NEWS ROUNDUP

Scientists Gather for Climate Conference Climate change could threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the decades to come, according to a draft of a major report being released this week. Changing weather patterns have already reshaped the world, but they will accelerate in the decades to come, says the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of 2,000 scientists. Severe drought and devastating floods are among some of the threats to mankind unless action is taken to curb global warming. "We are going into a realm the Earth has not seen for a very long time ... over the past 800,000 years," said Camille Parmesan, a University of Texas biologist who reviewed the upcoming report. About 285 delegates from 124 countries are meeting in Brussels with more than 50 of the scientists who compiled the report. As governments will use the report to set policy, the final wording must be adopted by consensus among the diplomats, with the approval of the scientists. The report will be the second volume of a four-volume authoritative assessment of Earth's climate released this year. The first in February updated the science of climate change, concluding with near certainty that global warming is caused by human behavior....
Panel identifies species impacted by climate change From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on Earth, international scientists will report next Friday. "Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent," says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on warming's impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments. In February the panel declared it "very likely" most global warming has been caused by manmade emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Animal and plant life in the Arctic and Antarctic is undergoing substantial change, scientists say. Rising sea levels elsewhere are damaging coastal wetlands. Warmer waters are bleaching and killing coral reefs, pushing marine species toward the poles, reducing fish populations in African lakes, research finds. "Hundreds of species have already changed their ranges, and ecosystems are being disrupted," said University of Michigan ecologist Rosina Bierbaum, former head of the U.S. IPCC delegation. "It is clear that a number of species are going to be lost."....
It Was A Snow Job Either Way If there's any agreement in Arizona about the ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals prohibiting Flagstaff's Arizona Snowbowl from making artificial snow, it's that it was a snow job. It just depends on which side of the snow gun you are on. Today, there is no snowmaking on these enticing slopes, which makes for very iffy skiing and lousy economics in good or bad years. The Circuit Court sided with Native American tribes who claimed the use of reclaimed water (er, effluent) to manufacture snow on Snow Bowl's San Francisco Peaks violates the tribes' (Navajo and Hopi) rights under the 1933 Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed by Congress. The new Circuit Court ruling overturned a District Court decision last year that reaffirmed the public use doctrine on public (read: Forest Service) land. The District Court said that the tribes failed to present any "objective evidence that their exercises of religion will be impacted by Snowbowl upgrades, nor would snowmaking "substantially burden the tribes' exercise of religion." The whole thing has sparked debate among skiers, media, tribe members, and anyone else with an opinion. The Arizona media has squared off with two sharply differing points of view:....
Sawmills could fuel vehicles, experts say Once upon a time, logs were used for making houses and paper. Now, they're being looked at as one of the most promising tools for helping the United States grow its way to energy independence. Bioenergy from forest products was the buzz at a convention last week of foresters and logging operators in Coeur d'Alene. Sawmills and loggers have access to a seemingly endless mountain of sawdust, mill shavings and bark that can be fairly easily transformed into a sustainable form of energy, said Phil Latos, who oversees research and development for softwood lumber technology for Weyerhaeuser. "We can also think of ourselves as oil companies," Latos told the audience of the Small Log Conference....
Protesters want Lost Ox Trail to be a lost cause If you build it, they will come -- to protest. Ranchers and private landowners turned out in full force at Wednesday's White Pine County Commission meeting to protest the Bureau of Land Management's plans for an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) trail system near Ely. Opponents of the Lost Ox OHV Trail System worry that the 186-mile network of roads and trails would fragment wildlife habitat and degrade watersheds in the South Egan Range. In addition, they question whether the trail system would effect local landowners and ranchers whose livestock graze in the immediate area. “I don't think that we want to become an ATV destination area,” said Wade Robison, a member of the White Pine Coordinated Resource Management Steering Committee....
Hybrid skiing on Vail Pass gains popularity There are no ski lifts on the Vail Pass Recreation Area. But there is a quick and easy way to access acres of untracked snow. Welcome to the world of hybrid skiing. At the White River National Forest Area, the ski lifts come in the form of snowmobiles towing skiers. Among the 55,000 acres of land at Vail Pass (which stretches from Copper Mountain to Vail, across Interstate 70 to Highway 24), 3,300 acres are motorized-assisted ski terrain. And with some fresh figure eight tracks as proof last Thursday, the hybrid zone is getting plenty of use. "That's the area we've seen the most growth over the past 10 years," said Don Dressler, a Snow Ranger with the Forest Service....
Judge halts "bounty" on wolves A judge on Friday halted Alaska's $150 payments for each wolf killed under its predator-control program. Conservation groups lauded the decision by state Superior Court Judge William Morse granting their request for a temporary stop to what they called an illegal bounty. Plaintiffs are suing the state to terminate the predator-control program altogether but said Friday's ruling was significant. "If our goal is to offer as much resistance as possible, we have done that with abundance," said Priscilla Feral, president of Darien, Conn.-based Friends of Animals. "As for torpedoing the entire Draconian wolf-control program, that's the litigation that continues." Her group and other plaintiffs, including Defenders of Wildlife and the Alaska chapter of the Sierra Club, asked the court Tuesday to stop the payments. They cited a decision by the Alaska Legislature more than two decades ago that revoked any authority the state Department of Fish and Game had to pay bounties to hunters....
