NEWS ROUNDUP

Shipping lane shift to save rare whales The busy shipping lanes in and out of Boston Harbor will be narrowed and shifted northward Sunday in a bid to lower the risk of rare right whales being killed by ships. It's the first time in U.S. history shipping lanes have been changed to protect wildlife. The change raises concerns about vessel safety because the two lanes — one for incoming traffic, one for outgoing traffic — are each being narrowed by a half mile to 1.5 miles in width, reducing maneuvering room for ships. The shift, about five years in the making, also adds nearly four nautical miles and 10 to 22 minutes to each one-way trip. Lost minutes can be important because Boston harbor is too shallow for ships to move in and out when the tide is low, said Richard Meyer, executive director of the Boston Shipping Association, which represents shipping companies and port employers. That could force shippers leave the harbor prematurely or keep them from entering. Ship strikes and marine gear entanglements are the top human causes of right whale deaths....
Did Dick Cheney kill 70,000 salmon? Committee to probe A Congressional committee is preparing to investigate Vice President Dick Cheney's role in water-management decisions that killed more than 70,000 salmon in Oregon. Three dozen West Coast Democrats requested the Resources Committee investigation after the Washington Post reported of Cheney's involvement in managing flows from the Klamath River in 2002. The Post reported that Cheney personally contacted the Interior Department official in charge of the program to push for more irrigation water be delivered from the river to drought-striken farmers and ranchers. Environmentalists and officials in California and Washington blame the federal policy, which critics say violated the Endangered Species Act, was responsible for the deaths of 70,000 salmon, whose corpses lined the banks of the river. The Post said the plan was enacted "because of Cheney's intervention." Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W. Va., told the Associated Press that the committee is investigating the Bush administration's "penchant to favor politics over science in implementation of the Endangered Species Act."....
Saving Earth From the Ground Up You may have heard of the nematode, that microscopic gelatinous worm in your garden soil, but did you know that four out of every five living creatures on Earth is a nematode? The whole bloody planet is crawling. A gram of soil might also contain 5,000 species of bacteria and untold fungi in a secret universe separated only by the soles of our shoes and our sad ignorance of our global home. These and other marvelous revelations come from the celebrated Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who was in town this week as lawmakers, government officials and scientists took a little time away from pressing matters of state to consider . . . the plight and the future of bugs. Laughable? No, don't dis bugs -- your very life depends on them, it turns out. Wilson, winner of two Pulitzers for his books on invertebrate life, lectured to more than 200 like-minded bug lovers as part of National Pollinator Week events and celebrations. At 78, he remains a lithe figure, crowned with a mop of steel-gray hair and disco-age translucent brown glasses, as if hewn from amber but missing the frozen prehistoric mosquito. At Wednesday's talk at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Wilson was focused on putting self-absorbed Homo sapiens in some ecological context. If humans were to disappear -- he doesn't advocate this, for the record -- the effects on the insect world would be minimal....
Ranchers scoff at Armys claim of willing sellers It's easy to see why Gary Hill loves his ranch. From the shady courtyard of his small home, the rancher can see his horses lazily grazing on a hillside, the grass surprisingly lush for a late week in June. It's quiet and peaceful, except for the sounds of friends talking and complimenting his wife, Kathy, on the lunch they are enjoying under the shade trees. It didn't look like a war-planning session, but it was. Because if you drive a few hundred yards east and top the rise, you can see the white water tower of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site several miles away on U.S. 350 - a constant reminder that the Army is also a neighbor and now it wants Hill's 16,000-acre Hidden Valley Ranch and then some. Holding up a map of the Army's planned 414,000-acre expansion, Hill recounted how he and his wife have worked to pay for their ranch and how his great-grandfather came to the grasslands in 1883. He points out how the Army took the family land when it first created the 238,000-acre Pinon Canyon training site in the late 1970s, forcing his brother, Bobbie, off his 7,000-acre spread. Now Hill, along with his brother and about 60 other ranchers in the region, are back in the Army's sights, trying to keep their land in the face of the Pentagon's insistence that it needs a much bigger area for training the growing number of soldiers at Fort Carson. "Now I'm going to bust up," Hill said, his voice choking as his eyes welled up. He paused to regain his composure. He was the fifth or sixth grown man to break down in tears on this particular day as they talked about what is at stake for their families in the battle over Pinon Canyon....
