NEWS ROUNDUP

Global warming debunked Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week. Man's contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn't change the climate if we tried, he maintained. "We're all going to survive this. It's all going to be a joke in five years," he said. A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it. "It is time to attack the myth of global warming," he said. Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm, he explained. "If we didn't have the greenhouse effect the planet would be at minus 18 deg C but because we do have the greenhouse effect it is plus 15 deg C, all the time." The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent. However, carbon dioxide as a result of man's activities was only 3.2 per cent of that, hence only 0.12 per cent of the greenhouse gases in total. Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066, 0.047 and 0.046 per cent respectively. "That ought to be the end of the argument, there and then," he said....
Human error alleged in firefighters' deaths Risky decisions, failure to plan an escape and pressure to ignore hazards may have led to the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters last year, according to the findings of an investigation released Tuesday. "The human elements are critical factors in the evaluation of this investigation," said the report on the so-called Esperanza fire. "A risky decision or a series of risky decisions appears to have contributed to this dangerous situation from which there was no room for error." The arson fire ignited Oct. 26 and was spread by fierce Santa Ana winds. The five firefighters and their engine were overrun by flames as they tried to protect a house in a mountain community about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The blaze eventually charred more than 60 square miles and destroyed 34 homes. Forest Service Chief Forester Gail Kimbell said at a news conference Tuesday that two main factors led to the tragedy. "There was a loss of situational awareness concerning the dangers associated with potential fire behavior while in a complex urban wild land situation," Kimbell said. Decisions by command officers and supervisors to try to protect buildings also were a factor, Kimbell said. "They underestimated, accepted or misjudged the risk to firefighter safety," Kimbell said. The individuals who made those decisions were not identified. Officials with the Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection refused to answer questions about the contents of the report or to elaborate on the findings....
Lawyers: Findings could affect arson trial Tactical mistakes made by five firefighters battling the Esperanza blaze could be cited later as reasons not to execute the man charged with setting the fire that killed them, his attorney and a legal expert agreed Tuesday. Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, of Beaumont, faces trial on five counts of murder along with 40 arson-related charges. Those include the Esperanza Fire in October as well as 22 fires that authorities say he set in the Banning Pass area from May through October of last year. Tuesday's report also said the firefighters did not properly scout out escape routes, were not properly supervised and used a radio frequency that could not be monitored by incident commanders. And fire officials had determined years earlier that the house the firefighters died trying to protect was "non-defensible." The district attorney's office received the 118-page report on Tuesday, and declined to comment on it. It was prepared by Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service. "We need to take time to review the report and see what if any impact it may have on the Oyler case," said Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. Oyler's attorney, Mark R. McDonald, said that "the defense position is Oyler didn't start the fire to begin with." Because of that, the defense doesn't plan to cite results of the probe during the guilt phase of Oyler's trial....
Questions haunt mother of fallen firefighter The mother of one of the five U.S. Forest Service firefighters who died in the Esperanza blaze believes the fire investigation report released Tuesday absolves the firefighters of wrongdoing, but it left her with unanswered questions. Bonnie McKay, mother of firefighter Jason McKay, said she can't understand why no one told her son and the other Engine 57 firefighters that the house they were protecting when they died had been identified by a Cal Fire map as an undefendable structure. In 2002, fire officials created a fire contingency map that noted structure location and defensibility, but the map was not used for strategic planning during the Esperanza Fire, according to the investigation report. "I truly believe they would have survived if they had known," said McKay, who said she still was studying the report late Tuesday afternoon. "That upset me very much." Pat Boss, a retired U.S. Forest Service firefighter and liaison for the family of Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, attended Tuesday's briefing for families. Family members were told there was no way the crew could have anticipated the course of events, despite the report's conclusion that there was a "loss of awareness" concerning the dangers of the environment, Boss said....
