Tuesday, December 07, 2004

NOTE TO READERS

Blogger.com went down about 4am this morning, so the postings were incomplete. I will put the missed articles in tomorrow's edition.
NEWS ROUNDUP

Positive ID on bad bear It appears that a male black bear recently killed in the area was the one that had been rummaging for food, tipping garbage cans and spreading fear. Rancher Larry Cottrell shot the bear after it climbed into the bed of his truck. Since then, there have been no bear sightings. "I'm sure the bear Larry shot was the bear that was at our house," homeowner Solveig Fredstrup said....
Yellowstone's bison set record for population The number of bison in Yellowstone National Park is again at a historic high as another winter of control efforts and controversy approaches. The high numbers - biologists figure the population is around 4,200 - will likely help buffer the effect of sending some bison to slaughter because of a government plan to protect neighboring cattle from brucellosis. At the start of last winter, park officials estimated about 4,000 bison in Yellowstone. Nearly 300 were sent to slaughter last spring and nearly 600 calves have been born since....
Activists question efficacy of bison vaccination program The Montana Department of Livestock is proposing that some of the bison that leave Yellowstone National Park be vaccinated, a move intended to help reduce the potential spread of brucellosis. The plan has upset some activists, who question the vaccine's efficacy and view a vaccination program as a waste of money. The department prepared an environmental assessment that proposes vaccinating calves and yearlings that leave the park's western boundary and enter the state. Vaccination would take place ''opportunistically,'' the document says, as a part of bison management activities....
Tribes agree to amend Bison Range management plan The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have agreed to make changes in a proposed agreement to share management of the National Bison Rage with the federal government, hoping to address some of the fears of opponents. The changes include stronger language prohibiting the tribe from lobbying Congress for more money to expand their share of Bison Range management. The changes would also require consultation with the Bison Range manager -- a Fish and Wildlife Service employee -- regarding any waivers of regulations, and they make it clear tribal employees hired at the Bison Range will have sufficient training, education and experience....
Workers' Group Says EPA Censors Comments The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency censored warnings that a Bush administration plan to build roads in national forests could harm drinking water, a group representing government workers said on Monday. The problem arose after the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asked for comments on building roads in pristine national forests. An EPA staffer wrote that building roads through swaths of land previously untouched would deteriorate the qualify of water in streams and have an impact on public drinking water. Ruch said that EPA employees related that Steven Shimborg, a political appointee at the EPA, dismissed the staff draft as a "rant" and ordered the objections stricken from the EPA comments....
USFS staff cutbacks are ahead About 20 Stanislaus National Forest employees may lose their jobs, relocate to New Mexico or move to a different department of the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service will reduce its budget and finance and human resources staffs and move the remaining employees to an office in Albuquerque, N.M., said Ron Hooper, staff assistant for the agency's Washington D.C. office. "Why are these centralization efforts so important to the organization? One simple reason is the budget," Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said at a meeting in October. Hooper said moving human resource employees to one office will save the federal agency about $60 million a year....
Hitting a vein In an echo of nugget-chasers past, a new gold rush is under way on some Northern California rivers — one that's generating a wealth of controversy. Wildlife proponents say the mining endangers salmon in the rivers, prompting a lawsuit by a local tribe of Native Americans and questions about whether the waterways can support both fish and miners. At the center of the debate is a gold-ferreting technique far removed from the quaint days of panning. Suction-dredge mining makes it possible for prospectors to scour large and remote stretches of river. Gold hunters use a roaring engine mounted on pontoons to suck gravel and sediment from river bottoms into a sluice box where the ore settles....
Did ecoterrorists torch pricey houses? More than a dozen expensive homes under construction were burned down early Monday in a suburban Washington development that had been criticized by environmentalists because it is next to a nature preserve, officials said. An FBI agent said the fires may have been set by environmental extremists. A dozen homes were destroyed and 29 others damaged near the state's Mattawoman Natural Environment Area. No injuries were reported. The damage was estimated at at least $10 million....
Court: Interior Department systems can go back online An appeals court has reversed a March 15 U.S. District Court decision under which the U.S. Department of the Interior was forced to disconnect a substantial number of its computer systems from the Internet. In an opinion published Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the earlier decision, saying that the District Court erred in disregarding Interior Department security certifications and in failing to hold a hearing that would have given the department a chance to argue that its computers were secure....
State Fears Ruling's Effect on Environmental Water Policy State officials are urging the Bush administration to fight a court ruling that would force the federal government to pay Central Valley farmers $26 million for water diverted to environmental protections — opening the door to a wave of similar claims. Although the core of the ruling came down nearly a year ago, Bush administration officials have yet to signal whether they will appeal the case. They say a settlement is possible. If the administration lets the decision stand, state officials warn, it could create a precedent that would make it prohibitively expensive to enforce water quality rules and fish protections....
Water Rights Case Threatens Species Protection The Bush administration is close to settling a legal dispute with California farmers that could cost the government millions and make it more difficult for federal authorities to protect endangered species, according to legal analysts and some state and federal officials. Justice Department officials are working to reach an agreement with five San Joaquin Valley water districts that would affirm a federal judge's 2001 decision that federal authorities' efforts to conserve water for two imperiled kinds of local fish violated farmers' private property rights. The ruling, the first of its kind, would set an important precedent and could make it costly for federal officials to take protective actions under the Endangered Species Act. The negotiations have touched off a controversy both within the administration and in California, with some state and federal officials arguing the government would be better off appealing a federal claims judge's decision that the government owes as much as $26 million for depriving San Joaquin farmers of their water rights in the early 1990s....
Cloud-seeding plan draws concerns There appeared to be little support for a proposed $8.825 million state-funded weather modification program at a hearing of the Wyoming Water Development Commission here Monday. The proposed program would involve seeding clouds in the vicinity of the Medicine Bow/Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges as well as in the Wind River Mountains to test whether such seeding would increase snowpack in the mountains -- and therefore create additional water for the state....
State Laws Take Back Seat to Trade California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine thought he had found an eco-friendly way to help the state dispose of millions of scrap tires: use recycled U.S. tires in asphalt for road construction. The Van Nuys Democrat hadn't counted on Canadian and Mexican rubber exporters crying foul. And though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported Levine's idea, he vetoed the assemblyman's bill in September, saying it would violate international trade pacts and invite retaliation against California goods. Nobody in Sacramento was very happy with the outcome....
It's All Trew: Deere was a man farmers could really dig In 1838, a village blacksmith named John Deere created a plow from a worn saw blade. Amazingly, the new design blade sheared the soil cleanly and the moldboard laid the new soil aside in long, neat ribbons. It was a great improvement over previous plows where soil clung to the blades. By 1848, thousands of Deere's plows were being sold each year. This simple, horse-drawn device consisted of a hooked beam, a plow/moldboard blade and two wooden handles. Called a walking plow or stubble plow, the name was derived from the fact the operator walked behind to steady and guide the work. Though the furrow left behind was small and narrow it had a great impact on the history of the West....

