NEWS ROUNDUP
Grazing to be curtailed in East Fork drainage The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is scheduled today to release a long-awaited environmental study and related management decisions on cattle grazing in the East Fork of the Salmon River valley on the eastern slope of the White Cloud mountains. The decision appears to reach a compromise position between proposed curtailment of grazing in the area and the status quo, which was deemed to be damaging to natural resources and recreation opportunities. In March, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft of the Upper and Lower East Fork Cattle and Horse Allotment Management Plans that proposed to reduce in half the size and scope of two grazing allotments used by seven Custer County ranchers...Bear Expert and Companion Killed in Bear Attack at Alaska Park A self-taught bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at their campsite when a pilot arrived who was supposed to take them to Kodiak, state troopers said Tuesday. Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Information on Huguenard was not immediately Available. The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, at the camp near Kaflia Bay... Official: Burned timber no longer salvageable "Little to no" merchantable timber likely remains in several fire-salvage sales stopped by an environmental lawsuit earlier this year, a Kootenai National Forest official said. Another summer of heat and drought probably dealt the final blow to thousands of board feet of timber damaged by wildfires during the summer of 2000, said Tom Maffei, timber sale contracting officer for the Kootenai forest. Twelve of 16 active timber sales and six of 26 planned sales stopped by a court order last July were intended to salvage burned trees. Still, Maffei said language attached to the Interior Appropriations Bill by U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., "would be helpful" in renewing work on the green timber sales and in completing restoration work in the burned areas... Editorial: Forest health may rely on fire prevention effort In a June study by the Northern Arizona University Forestry Department, "Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Restoration-Based Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments vs. No Treatment," G.B. Snider, D.B. Wood and P.J. Daugherty studied the conditions of forests in the early 1900s and compared them to current conditions. They compared the effects of wildfires then and now and determined that recent forest management practices have been a contributing cause to the out-of-control fires such as Rodeo-Chedeski in Arizona last year, which conservatively cost $300 million to suppress. This study says it would be more cost effective to spend $500 per acre to prevent forest fires rather than millions to suppress them once they've started. The authors summarize their findings by saying "each year that no action is taken to restore acres that are at highest risk for unnatural fire, the problem becomes worse. Fuels resulting from beetle outbreaks are contributing to the hazardous fuels build up." The actions that the authors recommend include drastic thinning of small-diameter timber and removal of dead and dying beetle- and drought-damaged trees... Mapping the Forest Disaster ESRI, the recognized world leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, is providing extraordinary support to our public safety officials who are striving to manage the effects of the drought and beetle infestation disaster in the San Bernardino Mountains. The company is also now providing free, detailed information to the public through a new Web portal...Forest officials forging ahead with marginal timber sale The Forest Service is moving ahead with a controversial timber sale south of here, even though it probably will lose money and irritate the neighbors while sawmills might not even want the logs. Since it was first proposed four years ago, its "purpose and need" was to provide cash so the Gallatin could buy land in the Taylor Fork drainage south of Big Sky from Big Sky Lumber Co. The "timber for land" provision in the BSL swaps was approved by Congress in 1998 and was a provision that Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., insisted upon. It called upon the Gallatin to sell $4.5 million worth of logs in several separate timber sales by the end of this year, or BSL would get land in the Bangtail Mountains northeast of Bozeman in exchange for its Taylor Fork land...Forest Service to use fire to improve game range A $7,000 grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will help the U.S. Forest Service get moving on a project designed to keep trees from taking over some important grasslands. The project calls for chopping down some small trees and lighting some controlled burns in meadows that elk and other wildlife rely on for winter forage. "We're trying to restore fire back into those areas," said Rachel Feigley, a biologist on the Gallatin National Forest's Livingston District... Saving a forest by cutting it The U.S. Forest Service is proposing cutting trees north of Vail to save a forest. This counter-intuitive approach is sure to become a controversial proposal for managing up to 10,000 acres of lodgepole pines north of Vail. The Forest Service contends that cutting a majority of the trees can actually improve lynx habitat and make the forest healthier and less prone to major wildfires. The approach is also being recommended by wildlife biologists and forest managers who are charged with making sure there is adequate habitat for the shy, tuft-eared feline and other animals... Native California plant taken off federal protection list A native California plant that has been federally protected for 13 years has recovered, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday in removing it from the endangered species list. The decision to remove Hoover's woolly-star from a list of threatened species comes after the discovery of new populations in three counties, the service said...Summit unveils land-use proposal Summit County planning officials unveiled a revised land-use plan Monday night that includes a toolbox full of smart growth measures. The proposal includes a development cap and a transfer-of-rights program aimed at steering development away from the backcountry and toward areas with existing infrastructure. While limiting growth, the goal also is to preserve the rural character of certain areas: for example the upper Snake River Basin, around Montezuma, and the Lower Blue Valley, north of Silverthorne...In the Northwest: Gas drillers poised along Rocky Mountain Front R.L. "Stoney" Burk is a country lawyer who has practiced for 21 years in Choteau. A decorated former fighter pilot, Burk is conservative to the core in his suspicions of federal power and the exercise thereof from Ruby Ridge, Idaho, to Waco, Texas. When it comes to oil and gas leasing on "the Front," he sounds like John Muir. "They'll road it, contaminate it, leave it and step on our faces on their way out," Burk said. "They've done it again and again in Montana." Fighting words, but there is much to fight for...Methane company fined $20,000 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has fined a coal-bed methane company $20,000 for unauthorized construction on federal land near the Powder River...BLM Sweetens Deal for Online Auction of Mustang Ranch It's not as easy to get rid of a brothel as you might think. The Bureau of Land Management has listed the Mustang Ranch on eBay for a second time. This time the agency is sweetening the deal. After the brothel failed to sell the first time around, officials add the naming rights and trademark "World Famous Mustang Ranch" to the package...Federal agency considers changes to NPR-A regulations The Bureau of Land Management is gathering public comment about proposed land-use plan changes that could allow more oil and gas development on a 4.6-million-acre portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The proposed changes for the northeast section of the reserve could make the requirements for development more flexible and better accommodate new production technology as it emerges, said Susan Childs, a BLM environmental program analyst...BLM separates roads from planning process for public lands As Utah's six Bureau of Land Management field offices develop plans for 9.9 million acres of public lands, the simple definition of what constitutes a road or trail promises to cause grief. That is why the agency's national office issued planning guidelines Monday that give field offices like those in Utah more time to complete route designations while they finish their resource management plans. Essentially, BLM will be able to produce the overall management plans before, and separate from, the road plans... Zuni Salt Lake threatened again The sanctity of the Zuni Salt Lake is again in jeopardy. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced earlier this month plans to possibly lease a part of a recently abandoned mine site to oil and gas development. The area, sacred to Zuni and other native people, had been under consideration as a coal mine by Salt River Project, an Arizona utility company...Bond referendum ignites water wars in Colorado It has pitted farmers against city folks, environmentalists against Front Range governments and conservative Republicans against the Republican governor. Although lawmakers intended a $2 billion bond referendum on Colorado's Nov. 4 ballot to find solutions for a record drought, it instead has ignited divisive water wars over how best to use and conserve the state's limited resource. Influential western Colorado politicians, lobbying groups and residents are concerned Referendum A will enable thirsty, populated areas in eastern Colorado to take their water with little regard for the region's future... Law of the lands Some people think Robert J. Miller, an Indian law scholar, specializes in an obscure area of legal academia. But the associate professor at Lewis & Clark Law School disagrees. Tribal sovereignty is quickly becoming one of the fundamental legal, economic and environmental questions of our time, said Miller, who is a member of the Eastern Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma... Legal battle centers on basin As 180 gallons of water gush from his well every minute, George Adam wonders how anyone can believe the Santa Maria Valley groundwater basin isn't full. Last year, Adam's family spent $48,000 for a tiling system to divert the water - which was flooding his 18-acre cauliflower field off Simas Road - to the nearby Solomon Slough and then to the ocean. Grower George Adam stands along a channel that cuts through a field leading water to the ocean. Adam says groundwater in the Santa Maria basin is plentiful and state water is not needed. Below, water pours out of an irrigation pipe into a channel that will eventually take the water to the ocean. He says rising water levels are a problem faced by many area farmers - and an indication that there is plenty of groundwater in the basin. Adam can cite charts and studies that bolster his claim. But then again, so can others who believe that groundwater demand has outstripped supply. Wednesday is the opening day of a trial in San Jose to determine just how much water is flowing in the valley's basin - and whether there is enough to go around... Another Bush Administration 'Leak' Says Group; Snowmobiles Leak Pollution into Yellowstone; Court to Decide Issue Before Winter Snowmobiles may be barred from nearly all of Yellowstone National Park this winter as a federal judge has announced that he will issue a ruling in the lawsuit filed by animal protection and environmental groups before the winter snowmobile season. The groups, suing to stop the White House's latest attack on the environment, have filed a legal brief illustrating how the Bush Administration has sold out Yellowstone to the snowmobile industry by allowing the use of polluting, noisy, and wildlife-harming machines despite its own studies that show exactly how harmful they are...Editorial: Congress, Bush must challenge Antiquities Act The problem is that the Antiquities Act consists of vague language. For example, there is no definition of what "historic" or "scientific" means in the act. It is left to each president to decide how he or she will define the term. To say that Clinton's use of the Antiquities Act caused some unrest would be a big understatement. We still feel the effects of his declaration today. While changing what already has been done might be difficult -- if not impossible -- there is room for improving the process to ensure such decisions aren't made by one person in the heat of a campaign, as it could be argued Clinton did to enhance presidential and congressional campaigns in the past. It's time for the president and Congress to pass another act that supersedes the Antiquities Act. The goal would not be to remove any chance of protecting public lands from development, but the process should have to be put through Congress... Some things technology won't helpGoing, going, gone. Our calves sold a week ago today on an Internet cattle auction. It's the latest technology to hit the cattle industry that once was as simple as a horse, a saddle and a man. None of it is so simple today. As I write, six semi-trucks sit ready to load as soon as the pasture is gathered and the calves are sorted and weighed. It's shipping day. It is part of the normal process of the cattle business. It is the once a year pay day for the rancher. This is where you very likely in today's economics of ranching, find out you worked all year for nothing... Balancing Cattle, Land and Ledgers Mr. Kahrle practices what is called sustainable ranching. By avoiding pesticides and relying more on range grass than feed grown with fertilizers, he says, he is helping to sustain the environment. By avoiding antibiotics and hormones, he is sustaining the quality of his beef. And by reducing his costs and becoming part of a network of distributors, retailers and chefs who care about what they are doing and are willing to pay for it, he is sustaining what is often an economically precarious way of life. "We use more of what nature gives us," Mr. Kahrle said. "It makes sense on every level." Mr. Kahrle is part of a small, growing group of ranchers and business owners who say the meat industry has cut so many corners for the sake of profit that the environment and the quality of beef have been compromised and small ranchers have been driven out of business. With recent outbreaks of disease, like mad cow in Canada, and a larger trend toward organic and humane treatment of animals, those out West in big hat country feel the time is ripe to market beef with a known history...Idaho cattle may open export market for Northwest An Idaho rancher who recently delivered nearly 800 cattle to a ship in The Dalles bound for South Korea may have helped open a national export market for ranchers in the Pacific Northwest. If the ship docks in the South Korean cities of Inchon and Busanin with healthy steers, the cattle fatten up to provide nicely marbled meat, and the export costs prove to be reasonable, the success could launch a $40 million annual market of exports from Oregon to South Korea...FISHING FOR HORSES But Jason Mercurio is the scion of a Monterey Bay commercial fishing family, grew up in Monterey and literally won his spurs as a cowboy and wrangler, competing against longtime ranching families at the Carmel Valley Ranchers Days held each year at the end of September. Mercurio, 23, took the Old Style Roping championship this year on the last day of Ranchers Days at the Carmel Valley Trail and Saddle Club, throwing a flawless figure-eight loop -- a California vaquero technique that allows a riata to catch a cow by both neck and forelegs -- while riding with partner Mollie Dorrance of Salinas...Last look at Happy Trails before move After forging happy trails in the High Desert for 35 years, family members of Western film icons Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are packin' up and movin' out. The Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum, which has fallen on hard times since the deaths of its namesake stars, is relocating to Branson, Mo., where country-western reigns supreme...