Lumber's grinding halt The raw supply for Gene Dayton's fancy wood lathe, which transforms dying trees into perfectly cut Lincoln Logs, has been reduced to a mere dozen thick pines, piled next to the industrial machine. "I hate to think how many good trees are in that," Dayton says, pointing to a nearby heap of wood chips 20 feet high and as long as a football field. "Every day, I see truck after truck bringing more." In Summit County and throughout Colorado, tens of thousands of beetle-infested pine trees are being shredded rather than used for lumber because there is little timber industry remaining in the state. Despite pioneering efforts at burning the wood as fuel for biomass- heating systems or turning it into beautiful products through boutique log-furniture and log-home companies such as Dayton's, the pine-beetle epidemic is so widespread and the costs of limbing, shipping and sawing the trees in far-flung mills are so high that most high-country logging companies are opting for the quick-and-cheap approach of chipping....
Bighorn resorts put on auction block Ever wanted to own a resort on national forest land? Now may be your chance, and it's a highest-bid-takes-all game. Four resorts in the Bighorn Mountains will be on the auction block at the end of June, and only one has a "reserve" price that must be met in order for it to sell. Deer Haven, Meadowlark and the Big Horn Ski Resort will all be sold to the highest bidder in a sealed auction, and the Wilderness Ranch will have a reserve. The resorts can be purchased together or individually. The impending auction was announced this week, the same time Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality cited the owner of Big Horn Mountain Resorts for wastewater violations at two of the resorts. Earlier this spring, employees videotaped sewage discharge into Ten Sleep Creek. According to the current owner of the resorts, the sale is being offered because of the need for money for other businesses. The auction-style sale gives a "time definite" when the properties will be sold, Big Horn Mountain Resorts representatives said via e-mail. But the highest bidder will have to be approved by the U.S. Forest Service in order to take over the businesses....
Groups file appeals protesting drilling Environmentalists, residents and elected officials opposed to new gas wells in the San Juan Basin of southwestern Colorado have appealed plans for new wells on federal land, including roadless forest areas. The appeal filed Monday says the U.S. Forest Service violated federal laws by inadequately assessing the energy development's potential impacts on air quality, wildlife, old-growth forests, water and human health and safety. The plan approved earlier this year by the Forest Service would allow up to 127 new natural gas well pads and accompanying roads and facilities over 125,000 acres in the northern San Juan Basin. One pad can have several wells. The regional Forest Service office in Denver has 45 days to consider the appeals....
Forest Service Outsourcing Plan Produces Big Losses The U.S. Forest Service ended up costing itself more than nine times what it claims to have saved by streamlining its information technology operation, according to figures jointly released by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Forest Service Council and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Facing another busy fire season, the cash-strapped Forest Service devoted $292 million more last year to perform basic IT functions than was previously required. This perverse result springs from President Bush's so-called competitive sourcing initiative, which requires all agencies to put a high proportion of their positions out to bid against private contractors. Under what is called the "A-76" process (named for a particular Office of Management & Budget circular), federal employees reorganize themselves into quasi-contractual entities called Most Efficient Organizations (MEO) to perform the targeted agency operations. A MEO, like a government contractor, is not directly answerable to agency line-management, but only to the terms of its contract. The Forest Service reorganized its IT infrastructure into an MEO in 2005, reducing the number of staff handling computer and communications work. Based on this downsizing, the agency claimed "on the books" savings of $35.2 million during FY 2005 and 2006. However, according to agency documents, the restructuring resulted in many more Forest Service employees outside the MEO spending substantially more time performing IT tasks, costing the agency $327 million - a net operational loss of $292 million....
