Monday, April 30, 2007

NEWS ROUNDUP

EU demands cows change their diets BARMY Euro MPs are demanding new laws to stop cows and sheep PARPING. Their call came after the UN said livestock emissions were a bigger threat to the planet than transport. The MEPs have asked the European Commission to “look again at the livestock question in direct connection with global warming”. The official EU declaration demands changes to animals’ diets, to capture gas emissions and recycle manure. They warned: “The livestock sector presents the greatest threat to the planet.” The proposal will be looked at by the 27 member states. The UN says livestock farming generates 18 per cent of greenhouse gases while transport accounts for 14 per cent....
Bangkok hosts key climate summit A major climate change conference which will spell out what needs to be done to combat global warming has got under way in the Thai capital Bangkok. It is the third such summit this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It aims to be the key guide to climate change technology and economics. A final draft seen by the BBC will say nations can protect the climate, but only if they make policies to halt the global growth in emissions by 2030. The draft refers to stabilising emissions between 450 and 550 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere....
Rancher uses easements in land fight Bob Patterson knows that it will take more than a conservation easement to stop the Army from taking his ranch south of Kim. He’s convinced, however, that such easements are a powerful tool for protecting agricultural land in Southeastern Colorado. “I don’t know if I’ll go up or down, but whichever way I go, I want to be looking at a ranch with cattle on it,” he joked last week at a seminar on conservation easements. About 75 people - a mix of real estate agents, landowners, bankers, appraisers and public officials - attended the seminar sponsored by the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, the Colorado Ag Land Trust, the Nature Conservancy and Community Banks of Colorado. Patterson was a sort of pioneer for conservation easements in the region, working on protecting the 20,000-acre spread he and his wife Bunny bought in the 1960s. Along with his children, he worked for four years with the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust to donate a conservation easement in 2001. A member of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association board, Patterson has helped fight the expansion of Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, which could aim for his property, “depending on which direction they’d go.”....
Colorado may say no to Fort Carson expansion Colorado, a state that has long been friendly toward the military, is poised to try to stop the Army from using eminent domain to vastly expand a troop training ground on the southeastern Plains. At the urging of ranchers who live near Fort Carson’s Pinon Canyon maneuver site, state lawmakers approved a bill that withdraws Colorado’s “consent” for the federal government to acquire more land for Pinon Canyon. The measure is now on the desk of Gov. Bill Ritter. Spokesman Evan Dryer wouldn’t comment Friday on whether Ritter will sign it but said the governor has “very serious concerns about the use of eminent domain” for the expansion. While military bases have faced closure elsewhere, Colorado Springs’ Fort Carson is adding 10,000 soldiers and will be home to 25,000 troops by 2009. It will also be a training site for National Guard units from around the West. The post has sent over 13,000 soldiers to Iraq, many on multiple tours, and many of the new soldiers arriving from Fort Hood have served in Iraq....
Yellowstone grizzlies ‘recovered’ One of the most pristine expanses of wilderness in the lower 48 states grew even wilder over the last two decades, with the resurgence of grizzly bears across 9 million acres in and around Yellowstone National Park. Starting today, those grizzlies will be cut loose from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The move is being hailed by the Bush administration as a landmark in the drive to protect the bears’ vast habitat. But a lawsuit to reverse the administration’s ruling already is being drafted, illustrating that the bitter fight over grizzlies — and the wild lands they roam — is far from over. The preservation groups behind the pending legal challenge claim the administration is delisting grizzlies as part of its agenda to expand logging, oil and gas exploration and grazing on Western lands. They also argue the administration is ignoring new perils for grizzlies, in global warming and the boom in vacation home construction that is sweeping across the West. Federal wildlife officials and some conservation groups say the litigation could throw a cloud over the entire endangered species program, obscuring one of the program’s rare success stories....
Views differ on warming's effect on grizzlies Yellowstone grizzlies need a lot of fuel. At its hungriest, one might consume 20,000 calories a day - the rough equivalent of snarfing 1½ Big Macs every hour. But for the 500 or so grizzlies that live in and around Yellowstone National Park, the Earth's warming climate may change what's on the menu. All four of the most important food groups for the bears - whitebark pine nuts, moths, cutthroat trout and winter-killed elk and bison - could potentially be affected by global warming. The difficulty, though, is predicting how. That will be one of the central questions looking forward as Yellowstone grizzly bears today are removed from the endangered-species list. Federal bear biologists who proposed delisting say grizzlies are highly adaptable and that managers will keep an eye on the bears and do what they can to make sure they can survive. Climate change or no, though, grizzlies have found ways to survive again and again in unstable environments, bear officials said. Their omnivorous tastes run from bugs and roots to meat, garbage and nearly everything in between....
Benzene surfaces Benzene has been found in water wells in two Sublette County natural gas fields. Federal land managers say the benzene probably came from trucks used to siphon water out of the wells. They say there is no threat to human health or livestock. Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said benzene was found in four industrial water supply wells on the Jonah Field and on the Pinedale Anticline last August and September. Benzene is a hydrocarbon that can cause human health problems if ingested. There has been no drinking water contaminated," said Rey Adame, public affairs officer for the BLM. "There is no threat to human health or livestock. There are no threats to people working in the field. I don't want to create a panic with this, because it's not." A local conservation district tested the wells last summer, Adame said. The contamination was reported to BLM in January. Adame said he didn't know why there was a delay in reporting it. John Wagner, water quality administrator for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, said he didn't think operators would fined because the matter is still under investigation....
Colo. withdraws objection to water rights stipulations Nearly two weeks after filing objections to an agreement reached between Upper Gunnison Basin water users and the federal government in 2003, the state’s attorney general has filed a motion to withdraw it. “It was done because a number of parties in the Gunnison River Basin made it very clear they felt the filing of those objections would prevent further negotiation,” said Alexandra Davis, First Assistant Attorney General for the water rights unit. The agreement in question regards stipulations protecting the water rights of ranchers and other users from the government’s reserved water right for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Davis said the motion was filed to allow the state to withdraw its objection with “leave of the court to file them again later.” Frank Kugel said he believes there was “a broad base of support” for those who filed the stipulations and they felt the state had not lived up to its original commitment when it filed the objections. The state was closely involved with and provided input to those stipulations when they were filed, he said....
Well crackdown intensifies in Summit Kent Gloor wasn’t exactly happy when he recently received a letter telling him that state officials may revoke his well permit and curtail his use of water. “The tone of the letter was a little direct,” said the Breckenridge Heights property owner. “I’m sure there will be some homeowners who will be pretty upset.” Gloor referred to several hundred residents and property owners targeted by the continued crackdown on unauthorized well-water use. At issue are state laws that limit well water use to indoor, domestic purposes for certain types of wells. The general idea is, if you use groundwater to irrigate a lawn or wash a car, at least a portion of that water doesn’t make it back into surface streams. In effect, that water is lost to a potential downstream user with senior water rights. The problem has grown as more well users get hooked up to sewer systems, resulting in an even greater net loss to groundwater flows. “If you’re using water outside the conditions of your permit, you’re using someone else’s water,” said state water commissioner Scott Hummer. “The water that trickles down the mountain and fills the fissures in the rock where the well is goes down into a stream, where a rancher or a municipality may have senior rights to that water.”....
The big, dirty list When you think of water pollution, you might picture industrial waste, chemicals, sewage or some type of toxic sludge pouring out of an old rusty pipe into a river. That's the kind of water pollution you'll typically find in the Eastern United States. It's usually easy to detect and to stop: There's the sludge, there's the pipe it's pouring out of that should be turned off, and there's the offender who should be fined. But in New Mexico and other Western states, it's a very different story. Almost all water pollution in the West comes from the activities of animals and people. The sources are difficult to identify, even harder to stop, and almost impossible to issue fines for to the responsible parties. Contamination from these so-called nonpoint sources are often subtle and cumulative, taking place over many years. The pollution caused by nonpoint sources often has multiple origins and offenders, and takes much, much longer to clean up....
Elk foundation buys timber, grazing land The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has purchased 367 acres of timber and grazing land in the southern Bitterroot Valley and transferred the property to the state. The property, which sold for $688,000, supports some 1,000 wintering elk, the foundation said. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation will wind up with the property after a swap with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for other land in the Bitterroot. "We're going to be celebrating this one. It was a real accomplishment made possible by a lot of great people," said Mike Mueller, senior lands program manager for the elk foundation. The property, on Lyman Creek northeast of Sula, is surrounded by the Sula State Forest on three sides. U.S. Forest Service land borders it on the east....
Closure of 2,450 miles of trails proposed Tahoe National Forest is proposing to close 2,450 miles of unauthorized off-highway-vehicle trails that have been used for years to halt problems such as erosion and impacts on wildlife. In turn, 50 miles of so-called OHV trails not previously in the forest's inventory will be added to a developing designated route system. The crackdown is part of a nationwide effort that began three years ago to identify motorized roads and trails on federal lands and control unmanaged riding. Unmanaged recreation from OHVs is one of the "four key threats facing the nation's forests and grasslands," according to a report by the U.S. Forest Service. "This kind of damage is just not acceptable," said Phil Horning, forest landscape architect with the Tahoe National Forest....
A new way to beautify canyons? Future upgrades to Providence Canyon could lie in the pocketbooks of city residents. That’s if a first-of-its-kind arrangement between the city, U.S. Forest Service and its nonprofit arm is approved by councilmembers. Under a proposal floated by Logan District Ranger Rob Cruz, Providence homeowners would be given the option to tack $1 on to their monthly utility bills. The money would be funneled into an interest-bearing account maintained by the National Forest Foundation until city and Forest Service officials come up with a project worthy of the money that’s donated. “We’ve never tried it anywhere in the country before this program. We’re on the cutting edge here,” Cruz said. “If it works out well, we want to take it to other places and see if other communities would like to jump in.” The funds could help pay for the construction of restrooms in the canyon, shutting off illegal ATV trails, fencing off the city’s water source or additional patrols by law enforcement at night....
Park fee hikes questioned A four-year program to increase national parks entrance fees and make them more uniform could discourage many Americans from visiting their national parks — especially parks that are close to home, some parks boosters say. The federal government's move in January to replace the National Park Service's $50 annual pass with a new $80 multi-agency pass is also drawing fire. The National Parks Conservation Association, a non-partisan group that lobbies on behalf of national parks, recently called on Congress to allow the park service to bring back the less expensive pass, which allowed free entry to the 145 parks that charge fees. Another 246 national park sites do not have entrance fees. The new America the Beautiful Pass can be used at about 2,000 recreation sites operated by the park service, the U.S. Forest Service and several other federal agencies. Meanwhile, the number of visitors to the national parks has been falling....
Many views on wild lands
Heritage farmers reap riches money can't buy It's easy to understand what lured Lorenz F. Bading back to work the rolling pastures northeast of New Braunfels that have been in his family since 1852. It's in his voice as he gently prods one of his Red Limousin cattle out from in front of his range vehicle or quietly recalls the days long ago when he helped make sorghum cane into molasses on a mule-driven press, parts of which still stand near the home where he was born in 1916. Bading, Wood and their families are part of a group of 81 families recognized by the Texas Department of Agriculture for keeping Texas land in farming or ranching for at least 150 years. Another 4,100 Texas farmers and ranchers have been honored in the state's Family Land Heritage Program since it began in 1974 for keeping land in agricultural production for at least 100 years. And five families, all in Jim Hogg or Starr counties of the Rio Grande Valley, have stayed active in agriculture for 200 years or more, going back to the Spanish land grants of the 18th century....