Monday, December 06, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

Western governors focus on wildlife A majority of Western governors gathered in San Diego yesterday said they favor significant revisions in the federal Endangered Species Act, one of the nation's landmark environmental laws. Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and others said the 31-year-old law often robs Westerners of their property rights and imposes broad rules after little consultation. "We want to recover the species," said Owens, a Republican. But, he added, "let's not use the species act as a way to try to manage public and private properties."....
Interior Official and Federal Biologists Clash on Danger to Bird The scientific opinions of a Bush administration appointee at the Interior Department with no background in wildlife biology were provided as part of the source material for the panel of Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and managers who recommended against giving the greater sage grouse protection under the endangered species act. The appointee, Julie MacDonald, a senior policymaker, criticized studies showing widespread loss of grouse territory and sporadic declines in grouse populations....
Encroaching homes silence Reacting to complaints from the Oxenfords and other neighbors, including former Gov. Roy Romer, Pike National Forest officials are preparing to close the area, known as Slaughterhouse Gulch, to recreational shooting. Whether a shooting range is an informal one such as Slaughterhouse Gulch or commercial, it runs into trouble when people begin building houses nearby....
Fur flies over Wolf Creek project The proposed village at Wolf Creek isn't going to happen without a fight, if recent events are an indication. An environmental group last week sued tiny Mineral County, population 800, for approving the development, which could bring jobs and millions of dollars annually to the depressed county. The same group has sued the U.S. Forest Service for giving the developer seasonal access to the village site. The owners of the Wolf Creek ski area, which lies adjacent to the proposed village, are suing the developers. And the developers are countersuing the resort owners in a convoluted contractual dispute....
Movement's roots go back a decade Fat cows, healthy ecosystems and intact rural communities are the goal of the Heart Mountain grass bank, according to grass bank project director Maria Sonett. The philosophy of the grass bank sprouted a decade ago with the Malpai Borderlands Group, a rancher-led nonprofit organization located in the boot heel of New Mexico and Arizona. The group formed in response to public lands grazing policy, loss and subdivision of private ranchland and frustration with mismanagement of land by federal and state agencies. Now the first grass banks are closing, having accomplished their goals, while new ones are forming in places such as Oregon and Nebraska....
Ranchers push 'corner jumping' bill Lawmakers jumped right over a proposed bill that would ban "corner jumping" in Wyoming. Without a vote, a joint interim legislative committee last week decided not to pursue an agriculture industry-sponsored draft bill that would restore the Wyoming Game and Fish Department authority's to cite hunters for the practice, also known as "corner cutting." Corner jumping describes the practice of stepping over the corner created where four sections of land meet in order to reach a cater-corner parcel of public land. Earlier this year, Game and Fish wardens quit citing hunters for corner jumping after an opinion from the state attorney general....
Alaska case goes to high court The U.S. Supreme Court next month will hear arguments on whether the federal government should give the state ownership of submerged lands in Glacier Bay and other spots in Southeast Alaska. The case began when Alaska commercial fishermen were angered by the National Park Service's decision in 1998 to phase out fishing in Glacier Bay. The state sued, saying that Congress never intended to include the bay itself when it created a national monument there in 1925. State attorneys are also asking the court to resolve a 34-year-old state-federal boundary dispute over the rest of Southeast Alaska's inland waters....
PERC gives Bush a C+ grade The Bush administration is doing only a middling job of implementing free market approaches to environmental issues, according to a Bozeman think tank. PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, has given the administration a C+ for its first term. The grade is a slight improvement from the C- the administration earned from PERC after its first two years. PERC advocates free market environmentalism, which it defines, in part, as "adherence to respect for property rights, market trading and decentralization."....
Column: Death of the environmental movement? Environmentalism is a dead movement walking. So goes the theme of a controversial essay circulating among environmentalists and their funding organizations. Entitled "The Death of Environmentalism," the epistle was produced by longtime environmental activist Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute in El Cerrito and Ted Nordhaus, vice president of Evans/McDonough, an opinion research firm. Its content was based on interviews with more than 25 of the environmental community's top leaders and thinkers. On Dec. 8, former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach will take up the cause, in a speech, also titled "The Death of Environmentalism," to be presented at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Several National Public Radio affiliates plan to broadcast the speech a few days later. In it, Werbach will argue that the modern environmentalism must die in order for a new movement to be born....
Column: Tough row to hoe The United States made $17 billion in direct government payments to farmers and ranchers in 2003 — amounting to 32 percent of net farm income. On top of this were additional billions in indirect assistance, delivered via subsidized loans and insurance, loan guarantees and tax breaks. If the farm lobby's argument that such largess is necessary to preserve the family farm ever applied, it doesn't now. According to the Agriculture Department, about 40 percent of all farms receive government payments of one kind or another. The bulk of these payments, however, go to larger farms. In fact, while just 7 percent of all U.S. farms have sales of $250,000 or more, this 7 percent receive almost half of all government payments....
Deep in his heart, still a cowboy As a boy, Dan Taylor had doggedly perfected his roping skills on the family's ranch near Brady. After his school classes and practice for the track team, he would go home and practice roping 20 calves every day, chasing them down, one by one, as the sun slowly slipped into the flat horizon, like an orange penny into a bank. Roping took him to the bright lights of New York City 14 times. One of those times, he made headlines when a bucking bull broke out of Madison Square Garden and was running wild through the streets, going the wrong way down one-way streets. Panicked officials turned to Mr. Taylor, who went in hot pursuit on his horse. "Roped it right there on Broadway just before 42nd Street," he says with a twinkle in his blue eyes....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Keeping it clean is exception, not rule If one can get enteritis from eating with dirty hands and lung cancer from breathing dirty air, can one get potty ear from listening to dirty words? And does one get potty mouth from cussing? I think that it is an appropriate name for the malady of those who insist on using profane language when it is inappropriate and offensive. Recently I was in the company of a young professional man. He was handsome and dapper. Two women he knew came up and he introduced us. He did most of the talking and continued to spice up his discourse with cuss words ... all of 'em....

Sunday, December 05, 2004

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Pasture Bullies—who needs them?

By Julie Carter

It is in the news everywhere. Playground bullying is becoming a problem in schools across the nation. Magazine articles and books are being written about its affect and how to diffuse it.

