Wednesday, December 07, 2005

NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Market conservation in the cross-hairs A conservationist effort to restore depleted grazing land in southern Utah is in trouble because of local opposition. According to The New York Times, the Grand Canyon Trust has spent more than $1 million to end grazing on more than 400,000 acres near the Escalante River. The trust cut deals with willing ranchers whose cows couldn't get fat on the hard, dry soil anyway and were happy to sell off their grazing rights. But now these deals are under unfair attack by local politicians who've filed suit to roll back the agreements. The case is pending before an administrative law judge in the Interior Department, and could end up in federal court. Michael E. Noel, the Republican state representative leading the attack, claims that allowing the sale of some grazing rights means "we go down the path of eliminating all grazing on public lands." That's preposterous, but the fact that the deals are under attack points up how even the best-intentioned activities can be thwarted when they're conducted on public lands. The government is the owner, and the government is always subject to shifting political winds....
Supreme Court reviews Clean Water Act Several U.S. farm groups are raising concerns about a Supreme Court case that has two Michigan land owners pitted against the Army Corps of Engineers. In both instances, the residents were denied the right to develop land they own because of wetlands that exist on the properties. Both the National Pork Producers Council and the Farm Bureau have stepped into the case, concerned that the outcome could impact American farmers and ranchers. Late last week, NPPC asked the Court to reverse a lower court ruling on the Clean Water Act that could adversely affect livestock operations. The farm groups have asked for a ruling that ditches, drainage ways or wetlands with only indirect connections to navigable waters not be subject to the provisions of the Clean Water Act. That federal mandate requires a permit to release anything into a navigable body of water. Both Farm Bureau and NPPC filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the consolidated case – Rapanos, et., al. v. United States of America and Carabell, et. al. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, et. al. It the two cases before the Supreme Court, neither property owner’s land adjoins or drains directly into navigable waterways, which are broadly defined as waters of the United States. The Corps of Engineers and EPA contend that the Clean Water Act prohibits without a permit discharges of pollutants, including agricultural waste, into waters with any hydrologic connection to navigable waters....
Timber sale reduced by 85% Helena National Forest officials and a local environmental group have reached a compromise over a timber sale near Lincoln, which reduces the amount to be logged by about 85 percent. The new agreement calls for 4 million board feet of timber to be logged from the mountainsides that burned two years ago during the Snow/Talon wildfires, instead of the almost 27 million board feet the Lincoln Ranger District initially had offered for sale. “It’s a sale we can live with and they’re still getting to cut 4 million board feet, which is a substantial amount by itself,” said Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “We have a new (Helena National Forest) supervisor who worked things out with us, and we think this gets everybody off to a good start. “We’re glad we could talk and reach a compromise without going to court.” Kevin Riordan, who took over the helm of the Helena forest in July, said economics were the main reason to reduce the size of the timber sale, but added that lessening the threat of a lawsuit also played into his decision....
Global Warming Blues The 11th annual meeting of global warming enthusiasts in Montreal isn’t turning out to be a very happy event. Even though this is the first opportunity for the burgeoning global climate bureaucracy to celebrate the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the realities of science, economics and politics are raining on its parade. First, a new study published this week in the journal Nature (Dec. 1) turns global warming alarmism on its head. British researchers reported that the ocean current responsible for the tropical winds that warm Europe’s climate has decreased by an estimated 30 percent since 1957. The headline of the New Scientist report (Nov. 30) on the study nicely captured its import, “Failing ocean current raises fear of mini ice age.” That conclusion, however, doesn’t jibe at all with the reality of European climate, which began warming 200 years ago and is now setting the modern records for warm temperatures that the pro-Kyoto crowd likes to hyperventilate about. The European Environment Agency, in fact, claimed on Nov. 29 that Europe is currently facing the “worst” warming in 5,000 years with 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004 being the four hottest years on record. While temperatures can only go up or down at any given moment, global warmers seem to want to have it both ways so that any change in climate, regardless of direction, can be attributed to human activity....
Pact Signed for Prototype of Coal Plant Under pressure from other industrialized countries at talks here on global warming, the Bush administration announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with a coalition of energy companies to build a prototype coal-burning power plant with no emissions. The project, called FutureGen, has been in planning stages since 2003. But the Energy Department said here that a formal agreement had been signed under which companies would contribute $250 million of a cost estimated at $1 billion. Environmental advocates at the talks criticized the announcement, saying it was intended to distract from continuing efforts by the American delegation to block discussion of new international commitments to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that scientists link to global warming....
Column: Pombo's plan must be stopped What is it, exactly, that makes the West special? There are certainly many answers to that question, but perhaps the one that Westerners would give more than any other is our "wide open spaces." Despite much development, there is still open space in the West: space to hike, to hunt, to breathe free, to escape the hemmed-in life that most of us lead too much of the time. That space is our birthright: It is America's public land, held in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The region is what it is because there is so much publicly owned land. California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, wants to change all that. Working behind the scenes, he succeeded in attaching a series of amendments to the Deficit Reduction Act (that is, the Budget Bill) that was recently passed by the House. These provisions, adopted with little debate, have the potential to destroy the West as we know it. The amendments are ostensibly reforms to the Mining Law of 1872, the antiquated statute that still governs mining claims on public land. But their impact would extend far beyond mineral extraction....
Toll Road Would Cross Park After six years of environmental studies, Orange County toll road agency staff members recommended Tuesday that a controversial tollway be built through San Onofre State Beach — a popular coastal park that contains endangered species, unspoiled wetlands and world-renowned surfing spots. The 16-mile route, one of eight options considered, would cause the least harm to natural resources and avoid the possibility of condemning hundreds of homes in San Clemente, the Transportation Corridor Agencies staff concluded. "This culminates a lot of years of work," said Macie Cleary-Milan, the TCA's deputy director of environmental planning. "We've balanced all the issues to come up with the best project that is environmentally sensitive and does not have community impacts." The recommended route, which also would cut through a preserve set aside by developers as permanent open space, represents the final link in Orange County's network of tollways....
The people’s champion But today, while PGE is still in the news, Tuttle bird-dogs a different cause. The 59-year-old Tuttle’s arch-nemesis is now a 133-year-old federal mining law that has for decades resisted reform efforts by both liberals and conservatives. His favorite issue recently became a hot topic in Washington, D.C., thanks to a push to rework the law to let private interests acquire pristine federal land — including property inside national forests — for just $1,000 an acre. While some environmental groups focus on publicity, membership and fundraising, Tuttle and his son, John, work quietly out of a nondescript, low-rent downtown Portland office, dispensing low-key wit and engaging in behind-the-scenes bureaucratic combat. Tuttle is considered the pre-eminent mining activist in Oregon. In his 2004 book, “Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me,” environmental writer Jeffrey St. Clair said Tuttle’s group “may be the mining industry’s biggest pain in the ass.”....
Grand Staircase manager leaving for new job in D.C. David Hunsaker is stepping up in his Bureau of Land Management career by stepping down as manager of southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In March, Hunsaker will move to Washington, D.C., to become deputy director of the National Landscape Conservation System, which oversees the BLM's specially designated lands, including monuments, wilderness study areas and scenic rivers and trails. "I've been offered the job, and I've accepted," he said Tuesday. Hunsaker, who took the reins of the 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase in 2001, said his departure has nothing to do with the BLM's ongoing road battles with Kane and Garfield counties....
Arizona, Sonora join up to promote 'geotourism' We all know about the world-class spas and golf resorts.
But Arizona is also home to the Sonoran Desert, and with help from the National Geographic Society, some regional tourism offices are hoping to capitalize on the Arizona-Sonora region's cultural heritage. In the process, they hope, they can keep a unique desert region safe from harmful tourist expansion. On Saturday, the directors of the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Sonora Commission for Tourism Promotion signed a bi-national charter to promote "geotourism." Geotourism is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, its environment, culture and heritage, and the well-being of its residents. The concept is different from ecotourism, which focuses on the environment to the exclusion of local people, said Jonathan Tourtellot, director for the National Geographic Center of Sustainable Destinations in Washington, D.C....
A passion for the heartland: Rapid development doesn't deter hunters, erase memories It’s an hour before dawn on the plains about 50 miles northeast of Denver and this once-dark prairie is ablaze with lights. Development in the form of bi-level homes, three-car garages and 24-hour convenience stores has come to rural Weld County, where 20 years ago the few lights scattered across the short-grass prairie belonged to a sprinkling of oil wells or the occasional distant farmhouse. Headlamps would glimmer and then fade as ranchers and farmers drove the winding prairie roads, and the distant glow to the southwest was the only sign of the urban octopus reaching out its tentacles. The octopus’ warning lights aren’t so distant anymore....
Researchers trail horses in study of wayward seeds Bonnie Davis spent the past several months gathering horse manure. And she was paid to do it. Davis, a researcher working with a college north of San Francisco and the federal government, is trying to learn whether horses, by doing what comes naturally, are spreading non-native plants in California's parks. Davis gathered 270 samples of "road apples" on trails and at trailheads at several northern California national parks, including Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, to determine what makes it through a horse's digestive system. The project entails finding whole seeds in the manure and getting them to grow in a hothouse to identify what type of plant they produce. The National Park Service has given Dominican University in San Rafael $100,000 to study how non-native plants are creeping into parks, in many cases forcing out native plants....
Bill to let woman stay in national park stalls For the second time in a month, a procedural squabble in Congress on Tuesday stalled legislation to let octogenarian Betty Dick continue living at her seasonal home in Rocky Mountain National Park. Earlier this year, the National Park Service threatened to enforce a 25-year lease agreement and evict Dick from the land where she and her late husband had lived part- time since the 1970s. In 1979, they negotiated an agreement that they thought would allow them to stay on the land for the rest of their lives. But, Betty Dick told a congressional committee, a last-minute change converted it into a 25-year limit. The Senate and House of Representatives passed different versions of legislation to let her remain on the land for the rest of her life....
Administration keeps workers' names secret Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. "Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government," said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information act to get the data. Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data are often used by reporters and government watchdog groups to monitor policies and detect waste or abuse....
Retired park managers see danger signs Policies proposed by the Bush administration could weaken protections for the natural qualities that make national parks special places to visit, according to two dozen retired National Park Service managers. In a letter to Park Service Director Fran Mainella, the retirees said the rules - still in draft form - are a “drastic and dangerous departure from a longstanding national consensus” about how parks should be run. The rules could tip the scale in favor of recreation and lessen the importance of conserving and protecting the parks' natural resources, the retirees said. The letter released Tuesday is signed by 25 retirees who worked as park superintendents, regional supervisors for several states or others in executive positions. “None of the people on this list are zealots,” said Bob Barbee, Yellowstone National Park's superintendent from 1983 to 1994....
Ranchers' hopes evaporating With hay costing about twice its normal price, little if any feed on the ground and water levels in stock tanks receding daily, ranchers across Texas recognize that their run of good fortune may be drying up. "Ranchers hoped to put three good years of rainfall together, but 2005 did not work out that way," said Matt Brockman, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. "It's dealt us a setback this year." How much of a setback still is being calculated because the drought — a phenomenon nearly statewide that reminds ranchers of the severe conditions they faced in 1996 — is just getting started. Cattle prices have stayed high, but there are concerns they may not last much longer, especially if the drought forces ranchers to sell off their herds....
Nebraska farm leader concerned about proposed reality TV show We're not hayseeds, says a Nebraska farm leader, worried about how accurately a new TV reality show will portray farmers and their problems. John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union fears that The Farmer Wants a Wife intends to turn its rural reality cast into media fodder as naive bumpkins. And he has no plans to be of any assistance. "I'm not inclined to be helpful to any of those efforts that would trivialize the enormous problems that farm and ranch families face," he said. The premise of the show is to make a match between lonely young farmers with no time to date and women who dream of living a traditional, small-town lifestyle....
Cowboy Angel Fights Attack on Christmas! CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN: THE STORY OF A COWBOY ANGEL has been released on DVD and is available through www.Customflix.com or www.Amazon.com “I’m tired of the unrelenting attack on Christmas and the Christmas spirit. It’s Holiday this. Happy Holiday that. Well, I got news for you. This film is about Christmas. Christmas Spirit and an Angel trying to earn his wings,” said actor-writer-producer Mark Miller about his reasons for re-releasing Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel. “What has happened to Christmas films with heart, spirit and soul – that the whole family can watch?” Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel is a heartwarming Christmas tale featuring American leading man Mark Miller - writer, producer and star of SAVANNAH SMILES - and his boisterous comic-sidekick, the immortal, eternally lovable, Slim Pickens. Imprisoned, down-on-his-luck drifter, Gabe Sweet (Mark Miller) is forced to seek redemption by undertaking a Christmas charity mission on behalf of the town. There's only one problem - the "charity" is as empty as the hearts of the townspeople themselves. But, with the help of a dearly-departed Angel wannabe (Slim Pickens), Gabe quickly learns that the ones truly in need are the ones who already have the most....
NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

