NEWS ROUNDUP

Surface protection bill headed to governor's desk Lawmakers on Saturday sent the governor a bill containing protections for landowners who don't own the mineral rights below their property. The compromise legislation is the product of three years of negotiations involving cattle ranchers and the oil and gas industry. It had passed the House overwhelmingly three days earlier. The legislation requires oil and gas producers to reclaim the surface affected by their operations. Companies must notify landowners 30 days prior to operations, describe what will go on, and propose an agreement covering compensation for the use of, and any damages to, the land. Landowners would have 20 days to accept or reject those offers. If no agreement were reached, companies would have to post a bond before beginning operations. The bill also allows landowners to collect triple damages in court under some circumstances if operators enter land to drill wells without giving notice or having agreements or posting bonds....
Lawmakers taking aim at proposal for Pinon Southern Colorado ranchers and the Army are headed for their first legislative collision Tuesday over a bill that would withdraw state consent for the Army to use eminent domain to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site southwest of La Junta. HB1069 is sponsored by Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, and Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, and it would refuse the state's permission for the Defense Department to condemn land in order to expand the maneuver site. The legal impact of the bill, if approved by the Legislature, is less certain and may only be resolved in the courts. McKinley said Colorado law grants the federal government permission to use eminent domain, or condemnation, to acquire property for certain federal purposes. HB1069 would simply add a clause saying it could not be used to expand military training areas - meaning Pinon Canyon. "We can't take the power of eminent domain away from the federal government, but we have a state statute that governs what eminent domain can be used for," McKinley said. "State law also requires that any use of eminent domain be approved by the General Assembly as well."....
Piñon expansion a dust bowl threat If the Army succeeds in this land grab, it will control a staggering 1,000 square miles of fragile grasslands in this semi-arid region. So far, the response of state officials to this possible environmental disaster has been tepid at best, with Gov. Bill Ritter and Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar mostly urging the Army to expand only by buying land from willing sellers, not by federal eminent domain powers. Such quibbles miss the point. Much of the land the Army covets is in the Comanche National Grassland, which is administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Local ranchers do own some land within or adjacent to the federal holdings - but the majority of the ranching is done by leased grazing rights on federal land. The government doesn't need to use eminent domain; it can merely decide it won't let ranchers continue leasing federal land because it needs it to train armored brigades. But no matter how the land is acquired, there is a vast difference in the environmental consequences of a few cows roaming across these fields and hundreds of 60-ton Abrams tanks swerving wildly at 45 miles per hour, accompanied other heavy equipment. Southeastern Colorado doesn't have much rain, but it does have a lot of wind. If the tanks tear up the grasslands, the wind will blow the soil to Oklahoma - and leave a desert behind. This fragile area also includes irreplaceable parts of our national patrimony. The Picket Wire Canyon area, which contains 1,300 known dinosaur tracks, is estimated to harbor 20,000 more tracks as yet undiscovered. There are prehistoric Indian pictographs, other artifacts and portions of the Santa Fe Trail....
Battle rages over predator control In a recent 53-page petition to the Environmental Protection Agency, authored by the Boulder-based wildlife advocacy group Sinapu, the groups argue that animals with no interest in sheep, even family dogs, are killed by M-44s. Most troubling to activists are deaths involving rare species, such as California condors, wolves and, in one case, a grizzly bear. Petitioners argue that predators can be managed by non-lethal means, including better fencing and deploying more guard dogs - a method that Etchart conceded has cut lamb losses substantially. Opponents also suggest the poisons create terrorism risks, citing recent audits by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General that criticized the USDA for a poor job securing and tracking the toxins. "The larger question is why is the federal government scattering highly dangerous toxicants all across the country as a wildlife control strategy," said Wendy Keefover-Ring, of Sinapu. To ranchers, the activists' petition is another threat to their way of life. Long gone, they know, are the days when they called all the shots: running livestock unhindered and shooting, trapping and killing predators at will. But farmers and ranchers complain it's gone too far the other way....