Land Conservationists Take on the National Guard There are few better vantage points than Hawk Watch to see both sides of the debate between the Pennsylvania National Guard and local conservationists. Hawk Watch, a 30-yard-wide clearing named for its grand view of soaring raptors, is on the ridge of Second Mountain, about 12 miles northeast of Harrisburg and part of the Appalachian range. “This is Stony Creek Valley,” said Larry Herr, pointing north to 44,000 acres of state-protected wilderness that is home to a nearly unaltered green carpet of hemlock, maple and oak trees going down the hillside to the valley 1,000 feet below. Then, walking to the other side of Hawk Watch and looking south onto a 17,000-acre base operated by the Pennsylvania National Guard, Mr. Herr said with contempt: “And this is the Gap. Notice the difference.” Amid large swaths of a similar tree canopy are pockets where the valley and hillside have been carved up for guard training areas, the trees removed and roads, buildings and ranges put in their place. “That’s why we don’t want them over here,” said Mr. Herr, 67, a hunter who is part of the Stony Creek Valley Coalition fighting the guard’s request to use about 900 acres as a buffer for a new target range for Abrams M-1 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. “We don’t trust them.”....
Solution mining for uranium: benign or dangerous? Two environmental groups are trying to stop uranium exploration in Fall River County, but by the time they get a court hearing - late July at the earliest - most of the exploration holes will already have been drilled. That won't stop their opposition. "We'll keep on educating the public and getting ready for the next go-round," Charmaine White Face of Defenders of the Black Hills said. Some ranchers in Fall River County also are skeptical of uranium mining. "They could screw up something that's not fixable," says Wayne Childers, who ranches in the heart of uranium country. Uranium mining's next "go round" will be a mining permit for Powertech Uranium Corp., a Canadian company that hopes to extract 7.6 million pounds of uranium from an area north of Edgemont. Powertech will have to get approval from the state of South Dakota, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Childers isn't reassured. "Where was the state the last time?" he asks. "I don't trust them." Old test holes from the 1950s still pose hazards near Childers' ranch, and an open-pit uranium mine, long abandoned by its owners, still scars the nearby hogback ridge on the east side of Bennett Canyon....
Law to grant landowner access during fires A committee of representatives from agriculture, emergency management, natural resources agencies and other groups has begun work on a new law that could give rural landowners access to their property during wildfires. The new law was inspired by last year's Columbia Complex Fire near Dayton. Some landowners complained authorities were too restrictive in allowing access to their land to protect their homes, crops and livestock. Republican Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Ritzville rancher, introduced Senate Bill 5315 hoping to ensure access for owners of farm and forest land who own equipment, such as tractors, that can be used to fight fires. "When a wildfire takes over they actually have the equipment and know the terrain," Schoesler said, noting early action can prevent small fires from becoming big fires. "We'll never have enough firefighting equipment on the scene early on." "We don't want this happening again in any county," he said. "We had farmers and ranchers who could have done a great job in containing that fire."....
Serengeti of Montana? Ambitious reserve takes shape south of Malta A sweeping plan to protect the last vestiges of unbroken mixed-grass prairie is taking shape acre-by-acre in northeastern Montana. The American Prairie Reserve is being assembled from ranch land, but genetically pure buffalo are grazing the landscape rather than cattle. The effort is raising eyebrows in the ranching community of rural Phillips County. But it’s no flight of fancy. To finance the project, millions of dollars have been raised with the help of “prairie safaris” on the reserve, in which potential donors from across the globe visit what’s known in Montana as The Big Open. The approach already has helped secure 60,000 acres, but that’s just a drop in the bucket. The goal of the not-for-profit American Prairie Foundation, the architect for the reserve, is to create the largest public-private prairie reserve in the United States....
