PEARCE INTRODUCES LAND PROTECTION MEASURE

Plan based on community input, would result in a balanced approach

For Immediate Release
June 27, 2008
Contact: Brian Phillips
202.225.4759, brian,phillips@mail.house.gov

Washington - Congressman Steve Pearce, on June 18, 2008 introduced legislation to create special designations for land that balance open space preservation with other needs of the surrounding community. The Dona Ana County Planned Growth, Open Space And Rangeland Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 6300) would create four Rangeland Preservation Areas and two Special Preservation Areas that permanently protect open space and ensure appropriate access for public safety and other purposes.

"The issues are complex, and we have worked diligently to find a middle ground that is acceptable on all sides of the issue," said Pearce, a former small businessman. Over 700 businesses and organizations have formed a Coalition supporting this proposal. We believe it offers a compromise that would greatly benefit southern New Mexico and has great potential across the western states struggling with these issues for providing appropriate protection without creating unnecessary hardships on surrounding communities."

The debate over public lands legislation has helped to raise local citizens awareness of the importance of preserving open space and providing protection for our natural resources. Congressman Pearce has closely followed the debate that has surfaced with the competing proposals.

While many question the qualification of the lands in Dona Ana County, New Mexico under the standards established by the Wilderness Act of 1964, it is clear the community stands in solid agreement that these areas are worthy of protection from encroaching development as well as from mining and mineral leasing. The community has expressed concerns about the impact of Wilderness access restrictions on law enforcement, search and rescue operations, fire fighting, and flood control projects, as well as access for sportsmen, hunters, horseback riders and other recreationalists. The development community raised concerns about impacts on community growth. The ranching community raised concerns about their economic viability when faced with impacts from management and administration practices typically imposed within Wilderness areas.

Concerns expressed by Border Patrol organizations about impacts to Homeland Security operations raise serious issues that impact every citizen. Richard Hayes, retired Chief of Air Operations for the Border Patrol, expressed his concerns by stating "The current effort to create Wilderness along the border in Dona Ana County and ultimately the expansion of such activities along the extended border is dangerous and ill conceived."

Specifically, the legislation will allow appropriate access for recreational use of the land, such as hunting, camping, and bicycling, as well as unrestricted access for law enforcement and public safety officials. It also will benefit the economies of surrounding communities by allowing a local advisory board to participate in and provide input into the existing land disposal process managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A portion of the proceeds from sale of federal lands would be directed back into the local community. It should be noted that the Act deals only with disposal lands already identified by BLM in its 1993 Mimbres Area Resource Management Plan. The Act does not identify additional lands for disposal, and sets no timetable for disposals. Disposals will be based on the needs of the community, with input from a seven-member advisory committee consisting of a representative from the BLM, Dona Ana County, City of Las Cruces, conservationists, Elephant Butte Irrigation District, ranching, and the business community.

The legislation will provide protection and preservation of the federal lands with a model which tailors the level of protection and access based on the specific requirements for the areas and the needs of the community. The existing temporary Wilderness Study Areas can be released because appropriate protection measures will be in place.

Congressman Pearces legislation is an innovative approach blending sensible and appropriate levels of protection for our natural resources, balanced with protection of property rights, appropriate levels of access for the public and law enforcement, and continued beneficial use of these areas.

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Additional Reference material:

A 2004 US General Accounting Office (GAO) Report titled "Border Security - Agencies Need to Better Coordinate Their Strategies and Operations on Federal Lands", states: "Congress has designated areas within some federal lands as wilderness under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation, while the Fish and Wildlife Service has designated certain areas as critical habitat for endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Federal law enforcement officers told us that these designations can hinder their efforts. For example, motorized vehicles must generally remain on designated roads in wilderness areas, and the Wilderness Act generally prohibits construction of permanent structures such as communications towers in wilderness areas."

BLM seeks new pasture facilities for wild horses The Bureau of Land Management, charged with the responsibility of managing, protecting and controlling wild horses and burros, is seeking bids for new pasture facilities in the continental United States. The pastures must be able to maintain at least 500 wild horses and as many as 2,500 over a one-year period. There would be an option for an additional four one-year extensions. Officials say there are approximately 33,000 wild horses and burros roaming BLM lands in 10 Western states. The desired level is 27,300. Wild horses and burros not placed in private care through adoption or sale are cared for at the holding facilities....
House panel OKs Matheson land swap A House panel has approved a 40,000-acre land exchange between the Utah school trust land administration and the Bureau of Land Management. Wednesday, the House Natural Resources Committee approved the Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007, introduced by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, that calls for the exchange near the Colorado River in Uintah and Grand counties to help reduce the "checkerboard pattern" of state trust lands and federal land. "This bill is the result of consensus among a broad, diverse group of stakeholders — public and private, urban and rural, industry, conservation, sportsmen and education," Matheson said in a statement. "The result is a proposal that is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah schoolchildren, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values." The bill still must pass the full House and Senate before going to the president for his signature. Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both R-Utah, have the same bill in the Senate. The bill passed the House in the previous Congress, but the Senate did not vote on it....
Preserving Mount Taylor and a way of life For many Native people in the Southwest, New Mexico's Mount Taylor, within the Cibola National Forest west of Albuquerque, N.M., holds a great deal of sacred significance. One of these tribes who hold Mount Taylor sacred is the Pueblo of Acoma. Its people call this mountain K'aweshtima, which means ''being a place of snow'' in their Keres language. ''Acoma has maintained this connection to Mount Taylor for a number of years and for many different reasons,'' said Theresa Pasqual, director of the Pueblo of Acoma Historic Preservation Office. ''Through our stories, our songs, our prayers, the people have always referred to Acoma as being a sacred place. It's the home of several of our spiritual beings. It's a place that we go to regularly to gather traditional herbs and medicines. Historically, our people have hunted there. There are ancestral settlements in the area. It's a place where our people continue to make a pilgrimage to this very day.'' It only seemed fitting that it would be a place of prayer as part of the 2008 National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. In addition to being a sacred site, it is also a recreational area enjoyed by Native and non-Native alike, including athletes who travel to the area each winter to participate in a quadrathalon - an event that involves running, biking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Yet mining companies over the years have had quite a different interest when viewing Mount Taylor, eyeing it for its uranium underneath the surface....
Ousted Rural Families Fight for Heritage First, they lost their land. Now the people whose families were evicted in the 1960s to create a vast nature preserve in western Kentucky and Tennessee are wrangling with the U.S. Forest Service over how to present their history to visitors. Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a peninsula of forests and ridges between two dammed river valleys whose serene backwoods atmosphere was created in part by tearing down small towns and burning farms. The U.S. Forest Service is currently preparing a heritage management plan for the area, which will determine how the history of the land and its people is presented. That has triggered complaints and a letter-writing campaign from displaced residents worried they will not have enough of a voice in deciding how their story is told for future generations. The Forest Service is pitching a plan to commemorate some sites and do archaeological digs in others. Land Between the Lakes program director Kathryn Harper says the former residents are as welcome as any other member of the public to comment and offer ideas. The former residents, however, want more say over what is presented as the history of the area, how it is presented and what the Forest Service will and won't allow visitors to do. "We've got a relationship with the place that nobody else will ever have," said David Nickell, whose family first came to the area nearly 250 years ago. "It's still our heritage. We're still using it."....
Biologists, ranchers hope cows will help lure back butterflies Bay checkerspot butterflies are picky eaters that prefer goldfield and purple owl's clover. Both native plants grow on Tulare Hill in South San Jose, but the fickle butterflies have stayed away - possibly turned off by the unsavory invasive grasses now blanketing the steep hill. So to lure back the butterflies, biologists sent in the cows. On Wednesday, a rancher herded 40 Angus cows to Tulare Hill's north side. Turns out the bovine beasts - often cast as environmental enemies for their methane emissions, among other problems - love to graze on non-native grasses like Italian rye and squirrel tail, species that now grow in abundance on Tulare Hill and crowd out the threatened butterflies' favorite snacks. "The cows eat the invasive grasses but leave the native plants alone," said Craige Edgerton of the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy. "In order for the butterfly to survive, it needs cows."....