Mange in the mountains The war on wolves took a strange twist in the winter of 1905. After two decades of paying bounties for hundreds of thousands of dead wolves in Montana, the Legislature approved a new law -- "to provide for the extermination of wolves and coyotes" -- dabbling in the emerging practice of biological warfare. The idea was simple and cheap: capture wolves and coyotes, infect them with mange and send them back into the wild. Eventually, the theory went, the animals would return to their packs and spread the highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease, which causes animals to itch so feverishly they lose hair. The disease, caused by a tiny skin-burrowing mite, can leave wolves emaciated, staggering and susceptible to hypothermia, infections and other health problems. Eastern Montana saw "unqualifiedly splendid results" and reports of hundreds of dead and diseased wolves, said Morton E. Knowles, state veterinarian at the time of the program. Now, 102 years after the Montana law was passed, the same disease is threatening wolves in the country's signature population in Yellowstone National Park. Earlier this winter, wolf biologists found the aging alpha male of Mollie's pack stricken with mange. About 40 percent of his body hair was gone. The 9-year-old wolf hasn't been seen for weeks and may already have died, park officials said. It's unclear exactly how he got it but, now that it has arrived in Yellowstone, there's a concern that it could take hold in the park population where wolves intermix regularly, said Doug Smith, leader of the Yellowstone wolf project....
Companies cash in on slash piles It used to be the stuff that went up in smoke after logging companies finished a job in the woods. Those tree tops, saplings, branches and needles loggers call slash were little more than a nuisance to be piled up and burned. With the advent of a growing interest in alternative energy, that's all changed. Companies are cashing in on slash. Pulling grinding machines deep into the woods, these ever-more-numerous entrepreneurs are chipping their way into the emerging market of biomass that's fueling boilers used to heat schools, generate electricity and dry lumber. “This is a market that's definitely growing,” said Bryan Vole, a forester with Tricon Timber in St. Regis. “My advice to loggers is don't burn those piles of slash. They're worth some money.” A few years back, Tricon Timber spent more than $500,000 on a grinding machine the size of a D-8 Caterpillar that can grind upward of 50 tons of slash every hour....
Forest Service Selling Four Houses at Auction in The Black Hills he Forest Service is hosting open houses to show 4 homes being sold in Deadwood, Spearfish, and Newcastle. The houses, which are no longer needed for management of the forest, will be sold at competitive auction hosted by the General Services Administration (GSA). The internet based auction will start Thursday, April 5, 2007. Proceeds from the auction will be used to design and construct new office space for the Hell Canyon Ranger District in Custer. Two very interesting 3 bedroom houses located at 33 Jackson Street in Deadwood will be sold as one property. These multi-level homes were constructed in 1935 in the historic district near Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and were used at one time as homes for the Forest Supervisor and the District Ranger. The houses are located on adjacent lots, with sandstone retaining walls, walkways, porches and patios. They share a two car stone garage at street level with underground tunnels into the basements of both houses. The Spearfish house at 1420 Canyon Street is in a residential neighborhood near the High School and Black Hills State University. It’s a three bedroom, 1 bath house with a partially finished basement. The total area is approximately 1800 square feet including the basement. In Newcastle, Wyoming, the home is located on 1516 Gray Blvd in a quiet residential neighborhood. The 1960 vintage house is frame construction over a full unfinished basement. It has three bedrooms and one bath on the ground floor, a large back yard, and has a detached two car garage with access to an alley behind the house....
Man survives eight hours under snow A Montana man was buried by an avalanche while he was in the hills on a snowmobile, but he survived eight hours under the snow and was rescued. Ryan Roberts of Creston said he thought he was going to die. 'I pretty much considered myself dead,' he told the Kalispell Inter Lake. 'I just said a quick prayer and got myself to be really calm, because that stuff`s like concrete.' Roberts was saved by his family, including his father and uncles, who spent Thursday night probing the snow looking for him. U.S. Forest Service rangers had told them that any official search would have to wait until morning. 'We looked at him and said, `Sorry. He`s my nephew. We`ve got to go,' his uncle, Dave Roberts said. Roberts was found by Dan Root, a longtime friend and distant cousin. Once he was dug out, his family used gasoline from their snowmobiles to fuel a bonfire to warm him up....The article Tardy searcher finds snowmobiler alive at first probe has a lot more info on the event and contains the following helpful info from the same Forest Service who's employee's wouldn't help in the search, "Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera of the U.S. Forest Service said the agency plans to cite Roberts and his companions for snowmobiling in the prohibited area. The maximum penalty is six months in jail, a $5,000 fine and snowmobile confiscation."
