Saturday, February 23, 2008
Meatpacker to close after major U.S. recall The meatpacking company that issued the largest U.S. meat recall ever last week could shut down, according a Saturday report in the Wall Street Journal. U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 pounds of meat processed by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing on Feb. 17, after it came to light that the company had on "rare occasions" slaughtered cows that couldn't stand on their own. Federal rules prohibit slaughtering downer cows, because they are believed to be more prone to illnesses like mad cow disease. The meatpacker suspended its operations voluntarily in early February, after the U.S.D.A. launched an investigation into how it treated animals after a video showed employees attempting to force sick cows stand up using electrical-shock devices, among other methods. The U.S.D.A. said would permit the slaughterhouse to reopen under certain conditions But Hallmark/Westland, a major supplier for the National School Lunch Program, must repay the cost of destroying the meat purchased by the program. The company's general manager Anthony Magidow told the Journal, "If the USDA wants payment back, we're dead meat. We're done." He told the newspaper had already laid off 250 workers, and that prior to this episode the company earned about $100 million annually.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Friends of the Earth misinforms on crop biotech again Last week, the ideological environmentalist group Friends of the Earth (FOE) launched another attack in its misinformation campaign against biotech crops. FOE's latest salvo is its report "Who Benefits from GM Crops?," issued explicitly to counter the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications' (ISAAA) annual global assessment of biotech crops. FOE claims biotech crops yield less than conventional crops, harm the environment, are technologically stagnant, have done nothing to help poor farmers, and are monopolized by a few giant corporations. The ISAAA 2007 report on the global status paints a far different picture. The ISAAA notes that farmers around the world continue their rapid adoption of biotech crop varieties. In 2007 the global planting of biotech crops rose to an all time high of 282 million acres, a 12 percent increase over 2006. In addition, the number of farmers choosing to grow biotech crops rose from 10.3 million in 2006 to over 12 million in 2007. The ISAAA report notes that 11 million of the biotech growers are resource poor farmers in developing countries, the majority of whom cultivate insect-resistant cotton. Biotech crops are now planted in 23 countries, and 29 others have approved the import of biotech food and feed....
UCLA Seeks Restraining Order Against 'Terrorist' Animal Rights Activists The University of California went to court Thursday to try to keep animal rights activists away from UCLA employees who say they have been threatened because of their research. Three times since June 2006, Molotov cocktail-type devices have been left near the homes of faculty members who oversee or participate in research that involves animals, according to a statement from the University of California, Los Angeles. Researchers' homes have also been vandalized and they have received threatening phone calls and e-mails, according to the university. On at least one occasion a faculty member received a package rigged with razor blades, the statement said. "Enough is enough," UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said. "We're not willing to wait until somebody is injured before taking legal action to protect our faculty and administrators from terrorist tactics, violence and harassment."....
Spanish rancher plans to clone prize bull A rancher in Spain plans to have his most prized bull cloned by a US firm in what will be a first in the history of Spanish bullfighting, El Pais reported Friday. Victoriano del Rio will have 16-year-old Alcalde, the father of some of the biggest and fiercest bulls killed in Spanish bullrings in recent years, cloned by Viagen in the next few weeks, the daily said. "Alcalde is unique, he's priceless and we wouldn't sell him for all the gold in the world," Victoriano's son Ricardo del Rio told the newspaper at the family's ranch at Guadalix de la Sierra, outside Madrid. A clone of Alcalde is expected in March 2009. Texas-based Viagen says it has successfully cloned at least 300 other animals, many of them prize bulls used in rodeos in the United States. "We're preserving and multiplying animals that have shown themselves to be genetically superior and that justifies the investment," Viagen's director for Latin America and Spain, Jose Cordoba, told the newspaper....
Arizona Congressman Is Indicted Representative Rick Renzi, a Republican who represents a vast region of Arizona, has been indicted on charges of using his office to enrich himself through a complex land swap scam, federal prosecutors announced on Friday in Phoenix. The prosecutors said a grand jury on Thursday returned a 35-count indictment accusing Mr. Renzi, 49, and two former associates of extortion, wire fraud, money-laundering and various conspiracies that could bring many years in prison and fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars upon conviction. The indictment asserts that Mr. Renzi was in financial trouble in 2005 “and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and to maintain his personal lifestyle.” The Congressman, who announced last August that he would not seek a fourth term, and his wife, Roberta, have 12 children. Prosecutors say Mr. Renzi misused his position on the House Natural Resources Committee to shepherd legislation enabling investors to swap tracts of property for land owned by the federal government — but only if they would include land owned by James W. Sandlin, a real estate investor from Sherman, Tex., in the deal. “No Sandlin property, no bill,” the Congressman allegedly said in 2005, meaning he would block the bill if Mr. Sandlin were not included in the profitable deal. The deal netted Mr. Sandlin some $4.5 million, prosecutors say....
Companies Show Concern About Bee Health Farmer Scott Hunter's almond trees are exploding into a froth of pink and white blossoms that will eventually bear more than 1 ton of nuts intended for trail mix, cereals, pastries and ice cream -- but only if each bloom is visited by a honey bee. That's why concern about recent threats to the health of honey bees, whose fertile touch is behind one-third of what we eat, is spreading beyond farms and into boardrooms of companies like Haagen-Dazs and Burt's Bees. Berries, fruits and nuts that lend flavor to about 28 of Haagen-Dazs' ice cream varieties depend on the insects for pollination. The company, owned by Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle SA, uses 1 million pounds of almonds alone in its products. But in the last year, beekeepers lost 30 percent of the approximately 2.5 million managed colonies to diseases, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture. A recent surge in diseases and pests, from parasitic mites to Colony Collapse Disorder, which leads bees to abandon their hives, has led to the losses. Scientists are still struggling to understand what's behind these problems....
More bad warming data A meteorologist performing a comprehensive study of temperature-monitoring stations that provide data about global warming says the official facility at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is riddled with problems that render it useless to scientists. But the data collected there is being used nonetheless. Anthony Watts concludes in his investigation that the station at O'Hare is affected by an urban heat effect that would make temperature readings inaccurate as an indicator of what is actually occurring regionally. "The community around O'Hare was much smaller during World War II, when the airport was built, than it is now," says Watts. "The area had a significantly less-urban population and lacked the acres of concrete and asphalt that exist there today." The problems at O'Hare are similar to those found by Watts around the country in his study of temperature stations used by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What he has found elsewhere are temperature stations with sensors on the roofs of buildings, near air-conditioning exhaust vents, in parking lots near hot automobiles, barbecues, chimneys and on pavement and concrete surfaces – all of which would lead to higher temperature recordings than properly established conditions. To qualify as a properly maintained temperature station, sensors must be placed in elevated, slatted boxes on flat ground surrounded by a clear surface on a slope of less than 19 degrees with surrounding grass and vegetations ground cover of less than 10 centimeters high. The sensors must be located at least 100 meters from artificial heating or reflecting surfaces, such as buildings, concrete surfaces and parking lots....
Wolves to Be Removed From Species List Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list, following a 13-year restoration effort that helped the animal's population soar, federal officials said Thursday. An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That represents a dramatic turnaround for a predator that was largely exterminated in the U.S. outside of Alaska in the early 20th century. "Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story." The restoration effort, however, has been unpopular with ranchers and many others in the three states since it began in the mid-1990s, and today some state leaders want the population thinned significantly. The states are planning to allow hunters to target the animals as soon as this fall. That angers environmental groups, which plan to sue over the delisting and say it's too soon to remove federal protection....
Northeastern Nevada Hit by 6.0 Quake Windows shattered and building facades and signs fell, but no one was seriously injured when a powerful earthquake shook this rural northeastern town on Thursday. The quake, which had an estimated magnitude of 6.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., struck at 6:16 a.m., near Wells in a sparsely populated area near the Nevada-Utah line. Elko County commissioners declared a state of emergency. "Almost all of the businesses are shut down. We have no services and no fuel," Commissioner Mike Nannini said. Almost all the 700 residential structures in town had some damage, said Tom Turk, a state spokesman at the scene. The temblor was felt across much of the West, from northern Idaho and Utah to Southern California, and as many as 30 aftershocks were reported. The most serious damage was reported in Wells' largely unoccupied historic district, where an estimated 20 to 25 buildings have been "heavily damaged," Elko County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin McKinney said. Brick facades tumbled off several buildings, signs fell and windows broke, and some vehicles arked on the street were damaged by falling debris, KELK Radio in Elko reported. The town of about 1,300 was closed to all but residents, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. Officials posted signs along nearby highways telling motorists to fill up on gasoline elsewhere....
Waterfowl area grazing benefits birds, cattle Dan Jenniges’ cattle are eating better and helping to create better nesting areas for migratory birds, thanks to the managed grazing agreement he has with the Morris Wetlands Management District, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Waterfowl Production Areas are managed to attract and produce migratory waterfowl, migratory nongame birds and resident wildlife. “In the remnant (native) prairie, the exotic (grass) species move in and thistle comes with them,” Brite says. “We’re trying to maintain the integrity of the prairie for ease of maintenance and a diverse (mix) of waterfowl and songbirds. When brome and bluegrass take over, you get more of a monoculture. They mat over more quickly, and that’s not as attractive to the birds.” The most common tools used to manage these grasses include grazing, haying and prescribed burning, which are followed by a period of rest. Working with local ranchers, cattle are allowed to graze on certain Waterfowl Production Areas using a permit system. This grazing closely mimics the effects native bison once provided to stimulate plant growth....
Gibbons takes another whack at pipeline plan Gov. Jim Gibbons is again saying he opposes Southern Nevada’s plan to get water from rural Nevada. On Tuesday, Gibbons told the Fallon Rotary Club that the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has proposed a multibillion-dollar pipeline to eastern Nevada to supply Las Vegas with a backup source of drinking water, should instead build a desalination plant in California and trade that plant’s water for some of California’s allocation of the Colorado River, according to the Lahontan Valley News. During his nearly 45-minute speech Tuesday, which focused mostly on the state budget crisis, Gibbons pitched the desalination proposal as “a better plan than what Clark County has,” according to reporter Christy Lattin. On Wednesday Melissa Subbotin, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed that Gibbons “wants to bring water to Southern Nevada without taking it straight from Northern Nevada.” Conservationists noted this is not the first time the governor has questioned pursuing the 250-mile pipeline, which environmentalists and ranchers say would destroy the ecology and rural way of life of eastern Nevada....
Hunters, anglers join global-warming outcry Anglers say trout and salmon are moving upstream looking for colder water. Duck hunters say the prairie potholes where ducklings hatch are drying up. And game hunters say moose populations are migrating north. Many of these outdoor enthusiasts blame it on global warming. Now, they are lobbying Congress to protect their favorite pastimes. Nearly 700 hunting, fishing and sporting groups, including several from Arizona, recently sent letters urging lawmakers to support a bill to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. By taking on global warming, outdoor enthusiasts join a diverse group of activists, from evangelical Christians to farmers, clamoring for legislative action on climate change. The debate could heat up this summer because lawmakers are expected to consider legislation that would cut carbon-dioxide emissions by two-thirds nationwide by 2050....
New era of oil-and-gas drilling near Santa Fe has residents on edge On a sunny winter afternoon, with a light wind rustling the brittle leaves and swaying the high, golden grasses, the Galisteo Basin is a scene of tranquility. Only the metal pole sticking up out of Steve Sugarman's front yard gives any hint of the gathering storm. It's a marker for an oil-and-gas test well that came up dry nearly three decades ago. Sugarman's partner, James Ziegler, gave it no thought when he bought the Running Water Ranch ranch eight years ago. After all, this hilly swath of high desert about 20 miles south of artsy, touristy Santa Fe has never been oil-and-gas country: That distinction belongs to the pumpjack-dotted landscape of the faraway southeastern and northwestern corners of New Mexico. Over the past couple of years, however, a Texas company has quietly leased the mineral rights to some 65,000 acres in the Galisteo Basin. Tecton Energy of Houston believes there may be as much as 50 to 100 million barrels of highly prized light, sweet crude oil tucked in the nooks and crannies of the rocks that underlie the basin....
Forest Service falls down on competitive-sourcing job The Forest Service did a poor job of competing government jobs between federal employees and the private sector and of reporting savings, according to a new report. The Government Accountability Office said today that the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service lacked a strategic plan and guidance for its public/private competition for communications work, the Geospatial Service and Technology Center, and fleet management. USDA officials told Congress the agency saved more than $38 million between 2004 and 2006. However they couldn’t tell GAO how they arrived at that figure or give supporting data to prove it’s correct, GAO said. The Forest Service didn’t have complete and reliable cost data from those two years to show whether it complied with statutory spending limits on competitive sourcing and accurately reported savings to Congress, GAO found....
Environmental analysis due on E. Idaho sheep station A federal judge has approved a settlement agreement involving two environmental groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requiring the agency to conduct an environmental analysis of the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in eastern Idaho that also manages lands in southwestern Montana. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill approved the agreement Tuesday between the agency and the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project. The agreement requires the agency to complete the analysis by Nov. 28. The two groups sued the agency last summer, citing concerns about the possible negative effects of domestic sheep on bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, lynx, wolves, grizzly bears, sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, bald eagles and other animals. They said domestic sheep could be spreading deadly diseases to bighorns, that predator control measures that may include steel leghold traps, snares, aerial gunning and poisons could be killing native wildlife, and that domestic sheep could be overgrazing wildlife winter range. The environmental groups also said sheep station lands include travel corridors for wildlife, which they said could be killed because of the predator control measures....
Water threatens old mining town The Environmental Protection Agency said it could be a month or two before drilling begins on a well to pump water from a crumbling tunnel where local officials fear more than a billion gallons of trapped water could cause a potentially catastrophic flood. EPA officials are scrambling to find a contractor and more than $4.5 million to pay for the plan east of Leadville, said Stan Christensen, remedial project manager who is heading up the EPA's effort. Lake County officials declared a state of emergency for fear that melt from record snowfall could add to growing pressure in the tunnel and cause a blowout and flood the town. The partially collapsed Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel drains contaminated water from abandoned mines that date back to the 1800s. The Bureau of Reclamation, the EPA, state agencies and Lake County officials had been working on a plan to drain the tunnel since at least 2003....
EPA questions roadless plan Exceptions in Colorado's plan to manage some 4 million acres of roadless areas in national forests are worrisome because of the potential environmental impacts, a federal agency says. The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in recent comments to the U.S. Forest Service that it's concerned about "the considerable breadth of exceptions" to logging in roadless areas to prevent wildfires and stem the spread of bark beetles. The exceptions to roads and activity in those areas have also drawn criticism from environmental, hunting and angling groups that want to see the 4.1 million acres in national forests across the state remain off-limits to development. The draft environmental review "should include clear guidelines and commitments for how impacts from exemptions will be avoided, minimized and mitigated" on roadless areas, according to EPA officials. "What the EPA is saying here echoes almost precisely what the sportsmen community has been saying from the start," said David Petersen of Durango, a staffer with Trout Unlimited and a member of the statewide task force that developed the plan....
Speaker outlines climate change impact on forests Climate change likely will mean more drought, fewer trees and more invasive species for Western forests such as the Black Hills National Forest. That was the conclusion of Linda Joyce, a Forest Service researcher who was a member of a Nobel Prize winning intergovernmental panel on climate change. Joyce spoke Wednesday to more than 80 people at The Journey Museum about the implications of ongoing climate change, including rising temperatures, on Western forests. Joyce, who is based at the Rocky Mountain Research Station headquarters in Fort Collins, Colo., said ongoing climate-change studies haven't focused exclusively on the Black Hills, but a lot of data has been gathered about forests in the Rocky Mountains. The conclusions of those studies can also apply to the Black Hills, Joyce said in a short interview after her presentation. The study indicates that as average temperatures rise, vegetation decreases; vegetation tends to creep up onto higher elevations; new species come in, possibly including invasive species; and water patterns change....
