Tuesday, January 31, 2006

NEWS ROUNDUP

It's humans vs wildlife in booming American West Mary Smith used to consider it charming when she saw the occasional mule deer traipsing through this small Idaho town. That was before herds of the long-eared animals native to this remote mountain region began camping out in her yard, eating everything in sight. "They practically ring the doorbell,'' Smith said of the bucks, does and fawns that have laid waste to thousands of dollars of landscaping. Smith's experience is mirrored in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming where land that once served as wildlife habitat is being converted into housing and commercial developments. The phenomenon is nothing new in urban and suburban America, where high-rises, strip malls and subdivisions long ago sprawled across acreage that used to support wildlife. But in the wide-open spaces of the Northern Rockies, where the deer and the antelope still play, rising conflicts between residents and wildlife are causing fresh consternation....
Bison industry on rise The irony of bison ranching isn't lost on Dave Carter. Recovering the once nearly extinct creatures has required raising them for slaughter. The proof is in the numbers, said Mr. Carter, executive director of the Colorado-based National Bison Association. About 35,000 bison were processed nationwide last year, up 17 percent from 2004. More than 250,000 bison roam ranches across the country. The massive, shaggy animals that once roared across the North American plains by the millions were decimated by widespread slaughter during westward growth, dropping to an estimated 1,000 or fewer by the late 1800s. Still, Mr. Carter concedes the industry likely will remain a bit player. Although the 35,000 bison processed last year was a healthy increase, "the beef industry does more than that before lunch," he said. About 125,000 cattle are processed every day, and the industry is measured in billions. Mr. Carter estimates that annual bison sales amount to $112 million....
MSU grad student studying how methane development affects fish Davis, a Montana State University graduate student, spent May through August collecting information to see how coalbed methane development affects fish. She and technician Ryan White sampled about 6,500 fish in 19 tributaries of the Tongue River, Powder River and Little Powder River. Davis plans to return this summer, possibly with two technicians, to the 54 sites she has already sampled and 15 new sites. All the streams are on private land. "The Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana is currently undergoing one of the world's largest coalbed natural gas developments with about 12,000 wells in place in 2003, 14,200 in 2005 and up to 70,000 projected over the next 20 to 30 years," Davis wrote in a project summary. "Because coalbed natural gas development involves production and disposal of large quantities of coalbed ground water that differs from surface waters, potential exists for substantial effects on aquatic ecosystems." High concentrations of dissolved solids, including sodium and bicarbonate ions, are typically found in water associated with coalbed methane, Davis said. Little is known about their effect on fish in the Powder River Basin, however....
Industry: Change won't be dramatic with Jonah drilling Predicted changes to nearby towns from a plan to increase drilling in the Jonah natural gas field should not be as great as a federal environmental report suggests, an oil and gas company official said. The Bureau of Land Management, in its final environmental analysis of the impacts of planned production increases in Jonah Field, said people enjoying small-town life now in Pinedale, Big Piney and other communities would likely be troubled by the influx of new people and the growth if thousands of new wells are allowed. Randy Teeuwen, community relations adviser for EnCana Oil and Gas Inc., said increases in crime, school populations, traffic and noise already exist in communities around Jonah from the gas boom. Any additional changes caused by the booming development will be gradual, Teeuwen said. "Our drilling program is going to be such that there's not all of a sudden going to be a huge increase in activity that people are going to notice," he said. "More rigs and more drilling activity doesn't translate to exponential increases to people and activity. It will be gradual."....
BLM underestimating Jonah Field's impact on air quality, some say Air quality will likely suffer more than federal officials are estimating in their plan for the Jonah natural gas field, some conservationists say. Bruce Pendery, public lands director with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said the Bureau of Land Management's estimations of air emissions are overly rosy, as the agency assumes operators on the Jonah Field will use newer technology to reduce emissions. Namely, Tier II technology is cited as helpful in reducing air quality impacts around Jonah to 80 percent below original estimates -- a reduction pushed by the Environmental Protection Agency. "The provisions they are making are all tentative, conditional -- anything but binding or certain," Pendery said of the BLM. "They are trying to take credit for things that are at best a possibility. They say Tier II technology will be utilized when it is available, and it's not widely available now. I don't see how they can take credit for something like that."....
Wolves spreading across Bitterroot Valley If you live or recreate in the Bitterroot, Liz Bradley could use your eyes and ears. The state wolf management specialist is charged with keeping track of 15 known wolf packs that roam in an area that runs from Ninemile down through the Bitterroot to Dillon and over to Deer Lodge. And that's not to mention all the new wolves that seem to be cropping up these days. Nearly half of the packs that Bradley tracks are found in or around the Bitterroot Valley. With its close proximity to the Idaho border, Bradley says the area will likely see other wolves dispersing through the area. “There are a lot of wolves in Idaho right now,” she said. “The density is something like 500 to 600 -- we're probably going to see new wolves showing up from Horse Prairie all the way to Superior and De Borgia. It's the same thing that we saw out of Yellowstone.”....
Dead turtle halts dredging he killing of an endangered turtle during dredging for beach restoration temporarily stopped the $21 million project. The remains of a green turtle were found Wednesday in an intake screen of the dredging vessel Bayport, operated by the contractor doing the work, Manson Construction Company of Seattle. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency overseeing the permit for the project, halted the work until it can investigate the incident. "The Corps of Engineers sent a representative on Saturday to inspect the dredge and review the operation," Juan Florensa, director of public works for Longboat Key, said Monday. "Until we hear from the corps, we can't resume dredging." Barry Vorse, spokesman for the Jacksonville office of the Corps of Engineers, said early Monday there probably would be a decision made soon on when the Longboat Key contractor can restart the project....
Working to Make Pelicans Well Again Kevin Lucey spent $500 to save a seabird he had never laid eyes on, and named him Phoenix for his ability to revive. The endangered California brown pelican had been found in November, dying on a beach. He had a cut that ran the length of his pouch, and he weighed 4 pounds — less than half his normal weight. At the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro, Phoenix has now had two of the three surgeries he will need to survive in the wild. But Lucey has seen the bird only once, when Phoenix was unconscious during his second operation. The center's pelican "adoptions" aim to restore birds to health and freedom — as untouched by humans as possible. Sponsors pay between $200 and $500 to make this possible, even though their adoptive role is largely ceremonial. The money goes toward the birds' care, especially the large quantities of fish they eat daily....
Endangered black-footed ferrets reproduce in wild One of North America's most-endangered species has begun to reproduce in the wild in Colorado and other Western states after being reintroduced, state wildlife officials said Monday. Biologists and volunteers last fall found a female black-footed ferret in northwest Colorado that they deduced was born in the wild because it did not have embedded microchips, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The discovery was a stunning sign that a species once thought extinct is getting a footing on the path to recovery. Since the reintroduction program began in 2001, 186 black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced in the Wolf Creek Management Area, which covers 43,000 acres in Rio Blanco and Moffat counties northeast of Rangely....
Fake fish funeral illustrates Delta water problems The other day a small group of environmentalists gathered near the California Capitol wearing black. The "funeral" honored the dying smelt of the Delta. Who knows how many camera crews, if any, documented the mourning. Yet the scene exemplifies the level of political discourse about the Delta these days. The estuary, one of the most important in the hemisphere for birds and the most important in California for millions of thirsty southlanders, is in horrible shape. The crisis is driving all sides in this debate farther apart when they need to be searching for common ground and solutions. To recap: Fish that live year-round in the Delta, such species as smelt and shad, are disappearing and possibly on a path to extinction. Meanwhile, the state Department of Water Resources is mulling a plan to increase Delta pumping. Those who pump from the Delta have been sticking to their demands that their pumping be absolved from any sanctions by the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. As for the water flow necessary to recover Delta fisheries, that has become "extra" water that must be purchased annually on the open market. Those who pump water from the Delta want somebody else to buy and find the water for the fish....
Activists win fight on rights to grazing The Grand Canyon Trust is perfectly qualified to hold grazing rights in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, despite assertions to the contrary. An administrative law judge late last week upheld the Flagstaff, Ariz., environmental group's purchase of monument grazing permits and the process the Bureau of Land Management followed in awarding them - rejecting claims by Kane and Garfield counties and ranching groups that the transactions were illegal. The Grand Canyon Trust offered to relinquish its grazing permits if the BLM ordered them closed as part of its final land-use plan. But with other permit applicants lining up to get those permits, Hedden also told the agency the Grand Canyon Trust would purchase cattle and begin grazing them if the BLM declared the permits open. When that happened, the environmental group withdrew the relinquishment offer and purchased a minimal number of cattle to graze the permits. The counties challenged the Trust's ability to withdraw the relinquishment requests. They also argued that the conservation group had no standing as a buyer, both because it was not engaged in grazing and had no "intent to graze." And it challenged the BLM's ability to close grazing permits because of "conservation use." Heffernan struck down virtually all of the claims. The judge ruled that because the Trust never formally submitted relinquishment requests, it had the right "to retain its grazing privileges." Heffernan also wrote that there is no statutory language which imposes an "intent to graze test" on applicants or stipulates that they must be a grazing entity. And he upheld the agency's ability to close off "areas of environmental concern" under its multiple use mandate....
Families want to work with Park Service to retain use of cabins Stuart Sivertson's grandfather began commercial fishing on Isle Royale in the 1890s. For decades, Severin Sivertsen hauled in tons of lake trout, whitefish and herring from the reefs surrounding the island, which became a national park in 1940. Commercial fishermen and their families once lived on the island, as did miners, summer vacationers and the cottage crowd. Primitive cabins and camps once dotted the shores. Today, the only permanent residents on the mostly wilderness island are moose and wolves. But the families of the island's settlers are hoping to forge a partnership with the National Park Service that would allow them to use the cabins their grandfathers built. ``We can help other people enjoy the island,'' said Sivertson, 65. He visits the island every summer, and enjoys working with the last active commercial fishery there. About 30 members of the Isle Royale Families and Friends Association gathered in Duluth this weekend to begin forging a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to retain their place in history. They argue that families who built primitive cabins on the island before it became a national park are part of the island's cultural history and deserve to stay....
Canyon overflights get open house -- again Two decades and multiple lawsuits after Congress ordered natural quiet restored to the Grand Canyon, the Park Service announced Wednesday it is seeking new suggestions for how to do it. Commercial pilots, tribes and environmentalists are hoping this time will be the charm in resolving a longstanding dispute about whether there is too much noise over the Grand Canyon and, if so, what to do about it. Air tour routes, flight schedules and other regulations that will ultimately determine the fortunes of those who make a living flying over the canyon are up for negotiation. A decision is expected in 2008. Previous negotiations have failed amid lawsuits and turf wars between the Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration....
Liberals' Energy Policy: Obstruct Supply, Marvel at Price High energy costs are a mystery. It seems like no matter how much we prohibit domestic energy production, energy prices just keep going up -- and we just keep getting more dependent on foreign sources. There is no law of economics that can explain it, no hypothetical relationship between supply and demand that could predict price. Bill O’Reilly must be right. High prices must be the result of a secret plot by big oil, or perhaps the freemasons. Well, that’s one explanation. Or we could consider a radical alternative: energy prices are high because Americans object to every possible source of energy known to mankind. Energy, it seems, is icky. Not so icky that we want to use less of it, mind you. But icky enough that we don’t want to make it ourselves. Instead, we fantasize about utopian energy sources of “the future,” and pay through the nose today for limited supplies of foreign energy that originate in the most backward, unstable, and faraway places imaginable. For example, there is oil off the coast of California, but we will not drill for it for fear of disrupting Barbra Streisand’s Feng Shui. We pretend that it is concern for the environment that stops the drilling, but does anyone really believe that it is more dangerous to transport oil for a few miles from an offshore rig to the coast than it is to transport oil from 10,000 miles away to the same coast?....
Military eyes more state airspace The Air Force has proposed creating a military operations area in the skies over eastern Nevada, sparking concern among local government and business leaders that airspace restrictions could pull the plug on two power plants and a wind farm. The plan to add a 2,400-square-mile training zone over White Pine and Elko counties would tighten the military's grasp of Nevada skies, where experts estimate as much as half the airspace is subject to government flight controls. Down below, some Nevada officials fear the new training area might jeopardize plans for coal-fired plants, a wind farm and a 250-mile transmission line that could unify the state's electricity grid while delivering a jolt to the region's sluggish economy. "The county would like to see that (military) proposal dropped," said White Pine economic development coordinator Karen Rajala. Ely Airport Manager Dan Callaghan pronounced the Air Force plan "devastating." Officials at Hill Air Force Base in Utah said commercial flights would be limited during F-16 fighter jet training missions. Exercises would be scheduled when pilots' usual practice site at the Utah Test and Training Range is being used for cruise missile tests, they said....
New Deal Eases Fines for Farms That Pollute The Bush administration will exempt thousands of farms that raise poultry, cattle and hogs from heavy fines for fouling the air and water with animal excrement in exchange for data to help curb future pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency has signed agreements with 2,681 animal feeding operations in the egg, chicken, turkey, dairy and hog industries. They would be exempt from having to pay potential fines of up to $27,500 a day for violations either in the past or over the next four years. On Monday, the agency said its Environmental Appeals Board had approved the first 20 of those agreements, selecting accords it thought were representative of the whole. Ten are with swine-raising operations and 10 with operations that raise egg-laying birds. The board said it had determined that the agreements were consistent with the Clean Air Act. Agency officials said the approvals set the stage for the remaining agreements to gain approval quickly....
New film shows Lewis and Clark's impact on Nez Perce A new documentary aims to show that the Lewis and Clark Expedition not only left a lasting footprint on America 200 years ago, but made a dramatic impression on the lives of the Nez Perce people in Idaho. The 28-minute documentary, "Surviving Lewis and Clark: the Nimiipuu Story," describes the Corps of Discovery from the perspective of native people who encountered the explorers as they headed for the Pacific. It recreates the first meeting betweent the visitors and the tribe, as well as the impact of the visit over the two centuries since then. Tribal members say it's not just another documentary about the trek by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their support staff. The $50,000 film was produced through a National Park Service grant matched by the college and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail....
It's All Trew: Technology opens many doors During the last 100 years many things have changed our lives and the way we operate. One of the most drastic changes, especially among rural folks, came when four-legged horsepower changed to gasoline power. At first glance, farmers merely changed from horses to tractors and city people changed from buggies to automobiles. A deeper study shows the changes went much deeper and more drastic as normal occupations and trades became obsolete and no longer needed. To survive, lifelong tradesmen had to learn a different trade or change their often “handed-down” occupation. For example, livery stables, harness makers and farriers were no longer needed. Old-time horse traders and businesses selling wagons, wagon parts and horse-drawn machinery were suddenly left with obsolete inventory and disinterest by former customers. The changes came so suddenly many formerly successful business men went broke before realizing the changes were permanent....

