NEWS ROUNDUP

Paradise Valley rancher loses more sheep to wolves Paradise Valley rancher Bob Weber lost 11 sheep to wolves late Wednesday, apparently after leaving a small gate open on a pen built by Defenders of Wildlife. The four-and-a-half acre enclosure was built by the nonprofit group, which compensates ranchers for livestock lost to wolves. Weber's ranch, south of Livingston, has had several wolf attacks over the past 18 months. "The contract I have with the Defenders of Wildlife is that when I am notified or have a depredation I am required to put them in this pen," Weber said Friday. "I have been putting them in for the past few days to get them used to it. (Wednesday) I didn't get around to closing a gate in the corner." Weber said he had 90 ewes and 150 lambs in the pen. Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator, guessed the predator was a yearling lone wolf. "He probably was overly excited -- killing, grabbing biting -- but was not very successful killing the ewes," Bangs said. Weber said he lost four ewes and seven lambs, including some he had to put down because of their injuries....
Wolf bill stirs controversy at Capitol An executive of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association wants to “amend the hell out of it or kill it.” Wolf conservationists oppose it, but for different reasons. They want wolf protections strengthened. House Republicans, meanwhile, said the bill falls short of addressing ranchers’ concerns. Oregon wildlife officials stirred up controversy at the Capitol last week when they introduced a wolf bill based on a management plan developed by a state wolf advisory committee and adopted earlier this year by the state wildlife commission. The bill, House Bill 3478, restricts ranchers from killing wolves and calls for the state to set aside $200,000 to compensate ranchers for losses....
Coyote non-shooting period a lightning rod Are Michigan hunters capable of distinguishing wolves from coyotes? It's a hot topic of debate right now, as state wildlife officials have suggested extending an Upper Peninsula hunting regulation designed to protect wolves to the northern Lower Peninsula. It has been illegal to shoot coyotes in the Upper Peninsula during the firearms deer season (Nov. 15-30) since 1993, as part of the Department of Natural Resources' wolf recovery plan. Because wolves have been found in the northern Lower Peninsula within the last year, the DNR has recommended that same prohibition against shooting coyotes during gun season apply in the northern Lower as well....
Pups believed to be wolf-dog hybrids are euthanized Six pups that wildlife officials believe to be wolf-dog hybrids were euthanized late this week, several days after they were removed from their den in eastern Arizona. John Morgart, coordinator of the Mexican gray-wolf recovery project for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the pups' physical appearance made it clear they were not purebred wolves. The recovery program aims to restore the endangered wolf population, not create a hybrid population, Morgart said, adding that the agency is authorized by federal law to euthanize hybrid pups. Blood samples drawn from the pups Wednesday are being analyzed to determine their parentage. The results are not expected for weeks....
Developer sets his sights on the Wolf Creek ski area As his passengers lurched to and fro, Davey Pitcher expertly drove the Sno-Cat across the slopes of the no-frills southern Colorado ski area his family has run near the Continental Divide for almost three decades. Pitcher wasn't focusing on the thick stands of pine, the chairlifts stretching to the 11,900-foot summit or the deep snow that make this place a popular draw for serious skiers and 'boarders. He was envisioning what Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs wants to build nearby: a $1 billion project with 222,100 square feet of commercial space, hotels and homes for up to 10,500 people. This in a county with just 932 full-time residents....
E-mail message spurs concern over OMB competitive sourcing tactics An e-mail circulated to Forest Service managers last week has triggered concern that the White House is pushing the agency to prematurely open jobs to private sector competition. The Office of Management and Budget threatened to downgrade the Agriculture Department from a yellow to a red - the lowest rating - on the competitive sourcing section of the Bush administration's quarterly management score card, unless the Forest Service allows contractors to bid on at least 100 jobs by the close of the fiscal year, according to the May 3 message, sent from headquarters to update field managers on the Forest Service's competitive sourcing program....
Column: Trees Can Be Just Another Sacred Cow Only God can make a tree, but anyone can ruin a prairie. Consider the celebrated 19th century journalist Julius Sterling Morton. On moving to Nebraska from Michigan in 1854, he found he didn't like the way nature had designed the Great Plains. Accordingly, he summoned forth "a great army of husbandmen…to battle against the timberless prairies." In 1885, Morton's birthday became a state holiday we all just noted called "Arbor Day." A statue of him, paid for in part by the pennies, nickels and dimes of school children from all over the world, now stands in Nebraska City. Arbor Day is celebrated throughout our land, and when you join the National Arbor Day Foundation you get 10 free tree seedlings that may or may not belong in your area. There are or were prairies in most of our nation, not just the plains states. Prairies used to dominate the San Francisco Bay region, but as Arbor Day euphoria swept west, locals planted trees -- including eucalyptus, America's biggest weed -- thereby wiping out native ecosystems. By 1949, the trees had killed off the remnant population of the prairie-dependent Xerces blue butterfly, making the Presidio of San Francisco -- an old Spanish garrison -- the site of the first documented butterfly extinction in North America....
Mount St. Helens erupting with new life 25 years later When Crisafulli first ventured onto the moonscape left behind by Mount St. Helens' May 18, 1980, eruption, Spirit Lake was lifeless. His discovery of a single lupine growing near its shores two years later was cause for wonder. Now, as the U.S. Forest Service ecologist begins his 25th season on the volcano's flanks, thickets of trees shelter a growing number of animals and the lake supports abundant frog, salamander and fish populations. The scales from the trout — and many more like it — will reveal the animals' ages. Biologists in snorkel gear will swim transects in the lake's shallows, counting fish and searching out the gelatinous egg sacs of amphibians....