LIONS AND COUGARS AND BEARS -- OH MY! The Oregon legislature is revisiting the controversial issue of wildlife management. HB 2971 authorizes the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to appoint volunteer agents to hunt cougars and bears with dogs to implement the Oregon Cougar and Bear Management plans. The debate surrounding passage of this bill echoes the heated controversy that heralded the passage by voters of Measure 18 in 1994 and again in 1996. Measure 18 prohibited the use of bait and dogs in hunting cougars and bears except in cases where the wild animal had caused damage to property such as livestock, posed a danger to public safety, or was considered a nuisance. Current law allows restricted trophy hunting of cougars without hounds. Proponents of the bill say that the new legislation clarifies the criteria by which the ODFW can manage cougar and bear populations. But Bates concedes that emotions run high on both sides of the issue. Governor Ted Kulongoski's spokesman Jake Weigler said the Governor believes the bill will help ODFW manage cougars and he doesn't think it repeals the spirit or basis for Measure 18....
Hunting and fishing on decline, says Census Bureau survey Americans are hunting and fishing significantly less than they were a decade ago, according to a recent study by the U.S. Census Bureau. Preliminary data released June 19 from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, which was conducted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reported a 15 percent decline in hunting and fishing over the last 10 years. “I don’t predict doom and gloom for hunting and fishing,” survey manager Sylvia Cabrera said from Washington, D.C., during a phone interview on Friday. “There’s still a lot of healthy interest in them and there’s still a lot of money being spent on them.” Cabrera, who said the survey is an important tool for various conservation organizations as they seek both grant money and new legislation, cited droughts, hurricanes, pollution, gas prices, the war in Iraq and urbanization as possible contributors to the recent trend....
Criticism of salvage logging grows After a large fire, land managers face controversial choices: let the forest regenerate on its own or harvest scorched trees and replant. The practice of salvage logging and replanting removes deadwood that might fuel the next fire. But new research shows salvage logging is not an automatic choice. As firefighters stamp out the dwindling Angora fire near South Lake Tahoe, experts say it's too soon to determine long-term management strategies for the region. But the fire has brought home to area forest groups the difficulty in selecting the right post-fire strategy for a forest. Large-scale salvage logging after Angora is unlikely due to environmental protections and the small logging industry presence in the Lake Tahoe basin, according to regional planning officials. Nonetheless, trees that pose a risk to people and property on public lands burned in the Angora blaze will be removed. Foresters also are encouraging private landowners in Tahoe to remove fire-killed timber. "If you don't remove the dead material now, and you get a new flush of vegetation, the new vegetation plus the dead trees is just another prescription for disaster," said Tim Feller, Tahoe district manager for Sierra Pacific Industries, a Redding-based wood products company. Sierra Pacific owns no private land in the Lake Tahoe basin. But the common salvage logging remedy is under new scrutiny....
Dead zone at fire's origin The Angora fire's point of origin, the exact spot where it first started, is a devastated moonscape filled with charred stumps and thick gray ash. Amid a cluster of boulders, below a snow-dotted ridgeline, someone lit an illegal campfire, investigators believe. The flames were fanned by swirling winds and fueled by bone-dry vegetation. They roared through the forest and destroyed 254 homes near South Lake Tahoe. The location of that disastrous campfire is a short walk from Seneca Pond, which today stands as an oasis of green amid the devastation. Before the fire, it was a favorite spot for residents of the devastated neighborhood to walk their dogs and take bike rides with their children. The Angora fire swept through 3,100 acres with approximately 2,000 people evacuated and an estimated final cost of $13.5 million, according to the U.S. Forest Service. As of Sunday, the fire was 85 percent under control, with crews using infrared technology to locate hot spots and mopping up 400 feet in from the fire line. Many firefighters had been demobilized, but about 698 personnel remained in the region. The Forest Service expects the fire to be contained by Tuesday....
