NEWS ROUNDUP

NCBA: Wyoming Property Rights Case Headed for Supreme Court Among ranchers, one of the most passionately held principles is the defense of property rights. That’s why the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the Public Lands Council (PLC), the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association have joined together in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Wilkie v. Robbins. The central issue for NCBA and PLC is the right of private property owners to deny federal access to their property and the legal options available to property owners for holding federal officials accountable for inappropriate actions. “We’re fighting for individuals against government abuse,” says Jeff Eisenberg, NCBA’s director of federal lands and executive director of the PLC. “There needs to be checks in place to prevent federal officials from abusing their positions and violating the civil rights of property owners.” Harvey Frank Robbins owns the High Island Ranch near Thermopolis, Wyo.  A dispute between Robbins and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began over ten years ago when Robbins purchased the ranch. The 80,000 acres involved in this case are partly public and partly private lands, and at issue is whether Robbins had a right to deny the BLM access to his property. In court cases over the past decade, Robbins won two preliminary victories in the U.S. district and circuit courts. “We’ve heard many stories of government officials failing to respect the Fifth Amendment rights of people in ranching communities,” says Eisenberg. “But what really strikes a chord with us in this case, is the blatant abuse and harassment of Mr. Robbins at the hands of federal officials.”....
Column - Let Science Dictate Wolf Decisions A lot of misinformation regarding the impact of wolves in the northern Rockies is making the rounds these days. Our state has many important decisions to make on this issue, so it’s important that we get our facts right by taking a closer look at the most recent statistical and scientific data about wolves. First, despite unfounded rumors that wolves are depleting elk and deer for game hunting, data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) show that the hunter harvest success rate has consistently remained above 20 percent over the last five years, even as wolf populations have been steadily increasing. According to IDFG statistics, hunter harvest numbers for elk go up and down from year to year, but the overall success rate has remained relatively consistent since before wolves were reintroduced. For example, data show that in 2005, the most recent year we have statistics for, hunter harvest numbers are on par with those from 1993, two years before wolves were reintroduced. Most importantly, IDFG statistics verify that elk and deer populations are at ecologically sustainable numbers. Second, contrary to what a lot of people are saying, wolves are only responsible for less than 1 percent of all livestock deaths in the northern Rockies, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)....
Coroner's inquest to review death of Ontario man attacked by wolves An inquest will be held into the death of an Ontario man who was suspected of being attacked by wolves in northern Saskatchewan in November 2005. Saskatoon's chief coroner says the inquiry will be held in Prince Albert in Court of Queen's Bench. Kenton Carnegie, 22, of Oshawa, Ont., was working at a remote mining camp near Points North Landing, 700 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, when he failed to return from a walk. The University of Waterloo engineering student was found mauled to death near the work camp. Two wolves were later shot and sent to a lab for testing. The death prompted a call by the Opposition Saskatchewan Party to fence off an unregulated dump in the area in case it was attracting wolves, but government officials said they wanted to wait for the coroner's report before taking action. Bill allowing wolf killing passes state panel The Senate Wildlife Committee voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve a bill that would allow unlimited killing of wolves in wilderness areas. However, some referred to the bill as a "placeholder" - something that could easily be amended if the state and federal governments reach a compromise on wolf management - and at least one committee member said she didn't think the bill would pass this year. The Senate bill would classify wolves as trophy game - with regulated hunting - in an area west of a line between Cody and Meeteetse and around the western side of the Wind River Indian Reservation, as well as north of Boulder, Pinedale and Jackson. Wolves would still be fully protected in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Anywhere else, they'd be classified as predators and could be shot on sight. The bill also would require the state to maintain a total of 15 wolf packs, including eight expected to be protected inside the parks. Groups representing Wyoming ranchers opposed the bill....
Vernon ranchers, government partner to save sage grouse Ranchers and government agencies are teaming up to save threatened sage grouse in Vernon but some hope the partnership will save another threatened entity: the family farm. Elizabeth Mitchell, who along with her husband owns the Bennion Ranch in Vernon, believes the new collaboration marks a nice turnabout from the days when government and ranchers battled each other over endangered species habitat. About five years ago, Mitchell was worried that she could lose her grazing rights when three environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to put the greater sage grouse, which lives in her area, on the endangered species list. Rather than fighting the government, however, Mitchell and other landowners in the area fought to save the sage grouse. They became part of a local coalition of government agencies, ranchers, farmers, scientists and politicians determined to save a dwindling population of the indigenous high-desert birds noted for their elaborate courtship displays in the spring....
