NEWS ROUNDUP

Cattle produce more global warming gases than cars Livestock-rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation according to a new report from the United Nations (U.N.), which adds that improved production methods could go a long way towards cutting emissions of gases reponsible for global warming. “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems,” said Henning Steinfeld, a senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official and lead author of the report. “Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.” The report, titled "Livestock’s Long Shadow–Environmental Issues and Options", notes that cattle-rearing is also a major source of land and water degradation. “The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its present level,” warns the report. "Livestock’s Long Shadow" estimates that livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of carbon dioxide, 65 percent of nitrous oxide, and 37 percent of methane produced from human-related activities. Both methane (23 times) and nitrous oxide (296 times) are considerably more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Livestock also generates 64 percent of human-related ammonia, which contributes to acid rain. The report notes that the contribution of livestock to global warming will likely increase in coming years as global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million ton from 1999/2001 levels to 465 million metric tons in 2050 and milk output is expect to jump from 580 to 1043 million metric tons. The report says that worldwide, the livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector, providing livelihoods for about 1.3 billion people and contributing about 40 percent to global agricultural output....
Judge extends scope of 'roadless rule' A federal judge ruled that a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests applies to hundreds of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte's ruling this week means that holders of more than 300 leases that permit oil and gas exploration in national forests cannot build roads to access those areas. Laporte's order follows her September ruling that reinstated the 2001 "roadless rule" that prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico. On Wednesday, Laporte ruled in favor of the plaintiffs who argued that her ruling should apply to all actions taken since the roadless rule was issued in January 2001. The Bush administration had argued that it should only apply to actions taken after she reinstated the ruling in September. The oil and gas leases cover more than 340,000 acres in seven Western states, including 179,000 in Utah, 87,000 in Colorado and 55,000 in North Dakota....
Water in the West is a Big Issue, But Solutions Are Shrinking Americans are thirsty. We consume more water than in any other country, between 400 and 600 liters a day per person, or 69.3 gallons per household per day. As the number of people in the United States, and in particular the West, continues to rise, that means, even if personal use declines, our overall draw on water resources keeps on increasing. In the West, water is relatively scarce. Yet our habits are similar to those in places with plenty of water: the ubiquitous American Lifestyle drives consumption despite the limited amount we have to consume. This is because the price of water here is roughly equal to what it is elsewhere in the country, thanks to government subsidies, massive water projects and no real economic market for it. Water is a peculiar thing in that, even as we use it, we never use it up. It’s just moved and will return to a source through the natural water cycle. But the Rocky Mountain West isn’t in water’s main path along that cycle. Our landscape is an expansive, wide-open, semi-arid desert, broken up by islands of mountains that pull moisture from the sky and ribbons of rivers and streams that carry the water from up high down to the sea. Below the surface, water sits in natural reservoirs vast and small at an array of depths. Though we’ll never “run out,” there isn’t much water to work with, and distributing the water is expensive....
Counties submit road claims The Bureau of Land Management has begun accepting informal road ownership claims from several rural Utah counties, reflecting new guidelines developed following a landmark appeals court decision last year. A total of 12 requests for so-called "non-binding determinations" have thus far been submitted to the BLM by Kane, Wayne, San Juan and Juab counties. And local officials hope the new process will succeed where past attempts to resolve ownership disputes have failed. "We can't afford to litigate every road," Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw said this week. "You go into litigation, and you're talking about spending $100,000. We're looking for a better way, and we hope this is it." Under the new process, the BLM will unofficially recognize a county's road claim under Revised Statue 2477 - an old mining law that granted rights-of-way across federal land - provided the county proves 10 years continuous use of the road before 1976, the year Congress repealed the statute. That standard, which reflects Utah law, was put in place by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2005 that state statutes, not Interior Department policy, should determine the ownership of disputed roads....
BLM shake-up an issue for Cannon
As the Bureau of Land Management announced a cost-trimming management overhaul Thursday, one conservation agency appears to be growing in stature and scope, potentially presenting a problem in the eyes of Rep. Chris Cannon. The BLM's "Management for Excellence" strategy envisions consolidating some of the bureau's administrative functions from Washington and various Western cities to Denver. It is largely a cost-cutting move that will save the bureau about $2.5 million in the current budget year and more down the road. But in the midst of the pinch, the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is being elevated and adding to its responsibilities. Currently, the NLCS manages wilderness areas, historic trails, wild and scenic rivers, national conservation and recreation areas, and national monuments, like the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Add to that, under the BLM reorganization, volunteer programs, environmental and heritage education, cooperative conservation, alternative-dispute resolution and customer surveys. Emy Lesofski, executive director of the Western Caucus, which Cannon chairs, said Cannon and Western Republicans like the idea of streamlining BLM, but the expansion of the BLM's conservation branch is unsettling to Cannon. "There's a little bit of concern that, if everything is falling under [NLCS], is it to the detriment of other BLM functions?" said Lesofski. "We want to make sure the multiple-use aspect of BLM is still a priority."....
Death Valley National Park Threatened by Damaging Off-Road Vehicle Use A broad coalition of conservation groups represented by Earthjustice is fighting to prevent extreme off-road use of a fragile stream in Death Valley National Park. The groups filed intervention papers yesterday in a federal court case that would open Surprise Canyon to off-road vehicles -- an action that would damage the canyon's unique character, including waterfalls, towering cottonwoods and lush willows. The original suit was filed last month by off-road interests who claim that the canyon's sheer walls and creek bed are a "constructed highway'' to which off-roaders have a right-of-way under a repealed, Civil War-era law known as R.S. 2477. "This is a law that was passed a year after Lincoln was assassinated and repealed 30 years ago, and its dead hand is still haunting the protection of our national parks," said Ted Zukoski, a Denver staff attorney with Earthjustice. "What they are attempting to do is to undermine protection of this miracle -- a river running through the desert." Although Utah "has really been the epicenter of this debate," Zukoski added, " the California desert is becoming another area where those seeking to undermine protection of wildlife habitat and wildlands are using this ancient law."....
White Pine threatens to oppose Nevada federal lands bill The White Pine County Commission is threatening to withhold its support for a federal lands bill that Nevada's senators have touted as an economic boost to the rural county. Commissioners have voted not to back the White Pine County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act unless money is added to pay for a groundwater study in areas of the county targeted by a plan to pump water to Las Vegas. "We had to take a stand," Commissioner Gary Perea said Tuesday. "Right now, water is the most important issue in White Pine County." The bill, introduced in August, would authorize the Bureau of Land Management to auction up to 45,000 federal acres in White Pine County. Profits would be divided, with 5 percent going into the state education fund, 10 percent for White Pine law enforcement and transportation planning, and the rest for wilderness management in the county. U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican, have touted the land sales as a way to spur growth and the economy in the rural county, where roughly 95 percent of land is under federal control....
Analysts shoot for more hoots A single feather holds the biography of a burrowing owl. The atoms inside can reveal its diet, its source of water, its birth place. Hoping to unlock the origins and migratory patterns of burrowing owls (so named because they nest in holes in the ground), Carol Finley and her colleagues have collected more than 1,000 owl feathers from military installations across the Southwest. This summer, more feather samples from owls at Cannon Air Force Base and other installations will be collected, according to Finley, natural resource manager at Kirtland Air Force Base at Albuquerque. Only about nine inches tall, burrowing owls are a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species of concern. The classification precedes inclusion on the endangered species list. Finley and team, however, have a theory: The owls, rather than declining in number, may have become less migratory. “It has yet to be determined if (burrowing owls) are dying off,” Finley said, “or just moving to different locations, which is something that could be happening.” The study, funded by the Department of Defense, has rippling implications....
State is sued for not outlawing lead bullets No one is shooting at California condors, but hunters' bullets might be killing the birds anyway. On Thursday, a group of environmentalists sued the state of California, accusing it of allowing the nearly extinct California condor to be poisoned by lead bullets used in hunting. Condors are carrion birds, and they can ingest lead when they eat carcasses or gut piles that hunters leave behind. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, asks the court to force the California Department of Fish and Game to ban lead bullets in condor habitats. It was filed by the Ventura-based Wishtoyo Foundation, three other environmental groups and several private individuals, some of them hunters. Since 1992, 127 condors have been released in California, and 46 have died, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges that lead poisoning is responsible for many of the deaths....
Peregrine falcons swap mountains for city life Once-endangered peregrine falcons, which bred in record numbers this year in Virginia, have shifted their habitat to Hampton Roads. Most of the 22 known breeding pairs have made their way east from the mountains of western Virginia, said Bryan Watts, director of the College of William & Mary's Center for Conservation Biology. And about 100 fledgling falcons have been moved from nests in Tidewater and Richmond to Shenandoah National Park since 2000. But attempts to re-establish the peregrine falcon in the park and the sheer rock cliffs of Southwest Virginia have largely failed. "We were flabbergasted, really, to find all these natural cliff sites were empty," Mr. Watts said. "It was a bit disappointing." In Hampton Roads, they nest on bridges, high-rise buildings and ships in the James River Reserve Fleet....
Mount Soledad cross could be spared under appeals court ruling The Mount Soledad cross could be saved under an appellate panel ruling today to reverse a lower court's finding that the city of San Diego's proposed transfer of the cross to the federal government is unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed an October 2005 ruling by San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett. Cowett ruled that Proposition A -- which allowed the city of San Diego to transfer the 29-foot cross and surrounding walls and plaques to the National Park Service so it could be designated a national war memorial -- was invalid and unenforceable. In a July 26, 2005, special election, 79 percent of San Diego voters cast ballots for Proposition A. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the ruling was a "significant victory" for the city of San Diego, and may mark the "final chapter" in the legal challenges on the cross....
FDA Warns Horse Owners About Fumonisins in Horse Feed Each year, a number of horses die from eating corn or corn byproducts containing fumonisins. Fumonisins are a group of toxins produced by an endophytic mold found within the corn kernel. Typically, fumonisins are produced while the corn plant is growing in the field, but levels can also increase under improper storage conditions after harvest. Although more than ten types of fumonisins have been isolated and characterized, the most prevalent in contaminated corn is fumonisin B1 (FB1), which is believed to be the most toxic. The dangers from fumonisins are dose-related, and horses and rabbits are the most susceptible of the domestic species. Fumonisins can produce the serious neurological disease known as leukoencephalomalacia in horses. Most of the investigated cases of fumonisin poisoning in horses have involved corn screenings. For this reason, FDA recommends that corn screenings NOT be used in horse feed. Corn and feed containing corn also needs to be kept dry and protected from moisture when stored to prevent levels of fumonisins and other mold toxins from increasing. FDA recommends that corn and corn by-products used in horse feed should contain less than 5 parts per million (ppm) of fumonisins and comprise no more than 20 percent of the dry weight of the total ration....
Rodeo: Former champs position to repeat Luke Branquinho got off to a fast start in his first chance to defend his 2004 world steer wrestling title in the National Finals Rodeo. Branquinho, from Los Alamos, Calif., won the first round Thursday night with a 3.7-second run. He missed the second half of last season because a torn pectoral muscle. ''I walked around the arena before and they [other competitors] said [I would have] jitters, but I didn't feel any jitters,'' Branquinho said. ''I just felt I needed to go out there and take care of business and try to defend a world title that I didn't get a chance to defend last year.'' Trevor Knowles of Mount Vernon, Ore., and Gabe Ledoux of Kaplan, La., tied for second in the round with 4.1s....