FLE

Divided Court Finds Individual Right to Own Guns The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, has struck down the District of Columbia's handgun ban. The ruling says Americans have the individual right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the Associated Press reported. It is the high court's first definitive Second Amendment ruling in U.S. history. The Supreme Court held that "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." But the court also found limitations: "Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."....
Heller Discussion Board: Incorporation and the Need for Further Litigation It is not hyperbole to describe today’s decision in Heller as the most significant opinion of this century, and likely, of the last two generations. Two particular thoughts immediately come to mind. First, the extent to which today’s decision effectively opens the door for future litigation regarding the Second Amendment to further clarify the extent of the now confirmed, but long understood, individual right to keep and bear arms. Second, this is an election year. This decision, closely divided as it is, will likely provide a rallying cry for the millions of the Americans who recognize that their Second Amendment rights came down to a single vote. In reading Justice Scalia’s opinion, there is an overwhelming theme that to interpret the Second Amendment as not protecting an individual right would gut the amendment of meaning and defy logic. It is, after all, the Second Amendment, not the two hundredth. This is not an obscure line buried among thousands of pages of text. It is inconceivable that the framers would have given it the priority they did, placing it ahead of so many other critical rights, if they only meant it to apply to militias as the dissenting justices suggest. But as emphatic as Justice Scalia’s opinion is, however, it leaves open the question of whether the Second Amendment is selectively incorporated so as to apply to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. This is a particularly important question for my clients - 47 state rifle associations - on whose behalf I filed an amicus brief. But while the opinion itself is clear in confirming an individual right, it conspicuously leaves the question of selective incorporation dangling. To be sure, this is attributable to the fact that the question was not before the Court...It doesn’t take a mathematician to recognize the narrow margin in this case. Replace any one of the five justices in the majority with a more liberal appointment - many of whom will be waiting in line if Barack Obama wins the presidency - and the outcome would have flipped. Americans would have lost the individual right to keep and bear arms....

Update

The Federalist Society Online Debate Series The Supreme Court’s decision striking down the D.C. handgun ban is an important victory for the rights of American citizens who want to own guns for self defense. It is also an important declaration by the Court of its respect for the original meaning of the Constitution. Justice Scalia’s opinion conclusively refutes the mistaken theory that the Second Amendment protects only a right to have weapons for the purpose of serving in a military organization regulated by the government. The Court, moreover, has firmly rejected the theory that courts should uphold almost any regulation that they think might promote public safety. Many questions about the scope of the Second Amendment remain open, but the core right of Americans to keep arms for personal self defense has now been fixed in our constitutional law. One particularly interesting feature of Justice Scalia’s opinion is its insistence that questions about the scope of Second Amendment rights will be decided on the basis of an historical inquiry. This appears to mean that arguments about the costs and benefits of modern gun control regulations should be almost entirely irrelevant to the constitutional analysis. It is not entirely clear how this historical analysis will be conducted, but Scalia’s opinion suggests that modern gun control statutes will not be upheld unless they have some reasonably close analogue in regulations that were widely accepted in eighteenth century common law or statutory law, or perhaps in regulations that have been widely adopted and accepted in modern times. Among the most urgent questions left open by the Heller decision is whether the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment applicable to state and local governments. Justice Scalia’s opinion contains some language suggesting that the Second Amendment will be “incorporated” under the Fourteenth Amendment, but the question was left open. Scalia’s opinion also includes dicta indicating that some important forms of gun control will be upheld. Examples include bans on carrying concealed weapons; disarmament of convicted felons; gun free zones in “sensitive places” like schools and government buildings; restrictions on the commercial sale of firearms; and bans on “dangerous and unusual” weapons, apparently including short-barreled shotguns and machine guns. Some of the examples are problematic. Is it truly consistent with the original meaning of the Second Amendment to leave an American citizen defenseless for the rest of her life because she was convicted of a non-violent felony like tax evasion or insider trading? On what basis will courts decide whether particular places are sufficiently “sensitive” to justify disarming citizens who go there? Did New Orleans become a “sensitive” place after Hurricane Katrina, thus allowing the government to confiscate weapons from law abiding citizens whom the government did not and could not protect from roving bands of looters and criminals? Did short-barreled shotguns, which are very useful for self-defense and in many cases superior to handguns, become “dangerous and unusual” just because Congress decided to restrict them in 1934? These and many other questions remain to be addressed.

Update 2

So, what’s next on guns? First among the open questions, and perhaps one of the most important of them, is whether this ruling applies beyond the federal government and the District of Columbia government (assuming that it is settled that those two entities at least are now covered). It is absolutely clear that the Bill of Rights’ specific guarantees of individual rights do not apply to any level below the federal government – that is, to state, county and city governments — unless the Court has ruled explicitly that they are to apply at those levels by a process that is called “incorporation.” The Court has read into the Fourteenth Amendment — an amendment written to restrict state and local government powers — many of the rights in the first ten amendments. That process began in the late 19th Century, and continued up through the first three quarters of the 20th Century. But the process has not meant a total absorption of the Bill of Rights in the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment right to be charged by a grand jury has not been applied to the states; neither has the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in a civil case. And neither has the Second Amendment. But conservative jurists, like those who made the majority in the Heller case, usually are not fond of lifting parts of the Bill of Rights out for inclusion under the Fourteenth Amendment. Given the glowing rhetoric applied to the virtues of an individual right to have a gun, perhaps that reluctance might be overcome. If, as expected, the NRA or some other litigant goes after a state or local gun law, relying on the Second Amendment, the Court may well have to answer explicitly whether it applies at all to such laws. Some already are reading the Heller decision to signal a willingness say “yes” to that question; the evidence of that is of an uncertain nature, though. Second among the issue not resolved Thursday is the standard of review that the Court will apply to judge the constitutionality of any other law that differs, even in a small detail, from the District of Columbia handgun ban that was nullified. Justice Scalia’s opinion definitely rules out mere “rational basis” as the standard that a gun control law would have to satisfy. As most lawyers know, rational basis is enough to uphold a good many laws. The opinion also rules out a test for balancing the interest in having a gun against a government interest in regulating guns. But further than rejecting those two standards, the Scalia opinion does not go. The right, as he describes it, sounds as if it were fundamental in nature, deserving the highest constitutional protection. It does not say that explicitly, however. Third, there is uncertainy about just why some forms of gun regulation already appear to have passed whatever test the Court did apply, perhaps only temporarily, in Heller. Why does the Amendment not protect, for example, carrying a concealed weapon, as the opinion seems to say?....

