NEWS ROUNDUP

New look at world's forests shows many are expanding For years, environmentalists have been raising the alarm about deforestation. But even as forests continue to shrink in some nations, others grow — and new research suggests the planet may now be nearing the transition to a greater sum of forests. A new formula to measure forest cover, developed by researchers at The Rockefeller University and the University of Helsinki, in collaboration with scientists in China, Scotland and the U.S., suggests that an increasing number of countries and regions are transitioning from deforestation to afforestation, raising hopes for a turning point for the world as a whole. The novel approach, published this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks beyond simply how much of a nation's area is covered by trees and considers the volume of timber, biomass and captured carbon within the area. It produces an encouraging picture of Earth's forest situation and may change the way governments size up their woodland resources in the future. “Instead of a skinhead Earth, we may enjoy a great restoration of forests in the 21st century,” says study co-author Jesse Ausubel, director of The Rockefeller University's Program for the Human Environment. The formula, known as “Forest Identity,” considers both area and the density of trees per hectare to determine the volume of a country’s “growing stock”: trees large enough to be considered timber. Applying the formula to data collected by the United Nations and released last year, the researchers found that, amid widespread concerns about deforestation, growing stock has expanded over the past 15 years in 22 of the world's 50 countries with most forest cover....
Report: Conservation efforts offset land lost to sprawl Growing efforts to save privately owned farms, ranches and forests from industrial and residential development now preserve about as much open space each year as is lost to sprawl, according to a report out Thursday. The National Land Trust Census, conducted every five years by an umbrella organization for land conservation groups, says private land under protective trusts and easements now total 37 million acres, a 54% increase from the last count in 2000. Conservation of private land from 2000 to 2005 averaged 2.6 million acres a year — about half the size of New Jersey, according to the Land Trust Alliance, which represents 1,200 of the USA's 1,667 local, state and national land trusts. This means additional land protected each year exceeds the 2.2 million acres that the Agriculture Department has estimated is converted annually to "developed land." The biggest acreage is in conservation easements, legal pacts between landowners and trusts or government agencies that permanently limit the land's use. The land census says easements have risen 148% since the last count. Land conservation increased in all regions, especially in the West, which has 43% of the private land conserved since 2000 by local and state trusts....
Study downplays link between beetles, fire The infestation of tree-killing bugs sweeping through millions of acres of forests in the West might help prevent wildfires rather than fuel them as feared, according to a new study. The outbreak of beetles that burrow under the bark, eventually killing the tree, might reduce wildfire risk by naturally thinning forests, according to the report released Tuesday by researchers from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado and the University of Idaho. "We are suggesting that the supposed fire risk is probably overblown," said Bill Romme, professor of fire ecology at Colorado State and the lead researcher. "It's possible the insects are doing the forest thinning that we would never be able to afford." An expert with the U.S. Forest Service criticized the report as "selective science," saying it appears to advocate a hands-off approach to managing forests....
Audit: Let more fires burn A federal audit says the U.S. Forest Service should let more wildfires burn and demand that state and local governments pick up a bigger share of firefighting costs that regularly top $1 billion a year. The audit released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general said protecting private property where cities meet forests, known as the wildland-urban interface, is the major factor driving up Forest Service firefighting costs. They exceeded $1 billion in three of the past six years. The report, which was requested by the Forest Service, said that by picking up so much of the cost of fighting wildfires, the Forest Service was taking away incentives homeowners would have to take responsibility for protecting their homes in the woods. State and local governments should bear more of the costs because they control construction in the wildland-urban interface, the audit said. The audit said Forest Service policy calls for giving equal consideration to putting out fires and letting them burn to reduce buildups of brush and small trees, but outside pressure to put out fires and a lack of trained personnel make it difficult to choose to let fires burn. It noted that only 2 percent of wildfires were allowed to burn from 1998 through 2005....
Case aims at split-estate limits A Heart Mountain landowner is seeking to test the limits of Wyoming's split-estate law with a challenge brought before the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission this month. The matter is widely seen as a test case that could eventually expand the financial requirements for energy companies guaranteeing remediation and could change how landowners are compensated for loss of land value when minerals are extracted. Jim Dager, the owner of a 2,000-acre ranch where Windsor Energy has a permit to drill for natural gas, has asked the commission to set a reclamation bond based on impact to his land beyond the immediate drilling site. Dager purchased the land early this year, but mineral rights under much of the property are held by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which has issued a permit to Windsor to drill an exploratory gas well. The split-estate law requires that landowners and energy companies work to reach a surface-use agreement, and if none is struck, the energy company must post a bond to cover the cost of remediating the land after operations are complete....
Endangered goby may get 10,000-acre designated habitat The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating more than 10,000 acres for the recovery of the tidewater goby, a small, brackish-water fish that once flourished in San Francisco Bay but is no longer found there. The endangered goby inhabits some creeks and estuarine areas along California's coast, including Marin, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, which are included in the recovery plan. The gray-brownfish rarely exceeds 2 inches in length and prefers slow-moving estuaries or tidal creeks with silt or sand bottoms. It has been driven to perilously low numbers over the course of several decades as a result of water diversions and sedimentation of estuaries and streams from development and cattle grazing. Predation by larger fish and crayfish and displacement by non-native gobies -- which have invaded West Coast estuaries via ship ballast water -- also are considered likely causes of the goby's decline....
Remains in Yellowstone go to tribes The long journey of a human skull found in the 1880s, and stored for years at Yellowstone National Park, may soon come to an end. Park officials hope in coming months to return the skull to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. The transfer is part of a nationwide effort over the past 15 years to identify American Indian artifacts being held by federal agencies and return them to tribes. A sheepherder found the skull at his camp northeast of Logan, near Three Forks, according to park records. W.H. Everson of Bozeman, Mont., obtained it in 1886 and later sold it to Sen. F.C. Walcott and George Pratt, who donated it to Yellowstone in 1930. The park held onto the skull until a 1990 law required the Park Service and other agencies to begin looking for American Indian artifacts in their collections....
Parks seek to stem visitor slide As the National Park Service begins planning for its 100th birthday in 2016, the venerable agency has reason to wonder who will show up. By the service's own reckoning, visits to national parks have been on a downward slide for 10 years. Overnight stays fell 20 percent between 1995 and 2005, and tent camping and backcountry camping each decreased nearly 24 percent during the same period. Visits are down at almost all national parks, even at Yosemite, notorious for summertime crowds and traffic jams. Meanwhile, most the 390 properties in the park system are begging for business. Typically, families with children recede from the parks in the fall. Now, the retirees who traditionally take their place in the fall and winter are choosing to go elsewhere. Last year, 568,000 vacationers went to Yosemite in July, nearly 20 percent fewer than in the same month in 1995. In January, there were 94,000 visitors, about 30 percent fewer than in January 1995. Agency officials admit that national parks are doing a poor job attracting two large constituencies -- young people and minorities -- causing concerns about the parks' continued appeal to a changing population....
Bill would allow guns in national parks Gun-rights advocates are scrambling in and around Congress to get a gun ban in national parks revoked, before the newly elected Democratic majority takes power in Congress in January. The bill was introduced by Sen. George Allen, R-Va., on Nov. 16. The measure would overturn the near total ban on personal firearms in national parks, allowing citizens to carry guns which are in compliance with federal law and state laws in which the parks are located. The bill does not distinguish between National Park Service properties that are urban, such as Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia, and remote wilderness such as Denali National Park in Alaska. The bill has been read twice and sent to the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. In Wyoming, guns -- especially long guns or rifles -- were first banned in Yellowstone National Park by the U.S. Army in the 1870s as a way to confront the wildlife poaching problem. In the 1930s, the Park Service banned weapons, traps and nets -- again as a move to thwart poachers....
Along border, hunters become hunted 'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner, hunters being attacked or kidnapped along the border. The news that Laredo businessman Librado Piña Jr., his son and three other men were kidnapped Sunday from Piña's ranch just across the border in Coahuila was shocking in the brazen way the attack was carried out. Less surprising was the fact that it happened. According to news reports from Laredo, Piña, his son Librado Piña III, David Mueller of Roscoe, plus Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan and Marco Ortiz were taken hostage by a group of heavily armed men at the ranch Sunday night. As many as 50 armed men stormed the ranch and held the victims at gunpoint while they ransacked the house and stole vehicles, furniture, deer mounts and guns. Mueller and Cerdan, a businessman from Monterrey, were freed Wednesday, authorities said. Ortiz works as a cook at Piña's hunting ranch, Coahuila state prosecutor Jesus Torres said. There had been no previous threats to the ranch or to the family, according to family members. However, the violence and frequent bloodshed that have wracked the area around Laredo and Nuevo Laredo may have spilled over into the hunting community....
Store keeps the cowboy spirit alive Baughman's Western Outfitters might not be the first place fashionistas flock to when seeking the latest trends, but store owner Rory Janes is ready for them either way. Janes, who comes from a family of clothing store owners, knows his fashion trends surprisingly well. But that doesn't mean Baughman's, which celebrated 125 years of business this fall, looks like a clone of Nordstrom or Macy's. The downtown store contains an entire room of cowboy boots, a whole wall of jeans, a single $1,200 Stetson hat and a display horse named "Charley" to greet you at the front door. "For a store like this to survive in the downtown area, it had to be very specialized," said Janes, who began working in his family's store in the mid-1970s. Now carrying mostly Western wear along with some work clothes and other cowboy-themed novelties, Baughman's has become a store of choice for local ranchers and rodeo buffs, along with the casual shopper looking for a Wild West accessory to add to the wardrobe....