Access for developers near Wolf Creek appears likely A U.S. Forest Service official said Wednesday that his agency ultimately will have to grant developers road access to private land near Wolf Creek Ski Area, even though the agency has agreed to conduct a fresh review of the project's environmental impact. "This process is not about if we will provide access, but rather what that access will look like and where on National Forest System lands it will be built," said Dan Dallas, Rio Grande National Forest supervisor. Dallas also said that the Forest Service would rule only on the access issue and not on matters such as the development's size. Developers have said it could house as many as 10,000 residents on property next to Wolf Creek Ski Area. The agency has settled a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, who alleged that the developers tried to influence the outcome of the previous environmental analysis and road-access rulings....
BLM sells seized livestock in Nevada The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has auctioned 58 head of cattle and 21 horses that were seized near Winnemucca for unlawful grazing. The federal agency said the cattle, formerly owned by Inger Casey, were sold for $17,287 on Feb. 1 to three separate bidders from Oregon and California. They were among 117 cows impounded by the BLM on Jan. 21 for trespassing on public lands. BLM said the remaining cattle, except for two, were reclaimed by their owners. In a separate impound, the BLM on Jan. 24 seized 95 horses for trespassing near Fort McDermitt along the Nevada-Oregon line. The state brand inspector determined 30 were estrays with no known owner. Those animals were turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, the BLM said. According to the agency, another 30 were owned by Leonard and Larry Crutcher. Owners of two others relinquished title to their animals. Of those, 21 horses were sold at auction Feb. 15 for a total of $1,495, the BLM said. The BLM said the remaining 11 unsold horses likely will be put up for bid at a future auction....
Wrecked ship carried lumber, ran aground in 1944 There is finally an answer to a shipwreck recently exposed by dune erosion on Oregon's south coast. The Bureau of Land Management says it is a wooden steam schooner that ran aground in 1944. The 223-foot George L. Olson had been revealed by shifting sands from time to time -- most recently after big waves started stripping away the dune near North Bend. Nearly 70 feet of the ship is now exposed. The George L. Olson was identified with help from a federal maritime heritage coordinator in Santa Barbara, California. The Oregonian newspaper reports that the ship was built at the W.F. Stone shipyards in Oakland, California. It had a 1,000-horsepower steam engine, could carry 1.4 million board feet of lumber and was launched in 1917....See Mystery solved for more info.
USDA unsure if Calif. cattle case isolated to plant Days after the largest meat recall in U.S. history, the head of the Agriculture Department said officials are reviewing why a California plant processed unfit cattle, and that it was too early to determine whether it was an incident specific to the facility. The USDA announced on Sunday that the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co was recalling 143 million lbs (65 million kilos) of meat, mostly beef, after plant workers were caught on videotape forcing unfit cattle into the slaughterhouse. "We are reviewing our procedures, how we work with the plant, how our inspectors work, our staffing needs," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters at the USDA's annual Outlook Forum. "And until we find out, we can't assess other plants, and we can't say ... this is an isolated incident or an ongoing practice."....
Beef Recall Latest in a Bad Year The record recall, announced on Sunday and prompted by an explicit video taken by an undercover Humane Society employee, has generated outrage from members of Congress and other American consumers. The video shows downed cattle being forced from the ground with forklifts and electric shocks and prodded toward the slaughterhouse. In some shots, a cow is unable to support itself and falls over again, only to be subjected to a second round of battery. But the primary concern has been for public health. Had the meatpacking plant followed government notification rules, the USDA says, some of the meat never would have seen the light of day, much less the inside of a gastrointestinal tract. "Downed" cows are often weak and diseased, and plant owners are required to notify USDA inspectors if a cow goes down on its way to the slaughterhouse. The USDA, which has closed the plant pending further investigation, has said that on multiple occasions no such notification took place. Yet an estimated 37 million pounds of beef, as part of the National School Lunch Program, was sent to schools in at least 36 states, and the rest was purchased by wholesale food companies. The recall at the California plant, which is owned by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., is not the first such case, though it is the largest. In fact, the United States just completed what is arguably the worst year for beef safety in its history. In 2007, there were 21 beef recalls nationwide for possible E. coli contamination, the most in five years; the amount of beef recalled—33.4 million pounds—was a new record. In many of the cases in 2007, the reason for the recall was remarkably similar to the current one: The workers at the plant allegedly didn't communicate information to the government, and the government took action only after the meat was already in the grocery store or consumed. One notable example: the recall of 21.7 million pounds of meat in September by Topps Meat, now out of business, for possible E. coli problems. Prior to the recall, Topps reportedly reduced the frequency of its safety inspections but failed to notify USDA officials....
USDA: More than a third of recalled beef went to schools Federal authorities say more than a third of the 143 million pounds of beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs. And, they say at least 20 million pounds of that has been eaten. Officials say they still don't know all the places the meat wound up. The USDA shut down the California-based company that produced the meat after the Humane Society released undercover video from its plant. The video showed workers kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses. The USDA says the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company produces 20 percent of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs....
USDA Urged to Disclose Where Recalled Meat Was Sold In a letter to the Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, seven consumer groups yesterday urged the USDA to issue an emergency rule to allow the agency to identify all of the outlets that purchased recalled ground beef from the Hallmark/Westland company. The groups also urged the agency to finish a long delayed rule change that would require the agency to list retailers that sold recalled meat and poultry products in official recall announcements. Consumer groups have for years been urging the agency to release the identify of “retail consignees”, pointing out that consumers need more than just a code found in the fine print on a meat package –– they need to know what stores carry the product to increase the odds that they heed the recall notice and don’t eat possibly dangerous products. A USDA rule to make this change has been in the works for two years and, according to the agency, is now stuck in the departmental review process....
25 area schools have recalled beef on hand Twenty-five schools in The Daily Republic coverage area have reported that they still are in possession of ground beef that is part of a nationwide recall. State Department of Education spokeswoman Mary Stadick Smith said that overall, 121 out of 220 schools in the state report having received, and still have on hand, some of the beef from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant in Chino, Calif. She estimates that there are 650 cases, 40 pounds each, statewide. The amount of meat still at each school varies. “South Dakota has received USDA-donated beef from Westland Meat Company for two years,” Stadick Smith said. “It is likely that almost every school food authority has received USDA donated beef from Westland Meat Company over that time.” The 143 million pounds of recalled meat from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant must be destroyed following strict USDA procedures. The USDA ordered the recall after receiving evidence that the slaughterhouse did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection. There have been no reports of illnesses in South Dakota school systems related to the recalled beef, Stadick Smith said....
Burger-free and bummed-out Where's the beef? The old catchphrase from a 1980s Wendy's ad campaign has found a 21st-century reprise. Chicken, pizza and yet more chicken have replaced beef on lunch plates in school cafeterias across California in the wake of a national recall of meat from a Southern California distributor accused of animal abuse. "I'm not the biggest fan of chicken," said Anthony Castro, 13, an eighth-grader at Burnett Academy in North San Jose as he chowed down Wednesday on a chicken quesadilla. "But there are not that many options." For two weeks now - even before Sunday's recall of beef from the Westland Meat Co. - public schools have not served any ground beef. Westland, a major supplier to the National School Lunch Program, is under investigation for allegedly abusing sick cattle before slaughter. Health officials say use of meat from sick animals increases the risk of exposure to mad cow disease and E. coli. After hearing the news reports of the animal abuse, state schools chief Jack O'Connell on Jan. 31 ordered public schools to stop serving all ground beef until further notice. Because of the federal recall, schools must now destroy the meat....
Cowboys for Hire Some ranch owners in Hidalgo County say they're being over billed for livestock that gets loose, the county has cowboys for hire, but ranch owners say there needs to be some sort of regulation for the fees they charge. When livestock gets loose in Hidalgo County authorities call in cowboys for hire, cowboys who round up the animals and returning them to their owners for a fee. Tony Arroyo, a rancher who has had animals have gotten loose from his property, tells us the fees need to be regulated. He believes ranchers are being more than they should at times. Teo Martinez, one of the county's cowboys for hire, tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 aren't much better for him either, there's been instances when customers can't afford to pay him, so he's forced to keep the animals and sell to make sure his fees are covered. A Texas Ranger who is assigned to cattle rustling and other livestock crimes is looking into a solution....
'Judas Horse' by April Smith IN two previous thrillers, FBI Special Agent Ana Grey stalked criminals through the same neighborhoods around Santa Monica where she'd been raised by her grandfather. Among the highlights of those books -- "North of Montana" and "Good Morning, Killer" -- were the spot-on observations about daily Los Angeles life, the keen glimpses of parallel cultures that coexist on the same streets without much connection. The third novel in the series by April Smith, "Judas Horse," also begins in Los Angeles, but its narrative propels Ana out of her native territory into a dizzying new world. This time the bureau is sending her on an undercover assignment to infiltrate a terrorist cell in the Pacific Northwest. After a rigorous stint in undercover school at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Ana assumes a new identity: that of a scruffy, down-and-out animal rights sympathizer named Darcy DeGuzman. As Darcy, armed only with a phony driver's license and a specially designed Oreo-sized cellphone for contact with former partner Mike Donnato, who will serve as her "handler," she heads to Portland to begin her mission. Agent Crawford had been working undercover to infiltrate a radical group called FAN, for "Free Animals Now." It's a covert collection of ecoterrorists, linked to increasingly violent anarchist activity throughout the Northwest and probably serving as a front for a larger, looser amalgamation of assorted extremists. FAN operates through intimidation, with a particular fondness for firebombing institutions that insult its live-free-or-die ideology. The FBI's latest intelligence suggests that FAN's current target is a mid-level bureaucrat at the Bureau of Land Management named Herbert Laumann, whom FAN accuses of mismanaging herds of wild mustangs protected by federal law....
Riders Recreate Life On The Cracker Trail What sounded like the rapid snapping of cap pistols filled the air on Wednesday, while students at Cracker Trail Elementary School responded by cheering wildly. Nearby, more than 140 horses took their fill of water, while some seemed spooked by the clamor of more than 200 appreciative children, amid the loud snapping. The elementary school is a regular stop on the 120-mile-long Cracker Trail Ride. Some had never seen a horse or heard the "crack" of the whips made by cowboys and cowgirls. The event brought history home to kindergarten through fifth-graders and gave them insight into the school's name. Eighteen-year old Kaylelyn Pella, of Lorida, participated in her second Cracker Trail Ride and enjoyed "cracking" a whip during an outdoor demonstration for students. Some of more than 140 cowpokes explained about long range trail riders who drove cattle, and then demonstrated with their whips why the cowboys were called "Florida Crackers."....
Mass. vegan competes in ‘Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door’ contest Lettuce be clear: Matthew Pidge may be sexy, but don’t call him “beefcake.” It’s not that he’s scrawny, but as he is a vegan, the remark isn’t exactly fitting. Pidge, 23, a Brookline resident, doesn’t consume or wear any animal products or by-products as part of his lifestyle, which is how he got to be a finalist in PETA’s “Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door” nationwide contest. Although Pidge was knocked out in the first round, which ended on Feb. 19, the future vegan restaurateur said he’ll “keep up the advocacy work” and hopes to volunteer on an organic farm. His flat abs, blue-green eyes and smooth olive skin made him a solid contender in the contest, but the Lexington native said those things have nothing to do with why he believes he is one of the sexiest herbivores in America. “[It’s] that I’m a vegan, that it’s just my compassion for animals,” said Pidge, a Longwood Avenue resident. “Being a compassionate person is really sexy.” The Web contest run by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is divided into separate competitions for men and women....Posted for Jimmy Bason, who has announced he will enter the contest.
Wolves to Be Removed From Species List Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list, following a 13-year restoration effort that helped the animal's population soar, federal officials said Thursday. An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That represents a dramatic turnaround for a predator that was largely exterminated in the U.S. outside of Alaska in the early 20th century. "Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story." The restoration effort, however, has been unpopular with ranchers and many others in the three states since it began in the mid-1990s, and today some state leaders want the population thinned significantly. The states are planning to allow hunters to target the animals as soon as this fall. That angers environmental groups, which plan to sue over the delisting and say it's too soon to remove federal protection....
Northeastern Nevada Hit by 6.0 Quake Windows shattered and building facades and signs fell, but no one was seriously injured when a powerful earthquake shook this rural northeastern town on Thursday. The quake, which had an estimated magnitude of 6.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., struck at 6:16 a.m., near Wells in a sparsely populated area near the Nevada-Utah line. Elko County commissioners declared a state of emergency. "Almost all of the businesses are shut down. We have no services and no fuel," Commissioner Mike Nannini said. Almost all the 700 residential structures in town had some damage, said Tom Turk, a state spokesman at the scene. The temblor was felt across much of the West, from northern Idaho and Utah to Southern California, and as many as 30 aftershocks were reported. The most serious damage was reported in Wells' largely unoccupied historic district, where an estimated 20 to 25 buildings have been "heavily damaged," Elko County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin McKinney said. Brick facades tumbled off several buildings, signs fell and windows broke, and some vehicles arked on the street were damaged by falling debris, KELK Radio in Elko reported. The town of about 1,300 was closed to all but residents, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. Officials posted signs along nearby highways telling motorists to fill up on gasoline elsewhere....
Waterfowl area grazing benefits birds, cattle Dan Jenniges’ cattle are eating better and helping to create better nesting areas for migratory birds, thanks to the managed grazing agreement he has with the Morris Wetlands Management District, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Waterfowl Production Areas are managed to attract and produce migratory waterfowl, migratory nongame birds and resident wildlife. “In the remnant (native) prairie, the exotic (grass) species move in and thistle comes with them,” Brite says. “We’re trying to maintain the integrity of the prairie for ease of maintenance and a diverse (mix) of waterfowl and songbirds. When brome and bluegrass take over, you get more of a monoculture. They mat over more quickly, and that’s not as attractive to the birds.” The most common tools used to manage these grasses include grazing, haying and prescribed burning, which are followed by a period of rest. Working with local ranchers, cattle are allowed to graze on certain Waterfowl Production Areas using a permit system. This grazing closely mimics the effects native bison once provided to stimulate plant growth....
Gibbons takes another whack at pipeline plan Gov. Jim Gibbons is again saying he opposes Southern Nevada’s plan to get water from rural Nevada. On Tuesday, Gibbons told the Fallon Rotary Club that the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has proposed a multibillion-dollar pipeline to eastern Nevada to supply Las Vegas with a backup source of drinking water, should instead build a desalination plant in California and trade that plant’s water for some of California’s allocation of the Colorado River, according to the Lahontan Valley News. During his nearly 45-minute speech Tuesday, which focused mostly on the state budget crisis, Gibbons pitched the desalination proposal as “a better plan than what Clark County has,” according to reporter Christy Lattin. On Wednesday Melissa Subbotin, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed that Gibbons “wants to bring water to Southern Nevada without taking it straight from Northern Nevada.” Conservationists noted this is not the first time the governor has questioned pursuing the 250-mile pipeline, which environmentalists and ranchers say would destroy the ecology and rural way of life of eastern Nevada....
Hunters, anglers join global-warming outcry Anglers say trout and salmon are moving upstream looking for colder water. Duck hunters say the prairie potholes where ducklings hatch are drying up. And game hunters say moose populations are migrating north. Many of these outdoor enthusiasts blame it on global warming. Now, they are lobbying Congress to protect their favorite pastimes. Nearly 700 hunting, fishing and sporting groups, including several from Arizona, recently sent letters urging lawmakers to support a bill to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. By taking on global warming, outdoor enthusiasts join a diverse group of activists, from evangelical Christians to farmers, clamoring for legislative action on climate change. The debate could heat up this summer because lawmakers are expected to consider legislation that would cut carbon-dioxide emissions by two-thirds nationwide by 2050....