Update 3

News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is historic in its implications and exemplary in its reasoning. A federal ban on an entire class of guns in ordinary use for self-defense – such as the handgun ban adopted by the District of Columbia – is now off the table. Every gun controller's fondest desire has become a constitutional pipe dream. Two important practical issues remain. First, will this ruling also apply to states and municipalities? That will depend on whether the Supreme Court decides to "incorporate" the right to keep and bear arms into the 14th Amendment. But in the middle of his opinion Justice Scalia acknowledges that the 39th Congress that enacted the 14th Amendment did so, in part, to protect the individual right to arms of freedmen and Southern Republicans so they might defend themselves from violence. My prediction: This ruling will eventually be extended to the states. Second, how will the court deal with firearms regulations that fall short of a ban? The majority opinion strongly suggests that such regulations must now be subjected to meaningful judicial scrutiny. The exact nature of this scrutiny is not clear, but Justice Scalia explicitly rejects the extremely deferential "rationality" review advocated by Justice Stephen Breyer...Justice Scalia's opinion is exemplary for the way it was reasoned. It will be studied by law professors and students for years to come. It is the clearest, most careful interpretation of the meaning of the Constitution ever to be adopted by a majority of the Supreme Court. Justice Scalia begins with the text, and carefully parses the grammatical relationship of the "operative clause" identifying "the right to keep and bear arms" to the "prefatory clause" about the importance of a "well-regulated militia." Only then does he consider the extensive evidence of original meaning that has been uncovered by scholars over the past 20 years – evidence that was presented to the Court in numerous "friends of the court" briefs. Justice Scalia's opinion is the finest example of what is now called "original public meaning" jurisprudence ever adopted by the Supreme Court. This approach stands in sharp contrast to Justice John Paul Stevens's dissenting opinion that largely focused on "original intent" – the method that many historians employ to explain away the text of the Second Amendment by placing its words in what they call a "larger context." Although original-intent jurisprudence was discredited years ago among constitutional law professors, that has not stopped nonoriginalists from using "original intent" – or the original principles "underlying" the text – to negate its original public meaning....

