NEWS ROUNDUP

Court: BLM violated rodent's protection A small rodent that lives in the treetops of old growth forests is blocking two timber sales in southwestern Oregon. A federal appeals court on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Land Management illegally downgraded protections for the red tree vole to make the two sales possible. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found that the BLM failed to conduct a public review before changing the classification of the red tree vole, whose numbers are dwindling because of clear-cutting and other forestry practices. The public review is mandated under the "survey and manage" provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan. The Northwest Forest Plan reduced timber harvests on federal lands west of the Cascade Range in Oregon, Washington and Northern California by more than 80 percent to protect habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl, salmon and hundreds of other species. The bureau has been much more aggressive than the U.S. Forest Service in trying to reach the timber harvest goals, which have never been met....
U.S. court backs tribe in fight over Calpine plant A U.S. federal appeals court backed an Indian tribe on Monday in a fight in which the bankrupt power producer Calpine Corp (CPNLQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) had sought to build a geothermal plant in an area Native Americans consider sacred. San Jose, California-based Calpine planned to erect a plant on leased U.S. Forest Service land in the northern Mount Shasta region of California after more than a decade of planning. The Pit River Tribe sued in federal court over the plan in 2002, saying the 66-square-mile Medicine Lake Highlands is sacred ground even if not part of the tribe's reservation. The tribe lost its initial legal fight, but on Monday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court and ruled against U.S. government agencies, saying they had improperly extended the leases to Calpine for the land. "We conclude that the agencies did not take a 'hard look' at the environmental consequences of the 1998 lease extensions and never adequately considered the no-action alternative," Judge Clifford Wallace wrote for a three-judge panel....
Army eyes 1 million acres for warfare training The U.S. Army is eyeing another million acres of southeastern Colorado ranch and croplands for additional training grounds for its modernized Army, and landowners who don't want to lose their homesteads could be facing condemnation proceedings. The Army, through spokeswoman Karen Edge at Fort Carson Army Base, said nothing has happened so far, and technically, the base doesn't even have permission to acquire any more land. But landowners around the present Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site are preparing their arguments against what they see as an evitable land grab, just like the condemnation proceedings during the 1970s when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used legal proceedings to get about half of the 235,000 acres in the current site. Susan Savoia of the Williams Land & Cattle Co. in nearby Walsenburg told WND that it is about the "biggest 'land grab' since the Indians lost their land to the government." On the agenda is an expansion by about 418,000 acres, although the areas of interest including about a million acres. "After promises of never expanding or allowing live fire to occur at the maneuver site, under a BRAC (Base Realignment and Closing) recommendation the Army has AGAIN decided that productive ranch and farm land is insignificant to the world's economy and is planning another 'theft' of land to expand the maneuver site," she wrote. Opponents of the plan have organized in a group at PinonCanyon.com, and are attending public hearings, writing representatives and lobbying for the land that, sometimes, has been passed down from generation to generation since the Spanish Land Grants....
In vitro work raises hopes for wood bison Wood bison have had their habitat destroyed, been hunted to the edge of extinction and been infected with debilitating diseases. Now Canadian researchers are hoping to use modern-day reproductive technologies to create test-tube bison in an attempt to turn back the clock for the country's largest land mammal. In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists recently salvaged testes and ovaries from bison in the Northwest Territories, which were sent to slaughter. The animals were sick, but their genetic material is disease-free and a boon to scientists desperate to maintain diversity in dwindling bison bloodlines. Eggs were extracted in an Alberta laboratory and fertilized with sperm in a culture dish. Now, 27 bison embryos and 780 sperm samples (including some taken from live animals) are frozen in liquid nitrogen, waiting to be implanted in surrogate bison cows. A male wood bison can grow to 3.8 metres in length, stand 1.8 metres at the shoulder and tip the scale at one tonne. Wood bison, notable for a massive hump at the shoulder, are not to be confused with the smaller and more numerous plains bison, but interbreeding on habitats that overlap has added to the confusion....
Yosemite makeover put on hold over concerns for scenic river Ambitious plans to remodel lodging, move a road and expand campsites in Yosemite National Park are on hold until officials prepare a better plan to protect the Merced River, which runs through the heart of the park, a judge ruled. Two conservation groups celebrated Friday's ruling, which effectively halts about $60 million in construction projects for at least two years, as a major environmental victory. Yosemite officials, still reeling from the decision, said it could have "huge negative impacts" on the park's efforts to accommodate the 3 million visitors who travel there each year. "The fact that now we can't repave a road, with winter coming on, is just devastating," said Scott Gediman, a park spokesman. "Sure you can argue about campgrounds or building the lodge, but what about when you've got paving on a road that's literally falling apart?" The order, issued in a U.S. District Court in Fresno, directs the park service to immediately stop nine projects included in the Yosemite Valley Plan, a grand scheme to develop the park's amenities that has been the subject of a lengthy legal battle....