New era of oil-and-gas drilling near Santa Fe has residents on edge On a sunny winter afternoon, with a light wind rustling the brittle leaves and swaying the high, golden grasses, the Galisteo Basin is a scene of tranquility. Only the metal pole sticking up out of Steve Sugarman's front yard gives any hint of the gathering storm. It's a marker for an oil-and-gas test well that came up dry nearly three decades ago. Sugarman's partner, James Ziegler, gave it no thought when he bought the Running Water Ranch ranch eight years ago. After all, this hilly swath of high desert about 20 miles south of artsy, touristy Santa Fe has never been oil-and-gas country: That distinction belongs to the pumpjack-dotted landscape of the faraway southeastern and northwestern corners of New Mexico. Over the past couple of years, however, a Texas company has quietly leased the mineral rights to some 65,000 acres in the Galisteo Basin. Tecton Energy of Houston believes there may be as much as 50 to 100 million barrels of highly prized light, sweet crude oil tucked in the nooks and crannies of the rocks that underlie the basin....
Forest Service falls down on competitive-sourcing job The Forest Service did a poor job of competing government jobs between federal employees and the private sector and of reporting savings, according to a new report. The Government Accountability Office said today that the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service lacked a strategic plan and guidance for its public/private competition for communications work, the Geospatial Service and Technology Center, and fleet management. USDA officials told Congress the agency saved more than $38 million between 2004 and 2006. However they couldn’t tell GAO how they arrived at that figure or give supporting data to prove it’s correct, GAO said. The Forest Service didn’t have complete and reliable cost data from those two years to show whether it complied with statutory spending limits on competitive sourcing and accurately reported savings to Congress, GAO found....
Environmental analysis due on E. Idaho sheep station A federal judge has approved a settlement agreement involving two environmental groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requiring the agency to conduct an environmental analysis of the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in eastern Idaho that also manages lands in southwestern Montana. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill approved the agreement Tuesday between the agency and the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project. The agreement requires the agency to complete the analysis by Nov. 28. The two groups sued the agency last summer, citing concerns about the possible negative effects of domestic sheep on bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, lynx, wolves, grizzly bears, sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, bald eagles and other animals. They said domestic sheep could be spreading deadly diseases to bighorns, that predator control measures that may include steel leghold traps, snares, aerial gunning and poisons could be killing native wildlife, and that domestic sheep could be overgrazing wildlife winter range. The environmental groups also said sheep station lands include travel corridors for wildlife, which they said could be killed because of the predator control measures....
Water threatens old mining town The Environmental Protection Agency said it could be a month or two before drilling begins on a well to pump water from a crumbling tunnel where local officials fear more than a billion gallons of trapped water could cause a potentially catastrophic flood. EPA officials are scrambling to find a contractor and more than $4.5 million to pay for the plan east of Leadville, said Stan Christensen, remedial project manager who is heading up the EPA's effort. Lake County officials declared a state of emergency for fear that melt from record snowfall could add to growing pressure in the tunnel and cause a blowout and flood the town. The partially collapsed Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel drains contaminated water from abandoned mines that date back to the 1800s. The Bureau of Reclamation, the EPA, state agencies and Lake County officials had been working on a plan to drain the tunnel since at least 2003....
EPA questions roadless plan Exceptions in Colorado's plan to manage some 4 million acres of roadless areas in national forests are worrisome because of the potential environmental impacts, a federal agency says. The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in recent comments to the U.S. Forest Service that it's concerned about "the considerable breadth of exceptions" to logging in roadless areas to prevent wildfires and stem the spread of bark beetles. The exceptions to roads and activity in those areas have also drawn criticism from environmental, hunting and angling groups that want to see the 4.1 million acres in national forests across the state remain off-limits to development. The draft environmental review "should include clear guidelines and commitments for how impacts from exemptions will be avoided, minimized and mitigated" on roadless areas, according to EPA officials. "What the EPA is saying here echoes almost precisely what the sportsmen community has been saying from the start," said David Petersen of Durango, a staffer with Trout Unlimited and a member of the statewide task force that developed the plan....
Speaker outlines climate change impact on forests Climate change likely will mean more drought, fewer trees and more invasive species for Western forests such as the Black Hills National Forest. That was the conclusion of Linda Joyce, a Forest Service researcher who was a member of a Nobel Prize winning intergovernmental panel on climate change. Joyce spoke Wednesday to more than 80 people at The Journey Museum about the implications of ongoing climate change, including rising temperatures, on Western forests. Joyce, who is based at the Rocky Mountain Research Station headquarters in Fort Collins, Colo., said ongoing climate-change studies haven't focused exclusively on the Black Hills, but a lot of data has been gathered about forests in the Rocky Mountains. The conclusions of those studies can also apply to the Black Hills, Joyce said in a short interview after her presentation. The study indicates that as average temperatures rise, vegetation decreases; vegetation tends to creep up onto higher elevations; new species come in, possibly including invasive species; and water patterns change....
Access for developers near Wolf Creek appears likely A U.S. Forest Service official said Wednesday that his agency ultimately will have to grant developers road access to private land near Wolf Creek Ski Area, even though the agency has agreed to conduct a fresh review of the project's environmental impact. "This process is not about if we will provide access, but rather what that access will look like and where on National Forest System lands it will be built," said Dan Dallas, Rio Grande National Forest supervisor. Dallas also said that the Forest Service would rule only on the access issue and not on matters such as the development's size. Developers have said it could house as many as 10,000 residents on property next to Wolf Creek Ski Area. The agency has settled a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, who alleged that the developers tried to influence the outcome of the previous environmental analysis and road-access rulings....
BLM sells seized livestock in Nevada The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has auctioned 58 head of cattle and 21 horses that were seized near Winnemucca for unlawful grazing. The federal agency said the cattle, formerly owned by Inger Casey, were sold for $17,287 on Feb. 1 to three separate bidders from Oregon and California. They were among 117 cows impounded by the BLM on Jan. 21 for trespassing on public lands. BLM said the remaining cattle, except for two, were reclaimed by their owners. In a separate impound, the BLM on Jan. 24 seized 95 horses for trespassing near Fort McDermitt along the Nevada-Oregon line. The state brand inspector determined 30 were estrays with no known owner. Those animals were turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, the BLM said. According to the agency, another 30 were owned by Leonard and Larry Crutcher. Owners of two others relinquished title to their animals. Of those, 21 horses were sold at auction Feb. 15 for a total of $1,495, the BLM said. The BLM said the remaining 11 unsold horses likely will be put up for bid at a future auction....
Wrecked ship carried lumber, ran aground in 1944 There is finally an answer to a shipwreck recently exposed by dune erosion on Oregon's south coast. The Bureau of Land Management says it is a wooden steam schooner that ran aground in 1944. The 223-foot George L. Olson had been revealed by shifting sands from time to time -- most recently after big waves started stripping away the dune near North Bend. Nearly 70 feet of the ship is now exposed. The George L. Olson was identified with help from a federal maritime heritage coordinator in Santa Barbara, California. The Oregonian newspaper reports that the ship was built at the W.F. Stone shipyards in Oakland, California. It had a 1,000-horsepower steam engine, could carry 1.4 million board feet of lumber and was launched in 1917....See Mystery solved for more info.
USDA unsure if Calif. cattle case isolated to plant Days after the largest meat recall in U.S. history, the head of the Agriculture Department said officials are reviewing why a California plant processed unfit cattle, and that it was too early to determine whether it was an incident specific to the facility. The USDA announced on Sunday that the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co was recalling 143 million lbs (65 million kilos) of meat, mostly beef, after plant workers were caught on videotape forcing unfit cattle into the slaughterhouse. "We are reviewing our procedures, how we work with the plant, how our inspectors work, our staffing needs," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters at the USDA's annual Outlook Forum. "And until we find out, we can't assess other plants, and we can't say ... this is an isolated incident or an ongoing practice."....
Beef Recall Latest in a Bad Year The record recall, announced on Sunday and prompted by an explicit video taken by an undercover Humane Society employee, has generated outrage from members of Congress and other American consumers. The video shows downed cattle being forced from the ground with forklifts and electric shocks and prodded toward the slaughterhouse. In some shots, a cow is unable to support itself and falls over again, only to be subjected to a second round of battery. But the primary concern has been for public health. Had the meatpacking plant followed government notification rules, the USDA says, some of the meat never would have seen the light of day, much less the inside of a gastrointestinal tract. "Downed" cows are often weak and diseased, and plant owners are required to notify USDA inspectors if a cow goes down on its way to the slaughterhouse. The USDA, which has closed the plant pending further investigation, has said that on multiple occasions no such notification took place. Yet an estimated 37 million pounds of beef, as part of the National School Lunch Program, was sent to schools in at least 36 states, and the rest was purchased by wholesale food companies. The recall at the California plant, which is owned by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., is not the first such case, though it is the largest. In fact, the United States just completed what is arguably the worst year for beef safety in its history. In 2007, there were 21 beef recalls nationwide for possible E. coli contamination, the most in five years; the amount of beef recalled—33.4 million pounds—was a new record. In many of the cases in 2007, the reason for the recall was remarkably similar to the current one: The workers at the plant allegedly didn't communicate information to the government, and the government took action only after the meat was already in the grocery store or consumed. One notable example: the recall of 21.7 million pounds of meat in September by Topps Meat, now out of business, for possible E. coli problems. Prior to the recall, Topps reportedly reduced the frequency of its safety inspections but failed to notify USDA officials....
USDA: More than a third of recalled beef went to schools Federal authorities say more than a third of the 143 million pounds of beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs. And, they say at least 20 million pounds of that has been eaten. Officials say they still don't know all the places the meat wound up. The USDA shut down the California-based company that produced the meat after the Humane Society released undercover video from its plant. The video showed workers kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses. The USDA says the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company produces 20 percent of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs....
USDA Urged to Disclose Where Recalled Meat Was Sold In a letter to the Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, seven consumer groups yesterday urged the USDA to issue an emergency rule to allow the agency to identify all of the outlets that purchased recalled ground beef from the Hallmark/Westland company. The groups also urged the agency to finish a long delayed rule change that would require the agency to list retailers that sold recalled meat and poultry products in official recall announcements. Consumer groups have for years been urging the agency to release the identify of “retail consignees”, pointing out that consumers need more than just a code found in the fine print on a meat package –– they need to know what stores carry the product to increase the odds that they heed the recall notice and don’t eat possibly dangerous products. A USDA rule to make this change has been in the works for two years and, according to the agency, is now stuck in the departmental review process....
25 area schools have recalled beef on hand Twenty-five schools in The Daily Republic coverage area have reported that they still are in possession of ground beef that is part of a nationwide recall. State Department of Education spokeswoman Mary Stadick Smith said that overall, 121 out of 220 schools in the state report having received, and still have on hand, some of the beef from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant in Chino, Calif. She estimates that there are 650 cases, 40 pounds each, statewide. The amount of meat still at each school varies. “South Dakota has received USDA-donated beef from Westland Meat Company for two years,” Stadick Smith said. “It is likely that almost every school food authority has received USDA donated beef from Westland Meat Company over that time.” The 143 million pounds of recalled meat from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant must be destroyed following strict USDA procedures. The USDA ordered the recall after receiving evidence that the slaughterhouse did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection. There have been no reports of illnesses in South Dakota school systems related to the recalled beef, Stadick Smith said....
Burger-free and bummed-out Where's the beef? The old catchphrase from a 1980s Wendy's ad campaign has found a 21st-century reprise. Chicken, pizza and yet more chicken have replaced beef on lunch plates in school cafeterias across California in the wake of a national recall of meat from a Southern California distributor accused of animal abuse. "I'm not the biggest fan of chicken," said Anthony Castro, 13, an eighth-grader at Burnett Academy in North San Jose as he chowed down Wednesday on a chicken quesadilla. "But there are not that many options." For two weeks now - even before Sunday's recall of beef from the Westland Meat Co. - public schools have not served any ground beef. Westland, a major supplier to the National School Lunch Program, is under investigation for allegedly abusing sick cattle before slaughter. Health officials say use of meat from sick animals increases the risk of exposure to mad cow disease and E. coli. After hearing the news reports of the animal abuse, state schools chief Jack O'Connell on Jan. 31 ordered public schools to stop serving all ground beef until further notice. Because of the federal recall, schools must now destroy the meat....
Cowboys for Hire Some ranch owners in Hidalgo County say they're being over billed for livestock that gets loose, the county has cowboys for hire, but ranch owners say there needs to be some sort of regulation for the fees they charge. When livestock gets loose in Hidalgo County authorities call in cowboys for hire, cowboys who round up the animals and returning them to their owners for a fee. Tony Arroyo, a rancher who has had animals have gotten loose from his property, tells us the fees need to be regulated. He believes ranchers are being more than they should at times. Teo Martinez, one of the county's cowboys for hire, tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 aren't much better for him either, there's been instances when customers can't afford to pay him, so he's forced to keep the animals and sell to make sure his fees are covered. A Texas Ranger who is assigned to cattle rustling and other livestock crimes is looking into a solution....
'Judas Horse' by April Smith IN two previous thrillers, FBI Special Agent Ana Grey stalked criminals through the same neighborhoods around Santa Monica where she'd been raised by her grandfather. Among the highlights of those books -- "North of Montana" and "Good Morning, Killer" -- were the spot-on observations about daily Los Angeles life, the keen glimpses of parallel cultures that coexist on the same streets without much connection. The third novel in the series by April Smith, "Judas Horse," also begins in Los Angeles, but its narrative propels Ana out of her native territory into a dizzying new world. This time the bureau is sending her on an undercover assignment to infiltrate a terrorist cell in the Pacific Northwest. After a rigorous stint in undercover school at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Ana assumes a new identity: that of a scruffy, down-and-out animal rights sympathizer named Darcy DeGuzman. As Darcy, armed only with a phony driver's license and a specially designed Oreo-sized cellphone for contact with former partner Mike Donnato, who will serve as her "handler," she heads to Portland to begin her mission. Agent Crawford had been working undercover to infiltrate a radical group called FAN, for "Free Animals Now." It's a covert collection of ecoterrorists, linked to increasingly violent anarchist activity throughout the Northwest and probably serving as a front for a larger, looser amalgamation of assorted extremists. FAN operates through intimidation, with a particular fondness for firebombing institutions that insult its live-free-or-die ideology. The FBI's latest intelligence suggests that FAN's current target is a mid-level bureaucrat at the Bureau of Land Management named Herbert Laumann, whom FAN accuses of mismanaging herds of wild mustangs protected by federal law....
Riders Recreate Life On The Cracker Trail What sounded like the rapid snapping of cap pistols filled the air on Wednesday, while students at Cracker Trail Elementary School responded by cheering wildly. Nearby, more than 140 horses took their fill of water, while some seemed spooked by the clamor of more than 200 appreciative children, amid the loud snapping. The elementary school is a regular stop on the 120-mile-long Cracker Trail Ride. Some had never seen a horse or heard the "crack" of the whips made by cowboys and cowgirls. The event brought history home to kindergarten through fifth-graders and gave them insight into the school's name. Eighteen-year old Kaylelyn Pella, of Lorida, participated in her second Cracker Trail Ride and enjoyed "cracking" a whip during an outdoor demonstration for students. Some of more than 140 cowpokes explained about long range trail riders who drove cattle, and then demonstrated with their whips why the cowboys were called "Florida Crackers."....