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Monday, October 06, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Tribes set to release forest plan The Klamath Tribes are nearing completion of a forest management plan for former reservation lands they hope to reacquire, according to the tribes' most recent newsletter. The plan will be a key piece of negotiations with the U.S. government to restore lands to the Tribes, according to the September issue of the "Klamath News," the monthly tribal newsletter. For about two decades, the Tribes have been trying to get land back from the U.S. government. The Tribes' reservation, which had about a million acres, was abolished when the Tribes were terminated in 1954. The Tribes regained federal recognition in 1986. The Tribes now hope to gain ownership of about 660,000 acres of former reservation land now owned by the U.S. Forest Service...Voting booths set up at firefighting scene Firefighters have contained a 6,050-acre blaze in the Mendocino National Forest, and some celebrated Sunday by getting involved in another California firestorm -- the recall vote. Firefighters fulfilled their civic duty Sunday in voting booths that the Glenn County Elections Office set up at the fire camp. As many as 800 firefighters are still fighting the fire, which could take weeks or months to completely control, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rebeca Franco said. Those who voted Sunday will have their ballots delivered to their home counties... Editorial: Wyden timber plan follows natural path Smokey Bear was wrong. So are many of his detractors. For generations, misguided forest officials attacked wildfires as soon as they started. Fire is a natural part of the forest cycle. By curbing smaller fires that removed shrubs and other fuels, humans opened the forests to the catastrophic blazes that we have witnessed in Southern Oregon and elsewhere. The answer is not to walk away from firefighting or from reforesting. It is to work in concert with nature -- carefully thinning fire-prone lands, swiftly assessing and restoring burned areas, protecting homes in and near forests and preserving old growth. Legislation guided by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon would lead America's Forest Service managers down that reasonable path. But it won't succeed unless the timber and environmental communities quit sniping at and distrusting each other... Environmentalists balk at plan for Idaho's old-growth timber An Idaho Department of Lands plan to increase old-growth timber harvests in northern Idaho has stunned conservation groups that already had threatened to sue the state for what they say was overcutting. Department Director Winston Wiggins said the proposed increase is driven by the growing preference among northern Idaho's lumber mills for smaller logs. Soon, he said, the mills will have no demand for larger trees... Editorial: Fining the feds The Utah Division of Air Quality is considering what to do about the recent Cascade Springs fire, which got away from the U.S. Forest Service officials who started it, spread over 8,000 acres and caused health warnings and difficult breathing in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys late last month. One option is to fine Uncle Sam up to $10,000 a day for violating the conditions of its controlled burn permit. It could be worth it... Nevada Rancher Sues Federal Government for 30 Million in Takings Suit (Longer Story) Colvin is following the litigation strategy set forth in the similar and successful case of his neighbor, Wayne Hage. Hage filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1991 after years of attempts by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to reclassify his rangelands as "public lands" and convert it to other uses. In the January 29, 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact, the Court ruled that Hage had "title to the fee lands", an area of land identified as his grazing allotment. The Court will determine the compensation owed Hage for the government taking of his property in a trial set for May 2004. "The Hage decision is important to hundreds of western ranchers who have been subjected to years government harassment and interference with their ranching operations. Nothing has changed for many ranchers under the Bush Administration. Clinton bureaucrats are still largely in control. But we now have a victory in Hage that provides other ranchers with a road-map showing them how to keep the government honest when they take our property," said Wayne Hage from his ranch in Monitor Valley, Nevada...Elite units take on arduous wildfire duties Matt Hennessy is happiest scaling a hillside, a saw in his hand, while flames lick close enough to singe his hair and smoke obscures anything more than 5 feet away. "I love it, it's a rush," said Hennessy, 23, of Riverside. "The whole side of the mountain is ripping and you're there to do your work." Hennessy isn't crazy. He's a hotshot... Conservationist backtracks on wolf remarks Lambasted by his fellow conservationists for remarks he made at a law conference in Missoula last week, National Wildlife Federation attorney Tom France issued a written statement Monday chiding the federal government for failing to recover the gray wolf "on suitable habitat across a significant portion of its historic range." "Removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the West is clearly premature," France said in a statement issued by the Wildlife Federation's Washington, D.C., office. However, the group's national communications director said France's comments at last week's Public Land and Resources Law Conference in Missoula caused "some difficulties" and were contrary to the federation's national wolf policy...For the original story with the comments, go here....U.S. inquiry targets Bush's $120 million oil rights buyout in Glades The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior has begun an inquiry into the Bush administration's $120 million buyout of oil rights in the western Everglades. The deal was intended to thwart a massive oil-drilling plan by the Collier family of southwest Florida, which held the mineral rights at Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. When the buyout was announced last year at a White House news conference, environmentalists gave the administration a rare round of applause in a crucial state for the 2004 election. But now the Interior Department's Inspector General's Office has begun reviewing the transaction. The Inspector General's Office would not comment. But Hugh Vickery, spokesman for the Interior Department, said the inquiry focused on how the administration arrived at the $120 million price...Agreement in Maine Will Remove Dams for Salmon's Sake But on Monday an unusual agreement was announced between a coalition of environmentalists and the power company that operates dams on Maine's largest river, an agreement many environmentalists believe stands a good chance of saving the struggling salmon, along with a dozen other species of faltering fish. Under the agreement, two dams on the sprawling Penobscot River are to be torn down, removing important barriers to salmon returning from the ocean to the river to spawn. A third dam will be decommissioned, and a bypass will be built around the structure so the salmon can pass. In exchange, the environmental coalition will pay the power company, the PPL Corporation, about $25 million. And PPL will be able to increase its power generation on six other dams on the Penobscot and its offshoots, recapturing about 90 percent of the power it will lose when the dams are demolished. The environmentalists also agreed to drop legal challenges to the relicensing of the dams by the federal government... Falcon Pair Stall Illumination Of Bridge A pair of peregrine falcons have stalled illumination of the port's Vincent Thomas Bridge. The lights won't be switched on until next summer so the pair can mate and raise their young in peace. Falcons are protected under the state Endangered Species Act. Supporters of the lights had hoped to see the outline of the region's largest suspension bridge ablaze with small blue lights by New Year's Eve. The idea was to transform the bridge into a showpiece...Interiorofficial rallies Republicans at annual barbecue The event's guest speaker -- Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior -- spoke about the vision Bush and Interior Secretary Gale Norton have for the agency and how it would affect the Santa Maria Valley. Scarlett said the Bush administration wants to move away from the "Washington knows best approach" regarding land issues, especially when it comes to the Endangered Species Act, which the department implements. "What we are trying to do is reorient how people think of endangered species," said the UC Santa Barbara alumna. During her speech, Scarlett said the nation's conservation agency plans to start looking at independent scientific reviews on endangered species and make land-management decisions based on those results. She added that the department wants to change its environmental policy so that it focuses more on combined efforts between land owners and the government. "Real conservatism springs from folks like yourselves working with the land," she said. Scarlett also talked about a "four point plan" the department is working on. Those four points are: Fiscal responsibility, better management, building partnerships and working at the local level, she said...Budget cuts forcing massive Fish and Game layoffs With cuts in January that reduced state game warden numbers from 400 to around 350 positions, reduced personnel in the California Department of Fish and Game is not an unfamiliar situation to the department's game wardens. Now over 140 more wardens could soon be eliminated from what many feel is an already depleted workforce... Agency resumes bull trout protection plan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials resumed work last week for the first time since April on a plan to protect Northwest bull trout habitat and the agency has found a new ally among Central Oregon irrigators. Just six months ago, Central Oregon ranchers and farmers braced for a fight with the federal agency that manages threatened and endangered species... Businesses welcome resumed river dredging After an eight-month delay, the final phase of the Petaluma River dredging project is under way and city tourism officials hope the work will help reverse a decline in boat traffic. About 85 percent of the work was completed last winter but work was halted in January when a large piece of debris damaged the motor of a suction dredge. By the time repairs were completed, spawning season had begun for endangered steelhead trout and the rest of the work had to be postponed...Sec. Norton Announces Agreement by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State of Colorado to Conserve Mountain Plover Interior Secretary Gale Norton has announced a new agreement with the State of Colorado to promote the conservation of mountain plovers on agricultural lands while providing assurances to farmers and ranchers that they will not be prosecuted for inadvertently violating a federal law protecting the birds. Mountain plovers are high prairie birds that nest in open areas such as farm and ranch fields. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR), participating farmers and ranchers agree to notify the state at least 72 hours before tilling their fields, allowing biologists to survey and flag plover nests. Farmers and ranchers also agree to till around the nests while gaining assurances they will not be prosecuted by the Department of Justice under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which strictly protects all migratory birds, if they accidentally harm a bird...Coyotes killing pets in Anchorage neighborhood Roaming coyotes apparently are targeting people's pets in an Anchorage neighborhood. Two coyotes killed a puppy running in the woods near its owners on a trail in the federal Campbell Tract within Far North Bicentennial Park. Just to the south, as many as a dozen cats and dogs have disappeared from the Zodiac Manor neighborhood... Interior defends roads deal to Congress Despite a congressional backlash and the threat of lawsuits, Interior Department officials have told members of Congress that they intend to go forward with the program to surrender federal ownership claims to miles of backcountry roads in Utah. Agency officials also say they have discussed developing similar road-release pacts with Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and San Bernardino County in California. But six months after the first-ever plan for resolving disputed road rights was agreed to by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Bureau of Land Management has not received a single request to disclaim any federal right of way in Utah... Ranchers seek compensation for wildlife eating too much grass Wyoming took a step Monday toward creating four pilot programs that would pay ranchers and farmers for "extraordinary" wildlife consumption of grass on their property. Extraordinary damage is already defined in law as consumption or use of grass in excess of normal consumption by wildlife that took place two years prior to the damage claim. The state's Legislative Service Office has been asked to review rules and regulations to see whether four regional pilot programs can be established for a temporary period to compensate agricultural producers...Avila Gets Third Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship Bob Avila and Remedys Magic Potion powered their way to an insurmountable lead late in the first section of the Cow Work Finals of the 34th Annual NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity on Sunday, October 5. The near-capacity crowd at the Reno Livestock cheered as the score of 221.5 was given, and the cheering increased when Announcer Mark Thompson noted that the composite of 660 (Herd - 214.5, Rein - 224) had made them the new leaders. The score held and the win gave Avila his third NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship and a check for $100,000 to split with his partners _ Doug Carpenter of Sulphur, Oklahoma and Alan and Kay Needle of Temecula, California...Easy does it: Horse whisperer talks softly, carries small stick Dennis Reis has spent as much time behind the wheel of his truck as he has astride a horse lately, but that's just fine by the cowboy who has traveled across the country on a mission. Reis has traveled to 29 states in recent months to stage seminars to promote both his own gentle technique of training horses and riders, and his campaign for a National Day of the Horse... Western Writers of America to Have Presence at WHA Conference Fact meets fiction when Western novelist Elmer Kelton, seven-time winner of the Spur Award, delivers the keynote address at the Oct. 10 banquet of the 43rd annual Western History Association Conference. Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of 600 fiction and nonfiction writers, will also staff a booth at the WHA conference, Oct. 8-11 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel. "The WHA meeting in Fort Worth will feature many WWA faces, including Elmer Kelton as the banquet speaker," said Paul Hutton, executive director of the WHA and president of the WWA. "This continues a growing tradition of convergence between the two organizations as they both work toward their mutual goal of promoting the best in western writing -- both fiction and nonfiction."...
Tribes set to release forest plan The Klamath Tribes are nearing completion of a forest management plan for former reservation lands they hope to reacquire, according to the tribes' most recent newsletter. The plan will be a key piece of negotiations with the U.S. government to restore lands to the Tribes, according to the September issue of the "Klamath News," the monthly tribal newsletter. For about two decades, the Tribes have been trying to get land back from the U.S. government. The Tribes' reservation, which had about a million acres, was abolished when the Tribes were terminated in 1954. The Tribes regained federal recognition in 1986. The Tribes now hope to gain ownership of about 660,000 acres of former reservation land now owned by the U.S. Forest Service...Voting booths set up at firefighting scene Firefighters have contained a 6,050-acre blaze in the Mendocino National Forest, and some celebrated Sunday by getting involved in another California firestorm -- the recall vote. Firefighters fulfilled their civic duty Sunday in voting booths that the Glenn County Elections Office set up at the fire camp. As many as 800 firefighters are still fighting the fire, which could take weeks or months to completely control, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rebeca Franco said. Those who voted Sunday will have their ballots delivered to their home counties... Editorial: Wyden timber plan follows natural path Smokey Bear was wrong. So are many of his detractors. For generations, misguided forest officials attacked wildfires as soon as they started. Fire is a natural part of the forest cycle. By curbing smaller fires that removed shrubs and other fuels, humans opened the forests to the catastrophic blazes that we have witnessed in Southern Oregon and elsewhere. The answer is not to walk away from firefighting or from reforesting. It is to work in concert with nature -- carefully thinning fire-prone lands, swiftly assessing and restoring burned areas, protecting homes in and near forests and preserving old growth. Legislation guided by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon would lead America's Forest Service managers down that reasonable path. But it won't succeed unless the timber and environmental communities quit sniping at and distrusting each other... Environmentalists balk at plan for Idaho's old-growth timber An Idaho Department of Lands plan to increase old-growth timber harvests in northern Idaho has stunned conservation groups that already had threatened to sue the state for what they say was overcutting. Department Director Winston Wiggins said the proposed increase is driven by the growing preference among northern Idaho's lumber mills for smaller logs. Soon, he said, the mills will have no demand for larger trees... Editorial: Fining the feds The Utah Division of Air Quality is considering what to do about the recent Cascade Springs fire, which got away from the U.S. Forest Service officials who started it, spread over 8,000 acres and caused health warnings and difficult breathing in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys late last month. One option is to fine Uncle Sam up to $10,000 a day for violating the conditions of its controlled burn permit. It could be worth it... Nevada Rancher Sues Federal Government for 30 Million in Takings Suit (Longer Story) Colvin is following the litigation strategy set forth in the similar and successful case of his neighbor, Wayne Hage. Hage filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1991 after years of attempts by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to reclassify his rangelands as "public lands" and convert it to other uses. In the January 29, 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact, the Court ruled that Hage had "title to the fee lands", an area of land identified as his grazing allotment. The Court will determine the compensation owed Hage for the government taking of his property in a trial set for May 2004. "The Hage decision is important to hundreds of western ranchers who have been subjected to years government harassment and interference with their ranching operations. Nothing has changed for many ranchers under the Bush Administration. Clinton bureaucrats are still largely in control. But we now have a victory in Hage that provides other ranchers with a road-map showing them how to keep the government honest when they take our property," said Wayne Hage from his ranch in Monitor Valley, Nevada...Elite units take on arduous wildfire duties Matt Hennessy is happiest scaling a hillside, a saw in his hand, while flames lick close enough to singe his hair and smoke obscures anything more than 5 feet away. "I love it, it's a rush," said Hennessy, 23, of Riverside. "The whole side of the mountain is ripping and you're there to do your work." Hennessy isn't crazy. He's a hotshot... Conservationist backtracks on wolf remarks Lambasted by his fellow conservationists for remarks he made at a law conference in Missoula last week, National Wildlife Federation attorney Tom France issued a written statement Monday chiding the federal government for failing to recover the gray wolf "on suitable habitat across a significant portion of its historic range." "Removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the West is clearly premature," France said in a statement issued by the Wildlife Federation's Washington, D.C., office. However, the group's national communications director said France's comments at last week's Public Land and Resources Law Conference in Missoula caused "some difficulties" and were contrary to the federation's national wolf policy...For the original story with the comments, go here....U.S. inquiry targets Bush's $120 million oil rights buyout in Glades The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior has begun an inquiry into the Bush administration's $120 million buyout of oil rights in the western Everglades. The deal was intended to thwart a massive oil-drilling plan by the Collier family of southwest Florida, which held the mineral rights at Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. When the buyout was announced last year at a White House news conference, environmentalists gave the administration a rare round of applause in a crucial state for the 2004 election. But now the Interior Department's Inspector General's Office has begun reviewing the transaction. The Inspector General's Office would not comment. But Hugh Vickery, spokesman for the Interior Department, said the inquiry focused on how the administration arrived at the $120 million price...Agreement in Maine Will Remove Dams for Salmon's Sake But on Monday an unusual agreement was announced between a coalition of environmentalists and the power company that operates dams on Maine's largest river, an agreement many environmentalists believe stands a good chance of saving the struggling salmon, along with a dozen other species of faltering fish. Under the agreement, two dams on the sprawling Penobscot River are to be torn down, removing important barriers to salmon returning from the ocean to the river to spawn. A third dam will be decommissioned, and a bypass will be built around the structure so the salmon can pass. In exchange, the environmental coalition will pay the power company, the PPL Corporation, about $25 million. And PPL will be able to increase its power generation on six other dams on the Penobscot and its offshoots, recapturing about 90 percent of the power it will lose when the dams are demolished. The environmentalists also agreed to drop legal challenges to the relicensing of the dams by the federal government... Falcon Pair Stall Illumination Of Bridge A pair of peregrine falcons have stalled illumination of the port's Vincent Thomas Bridge. The lights won't be switched on until next summer so the pair can mate and raise their young in peace. Falcons are protected under the state Endangered Species Act. Supporters of the lights had hoped to see the outline of the region's largest suspension bridge ablaze with small blue lights by New Year's Eve. The idea was to transform the bridge into a showpiece...Interiorofficial rallies Republicans at annual barbecue The event's guest speaker -- Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior -- spoke about the vision Bush and Interior Secretary Gale Norton have for the agency and how it would affect the Santa Maria Valley. Scarlett said the Bush administration wants to move away from the "Washington knows best approach" regarding land issues, especially when it comes to the Endangered Species Act, which the department implements. "What we are trying to do is reorient how people think of endangered species," said the UC Santa Barbara alumna. During her speech, Scarlett said the nation's conservation agency plans to start looking at independent scientific reviews on endangered species and make land-management decisions based on those results. She added that the department wants to change its environmental policy so that it focuses more on combined efforts between land owners and the government. "Real conservatism springs from folks like yourselves working with the land," she said. Scarlett also talked about a "four point plan" the department is working on. Those four points are: Fiscal responsibility, better management, building partnerships and working at the local level, she said...Budget cuts forcing massive Fish and Game layoffs With cuts in January that reduced state game warden numbers from 400 to around 350 positions, reduced personnel in the California Department of Fish and Game is not an unfamiliar situation to the department's game wardens. Now over 140 more wardens could soon be eliminated from what many feel is an already depleted workforce... Agency resumes bull trout protection plan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials resumed work last week for the first time since April on a plan to protect Northwest bull trout habitat and the agency has found a new ally among Central Oregon irrigators. Just six months ago, Central Oregon ranchers and farmers braced for a fight with the federal agency that manages threatened and endangered species... Businesses welcome resumed river dredging After an eight-month delay, the final phase of the Petaluma River dredging project is under way and city tourism officials hope the work will help reverse a decline in boat traffic. About 85 percent of the work was completed last winter but work was halted in January when a large piece of debris damaged the motor of a suction dredge. By the time repairs were completed, spawning season had begun for endangered steelhead trout and the rest of the work had to be postponed...Sec. Norton Announces Agreement by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State of Colorado to Conserve Mountain Plover Interior Secretary Gale Norton has announced a new agreement with the State of Colorado to promote the conservation of mountain plovers on agricultural lands while providing assurances to farmers and ranchers that they will not be prosecuted for inadvertently violating a federal law protecting the birds. Mountain plovers are high prairie birds that nest in open areas such as farm and ranch fields. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR), participating farmers and ranchers agree to notify the state at least 72 hours before tilling their fields, allowing biologists to survey and flag plover nests. Farmers and ranchers also agree to till around the nests while gaining assurances they will not be prosecuted by the Department of Justice under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which strictly protects all migratory birds, if they accidentally harm a bird...Coyotes killing pets in Anchorage neighborhood Roaming coyotes apparently are targeting people's pets in an Anchorage neighborhood. Two coyotes killed a puppy running in the woods near its owners on a trail in the federal Campbell Tract within Far North Bicentennial Park. Just to the south, as many as a dozen cats and dogs have disappeared from the Zodiac Manor neighborhood... Interior defends roads deal to Congress Despite a congressional backlash and the threat of lawsuits, Interior Department officials have told members of Congress that they intend to go forward with the program to surrender federal ownership claims to miles of backcountry roads in Utah. Agency officials also say they have discussed developing similar road-release pacts with Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and San Bernardino County in California. But six months after the first-ever plan for resolving disputed road rights was agreed to by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Bureau of Land Management has not received a single request to disclaim any federal right of way in Utah... Ranchers seek compensation for wildlife eating too much grass Wyoming took a step Monday toward creating four pilot programs that would pay ranchers and farmers for "extraordinary" wildlife consumption of grass on their property. Extraordinary damage is already defined in law as consumption or use of grass in excess of normal consumption by wildlife that took place two years prior to the damage claim. The state's Legislative Service Office has been asked to review rules and regulations to see whether four regional pilot programs can be established for a temporary period to compensate agricultural producers...Avila Gets Third Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship Bob Avila and Remedys Magic Potion powered their way to an insurmountable lead late in the first section of the Cow Work Finals of the 34th Annual NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity on Sunday, October 5. The near-capacity crowd at the Reno Livestock cheered as the score of 221.5 was given, and the cheering increased when Announcer Mark Thompson noted that the composite of 660 (Herd - 214.5, Rein - 224) had made them the new leaders. The score held and the win gave Avila his third NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship and a check for $100,000 to split with his partners _ Doug Carpenter of Sulphur, Oklahoma and Alan and Kay Needle of Temecula, California...Easy does it: Horse whisperer talks softly, carries small stick Dennis Reis has spent as much time behind the wheel of his truck as he has astride a horse lately, but that's just fine by the cowboy who has traveled across the country on a mission. Reis has traveled to 29 states in recent months to stage seminars to promote both his own gentle technique of training horses and riders, and his campaign for a National Day of the Horse... Western Writers of America to Have Presence at WHA Conference Fact meets fiction when Western novelist Elmer Kelton, seven-time winner of the Spur Award, delivers the keynote address at the Oct. 10 banquet of the 43rd annual Western History Association Conference. Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of 600 fiction and nonfiction writers, will also staff a booth at the WHA conference, Oct. 8-11 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel. "The WHA meeting in Fort Worth will feature many WWA faces, including Elmer Kelton as the banquet speaker," said Paul Hutton, executive director of the WHA and president of the WWA. "This continues a growing tradition of convergence between the two organizations as they both work toward their mutual goal of promoting the best in western writing -- both fiction and nonfiction."...
