NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial - Colorado vs. the Army The legislature overwhelmingly passed a measure designed to thwart the Army's plan to nearly triple the size of its training site in southeastern Colorado. Now it's up to Gov. Bill Ritter to send a message to Washington by signing the bill quickly and enthusiastically. He hasn't had much to say on the issue up to this point. Unfortunately, neither have most members of the congressional delegation. They seem to be hunkered down, wishing the problem would go away. Some have deplored the prospect of condemning ranches, to be sure, but only one - Rep. Marilyn Musgrave - has taken the obvious next step of flatly opposing the Army's goal. The 238,000-acre Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, 30 miles northeast of Trinidad, was acquired by the Army during the early 1980s, largely through eminent domain. Now the Army wants to add 418,500 contiguous acres, claiming that modern warfare requires more room for maneuvering. Although some of the territory is part of the Comanche National Grassland, under Forest Service jurisdiction, much of it is in private hands and could not be obtained except by using, once again, condemnation. House Bill 1069 withdraws the consent of the legislature to federal acquisition of the land. Such consent is seemingly required by article I, Section 8(17) of the U.S. Constitution. But there's little case law on the issue and it's by no means certain the courts would stop a federal land takeover if the legislature withheld consent. At least as important as the law itself is the state's stand on the issue, as expressed by its public officials. Strong opposition might stop the Army before it started....
Bill would designate vast area wilderness Two East Coast lawmakers introduced a bill Friday with 73 co-sponsors that would designate as wilderness 23 million public acres in five northern Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., wrote the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. It would give the government's strongest protections to areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They announced the measure along with singer-songwriter Carole King. Three co-sponsors are from Washington and three from Oregon. Both Montana and Wyoming's representatives condemned the bill and vowed to fight it. Similar measures have been introduced in several previous sessions of Congress. But this time, the chairmen of the House Natural Resources Committee and the relevant subcommittee have both signed on as sponsors of the bill. A panel spokeswoman said the committee is reviewing the legislation now and may hold hearings on it, although there are no immediate plans. The bill would designate as wilderness all 20 million acres of inventoried roadless lands in the Western states and another 3 million acres in Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It includes 7 million acres in Montana and 5 million in Wyoming....
Prairie dog poisoning draws fire A proposal to allow more flexibility, including poisoning, to control prairie dogs on the Thunder Basin National Grassland as part of a plan to transplant black-footed ferrets is inexcusable, according to several conservation groups. Prairie dog poisoning has ramifications to other wildlife that depend on the animals for food, said Erik Molvar, wildlife biologist for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. U.S. Forest Service officials and some grassland ranchers contend otherwise. Poisoning would be one tool among many in a collaborative effort to maintain prairie dogs, ensure strong chances of success in a ferret reintroduction, and preserve native ecosystems, they said. The hope is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will transplant about 35 four-member black-footed ferret families to the grassland. At the same time, in an attempt to win ranchers' support for the project, the Forest Service is proposing an amendment to the grassland management plan that would allow some poisoning of prairie dogs to control populations, if needed....
Governor kills proposed water rules Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Monday rejected rule changes adopted by a state citizen board that would have regulated effects of coalbed methane water on soil, vegetation and landowners. Freudenthal said the Environmental Quality Council exceeded its authority in adopting the rules. The governor must approve any rule changes by the council for them to become law. "I believe these proposed rules reach beyond the statutory authority of the Environmental Quality Act and invite the Department of Environmental Quality to regulate water quantity discharge, not as a coincidence of achieving water quality result, but as a simple matter of reducing the amount of discharge for its own sake," the governor said in a letter to council chairman Richard Moore. Water produced from coalbed methane wells has become an issue in the state, especially in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming. The water is pumped to the surface in order to capture the methane. Some landowners find the water beneficial for irrigating crops or watering livestock. But others complain that the water damages their land either because there is too much or because of salt and other chemicals in it....
Gunnison water users fear loss of resource A recent filing by the state’s attorney general has prompted controversy among water users in the upper basin of the Gunnison River. The filing objects to stipulations protecting the water rights of ranchers and other users from the government’s reserved water right for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. “I was astounded to see it,” said John McClow, attorney for the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District. “At the moment, there’s no quantification of water right decreed to the Black Canyon, so (it’s) not an active water right; today nothing is going to happen.” However, he said that if there is a shortage and a call is made on the Gunnison River, 75 percent of irrigation water could be lost. In 2001, the federal government filed to quantify the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park’s water right in Montrose water court. In 2003, 22 stipulations were accepted by the water court protecting those water users from a call, should the Black Canyon’s right be quantified. The objection, filed April 16 on behalf of state and division engineers, the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the state Division of Wildlife, could result in a negation of that protection....