Monday, January 30, 2006

FLE

Border law enforcement, civilians say military incursions common

Behind the war of words between Mexico and the United States concerning military incursions, the people who live and work along the border tell stories of helicopters, soldiers and dangerous encounters. A survey by the Daily Bulletin of border-area county and city law enforcement officers found a variety of experiences involving what some believe is activity by the Mexican military in the United States. On Monday, local law enforcement and Border Patrol agents had an armed standoff 50 miles east of El Paso with what they said they believed were Mexican soldiers. No shots were fired and the soldiers retreated back across the Rio Grande. Residents and lawmen along the border have reported similar stories for more than 10 years, said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a member of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, a group of 16 departments along the border, said incidents similar to the standoff near Sierra Blanca are common. But, he said, some are worse than others. On March 3, 2005, a special task force investigating reports of Mexican soldiers crossing the border encountered what appeared to be a military incursion. "These individuals were wearing (battle dress uniforms), very clean-cut and in good physical condition," Gonzalez said. "They were walking in with backpacks and long-armed weapons inside our border." That night, 18 miles southeast of Laredo, Texas, the task force, which was made up of people from more than three law enforcement agencies, conducted a stakeout for what they said they believed were Mexican military. The group hid in the brush near an old gravel path called Caliche Road and waited, Gonzalez said. Later that night, one of Gonzalez's deputies spotted a group of five men in fatigues scouring the brush. Minutes later, more than 20 men followed them, dressed in military fatigues, wearing backpacks and armed with machine guns....

Gang plots border attack

Members of a violent international gang working for drug cartels in Central and South America are planning coordinated attacks along the U.S. border with Mexico, according to a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by the Daily Bulletin. Detailed inside a Jan. 20 officer safety alert, the plot's ultimate goal is to "begin gaining control of areas, cities and regions within the U.S." The information comes from the interrogation of a captured member of Mara Savatrucha, or MS-13, a transnational criminal syndicate born from displaced El Salvadoran death squads from the 1980s. The MS-13 member, who claimed to have smuggled cocaine for the Gulf Cartel, explained a plan to amass MS-13 members in Mexican border towns such as Nuevo Laredo, Acuna, Ojinaga and Juarez. The Gulf Cartel runs its drug smuggling operations from Del Rio, Texas, to south of Matamoros, Mexico. "After enough members have been pre-positioned along the border, a coordinated attack using firearms was to commence against all law enforcement, to include Border Patrol," the alert states. Law enforcement officials along the border said they had not received the alert. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County in Texas said he was angry about the alert because he has never received information from the Department of Homeland Security about this or any other threat along the Texas border....

Alert says 5 Mexicans headed to S.F. to sell explosives to Iraqi

Despite assurances from government officials that the border with Mexico is secure, a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by the Daily Bulletin reveals that law enforcement officials are seeking five Mexican nationals suspected of bringing explosives into the United States. The internal "Intelligence Alert" from the Office of Border Patrol -- issued to law enforcement officials Jan. 12 -- stated that the Mexican nationals were heading to San Francisco to sell the explosives. But Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the document is an internal memo and that there are doubts to the credibility of the threat. "The source stated that five individuals would attempt entry by foot with an unknown quantity of plastic explosives hidden in the soles of their shoes. The report indicated the group's final destination is San Francisco. Once in the city, they are to sell the explosives to an unknown Iraqi national," the memo stated. On Jan. 11, at about 5 p.m., Tucson, Ariz.-sector headquarters received information from a "source of unknown reliability" that the five individuals would travel from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, en route to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, according to the document....

Mexico Official Arrested For Human Smuggling

The Border Patrol has arrested a Mexican immigration official caught traveling in the U-S with a group of undocumented migrants. Authorities say the 43-year-old man could be charged with human smuggling. Immigration agent Francisco Javier Gutierrez was stopped yesterday at a checkpoint near Alamogordo, New Mexico, about 80 miles north of the Mexican border. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier says Gutierrez was traveling with three Mexican citizens who are believed to have sneaked into the U-S. All four detainees are held by the Border Patrol in El Paso pending charges. The Mexican government has promised to cooperate in the investigation of Gutierrez....

Former Border Patrol agent pleads guilty to human smuggling

An illegal immigrant pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to smuggle people into the United States while working as a Border Patrol agent, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, admitted to conspiring to smuggle at least 100 people when assigned to the Border Patrol's El Cajon station, east of San Diego. He also pleaded guilty to making a false claim to U.S. citizenship. Ortiz applied for the Border Patrol job in 2001 with a fake birth certificate that said he was born in Chicago even though he is a Mexican citizen who was born in Tijuana, Mexico, according to the federal complaint. He resigned after his arrest in August. "Ortiz became a Border Patrol agent through fraud, and his conduct threatened the security of the community," said Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney in San Diego. According to prosecutors, Ortiz began smuggling people in his Border Patrol vehicle in 2004, picking up four or five people at a time in his area of patrol and driving them farther inside the United States....