Jim Beers on Wolves
"So 4 wolves killed 85 sheep in central Idaho in one weekend. But they only kill the sick ones. They only "balance" Mother Nature. They don't kill for "sport." It is "important" that they be reintroduced back to where a wiser generation eradicated them. They "don't" reduce game populations. They aren't "dangerous" to people. And so the Defenders of Wildlife and their US Fish & Wildlife partners tuck us all into bed.
They are on the verge of spreading like wildfire across the country. Between all the protection and unoccupied (by large canid competitors) habitat, and an ability to morph and adapt even greater than their more solitary coyote cousins they will spread like ink on a pain of glass. They WILL reduce deer, elk, moose, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, domestic dogs, horses, sheep, calves (and an occasional cow), and yes they will be a danger to unaccompanied children and older people under certain circumstances. They will learn to come into mall garbage sites for food scraps in the evening. They will follow deer into housing areas in the winter and be a hazard to dogs and schoolchildren. They (like the increasingly unmanaged and no-longer-harassed bears and cougars) will grow bolder around people and eventually attack adult joggers on trails or old folks walking their dog. And all the while the newspapers and TV folks will swallow and regurgitate the pap served up by the animal rights cults that wolves; like sharks, cougars, and bears “don't do that.” That people are "in their habitat." That the savaged person "behaved" incorrectly. That their habitat should be "saved" and people and homes and roads removed. That they have important “functions” in the ecosystem. Like the turkeys that were once claimed to “need” virgin forests or the Canada geese that were once said to be able to breed only in far northern marshes, the wolves will prove just how ignorant we are about their capabilities and “needs.”
The latest sleeping pill about what is happening is that places outside current “critical habitats” can manage the arriving wolves without Federal control (at this time.) Ah yes, like including “local governments” in planning committees we are assuaged. We are calmed by the “fact” that although 5 or 6 western states are having a lot of trouble it won’t be like that for “us.” As Bugs Bunny used to whisper, “sucker!” ".....
You can see all of the Jim Beers essays here
"So 4 wolves killed 85 sheep in central Idaho in one weekend. But they only kill the sick ones. They only "balance" Mother Nature. They don't kill for "sport." It is "important" that they be reintroduced back to where a wiser generation eradicated them. They "don't" reduce game populations. They aren't "dangerous" to people. And so the Defenders of Wildlife and their US Fish & Wildlife partners tuck us all into bed.
They are on the verge of spreading like wildfire across the country. Between all the protection and unoccupied (by large canid competitors) habitat, and an ability to morph and adapt even greater than their more solitary coyote cousins they will spread like ink on a pain of glass. They WILL reduce deer, elk, moose, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, domestic dogs, horses, sheep, calves (and an occasional cow), and yes they will be a danger to unaccompanied children and older people under certain circumstances. They will learn to come into mall garbage sites for food scraps in the evening. They will follow deer into housing areas in the winter and be a hazard to dogs and schoolchildren. They (like the increasingly unmanaged and no-longer-harassed bears and cougars) will grow bolder around people and eventually attack adult joggers on trails or old folks walking their dog. And all the while the newspapers and TV folks will swallow and regurgitate the pap served up by the animal rights cults that wolves; like sharks, cougars, and bears “don't do that.” That people are "in their habitat." That the savaged person "behaved" incorrectly. That their habitat should be "saved" and people and homes and roads removed. That they have important “functions” in the ecosystem. Like the turkeys that were once claimed to “need” virgin forests or the Canada geese that were once said to be able to breed only in far northern marshes, the wolves will prove just how ignorant we are about their capabilities and “needs.”
The latest sleeping pill about what is happening is that places outside current “critical habitats” can manage the arriving wolves without Federal control (at this time.) Ah yes, like including “local governments” in planning committees we are assuaged. We are calmed by the “fact” that although 5 or 6 western states are having a lot of trouble it won’t be like that for “us.” As Bugs Bunny used to whisper, “sucker!” ".....
You can see all of the Jim Beers essays here
Court declines to consider challenge to Clinton monuments
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt praised the Supreme Court for refusing to consider a lawsuit challenging the creation of national monuments in five Western states.
The court reinforced the president's power to protect federal lands, Babbitt said Monday.
''I would suggest this is good news for future presidents,'' said Babbitt, who oversaw President Clinton's designation of 19 national monuments under the century-old Antiquities Act.
''This is a statement that the Antiquities Act continues in full force and will be available for future presidents to continue a centurylong tradition that has been extremely productive and helped shape our national park system and our system of refuges of all kinds,'' Babbitt said.
The Mountain States Legal Foundation of Denver, a conservative public interest law firm, said Clinton overstepped his authority in making the 2000 designations in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state.
And Tulare County, Calif., argued that restrictions on timber harvesting as a result of the designation of a California monument have turned the forest into ''virtual tinder boxes'' that threaten safety and property.
Bush administration lawyer Theodore Olson said lawsuits against the president over the designation of national monuments are not allowed.
Last October, an appeals court dismissed Mountain States' challenge, saying it failed to spell out how the proclamations exceeded the authority that had been conveyed by Congress. The Supreme Court on Monday let the appellate ruling stand.
Attorneys for the groups challenging the monuments did not return phone messages.
The Antiquities Act gives presidents the power to protect land threatened by development. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to use it to establish Devil's Tower in Wyoming as a national monument.
Since then, every president but Reagan and the two Bushes have used the power to create or expand a monument, establishing about 120 monuments spanning more than 70 million acres.
Clinton used the Antiquities Act to create 19 monuments and expand three others, protecting 5.9 million acres. State and local officials, ranchers, off-road vehicle users, oil and gas companies and others complained that his proclamations locked up too much land.
Babbitt said careful research went into decisions on boundaries. The Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona was cut almost in half because archaeologists said part of the area proposed for monument designation didn't warrant protection.
Jim Angell, the Earthjustice attorney who defended the monument designation, said that, in addition to reinforcing the appeals court decision supporting the president's authority to designate monuments, it put to rest an argument floated by the Bush administration that it had the power to shrink or eliminate monuments, as well as create them.
''Monuments have a strong public constituency and it would have been a pretty blatant affront to those constituencies to start shrinking or eliminating monuments,'' Angell said. ''This is the last nail in the coffin of that argument.''
The monuments that were the focus of the legal challenge are the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona; the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado; the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; and the Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington.
The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of planning how to manage the monuments. The lawsuits did not affect that work.
The cases are Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Bush, 02-1590, and Tulare County v. Bush, 02-1623.
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt praised the Supreme Court for refusing to consider a lawsuit challenging the creation of national monuments in five Western states.
The court reinforced the president's power to protect federal lands, Babbitt said Monday.
''I would suggest this is good news for future presidents,'' said Babbitt, who oversaw President Clinton's designation of 19 national monuments under the century-old Antiquities Act.
''This is a statement that the Antiquities Act continues in full force and will be available for future presidents to continue a centurylong tradition that has been extremely productive and helped shape our national park system and our system of refuges of all kinds,'' Babbitt said.
The Mountain States Legal Foundation of Denver, a conservative public interest law firm, said Clinton overstepped his authority in making the 2000 designations in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state.
And Tulare County, Calif., argued that restrictions on timber harvesting as a result of the designation of a California monument have turned the forest into ''virtual tinder boxes'' that threaten safety and property.
Bush administration lawyer Theodore Olson said lawsuits against the president over the designation of national monuments are not allowed.
Last October, an appeals court dismissed Mountain States' challenge, saying it failed to spell out how the proclamations exceeded the authority that had been conveyed by Congress. The Supreme Court on Monday let the appellate ruling stand.
Attorneys for the groups challenging the monuments did not return phone messages.
The Antiquities Act gives presidents the power to protect land threatened by development. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to use it to establish Devil's Tower in Wyoming as a national monument.
Since then, every president but Reagan and the two Bushes have used the power to create or expand a monument, establishing about 120 monuments spanning more than 70 million acres.
Clinton used the Antiquities Act to create 19 monuments and expand three others, protecting 5.9 million acres. State and local officials, ranchers, off-road vehicle users, oil and gas companies and others complained that his proclamations locked up too much land.
Babbitt said careful research went into decisions on boundaries. The Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona was cut almost in half because archaeologists said part of the area proposed for monument designation didn't warrant protection.
Jim Angell, the Earthjustice attorney who defended the monument designation, said that, in addition to reinforcing the appeals court decision supporting the president's authority to designate monuments, it put to rest an argument floated by the Bush administration that it had the power to shrink or eliminate monuments, as well as create them.
''Monuments have a strong public constituency and it would have been a pretty blatant affront to those constituencies to start shrinking or eliminating monuments,'' Angell said. ''This is the last nail in the coffin of that argument.''
The monuments that were the focus of the legal challenge are the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona; the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado; the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; and the Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington.
The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of planning how to manage the monuments. The lawsuits did not affect that work.
The cases are Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Bush, 02-1590, and Tulare County v. Bush, 02-1623.
The Pilgrim Family & The NPS
The Anchorage Daily News has run a two part story on the current controversy and the background of the Pilgrim family. Part one is Pilgrims vs. Park Service and is accompanied by Alaska offers test of RS 2477. Part two of the series is Papa's passage: A long-ago tragedy, fed-up neighbors, and a mysterious blue Chevy Corvette. This is an amazing article, which not only discusses the current controversy, but includes JFK, Judith Exner and John Connally. I recommend you read all three articles. For the most recent ALRA alert on this family go here. For additional background from the ALRA go here.
The Anchorage Daily News has run a two part story on the current controversy and the background of the Pilgrim family. Part one is Pilgrims vs. Park Service and is accompanied by Alaska offers test of RS 2477. Part two of the series is Papa's passage: A long-ago tragedy, fed-up neighbors, and a mysterious blue Chevy Corvette. This is an amazing article, which not only discusses the current controversy, but includes JFK, Judith Exner and John Connally. I recommend you read all three articles. For the most recent ALRA alert on this family go here. For additional background from the ALRA go here.