Mass. vegan competes in ‘Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door’ contest Lettuce be clear: Matthew Pidge may be sexy, but don’t call him “beefcake.” It’s not that he’s scrawny, but as he is a vegan, the remark isn’t exactly fitting. Pidge, 23, a Brookline resident, doesn’t consume or wear any animal products or by-products as part of his lifestyle, which is how he got to be a finalist in PETA’s “Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door” nationwide contest. Although Pidge was knocked out in the first round, which ended on Feb. 19, the future vegan restaurateur said he’ll “keep up the advocacy work” and hopes to volunteer on an organic farm. His flat abs, blue-green eyes and smooth olive skin made him a solid contender in the contest, but the Lexington native said those things have nothing to do with why he believes he is one of the sexiest herbivores in America. “[It’s] that I’m a vegan, that it’s just my compassion for animals,” said Pidge, a Longwood Avenue resident. “Being a compassionate person is really sexy.” The Web contest run by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is divided into separate competitions for men and women....Posted for Jimmy Bason, who has announced he will enter the contest.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Biofuels Are Bad for Feeding People and Combating Climate Change Converting corn to ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of the Amazonian rainforest, researchers report in a pair of new studies in Science, but also would do little to slow global warming—and often make it worse. "Prior analyses made an accounting error," says one study's lead author, Tim Searchinger, an agricultural expert at Princeton University. "There is a huge imbalance between the carbon lost by plowing up a hectare [2.47 acres] of forest or grassland from the benefit you get from biofuels." Growing plants store carbon in their roots, shoots and leaves. As a result, the world's plants and the soil in which they grow contain nearly three times as much carbon as the entire atmosphere. "I know when I look at a tree that half the dry weight of it is carbon," says ecologist David Tilman of the University of Minnesota, coauthor of the other study which examined the "carbon debt" embedded in any biofuel. "That's going to end up as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when you cut it down." Tilman and his colleagues examined the overall CO2 released when land use changes occur. Converting the grasslands of the U.S. to grow corn results in excess greenhouse gas emissions of 134 metric tons of CO2 per hectare—a debt that would take 93 years to repay by replacing gasoline with corn-based ethanol. And converting jungles to palm plantations or tropical rainforest to soy fields would take centuries to pay back their carbon debts. "Any biofuel that causes land clearing is likely to increase global warming," says ecologist Joseph Fargione of The Nature Conservancy, lead author of the second study. "It takes decades to centuries to repay the carbon debt that is created from clearing land." Diverting food crops into fuel production leads to ever more land clearing as well. Ethanol demand in the U.S., for example, has caused some farmers to plant more corn and less soy. This has driven up soy prices causing farmers in Brazil to clear more Amazon rainforest land to plant valuable soy, Searchinger's study notes. Because a soy field contains far less carbon than a rainforest, the greenhouse gas benefit of the original ethanol is wiped out. "Corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20 percent savings [in greenhouse gas emissions], nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years," the researchers write. "We can't get to a result with corn ethanol where we can generate greenhouse gas benefits," Searchinger adds....
Who's Really To Blame For $100 Oil A refinery burns in Texas while politicians fiddle in Washington. As oil goes over $100 a barrel, we don't have to worry about Hugo Chavez restricting supply. We have the Democrats in Congress to do that. Suppose you had a ton of money sitting in your bank account but you decided to max out your credit cards anyway. That's the energy policy of the United States as fashioned by the Democrat-controlled Senate. At these prices, we have a trillion dollars worth of oil sitting under a section of frozen tundra the size of Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. We could go get it. Instead we prefer to shovel billions of our dollars to thugs like Chavez while the same politicians who lock up our domestic energy praise him when he offers "cheap" home heating oil to states in the Northeast. Chavez has said he's changed his mind about cutting off supplies to the U.S., but it's because he'd have a hard time selling Venezuela's heavy crude — which requires special refining — anywhere else. He's not doing us any favors. Unfortunately, neither is the U.S. Senate. Oil futures closed above $100 for the first time Tuesday after Monday's explosion at Alon USA's refinery in Big Spring, Texas. It could be shuttered for two months. Yet NIMBYs won't let new refineries be built, and the greenies won't let the domestic oil be refined....
Who's Really To Blame For $100 Oil A refinery burns in Texas while politicians fiddle in Washington. As oil goes over $100 a barrel, we don't have to worry about Hugo Chavez restricting supply. We have the Democrats in Congress to do that. Suppose you had a ton of money sitting in your bank account but you decided to max out your credit cards anyway. That's the energy policy of the United States as fashioned by the Democrat-controlled Senate. At these prices, we have a trillion dollars worth of oil sitting under a section of frozen tundra the size of Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. We could go get it. Instead we prefer to shovel billions of our dollars to thugs like Chavez while the same politicians who lock up our domestic energy praise him when he offers "cheap" home heating oil to states in the Northeast. Chavez has said he's changed his mind about cutting off supplies to the U.S., but it's because he'd have a hard time selling Venezuela's heavy crude — which requires special refining — anywhere else. He's not doing us any favors. Unfortunately, neither is the U.S. Senate. Oil futures closed above $100 for the first time Tuesday after Monday's explosion at Alon USA's refinery in Big Spring, Texas. It could be shuttered for two months. Yet NIMBYs won't let new refineries be built, and the greenies won't let the domestic oil be refined....
Utility proposes first US coal-fired plant to capture CO2 US energy company Tenaska announced Tuesday a proposal for a new 600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Texas that would be the first to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground. The privately held company proposed a site near Sweetwater, Texas, where its plan would capture up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide would be sold for use in oil production in the Permian Basin, resulting in geologic storage. Tenaska filed a request for a state permit for the plant, whose cost was estimated at three billion dollars, but said a final decision to proceed would be made in 2009 depending on incentives, costs and prices for electricity and CO2. If built, the plant would be the first commercial coal-fired plant, other than small research projects, to capture and provide for storage of CO2, according to Tenaska....
Challenging Indian Land Trusts Across Indian country, two things are never in short supply: rich natural resources and endemic poverty. That paradox is driving a longstanding battle between indigenous people and the government trust that holds money generated from their lands. The class-action lawsuit, Cobell v. Kempthorne, targets a federal trust fund that handles revenues from activities like oil drilling and logging on land owned by individual Indians and tribes. The trust’s financial operations—covering more than 56 million acres and dating back for more than a century—have left a spectacularly messy paper trail. Many beneficiaries say they are in the dark about how much has been paid out and what is still owed, and charge that the system has drained wealth from Indian communities. “We know that the government collected our money, but it hasn’t been paid to us as individual Indian beneficiaries,” says Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Nation member who initiated the suit in 1996 on behalf of several hundred thousand account holders. The battle is finally drawing to a close. On Jan. 30, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the trust’s finances are beyond salvaging. Calling for a settlement, he denounced the Interior Department’s “unrepaired, and irreparable, breach of its fiduciary duty over the last century.”....
Climate Change Forecasters on the Hot Seat More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to sound the alarm over the possibility that global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to study and better understand this potential threat. The IPCC’s mission was to provide a “comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socio-economic assessment of human-caused climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.” IPCC reports have predicted that average world temperatures will increase dramatically, leading to the spread of tropical diseases, severe drought, the rapid melting of the world’s glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. Congress is considering proposals to slow rising temperatures by joining international agreements or by implementing policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, several assessments have shown that the techniques and methods used to derive and verify the IPCC’s climate predictions are fundamentally flawed. They indicate that the IPCC’s central claims — that the present warming trend is unusual, caused by human activities and will result in serious harm — are not supported by scientific forecasts. Rather, these claims are opinions that are no more likely to be right than wrong....
Study finds human medicines altering marine biology Sewage-treatment plants in Southern California are failing to remove hormones and hormone-altering chemicals from water that gets flushed into coastal ocean waters, according to the results of a study released Saturday. The preliminary findings were part of the most ambitious study to date on the effect of emerging chemical contaminants in coastal oceans. It confirms the findings of smaller pilot studies from 2005 that discovered male fish in the ocean were developing female characteristics, and broadened the scope of the earlier studies by looking at an array of man-made contaminants in widespread tests of seawater, seafloor sediment and hundreds of fish caught off Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The results, outlined by a Southern California toxicologist at a conference in Boston, reveal that a veritable drugstore of pharmaceuticals and beauty products, flame retardants and plastic additives are ending up in the ocean and appear to be working their way up the marine food chain....
Oil Closes Over $100 for 1st Time The price of crude oil closed over $100 for the first time yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rattling stock markets and marking a milestone in the relentless rise in petroleum prices over the past five years. The high oil price, which rivals the inflation-adjusted peak set during the early days of the Iran-Iraq war nearly three decades ago, has drained cash from the pockets of consumers just when the slowing economy could use a spending boost. And it reinforced fears that oil prices, which have long fluctuated with political and economic cycles, may never again drop to past levels. The price hit a new high of $100.10 a barrel before settling at $100.01 a barrel, up $4.51, when the market closed at 2:30 p.m. The price in late electronic trading dropped only slightly, to $99.99 a barrel....
Western wolf delisting looms The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to make what is certain to be a historic and equally controversial move regarding the management of wolves in the Northern Rockies sometime next week. As early as Thursday, Feb. 28, the FWS will publish a delisting notice for the Western gray wolf in the U.S. Federal Register, Northern Rockies representative of Defenders of Wildlife Suzanne Stone said Sunday. Under the delisting notice, which won't take effect until 30 days after it's published, gray wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming would lose their protected status under the federal Endangered Species Act. The delisting proposal will also extend to the eastern thirds of Washington and Oregon as well as a small portion of north-central Utah. Defenders of Wildlife and other groups plan to sue to stop the delisting. Depending on the success of those appeals, management oversight for gray wolves may be in the hands of state wildlife agencies as soon as this spring, which in turn could mean the beginning of an Idaho wolf hunt as early as this fall....
Feds, state reach agreement to conserve tiny Arizona snail State and federal wildlife officials have drafted an agreement to conserve a tiny snail that lives primarily in springs within a small area along Oak Creek. The Page springsnail - a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection - is vulnerable because its available habitats are small and isolated, the introduction of nonnative species such as crayfish, and spring flow changes resulting from groundwater pumping. Officials don't know exactly how many of these snails still exist, but in a free-flowing spring, they have found as many as 3,000 per square meter. The draft agreement identifies ways to ensure that the Game and Fish Department's management of its Page Springs and Bubbling Springs fish hatcheries will minimize the loss of resident Page springsnails and the impacts on their habitat....So, if the snail does eventually get listed, will it shut down the two state-run fish hatcheries? Just wondering.
Rally protests abuse of eminent domain About 90 people, several of whom have been on the blunt end of condemnation proceedings, rallied under snowy skies in Civic Center on Sunday to hold a tailgate party against what they see as government abuse of eminent domain. They spoke about cases in Commerce City, Boulder, Lakewood and Denver, but the thread that ran through their talk was concern over the way in which cities and agencies such as RTD acquire property by condemning it. The rally - which featured a pig roast - was sponsored by the Colorado Property Rights Coalition. Several people spoke in favor of House Bill 1178, a proposal that would prohibit RTD from condemning homes and businesses for commercial development....
Rainbow People forced to move from Ocala National Forest Dirty Momma just wants to protect the land. That's why the 31-year-old Florida woman, known outside Rainbow gatherings as April Hendry, didn't resist the U.S. Forest Service's effort to force her and hundreds of other free spirits from Duck Pond, though many did. "We love the Earth," Hendry said, surrounded by other barefoot and bedraggled campers in tie-dye. Forest officials estimate the annual gathering will draw 600 Rainbow Family members this year but could swell to 1,500 if the weekend weather is good. The federal agency, in charge of managing and protecting the 383,000-acre forest, has increased its law-enforcement presence to 11 officers, more than twice as many as usual....
Foresters to redo impact statement of Wolf Creek plan Developers of the proposed 10,000-person Village at Wolf Creek, project opponents and the U.S. Forest Service agreed Tuesday that foresters will redo their environmental impact statement. Environmental groups sued the agency in April 2006 over its authorization of two access roads across public lands to billionaire Red McCombs' acreage adjoining the small ski area atop Wolf Creek Pass in southwestern Colorado. U.S. District Judge John Kane issued a preliminary injunction Oct. 4, 2007, to halt the development until he ruled on the adequacy of the EIS. Rather than wait, the parties agreed Tuesday to a new EIS. Ryan Bidwell of Colorado Wild called it "a tremendous victory for the environment."
Forest Service wants information on Ojo Peak Fire U.S. Forest Service investigators have formally ruled that last November’s Ojo Peak Fire in the Manzano Mountains was human-caused. The Albuquerque zone dispatch office is asking for help from anyone who might have seen people or vehicles at the Pine Shadow Trail area or the south end of the Crest Trail the weekend of Nov. 17-18. The 6,969-acre blaze destroyed three homes and some outbuildings and forced the evacuations of some ranches and 75 to 100 homes in the villages of Manzano and Punta del Agua. The Forest Service says it eventually could have threatened a popular attraction at the head of Tajique Canyon, the largest stand of Rocky Mountain large tooth maples in New Mexico.
EPA slams new plan for Sublette gas field The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency excoriated a plan for more wells on the Pinedale Anticline last week, citing deficiencies in the analysis of the effects of development on air quality and ground water. In a letter Feb. 14, EPA regional administrator Robert E. Roberts gave a revised draft EIS a rating of “3,” which means the study has a label of “environmentally unsatisfactory-inadequate information.” He said the rating “indicates EPA’s belief that the [draft environmental impact statement] is not adequate for purposes of our ... review, and thus, should be formally revised and made available for public comment in a supplemental or revised Draft EIS.” “The impacts are of sufficient magnitude that the proposed action should not proceed as proposed,” Roberts said. Further, the rating makes the project a candidate for referral to the Council for Environmental Quality, which is a White House watchdog on compliance with environmental laws. The EPA letter comes in respsonse to the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal for two options to develop 4,399 new wells on 12,278 acres of the Pinedale Anticline, late last year....
Group plans to sue feds over elk-killing plan A wolf-advocacy group said it will sue Rocky Mountain National Park over its decision to hire sharpshooters to kill up to 200 elk a year at the park as a way to handle overpopulation. A WildEarth Guardians officer said Monday that federal officials didn't take a fair look at introducing wolves to the park as an alternate way to keep the elk population down. Elk -- there are an estimated 2,000 in the park -- are destroying aspen and willows in large stretches on the eastern part of the Continental Divide, threatening to decimate large areas of the riverbank ecosystem. The Park Service says shooting elk will be part of a plan that also includes fences, restoring trees and redistributing the elk. But Rob Edward, director for carnivore recovery for the Santa Fe, N.M.-based WildEarth Guardians, said 30 or 40 wolves could accomplish the same goals in a more natural way....
Mysterious Creatures Found in Antarctica Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths. Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before. Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand. "Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates." The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies....
Judge asked to stop older Canadian cattle imports Lawyers representing cattle, consumer and health interests urged a federal judge Tuesday to stop imports of older Canadian cattle because of the potential threat of mad cow disease. An attorney for the government countered that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol should not grant the preliminary injunction, saying rules and changes in the industry adequately protect American animals, people and markets. The lawsuit, filed last fall in federal court in South Dakota, seeks to suspend a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that went into effect Nov. 19 allowing Canadian cattle more than 30 months old into the U.S. market. The change exposes consumers to a fatal disease linked to eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, increases the risk that U.S. cattle would be infected with the disease, and could harm the U.S. cattle market, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, or R-CALF; United Stockgrowers of America, based in Billings, Mont.; South Dakota Stockgrowers Association; four South Dakota cattle ranchers; the Center for Food Safety; the Consumer Federation of America; the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation; and Food & Water Watch....