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Wolf Kills Cows, Wolf Bites Human, Wolf Goes to Town, Wolf Released to Kill Again

She wasn’t born to a normal pack, no not AF 924, she was born in a den in Catron County during the spring of 2005. This wolf was born at the height of a spate of cattle killing that was occurring on what is now known to the locals as the Catron County Killing Fields. Her mother was the famous AF 511, or the Brunhilda wolf, an animal best known as Fish and Wildlife Services cover girl for their wolf recovery publications. For those who don’t know, Brunhilda was a Frankish queen who was known for her love for of torturing her prisoners. The name itself means ready for battle. Perhaps the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) chose the name wisely knowing something that most rural folks don’t. AF 511 lived up to her name and after several years of releases and cattle depredations that had nearly ruined several ranches, she was finally slated for permanent removal from the wild. She and her pups including f-924 were finally taken out the summer of 2005...Her daughter now grown and trap wise AF 924 is back in the Gila wilderness and carrying on the family name, along with a belly full of pups. Just last week, she was trans-located for the second time into New Mexico barely six months after her second removal from the wild. Two releases in less than two years, that seems to be an oddity but due to her hereditary penchant for killing cattle, she too was briefly removed from the wild for [management purposes]. That means that if she had been left on the ground to kill one more cow or calf or colt, she would have been handed a death sentence or if lucky, trapped and taken into captivity forever. FWS and the Mexican wolf recovery team cut their losses and picked her up before it was too late and they lost her forever....
Cowboy tales - horses and snakes top the list

By Julie Carter

There are some very fine stories that never make the history books.

Storytellers keep Native Americans' legends through the generations. It's the job of a gifted tribe member to be the keeper of the stories and to pass them on to the next generation from the many generations that came before.

Cowboys do much the same thing. The Native American storyteller will have a name like Grandmother Two Bears or Old Father Story Teller, the cowboy will simply be named Ben, Joe or Charlie. But if they were to be in a tribe somewhere, they might be named something like Man with Crooked Legs or Hitch In Get Along.

Old cowboys tend to be shorter than they were in their youth, a bit bow-legged and they waddle when they walk because their parts don't move like they should. The days of the long-legged strolling stride left when arthritis arrived.

What they no longer have in athletic ability, they have maintained with humor and the passing of the legends, otherwise known as cowboy wild and wooly tales.

The number of topics from the old days when cowboys were king is endless.

Always, things were bigger, better and wilder "back then." They may not be able to give you their wife's full name accurately and certainly the date of her birth, but they can name every single ill-headed horse they ever rode in a 50-year period.

Guaranteed, they can name the horse in every story of every wild and woolly wreck they ever had that involved a rope and cow.

And for some reason, each horse will either be the best he ever rode, or the sorriest. Recall has managed to sort out the possibility of any mediocre saddle horses from days gone by.

Another topic that will bring on the windy stories is snakes. There are generations of big ugly diamondbacks that slithered into a bedroll, traveled up a catch rope to meet the roper or fell out of a tree on an unsuspecting cowboy.

Snakes, in their mystical ability to strike fear in the hearts of all men, garner a corner of cowboy history all by themselves. Ask any bowlegged cowboy-booted hombre you run into for his best snake story. I promise you he'll have at least one.

Then there are the "goin' to town" stories. Not so long ago cowboys went to town only occasionally and that trip involved buying some groceries and other supplies.

On that same sojourn, they might eat a steak at the local restaurant, spring a few bucks for a haircut and spend some time at the local watering hole imbibing in some cool spring-water beverages.

One of my favorite cowboy storytellers had a great tale that involved both a trip to town and a horse.

During one of those supply trips to town, he decided a cool one was in order. No sense tying up outside; he just rode the green-broke colt into the bar.

Things were going seemingly well until, suddenly, the jukebox music stopped. When the place got quiet, the horse got wide-eyed and made every attempt to get to somewhere else.

In doing so, he fell over onto the pool table breaking his rider's foot. For decades, the cowboy blamed the jukebox for his injury that kept him gimpy the rest of his life.

Cowboys in the last half of the last century lived a kind of cowboy way that, for the most part, has faded from the landscape.

The new West is continually inspired by their stories.