House approves Juab County water resolution In the words of Juab County rancher Cecil Garland, the state House of Representatives had a choice to make: "crops or craps." By that, he meant crops grown by residents of his arid Western region, or a Nevada groundwater project that they fear could pipe their water to Las Vegas. When the dice rolled Wednesday, Las Vegas crapped out. The House unanimously approved, 73-0, HJR1, which calls for caution on making an agreement to facilitate the Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project. The resolution now moves to the Senate. The Nevada project is intended to extract about 160,000 acre-feet of water yearly from seven areas of that state, piping the water to Las Vegas and Lincoln County. Spring Valley, which is entirely within Nevada, is to provide 91,000 acre-feet of water, while Snake Valley could provide up to another 27,000 acre-feet, according to the project's concept plan, dated March 2006. Snake Valley straddles the Utah-Nevada border, and its aquifer may be connected to Spring Valley. The U.S. Geological Survey is studying groundwater resources of the area. The study should be finished late this year. The Nevada project has drawn vehement objections from Utah and Nevada ranchers and environmentalists, among others....
Sportsmen unite for Wyoming Range A coalition of hunter, angler and sporting organizations -- 13 in all -- launched a statewide effort this week to help preserve the Wyoming Range. The group, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, unveiled its new Web site and billboards at a Wednesday afternoon presentation in Casper, at the Rocky Mountain Discount Sports store on CY Avenue. The group hopes to prevent oil and gas development in the Wyoming Range. The coalition’s proposal comes down to no new leases on public lands in those mountains, and a process that would allow for leases to be retired, traded or bought out at fair market value. The Wyoming Range is about 400,000 acres -- 70 miles long and 25 to 30 miles wide, running north to south in far western Wyoming, with its north end about 20 miles south of Jackson. Last year, the Forest Service sold leases for 44,600 acres in the Wyoming Range, adding to the 150,000 acres leased since the 1970s. Oil and gas operators had sought leases on some 175,000 acres in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, but the agency pared that down to 44,600 after protests from Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal and U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo....
Pizza 'delivery' to forest leads to jail A former deliveryman learned the hard way that dumping two tons of spoiled pizza dumped in a national forest was an improper way to dispose of the mess. The lesson? Two days in jail for Rucky Tulio, 29, of Cortez. The 320 cases of previously frozen pizza appeared one day last summer as two soggy cardboard hillocks in the San Juan National Forest near Mancos in southern Colorado. A startled jogger reported the illegal delivery Aug. 28. Last week in federal court in Durango, Magistrate David West called the episode the most irresponsible corporate act he'd seen in the forest in 18 years on the bench. West sentenced Tulio to the two days, but he said that Tulio's employer at the time, Schwan's Distributing, should pay the restitution of $674.52. Schwan's spokesman Bill McCormick said Tuesday that the employee should have used an authorized Dumpster. Forest Service official Lloyd McNeil, responding to what his colleagues call "the pizza caper," used a pickup, horse trailer and two helpers, including the jogger, Larry Ott, to dispose of the mess over two days. Under each pile of pizza, McNeil found Schwan invoices....
West Coast Senators Put County Payments on Senate Agenda A bipartisan coalition of West Coast Senators on Wednesday announced the introduction of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Reauthorization Act of 2007, legislation that would restore funding for the critical “county payments” law by reauthorizing the successful program for seven years. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, introduced a bill with U.S. Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Patty Murray (D-WA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Jon Tester (D-MT). Over 700 counties in 39 states received funding under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000, which was allowed to expire in September 2006. Despite repeated efforts by the Senators to reauthorize the bill last year, the Congress and Administration could not agree on a funding source for the legislation....
Jury to decide Scouts' liability in fire A jury will decide whether Boy Scouts are responsible for a wildfire that burned 14,200 acres in 2002 and cost more than $12 million to control, a judge said. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said there are issues of fact that must be settled at trial, denying the government's request that she pin liability on the Great Salt Lake Council. She pointed to deposition testimony from Scouts who said they extinguished a fire with water, urine and dirt and slept next to the site. "But the record fails to provide any indication that either the young Scouts or the teen counselors conducted a 'cold-out' test," Campbell said Monday. In that test, someone can safely run a hand through the coals and ashes. A Forest Service investigator pinpointed the fire's origin to an area where Scouts had stayed overnight....