Farm group angry over Richardson veto of water-rights bill New Mexico's largest farm and ranch group is upset over Gov. Bill Richardson's veto of a measure that would have let eastern New Mexico farmers keep their land after selling the land's water rights to the state. Supporters of the bill contend the veto could jeopardize New Mexico's ability to meet water obligations to Texas under the Pecos River Compact and even lead to a priority call on the river _ a drastic measure that would cut off some users. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, was pocket vetoed _ meaning it died because the governor did not sign it by this month's deadline for acting on legislation from the 60-day session. The measure was related to a 2003 settlement between the state engineer, the Carlsbad Irrigation District, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District that resolved long-standing litigation over water rights....
Simpson Named to Natural Resources & Environment Post Melissa M. Simpson has been appointed Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at USDA. As deputy under secretary, Simpson will be responsible for policy relating to the programs of the USDA's Forest Service. "Melissa brings to this position extensive experience in public lands policy including forest management, wildfire, energy, wildlife, water, grazing and recreation issues," said Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey. "Her understanding and appreciation of these issues will serve USDA well as we proceed with the development and implementation of a new farm bill." Simpson most recently served as counselor to Rey. Prior to her appointment, she was counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior. From 2003 to 2005 she served as Deputy Director for External and Intergovernmental Affairs to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, where she worked with senior policy officials and stakeholders on a wide variety of natural resources issues involving conservation and management of public lands....
Man Whose Dog Was Poisoned Seeks $100,000 A Utah man is seeking $100,000 from the federal government after his 2-year-old dog died from exposure to cyanide gas. Jenna died in February 2006 after setting off a trap meant for livestock predators while hunting for rabbits with owner Sam Pollock on federal land in eastern Utah. "The more I can do to get this out there to let people know these things are out there, the better chance we have of getting these things off public land altogether," Pollock said Monday. The sodium cyanide trap, called an M-44, is intended to attract livestock predators, such as coyotes. Small metal tubes stick out of the ground, about a thumb's length, and shoot a pellet. An investigation by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food conducted for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the M-44 was placed along a "utility trail" with power lines -- not a true road. Federal law requires the devices be placed 50 feet from a road or pathway. "Jenna started gagging, frothing and then threw up," said Pollock, who lives in Roosevelt and works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Artists deliver plan The most detailed account to date of the Christo and Jeanne Claude plan to suspend fabric over the Arkansas River arrived last week at the Bureau of Land Management Royal Gorge Field office in Cañon City. The 2,000-page document is an essential part of the environmental impact statement to which the bureau is committed as part of its approval process. After reviewing the document, BLM officials plan to contract the environmental impact statement and continue with a decision about the controversial project. Christo and Jeanne Claude have a history of out-waiting bureaucratic processes to complete large-scale public art displays that made them wealthy and famous. Local opposition to the Over the River project is centered in the Howard area, the community that would likely be most effected by the two-week display. A group called Rags Over the Arkansas River formed to lead opposition. Members believe the project will create major traffic congestion in the narrow canyon east of Salida and safety hazards for canyon residents. The detailed plan received last week is another attempt by the artists to explain how they plan to stretch fabric in segments above a 40-mile section of river and how they propose to mitigate impact to canyon residents....
Feds move to limit ravens in California deserts Mother Nature is a harsh mistress, but there's nothing natural about the way common ravens have decimated the struggling desert tortoise. A plan to control ravens will soon be implemented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with protecting endangered species. "There are problems with ravens that attack and eat juvenile tortoises," said Carl Benz, assistant field supervisor in the agency's Ventura office. "If we can reduce predation, it will be an important step in recovery" for the tortoise. Raven populations exploded sevenfold in the western Mojave, scientists estimate. The population in the Mojave and Colorado deserts of California is thought to range between 30,000 and 45,000 birds. Juvenile tortoises provide a ready meal. The shells don't get hard enough to withstand a raven's beak until the slow-moving reptile is 4 years to 7 years old. "As the shell develops, it gets stronger so it can stave off the pecks from a raven," Boarman said. Given that tortoises don't reach reproductive age until they're 13 to 15, losing the younger generation makes it impossible for the population to remain stable, much less recover....
U.S. cities uniting to battle emissions Hundreds of U.S. cities are taking a stand against global warming by pledging to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions beyond what the federal government is willing to commit. From metropolitan hubs like New York and Los Angeles to fast-growing cities such as Las Vegas, more than 450 city leaders throughout the 50 states have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Buckeye, Flagstaff and Tucson are the only Arizona cities to sign the agreement. In Tucson's case, the agreement builds on work the city has been doing for a decade to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. For fast-growing Buckeye, it's a chance to think green as the city expands....