Web site blog is updated weekly. Stop by and visit : www.julie-carter.com

Friday, April 27, 2007

NEWS ROUNDUP

Canada won't meet Kyoto emission targets Canada's conservative government acknowledged Thursday it will not meet its Kyoto Protocol targets and announced a new environmental plan with a less ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under the 1997 Kyoto accord on climate change, the former Liberal government committed to a 6 percent cut in greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. But the country's emissions are now 30 percent above 1990 levels. The new goal of a national environmental initiative announced Thursday is to reduce the level of current emissions 20 percent by 2020. That means Canada will not meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol — which requires 35 industrialized countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that act like a greenhouse, trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. "I can't take responsibility for 10 lost years, but I can fully, and our government is prepared to fully, accept our responsibilities today," Environment Minister John Baird said in blaming the former Liberal government. The plan to tighten emissions controls on industry will cause Canada some economic pain, Baird warned. The government predicts price increases for cars, home appliances, electricity and fuel....
2008 Candidates Rely on Private Jets A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying a Democratic presidential candidate to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season. For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, it was wheels up shortly after they voted in favor of legislation requiring that U.S. troops begin returning home from Iraq in the fall. No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions. Thursday's debate, set on the campus of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., made for some whirlwind scheduling. Clinton, for instance, was scheduled to return to Washington Friday morning for an 8 a.m. address to the New York State United Teachers 35th Annual Representative Assembly, then fly back to South Carolina for an 11 a.m. event in Greenville....
Poll Finds Majority See Threat in Global Warming Americans in large bipartisan numbers say the heating of the earth’s atmosphere is having serious effects on the environment now or will soon and think that it is necessary to take immediate steps to reduce its effects, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll finds. Ninety percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents and 60 percent of Republicans said immediate action was required to curb the warming of the atmosphere and deal with its effects on the global climate. Nineteen percent said it was not necessary to act now, and 1 percent said no steps were needed. The poll also found that Americans want the United States to support conservation and to be a global leader in addressing environmental problems and developing alternative energy sources to reduce reliance on fossil fuels like oil and coal. But when it comes to specific steps to foster conservation or produce more energy, the public is deeply torn, the poll found. Respondents said they would support higher gasoline prices to reduce dependence on foreign oil but would oppose higher prices to combat global warming. By large margins, respondents opposed an increase in pump prices of $2 a gallon, or even $1, to deal with environmental and energy-supply concerns. Three-quarters said they would be willing to pay more for electricity generated by renewable sources like solar or wind energy....
Panel weighs effects of oil, gas projects Westerners affected by oil and gas development on public lands testified Thursday about proposed changes in how the federal government handles leasing and permitting of energy projects. The hearing focused on the use of exemptions from some environmental analysis for certain projects and the problems that can arise when the government leases mineral rights under land lived on by private owners. Two House Natural Resources subcommittees jointly held the oversight hearing on land-use issues arising from energy development. Two federal officials testified in favor of the continued use of certain exemptions, but a representative of Western governors advocated for changes to it. A section of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 allows "categorical exclusions" to be used to exempt certain drilling projects from requirements to prepare an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement. John Emmerich testified on behalf of the Western Governors Association and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies that changes are needed. He and the WGA want the 2005 act to be modified so that categorical exclusions cannot be used in crucial habitat areas and wildlife corridors. Steve Adami, a rancher and certified public accountant in Buffalo, Wyo., testified that 12 of those wells are on his ranch. Adami did not know about the subsurface mineral rights when he bought his ranch in 1993. He told his story of a company coming onto the land and beginning development even while he waited for his appeal to be heard. Adami, who testified on behalf of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, asked for surface-owner input and accommodation as well as compensation for damages to be required in split-estate situations. He urged passage of a new federal split-estate law....
Industry: Relax wildlife rules Coal-bed methane industry representatives on Thursday asked federal regulators to loosen wildlife restrictions that shut down much of the industry's operations in Wyoming's Powder River Basin this spring. During breeding periods for sage grouse, eagles and other wildlife, the federal Bureau of Land Management imposes monthslong shutdowns of coal-bed methane work to prevent disturbance of the birds' nests and mating grounds. Researchers from the University of Montana say sage grouse populations in the Powder River Basin have suffered a sharp decline inside active coal-bed methane fields over the last decade. As coal-bed methane production shifted onto federal land during the last year, the restrictions meant to protect the birds came into play more often. That curtailed the drilling of new wells and prompted layoffs of some industry contractors. In response, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming this week hosted a two-day "sage grouse workshop" in Casper involving coal-bed methane companies, state and federal regulatory agencies and independent researchers. BLM officials would not comment on the request to modify its restrictions but agreed to work with the industry in the future....
Government renews focus on cross-Nevada rail line to nuclear dump The Energy Department is refocusing plans for a cross-Nevada railroad to a national nuclear waste repository, after an Indian tribe said it won't let radioactive waste cross its reservation, a top Yucca Mountain official said. A north-to-south railroad corridor that would have crossed the Walker River Paiute reservation in Mineral County no longer will be considered, Ward Sproat, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said Wednesday. The department will instead focus on completing studies of the so-called Caliente rail corridor, a 319-mile route that would be built from eastern Nevada across the state to the Yucca Mountain repository at a projected cost of more than $2 billion. Sproat made his comments during a presentation in Washington, D.C., to a conference organized by the U.S. Transport Council, whose members are tied to the shipping of nuclear materials. Sproat, the Energy Department's Yucca project chief, said it was too late to remove the 280-mile Mina corridor from an environmental impact study the department expects to make public in October. He said the Mina route could have been cheaper and faster to build, but said planners now expect the decision will favor the Caliente route. The Walker River Paiute tribe announced April 17 that it was withdrawing from environmental studies of the Mina route, named after a site south of Hawthorne. The tribe's participation was key to Energy Department plans to use existing railroad rights-of-way through old mining districts to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas....
Backers await Army's response on Pinon Canyon Supporters of the Army's plan to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site believe the Pentagon will be able to make a compelling case to increase the training area - despite the growing list of state and federal lawmakers who are opposed to the expansion. "Once the Army has identified its area of interest around Pinon Canyon, they can begin to have a dialogue with area landowners," said retired Air Force Col. Brian Binn, president of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Division. "Tomorrow's Army needs larger training areas and Pinon Canyon and Fort Carson are inextricably linked." That's an argument that didn't persuade Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who sent the Army a letter on Wednesday spelling out his opposition to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training area southwest of La Junta. Pinon Canyon is in Salazar's 3rd Congressional District and he joins Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., in sending the Army a blunt refusal to support expanding Pinon Canyon by 418,000 acres. Musgrave's 4th Congressional District includes Eastern Plains areas that could be affected by the expansion. "My decision has been coming for some time now," Salazar said Thursday, saying his own analysis of the proposed expansion indicates it would ruin the agriculture and ranching economy of the area. "The Army has broken a lot of promises over the years about Pinon Canyon. The fact is, the agriculture community doesn't have much voice in government and I couldn't stand by and let this happen to them again."....
Pair of endangered wolves released into remote area of Gila Two more endangered Mexican gray wolves have been released into a remote area of New Mexico's Gila Wilderness. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday that the pair, a male and a female from the Durango Pack, had been transferred from the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge wolf facility to a staging area at the edge of the wilderness. They were released Tuesday. The female is pregnant and was released prior to birthing to increase chances that the wolves will den in the area, the agency said....See below for Catron County's reaction to the release of the male wolf.
AZ Senate Balks at Requiring Permits for Off-Highway Vehicles Another push to require owners of off-highway vehicles to pay for a new annual sticker has fallen short at the Legislature. The Senate on Thursday voted 14-13 for the bill (HB2443) but 16 votes were required for passage. The house had previously passed it overwhelmingly in March. Similar to programs in use in states such as Utah and California, Arizona's program would have provided money for development of trails and other access routes, grants for local enforcement of off-highway vehicle laws, mitigation of damage caused by OHVs and creation of maps, signs and educational material. Opponents said the mandatory sticker amounted to a tax increase, with one saying it would apply broadly but only benefit some....
Spotted owl in protection quarrel again The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a plan to recover the northern spotted owl on federal lands Thursday amid charges the plan is politically designed to dismantle old-growth forest protections afforded by the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. Federal officials defended the proposal, saying it will take 30 years and $198 million to stabilize and recover an owl population that still is on the decline 17 years after it was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. But a member of the recovery team said the team’s work was undermined by Bush administration political appointees in Washington, D.C., who wanted less emphasis on preserving habitat and the Northwest Forest Plan. “The level of interference from Washington, D.C., is unprecedented,” said Tim Cullinan, an Audubon Washington wildlife biologist who participated on the owl-recovery team assembled by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. “They’ve used the recovery plan as a crowbar that wrecks the Northwest Forest Plan.”. The recovery team originally tried to mesh the owl-recovery plan with the Northwest Forest Plan in establishing 37 owl- conservation areas encompassing about 7.7 million acres, Cullinan said. But the plan completed in September 2006 was rejected by the so-called Washington Oversight Committee, which consisted of former timber lobbyist and current Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett and 11 others. The oversight committee directed the recovery team to de-emphasize the Northwest Forest Plan in the original option and told team members to add a second recovery option that gives local land managers more flexibility to create owl-conservation areas....
Disease divides fed agencies There’s a deep division between two federal agencies over eradication of brucellosis in the bison and elk of Yellowstone National Park. That divide was the 800-pound gorilla for the Wyoming Governor's Brucellosis Coordination Committee here on Thursday. {M3Bret Combs, the area veterinarian in charge of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Veterinary Services, acknowledged that his group and the National Park Service “are not on the same page” regarding the eradication of brucellosis in Yellowstone wildlife. Combs also acknowledged that until that gap is closed, Wyoming’s efforts to eliminate the disease in wildlife are likely doomed to failure. John Keck, the Wyoming state coordinator for the National Park Service, didn’t say much before the committee, but explained in a separate interview how complex the brucellosis problem looks from the Park Service's perspective. Keck said the agency divide exists in part because the Park Service does not regard its wildlife as a form of livestock. Indeed, the “wildness” of elk and bison are valued, and Park Service leadership balks at the suggestion from APHIS and ranchers that elk and bison be rounded up and processed through a test-and-slaughter program....
Editorial - Take the money TALK ABOUT your unintended consequences. A spokesman for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office says many Southeastern Colorado ranchers may be prohibited from taking private aid for the two holiday blizzard because of Amendment 41. The amendment, a so-called ethics in government measure, was passed last November by voters. It prohibits people in government or individuals directly related to government officials from taking more than $50 in gifts in any year. This would eliminate families that work for public schools, state colleges or counties. Because many of the households affected by the blizzards have family members who may work part time or full time for government, they may not be eligible for private assistance because of Amendment 41. Operation Blizzard Benefit, which featured a concert in Pueblo by Michael Martin Murphey and other entertainers, has raised more than $680,000 to help ranchers with their losses. Preliminary estimates pegged the number of fallen cattle at 10,000 head. It’s money from the benefit, not public aid, that might be construed as unlawful for certain families to receive. That’s certainly not what voters had in mind when they supported Amendment 41 at the polls....
House, Senate panel reject horse meat
Congress moved on two fronts Thursday to prevent the slaughter of horses, wild and domesticated, for human consumption. The U.S. House voted 277-137 to repeal the so-called "Burns rider" to the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which banned the commercial sale and slaughter of equines found on public lands primarily in the West. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., in 2004, slipped an amendment into an omnibus spending bill allowing for the commercial processing of horses. Animal protection groups have worked since then to get the ban restored. Burns lost a bid for re-election to the Senate in November. The House voted in 2005 and 2006 to restore the ban, but the Senate did not address the issue. In the Senate, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday voted 15-7 to ban the slaughter of all horses for human food. The legislation would prohibit the movement of horses anywhere in the country for the purpose of slaughtering them for human consumption. Until last year there were only three horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. - two in Texas and one in Illinois. All three have since closed. The bill appears to pre-empt transporting the animals to Canada or Mexico. There are three horse-packing plants in Canada, the nearest in Fort McLeod, Alberta, which processes horse meat for export to eastern Canada, Europe and Asia....
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? ... Not Anymore Imagine a proposal to scatter millions of pounds of poisoned meat around the United States, close to human populations. Much of it would be accessible to scavengers including eagles, hawks, coyotes, foxes and badgers, as well as to dogs and cats. An animal feeding on the poisoned meat would probably die. This scenario is likely, now that the opponents of slaughtering horses are having their way. For many years, unwanted horses have routinely been sent to slaughter. Some horse meat becomes pet food, but much goes for export to Europe for human consumption. Horse-slaughter opponents tend to think of horses as beloved pets, much like cats or dogs, and in America, the last thing we would do is eat a pet. In Europe, however, horse meat is a staple, and it’s found on many menus. The opponents of horse slaughter have concentrated their efforts on stopping the export of horse meat for human consumption. Since “filet of filly” is a dish that repels Americans, this argument has generated some sympathy. Exporting American horses to feed foreign palates has also been labeled unpatriotic, with critics calling the practice contrary to American values. Now, the poison-meat scenario has become the alternative to government-regulated horse slaughter. On March 29, the last U.S. horse-slaughter plant was closed down by order of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. A circuitous path led to shutting the doors — and summarily dismissing 55 employees — at the DeKalb, Ill., plant. Until a few months ago, three plants operated in the United States, and last year they slaughtered about 100,800 horses. What do slaughter opponents advocate? Their Political Action Committee, aptly called HOOFPAC, says it all in a slogan: “Keep America’s horses in the stable and off the table.” This is a catchy phrase, but it doesn’t address whose stable, and at whose expense....
Human Risk Played Down in Bad Feed The potential risk to humans who might have eaten meat contaminated with melamine is extremely low, and the Food and Drug Administration believes that only 6,000 hogs may have eaten the reconstituted feed. But concern has shifted to encompass melamine-related compounds that include cyanuric acid, which can be used as a pool cleaner, and mixed with melamine could cause crystal formations that damage kidneys and could in some cases cause the organ to fail, an F.D.A. official said. Melamine, a compound used to make plastic utensils and as a fertilizer in some countries, has been found in wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate that came from two Chinese suppliers starting as far back as July 2006....
Permits put cattle drive out to pasture It's OK to drive cattle through Angels Camp. But only in a great big truck. If you want whooping cowboys and the thunder of cow hooves on pavement, you'll need a permit. It's too late to get one from the California Department of Transportation in time for Italian Heritage Day on May 5, say event organizers. And a few old cowpokes around here are a bit blue about it. "This is my heritage," said Emily Stemler, 85, member of a longtime local ranching family and grand marshal for Italian Heritage Day. "It was just one of those things. You drove cattle on the highways all the time. We didn't have trucks to truck them." This year's Heritage Day is in part a revival of Angels Camp Living History Day. As recently as 2000, a morning cattle drive was part of Living History Day so folks would have some entertainment while they enjoyed flapjacks and java at the event's breakfast....
US Fish and Wildlife Services Releases Dangerous Mexican Gray Wolf; Catron County Demands Removal