Go here for Monday night's results and here for the results of the fifth round.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Court: Property owner's rights violated in condemnation case

A U.S. District Court of Appeals yesterday ruled in favor of a businessman who had bought and renovated four buildings in Port Chester, only to lose them through condemnation to further a downtown redevelopment effort. The 2nd Circuit Court in Manhattan unanimously ruled that Bill Brody's right to due process was violated because the state's eminent domain law provided for insufficient notice that Port Chester could take his property through eminent domain. Brody's buildings were torn down, and a portion of The Waterfront at Port Chester, a retail and entertainment complex, was built on the site. The 5-year-old Brody case received nationwide attention, coming at a time when municipal governments increasingly were turning to eminent domain to encourage private development projects, especially in older commercial districts. The trend shows little sign of abating. The case now goes back to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to determine whether Brody is to be awarded damages and, if so, how much. The court agreed with Brody's key contention, that a small legal advertisement in a newspaper was insufficient notice of the eminent domain process, said Dana Berliner, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va., nonprofit group, which represented Brody at no charge. "New York's notice procedure was utterly inadequate," Berliner said yesterday. "The court confirmed that people do indeed have the right to challenge whether the government can take their property." Brody did not return a call to his office yesterday. Largely as a result of Brody's legal battle, New York state last year changed its eminent domain law to require that governments notify property owners of eminent domain plans by certified mail or personal delivery. The notice is considered crucial because property owners have only 30 days to challenge the eminent domain plan....
NEWS ROUNDUP