DHS asks industry to help secure borders

Homeland Security Department officials said last week they are open to ideas from the private sector on improving the nation's border security, including outsourcing work currently done by government employees and using satellites to monitor remote regions. Hundreds of representatives from private companies crammed into an auditorium at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington Thursday for a presentation on the department's multibillion-dollar Secure Border Initiative. "This is an unusual invitation," Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told the crowd. "We're asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business." The initiative will replace and expand upon previous efforts that failed to materialize, namely the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System and America's Shield Initiative. The difference this time is that DHS plans to develop a comprehensive border security approach that integrates surveillance technology, physical infrastructure, personnel and processes, department officials said....

Ohio sheriff bills U.S. government for jailed illegals

An Ohio sheriff has billed the Department of Homeland Security $125,000 for the cost of jailing illegal aliens arrested on criminal charges in his county, saying he's angry that the federal government has failed in its responsibility to keep them out of the United States. Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones yesterday said that although the government may not be legally obligated to pay the three bills he has sent since November, he intends to send similar ones every month until the federal government gains control of the border. He said 900 foreign-born inmates have been booked into the crowded Butler County jail in the past year. "Why should Butler County taxpayers have to pay for jail costs associated with people we don't believe should ever have been in this country, let alone this state or county, to begin with?" Sheriff Jones said. "They are in my jail because they have committed crimes here. "It's time the federal government should at least pay for the criminals they let stay here," he said. "If they don't want to pay for them, then they can deport them."....

NSA Expands, Centralizes Domestic Spying

The National Security Agency is in the process of building a new warning hub and data warehouse in the Denver area, realigning much of its workforce from Ft. Meade, Maryland to Colorado. The Denver Post reported last week that NSA was moving some of its operations to the Denver suburb of Aurora. On the surface, the NSA move seems to be a management and cost cutting measure, part of a post-9/11 decentralization. "This strategy better aligns support to national decision makers and combatant commanders," an NSA spokesman told the Denver paper. In truth, NSA is aligning its growing domestic eavesdropping operations -- what the administration calls "terrorist warning" in its current PR campaign -- with military homeland defense organizations, as well as the CIA's new domestic operations Colorado. Translation: Hey Congress, Colorado is now the American epicenter for national domestic spying. In May, Dana Priest reported here in The Washington Post that the CIA was planning to shift much of its domestic operations to Aurora, Colorado. The move of the CIA's National Resources Division was then described as being undertaken "for operational reasons." The Division is responsible for exploiting the knowledge of U.S. citizens and foreigners in the United States who might have unique information about foreign countries and terrorist activities. The functions extend from engaging Iraqi or Iranian Americans in covert operations to develop information and networks in their home countries to recruiting foreign students and visitors to be American spies. Aurora is already a reconnaissance satellite downlink and analytic center focusing on domestic warning. The NSA and CIA join U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in Colorado. NORTHCOM is post 9/11 the U.S. military command responsible for homeland defense. The new NSA operation is located at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, at a facility commonly known as the Aerospace Data Facility. According to Government Executive Magazine -- thanks DP -- "NSA is building a massive data storage facility in Colorado, which will be able to hold the electronic equivalent of the Library of Congress every two days." This new NSA data warehouse is the hub of "data mining" and analysis development, allowing the eavesdropping agency to develop and make better use of the unbelievabytes of data it collects but does not exploit. Part of the move to Denver, Government Executive reported, was to expand NSA's base of contractors able to support its increasingly complex intelligence extraction mission....

Senate Must Reject Cybercrime Treaty

An internationalist assault on the sovereignty of the United States and the privacy of U.S. citizens is currently awaiting action by the full Senate. The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime is being aggressively pushed by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), who reported the treaty out from his committee in early November. That should come as little surprise, in that Lugar has also been a leading proponent of the better-known Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), another key building-block in the structure of world government. Originally conceived as a tool to facilitate international cooperation in the pursuit of computer hackers and the like, the Cybercrime Treaty evolved during 15 years of negotiations to encompass any criminal offense that involves electronic evidence -- which in the 21st century is essentially limitless. As written, it could require more surveillance on Americans who have been accused of violating the laws of foreign countries -- even if they haven’t violated U.S. law. Treaty cheerleaders paint menacing pictures of hackers and child pornographers. But in reality the Convention is drafted so broadly that it encompasses virtually every area of law where the possibility exists of computerized evidence. That could affect thousands of innocent people, including not only political dissidents, but also the politically incorrect. Fortunately, one heroic, albeit currently anonymous, conservative senator has placed a “hold” on this Cybercrime Convention, a procedural maneuver that prevents an immediate, unannounced vote on the floor of the whole Senate. Conservatives concerned with sovereignty and the Bill of Rights need to both become aware and raise others’ awareness of the dangers posed by the Cybercrime Treaty, lest the Senate acquiesce in this subjugation of Americans to European-style “hate speech” laws through an electronic back door....
NEWS ROUNDUP