Conservation Ease Mike Strugar has witnessed some sketchy land deals go down in the name of earth-friendliness—such as landowners donating acres of development rights to the state of Colorado at hyperinflated prices in return for generous tax credits. Laurie Lenfestey Strugar, a Boulder-based lawyer, is in Santa Fe this week to discuss changes to New Mexico’s law governing such conservation easements. Conservation easements allow landowners to donate the development rights of their property, preserving land from future subdivisions and the like. The changes to the state’s conservation easement law, sponsored by state Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, increase the tax credits for such easements from $100,000 to $250,000. And, significantly, those tax credits are now transferable so that land owners can sell them for 80 cents on the dollar. “What’s really exciting,” Wirth says, “is that it really broadens the benefits that come along with this tool and offers it to folks who otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of the easement.” The changes went into effect this month and already have prompted increased interest....
Rural West Going to the Dogs Jeff Villepique usually carries bear spray when he goes into the mountains. But the California Department of Fish and Game biologist isn't worried about bears as he walks to the edge of a steep, rocky wash near the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts resort in Southern California. o­n this bone-chilling, misty morning, he's worried about dogs. Villepique recalls the macabre scene he recently investigated here: the tracks of three or four dogs in the snow, tufts of hair marking where a bighorn ewe was dragged down the talus slope, and the carcass itself -- mangled and missing a leg and a horn. The prime suspects: a Labrador retriever mix Villepique found still gnawing o­n the evidence, and its partner in crime, a German shepherd mix that watched menacingly from the top of the wash. "It's a great loss," Villepique says. State and federal agencies in California have spent three decades and a lot of money trying to recover local bighorn populations. But encroaching development and its encroaching pets -- some abandoned and others simply allowed to run free -- are complicating efforts. Officials have captured hundreds of feral and free-roaming dogs in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains in recent years, especially around Mount Baldy and Lytle Creek. In addition to bighorn sheep, the dogs are hammering rabbits, quail, mule deer and other wildlife. The story is similar across much of the West, as swelling ranks of rogue canines increasingly harass wildlife, livestock, even people. But most federal efforts to protect big game and livestock are focused o­n killing wild predators. With limited funds for trapping dogs, local officials like Villepique can do little but try to educate the public....
Court gives feds 'road map' for future logging A federal appeals court has upheld the U.S. Forest Service's authority to decide whether a tree is likely to die soon after a forest fire. But it ordered the agency to take a closer look at whether they should log at all after fires in small roadless areas -- parts of forests that have never been logged. The ruling Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came in a challenge of salvage logging on the Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon following a 2005 fire. Forest Service spokesman Tom Knappenberger said the agency is glad to get a good road map from the court for analyzing future salvage logging. Doug Heiken of the conservation group Oregon Wild says the ruling was important for recognizing that even small roadless areas merit a higher level of protection....
Feds boot Boy Scouts for Rainbow Family About 1,000 members of the honor society for the Boy Scouts of America have been booted from a long-planned national service project in Wyoming by federal officials in favor of a gathering by the "Rainbow Family," an unorganized annual assembly of "free spirits" who commune with nature and each other. The action has left local leaders infuriated. "It's a matter of intimidation," Sublette, Wyo., County commissioner Joel Bousman told WND. "It appears the Rainbow group has managed to intimidate an entire federal agency." As WND has reported, the honor society for the Scouts, the Order of the Arrow, has been working for several years to put together this year's public service project called ArrowCorps5. The plans include about 5,000 top Boy Scouts from across the country donating an estimated 250,000 hours of time to restore, repair, rebuild, reclaim and refurbish miles of trails, acres and glens in the nation's forests. "ArrowCorps5 is the largest, most complex, most challenging conservation project ever conceived by the Order of the Arrow and Boy Scouts of America," said Brad Haddock, chairman of the National Order of the Arrow Committee. "This project provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for each participant to set an example of leadership in service to those who treasure our national forests." But the conflict arose with the Wyoming location and dates, because Rainbow Family participants announced they would meet in the same general location as the Scouting work was to take place. The Rainbow Family events are not organized, there is no official website, and the makeup of the assemblage varies. Their activities grow to a peak over the July 4th weekend and then taper off, but the cleanup from the estimated 25,000 people expected to invade Wyoming's Sublette County, population 6,000, is expected to take the time the Scouts otherwise would have been doing repairs. Bousman said it's fairly simple: The Scouts applied for permission for their project, filled out forms, went through red tape, and got permission. Then came the announcement from Rainbow members they've chosen the same location. Mark Rey, the federal undersecretary supervising the U.S. Forest Service, met with Rainbow Family members recently in Pinedale, and urged them to move their gathering, the Star-Tribune said. They refused. Rey told WND he thought the decision to move the Scouts to somewhere else and leave the Rainbow Family alone was the best under the circumstances. He said the government allows the Rainbow Family to bypass its regular permit requirements in favor of an "operating plan" but the bottom line was that the government didn't want to be arresting hundreds or thousands of people....I guess we should form the Mad Ranchers Liberation Front and go take over a forest each summer.
Rainbow Family should show respect for others Give the U.S. Forest Service credit for trying to work with the Rainbow Family on a site for the group's gathering in the Bridger-Teton National Forest next month. But the federal agency would probably have better luck herding cats than reaching a workable agreement with a group that has no official leaders. Every summer, the Rainbow Family of Living Light assembles on public lands somewhere in the United States, sometimes drawing as many as 25,000 participants. Members gather to promote peace, play music, dance and trade crafts, but varying degrees of nudity and drug use are also always part of the event. In an unprecedented move, the Forest Service this year tried to cooperate with this group, whose members are often described as "free spirits." The agency identified four possible sites in the Bridger-Teton for the gathering, but the Rainbow Family instead decided to gather at a different location near Big Sandy in Sublette County. That's unfortunate, because it creates a problem for the Boy Scouts, who were scheduled to begin a large service project in the area at the same time the Rainbow Family will be cleaning up. The Boy Scouts -- who did everything they could to work with the Forest Service -- may now have to alter their plans, as it appears the Rainbow Family won't give up the site. That's not fair. The situation could have easily been avoided if the group had cooperated with the feds....
Baby aspens help foil future fires High up a hillside near Vail’s Matternhorn neighborhood, Tom Talbot stood among baby aspen trees. He was quite excited to see them. “These are two seasons,” said Talbot, wildland fire coordinator for the Vail Fire Department. “You see how they’ve come up? Farther up the hill, a few of them have come up even taller. This is what we’re after, the regeneration. That was the goal. And it’s happened.” Two years ago, he and other firefighters were cutting down hundreds of aspen trees there. The goal was to allow some of the hillside’s aspen stand to regrow, preventing them from falling to the ground, where they could be fuel for wildfire. “Aspen, when it’s alive, is a wonderful ‘fuel break’ because it has so much water in it,” Talbot said. “When it’s dead, as well all know, in the fireplace, boy, does it burn hot. And fast.” Aspen stands can act as walls that stop lodgepole-pine fires from spreading. And more and more lodgepole pines here are dying....
Race called off because of air quality Simon Mtuy came from Tanzania to compete in this weekend's Western States Endurance Run, an event he has finished six years in a row. This race was going to be special, with his wife and 5-month-old son on hand to watch him on the 100.2-mile journey from Squaw Valley to Auburn. But when Mtuy, 36, climbed the first four miles of the course to Emigrant Pass on Wednesday afternoon, he didn't like what he saw: smoke. "It looked like a big fog is coming up the other side of the mountain," Mtuy said. "It seemed a little hard for breathing." With fires keeping air quality at unhealthy levels and at least one blaze burning near the Western States Trail, race officials decided to cancel the run for the first time since the event began in 1974. Race director Greg Soderlund said he and other race officials consulted U.S. Forest Service and Placer County air quality personnel before reaching a decision. "The air quality is a thousand percent above what is considered unsafe for outdoor activity," Soderlund said. "It's just flat-out not safe to put this event on....
White House Tried to Silence EPA Proposal on Car Emissions White House officials last December sought to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from submitting a proposed rule that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions from new vehicles, agency sources said yesterday. And upon learning that EPA had hit the "send" button just minutes earlier, the White House called again to demand that the e-mail be recalled. The EPA official who forwarded the e-mail, Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett, refused, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations. The proposed rule was EPA's response to an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the agency had violated the Clean Air Act by refusing to take up the issue of regulating automobile emissions that contribute to global warming. Burnett, who resigned from the agency this month, sent the e-mail to the White House Office of Management and Budget at 2:17 p.m. Dec. 5 and received the call warning him to hold off at 2:25 p.m., the sources said. The EPA is expected to release a watered-down version of its original proposal within a week, highlighting the extent to which Bush administration officials continue to resist mandatory federal limits on emissions linked to global warming....
Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans. "This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project. Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer....
Humane Society finds NM downer cattle abuse A video showing cattle being mistreated and tormented at a livestock auction in New Mexico was released on Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States -- the latest evidence of what the organization claims is widespread abuse of livestock across the country. The video showed sick and injured cattle -- so-called downer animals -- at the Portales Livestock Auction being kicked and slapped and given shocks to get them to walk. In one instance, a cow with a hyper-extended leg is shown being dragged by a tractor. The footage was collected during visits in May. The HSUS said its investigator reported at least three of the downed cows were later sold. However, there is no evidence to show if the meat went into school lunch programs or any other part of the food supply. Randy Bouldin, owner of the Portales Livestock Auction, said he euthanizes downed animals and does not allow them to be sent to packing houses. The animals the HSUS alleges were sold could have become disabled or nonambulatory after the sale in which case the sale would have been reversed. "There were no downed cows that went into any packing house or into the food," said Bouldin. "I don't know where (HSUS) got their information. They are obviously misinformed."....