Bullies pick on someone else as a way to get power, to get their way, or to feel important. Bullies hit, kick, or push to hurt people, and they sometimes do things to scare them. Some bullies threaten others or try to make them do things they don't want to do.

All the above clearly describes what happens in the pasture. The bovine version of the bully, generally just called a bull, is undoubtedly the single most aggravating facet of the cattle business. The cow-calf business is really the cow-calf and bull business.

It is a scientific fact that on some level, you have to have bulls. Even cattle operations that totally use artificial insemination for producing a calf crop still have to rely on someone, somewhere to have bulls.

To an outsider, they are indeed magnificent specimens of the breed. To the cowman, they are a necessary pain in the operation. The huge lumbering animals have one function and one only. When it is time for them to go to work in the spring, they trot off to the herd like love is in the air.

When the summers heat up, you can reliably find them shaded up under a cedar tree. They are usually in groups of two or three and presumably discussing their conquests of previous months. They spend their days wandering to and from the shade to the water hole.

Come fall and winter when they are thinner, sore-footed and depleted of energy, or so they’d have you believe, they hang out close to the feeding grounds. They bellow, dig holes in the ground to waller in, and pick fights with the younger bulls.

By this time they are usually in a pasture by themselves, separated from the cows, and the locker room mentality runs deep. The ‘jock” of the group will fight with anything that looks wrong at him, walks in his “territory” and often for no other reason except he looks like he needs a whippin’. Others will join the fight just because.

All this is well and good if you as a human don’t have to do anything with this testosterone laden herd other than drive by daily and drop some feed to them. Attempts to move them anywhere makes one seriously question the necessity of the critter.

After they refuse to drive except with constant hollering and pushing every single step of the way for the miles you have to go, after the three you are driving to the herd refuse to stay together and you wear your horse out going back and forth- back and forth, and after the big bully bull runs off the young sore-footed bull the seventeenth time, you start using threatening curses like “McDonalds” or “Oscar Mayer!”

Many a cowman has given serious thought to an operation without bulls. Their main option is to get rid of the mama cows and become a “yearlin’” man with the seasonal intake of 45 day weaned calves.

But sometime before Christmas he’ll get a big box of fruit, a nice jacket, or a new stock sorting stick from his “bull man.” And sure enough, he’ll buy a few more new bulls and be back in the bull, cow and calf business before he ever got out of it.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net

© Julie Carter 2004


Please feel free to submit a piece for posting. A story, a commentary on a current issue, or whatever is your pleasure. Just email me and I will consider using your item for this Saturday feature.
OPINION/COMMENTARY

UTAH TRAIL USERS URGE STRIKING OF ILLEGAL ROAD CLOSURE

The closure of a recreational road by the National Park Service (NPS) violates the will of Congress that the road be kept open to the public; therefore, that closure must be stricken, several recreational groups argued in a brief filed today in Utah federal district court. The groups urged the court to invalidate the NPS’s decision to close the Salt Creek Road in Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. The groups’ brief in support of their counterclaim is only the latest legal action after years of litigation involving the Salt Creek Road, which accesses Angel Arch. “Ever since the National Park Service suffered a stinging rebuke at the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2000 for illegally closing the road and for reversing its position on appeal, the Park Service and its lawyers have stonewalled so they need not comply with that ruling,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents the recreational groups seeking to keep the Road open. “At long last they ran out of time and were forced to prepare a record and issue a ruling. Sad to say, instead of conducting an impartial review of the facts, they jerry-rigged a record in an attempt to support the decision that had been reached in the Clinton Administration, that is, to close the road and ban the public.”....
OPINION/COMMENTARY

ALF Militants Attack California McDonald's

On this date in 1982, a letter bomb addressed to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher exploded in her residence at Number 10 Downing Street. It was one of five explosive packages sent by a previously unknown group calling itself the Animal Rights Militia (ARM). With twenty-two years of hindsight, most observers now understand that ARM is a particularly nasty "arm" of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which still busies itself terrorizing farmers, restaurant operators, laboratory scientists, and others who fail to embrace animals' "rights" as a life philosophy. And last week the ALF continued its violent campaign by hitting two Los Angeles McDonald's....
OPINION/COMMENTARY

SAVE THE VERMIN!

Almost half of the nation’s poor live in vermin-infested housing, yet New York City’s attorney general, along with five other state attorneys, are suing the federal government for using pesticides in public housing units.

The AGs claim they want to promote "integrated pest management," which just means using a variety of means to control pests -- including pesticide use. But these taxpayer-funded "consumer advocates" seem more interested in their own irrational quest to eliminate chemicals, say observers.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, vermin pose major problems for public health:

---Asthma affects about 6 million children nationwide, and cockroach-related asthma and allergies disproportionately affect poor, minority children living in the inner city.
---Rats, which can carry over 70 different diseases, frequently bite the hands and faces of children under the age of 5 while they’re sleeping.
---A Los Angeles hospital reported that African-Americans and Hispanics accounted for all rat bites treated by the hospital during a three-year period, says Dr. Pamela Nagami.

Furthermore, the National Organization of African-Americans in Housing (NOAHH) reports that household pests are one of the top three problems affecting minority and low-income residents in inner cities, and that the use of pesticides poses a small risk compared to the greater risk of vermin-related health problems.

The lawsuit, supported by green activists and taxpayer funded “consumer advocates,” could give a victory to rats, mice and cockroaches, but create further health problems for the public housing residents.

Source: Angela Logomasini, “A Green Push to Keep Projects Safe for Vermin,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, October 5, 2004.

For text http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,04248.cfm
OPINION/COMMENTARY

Oil Obsession

If you think gas prices are through the roof now, beware the advent of the Chinese family car. No kidding: Growing prosperity will produce literally hundreds of millions of middle-class, energy-hungry (car-driving) Chinese over the next 20 years — launching gas prices into outer space. China's energy use is already growing by leaps and bounds. It now ranks No. 2 in world energy consumption (behind the United States, ahead of Japan), and is a major cause of rising energy prices. Beijing's growing needs will have significant ramifications on everything from international security to global pollution. As major powers scramble to secure limited world energy resources, conflict is certain — and armed conflict isn't out of the question....