More Than 50 Black Bears Killed in N.J. As opponents turned out to denounce them, hunters killed more than 50 bears Monday at the start of a state-authorized hunt aimed at thinning New Jersey's burgeoning bear population. The hunt, restricted to the state's northwestern corner and open to about 4,400 hunters with permits, got under way in freezing weather after legal challenges by animal rights groups failed. Black bears, once near extinction in the state, are now a common sight, menacing people, scampering through yards and rummaging in trash. "Bears are beautiful animals, but they've got to be controlled," said Joe Giunta, 59, who bagged one Monday morning....
Environmentalists, rancher challenge northwestern New Mexico pipeline A rancher and an environmental group are challenging a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to build an eight-mile pipeline through areas set aside for bald eagles and deer. The administrative challenge by Tweeti Blancett and Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians also raised concerns about the pipeline's impact on livestock grazing. They want the BLM to reroute the pipeline away from sensitive areas to lessen its impact on endangered species, wildlife and livestock. The challenge asks the BLM's state director, Linda Rundell, to review the Farmington field office's decision to approve the pipeline, contending the approval violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the BLM, said Monday the agency was still reviewing the request to take another look at the decision....
Drilling vs. dwelling Bailey Dotson walks across a 160-acre field that once produced corn and sunflowers, but will soon grow another crop: homes for families flocking to northern Colorado. “You could see that happening in the late '90s,” Dotson, the chief executive of Best Buy Homes, said of the northward movement out of the Denver area, 25 miles to the south. But one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation sits on top of one of the more productive natural gas fields, setting up a collision of developers, land owners and companies drawn by soaring gas prices and demand for energy. Land owners, farmers and ranchers along this northern stretch of Colorado's Front Range have long coexisted with oil and gas wells. New tensions are erupting, however, as energy companies ask to drill more wells amid the new subdivisions and shopping centers. Area residents and business people have filed a protest, worried about losses in property values....
Gas producer aims to send water to reservoir A massive coal-bed methane development proposed for the west side of the Hanna Basin would direct most of its production water into Seminoe Reservoir, according to company plans. The Bureau of Land Management released its environmental study last week of Dudley and Associates LCC's proposed Seminoe Road Gas Development Project. The company is seeking federal permission to drill and develop up to 1,240 new coal-bed methane wells in the area, which is located about 20 miles north of Sinclair in Carbon County. Coal-bed methane is found by tapping into reservoirs of gas buried deep in coal beds. The natural gas is trapped in the fissures and fractures of the beds by the pressure of underground aquifers. The gas is released when the water is pumped to the surface, easing the pressure and allowing the gas to follow the water up. Water disposal has been one of the significant environmental concerns in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, where the majority of the state's coal-bed methane development has occurred. The BLM's Seminoe Road project study estimates from 29 to 44 gallons of water per minute would be produced from each well. Molvar estimated that would initially result in between 51 million and 78 million gallons of water per day being discharged....
Map maker, map maker Reed mines streams of scientific and geographic data, contemporary satellite images and historic photos in his work as a map maker. He's not a cartographer in the classic sense. Instead, he merges geographic information with existing maps to provide clients with a better understanding of place. The process, known as geographic information systems or GIS, is an exploding field, used by world health researchers, environmentalists, social scientists, even ordinary people trying to locate their house on a downloaded satellite image. A month ago he knocked off a map for environmental activist Mary O'Brien that shows how the embattled West Eugene Parkway cuts through wetlands that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to set aside as critical habitat for three endangered species - two plants and a butterfly. Now Reed is putting the finishing touches on a more complex map for the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council that pinpoints all of the culverts in the basin - more than 500 - that move water under roads. The map shows the waterways, from the rivers themselves to their feeder creeks and streams; the known areas where endangered and threatened fish live and spawn in the watershed; and the mix of public and private landowners in the area - from timber companies to the U.S. Forest Service....
Editorial: Protecting pineros The truism, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," applies to the U.S. Forest Service contractor abuses of migrant workers reported by The Bee in 1993 and again in November. But with a renewed commitment to congressional oversight, that pattern of abuse without penalties can be broken. Four members of Congress requested hearings. All that remains is for House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, to schedule them. After The Bee series "Shame of the Forest" in 1993, the House Committee on Government Operations held hearings and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service ordered a crackdown on contractors who abuse migrant workers in the agency's tree-planting and thinning programs. Then-Chief F. Dale Robertson issued a nationwide directive ordering stricter scrutiny of suspiciously low bids by contractors, better monitoring of working conditions and pay, and more cooperation with other agencies. In November, The Bee's series "The Pineros: Men of the Pines" revealed that little has changed. It documented clear safety violations; unreported injuries; workers cheated out of pay; contractors with a history of violating federal labor laws and government contracts still getting jobs; Forest Service staff witnessing violations but doing nothing....
Utah loses nuclear waste round The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Utah's request to hear its case involving state laws designed to regulate and tax the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear waste storage site. This was the state's last chance in this portion of its fight against the site. The state's laws may not be able to block it, but Denise Chancellor, an assistant attorney general, said there are "still a number of avenues" the state can take to attempt to block the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies from storing its spent nuclear fuel on the Goshutes' Skull Valley land in Tooele County. Between 1998 and 2001, in an attempt to discourage the project, the state passed several laws to regulate and tax the 40,000 tons of used nuclear fuel slated to go to the PFS site. But a federal judge in Salt Lake City struck down the laws, ruling that federal law pre-empts state laws in matters of nuclear safety. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and Monday's decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case keeps the laws unenforceable....
BLM is looking to sell 188 acres on North Spit The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to sell 188 acres of Coos Bay North Spit land and is taking public comments on the proposal. The agency is beginning an environmental assessment process to offer for lease or sale the parcel located along TransPacific Parkway. It’s just south of the Weyerhaeuser effluent pond and southwest of the BLM boat ramp. The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay wants to lease and then buy the land. BLM plans to maintain public access to nearby lands through a right-of-way....
Promised lands Thanks to the single-minded dedication of conservation groups, land trusts, conservancies, private companies and government organizations, forgotten canyons are becoming nature preserves, oil lands are returning to wetlands, and parklands are expanding into larger wildlife sanctuaries. As communities push back with evermore vigor, the wild side of the region is becoming as vital as the subdivisions that edge up against it. Whales, blue herons, falcons and gnatcatchers live in our midst, and if we dare to look ahead, we might find an urban landscape in search of harmony with nature. Here are five sites where the future is circling back to the past....
Taos Ski Valley: Sheer pluck In the spring of 1954, Ernie Blake and his friend Pete Totemoff hiked through snow to an old mining camp at the back of a remote canyon in northern New Mexico. They looked up at a towering mountain. "Pete, this is the place," Blake said. "It's too far from anywhere," Totemoff said. "The slopes are too steep." "This is the place," Blake said. And so began the legend of Taos Ski Valley. Fifty years after its 1955 opening, Taos has earned the highest compliment in the sport. It's a skiers' mountain. "In the ski universe, Taos is an American classic, no question about it," says Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of Ski Magazine. "It's a place where you truly earn your turns."....
Free-range cows The search for the wayward cows continues. Long before Reggie the alligator made headlines by evading trappers at Lake Machado near Harbor City the feral cattle of Cheeseboro and Palo Camado canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area stayed one hoof ahead of authorities. Though rarely seen, rangers insist the heifers are holed up in oaks and chaparral in the canyons and rolling hills near Simi Valley. Five years ago, 15 head of livestock escaped from a pen in Ahmanson Ranch and disappeared into the national park. A break in the search came in September when a wildfire stripped away vegetation and forced the cows into the open. A rancher who owns the cows baited a pen with corn, hay and other cow chow and snared six hungry animals. Nine renegade cattle remain — the smartest ones left in the herd — and continue to evade their captors. How can livestock — 1,000 pounds of hoofed sirloin — elude capture for five years in a popular park adjacent to a busy freeway? Bill Plummer, an animal science professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, says farm animals unleash their wild instincts after an escape....
Foundations fuel equine education The Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) are launching a public-education initiative called HORSE FACTS. "The goal of this program (is) to promote the little-known fact that biomedical research involving lab animals plays a key role in advancing veterinary medicine as well as human medicine," says FBR President Frankie L. Trull. "The fact that horses, house pets, wildlife and endangered species benefit from biomedical research involving lab animals is one that has long been missing from public discussion on this subject." The program, planned to be announced tomorrow during the 51st-annual AAEP Conference, is geared toward those who ride, raise, train, race and show horses, as well as other equine enthusiasts....
Carey horse trainer favors buffalo over cows Move over cows. Horse trainers are finding it better to work with buffalo. Leta West, of the James E. West Memorial Ranch (named for her late husband) in Dry Creek, is doing just that. West has 13 head of buffalo that she keeps on her ranch, using them primarily for working her many horses. "Buffalo are better than cows to work the horses on, because cows get sour and won't move," West said. "But a buffalo is very smart, they love to run, and really seem to enjoy the exercise." Riding horses through, around, behind, buffalo or cows, make them "cowey" -- slang for a horse that will watch the animal it is pursuing. This coweyness is what ranchers, ropers, cutters and working cow people are looking for. Traditionally a horse trainer will use cows for this practice, West said, "There are a lot of people moving to buffalo for training working cow horses."....
Young farrier brings experience, love of work to craft Two things become apparent when visiting with Avery Bush of rural Gordon, Neb., about his chosen occupation of farrier. He has a broad base of knowledge and experience and a love of all things equine. Avery left home a few days before his 14th birthday and has traveled all across the country doing a variety of work, starting with his first job of working for a horse trader for $10 a day. He ultimately settled on being a farrier and has worked at it full-time since 1998 and part-time for 10 years prior to that. “When I first started shoeing all I had to work with was a railroad iron, claw hammer and a rasp,” he recalled. Avery got his start indirectly by riding bulls and broncs in the PRCA for a number of years. After winning a bull riding in Salt Lake City he took his winnings and attended shoeing school at Oklahoma State University. Avery has tallied an enormous amount of life experiences in the horse world. He has started young reining and cutting prospects and still does some horse training. He gathered wild burros and horses for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and when he was in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada he hired on for “Wild Cow Contracts.” This work was precipitated by large ranching concerns who hired cowboys to gather wild cattle that had been missed at various gatherings, with the ranchers splitting up the bunch at the end of the gather....
It's All Trew: Small storage drawer contained treasure of supplies, memories Gerald Atchison of Amarillo reminded me of a special place in many early day homes. At his house it was "Papa's Drawer." At the Trew house it was "Mama's Drawer." This small storage area, usually a drawer in the kitchen cabinets or buffet, contained a treasure trove of tools and supplies needed for everyday residence operation. Money was scarce and times were hard. Pennies and nickels were as valuable then as dollars are today. "Waste not, want not" was the popular advice at the time. Nothing was thrown away without examination. This do-it-yourself tool kit and supply source contained pliers, screwdrivers, whet-rock, old ice pick, a dull pocket knife, an assortment of small nails, screws, tacks, a roll of Bull Dog friction tape, a small roll of black stove wire, a sack sewing needle and a needle for adding air to a football. It might also contain the small pump to add air to a gas iron....

Monday, December 05, 2005

NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

Go here for all the results, including the aggregate standings.

