NEWS ROUNDUP

Cattlemen respond to BLM impound notice After being served with a Bureau of Land Management notice of intent to impound their livestock last Friday, Bruce Bedke and his son Jared Bedke filed a complaint Tuesday in Cassia County Magistrate Court to stop the impoundment. Included in the Bedkes' suit is a request to withdraw from a 1963 agreement between BLM and ranchers on the Goose Creek range. The agreement separated the range into individual and group allotments and establishing a fund for improvements to the range. The Bedkes' grazing permit expired Feb. 28. The Bedkes said that in 2004 BLM changed the original terms of the 1963 agreement by dividing the Goose Creek Group allotment, which allowed the Bedkes and three other ranchers to collectively graze their animals on land east of Goose Creek, into private allotments where each rancher has exclusive grazing rights. Permit forms offered to the Bedkes require them to abide by terms and conditions established in that 2004 division. The Bedkes also say the Goose Creek range is not public land and is therefore not rightfully managed by BLM. They say their family has grazed cattle on the range since 1878. In 1955, final allotment of grazing rights was awarded to ranchers in the Goose Creek range according to their prior, established use of the land. Because the Bedkes' right was among those allotted at that time, they say they believe those rights exclude the property from being considered public land. The agreement in 1963 between ranchers and BLM, the family says, was designed to arbitrate the division of grazing allotments between groups and individuals, but did not surrender management of the range itself....Wanna bet the Feds first move will be to move this to Federal Court?
Mexican Wolf Program -- Tried and Failed For the last 10 years, New Mexico has been home to the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. This program, which purports to restore Mexican Wolves to the communities surrounding the Blue Range Recovery Area, has not only failed, but it has become a detriment to the surrounding communities. I believe, the time has come to stop squandering taxpayer dollars on this wasted effort. Recently, I offered an amendment that would remove funding for the program entirely. Given the overwhelming evidence, I have concluded that we cannot successfully reintroduce wolves in New Mexico. Beginning in 1998 captive bred habituated Mexican grey wolves were released into areas of Catron and Grant counties. In almost a decade, 58 wolves have been reintroduced at a cost of $14 million – over $241,000 per wolf. Of those, we are currently on pace to remove 12 in 2007 for being “problem wolves.” That means for every five wolves released into the wild, the Fish and Wildlife Service will have to spend additional resources removing one for multiple attacks on pets and livestock and threatening people. This is not the kind of track record that deserves further investment. More importantly, the problem has expanded beyond the control of the Fish and Wildlife Service. I continue to receive complaints from constituents who have witnessed wolves just yards from their front door. I have pictures of horses eaten to the bone by a pack of wolves in corrals. I have received a letter from a father who insists that his 13-year-old daughter carry a pistol while doing her chores....
Getting hotter The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says he will investigate a threatening letter sent by the leader of an EPA-member group, vowing to "destroy" the career of a climate skeptic. During a Capitol Hill hearing yesterday, Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, confronted EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson about the strongly-worded letter written July 13 by Michael T. Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) that was sent to Marlo Lewis, senior fellow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). "It is my intention to destroy your career as a liar," Mr. Eckhart wrote. "If you produce one more editorial against climate change, I will launch a campaign against your professional integrity. I will call you a liar and charlatan to the Harvard community of which you and I are members. I will call you out as a man who has been bought by Corporate America. Go ahead, guy. Take me on." CEI does not dispute climate change, however it differs with certain environmental groups, including ACORE, on the causes. After Mr. Inhofe read Mr. Eckhart's comments, which were first reported by Inside the Beltway two weeks ago, the EPA chief promised to probe the matter. "Statements like this are of concern to me. I am a believer in cooperation and collaboration across all sectors," Mr. Johnson assured. "This is an area I will look into for the record." When Mr. Johnson confirmed that EPA is a member of ACORE, Mr. Inhofe asked if "it is appropriate to be a part of an organization that is headed up by a person who makes this statement."....