On the trail of the Basin Butte wolf pack For wolf B312 and the rest of the Basin Butte wolf pack, home is a sweeping stretch of central Idaho backcountry. Covering some 250 square miles where the Sawtooth, White Cloud and Salmon River mountains meet the lower Stanley Basin, the area is a mosaic of aspen and conifer forests, sagebrush-covered hillsides and wide open grassy flats. No surprise, then, that it's also a landscape rich with elk, mule deer and other prey, one that any wolf would love. Biologists with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game first confirmed the presence of the seven-member Basin Butte pack after they were linked to a livestock depredation incident in the spring of 2006, Fish and Game Large Carnivore Manager Steve Nadeau said Monday. The pack is named for nearby 8,854-foot Basin Butte, which lies north of Stanley in the southern Salmon River Mountains....
Controversial wolf rule could be revised Proposed changes in a federal rule would expand the situations in which wolves can be killed for depredations and to achieve wildlife management objectives. The rule that governs management of wolves in portions of the northern Rockies under the federal Endangered Species Act is in the process of being rewritten, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Bureau Chief Jim Unsworth said in Sun Valley on Thursday. Unsworth was speaking to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission during its quarterly meeting, held over a three-day period last week. The changes mentioned by Unsworth are proposed for the federal 10(j) rule, which allows wolves attacking livestock and herding and guarding animals to be killed under certain circumstances. The existing rule was published in the Federal Register in 2005 and applies to areas south of U.S. Interstate 90 in Idaho and Montana. Under the proposed changes—which the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—the rule would further allow the killing of wolves in areas where ungulate populations are not meeting the state's management objectives. The rule change would also allow the shooting of wolves that attack dogs on public land....
New salmon recovery proposal does not consider dam breaching The latest court-ordered federal plan for balancing salmon against hydroelectric dams in the Columbia Basin calls for stepping up efforts to control predators such as sea lions, using hatcheries more effectively, and installing more improvements to help young fish avoid turbines. Salmon advocates and Indian tribes blasted the draft proposal for failing to consider major changes to the hydroelectric dams, such as breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. "Maybe they think the third time will be the charm," Todd True, an attorney for Earth Justice, which represents a coalition of conservation groups and salmon fishermen, said Tuesday from Seattle. "This is basically the same action we saw in 2000 and 2004 analyzed a different way." Charles Hudson, spokesman for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, said the federal agencies were "getting it half right. What needs to get done is hydro reform. That's the hardest thing to change." U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland, Ore., ruled two years ago that the Bush administration's 2004 plan for making the hydroelectric dams on the Snake and Columbia safe for salmon violated the Endangered Species Act, in part because it considered the dams as part of the landscape and only considered changes in how the dams were operated. Last month he was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals....
Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout to Be Considered Again for Protection Under Endangered Species Act In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will again consider the Rio Grande cutthroat trout for protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The Center first petitioned to have the Rio Grande cutthroat trout protected in 1998, and despite the fact that the trout is gone from 99 percent of its historic range and threatened by multiple factors, the Fish and Wildlife Service has steadfastly refused to provide protection. “Without the protections of the Endangered Species Act, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout may be lost forever to extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have a duty to protect the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and the rivers and streams it depends on.” Under the Endangered Species Act, an endangered species is defined as any species that is at risk of extinction in “all or a significant portion of range.” In a 2002 decision, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the Rio Grande cutthroat trout was gone or threatened from the vast majority of its range, but because it was not at risk of extinction in all of its range, it did not warrant protection. In response to the Center’s lawsuit, the agency has now admitted that this decision violated the law and agreed to reconsider protection for the rare trout....
Lynx kitten count begins A handful of Colorado Division of Wildlife teams will be fanning out across the southern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains during the next few weeks to try and count newborn lynx kittens, an endangered cat often threatened by development. “A lot of people will be eager to see what reproduction is like this year,” said Division of Wildlife spokesman Joe Lewandowski. In the spring of 2006, the reproduction rate dropped significantly from the previous two years, he said. Last year, biologists found four dens with 11 kittens. Only 10 percent of tracked females were found with litters in 2006, down from 41 percent in 2005. Between 2003 and 2006, researchers found a total of 37 dens. Some speculated that the continued releases of new lynx in the San Juans may have disrupted existing social networks among the rare cats, listed by the state and federal government as an endangered species. As a result, the Division of Wildlife curtailed releases this year. The spring of 2007 marked the first time since 1999 that no new lynx were released into the wilds of Colorado....
