NEWS ROUNDUP

Wyo-fed wolf talks fail Hopes for an out-of-court agreement between Wyoming and the federal government over wolves appear to be dead after federal officials Friday refused Wyoming's request to begin killing wolves that are hurting big game herds. "Placeholder" bills to change the state's wolf management plan are still alive until Monday in the Legislature, but unless the federal government changes its position, "It would be extremely difficult to revive," Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said Friday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Wyoming legislators have pushed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Wyoming more latitude in killing wolves that are hurting big game herds before wolves are formally removed from federal protection. That could take several years of litigation before a final order, despite a proposal released last month. In a high-spirited, often angry and name-calling press conference Friday in Cheyenne, Schiffer said it appears the Fish and Wildlife Service's idea of managing wildlife is to manage solely for wolves, and Freudenthal said he was surprised the federal agency appears to be the "Fish and Wolf Service."....
Lots of howling as wolf numbers grow Wolf recovery has been a success, some reckon too much of a success. After a 10-year legislative tug-of-war, Canadian wolves were introduced to Yellowstone National Park and the Idaho wilderness in 1995 and 1996. The notion was to reintroduce a top predator that had been hunted to extinction in the Lower 48 by the first part of the 20th century. Wolf numbers grew slowly at first, but the firestorm of controversy erupted immediately. Ranchers claimed the wolves were killing cattle. Hunters screamed that the wolves were decimating elk populations. Conservationists claimed the wolves were a natural part of the ecosystem and had a right to be there. In Yellowstone, wolf watchers became one of the park's major user groups and a new economic shot in the arm for the surrounding communities. The wolves themselves were busy being wolves, making more wolves. And since wolves are very territorial critters, the youngsters had to move to new territories where they could make their own new wolves....
Energy and wildlife: New federal-state effort aims to help Wyo habitat Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in seven Western states. More than half the money, $11.5 million, will be directed to southwest Wyoming, where intense natural gas development is affecting the habitat of sage grouse, antelope, deer, moose, elk and other species. "The budget proposal reflects the importance of Wyoming nationally," said Steven Hall, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. Congress would have to approve the appropriation. The initiative in Wyoming developed by eight state and federal agencies would help reclaim land affected by natural gas development and study how development of all kinds is affecting wildlife and habitat in the Green River Basin, which encompasses about 15 million acres....Isn't the BLM supposed to assess the impact on wildlife PRIOR to issuing the leases? Aren't the oil and gas companies supposed to reclaim the land they have leased? Are we spending $22 million because the BLM is not doing their job and the oil and gas companies are not in compliance with the law?
Montana looks at park expansion For Montanans of ordinary means, parks and other public land may be as close as they get to owning recreation property in Big Sky Country, where wealthy outsiders pay jaw-dropping prices for scenic places to play. Sellers of a southwestern Montana ranch with lakes and a private fish hatchery in a mountain setting are asking $20 million. Far to the north at Little Bitterroot Lake, a 14-acre parcel with some shoreline is listed at $2.9 million, and at fashionable Whitefish Lake, the asking price for just half an acre is $3.9 million. It is against this backdrop that Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer wants to spend $15 million on land for addition to the state system of parks and waterfront sites. Schweitzer says now is the time to buy, before land prices shoot still higher. He sees expansion of state parkland as a gift to future generations....
Predator attacks on livestock and game are rising Poisons, bounties and sharpshooters in helicopters haven't been able to stop an increase of animal attacks on smaller livestock and game as drought forces the predators to travel farther to find food. Hunters and ranchers say more coyotes, hogs, bobcats and foxes are preying on livestock, game and even pets across the Hill Country. The area's available water, thick brush and remote canyons provide ideal hiding and resting spots for predators that search by night for lambs, goats or other meals. "The problem is not new, but it's a little worse this year," Bandera County Commissioner Richard Keese said. "We've got a severe drought, so lots of coyotes from South Texas have moved north." The drought, which means less food and cover, is also a factor behind reduced stocks of deer and exotic game. And then there's the hit-or-miss predator management approach in a region that's seen rapid residential growth and a rise in absentee land ownership. "We have less ranchers actively trying to control predators," County Judge Richard Evans said. "If you work at the problem on your ranch and your neighbor doesn't, they (the animals) just move over there."...
Reading, Writing, and Global Warming for British Students Students at state-funded schools in Britain will learn about global warming, the government announced this week -- and former Vice President Al Gore's provocative views on the issue will get maximum exposure. As part of the new school curriculum for 11- to 14-year-olds, the government said students will be taught about how the earth's climate is changing and about the importance of "sustainable development." A government spokeswoman said Friday that all state schools and all faith-based school getting state funding -- most of them do -- are required to follow the curriculum. Private schools are "strongly encouraged" to do so. A spokesman for the UK government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) told Cybercast News Service that under the new plan, teachers will not be given a set number of hours each week to teach about global warming....