Warehouses Nibble on Edge of Giant California Ranch Anyone who has traveled between Los Angeles and San Francisco along Interstate 5 has driven along the western flank of Tejon Ranch, a vast expanse of luminous oak-studded hills that divides the southern and central portions of the state. Occupying about 270,000 acres, or 426 square miles, Tejon Ranch, named for the Spanish word for badger, is the largest contiguous parcel of privately owned land in California. More than a century and a half after it was consolidated from four ranches created through Mexican land grants, Tejon is still a working farm and ranch, where cattle graze and wine grapes, almonds, pistachios and walnuts are grown. In recent years, however, as executives of the publicly held Tejon Ranch Company have sought to diversify the ranch’s economic activity, three giant warehouses have sprouted near the freeway. The largest, with 1.7 million square feet, serves all of Ikea’s furniture stores from San Diego to Vancouver....
Acclaimed cowboy film comes to town The cowboys are coming to town. "Cracker, the Last Cowboys of Florida," a film created by acclaimed filmmaker Victor Milt, will have three public showings Saturday at the Arbor Reception and Banquet Hall at 111 West Oak St., Arcadia. "Cracker" is an enlarged sequel to Milt's film "The Cowboys of Florida," which is a 36-minute film that won three national awards and was a finalist at the Palm Beach Film Festival. It was chosen as one of the 10 best films at the festival. But Milt said he did not feel "The Cowboys of Florida" told the whole story about Florida cowboys and their struggle to avoid extinction as development closes in. He had researched Florida cowboys and Florida cow culture for four years and had accumulated more film footage than he could use in that first short film about Florida cowboys. Milt said he was approached by a group of ranchers in the area who asked him to expand the film and tell the whole story of the cowboys in Southwest Florida. He added that they offered to help with the financing. So "Cracker" was born. "It is still a film about Florida cowboys and what is happening to them," said Mack Martin, an Arcadia Realtor and one of Milt's longtime promoters. "But it's more of a message film. It has a message for the entire world about the plight of Florida cowboys and how they are in danger of being swept away by development and loss of rural land. Cowboy work habits and their lifestyles date back to the time the Spaniards landed in Florida. Victor Milt has captured those forces and those pressures that are impacting the Florida cowboys. That is what 'Cracker' is all about."....
Challenging Indian Land Trusts Across Indian country, two things are never in short supply: rich natural resources and endemic poverty. That paradox is driving a longstanding battle between indigenous people and the government trust that holds money generated from their lands. The class-action lawsuit, Cobell v. Kempthorne, targets a federal trust fund that handles revenues from activities like oil drilling and logging on land owned by individual Indians and tribes. The trust’s financial operations—covering more than 56 million acres and dating back for more than a century—have left a spectacularly messy paper trail. Many beneficiaries say they are in the dark about how much has been paid out and what is still owed, and charge that the system has drained wealth from Indian communities. “We know that the government collected our money, but it hasn’t been paid to us as individual Indian beneficiaries,” says Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Nation member who initiated the suit in 1996 on behalf of several hundred thousand account holders. The battle is finally drawing to a close. On Jan. 30, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the trust’s finances are beyond salvaging. Calling for a settlement, he denounced the Interior Department’s “unrepaired, and irreparable, breach of its fiduciary duty over the last century.”....
Climate Change Forecasters on the Hot Seat More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to sound the alarm over the possibility that global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to study and better understand this potential threat. The IPCC’s mission was to provide a “comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socio-economic assessment of human-caused climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.” IPCC reports have predicted that average world temperatures will increase dramatically, leading to the spread of tropical diseases, severe drought, the rapid melting of the world’s glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. Congress is considering proposals to slow rising temperatures by joining international agreements or by implementing policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, several assessments have shown that the techniques and methods used to derive and verify the IPCC’s climate predictions are fundamentally flawed. They indicate that the IPCC’s central claims — that the present warming trend is unusual, caused by human activities and will result in serious harm — are not supported by scientific forecasts. Rather, these claims are opinions that are no more likely to be right than wrong....
Study finds human medicines altering marine biology Sewage-treatment plants in Southern California are failing to remove hormones and hormone-altering chemicals from water that gets flushed into coastal ocean waters, according to the results of a study released Saturday. The preliminary findings were part of the most ambitious study to date on the effect of emerging chemical contaminants in coastal oceans. It confirms the findings of smaller pilot studies from 2005 that discovered male fish in the ocean were developing female characteristics, and broadened the scope of the earlier studies by looking at an array of man-made contaminants in widespread tests of seawater, seafloor sediment and hundreds of fish caught off Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The results, outlined by a Southern California toxicologist at a conference in Boston, reveal that a veritable drugstore of pharmaceuticals and beauty products, flame retardants and plastic additives are ending up in the ocean and appear to be working their way up the marine food chain....
Oil Closes Over $100 for 1st Time The price of crude oil closed over $100 for the first time yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rattling stock markets and marking a milestone in the relentless rise in petroleum prices over the past five years. The high oil price, which rivals the inflation-adjusted peak set during the early days of the Iran-Iraq war nearly three decades ago, has drained cash from the pockets of consumers just when the slowing economy could use a spending boost. And it reinforced fears that oil prices, which have long fluctuated with political and economic cycles, may never again drop to past levels. The price hit a new high of $100.10 a barrel before settling at $100.01 a barrel, up $4.51, when the market closed at 2:30 p.m. The price in late electronic trading dropped only slightly, to $99.99 a barrel....
Western wolf delisting looms The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to make what is certain to be a historic and equally controversial move regarding the management of wolves in the Northern Rockies sometime next week. As early as Thursday, Feb. 28, the FWS will publish a delisting notice for the Western gray wolf in the U.S. Federal Register, Northern Rockies representative of Defenders of Wildlife Suzanne Stone said Sunday. Under the delisting notice, which won't take effect until 30 days after it's published, gray wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming would lose their protected status under the federal Endangered Species Act. The delisting proposal will also extend to the eastern thirds of Washington and Oregon as well as a small portion of north-central Utah. Defenders of Wildlife and other groups plan to sue to stop the delisting. Depending on the success of those appeals, management oversight for gray wolves may be in the hands of state wildlife agencies as soon as this spring, which in turn could mean the beginning of an Idaho wolf hunt as early as this fall....
Feds, state reach agreement to conserve tiny Arizona snail State and federal wildlife officials have drafted an agreement to conserve a tiny snail that lives primarily in springs within a small area along Oak Creek. The Page springsnail - a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection - is vulnerable because its available habitats are small and isolated, the introduction of nonnative species such as crayfish, and spring flow changes resulting from groundwater pumping. Officials don't know exactly how many of these snails still exist, but in a free-flowing spring, they have found as many as 3,000 per square meter. The draft agreement identifies ways to ensure that the Game and Fish Department's management of its Page Springs and Bubbling Springs fish hatcheries will minimize the loss of resident Page springsnails and the impacts on their habitat....So, if the snail does eventually get listed, will it shut down the two state-run fish hatcheries? Just wondering.
Rally protests abuse of eminent domain About 90 people, several of whom have been on the blunt end of condemnation proceedings, rallied under snowy skies in Civic Center on Sunday to hold a tailgate party against what they see as government abuse of eminent domain. They spoke about cases in Commerce City, Boulder, Lakewood and Denver, but the thread that ran through their talk was concern over the way in which cities and agencies such as RTD acquire property by condemning it. The rally - which featured a pig roast - was sponsored by the Colorado Property Rights Coalition. Several people spoke in favor of House Bill 1178, a proposal that would prohibit RTD from condemning homes and businesses for commercial development....
Rainbow People forced to move from Ocala National Forest Dirty Momma just wants to protect the land. That's why the 31-year-old Florida woman, known outside Rainbow gatherings as April Hendry, didn't resist the U.S. Forest Service's effort to force her and hundreds of other free spirits from Duck Pond, though many did. "We love the Earth," Hendry said, surrounded by other barefoot and bedraggled campers in tie-dye. Forest officials estimate the annual gathering will draw 600 Rainbow Family members this year but could swell to 1,500 if the weekend weather is good. The federal agency, in charge of managing and protecting the 383,000-acre forest, has increased its law-enforcement presence to 11 officers, more than twice as many as usual....
Foresters to redo impact statement of Wolf Creek plan Developers of the proposed 10,000-person Village at Wolf Creek, project opponents and the U.S. Forest Service agreed Tuesday that foresters will redo their environmental impact statement. Environmental groups sued the agency in April 2006 over its authorization of two access roads across public lands to billionaire Red McCombs' acreage adjoining the small ski area atop Wolf Creek Pass in southwestern Colorado. U.S. District Judge John Kane issued a preliminary injunction Oct. 4, 2007, to halt the development until he ruled on the adequacy of the EIS. Rather than wait, the parties agreed Tuesday to a new EIS. Ryan Bidwell of Colorado Wild called it "a tremendous victory for the environment."
Forest Service wants information on Ojo Peak Fire U.S. Forest Service investigators have formally ruled that last November’s Ojo Peak Fire in the Manzano Mountains was human-caused. The Albuquerque zone dispatch office is asking for help from anyone who might have seen people or vehicles at the Pine Shadow Trail area or the south end of the Crest Trail the weekend of Nov. 17-18. The 6,969-acre blaze destroyed three homes and some outbuildings and forced the evacuations of some ranches and 75 to 100 homes in the villages of Manzano and Punta del Agua. The Forest Service says it eventually could have threatened a popular attraction at the head of Tajique Canyon, the largest stand of Rocky Mountain large tooth maples in New Mexico.
EPA slams new plan for Sublette gas field The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency excoriated a plan for more wells on the Pinedale Anticline last week, citing deficiencies in the analysis of the effects of development on air quality and ground water. In a letter Feb. 14, EPA regional administrator Robert E. Roberts gave a revised draft EIS a rating of “3,” which means the study has a label of “environmentally unsatisfactory-inadequate information.” He said the rating “indicates EPA’s belief that the [draft environmental impact statement] is not adequate for purposes of our ... review, and thus, should be formally revised and made available for public comment in a supplemental or revised Draft EIS.” “The impacts are of sufficient magnitude that the proposed action should not proceed as proposed,” Roberts said. Further, the rating makes the project a candidate for referral to the Council for Environmental Quality, which is a White House watchdog on compliance with environmental laws. The EPA letter comes in respsonse to the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal for two options to develop 4,399 new wells on 12,278 acres of the Pinedale Anticline, late last year....
Group plans to sue feds over elk-killing plan A wolf-advocacy group said it will sue Rocky Mountain National Park over its decision to hire sharpshooters to kill up to 200 elk a year at the park as a way to handle overpopulation. A WildEarth Guardians officer said Monday that federal officials didn't take a fair look at introducing wolves to the park as an alternate way to keep the elk population down. Elk -- there are an estimated 2,000 in the park -- are destroying aspen and willows in large stretches on the eastern part of the Continental Divide, threatening to decimate large areas of the riverbank ecosystem. The Park Service says shooting elk will be part of a plan that also includes fences, restoring trees and redistributing the elk. But Rob Edward, director for carnivore recovery for the Santa Fe, N.M.-based WildEarth Guardians, said 30 or 40 wolves could accomplish the same goals in a more natural way....
Mysterious Creatures Found in Antarctica Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths. Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before. Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand. "Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates." The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies....
Judge asked to stop older Canadian cattle imports Lawyers representing cattle, consumer and health interests urged a federal judge Tuesday to stop imports of older Canadian cattle because of the potential threat of mad cow disease. An attorney for the government countered that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol should not grant the preliminary injunction, saying rules and changes in the industry adequately protect American animals, people and markets. The lawsuit, filed last fall in federal court in South Dakota, seeks to suspend a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that went into effect Nov. 19 allowing Canadian cattle more than 30 months old into the U.S. market. The change exposes consumers to a fatal disease linked to eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, increases the risk that U.S. cattle would be infected with the disease, and could harm the U.S. cattle market, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, or R-CALF; United Stockgrowers of America, based in Billings, Mont.; South Dakota Stockgrowers Association; four South Dakota cattle ranchers; the Center for Food Safety; the Consumer Federation of America; the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation; and Food & Water Watch....
Warehouses Nibble on Edge of Giant California Ranch Anyone who has traveled between Los Angeles and San Francisco along Interstate 5 has driven along the western flank of Tejon Ranch, a vast expanse of luminous oak-studded hills that divides the southern and central portions of the state. Occupying about 270,000 acres, or 426 square miles, Tejon Ranch, named for the Spanish word for badger, is the largest contiguous parcel of privately owned land in California. More than a century and a half after it was consolidated from four ranches created through Mexican land grants, Tejon is still a working farm and ranch, where cattle graze and wine grapes, almonds, pistachios and walnuts are grown. In recent years, however, as executives of the publicly held Tejon Ranch Company have sought to diversify the ranch’s economic activity, three giant warehouses have sprouted near the freeway. The largest, with 1.7 million square feet, serves all of Ikea’s furniture stores from San Diego to Vancouver....
Acclaimed cowboy film comes to town The cowboys are coming to town. "Cracker, the Last Cowboys of Florida," a film created by acclaimed filmmaker Victor Milt, will have three public showings Saturday at the Arbor Reception and Banquet Hall at 111 West Oak St., Arcadia. "Cracker" is an enlarged sequel to Milt's film "The Cowboys of Florida," which is a 36-minute film that won three national awards and was a finalist at the Palm Beach Film Festival. It was chosen as one of the 10 best films at the festival. But Milt said he did not feel "The Cowboys of Florida" told the whole story about Florida cowboys and their struggle to avoid extinction as development closes in. He had researched Florida cowboys and Florida cow culture for four years and had accumulated more film footage than he could use in that first short film about Florida cowboys. Milt said he was approached by a group of ranchers in the area who asked him to expand the film and tell the whole story of the cowboys in Southwest Florida. He added that they offered to help with the financing. So "Cracker" was born. "It is still a film about Florida cowboys and what is happening to them," said Mack Martin, an Arcadia Realtor and one of Milt's longtime promoters. "But it's more of a message film. It has a message for the entire world about the plight of Florida cowboys and how they are in danger of being swept away by development and loss of rural land. Cowboy work habits and their lifestyles date back to the time the Spaniards landed in Florida. Victor Milt has captured those forces and those pressures that are impacting the Florida cowboys. That is what 'Cracker' is all about."....
FLE
Court Rejects ACLU Challenge to Wiretaps The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to civil rights and privacy advocates who oppose the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The justices, without comment, turned down an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union to let it pursue a lawsuit against the program that began shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The action underscored the difficulty of mounting a challenge to the eavesdropping, which remains classified and was confirmed by President Bush only after a newspaper article revealed its existence. "It's very disturbing that the president's actions will go unremarked upon by the court," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project. "In our view, it shouldn't be left to executive branch officials alone to determine the limits." The Terrorist Surveillance Program no longer exists, although the administration has maintained it was legal. The ACLU sued on behalf of itself, other lawyers, reporters and scholars, arguing that the program was illegal and that they had been forced to alter how they communicate with foreigners who were likely to have been targets of the wiretapping. A federal judge in Detroit largely agreed, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs could not prove their communications had been monitored and thus could not prove they had been harmed by the program....
Invisible dots left by printers 'breach privacy' Most consumers are unaware that many popular colour laser printers, including those made by Brother, Cannon, Xerox and HP, embed almost invisible tracking dots onto documents, uniquely identifying the machine that printed them. Franco Frattini, European Commissioner for Justice and Security, has launched an investigation after receiving official complaints from Euro-MPs. "To the extent that individuals may be identified through material printed or copied using certain equipment, such processing may give rise to the violation of fundamental human rights, namely the right to privacy and private life," he said. "It also might violate the right to protection of personal data." Satu Hari, a Finnish Euro-MP, has taken up the issue of "forensic tracking mechanisms" after consumers "unsuccessfully asked manufacturers to disable this function". She has highlighted research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) finding that technology originally designed to prevent currency counterfeiting might end up as catch-all tool for general surveillance....