Sunday, October 05, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Let it burn; put it out The Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains are practically joined at the hip, but their relationship with fire has become a study in contrasts. For thousands of years, lightning-sparked fires crept across both ranges in a similar way, consuming fuel on the forest floor once or twice a decade. But in the past century, as the Catalinas were developed and the Rincons stayed primitive, federal officials were forced to handle fire quite differently in the neighboring mountains... State report says California sapping world's timber California's efforts to protect its own forest land is spurring more logging in other nations, particularly Canada, to feed construction in the nation's most populous state, according to a new state report...Archaeologists find evidence of Chinese camp in Sierra Archaeologists have uncovered evidence near this Sierra town of what's thought to be a Chinese logging camp that dates back to the 1870s. Artifacts found at the Tahoe National Forest site off Sawtooth Road include an ax head, metal files, opium can fragments, a Chinese medicine bottle and tableware fragments... National needs, local concerns The push to develop rich natural gas fields in the West has officials in three Colorado communities concerned the Bush administration is forgetting promises it made to give them influence over use of federal lands. La Plata and Garfield county commissioners are pleading for more environmentally friendly drilling techniques. The Grand Junction City Council was angered by what some saw as a federal failure to protect the local water supply...Use of hatchery salmon to boost wild runs raises thorny questions Many of the spawning salmon were born in the stainless-steel trays of hatcheries and are now being encouraged to mate in the rivers to try to boost the population of wild runs listed under federal Endangered Species Act. This practice raises a complicated and fundamental question in the multibillion-dollar regional effort to save wild Northwest salmon runs: When is a wild fish really wild, with the genetic smarts to help sustain healthy runs for generations to come?...Editorial: Environmentalists should be held accountable An absurd battle is brewing around a congressional act concerning public-lands grazing. The Senate recently adopted a provision to keep ranchers' grazing permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed. Environmentalists are up in arms over the provision, claiming it bypasses federal policy that requires environmental analysis be done before grazing permits are reissued. They want those reviews to justify grazing and want all grazing activity to cease until such assessments can be done...Comeback of prairie chickens a success story Thirty years ago, only about 600 greater prairie chickens remained, prompting a listing as a state endangered species. Now that number has swelled to an estimated 10,000, and the wildlife agency allows a limited hunting season that ranks as Colorado's most arcane adventure with a shotgun...Trinity River settlement eyed with suspicion A proposed settlement to a suit over sending more water down the Trinity River has sent a torrent of concern over Northern California officials who want to revive the river's salmon and steelhead runs. The proposal will be pitched by Westlands Water District, a main beneficiary of Trinity water, to Trinity County supervisors this week, and soon to supervisors in Humboldt County. Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham will outline an offer the irrigation giant has made to the U.S. Interior Department, which is defending its Trinity restoration plan against Westlands in federal court...Grazing Permits Amendment Comes Under AttackRecent land-use legislation to streamline the permit process for ranchers who graze cattle on public lands has some environmental groups crying foul. Adopted by the Senate on Tuesday, the provision seeks to keep ranchers' permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed... Editorial: Norton puts wilderness at risk U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton violated common sense and her own promises by opening 3 million acres of fragile federal lands to energy drilling and off-road-vehicles (ORVs). In Colorado, 600,000 acres are at risk, including Western Slope scenic areas and wildlife habitat like the Roan Plateau, Vermillion Basin and Big Ridge. The new policy, announced last week, means the Bureau of Land Management won't preserve pristine qualities that make the areas eligible for wilderness designation. In a designated wilderness, mineral development is banned and motorized vehicles are prohibited except in emergencies. By letting ORVs and drill rigs into the areas, Norton will let their pristine nature be ruined - and so ensure that Congress never gets to consider them for wilderness designation...Regulation of the environment benefits the economy, says a White House report It came as a surprise, therefore, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently declared that environmental regulations are good for the economy. Looking at a variety of areas - education, energy, housing, health, labor, but mostly the environment - the Bush administration's budget office reported to Congress that "the estimated total annual quantified benefits of these rules range from $146 billion to $230 billion, while the estimated total annual quantified costs range from $36 billion to $42 billion." Of these totals, according to OMB, the yearly benefits of environmental regulations range from $121 billion to $193 billion, the costs from $37 billion to $43 billion. In other words, benefits of things like government-mandated clearer air and cleaner water outweigh costs by as much as 5 to 1...Animas-La Plata meeting may be illegal A closed-door meeting attended by proponents of the Animas-La Plata Project may have violated Colorado and New Mexico open-meeting laws, said opponents and a news-media lawyer... Public help is sought to solve deaths of 7 wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public for information in the deaths of seven Mexican gray wolves in Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico since March. Rewards of up to $10,000 are offered to anyone who can assist agents in the arrests of those responsible for the deaths of the wolves, a species that was reintroduced in 1998, said Victoria Fox, a service spokeswoman in Albuquerque...Norton names Montana BLM advisory members Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the appointment of 17 members to Montana's three citizen-based Resource Advisory Councils that advise the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on public land issues... A Dying Tradition Lehi resident Dale Hunter is a rancher at heart. "I love spending my summers up with the cattle," he said. "It gets me out and I get to see wildlife. It is a hands-on job, it's very enjoyable. You've just got to love that way of life. I grew up with it and my ancestors were always that way and so it was passed on to me. It is a good way of life." But urban sprawl is changing that. Hunter was recently forced to sell more than two-thirds of the farmland that had been in his family for generations because American Fork wanted to build a park. "I really wasn't ready to sell, but it got condemned by American Fork," he said. "They wanted it for its aesthetic value. If I could have it all back again it would be nice, but it is not the same when you have homes and subdivisions all around you." Hunter was one of 42 ranchers who spent Thursday and Friday participating in an agricultural ritual that is as old as the valley's pioneer settlements -- gathering their combined 2,273 cattle from the summer grazing range in Spanish Fork Canyon to take them home for the winter. He said it is a tradition that may have no future...National Park Service Launches New Web Site to Highlight Hispanic Heritage Parks National Park Service Director Fran Mainella today announced the availability of a new web site designed to highlight the importance of Hispanic Heritage Parks and the part they play in the nation's history. The new site titled, "Hispanic Heritage Parks: An Iberian Project," assists visitors in experiencing the nation's Hispanic heritage that is preserved and interpreted throughout the National Park Service... Woolly workers prove their worth They're nature's lawnmowers. But a sheepish plan to cut the grass on Alberta's right-of-ways with a small army of woolly workers is struggling to overcome a basic design flaw: the sheep keep jumping the fence... Editorial: Don't play with fire It seems the fire bill is not out of the congressional woods yet. The agreement between the Senate and the White House on a landmark bill to protect public forests from fire and disease could still get lost in a procedural thicket in Congress. It also could still be smashed by the old-growth-size egos of members of Congress angered by a take-it-or-leave-it letter from seven Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who reached the deal with the White House. House members don't have to like the letter or the process, but they should take seriously Wyden's threat to withdraw his support if the House starts tinkering with the deal. Wyden and other Senate Democrats have every reason to run, not walk, away if the House blows up their compromise... Stumbling Upon Wolf Tracks in the Northern Reaches of Yellowstone Three weeks ago I saw two wolf tracks in the mud of a creek bank high in Yellowstone National Park. It was old mud, from the last time the creek had overrun its banks, but the tracks had blurred only slightly. Each one was larger than my hand, fingers outstretched. Rain and snow blew in squalls across the valley, near the northern edge of the park. The long gravel beach was as gray as the clouds overhead, which dimmed and brightened minute by minute. I bent down to look at the tracks again and then returned to my fishing. But before long I reeled in and walked back over to the mud flat, just to reassure myself that the tracks were really there. They were... Democrats blasted for stalling Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., charged his Democratic colleagues with playing politics in stalling Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. "This boycott is nothing more than a political ploy by committee Democrats to try to influence the presidential election next year and disparage our president," Thomas said in a release... Crisis Looming: Demand for natural gas may produce next energy shortage Nationwide, as demand for natural gas grows and production from domestic supplies flattens out or declines, experts say the odorless, colorless gas -- the primary component of which is methane -- may be the source of the next energy crisis. Industry executives, analysts and politicians are all looking at ways to meet the nation's growing thirst for natural gas. Expanding supplies in the Rocky Mountains, offshore drilling and bringing in gas from overseas are all on the table... Goldwater Scholar Applauds Appeals Court Decision in Bailey Case, Warns Property Rights Still Not Safe in Arizona Goldwater Institute constitutional studies director Mark Brnovich applauded yesterday's decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals in the case of Bailey v. Myers, which pitted brake shop owner Randy Bailey against the City of Mesa. The Court ruled in favor of the Bailey family, holding that "Article 2, Section 17 of the Arizona Constitution prevents the City from taking the Baileys' property for this redevelopment project because the ultimate use of the property is not a public use. " But Brnovich also stated that the matter is far from settled. "Bailey and the Institute for Justice have won an important battle for Arizona property owners," he said. But the war is not over. First, Mesa may appeal the case to the Arizona Supreme Court, where Bailey's brake shop will face an uncertain outcome. Second, whatever happens in the Bailey case, the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down Arizona's 1997 redevelopment statute, which Brnovich sees as a primary cause of eminent domain abuse... With liberty and salmon for all The creators of Salmon Nation ask that you think of it as a real place, defined not by political boundaries, but rather by the mountains, rivers, estuaries and ocean waters where salmon hold a keystone position among living things -- a land stretching from Alaska to California. "Imagine, if you could, a society and an economy based on the natural character of the land," said Spencer Beebe, founder and president of Ecotrust, the Portland nonprofit group orchestrating the Salmon Nation campaign, with help from Patagonia and other sponsors... Smell on earth: Grass Mesa residents choking on fumes from gas drilling Doug Dennison says he doesn't doubt natural gas drilling smells give many western Garfield County residents headaches, makes them nauseous, and is hard on their sleep. "I've spent the better part of two nights on Grass Mesa," said Dennison, Garfield County's oil and gas auditor. "The smell is worse in the early morning." Grass Mesa resident Rebecca Brock said that in July she started smelling the four gas wells that operate about a mile from her house. "I had to close the windows, and almost roasted to death," Brock said. "I couldn't run the swamp cooler, because it sucked the smells in."...Mule rides halted at Grand Canyon The popular mule train rides from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park have been temporarily halted while canyon trails undergo maintenance. The mule rides, which ended in late September, could resume in about six months, according to Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which operates the rides along with lodges and restaurants at the South Rim...Lost sheep? Not on Dotti the llama's watch She is a 6-foot-tall creature with a shaggy body and a haughty air, her large brown eyes staring intently at a visitor who dares to approach her on a sunny afternoon. Dotti the llama has reason to be suspicious of strangers. Guarding sheep is a serious business. If Dotti is successful at her job, she will help a Humboldt County rancher resurrect the family's sheep farming business...Conservancy won't renew ranch lease The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy will not renew a lease next year with a local horse rancher after its board decided it could not rent out land purchased with public money to a private business. Jim Engel, the conservancy's executive director, said the recent decision was not influenced by a petition signed by about 35 residents complaining about Sue Gruber's Oso Ranch on Meyer Road... Glendive TV station is one-man operation As Ed Agre videotapes this small Montana town's annual parade, candy skids along the ground - thrown from a bank-sponsored float. Behind, farming tractors follow the local football team roaring from a flatbed truck. Though he looks like a proud grandfather trying to catch his grandchildren on tape, Agre, 66, is covering the news. He's news director, reporter and desk anchor for KXGN-Ch. 5 in Glendive, the smallest television news market in the nation. For a 100-mile radius, the only local broadcast news source from the Canadian border to southern Montana is KXGN, aka Ed Agre... Debts force cattle ranch liquidation Leachman Cattle Co. is going through a liquidation to pay off huge debts, likely marking the end of its world-renowned annual auction. Most ranch hands received their last paychecks Tuesday, and the fate of what's left of the ranch assets was being debated last week in Yellowstone District Court. Two ranches are on the block, along with the Leachman Cattle Co. name and the Hairpin brand...Future eyed in old dude ranch Interior Secretary Gale Norton is looking to an old dude ranch in Grand Teton National Park to help ensure the West's historic buildings do not simply rot away...Bison Burgers, for Humanity's Sake THREE years ago, Ted Turner's effort to restore the country's bison herds was such a success that it created a problem: a glut of bison meat. So Mr. Turner has started a restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill, where he is turning bison into burgers and, in the process, hoping to build what he calls "another great fortune.'' With little fanfare, Mr. Turner opened the first of the restaurants in 2002 and now has 11 of them in the South and West, five in this city alone. But as everyone knows, Mr. Turner thinks big. So it should come as no surprise that he has ambitious plans for what started as a simple experiment to see if he could create an appetite for bison...
Let it burn; put it out The Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains are practically joined at the hip, but their relationship with fire has become a study in contrasts. For thousands of years, lightning-sparked fires crept across both ranges in a similar way, consuming fuel on the forest floor once or twice a decade. But in the past century, as the Catalinas were developed and the Rincons stayed primitive, federal officials were forced to handle fire quite differently in the neighboring mountains... State report says California sapping world's timber California's efforts to protect its own forest land is spurring more logging in other nations, particularly Canada, to feed construction in the nation's most populous state, according to a new state report...Archaeologists find evidence of Chinese camp in Sierra Archaeologists have uncovered evidence near this Sierra town of what's thought to be a Chinese logging camp that dates back to the 1870s. Artifacts found at the Tahoe National Forest site off Sawtooth Road include an ax head, metal files, opium can fragments, a Chinese medicine bottle and tableware fragments... National needs, local concerns The push to develop rich natural gas fields in the West has officials in three Colorado communities concerned the Bush administration is forgetting promises it made to give them influence over use of federal lands. La Plata and Garfield county commissioners are pleading for more environmentally friendly drilling techniques. The Grand Junction City Council was angered by what some saw as a federal failure to protect the local water supply...Use of hatchery salmon to boost wild runs raises thorny questions Many of the spawning salmon were born in the stainless-steel trays of hatcheries and are now being encouraged to mate in the rivers to try to boost the population of wild runs listed under federal Endangered Species Act. This practice raises a complicated and fundamental question in the multibillion-dollar regional effort to save wild Northwest salmon runs: When is a wild fish really wild, with the genetic smarts to help sustain healthy runs for generations to come?...Editorial: Environmentalists should be held accountable An absurd battle is brewing around a congressional act concerning public-lands grazing. The Senate recently adopted a provision to keep ranchers' grazing permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed. Environmentalists are up in arms over the provision, claiming it bypasses federal policy that requires environmental analysis be done before grazing permits are reissued. They want those reviews to justify grazing and want all grazing activity to cease until such assessments can be done...Comeback of prairie chickens a success story Thirty years ago, only about 600 greater prairie chickens remained, prompting a listing as a state endangered species. Now that number has swelled to an estimated 10,000, and the wildlife agency allows a limited hunting season that ranks as Colorado's most arcane adventure with a shotgun...Trinity River settlement eyed with suspicion A proposed settlement to a suit over sending more water down the Trinity River has sent a torrent of concern over Northern California officials who want to revive the river's salmon and steelhead runs. The proposal will be pitched by Westlands Water District, a main beneficiary of Trinity water, to Trinity County supervisors this week, and soon to supervisors in Humboldt County. Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham will outline an offer the irrigation giant has made to the U.S. Interior Department, which is defending its Trinity restoration plan against Westlands in federal court...Grazing Permits Amendment Comes Under AttackRecent land-use legislation to streamline the permit process for ranchers who graze cattle on public lands has some environmental groups crying foul. Adopted by the Senate on Tuesday, the provision seeks to keep ranchers' permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed... Editorial: Norton puts wilderness at risk U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton violated common sense and her own promises by opening 3 million acres of fragile federal lands to energy drilling and off-road-vehicles (ORVs). In Colorado, 600,000 acres are at risk, including Western Slope scenic areas and wildlife habitat like the Roan Plateau, Vermillion Basin and Big Ridge. The new policy, announced last week, means the Bureau of Land Management won't preserve pristine qualities that make the areas eligible for wilderness designation. In a designated wilderness, mineral development is banned and motorized vehicles are prohibited except in emergencies. By letting ORVs and drill rigs into the areas, Norton will let their pristine nature be ruined - and so ensure that Congress never gets to consider them for wilderness designation...Regulation of the environment benefits the economy, says a White House report It came as a surprise, therefore, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently declared that environmental regulations are good for the economy. Looking at a variety of areas - education, energy, housing, health, labor, but mostly the environment - the Bush administration's budget office reported to Congress that "the estimated total annual quantified benefits of these rules range from $146 billion to $230 billion, while the estimated total annual quantified costs range from $36 billion to $42 billion." Of these totals, according to OMB, the yearly benefits of environmental regulations range from $121 billion to $193 billion, the costs from $37 billion to $43 billion. In other words, benefits of things like government-mandated clearer air and cleaner water outweigh costs by as much as 5 to 1...Animas-La Plata meeting may be illegal A closed-door meeting attended by proponents of the Animas-La Plata Project may have violated Colorado and New Mexico open-meeting laws, said opponents and a news-media lawyer... Public help is sought to solve deaths of 7 wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public for information in the deaths of seven Mexican gray wolves in Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico since March. Rewards of up to $10,000 are offered to anyone who can assist agents in the arrests of those responsible for the deaths of the wolves, a species that was reintroduced in 1998, said Victoria Fox, a service spokeswoman in Albuquerque...Norton names Montana BLM advisory members Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the appointment of 17 members to Montana's three citizen-based Resource Advisory Councils that advise the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on public land issues... A Dying Tradition Lehi resident Dale Hunter is a rancher at heart. "I love spending my summers up with the cattle," he said. "It gets me out and I get to see wildlife. It is a hands-on job, it's very enjoyable. You've just got to love that way of life. I grew up with it and my ancestors were always that way and so it was passed on to me. It is a good way of life." But urban sprawl is changing that. Hunter was recently forced to sell more than two-thirds of the farmland that had been in his family for generations because American Fork wanted to build a park. "I really wasn't ready to sell, but it got condemned by American Fork," he said. "They wanted it for its aesthetic value. If I could have it all back again it would be nice, but it is not the same when you have homes and subdivisions all around you." Hunter was one of 42 ranchers who spent Thursday and Friday participating in an agricultural ritual that is as old as the valley's pioneer settlements -- gathering their combined 2,273 cattle from the summer grazing range in Spanish Fork Canyon to take them home for the winter. He said it is a tradition that may have no future...National Park Service Launches New Web Site to Highlight Hispanic Heritage Parks National Park Service Director Fran Mainella today announced the availability of a new web site designed to highlight the importance of Hispanic Heritage Parks and the part they play in the nation's history. The new site titled, "Hispanic Heritage Parks: An Iberian Project," assists visitors in experiencing the nation's Hispanic heritage that is preserved and interpreted throughout the National Park Service... Woolly workers prove their worth They're nature's lawnmowers. But a sheepish plan to cut the grass on Alberta's right-of-ways with a small army of woolly workers is struggling to overcome a basic design flaw: the sheep keep jumping the fence... Editorial: Don't play with fire It seems the fire bill is not out of the congressional woods yet. The agreement between the Senate and the White House on a landmark bill to protect public forests from fire and disease could still get lost in a procedural thicket in Congress. It also could still be smashed by the old-growth-size egos of members of Congress angered by a take-it-or-leave-it letter from seven Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who reached the deal with the White House. House members don't have to like the letter or the process, but they should take seriously Wyden's threat to withdraw his support if the House starts tinkering with the deal. Wyden and other Senate Democrats have every reason to run, not walk, away if the House blows up their compromise... Stumbling Upon Wolf Tracks in the Northern Reaches of Yellowstone Three weeks ago I saw two wolf tracks in the mud of a creek bank high in Yellowstone National Park. It was old mud, from the last time the creek had overrun its banks, but the tracks had blurred only slightly. Each one was larger than my hand, fingers outstretched. Rain and snow blew in squalls across the valley, near the northern edge of the park. The long gravel beach was as gray as the clouds overhead, which dimmed and brightened minute by minute. I bent down to look at the tracks again and then returned to my fishing. But before long I reeled in and walked back over to the mud flat, just to reassure myself that the tracks were really there. They were... Democrats blasted for stalling Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., charged his Democratic colleagues with playing politics in stalling Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. "This boycott is nothing more than a political ploy by committee Democrats to try to influence the presidential election next year and disparage our president," Thomas said in a release... Crisis Looming: Demand for natural gas may produce next energy shortage Nationwide, as demand for natural gas grows and production from domestic supplies flattens out or declines, experts say the odorless, colorless gas -- the primary component of which is methane -- may be the source of the next energy crisis. Industry executives, analysts and politicians are all looking at ways to meet the nation's growing thirst for natural gas. Expanding supplies in the Rocky Mountains, offshore drilling and bringing in gas from overseas are all on the table... Goldwater Scholar Applauds Appeals Court Decision in Bailey Case, Warns Property Rights Still Not Safe in Arizona Goldwater Institute constitutional studies director Mark Brnovich applauded yesterday's decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals in the case of Bailey v. Myers, which pitted brake shop owner Randy Bailey against the City of Mesa. The Court ruled in favor of the Bailey family, holding that "Article 2, Section 17 of the Arizona Constitution prevents the City from taking the Baileys' property for this redevelopment project because the ultimate use of the property is not a public use. " But Brnovich also stated that the matter is far from settled. "Bailey and the Institute for Justice have won an important battle for Arizona property owners," he said. But the war is not over. First, Mesa may appeal the case to the Arizona Supreme Court, where Bailey's brake shop will face an uncertain outcome. Second, whatever happens in the Bailey case, the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down Arizona's 1997 redevelopment statute, which Brnovich sees as a primary cause of eminent domain abuse... With liberty and salmon for all The creators of Salmon Nation ask that you think of it as a real place, defined not by political boundaries, but rather by the mountains, rivers, estuaries and ocean waters where salmon hold a keystone position among living things -- a land stretching from Alaska to California. "Imagine, if you could, a society and an economy based on the natural character of the land," said Spencer Beebe, founder and president of Ecotrust, the Portland nonprofit group orchestrating the Salmon Nation campaign, with help from Patagonia and other sponsors... Smell on earth: Grass Mesa residents choking on fumes from gas drilling Doug Dennison says he doesn't doubt natural gas drilling smells give many western Garfield County residents headaches, makes them nauseous, and is hard on their sleep. "I've spent the better part of two nights on Grass Mesa," said Dennison, Garfield County's oil and gas auditor. "The smell is worse in the early morning." Grass Mesa resident Rebecca Brock said that in July she started smelling the four gas wells that operate about a mile from her house. "I had to close the windows, and almost roasted to death," Brock said. "I couldn't run the swamp cooler, because it sucked the smells in."...Mule rides halted at Grand Canyon The popular mule train rides from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park have been temporarily halted while canyon trails undergo maintenance. The mule rides, which ended in late September, could resume in about six months, according to Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which operates the rides along with lodges and restaurants at the South Rim...Lost sheep? Not on Dotti the llama's watch She is a 6-foot-tall creature with a shaggy body and a haughty air, her large brown eyes staring intently at a visitor who dares to approach her on a sunny afternoon. Dotti the llama has reason to be suspicious of strangers. Guarding sheep is a serious business. If Dotti is successful at her job, she will help a Humboldt County rancher resurrect the family's sheep farming business...Conservancy won't renew ranch lease The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy will not renew a lease next year with a local horse rancher after its board decided it could not rent out land purchased with public money to a private business. Jim Engel, the conservancy's executive director, said the recent decision was not influenced by a petition signed by about 35 residents complaining about Sue Gruber's Oso Ranch on Meyer Road... Glendive TV station is one-man operation As Ed Agre videotapes this small Montana town's annual parade, candy skids along the ground - thrown from a bank-sponsored float. Behind, farming tractors follow the local football team roaring from a flatbed truck. Though he looks like a proud grandfather trying to catch his grandchildren on tape, Agre, 66, is covering the news. He's news director, reporter and desk anchor for KXGN-Ch. 5 in Glendive, the smallest television news market in the nation. For a 100-mile radius, the only local broadcast news source from the Canadian border to southern Montana is KXGN, aka Ed Agre... Debts force cattle ranch liquidation Leachman Cattle Co. is going through a liquidation to pay off huge debts, likely marking the end of its world-renowned annual auction. Most ranch hands received their last paychecks Tuesday, and the fate of what's left of the ranch assets was being debated last week in Yellowstone District Court. Two ranches are on the block, along with the Leachman Cattle Co. name and the Hairpin brand...Future eyed in old dude ranch Interior Secretary Gale Norton is looking to an old dude ranch in Grand Teton National Park to help ensure the West's historic buildings do not simply rot away...Bison Burgers, for Humanity's Sake THREE years ago, Ted Turner's effort to restore the country's bison herds was such a success that it created a problem: a glut of bison meat. So Mr. Turner has started a restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill, where he is turning bison into burgers and, in the process, hoping to build what he calls "another great fortune.'' With little fanfare, Mr. Turner opened the first of the restaurants in 2002 and now has 11 of them in the South and West, five in this city alone. But as everyone knows, Mr. Turner thinks big. So it should come as no surprise that he has ambitious plans for what started as a simple experiment to see if he could create an appetite for bison...
Saturday, October 04, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Oregon's economic distress is deeply felt in Grant County Grant County's plight points to a structural problem in Oregon's rural economy that eludes easy answers. Much of rural Oregon was built on the promise of never-ending supplies of timber or fish or gold. As access to those resources dwindle in the 21st century, the question becomes one few can answer: What does Oregon do with the battered economies of isolated, rural counties like Grant?... Gov promises quicker drilling permits, more enforcement Gov. Dave Freudenthal told natural gas producers he would work to speed permitting and access to federal lands but also promised more enforcement of environmental rules. ''I'm more than willing to work to make sure that the federal resources are available. I'm more than willing to streamline, speed up permitting,'' he said at the seventh annual Wyoming Natural Gas Fair at Snow King Center. ''The flip side of that is, I intend to make sure that we have water quality standards (and) enforcement.'' Freudenthal said he will ask the Legislature for more funding to increase staff in the Department of Environmental Quality and State Engineer's Office...Forest Service hit with another timber sale lawsuit For the second time in less than a month, environmentalists have sued to stop a timber sale in the Seeley-Swan corridor of Highway 83, arguing the timber cut would hurt big game animals... Segment of National Forest blocked by landowners Private landowners have blocked access across their property, cutting off entry to the Lone Cone area of the San Juan National Forest north of Dolores. An earthen berm prevents visitors from entering the forest from the west on Forest Service Road 534. The same road is blocked at the eastern edge of the forest by a new wooden fence... Bates Hole ranchers work with creek The Bates Hole water basin southwest of Casper features solid examples of neighborly cooperation, stream rehabilitation and sustainable water development...Jonah field air quality questions arise Internal Bureau of Land Management e-mail correspondence leaked to an environmental group suggests federal regulators may have considered barring the general public from the Jonah gas field -- which lies on federal lands -- due to air quality concerns that would arise from intensified natural gas development...Editorial: Bad to worse It was bad enough that the governor of Utah and the U.S. Interior secretary cooked up a secret deal that took millions of acres of public lands out of the running for permanent federal wilderness protection. It is worse that Interior's Bureau of Land Management has announced that it will now apply the standards of that deal to nine other Western states, whether those states think it is a good idea or not. That is not only an offense to the people in those states, who didn't even have the privilege of sending one of their elected officials into secret talks with the feds, but also to all the people of the rest of the United States, in whose name the BLM supposedly does its work... Drilling debate The state Department of Natural Resources is being alternately praised and criticized for recommending limited gas drilling on the Roan Plateau. The Department of Natural Resources - or DNR - recently called for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to allow drilling pads to be spaced no more densely than one every 160 acres, and to use directional drilling on the plateau, located northwest of Rifle...Bureau takes Blame for Animas-La Plata costs Proponents of the Animas-La Plata Project have joined forces to lay blame for $162.1 million in cost overruns solely on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation - blame the bureau says it will accept. Forty-four proponents and lawyers, meeting in secret Aug. 14 at Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, agreed to try to get the bureau to take responsibility for the ballooning construction costs, rather than to point fingers at one another...Klamath interests working on accord Klamath Basin tribes and farmers are seeking to resolve their battle over water through a historic accord, according to published reports. Recent meetings in Klamath Falls have drawn nearly 20 leaders from Southern Oregon and Northern California. Their goals are to assure farms a predictable, if reduced, water supply and to restore fish and wildlife promised to the tribes under their 1864 treaty with the government. The talks come as the Bush administration continues weighing a return to the tribes of roughly 690,000 acres of former reservation land that is now national forest, according to The Oregonian and (Klamath Falls) Herald and News...Congress hears testimony on Indian water rights bill Senate and House committees heard testimony last week in Washington on an unprecedented Indian water rights agreement that would give several tribes the rights to much of the water remaining for future growth in Arizona...State working on water purchases The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission has finalized deals with landowners in the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District for the purchase of land and attached water rights, and it's close to doing the same in the Carlsbad Irrigation District, water officials said last week. "The deals have been made with landowners within the CID, and we are working to get them closed," said ISC Commissioner Jim Wilcox of Carlsbad... A Takeover Artist's New Target Is Land For T. Boone Pickens, the onetime Texas oilman and corporate investor of the 1980's, it is a new venture. He is combing the lands of West Texas, buying working cattle ranches and selling them to executives who are looking for grand places to play. Unlike the classic American ranch, with vast spaces populated by cattle and by men in cowboy hats, modern recreational ranches may be bereft of livestock. Mr. Pickens's own Mesa Vista Ranch, in the Texas Panhandle, an hour's flight from Dallas in his private jet, is a prototype of the recreational ranch. It has no cattle at all - just deer and quail for hunting and amenities like a gym, a basketball court and a small golf course... Editorial: A rational response to Western wildfires I'm naive enough to believe there's consensus around the high-priority things we should be doing to protect people, communities and property. That consensus, however, begins to dissolve when special interest groups try to piggy-back their private interests onto our wildfire response. Ignoring that perverse effort to exploit other people's hard times, let me outline the responses I think almost everyone supports... Column: Kiss Your Property Rights Goodbye! I have warned many times of the dangers of homeowner's associations (HOA's). As I speak around the nation on the subject of "Sustainable Development," an environmental term intended to disguise the elimination of property rights, inevitably someone from the audience questions my opposition to them. The common defense seems to be that they are voluntary and, if you don't like them, don't move into a community that has one. While it would be nice to let all of the control freaks and frustrated Property Nazis live together in their walled compounds, unfortunately, that's not reality. The problem is, as land use controls under Sustainable Development policies become more widely imposed, HOA's are growing at rapid rates. In Fairfax County, VA, more than 90% of all town homes, condos and single family homes are now in HOA's. Freedom of choice is not an option. For those of you not yet facing the tyranny of having your neighbors empowered with the ability to control, place liens and even take your property if they dislike the color of your paint job, here are a few examples of what you have to look forward to...Texas-size legacy The King Ranch returned to its roots Saturday with a good old-fashioned livestock auction to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Starched blue jeans, brush-popper shirts and cowboy hats and boots were the uniform of the day for many in the crowd of 1,500 who jammed into a show arena on the grounds of the historic ranch near Kingsville. "If you gave me one phrase that comes to mind when you think about Texas, that phrase would be 'King Ranch,'" said Gov. Rick Perry, who walked in bareheaded before someone handed him a King Ranch anniversary baseball cap... Also see Horses, history at King Ranch's first cattle and horse sale.... Ranch families hope to preserve school building on Red Lodge Creek For nearly 100 years, Jackson School was the center of activity for ranch families living along Red Lodge Creek. Christmas pageants, graduation parties and wedding receptions competed with square dancing, book clubs and 4-H meetings in the one-room schoolhouse. But classes ended in 1999... Chinook cowboy entertainer finds blessings at home, abroad First they took the cows, then the machinery. Finally, the debt collector kicked Ken and Dawn Overcast out of their brick ranch house in Chinook. As the couple left that October day they wrote a blessing and hung it on a kitchen wall, in the spot where their clock once ticked, expecting never to return... When newcomers ruin a way of life "Entering Powell Butte: Home of Good Crops, Good Stock & Good Neighbors." That'd be the sign next door to the Post Office, on Tom Burke's place. The letters are fading, but the words are true. At least for now. Despite Oregon 126's seductively fast asphalt, locals in this central Oregon town drive conservatively. There's the school, the church and the store, and farm rigs have to cross the road. Powell Butte's heart is paced by the rhythms of cows, sheep, potatoes, garlic and mint. Seven hundred people live here, love here and die here by the seasons...On The Edge Of Common Sense: PETA ad campaign funny, but we can do better Big news in Helena during rodeo week. The animal rights group PETA was prevented from putting anti-rodeo billboards up in the city. It turns out the owner of the billboard company thought the poster was too risque. Actually, I thought part of the poster was funny. It had a seductive model laying on a bed of straw with the caption: "Nobody likes an eight second ride." But PETA had also added a crude play on words that justifies its rejection. PETA is known for its vulgarity and insensitive ads, activities and pronouncements such as comparing slaughtered chickens to the holocaust, butchering hogs to Jeffrey Dahmer the child killer cannibal, and stating it would be a good thing if American animals contracted foot and mouth disease...5,000 wild hogs are tearing up Ozarks On a ridge overlooking Hiram Henson's 320-acre cattle farm in Taney County, a snorting wild hog continually slams its 300 pounds against the sides of a pen set up to trap her and her kin. This female is the eighth and biggest feral pig Henson has caught in a week. Henson doesn't know how many are on his land, but any is too many. Giant jigsaw-puzzle pieces of pasture have been scarred as if by a backhoe, evidence of wild hogs rooting for grubs or worms. But that's not Henson's biggest concern. "I'm worried about 'em eating the calves, the ones that just get born," he said...