Bush strategy relies on West In his State of the Union address, President Bush addressed energy policy in the same context as the war in Iraq -- which means huge natural gas, coal and renewable energy potential in the Rockies will be paramount to a national "energy security" policy. "It reminded me of his comment about Americans being addicted to oil, how this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes," said Rebecca Watson, former assistant secretary of the Department of Interior. Watson, now with the legal firm Hogan & Hartson, said she was encouraged by the president's Tuesday proposals on energy, specifically his call to reduce consumption and expand alternative sources of fuel, because it "goes right into the sweet spot of the Democrats' approach to energy." "He's facing the fact that it's a Democratic Congress, and he's proposing ideas that will appeal to them," Watson said in a phone interview with the Casper Star-Tribune on Wednesday. Although the president primarily talked about ethanol, the demand to develop domestic natural gas in the Rockies will continue to increase, according to Watson, because the alternative is to import liquefied natural gas. And that plays against efforts to make the United States less dependent for foreign sources of energy....
West watches Bush plans From new investments in wind and biofuel research to a call to encourage the expansion of refinery capacity, the West could be at the center of energy projects laid out Tuesday in President Bush's State of the Union speech. But Western lawmakers from both parties listed a litany of other initiatives they said they wished Bush would get behind that would help farmers, develop regional energy sources and help slow global climate change. A centerpiece of Bush's speech was a 20 percent cut in gasoline usage by 2017 made possible in part by increasing the use of renewable fuels such as corn and cellulosic ethanol, which is made from materials such as corn stalks and sawdust. "That was a good start, and we're seeing progress. But much, much more can be done," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, urging Bush to encourage the development of Utah's vast geothermal energy sources derived from the natural heat of the earth....
Yosemite plan remains tangled up in court When the Merced River overran its banks and scoured Yosemite National Park a decade ago, many saw an unprecedented opportunity to restore the iconic park and cede more of the Yosemite Valley to nature. A plan by the National Park Service to reinvent the valley and another to protect the Merced River drew broad support from environmentalists, the public and the government. Years of acrimonious debate over how to manage a crown jewel of America's national park system gave way to a consensus that the Park Service had finally gotten it right. Yet 10 years after the flood, both plans remain tied up in court, challenged by a small but passionate group of activists who argue that the Park Service would render Yosemite an exclusive resort. A federal judge has rejected the river plan, the future of the valley plan is uncertain and, with several projects planned for the valley brought to a halt, frustrated park officials worry they'll be told to begin the planning process anew....
Santa Maria Ranch developers seek solution to wild horse removal dilemma A saga that has played out for almost six months pitting wild horse lovers and developers of the Santa Maria Ranch against one another may have an amicable solution. Last Friday key players in the real-life drama gathered at the Santa Maria Ranch to discuss options and solutions to resolve the situation as much as possible. Developers Matt Denio and Brandon Main stood in the chill of the early morning air to discuss the wild horses that obviously think the ranch is part of their roaming territory with Mike Holmes, Range Manager for the Nevada Department of Agriculture and Wild Horse Preservation League members Bonnie and Chuck Matton and Ed and Esther Rector. The seven people candidly discussed the wild nature of the horses and the best way to stop the negative human/wild horse interaction that has been happening since builders began completing and landscaping homes at the ranch....
Court puts hold on Colorado trapping New regulations allowing the trapping of pine martens and mink have been put on hold while environmentalists challenge them on grounds that they violate a voter-approved trapping ban. The decision earlier this month by Denver District Judge Larry Naves reverses the rules at least until their legality is determined in court. A trial is set for Sept. 10. Wendy Keefover-Ring of Boulder-based Sinapu, a wildlife advocacy group, said environmentalists challenging the regulations believe they violate a 1996 voter-approved ban on leg-hold and body-gripping traps, snares and poisons. "We think it clearly banned all commercial and recreational trapping," Keefover-Ring said. Last summer, the state Wildlife Commission approved the use of box traps to capture pine martens and mink, weasel-like animals valued for their fur....
Man attacked by mountain lion Although details about the incident were not readily available by deadline, a man attacked by a mountain lion at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on Wednesday afternoon is expected to be OK. Shortly before 4 p.m., Alder Crew five, an inmate crew from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, came across the elderly man. “They came upon a victim, a single person,” said Tom Hein, CDF battalion chief in charge of law enforcement and fire protection. He said the call came into the CDF command center in Fortuna, which dispatched Arcata Ambulance to the call. State Park employees also responded. According to dispatch directions given over the scanner, the man, who was hiking with his wife, suffered from lacerations to his face and body. Whether he suffered more injuries was not known at deadline....
