NEWS ROUNDUP

Court won't expand Powder River Basin injunction A U.S. federal appeals court upheld an injunction on Tuesday against development of coal bed methane development on 93 percent of the coal-rich Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. Yet, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to expand that injunction to block development on all of the 14-million-acre (5.7-million-hectare) region pending further environmental reviews. The area of ranches and mines is home to America's largest coal deposits, and has been subject to environmental controversy after the federal government starting selling leases to develop energy resources there a decade ago. Coal bed methane is obtained by taking groundwater out of land and into rivers; when put under pressure, the methane then percolates and is piped to the surface. The split 2-1 decision of the 9th Circuit cited potential environmental issues of aesthetic harm, pollution of rivers from the pumped groundwater, and lowering of the water table, impacting farmers and ranchers. The decision upheld a lower court injunction allowing development on 7 percent of the area but blocking development on 93 percent of the area pending a revised environmental impact study....
Ashland cattle ranch faces failure if grazing is curtailed Longtime rancher Mike Dauenhauer wasn't surprised that a recent scientific study concluded cattle grazing harmed the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. "I could have told you the results before they were completed — they want us gone," he said. If grazing is banned on the monument, his family's cattle ranch would be history, he added. "For me personally, removing the grazing up there would take me out of the cow business," he said, noting his family has had cattle grazing allotments for nearly half a century on the public land where the monument now stands. He was responding to a report released Monday by 10 scientists who spent several years studying the impact of grazing on the monument established in 2000. Hired by the Ashland-based National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, the scientists have recommended that cattle be permanently barred from grazing on the 52,947-acre monument....
'Immense potential' State officials say they hope bids will be competitive to lease the Duncan Ranch north of here, a place Gov. Dave Freudenthal said “has immense potential” during a stop Monday on his annual natural resource tour. Overlooking a steep, rugged canyon owned by Converse County, Freudenthal and more than 150 Wyoming lawmakers and dignitaries eyed the cool blue pool of water at the bottom. Some queried whether fishermen had much luck there throughout the summer; others scoped the far canyon roads with binoculars. Freudenthal said the ranch, from healthy hay meadows at the base of Boxelder Canyon to rich timbered slopes up higher, holds opportunity for many of Wyoming’s citizens. Acknowledging some early controversy surrounding whether the state should play a role in purchasing a working ranch, he said the teams assembled to determine the recreational, educational, agricultural, wildlife and commercial values have hammered out a strong plan. “I think we’ll end up with a true multiple-use management plan in place,” he said, adding that he believes the state should “take our time and make sure we do it right.” A management plan met with approval in June. Now, the Office of State Lands and Investments is asking for bids from family ranchers to lease the property, representing a contiguous block of 7,479 acres of state land. The Office of State Lands and Investments bought the 6,439-acre ranch from Hugh Duncan for $5.9 million in February 2006 to manage as a state school trust asset....
Black Hills off-roading map unveiled to 400 at meeting More than 400 people showed up at a Tuesday night in Rapid City to get a firsthand look at the future of off-roading in the Black Hills National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service used the biggest meeting room at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel convention center to unveil a proposed trail system for motorized vehicles. The new trails would reverse the current rules, which allow off-roading anywhere it is not specifically prohibited in the Black Hills. “We’re going to tell you where you go, when you can go there and what equipment will be allowed,” Forest Service travel management planner Tom Willems said....Keep the quote from Forest Service employee Tom Willems in mind, as it demonstrates their attitude toward the public and is something all users of the Federal lands will be hearing.
Wide range of concern in Wyoming To the cadre of sportsmen attempting to save the Wyoming Range from oil and gas development, the scene has become iconic. Whether captured on film or in the mind's eye, the lingering image is of a large drilling platform poised above a small creek where swims a population of threatened cutthroat trout. It's not a pretty sight. For residents of western Wyoming, this little-known mountain range has become a sort of line in the sand in what has turned into an expanding effort throughout the Rockies to forestall a rampant wave of drilling. From northern New Mexico to northwest Colorado to the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana, wildlife enthusiasts are fighting a sort of rear guard action to somehow ameliorate the oil and gas boom. Nowhere has the effort gained sharper focus than in this obscure group of mountains not far from the Utah border....