Wickenburg kids ‘write' high in the saddle Poetry is far from dead if the kids in Wickenburg are any example; and what's even more impressive is that these same kids are helping to keep the tradition of western cowboy poetry alive. In its fourth year, Wickenburg's innovative “Cowkids' Poetry Contest” reaches out to over 1200 area students in elementary, middle school and high school. The program, which takes place during the months of September and October, is organized by the Desert Caballeros Western Museum as part of the Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce's Cowboy Christmas Poetry Gathering. Now a tradition in its own right, the cowboy poetry program begins with poets and culture presenters actually spending time with all 1200 students, sharing not only poems with them, but the lore and history of the West. This year, Aguila, Morristown and Vulture Peak Middle School students were even visited on horseback by cowboy entertainer Gary Sprague who brought along his horse to encourage the kids to not only ride horses, but to write about them....
Cattle caller It's auction day at this little slice of Americana outside Hanford where Darin Clagg holds forth like a high priest in the church of cattledom. Clagg is wearing his auction finery, including the belt buckle he won in the International Auctioneer Championships at the Calgary Stampede in 1997. Despite the growth of auctions online and on some satellite TV channels, scenes like this, though played out around the nation in a diminishing number of auction yards, are not about to be erased any time soon. It's an ingrained part of the cattle business. And the central San Joaquin Valley is known for producing some of the best auctioneers in the business. He is sure to be rooting for Clagg when the auctioneer competes in June in Springfield, Mo., for yet another title -- this one at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championships. In the world competition, auctioneers are rated on vocal clarity, bid-catching, voice quality and how well they keep things going. If Clagg wins, he will succeed David Macedo of Tulare, the reigning world champion and a recently elected third-term member of the Tulare City Council. It appears folks are nearly as successful at growing livestock auctioneers around these parts -- the center of the nation's dairy industry -- as they are growing beef and dairy cattle. Martella says Macedo and Clagg are the state's best....
Tough shearer liked to roust Manassa at dawn Dallas Henry Smith, who died at age 92 on Sunday in Manassa, spent most of his life in the vicinity of the pocket-sized southern Colorado town, inspiring affection and exasperation with his contrary ways. For decades, he amused himself in the early morning by loading his hound dogs into the bed of his old pickup truck and driving into Manassa, encouraging the dogs to howl. As every dog within earshot retorted, lights flicked on in darkened homes. Angry human voices made the cacophony even worse. "I always knew when Granddad was in town," Smith's granddaughter Lorena Peterson said affectionately. Back in Manassa, Smith married Florence Irene Vandiver and became an accomplished sheep shearer. Even with hand clippers, he earned a reputation for shearing between 150 and 180 sheep a day. His personal best was 204 sheep in one day, a stunning pace using hand clippers. His prowess as a shearer earned him an exemption from serving in World War II. Decades of shearing sheep left Smith lean and muscular, with explosive reflexes. Smith took pride in his reputation as a tough guy unafraid to settle an argument with fists as well as words. Few men fought him more than once....
Ford wrestles different opponents In preparation for his first trip as a competitor to the National Finals Rodeo, Heath Ford went back to something he knew -- the wrestling room. Ford has spent a good portion of the past month working out with the wrestling team of his alma mater, Platte Valley High School in Kersey, Colo. In Ford's mind, there was no better way to prepare for the tough competition he'll face in the bareback competition. "It's an individual thing, you know?" Ford, a former rodeo competitor at Central Wyoming College and the University of Wyoming, said Wednesday via cell phone from Las Vegas. "You rely on your own work ethic, and you get out of it what you put into it." Ford qualified in 13th position for his first NFR, which starts today at the Thomas & Mack Center. However, Ford has been to the world's richest rodeo before -- mostly to watch his family. His cousin Royce is also a bareback rider and is currently fourth in the world standings; his brother Jarrod qualified for the NFR in bull riding; his dad, Glen, was an NFR bareback qualifier; and his uncle, Bruce, was a five-time world bareback champion. "I guess I've been kind of spoiled, since my family has been here so many times," Ford said. "I've been through this before."....
PRCA tour moving toward playoffs The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's Wrangler tour format will receive a major facelift for the 2007 season. Sources said the tour is expected to consist of 24 rodeos, and contestants can compete in a maximum of 18. The tour will go to a playoff system, starting with the mid-August Caldwell Night Rodeo in Idaho. The top 36 contestants in seven events determined by money earned during the first 7 ½ months of the tour will qualify for Caldwell, the beginning of the playoffs. Sources said the field will be cut to the top 24 who will advance to Puyallup, Wash., in early September, where the field will be cut to 12 for Omaha, Neb., at the end of September. The field at Omaha will be cut to the top eight who will advance to the tour championship, the Texas Stampede, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Nov. 9-11. All of the playoff rodeos will be televised. The PRCA is still trying to complete the schedule for the first 7 ½ months of the tour. Another change the PRCA has already announced is that the 2007 rodeo season will be reduced by six weeks to the last day of September. All rodeos that start Oct. 1 or later will count toward 2008 money. The two events excluded from the cutoff are the Dodge Extreme Bulls final in Indianapolis and the Texas Stampede in Dallas. Also, the PRCA has limited the number of rodeos contestants can enter for the season at 70 for all events....