Reward offered in cougar killing Federal and state law-enforcement officials are offering a $1,000-plus reward in hopes of nabbing the poacher who gunned down a young mountain lion in southern Utah. "It's a shame when something like this happens," Lt. Scott Dalebout of the state Division of Wildlife Resources said Wednesday. We can use the public's help." Dalebout said the female yearling - meaning it had been weaned from the mother but still was learning hunting skills from her - was found dead from a single bullet wound Saturday morning off State Route 12 about 200 yards inside the east boundary of Bryce Canyon National Park near Tropic. The young cougar had been seen Friday feeding on the carcass of a road-kill deer with its mother and another young lion, believed to be its twin. Dalebout believes the cat was shot by someone driving on the road. The National Park Service also is investigating the killing because it happened in the park....
Farm Bureau Urges Science in Legislation The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503 and S. 311) sets a dangerous precedent by banning a livestock product for reasons other than food safety or public health, according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. “There is no evidence suggesting products derived from equines pose any food safety or public health risk,” said Stallman. “This legislation mandates unprecedented government authority over the animal agricultural sector without any scientific justification.” Research and accredited experts have testified and documented the anticipated financial and ethical repercussions of banning equine processing. Stallman said America’s farmers and ranchers practice and encourage the humane treatment and handling of animals and livestock, but the legislation fails to provide any viable option for unwanted or unmanageable horses, opening the possibility for neglect....
EWG Supports Disaster Aid for California's Farmers, Farm Workers Hit by Freeze The Environmental Working Group called today on Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to provide disaster aid to California farmers and farm workers who have been hit hard by the recent freeze, and urged Congress to include California in any disaster aid relief legislation enacted this coming year. Ken Cook, EWG's president, issued the following statement: "EWG has already supported disaster aid for proven, weather-related losses farmers and ranchers experienced in 2005 and 2006. California agriculture has been hit very hard just months into the new year. If disaster aid is to be provided, California should receive it too. "It is important to remember that California agriculture is an infrequent beneficiary of disaster aid, because growing conditions in the state generally are favorable and crops are irrigated. Moreover, more than 90 percent of California farmers do not receive crop subsidy payments from the government. So it is only fair to ensure that in these emergency conditions, California be given full consideration by USDA and by Congress....
Western Ranchers Help Others With Stranded Cattle Ranchers on the western slope are determined to help their peers on the eastern plains who can't get enough hay to feed their cattle. The recent round of devastating blizzards has killed an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 head of cattle so far. Ranchers typically let their cattle graze on dried grasses for most of the winter, only feeding hay for about a month and a half. They’re used to dry ground. The unprecedented amount of snow has forced many cows to starve to death and those ranchers have already used up their food reserves trying to save their herds. The Middle Park Stock Growers Association has organized ranchers in Grand County, including those from Shadow Creek Ranch, Mountain Meadow Ranch and Peak Ranch, who have decided to help. The ranchers sent two semi-trucks loaded with 1500-pound bales of hay to Wiley on Wednesday and plan to send down another truck by the end of the week....
Rollers rare occurence Women likened them to jellyrolls, or rolls of batting. Men described them as looking like logs or cylinders. What Quay County residents were seeing is a rare weather phenomenon called “snow rollers,” which are nature’s way of creating snowballs, according to Charlie Liles, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. “They look like a roll of insulation,” said Liles, who couldn’t recall such an incident. Conditions have to be perfect, Liles said, like those “when you make a good snowman or snowballs.” Those conditions were apparently just right on Saturday night because Quay County farmer and rancher Tom Bauler said there were hundreds and hundreds of them Sunday in his pastures off N.M. 104. “I even kicked a few because I thought there was tumbleweed inside them. But there wasn’t anything in them. I estimate they were about 2 feet thick and 2 feet long,” Bauler said. Beth Parmer also saw them. Parmer took dozens of pictures of dozens of the snow rollers on the fields at the Tucumcari Elementary School and Mesalands Community College on 11th Street. “The largest center was 18 inches, and I’d estimate the longest ones were about 30 inches long,” Parmer said....
One Seed Short If you've got cattle.... they're gonna get out. You can count on it. That's a law that must be written down someplace. A friend of mine shared a little tale with me the other day that needs repeatin'. He made me promise not to reveal his true identity, and after you hear the story, I think you'll be able to see why. The Donaldson family ran Black Angus cattle, and like most ranchers, were pretty proud of their herd. They had a good bunch of cows, but back it those days black cattle weren't as big as they are now, and a big heifer at calvin' time would weigh about 800 pounds or so. That seemed to work out just fine... as long as you were a little selective about the bulls you used on them. Right after breakfast one morning ol' Dad sent Tom and Jack out to check the heifers. It was the middle of June sometime, and breeding season was in full swing. When the two boys got to the pasture, they found an unwanted visitor..... again. They'd had trouble with one of the neighbor's bulls and had chased him home several times, but the durn thing was back in again....