Saturday, December 04, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

Governors Seek Easing of Endangered Species Act Western governors gathered here Friday to plan with the Bush administration and members of Congress how to change the Endangered Species Act, the 31-year-old law they say has imposed costly hardships on the energy industry, developers, loggers and property owners. Battle lines over the Endangered Species Act appear to be forming around two issues. One is critical habitat, the protected area thought to be key to a species' survival and recovery. The other is at what point a small, distinct population of a species warrants listing for federal protection if the larger population elsewhere appears to be healthy....
Environmentalists lose on spending bill From an Alaska land swap to tours of a Georgia barrier island, business interests bested environmentalists in battles that shaped Congress' $388 billion spending bill. The legislation wasn't totally one-sided as it boosted expenditures for operating national parks and continued bans on oil drilling in national monuments and many offshore areas. Lawmakers also omitted business-sought provisions to help a huge Oregon logging project and to ease standards for some pesticide use....
Measure 37 takes effect, offers look into future The first clues to the future of Oregon's landscape under Measure 37 arrived at government offices Thursday in the form of appraisals, maps and land-use horror stories. Cities and counties reported only a trickle of claims on opening day for the voter-approved measure, which requires governments to waive planning rules that hurt a landowner's market value or pay for the financial blow. Most applications Thursday cited common gripes, such as regulations that stop people from splitting rural land or building houses on it. But several inquiries foreshadowed more dramatic requests looming in the weeks ahead....
New Law Extends Fees for Federal Land Use Fees for activities like picnicking, hiking and canoeing in national forests and other public lands that were due to expire will remain for at least another 10 years. The provision was included in a giant spending bill approved by Congress last month, angering advocacy groups for outdoor enthusiasts and lawmakers from the West, the area most affected. The fees, typically $5, are imposed for use of marked trails in wilderness areas, parking at scenic turnouts or access to federal recreation areas. Fees also are charged to enter national parks, or such activities as boat launches and using camp sites. The fees generate about $170 million a year for the Forest Service and the Interior Department, which use the money to maintain restrooms, collect trash and provide other amenities....
Farm Bureau Files Brief to Protect Landowner Rights Working to protect the rights of America’s farm and ranch landowners, the American Farm Bureau Federation today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a property case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, Kelo v. City of New London, is an appeal by a homeowner in New London, Conn., of a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling. Also joining the brief were 18 state Farm Bureaus. The Farm Bureau brief contends that the state supreme court is incorrectly allowing the city to use eminent domain authority to take private property for the purpose of turning the property over to business developers constructing businesses generating higher taxes....
Arizona may deal water to Nevada Water-starved Nevada could take as much as 1.25 million acre-feet of Arizona's Colorado River allocation under a deal endorsed Thursday by the Central Arizona Project board. Arizona would guarantee the water to Nevada in return for $330 million and a pledge of political support for efforts to restore top-priority status to the Colorado River water that flows to Phoenix and Tucson through the CAP Canal. That support is worth more than the money to Arizona, which is trying to persuade California and the other Colorado River states to rewrite an old deal that left the CAP supply vulnerable to water shortages on the river. Without those changes, the CAP could lose much of its flow before other states had to cut back....
Editorial: Idaho needs to enforce limits on domestic wells The state doesn't even know how many people use domestic water wells — much less abuse them. Cracking down on renegade water users wouldn't be easy, and it probably wouldn't be cheap. But a group of Treasure Valley lawmakers raises a fair point: In the midst of a statewide water crisis, Idaho isn't doing much to enforce limits on domestic water wells. As the 2005 Legislature looks to avert a devastating water battle in southern Idaho, lawmakers also need to get hard numbers about what it would cost to go after domestic water violations, and what the benefits would be....
Area rancher took control of horses J. E. “Big” Johnson, who stood 6-foot-4, weighed 221 pounds, was a man of great physical strength. Legends of his feats are still remembered. Many of his old cowboy friends tell how he was able to hold and throw those “mean little ponies” with only his bare hands. One of the meanest horses Johnson came across at the Horseshoe Ranch was a horse named “Man Eater.” He’d fight a man, run over him, run him out of the corral, and everyone was afraid of him but Johnson. The first cowboy on “Man Eater” was told to ride a little hell out of his system.....