Land bill battle heats up A bill that could pave the way for Congress to lay claim to millions of dollars from federal land sales in Clark County advanced on Tuesday. The House Appropriations Committee approved legislation that Nevada leaders fear could open the door to a loss of $700 million a year the government is required to spend in the state. But as Congress grapples with looming deficits, a Bush administration plan to tap Southern Nevada land profits is proving attractive, several lawmakers said. "We're half a billion dollars in deficit. There's always an interest in money anywhere," said Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C. chairman of the panel that sets annual spending for the Interior Department....
Developers cautious about BLM proposal If the federal government is going to take the majority of the money raised in Nevada via Bureau of Land Management land auctions, then just don't have the sales, or drastically reduce what is sold. If we can't have it -- neither can the federal government. That was the idea floated by Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury recently in response to the resurfacing of President Bush's proposal to take 70 percent of revenue from the land sales while leaving 30 percent for the state. He's looking for other local municipalities and county leaders to back his plan. So far Woodbury has received some support and nods of "sympathy" from other county commissioners, he said....
BLM worker pleads guilty A Bureau of Land Management employee accused of stealing from the agency pleaded guilty Thursday to two misdemeanors in federal court. Daniel C. Boechler, 56, pleaded guilty to identity theft and to keeping stolen government records. A third count of retention of stolen government property, a felony, is to be dismissed at sentencing. Boechler, an employee of BLM's fire center, had been scheduled for a jury trial Monday when he pleaded guilty in a plea agreement. The indictment alleged that on Sept. 12, 2003, Boechler had at his home two GPS units, a long-range telephone, binoculars and a fax machine. He also had the identification card/building access card for BLM employees and his supervisor's airport identification/ access card, which had been stolen in July from the shower room of the fire center....
Developers eye Mojave land California's Mojave Desert has long been the scene of controversy and litigation, much of it driven by conflicts over off-road vehicle use, mining, grazing and the Defense Department's fondness for dropping bombs and driving tanks on it. The Mojave is a landscape of deceptive fragility, and defenders of its rare species and harsh beauty have clashed repeatedly with user groups, industry and the military. Suburban sprawl has not been high on the list of threats, but that is changing. Desert development is booming, particularly in the dusty hinterlands of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, thanks to cheap land, soaring housing costs near the coast, and the apparently boundless willingness of Californians to commute long distances on congested freeways....
Plan may keep bird off endangered list State wildlife officials are seeking landowner agreement programs to protect the Gunnison sage grouse before the bird ends up on the federal Endangered Species List. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court order to propose a rule in September aimed at protecting the bird. The agency then has one year to solicit comments and make a final ruling whether to list it as a "threatened" species. In the meantime, state and federal officials are hoping to put protection plans in place that would keep the listing from being necessary. Since 2000, the Gunnison sage grouse has been recognized as a separate species from the greater sage grouse. It is found in only 10 counties in the southwestern part of Colorado and a few areas of Utah. Wildlife officials estimate its numbers in Colorado at 3,200....
Editorial: A vanishing wildlife fund THE DISCOVERY last month in Arkansas that the magnificent ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct after all should prove to Congress the value of land conservation and the protection of endangered species. But Congress is moving in exactly the opposite direction. A House subcommittee has dropped all money for land acquisition from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and other lawmakers are working to strip the Endangered Species Act of much of its authority to protect critical habitats. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is supposed to receive as much as $900 million a year in royalties collected from federal leases for offshore oil and gas drilling. The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee left it with nothing but operating funds. The subcommittee was only slightly less stingy with the Forest Legacy program, approving just $25 million, the lowest amount in six years. This program is a crucial source of money for states seeking to protect privately owned forestlands from development....
U.S. study says water levels dropping A federal review of the water bank that spent $7.6 million this year to buy irrigation water from Klamath Reclamation Project farmers to increase flows for salmon finds it is seriously drawing down the local water table and may not be able to help fish through extended dry periods. In a report released yesterday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said a preliminary estimate has found that private wells pumping for the water bank have increased demand on the local groundwater eightfold, causing water levels in other wells to drop between 2 and 20 feet....
Missouri dog wins hero award for saving rancher's life A border collie and golden retriever mix from Missouri has won the National Hero Dog award for alerting her owner that her husband was pinned underneath a tractor. Eight-year-old Shannon, who lives on an 80-acre ranch in Washington, Mo., accepted the 23rd annual National Hero Dog award Friday with her owners Ted and Peggy Mandry. The award does not honor trained rescue dogs. Instead it honors "a companion animal that's well-treated and has bonded with the family, so they somehow know what to do and step up to the plate when there's trouble," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. Shannon caught media attention last June when firefighters credited her for saving Ted Mandry's life....
Rancher Finds Balloon Cluster With Letter to Heaven on His Property John Meadows was checking for newborn calves Monday morning when he spotted a white patch in the field of green grass on his Estancia area ranch. It was not the white face of a Hereford newborn or a piece of blowing trash that greeted Meadows, but a sheet of white paper tied to a trio of white balloons with blue ribbon. The paper Meadows found on Monday was neatly folded and contained the following words in a child-like scrawl: "Hi Mom I love you. Doo you like Heaven I hope so God willing I will see you one of these days" The paper bore no legible signature, prompting Meadows to think a child wrote it....

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