Lord takes second straight barrel racing win, grabs lead Shali Lord of Lamar, Colo., raced to her second straight barrel racing victory Sunday night in the National Finals Rodeo, finishing in 14.04 seconds to take the lead in the season standings. Lord has earned $40,637 in the first three rounds of the NFR to push her season total to $113,185. Linda Vick of Hesperia, Calif., shut out in the first three rounds, is second with $110,866. “The only thing that feels much different is that Slider is running harder to the first barrel each night,” Lord said. “He is feeling great.” Sheri Sinor Estrada of Alamogordo, N.M., was second Sunday at 14:19, and Terri Kaye Kirkland of Billings, Mont., followed in 14:21....
Clay Tryan reclaims 1st place at NFR The third time was a charm Sunday night at the National Finals Rodeo. After posting no times in the first two rounds in team roping, Clay Tryan of Billings and Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, won in 4.0 seconds to reclaim first place in the world standings with $102,735 apiece. Travis Tryan of Billings and Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas, were second in 4.2 seconds. "It's a one-header every night, and if the rounds get tough we've just got to buck up and get it done," Clay Tryan said. "There's no backing off no matter what steer we have. We got to go for first every night."....
Urban cowboys make a fashion statement With the National Finals Rodeo in full swing, cowboy fashion will be on display around town this week. From custom-made cowboy hats, big, flashy belt buckles and designer jeans, the aesthetic beauty of Western wear is alive and well in and around the Thomas & Mack Center. An essential piece of equipment for any cowboy worth his salt is the hand-made cowboy boot. "There is a big-time demand, if you can get to those people," said David Moore Sr., a custom cowboy boot maker from Nogales, Ariz. "But finding people that produce the quality of boot a guy wants produced is tough." A customer can saunter into Moore's store and plop down at least $375 for a pair of ostrich smooth boots. The store's Web site also advertises bull shoulder, water buffalo and Teju lizard-skin boots, all starting at $375. Other styles of ostrich boots range from $400-$475, with Caiman crocodile belly starting at $650 and Hornback alligator priced at $1,000. Kangaroo is also available....
Animal rights advocates in Vegas protesting rodeo animal handling Animal protectionists plan an event in Las Vegas today to call attention to what they say is mistreatment of animals during the National Finals Rodeo. Two groups -- called "Showing Animals Respect and Kindness" and "In Defense of Animals" -- say they want a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association judge to investigate their complaints. The groups say they intend to make public a videotape showing violent ways animals are roped and tied during rodeo events....
Porum rookie shines t’s been a rigorous schedule this year for Porum’s Justin McDaniel. But it’s been an award-winning one as well for the 19-year-old cowboy from Porum. After competing in bareback riding for an estimated 62 rodeos, McDaniel picked up the Rookie of the Year award in the event. He receives his honor in ceremonies at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. on Wednesday. “I got a letter in the mail saying I was in the running for the award, so I kept up with it on the Internet,” McDaniel said. “I had a pretty good idea last month that I was going to win it.” The 2005 Porum High School actually won the coveted award with winnings of $30,271, according to standings on ESPN.com. Josh Shackleford of Elkmont, Ala., was a distant second with earnings of $25,100. Not competing in this year’s National Finals, McDaniel finished the 2005 season with earnings totaling $48,871. He finished as the runner-up for all-around Rookie of the Year to Steve Woolsey of Spanish Fork, Utah, and his earnings of $83,006....
Utahn leading overall in bull riding Spanish Fork's Steve Woolsey had another successful bull ride at the third performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on Sunday. He had an 82-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo's Jungle Boogie, good for a fourth-place tie and $5,300. More importantly for the Resistol Rookie of the Year, he has taken the lead in the aggregate and is the only man to have ridden all three of his bulls. Woolsey's take so far is over $20,000 with seven more rounds to go. It was a rough night for Wesley Silcox, from Payson, who failed to last eight seconds on Salt River Rodeo's Geronimo. Rusty Allen and Cody Wright are still neck and neck in the saddle bronc aggregate. Allen has 259 points on three and Wright is just one point behind him. Wright, from Milford, finished in third place on Sunday, and Allen, from Lehi, finished in fourth. Allen's take so far is over $34,000 and Wright has won over $31,000....
Brazile looking to gain momentum Most of the talk about an all-around world championship at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has centered on Ryan Jarrett. Jarrett, of Summerville, Ga., qualified for the 47th NFR in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, making him the most serious competition for three-time and defending winner Trevor Brazile of Decatur. Brazile has been atop the world standings for most of the season. However, he only qualified for the NFR in one event, the tie-down roping. Each round pays more than $15,000, but Brazile leads by more than $20,000. This year's NFR has been slow for Brazile, who got his first check in the third round. He finished fifth with an 8.9-second run, good for $4,038, the same amount Jarrett has won here. "It didn't start off the way I had hoped for," Brazile said. "Last year I came in here and won the first round in tie-down. Then things kind of fell apart. This year started slow, so hopefully the momentum will pick up now."....
NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Ranchers are howling A year ago, a citizen task force made up of ranchers, conservationists, hunters, economists and tribal representatives attained what many thought was impossible: agreement on a strategy to make Oregon the first Western state to independently embrace the return of gray wolves. It was a visionary, practical - and, above all, balanced - strategy that called for dividing Oregon into zones, with a goal of establishing a minimum number of breeding pairs in each. The plan acknowledged the legitimate concerns of ranchers by giving them the legal right to shoot wolves that attacked and killed livestock on private lands or on public lands where grazing permits exist. It also called for the establishment of a fund to compensate ranchers for losses from confirmed wolf attacks. It was an impressive accomplishment that was rightly hailed as a national model and embraced by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission. This improbably diverse group of citizens crafted a strategy that promised to allow wolves to re-establish themselves in Oregon while giving ranchers both the lethal and nonlethal tools they needed to protect their economic interests. Enter the 2005 Oregon Legislature, which failed to pass the legislation allowing ranchers to shoot wolves and to provide compensation for losses to wolf attacks. What had been a carefully crafted plan that recognized and met the needs of all key parties became a lopsided one that left ranchers out in the cold....
Land wrangle An unusual land deal promises a shot at salvation for Fort Carson but could mean a lifetime in limbo for residents along the southeastern border of the massive Army post. The complex agreement among developers, the Army and El Paso County would slow or stop development in a 4,515-acre, 1½-mile-wide swath of the Rancho Colorado subdivision on the eastern edge of the post’s artillery range. The deal would use $2.8 million in taxpayer money and potentially much more to buy vacant lots and, more importantly, divert water that could have been used to expand a housing development within Rancho. The story of Rancho Colorado is a classic Western tale. It’s about what is possible in the West — and what isn’t — without water. It’s about the legacy of what many have called a brazen land scam. And it’s about the enduring power of the federal government over local land-use decisions....
Forest Service seeks to buy Badlands ranch The U.S. Forest Service is interested in buying a picturesque Badlands ranch in the area where Theodore Roosevelt raised cattle. Brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families have tried unsuccessfully to sell their ranch, first to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and then to the state of North Dakota. They lost a court battle over Billings County's plans to build a road through the property. Dave Pieper, a Forest Service supervisor, said the agency hopes to "reprogram" money in its budget to buy the Eberts ranch in three phases. The Ebertses own 5,225 acres across the valley from Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch, which is part of the larger national park named for the conservation-minded president. Roosevelt ranched there in the 1880s and ran cattle across on the Eberts land, describing in a letter the view of it from his cabin porch....
Ranchers: Gas drilling, water don’t mix A lawsuit by two ranching families in the heart of coal-bed methane gas country east of Durango could require gas-extracting companies statewide to protect the water rights of others. The plaintiffs - Jim and Terry Fitzgerald in La Plata County and Bill and Beth Vance in Archuleta County - allege that the extraction of water from coal-bed seams should be subject to the same regulations as agricultural or sand/gravel operations. Methane gas producers, they say, should have well permits and a plan for replacing water taken in the course of their work. Otherwise, the extraction of water during gas drilling could dry up wells, contaminate ground water or result in flammable tap water, according to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 21 in District Court in Durango. Methane-gas producers dispose of water extracted from coal seams in deep wells or evaporation ponds. Water is extracted to free methane gas from the coal-bed....
Snowmobile dispute rekindles rancor over motors and BWCAW A short snowmobile trail to a popular ice fishing lake has become the latest flash point in the ongoing rancor over the use of motors in and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Residents in the area and the Cook County Board of Commissioners have asked the U.S. Forest Service to build a new trail into South Fowl Lake on the Ontario border to allow for easy access from McFarland Lake at the end of the Arrowhead Trail. The trail would replace an illegal trail that for years ran, officially unnoticed, just inside the eastern end of the wilderness area, where motors have been banned since 1978. After Forest Service rangers discovered that the trail ran within the BWCAW and began issuing citations, local snowmobilers demanded a new access to South Fowl....
Indicted fire manager pleads not guilty A former National Forest Service incident commander charged with setting two wildfires had pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in January. Van Bateman, 55, of Flagstaff, worked for the Coconino National Forest since 1971, battling some of the nation's largest wildfires. He also helped in recovery efforts at the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bateman was indicted last month on charges he started two wildfires in the Coconino National Forest. The largest burned only 21 acres....
Former Nevada BLM boss condemns mining measure The former top U.S. land manager for the biggest gold mining state in the nation says a proposal in Congress to privatize public mining lands "would be catastrophic, both environmentally and economically." Bob Abbey, considered an ally of the mining industry before his retirement in June as the Bureau of Land Management's state director for Nevada, said the proposal by Republican Reps. Richard Pombo of California and Jim Gibbons of Nevada offers false hopes to rural communities to attract new businesses. "There is nothing positive about this bill unless you happen to have ownership in a mining company," Abbey said. "Having spent half my life managing the public's land and being a proponent of responsible mining, I assure you this legislation is bad for American taxpayers," he said in a letter first published Thursday in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Gibbons, chairman of the House Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, disputed Abbey's assertions Friday. He said the proposed changes in the 1872 Mining Law that are included in a budget bill headed for a House-Senate conference committee are needed to allow companies to purchase -- or "patent" -- the federal land that housed their mining operations....
Drilling in the Wyoming Range? A Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale slated for Tuesday will auction a 1,280-acre parcel in the foothills of the Wyoming Range that conservationists say will likely jump-start other suspended leases in the area. Peter Aengst with the Bozeman, Mont.-based Wilderness Society said some leases on federal land in the area west of Merna were suspended in recent years as developers said they needed more acreage to drill to make the area economically viable for gas extraction. Those developers were involved in persuading Bridger-Teton National Forest officials to release acreage in the area for possible lease sales, he said. The BLM handles oil and gas leasing on national forest lands released by the Forest Service for that purpose. "It's the dark secret on the Bridger-Teton," Aengst said. "This new leasing by the Bridger-Teton in the Wyoming Range is not only about expanding the existing area controlled for oil and gas, but it's also potentially the key to unlock the door to allow more drilling on existing leases."....
Huntsville man locked in property dispute It used to be a good thing to be “land rich” in Texas - a family's legacy, wide-open spaces, tracts of property to build homes or businesses. But one local man has come head to head with the U.S. government over what's his and what they have rights to commandeer. Gregory Colson's family has owned 19 acres off FM 1374, bordering the Sam Houston National Forest, since 1925. The old homestead where his mother was born still stands, and the land is as untouched as it was then - that was until the mid-1990s when Colson decided to erect a gate. “We were having a lot of people coming out there, dumping things and poaching wildlife,” he said. “I put up a gate, and I've been going to court ever since then.” The question of land ownership surrounds one piece of that 19 acres that is being tagged a “road” by the U.S. government, but Colson's lawyers at Moak & Moak argue any semblance of a designated roadway. “The area in question is claimed by the United States to be an old wagon trail that went from Huntsville to Montgomery,” said attorney J. Paxton Adams. “Today, however, nobody that views the property would recognize any road or even the remnants of a road. We don't believe it ever was the road the United States now claims it to be.”....
Interest wanes in wildlife work Dan Cacho walks through thigh-high weeds along the South Platte River, shiny badge on his chest, handgun on hip, watching for hunters as a Labrador retriever bounds through the brush, more interested in blazing a trail for Cacho than flushing out birds. The self-described big-city boy is a long way from Cleveland and right in the middle of a dream come true. The 25-year-old Cacho is nearing the end of 10 months of training and will soon become one of six new district managers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "It's the best thing that's happened to me," Cacho said during a recent ride-along with veteran Bill Miles, whose district takes in some of the state's eastern plains. A declining number of people share Cacho's passion: Wildlife agencies across the country are struggling with the double-whammy of mass retirements and declining interest from young people seemingly disconnected from hunting, fishing and rural life....
Land in Roosevelt Park is up in price, acreage Land for sale inside the boundary of Theodore Roosevelt National Park has gone up both in price and size in the past two weeks. The land is the only private property, or inholding, in the park. The National Park Service is trying to buy it at the same time it's listed for sale with Pifer-Swann Realty. Two weeks ago, the realty firm described the land as 176 acres in two parcels for sale for $352,000. Now, the parcels are described as 191 acres for sale for $477,000. The park disputes the new acreage description and says the deed recorded in the Billings County Courthouse is for the smaller number of acres. The new number is apparently based on a global positioning system measurement. The park says buying the land is a high priority to maintain the park's appearance and integrity....
Park service says it's not obliged to allow road to land The National Park Service, which is trying to buy private land within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park's south unit, is not obliged to provide road access to the property, a spokesman says. The issue will influence whether the property is sold, to whom and for how much. The property is surrounded by federal park land, and would be much less valuable without a road. The access question will have to be settled in court, said Barney Olson, a Park Service spokesman. The land's owner, Norbert Sickler, of Dickinson, initially sought $352,000 for the 176 acres of land, which is next to Interstate 94. He has since upped the price to $477,000, saying he actually owns 191 acres. Olson said the service recently sent Sickler a letter detailing its views on road access to his property and asserting that his tract covers 176 acres, not 191 acres. The property deed in the Billings County Courthouse supports the lesser figure, Olson said....