Federal Hunt in Arizona Kills 200 Coyotes Federal authorities have killed 200 coyotes in southeast Arizona in the past three weeks after ranchers complained that they were eating calves. The hunt, which ended Friday, was conducted from aircraft as part of a program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The shootings took place on private and public land used by 10 to 15 ranchers, the Arizona Daily Star reported Sunday. No documentation was available last week on how many calves had been killed, but the government said it has confirmed losses. Rancher Rex Dalton said every lost calf costs him $500 to $650 _ the amount it could have fetched if it lived to maturity."I have seen coyotes attack my calves three times," Dalton said. "I've also seen others with their tails or noses chewed off." Environmentalists were upset that the government gave no advance public notice. They call the program inhumane and ineffective....
Federal agents shoot two Idaho wolves after cattle killed
Federal agents in an airplane shot two wolves from a pack believed to have been preying on livestock in central Idaho, the first kills since state officials took over management of the predators earlier this month. The adult male and female killed on Jan. 19 were from the Buffalo Ridge Pack. On Jan. 15, members of the pack killed at least one calf in the pasture of a rancher in the Challis area near the Salmon River, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents in Idaho told The Associated Press. Wolf tracks were found around the carcass, the federal predator-control agency said. Although the state Department of Fish and Game assumed day-to-day management of Idaho’s 600 wolves from the U.S. Department of Interior as of Jan. 5, the federal government still assists the state with wolf predator control. Idaho wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, but can be shot legally if they are preying on livestock....
Solutions hard to find in Yellowstone bison controversy In the early 1980s, the Church Universal and Triumphant and the Fund for Animals struck an unusual bargain. The New Age religious sect and the animal-rights group put up a jackleg fence on the church's property along the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The goal was to fence in the park's wandering bison. It didn't work. Big bulls tore holes in the fence, while groups of cows and calves that tried to reenter the park found themselves locked out. National Park Service officials didn't like the idea of fencing the park -- they feared it would interfere with other wildlife -- but there wasn't much they could do about it. After a couple years, CUT and the Fund for Animals had a falling out. By the early 1990s, park rangers and Montana officials found a new use for the fence: it became a convenient gunrest when they shot bison trying to return to the park in the mornings, after grazing on church property at night. Welcome to bison management, a world of shifting alliances and evolving policies, a place where passions run high and solutions are hard to find....
Ranchers provide landmark boost to wild fish A recent agreement with a third-generation ranch family on the Middle Fork of the John Day River to provide more water for fish in the summer is the most significant water transaction in the 12-year history of the Oregon Water Trust, said Executive Director Fritz Paulus. OWT’s mission is to restore surface water flows for healthier streams in Oregon by using cooperative, free-market solutions, Paulus said. “We’ve had other significant agreements,” he said, “but it’s the amount of water, the place and the ecological benefit that makes this special.” In exchange for an undisclosed payment from OWT, ranchers Pat and Hedy Voigt have agreed to permanently shorten their irrigation season by 40 percent to leave water instream in late summer when fish need it most. Beginning on July 21 every year, 10 cubic-feet-per-second of additional water — or nearly 6.5 million gallons a day — will flow into the Middle Fork....
Wolverines: Mystery wrapped in muscle The slow and steady ring of steel on steel cracked winter's silence, hammer rising and falling with measured cadence as Rick Yates drove the great spike straight through a frozen beaver. “Beaver's best,” he said between blows. “Lot's of fat and stink. They come with the tails on, usually.” Yates is the lead field biologist on a project to study wolverines, and the beaver is his bait. He skied into this remote corner of Glacier National Park with carcass in tow, rattling along behind in a makeshift plastic sled. He crossed through dark subalpine forest, over plank bridges, down snowy slopes and across the frozen expanse of Swiftcurrent Lake to this protected place in the trees, where he kneels, hammer in hand, over the beaver. Nearby sits a tiny log cabin, about 6-by-3 and 4 feet tall. No windows, no doors; just a 200-pound log lid strapped to a contraption of levers and cables. It is a wolverine trap. Wire, threaded through the hole Yates is pounding into his bait, fastens the beaver inside, at the back of the trap. When the wolverine climbs in and tugs on the meat, the wire releases a pair of vice grips, which releases a cable, which releases the lid, which drops into place with a startling bang. He uses log traps because an ensnared wolverine, in its dogged ferocity, would snap its teeth trying to chew out of a metal trap. But the problem with this cabin is, if you don't let him out soon enough, a wolverine will just eat his way out through 8-inch logs and amble off about his business. “They're all teeth and muscle,” Yates marvels....
Tortoise plan crawling toward finish line After nearly two decades of study, a delicate balancing act to expand military maneuvers at Fort Irwin while protecting habitat of the endangered desert tortoise is nearing completion. The Army has issued a revised version of an environmental-impact statement for the proposed 118,000-acre expansion of its National Training Center at Fort Irwin. Other alternatives in the plan provide for adding 150,500 to 185,300 acres for military maneuvers. Congress has authorized spending $75 million to acquire land for tortoise habitat lost due to expansion of training into Superior Valley, a prime habitat area on the fort's west edge. Public comments on the document will be accepted until Feb. 18. Expansion of the 642,000-acre fort, 37 miles northeast of Barstow, will enable the Army to train additional brigades with the most modern high-tech weaponry, military officials say....
Potential reservoir sites studied along Columbia The year was 1929. The tall sagebrush at the far end of Central Washington's Moses Coulee hinted at a generous water supply and good soil, despite the arid habitat, so the Billingsley family settled in. It hasn't always been easy raising cattle in the stark environment, but the one thing the Billingsleys haven't had to worry about all those years is water. They've had plenty to get by. Water could pose a different threat if Moses Coulee becomes the site of a new reservoir to store Columbia River water for dry years. A new study for the state and federal government narrowed a list of potential reservoir sites to 11, including a 20-mile-long reservoir that would flood the tiny post office, elementary school and farm-family homes that make up Palisades....
Platte River recovery Colorado will ante up nearly $24 million to buy land and secure water for endangered birds and fish that rely on the Platte River in Nebraska. The hard-fought agreement with Nebraska, Wyoming and the federal government allows water utilities from Denver to Fort Collins to meet their obligations to protect four endangered species on the waterway: three birds - whooping cranes, piping plovers and interior least terns - and one fish - the pallid sturgeon. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, which is overseeing Colorado's role, approved the financing plan last week and expects the agreement to be signed by the governors of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. Department of the Interior secretary, in October. The idea is to lease or purchase some 10,000 acres of land and use water from federal reservoirs in Wyoming and Nebraska's Lake McConaughey, as well as some from Colorado, to replenish the river's flows in a stretch of the Platte near Kearney, Neb....
Judge says Colorado River fish plan inadequate A federal judge has ruled that a recovery plan for an endangered Colorado River fish isn't good enough. U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone rejected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan for the humpback chub, ruling it didn't lay out a timeline for the fish population's recovery and didn't allocate any money to get the job done. The lawsuit brought by the environmental groups Grand Canyon Trust and Earthjustice sought a more comprehensive recovery plan and argued that the federal government had not met the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. ''I'd say it's a pretty big win for people who care about the fish because the recovery goals were being misused,'' said Nikolai Ramsey of the Grand Canyon Trust. The government must now rewrite the plan to include more specific goals and lay out a timeline for recovery. The humpback chub population in the Grand Canyon has gone down by about two-thirds in the past 13 years, from 10,500 in 1989 to 3,500 in 2002....
Agency refuses to protect songbird The Black Hills population of American dipper songbirds will not be listed as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. The agency on Thursday rejected a request from four environmental groups for an emergency listing under the Endangered Species Act. The petition did not prove that Black Hills dippers were a “distinct population segment,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said. Jeremy Nichols of the Wyoming-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said his group would challenge the finding in federal court. Pete Gober of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Pierre agreed that the Black Hills population of dippers was small, but he said the population here “wasn’t unique enough” to be critical to the survival of the species as a whole, in part because American dippers were common along mountain streams throughout the West....
Editorial: Bill goes too far on drilling deals With the boom in oil and gas drilling, some kind of legislation may be needed to mediate the relationship between those who own the surface rights and those who own the mineral rights. But it's not House Bill 1185 as introduced. The measure is akin to the first demand by a union in labor negotiations. It's a wish list that bears little relation to reality. Even those who testified on behalf of H.B. 1185 this week at a House hearing conceded that most energy producers are responsible, working out a surface use agreement with the landowner before beginning to drill - even though one isn't legally required. It's the occasional bad apple that bothers them, the company that makes no effort to minimize damage to the crops, the animals, the view. To catch the bad drillers, the bill would punish them all and thus discourage the oil and gas production the nation needs to keep the price of energy as low as possible....
Off-site mitigation would be first for Wyo Many believe $24.5 million to improve habitat around the Jonah natural gas field outside Pinedale would be helpful, but some are questioning how much an improvement there will be. Linda Baker with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition said EnCana Oil and Gas Inc.'s pledge of the millions in exchange for large-scale drilling may not go far, as the habitat outside Jonah appears to be "in pretty good shape." "There's place for some degree of success with off-site mitigation," Baker said. But she said habitat outside Jonah supports one of the country's largest populations of mule deer and antelope and a cattle industry. "There's no indication of to what degree mitigation will occur, what they will do and how far beyond they will improve it," she said. Off-site mitigation was voluntarily proposed by EnCana. The company offered varying amounts based on how much surface area it could disturb on the 31,000-acre Jonah Field. More on-site disturbance -- like that proposed in the Bureau of Land Management's preferred alternative -- meant more off-site mitigation money. Less total disturbed acres on the field meant the company was engaging in on-site mitigation, coming at a price on site, according to EnCana....
BLM may delay auction of leases Communities in western Colorado, where energy development is booming, have gained support from the state’s congressional delegation as they try to keep drilling out of areas that supply their drinking water. Palisade and Grand Junction are protesting plans to sell federal oil and gas leases in their watersheds at a Bureau of Land Management auction Feb. 9. Democrats Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar have asked the BLM to postpone any action so the potential effects on the springs and other water sources can be studied. “We need to take the time to do this the right way,” said John Salazar, whose district includes the two communities. The 10 parcels totaling 16,500 acres on the Grand Mesa include about 70 percent of Palisade’s watershed and are among 167,345 acres the BLM will offer for lease. Most of the land is in western Colorado, where much of the state’s record natural gas production is taking place....
BLM defers Otero Mesa lease The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday afternoon that is deferring a lease sold in July last year for oil and gas drilling on the Bennett Ranch Unit of Otero Mesa. BLM's decision has been the subject of legal action, including an April 23 lawsuit brought by the state of New Mexico that seeks to challenge the federal government's decision to open the mesa to drilling. Environmental groups filed a separate suit, alleging BLM failed to adequately evaluate the impact of drilling on the environment. BLM said Thursday will hold off until Feb. 15 this year as part of an agreement to accelerate the hearing schedule at the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque....
BLM returned $700,000 in Nevada mine cleanup funds While state and federal regulators were scrambling to find money to start cleaning up one of Nevada's most contaminated mines, the Bureau of Land Management returned $700,000 that had been earmarked for the job that may end up costing more than $100 million, documents show. BLM officials in Nevada told agency budget officers in November 2004 the $700,000 wasn't needed because one of the responsible parties, Atlantic Richfield Co., had agreed to do additional monitoring of air and water pollution at the former Anaconda copper mine on the edge of Yerington, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Since then, however, Atlantic Richfield has come under fire from local residents for failing to adequately address the contamination, which includes numerous heavy metals and radioactive waste apparently produced as a byproduct of the copper processing decades ago. Critics say the new disclosure raises questions about BLM's claims it lacks the funds needed to put up new fences and boost security at the 6-square-mile mine....
Eco-vigilantes: All in 'The Family?' The group called itself "The Family." After meticulously casing a horsemeat packing plant in Redmond, Ore., they made a firebomb using soap and petroleum products (a napalm-like substance known as "vegan Jell-O") and a time-delayed incendiary device called a "Cat's Cradle." Arriving at the staging area after dark, they dressed in dark clothing, masks, and gloves, and checked their walkie-talkies and police radio scanner. Quietly, they crept through the sagebrush toward the target. They drilled holes through the wall so the fuel would pour into the building. Then, they set the firebomb against the wall and retreated to the staging area. There, they dumped their dark clothes and shoes into a hole and poured in acid to destroy DNA and other evidence. By the time the packing plant, Cavel West, Inc., was engulfed in flames, "The Family" had vanished into the night. Five days later, through an anonymous communiqué, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took credit for the fire that destroyed the facility in July of 1997. But it would be years before the alleged plotters were apprehended. And until then, according to a 65-count indictment announced last week by the US Justice Department, the 11-member group of activists launched 17 similar attacks across Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, and California in what authorities consider one of the most extensive campaigns of "ecoterrorism" in US history....
Some cattle brand inspectors get the boot The North Dakota Stockmen's Association has informed more than 30 local cattle brand inspectors it no longer needs their work, a move that some inspectors say may be motivated by policy disagreements. Rod Froelich, a Selfridge rancher and state legislator, said he was told he was being dropped because he doesn't inspect many cattle. However, the closest nearby inspector does even less, and he was not terminated, Froelich said. He has been critical of how the Stockmen's Association selects members of its board of directors, which represent six districts but are elected at large. Froelich compared the procedure to allowing Fargo voters to pick legislators for his rural southwestern district, which includes Grant and Sioux counties and parts of Morton and Hettinger counties. "This is a vendetta, because I spoke out against them," Froelich said. "What about free speech? They're saying they can't have Rod working for them, while he's badmouthing the Stockmen's Association."....
USDA backs off on centralized database and mandatory ID There won’t be a mandatory U.S. animal identification program by 2009, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dropped a 6-month-old plan for contracting with a privatized central database to launch the cattle segment of ID. That’s the message Neil Hammerschmidt, the USDA’s National Animal Identification System coordinator, brought last week to Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America. “We won on ID,” R-CALF President Chuck Kiker said after listening to Hammerschmidt’s presentation Jan. 20. R-CALF and other ID critics questioned the USDA’s intention to concentrate the data with a system the rival National Cattlemen’s Beef Association organized, then spun off as a free-standing nonprofit organization. The U.S. Animal Identification Organization, a consortium pushed by the NCBA, formed Jan. 10. Apparently, it won’t handle all of the ID action that promises to unfold in coming years. He told R-CALF members that on the practical side it would take 2 to 2 1/2 years for USDA to write and get public comment on complex rules needed to implement a mandatory ID scheme....
Mooing tax breaks annoy appraisers Steve Maland rides herd on 400 cattle, yet he doesn't have an acre of pastureland to his name. The Windermere resident's cattle are spread across 6,000 acres in four Central Florida counties. Their hooves on the ground allow Maland's clients -- mostly developers and land speculators -- to cash in on controversial loopholes in the state "greenbelt" law that grants tax breaks for agricultural businesses. In return, Maland and his partners get grazing rights on pastureland that they could not afford to buy. "There is a symbiotic relationship in our service," Maland said. "If a landowner is staring down the barrel of the tax gun, he might see what we do as beneficial." Maland's niche business is legal, but county property appraisers throughout Florida say developers and land speculators are abusing the agriculture exemptions and want it stopped....
Rural lifestyle shrinking in Summit County Spilling down the eastern slope of the Wasatch Range is this resort town, home to the Sundance Film Festival and all of the celebrities and paparazzi that come with it. Even farther to the east of Park City and its ski resorts are rural communities set in the canyons and lowlands of the western Uinta Mountains. That gives Summit County two distinct characters: the Park City cognoscenti and the men and women who work from sunrise to sundown in places like Oakley, Woodland, Kamas and Coalville. And many of those longtime residents who grew up in the small-town way wonder how long it will be before the Park City phenomenon heads east and drives them out, much like the cows they now herd on quiet country roads....
He knows the ropes The sun breaking over the barns reveals the bustling of boots and hooves, trailers and pickups. The sounds of bleating sheep and bellowing cattle mingle with chattering teens on cellphones.Days like these are the lifeblood of the Fort Worth stock show and the passion of W.R. Watt Jr. W.R. Watt Jr. is the current patriarch of the Fort Worth stock show family. His father ran the show for nearly 30 years before the reins were passed. The rodeo and the midway may be more colorful. But Mr. Watt looks forward to kids and families grooming animals in their stalls and greeting one another with a familiar slap on the back. The show's longtime president and general manager ensures that core values of family and tradition are showcased using an increasingly rare Old West approach: Treat others well and they'll come back. You're only as good as those you work with. Expect things done right and people will deliver. Called "Bob" by some, Mr. Watt is the current patriarch of the stock show family. His father ran the show for more than 30 years. Now, almost 30 years into his own tenure, Mr. Watt stages the city's signature event with a quiet, unassuming manner....
A gritty cowboy tale of pain, love Blackbelly By Heather Sharfeddin Bridge Works. 240 pp. $21.95 You've heard of the gritty city novel? Here's a good old-fashioned cowboy tale that's as gritty as they come. Chas lives on the Idaho sheep ranch his father gave him. He lives alone (but for his magnificent long-haired blackbelly sheep), drinks a lot of whiskey, and has a lot of regrets. For months now he's been looking for a nurse so he can bring his father back from a nursing home - where he's wasting away with Parkinson's - to the ranch to die. It's been hard finding a woman willing to come to this out-of-the-way place, especially since Chas is so crusty and mean. The idea of being stuck out here with this disagreeable, dirt-encrusted dude in the middle of nowhere - the closest town a place called Salmon City - wouldn't appeal to most women. In fact, after spending his life reluctantly raising and slaughtering sheep when he dreamed instead of seeing the world, Chas isn't too thrilled about it, either. Enter Mattie, a woman from Spokane with some secret regrets of her own. At first she's somewhat appalled at the dilapidated state of the place. But she's ready, for an as-yet-unknown reason, to make a fresh start far from home....
Off the hoof One 40-pound dog versus 100 skittish, kicking, 600-pound steers doesn't sound like the odds are stacked very well in Fido's favor. But in the world of cattle ranching, one well-trained border collie can hold his or her own against nearly three times that number. For hundreds of ranchers and cow dog enthusiasts Friday at the 65th annual Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale at the Tehama District Fair grounds, that ratio between dogs and cattle can mean big dollars. At an auction of 20 of the nation's top cow dogs Friday, one animal, a 2-year-old border collie named Maude, was sold for $15,500. The dog that drew the lowest bid sold for $2,000. A few thousand dollars is a small price to pay for a dog that drastically can cut the cost of labor when it comes time for a rancher to round up a herd....
On the Edge of Common Sense: For this ol' cowboy there ain't nothin' like a woman in chaps There's something oh, so charming about girls basketball/Or lawyers wearing pantyhose or sweethearts with a drawl/I like doctors with mascara and with painted fingernails/And flirty flight attendants with their pretty ponytails/There's school marms in the classroom, some are nice but some are meanies/And hurricanes named Rita and there's models in bikinis/I like pilots wearing lipstick, flying flappers flexing flaps/But in my heart my greatest love is women wearing chaps....