30,500 acres burned As an estimated 400 firefighters continued to battle a raging wildfire outside of the small community of White Rocks that killed at least three people, both state and federal investigators continued their probe Sunday into what sparked the inferno. The Neola North Fire had burned 30,500 acres as of noon Sunday. That number is expected to grow after fire officials receive additional information scheduled to be released today. Only 5 percent of the fire was contained as of late Sunday afternoon, but Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Commander Kim Martin said "excellent progress" was made on the fire's south and east flanks Sunday. Eight helicopters, four heavy air tankers and two single-engine air tankers were used Sunday to fight the blaze, which by Sunday afternoon was stretching into the Ashley National Forest, sending up clouds of black smoke as it burned fir trees and other beetle-infested dead timber. About 100 members of the Utah National Guard were called up late Sunday by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to provide support to law enforcement at selected road-closure checkpoints and campground evacuation sites in threatened areas....
Mobile court set up for cases related to Rainbow Family gathering The U.S. Forest Service has set up a mobile magistrate court in the Ozark Mountains to deal with the mounting number of violations issued to members of the Rainbow Family, who are holding their annual peace gathering in Newton County. The Forest Service set up a remote court in Deer, where U.S. Magistrate Judge James Marschewski has presided over a number of cases. The majority of the cases are for traffic and vehicle violations and drug- and alcohol-related offenses, officials said. On Friday, six trials were held, with four resulting in guilty verdicts. The gathering, with roots in the hippie era, draws thousands from around the country to a national forest site each year to pray for peace and celebrate love. The gathering is expected to peak around July 4, when about 7,000 people are expected to camp out in the Ozark National Forest....
Congress aims at unwanted roads Congress is considering a $65 million program to decommission roads the U.S. Forest Service doesn't want or didn't authorize. The agency currently faces a $10 billion backlog of road maintenance needs and has struggled for years to find the money to keep up its 400,000 miles of road that crisscross national forests. The "Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative" being considered by the House of Representatives would set aside funds for road decommissioning, road and trail repair and maintenance and the removal of fish barriers. The program is part of a bill that funds the Interior Department and Forest Service. It successfully passed the House Appropriations Committee last month. The Senate version of the bill includes language addressing the decommission issue. "This is the first time Congress would set aside money specifically for decommissioning roads," said Bob Ekey, regional director of The Wilderness Society. "It's a very important issue for the Northern Rockies. The Forest Service doesn't have the funding to keep up with road maintenance. A lot of these roads just continue to bleed sediment into streams."....
Dispute Over Eminent Domain Sign Headed To Court The city says it's simply too big, but supporters say a sign in St. Louis is protected by free speech. Now, the issue may be settled in court. The Land Clearance For Redevelopment Authority in St. Louis also known as the LCRA ruled a mural critical of eminent domain on South 13th Street violates a city ordinance. But, the owners say they have no plans to remove the artwork. Jim Roos says two weeks after a mural reading "End Eminent Domain Abuse" was painted on the side of a building in March, a building inspector told him he needed a permit. The giant mural is visible from Interstate 44. Roos' organization believes eminent domain, the state's ability to seize private property for public use, needs to be abolished. "We have supporters of MEDAC who say they will support our legal costs to defend the sign," said Roos. The Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition or MEDAC may need that cash. Tuesday afternoon, the LCRA ruled the organization's giant mural does not comply with a city ordinance because of its size and location in a residential neighborhood. MEDAC argues the sign is an expression of free speech. "The sign dissents and opposes city action which includes their eminent domain practice," said MEDAC's attorney John Randall. "It's an intent to communicate that viewpoint. Political speech is the purest form of speech under the constitution," Randall said....
Sort-of pensions for pack animals U.S. Forest Service pack animals that have outlived their usefulness in the backcountry are finding the good life in the pastures and back 40s of some north-central Montana ranches and hobby farms. Horses and mules that once hauled supplies and tools and rangers for the Rocky Mountain Ranger District of the Lewis and Clark National Forest now help kids learn to ride or simply hang out as pets after decades of Forest Service work. In May, three horses and eight mules were adopted out after years. It wasn't always happy trails for such critters. When a packhorse or mule was no longer worth keeping, a long-faced Forest Service worker would trailer the stock to the nearest sale barn. It was a sad trip for both packer and pack animal that often ended at the cannery....