Oregon's economic distress is deeply felt in Grant County Grant County's plight points to a structural problem in Oregon's rural economy that eludes easy answers. Much of rural Oregon was built on the promise of never-ending supplies of timber or fish or gold. As access to those resources dwindle in the 21st century, the question becomes one few can answer: What does Oregon do with the battered economies of isolated, rural counties like Grant?... Gov promises quicker drilling permits, more enforcement Gov. Dave Freudenthal told natural gas producers he would work to speed permitting and access to federal lands but also promised more enforcement of environmental rules. ''I'm more than willing to work to make sure that the federal resources are available. I'm more than willing to streamline, speed up permitting,'' he said at the seventh annual Wyoming Natural Gas Fair at Snow King Center. ''The flip side of that is, I intend to make sure that we have water quality standards (and) enforcement.'' Freudenthal said he will ask the Legislature for more funding to increase staff in the Department of Environmental Quality and State Engineer's Office...Forest Service hit with another timber sale lawsuit For the second time in less than a month, environmentalists have sued to stop a timber sale in the Seeley-Swan corridor of Highway 83, arguing the timber cut would hurt big game animals... Segment of National Forest blocked by landowners Private landowners have blocked access across their property, cutting off entry to the Lone Cone area of the San Juan National Forest north of Dolores. An earthen berm prevents visitors from entering the forest from the west on Forest Service Road 534. The same road is blocked at the eastern edge of the forest by a new wooden fence... Bates Hole ranchers work with creek The Bates Hole water basin southwest of Casper features solid examples of neighborly cooperation, stream rehabilitation and sustainable water development...Jonah field air quality questions arise Internal Bureau of Land Management e-mail correspondence leaked to an environmental group suggests federal regulators may have considered barring the general public from the Jonah gas field -- which lies on federal lands -- due to air quality concerns that would arise from intensified natural gas development...Editorial: Bad to worse It was bad enough that the governor of Utah and the U.S. Interior secretary cooked up a secret deal that took millions of acres of public lands out of the running for permanent federal wilderness protection. It is worse that Interior's Bureau of Land Management has announced that it will now apply the standards of that deal to nine other Western states, whether those states think it is a good idea or not. That is not only an offense to the people in those states, who didn't even have the privilege of sending one of their elected officials into secret talks with the feds, but also to all the people of the rest of the United States, in whose name the BLM supposedly does its work... Drilling debate The state Department of Natural Resources is being alternately praised and criticized for recommending limited gas drilling on the Roan Plateau. The Department of Natural Resources - or DNR - recently called for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to allow drilling pads to be spaced no more densely than one every 160 acres, and to use directional drilling on the plateau, located northwest of Rifle...Bureau takes Blame for Animas-La Plata costs Proponents of the Animas-La Plata Project have joined forces to lay blame for $162.1 million in cost overruns solely on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation - blame the bureau says it will accept. Forty-four proponents and lawyers, meeting in secret Aug. 14 at Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, agreed to try to get the bureau to take responsibility for the ballooning construction costs, rather than to point fingers at one another...Klamath interests working on accord Klamath Basin tribes and farmers are seeking to resolve their battle over water through a historic accord, according to published reports. Recent meetings in Klamath Falls have drawn nearly 20 leaders from Southern Oregon and Northern California. Their goals are to assure farms a predictable, if reduced, water supply and to restore fish and wildlife promised to the tribes under their 1864 treaty with the government. The talks come as the Bush administration continues weighing a return to the tribes of roughly 690,000 acres of former reservation land that is now national forest, according to The Oregonian and (Klamath Falls) Herald and News...Congress hears testimony on Indian water rights bill Senate and House committees heard testimony last week in Washington on an unprecedented Indian water rights agreement that would give several tribes the rights to much of the water remaining for future growth in Arizona...State working on water purchases The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission has finalized deals with landowners in the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District for the purchase of land and attached water rights, and it's close to doing the same in the Carlsbad Irrigation District, water officials said last week. "The deals have been made with landowners within the CID, and we are working to get them closed," said ISC Commissioner Jim Wilcox of Carlsbad... A Takeover Artist's New Target Is Land For T. Boone Pickens, the onetime Texas oilman and corporate investor of the 1980's, it is a new venture. He is combing the lands of West Texas, buying working cattle ranches and selling them to executives who are looking for grand places to play. Unlike the classic American ranch, with vast spaces populated by cattle and by men in cowboy hats, modern recreational ranches may be bereft of livestock. Mr. Pickens's own Mesa Vista Ranch, in the Texas Panhandle, an hour's flight from Dallas in his private jet, is a prototype of the recreational ranch. It has no cattle at all - just deer and quail for hunting and amenities like a gym, a basketball court and a small golf course... Editorial: A rational response to Western wildfires I'm naive enough to believe there's consensus around the high-priority things we should be doing to protect people, communities and property. That consensus, however, begins to dissolve when special interest groups try to piggy-back their private interests onto our wildfire response. Ignoring that perverse effort to exploit other people's hard times, let me outline the responses I think almost everyone supports... Column: Kiss Your Property Rights Goodbye! I have warned many times of the dangers of homeowner's associations (HOA's). As I speak around the nation on the subject of "Sustainable Development," an environmental term intended to disguise the elimination of property rights, inevitably someone from the audience questions my opposition to them. The common defense seems to be that they are voluntary and, if you don't like them, don't move into a community that has one. While it would be nice to let all of the control freaks and frustrated Property Nazis live together in their walled compounds, unfortunately, that's not reality. The problem is, as land use controls under Sustainable Development policies become more widely imposed, HOA's are growing at rapid rates. In Fairfax County, VA, more than 90% of all town homes, condos and single family homes are now in HOA's. Freedom of choice is not an option. For those of you not yet facing the tyranny of having your neighbors empowered with the ability to control, place liens and even take your property if they dislike the color of your paint job, here are a few examples of what you have to look forward to...Texas-size legacy The King Ranch returned to its roots Saturday with a good old-fashioned livestock auction to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Starched blue jeans, brush-popper shirts and cowboy hats and boots were the uniform of the day for many in the crowd of 1,500 who jammed into a show arena on the grounds of the historic ranch near Kingsville. "If you gave me one phrase that comes to mind when you think about Texas, that phrase would be 'King Ranch,'" said Gov. Rick Perry, who walked in bareheaded before someone handed him a King Ranch anniversary baseball cap... Also see Horses, history at King Ranch's first cattle and horse sale.... Ranch families hope to preserve school building on Red Lodge Creek For nearly 100 years, Jackson School was the center of activity for ranch families living along Red Lodge Creek. Christmas pageants, graduation parties and wedding receptions competed with square dancing, book clubs and 4-H meetings in the one-room schoolhouse. But classes ended in 1999... Chinook cowboy entertainer finds blessings at home, abroad First they took the cows, then the machinery. Finally, the debt collector kicked Ken and Dawn Overcast out of their brick ranch house in Chinook. As the couple left that October day they wrote a blessing and hung it on a kitchen wall, in the spot where their clock once ticked, expecting never to return... When newcomers ruin a way of life "Entering Powell Butte: Home of Good Crops, Good Stock & Good Neighbors." That'd be the sign next door to the Post Office, on Tom Burke's place. The letters are fading, but the words are true. At least for now. Despite Oregon 126's seductively fast asphalt, locals in this central Oregon town drive conservatively. There's the school, the church and the store, and farm rigs have to cross the road. Powell Butte's heart is paced by the rhythms of cows, sheep, potatoes, garlic and mint. Seven hundred people live here, love here and die here by the seasons...On The Edge Of Common Sense: PETA ad campaign funny, but we can do better Big news in Helena during rodeo week. The animal rights group PETA was prevented from putting anti-rodeo billboards up in the city. It turns out the owner of the billboard company thought the poster was too risque. Actually, I thought part of the poster was funny. It had a seductive model laying on a bed of straw with the caption: "Nobody likes an eight second ride." But PETA had also added a crude play on words that justifies its rejection. PETA is known for its vulgarity and insensitive ads, activities and pronouncements such as comparing slaughtered chickens to the holocaust, butchering hogs to Jeffrey Dahmer the child killer cannibal, and stating it would be a good thing if American animals contracted foot and mouth disease...5,000 wild hogs are tearing up Ozarks On a ridge overlooking Hiram Henson's 320-acre cattle farm in Taney County, a snorting wild hog continually slams its 300 pounds against the sides of a pen set up to trap her and her kin. This female is the eighth and biggest feral pig Henson has caught in a week. Henson doesn't know how many are on his land, but any is too many. Giant jigsaw-puzzle pieces of pasture have been scarred as if by a backhoe, evidence of wild hogs rooting for grubs or worms. But that's not Henson's biggest concern. "I'm worried about 'em eating the calves, the ones that just get born," he said...
Appeals court reinforces property rights in Mesa case
In a ruling with implications for redevelopment efforts in cities across Arizona, a state court yesterday sided with a family-owned brake shop slated for condemnation to make way for a new hardware store in a designated redevelopment area.
The Court of Appeals said Mesa failed to demonstrate that public benefits from the condemnation of Bailey's Brake Services would substantially outweigh the private nature of the planned use of the downtown site.
The Arizona Constitution says public property can be condemned for a use that is "really public" and that courts should decide whether that test has been met.
It's not enough for a local government, such as the Mesa City Council in the Bailey case, to find there's a public need for the project, according to a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals.
"The city does not propose to take the Baileys' property for a traditional public use such as a street, park or governmental building. Nor is this taking essential for the provision of public services or for reasons of public safety or health," Judge John C. Gemmill wrote.
"Instead, the completion of this redevelopment project will result in the property becoming part of a privately owned retail center with stores, restaurants and office space," Gemmill added...
In a ruling with implications for redevelopment efforts in cities across Arizona, a state court yesterday sided with a family-owned brake shop slated for condemnation to make way for a new hardware store in a designated redevelopment area.
The Court of Appeals said Mesa failed to demonstrate that public benefits from the condemnation of Bailey's Brake Services would substantially outweigh the private nature of the planned use of the downtown site.
The Arizona Constitution says public property can be condemned for a use that is "really public" and that courts should decide whether that test has been met.
It's not enough for a local government, such as the Mesa City Council in the Bailey case, to find there's a public need for the project, according to a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals.
"The city does not propose to take the Baileys' property for a traditional public use such as a street, park or governmental building. Nor is this taking essential for the provision of public services or for reasons of public safety or health," Judge John C. Gemmill wrote.
"Instead, the completion of this redevelopment project will result in the property becoming part of a privately owned retail center with stores, restaurants and office space," Gemmill added...
Militants say they planted Shaklee bomb
Animal activists attacking clients of research firm
A militant animal rights group that claimed it bombed an Emeryville biotechnology firm in August is taking responsibility for Friday's explosion at Shaklee Inc.'s offices in Pleasanton -- warning that next time the bombs will be bigger and more damaging. In an anonymous e-mail sent to fellow activists across the country early Tuesday morning, Revolutionary Cells described the explosive used at Shaklee, a company that sells health, beauty and household products, as a 10-pound ammonium nitrate bomb "strapped with nails."
The same group has taken responsibility for attacking Chiron's office building on Aug. 28 with two pipe bombs filled "with ammonium nitrate slurry with redundant timers." Revolutionary Cells said it is trying to put Huntingdon Life Sciences, a New Jersey research firm that experiments on animals, out of business by harassing its clients. Chiron, and Shaklee's parent company, Yamanouchi Consumer Inc., have both subcontracted with Huntingdon to have medicines tested on animals.
"All customers and their families are considered legitimate targets," the group wrote...
Animal activists attacking clients of research firm
A militant animal rights group that claimed it bombed an Emeryville biotechnology firm in August is taking responsibility for Friday's explosion at Shaklee Inc.'s offices in Pleasanton -- warning that next time the bombs will be bigger and more damaging. In an anonymous e-mail sent to fellow activists across the country early Tuesday morning, Revolutionary Cells described the explosive used at Shaklee, a company that sells health, beauty and household products, as a 10-pound ammonium nitrate bomb "strapped with nails."
The same group has taken responsibility for attacking Chiron's office building on Aug. 28 with two pipe bombs filled "with ammonium nitrate slurry with redundant timers." Revolutionary Cells said it is trying to put Huntingdon Life Sciences, a New Jersey research firm that experiments on animals, out of business by harassing its clients. Chiron, and Shaklee's parent company, Yamanouchi Consumer Inc., have both subcontracted with Huntingdon to have medicines tested on animals.
"All customers and their families are considered legitimate targets," the group wrote...
RULING OPENS LITIGATION FLOODGATES WHILE VOIDING RIGHTS
Jack McFarland owns property, which he bought from his grandmother, in Glacier National Park. Like his grandmother and the man from whom she bought it, who staked his homestead prior to Glacier National Park’s creation and received his patent from President Wilson, Jack McFarland accesses his property in the only way possible: via Glacier Route 7. Jack McFarland’s property is just three miles north of the Polebridge Ranger Station...
Since 1910, the NPS acknowledged consistently that it could not deny people like Jack McFarland access to their property, putting it in writing as recently as 1985. That written statement came less than ten years after, in the court’s view, Jack McFarland should have known that the NPS claimed just the opposite. Plus, when Jack McFarland requested a special use permit, he was not claiming a property right but seeking a license, which the NPS could revoke unilaterally. Under the APA, he has a right, as do all citizens, to have that request decided in a manner that is neither “arbitrary nor capricious.” Thus, the court has deprived all who have property disputes with the government of their right, as granted by Congress in the APA, to fair and equitable treatment.
Finally, the court has opened the litigation floodgates. It has told property owners who access their property via federal lands that, any time the United States restricts the access rights of the general public to use those lands, it has acted in a manner adverse to the property owners and, to protect their rights under the Quiet Title Act, they must file suit.
Jack McFarland owns property, which he bought from his grandmother, in Glacier National Park. Like his grandmother and the man from whom she bought it, who staked his homestead prior to Glacier National Park’s creation and received his patent from President Wilson, Jack McFarland accesses his property in the only way possible: via Glacier Route 7. Jack McFarland’s property is just three miles north of the Polebridge Ranger Station...
Since 1910, the NPS acknowledged consistently that it could not deny people like Jack McFarland access to their property, putting it in writing as recently as 1985. That written statement came less than ten years after, in the court’s view, Jack McFarland should have known that the NPS claimed just the opposite. Plus, when Jack McFarland requested a special use permit, he was not claiming a property right but seeking a license, which the NPS could revoke unilaterally. Under the APA, he has a right, as do all citizens, to have that request decided in a manner that is neither “arbitrary nor capricious.” Thus, the court has deprived all who have property disputes with the government of their right, as granted by Congress in the APA, to fair and equitable treatment.
Finally, the court has opened the litigation floodgates. It has told property owners who access their property via federal lands that, any time the United States restricts the access rights of the general public to use those lands, it has acted in a manner adverse to the property owners and, to protect their rights under the Quiet Title Act, they must file suit.
The Environmentalists' Deadly War Against "Frankenfood"
The October 2003 issue of The Atlantic Monthly carries an outstanding article by Jonathan Rauch, "Will Frankenfood Save the Planet? It's required reading for anyone who believes "natural" and "organic" food is somehow superior to "artificial" and "genetically modified" food. More importantly, it's another case study of how environmentalist philosophy poses deadly risks for human beings and--ironically--for the environment itself.
"Frankenfood" is the pejorative environmentalists use to describe genetically modified or engineered crops. It conjures images of mad scientists (are there any other kind?) maniacally manipulating Nature, with apocalyptic results. This plotline is a staple of science fiction and horror stories, with roots that go back to Greek mythology. (See my manifesto on environmentalism for a discussion of this mythology, and its potent influence on our lives.) Rauch's investigation of genetically engineered food, however, presents a very different picture...