Climate change threatens two-thirds of California's unique plants, study says Two-thirds of California's unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their current geographic ranges by the end of the century because of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, according to a new study. The species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction because of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers. California's flora face a potential "collapse," said David Ackerly, an ecologist at UC Berkeley who was the senior author of the paper. "As the climate changes, many of these plants will have no place to go." Half of the plant species that are unique to the continental United States grow only in the Golden State, from towering redwoods to slender fire poppies. And under likely climate scenarios, many would have to shift 100 miles or more from their current range -- a difficult task given slow natural migration rates and obstacles presented by suburban sprawl. The study, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed on-line journal PLoS One, is the first to analyze the effect of climate change on all of the plants unique to one of the world's most biologically diverse areas. Previous models have focused on fewer species in areas such as the eastern United States, Europe, South Africa and Australia....
EPA Report: Climate Change Manageable if Agencies Act Now Climate change will eventually force federal and state agencies to change their resource management strategies as ecosystems adapt to a warmer planet, warns a new Environmental Protection Agency report. In Utah and across the West, an uptick in wildfires blamed on global warming is significantly impacting how the Forest Service operates, says Dave Meyers, the Uintah-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Deputy Supervisor. "Nearly half of our budget now in the U.S. Forest Service goes to wild-land fire suppression," Meyers says. "That's a real large part, recognizing we're a multiple-use agency and we have many other parts to our agency managing other resources: recreation - incredible amounts of outdoor recreation - wildlife fisheries, range management." Both the frequency and severity of wildfires have increased, and climate scientists anticipate it will only get worse in the future. However, the new EPA report also has some good news for public resource managers. Strategies currently in place to mitigate the impact of other environmental stresses, such as invasive species, pollution and habitat loss, also help guard against the effects of climate change, says Joel Scheraga, director of the EPA's Global Change Research Project....
Florida Buying Big Sugar Tract for Everglades The dream of a restored Everglades, with water flowing from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, moved a giant step closer to reality on Tuesday when the nation’s largest sugarcane producer agreed to sell all of its assets to the state and go out of business. Under the proposed deal, Florida will pay $1.75 billion for United States Sugar, which would have six years to continue farming before turning over 187,000 acres north of Everglades National Park, along with two sugar refineries, 200 miles of railroad and other assets. It would be Florida’s biggest land acquisition ever, and the magnitude and location of the purchase left environmentalists and state officials giddy. Even before Gov. Charlie Crist arrived to make the announcement against a backdrop of water, grass and birds here, dozens of advocates gathered in small groups, gasping with awe, as if at a wedding for a couple they never thought would fall in love. After years of battling with United States Sugar over water and pollution, many of them said that the prospect of a partnership came as a shock. “It’s so exciting,” said Margaret McPherson, vice president of the Everglades Foundation. “I’m going to do cartwheels.” The details of the deal, which is scheduled to be completed over the next few months, and does not require legislative approval, may define how long the honeymoon lasts. Previous acquisitions took longer to integrate than initially expected and because United States Sugar’s fields are not all contiguous, complicated land swaps with other businesses may be required....
An Unlikely Way to Save a Species: Serve It for Dinner SOME people would just as soon ignore the culinary potential of the Carolina flying squirrel or the Waldoboro green neck rutabaga. To them, the creamy Hutterite soup bean is too obscure and the Tennessee fainting goat, which keels over when startled, sounds more like a sideshow act than the centerpiece of a barbecue. But not Gary Paul Nabhan. He has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often involves urging people to eat them. Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35). The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted Plains pronghorn antelope). To make the list, an animal or plant — whether American eels, pre-Civil War peanuts or Seneca hominy flint corn — has to be more than simply edible. It must meet a set of criteria that define it as a part of American culture, too. Mr. Nabhan’s book is part of a larger effort to bring foods back from the brink by engaging nursery owners, farmers, breeders and chefs to grow and use them....
Tester wants Plum Creek investigation U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked congressional investigators Tuesday to examine closed-door road negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Co. The Montana Democrat also asked Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to postpone making any changes to Plum Creek's federal road easements until the investigation is complete. “My hope is just to find out what the heck is going on,” Tester said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. At issue are decades-old agreements Plum Creek has with the Forest Service that allow the timber company to drive across federal land to log its own property. Since 1999, however, Plum Creek has not been organized as a timber company, but as a real estate investment trust. Selling industrial timberlands for real estate development has since been an increasingly lucrative part of Plum Creek's business, and the company has said it intends to sell more. For the past two years, Tester said, the company has been negotiating behind closed doors with federal officials to expand the uses allowed under its road easements, which previously dealt only with logging. The proposed new easements would give Plum Creek the right to drive across public land for commercial, industrial or residential development, and according to Tester and several western Montana officials, would open up numerous tracts of land to real estate development....
Forest may examine cattle fence in detail Bridger-Teton National Forest officials say they will likely take a closer look at the environmental consequences of building fences and a corral proposed at a grazing allotment in the Gros Ventre River drainage. Jackson District Ranger Dale Deiter said Monday he will consider a more stringent analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act for proposal to construct a corral and two sections of fence in the pronghorn migration corridor in the Gros Ventre. Officials had previously recommended a “categorical exclusion,” a level of analysis reserved for activities that do not have a significant effect on the environment. Deiter said the fences and the corral would likely necessitate an “environmental assessment,” a more in-depth look at the possible environmental consequences. Deiter stopped short of committing to such a study. Deiter called grazing on the Upper Gros Ventre a “valid use.” The proposal comes after 550 cow-calf pairs cattle owned by ranchers Shane Christian, of Pavillion, and Jack and Amy Robinson of Jackson, repeatedly wandered off the Upper Gros Ventre allotment last summer and onto the 178,000-acre Bacon-Fish reserve. Conservation groups purchased the Bacon-Fish allotment in January 2007 to provide additional grazing opportunities for big game such as elk, and to provide options for managing large carnivores. Part of the 178,000 acres is a forage reserve where infrequent grazing could be allowed....
House Committee Invokes Rarely Used Powers to Block Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon As Senate leaders drag their feet on reform of the nation's 136-year-old mining law, today a House committee may exercise rarely used emergency powers to protect the Grand Canyon from a surge in uranium mining claims near the canyon rim. The House Natural Resources Committee will take up a resolution by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that would force Interior Sec. Dirk Kempthorne to ban new mining claims on approximately 1 million acres adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park. The resolution, which would have the force of law, would use the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to direct Kempthorne to withdraw the land from mining activity. Between January 2003 and January 2008, the number of claims within 5 miles of Grand Canyon National Park increased from 10 to more than 1,100, according to Bureau of Reclamation data compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Google maps of the claims are available at http://www.ewg.org/reports/grandcanyon . Most, if not all, of the claims are for uranium, sparked by a surge in uranium prices linked to renewed interest in nuclear power. In December 2007, the Forest Service issued a permit to a British company to drill for uranium as close as 2 miles from the Park, citing the government's inability to prevent the action under the 1872 Mining Law. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Southern Nevada Water Authority have all written to Kempthorne with concerns about the surge of claims near the canyon and the effect uranium mining might have on Colorado River drinking water. The Colorado, which flows through the canyon, provides water for 25 million people including residents of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego....
With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug Maybe it’s not as bad as the ill-conceived overlap of the Hells Angels’ disastrous presence during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in 1969, but Boy Scouts of America organizers aren’t taking any chances. BSA officials said concerns over a scheduling conflict with the Rainbow Gathering, an annual meeting of free spirits and people living on the fringes of mainstream society, has forced them to cancel a major habitat restoration project. The BSA had intended to conduct the project on public lands in Sublette County, just weeks after the freewheeling event is expected to peak in the same vicinity. More than 1,000 Scouts were expected for the week-long project, part of the largest service mission undertaken by the Scouts in decades. The project was scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 2. The Rainbow Gathering, with no formal leadership or members, is happening this year in the Big Sandy region of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management lands. National Forest Service officials said late Monday as many as 1,100 people, known as the Rainbow Family, already had arrived for the gathering, which is expected to see its largest numbers around July 4 with tens of thousands of participants....
Tribes look ahead The five Indian Nations which nominated sections of Mount Taylor to be a temporary Traditional Cultural Property are now looking to the future. At a press conference at Sky City Hotel last Thursday, tribal leaders outlined their future efforts following a question from the Beacon. Zuni Governor Norman Cooeyate said, “We're setting up a working group to provide the additional information required by the Cultural Properties Review Committee. We also need to study the maps showing private property on the mountain because the maps shown at the Saturday meeting were provided by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and they differ from the tribes' maps.” The Zuni leader also stated that the five tribes are looking for other groups and individuals who support the Traditional Cultural Property designation. “This process is open to anyone who is a citizen of New Mexico and we welcome other groups to join us,” he said. Cooeyate added that each tribe will determine how much tribal information will be released during the process. “Sometimes we've been too open in the past and it has caused problems,” he said. Hopi Tribal Chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa noted that Katsina ceremonies were underway at his reservation and his people will give thanks for the decision from the Cultural Properties Review Committee during their summer solstice prayers....
Senator Domenici assails forest plans Restrictions on forest management have led to the loss of more national forest lands and personal property to wildfires. U.S. Senator Pete Domenici made the comments last week at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the preparedness of federal land management agencies-primarily the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management-for the 2008 fire season. In a statement to the Senate, Domenici asserted that almost 155 million acres of forest have burned since he entered the Senate in 1973, with 58 million of those acres burning in the past seven years. Nationally, more than 1.7 million acres have burned this year since Jan. 1, including about 20,000 acres in New Mexico. The Dripping Springs Fire in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces continue to burn as of Monday. “I note that the trend of acres burned versus the number of acres managed by the Forest Service through timber sales and pre-commercial thinning is troubling. As the number of acres that have been treated has decreased, the number of burned acres has increases,” Domenici said. “We are spending more, managing less, burning more and, as a result, having to cut funds to other important resource programs such as recreation, fisheries and wildlife to battle these wildfires. In addition, we're increasing the carbon dioxide and other pollutants that get pumped into the atmosphere by these fires,” he said....
Gov. Ritter on energy/wildlife hot seat The bully boys of oil and gas are drilling away at Colorado's fish and wildlife again. No surprise there. It's what an industry allowed to rumble unrestrained by the federal administration has come to view as its absolute right. Question is, will the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter roll over beneath this latest onslaught and allow the energy express to quash its own laws and regulations? At issue is a series of draft rules by the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, a branch of the Department of Natural Resources, establishing protection for the state's streams and big game herds. As proposed by commission staff, the rule would prohibit drilling within 300 feet of streams. It also would establish sensitive periods and areas for certain species, such as fawning for mule deer or mating for sage grouse. Unaccustomed even to such seemingly reasonable requirements, the industry launched an all-out campaign of distortion that seems to be gnawing away at Ritter administration resolve. The attack includes newspaper and radio advertisements designed to create hysteria ranging from higher energy prices to layoffs of employees. Frightened energy workers packed an initial commission hearing in Grand Junction and again turned out in force at Monday's second and final hearing in Denver....
Feds: New drilling rules won't apply on our lands New drilling regulations being considered by a Colorado agency wouldn’t apply to federal land, the largest part of western Colorado lands, the Bureau of Land Management said in a letter it sent to the group. Sally Wisely, state director for the bureau, wrote to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, saying federal legislation preempts state law when state laws “stand as an obstacle” against the will of Congress. The state, however, isn’t backing down from its authority, said Deb Frazier, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Three draft regulations before the commission affect wildlife-timing restrictions, geographic-area plans and reclamation. Wildlife-timing restrictions were frequently criticized at a commission hearing earlier this month because they would set a moratorium on drilling for at least three months each year, potentially crippling western Colorado’s booming energy industry. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., also jumped into the fray Tuesday, writing to the departments of Interior and Agriculture to express his concern that the state “is overstepping its jurisdiction in attempting to regulate oil and gas activity” on federal and Southern Ute tribe lands....