Sunday, January 29, 2006

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Horses I shouldn't have bought

by Julie Carter

As I wind down this series about the refined art of horse trading and those that participate, I would be remiss not to share a few confessions about those horses I shouldn't have bought.

I, meaning me personally or any one of several people I know that should all know better, have been dinged by the horse trader on more than one occasion.

I received a response to the series that very candidly portrayed what I've been saying.

"Last year I bought a horse at the Spring Horse Sale for $900 and sold it at the December sale for $500 and never looked back. I finally got a set of shoes on him before the sale. It took two of us and a lot of drugs. We even gave the horse some. He never learned to neck rein but I did get the buck out of him long enough to sell him. Talk about an outlaw. He sure was perty though!"

I personally bought one of those really "perty" ones that was represented as a "little cinchy once in a while." It wasn't long before I realized I owned a horse that needed a shot of drugs before you could saddle him. He only flipped upside down when you pulled the cinch too tight or too fast and that only happened once in awhile. Sometimes he waited until you were sitting the saddle.

Then there was the big very pretty palomino that was the answer to a dream. It had rained a foot in the Panhandle, something that rarely happens. So when the cowgirl went to look at the horse, he was standing knee deep in mud. She fell in love with him at first sight, wrote the check and trudged him through the mud to the trailer to take him home. On dry ground she could see he was about as pigeon-toed as he could be and still walk. Since it didn't rain again for a long time, it took her awhile to find him a new home.

The other pigeon-toed horse story is much the same except this big gentle giant was standing in knee deep grass in south central Texas. He came with high recommendation for his gentle ways and since his job was to raise four ranch children, he made the trip back to New Mexico. The worst part for momma was trying to explain to her husband why she paid perfectly good money for a horse with front feet that were looking at each other.

Then there was the near sighted barrel racing horse. He could and would turn like a rat in a barrel but the problem was he would do it about 10 feet in front of the barrel. Hard to win a barrel race that way.

And the mare that was bought at the race track with a head exactly like a mule. When the wife took the boss to see the horse, she had the owner back the mare out of the stall. The mare looked like a million bucks --all the way up to and until very long ears.

The sale ring horse that would kick your head off your shoulders if you surprised him went back to the sale ring. Another friend said they have two horses they bought from a trader that will take a trader to get rid of them.

It seems to be human nature to fall for "perty" and ignore every warning signal that sets off alarms in us, telling us to move on, don't buy this one. I think humans have a tendency to pick their life mates the same way. Someone said to me recently that it is easier to abandon a man than it is a horse. You don't have to worry about who is going to feed him.

And the most honest reply I got when asking about the horse they shouldn't have bought was, "Really, almost every horse I ever bought I shouldn't have."

© Julie Carter 2006
OPINION/COMMENTARY

WARRIORS FOR THE WEST RELEASED IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Former United States Attorney General Edwin Meese III today assisted in the launching of William Perry Pendley’s latest book, Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier (Regnery 2006), at a speech and book signing hosted by The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The event was the first in the national release of Warriors for the West, which documents nationally significant litigation by Mountain States Legal Foundation over the last decade and a half. Warriors puts a human face on westerners’ historic and often precedent-setting fights against environmental laws, “lying and cheating” bureaucrats and their ethically challenged lawyers, Clinton’s attacks on logging, mining, and energy exploration, government as a bullying bad neighbor, seizure of “private property” for “public use” without “just compensation,” and more. “These tales are not about victories and defeats but about men and women who, knowing that defeat was likely, undertook the fight anyway because if victory came it would have been worth it, not just for them but for all the others like them,” said William Perry Pendley. “They may not be heroes to everyone, but they are heroes to me.”....

Educational Indoctrination, "Environmental Style"

During my ephemeral teaching career in Los Angeles, there were numerous troubling examples of educational ludicrousness and lunacy. Of all the examples, the environmental "indoctrination" of my students was the most disconcerting. Doubtlessly, California schools' obsession with the environment is incomparable with most other states, but the anecdotal evidence I mentally compiled is striking. It wasn't only that the students were regularly pulled from my class at inopportune times to have the same information ingrained into their ten year-old minds, but rather, that the messages a high percentage of these groups pontificated were that human-beings are inherently bad people, animal killers, and are ruining our once-beautiful earth. Consider the presentation made by a college theater group from UCLA. Showing no interest in a balanced engagement with the issues, the group instead staged a 20-minute play whose theme can be summarized thusly and unfortunately: Once upon a time, the Earth was beautiful. Then humans came and destroyed it. To appreciate the effect of such simplistic narratives on students, consider the reaction of a confused little girl in my classroom. Visibly upset, she approached me after the play to ask: “Are we really ruining the Earth”? I did my best to explain, as objectively as possible, that the reality was a bit more complicated that the play would have her believe. But this had little effect. In case the numerous assemblies by theatre groups and yoga instructors proved inadequate to steeping the kids in environmentalist dogma, there were also field trips designed to achieve the same end. One that will always stand out was the "school journey" ("field trip" is no longer used in education) of choice for most teachers, called “Ocean Day. Organized by the Malibu Foundation, a non-profit group whose declared mission is “creating conservationists” out of school children, it was annual day set aside for environmental activism, or as it is euphemistically called, “in-school environmental education.”....

Arrogant Agencies

Ever notice the vegetation in “our” National Parks? Here in the East the vast majority of vegetation is grasses that are periodically mowed and timber stands that are never cut. Sure there is the exception like “The Cornfield” at Antietam where a vicious battle was fought in a cornfield that is replanted each year and the grain fields at Gettysburg through which Pickett and his men marched to the “copse of trees” and into history. Out west the average vegetation picture is different but basically similar. Uncut tree stands, either overgrazed (by totally “protected” wildlife) or ungrazed (by prohibited domestic animals) grasslands, and (as with all other National Parks) an eclectic mix of plants that are either touted or condemned as suits US National Park budget purposes. In and around all National Parks the wild animal populations are a disgraceful mix of harmful predators (wolves, bears, cougars, coyotes, raccoons, etc.) that are unmanaged and bold due to pet-like treatment in the Park and over-populations of grazing/browsing animals that decimate park vegetation and decrease other wildlife from songbirds to amphibians and reptiles by destroying their habitat. None of these animals or plants is managed in any real sense by the AA (Arrogant Agency) known as the National Park Service. While the nation is well-populated by hunters that would pay to take prescribed numbers of the deer and elk and trappers that would likewise pay to take the predators in ways and places that would not endanger any visitors or undesignated wildlife, such common sense management and revenue generation is never spoken. And the National Park Service gets more lands, more people, and bigger budgets each year....