Friday, December 03, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

U.S. Panel Recommends No Protection for Grouse Amid an intense lobbying effort by energy and ranching interests in the West, a team of Interior Department biologists has recommended that the sage grouse, a bird whose sagebrush territory has been vastly reduced by farming and development, is not threatened with extinction and does not for the moment need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Craig Manson, the assistant Interior secretary in charge of the Fish and Wildlife Service, gave word of the recommendation on Thursday to Representative Richard W. Pombo of California, the chairman of the House Committee on Resources and a fierce critic of the Endangered Species Act, Mr. Pombo's press secretary, Brian Kennedy, said. Steve Williams, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, must make the final decision about whether to put the bird on the endangered list by Dec. 29....
Lawmakers scrutinize wildlife plan Gov. Dave Freudenthal's proposal to create a wildlife trust fund with an initial $75 million endowment was left largely intact by a legislative committee this week. However, members of the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee did not decide whether to sponsor the "Wildlife and Natural Resource Funding Act" as a bill in the 2005 legislative session. The bill would establish a permanent account, and only the earnings from the investment of the corpus could be spent on wildlife and habitat-related projects. Funding for projects would be dispersed through a grant process....
Suit fights roads in bear country Environmental groups on Thursday sued the federal government over decisions allowing roads to be maintained in grizzly bear habitat in Western Montana and portions of Idaho and Washington. The groups say the estimated 40 or so grizzly bears in the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak mountains are already struggling to survive and that the existing road network contributes to poaching and mistaken killing of grizzlies, which have been under federal protection since 1975. The lawsuit challenges decisions by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2001 and 2004. The decisions, according to the lawsuit, would allow more than 20,000 miles of roads to be maintained in the Kootenai, Lolo, Idaho Panhandle and Colville national forests....
Feds agree to consider Endangered Species Act protection for lamprey The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to review whether four species of lamprey found on the West Coast should be protected by the Endangered Species Act. Under the settlement of a lawsuit filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Portland, the agency agreed to make an initial decision by Dec. 20 on whether a yearlong review should be done on the status of Pacific lamprey, river lamprey, western brook lamprey and kern brook lamprey. "Lamprey have declined dramatically and need the safety net of the Endangered Species Act to survive," said Joseph Vaile of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center....
Study says costs for endangered shrew to run into hundreds of thousands The federal government estimates it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set aside land for an endangered shrew that makes it home in Kern County. A study by the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service says managing land as critical habitat for the Buena Vista Lake shrew will cost somewhere between a little less than 500-hundred thousand dollars to nearly one (m) million dollars. The study also says local government and landowners will have to pay a portion of that cost -- estimated to be about 50-thousand dollars a year....
Governors may push to alter U.S. law Emboldened by their strong showing at the polls, conservatives are mounting an effort to change a federal law that has annoyed them for more than 30 years: the Endangered Species Act. Key players in the coming congressional battle will gather in San Diego today for a two-day conference sponsored by the Western Governors' Association to rehearse their rhetoric, assess one another's weaknesses and recruit allies. The association includes 18 governors – 12 Republicans and six Democrats. The big game trophy either side would love to hang on their wall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, will make an appearance. The governor, who has yet to state his position on the landmark federal law enacted in 1973, isn't ready to bestow his formidable endorsement either way....
N.J. Supreme Court calls off bear hunt The state Supreme Court yesterday called a halt to New Jersey's black bear hunt next week, saying the state lacks a comprehensive policy to determine whether a hunt is needed to control the bear population. The court ordered that the hunt be called off until such a policy is adopted by the state Fish and Game Council and approved by state Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell. The decision puts to rest a dispute between Campbell and the council, which approved the seven-day hunt over Campbell's objections....
Native American Small Businesses Can Benefit from Healthy Forests Intiative A full year has passed since the Healthy Forests Initiative was signed into law, and now Native American small businesses have the opportunity to help protect people, communities and the environment. According to a press release from the SBA, nearly 50 percent of all forest fire fighters in the U.S. are Native American. Participation in forest restoration contracts would provide those firefighters with year-round employment through planned burns, forest thinning and restoration projects....
Changes in Bison Range Deal--Signing Delayed The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) are proposing changes to their agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior to turn half of the National Bison Range Wildlife Refuge in Montana over to the tribe, according to a memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The changes are intended to quell concerns that have been raised by employees, conservationists and neighbors of the refuge. A signing ceremony for the agreement, reportedly slated for this week, has been postponed a second time to work out even more amendments to the deal....
Locals lash Tallgrass park Many local residents don't expect much from a new group of Kansans out to rescue the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. In fact, they're just plain tired of the whole thing. Since it opened eight years ago in the heart of the Flint Hills, the preserve has not been a good neighbor, they said. Some call it a symbol of economic failure. Initial expectations that a boom would result from hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting the former Z Bar Ranch never happened. Some blame the park for driving away at least one wind-energy farm that would have brought the county money, although state officials said wind energy was part of a much larger issue....
BLM may retreat from oil, gas leasing plans The next federal oil and gas lease auction in Utah will offer more than 112,000 acres of land for drilling, including parcels within a stone's throw of Hovenweep National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border. Archeologists, conservation groups and a former park ranger are protesting, and the Bureau of Land Management said Thursday it may revise the list of parcels that go up for lease next week. The monument protects five prehistoric villages of multistory towers across 20 miles of mesa tops and canyons....
Burns defends provision allowing BLM to sell wild horses An amendment to the federal spending bill that would allow the Bureau of Land Management to sell wild horses and burros won't mean a wholesale slaughter of the herds, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said Thursday. He said he believes that most horses would end up with private owners, not at slaughterhouses. A story on CBS News Wednesday night ignited a firestorm of protest from animal rights activists and horse lovers around the country who say the amendment will doom thousands of animals....
Grass Bank urges ranchers to apply The Heart Mountain Ranch grass bank - operated by The Nature Conservancy - is encouraging conservation-minded cattle owners to apply for the 2005 season. "We're interested in conservation benefits on private as well as public land," said grass bank project director Maria Sonett. She, along with Skip Eastman, run the Powell grass bank. One of five or so operating grass banks in the United States, Heart Mountain Ranch employs short-duration, high-intensity grazing in which cows eat off a pasture for four or five days, then move to another one. The 600-acre grass bank can feed as many as 3,024 animal units per month (AUM) this year, Sonett said. An animal unit is a cow/calf pair. For $15 per AUM, ranchers can participate in the grazing season that runs from mid-May to late September/early October....
US Says No Plans to Sign New Climate Change Pacts The United States, considered an environmental laggard by its critics, is unlikely to sign any new pacts on climate change at a key environmental meeting this month, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Signatories to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change will meet between Dec. 6-17 in Buenos Aires, where many environmentalists hope new far-reaching targets will be made....
Local Rancher Finds Four Cattle Shot at Close Range A local rancher found four of his cattle shot with a double ought buck. Three of the cows are dead and one is struggling to make it. The rancher doesn’t know who shot his cows, but he’s in the Eastern Idaho Grazer’s Association and they’re offering a $3,000 reward to find out. Gary Pratt and his son were trailing cows in the Wolverine area east of Blackfoot when they found some of their herd dead....
Jackson Hole herd headed for slaughter after brucellosis detection Some 550 cattle - a mix of Hereford and Angus Heifers, cows and bulls - are being shipped to slaughter after four of the animals tested positive for brucellosis. The slaughter process, which began Wednesday, ends an era in Jackson Hole ranching, wiping out the Porter family's registered cattle bloodline and casting doubt on the future of the 822-acre ranch, which has been the focus of numerous development plans. But the alternative for the families running the ranch was a year of extensive testing and quarantine. About 200 heifer calves, 6 to 7 months old, will be spared by being spayed and sold to a rancher in Sublette County. Once spayed, the calves do not pose a danger, according to Bret Combs, a veterinarian with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service....
Rodeo cowboy For a guy who helped raise such a rebel, Lon Timberman's boy turned out to be a fine young man. Six years ago, Kelly Timberman got on his first bareback bronc. Then he had to go home and tell dad what he'd done. Kelly's justification went something like this....
Brazile out to cap an already good year By most standards, Trevor Brazile had a pretty good rodeo year. The Decatur, Texas cowboy has already won $197,396 for 2004 and is well on his way to a third straight world all-around title. He is the only two-event qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo and carries a healthy $59,366 lead over Blair Burk, of Durant, Okla., in the all-around race. Brazile is also eighth in the world tie-down roping standings and 15th among team roping headers. He will rope with Wayne Folmer, of Justin, Texas....

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Transcript: Bush Selects Johanns for Agriculture Secretary

BUSH: Thank you all. Good morning.

I am pleased to announce my nomination of Governor Mike Johanns to be the secretary of agriculture.

JOHANNS: Thank you, Mr. President.

BUSH: Governor Johanns is an experienced public servant from America's agricultural heartland. As the son of Iowa dairy farmers he grew up close to the land. He will bring to this position a lifetime of involvement in agriculture and a long record of a faithful friend to America's farmers and ranchers.

He will lead an important agency with the executive skill he has learned as mayor and as a two-term governor of Nebraska.

I've known Mike for a number of years going back to my own service as a governor. I know firsthand his deep commitment to a strong farm economy. He's been a leader on drought relief in Nebraska and throughout the Midwest. He's a strong proponent of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol and biodiesel. He's traveled the world to promote American farm exports.

