was amazed to see one elk, and nobody believed his account. "The homesteaders shot 'em all out," Leppink said. "That's what they ate. "Now we've come full circle; the elk and the wolves are back." White's mother reportedly shot the last wolf in the area in the 1920s, when she was 16. The wolf had attacked a group of horses, White said. Now the wolf's snarling head is mounted on the Whites' fireplace, a reminder of days gone by....
Let the Managers, Manage The ink isn’t even dry yet on the new rules in the Federal Register to be published this week, regarding how Montana, Idaho and Wyoming can further manage the wolves and already several environmental groups are suing. All of this began back in 1995 when the infamous “buttinsky” from Arizona, Bruce Babbitt, enlisted all his authority as Secretary of the Interior to bring about one of the most contentious and divisive federal mandates the West has endured by reintroducing gray wolves into the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem. Since that day, the wolf has thrived and now numbers more than 200 packs in these three states with a conservative head count of more than 1500. Many in the game management community have hailed this reintroduction program as a success. Even Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently called the wolf population in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, “robust and resilient.” But never mind the experts opinions and their well-worn management plans, the do-gooders in the environmental community are engaging in legal action to thwart what has been a long effort of planning for just this situation....
Roosevelt lawsuit fuels water-rights bill debate All the city of Roosevelt wanted was to give people in town a clean drink of water. Instead, the city is spending tens of thousands of dollars in court to protect water rights that could be lost because it - like most other cities in Utah - hasn't kept up with the letter of state water law. Roosevelt also has become an unwilling poster child for a water-law reform bill now before the Legislature that, if passed, would limit the power of the state Engineer's Office and challenge a basic principle that helped settle the West. Some, especially those who support HB51, say it's about time the notion of "first in time, first in right" loosened its grip on Western water. But others, including Utah Department of Natural Resources, the Utah Farm Bureau, the attorney general's office and the Utah Water Users Association, say the bill would encourage water hoarding and speculation and ensure never-ending court fights. Which is too bad, said Roosevelt City Manager Brad Hancock, because the bill could have included a better solution. For now, though, the city has to defend itself in court, he said, because State Engineer Jerry Olds has threatened the city's future by dangling the nearly unmentionable possibility of water forfeiture....
Study: Elk, cattle could share land For years, ranchers, hunters and other Elkhorn Mountain users debated whether the 300,000-acre mountain range south of Helena could adequately support both elk and cattle. In recent drought years, ranchers were told to pull their cattle off public lands early, or take them up later than normal, to ensure elk had enough forage for the winter. That meant ranchers had to feed hay to the cattle or use private grazing grounds longer, which cuts into profits in a business with a slim margin anyway. As part of an effort to move the conversation forward, the Elkhorn Working Group, composed of ranchers, state and federal officials and others, asked the Ecosystem Research Group to study grazing, grass and the overlap of use between cattle and elk. “The Elkhorns are a wildlife management unit, which includes elk but also livestock use,” noted Denise Pengroth, the Elkhorns coordinator for the Helena National Forest. “After two years of discussion by the Elkhorn Working Group — which was borne as a result of the conflict between elk use in the Elkhorns and livestock — we felt we needed to understand the distribution of elk and cattle and where they overlap.” What the study found, according to ERG scientists Mike Hollis and Greg Kennett, is that while both cattle and elk use similar grounds at times, there also are areas where they don’t compete and there seems to be enough forage overall to support them both. “We have a whole series of specific recommendations that are kind of technical, but the major findings were that you can still manage for those terrific elk herds and accommodate cattle grazing, and not impact the elk herds,” Kennett said....
Fire retardant could promote noxious weed growth, study finds Retardant commonly dropped from aircraft may help slow a wildfire's progress, but it also could promote the growth of noxious weeds across Montana's native grasslands, according to a new study. The study is being conducted by Salish Kootenai College student Levi Besaw and Giles Thelan, a research specialist at the University of Montana's plant ecology laboratory. They found that the slurry could ultimately worsen grassland fires by promoting the growth of weeds. "By no means does this suggest that retardant should be eliminated as a method for fire control, only that there may be an environmental cost" to native grasslands, said Besaw, the study's lead researcher. The pair are studying the effects on annual and perennial plants from 13,000 gallons of fire retardant that was dropped on Missoula's Mount Jumbo during a July 4, 2006 fire. Preliminary results show the retardant's fertilizer-like nutrients have significantly helped cheatgrass and tumbleweed mustard, both exotic annual species, to replace native perennial grasses on the mountainside. The weeds benefit from the jolt of nitrogen and phosphorous in the slurry, which native and exotic perennials ignore because they are accustomed to nutrient-poor soils, Besaw said....