Feds give chairlift ads a green light Advertisements for private jet clubs and credit cards on chairlifts at local ski areas might become a permanent fixture after a ruling last week by the U.S. Forest Service. The Washington, D.C., office of the agency issued an "interim directive" saying that ads for products and services are acceptable inside buildings and other "interior spaces" operated by concessionaires or permit holders, like the Aspen Skiing Co., on national forests. The directive defined the safety bars of chairlifts as an interior space. That means ads are allowed on chairlifts as long as they are on the safety bars facing riders and not hanging off the back of the lift, said Kristi Ponozzo, spokeswoman for the White River National Forest....
6 guvs protest bill's public land sale Six western governors put Congress on notice this week they oppose a measure pending in the U.S. Senate that would open millions of acres of public lands for sale to mining companies. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., of the Senate Budget Committee, on Thursday saying the sale of public lands in a budget reconciliation bill passed by the House could cut off public access for recreation and deny the states billions of dollars in mineral royalties. The letter states the House bill would net only $158 million over five years, while current royalties yield more than $2 billion a year, split between the federal government and the states. The letter was signed by Govs. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, and Christine Gregoire of Washington. All are Democrats....
This Land May Not Be Your Land Standing at the foot of billion-year-old Stripe Mountain, acting park chief Larry Whalon gazed up at ancient slopes banded in limestone and copper. "In 10 years, there could be a big house right here. Lots of houses," Whalon said. The entire mountain in the desert preserve west of Las Vegas is covered by federal mining claims, and newly proposed legislation would allow claim holders to purchase this land outright. Supporters say the mining law changes, part of a spending bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, are intended to revive dying rural mining towns. But the possible consequences have provoked fierce disagreement. A House-Senate conference committee is expected in the near future to begin work to resolve the differences between the House bill and one passed by the Senate. The Senate bill does not contain the mining provisions, but it does include an equally contentious measure, rejected by the House, that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling....
Oil boom a dilemma for site of artifacts Given the ongoing oil boom in the nearby Uinta Basin, questions linger over the future of Range Creek's mineral resources. Range Creek, home to hundreds of pristine Fremont Indian archaeological sites, is believed to hold some gas and/or oil deposits. The former property owner, Waldo Wilcox, still holds mineral rights for much of the land. Wilcox maintains the state should consider offering to buy the mineral rights if it wants to protect the sites, but the state so far has not contacted him. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages the old 4,200-acre Wilcox Ranch, including its nearly untouched collection of archaeological sites that could enhance knowledge of the mysterious Fremont culture....
Inside America's Most Beloved Agency: Part II The Gateway Alliance was lead by Paul Hoffman who has come under fire for orchestrating another “brainstorming session,” this time at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Hoffman was once a congressional aide to Dick Cheney and parlayed his friendship with the vice president into a key job in Washington, D.C. Beyond public scrutiny (until recently), he had been quietly rewriting the government manual that guides management principles in our national parks. What Mr. Hoffman failed to achieve in Yellowstone in 1995 he is now attempting, more ambitiously, to bring to every wildland national park in the country. What is his agenda? Answer: To weaken the verbal legal framework that protects national parks so that natural resource exploiters are given equal, if not greater, say over park management than park managers themselves....
Column: Inside the Climate of Fear in the National Park Service The plight of whistleblowers – those employees who sound the alarm about anything from dangerous conditions in the workplace to missed or ignored intelligence regarding our nation's security – is a story that seems to grow stronger and with more frequency every day. My guess is that those stories have always been there; I suspect I am just paying closer attention to them now. You see, I joined the "ranks" of whistleblowers on December 2, 2003, when a major newspaper printed a story in which I confirmed for them what many of us already knew – we, the members of the United States Park Police, could no longer provide the level of service that citizens and visitors had grown to expect in our parks and on our parkways in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. The world changed for all of us on September 11, 2001, and the expectations of police agencies across the country grew exponentially overnight. As the Chief of the United States Park Police, an organization responsible for the safety and security of some of America's most valued and recognizable symbols of freedom – including such notable sites as the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, and the Golden Gate Bridge area – I knew it was my duty, as chiefs of police across the country do every day, to inform the community of the realities of the situation....
Park Service wants death lawsuit dismissed The National Park Service is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit that alleges Yosemite National Park was negligent in the death of an experienced climber who was killed by a rockfall. The parents of Peter Terbush, 22, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2001 seeking $10 million in damages. Terbush, a student at Western State College, in Gunnison, Colo., was climbing with two friends 240 feet above Curry Village, a combination of visitor cabins and duplexes, when he was killed by a falling rock in June 1999. Both sides presented opposing views in U.S. District Court in Fresno on Friday. National Park Service lawyer Kristi Kapetan argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because Yosemite has immunity from such civil action, noting that Congress has given rangers discretion on when and where to warn the public of potential dangers....
Conservation Groups Benefit from Sales of New Book A new book about national parks is now available through several major conservation groups and profits from each purchase benefit those organizations. Here's a winning combination: give someone a fun, affordable gift or get a book for your own reading pleasure and help support the work of groups such as the National Parks Conservation Association, African Wildlife Foundation, Hawk Mountain, Monarch Watch, National Wildlife Federation and others. Proceeds from these sales help support groups which are working to protect parks, wildlife and other natural resources in the U.S. or abroad. The book is also available at some of the bookstores operated by non-profit Cooperating Associations at national park service sites. Revenues from those stores help parks with visitor programs and other projects which would otherwise go unfunded. Written by a 30-year veteran park ranger, "Hey Ranger! True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from America’s National Parks" is a book that everyone from experienced outdoorsmen to armchair travelers will find both entertaining and informative. Unlike many other outdoor books about the serious side of life in the parks or expeditions with tragic endings, "Hey Ranger!" focuses on the lighter side of outdoor misadventures....
Bank executive's signature on letter prompts apology Wells Fargo Bank Alaska has apologized for a letter one of its senior vice presidents signed that described the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as "junk science." "The letter was not reviewed and approved by the company and it doesn't represent our official views," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elaine Junge said Friday. The Oct. 21 letter, co-signed by Anchorage-based Wells Fargo banker James L. Cloud, was part of a fall fundraising campaign for Pacific Legal Foundation, a national law firm that advocates for property and access rights, and less government regulation, particularly in wetlands and coastal areas....
Ballad ends on sour note for final Everglades holdout Nothing will make Jesse James Hardy a happy man these days. Not the $4.95 million the state paid him for his land. Not the big and modern home he’s buying with chandeliers and fancy-schmancy rooms such as a foyer and lanai. And not his status as the last Everglades holdout in Collier County that elevated him into a folk hero. The Ballad of Jesse Hardy, sung by the Sawgrass Boys, sums up his feelings: “Oh, Jesse’s had his good times, and Jesse’s had his bad, But these are the worst times that he’s ever had; He’s been deviled by greeners, and deviled by the mob That come from Tallahassee to steal from him and rob!” Hardy spits fire when he talks about having to move next month to his new $750,000 house that has just a few more amenities than the rustic cabin he built in the Everglades with his own sweat more than a quarter-century ago. “You could have gold-plated plumbing, but it won’t wash your hands any better than what I got now,” he says. He would prefer that the state take back the money it paid him for his 160-acre homestead and let him stay in the hinterlands east of Naples....
Climate Official's Work Is Questioned Environmentalists are unhappy with the job the lead U.S. climate negotiator, Harlan Watson, has been doing in the ongoing Montreal talks on how to combat global warming. Watson has spent the past week in Montreal touting the administration's record on climate change. He said there is no reason the United States and other countries that oppose mandatory carbon dioxide limits should have to talk about what should be done once the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to cut global greenhouse gases by 7 percent by 2012, expires. Watson's position and the environmentalists' reaction should hardly be surprising -- considering his apparent popularity with the oil industry....
New federal rules would exempt industry from pollution reporting New federal rules would exempt dozens of Oregon companies from making some pollution and emissions information public. Industry officials are all for the changes proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying they would relieve a tremendous paperwork burden. But environmental advocates worry that the changes would leave residents in the dark about how much pollution is in their air and water. The changes would be to the Toxics Release Inventory Program, begun in 1987 as the nation's public right-to-know program for toxic pollution and toxic waste. Under the program, approximately 26,000 industrial facilities report information about any of the 650 chemicals in the program. Environmentalists credit the program with a 60 percent reduction of the disposals or releases of 299 chemicals nationally....
Water use threatens river life, group says Several environmental groups are accusing a local water district of blocking salmon and steelhead runs on the Calaveras River in an apparent violation of the Endangered Species Act. They've also filed a complaint with state water officials claiming the Stockton East Water District and other agencies violated state law by misusing the river and, in some cases, allowing fish to die. Stockton East is the primary agency that delivers drinking water to Stockton businesses and residents. Some of its water comes from the Calaveras River, which the district controls through water releases at New Hogan Dam. In recent years, low water flows have prevented salmon and steelhead from moving upstream to spawn. That's a particular problem for steelhead, which are listed as a threatened species....
Battle brews over water from Salt Basin A battle is brewing between New Mexicans and Texans over water from an underground reserve. The Salt Basin under Otero and Chaves counties holds an estimated 15 million acre-feet of drinking water and 15 million acre-feet of brackish water. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, which can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households. The water originates in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, but part of the basin stretches south into Texas. Farmers in Dell City, Texas, are using it to irrigate thousands of acres of alfalfa, chili and other crops. Texans also are interested in selling the water to thirsty cities. "New Mexico needs to do something to protect its water," said Jerry King, an assistant commissioner of the state Land Office. "In my opinion, Texas is stealing our water." New Mexico State Engineer John D'Antonio said, "if Texas were to continually develop that area, it could affect supplies within New Mexico, and that's why we want to develop that water."....
School finds way to stay open In an era when many North Dakota schools have closed due to lack of enrollment or to consolidation with neighboring school districts, tiny Horse Creek School carries on a large part of this state's history. A mere six students attend classes at Horse Creek, in the heart of rugged and remote ranching country south of Cartwright. Horse Creek School District 32 of McKenzie County maintains a kindergarten through eight-grade curriculum. This year it is heavy with second graders - three of them. One student in fourth grade and a set of twins in the seventh grade complete the school's enrollment. Aleah Thingstad is the teacher. The old Horse Creek School, just a few miles from the current one, used to have a barn where students could keep their horses. There's no barn at the current Horse Creek School, just a house for the teacher, but all the students are ranch kids and have their own horses....
The Whole Town's Talking: Cody hen lays magical 'sunshine' egg When rural Cody resident Deb Chenoweth first saw the egg, laid by her favorite hen, she didn't realize what it was. "At first, it just looked bumpy and kind of deformed," she said. Looking closer, she was shocked to see a raised image of the sun surrounded by 15 or so evenly spaced rays covering the egg's golden yellow surface. "It blew my mind," Chenoweth told the Powell Tribune. Chenoweth hopes the "sunny-side up" egg will attract generous financial attention when she posts it on eBay "as soon as I get my act together." In the meantime, the egg safely resides in her refrigerator....
TheWaggoner Ranch The waggoner ranch's 520,000 acres cover some 812 square miles, making it the largest Texas ranch behind one fence. Cattle have always been on the outfit,and oil was found there, as well, but the ranch is best known for its good horses. The ranch's long, colorful history began with Dan Waggoner, back in the days before statehood, when Texas was a republic. Dan was born in Tennessee in 1828, and journeyed with his family to Texas in 1838. His father died a year later, and it was up to young Dan to take care of his mother and seven siblings. In 1849, Dan married 16-year-old Nancy Moore. Nancy died young, a mere year after their son, William Tom, called Ã’W.T.,%d3; was born in 1852. After her death, Dan left W.T. in the care of his mother and sisters and rode west to look for more land. At that time, thousands of acres of free land were available for settlement. Dan quickly filed on 160 acres on Cattle Creek, near the present town of Decatur in Wise County, Texas. He moved there in 1854 with his mother, siblings, son, 240 Longhorns, and six horses. Shortly thereafter he began to seriously accumulate land....
Rodeos lasso a new type of fan When Trevor Brazile left his home in Decatur, Texas, to become a professional cowboy, he was prepared for all the traditional rigors of the rodeo circuit: ornery steers, tumbleweed towns, tiny prize purses and the occasional busted tooth. His notion of "fame" was being asked to sign autographs at the smokeless tobacco booth. But in the last few years, the 29-year-old has found himself square in the middle of a trend he never imagined. When he's not promoting his new line of cowboy hats or traveling the country in a complimentary 35-foot custom trailer with leather window treatments, he's eating steamed artichokes with sponsors and mingling with celebrity fans. At this weekend's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the sport's equivalent of the Super Bowl, he's been put up at the Mirage. "It all feels so foreign to me," says Brazile, a three-time national champion. "I'm a small-town guy." So long, lonely campfires. Thanks to a convergence of factors from the recent arena-building boom to the expansion of cable sports channels to a growing number of celebrities latching on to all things Western, the manly, dusty sport of rodeo is getting an overhaul. In smaller burgs like Greeley, Colo., and more cosmopolitan cities like Chicago and Houston, rodeos are moving to bigger, fancier venues....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Potential new endangered species act a hit That huge gasp, clutching at the chest and cracking of a big smile that was heard across the US of A this fall was farmers and ranchers reading the headline, "U.S. House of Representatives pass bill to restrict Endangered Species Act!" Even though we know the Senate may not sign on, it's a step in the right direction. For some of us, it is too late. It's a little bit like wanting a bicycle when you were 10 years old in 1973 and now, 30 years later, it's under the Christmas tree, but it's not the same. What offended most was the injustice of the law and then its blatant misuse by the Anti's to inflict economic injury on those they seek to destroy....