Governor Johanns is a man of action and of complete integrity. He knows how to bring people together to achieve results. He has been a superb leader for the people of Nebraska. And I'm grateful that he's agreed to take on this important new responsibility in my Cabinet....
NEWS ROUNDUP

Supervisor in Fatal Wildfire on Probation A former wildfire crew supervisor blamed for the deaths of two Idaho firefighters last year has been placed on 18 months probation in a plea deal. Alan Hackett, who was fired by the Salmon-Challis National Forest last month, was accused of providing improper supervision and safety to firefighters Jeff Allen, 24, and Shane Heath, 22, who died in a July 2003 wildfire. Allen and Heath were overrun by flames while trying to clear a helicopter landing spot. They twice radioed for help, but it was too smoky to find them when a helicopter was finally sent....
Column: The disappearance of private land The federal government currently owns 671.8 million acres in the United States while adding more acres daily. 57 percent is used for forest and wildlife, 21 percent for grazing, 14 percent for parks and historic sites and 8 percent is listed as remaining uses. Land trusts and groups such as The Nature Conservancy are gobbling up private land at an alarming rate. They are also buying conservation easements which is worse than buying the property outright. Gretchen Randall of Winningreen LLC reports the federal government owns about a third of all land in the U.S., most of it in the western states. States with the largest percentage of federal land ownership as of 9/30/03 are: Nevada 91.9%, Wyoming 50.6%, Alaska 66.7%, Arizona 50.2%, Utah 66.5%, Oregon 49.7%, Idaho 66.4%, California 46.9%....
Circuit court strikes down road hunting law A circuit judge in the heart of pheasant country has fired a round of legal buckshot at a law passed by the 2003 state Legislature giving hunters the right to shoot from public roads at game birds flying over private land. Circuit Judge Kathleen Trandahl of Winner ruled that the law, supported by sportsmen's groups across the state, is an unconstitutional violation of private property rights — in essence, taking without just compensation. But Trandahl's decision, which is almost certain to be appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court by state Attorney General Larry Long, won't affect road hunting practices immediately....
White House Poised to Increase Pacific Northwest Logging Environmentalists are bracing for stepped-up efforts by a re-elected Bush administration to dramatically increase logging of old-growth trees and other forestlands in the Pacific Northwest over the next four years. "It's going to be harder and harder for us to get the message out that these forests are important…for many reasons, but we're going to work harder than ever," said Susan Ash of the Audubon Society of Portland. Local advocacy groups are marshalling legal, political and activist resources to prevent logging on still-pristine federal lands in the region, but they face an uphill battle....
Column: Wise Guys In 1988, the Wise Use movement was founded out of fear that George Bush Sr. was going to live up to his campaign pledge to be "the environmental president." This cabal of anti-environmental activists, organized by federally subsidized industries dependent on public lands, issued a natal document, the Wise Use Agenda. It called for, among other things: drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, logging Alaska's Tongass National Forest, opening wilderness to energy development, gutting the Endangered Species Act, and privatizing national parks. Today, the reactionary Wise Use Agenda has become the environmental policy of the administration of George Bush Jr....
For Wildlife With Wanderlust, Their Own Highway A corridor of the wild through the high country of North America - Yellowstone to Yukon - has long been a dream of environmentalists and biologists like Mr. Neudecker, who say that grizzly bears, elk, wolves and other four-legged commuters need help in looking for mates or new habitats. The great national parks of the West, they say, are becoming genetically isolated islands, cut off by development, urbanization and their ever-present iconic symbol, the barbed-wire fence. But in places like this, on a patchwork of public and private lands, and through a tangle of human motivations that often have little to do with saving the planet, the wild road north along the spine of the northern Rockies is becoming reality....
Column: Are wolves good or bad? It doesn't matter A wolf is going to be a wolf. Living with wolves is going to cause problems for people. Back in 1995, when wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park, there was simply too much ignorance among bring-back-the-wolf-backers who looked at the 2.2 million acres of the park and thought it was a big place. The park would offer plenty of landscape to absorb a wolf population, they figured. Add in the national forest ground around the park and they figured there was plenty of room for any wolf overflow as well. And hey, look at all those elk and deer and bison that the wolves have to eat in Yellowstone — why would they ever want to leave?....
Advocacy group announces lawsuit over California missions bill An advocacy group announced a lawsuit Wednesday over legislation to restore California's aging Spanish missions, arguing that the law violates the principle of separation of church and state. Americans United for Separation of Church and State said it would file suit against Interior Secretary Gale Norton on behalf of four California residents. Norton's department would distribute $10 million in federal funding under the law, which President Bush signed on Tuesday....
BLM seizes cattle in Blaine County The federal Bureau of Land Management has impounded nine head of cattle it said were grazing on public land in southern Blaine County without a permit. Craig Flentie, spokesman in the BLM Lewistown office, said the bureau believes the cattle belong to Harry and Carolyn Liddle, who ranch in Blaine County. "There's little doubt, but we want to confirm that," he said today....
Wild horse bill pleases cattlemen Congressional action allowing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to sell older wild horses is good news for ranchers, Nevada Cattlemen's Association President Preston Wright of Deeth said Monday. A measure tucked into an appropriations bill Congress passed earlier this month permits BLM to sell wild horses more than 10 years old or horses that no one wants to adopt. "This will allow BLM to sell a backlog of older horses, which should allow them to go ahead with gathers," said Wright....
Bush signs largest lot of Nevada wilderness President Bush has signed into law a measure conservationists say is the single largest designation of federally protected wilderness in Nevada history — a total of about 1,200 square miles north and east of Las Vegas. The new law creates 14 new wilderness areas protecting wildlife habitat, rugged mountain peaks, limestone cliffs, fragile caves and archaeological resources across a total of 768,000 acres, an area about half the size of the state of Delaware. It directs the Bureau of Land Management to auction up to 90,000 acres of federal land in the rural county north of Las Vegas. It also establishes a utility corridor that would allow the Southern Nevada Water Authority to build a pipeline to tap into groundwater in eastern Nevada and draw as much as 200,000 acre-feet of water per year — enough for more than half a million households....
Federal catalyst of Western water policy resigns Bennett Raley, the passionate architect of federal water policy across the West and a central figure in bringing more water to the San Diego region, has joined the exodus from the Bush administration. While not a high-profile figure nationally, Raley wielded tremendous clout over one of California's most precious resources during shortages and skirmishes from the alfalfa fields of Imperial Valley to salmon-spawning stretches of the Trinity River. "He was a pit bull," said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which includes Las Vegas. "He may have had to put on his bully hat every so often, but I believe everything he did was to balance competing interests."....
State to buy land, water rights along Pecos River state judge’s dismissal of a protest filed with the state court by the Tracy-Eddy family of Carlsbad and the Hope Community Ditch clears the way for the state to implement the Pecos River Settlement. State Judge William Bonem dismissed the case Tuesday on the grounds that the objectors did not meet the minimum standards for going to trial. The trial was scheduled to begin in Roswell on Nov. 13. The dismissal of the challenges to the state’s plan to buy land and associated water rights along the Pecos River allows the state to forge ahead with its plan to buy land and associated water rights along the Pecos River to ensure water flows downstream to Texas....
Researchers Scurry To Study Wreckage A grand ghost of the Missouri River has emerged from her watery grave to give modern-day explorers a clue to her past. Researchers are taking advantage of the lowest Missouri River levels in about 30 years to learn more about a 19th century steamboat that sank more than 130 years ago near present-day Goat Island....
Top bareback horse to receive NFR honor One of the top bareback horses in PRCA history will be honored at this year's National Finals Rodeo. Khadafy Skoal, owned by the Powder River Rodeo Company in Wright, Wyo., is being retired after the NFR. The NFR begins Friday at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. The 21-year-old Khadafy Skoal was selected the PRCA bareback horse of the year in 1990, 1995 and 1996. He was also chosen the top bareback horse for the NFR in 1994, 1996 and 1999 and earned eight Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo and 13 Mountain States Circuit awards during its stellar career....