The Mexican Gray Wolf pack called the Durango pack was officially translocated to the Gila National Forest. US Fish and Wildlife Services decided to release this pack on the 24th one day earlier than the scheduled April 25th release date from their soft holding pen. Today, Catron County New Mexico has requested immediate removal of this wolf in their following statement “Notice of Finding of Imminent Danger, Wolf Durango F924” due to this wolf’s history of biting and drawing blood on a human...This letter is a Notice of Finding of Imminent Danger by the Catron County Commission and constitutes a demand for immediate removal of Mexican wolf F924 from the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery program as per Catron County Amended Ordinance 001-2007 and pursuant to 63 C.F.R. § 1752 and 1759 and 50 C.F.R. § 17.84(k). For the reasons set forth herein and pursuant to Amended Catron County Ordinance 001-2007 (“Ordinance”), the Catron County Commission has determined that Mexican wolf F924 (“wolf”) is by definition a threat to human safety and a problem wolf as per the ordinance and federal regulation. Specifically this wolf has a known history of causing imminent danger to humans, including children or other defenseless persons, domestic animals and/or livestock pursuant to Section 1 and Section 2 of the Ordinance. Because of this wolf’s past behavior, pursuant to section 4 of Ordinance 001-2007, Catron County submits this demand for immediate removal of this wolf from the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery program. The facts surrounding this request are as follows....