Rancher's estate case heading for jury soon After four years of legal wrangling and three months of trial, complete with painful exposure of family conflict and perhaps even more painful enumeration of estate planning documents, the struggle over B.K. Johnson's fortune is coming to a head. Testimony wrapped up Thursday, and both sides Monday will make their final arguments to the jury, which will then have a list of instructions and questions to answer that the lawyers hammered out late into Friday evening in Bexar County Probate Court 1. It won't be simple — almost nothing has been in this struggle between the descendants of King Ranch founders and the Scottish businesswoman Johnson married late in life. It has been a trial of high-powered and highly paid lawyers making vociferous objections and showy interrogations. They've hauled in thousands of documents and entered hundreds into evidence. But the central issue will be this: Did Johnson know what he was doing when he left his progeny out of his will, or was he too damaged by a lifetime of alcohol abuse to resist the alleged undue influence of his wife and advisers? Johnson, known simply as B, was a larger-than-life Texan, a hard-drinking multimillionaire with a big-hearted reputation who met Laura McAllister in 1994, days after the funeral of his second wife, and married her in 1996....
Tradition keeps cowboys at home on the range The scent of bacon streams from an old cast-iron skillet atop a bed of coals. "Biscuits are coming up,” says the chuck wagon cook to a group of sleepy cowboys and cowgirls ready to gather about 50 head of cattle. Somewhere, over a sand hill in this vast western Oklahoma landscape, the cattle communicate in low snorts and grunts as the sun peaks over the sage brush horizon. While many cowboys gather cattle with four-wheelers, running them through a chute and branding with an electric branding iron, out here horses are still the preferred method of gathering and working cattle for several reasons, Knowles cattle rancher Eric Bond said. Cattle here, in the rough and sandy terrain of western Oklahoma, are, many times, gathered in the very pastures in which they have been born. According to many ranchers in this community, this may be the "old way” of doing things, but it is still preferable to newer techniques. "It is just a more quiet and calm way to bring in cattle,” quarter horse trainer Rodney Barby said. "Also, in this area, the terrain keeps some vehicles from getting to the cattle.”....
Two tomes showcase vitality of U.S. ranches The American rancher is alive and well, as even the briefest journey through Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico will confirm. And though staggering technological advances have significantly improved his lot -- his derriýre now knows the cushioned comfort of leather king-cab seats as well as the more storied cradle of a worn saddle on a quarter horse -- backbreaking labor, ornery cattle, skittish mounts and unpredictable weather remain constants of the trade. Two wonderful new books, one a journal and the other an outsize coffee-table book with gorgeous color photographs, effectively demonstrate just how much this is so. "Riding for the Brand: 150 Years of Cowden Ranching" (Oklahoma, $29.95) by Michael Pettit and "6666: Portrait of a Texas Ranch" (Texas Tech, $45) by Wyman Meinzer and Henry Chappell each nicely paint the modern cowman's life. Pettit, an author and poet who lives in Santa Fe, is a descendent of one of the most prominent ranching families of New Mexico and west Texas, the Cowdens. In "Riding for the Brand," he shares his personal experiences working the family ranch over the years and delves into the origins and growth of the outfit. In "6666: Portrait of a Texas Ranch," Wyman Meinzer and Henry Chappell provide a less personal but visually stunning tour of a Lone Star outfit that dates back to 1870. Meinzer, official photographer of the State of Texas, and Chappell, a novelist and outdoorsman, present all aspects of ranch life at the Four Sixes, from clearing juniper with bulldozers to gathering around sizzling steaks beneath a canvas tent, in breathtaking pictures and clear-as-branch-water prose....