Sunday, December 04, 2005

NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

Texan aims for own title History might be repeating itself at this year's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. In 2001, Rope Myers of Van left the Thomas and Mack Arena with a gold buckle for being the world champion steer wrestler. That year, Myers qualified for the NFR in 14th place after a spectacular showing at the Texas Stampede. His younger brother Cash, from Athens, was the 15th and final steer wrestler to make it to the big show. This year, Cash again was the final man to qualify, and he is hoping to leave Vegas with a championship of his own. He's made a great push already, with two second-place finishes. Myers is second in the aggregate standings with a time of 7.8 seconds on two runs. Lee Graves of Calgary, Alberta, leads with 7.4. Jumping from 15th to ninth place ($12,368 in NFR earnings), has given the younger Myers a definite opportunity for a championship if he keeps up the pace. "I know how important it is to be consistent," Cash said. "We've come from behind before. It would be great to do it again." Jason Lahr of Emporia, Kan., leads the world standings with $132,231. Ronnie Fields of Oklahoma City, who won the second round, is in second place....
Simms cowgirl shines for second straight night at NFR Simms High graduate Molly (Swanson) Powell continued her fine performance, and a trio of Montana bronc riders earned checks to highlight the efforts of Treasure State athletes Saturday night at the 47th annual National Finals Rodeo. Powell, who placed second in Friday night's first go-round of barrel racing to pocket more than $12,000, placed third Saturday to pick up another $9,300. In the saddle bronc riding, Glendive's Shaun Stroh tied for fourth place to earn $5,300, while Dan Mortensen of Billings and Josh Reynolds of Corvallis tied for sixth place and earned $1,262 apiece. Meanwhile, Mike Johnson grabbed the lead in the tie-down roping season standings and the team roping duo of Jake Barnes and Kory Koontz also moved to the top of the PRCA leaderboard. In tie-down roping, Cade Swor of Winnie, Texas, won with a run of 7.9 second. Johnson, from Henryetta, Okla., finished fourth in 8.1, to top the world standings with $125,980....
Allen rides to victory in Round 2 It was a great night for Utah cowboys at the National Finals Rodeo. After finishing in second and third place in the first round, saddle bronc riders Rusty Allen and Cody Wright stepped it up a notch in the second round Saturday night. Alen, from Lehi, rode Kool Toody for 89 points, earning first place and $15,649. "I'm tickled to death with my draws so far this year," Allen said of his success here. "Physically, I'm lucky. I'm healthy and nothing is sore or hurting." Wright, from Milford, again finished one spot behind Allen. He scored an 87 on Secret Agent. He earned $12,367. Allen leads in the aggregate standings here with 176 points on two rides. Wright is in second with 172.5 points. Allen is sixth in the world standings and Wright is ninth. A broken leg at the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede over the Fourth of July caused Wright to miss much of this year's rodeo season. He had been successful enough early in the year to qualify for the NFR and just returned to competition at the Texas Stampede in November....
Rasmussen rodeo's top clown again Flint Rasmussen of Choteau was selected the PRCA Clown of the Year for the eighth straight year. Rasmussen was also chosen the Coors Man in the Can for a seventh time. Rasmussen was among the contract personnel, stock contractors and rodeo committees that were honored this past Thursday at the PRCA's Contract Personnel Awards Banquet in Las Vegas. Rasmussen is working his eighth consecutive National Finals Rodeo, which started on Friday night. However, this will be Rasmussen's last NFR for a while. Earlier this fall, he announced he had signed an exclusive five-year contract with the Professional Bull Riders. Rasmussen will work only PBR events in 2006. Joe Baumgartner was chosen the PRCA Bullfighter of the Year for a second straight time, while Stace Smith, of Athens, Texas, was selected the PRCA Stock Contractor of the year. Ike Sankey, of Sankey Rodeo Company, was also one of the finalists for stock contractor of the year honors. Wayne Brooks won his first PRCA Announcer of the Year, while Sunni Deb Backstrom was the secretary of the year. Backstrom is formerly from Ovando....
Johnson takes lead at Nat'l Finals Rodeo Mike Johnson grabbed the lead in the tie-down roping season standings and the team roping duo of Jake Barnes and Kory Koontz also topped the world leaders Saturday night after the second round of the National Finals Rodeo. In tie-down roping, Cade Swor of Winnie, Texas, won with a run of 7.9 second. Blair Burk of Durant, Okla., and Monty Lewis of Hereford, Texas, tied for second at 8.0. Johnson, from Henryetta, Okla., finished fourth in 8.1, to top the world standings with $125,980. Fred Whitfield of Hockley, Texas, was second at $125,116. In team roping, Shain Sproul of Benson, Ariz., and Kinney Harrell of Brady, Texas, and Steve Purcella of Hereford, Texas, and Britt Bockius of Claremore, Okla., tied for first with times of 4.4 seconds. Barnes, from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Koontz, from Sudan, Texas, finished third in 4.6, to move past Clay Tryan of Billings, Mont., and Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, for the world lead with $102,735 apiece....
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

And then there was the pickup truck

By Julie Carter

Nothing will spawn a parking lot full of pickup trucks faster than a free meal or the promise of a good “bull” session. The hope for both is even better bait.

It is always interesting to me how you can “read” the group gathered within by the vehicles parked outside.

Recently I attended a luncheon meeting that assembled at a swanky county club by a lake and golf course. The four middle rows closest to the door were full of bumper to bumper, door to door gray, white and the occasional Forest Service green trucks. “Yep,” I thought, “free meal.”

The occasion was a gathering of an assortment of government agencies all tied together by a weaving of entities only the government could create and no one understands. And they all drive pickup trucks.

As I parked my truck, I glanced across the parking lot to discern if there was possibly some golf bags discreetly placed in any of those vehicles for later afternoon recreation. After all, it was certainly a convenient opportunity.

While I didn’t see any golf equipment, I did notice that most those vehicles were fairly clean and certainly cleaner than mine. I know some of them have to, on occasion, drive down a dirt road to government projects. But it appears they find a car wash more often than some of us.

Every year in December, a gathering of hundreds of ranchers and other ag related people assemble in a big fancy hotel in Albuquerque for their annual “stockman’s convention.” Now there is a picture of glaring contrast between urban and rural.

Although the hotel still draws its usual crowd of fancy car drivers, they are only a peppering of class throughout the overflowing parking area. Towering above the Cadillac’s, Lexus’s and Lincolns are row after row of big heavy duty four-wheel-drive three quarter or one ton pickups in both the standard and flat bed versions.