Mystery Ailment Strikes Honeybees A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination. Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder. Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers who often keep thousands of colonies have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer. "We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees. Along with being producers of honey, commercial bee colonies are important to agriculture as pollinators, along with some birds, bats and other insects. A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel rely on pollinators for fertilization....
Ranchers not yet free of winter's ruthless scourge The young, red steer fought to live, flailing against the ground to stand. "If you save one, that's a victory," said cattleman Bill Wilkinson, 47, who lives on the ranch where he was raised 200 miles south of Denver. "If you lose one, that's a loss." Wilkinson's herds are among the thousands of animals in the pastures of southeast Colorado still struggling to survive the calamitous snowstorms that hit in two consecutive weeks at the end of December. The young, red steer is only one victim of this awful winter, which will take seasons to overcome. His struggle to live is only one anonymous tragedy being played out in the region's vast pastures....
Packer May Seek Equity, Partners for Australian Cattle Business James Packer, Australia's richest man, may seek partners or private equity funds for his family cattle company Consolidated Pastoral Co. to help fund any future expansion as demand for beef grows in countries such as China. ``Now is the time to do it because there is so much interest and there's quite a bit of cash around,'' Ken Warriner, managing director of Northern Territory-based Consolidated Pastoral, said Feb. 9. The company is looking to split its ranches from its meat-processing and live cattle-exporting businesses, he said. Australia is the world's second-largest beef exporter. Packer has already teamed up with buyout firm CVC Asia- Pacific Ltd., selling half of Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.'s media assets into a joint venture and raising A$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion). Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest securities firm, is setting up a fund to buy sheep and cattle ranches to meet rising meat demand in China and India. Consolidated Pastoral, Australia's second-largest cattle rancher, was formed in 1983 when Kerry Packer, James's father bought Newcastle Waters Station. The group's 16 properties in four states, cover more than 10 million acres of land, or an area bigger than Maryland. It's aiming to boost cattle numbers by about 10 percent to 280,000 in two years....
Records detail fatal ranch dispute Four cows that had gone missing from their spread in Eastern Oregon led cattlemen Dennis Beach and his son, Travis, to a cousin's ranch about eight miles away. What happened next was like a scene out of the Old West - a tragedy of cousin against cousin, a man shot off his horse by a lever-action rifle, and two dead ranchers. It's a tale as tangled as tumbleweeds in barbed wire. The ranch owner, Tom Beach, wasn't there when Dennis and Travis Beach arrived to fetch their cows. But the ranch caretakers were: Shane Huntsman and Donna Carol Beach Dunning, who is Tom Beach's sister. An argument over ownership of the cattle ensued. ''This ends now,'' Huntsman told Dennis and Travis Beach, according to an affidavit filed in court by a Wallowa County deputy sheriff. Huntsman killed Dennis Beach, shooting him off his horse with a .30-30 caliber rifle. Travis scuffled with Huntsman, who hit Travis in the head with a rock. Travis wrestled the rifle from Huntsman and shot him, according to the affidavit. The Wallowa County district attorney has decided not to press charges against Travis Beach for Huntsman's death, saying he acted in self-defense. But the case isn't over....
Arrowheads, by another name The same can't be said for an arrowhead. If it looks like an arrowhead, and smells like an arrowhead, and feels like an arrowhead, it might not be a bona fide, 5,000-year-old killing tool crafted by the hand of ancient man at all. It might be nothing more than a hunk of rock. Woody Blackwell is something of a legendary figure among flintknappers. Those are the folks who can take a piece of flint and beat it into the likeness of an 11,000-year-old mammoth-stabbing Clovis point, or a sleek and graceful Agate Basin. The trouble starts when a flintknapper forgets to tell someone who might be interested in buying his semi-translucent, Knife River Flint beauty that it was not actually made 11,000 years ago. That's when a reproduction becomes a fake....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Playing the agriculture odds is addictive I was having a chat with one of my cattle-feeding friends. I often think of these calls as therapy - for both of us. He gets to release all of his frustrations about the injustice of corn farmers being allowed to make a profit due to the demand created by ethanol production.
"Talk about ingratitude! Never once did I complain about the price of corn when feeders went from 98 cents to a $1.04! I hung with 'em, fed as many as I could just to keep demand up. Now, when finished cattle prices are dropping, they are raisin' the price of corn! Can you believe it! And I just bought new tires for the front-end loader and donated a new wing for the library at the U of Nebraska! Go Huskers! What's a man supposed to do? And they want to raise the check-off to $2 a head! Shoot, the Cowbelles used to do it for free!....