NASA warming scientist: 'This is the last chance' Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action. James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises. "We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance." To cut emissions, Hansen said coal-fired power plants that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions shouldn't be used in the United States after 2025, and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by 2030....
Wolves Running Wild in the West In Idaho's rugged ranch country, a young calf killed by predators is every rancher's worst nightmare. For veteran biologist Rick Williamson, it's the beginning of a wildlife version of "CSI." "There's a blood trail through here," Williamson observed. "We need to have the evidence to suggest what happened to this calf." Wolves have been spotted in the region, but so have coyotes, bears and mountain lions. As part of his investigation, Williamson conducts a necropsy — an animal autopsy — right on the spot. If a wolf is responsible, the rancher will be compensated, and the wolf pack possibly hunted down. "We are looking for feeding patterns that would suggest wolves [which] feed differently than coyotes or red fox or black bears," he said. Such scenes are playing out across the northern Rocky Mountains as the growing wolf population — once endangered — leads to more and more conflict. The Soulen family has raised livestock since 1929 on a sprawling ranch in western Idaho. Now, father and son run the ranch. It is hard, demanding work, branding lambs, docking their tails and preparing their flock for the annual 100-mile trek to a summer range up in the mountains. Last summer, some sheep strayed. "We had about 150 head pull off from the band and they pulled up onto a ridge one night and bedded down," Harry Soulen said. "The wolves got into them and by the time the herder gathered up the remnants, we had lost 63 in that one incident." Over the last three years, the Soulens say they've lost more than 800 head of sheep to wolves, which has had a "huge" impact on their livelihood. "In a way it's a little bit like a thief or a shoplifter," Soulen said. "Each one of the incidents doesn't break you but day after day, night after night, you are losing sheep; after a while it adds up to some serious money." Now, the Soulens and other ranchers have every right to kill wolves that threaten their livestock....
NM tradition clashes with off-roaders on public land Richard Montoya looks out the pickup truck's window as he heads down the dirt road toward the steel gate. To the right, a few cows and horses graze in a pasture bordered by hills thick with pinon and juniper trees. To the left, the remaining stone walls of this once vibrant trading post stand out against the backdrop of Glorieta Mesa. ''So what do you think of this country?'' the 67-year-old northern New Mexico rancher says. It's not a question, but rather Montoya's way of affirming the beauty of the surroundings he and his wife, Zenaida, have known all of their lives. They say they're lucky to live on the mesa, raising their horses and cattle and living off the land as their families have done for generations. But the couple worries about whether they can maintain their traditional way of life now that the challenges of ranching in the West are being compounded by a new threat the growing popularity of off-road motorized recreation on public land. And the ranchers of Glorieta Mesa are not alone. Battles among off-roaders, ranchers, land owners and environmentalists are heating up around the country as the U.S. Forest Service tries to decide which of its millions of acres should be designated for travel by motorcycles, four-wheelers and other backcountry vehicles....
Canaries in the Uranium Mine Teddy Nez, a Navajo rancher and Vietnam War veteran, lives practically in the shadow of a 40-foot-high pile of radioactive waste abutting his small home outside of Gallup, N.M. Nez has colon cancer, which he treats with herbs — but not with ones growing near his house, because those could be contaminated with uranium. Thousands of Navajo have developed lung cancer, kidney disease and other serious illnesses linked to uranium mining — which has supplied the U.S. government with material for nuclear weapons and power plants from the 1940s through the ’80s. Uranium mining in the United States came to a near halt in the early ’90s because of low uranium prices, related largely to the cooling of the arms race and public disillusionment with nuclear power. But now, thanks to skyrocketing oil prices and renewed interest in nuclear energy, companies are once again planning to mine uranium in and around Navajo land. Jeff Spitz, a Chicago filmmaker who in the late ’90s shot Return of Navajo Boy — a documentary that followed a family affected by uranium — says Navajo families at the time thought they would have to deal with only the legacy of uranium....
Babbitt development role draws flak As U.S. Interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt threatened a federal takeover of the San Pedro's management back in 1999 to keep development and pumping from drying the river up. Now, as a private citizen and development consultant, Babbitt is pushing for a subdivision northwest of Sierra Vista that several local scientists say could ultimately harm the San Pedro, the Southwest's last major, free-flowing desert river. Babbitt is working as a land planner and minor investor in a 1,600-home, 5,000-acre development that is likely to draw from a 630-foot-deep well lying 2 to 3 miles from a leading tributary of the San Pedro. He's been a spokesman for a group of California and Texas investors who bought the land for $35 million. One of them is Richard Blum, a San Francisco financier, chairman of the California Board of Regents and husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The development would be in the Rain Valley Ranch, whose easternmost point is two miles west of the well. But because much of the development would center in an area farther west, water would be pumped uphill five to seven miles from the well to serve homes on the ranch. The well was drilled three months ago in Whetstone, north of Sierra Vista....
Pearce wilderness bill draws fire The introduction of a bill last week by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has revived controversy about the fate of thousands of acres of public land in Doña Ana County. Pearce, also a candidate for U.S. Senate, last Wednesday introduced legislation, H.R. 6300, that would remove a temporary wilderness designation from parcels of Doña Ana County land and instead create two new designations for certain swaths. It would also change a federal process for selling public land, opening up 65,000 acres for disposal. A spokesman for Pearce said the legislation, backed by a group of area ranchers, accomplishes a goal of protecting key lands from development, without hindering law enforcement access. Ranchers applauded the legislation, saying it would keep operations unharmed....
Pearce Submits People’s Proposal to the House HR 6300, a version of the People’s Proposal, was submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives by Steve Pearce (R-NM) on June 18, 2008, creating a flurry of activity this weekend on both side of the Dona Aña County Wilderness Debate. An email to Doña Ana Wilderness Coalition supporters announced a press conference and rally against HR 6300. The email says HR 6300, - Eliminates ALL Current Wilderness Protections in the 8 Temporary Wilderness Areas in Dona Ana County, including in the Organ Mountains -Creates a New Process for Selling Off Public Lands in Dona Ana County and A Hand Picked Special Interest Group Committee to Decide How Dona Ana County Grows -Takes Federal Funding Away From the Federal Governments Ability to Maintain and Expand Americas Most Important Natural Lands. The new process for selling public lands by a hand picked special interest group, refers to the land advisory board. When I first read the People’s Proposal, now HR 6300, the land advisory board made me nervous. Special interest groups flashed through my brain, too. I asked the principle author of the proposal Frank Dubois, a former New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture, to explain it to me. Mr. Dubois explained that presently the Bureau of Land Management’s land use plan calls for the disposal (sale) of 60,000 acres of the proposed protected lands. If neither the Citizen’s Proposal nor the People’s Propsal is introduced and passed, the land will be sold and the monies distributed in accordance with the Federal Lands Facilitation Act (FLFA). FLFA says 80 percent of the monies can be spent in New Mexico, while 20 percent can be used anywhere in the nation. Conceivably, none of the money might end up in Doña Ana County. A local advisory board would not oversee the current disposal, conducted under the auspices of BLM. Under HR 6300, a board consisting of representatives from the city, county, conservation community, business community, Elephant Butte Irrigation District, Department of the Interior, and the BLM District Manager would facilitate the how and when of the sale. The intent to sell would be announced and open to public comment. The bulk of the money from the sales would come back to Doña Ana County....