A Sure-Fire Argument on the Second Amendment With the Supreme Court’s decision to examine the constitutionality of D.C.’s gun ban, the nation once again turns to an intense examination of the wording of the Second Amendment. One way to understand an amendment whose words have confused generations is to study its somewhat confusing text. But another way is to examine at whose request the amendment was written. For example, if 200 years from now constitutional scholars are trying to determine whether the Smith Tax Act of 2008 increased or decreased the taxes Social Security recipients paid on their retirement income, knowing that the act came into being as the result of pressure from AARP would pretty much end that debate. This, then, is a vital question when seeking to understand the Second Amendment. For if you know the context in which the Amendment was written, if you know for whom it was written, if you know who was clamoring for it and what were their concerns, then that can help settle any argument of individual rights versus collective rights....
Court Rejects ACLU Challenge to Wiretaps The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to civil rights and privacy advocates who oppose the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The justices, without comment, turned down an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union to let it pursue a lawsuit against the program that began shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The action underscored the difficulty of mounting a challenge to the eavesdropping, which remains classified and was confirmed by President Bush only after a newspaper article revealed its existence. "It's very disturbing that the president's actions will go unremarked upon by the court," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project. "In our view, it shouldn't be left to executive branch officials alone to determine the limits." The Terrorist Surveillance Program no longer exists, although the administration has maintained it was legal. The ACLU sued on behalf of itself, other lawyers, reporters and scholars, arguing that the program was illegal and that they had been forced to alter how they communicate with foreigners who were likely to have been targets of the wiretapping. A federal judge in Detroit largely agreed, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs could not prove their communications had been monitored and thus could not prove they had been harmed by the program....
Invisible dots left by printers 'breach privacy' Most consumers are unaware that many popular colour laser printers, including those made by Brother, Cannon, Xerox and HP, embed almost invisible tracking dots onto documents, uniquely identifying the machine that printed them. Franco Frattini, European Commissioner for Justice and Security, has launched an investigation after receiving official complaints from Euro-MPs. "To the extent that individuals may be identified through material printed or copied using certain equipment, such processing may give rise to the violation of fundamental human rights, namely the right to privacy and private life," he said. "It also might violate the right to protection of personal data." Satu Hari, a Finnish Euro-MP, has taken up the issue of "forensic tracking mechanisms" after consumers "unsuccessfully asked manufacturers to disable this function". She has highlighted research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) finding that technology originally designed to prevent currency counterfeiting might end up as catch-all tool for general surveillance....
A Sure-Fire Argument on the Second Amendment With the Supreme Court’s decision to examine the constitutionality of D.C.’s gun ban, the nation once again turns to an intense examination of the wording of the Second Amendment. One way to understand an amendment whose words have confused generations is to study its somewhat confusing text. But another way is to examine at whose request the amendment was written. For example, if 200 years from now constitutional scholars are trying to determine whether the Smith Tax Act of 2008 increased or decreased the taxes Social Security recipients paid on their retirement income, knowing that the act came into being as the result of pressure from AARP would pretty much end that debate. This, then, is a vital question when seeking to understand the Second Amendment. For if you know the context in which the Amendment was written, if you know for whom it was written, if you know who was clamoring for it and what were their concerns, then that can help settle any argument of individual rights versus collective rights....
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Ranchers want Army records on expenses for planning Ranchers fighting the Army's effort to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site have filed a federal open records claim with Fort Carson to get an accounting of what money and time is being spent on expansion planning. The ranchers argue the Army's action is illegal under the terms of the 2008 federal budget law. Mack Louden, a rancher and board member of the group, Not 1 More Acre, argued the records will show the Army is continuing to use contractors, particularly the Booz Allen Hamilton public relations firm, to do expansion planning. That planning includes the recent meetings with Southern Colorado community members to discuss the planned 414,000-acre expansion of the Pinon Canyon training area. Louden and other opponents point to the 2008 federal budget law signed by President Bush in January because it contains a one-year moratorium on the Army spending any money on the Pinon Canyon expansion. That ban was authored and sponsored by Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and John Salazar, who claim that expanding Pinon Canyon would ruin the ranching economy of Las Animas County and the region....
Mineral leases concern residents in eastern New Mexico Oil and natural gas companies have their eye on eastern Mora County, but first they'll have to deal with residents who, unlike many New Mexicans, own the mineral rights on their land. Some Mora County residents began receiving letters a few months regarding their mineral rights. At a recent meeting at the Ocate Community Center, landman Knute Lee Jr. made a pitch to residents to lease their oil and gas mineral rights through his Albuquerque company, KHL Inc. "Many were interested in how the royalty and rental system works. The rest were quiet but not very welcoming," said Ojo Feliz resident Rose Josefa. "I didn't get the sense that people were jumping up and down over his offer." Eastern Mora County is the latest area in New Mexico where landmen such as Lee, who negotiate mineral leases for oil and gas companies, are looking. Like residents in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe who are concerned over drilling plans by Tecton Energy, some Ojo Feliz and Ocate residents are gearing up to fight plans for oil and gas pumping in their area. But unlike the Galisteo Basin, many landowners in Mora County also own their mineral rights. New Mexico is under a split estate system, which considers mineral rights and the property rights above them to be distinct. Those rights can be sold or leased separately....
All the better to hunt elk, my dear A wolf-advocacy group said Monday it will sue Rocky Mountain National Park over its decision to hire sharpshooters to kill up to 200 elk a year at the park as a way to handle overpopulation. The decision to use the sharpshooters was made in December but signed Friday by Mike Snyder, intermountain director for the National Park Service. A WildEarth Guardians officer said Monday that federal officials didn't take a fair look at introducing wolves to the park as an alternate way to keep the elk population down. Elk - there are an estimated 2,000 in the park - are destroying aspen and willows in large stretches on the eastern part of the Continental Divide, threatening to decimate large areas of the riverbank ecosystem. The Park Service says shooting elk will be part of a plan that also includes fences, restoring trees and redistributing the elk....
Cross-border studies reveal secrets of pronghorn antelope migration Pronghorn antelope can run as fast as 60 mph for short distances. But it's the great distances they travel — not their remarkable sprints — that might prove to be more insightful in the long run. Using collars that communicate with space satellites, private and government researchers in Montana and Canada are tracking the pronghorns' journeys between the United States, Alberta and Saskatchewan. They've been stunned by round-trip migrations of more than 500 miles. The specific goal of the first-of-its-kind study is to learn more about historical migration routes and threats to them, such as fences and oil and gas development. But researchers say the country-trotting ungulates could end up telling a much bigger story about fragmentation of sagebrush habitat, which is a threat to a lot of wildlife. "It's a canary on the prairie," said Cormack Gates, who serves on the faculty of environmental design at the University of Calgary...Not "keystone" or "canary in a coal mine," but "canary on the prairie." That's two in two days.
Ariz. leaders look anew at land reform Voters may get another chance this year to make preservation of large swaths of the state's unspoiled desert and mountains more affordable for taxpayers. Gov. Janet Napolitano has gathered key players to hammer out legislation that would change the way Arizona conserves - or develops - its open desert. Cities and environmental groups have plans to conserve land in Pima County, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson, Flagstaff and smaller communities. A defeated 2006 ballot measure would have made 700,000 acres available for cities and other agencies to acquire either free or off the auction block for potentially less than open bidding would bring. Trust land was granted to Arizona at statehood, with the federal government reasoning that sales would fund schools and other public agencies. Trust-land auctions continue to help fund classrooms. The State Land Department decides when it can get a good price for land and then puts it up for auction. But that builds in a conflict - one not foreseen in the 19th century - with conservationists and cities saying it is also a priority to preserve open land for future generations. Although the governor and legislators are still haggling over details of a new proposal to present to voters this year, the new measure would allow cities and conservationists to buy some of the acres without facing developers at auction....
Congress wants your water The new version would delete the word “navigable” and replace it with the word “all.” Therefore, no longer would federal jurisdiction apply only to lakes and rivers, but it would be extended to all bodies of water — permanent or intermittent — everywhere in the United States, be they in your backyard or on your farm. The federal definition will be extended to include, among other things, streams, wetlands, sloughs, wet meadows, and ponds. This land grab would allow the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to regulate how you manage any body of water on your own private property, even though said water will never come in contact with the properties of others. They will be allowed to control what you do and how you do it and will be empowered to force you to mitigate anything they might perceive as detrimental. This will have an undeniably negative impact on millions of property owners. Those who will have to answer to someone for land and water they own will be people who manage their ponds for fishing and leisure, miners who need water to pump their mines and wells, ranchers who need watering holes for their cattle, and farmers who need to irrigate their fields....
Air tankers used in West vulnerable, feds report U.S. Forest Service air tankers used in California and other Western states are potentially vulnerable to accidents, investigators warn in a new report. Despite making strides to improve air safety, the Forest Service could still use more money, better long-range planning and stricter aircraft inspections, among other improvements, federal investigators said. "The Forest Service has suffered numerous, potentially preventable aviation accidents over the years, and continues to be at risk for more," the investigators with the Agriculture Department's Office of Inspector General noted this week. In June 2002, for instance, three crewmen died when their 45-year-old air tanker broke apart over the mountains north of Yosemite National Park. National Transportation Safety Board investigators subsequently cited "inadequate maintenance" that overlooked cracks in a wing of the Lockheed C-130. More recently, two Forest Service contractors died in August 2006 when their heavy-duty Sikorsky helicopter crashed into the Klamath River. Part of the 40-year-old helicopter's tail rotor fell off shortly before the crash, investigators found. Almost exactly a year later, another firefighting pilot died when his Bell helicopter clipped a tree and crashed in the Klamath National Forest. All told, 28 crashes of Forest Service helicopters and airplanes occurred between 2002 and 2006. Sixteen crashes of the Forest Service's firefighting aircraft occurred between 1997 and 2001....
Nevada water 'grab' hearings wrap up State hearings into a plan to pump billions of gallons of rural Nevada water to Las Vegas ended Friday with proponents saying they're entitled to the water and opponents warning that the pumping could have a catastrophic impact. State Engineer Tracy Taylor will review the testimony and voluminous paperwork submitted during two weeks of hearings and issue a ruling at a later date on the Southern Nevada Water Authority pumping plan. A final decision isn't likely for several months. Paul Taggart, attorney for SNWA which wants to draw more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys, argued that the water authority met all requirements for the pumping and critics' disaster scenarios are unfounded. Simeon Herskovits, attorney for the Great Basin Water (NASDAQ:BWTR) Network which opposes the plan, countered that SNWA tried to hide evidence that the pumping may harm existing water users and the environment in rural Nevada because there's not enough water in the valleys for long-term exportation. Herskovits was backed by Greg Walch, representing Cave Valley Ranch LLC which wants to develop land in that valley. Walch said that despite its remoteness, the valley has potential -- but not without water....
National Biomass And Carbon Dataset Now Available For US Scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center working to produce the "National Biomass and Carbon Dataset" for the year 2000 (NBCD2000) are releasing data from nine project mapping zones. Through a combination of NASA satellite datasets, topographic survey data, land use/land cover information, and extensive forest inventory data collected by the USDA Forest Service -- Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), NBCD2000 will provide an invaluable baseline for quantifying the carbon stock in U.S. forests and will improve current methods of assessing the carbon flux between forests and the atmosphere. According to Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, an associate scientist at the Center and project leader, "The availability of a high resolution dataset containing estimates of forest biomass and associated carbon stock is an important step forward in enabling researchers to better understand the North American carbon balance." As part of the NBCD2000 initiative, begun in 2005 and funded by NASA's Earth Science Program with additional support from the USGS/LANDFIRE, mapping is being conducted within 67 ecologically diverse regions, termed "mapping zones", which span the conterminous United States. Wayne Walker, a research associate at the Center who is also working on the project adds, "The data sets that are now available should be of interest to natural resource managers across the U.S. For the first time, high resolution estimates of vegetation canopy height and biomass are being produced consistently for the entire conterminous U.S."....
Resort growth plan stirs fight A proposal to carve ski trails from out-of-bounds glades known as a "locals' stash" is sparking a battle over ski-area expansion and competing ideals of skiing. Breckenridge resort officials have asked the U.S. Forest Service to open 450 acres of terrain on Peak 6, north of the resort's existing boundary, to help disperse skiers at the busiest ski area in the country. A league of hard-core backcountry skiers and environmentalists have, however, taken a stand against the plan — arguing that expansion is unwarranted and would erode an untrammeled natural area. "Having something that's untouched is pretty important," said Ellen Hollinshead, a local leader of the Backcountry Skiers' Alliance....
Conservation Groups Petition Fish and Wildlife Service for Emergency Actions to Save Imperiled Bats From Deadly New Disease Citing a threat to bats from a new disease that is widespread, severe, and imminent, conservation organizations today petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for immediate action to prevent further harm to endangered bats. State wildlife agencies have reported that tens of thousands of bats are dying from an unknown malady informally known as “white-nose syndrome.” It was first discovered last year in four bat hibernating caves in New York. This year, the fungus has been observed on bats at virtually every significant bat hibernation site in New York, along with one cave in Vermont. Biologists throughout the Northeast have been scrambling to determine the extent and source of the die-off. Conservation organizations are asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to pull permits for federal projects that will harm imperiled bats and to close bat hibernation sites to the public. “Logging, burning, road building — all these actions harm endangered bats,” said Mollie Matteson, public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity....
State game director convicted of illegally killing deer The director of the state Department of Game and Fish has been convicted of shooting a deer without permission on land in southeastern New Mexico. Lincoln County Magistrate Martha Proctor sentenced Bruce Thompson to 182 days in jail Monday but suspended the time and placed him on probation. The conditions of Thompson's unsupervised probation require that he not violate any local, state or federal laws for 182 days. Thompson also was ordered to pay a $500 fine. He had pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Thompson still faces a related misdemeanor count of unlawfully hunting or possessing a protected species. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge. A jury trial is scheduled for April 21 in Carrizozo. The charges had stemmed from a Nov. 17 hunt on the Diamond T Ranch west of Roswell in which Thompson shot a deer. It is illegal to hunt on private property in New Mexico without permission from the landowner....
Ruling draws ire of farmers A new interpretation of an old federal law will result in regulating farmers when they transport harvested grain from the field to the grain elevator. The Kansas Corporation Commission interpretation of the federal law has determined that a farmer hauling grain from the harvest field to the grain elevator is the first leg of interstate commerce and can be regulated like professional truckers, said Brad Harrelson, state policy director for Kansas Farm Bureau. It is a federal law that has been on the books since the 1930s and it is the recent interpretation that could put farmers under federal regulation, said Kansas Rep. Mitch Holmes. As the interpretation stands, drivers would have to have an annual medical physical. Farmers would have pay a fee for a United States Department of Transportation uniform registry fee for a decal they would have to display on the side of all their vehicles, said state Sen. Ruth Teichman....
Arrest made in cow abuse case Police have arrested a slaughterhouse worker whose alleged abuse of sick and injured cows has contributed to the largest recall of beef in U.S. history. Daniel Ugarte Navarro of Pomona was arrested at his home Saturday afternoon on a $75,000 warrant. He was released from jail about 6:30 a.m. Sunday after posting bail. Navarro, 48, worked as a pen manager at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., one of the largest suppliers of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program. In what they called an unprecedented case, prosecutors charged Navarro on Friday with felony animal abuse and misdemeanor counts of illegally moving crippled cows. He could face more than eight years in prison, if convicted as charged. A second employee, Luis Sanchez, was also charged, but has not yet been arrested. A warrant has been issued for his arrest....