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

Men Arrested for Dumping Dirt in a Forest Two men have been arrested for dumping dirt in a national forest. The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department said the men, who have not been publicly identified, were arrested at a garage in Coeur d'Alene where the dirt had been removed and the base apparently prepared for paving. Deputy Robert Gomez said the U.S. Forest Service confirmed that it was illegal to dump anything, including dirt, on the federal land. Gomez said he asked the two men about dumping dirt in the national forest "and they went off on a tirade about Mother Earth."....
Helicopter skiing once again raises ire of environmentalists A new battle is brewing over helicopter skiing in the Wasatch Mountains. In the latest installment of what has become an almost regular skirmish, Save Our Canyons Executive Director Lisa Smith said this week that the organization will appeal the new five-year permit approved in October for Wasatch Powderbird Guides, charging that the Forest Service reneged on promises to monitor golden eagle nesting areas during the previous permit period (2000-04) and granted variances to land helicopters in known nesting zones. Save Our Canyons previously appealed the permit Wasatch Powderbirds was awarded in 1999, and has long opposed helicopter skiing in the canyons. The new permit takes effect in January....
Bush to dramatically reduce areas protected for salmon The Bush administration plans to reduce by more than 80 percent the miles of rivers and streams it designates as critical to the recovery of troubled Northwest runs of salmon and steelhead, and plans to cut such habitat protections at the region's military bases. The Bush administration plans to reduce by more than 80 percent the miles of rivers and streams it designates as critical to the recovery of troubled Northwest runs of salmon and steelhead, and plans to cut such habitat protections at the region's military bases. The administration also will study whether it should scale back similar protections on thousands of additional miles of streams protected under the Northwest Forest Plan, which imposed logging restrictions on federal land to help bring back spotted owls. In a new, narrower interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration yesterday said for the first time that it wants to safeguard as "critical" only those waterways currently occupied by salmon and steelhead — not areas that might be considered part of a fish's historic range....
Dam removal isn't an option under Bush's plan The Bush administration yesterday finalized a plan that seeks to protect Columbia River Basin salmon without resorting to removing any dams — even as a last-ditch option. The plan represents a controversial policy shift from the Clinton administration, which ruled four years ago that dams along the Columbia and Snake rivers jeopardized runs of salmon classified as threatened and endangered....
Pombo wants Schwarzenegger, other govs to help change Endangered Species Act The California rancher and congressman whose committee oversees environmental policy wants to enlist some home-state muscle in his campaign to rewrite the Endangered Species Act. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said he'll seek backing for his legislative efforts from Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Western state governors during a meeting this weekend of the Western Governors' Association....
Owens calls for reform of Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act is an unproductive act that should be reformed, Gov. Bill Owens said on Tuesday.
Signed into law 30 years ago by President Nixon, the measure was intended to conserve and recover threatened or endangered species in danger of becoming extinct. "More than 1,000 species have been listed under the act, but less than 1 percent has been successfully recovered (from extinction)," Owens told business executives at his Political Outlook 2005 briefing. "We have a better way of protecting endangered species than what the history of ESA has shown us in the past 30 years."....
Environmentalists fear next 4 years Environmentalists see some of their worst fears playing out as President Bush moves to cement a second-term agenda that includes getting more timber, oil and gas from public lands and relying on the market rather than regulation to curb pollution. Bush's top energy priority - opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling - is shaping up as an early test of GOP gains in Congress. "This is going to be a definitional battle, and we're ready," said Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters....
4 Wolves dead - Alaska issues aerial wolf gunning permits Four wolves were killed over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) issued new permits allowing the killing of wolves from airplanes in Alaska’s interior. The new permits were the first issued this season. One hundred forty-seven wolves were killed last year as the Alaska Board of Game resumed the practice of aerial killing, despite the fact Alaskans have twice voted to ban the practice (1996 and 2000) in statewide referenda. ADF&G wants at least 500 wolves killed this winter, while the Board of Game has targeted nearly 1,000 wolves through 7 approved aerial killing programs....
Column: Something to really grouse about One man's dream, they say, is another man's nightmare. But in the case of Craig Dremann, a retired "ecological restorationist," the dream of saving the habitat of the greater sage-grouse could become a horror story for land users in the 11 Western states where the bird lives and for Americans elsewhere who eat the food grown there or heat their homes with energy produced from the area's natural gas deposits. Dremann is a sincere, thoughtful advocate of environmental stewardship, who does not believe his vision for sagebrush country conflicts with the long-term interests of other users of this land. Yet, his potential success in using the Endangered Species Act (ESA) demonstrates there is something terribly wrong with this law....
Group wants sage grouse to be state bird Wyoming's official state bird will remain the Western meadowlark, at least for now. The Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim Committee decided Tuesday to not sponsor a bill that would designate the greater sage grouse as Wyoming's official state game bird and demote the Western meadowlark to the state's official songbird....
Study group recommends compromise on landowner control of hunters Western South Dakota landowners should get more control over who gets licenses to hunt deer on their land, a special study group recommended Tuesday. But the West River Issues Working Group remained deeply split on whether to limit game wardens' ability to enter private land to check whether hunters are following the law. The panel was appointed to study ways to improve relations between hunters and landowners, particularly in western South Dakota. It will present its recommendations to the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission at a Dec. 9 meeting in Pierre....
Coyotes making home in city park Coyotes have ventured into a new territory — the wooded hills of the District's Rock Creek Park. Several of the wolf-like canines have been spotted in the park in the past few months. Adrian Coleman, superintendent for the park, said a few park visitors had reported seeing the animals, but their presence in the area was not confirmed until a park official saw a coyote in mid-September. Coyotes slowly have migrated to the eastern United States in the past century, but this fall's sightings are the first to be documented in the District....