Horse bill off to a gallop — again Nancy Perry, lead lobbyist for the Humane Society of the United States, says one issue outrages her group’s 10 million members more than any other: the slaughter of horses for human food. “It’s their top priority,” she said. A grassroots call-in campaign was so successful last year that a few congressional offices asked Perry’s group to back off so that their phone lines could be used for other business, she said. In what was one of the final votes of the Republican majority, the House ended up voting overwhelmingly last fall to ban the sale and transport of horses to meat processors, despite objections from the three U.S. factories that process horsemeat and a number of agriculture groups. The Senate, though, recessed before taking up the bill, the latest frustration to animal-rights supporters who have come close to ending the sale of horsemeat only to be thwarted at the last minute. A Republican lobbyist for the Society for Animal Protection Legislation, Chris Heyde, says the issue has broad support in both the House and the Senate, prompting his members to ask him: “What do you need to do to get something through Congress?” Opponents of horse slaughter take up that question again this week, with the House expected to vote on a bill that would negate an exemption to a three-decade ban on wild horses for slaughter....
Amish farmers balk at farm ID numbers Amish dairy farmers who oppose a Wisconsin livestock identification system that takes full effect May 1 contend it’s forcing them to make a choice between their livelihood and their religion. The Amish, members of a Christian sect that favors plain living with little reliance on modern conveniences, cite Biblical passages as prohibiting them from buying and selling animals that are numbered, or have what they would consider the “mark of the beast.” About 200 Amish dairy producers recently met with state officials about the new ID system that was passed into law three years ago. It requires livestock farms to register with the state and receive a farm ID number as a way of making it easier to track animals in case of a disease outbreak or other emergency. On Thursday, a number of Amish producers at a meeting near Cashton in western Wisconsin said they may stop selling milk and animals if the number requirement stands. Donna Gilson of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said farmers have had more than a year to comply with the law, and as of May 1 it will not be possible for producers to renew their dairy license without a premise identification number. She said 90 percent of the state’s livestock farms, or about 54,000, have registered....
Twin foals live; mother dies A mare gave birth to twin foals, a rare occurrence in the horse world. Blaze and Spot were born April 12, Sheridan veterinarian Sarah Schreiber said Saturday. They are doing well, but the mare had to be put to death because of complications from the birth. The odds of a mare becoming pregnant with twins are 1 in 1,000, according to Perk Connell, who runs Perk's Horspital in Big Horn. More incredible is that one or both twins survive. Schreiber said that if twins are picked up during an early-pregnancy ultrasound, a veterinarian will try to pinch off one of the embryos because of the danger a dual pregnancy poses to the mare and the foals. And if the dual pregnancy continues undetected, the mare often spontaneously aborts the fetuses. "Basically, the mare just can't provide enough nutrition to keep both foals alive," Schreiber said. Blaze and Spot seem oblivious to their good fortune, however....
Idaho History: Horse thieves, rustlers chose dangerous profession Stealing cattle was a dangerous way to make a living. The most favorable result the rustler could hope for was to get away with the animals and sell them for cash. Another possibility was that he would be tracked down by the law, arrested and sentenced to time in prison. Other outcomes were the ones a cattle thief dreaded most — and for good reason, as these early Idaho cases demonstrate. In 1892, the West was still wild enough that two horse thieves who were chased by a posse from Market Lake to Jackson Hole, Wyo., were shot to death without formality or delay. Even after 1900, horse thieves "came to grief," as the Statesman put it. A posse rode out after two men who had stolen 14 horses from a construction camp at Milner Dam in 1903. One drowned in the Snake River trying to get away, and the other was lynched by a mob that had grown to 200. A.L. Rynearson of Horseshoe Bend tracked horse thief Al Priest for days before shooting him out of the saddle. When he returned the body to law officers in Boise, few questions were asked. The Statesman described Rynearson's feat with obvious approval. The magnitude of the rustling problem, even as late as 1894, is suggested by the fact that O.P. Johnson, "the Logan County cattle king," estimated that he had lost more than $40,000 worth of stock to thieves in five years. He had successfully put three rustlers behind bars, but there were always more....
It's All Trew: Annual pear event preserves the past One annual event that comes as regularly as sunrise at the Trew house is the making of pear preserves. Each fall, when the pears start falling, we gather, peel, slice, soak in sugar, cook and "put up pears." We wouldn't think of going into winter without a shelf of pear preserves standing by. This annual effort started before my time, but I remember my father saying: "When I was a kid, we had a drought at Mobeetie and later in the Dust Bowl when the only fruit that made it was pears. This was the only sweetening we had." For whatever reason, the Trews like pear preserves. Although any kind of pears can be processed into sweetening, the old-time, smaller, more-firm pears make the best preserves. Most of the wimpy, modern-day improved varieties of pears get soft and slick when they ripen. Not so with the hard pears. They keep their shape, provide a little chewing, and, if you are not careful, they will leap from a spoon onto a hot, buttered biscuit by themselves....