Female Leader Would Be First for Navajos One candidate in Tuesday's Navajo Nation presidential election promises accountability and staunch protection of tribal land. The other vows to build on the reservation's economic progress in the past four years. But in the race between incumbent Joe Shirley Jr. and challenger Lynda Lovejoy, the overriding issue is sex. A win would make Lovejoy the first female leader on the largest Indian reservation in the United States, which extends into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. "She is a woman, and that is going to be an issue no matter what her stance on policy," said Dale Mason, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico at Gallup. "She represents something entirely new." Lovejoy, a former New Mexico state lawmaker and current member of the Public Regulation Commission, hopes to unseat Shirley, 58, a former tribal council delegate who has been leading the tribe for four years....
Buffalo ranches won’t receive drought aid The buffalo on the Limpert ranch are nearly out of grass. The stock dams on the ranch south of Harding County’s Slim Buttes are bone dry. Buffalo are hardy animals, able to stand up to weather extremes, but they still need to eat and drink. This year’s drought has been tough on the buffalo and even tougher on buffalo ranchers such as Sandy and Jacki Limpert. With stunted pastures and virtually no hay crop, buffalo ranchers in this region, like cattle ranchers, are spending tens of thousands of dollars to feed their herds. Others have sold off animals. The Limperts are among buffalo ranchers miffed that they were left out of the recent federal drought aid for livestock producers. State ag officials said the meager amount of money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture would have been spread too thin if they had extended it to other livestock besides breeding herds of cattle and sheep....
Ranches work as retreats for rich Wealthy absentee owners are converting more of the West's ranches and farms into personal hunting and fishing playgrounds, including areas near scenic Yellowstone National Park. Well-heeled outsiders, dubbed "amenity ranchers," are not a new phenomenon, but their growing appetite for these retreats is. Even as housing prices slump in cities and suburbs, the market flourishes for getaways with hundreds or thousands of acres of mountain, forest or prairie. Two retailers of hunting and fishing gear, Cabela's and Orvis, have even launched operations to sell dream properties. "Since we already offer everything that sportsmen and women need to succeed in the field, why not make the field itself more accessible?" says David Nelson, manager of Cabela's Trophy Properties. A study published last month by researchers at the University of Colorado, Oregon State University and New Zealand's University of Otago details the growth of trophy ranches. It analyzed ranch sales around Yellowstone in 10 Montana and Wyoming counties from 1990 to 2001. Just 26% of those who bought parcels 400 acres or larger were traditional ranchers. Nearly 40% were "amenity" buyers — millionaire out-of-towners who don't rely on the ranch to make a living, the report said. The rest were investors, part-time ranchers, developers and others....
Stockmen don’t cotton to livestock registration The government’s drive to register places that house livestock to guard against disease and bioterrorism is meeting resistance from stockmen. The Department of Agriculture is pushing everyone from farmers to veterinarians to register. Officials say the information would help them slow or halt the spread of mad cow disease, avian flu or another killer infection. For Rob Alexander, a cow-calf rancher in Elbert County, the program could be just another drain on his already wafer-thin profit margin. “I have to buy this new tool to put a tag in the ear, and then I have to buy new software to scan the tags,” he said. “Will it make my life more complicated? Yes. Am I excited about that? No. To the producer who’s on the short end of the stick, this smells like a rat, because most of the burden is going to be on us.” Alexander, who hasn’t registered his ranch, is a Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Foundation board member and wonders how the program will affect rodeos and the contractors that provide rodeo stock. He’s also curious about its impact on county and state fairs; his daughter shows 4-H calves. Joel Franz of Burlington, a cattle rancher for 50 years, is like many of his friends. He hasn’t signed up his ranch and takes issue with a voluntary program he said pushes registration through 4-Hers and with bribes. Some states offer cash to register, he said. “There is no law that says it has to be done,” he said. “Not by anybody.”....
Creekstone answers USDA in court over mad cow testing Creekstone Farms Premium Beef has answered the U.S. Department of Agriculture's court documents opposing the company's motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit againstUSDA. Creekstone sued the USDA in March for refusing to allow the Arkansas City beef processor to voluntarily test all the cattle it slaughters for BSE, commonly called mad cow disease. USDA officials have told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that Creekstone's case is now largely moot because Japan and Korea have re-opened their borders to U.S. imports. Several countries had banned imports of U.S. beef because of concerns over mad cow. The USDA maintains that it has the right to regulate private testing for BSE on the basis of a 100-year-old law intended to stop the sale of bogus hog cholera serums to Midwest farmers. In its filing, Creekstone maintains that the USDA is using the law in a way it was never intended, not to protect ranchers from suppliers of bogus serums but to regulate competition among beef processors. Creekstone's filing also maintains that the company is seeking to test 100 percent of its beef for BSE to enhance its brand reputation and to make it possible to sell beef for higher prices in both domestic and foreign markets....
Plan to create human-cow embryos UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days. But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous....