NEWS ROUNDUP

Ranchers Feel Fenced In Yakima Valley ranchers feel fenced in after Thursday night's public hearing. The county's planning commission is about to make an important decision that would take away a part of their land. A group of ranchers at the public forum said the county could force them to make a big separation between their pastures and creeks. It's a buffer zone which the county said would protect fish and other wildlife, along with shorelines. County planner John Marvin said the changes should help the county stay within state requirements. But area ranchers want to find common ground. David Taylor, a rancher from Moxee, disagreed with the county and said the buffer zones will disrupt their work. "Yakima County has two major employers, that's government and ag," he said. "Unfortunately ag's the only producer of the two. Let's let the producers go ahead and have a little more control of what's being said." Taylor, who also represents a group of farmers in Yakima, said he would be in favor of a rewarding system, that would give ranchers a tax break or an environmental credit for protecting shorelines....
Editorial - Wolf management takes addition and subtraction A new report out this week shows the number of wolves in the northern Rockies continues to grow, bolstering success for one of the standout success stories to play out under the Endangered Species Act. Predictably, more wolves mean more potential conflicts with humans - primarily with people's livestock. Impressively, wildlife managers have moved decisively to address those conflicts in a manner that should bolster public confidence in their ability and commitment to sustain wolves in balance with their surroundings. The number of wolves estimated in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is at least 1,264. The number in Montana is pegged at about 300. Federal and state authorities are in the process of removing wolves in the region from the list of threatened and endangered species protected under federal law. Although wolves began recolonizing northwestern Montana about a quarter-century ago, the big breakthrough came in 1995 with reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho using transplants from Canada. As the number of wolves grew this past year, this week's report noted, the number of livestock they killed also grew. The numbers are extremely small as a percentage of livestock raised in the region, but at 170 cattle and 344 sheep, they're the largest number of confirmed wolf kills since reintroduction. The numbers are high enough to raise public concern if the problem were ignored. It wasn't ignored. Authorities have been responding aggressively to predation on livestock by wolves. Government agents and, in a few cases, private landowners authorized by the authorities, have killed more than 150 wolves blamed for killing or harassing livestock. Such predator control is no long-term strategy for ending conflicts between livestock and wolves - no more than the relentless shooting of coyotes has solved any rancher's worries. But a short-term remedy can be helpful nonetheless to a rancher whose livelihood is on the line....
Green Gray Areas ENVIRONMENTALISM IS A kind of religion, and that’s OK, William Cronon told an audience of 150 at the Chicago History Museum in late November. Just don’t get fundamentalist about it. To put it another way, Joni Mitchell was wrong: there is no garden, we can’t get back to it, and trying to do so will just make it harder to protect nature. Cronon teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s no stranger to the museum, formerly the Chicago Historical Society, having camped out in its library researching his 1991 blockbuster Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Cronon told his audience that we can see ourselves as part of nature, because we’re products of geology and evolution, or we can see ourselves as outside of nature, because we stand back and judge things in a way rocks and tigers can’t. Both perspectives have value, he said, and we shouldn’t try to reconcile them or carry either one to extremes. He urges environmentalists who are trying to decide where and how to protect nature to ask both the inside-of-nature question (“Can we keep on doing this here indefinitely?”) and the outside-of-nature question (“What would this place be like if we weren’t here?”)....
Conservation Easement Benefits For Ranchers & Farmers In 2007 All ranchers and farmers who have considered placing a conservation easement on their property should be aware that there are significant added financial benefits available to those who donate conservation easements to qualified land trusts in 2006 and 2007 due to favorable provisions in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. A complete discussion of those benefits can be found at the following link: http://www.gfhlawfirm.com/conservation.html. Generally speaking, a landowner who donates a qualifying conservation easement during ‘06 or ‘07 will be able to claim a much larger deduction for that charitable donation and carry over excess amounts of the charitable contributions for up to15 tax years as opposed to the current 5 years. Ranchers and farmers who meet specific criteria will receive an even greater benefit than other landowners. Because these provisions are scheduled to expire on December 31 of 2007, however, landowners who do not act before that date will not be able to take advantage of these additional benefits unless the law is renewed by Congress. Conservation easements are a particularly effective tool for a landowner who wishes to preserve the agricultural nature of his property forever as well as to reduce or eliminate the possible tax burden on his children and grandchildren upon his death. Although some conservation easements allow for the use of the conserved land by the public, most do not and there is no requirement that land be opened to the public in order to receive the available tax benefits. Most commonly, a conservation easement simply restricts the future uses of any parcel of land upon which the easement has been placed to those which are compatible with the current agricultural or scenic nature of the property....
Three Wilderness Bills Meet Death by Lame Duck Three controversial bills that proposed new wilderness areas in exchange for development lands seem likely to die at the hands of a lame-duck Congress. A bill that would have sold off up to 24,300 acres of federal land in Washington County Utah in exchange for new wilderness areas around Zion National Park is off the table, at least this year. Sen. Bob Bennett tells the Salt Lake Tribune that it might have had a chance in the Senate, but House leaders refused to tack on any new legislation to existing bills. That raises questions as to how well the Democratic majority in either chamber next year will view the plan, which was sharply criticized by environmentalists. Rep. Jim Matheson says he'll champion it to fellow Democrats, but environmentalists hope to see it die. The bill was patterned off a similar one proposed in Nevada by Democrat Sen. Harry Reid, soon to be majority leader. But that bill is running into trouble, too. Reid's bill would let the BLM auction up to 45,000 federal acres in White Pine County, handing 10 percent for law enforcement and transportation planning, 5 percent to the state education fund and the rest for wilderness management in the county. The idea was to boost the economy in a county where 95 percent of the land is in the hands of the feds. Things aren't looking much better for an Idaho wilderness bill to protect the Boulder-White Cloud mountains and surrounding forest, which looks to be scuttled by a lame-duck Congress. Rep. Mike Simpson, R, says he'll keep trying to attach it to other legislation before Congress adjourns but prospects are dwindling....
Private rift in Idaho congressional delegation becomes public A private rift between Sen. Larry Craig and Rep. Mike Simpson over a stalled Idaho wilderness bill is widening into a public quarrel, straining a long-held posture of unity among the state's all-Republican congressional delegation. Craig and Simpson wrote side-by-side opinion pieces in Thursday's Idaho Statesman newspaper outlining their disagreements over Simpson's bill to designate the Boulder-White Cloud mountains and surrounding forest as protected wilderness. "To some degree it's a little bit of a departure," Simpson told The Associated Press of the decision to challenge Craig in print. "If something is going to be said and I feel it's inaccurate, I have to stand up and correct it." The Central Idaho Economic and Recreation Act would create federal wilderness in Idaho for the first time since 1980. It passed the House in July, but remained stymied in the Senate after Craig announced his opposition last week. Simpson said Thursday he still hopes to persuade a senator to attach the wilderness measure to any bill in the waning days of the session, but he acknowledged "running out of vehicles." Craig's opinion piece was a response to a Statesman editorial that criticized the senator for his "11th-hour" demand that Congress pay all ranchers and other stakeholders their promised compensation before the wilderness boundaries are designated. The demand is a deal-breaker because environmental groups who helped write the bill have always refused to support such so-called "trigger language."....
Senators Crapo, Lincoln, Baucus, Grassley Praised by National Environmental Leaders for Introducing Bill to Help Save Endangered Species on Private Lands The leaders of three leading national environmental groups today praised Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) for introducing and Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT) for cosponsoring a new bill to provide financial incentives for private landowners to help save endangered plants and animals. The bill introduction is significant because all four senators are key members of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax credit legislation; Senators Grassley and Baucus are the top ranking Republican and Democratic members of the committee. Environmental Defense, National Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife sent a letter thanking Senators Crapo, Lincoln, Baucus and Grassley for sponsoring The Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2006 (S. 4087). The legislation would provide $400 million annually in new tax credits, plus additional deductions and exclusions, for private landowners who take steps to help endangered or threatened species on the properties they own, such as the northern Idaho ground squirrel, the red-cockaded woodpecker in Arkansas, the bull trout in Montana, and the Topeka shiner (a fish) in Iowa. "The most effective way to resolve conflict is to find consensus and collaboration; once that is achieved, the results can be phenomenal," said Senator Crapo. "This legislation encourages people to take part in conservation efforts. In fact, it rewards them for taking actions that will lead to species recovery and enhancement. It makes conservation valuable rather than a liability and it avoids the pitfalls that litigation brings....
Sentencing delayed for Vail arsonists Sentencing hearings have been postponed from next week for two people who pleaded guilty to participating in the 1998 arsons that destroyed a lodge at the Vail ski area. Prosecutors are recommending that Chelsea Dawn Gerlach and Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, both 29, receive 10 years in prison for their role in the arsons as well as participation in a slate of other crimes aimed at government agencies and businesses they believed were not acting with environmental responsibility. Attorneys involved in the case said Thursday's sentencing date probably will be pushed back until spring to allow federal courts to consider the fates of all 19 defendants accused in the five-year eco- terrorism crime spree. The secretive, loose-knit cell, which called itself "the family," frequently attributed its work to the Earth Liberation Front. Gerlach and Meyerhoff are accused of aiding cell leader Bill Rodgers in torching Two Elk Lodge and several other buildings on top of the Vail ski area in protest of the resort's plans to expand into habitat for the endangered Canada lynx....
Campground cuts will be deep Half of the 140 campgrounds and other recreation facilities in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests are being targeted for closure or reduced services, according to a U.S. Forest Service report. The three forests on the Western Slope cover 3 million acres and encompass lands around Telluride, Crested Butte and Gunnison. Forest Service officials say upkeep is getting too expensive and next year's budget calls for a 60 percent cut in funding for the maintenance and operation of the facilities - a drop to $90,000 from $223,000. The federal agency is weighing the value of all 15,000 recreation facilities, including campgrounds, picnic areas and trailheads with toilets in order to cut costs. The Forest Service faces a $346 million backlog in maintenance, a growing tab for fire suppression and a dwindling annual budget - which was cut 2.5 percent to $4.9 billion for 2007....
Vandalized gate led to fatal journey Vandals had cut the lock on a gate that should have stopped the Kim family of San Francisco from taking the spur road that led to a deadly wilderness ordeal, the Forest Service said Thursday. "That road is gated for the winter, and it was gated on Nov. 1," said Patty Burel, a spokeswoman for the service and the federal Bureau of Land Management. "During the search for the Kim family, it was discovered that the lock had been cut off, and the gate opened." Burel said there was now a "law-enforcement investigation into this vandalism that may have contributed to this tragedy." Still, in a perverse twist to the tragedy, the Kims were just a few miles from potential salvation that lay along the detour: a seasonal fishing and rafting lodge near the end of the spur road. Though closed for the winter, the remote Black Bar Lodge has provisions that could have helped the family through their wait for rescue in the freezing wilderness, had they come upon the property and broken in, said the owner, John James....
Forest boosts motorized use On paper at least, motorized users seemed to benefit from an extension of the comment period on the Gallatin National Forest travel management plan. The final decision on the plan, released today, added 27 more ATV trail miles, 26 more motorcycle trail miles, six miles of snowmobile trails and opened more than 30,000 additional acres to snowmobiling when compared with the forest's Alternative 7 proposed last spring. The comment period was extended 72 days at the behest of Rep. Denny Rehberg and Sen. Conrad Burns. More than 10,000 comments came in during the four-year planning effort. In her decision rationale, forest supervisor Becki Heath wrote that her objective was to bring "motorized use under greater management control rather than attempting to limit the amount of use." As the plan's final environmental impact statement notes, this is the forest's first comprehensive analysis or management plan for travel....
Front bill still alive Sen. Max Baucus inserted language in last-minute legislation Thursday that would ban future gas, oil and mineral exploration along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. Baucus also included wording — into what is known as a tax “extender” bill — that would give a 25 percent tax incentive to companies that donate their leases to non-profit organizations. Baucus expects this will be the last piece of legislation this Congress will pass, so it is the last opportunity to legislate permanent protection for the Front this year. “I’m hopeful we can get it done,” Baucus said. “The Rocky Mountain Front is just too important to hunting, fishing, and recreation. The Front should be protected forever and that’s why my provision would do.” The bill still needs to pass the House and Senate. Barrett Kaiser, a spokesman for Baucus, said they believe the House will take up the measure Thursday night and it will come before the Senate today....
Quest to release ski film denied The movie is the most comprehensive film - and likely the only film - made about ski mountaineering on Colorado's highest peaks. The video tale documents 30 of Davenport's climbs and descents as part of his audacious push to ski every one of the state's 54 highest peaks in a year. He has skied 46 so far. "The main reason I wanted to make this movie is I love skiing big peaks and very few people in the world see Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks in winter," he said. "I wanted to be the first person to bring these peaks to the masses and show them what's possible." His plan was to use the movie to raise money for nonprofit organizations such as the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and the Roaring Fork Avalanche Center. But he failed to secure a commercial filming permit from the Forest Service. And his post-production application for a permit was rejected. If the Forest Service gets its way, the existing film never will been seen by anyone but Davenport and his pal, videographer Ben Galland. If it is, said White River National Forest public affairs officer Sally Spaulding, Davenport could face a $5,000 fine and six months in jail, although, she added, that is "highly unlikely." "Filming of the commercial type in the wilderness area can be allowed, but only when that activity directly contributes to the purpose of why the wilderness area was established," Spaulding said. "It's the feeling of this national forest that Mr. Davenport's activities do not contribute to the wilderness area or why the wilderness area was established. It's just about skiing 14,000-foot peaks. His proposal was denied."....
Shaking the snow out of the clouds When a storm approaches, Debbie Adams' phone rings. The voice on the other side of the line gives her detailed instructions. It tells her exactly when to start up the fire-breathing contraption that stands beside her hay pasture on Brush Creek outside of Eagle. And how much silver iodide solution should be fed into the burner. And when to turn it off. Adams then trudges out to the generator, which is made of two tanks and a pipe jutting into the air. Once the propane and the silver iodide solution are coming out of the pipe, and it is lit, an orange flame shoots skyward. Heated to a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the silver iodide vaporizes and is cast into the wind. Adams and her family operate one of 17 generators that are part of the cloud-seeding operation for Vail and Beaver Creek. Vail Resorts contracts Larry Hjermstad of Durango-based Western Weather Consultants to run the operation. Hjermstad has been seeding clouds for Vail Resorts for 30 years....
State panel recommends approval of land purchase A state committee is recommending that Gov. John Hoeven approve a McKenzie County land purchase by the American Foundation for Wildlife. The Natural Areas Acquisition Advisory Committee, which advises the governor on land purchases by nonprofit groups, voted 4-2 this week to recommend the sale go ahead. Hoeven has 30 days from Thursday to make a decision. The wildlife group wants to buy 243 acres of fish and wildlife habitat near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. The land, which currently is in private hands, eventually would be turned over to the state Game and Fish Department for management. State law requires nonprofits to get approval from the governor before buying land in the state. The advisory committee has representatives from various groups including state government agencies and farm groups....
Livestock Use is Starving Mexican Spotted Owls in the Sacramentos With continued harms to Mexican Spotted Owls from livestock grazing, Forest Guardians filed suit today in federal district court, contending that the Forest Service is failing to comply with the Endangered Species Act. The group says that the Forest Service is jeopardizing the existence of the owl through poor grazing management, and that the agency should terminate cattle use of the Sacramento allotment in the Sacramento Mountains on the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico. According to the suit, the Forest Service has failed to uphold its commitment to insure that recovery efforts for the owl will be furthered on the allotment, which contains a large amount of critical habitat for the species. Forest Guardians describes in its complaint how the Forest Service has refused to adequately monitor for or maintain healthy meadows and riparian areas on the Sacramento allotment. The allotment covers over 100,000 acres of public land, and supports more Mexican Spotted Owls than any other allotment on the Lincoln National Forest. The owl depends on healthy riparian areas and grassy meadows in order to live in the Sacramento Mountains. Healthy meadows are especially important to the owl because good grass cover creates habitat for the Mexican vole, a small rodent, which is an important part of the owl’s diet. When cattle forage on the meadow grasses, the voles disperse and the owls can go hungry....go here to view the complaint.
Western governors endorse wildfire plan Western governors endorsed a plan Thursday to step up thinning of U.S. forests and improve the accounting of those projects to better reduce wildfire risks while protecting homes and natural ecosystems. The proposal calls for better sharing of information and monitoring of accomplishments as well as forest conditions to make the most of scarce dollars and ‘‘improve transparency'' in decisions about where and how to do the logging. ‘‘Governmental and non-governmental entities are collaborating and making significant progress on the ground and in management to address this nation's fire and forest health needs,'' four Western governors, federal and state officials said in a letter Thursday to congressional leaders. ‘‘Yet, despite our best efforts thus far, substantial work on our forest and rangeland remains,'' they said. U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said the proposal represented ‘‘a midcourse correction'' to the association's earlier document approved in 2002....
Interior secretary signs Platte River agreement The Platte River Recovery agreement was set in motion Thursday with the signature of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. The agreement among Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska helps guide the use of Platte River water in the three states while protecting endangered species. The Platte River in central Nebraska is a major stop for migrating whooping cranes and home to the piping plover, least tern and pallid sturgeon. They're all designated as threatened or endangered species. If the agreement had not been reached, the Endangered Species Act requirements for hundreds of water projects in the basin would have to be addressed separately, according to Mark Limbaugh, U.S. Department of Interior assistant secretary for water and science. "That would be vastly more expensive and certainly less effective in recovering the species," Limbaugh said. The governors of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming already have signed the Platte River Cooperative Agreement, which is designed to help guide Platte River Basin entities in complying with the Endangered Species Act while retaining their access to federal water, land or funding. The goal is to improve the river and protect habitat for native birds and fish. The plan will cost about $317 million, with $157 million coming from the Department of Interior and the rest from the three states in cash, land and water. Congress still must approve the federal government's portion....
Report throws more doubt on Rock Creek mine A report showing regulators generally fail to predict water pollution at hard-rock mines could have implications for a controversial mining proposal in Montana's Cabinet Mountains. The Rock Creek mine, if approved, would tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area, complete with roads, pipelines, power lines and, importantly, a tailings treatment plant. Proposed by Revett Minerals, the mine is expected to operate 35 years, yielding an estimated 10,000 tons of copper and silver ore per day. The project has proved a difficult sell, however, the focus of repeated litigation over water quality and bull trout, among other things. Recently, federal regulators determined the Rock Creek mine would not jeopardize bull trout, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act. But that determination was based upon predictions about mining effects on water quality, and the report released Thursday shows those predictions fail to anticipate significant pollution more than 75 percent of the time. The result of two years of efforts by mining engineer Jim Kuipers and geochemist Ann Maest, the study looks at a sampling of predictions made in environmental impact statements - documents that help determine whether a mining permit can be issued. Then they looked at actual conditions once mining commenced. In three-quarters of the case studies, water quality impacts not predicted were later measured....
Sportsmen group calls for wolf Delisting More than 700 wolves now exist in the state, and some Idahoans think that's just too many. So Thursday a group called the Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife announced a petition to have the wolves delisted from the endangered species list. They're worried about the amount of game animals like deer, elk, and moose that are being consumed, especially since the number of wolves that now live here are eating about 6,000 pounds of meat everyday. "We have more wolves in the lower 48 than any of the other states, and they're unmanaged. We've got to get a handle on them, we've got to manage the predator and prey population within the state," said Marv Hagedorn, Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife....
Victoria's Secret goes green The company which owns Victoria's Secret has been whipped into line by environmentalists whose campaign urged it to protect caribou in Alberta's foothills forests. Limited Brands will immediately stop using pulp from West Fraser's Hinton mill to produce the 350 million lingerie catalogues it sends out annually, the company announced Wednesday. "The growing controversy about logging in caribou range is of serious concern to us, and we want to ensure that our paper consumption does not contribute to the demise of endangered species," said Tom Katzenmeyer, senior vice-president of community and philanthropy for the company....
Cattle group offering rewards to stem rustling Cattle rustlers have come a long way since the horseback raids of the Old West, with thieves nowadays often loading up the animals in their 18-wheelers and driving off. One things remains the same, though: Folks are willing to offer up a reward to catch the dastardly thieves. The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association announced plans this week to offer rewards for helping catch rustlers in the nation's leading cattle-producing state. Cattlemen in Texas — among them former Houston Astros and Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan — have been targeted because of the high cost of beef. The law enforcement branch of the association investigated 1,100 cases last year, "considerably more" than 2004, said Larry Gray, the association's director of law enforcement. "It's devastating to a producer to lose 20 to 30 head, economically, especially to a small producer," he said. Almost 5,200 cattle were recovered in 2005 — more than double the previous year's number — by the Fort Worth-based cattle association's field detectives. The rewards are available now, and the amount is based on several factors, including the amount of help provided, the number of cattle taken and the number of properties hit, Gray said....
Cattlemen on horseback drive 1,000 cattle home November, west central North Dakota ranchers on horseback drive cattle 35 miles home from northern pastures on the Fort Berthold Reservation - a sight reminiscent of the early days of cowboy cattle drives. About 1,000 head of cattle file down Highway 22, making their way across the Lost Bridge and maneuvering through vehicles filled with pheasant and deer hunters. Always a sight to see, the cattle move along in order, sometimes in single file, for miles through the Reservation and into Little Missouri State Park. Amazingly, even when the horseback riders and other helpers stop for the lunch Candace Kleeman brings them at midday, the cattle continue their long jaunt home. Shannon Dennis, one of the livestock producers on the drive, says while the cattle start off in bunches on the long drive, eventually they assume more of a single file and move steadily along the highway, one by one....
Mining ghosts I had the pleasure of having at my side on this trip a man whose father knew Josepha. Pablo Moralez came to Arizona's western desert by horse-drawn wagon in 1918, eventually becoming a rancher. Today his son Angel, my guide, continues the tradition. Signs along the road point to Angel's ranch, where the 65-year-old, with help from three sons and a daughter, operates a cactus nursery. He knows this land as if it were his backyard - because it is - and he has a keen memory for stories his father told, especially about Josepha. Every morning she'd walk the creek bed and find gold nuggets that had washed up the night before. She'd put them in her mouth and keep going, grabbing more as she went. She kept the gold in a jar and hid it in a hole in the floor under her bed. "My mother asked why she did that," Angel said. Pointing to Rich Hill, Josepha responded, "These nuggets brought the White man here. Maybe if I pick them all up, no more will come."....