Thursday, April 26, 2007

NEWS ROUNDUP

State may sue EPA over clean air law Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said California will sue the federal government if the state is not allowed to implement its landmark law slashing greenhouse gases from vehicles within six months. "The clock is ticking…. If we don't see quick action from the federal government, we will sue the U.S. EPA," said Schwarzenegger, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. "I just had a conversation with [EPA Administrator] Steve Johnson, and I said we are going to sue him," the governor said. "I put him on notice that the federal government is moving too slow." Environmental Protection Agency officials countered that they were moving "expeditiously" on California's request. But in a move that provoked immediate criticism, they also said Wednesday that they may link a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on greenhouse gases to California's request. If they do, it could delay the waiver decision yet again. Under the federal Clean Air Act, California is allowed to pass its own air pollution laws but must first obtain a waiver from the EPA. The state submitted its waiver request in December 2005, after the law was passed. After California receives permission, other states can follow its lead. Eleven other states have adopted similar tailpipe greenhouse gas laws....
Rep. Salazar says no to expanding Pinon Canyon The Army lost a battle Wednesday in its long campaign to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site when Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., sent a letter to the Defense Department stating his opposition to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training site southwest of La Junta. The Pinon Canyon training area is within Salazar's 3rd Congressional District and Salazar spelled out his opposition to expanding the training area in a four-page letter to Keith Eastin, assistant Army secretary for installations. Salazar said that adding 418,000 more acres to the Pinon Canyon site would "decimate" the area's ranching economy, take needed tax revenue from the rural counties that would be affected. He said the Army has failed to justify why the Army cannot conduct training at other Defense Department sites. "Furthermore, Pinon Canyon has been underutilized since its inception," Salazar said, noting that area residents report the training is used only a few times a year. "Simply put, the Army has neglected to make a compelling reason to acquire an additional 418,000 acres."....
Forest Service to Padlock Privies Toilets in the great outdoors can be an oasis for hikers, anglers, dirt-bikers and horseback riders, so the threat of padlocking them has created a little anxiety. The Tahoe National Forest, one of the nation's busiest, is running short on money to maintain its portable toilets. Each of the non-flushing privies sits on a 1,000-gallon concrete tank that has to be emptied, typically once a season. A bunch of dirt-bikers are offering to pay for pumping out one of them so it can stay open. But that's just one. Another 10 or so toilets, mostly serving trailheads in the forest, face padlocking. The problem of shrinking budgets for outdoor maintenance is crucial in California's national forests because operating costs are relatively higher than in the rest of the country, said Bonnie Petitt, recreation officer for the Tahoe forest. In 2006, the Forest Service got $54,500 through a special California fund collected from off-road vehicle fees that go to trail maintenance, which includes servicing 19 toilets in the trail areas. The forest needs at least $12,000 annually just to keep the toilets pumped out, Petitt said....Well, looks like my ol' Dad was right -- the Forest Service really can't manage shit.
State says feds should step up to the plate and fix Forest Service roads Nearly 2,170 miles of primitive roads meander through the Olympic National Forest, but poor maintenance and inadequate funding have left nearly half of those roads one big storm away from a washout. The state Department of Ecology, environmental groups and tribal leaders say the problem is pandemic throughout Washington’s six national forests. They fear washouts and gradual erosion could flood rivers with sediment, harming fish habitat and water quality. Now, they’re asking Congress for a tenfold increase in funding for the Forest Service to either fix or decommission the 22,000 miles of Forest Service roads in the state....
Ranchettes to replace wild horse plots? An Arizona real estate developer appears to be using the lure of wild horses to sell 40-acre ranchettes at a rural development near the Snowy Range, a Humane Society of the United States official charged this week. Wild Horse Ranch at Lake Hattie’s web site proclaims that “the wild horse” is “the heart and soul of the ranch. ... Dedication to their freedom and care is an ongoing priority and will always be an outstanding and unique quality of this property.” The web site contains numerous pictures of wild horses and herds. Dave Pauli, Humane Society regional leader in Billings, said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming citizens should be “deeply concerned” about the developer’s practice of “utilizing the horses’ charismatic beauty to sell the ground out from under their hooves.” Pauli said the BLM “should be taking the lead to ensure there is no appearance of commercialization of the horses and no misdirection of government funds intended to provide for the humane care of the wild horses placed on the ranch." Alan Shepherd, a BLM wild horse official in Cheyenne, said the BLM does not consider the activities of the developer as a violation of a standard clause in the adoption contract which prohibits “commercially exploiting a wild horse or burro.”....If this becomes a commercially successful venture, it will lead to additional wild horse sanctuaries being created. Why would the horse advocates oppose that?
Bill seeks oversight of conservation areas Much of the federal land set aside for conservation in southern Arizona has patchwork management which critics say is underfunded and can change greatly from administration to administration. Four members of Congress have sponsored a bill to give national conservation areas, national wilderness areas and national monuments more security under permanent management. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, whose job has been more about doling out land for economic ventures than environmental protection, has been stuck managing these lands. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Tucson, would establish the National Conservation Land System and make protection of these lands permanent and create an agency specifically to oversee them. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate last week by Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. "It designates that system as an important system and it gives the lands status important for protection," Grijalva said. The bill, if approved, represents the last step in turning the Wilderness Act of 1964 into hard and fast conservation, said Matt Skroch, executive director of a Tucson-based environmental group, Sky Island Alliance....
Democrats demand a say in changes to species protection Key Senate Democrats expressed concern yesterday about an Interior Department proposal they say will weaken the Endangered Species Act and demanded the Bush administration include Congress in any attempt to rewrite the 30-year-old law. "We have seen reports of a document reflecting extensive draft revisions" and "additional documents that have surfaced recently suggest that major rule revisions remain under active consideration," the senators told Interior Secretary Dirk Kemp-thorne in a letter yesterday. "We are concerned about any attempt to overhaul the Endangered Species Act program administratively, without the involvement of Congress," the lawmakers wrote. The letter includes 15 questions the lawmakers are demanding be answered before the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service moves forward with any changes. The letter is signed by Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, and independent Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernard Sanders of Vermont. The 90-page proposal limits the number of species protected and the acreage of habitat preserved for those species, and includes a timeline for protection. It also shifts more power and funding from the federal government to the states, and gives local officials veto power over what plants and animals will be protected....
Navajo President Explains Why New Mexico Was Selected As Location For First Casino Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. outlined the reasons for changing the location of the tribe’s first casino from Arizona to New Mexico during his State of the Nation Address on April 16. “…as you well know, the Pinta Road exit at Nahata Dziil (near Sanders) was selected as a casino site,” Shirley said. “The selection was based upon land availability and access. However, we have discovered that the Navajo Nation does not own the sub-surface rights.” Shirley went on to explain that the tribe had hoped to work with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in a “friendly condemnation” of the sub-surface rights, but the BLM advised the Navajo Nation to seek the rights by other means, such as through congressional action or “by simply relying upon Arizona state law.” The president stated, “Protection of our interests under state law is limited, and I believe that we must have unfettered use of the site if we are to invest millions in a gaming facility there. Even though Shirley indicated that a casino would likely still be built in the Nahata Dziil, or Sanders, area, he explained that the tribe’s first casino is now planned for Church Rock, N.M., just outside of Gallup. “We have prioritized this location because of land availability, and because the market study provided by GVA Marquette Advisors shows that the Gallup area is an excellent location to maximize our revenue generating potential,” he said....
Artist sees profit in recycling of park Rich Holstein, who has salvaged large amounts of reclaimed wood from the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park, has another grand plan he says could benefit the National Park Service and the local economy. Holstein proposed a large-scale reclamation plan for national parks across the country. Under his plan, all buildings being remodeled or in the throes of demolition would have wood and other building products saved to create keepsakes and art. The National Park Service would continue to pay for reclamation costs. But, he said, the they would get 25 percent of the profits from sales of products created from recyclables crafted by Holstein and his employees. Since 2005, Holstein has harvested wood from the Old Faithful Inn to create picture and mirror frames. Holstein said folks want to purchase treasures from their visits, not knickknacks with "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. "Everybody is looking to take something home made from the park," he said. Those treasures could include throw rugs recycled from park carpets, brass key rings from pipes and wires, and picture frames from walls and floors....
Yellowstone wolf diet returns to normal Call it a change in taste. After an early-winter preference for young elk, wolves in Yellowstone National Park have turned their attention to killing older bulls. Doug Smith, the park's lead wolf biologist, said the wolves' out-of-the-ordinary emphasis on elk calves in November and December was followed by a more typical diet of large male elk last month. "This is right in line with what they do in March," Smith said. The wolves' diet late last year raised a few eyebrows. A survey by park biologists showed about 75 percent of the wolf kills were calves, 15 percent were bulls and about 10 percent were females. There was some speculation that the early mild conditions made it harder for wolves to get adult elk, so they turned to calves. But in March, about half of the kills were bulls, roughly 25 percent were calves and 25 percent were adult females, Smith said. The surveys are conducted every December and March to get an idea of what wolves are eating and how the overall population is faring....
Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’ Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits. A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place. Others are meanwhile making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure and in some cases for clean-ups that they would have made anyway. The FT investigation found: ■ Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions. ■ Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially. ■ Brokers providing services of questionable or no value. ■ A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits. ■ Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts....
CoStar Green Report: Grassroots, Part II We’ve may have traded Rachel Carson for Al Gore, swapped "Kumbaya" with Kyoto and we’re talking green buildings instead of clean water, but there appears to be more than a few similarities between today's fight against global warming and the environmental movement of yesteryear. Roused by Carson’s searing expose, "Silent Spring," and taken up by an already restless nation embroiled in Vietnam, the environmental movement blossomed into a historic inaugural Earth Day in 1970, followed by a decade of sweeping, unprecedented period of environmental legislation and reform. Now, enmeshed in another controversial war and spurred by an inconvenient truth, people are talking environmentalism again, in a volume not heard since Cuyahoga and Love Canal made headlines. And while Gore hardly pioneered the science of global warming, his message is having the same rallying effect and evoking the same collective awareness that Carson marshaled in the dawn of the grassroots movement. If these historical parallels hold, we may once again be on our way down the path that led to the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act, created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), all within about a decade....
State rodeo queen quits her position
Reba Buchholz, of Bismarck - who officially started her reign Jan. 1 as Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2007 - has resigned, says Nancy Jo Bateman, president of the Miss Rodeo North Dakota Pageant Association. Bateman said the several issues that the association directors considered before accepting Buchholz's resignation had to do with requirements not upheld by Buchholz in the agreement she signed after winning the title. That agreement includes rules ranging from dress code requirements to conduct expectations, required appearances and the prohibition of alcohol and drugs. "Obviously, it's been a really uncomfortable situation for Reba and the directors," Bateman said. She said Buchholz and pageant officials have agreed the details that led to the resignation will remain among them, "and that's where they need to stay." Bateman said Buchholz has had to return the saddle she won, as well as other prizes. She said the board received Buchholz's resignation letter at the end of March....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Mechanic, doc do their best My mechanic has a lot in common with my mother's doctor. When the steering wheel locked up on my 1969 Ford F-250 3/4-ton, four-speed with split rims and a manual choke, we cajoled it down to George's garage in town. On my truck's last visit to George's, he replaced the power steering pump, so I figured I was good for a while, but ... not so! I left it over the weekend with instructions to please fix it. My sweet mother has had a long relationship with her doctors. They have kept her ticking through the Great Depression, World War II, four children and two husbands, as more than her share of afflictions struck away at her health. She still has an ongoing schedule of doctor's appointments. Sometimes she has a complaint, or the visit is just for a checkup. But no matter the purpose of the visit, it seems the doctors can always find something that's not quite right that requires an additional test or pill. I have found that I have to be specific when I take my truck to George's. If I just said, "If you see anything wrong, fix it," George could retire to the Bahamas after I paid the bill! The motor has been rebuilt, but the runnin' gear is wearing out. Kinda like Mother. She has a strong heart but her tie rods are loose....
FLE

Mexican Officials Coached Witnesses In Border Patrol Murder Case The key prosecution witnesses in the case of the Border Patrol agent charged with murder for shooting a confrontational illegal immigrant are themselves illegal aliens related to the shot man and coached by the Mexican government before U.S. authorities even spoke to them. When prosecutors in Arizona’s Cochise County proudly announced the first-degree murder charges against Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett this week, they failed to mention some important details that could prove damaging to their case. First is the fact that their key witnesses are the two brothers and a sister-in-law of the shot man, who incidentally joined him on his illegal border crossing journey. Secondly, is the fact that Mexican Consul officials were allowed to interview and coach the already biased witnesses before they gave statements to U.S. authorities. Mexican officials were granted unrestricted access to the apprehended illegal immigrants by the Border Patrol agent in charge of the Naco station where they were detained immediately after the January shooting. The senior agent, Darcy Olmos, has a long history of pandering to Mexico and Mexican aliens and refers to illegal immigrants as “my people.” In fact, when ranchers near the border complained of vandalism by illegal aliens, Olmos said that ancestors of the ranchers had stolen the land from her people....
Border sheriffs plead with lawmakers for funds Southwest sheriffs frustrated with federal efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border pleaded with Bush administration officials and lawmakers for funds to lessen the local burden of fighting drug trafficking and illegal immigration. “I think the sheriffs are frustrated that this is going kind of slow,” said Joe Pollock, president of the Sheriff's Association of Texas. “The local taxpayers don't have the money to afford it. The federal government does.” Pollock, sheriff of Burnet County, was joined by two dozen law enforcement officers representing 26 counties in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Tuesday's meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other Bush administration officials was arranged by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who have worked with the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition to fight crime and improve border security without impeding trade. It was the first time the coalition of sheriffs met with Chertoff. He has made numerous trips to the border to hear complaints first hand about the lack of funds. “It's important to hear some of their front-line observations,” Chertoff said....
The Corridor of Killing The killers wrapped the cop's head in silver duct tape, using a knife to plant a message in his chest. As a final touch, they left a hand grenade by the corpse--a calling card, of sorts. Three hours north, another group of killers hunted drug mules and migrant smugglers in the hills of Santa Cruz County. There was a heavy U.S. response--armored agents and Blackhawk helicopters descended on them near Sonoita. A group of five killers was found three days later--but yet another hit went down close to Pima County. It was calm for a few weeks; cops started thinking they may have finished the group off. Then the hunters killed again, this time near Green Valley. Federal agents say the two theaters of murder, one in Sonora, another in Arizona, are not related; the narcos are staying on their side of the border, while opportunistic thugs wreak havoc on the well-worn illegal trails in the desert of the Tumacacori Mountains. Then again, maybe they are related--tied together by the fact that they exist at all, a corridor of killing stretching from Sinaloa to Sonora and into Arizona. People familiar with the situation reveal an uncomfortable truth: Years of federal neglect of the Arizona border have compromised the line. Killings are spilling out of control, hit men moving in to fill the gaps left by American law enforcement....