Idaho officials, Humane Society spar over horse bill Some in Idaho worry that efforts to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption will lead to more people letting unwanted horses free, leaving them to die miserable deaths and exacerbating conflicts with ranchers who count on the sparse forage of the West’s high desert for their cattle. This year, Congress passed legislation that bans funding for inspection of horses for human food, making it temporarily impossible for plants to market horse meat. Additional bills would prohibit outright the movement and slaughter of horses for human food and other purposes. Officials including U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and brand inspectors point to an overabundance of mustangs on the open range and say that banning horse slaughter for human consumption will only make things worse. For instance, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced plans Wednesday to gather about 1,700 wild horses from the Nevada range, citing ongoing drought, dwindling forage and an overabundance of animals in three herd management areas. ‘‘All these do-gooders that want this slaughter thing stopped — they think it’s so inhumane. You’re going to have horses suffering 10 times as much,’’ Larry Hayhurst, the state brand inspector in Meridian, told the Twin Falls Times-News. ‘‘There’s no out for these unwanted horses. They are going to turn them out.’’....
New mad cow case confirmed in B.C. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the 13th case of mad cow disease in Canada, but the agency says the case poses no risk to human or animal health. Dr. George Luterbach, a senior veterinarian with CFIA, said Monday the disease was found in a cow that died on a farm in western British Columbia. However, the exact farm where the animal was from has not been determined. "At this point in time we're in the early stages of the investigation," said Luterbach. "We have no other suspect animals." He said that to date, CFIA has not found more than one case on an individual farm. "The birth farm is often not the farm in which the animal was found to have died," he added. By late Monday the agency still did not know what farm the infected cow was from....
The Last Cowboy President? Lyndon B. Johnson compared going to Vietnam’s aid to coming to the aid of the defenders at the Alamo. Leonid Brezhnev derided Ronald Reagan as a global cowboy in 1981 (the Cold War Soviet leader did not like the “Great Communicator’s” plan to arm Afghan rebels fighting Soviet occupation). Our current president George W. Bush has been called a hard-line cowboy for his provocative statements like “You’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists.” (Indicative of “Range Wars” theology:?circle the wagons and protect your own; after the “homestead” is secure, then you can go on the offensive.) Cowboy beliefs and history have played a role in American politics since the mid-1880s, when “cowboy” entered the political debate as a derogatory term. By the 1900s, though, the image of a degenerate cowboy had transformed into that of a virtuous hero. Dakota Territory rancher and former Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt led the charge in redefining a cowboy president as a hero when he took up the nation’s highest office in 1901. He kicked off the notion of presidential “cowboy diplomacy” by summarizing his approach to his international policy as, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Being a cowboy is also a state of mind; you can be one out here in the glorious American West or while walking the New York City pavement or in Germany or Australia or our neighbor up north Canada. Since the turn of the 20th century, U.S. presidents too have recreated themselves as cowboys in the eyes of our nation and the rest of the world, a topic fittingly explored during this Presidential election year by the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California. The “Cowboys and Presidents” exhibit runs at the Autry through September 7....A slide show is available at the link.
A Wild Time at Wildly Well At around 4 a.m., Doña Ana County Sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse are trying to sneak up on murder suspects Oliver Lee and Jim Gilliland at Lee’s Wildy Well Ranch, east of the Jarilla Mountains in New Mexico. Lee and Gilliland are wanted for the murder of Albert Jennings Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry. For Garrett, it’s almost 17 years to the day since the incident that made him famous (or infamous)—the killing of Billy the Kid. This is a chance for him to reclaim some of the glory that had eluded him since that night in Fort Sumner. He may be able to restart a law enforcement career that stalled more than a decade ago. He’s headed for a disappointment. The lawmen break into the adobe house—and find the Madison family, asleep in their beds. Lee and Gilliland are asleep on the adobe’s flat roof, and protected by a two-foot high wall....
Cattle Towns: Fort Morgan, Colorado The fort was located on a plateau about a half mile from the river, which was called "Morgan Flats" This plateau would be in approximately the same location as today's Municipal Skate Park and Tennis Courts on Railroad Avenue in Fort Morgan. This location afforded a wide view of the countryside up and down the river valley and a clear view of the North side of the river. Fort Morgan stood as the only military presence between Julesburg and the more populated areas along the mountains. Fort Morgan was known as "Fort Morgan Cut Off" of the Overland Trail, since it was the point where the trail left the river and headed across the plains directly to Denver. The fort was about the size of one square city block. It had twenty buildings inside the compound surrounding a large parade ground with a flagpole n the middle. The buildings were made of sod and adobe and had log roofs. There was no stockade around the fort since it was large enough to withstand an attack without one. The fort usually had one to six companies, or 200 to 1200 men, occupying it at one time. The fort also housed three cannons on the Northeast and Southwest sides. The presence of Fort Morgan acted as a deterrent to large-scale Indian attacks in the immediate vicinity, since the troops offered protection to travelers from one fort to another and subdued the Indians and returned them to the reservation. The fort also acted as a gathering place for wagons traveling west, though this sometimes caused hard feelings with the travelers since they were not allowed to leave the fort until at least 30 armed men had gathered....
It's All Trew: Fresh beef top concern for settlers Before refrigeration arrived in rural areas, a system called "meat clubs" allowed families to keep fresh meat all year. An example recorded in Temple tells how the system worked. One community family became butchers for processing meat. They killed and processed one beef or more a week all year, serving some 30 to 40 families organized in a meat club. Each Saturday, the families came to pick up a portion of the fresh meat. Since each family fed and kept beeves all year, they were expected to furnish one beef per year to the meat club. Detailed accounting and scheduling was kept on beef taken and beef supplied. Fresh meat kept well for about a week before spoiling. The meat club system kept all in fresh beef the full year. Dried meat called jerky, pemmican meat dried with other ingredients added, and different forms of barbecue were all devised to preserve meat from spoiling. Canned meat preserved in cans and jars by cooking in a steam pressure cooker was developed by Napoleon Bonaparte in France to preserve meat for his soldiers in warfare. This system is still widely used today commercially....