Ranchers Unite to Save Land Near Zion National Park The Nature Conservancy has signed option agreements with five ranchers to purchase conservation easements on 2,423 acres of agricultural land and critical wildlife habitat in southwestern Utah, adjacent to Zion National Park. The agreements are a key first step in the Virgin River Headwaters Project, which may eventually involve as many as 17 landowners and protect as much as 11,000 acres. The Nature Conservancy is now seeking public and private funds to purchase the conservation easements, which will protect the wildlife habitat and productive ranch land by preventing habitat fragmentation and development. Through the use of conservation easements, private lands will remain on the tax rolls and traditional land uses will continue. Once in place, the agreements are binding on all future landowners....
TPL bargains for Wilson access The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is negotiating with Silver Pick Basin landowner Rusty Nichols to buy his property and renew access to Wilson Peak. A recent Special Initiative Grant from the Telluride Foundation contributed $150,000 to the effort, which could speed up a deal. “It’s a key gift in allowing us to move forward,” said Jason Corzine, TPL’s project manager, who expects to close on the property in late October. A private conservation group, TPL will put the grant money toward the purchase of Nichols’ 220-acre parcel by Wilson Peak, including land near the summit. The purchase will also ensure an end to any potential mining on the land....
Bush opposes rewrite of mining law The Bush administration on Thursday came out against a proposed revision of a 135-year-old hard-rock mining law that would impose the first-ever royalty fees and environmental restrictions for mining on public land. Congressional plans to revise the mining law would let the government assess royalty fees for the first time on the extracted minerals. And it would give more power to environmentalists who think the mining industry has despoiled the environment for too long. The U.S, Bureau of Land Management says the proposed new regulations could hurt the mining industry, the economy and U.S. security....
Firefighting costs out of control, says panel Economists, foresters and federal officials debated Thursday how to lower the skyrocketing cost of fighting wildfires, mulling solutions that ranged from staying the course to abolishing the U.S. Forest Service. The agency's fire spending is “out of control,” said Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank. A forest economist, O'Toole released a policy paper suggesting a range of six alternatives to fix the problem. O'Toole said the Forest Service has had a virtual blank check to fight wildfires. After bad fire seasons or loss of life or homes in wildfires, Congress rewards the agency with more money, he said. “Fire has given the Forest Service money and power more than almost anything else,” O'Toole said. O'Toole proposes to stop funding the Forest Service with tax dollars. Instead, each forest's budget would come from its own user fees, including timber, grazing, mining and recreation. Individual forests' board of directors could choose whether to use the fees on fire suppression or to let more fires burn, he said. James Hubbard, deputy chief for state and private forestry with the Forest Service, said he wouldn't comment for or against specific alternatives. But he said staying the course isn't the answer. “I would just say that this suppression cost problem does need some type of a solution,” Hubbard said. “Whether we pursue that through different alternatives, through pilot (projects) that we test or through political solutions, one way or another, the Forest Service needs some help solving this problem.”
Fate of Clinton roadless rule back before Wyoming judge Wyoming's attempt to overturn a Clinton-era ban on logging and other development on millions of acres of federal forests nationwide is attracting opposition from other states who say the ban should stay. California, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon have filed papers in federal court in Cheyenne, Wyoming, arguing that the Clinton roadless rule should remain in effect, at least outside the boundaries of Wyoming. Environmental groups are also opposing Wyoming's position. US District Judge Clarence Brimmer is handling the case in which Wyoming is charging that the Clinton rule is improper and should be overturned. Brimmer sided with the state in a similar case in 2003. However, the federal appeals court in Denver never ruled on an appeal of Brimmer's ruling by environmentalist groups because the Bush administration issued a new roadless rule. Another federal judge in California recently tossed out the Bush rule, so Wyoming is again fighting the Clinton rule in Brimmer's court....
Groups seek 25 percent cut in Delta pumping Environmentalists have asked a judge to order enough water to supply 6 million people be used instead to protect an imperiled fish. The court papers filed late Monday are the latest attempt to dictate how the state's major water systems will continue to operate even though they lack legal permits required by state and federal endangered species laws. Lawyers for environmental groups said water cutbacks of 1.5 million acre-feet — or about 25percent — are needed to prevent Delta smelt from going extinct. And, they argued, a proposal made earlier this month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was not restrictive enough. A hearing on the competing proposals is scheduled Aug. 21, and U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger could rule any time after that. "They can't simply ask him (Wanger) to trust them. That's sort of how we got here in the first place," said Andrea Treece, a lawyer for Earthjustice, which is representing environmental groups....