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

NEWS ROUNDUP

EPA takes up Calif. plan to limit greenhouse gases The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday agreed to consider a California request to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, a plan that has been on hold for more than a year. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said the decision to take up California's request was a consequence of the April 2 Supreme Court ruling that found the agency has the power to treat climate-warming gases as pollutants and regulate them accordingly. Speaking at a Senate hearing on the impact of that ruling, Johnson declined to set out a timetable for action on the California petition. He said the process begins with a period of public notice and comment that includes a May 22 hearing in Washington. California has passed a state law that would require new vehicles to meet gradually tightening standards for greenhouse gas emissions starting with 2009 models. But to put that law into effect, California needs a waiver from the federal government, which is what the EPA is now considering....
Little Help for Watersheds in the West The West’s already stretched water supplies received no relief in March, as near-record high temperatures and below-normal precipitation wilted crucial watershed lands from the Pacific Northwest to the Sierra Nevada and the deserts of New Mexico. Mountain snows melted and evaporated away with the wind and heat, leaving places like the Salt River and Verde River Basins in central Arizona with only about 30 percent of their historic average spring runoff. Runoff from the Colorado River that feeds Lake Powell, the reservoir that straddles the Utah-Arizona border, was projected to come in at 53 percent of average. In the drought that began in 2000 across much of the West, (with 2005 being the odd, near-normal year) 2007 is promising no relief: better than some years, but with no clear turning of the corner, either. “We always like to be optimists, and we were, and then comes March,” said Kip White, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which manages dams and reservoirs in the West. Hydrologists say the dry heat of early spring this year echoed what happened last year. The snows were there, and then abruptly they were not. In the Southwest and in central Oregon, 30 percent of the snow pack — the crucial element for downstream water supply — melted in just that one month, according to a water supply report issued on Tuesday by the bureau....
ID elk rancher acquitted on misdemeanor A former eastern Idaho elk rancher has been acquitted on charges he poked a man in the eye and chin during an altercation last fall over elk. Rex Rammell was found not guilty of disturbing the peace Monday at the end of a daylong trial here in 7th District Court. "I'm happy with the outcome, but I never want to do this again," Rammell said. For Rammell, it's the second acquittal by a Fremont County jury in as many months in the wake of tussles with state wildlife officials and others after 120 elk escaped from his Chief Joseph hunting preserve near Ashton last year. After the animals fled, then-Gov. Jim Risch ordered an emergency hunt to reduce the chances they could spread inferior genes or disease to wild herds near Yellowstone National Park. Rammell has since filed a $1.3 million tort claim against the state, alleging it was negligent and capricious in its handling of the elk case. Rammell said a meeting with attorneys is scheduled this week to talk about a settlement in that case. Last month, Rammell was acquitted of obstructing an officer during the hunt of Rammell's lost elk last October....
Feds decide against protections for arctic grayling The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday decided against protecting the fluvial arctic grayling under the Endangered Species Act. Conservation groups called the decision "politically motivated" and said it could spell doom for the unusual, river-dwelling fish. Its numbers have been declining for years. "It's a species on the brink of extinction," said Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that pushed for federal protections. "They basically said that the existence of the grayling in the lower 48 states is not significant." An appeal by conservation groups is likely, he said. The ruling also raises questions about the future of a major conservation project in the Big Hole valley aimed at improving grayling habitat. Twenty-seven landowners controlling 130,000 acres have already enrolled, agreeing to improve their irrigation projects to help keep water in the Big Hole River, regional fisheries manager Bruce Rich said. In return, participating ranchers are assured they won't be saddled with other demands if the fish is listed....
Fee-for-all on public lands Amid all the hoopla, no one seemed interested in the whereabouts of recreation fee revenue collected from Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon visitors over the past decade. The Santa Catalina Ranger District office informed me that data on these and other allocated funds could not be made available in a timely fashion. I was not too surprised. Public lands advocates from around the country have been following the U.S. Forest Service's recreation fee program since its inception. I think most folks figure their fees at Sabino and Mount Lemmon are used for basic upkeep and to provide recreational opportunities. They'd be surprised to learn that the Forest Service is currently using $93 million of our fee money to "decommission" - i.e. close, gate, bulldoze or sell to private interests - thousands of Forest Service recreation sites that do not meet "full cost recovery" criteria. The fee program, it turns out, is about much more than trails, tram roads and toilet seats. It is a vehicle for transforming our Forest Service from a publicly supported public service agency into a business operation with corporate partners....
Senators advance fee for off-road vehicles on public land, roads State senators voted Tuesday to require owners of off-road vehicles to pay a new fee for the privilege of operating them anywhere on public lands or roads. HB 2443 would require off-road vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and off-road recreational vehicles to have a license issued by the state Department of Transportation. That would include "dirt bikes." The fee would be set by the agency, but is expected to cost no more than $25 a year, a figure legislative staffers estimate would bring in $6.8 million a year once fully implemented in 2009. The bill also would require those younger than 18 to have headgear that is properly fitted and fastened. All vehicles would need to have mufflers, spark arresters and, when operated on sand dunes, flags. And those operated from twilight to sun-up also would need headlights and taillights. The legislation also would make it a crime, punishable by 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, to drive off a marked trail in a way that damages wildlife habitat or natural resources....
Holden Village fees to Forest Service increase drastically Annual fees paid to the U.S. Forest Service by a north-central Washington Lutheran retreat will increase from about $700 to $50,000, due to a change in the way the federal agency assesses fees for camps. Holden Village has held a Forest Service permit since 1961 to operate the remote community for all faiths. The retreat sits above the western shore of Lake Chelan, in an old mining camp that is only accessible by boat or trail. In 2003, Congress passed the National Forest Organizational Camp Fee Improvement Act, charging all camps on national forest land 5 percent of their gross revenue. The act excluded camps that cater to youth or people with disabilities, Chelan District Ranger John Sheehan said. At Holden Village, the fee is being phased in over five years, and will reach about $50,000 next year, he said. Holden Village does not have regular phone service, but the village's co-director Carol Hinderlie wrote in an e-mail that the increase in fees "creates a severe hardship." Paul Haines, Holden Village's public works manager, wrote that the village will have to reduce operating costs, increase the amount of donations or increase charges to paying guests....
Mount Evans Fee Caught in Impasse The ever-escalating recreation fee program administered by the U.S. Forest Service (FS) is mired in controversy, and now, one of the most controversial fee programs of them all, the toll booth on the road to 14,126-foot Mount Evans, has become a flash point. The highway, the highest-elevation paved road in the United States, passes through the outstanding scenery of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado, but it isn’t a FS road. The road, State Highway 5, is owned by the State of Colorado and built and maintained by Colorado taxpayers. In the mid-1990s, using the now-defunct Fee Demo program as its authority, the FS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and has been charging fees to everybody who drove, cycled or walked past the toll booth built in the middle of State Highway 5. That MOU expired “sometime in 2004,” according to Lori Denton of the Clear Creek Ranger District, which includes Mount Evans, and the FS is currently negotiating with CDOT to “update it.” The FS has continued to charge fees on Mount Evans for at least two years after the original MOU expired....
State of Colorado Takes Charge It’s amazing what a little sunlight can do! And how fast it can change things. Yesterday, I posted a long article about the impasse between the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) over signage of the controversial state highway to the top of 14,126-foot Mount Evans. Basically, the CDOT wanted a sign saying people did not have to pay a fee to drive on a state highway, but the FS refused to put it up, fearing that people would opt for a free trip. So, back at you, FS, says CDOT. We’ll put up our own signs. “CDOT is going to install signs instead of leaving it up to the USFS,” Jay Kramer, Region 1 right-of-way manager, notes in an email obtained by NewWest.net. “CDOT’s signs will go up as soon as possible, with our without a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the USFS.” The specific language of the sign will be: “No charge for travel on State Highway 5. Fees collected by USFS are only for those using amenities on USFS property.” According the FS spokesperson Donna Mickley, those “amenities” include only three sites--Summit Lake, Mount Goliath, and the Mount Evans Summit. This means visitors will be able to enjoy most of the Mount Evans road, using pull offs, parking at trailheads to go hiking without paying the fee....
Ecology lawsuit seeks to halt more drilling in forest Three environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service this week, hoping to block plans to expand oil and gas drilling in Ventura County's Los Padres National Forest. The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Los Padres ForestWatch, says additional drilling approved in 2005 would harm the forest, in particular the endangered California condor brought back from the brink of extinction at a sanctuary near Fillmore. The groups say the plan violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act because of potential damage to wildlife and deterioration of air and water quality, said John Buse of the Center for Biological Diversity. Oil and gas leases were expanded in July 2005 across 52,075 acres of the Los Padres near the Condor Sanctuary and the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, two areas of condor habitat....
Bill has one-year more for timber payments to counties A $5 billion plan to extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging was left out of a massive spending bill agreed to by House and Senate negotiators. Democrats are preparing to send President Bush a $124 billion bill that pays for the war in Iraq but requires that troops begin pulling out if progress is not shown. The bill, which Bush has vowed to veto, includes $425 million for a one-year extension of the payments to timber counties, as well as $500 million to fight wildfires and $60 million for salmon fishers and tribes in Northern California and Oregon. But it does not include a Senate-approved plan to spend about $2.8 billion to continue the county payments law through 2011, and direct another $1.9 billion to rural states as part of a program to reimburse state and local governments for federally owned property. The failure to include the longer term solution drew fire from Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who said in a statement Tuesday that the "final county payment deal leaves rural Oregon out to dry."....
Forest Guardians threatens suit over grazing A Santa Fe environmental group is warning federal regulators it might sue over public livestock grazing on critical habitat. Forest Guardians says the U.S. Forest Service, which manages hundreds of grazing allotments in the Southwest, is violating the Endangered Species Act unless and until it consults with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding how the grazing management practices are adversely affecting the habitat of two protected fishes -- the spikedace and the loach minnow. Forest Guardians is pushing for a review of grazing on more than 520 miles of critical habitat for these two species. The critical habitat designation took effect quite recently, but the nonprofit wants to move quickly to curtail land use practices it says have hurt the fishes' habitat. The two fish used to swim throughout the Gila River system all the way into Mexico, but they are now limited to several counties north of the border because of human-caused habitat modifications, according to Forest Guardians....