Friday, January 27, 2006

FLE

Incursions Spark Tension on U.S.-Mexico Border

Armed Mexican government personnel made five unauthorized incursions into the U.S. in the last three months of 2005, according to confidential Department of Homeland Security records. The incursions involved police officers or soldiers in military vehicles and were among 231 such incidents recorded by the U.S. Border Patrol in the past 10 years, the Los Angeles Times reports. "It's clear you're dealing with a large number of incursions by bona-fide Mexican military units, based on the tactics and the equipment being used," said T.J. Bonner, a Border Patrol veteran and president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union. Bonner told the Washington Times that it was "common knowledge" along the border that some Mexican military units, federal and state police and former Mexican soldiers are paid by smugglers to protect shipments of cocaine and other drugs into the U.S. Incidents in the Homeland Security records include Mexican helicopters flying north into U.S. airspace near El Paso, Tex., for about 15 minutes; five Mexican officials armed with assault rifles entering the country near El Centro, Calif., and returning without incident; and two Mexican police officers observed on the U.S. side of the border near Yuma, Ariz. Details of the incidents emerged "as authorities on both sides of the border scrambled to investigate a dangerous confrontation Monday in Texas," the LA Times reported....


Sheriff demands probe of incursions


A Texas border sheriff yesterday demanded that the U.S. and Mexican governments investigate incursions into the United States by heavily armed drug escorts dressed in Mexican military uniforms "before someone gets killed." Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr., who heads the Texas Sheriff's Border Coalition, said a growing number of suspected incursions and violence aimed at the area's law-enforcement officers is making the border "a pretty dangerous place." "We have tried everything we know to make the federal government aware of the problems at the border and how they have affected us," said Sheriff Gonzalez, who has fewer than two dozen deputies to patrol 1,000 square miles, including 60 miles of Texas-Mexico border. "It appears our government is covering this thing up because it just doesn't want to admit there is a problem," he said. "Trade between the United States and Mexico may be more important to Washington than human lives." His comments come in the wake of an incident Monday in which U.S. law-enforcement authorities in Hudspeth County, Texas, confronted several men in Mexican military uniforms who were accompanying drug smugglers. The "soldiers" were in a camouflaged Humvee with a mounted .50-caliber machine gun, said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West. Yesterday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas Republican, said she was "deeply concerned" about the possible incursions and asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to "fully investigate this matter and report to Congress the details and confirm whether or not Mexican military officials were involved. "But make no mistake -- this is only a symptom of a much larger problem," she said. "Even after September 11, our nation's borders remain porous. We must take bold action in securing our borders." The Mexican government has denied that the men in any of the incidents were soldiers, saying that some drug smugglers dress in military-style uniforms, carry automatic weapons and drive military-style vehicles. Sheriff Gonzalez said he could not confirm that the men were soldiers, but said he was skeptical of the denials by the Mexican government. He described the suspected soldiers as "very military looking, clean cut and in good physical condition -- not your average drug smuggler." "When you spot a Humvee with military paint on it and a .50 caliber machine gun, this leads you to suspect that it's not a vehicle being used by drug lords," Sheriff Gonzalez said....


Cover-ups of Mexican military border crossings anger agents


Border patrol agents and other law enforcement officials are angry that Mexican and some U.S. officials refuse to acknowledge that Mexican soldiers are crossing into the United States. Some officials suggested Wednesday that the confrontation between Texas law officers earlier this week was with drug smugglers, not Mexican soldiers assisting narcotics traffickers across the Rio Grande. But a Border Patrol agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said continuous cover-ups by Mexican and U.S. officials have put many agents and American lives in danger. "I think it shows how desperate the situation has become. I think it's insulting to expect Americans to believe what (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael) Chertoff and the Mexican government are saying," the agent said Wednesday. "Isn't it the most reasonable explanation that if men are dressed as soldiers, with military vehicles and mounted machine guns that these guys are soldiers - not some cartel trying to ruin diplomatic relations?" Photos of what appeared to be Mexican troops in the United States during Monday's incident shocked many Americans, although Mexico officials denied the military was involved. But to most Mexicans it just offered further proof that drug traffickers run rampant in the border area in military-style vehicles, wearing uniforms and, in some cases, using military firepower....

Political opposites aligned against Bush wiretaps

Larry Diamond, a Democrat and a Hoover Institution senior fellow, went to Baghdad in 2004 as a consultant for the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority, believing strongly in the Bush administration's goal of building a democracy there. While critical of many aspects of the Iraq war, he has, he says, wholeheartedly supported President Bush's aggressive approach to the war on terror. Grover Norquist is one of the most influential conservative Republicans in Washington. His weekly "Wednesday Meeting" at his L Street office is a must for conservative strategists, and he has been called the "managing director of the hard-core right" by the liberal Nation magazine. Perhaps the country's leading anti-tax enthusiast, he is, like Diamond, a hawk in the war on terror. Despite coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, they agree on one other major issue: that the Bush administration's program of domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency without obtaining court warrants has less to do with the war on terror than with threats to the nation's civil liberties. "My view on the terrorists is that we should find all of them and kill them," said Norquist. "But we should also protect our civil liberties, which the terrorists are trying to destroy." Diamond, whose academic specialty is the building of democracies, has taken his opposition one step further, joining a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last week to halt the president's program....

A Founding Father on presidential powers

The press was barred from the 1787 Constitutional Convention so that the contentious delegates could speak freely. However, James Madison's notes on the debates are a valuable source for our founding origins as a nation. And, in the Federalist Papers, Madison — urging the new Americans to vote to ratify the proposed Constitution — wrote on an issue now being fiercely debated again: the extent of a president's powers. In this case, what George W. Bush claims are his "inherent" constitutional powers in the war on terrorism. The time has come for Madison to enter the present debate. In the Federalist No. 47, Madison said plainly: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." On Dec. 16 — on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" — Bruce Fein, former associate deputy attorney general in President Reagan's administration, and a continually challenging conservative constitutional scholar — explained why this continuing debate on the sweeping powers of "the unitary executive" is the most crucial of all controversies during the Bush presidency so far: "We must protect the Constitution," Fein said, "for those yet to be born — whether (the future) Congress or the White House is controlled by Republicans or Democrats. We need an aggressive fight against terrorism, but we can do it without compromising the Constitution ... If he (George W. Bush) insists he can do anything (against the Bill of Rights) in the war against terrorism, then he is indistinguishable from King George III." That led me to look again at the Declaration of Independence's list of "repeated injuries and usurpations" by King George III, headed by the charge: "He has refused his Assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."....

WHAT IF WIRETAPPING WORKS?

he revelation by The New York Times that the National Security Agency (NSA) is conducting a secret program of electronic surveillance outside the framework of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (fisa) has sparked a hot debate in the press and in the blogosphere. But there is something odd about the debate: It is aridly legal. Civil libertarians contend that the program is illegal, even unconstitutional; some want President Bush impeached for breaking the law. The administration and its defenders have responded that the program is perfectly legal; if it does violate fisa (the administration denies that it does), then, to that extent, the law is unconstitutional. This legal debate is complex, even esoteric. But, apart from a handful of not very impressive anecdotes (did the NSA program really prevent the Brooklyn Bridge from being destroyed by blowtorches?), there has been little discussion of the program's concrete value as a counterterrorism measure or of the inroads it has or has not made on liberty or privacy. Not only are these questions more important to most people than the legal questions; they are fundamental to those questions. Lawyers who are busily debating legality without first trying to assess the consequences of the program have put the cart before the horse. Law in the United States is not a Platonic abstraction but a flexible tool of social policy. In analyzing all but the simplest legal questions, one is well advised to begin by asking what social policies are at stake. Suppose the NSA program is vital to the nation's defense, and its impingements on civil liberties are slight. That would not prove the program's legality, because not every good thing is legal; law and policy are not perfectly aligned. But a conviction that the program had great merit would shape and hone the legal inquiry. We would search harder for grounds to affirm its legality, and, if our search were to fail, at least we would know how to change the law--or how to change the program to make it comply with the law--without destroying its effectiveness. Similarly, if the program's contribution to national security were negligible--as we learn, also from the Times, that some FBI personnel are indiscreetly whispering--and it is undermining our civil liberties, this would push the legal analysis in the opposite direction....

The Legal War On Terror

As it begins in earnest to publicly justify and defend its domestic surveillance program, the White House is couching the controversial initiative in military terms. So "electronic surveillance" now is referred to by Justice Department officials as "signals intelligence activities" and the program itself now is labeled as a "core military" function that acts as an "early-warning system" designed to prevent future terror attacks. Suspected terrorists, meanwhile, are "enemy forces" the warrantless surveillance of whom result from "tactical military decisions" necessary as "a fundamental tool of war." There is no great surprise in this. The best argument President George W. Bush has to support the National Security Agency's surveillance program is that it is a legal and reasonable exercise of his broad constitutional war powers. These powers, the White House asserts, trump any past Congressional effort to limit warrantless surveillance through the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act and any prospective judicial interference in the function. On the eve of Congressional hearings into the legality of the program, the executive branch, you might say, is putting the "war" back into the legal war on terrorism. Last Thursday, two days after two complaints were filed to stop the NSA program, and on the same day that Osama Bin Laden reintroduced himself onto the world scene with the release of a grainy audiotape threatening more violence in America, the Justice Department distributed a 42-page legal analysis and defense of the government's eavesdropping practice. The first time you read the "White Paper," you feel like it is describing a foreign country guided by an unfamiliar constitution. The second time you read the memo, you have plenty of questions, legal and otherwise, about many of the assertions it contains. The third time you read it, you wonder if the conservative Supreme Court won't, in the end, somehow recognize its breathtakingly broad view of executive power. As the Justice Department sees it, the president has the constitutional authority as commander in chief to wiretap anyone in the name of national security during a war. This constitutional authority "to protect the Nation from armed attack," the argument goes, was used to justify warrantless domestic surveillance by Presidents Roosevelt and Truman and was recognized by White House officials during the Carter administration, even as the FISA law was being enacted by Congress. "In exercising his constitutional powers," the Justice Department asserts, "the President has wide discretion, consistent with the Constitution, over the methods of gathering intelligence about the Nation's enemies in a time of armed conflict."....