USDA will step up inspections at slaughterhouses The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that it would step up oversight at 900 slaughterhouses in the USA to check for inhumane handling violations like those that led to the biggest meat recall ever on Sunday. "I don't have reason to believe this is widespread. But the extra checks will give us a better handle on it," said Kenneth Petersen, USDA assistant administrator. Westland/Hallmark Meat of Chino, Calif., recalled 143 million pounds of beef manufactured over two years after a USDA investigation sparked by abuses uncovered by the Humane Society of the United States. The USDA found that Westland did not always alert federal inspectors when cows that passed an initial USDA inspection became unable to walk before they were slaughtered. Such "downer" cattle are supposed to be excluded from the U.S. food supply because they're at higher risk of carrying mad cow disease, which affects the brain, and E. coli and salmonella bacteria. USDA inspectors check cattle headed to slaughter to see if they can walk. If cattle pass and then go down, they must be checked again. They can be slaughtered if they've suffered an injury, such as a broken leg, and don't pose a food-safety risk. Of 11,000 cattle slaughtered monthly at the plant, the USDA banned 30 to 40 downers, an average number, Petersen says....
Humane deaths for horses 'too costly' Despite his wide eyes and shimmering chestnut coat, horse 8778 had no takers. With a heavy limp in his gait, the crippled sorrel was hardly worth his weight to those at the weekly Willcox Livestock Auction. The gelding likely would be on his way to Mexico for slaughter — a journey that has become common for horses decrepit and old. Since the closure of the three U.S. horse slaughter plants in Illinois and Texas in 2006, for violating state laws, there has been a spike in horses going across the U.S. border to Mexico for slaughter. These cross-border journeys are often grueling, stretching for hundreds of miles with the horses crammed into double-decker trailers. For those horses arriving in Mexico each week, the deaths are potentially far more gruesome than they would have been in the United States. Some horses have been slaughtered in Mexico by repeatedly being stabbed. More than 45,000 horses went to Mexico for slaughter last year, up from about 11,000 the year before, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. But many ranchers use the gruesome deaths to argue for the need to reopen the U.S. slaughterhouses. The closures, they say, have only added to the ranks of unwanted and undervalued horses at a time when gas and hay prices have skyrocketed. "People have no place to go with them," said Wayne Earven, a former state livestock inspector who was recently selling a horse at auction in Willcox. "To be real honest with you, we haven't seen the worst of it yet."....
No room at the pen A dying dog is 40 pounds of family sadness. A dying horse is a physics problem, and 1,000 pounds of emotional debate over what we should do with the iconic Western companion at the end of its useful life. "The bottom line is there are more horses than there are people with properties who can adequately care for them," said Keith Roehr, a veterinarian with the state of Colorado. Overbreeding has saturated the horse market, driving down values, while feed-grain prices have tripled. At the same time, changing ethical standards have shut off a generations-old relief valve for ranchers — slaughtering horses for meat to be consumed in foreign countries. The glut puts more horses in peril every month. More are being abandoned on public lands. Neglected horses crowd rescue shelters. The pool of farms willing to put Old Paint out to pasture is shrinking....
Montana faces shortage of sheep shearers as shearing season nears There is somewhat of a crisis in the sheep industry in Montana. The price ranchers are getting for wool is up, but finding someone to get the wool from the sheep is difficult. According to Jim Moore, Montana State University (MSU) Sheep Institute Exten-sion Agent, the state does not have enough sheep to justify shearing as a full time career. “In some cases people just aren't getting their sheep sheared,” he said. “Crews just can't get to them.” The only way to get all of the sheep sheared is if shearers come from other countries because there just are not enough domestic shearers to take care of all the sheep, he added. There are several reasons for a shearer shortage in the state. There are only about 260,000 sheep, which means there are not enough to do that as a full time profession. Also, shearing is extremely hard work....
History for the taking The collection is free, but there will be a $100,000 price tag with accepting a voluminous donation of historical material detailing the modern origins of Temecula. The great-grandson of Walter Vail, the man who formed the vast ranch where Temecula now stands, in September offered volumes of maps, deeds and documents ---- dating back to the late 1800s ---- to the city. Members of the Temecula Valley Museum determined that the collection being offered by Sandy Wilkinson's family members is one of the most extensive archives of material pertaining to local history ever amassed. Whitney Vail Wilkinson, the son of the late Sandy Wilkinson and the great-grandson of Walter Vail, is the executor of the family estate. Sandy Wilkinson, who died in 2006, was a longtime employee of Vail Ranch and lived his entire life in Temecula. He was in charge of the water rights and issues involved in the building of the Vail Dam ---- then the largest privately built dam in the United States. The dam created Vail Lake, once the key water source for the Temecula Valley and surrounding areas. The original dam and lake are still in operation today, roughly 10 miles east of Temecula along Highway 79 South....
Windmill machinist keeps western icon alive It's hard to imagine the American frontier without a windmill poking out of the horizon, its silver vanes slicing the crosswinds. Though electricity-generating giants have sometimes sprouted in their place, the traditional windmills that once pumped groundwater for thirsty livestock have largely become decorative fixtures. Along with the windmills have gone the windmill men. Derrill Mitchell, owner of Mitchell's Windmill & Supply Inc. in Fort Sumner, says he is among the last of his kind. "It's a dying art," Mitchell says as he takes a moment from machining new parts to wipe his brow. The metallic shavings of discarded gears catch the afternoon sun as they cascade to the floor of his workshop. Mitchell says he is the only windmill man in New Mexico who still machines parts, one of a dwindling number across the country. Windmills haven't changed much over the years, he says: "A part from a 1935 Aermotor still fits a 1962, or a 1989 or a 2008." Mitchell and his crew have been called on to install or repair windmills across the Southwest, through America's breadbasket and beyond....
Oscar Town: Marfa, Texas? A thousand feet above a wind-swept, drought-browned valley, a man steps out of a late-70s Ford Granada on a deserted two-lane. He is confronted by a second man, who raises a pneumatic bolt gun to his forehead and deals a fatal blow. Chip Love -- or "Man in Ford," as Oscar-nominated "No Country For Old Men" would come to credit him -- collapses to his knees on the blacktop, where Texas Ranch Road 2810 cuts through the crest of a hill covered in volcanic rock and tall, thick-trunked yuccas. He gets up. He's shot again. And again. And again. Eight times altogether he rises and falls. Getting it right pretty much takes all day. "It's not as easy as it looks," Love, 50, a local rancher and bank manager, laughs about his role as an early victim of psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem. On another day, just a few miles to the west of Love's "death," a crew of oilfield workers bounds down the stairs of a dusty depot, emptying a train pulled by an early 20th century steam locomotive. But this is a scene that will play out in "There Will Be Blood," another film up for multiple Academy Awards. This is no mere coincidence....
Oscar-nominated films 'Blood,' 'Country' bring Hollywood to heart of Texas Joel and Ethan Coen had just pulled into this one-stoplight town to scout shooting No Country for Old Men when a drifter approached their limousine. Unshaven and unsteady, he hobbled toward the car with a sign under his arm. When he reached the directors, he raised the board above his head. "Repent, Hollywood scum," it read. This is not a place easily impressed by money or fame. Still, the high-desert town of 2,100 cowboys, ranch hands and rogue artists has become the unlikely epicenter of Sunday's Academy Awards. No Country and There Will Be Blood were shot here, and the Westerns, which led all movies with eight nominations apiece, including best picture, are expected to dominate the Oscars. Not that many Marfans have seen either film. The closest theater is in Alpine, 26 miles east. The tiny Rangra Theater, however, does have two screens. One is showing No Country, the other Blood. Neither sells out much. "I thought they were OK," retired rancher Bill Owens, 61, says over an enormous dill pickle, a favorite theater concession. "I hope they win (Oscars) because it'll be good for Marfa. A little artsy-fartsy, though. They weren't no Giant, I'll tell you that." He's referring to the 1956 James Dean oil epic that put Marfa on the map and, until this year, was one of the few films shot in these parts. It remains a favorite of locals who still prefer heroes who get the girl,occasionally sing and keep their cussing to a minimum....
Clovis woman sentenced to hang in 1928 “According to records that I have,” he said, “no person sentenced from Curry County has been put to death since the state of New Mexico began executing its condemned felons at the State Prison in 1933. However, prior to then, those sentenced to die were hanged locally by the sheriffs in the counties. Do you have any record of any legal hangings that might have occurred in Clovis or in Curry County prior to 1933? Enclosed is 13 cents postage for your reply.” I wrote and said I didn’t know of any hangings, but told him there where some people in and around Clovis who should have been hung. But in October 1978 I learned about a woman from southwest of Artesia, Nannie Catherine Halsey, who was accused of killing her rancher husband, Fred Halsey. Three people were involved in the killing and all three were found quilty and sentenced to hang on Aug. 1, 1924. They appealed it to the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1925 and Nannie Halsey was granted a new trial. The second trial was held in Clovis, beginning Sept. 24, 1928. O.O. Askren was her attorney....
It's All Trew: Chilly among cattle In about 1942, if I remember correctly, at the age of 9, it was mid-winter and cold as heck in Ochiltree County. There was snow on the ground, all the playa lakes were frozen over and school had adjourned for the Christmas holidays. It was also a time before horse trailers, good pickup heaters and paved roads in our part of the area. My father had a lot of cattle on wheat pasture and occasionally a group had to be moved to another field. It seemed to me he always picked the coldest day to drive the herds into the coldest north winds each time we worked. Since the county roads were dirt and usually fenced, we pushed the cattle out into the roads and "the men" rode ahead to close gates and guide while my job was to follow and make sure no livestock dropped out. Time after time I thought I would freeze to death before the drive ended. It was a mystery to me how the men seemed impervious to the same cold that I was suffering from. Then one day I caught them taking a nip from a flat-shaped bottle carried in their chaps pockets. I did not think this was fair and decided to do something about it....
Mineral leases concern residents in eastern New Mexico Oil and natural gas companies have their eye on eastern Mora County, but first they'll have to deal with residents who, unlike many New Mexicans, own the mineral rights on their land. Some Mora County residents began receiving letters a few months regarding their mineral rights. At a recent meeting at the Ocate Community Center, landman Knute Lee Jr. made a pitch to residents to lease their oil and gas mineral rights through his Albuquerque company, KHL Inc. "Many were interested in how the royalty and rental system works. The rest were quiet but not very welcoming," said Ojo Feliz resident Rose Josefa. "I didn't get the sense that people were jumping up and down over his offer." Eastern Mora County is the latest area in New Mexico where landmen such as Lee, who negotiate mineral leases for oil and gas companies, are looking. Like residents in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe who are concerned over drilling plans by Tecton Energy, some Ojo Feliz and Ocate residents are gearing up to fight plans for oil and gas pumping in their area. But unlike the Galisteo Basin, many landowners in Mora County also own their mineral rights. New Mexico is under a split estate system, which considers mineral rights and the property rights above them to be distinct. Those rights can be sold or leased separately....
All the better to hunt elk, my dear A wolf-advocacy group said Monday it will sue Rocky Mountain National Park over its decision to hire sharpshooters to kill up to 200 elk a year at the park as a way to handle overpopulation. The decision to use the sharpshooters was made in December but signed Friday by Mike Snyder, intermountain director for the National Park Service. A WildEarth Guardians officer said Monday that federal officials didn't take a fair look at introducing wolves to the park as an alternate way to keep the elk population down. Elk - there are an estimated 2,000 in the park - are destroying aspen and willows in large stretches on the eastern part of the Continental Divide, threatening to decimate large areas of the riverbank ecosystem. The Park Service says shooting elk will be part of a plan that also includes fences, restoring trees and redistributing the elk....
Cross-border studies reveal secrets of pronghorn antelope migration Pronghorn antelope can run as fast as 60 mph for short distances. But it's the great distances they travel — not their remarkable sprints — that might prove to be more insightful in the long run. Using collars that communicate with space satellites, private and government researchers in Montana and Canada are tracking the pronghorns' journeys between the United States, Alberta and Saskatchewan. They've been stunned by round-trip migrations of more than 500 miles. The specific goal of the first-of-its-kind study is to learn more about historical migration routes and threats to them, such as fences and oil and gas development. But researchers say the country-trotting ungulates could end up telling a much bigger story about fragmentation of sagebrush habitat, which is a threat to a lot of wildlife. "It's a canary on the prairie," said Cormack Gates, who serves on the faculty of environmental design at the University of Calgary...Not "keystone" or "canary in a coal mine," but "canary on the prairie." That's two in two days.
Ariz. leaders look anew at land reform Voters may get another chance this year to make preservation of large swaths of the state's unspoiled desert and mountains more affordable for taxpayers. Gov. Janet Napolitano has gathered key players to hammer out legislation that would change the way Arizona conserves - or develops - its open desert. Cities and environmental groups have plans to conserve land in Pima County, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson, Flagstaff and smaller communities. A defeated 2006 ballot measure would have made 700,000 acres available for cities and other agencies to acquire either free or off the auction block for potentially less than open bidding would bring. Trust land was granted to Arizona at statehood, with the federal government reasoning that sales would fund schools and other public agencies. Trust-land auctions continue to help fund classrooms. The State Land Department decides when it can get a good price for land and then puts it up for auction. But that builds in a conflict - one not foreseen in the 19th century - with conservationists and cities saying it is also a priority to preserve open land for future generations. Although the governor and legislators are still haggling over details of a new proposal to present to voters this year, the new measure would allow cities and conservationists to buy some of the acres without facing developers at auction....
Congress wants your water The new version would delete the word “navigable” and replace it with the word “all.” Therefore, no longer would federal jurisdiction apply only to lakes and rivers, but it would be extended to all bodies of water — permanent or intermittent — everywhere in the United States, be they in your backyard or on your farm. The federal definition will be extended to include, among other things, streams, wetlands, sloughs, wet meadows, and ponds. This land grab would allow the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to regulate how you manage any body of water on your own private property, even though said water will never come in contact with the properties of others. They will be allowed to control what you do and how you do it and will be empowered to force you to mitigate anything they might perceive as detrimental. This will have an undeniably negative impact on millions of property owners. Those who will have to answer to someone for land and water they own will be people who manage their ponds for fishing and leisure, miners who need water to pump their mines and wells, ranchers who need watering holes for their cattle, and farmers who need to irrigate their fields....
Air tankers used in West vulnerable, feds report U.S. Forest Service air tankers used in California and other Western states are potentially vulnerable to accidents, investigators warn in a new report. Despite making strides to improve air safety, the Forest Service could still use more money, better long-range planning and stricter aircraft inspections, among other improvements, federal investigators said. "The Forest Service has suffered numerous, potentially preventable aviation accidents over the years, and continues to be at risk for more," the investigators with the Agriculture Department's Office of Inspector General noted this week. In June 2002, for instance, three crewmen died when their 45-year-old air tanker broke apart over the mountains north of Yosemite National Park. National Transportation Safety Board investigators subsequently cited "inadequate maintenance" that overlooked cracks in a wing of the Lockheed C-130. More recently, two Forest Service contractors died in August 2006 when their heavy-duty Sikorsky helicopter crashed into the Klamath River. Part of the 40-year-old helicopter's tail rotor fell off shortly before the crash, investigators found. Almost exactly a year later, another firefighting pilot died when his Bell helicopter clipped a tree and crashed in the Klamath National Forest. All told, 28 crashes of Forest Service helicopters and airplanes occurred between 2002 and 2006. Sixteen crashes of the Forest Service's firefighting aircraft occurred between 1997 and 2001....