If an onlooker has any sense of the rural world in New Mexico, they know these are bona fide ranch trucks. A closer look will reveal a selection of mud in colors to match the geography of the originating ranch. Ropes, chains, handyman jacks, tool boxes and even an occasional errant mineral block yet to be fed to the cattle adorn most of them.

Big dirty pickup trucks in large numbers. How can I convey to the average person what a sense of comfort that sight brings? It is like arriving home in the dark to see the lights in the house turned on, feel a warm fire and smell a cooking pot roast and baking bread when you step in the door. That kind of assurance all bundled up in the metal of a dirty pickup.

This particular parking lot, or any one looking just like it, tells me that gathered inside are large numbers of the very heart and soul of the land we walk on. Within those walls are fourth and fifth generations of families who endured hardships that we can only imagine to make the land their home.

And for as long as those ranch pickup drivers can still assemble to plan the future of agriculture, there will always be hope for the future. They can’t make it rain and they can’t control the markets. But they can and do encourage and share their grit to endure. It is a birthright for each of them.

© Julie Carter 2005
OPINION/COMMENTARY

U.S. SUPREME COURT MUST LIMIT REACH OF CLEAN WATER ACT

The U.S. Supreme Court should rule that federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act does not extend to intrastate “wetlands” that are isolated hydrologically from “waters of the United States,” a public interest law firm argued in a friend of the court brief filed today. The brief was filed in a case in which the Supreme Court is reviewing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that a Michigan man, his wife, and their companies violated the law when they conducted activity on lands that they own. The Sixth Circuit rejected the argument by John A. Rapanos that his lands are miles from navigable water and may not be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “State and local governments were regulating wetlands long before Congress adopted the Clean Water Act and must, under the Constitution, be permitted to address, by themselves, activities that have been traditionally the sole province of those governments,” asserted William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the brief. “Moreover, State and local governments as well as private conservation efforts are doing a much better job of protecting wetlands without the cost and burden of the federal government’s command and control regulatory policies.” John A. Rapanos and his wife Judith, through their wholly owned companies, own various parcels of land in Bay, Midland, and Saginaw Counties, Michigan, known as the Salzburg, Hines Road, Pine River, Freeland, Mapleton, and Jefferson Avenue sites. Over the years, Mr. Rapanos sought to develop these properties for commercial use. Although his properties are approximately twenty miles from the nearest navigable waterway, the EPA claimed jurisdiction over his land pursuant to the Clean Water Act. Mr. Rapanos was charged with and convicted of illegally discharging fill material into protected wetlands at these sites between 1988 and 1997....

Judges Deny Rehearing of Greenhouse Gas Lawsuit

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has turned away an appeal from state authorities and environmental groups which sought to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The Court previously ruled that the EPA was not required to regulate CO2. "The voting majority of the D.C. Circuit deserves thanks for reaffirming the Court’s initial decision and keeping the judicial branch out of what is essentially a legislative question,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Counsel Hans Bader. “Besides the fact that the plain language of the Clean Air Act grants no powers to the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide, any court-ordered solution to the controversy over greenhouse gas emissions would constitute a violation of the separation of powers. Clearly, Congress is the proper forum for such policy debates.” The suit, if successful, would have required the judges of the D.C. Circuit to craft an elaborate set of legislative responses, including determination of proper levels of greenhouse gas emissions, necessary reduction levels for each company and appropriate impacts on U.S. national security and international treaty negotiations, among others....

The Supreme Court Repeals the Constitution

An unidentified New York Surrogate Court judge famously said in 1866, “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court we now know (if we needed reminding) that life, liberty, and property are in peril even when the legislature is not in session. That is the only reasonable conclusion to draw from the 5-4 decision last June in Kelo v. City of New London, the landmark eminent-domain case. The legal principles set out in the majority opinion go well beyond the government’s taking of private property for private (as opposed to “public”) use. The political philosopher and economist Murray Rothbard used to say that every principle devised to limit the power of government sooner or later becomes a way to expand it. For example, the divine right of kings was supposed to limit the sovereign’s power to execute God’s will. In time the principle came to mean that whatever the king did was by definition consistent with God’s will. The Supreme Court decision stretching the power of eminent domain to include redistribution of private property to assist private economic activity provides another example: the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The clause holds: “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” Since, as the Supreme Court wrote in 1926, “it cannot be presumed that any clause in the constitution is intended to be without effect,” we have to read each word closely. In his dissent in Kelo, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did just that. He proceeded to show that “use” at the time of the framing meant the “act of employing”; that to construe the word more broadly would make the Takings Clause duplicative of powers already expressly delegated; and that the common law and great legal authorities such as Blackstone support this narrow reading of the word. Parsing the clause with great care, Thomas shows there is no reasonable reading but this: if the government wants to take a person’s property, it may do so only for public use (like a road or bridge) and only if the owner is fairly paid. Thus the Takings Clause was intended to be, Thomas wrote, “an express limit on the government’s power of eminent domain.”....

PETA Spins A Strategy For Kids: 'Bait & Tackle'

It's hard to imagine a more cynical communications strategy than targeting small children behind their parents' backs, lying to them, and then misleading a national TV audience about it all. But that's just what People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has done in a pair of high-profile interviews. Last week when CNN anchor Heidi Collins asked PETA campaign director Bruce Friedrich where his group was distributing its "Your Daddy Kills Animals" comics, he cited only "tackle shops" and "fishing piers" -- dodging well-deserved criticism for PETA's targeting children at their schools. And last night Friedrich told MSNBC's Tucker Carlson that PETA was justified in giving its grotesque materials to children because it "focus grouped" the material. Carlson's response? "Even in Washington, a focus group is not a moral justification." Carlson continued, speaking for parents everywhere: I'm offended by this. I can't believe actually that you put this out. This is an attack on fathers aimed at children. How could you do this? ... I assume you have no children, right? You couldn't. Nobody with children would put this out, because that's the kind of thing that gives kids nightmares.