Biologists: Klamath Fish Still Need Help A panel has recommended continued federal protection for two kinds of fish in the Klamath Basin amid pressures to find solutions to regional water woes that led to a cutoff of irrigation water in 2001. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday the review by a panel of biologists found that one species in the upper basin, the short nosed sucker, is still at risk of extinction and should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Lost River sucker is not at risk of extinction in the foreseeable future, so it should be reclassified as a threatened species, the agency said. A panel of 12 scientists representing government agencies and interest groups reviewed various sources of information about the fish and made the recommendations to the fish and wildlife service. The review was prompted by a petition from a group called Interactive Citizens United to take the fish off the endangered species list. There is no specific timetable for when the agency might act on the recommendations, spokeswoman Alex Pitts said from Sacramento, Calif....
Zoo researchers use electronic eggs to help save threatened species This is an important summer for kori bustards at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Four chicks of this threatened African bird have hatched in June and July. Along with the bumper crop of baby birds is a bumper crop of new information for scientists working to preserve the species, thanks to an electronic egg that transmits real-time incubation data from the nest. The telemetric egg, placed in the nest after the mother has laid her eggs, contains sensors that record temperatures on four quadrants of the egg’s surface as well as in the egg’s interior. Motion detectors record how frequently the mother turns the egg during incubation. The data are recorded 24 hours a day and downloaded to a computer every 48 hours. National Zoo staff use the information to mimic natural incubation in a controlled setting in the lab....
N.M. Working on Rodent Recovery Plan Some might think fewer rodents would be a good thing, but scientists are concerned about the dwindling populations of two small furry creatures on New Mexico's list of endangered mammals. The state Department of Game and Fish says recent surveys show the number of New Mexican meadow jumping mice, known for their striking yellowish fur and well-developed hind feet, has dropped by at least two-thirds statewide - and possibly as much as 90 percent. Surveys show the Arizona montane vole also is found only in a very small region of western New Mexico and eastern Arizona. "The thing in common between both is the loss of riparian habitat along streams and rivers in the Southwest," said Jim Stuart, an endangered species mammalogist with the Game and Fish Department. "Grazing is often jumped on as a reason, but there have also been climate factors involved like the dewatering of streams and rivers and the lowering of groundwater."....
Pipeline completed south of Fort Sumner A newly completed pipeline near Fort Sumner will allow more water to flow into the Pecos River, helping a threatened fish species and farmers and others along the river. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will lease groundwater pumped from the Vaughan family ranch where the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission owns some water rights. The water will be sent through the pipeline, which was built by the Interstate Stream Commission to supplement flows in the Pecos and benefit the Pecos bluntnose shiner, a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. "This is our first partnership project with the state undertaken as part of New Mexico's strategic water initiative," said Connie Rupp, Albuquerque area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation. The project and water lease agreement are examples of the state and the bureau working together to improve conditions along the Pecos without harming water users who rely on the river, Rupp said....
3-day stretch of heat, humidity kills 1,200 cattle in South Dakota More than 1,200 cattle died during a three-day blast of heat and humidity in northeast South Dakota, ranchers, feedlot owners and authorities reported, though the weather was expected to ease Thursday. The high Wednesday in Aberdeen was 96, at least the third straight day the city's temperature was in the 90s. The heat index, which is related to humidity, hit 109. Thursday's forecast called for a high in the low 80s and a 50 percent chance of rain, but agriculture authorities worried the heat wave might have caused long-term disabilities to some livestock. “I've never seen anything like it,” said feedlot operator Ivan Sjovall, 67, of Langford....
U.S. ranchers lobby asks Washington to rule if Canada violating BSE rules An American ranchers group that has been trying to restrict the import of Canadian cattle into the United States tried a new approach Thursday. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund - or R-CALF - wrote a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns asking him to determine if Canada is in violation of the department's minimal-risk region rule. R-CALF said in a news release that Canada immediately needs to begin testing all known herd mates and feed mates of BSE-positive cattle in order to maintain its status as a "minimal risk" region under U.S. regulations. The lobby group suggested a report released Wednesday by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency implies such testing is not being done....