The Atlantic Monthly article mentioned in Mr. Bidinotto's commentary can be viewed here.
The October 2003 issue of The Atlantic Monthly carries an outstanding article by Jonathan Rauch, "Will Frankenfood Save the Planet? It's required reading for anyone who believes "natural" and "organic" food is somehow superior to "artificial" and "genetically modified" food. More importantly, it's another case study of how environmentalist philosophy poses deadly risks for human beings and--ironically--for the environment itself.
"Frankenfood" is the pejorative environmentalists use to describe genetically modified or engineered crops. It conjures images of mad scientists (are there any other kind?) maniacally manipulating Nature, with apocalyptic results. This plotline is a staple of science fiction and horror stories, with roots that go back to Greek mythology. (See my manifesto on environmentalism for a discussion of this mythology, and its potent influence on our lives.) Rauch's investigation of genetically engineered food, however, presents a very different picture...
The Atlantic Monthly article mentioned in Mr. Bidinotto's commentary can be viewed here.
ALRA ALERT: Emergency Pilgrim Family Airlift
...Your help is needed to get supplies to the Pilgrim Family.
The Berlin Airlift in 1948 was America’s response to a totalitarian top down command and control regime that tried to starve out the citizens of Berlin after World War Two. The Soviets closed the roads, cut the rail road tracks and all other means of access. Heavily armed military guarded the access routes into Berlin. They could not shut down airplane flights. For many months America and other countries joined to keep a starving city alive and supplied with food, fuel and other materials.
Now it is time for the citizens of America and especially Alaska to rise up again against a top down command and control heavy handed bureaucracy, the National Park Service, and keep the Pilgrim Family from being starved out in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. As in Berlin, heavily armed Park Service personnel dressed like a swat team are preventing access for the Pilgrims. Access on a designated RS 2477 Right of Way that is also protected under the terms of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
The Pilgrim Family Airlift will take place Saturday and Sunday, October 11-12, weather permitting. Supplies including food, money, and materials must be gathered at three locations, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Glennallen-Copper Center by Thursday, October 9th. They will then be trucked to McCarthy. The Pilgrim Family Airlift will begin on Saturday, October 11th...
For the rest of the ALRA alert, including collection points and a supplies list, go here. For additional background on the Pilgrim Family go here.
...Your help is needed to get supplies to the Pilgrim Family.
The Berlin Airlift in 1948 was America’s response to a totalitarian top down command and control regime that tried to starve out the citizens of Berlin after World War Two. The Soviets closed the roads, cut the rail road tracks and all other means of access. Heavily armed military guarded the access routes into Berlin. They could not shut down airplane flights. For many months America and other countries joined to keep a starving city alive and supplied with food, fuel and other materials.
Now it is time for the citizens of America and especially Alaska to rise up again against a top down command and control heavy handed bureaucracy, the National Park Service, and keep the Pilgrim Family from being starved out in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. As in Berlin, heavily armed Park Service personnel dressed like a swat team are preventing access for the Pilgrims. Access on a designated RS 2477 Right of Way that is also protected under the terms of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
The Pilgrim Family Airlift will take place Saturday and Sunday, October 11-12, weather permitting. Supplies including food, money, and materials must be gathered at three locations, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Glennallen-Copper Center by Thursday, October 9th. They will then be trucked to McCarthy. The Pilgrim Family Airlift will begin on Saturday, October 11th...
For the rest of the ALRA alert, including collection points and a supplies list, go here. For additional background on the Pilgrim Family go here.
Nevada Live Stock Association
Contact: Ramona Morrison
775.424.0570, rhmorrison@bww.com
October 3, 2003
Nevada Rancher Sues Federal Government for $30 Million in Takings Suit
GOLDFIELD, NV—Ben and Juanita Colvin, after years of government harassment and interference with their ranching operation, the confiscation of 62 head of their cattle at gunpoint, and the resulting shutting down of their ranching operation, recently sued the federal government for $30 million compensation under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. The Complaint, filed August 16 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., alleges in part that the Federal government transferred the Colvin’s water and forage rights to the Bureau of Land Management and third parties; allowed 1,300 head of wild horses to trespass on Colvin’s grazing allotment; and threatened Mr. Colvin’s family and employees to prevent them from using their vested water rights and forage rights.
"The United States terminated Colvin's lease and preference grazing rights without justification, thus attempting to prevent him from accessing his water rights, forage rights and other range rights," commented Mr. Colvin’s attorney, Mike Van Zandt, from his San Francisco office.
Colvin commented from his home in Goldfield, Nevada, “My life’s work is tied up in this ranch. The federal government has been trying to wipe me out financially and now has left me with no choice but to seek damages. They have the power to confiscate my property under the Constitution, but that same Constitution guarantees me compensation for that property.”
Colvin is following the litigation strategy set forth in the similar and successful case of his neighbor, Wayne Hage. Hage filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1991 after years of attempts by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to reclassify his rangelands as “public lands” and convert it to other uses. In the January 29, 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact, the Court ruled that Hage had “title to the fee lands”, an area of land identified as his grazing allotment. The Court will determine the compensation owed Hage for the government taking of his property in a trial set for May 2004. “The Hage decision is important to hundreds of western ranchers who have been subjected to years government harassment and interference with their ranching operations. Nothing has changed for many ranchers under the Bush Administration. Clinton bureaucrats are still largely in control. But we now have a victory in Hage that provides other ranchers with a road-map showing them how to keep the government honest when they take our property,” said Wayne Hage from his ranch in Monitor Valley, Nevada.
Retired Congressman, Helen Chenoweth-Hage said, “Unfortunately Ben Colvin’s case is not unique. We have been speaking to ranchers all over the West. They always tell me the same story—the government is taking the ability to use their property. The only thing that changes is the name of the environmental red herring. Sadly there are many ranchers who will have no choice but to seek compensation under the Fifth Amendment.”
The government argues Ben Colvin and other ranchers are grazing livestock by virtue of a grazing permit on “public land” and therefore the U.S. F. S. and BLM can manage the land for their own purposes regardless of the impact on the rancher’s business. However, the Supreme Court ruled in Bardon v. Northern Pacific Railroad that, “It is well settled that all land to which any claims or rights of others have attached does not fall within the designation of public land.” Grazing allotments by definition have rights and claims of others attached including vested water rights, forage rights and rights-of-ways, all of which predate the creation U.S. F. S. and BLM. Mr. Colvin will provide evidence to the Court through his chain-of-title that he owns the vested water rights, forage rights and rights-of-ways on his rangeland and that he is not grazing on the government’s “public land”.
Contacts: Ben Colvin (775) 485-6366
Michael Van Zandt (405) 905-0200
Wayne or Helen Chenoweth-Hage (775) 482-4187
For previous stories see Esmeralda County Voters Draw Their Pens; Grand Jury Investigation into Nevada Brand Inspector a Go and Chenoweth-Hage seeks cattle seizure probe. For background on the Hage vs. US case, go here.
Contact: Ramona Morrison
775.424.0570, rhmorrison@bww.com
October 3, 2003
Nevada Rancher Sues Federal Government for $30 Million in Takings Suit
GOLDFIELD, NV—Ben and Juanita Colvin, after years of government harassment and interference with their ranching operation, the confiscation of 62 head of their cattle at gunpoint, and the resulting shutting down of their ranching operation, recently sued the federal government for $30 million compensation under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. The Complaint, filed August 16 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., alleges in part that the Federal government transferred the Colvin’s water and forage rights to the Bureau of Land Management and third parties; allowed 1,300 head of wild horses to trespass on Colvin’s grazing allotment; and threatened Mr. Colvin’s family and employees to prevent them from using their vested water rights and forage rights.
"The United States terminated Colvin's lease and preference grazing rights without justification, thus attempting to prevent him from accessing his water rights, forage rights and other range rights," commented Mr. Colvin’s attorney, Mike Van Zandt, from his San Francisco office.
Colvin commented from his home in Goldfield, Nevada, “My life’s work is tied up in this ranch. The federal government has been trying to wipe me out financially and now has left me with no choice but to seek damages. They have the power to confiscate my property under the Constitution, but that same Constitution guarantees me compensation for that property.”
Colvin is following the litigation strategy set forth in the similar and successful case of his neighbor, Wayne Hage. Hage filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1991 after years of attempts by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to reclassify his rangelands as “public lands” and convert it to other uses. In the January 29, 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact, the Court ruled that Hage had “title to the fee lands”, an area of land identified as his grazing allotment. The Court will determine the compensation owed Hage for the government taking of his property in a trial set for May 2004. “The Hage decision is important to hundreds of western ranchers who have been subjected to years government harassment and interference with their ranching operations. Nothing has changed for many ranchers under the Bush Administration. Clinton bureaucrats are still largely in control. But we now have a victory in Hage that provides other ranchers with a road-map showing them how to keep the government honest when they take our property,” said Wayne Hage from his ranch in Monitor Valley, Nevada.
Retired Congressman, Helen Chenoweth-Hage said, “Unfortunately Ben Colvin’s case is not unique. We have been speaking to ranchers all over the West. They always tell me the same story—the government is taking the ability to use their property. The only thing that changes is the name of the environmental red herring. Sadly there are many ranchers who will have no choice but to seek compensation under the Fifth Amendment.”
The government argues Ben Colvin and other ranchers are grazing livestock by virtue of a grazing permit on “public land” and therefore the U.S. F. S. and BLM can manage the land for their own purposes regardless of the impact on the rancher’s business. However, the Supreme Court ruled in Bardon v. Northern Pacific Railroad that, “It is well settled that all land to which any claims or rights of others have attached does not fall within the designation of public land.” Grazing allotments by definition have rights and claims of others attached including vested water rights, forage rights and rights-of-ways, all of which predate the creation U.S. F. S. and BLM. Mr. Colvin will provide evidence to the Court through his chain-of-title that he owns the vested water rights, forage rights and rights-of-ways on his rangeland and that he is not grazing on the government’s “public land”.
Contacts: Ben Colvin (775) 485-6366
Michael Van Zandt (405) 905-0200
Wayne or Helen Chenoweth-Hage (775) 482-4187
For previous stories see Esmeralda County Voters Draw Their Pens; Grand Jury Investigation into Nevada Brand Inspector a Go and Chenoweth-Hage seeks cattle seizure probe. For background on the Hage vs. US case, go here.
Friday, October 03, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
USFWS to oppose motion filed by group A federal agency will oppose a motion filed by an environmental organization to stop logging projects that could affect the threatened Mexican spotted owl. The Center for Biological Diversity claimed that "fuel-reduction projects" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service jeopardize the bird's habitat. The service on Wednesday filed a declaration in a U.S. district court in Arizona opposing the center's motion...Ski Industry Split Over Ads on Chairlifts The Forest Service has given the nation's ski resorts the OK to sell some advertising space on their chairlifts, drawing complaints that the messages will clutter up the great outdoors. The ads will be only a few inches in size and will consist of logos of companies that sponsor programs at resorts; they will not contain slogans or special offers... Court upholds decision tossing property rights case A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision that dismissed a case brought against the U.S. Forest Service over the use of a remote Upper Peninsula lake, a dispute that attracted the attention of the property rights movement. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that a claim by Kathy Stupak-Thrall and other plaintiffs that Crooked Lake wasn't a part of the Sylvania Wilderness Area and should be out of reach of federal regulation was brought beyond a 6-year statute of limitations for such cases... Forest Service helps forest’s rebirth along In the month since the frenetic firefighting efforts ended here, new labors are under way that Helena National Forest officials and others hope will raise a healthy forest from the fires’ ashes. Hundreds of charred, dead trees lie on private lands near the mouth of the Copper Creek drainage, dropped and stacked by a “feller/buncher.” Here and on the national forest farther up the drainage, the plan is to cut everything greater than 6 inches in diameter, with the thought that the winter snows will fell anything smaller. The merchantable timber will be loaded onto trucks and hauled to mills in Montana; the rest will be chipped into small pieces and scattered... Study focuses on money lost in Tongass timber sales The U.S. Forest Service should focus its energy on creating jobs in the seafood and tourism industries instead of losing money on taxpayer-subsidized timber sales, says a new report by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council... Editorial: Invest now in healthy forests It will take money to fix the four big problems facing our national forests: invasive species, wildfires, loss of open space and unmanaged recreation. For starters, the Forest Service must fix its finances. This year was the first time the agency got a clean audit from federal accounting experts. But even U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth - who identified the four top problems facing national forests - knows the agency needs to improve its financial practices...Picking up the pieces A war had been fought here. It was a classic battle of man against nature, flame against firefighter, and the scars of their war blanketed parts of the mountainous battlefield in black ash. Like an oasis of life in a desert of destruction, the waters of Cascade Springs rushed down a hillside, green growth still thriving though the landscape around it was charred...Predator conference begins Some conservationists believe that conserving the remaining wildlife and wildlife habitat in Wyoming and the West is not enough. An additional step of restoration is also needed. And the restoration of America's native wildlife population must include key predator species like the wolf and grizzly bear...Wolf lawsuit hurts conservation cause, says attorney The return of healthy wolf populations to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is a success story unequaled in the history of endangered species management, and yet conservationists seem intent on snatching “defeat from the jaws of victory,” a conservationist-attorney said Thursday. Tom France, general counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, told the 27th Public Land and Resources Law Conference he was dismayed when a coalition of 17 environmental groups filed suit Wednesday, hoping to stop the removal of wolves from Endangered Species Act protection... Lawsuit threatened over Preble's mouse A conservative legal group is threatening to sue Interior Secretary Gale Norton unless Preble's jumping mouse is taken off the government's endangered species list. The mouse, found only in Colorado and Wyoming, was listed as threatened under the act in 1998. William Perry Pendley, president of the Colorado-based Mountain States Legal Foundation, said he will sue Norton unless the mouse is taken off the list. Federal law requires 60 days advance notice of intent to sue...Legal deluge over dam Residents of the Little Thompson River Valley vowed Thursday to defend their homes against a plan to flood the area. "We will oppose every effort to take away our homes and property rights," Susan Pierce, whose home would be inundated, told leaders of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District...Feds: Owl suit raises fire risk A Tucson environmental group's lawsuit to protect Mexican spotted owls threatens to boost wildfire risks on millions of acres in the Southwest, including parts of Southern Arizona, federal officials said. The lawsuit, quietly filed by the Center for Biological Diversity last month, seeks to hold Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court. If successful, the suit could block scores of tree-cutting projects meant to thin overgrown forests suspectible to devastating canopy fires, officials said. "We are very concerned, during the ongoing drought in the Southwest, that any delays in treating forest areas to reduce high fuel loads could put human life and property at risk of catastrophic wildfires," Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwest region, said in a written statement... Investors seek environmentally sound gas drilling A group of U.S. investors managing about $14 billion in assets have warned energy companies to rethink how they drill in the Rocky Mountains to mitigate environmental damage and the risk of future lawsuits. "Drilling in an irresponsible way can have significant long-term liabilities. We're saying let's look at how we're doing this and let's minimize the impact," said Steve Lippman, a San Francisco-based analyst at Trillium Asset Management...Plan to expand Silverton ski area divides residents A businessman's plan to allow unrestricted skiing in terrain above this mountain town has divided area residents, with some hoping for an economic boost and others fearing it will put skiers in danger. Aaron Brill has asked the Bureau of Land Management for a 40-year permit to expand his Silverton Outdoor Learning and Recreation Center to handle up to 475 skiers daily, except in areas his snow-safety expert says are too dangerous...BLM seeks public comment on plan for wetlands The Bureau of Land Management has released a management plan for the Overflow Wetlands area. The BLM is seeking public comment on the plan to protect parts of the more than 7,000 acres of wetlands located about 16 miles east of Roswell and adjacent to Bottomless Lakes State Park...Water guru claims SRP wants all of state's water Pine water guru John Breninger believes Salt River Project has designs on all