Friday, December 02, 2005

NEWS ROUNDUP

New split-estate law expected to be tested later this month Johnson County rancher Steve Adami will be the first landowner to challenge an oil and gas operator under Wyoming's split-estate law when he goes before the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Dec. 13 in Casper. In a Nov. 2 letter, Adami asked the commission to take potential environmental costs associated with off-channel water pits into consideration when it establishes bonds that Gillette-based Kennedy Oil must pay for natural gas developments on his ranch east of Buffalo. “The appeal to the Oil and Gas Commission is not whether to build the pits but whether the bonds are adequate,” Adami told The News-Record on Monday. Owner John Kennedy maintains his right to access minerals supersedes Adami's claims, which he said were off-base and unrelated to the split-estate law. “I'm afraid they don't understand the split-estate bill themselves,” he said Tuesday. “This has nothing to do, nothing with spit estate. “Mineral estate is just as much of an estate as a surface estate,” he said. “I have leased those minerals and have every right to develop them.” Kennedy Oil has posted $500 of bonding with the commission under the split-estate act for the off-channel pits that will be used for water from the wells, said Ruth Reile, who operates the permit for Kennedy Oil. Adami said the bonding is too low and wants the bonding level closer to $100,000 per well, a figure Kennedy said is too high....
Legislators to gather comments on booming oil industry Oil is booming in eastern Montana, and a legislative subcommittee wants to hear what residents think about how the industry is regulated. Issues open to public comment at the meeting include reclamation and bonding for oil and gas operations and how to handle split estates, the situation that arises when one party owns surface rights to land and another party owns the mineral rights below the property. The subcommittee of the Environmental Quality Council was created by the passage of House Bill 790 during the last legislature. The study resolution won approval after the failure of proposed legislation related to split estates coal bed methane. About two hours are set aside for public comment on: # Suggested procedures and timelines for operators, if any, to provide notice to surface owners of impending mineral development. # Proposed minimum provisions, if any, for surface use agreements, including but not limited to the road development, onsite water impoundments and the disposal of produced water. # Suggested measures, if any, for addressing disputed damage estimates between operators and surface owners. # Proposed bonding requirements, if any....
Ranchers upset by approved wolf plan Oregon Fish and Wildlife commissioners voted Thursday to approve a state wolf-management plan without the additional protections that livestock owners said they need. Livestock owners want the right to kill a wolf that threatens their sheep or cattle and state-funded compensation for livestock losses. However, commissioners cannot take those actions on their own; the changes must be put into law. Despite legislators not passing laws during the 2005 session to help livestock owners, the commissioners plan to fight to get the laws passed in 2007. Wildlife experts predict wolves that cross into Oregon from Idaho soon will establish packs....
House's mining-land plan hits stiff resistance The organization that represents Colorado counties is opposing a congressional proposal to let mining companies buy public land, fearing it could lead to widespread rural development. "This would open the possibility of every little mining claim being developed without regard for land-use patterns," said Colorado Counties Inc. executive director Larry Kallenberger. Kallenberger said the recommendation to the CCI board was made by mountain and Western Slope counties. Also, Aspen Skiing Co. this week became the first ski resort company to oppose the measure, citing fears it would damage pristine landscapes. And Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., has come out against the measure, saying development could block access to public lands for hunters and anglers....
Column: No More Wilderness, Forever? Has anybody else noticed that we have had no new Wilderness designations in the northern Rockies (Idaho, Montana or Wyoming) for decades? In fact, the last wilderness designated in anywhere in the three-state region was 1984 when the Wyoming Wilderness Act passed and protected several small areas. In Montana, we have to go back to 1983 when the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Act passed. And in Idaho, the last bill passed was the River of No Return Wilderness Act of 1980—twenty-five years ago! The northern Rockies has around 20 million acres deserving consideration for Wilderness, but we’ve gone twenty-one years without a single acre of land being designated under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Even worse, state and national Wilderness groups have few active efforts to officially propose new Wilderness. Have we given up on Wilderness? If not, what’s the problem? No, we haven’t given up, and the problem is politics....
Three indicted again in Sabino mountain lion hunt Two environmental activists and a journalist once again have been charged with interfering with efforts to capture mountain lions in Sabino Canyon. Rodney A. Coronado and Matthew A. Crozier of Earth First! and writer John H. Richardson were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on three charges related to the March 2004 mountain lion hunt. The indictment was made public today. The three were previously indicted for interfering with the hunt, but the charges were dismissed because a deputy forest supervisor didn't have the authority to close Coronado National Forest. According to the new indictment, even though the forest was not legally closed, Coronado, Crozier and Richardson believed it was and continued to thwart the mountain lion hunt on several occasions....
Column: National Park Service is Being Skinned from the Inside-Out When Steve Martin, the former Grand Teton National Park Superintendent who now serves as the National Park Service’s Deputy Director in Washington, D.C, appeared recently before a panel of U.S. senators, he struggled mightily to pass the red-face test. But I sympathize with the compromised position he was placed in. Coming under intense bi-partisan scrutiny lead by U.S. Sens. Craig Thomas, a Wyoming Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, he claimed that some of the controversial changes written in to the National Park Service’s operating manual may have been “inadvertent.” As in, they happened by accident. As in, they just slipped by or were typos. As in, even though the changes would radically alter the primary mission of America’s most beloved government agency, which is charged with protecting our crown jewel wildlands, they were added by some strange occurrence of alchemy. The bald-faced truth is that nothing about the overhaul of the Park Service’s operating manual was done without radical deliberateness executed by former Cody Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Paul Hoffman....
Toxic Residue of Hurricane Stirs Debate on Habitation The debate over whether the toxic discharges that swept over New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish after Hurricane Katrina have left the area unfit for human habitation reignited on Thursday, as state environmental officials and local environmental and citizens' groups accused one another of misinterpreting data. A toxicologist for the State of Louisiana said in an interview Thursday that about 95 percent of the city was fit for long-term human habitation. A few hours earlier, representatives of local environmental and citizens' groups, citing samples the government collected from the sediment in once-flooded areas and their own samples, said at a news conference that without an extensive cleanup of toxic sediments, at least 75 percent of the city was unfit for families with children. Asked whether the city was safe enough for people to return for the long term, Tom Coleman, a Superfund specialist at the Dallas regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency working in New Orleans, replied: "We haven't said that. And we're not going to say that. Safety is a very difficult concept. For our agency to make that declaration, that would be somewhat of an absolute, and these are not absolute situations." But, Mr. Coleman added, "Within the world of chemical contamination, we're not seeing levels of contaminants that are causing us a lot of concern." He said there were a couple of locations that needed further study....
'Red tape,' projects leave marsh dry Public agencies have steered millions of dollars into buying and improving McNabney Marsh, near the foot of the Benicia Bridge, as a place for birds and wildlife to live and for people to enjoy watching them. But for the second year in a row, the marsh visible to thousands of daily commuters on Interstate 680 was dry when migratory birds flew in from the north looking for a food and rest stop. A Caltrans drainage project and concerns over an endangered marsh mouse delayed plans to refill the marsh this year. Some conservationists are growing impatient with the wait for fixing the marsh so it can stay wet year around. The federal Army Corps of Engineers decided it wouldn't approve the dredging until scientists survey the marsh for endangered species like the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. The tiny rodent, which scampers between picklewood plants in brackish marshes, was spotted in McNabney Marsh years ago....
Suit targets resort restoration An environmental organization has filed a lawsuit against the city and against American Development Group, challenging the environmental study done for the Arrowhead Springs restoration project. The Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity says in its lawsuit, filed Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court, that the city and the developer haven't adequately investigated the presence of endangered species on the site or the effects of the project on the habitat for those species. The lawsuit also questions the safety of the project, for people as well as for animals. The area is surrounded by forest, the lawsuit says, and very little buffer is planned between fire-prone timber and the occupied structures....Don't you see how it works? First file suit or lobby to stop logging or thinning projects, then file suit against development on private property becasue it is next to a dangerous forest....
Park grizzlies do OK despite drop in trout Munching on cutthroat trout used to be a lot easier for grizzly bears that hung around the fringes of Yellowstone Lake. Back in the days before predatory lake trout mysteriously showed up, bears in Yellowstone National Park had gamely plucked spawning Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the spring and early summer. But now that the protein-packed Yellowstone cutthroat trout is in serious decline - park officials said in a recent publication that it "appears to be in peril" - fewer bears are feeding off the lake's tributaries. When they do feed, it's more likely the males that get the meal. Those are some of the results of two studies trying to determine the effects of the dropping Yellowstone cutthroat population on grizzlies that live in the park. So far, though, it doesn't look like the dwindling supply of cutthroats is having a discernible effect on the park's grizzly population, according to Mark Haroldson, a U.S. Geological Survey grizzly researcher....
Judge: Lawsuit challenging salmon policy can go forward A federal judge Wednesday refused to dismiss a challenge to a new Bush administration policy of considering hatchery-raised salmon and steelhead when determining whether wild stocks need protection. The policy, which took effect in June, has been controversial, with environmental groups and even government-appointed scientists arguing that only wild populations of fish should be weighed in decisions about whether to list them under the Endangered Species Act. Salmon raised in hatcheries lack the long-term survival capabilities of wild fish that have evolved over millions of years, they say. “The Hatchery Listing Policy is arbitrary, capricious, contrary to best available science,” Earthjustice lawyers Kristen Boyles and Patti Goldman wrote in a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service this summer. “It reverses the position taken by the agency in its prior policies without adequate explanation; and it is not a product of rational decisionmaking.” The Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour to toss the lawsuit in late September, saying the environmental groups, led by Virginia-based Trout Unlimited, did not have legal grounds to challenge the policy. Coughenour rejected that request Wednesday and said the lawsuit can proceed....
Federal agency OKs sheep trail closures A federal agency Thursday approved the closure of some Coachella Valley hiking trails and the construction of new ones to protect endangered bighorn sheep. The trails are in or near the Dead Indian Canyon and Carrizo Canyon areas, where there are only three or four female bighorn sheep, said Jim Foote, an outdoor recreation planner in the federal Bureau of Land Management office in Palm Springs. The trail sections affected are on federally owned property west of Highway 74 and south of Palm Desert. Joan Taylor, conservation chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Tahquitz group, said the decision struck a good balance between protecting sheep and giving recreational hikers access to trails. But Chuck Nisbet, president of the Coachella Valley Hiking Club and the Desert Trails Coalition, said there's no evidence closing the trail segments will help sheep....
Miracle in the wilderness Every day is a good day for Amy Racina. It wasn't always that way, but crashing 60 feet into a granite ravine changed her perspective. Racina of Healdsburg, a seasoned backpacker, was on a solo trip two years ago in the Tehipite Valley, a seldom-visited area of Kings Canyon National Park, which is in the southern end of the Sierra Nevada directly east of Fresno. She was 12 days into a 162-mile trip when she lost the trail she was on. As she carefully crisscrossed down the valley looking for the trail, the ground suddenly gave way and she found herself careering through the air. "So this is how it ends," she thought in the seconds before she slammed into a granite ravine. The fall nearly killed Racina, but the miracle -- the first of many -- was that it didn't. Racina has published a book recounting her rescue and arduous recovery. "Angels in the Wilderness" ($24.95, Elite Books in Santa Rosa), is titled for the three hikers who saved her life after they came upon her even though she had been off-trail when she fell in a remote area visited only by a handful of people each season....
New parks policy would give private donors more recognition The Interior Department is poised to begin naming benches, bricks and rooms in national parks after private donors, a practice that critics say sends mixed signals about industry influence on public lands policy. Park Service officials say the new guidelines, which could be approved by early next year, would simply make it easier for the agency to recognize corporations and individuals who are already giving. Names already appear on plaques around parks, but the new policy would make donors more prominent. Corporate logos would be forbidden in most cases, officials say. ‘‘We hope to create a positive tone for philanthropy,’’ said John Piltzecker, chief of the parks’ partnership office. The guidelines, which will be reviewed again by the agency after the public comment period closes next week, would also allow some high-level employees to solicit donations....
Decatur cowboy chasing all-around title Trevor Brazile of Decatur will attempt to earn his fourth consecutive world all-around title at the 47th National Finals Rodeo, the sport's most prominent show, which begins its 10-day run tonight in Las Vegas. In the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world all-around standings, Brazile leads Ryan Jarrett, $175,945 to $148,947. Cash Myers is third with $136,347. Brazile has qualified in tie-down roping and team roping. Jarrett is competing in tie-down roping and steer wrestling. Myers made the cut in steer wrestling....
Thousands cash in behind scenes of 10-day event ESPN's television cameras won't focus on Ted Groene during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo's 10-day run at the Thomas & Mack Center. The 44-year-old cowboy's competitive days have passed. Now he labors outside the bright arena lights in a cold, pungent place where no champion's gold belt buckle shines. But without workers such as Groene -- who is NFR's livestock superintendent -- Las Vegas couldn't benefit from this month's projected $43 million cash cow. And Groene is proud to help make the rodeo a success, even if few outsiders appreciate the efforts of his 11-person crew. "We're not here for the money," said Groene, a burly Californian who lost one eye to a bull years ago. "The money is nothing compared to what the competitors receive. "But this job is all about the chance to be around rodeo." Groene's behind-the-scenes saga isn't unique....
Idaho cowboy takes hard road to Vegas Zeb Lanham is in Las Vegas today, where he'll work no more than eight seconds a day for the next 10 days. If all goes as planned, he hopes to win at least $50,000. A get-rich-quick scheme in Sin City? Nope — the National Finals Rodeo. Lanham is a 21-year-old bullrider who lives on a 160-acre ranch northeast of Sweet, a tiny Gem County town between Emmett and Horseshoe Bend. He is the only Treasure Valley cowboy to qualify for the biggest rodeo of the year. He's 14th in the world standings — only the top 15 in each of seven events are invited to the NFR. It's a moment Lanham has been waiting for since he was 5, when he first jumped on a calf at a small rodeo in Garden Valley....