Doing it wrong to get it right
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Julie Carter

Life's lessons are rarely learned in the classroom and, for country kids, they often involve some sort of event that includes pain, disappointment and then, hopefully, an "Aha" moment for improvement in the next go-round.

My dad wasn't one to spend a lot of time explaining things. I didn't know any better as a kid, but as an adult looking back, I know I learned most of what I know by paying attention. By osmosis.

He wasn't loud or aggressive about letting us know if we, my brothers and I, did something wrong, but he also didn't often acknowledge to us if we did something right. We just had to figure it out by watching his reaction.

When he was pleased, he would tell my mother and she would, in the way mothers do to encourage, pass on the information that Dad was proud of us for something we had accomplished.

In this manner, I learned how to read a horse, watch a cow and know where to get to not be in the way when holding herd or working in the alley. He "showed" more than he taught about working with colts, riding with easy hands, a light handle, and when it was time to establish who was in charge.

Sometimes for kids, doing it the wrong way is the best way to learn how to do it right.

When Dan was young, about 7-8 years old, his grandpa lost the coin toss and was delegated the job of teaching him the art of calf roping.

They worked their way through the correct positioning with the horse behind the calf, loop size, proper swing and then the tie. At last, they were down to the part where Dan was to actually get on a horse and make a run in the arena.

Dan's excitement had been building, listening as patiently as he could while his grandpa explained each step of the process. With great enthusiasm, he got on his horse, backed him the roping box and nodded with his eye on the calf in the chute.

The calf flew out and headed rapidly toward the other end of the arena. Dan and his horse broke of the box, clean and smooth. He threw a big loop, catching the calf somewhere around his belly button.

Not quite textbook style, but a catch just the same.

He correctly made a quick dismount off the right side, only to land in a heap in the arena dirt.

Getting up, he tackled the calf, managed to string two instead of three of the four feet that were kicking around, and stood up with his hands in the air, triumphant.

About that time, the calf used one of his free legs to take a kicking swing, tripped Dan, and put him back in the dirt.

Undaunted, Dan jumped up and made a mad dash back to his horse, correctly not spooking him into a backward run. About the same time, the calf had managed to kick loose of the wrap and hooey and stood there shaking his head.

Dan got back in the saddle, rode up and took the rope off the calf.

When Dan got back up to the chute, he asked Grandpa "What do you think I should do next time?"

With a serious look and tone, grandpa said, "Well, I think you should take dead aim at that calf, get a good break from the box and run right over the top of him."

Dan stood there a minute thinking about that and finally asked, "Why?"

Grandpa told him he had done everything wrong that he possibly could on that last run and running over the calf was the only thing left.

Some days, it just seems that it won't get better until absolutely everything goes wrong first.