Shut out of Yellowstone? As the March deadline approaches for Yellowstone’s draft winter-use plan, comments and criticism regarding the proposal are heating up outside the park’s east gate. A diverse group of park winter users and others has banded together to raise awareness and their voices in opposition to park officials’ proposal to close Sylvan Pass to over-snow traffic due to safety and financial concerns. Shut Out of Yellowstone, chaired by Carol Armstrong, is a coalition of snowmobilers, ice climbers, Nordic skiers, business owners, dude ranchers, sportsmen and local officials concerned about economic harm from National Park Service decisions. “This is a multiple-use access issue for everyone,” Armstrong said. “This is the people’s park, and no one should be shut out.”....
Drought as the norm? The years leading up to the 1922 Colorado River Compact were exceptionally wet, according to tree-ring analysis that goes back almost 1,000 years. That meant that the politicians, water lawyers and engineers of the day thought the water supply “pie” was considerably bigger than the then-unknown historical norm. It was assumed that the annual average river flow was closer to 16.4 million-acre feet, rather than the average 15 million acre-feet that has been measured since then. Water use and the dynamic growth that drove 20th century water consumption in the basin was based on an erroneous assumption that the Colorado River Basin had plenty of water for a thirsty and rapidly growing West. A new study of the basin by the National Research Council indicates that the seven states in the basin -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming -- should plan for a much smaller “pie” because there’s a strong potential for extended and even more severe droughts in the future....
Forest Service commits $3.5 million for Valles Caldera U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici gained a commitment from the U.S. Forest Service to make $3.5 million available to operate the Valles Caldera Preserve and Trust through 2007. However, the two senators criticized the Bush Administration's FY2008 budget request as inadequate. The president requested only $850,000 for the northern New Mexico Preserve in the budget. Bingaman said if the Preserve were funded at that level, it might have to be closed for lack of resources. He said he remains concerned about the Forest Service's "lack of commitment to supporting the Preserve."....Come on Senator, surely you realize the Forest Service has no interest in seeing this alternative to outright Federal ownership succeeding.
Conservationists issue Western energy agenda Hoping to build on initiatives from the Democratic-controlled Congress and Western governors, several conservation groups have released a clean-energy manifesto that includes tougher environmental regulations and axing parts of the 2005 federal energy bill. Nearly 30 groups from the West are calling on Congress to repeal exemptions for the oil and gas industry from water-quality and environmental reviews and a mandate speeding up approval of permits for drilling on federal land. "As we develop our domestic fossil fuel sources, we need to do it right," said Elise Jones, executive director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition. "Our water supply, wildlife, public health, wild landscapes -- all of those are very important to the Western economy." The "2007 Western Energy Agenda" was released ahead of congressional hearings on energy development....
Alaska governor questions science of polar bear listing Officially, the state of Alaska has not decided whether to back a federal proposal to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But speaking at a federal hearing, Gov. Sarah Palin's point person on polar bears stopped just short of saying it was a lousy idea. Tina Cunnings, a biologist and a special assistant to the commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, questioned whether polar bears really need sea ice to survive. She said polar bears are adaptable to use land for hunting, and though their preferred food, ice seals, may be declining, bears are adapting to alternative food sources. She also testified that a listing in the United States ultimately could harm bears in Canada because Inuit villagers would no longer have an incentive to preserve them for American hunters. An ESA listing would ban importation of polar bear trophy hides. "We are concerned that a listing of polar bears under ESA in the United States may actually be harmful for the conservation of polar bear populations internationally," she said....