the water in Arizona. Breninger also questioned the wisdom of pursuing the Blue Ridge Reservoir as a new source of water for the Rim country, and was critical of Gila County District 1 Supervisor Ron Christensen's motives in dissolving the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District...Tribes, districts silent on A-LP costs Two water districts and both Ute tribes in Southwest Colorado have promised to keep silent publicly about what they know about cost overruns on the Animas-La Plata Project. At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, lawyers for the water districts and tribes signed a nondisclosure agreement Aug. 21. They pledged to keep in confidence the information they share with the bureau as the federal agency prepares a report on the overruns for Interior Secretary Gale Norton... Rancher Wants To Sell Water Rights A rancher in south Routt County wants to sell water rights worth $5 million for use in the Vail Valley and Eagle County, the Steamboat Pilot & Today reports. The water would come from leftover irrigation water from the Yampa River used by the Flattops Water Company for irrigation on the Toponas Ranch. A water attorney for the proponents of the deal said it wasn’t likely to be controversial because the water is already lost to the Yampa Basin. "It allows a rancher to get some money off a second use of water that, right now, is just being wasted," attorney Glenn Porzak said. The sale could involve up to 1,250 acre-feet... Historic water deal approved In a surprise vote Thursday evening, the board of the Imperial Irrigation District approved a monumental water deal for Southern California that sets the stage for the largest sale of farm water to cities in the nation's history. Meeting in a packed room in El Centro, the Imperial board voted 3-2 to approve a pact that, in various forms, has been tensely negotiated for eight years. The pact, known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), allows California to keep receiving surplus water from the Colorado River for the next 13 years. In exchange, California must gradually reduce its pumping from the Colorado -- mainly through a sale of Imperial water to San Diego that could net farmers $2 billion over 75 years...Supes vote to oppose wilderness legislation Amador County joined a growing list of nearby counties opposed to the controversial California Wild Heritage Act, voting against the bill in its current form at its meeting Tuesday morning. The vote ran counter to the wishes of nearly 300 petitioners from Amador County. The bill, which was reintroduced in August by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), would protect 2.5 million acres of California wilderness and would designate 22 California river segments as National Wild and Scenic Rivers... McInnis defends grazing on public lands U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., urged Congress to reject a plan in which Arizona ranchers want to be paid not to graze on federal land. Several Arizona ranchers, meanwhile, said McInnis understated their plight and should give the pilot project a chance. McInnis circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter in Congress that called the pending legislation "the first step toward eliminating grazing on public lands." McInnis wrote his letter anticipating the introduction of a bill by Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. The bill is expected to call for payments of $175 per animal-unit month to holders of existing grazing leases — bringing relief to drought-stung ranchers and, proponents say, a lighter burden on the national treasury. The bill was expected to be ready in the next week or so, officials from Grijalva's office said... Calling All Cows With growing international apprehension over health and bioterrorism threats—such as mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, and anthrax—being able to quickly track the source of an infectious outbreak in livestock could make the difference between containment and epidemic. Hoping to improve ways of catching disease in time to stop outbreaks, Andresen's team has been developing an electronic device that each cow could wear throughout its life. The equipment could track its location via global-positioning-system (GPS) satellites and monitor the animal's vital signs—all in an electronic form that can be relayed to a farm-based, regional, or even national computer center. The collected data could be used in detailed medical histories of individual animals or as part of a disaster response during a livestock-disease outbreak... Storied South Texas ranch set for birthday celebration Bigger than Rhode Island and swaggering enough to teach Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor how to act Texan, the King Ranch is considered the birthplace of American cattle ranching. Saturday, ranchers from around the world will gather at the South Texas ranch for a 150th birthday celebration, which includes the first live auction since 1988...Texas Bootmaker to the Stars, Leddy, Dies at 66 James Leddy, the renowned Texas bootmaker to the stars of country music and ranchers in the state's flatlands, died earlier this week at the age of 66, his family said on Friday. Leddy, named one of the top makers of cowboy boots in the state by magazine Texas Monthly, was known for turning out custom-made boots in his Abilene shop that boasted delicate inlay patterns, sharp pointed toes and a sturdy construction...Wolf Kill Has Idaho Ranchers Demanding Re-introduced Wolves Be Removed The aftermath of a wolf pack attack that occurred last month north of McCall near Burgdorf has left 55 sheep dead and more than dozen maimed. The attack, which has been confirmed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, has also galvanized groups opposed to the federal government's efforts to re-establish grey wolves in the state... Near trail's end His voice has grown gruff with age, and a pair of hearing aids peek out now from beneath the cowboy hat. But even at 93, Frank Bogert still sits tall in the saddle. "I can still ride and do whatever I feel like," the real-life cowboy and two-time mayor of Palm Springs said in his plain-spoken style. On Saturday, Bogert will once again rise before dawn and set off for Mexico, where he will lead 40 or so friends on a 10-day horse ride through Sierra Madre mountain towns west of Mexico City. It's a 37-year tradition started by Bogert and his longtime friend Ray Corliss. Bogert doesn't plan to ride off into the sunset anytime soon, but he says the end of the trail is near for the annual ride...
USFWS to oppose motion filed by group A federal agency will oppose a motion filed by an environmental organization to stop logging projects that could affect the threatened Mexican spotted owl. The Center for Biological Diversity claimed that "fuel-reduction projects" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service jeopardize the bird's habitat. The service on Wednesday filed a declaration in a U.S. district court in Arizona opposing the center's motion...Ski Industry Split Over Ads on Chairlifts The Forest Service has given the nation's ski resorts the OK to sell some advertising space on their chairlifts, drawing complaints that the messages will clutter up the great outdoors. The ads will be only a few inches in size and will consist of logos of companies that sponsor programs at resorts; they will not contain slogans or special offers... Court upholds decision tossing property rights case A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision that dismissed a case brought against the U.S. Forest Service over the use of a remote Upper Peninsula lake, a dispute that attracted the attention of the property rights movement. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that a claim by Kathy Stupak-Thrall and other plaintiffs that Crooked Lake wasn't a part of the Sylvania Wilderness Area and should be out of reach of federal regulation was brought beyond a 6-year statute of limitations for such cases... Forest Service helps forest’s rebirth along In the month since the frenetic firefighting efforts ended here, new labors are under way that Helena National Forest officials and others hope will raise a healthy forest from the fires’ ashes. Hundreds of charred, dead trees lie on private lands near the mouth of the Copper Creek drainage, dropped and stacked by a “feller/buncher.” Here and on the national forest farther up the drainage, the plan is to cut everything greater than 6 inches in diameter, with the thought that the winter snows will fell anything smaller. The merchantable timber will be loaded onto trucks and hauled to mills in Montana; the rest will be chipped into small pieces and scattered... Study focuses on money lost in Tongass timber sales The U.S. Forest Service should focus its energy on creating jobs in the seafood and tourism industries instead of losing money on taxpayer-subsidized timber sales, says a new report by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council... Editorial: Invest now in healthy forests It will take money to fix the four big problems facing our national forests: invasive species, wildfires, loss of open space and unmanaged recreation. For starters, the Forest Service must fix its finances. This year was the first time the agency got a clean audit from federal accounting experts. But even U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth - who identified the four top problems facing national forests - knows the agency needs to improve its financial practices...Picking up the pieces A war had been fought here. It was a classic battle of man against nature, flame against firefighter, and the scars of their war blanketed parts of the mountainous battlefield in black ash. Like an oasis of life in a desert of destruction, the waters of Cascade Springs rushed down a hillside, green growth still thriving though the landscape around it was charred...Predator conference begins Some conservationists believe that conserving the remaining wildlife and wildlife habitat in Wyoming and the West is not enough. An additional step of restoration is also needed. And the restoration of America's native wildlife population must include key predator species like the wolf and grizzly bear...Wolf lawsuit hurts conservation cause, says attorney The return of healthy wolf populations to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is a success story unequaled in the history of endangered species management, and yet conservationists seem intent on snatching “defeat from the jaws of victory,” a conservationist-attorney said Thursday. Tom France, general counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, told the 27th Public Land and Resources Law Conference he was dismayed when a coalition of 17 environmental groups filed suit Wednesday, hoping to stop the removal of wolves from Endangered Species Act protection... Lawsuit threatened over Preble's mouse A conservative legal group is threatening to sue Interior Secretary Gale Norton unless Preble's jumping mouse is taken off the government's endangered species list. The mouse, found only in Colorado and Wyoming, was listed as threatened under the act in 1998. William Perry Pendley, president of the Colorado-based Mountain States Legal Foundation, said he will sue Norton unless the mouse is taken off the list. Federal law requires 60 days advance notice of intent to sue...Legal deluge over dam Residents of the Little Thompson River Valley vowed Thursday to defend their homes against a plan to flood the area. "We will oppose every effort to take away our homes and property rights," Susan Pierce, whose home would be inundated, told leaders of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District...Feds: Owl suit raises fire risk A Tucson environmental group's lawsuit to protect Mexican spotted owls threatens to boost wildfire risks on millions of acres in the Southwest, including parts of Southern Arizona, federal officials said. The lawsuit, quietly filed by the Center for Biological Diversity last month, seeks to hold Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court. If successful, the suit could block scores of tree-cutting projects meant to thin overgrown forests suspectible to devastating canopy fires, officials said. "We are very concerned, during the ongoing drought in the Southwest, that any delays in treating forest areas to reduce high fuel loads could put human life and property at risk of catastrophic wildfires," Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwest region, said in a written statement... Investors seek environmentally sound gas drilling A group of U.S. investors managing about $14 billion in assets have warned energy companies to rethink how they drill in the Rocky Mountains to mitigate environmental damage and the risk of future lawsuits. "Drilling in an irresponsible way can have significant long-term liabilities. We're saying let's look at how we're doing this and let's minimize the impact," said Steve Lippman, a San Francisco-based analyst at Trillium Asset Management...Plan to expand Silverton ski area divides residents A businessman's plan to allow unrestricted skiing in terrain above this mountain town has divided area residents, with some hoping for an economic boost and others fearing it will put skiers in danger. Aaron Brill has asked the Bureau of Land Management for a 40-year permit to expand his Silverton Outdoor Learning and Recreation Center to handle up to 475 skiers daily, except in areas his snow-safety expert says are too dangerous...BLM seeks public comment on plan for wetlands The Bureau of Land Management has released a management plan for the Overflow Wetlands area. The BLM is seeking public comment on the plan to protect parts of the more than 7,000 acres of wetlands located about 16 miles east of Roswell and adjacent to Bottomless Lakes State Park...Water guru claims SRP wants all of state's water Pine water guru John Breninger believes Salt River Project has designs on all the water in Arizona. Breninger also questioned the wisdom of pursuing the Blue Ridge Reservoir as a new source of water for the Rim country, and was critical of Gila County District 1 Supervisor Ron Christensen's motives in dissolving the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District...Tribes, districts silent on A-LP costs Two water districts and both Ute tribes in Southwest Colorado have promised to keep silent publicly about what they know about cost overruns on the Animas-La Plata Project. At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, lawyers for the water districts and tribes signed a nondisclosure agreement Aug. 21. They pledged to keep in confidence the information they share with the bureau as the federal agency prepares a report on the overruns for Interior Secretary Gale Norton... Rancher Wants To Sell Water Rights A rancher in south Routt County wants to sell water rights worth $5 million for use in the Vail Valley and Eagle County, the Steamboat Pilot & Today reports. The water would come from leftover irrigation water from the Yampa River used by the Flattops Water Company for irrigation on the Toponas Ranch. A water attorney for the proponents of the deal said it wasn’t likely to be controversial because the water is already lost to the Yampa Basin. "It allows a rancher to get some money off a second use of water that, right now, is just being wasted," attorney Glenn Porzak said. The sale could involve up to 1,250 acre-feet... Historic water deal approved In a surprise vote Thursday evening, the board of the Imperial Irrigation District approved a monumental water deal for Southern California that sets the stage for the largest sale of farm water to cities in the nation's history. Meeting in a packed room in El Centro, the Imperial board voted 3-2 to approve a pact that, in various forms, has been tensely negotiated for eight years. The pact, known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), allows California to keep receiving surplus water from the Colorado River for the next 13 years. In exchange, California must gradually reduce its pumping from the Colorado -- mainly through a sale of Imperial water to San Diego that could net farmers $2 billion over 75 years...Supes vote to oppose wilderness legislation Amador County joined a growing list of nearby counties opposed to the controversial California Wild Heritage Act, voting against the bill in its current form at its meeting Tuesday morning. The vote ran counter to the wishes of nearly 300 petitioners from Amador County. The bill, which was reintroduced in August by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), would protect 2.5 million acres of California wilderness and would designate 22 California river segments as National Wild and Scenic Rivers... McInnis defends grazing on public lands U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., urged Congress to reject a plan in which Arizona ranchers want to be paid not to graze on federal land. Several Arizona ranchers, meanwhile, said McInnis understated their plight and should give the pilot project a chance. McInnis circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter in Congress that called the pending legislation "the first step toward eliminating grazing on public lands." McInnis wrote his letter anticipating the introduction of a bill by Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. The bill is expected to call for payments of $175 per animal-unit month to holders of existing grazing leases — bringing relief to drought-stung ranchers and, proponents say, a lighter burden on the national treasury. The bill was expected to be ready in the next week or so, officials from Grijalva's office said... Calling All Cows With growing international apprehension over health and bioterrorism threats—such as mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, and anthrax—being able to quickly track the source of an infectious outbreak in livestock could make the difference between containment and epidemic. Hoping to improve ways of catching disease in time to stop outbreaks, Andresen's team has been developing an electronic device that each cow could wear throughout its life. The equipment could track its location via global-positioning-system (GPS) satellites and monitor the animal's vital signs—all in an electronic form that can be relayed to a farm-based, regional, or even national computer center. The collected data could be used in detailed medical histories of individual animals or as part of a disaster response during a livestock-disease outbreak... Storied South Texas ranch set for birthday celebration Bigger than Rhode Island and swaggering enough to teach Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor how to act Texan, the King Ranch is considered the birthplace of American cattle ranching. Saturday, ranchers from around the world will gather at the South Texas ranch for a 150th birthday celebration, which includes the first live auction since 1988...Texas Bootmaker to the Stars, Leddy, Dies at 66 James Leddy, the renowned Texas bootmaker to the stars of country music and ranchers in the state's flatlands, died earlier this week at the age of 66, his family said on Friday. Leddy, named one of the top makers of cowboy boots in the state by magazine Texas Monthly, was known for turning out custom-made boots in his Abilene shop that boasted delicate inlay patterns, sharp pointed toes and a sturdy construction...Wolf Kill Has Idaho Ranchers Demanding Re-introduced Wolves Be Removed The aftermath of a wolf pack attack that occurred last month north of McCall near Burgdorf has left 55 sheep dead and more than dozen maimed. The attack, which has been confirmed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, has also galvanized groups opposed to the federal government's efforts to re-establish grey wolves in the state... Near trail's end His voice has grown gruff with age, and a pair of hearing aids peek out now from beneath the cowboy hat. But even at 93, Frank Bogert still sits tall in the saddle. "I can still ride and do whatever I feel like," the real-life cowboy and two-time mayor of Palm Springs said in his plain-spoken style. On Saturday, Bogert will once again rise before dawn and set off for Mexico, where he will lead 40 or so friends on a 10-day horse ride through Sierra Madre mountain towns west of Mexico City. It's a 37-year tradition started by Bogert and his longtime friend Ray Corliss. Bogert doesn't plan to ride off into the sunset anytime soon, but he says the end of the trail is near for the annual ride...
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