Bush's rules for forests tossed A federal judge tossed out Bush administration rules Friday that gave national forest managers more discretion to approve logging and other commercial projects without lengthy environmental reviews. U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that the administration failed to adequately consider the environmental effects the new rules would have and neglected to properly gather public comment on the issue. Hamilton said in her written ruling that the government “appears to have charted a new path and adopted a new policy approach regarding programmatic changes to environmental regulations.” Hamilton ruled that the government couldn't institute the new rules until proper environmental reviews were conducted, but she declined to specify how the nation's 155 national forests should be managed until then....Go here to read the opinion.
Forest management gets mixed grades The first independent report card on Uncle Sam's use of prescribed burns and forest thinning to reduce the threat of wildfire in the urban interface gives the federal government mixed grades. Overall, the federal government needs to improve its record keeping and increase public participation in planning fuel reduction treatments, according to the analysis by the Forest Guild, a nonprofit national organization of natural resource professionals. The 31-page study focused on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Medford District and the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest but also paired the in-depth regional study with a national overview of the legal and administrative hurdles facing fuel reduction projects. The initiative came two years after Congress had approved the National Fire Plan, a document detailing the needs and the budget to improve firefighting capabilities and forest health nationwide through thinning and removal of debris....Go here to view the report.
Firefighting sheep to start arriving Sunday Sheep will be brought into Carson City's western hills starting this weekend to help make the area less prone to wildfire. Two flocks of sheep, approximately 1,600 total, will eliminate cheatgrass, perennial grasses and forbs - a herbaceous plant that's not a grass. The first flock is expected to arrive Sunday morning by truck, and be released behind Greenhouse Garden Center on South Curry Street to eat along C Hill. The second will be walked in from Washoe County early Wednesday, and focus on the Timberline-Lakeview area. "Sheep are nomadic, they have to move," said Ann Bollinger, the city's open space assistant. The sheep are expected to graze up to 2,500 acres on the west side during the next 30 to 45 days, she said. Cheatgrass grows and dries out faster than other vegetation in the area, but it has been a dry year so growth in wild areas across the state is flammable. "The sheep are fantastic, said Pete Anderson, state forester. "They're an excellent tool to take that fine fuel and crop it off. It makes a huge difference."....
Should they stay or should they go? After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted permits for the Cedar Ridge Golf Course and Paiute Tribe of Utah to move Utah prairie dogs from their property, biologists are searching for a place to put them. Elise Boeke, USFWS ecologist, said the service was working with the Bureau of Land Management to prepare two sites for dog relocation, but their efforts to establish proper vegetation failed. "It doesn't look like the seeding took very well due to the drought," Boeke said. Division of Wildlife Resources Wildlife Biologist Neil Perry, who will oversee relocation efforts this year, is excited about the Berry Springs site located in the Paunsaugunt Plateau of Garfield County, just north of Bryce Canyon National Park. However, he doesn't have the funding to relocate the dogs to that property, which is more than an hour's drive from Cedar City....
Editorial - Don't take the delta for granted WATER SHOULDN'T be taken for granted in California, a state where billions of gallons are conveyed over thousands of miles to millions of customers. And yet it is. Turn a faucet and, abracadabra, the stuff flows. Most of us don't know where it comes from, how it gets here or where it's stored. Politicians often ignore it too, preferring to focus on (what seem like) more pressing crises. But a recent ruling by the Alameda County Superior Court is a reminder that this shouldn't be the case. The decision says that California's State Water Project, which moves water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state, is in violation of the Endangered Species Act because its enormous pumps kill endangered fish. The judge gave the state 60 days to get a waiver or he will shut the pumps down. That probably won't happen. But make no mistake: The state's water system is in trouble. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta provides water for 25 million Californians — including 60% of Southern California's supply — and supports $400 billion of economic activity, including fishing and farming. And demands on it will only grow. California's population is expected to jump 30% in the next 20 years, while global warming could reduce the state's snowpack (and the water flows it creates) by the end of the century. Even without these challenges, the delta faces problems....
Los Angeles suffers longest dry spell in 130 years Los Angeles is going through its longest dry spell in at least 130 years, the National Weather Service said Sunday, fueling fears of rampant wildfires which have plagued the US west coast in recent years. "The rain season is currently the driest to date in downtown Los Angeles since records began in 1877," the weather service said in a statement. It said the southern California city had received just 2.47 inches (6.27 centimeters) of rain since July 1, 2006, far from the normal precipitation of 13.94 inches (35.4 centimeters) in the same period. "If downtown Los Angeles receives less than 1.95 inches of rain from now through June 30th this will become the driest rain season ever," it said. The record-holder is the 2001-2002 season which saw just 4.42 inches (11.22 centimeters) of rain. Southern California is repeatedly the victim of wildfires, some of them of criminal origin like the arson-caused inferno that blazed Friday near the famed Hollywood sign in the hills overlooking Los Angeles, destroying some 150 acres (60 hectares) of brush....