Cyclists weigh wilderness proposal im Kral reflected the concerns of many mountain bikers to a U.S. Forest Service proposal to recommend wilderness designation for the Hermosa Creek area. "I think we'd like to see protection," Kral said. "But we don't want to be excluded." The meeting came in reaction to the Dec. 14 release of a major update to the forest plan for the San Juan National Forest. The draft plan recommends designating Hermosa Creek as a wilderness area, a distinction that allows hiking, camping, skiing, horseback riding and myriad other activities - but not mountain biking. The Wilderness Act of 1964 bans "mechanical transport" on wilderness areas. That is typically interpreted to prohibit mountain biking, said Mark Stiles, forest supervisor for the San Juan National Forest. The law predates modern mountain biking. What makes mountain bikers nervous, they say, is that the Hermosa Creek area happens to be a mountain-biking paradise. It reaches miles into the Colorado Trail and includes such favorite trails as Bear Creek, Indian Ridge, Corral Draw and Shark's Tooth. Van Abel and others want an alternative designation that would protect the area while allowing mountain biking....
Agency rejects landowner's proposed land swap The Forest Service has rejected a new proposal by Two Dot landowner Mac White that would have granted the public walk-in access to national forest lands near Big Elk Canyon on the east side of the Crazy Mountains. White's most recent proposal involved a series of land trades that swapped state, private and forest lands to consolidate some holdings and, in the process, get him access to his inholdings in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. In return, he'd allow the public to walk across a mile section of his land to access Big Elk Canyon. "I can't get to my own property right now," White said. White's talks with the Forest Service have spanned about seven years. The last chapter took place in 2006, when then-Sen. Conrad Burns attached a rider to a Department of Interior bill that would have granted White access to his inholdings in exchange for the Forest Service gaining "administrative access" to Big Elk Canyon. Administrative access allows only the Forest Service access to manage its lands, not public access. Burns' office later said the measure was only a way to pressure the parties to negotiate a deal. But the Forest Service wasn't interested in the proposal, saying that by law the agency is required to demand reciprocity, or access to its land, in exchange for allowing White access to his property....
‘Over the River’ proposal now available online The controversial “Over the River” project by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is back in the news, with the duo’s official design proposal now available online. The 2,000-page proposal details a plan to drape seven miles of the Arkansas River with shimmering fabric during the summer of 2012. The artists are working their way through a maze of approvals before the project can begin. Christo and Jeanne-Claude already have worked on the project for more than a decade. After extensive searching throughout the United States, the artists said they found the perfect site for the project in Bighorn Canyon to the west of Cañon City. Over the River would involve installing cables, anchors and fabric, which would be removed after the exhibit ends. Project supporters say the venture could attract up to 250,000 people and be a major boost to the economy. On the other hand, an opposition group — Rags Over the Arkansas River Inc. — has organized with the arguments traffic congestion could drive away wildlife and hurt businesses that depend on the Arkansas River canyon. Public safety during the installation, duration and removal of the project also has been questioned....
Marvel strikes back at state Fish and Game department If environmentalist Jon Marvel never shoved a Fish and Game commissioner after a meeting in December, he certainly shoved back Friday. Marvel fired off his own response Friday to an Idaho Department of Fish and Game memo sent this week to employees statewide telling them to avoid telephone communications with the renowned activist. The response was sent to Fish and Game Director Cal Groen and Fish and Game Commissioner Cam Wheeler. In it, Marvel requests the directive be withdrawn and demands the agency apologize for making an "inflammatory charge" that he "assaulted" Commissioner Wayne Wright at a Dec. 17 wolf management hearing in Hailey, and for saying "that I have a history of making threats to IDFG employees." Marvel, who leads the environmental group Western Watersheds Project, said the department acted as a "judge, jury and figurative executioner" with a "star chamber-like proceeding without any due process" for him on the matter. Fish and Game Deputy Director Virgil Moore issued the memo after the Dec. 17 meeting about the federal delisting of wolves. After the meeting, Wright and Marvel had a confrontation, and Wright said that Marvel shoved him. Moore, who witnessed the Dec. 17 confrontation, said Wright's account, and a Fish and Game officer's description of an argumentative Marvel phone call from a previous occasion, prompted the memo....
Park Police Rebuked For Weak Security The U.S. Park Police have failed to adequately protect such national landmarks as the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and are plagued by low morale, poor leadership and bad organization, according to a new government report. The force is understaffed, insufficiently trained and woefully equipped, the report by the Interior Department's inspector general concludes. Hallowed sites on the Mall are weakly guarded and vulnerable to terrorist attack, the inspector general's office found. The report includes a photograph of what it says is an officer apparently sleeping in a patrol vehicle at the Jefferson Memorial. It describes a Park Police officer doing a crossword puzzle. And it recounts someone leaving a suitcase against the south wall of the Washington Monument, where it sat unattended for five minutes until its owner reclaimed it....