Local rancher lassoes a new opportunity He and partner Dugan Kelly, a professional team roper and fellow Cal Poly student, have started a new organization that Nicholson hopes will give him the money he needs to stay in the ranching business — the Professional Team Ropers Association. Team ropers, often part of rodeos, have never had their own organization to help promote their sport in the way that the Professional Bull Riders Association helped rodeo bull riders. “The Professional Bull Riders Association, started about 15 years ago, just sold to a group of investors,” Nicholson said. “I’m hoping to grow the Team Ropers Association to a national level and do the same thing.” Right now, the expenses involved in competitive roping exceed the prize money, Nicholson said. The partners plan on creating events that assemble the biggest team roping names together, offer big prize money to the contenders, and generate income for themselves through ticket sales. The Professional Team Ropers’ first event will be Aug. 24 at the Paso Robles Event Center. They’ve gathered the best 30 teams in the world for the competition and have garnered enough paying sponsors, from Wrangler Jeans to the Madonna Inn, to award $50,000 in cash prizes for the champion ropers....
Ride for the brand ranch rodeo Ranch rodeo events are meant to emulate or parody real jobs on the ranch. Here are the six events at the Ride for the Brand Ranch Rodeo, and where they come from. Bronc riding: The most familiar event to non-cowboys, it features a cowboy trying to “ride as ride can” for eight seconds on the back of a bucking horse. In ranch rodeo, cowboys must use a regular working saddle instead of a specialized saddle, and anything goes as far as riding style. Cowboys regularly break young or wild horses on the ranch, and turn them into working partners. Double mugging: A herd of numbered yearlings is held behind a line. A team of three cowboys on horseback is given a number as they approach the herd. They must cut out that animal, drive it across the start line without allowing more than one other animal to cross, and rope it. Then the muggers wrestle the animal to the ground so the third cowboy can tie a rope around its legs. Cowboys are often mobile veterinarians. If one animal has pink eye, for instance, they will separate it, rope it, tie its legs, and administer drugs. Wild-cow milking: A team of four cowboys chases down a wild cow, get her to play nice while they milk her into a longneck bottle, then sprint to the judge. On the ranch, cowboys sometimes must milk wild cows to get colostrum to orphaned calves, or calves whose mothers aren’t lactating. Trailer loading....
Of spurs and scripture Spurs jangled occasionally in this mountain hamlet’s community chapel June 17 as a breeze ruffled bare heads and a horse whinnied in the yard. Christians from near and far came for Buckboard Sunday, an annual event of the Esterbrook Community Church. Laramie Peak stood majestically framed in the small chapel’s picture window. Pastor Harvey Seidel preached to a congregation resting comfortably on pads on hand-hewn log pews. “The old-fashioned way of doing things may be out of date, but the old-fashioned way works,” Seidel said. Buckboard Sunday is definitely old-fashioned. People are encouraged to wear period clothing from the early 1900s and travel down the dirt lane by foot or in a horse-drawn carriage. They bring food to share in a pot-luck lunch. Kids jump around in gunny-sack races and neighbors share friendly words. Community church pastor Kirby Kudlak and the congregation don’t need to advertise Buckboard Sunday much, save for a few posters around town and an announcement in the local newspaper. Word of mouth travels fast in the West, and first-timers quickly become annual attendees, he said. It isn’t fancy. It isn’t staged. It’s simply a scenic Sunday service praising the natural world and the people who make their homes n or their livings n on the land....
Baxter Black: Buy property now, go green later Never was my observation "It's easy to be green when it's not personal" more obvious than today. As population increases and suburbanization encroaches on previously rural countryside, each new settler or squatter must face their own deleterious impact on the environment. Most people do not have the luxury or the desire to buy 90 acres, build a house in the corner, and leave the rest as a prairie dog town. It's easier to buy or build a house on a lot in a development that has already been clear cut and zoned residential. Kiss the prairie dog, coyote, spotted owl, minnow, wetland, and farmer or rancher habitat goodbye. Out of sight, out of mind. When the developer and city council rezoned and annexed the development, they based their decision on what was personal to them: money and tax receipts. For the new homeowner, any "guilt or concern" they might have had over their personal impact is simply out of sight, out of mind. Yet, it is often these same "Now that I've got mine, I draw the line" newcomers that support the stringent, sometimes justified but often frivolous restrictive edicts on others' private property....