Mountain lions on the prowl once again Mountain lions aren't supposed to exist in the wild within 1,000 miles of here. These ferocious predators — also called cougars, panthers, pumas, catamounts and other names — were hunted into extinction in most Eastern and Midwestern states during the 1800s and early 1900s. The animal's only known habitat since about 1900 has been Western states and southwest Florida, where 50 to 100 panthers survive. But the mountain lion is moving east again, expanding its territory for the first time in a century. More than two-dozen mountain lions have been killed or photographed outside the animal's normal range since 2000....
Park Service denies church expansion The exterior of Grace Episcopal Church, which has endured two wars and the fire of 1814, has survived again. The National Park Service rejected the church's application to build an addition to make room for a growing congregation. The park service ruled that such an addition would violate an agreement signed by Grace parishioners in 1958, in which the church gave the service veto power over physical changes to the building....
Private fence at Hatteras must go, park service says When Hurricane Isabel wiped out dunes that protected an upscale subdivision from the ocean, the property owners paid thousands of dollars to have the dune rebuilt and sprigged with sea grass. Then they built a sand fence parallel to the shore. With winter winds blowing sand laterally on the beach, the Hatteras By the Sea homeowners association thought it would make sense to construct another $2,000 sand fence this fall and catch the material to reinforce their berm, just like at the new dune north of the village. But the National Park Service said the angled fence, located seaward of the dune, is not permitted on its beach and wants it removed....
Government to spend $100 million acquiring mountain land President Bush has signed into law a plan to spend $10 million a year for 10 years buying land in the Highlands, a swath of the Appalachian Mountains through New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania that includes southern Dutchess County. Another $1 million per year would fund Forest Service activities in the region....
Environmental Comic Strip 'Rustle the Leaf' Uses Humor to Change Attitudes, Behavior The Earth has a new ally in the struggle to communicate environmental messages and educational content. He is the leaf of a Butternut tree, and his name is Rustle. Along with his friends--a wise-cracking acorn sprout, a dejected dandelion seed and an adventurous drop of water, Rustle the Leaf is delivering punch lines with a purpose: change people’s attitudes--and eventually their behavior--toward all things environmental. “There’s been an unfortunate disconnect between otherwise responsible people and environmental issues,” says Rustle the Leaf creator and co-writer Dave Ponce. The comic strip is created and posted weekly at http://www.rustletheleaf.com....
Plan to release more delta water stirs controversy A plan to increase freshwater pumping from the delta is pitting Central Valley farmers who want the water for their crops against environmentalists and delta farmers who fear the move will undermine years of fishery and water quality restoration efforts. The proposal would increase the amount of water pumped out of the San Joaquin-Sacramento river delta, a fragile ecosystem that already supplies water for 22 million Californians as far south as Los Angeles and irrigates millions of acres of Central Valley farmland....
80 Year Old Law Of The River Under Scrutiny Las Vegas gets ninety percent of its water from Lake Mead, but it won't be enough for our future. There are several things causing our water problems. Some people point to the fact that we're living with rules that began taking shape more than 80 years ago, the law of the river. In the 1920's, Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas was full of Model T's and Packards. The town had about five thousand residents. There was plenty of water to go around, even before a headline in the Las Vegas Evening Review Journal announced that a new dam would supply water to much of the southwest. With the new dam, and the creation of Lake Mead, came a fight over water rights. California and their farmers were the big winners in the law of the river that began taking shape in the 1920's, securing 4.4 million acre feet a year from the new lake. Arizona got a big chunk, 2.85 million acre feet, and sleepy Nevada just three hundred thousand acre feet. Some people say it hardly seems fair some 80 years later, now that five thousand people have turned into 1.7 million residents....
Bush Says Canada Cattle Plan Should Be `Expedited' U.S. President George W. Bush said he told his budget office to ``expedite'' action on a proposal to allow cattle imports from Canada ``as soon as possible.'' The U.S. banned such imports in May 2003 because of mad cow disease. Bush spoke to reporters during a joint press conference in Ottawa with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He said a proposal to open the border to cattle from Canada that was sent to his budget office last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture must go through the regulatory process....
Nanny sues "IMUS" after Ranch ruckus A New York woman who worked as a nanny for Don Imus and his wife Deirdre has sued the radio host for wrongful termination. Cathleen Mallette, 24, says she was fired after bringing a harmless cap-gun and pocket-knife with her during a trip last Thanksgiving to Imus's sprawling New Mexico ranch. In her New York State Supreme Court lawsuit filed November 29, 2004, she also claimed that she was defamed when Imus later announced on his program that he had been forced to "disarm" his nanny, whom he labeled as dangerous and a "terrorist."....
Local cowgirl goes through Army mini-basic training Victoria cowgirl Brittany Pozzi prefers to leave running to her barrel horses, so she admittedly wasn't prepared for the rigors of mini-basic combat training, which she and six other rodeo contestants recently endured at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Pozzi is among eight rodeo contestants sponsored by the U.S. Army. The Army's sponsorship makes it easier for Pozzi and the others to rodeo. But in return, the Army wanted them to get a glimpse of a soldier's life. "It was exhausting," Pozzi, 20, said the week following the day and a half of training. "We had to do everything. We ran and exercised with the troops."....
Baxter Black, Cowboy Poet Baxter Black, described by the New York Times as '…probably the nation's most successful living poet,"…thinks it's an exaggeration. This former large animal veterinarian can be followed nationwide through his column, National Public Radio, public appearances, television and also through his books, cd's, videos and website, www.baxterblack.com. Baxter lives in Benson, Arizona, between the Gila River and the Gila monster, the Mexican border and the Border Patrol and between the horse and the cow---where the action is. He still doesn't own a television or a cell phone, and his idea of a modern convenience is Velcro chaps....
Jewish cowboy Hy Burstein writes book on his worldly horseback adventures In his stetson, boots, sheepskin coat and neckerchief, Hy Burstein is every inch the raw-boned, western cowboy, part Grey Fox, part Ben Cartwright. But Burstein, as his name suggests, is a most unlikely cowpoke. He's Jewish. It's a fact he didn't shy away from when he was persuaded to write a book about his riding adventures around the world. Ride 'em Jewish Cowboy chronicles the estimated 50,000 kilometres he's ridden, not just in North America but through the off-road territories of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Ireland, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Africa, Australia, Mexico and India (where he also rode an elephant)....