GM unveils hybrid pickups General Motors Corp. will introduce a new hybrid full-size pickup and a concept hybrid truck this week at the Chicago Auto Show, betting that pickup drivers have been itching to jump on the hybrid bandwagon. GM says the 2009 GMC Sierra hybrid gets a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy without compromising performance, while its GMC Denali XT concept _ a low-slung, muscular utility vehicle _ gets 50 percent better fuel economy than a comparable small pickup. The Sierra is the next large GM vehicle to get the company's new two-mode hybrid system, which has also been introduced on the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup. The SUVs are expected to go on sale early this year, while the Silverado and Sierra are scheduled to hit the market at the end of 2008. The two-mode system got a lot of buzz late last year at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where the hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe was named the 2008 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal....
Inhaling Pig Brains May Be Cause of New Illness A new disease has surfaced in 12 people among the 1,300 employees at the factory run by Quality Pork Processors about 100 miles south of Minneapolis. The ailment is characterized by sensations of burning, numbness and weakness in the arms and legs. For most, this is unpleasant but not disabling. For a few, however, the ailment has made walking difficult and work impossible. The symptoms have slowly lessened in severity, but in none of the sufferers has it disappeared completely. The packing house, in Austin, Minn. (pop. 23,000), slaughters 1,900 pigs a day, working two meat-cutting shifts and one clean-up shift. Virtually everything is used, including ears, entrails and bone. The 12 sufferers of the neurological illness -- most are Hispanic immigrants -- all work at or near the "head table" where the animals' severed heads are processed. One of the steps in that part of the operation involves removing the pigs' brains with compressed air forced into the skull through the hole where the spinal cord enters. The brains are then packed and sent to markets in Korea and China as food....
Earl Butz, Ex-U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Dies at 98 Earl Butz, the U.S. secretary of agriculture who was forced to resign after telling an obscenity- laced racist joke in 1976, died yesterday in Washington. He was 98 and the oldest living former Cabinet member. Butz, who died in his sleep, had been in failing health for the past couple of weeks, said Randy Woodson, dean of Purdue University's College of Agriculture. He had flown to Washington from his home in a retirement community in Indiana on Jan. 30 to visit his son's family, Woodson said. Butz was named to head the Department of Agriculture in 1971 by President Richard Nixon. He remained in the Cabinet under President Gerald Ford after Nixon resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. Butz encouraged farm production and promoted exports of surpluses. He exhorted farmers to ``plant fence row to fence row'' to meet global demand, helping to drive down surging food costs....
Schoolkids learn they’re all cowboys To poet Bunny Dryden, everyone is a cowboy, if even just a little bit. Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Carmichael Elementary School got a lesson in cowboy culture Friday from Dryden and musicians Rena Randall and the Due West Trio, Tim O’Connor, Dave Bertoglio and Dave Gibson. Other poets and musicians of the 2008 Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering performed at schools across the county to start the 16th annual event, which goes on today and Sunday. While outfitted in her cowboy hat, chaps and boots, Dryden spoke about the purpose of cowboy’s “duds.” Although spurs may look intimidating, they’re used to guide the horse, not hurt it, she said. Dryden helped explain some common cowboy vocabulary, too. Lariat is another word for rope, and dogies is the cowboy term for calves, she said. And “cowboy” stands for pride and responsibility, no matter if that cowboy is a boy or girl, she said. That idea inspired her poem “There ain’t no gender in ‘Cowboy.’ ” Dryden, a rancher’s wife from Thatcher, began writing poetry to document ranch history and life. Now she enjoys sharing it with children to honor that heritage. “We wouldn’t have this beautiful valley if it wasn’t for those who came before us,” she said....
Is an Old Man With Pig Spleens More Accurate than Doppler Radar? In today’s world of high technology and focus on the future, every once in a while it’s refreshing to take a deep breath and return to the more natural ways of our ancestors. That’s why I’m advocating that the National Weather Service be replaced by an old Ukranian man and several pig spleens. And if the man’s claims are to be believed, we’d actually get more accurate weather forecasts. Paul Smokov, an 84 year old cattle rancher from Steele, N.D., claims that he has forecasted the weather with 85% accuracy by observing the shape of pig spleens. The National Weather Service, with their millions in high tech equipment, is about 60% accurate. Smokov may be the last pig spleen weather forecaster left in North America. The editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac said the only other spleen reader she had come in contact with had died in Saskatchewan, Canada last year. Smokov learned the subtle art of spleen reading from his parents, Ukranian immigrants who arrived in the US in the early 20th century. With weather being so important to farmers, and a decades long lack of electricity at the family ranch denying radio forecasts, the family kept the practice of spleen forecasting alive....
Bootman: 'I just wanted to give people something to look at' Boots, of every color, every size, every style, follow the county road along the Bohlender farm south of here. Dale Bohlender, 81, is living in the house in La Salle -- the same house he was born in -- and a few years ago, he started putting boots on his fence posts. Now there are more than 200 boots on more than 200 posts along Weld County Road 39 and on other parts of Bohlender's property. "I just wanted to give people something to look at as they drove by," Bohlender said. "Then people started adding their own boots and shoes, and it just grew." There are other boot fences, and legend has grown that farmers and ranchers put boots on the fence top so the human scent will keep away destructive wildlife such as coyotes and raccoons....
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