Nevada water 'grab' hearings wrap up State hearings into a plan to pump billions of gallons of rural Nevada water to Las Vegas ended Friday with proponents saying they're entitled to the water and opponents warning that the pumping could have a catastrophic impact. State Engineer Tracy Taylor will review the testimony and voluminous paperwork submitted during two weeks of hearings and issue a ruling at a later date on the Southern Nevada Water Authority pumping plan. A final decision isn't likely for several months. Paul Taggart, attorney for SNWA which wants to draw more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys, argued that the water authority met all requirements for the pumping and critics' disaster scenarios are unfounded. Simeon Herskovits, attorney for the Great Basin Water (NASDAQ:BWTR) Network which opposes the plan, countered that SNWA tried to hide evidence that the pumping may harm existing water users and the environment in rural Nevada because there's not enough water in the valleys for long-term exportation. Herskovits was backed by Greg Walch, representing Cave Valley Ranch LLC which wants to develop land in that valley. Walch said that despite its remoteness, the valley has potential -- but not without water....
National Biomass And Carbon Dataset Now Available For US Scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center working to produce the "National Biomass and Carbon Dataset" for the year 2000 (NBCD2000) are releasing data from nine project mapping zones. Through a combination of NASA satellite datasets, topographic survey data, land use/land cover information, and extensive forest inventory data collected by the USDA Forest Service -- Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), NBCD2000 will provide an invaluable baseline for quantifying the carbon stock in U.S. forests and will improve current methods of assessing the carbon flux between forests and the atmosphere. According to Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, an associate scientist at the Center and project leader, "The availability of a high resolution dataset containing estimates of forest biomass and associated carbon stock is an important step forward in enabling researchers to better understand the North American carbon balance." As part of the NBCD2000 initiative, begun in 2005 and funded by NASA's Earth Science Program with additional support from the USGS/LANDFIRE, mapping is being conducted within 67 ecologically diverse regions, termed "mapping zones", which span the conterminous United States. Wayne Walker, a research associate at the Center who is also working on the project adds, "The data sets that are now available should be of interest to natural resource managers across the U.S. For the first time, high resolution estimates of vegetation canopy height and biomass are being produced consistently for the entire conterminous U.S."....
Resort growth plan stirs fight A proposal to carve ski trails from out-of-bounds glades known as a "locals' stash" is sparking a battle over ski-area expansion and competing ideals of skiing. Breckenridge resort officials have asked the U.S. Forest Service to open 450 acres of terrain on Peak 6, north of the resort's existing boundary, to help disperse skiers at the busiest ski area in the country. A league of hard-core backcountry skiers and environmentalists have, however, taken a stand against the plan — arguing that expansion is unwarranted and would erode an untrammeled natural area. "Having something that's untouched is pretty important," said Ellen Hollinshead, a local leader of the Backcountry Skiers' Alliance....
Conservation Groups Petition Fish and Wildlife Service for Emergency Actions to Save Imperiled Bats From Deadly New Disease Citing a threat to bats from a new disease that is widespread, severe, and imminent, conservation organizations today petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for immediate action to prevent further harm to endangered bats. State wildlife agencies have reported that tens of thousands of bats are dying from an unknown malady informally known as “white-nose syndrome.” It was first discovered last year in four bat hibernating caves in New York. This year, the fungus has been observed on bats at virtually every significant bat hibernation site in New York, along with one cave in Vermont. Biologists throughout the Northeast have been scrambling to determine the extent and source of the die-off. Conservation organizations are asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to pull permits for federal projects that will harm imperiled bats and to close bat hibernation sites to the public. “Logging, burning, road building — all these actions harm endangered bats,” said Mollie Matteson, public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity....
State game director convicted of illegally killing deer The director of the state Department of Game and Fish has been convicted of shooting a deer without permission on land in southeastern New Mexico. Lincoln County Magistrate Martha Proctor sentenced Bruce Thompson to 182 days in jail Monday but suspended the time and placed him on probation. The conditions of Thompson's unsupervised probation require that he not violate any local, state or federal laws for 182 days. Thompson also was ordered to pay a $500 fine. He had pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Thompson still faces a related misdemeanor count of unlawfully hunting or possessing a protected species. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge. A jury trial is scheduled for April 21 in Carrizozo. The charges had stemmed from a Nov. 17 hunt on the Diamond T Ranch west of Roswell in which Thompson shot a deer. It is illegal to hunt on private property in New Mexico without permission from the landowner....
Ruling draws ire of farmers A new interpretation of an old federal law will result in regulating farmers when they transport harvested grain from the field to the grain elevator. The Kansas Corporation Commission interpretation of the federal law has determined that a farmer hauling grain from the harvest field to the grain elevator is the first leg of interstate commerce and can be regulated like professional truckers, said Brad Harrelson, state policy director for Kansas Farm Bureau. It is a federal law that has been on the books since the 1930s and it is the recent interpretation that could put farmers under federal regulation, said Kansas Rep. Mitch Holmes. As the interpretation stands, drivers would have to have an annual medical physical. Farmers would have pay a fee for a United States Department of Transportation uniform registry fee for a decal they would have to display on the side of all their vehicles, said state Sen. Ruth Teichman....
Arrest made in cow abuse case Police have arrested a slaughterhouse worker whose alleged abuse of sick and injured cows has contributed to the largest recall of beef in U.S. history. Daniel Ugarte Navarro of Pomona was arrested at his home Saturday afternoon on a $75,000 warrant. He was released from jail about 6:30 a.m. Sunday after posting bail. Navarro, 48, worked as a pen manager at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., one of the largest suppliers of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program. In what they called an unprecedented case, prosecutors charged Navarro on Friday with felony animal abuse and misdemeanor counts of illegally moving crippled cows. He could face more than eight years in prison, if convicted as charged. A second employee, Luis Sanchez, was also charged, but has not yet been arrested. A warrant has been issued for his arrest....
USDA will step up inspections at slaughterhouses The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that it would step up oversight at 900 slaughterhouses in the USA to check for inhumane handling violations like those that led to the biggest meat recall ever on Sunday. "I don't have reason to believe this is widespread. But the extra checks will give us a better handle on it," said Kenneth Petersen, USDA assistant administrator. Westland/Hallmark Meat of Chino, Calif., recalled 143 million pounds of beef manufactured over two years after a USDA investigation sparked by abuses uncovered by the Humane Society of the United States. The USDA found that Westland did not always alert federal inspectors when cows that passed an initial USDA inspection became unable to walk before they were slaughtered. Such "downer" cattle are supposed to be excluded from the U.S. food supply because they're at higher risk of carrying mad cow disease, which affects the brain, and E. coli and salmonella bacteria. USDA inspectors check cattle headed to slaughter to see if they can walk. If cattle pass and then go down, they must be checked again. They can be slaughtered if they've suffered an injury, such as a broken leg, and don't pose a food-safety risk. Of 11,000 cattle slaughtered monthly at the plant, the USDA banned 30 to 40 downers, an average number, Petersen says....
Humane deaths for horses 'too costly' Despite his wide eyes and shimmering chestnut coat, horse 8778 had no takers. With a heavy limp in his gait, the crippled sorrel was hardly worth his weight to those at the weekly Willcox Livestock Auction. The gelding likely would be on his way to Mexico for slaughter — a journey that has become common for horses decrepit and old. Since the closure of the three U.S. horse slaughter plants in Illinois and Texas in 2006, for violating state laws, there has been a spike in horses going across the U.S. border to Mexico for slaughter. These cross-border journeys are often grueling, stretching for hundreds of miles with the horses crammed into double-decker trailers. For those horses arriving in Mexico each week, the deaths are potentially far more gruesome than they would have been in the United States. Some horses have been slaughtered in Mexico by repeatedly being stabbed. More than 45,000 horses went to Mexico for slaughter last year, up from about 11,000 the year before, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. But many ranchers use the gruesome deaths to argue for the need to reopen the U.S. slaughterhouses. The closures, they say, have only added to the ranks of unwanted and undervalued horses at a time when gas and hay prices have skyrocketed. "People have no place to go with them," said Wayne Earven, a former state livestock inspector who was recently selling a horse at auction in Willcox. "To be real honest with you, we haven't seen the worst of it yet."....
No room at the pen A dying dog is 40 pounds of family sadness. A dying horse is a physics problem, and 1,000 pounds of emotional debate over what we should do with the iconic Western companion at the end of its useful life. "The bottom line is there are more horses than there are people with properties who can adequately care for them," said Keith Roehr, a veterinarian with the state of Colorado. Overbreeding has saturated the horse market, driving down values, while feed-grain prices have tripled. At the same time, changing ethical standards have shut off a generations-old relief valve for ranchers — slaughtering horses for meat to be consumed in foreign countries. The glut puts more horses in peril every month. More are being abandoned on public lands. Neglected horses crowd rescue shelters. The pool of farms willing to put Old Paint out to pasture is shrinking....
Montana faces shortage of sheep shearers as shearing season nears There is somewhat of a crisis in the sheep industry in Montana. The price ranchers are getting for wool is up, but finding someone to get the wool from the sheep is difficult. According to Jim Moore, Montana State University (MSU) Sheep Institute Exten-sion Agent, the state does not have enough sheep to justify shearing as a full time career. “In some cases people just aren't getting their sheep sheared,” he said. “Crews just can't get to them.” The only way to get all of the sheep sheared is if shearers come from other countries because there just are not enough domestic shearers to take care of all the sheep, he added. There are several reasons for a shearer shortage in the state. There are only about 260,000 sheep, which means there are not enough to do that as a full time profession. Also, shearing is extremely hard work....
History for the taking The collection is free, but there will be a $100,000 price tag with accepting a voluminous donation of historical material detailing the modern origins of Temecula. The great-grandson of Walter Vail, the man who formed the vast ranch where Temecula now stands, in September offered volumes of maps, deeds and documents ---- dating back to the late 1800s ---- to the city. Members of the Temecula Valley Museum determined that the collection being offered by Sandy Wilkinson's family members is one of the most extensive archives of material pertaining to local history ever amassed. Whitney Vail Wilkinson, the son of the late Sandy Wilkinson and the great-grandson of Walter Vail, is the executor of the family estate. Sandy Wilkinson, who died in 2006, was a longtime employee of Vail Ranch and lived his entire life in Temecula. He was in charge of the water rights and issues involved in the building of the Vail Dam ---- then the largest privately built dam in the United States. The dam created Vail Lake, once the key water source for the Temecula Valley and surrounding areas. The original dam and lake are still in operation today, roughly 10 miles east of Temecula along Highway 79 South....
Windmill machinist keeps western icon alive It's hard to imagine the American frontier without a windmill poking out of the horizon, its silver vanes slicing the crosswinds. Though electricity-generating giants have sometimes sprouted in their place, the traditional windmills that once pumped groundwater for thirsty livestock have largely become decorative fixtures. Along with the windmills have gone the windmill men. Derrill Mitchell, owner of Mitchell's Windmill & Supply Inc. in Fort Sumner, says he is among the last of his kind. "It's a dying art," Mitchell says as he takes a moment from machining new parts to wipe his brow. The metallic shavings of discarded gears catch the afternoon sun as they cascade to the floor of his workshop. Mitchell says he is the only windmill man in New Mexico who still machines parts, one of a dwindling number across the country. Windmills haven't changed much over the years, he says: "A part from a 1935 Aermotor still fits a 1962, or a 1989 or a 2008." Mitchell and his crew have been called on to install or repair windmills across the Southwest, through America's breadbasket and beyond....
Oscar Town: Marfa, Texas? A thousand feet above a wind-swept, drought-browned valley, a man steps out of a late-70s Ford Granada on a deserted two-lane. He is confronted by a second man, who raises a pneumatic bolt gun to his forehead and deals a fatal blow. Chip Love -- or "Man in Ford," as Oscar-nominated "No Country For Old Men" would come to credit him -- collapses to his knees on the blacktop, where Texas Ranch Road 2810 cuts through the crest of a hill covered in volcanic rock and tall, thick-trunked yuccas. He gets up. He's shot again. And again. And again. Eight times altogether he rises and falls. Getting it right pretty much takes all day. "It's not as easy as it looks," Love, 50, a local rancher and bank manager, laughs about his role as an early victim of psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem. On another day, just a few miles to the west of Love's "death," a crew of oilfield workers bounds down the stairs of a dusty depot, emptying a train pulled by an early 20th century steam locomotive. But this is a scene that will play out in "There Will Be Blood," another film up for multiple Academy Awards. This is no mere coincidence....
Oscar-nominated films 'Blood,' 'Country' bring Hollywood to heart of Texas Joel and Ethan Coen had just pulled into this one-stoplight town to scout shooting No Country for Old Men when a drifter approached their limousine. Unshaven and unsteady, he hobbled toward the car with a sign under his arm. When he reached the directors, he raised the board above his head. "Repent, Hollywood scum," it read. This is not a place easily impressed by money or fame. Still, the high-desert town of 2,100 cowboys, ranch hands and rogue artists has become the unlikely epicenter of Sunday's Academy Awards. No Country and There Will Be Blood were shot here, and the Westerns, which led all movies with eight nominations apiece, including best picture, are expected to dominate the Oscars. Not that many Marfans have seen either film. The closest theater is in Alpine, 26 miles east. The tiny Rangra Theater, however, does have two screens. One is showing No Country, the other Blood. Neither sells out much. "I thought they were OK," retired rancher Bill Owens, 61, says over an enormous dill pickle, a favorite theater concession. "I hope they win (Oscars) because it'll be good for Marfa. A little artsy-fartsy, though. They weren't no Giant, I'll tell you that." He's referring to the 1956 James Dean oil epic that put Marfa on the map and, until this year, was one of the few films shot in these parts. It remains a favorite of locals who still prefer heroes who get the girl,occasionally sing and keep their cussing to a minimum....
Clovis woman sentenced to hang in 1928 “According to records that I have,” he said, “no person sentenced from Curry County has been put to death since the state of New Mexico began executing its condemned felons at the State Prison in 1933. However, prior to then, those sentenced to die were hanged locally by the sheriffs in the counties. Do you have any record of any legal hangings that might have occurred in Clovis or in Curry County prior to 1933? Enclosed is 13 cents postage for your reply.” I wrote and said I didn’t know of any hangings, but told him there where some people in and around Clovis who should have been hung. But in October 1978 I learned about a woman from southwest of Artesia, Nannie Catherine Halsey, who was accused of killing her rancher husband, Fred Halsey. Three people were involved in the killing and all three were found quilty and sentenced to hang on Aug. 1, 1924. They appealed it to the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1925 and Nannie Halsey was granted a new trial. The second trial was held in Clovis, beginning Sept. 24, 1928. O.O. Askren was her attorney....
It's All Trew: Chilly among cattle In about 1942, if I remember correctly, at the age of 9, it was mid-winter and cold as heck in Ochiltree County. There was snow on the ground, all the playa lakes were frozen over and school had adjourned for the Christmas holidays. It was also a time before horse trailers, good pickup heaters and paved roads in our part of the area. My father had a lot of cattle on wheat pasture and occasionally a group had to be moved to another field. It seemed to me he always picked the coldest day to drive the herds into the coldest north winds each time we worked. Since the county roads were dirt and usually fenced, we pushed the cattle out into the roads and "the men" rode ahead to close gates and guide while my job was to follow and make sure no livestock dropped out. Time after time I thought I would freeze to death before the drive ended. It was a mystery to me how the men seemed impervious to the same cold that I was suffering from. Then one day I caught them taking a nip from a flat-shaped bottle carried in their chaps pockets. I did not think this was fair and decided to do something about it....
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