Emigrant herd tests show up negative When the federal veterinarian told Emigrant rancher Bruce Malcolm on Tuesday that his first round of tests for brucellosis came back negative, ranch hands and vets celebrated. "We had a lot of high-fives in the corral today," Malcolm said. A negative test means the cattle tested first have not been exposed to the brucellosis bacteria that can cause fertility problems and abortions in cows, elks, bison and hogs. Malcolm said blood samples drawn Monday from about 50 cows with nursing calves and another 25 cow-calf pairs owned by an employee went to the Montana State Laboratory in Bozeman. The good news came back Tuesday afternoon. Then Malcolm said he and his ranch hands helped veterinarians draw blood samples from 140 yearling heifers on his ranch. Those results are expected back today. If they test negative, Malcolm's herd will be in the clear. Seven cows from a herd in Bridger owned by Malcolm's daughter and son-in-law tested positive for brucellosis last week and are under quarantine. If two more cows from a separate herd test positive, Montana will lose its brucellosis-free status....
18th Annual Cody Old West Show & Auction Yellowstone, fishing, horseback riding, rodeo, mountain climbing, wildlife, so much to enjoy and see but the focus on the 4th weekend in June is again Western Antiques and Art. Cody has become the place to be for fans of the old west, historical antique collectors and art lovers. This summer offers the 18th annual Cody Old West Show and Auction with a chance for the public to see, buy, sell, and trade the finest of the west with the top dealers in the world. The THURSDAY 400+ item AUCTION offers the best in cowboy, cowgirl and Native American antiques and collectibles along with fine western art, graphic memorabilia and furnishings. This year's Thursday sale on the 21st of June will feature important historical material including the cowboy gear of an Iron Mountain, Wyoming rancher. A rare Buffalo Bill Wild West lithograph, a G.S. Garcia presentation saddle and a rare offering of Molesworth western furniture from the Valley Ranch in Wyoming. A large collection of Luis Ortega braided items will be of great interest. Will James, Frank Tenney Johnson, E.S. Paxson, Herman Hansen, Nick Eggenhofer, and Edward Borein are among the artists represented in the sale. Other notable contemporary artists include Joe Beeler, Dave Powell, Harry Jackson, and John Moyers. As always the mainstay of the Cody sale is the quality spurs, bits, saddles, chaps, hats and other cowboy or cowgirl regalia. Makers represented at this time include G.S. Garcia, Visalia, F.A. Meanea, R.T. Frazier and G.A. Bischoff. Saddles include the personal Edward H Bohlin show saddle of Hollywood icon and past owner of Bohlin Saddlery, Snuff Garrett....
Mustangs, Cowhunts & Vaqueros Long before the ranch roundups, there were "cow hunts" in South Texas. Neighbors would gather and go out as a group -- called a crowd -- looking for each other's cattle, which could stray for a great distance when there were no fences. Sometimes a dozen or more men would form a cow-hunting crowd. They would take extra horses and provisions, which were carried in a wallet, a sack with both ends tied and an opening in the middle. The cow hunters would ride over a large territory accumulating a herd of their own and their neighbors' cattle. The herd would be driven to the closest corral where the cattle belonging to the men on the hunt would be cut out, marked, branded, and altered. Joseph Almond, a rancher in what was then western Nueces County, often wrote about cow hunts in his diary of ranch life during the 1860s and 1870s. In diary entries for 1862 and 1863, Almond described cow hunts that lasted for several days and covered a large territory. In the process of roping one calf, Almond broke its neck. Horses were often crippled or gored by a mad bull, which is why each rider took a string of two or three horses. It was dangerous work; those long horns weren't there for decoration....