South Korea, U.S. Reach Free Trade Deal The United States and South Korea concluded a landmark free trade agreement Monday, a U.S. official said, culminating 10 months of negotiations in a final week of intense haggling that just beat a key U.S. legislative deadline. The deal, which requires approval by lawmakers in both countries, is the biggest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1992 and ratified in 1993. It is the biggest ever for South Korea. Another key issue was U.S. beef, which has remained absent from South Korean markets for over three years after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States in 2003. The U.S. said a deal could never be approved by Congress unless that issues was resolved. It was not immediately known what compromises were made to reach the agreement....
Bush tells Congress he will sign Panama trade pact President Bush notified Congress on Friday his administration plans to sign a free trade agreement with Panama before the White House's fast-track trade authority expires at the end of June. The pact tears down tariffs and other trade barriers between the two countries in manufacturing, services and other sectors. Over 88 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial goods to Panama will become duty-free immediately, with remaining tariffs to be phased out over 10 years....
Internal strife leaves cattle group vulnerable to opposition Cattle producers have always been an independent lot, including when they're trying to get together on public policy. Still, the spectacle surrounding one of the industry's biggest interest groups, R-CALF USA, has been something to behold. Consider what's happened since the beginning of the year at the organization, formally known as the Ranchers-Cattlemen Legal Action Fund, United Stockgrowers of America. The group's then-president, Chuck Kiker, wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in early January, disavowing a more strongly worded letter sent to Johanns only the day before by the group's chief executive, Bill Bullard. Later in the month, two Washington-based consultants, including a former undersecretary of agriculture, quit working for R-CALF. Shortly thereafter, Kiker was ousted as president by a majority of the board that wanted to take a harder line with the U.S. Department of Agriculture than he did. Three more board members who were allies of Kiker, including founder Leo McDonnell, subsequently left, as did the organization's Washington staff....
Holly Tornado Forces Rancher To Sell While most tornado victims in Holly are dealing with the loss of their homes, one family is dealing with the loss of livelihood. In the 30 years Bill Lowe has been a cattle rancher in Holly, his feed lot has never suffered a blow quite like this one. “There was dead calves, wounded cows with two by fours in their side,” said Lowe. “The whole west end of the feed lot was completely gone,” said Lowe’s son-in-law Benny Kennedy. And it was the only feed lot in Prowers County to be damaged by the tornado, 52 cows were killed bringing the total number to around 300 this year alone. “It’s because of the loss we suffered from the tornado and the blizzard,” said Lowe. A tremendous loss of life for a small feed lot that could end up costing the Lowe family nearly 700-thousand dollars....
Utahn keeps store going — for 74 years If records were kept on the longevity of country storekeepers, Lillie Thomas, 92, would probably hold the Utah title. Except for three years during World War II, she's been waiting on customers in Sterling, a town of 300 located six miles south of Manti, continuously for 74 years. She keeps "a goin'," she says, because she needs the income and loves the work. Thomas Grocery, a white frame building with a single gas pump out front, is on the west side of U.S. 89 about a half mile into town. She lives in a white cottage next door. The store is open six days per week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the winter, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. during summer when the farmers are working late. Thomas covers most of those hours. The country store of the 1940s and 1950s was stocked with 50-gallon kegs of vinegar, 50-pound sacks of flour and 40-pound boxes of bananas from the Pacific Fruit and Produce Co. Thomas Grocery got its eggs from local farmers in trade for groceries. "On the counter, we had a big, round cheese cutter," she says. "We'd get a big round block of cheese and put it on (the plate), and then we'd go for so many little notches, and we'd pull it (the cutter) down and cut it off, and that's the way we sold cheese." They sold baloney and bacon the same way....
It's All Trew: The barbed-wire revolution Many historians think one of the defining moments in the history of the West came when a small bunch of wild longhorn steers stopped and backed away from eight slender strands of twisted wire equipped with sharp barbs. This event happened in 1876 when John W. "Bet-a-Million" Gates erected an enclosure on the Plaza in San Antonio to demonstrate to gathered ranchers that newly invented barbed wire could securely contain wild livestock. From that moment, the West would never be the same. Post-war demands for beef here and abroad, new railroads available for livestock transportation and the invention of refrigeration spawned the greatest cattle boom in the new nation's history. The cattleman was king and his domain seemingly unending. However, the moment those longhorns stopped at the wire, the age of the pioneer, free-range cattleman was doomed. No one knew how drastically barbed wire eventually would transform western life at that time and into the future....