Oil-shale idea back in play One week before the 25th anniversary of Black Sunday, ExxonMobil is showing renewed interest in oil shale and may begin conducting research on in situ oil shale extraction on private land at its long-defunct Colony Project site near Parachute. It was on Black Sunday, May 2, 1982, when the former Exxon Corp. shocked the Western Slope with the news it was shutting down the Colony Oil Shale Project, snuffing out the dreams and jobs of thousands of Coloradans. ExxonMobil, to which the Bureau of Land Management denied a Piceance Basin oil shale in situ, or “in place,” research and development lease last year, will be “doing some research and development with its own technology on its own land,” BLM Colorado Solid Minerals Chief Jim Edwards said Monday. Company officials didn’t give a timetable for ExxonMobil’s oil shale testing when it met with faculty at the Colorado School of Mines last year, but “it could be pretty fast,” Dr. Jeremy Boak, Project Manager of the Colorado Energy Research Institute at the School of Mines, said Tuesday. Boak said ExxonMobil’s in situ oil shale test “presumably” will be at the Colony Project site....
BLM approves more gas wells near Meeker More natural gas wells will be drilled in northwestern Colorado under a plan approved Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The BLM approved a proposal by ExxonMobil for 20 new well pads about 15 miles west of Meeker. Each well pad could have as many as nine wells, which would be drilled at different angles. The company also plans to build a new gas processing plant. The wells will be in an existing gas field under development since the 1950s. Steve Smith of The Wilderness Society said he believes drilling in an already developed area is the right approach. He added, though, that his group will continue to monitor the work because as many as 1,100 new wells could be drilled over the next several years....
Salazar bill addresses reuse of gas-well water Congressmen from Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, have introduced legislation encouraging the recovery, treatment and reuse of water contaminated during the extraction of coal-bed methane gas. Currently, leftover "produced water" carries so many dissolved substances, including salts, that it's unsuitable for irrigation, drinking by livestock or wildlife or recreational purposes. An estimated 2 million gallons a day of "produced water" is pumped off coal beds or from oil fields for which there is little further use. Methane-gas producers extract water to free gas from coal seams. Most of that water is stored in deep wells. "The produced water is pumped into wells ranging around 4,000 feet," Walt Brown, a geologist with the San Juan Public Lands Center in Durango, said Monday. "The water must be pumped into formations where the quality of water is poorer than the quality of the produced water....
Interior creates Sand Creek historic site Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne signed the paperwork Monday to create the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, just days before its official dedication. The memorial marks the massacre of nearly 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians by at least 700 volunteers of a Colorado regiment in an early morning raid on Nov. 29, 1864. Many of those killed in the unprovoked attack were elderly, women and children. Plans for the historic site in Kiowa County, on the plains 180 miles southeast of Denver, have been in the works for about a decade. Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, had proposed establishing the memorial. Campbell will join National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and descendants of those massacred during a dedication ceremony Saturday....
Luthi removes self from wolf issue Randall Luthi, a former Wyoming state House speaker who was recently appointed to the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he will not be involved in the dispute between Wyoming and the federal agency over wolves. Federal conflict of interest law prohibits him from working with the state of Wyoming, Luthi said Saturday at a Sheridan County Republican Party gathering. Wyoming has lawsuits pending against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over management of wolves and the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The federal agency is in charge of enforcing the Endangered Species Act. Luthi, from Freedom, was appointed by President Bush to the Fish and Wildlife deputy director's post in February. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 547 refuges across the country and controls more land than the National Park Service, Luthi noted at the GOP gathering....
Trouble in paradise over development plans Rancho Murieta is an anomaly in southeastern Sacramento County -- a gated island of clipped golf courses, man-made lakes and stucco houses surrounded by miles of open ranch land. Such a far-flung development "would never be approved today," said local land use lawyer John Taylor. Rancho Murieta is miles outside the urban growth boundary adopted by the county in 1993. But in the early 1970s, when building started on the land off Jackson Road, there was no growth boundary, and Rancho Murieta was billed in sales brochures as a resort-style community for people who wanted to get away from it all. Nearly four decades later, developers and Rancho Murieta residents are locked in a furious fight over the county's original vision for Rancho Murieta, and whether 1,800 new homes would fulfill it or violate it....
Editorial - Natural disorder It's supposed to be part of the natural order of things: Sea lions eat salmon. Lots of salmon. Unfortunately, the natural order gets skewed in the Columbia River when an overabundance of sea lions meets a run of salmon in the waters below Bonneville Dam. As the prized fish mill around prior to entering fish ladders, they're little more than a salmon buffet for the always-hungry mammals. Well-intentioned, and obviously effective, efforts to protect the once-threatened sea lion population have led to a sharp increase in their numbers and a major menace to still-threatened salmon. Now it's time to reverse the order and start reducing the sea lion population, resorting to lethal means on a limited basis to bring it back to manageable levels. Nonlethal methods are not working. Sea lions below Bonneville Dam have been blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers and rockets and subjected to noise from underwater speakers. None has deterred them....
Montana may nix grizzly monitoring program Montana is poised to end its grizzly bear monitoring program in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem at the year's end unless federal agencies pitch in, state wildlife officials said Tuesday. The decision was announced at a meeting of state and federal officials in charge of grizzly bear management and recovery in the ecosystem _ which includes Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and surrounding lands. The state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department has run out of money to continue the program, which involves as many as 25 collared female grizzly bears on 6 million acres, said Jim Satterfield, a regional FWP administrator in Kalispell. "This is not a bluff," he said. "Without federal partners, we're done with this project. We can't afford it." The monitoring effort costs about $250,000 a year, but a memo from Wildlife Division Administrator Ken McDonald states that money for the program has been exhausted, other than funds for the program leader's salary. If monitoring does not continue, grizzlies in northwestern Montana have "zero chance" of being removed from protections under the Endangered Species Act, Satterfield said program leader Rick Mace told the panel....
Dam's removal will have to wait The long road to dam removal on the Elwha River just got longer: Work may not even begin on the country's largest dam demolition until 2012, instead of 2009, as had been expected. The National Park Service now says that two water projects associated with the dam takedown may take as long as five years to complete. That pushes back the start date on dam removal, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park. Two new water-treatment plants must be built to provide clean water for Port Angeles, a paper mill and two fish hatcheries....
U.S. canal project raises tensions with Mexico For decades, Mexican farmers and U.S. consumers have shared water from one of the world's largest irrigation canals running along part of the parched California-Mexico border. But a court decision that allows U.S. authorities to stop up the cracks and save water for thirsty farms and sprawling subdivisions in southern California is raising tensions in the borderlands. The ruling by a court in San Francisco earlier this month approved a plan to reline part of the All-American Canal with concrete, stopping accidental run-off from the waterway that has benefited Mexican farmers since it opened in 1942. The court ordered the refurbishment of around a quarter of the 82-mile (132-km) conduit to proceed "without delay," in an overhaul that is set to take up to two years to complete at a cost of some $250 million. The San Diego County Water Authority says the project is needed to recover some 22 billion gallons (83.5 million cubic meters) of water lost through the leaky canal bed each year that local consumers in the water-strapped area have already been billed for....
Column - Texas Chainsaw Management The verdict of history sometimes takes centuries. The verdict on George W. Bush as the nation's environmental steward has already been written in stone. No president has mounted a more sustained and deliberate assault on the nation's environment. No president has acted with more solicitude toward polluting industries. Assaulting the environment across a broad front, the Bush administration has promoted and implemented more than 400 measures that eviscerate 30 years of environmental policy. After years of denial, the president recently acknowledged the potentially catastrophic threat of global warming, but the words have no more meaning than the promise to rebuild New Orleans "better than ever." Most insidiously, the president has put representatives of polluting industries or environmental skeptics in charge of virtually all the agencies responsible for protecting America from pollution. Some egregious officials are now gone, often returning to the private sector whose interests they served. But the administrators who remain in place continue to carry the torch—people such as Mark Rey, a timber-industry lobbyist appointed to oversee the U.S. Forest Service; Rejane "Johnnie" Burton, at Interior, a former oil-and-gas-company executive in Wyoming, who has failed to collect billions on leases from oil companies active in the Gulf of Mexico; and Elizabeth Stolpe, a former lobbyist for one of the nation's worst polluters, Koch Industries, who is an associate director (for toxics and environmental protection) at the White House Council on Environmental Quality....
F.D.A. Says Livestock Were Fed Pet Food With Suspect Chemical Melamine, the chemical suspected in the deaths of pets around the country, was in food given to hogs and chickens in several states, and the Food and Drug Administration is trying to determine if the animals entered the human food supply, F.D.A. officials said Tuesday. Several thousand hogs have been quarantined and are being tested. The affected farms are in California, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and possibly Ohio. A poultry farm in Missouri is also under investigation. Hog urine has tested positive for melamine in several of those states after it was determined that the animals ate salvaged pet food that originated in factories that produced the tainted food. It is common in the United States to take pet food that does not meet quality standards and reconstitute it into livestock feed, Stephen Sundlof, the F.D.A.’s chief veterinarian, said in a conference call with reporters. The food and drug agency, which is already testing wheat gluten and rice protein for melamine, the chemical used to make plastic utensils and as a fertilizer in other countries, said Tuesday that as a precaution, it was expanding testing of imported ingredients and finished products that contain cornmeal, soy protein, rice bran and corn gluten. Those ingredients can be used to make many products, including breads, pastas, pizza dough, baby formulas, protein shakes and energy bars....
Woman keeps goat in minivan Shirley Weidt says people should stop complaining about the goat in her minivan. After all, there's plenty of room in the ba-a-a-ack with the seats removed. Despite protests from some residents, city animal control officer Ray Buhr said Weidt isn't violating any laws or treating the animal cruelly. "The van is kept clean," Buhr said. "We've checked several times. There's really nothing in ordinances or state statutes that says she can't do that. The goat is entirely happy in there." Weidt said it's "nobody's business" if she keeps her goat in a van. The goat is in the van so it won't escape, she said. Beverly Saxton, who lives near property Weidt owns, thinks keeping the goat in the minivan is cruel....
A Lawyer and an Ass Walk Into a Courtroom After a Preston Hollow, Texas, neighbor complained that his son's pet donkey was a loud nuisance, Dallas lawyer C. Gregory Shamoun brought the donkey, known as Buddy, into a courtroom on Wednesday to attempt to prove to a jury that the burro's not. "I wanted the jury to see Buddy," Shamoun, a partner in Shamoun Klatsky Norman, says. "This is a very, very wonderful animal." Questions about Buddy's behavior arose in a justice-of-the-peace court suit Shamoun filed against his neighbor, John Cantrell, in which Shamoun alleges Cantrell assaulted him. Cantrell also alleged in the answer and counterclaim that Shamoun intentionally interfered with his enjoyment of his property by allowing a burro and a calf to roam freely in Shamoun's backyard. Cantrell alleges the burro -- Buddy -- was noisy at night. Cantrell "further alleges that Mr. Shamoun rented, hired, or otherwise acquired the aforementioned animals with the express purpose of harassing Mr. Cantrell." When the suit went to trial on Wednesday, Buddy was the first witness....