Battered border They have become collateral damage along the badlands that define the Mexico-United States border. The Noah's ark of peril includes Mexican gray wolves, jaguars and Sonoran pronghorns, a federally listed endangered species that is the fastest land mammal in North America. But even it can't run away from the stampede of human economic desperation and drug smugglers traipsing through environmentally sensitive territory. Those along the front lines call it an "unintended consequence" of illegal immigration, but that doesn't begin to measure the chaotic ritual of survival that goes on every day: Native water areas drained dry or having become so foul that animals won't drink from it. Animals, with bean cans on their muzzle, suffocating to death. Calves cooked and eaten by trespassers. Piles of clothes, trash and human waste scattered everywhere, requiring clean-up crews to wear hazardous-waste disposal suits....
We Eat Horses, Don’t We? RECENTLY, an official for American Horse Defense Fund, which is a fervent supporter of bills now in the United States Congress that would ban slaughtering horses for meat, declared that “the foreign-owned slaughter industry needs to understand that Americans will never view horses as dinner.” It’s a ringing statement, but it’s not an entirely accurate one. As much public support as the anti-slaughter bills have and as highly as we regard this animal as a companion, co-worker and patriotic symbol, Americans have made periodic forays into horse country, hungry for an alternative red meat. During World War II and the postwar years, when beef and pork were scarce or priced beyond most consumers’ means, horsemeat appeared in the butcher’s cold case. In 1951, Time magazine reported from Portland, Ore.: “Horsemeat, hitherto eaten as a stunt or only as a last resort, was becoming an important item on Portland tables. Now there were three times as many horse butchers, selling three times as much meat.” Noting that “people who used to pretend it was for the dog now came right out and said it was going on the table,” the article provided tips for cooking pot roast of horse and equine fillets. A similar situation unfolded in 1973, when inflation sent the cost of traditional meats soaring. Time reported that “Carlson’s, a butcher shop in Westbrook, Conn., that recently converted to horsemeat exclusively, now sells about 6,000 pounds of the stuff a day.” The shop was evangelical in its promotion of horse as a main course, producing a 28-page guide called “Carlson’s Horsemeat Cook Book,” with recipes for chili con carne, German meatballs, beery horsemeat and more. While no longer in print, the book is catalogued on Amazon....
FDA may clear cattle drug despite warnings The government is on track to approve a new antibiotic to treat a pneumonia-like disease in cattle, despite warnings from health groups and a majority of the agency's own expert advisers that the decision will be dangerous - for people. The drug, called cefquinome, belongs to a class of highly potent antibiotics that are among medicine's last defence against several serious human infections. No drug from that class has ever been approved in the United States for use in animals. The American Medical Association and about a dozen other health groups warned the Food and Drug Administration that giving cefquinome to animals would probably speed the emergence of microbes resistant to that important class of antibiotic, as has happened with other drugs. Those super-microbes could then spread to people....
A fat wallet runs through it Not wanting his Ferrari's paint chipped by gravel, a landowner recently asked when workers from cash-strapped Wallowa County planned to pave the 21/2-mile road to his ranch. A homeowner near Wallowa Lake wanted county commissioners to do something about the manure from horses that people ride on the road outside her house. And just about every year, county officials have to explain to newcomers that the commotion of ranchers baling hay after midnight is sometimes necessary to guarantee enough dew to hold together the alfalfa leaves. The complaints underscore the potential for cultural collisions when well-heeled urbanites move to ranch country. Oregon State University researchers call it "amenity migration": People in search of lifestyle changes are flocking to the West and helping transform it into the fastest-growing region in America. The wealthiest are spending millions on "trophy ranches," where they fly in to fish, hunt and seek privacy, said Hannah Gosnell, an assistant geosciences professor at OSU. "These ranches they are buying are the biggest chunks of privately owned open space and habitat in the country," she said. In a new study, Gosnell and other researchers found that amenity buyers acquired almost 40 percent of ranches that changed hands in a four-state area around Yellowstone National Park. Only 26 percent of the sales went to traditional buyers who planned to earn their livelihoods raising cattle....