NSA Accused of Psychologically Abusing Whistleblowers

Five current and former National Security Agency (NSA) employees have told Cybercast News Service that the agency frequently retaliates against whistleblowers by falsely labeling them "delusional," "paranoid" or "psychotic." The intimidation tactics are allegedly used to protect powerful superiors who might be incriminated by damaging information, the whistleblowers say. They also point to a climate of fear that now pervades the agency. Critics warn that because some employees blew the whistle on alleged foreign espionage and criminal activity, the "psychiatric abuse" and subsequent firings are undermining national security. A spokesman for the NSA declined to comment about the allegations contained in this report. The accusations of "Soviet-era tactics" are being made by former NSA intelligence analysts and action officers Russell D. Tice, Diane T. Ring, Thomas G. Reinbold, and a former employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. The allegations have been corroborated by a current NSA officer, who also insisted on anonymity, agreeing only to be referenced as "Agent X." Tice, a former NSA intelligence analyst and action officer, first drew media attention in 2004 after the Pentagon investigated possible retaliation by the NSA against him. The controversy began in early 2001, when Tice reported that a co-worker at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) appeared to be engaged in espionage for China....

Wiretap defense invokes Lincoln, Roosevelt

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that President Bush was following in the tradition of such other wartime presidents as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt when he ordered warrantless domestic wiretaps. Gonzales also reiterated Bush's contention that his order for the surveillance had been implicitly allowed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when it authorized him to use force against al Qaeda. Gonzales, as White House counsel, helped create the Bush-ordered program in 2001 that allows the secret National Security Agency to intercept calls and e-mails within the country that intelligence officials believe are directed to terrorists abroad. The order allows the spying to occur without a warrant from a special court. The attorney general's speech before Georgetown University law students -- some of whom silently protested Gonzales' appearance by turning their backs as he spoke -- was part of an administration campaign to sway public opinion in favor of the spying program. The effort included the release last week of a Justice Department report laying out the legal justification for the program, a Monday speech by the country's No. 2 intelligence official and numerous mentions by the president at his appearances....


In 2002, Justice Department said eavesdropping law working well


A July 2002 Justice Department statement to a Senate committee appears to contradict several key arguments that the Bush administration is making to defend its eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without court warrants. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law governing such operations, was working well, the department said in 2002. A "significant review" would be needed to determine whether FISA's legal requirements for obtaining warrants should be loosened because they hampered counterterrorism efforts, the department said then. President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other top officials now argue that warrantless eavesdropping is necessary in part because complying with the FISA law is too burdensome and impedes the government's ability to rapidly track communications between suspected terrorists. In its 2002 statement, the Justice Department said it opposed a legislative proposal to change FISA to make it easier to obtain warrants that would allow the super-secret National Security Agency to listen in on communications involving non-U.S. citizens inside the United States. Today, senior U.S. officials complain that FISA prevents them from doing that. James A. Baker, the Justice Department's top lawyer on intelligence policy, made the statement before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 31, 2002. He was laying out the department's position on an amendment to FISA proposed by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. The committee rejected DeWine's proposal, leaving FISA intact. So while Congress chose not to weaken FISA in 2002, today Bush and his allies contend that Congress implicitly gave Bush the authority to evade FISA's requirements when it authorized him to use force in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks three days after they occurred - a contention that many lawmakers reject....

“Oogling My Googling”

But there is a larger issue here worth considering. It has become something of an article of faith that technology is always on the side of liberty. In the old Soviet Union, the Xerox machines were chained up at night in order to prevent unauthorized photocopying. (Of course, they weren't called "Xerox machines" but "Glorious People's Photostatic Replicator" or "Trabant Machine" or some such.) The Soviet authorities recognized that information technology was the enemy of totalitarianism. Freedom of the photocopier was not only freedom of the press, but freedom to communicate, which lies at the core of all liberty. The Internet age has seemingly confirmed this. In China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other oppressive regimes, Internet usage is severely policed because the free-flow of information is seen as a threat to the regime. But even if the liberating power of technology is an iron law of history in the long run, that doesn't mean that in the short run technology can't be on the side of oppression — and the short run can last a lifetime. After all, the Soviets used technology to oppress their people for 70 years. Technology brings change and requires adaptation — by the state and the individual alike. It's not obvious how we should view Google searches, for example. Are they like letters or diary entries or something else entirely? It's revealing that no sane person would condone local libraries giving stacks of hardcore porn to little kids. But some Internet voluptuaries see nothing wrong with pretty much the exact same thing over the web....

Make Speeding Impossible?

Now, however, the technology exists for a great leap forward -- or backward, depending on your point of view. The Canadians are testing out a system that pairs onboard Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology with a digital speed limit map. It works very much like the in-car GPS navigation systems that have become so common on late model cars -- but with a twist. Instead of helping you find a destination, the system prevents you from driving any faster than the posted speed limit of the road you happen to be on. As in a conventional GPS-equipped car or truck, the system knows what road you happen to be on, as well as the direction you're traveling. And the information is continuously updating as you move. But in addition to this, the system also acquires information about the speed limit on each road, as you drive. Once your vehicle reaches that limit, the car's computer makes it increasingly difficult to go any faster. And unlike in years past, when a clumsy mechanical device would be used to physically prevent the gas pedal from being depressed all the way (or the carburetor's throttle plates opened fully), vehicle speed can be easily (and much more thoroughly) limited by a modern car's onboard electronics. Indeed, a few new cars -- mostly powerful sports cars -- already have what's known as a "valet key" that's used to significantly cut back available power at the owner's discretion. But in this case, the cutting back would be controlled by Big Momma -- and "I can't drive 55" a toothless battle cry from a bygone era. Ten vehicles equipped with this technology are currently being tested in the Ottawa area; if the trial is "successful," a wider series of tests is planned -- and it's a sure bet the entire thing will eventually be the object of a very strong-armed push to make it mandatory equipment in every new car. It will be sold as a "safety" measure -- just like the 55-mph National Maximum Speed Limit was in this country....
Concern on deer disease

The injection of tissue from leg muscles of deer infected with chronic wasting disease is enough to make susceptible mice sick with the same lethal condition. The finding is evidence that deer muscle harbors this infectious prion protein and that muscle alone can trigger the wasting disease. "We don't know how the infectious prion goes from the central nervous system into the muscle," said Glenn C. Telling of the University of Kentucky, lead investigator of the study that appears in the journal Science. "But it raises the possibility that hunters could be exposed to prions by consuming or handling meat." The infectious prion protein that causes chronic wasting disease in deer and elk has spread across the country, and last year was identified in upstate New York. The scientists say that the finding should be a wake-up call to humans consuming or handling venison. Chronic wasting is not unlike another infectious prion disease that crossed from cows into humans from contaminated beef. Mad cow or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, triggered a lethal disease called variant-Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, which has killed 170 people in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Telling was concerned with growing evidence that animals incubating chronic wasting disease could expose humans to infection through muscle tissue. Using an animal model that carries the gene for the normal prion protein found in deer, they inoculated the mice with tissue from the brains of sick deer. The mice developed chronic wasting disease. This time, Telling and his team wanted to know whether muscle tissue would also trigger a lethal infection. They repeated the same experiment, but injected skeletal muscle instead of brain tissue. The muscle from these deer also harbored infectious prions, and the mice, once again, became sick. "I am not surprised" that the infectious agent is turning up in muscle, said Dr. Paul Brown, a Creutzfeldt Jakob expert. Scientists have not found high levels of infectious protein in the skeletal muscle of sick cows. That it was found in deer muscle is worrisome, Telling said. These diseases have a long incubation period, and if chronic wasting did jump species into humans there is no telling how that disease would present itself, he said. "There is no evidence of CWD transmission to human hunters," CDC medical epidemiologist Dr. Ermias Belay said. "But studies are limited."....
GAO REPORT

National Parks Air Tour Management Act: More Flexibility and Better Enforcement Needed. GAO-06-263, January 27. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-263

Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06263high.pdf
NEWS ROUNDUP

Richard Pombo Faces Green Avalanche Each year, billions of dollars come pouring into environmental NGOs and activist organizations to support campaigns ranging from PCB cleanup to buying fuel for Greenpeace's good ship Esperanza. And lots of this money gets results. But this year, many environmental leaders are saying the best deal for green donors can be found in the congressional election in California's 11th District -- in the campaign to defeat Rep. Richard Pombo, chair of the House Resources Committee. As Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club, puts it, "Investing in Pombo's defeat would be as effective as owning the o's in Google." Tony Massaro, senior vice president for political affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, an organization that pours millions into election races in support of green candidates said of Pombo, "If I were a donor, I would seriously consider contributing in a campaign against him for two reasons: One, he sits on a critical seat of power in the House Resources Committee. Two, unseating Pombo would have more effect than just his absence. The message it would send to the rest of Congress on the public's tolerance for environmental abusers would be loud and clear."....
Landowner laments road-hunting decision The Tripp County rancher who took his challenge of current road-hunting practices to the South Dakota Supreme Court said Wednesday that he was "extremely surprised" and felt "blindsided" by the court's 4-1 ruling against him. But state Game, Fish & Parks Department Secretary John Cooper said the high court's ruling was a well-reasoned clarification of road-hunting rights that could help reduce roadside disputes during future hunting seasons. Clearfield rancher Robert Benson began the lawsuit to challenge a law passed by the 2003 state Legislature that decriminalized a long-standing practice by road hunters of shooting at game birds that get flushed from the public right of way and fly over adjoining private land. The Legislature acted after the high court ruled in 2002 that such actions, under existing state laws, amounted to trespassing. Benson and his wife, Judith, challenged the 2003 law as an unconstitutional taking of their private property. They were joined by landowners Jeff and Tricia Messmer of Wessington Springs. After winning at the circuit court level, Benson said he was confident of favorable ruling by the Supreme Court. But the court rejected the circuit court decision and ruled that the 2003 law did not amount to a property taking....
American Buffalo: The Hunt Is On The Clements aren't the only Montana hunters who feel like they've hit Powerball. This winter, for the first time in over a decade, Montana has allowed a small number of hunters to apply for a license to hunt bison (also known as buffalo), the legendary animal of the plains that was almost hunted to extinction. Buddy Clement was the only member of his family to receive a license. In recent decades, the buffalo population in Yellowstone, one of the last wild buffalo herds in North America, has been restored. It numbers near 5,000, and buffalo wander out of the park in the winter to feed on grass. Montana's cattle ranchers worry that the wandering buffalo could spread brucellosis, a disease that causes cows to abort. Seeking a solution, this winter Montana authorized its first buffalo hunt in 15 years, handing out 50 licenses. In coming years, Montana may increase the number. More than 6,000 hunters, including Gov. Brian Schweitzer and over 100 from out of state, entered a lottery for the licenses. The few winners seemed dumbfounded at their good fortune. (Mr. Schweitzer did not win.) "I thought the chance to hunt buffalo would never come around in my lifetime," said one winner, Darrlyd Pepprock of Stevensville, Mont....
OSU dean regrets treatment of study The dean of Oregon State University's College of Forestry expressed regret that professors attempted to derail a graduate student from getting research published that raised doubts about the Bush administration's post-wildfire logging policy. The student, Daniel Donato, found that forests recover from wildfires best when they are not logged, a notion that conflicts with the administration's decision to log trees that burned in southwest Oregon's Biscuit fire and with a bill in Congress that would speed logging after wildfires. Donato's work was published this month in the journal Science, even though the Oregon State scientists asked the publication not to print the research. The dean, Hal Salwasser, in a letter to the university Thursday, said he should have told the professors to voice their criticism through open scientific debate. He added that he should have congratulated Donato. "Few faculty, let alone graduate students, get their work published in this prestigious journal," wrote Salwasser, who testified in favor of the bill that would accelerate logging after fires....
Bail Possible for Eco-Terrorism Suspect A federal judge took the first steps Thursday to allow bail for an eco-terrorism suspect accused of joining a foiled plot to conduct a Northern California bombing campaign on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front. Magistrate Gregory G. Hollows agreed to release Lauren Weiner, 20, after her parents post a $1.2-million bond and prosecutors are given an opportunity to raise objections. But the judge refused to grant bail to Weiner's two co-defendants, 28-year-old Eric Taylor McDavid and Zachary Jensen, 20. He declared the two men to be flight risks who could pose a danger to society. All three defendants pleaded not guilty Thursday. In a 12-page written ruling, Hollows said that the sizable bail bond posted by Weiner's parents would "supply enough of a hurt or sting" to provide a disincentive to keep the young woman from fleeing underground....
A few Oregon places lose their ‘squaw’ Squaw Flat Canyon: It’s now Carcass Canyon, as it’s been known for decades in Central Oregon. Squaw Creek: Call it Whychus Creek as it flows from the Cascade Range to the Deschutes River. The new name, pronounced “why-choose,’’ means “the place we cross the water.’’ And Squaw Ridge: Henceforth, Hoona Ridge, from a Paiute word for badger. The federal board in charge of place names gave its blessing Thursday to the changes, part of state and federal initiatives to eliminate a word widely considered offensive among American Indians. In all, 16 places in Central Oregon using the word “squaw’’ were changed. That is the largest number from Oregon to be approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a committee of federal officials that dates to 1890 and the administration of Benjamin Harrison....
Wyoming Cloud Seeding Experiment Begins This Month A five-year, $8.8 million pilot project to examine whether seeding clouds with silver iodide produces a measurable increase in snowfall over Wyoming's Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges starts this month with intensive observations of Wyoming snow clouds. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) designed the experiment to evaluate a technique that has been mired in controversy for decades. NCAR and partner institutions are deploying both airborne and ground-based instruments from January 16 to February 13 and again from March 10 to 31 to gather key data for the project. Microwave radiometers are capturing variations in snow-producing clouds over the target areas, including amounts and duration of water vapor and liquid water in the clouds. Instruments at selected sites are tracking precipitation rates, common meteorological variables, background air quality, and ecosystem characteristics. NCAR's partners in the observations include the University of Wyoming, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the Desert Research Institute, and the U.S. Forest Service. Weather Modification, Inc., a private company based in Fargo, North Dakota, has been contracted to seed the target area's snow clouds. WMI is also providing a research aircraft and several ground-based instruments for this year's observations....
Column: Indian Sovereignty Has Outlived Its Usefulness A Sept. 1, 2005, Associated Press article included this statement: "[My] people have lived through natural and human-created disasters, and now with a stroke of a pen the future of a people is at risk." No, this isn't about political leaders and Hurricane Katrina. It is Pueblo of Tesuque governor Mark Mitchell's description of a U.S. Forest Service decision to permit a new chairlift in a ski area that commenced operations 57 years ago. Mitchell's tribal government has sued to have the Forest Service decision on the proposed Ski Santa Fe lift reversed. The issue is "sacred sites," without access to which Mitchell claims his tribe's culture and way of life would fade. Never mind that Ski Santa Fe operators permit access on the mountain to anyone, anywhere, except for skier safety closures. And never mind that Mitchell's tribe has apparently been able to adjust its culture and way of life to operating a decidedly nontraditional casino, not miles away up in the mountains but right on the pueblo grounds. Add that to the overwhelming list of evidence that the Indians' status as wards of the federal government, but "sovereign" as against the states, is not in anyone's best interests. There wouldn't be space in 10 columns for a detailed examination of all the mischief created by the bizarre and antiquated citizenship status of Indians in the United States. Yet, believe it or not, Congress has under serious consideration legislation to create a similar caste problem in Hawaii....
Wyoming Supreme Court upholds forest cabin tax The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a Fremont County couple who said they should not have to pay property taxes on their cabin west of Dubois. Timothy and Janet Britt contended that since they paid an annual fee to the U.S. Forest Service and did not own but leased the Forest Service land where their cabin was located, they should not have to pay any property taxes. "You cannot charge us property taxes on land we don't own nor base the value of personal property (the cabin) on where it happens to be located," the Britts wrote. "You can only base personal property taxes on the intrinsic value of that object, whether it is a desk, a table or a cabin that may be moved." The Supreme Court disagreed with the Britts, ruling that the location of property can help determine market value and if the Britts actually owned the land, the assessment would have been much higher....
Skiers, elk meet in West Vail forest For years, Bob McClain relished watching elk in the forest behind his West Vail home while he had his morning cup of coffee. But about five years ago, skiers started cutting though the elk herd's hangout in the national forest. McClain once watched horrified as skiers cut through a herd of elk just to see them scatter, he said. "These elk are already having a hard time in the winter," McClain said. "And these guys skiing out there think it's real funny." Since then, McClain's elk sightings have been few and far between, he said. The presence of skiers pushed the elk up the mountain where they could look for food and bed down in peace. But this year's high snowfalls have pushed the elk back down the mountain, said Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife....
F. Service to protect native plants The Umpqua National Forest and the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest jointly announced their decision Tuesday to preserve the “Huckleberry Patch” as a special-interest area. The Huckleberry Patch Special Interest Area is a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District in the Rogue River National Forest. American Indians once spent late summer and fall in the area gathering huckleberries for winter food. Fire suppression over past decades has allowed conifers to encroach upon meadows where huckleberries thrive in the high elevation area southeast of Tiller, said Debbie Anderson, the Forest Service team leader on the project....
The forest or the trees Amassive yellowbarked ponderosa pine, once 100 feet tall and at least a few hundred years old, lies prostrate in the forest west of Los Alamos. A few others, of equal size and age, are still standing nearby, though some have lost their needles and look ready to topple over in the next galeforce wind. “I’m pretty sure this one was still standing the last time we were here,” said Donald Falk, a University of Arizona treering scientist, as he examines the fallen pine, dirt still trapped between its dry roots. Surrounding some of the ancient pines are dozens of spindly ponderosa pine youngsters, only 20 to 30 feet tall. These doghair thickets are strangling their larger ancestors, competing for nutrients and water, Falk said. Falk is walking through the 640-acre Monument Canyon Natural Area, about 15 miles west of Los Alamos, off Forest Road 10. The site was set aside by the Forest Service in 1932 for research to be done in cooperation with The University of New Mexico. It is the second-oldest forestry research site in the country, protected from both logging and grazing. “This area must be preserved in a natural state as near as possible,” read the inscription on a large wooden sign. The hands-off approach has led to unanticipated problems for the ancient ponderosa pines, said Falk and others....
Report notes species spending So what's one big ol' grizzly bear worth? Some might say it's impossible to put a price on such a magnificent wild animal that is an icon of the West. But how does $6,000 sound? That's about how much the government spent per grizzly bear to protect the species in the lower 48 states in 2004. That number is a rough estimate based on the amount that state and federal agencies spent on the bear, around $7.7 million, divided by the number of grizzly bears believed to be wandering the wilds of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, which is between 1,200 and 1,400. Still, the number gives some insight into how much it costs to look after some of the nation's most endangered animals and plants. The figures are part of a report to Congress on Wednesday that is intended to help put a price tag on endangered species spending. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which compiled the numbers, gathered information from 30 federal agencies and all 50 states in the hopes of tallying how much was spent on endangered species in 2004. It includes everything from scientific research and public meetings to law enforcement, planning and the most mundane paperwork. All told, the Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that federal and state agencies spent about $1.4 billion on endangered and threatened species, a tiny sliver of the federal government's $2.2 trillion in spending in 2004....go here to see the report.