Stray cows rustle neighbors Folks say fences make for good neighbors, and in DeSoto County, there are apparently quite a few that need mending. Just ask Steve Phanco, whose family owns a large cattle ranch along the Peace River near County Road 760, and the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office. Phanco recently became embroiled in a dispute with a sheriff's special deputy who was working to impound stray nuisance cattle near the ranch late last month. The dispute rose to the level of accusations of trespassing, and suspicion of cattle rustling. The dispute erupted Feb. 24, as Phanco was driving around the far reaches of the ranch. Suddenly, he encountered several cowboys on horseback in a wooded area near the Peace River. To Phanco, it looked like the cowboys had been rounding up a small herd of what some call "river cows" -- nearly wild cattle that had been left untended for the past couple of years....
Barbed ire: Flap over land turns ranch life prickly The Christmas cards stopped last December, about six months after the first lawsuit was filed. "It's sad when you think people are your friends and neighbors and then something like this comes out of the blue," said Margaret Lamb, 87, of Creede. She is the matriarch of a pioneer family snared in a tangle of lawsuits over land that is the crown jewel of their ranch in the Upper Rio Grande Valley. The Lambs filed suit in May, asking the courts to determine ownership of 8.2 acres of their Soward Ranch. The lawsuit was filed, they said, after their neighbor announced his intention to move a fence to claim the tract, although the fence has been the boundary between the two ranches since 1894. The seeds of the dispute were sewn more than 100 years ago by a government more interested in converting land into cash than in the precision of its surveys. It's a story likely to be replayed again and again, as 19th-century errors are forced to light in 21st-century disputes....
Dinosaur named after Alberta rancher A recently discovered species of dinosaur has been named in honour of an Alberta rancher in recognition of his efforts to help fossil hunters. News of the discovery, Albertaceratops nesmoi, was published in this month's Journal of Paleontology by Michael Ryan, curator of vertebrate paleontology for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Mr. Ryan was a graduate student at the University of Calgary and was camping on Cecil Nesmo's property when he dug up the fossil six years ago. “It's quite an honour for me,” said Mr. Nesmo, 62, who's lived for 58 years on a ranch near Manyberries, a small town about 290 km southeast of Calgary....
Hall of fame horseman Brett Davis has international reputation as trainer of cutting horses In the days when the title of cowboy was a pretty broad job description, Brett Davis of Red Lick, Texas, would have been right at home on the range. His love of horses and people and his respect for Old West tradition would have made him first-rate at driving cattle, working ranches and showcasing his well-trained horses. Davis’ cutting horse riding and training talents were honored in December when he was inducted as a rider into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. “My mom got remarried when I was 18, and my stepdad was a horse enthusiast who introduced me to the sport of cutting horses,” Davis said. “I decided right then it was what I wanted to do for a living. He introduced me to a few people and I spent the next six years apprenticing with some good trainers before I took off on my own.” Davis trained under respected cutting horse trainers. Horsemen Punk Carter of Salina, Texas, and Pat Earnhart of Hernando, Miss., prepared Davis for what has turned out to be a satisfying, well-paid profession. Carter gave Davis schooling from the ground up, teaching the young man how to break, train and evaluate horseflesh. Earnhart taught him “how to win,” Davis said....
Texas authors are doing it for themselves A big full moon hung over the Panhandle that spring night in 1878. Charlie Newell, returning from Dodge City to his ranch on Palo Duro Creek in what is now Hansford County, had bedded down near his wagon. But someone else was up late, taking advantage of the moonlight to steal his mules. As Newell searched for the missing animals the next morning, someone, presumably the mule thief, shot him from ambush. The bullet mangled Newell's right arm. Six days later, the post surgeon at nearby Fort Elliott removed it to keep Newell from dying of gangrene. When his creditors heard he had been laid up, two of them sued Newell. Then he found out his wife had run off with another man. That might read like the synopsis of a Western, but it's actually a summary of "Charlie Newell Shot!" (Amber Quill Press, $29.95; 828 West Park Ave., Hereford, 79045-4002), a new biography about a Texas pioneer no one had ever heard of before Hereford writer Cleon Roberts started digging. Roberts shows that Newell was the Panhandle's first rancher, a distinction normally attributed to the legendary Charles Goodnight. Newell was no Goodnight, but he led an interesting life and Roberts has done a fine job of drawing on long-forgotten account books, newspapers, legal records and family material in recreating it....