Lamborn: Make peak a monument U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn says a mountain as famous as Pikes Peak deserves to be a national monument, a federal designation bestowed on some other natural landmarks, including Devils Tower and Mount St. Helens. But when he announced Friday he has formed a committee to explore the possibility, the news came as a surprise to the various agencies who manage the mountain, including the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Springs Utilities and the city-run Pikes Peak Highway, none of whom were consulted. And some aren’t sure a national monument designation is needed. Officials said that, aside from possibly boosting tourism, the designation could have little impact on the mountain or protection of the land. “It would promote tourism,” Lamborn said Tuesday. “There are people who love to go around and visit the national monuments around the country and the national parks.”....
Wyden, DeFazio propose wilderness area in southern Oregon Oregon members of Congress are proposing wilderness protection for headwaters of Elk River near Port Orford in southern Oregon. The legislation introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio would protect 13,700 acres of coastal forest and salmon streams. Wilderness designation prevents logging, mining and road building, but hunting and fishing could continue. With Democrats in power, DeFazio said, prospects for new wilderness areas have improved. Richard Pombo of California, a Republican representative defeated last year, was the gatekeeper for wilderness bills and he "hated wilderness with a passion," DeFazio said. The Copper Salmon Wilderness bill could be passed along with the proposal for protecting an additional 125,000 acres around Mount Hood as new wilderness, DeFazio said....
Lost hiker won't return to wilderness After surviving 13 days in the woods with no gear and light clothing, 76-year-old Doris Anderson has resolved never to return to the wilderness, one of her daughters says. Anderson got lost on a hunting trip with her husband but was found last week after authorities had scaled back their search for her. She was hypothermic and incoherent when two officers found her in the Wallowa Mountains on Thursday, authorities said. But daughter Barbara Moore told the Baker City Herald on Tuesday that her mother had gotten out of her hospital bed twice, was eating bananas and mashed potatoes and gravy, and was being fitted for a set of dentures to replace those she lost. Moore said her mother had begun to remember details, but the family will keep them private until she is ready to tell her story to reporters. But, Moore said, her mother did say it was a long, scary experience. “She said she’s not going back to the forest,” Moore said. “It has nothing for her.”....
Wilderness bill would protect Roan Plateau U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette this week is unveiling a wilderness proposal that would ban drilling on much of the Roan Plateau. The measure is the latest political maneuver aimed at staving off attempts to open up the area to natural gas leasing. However, the Roan proposal is not new for DeGette, who has included it in her Colorado wilderness bills going back to 1999, said Chris Arend, a DeGette spokesman. The BLM previously had found wilderness-quality lands on top of the Roan, Arend said. "It hasn't been leased yet, so as far as we know those lands still have wilderness quality and should be considered for wilderness," Arend said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has decided to open up the plateau for drilling. Conservationists have sought to protect the top from drilling rigs. In a last-ditch maneuver, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, managed to convince the U.S. House to amend its federal energy bill to bar drilling on federal land on top of the plateau. A Senate energy bill has no such provision and the two bills have yet to be reconciled....
Grizzly found in Idaho after 61-year hiatus A federal plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to central Idaho was scrapped in 2000, but at least one 450-pound male found his own way seven years later. Idaho Fish and Game officials said Tuesday that a Tennessee man hunting black bears in the North Fork Clearwater River shot and killed a grizzly Sept. 3. Officials said they remain uncertain whether they will pursue criminal charges against the hunter. The kill came on the Idaho side of the 5,700-square-mile Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which includes central Idaho and Western Montana. It was the first confirmed grizzly bear in Idaho since 1946, a 61-year absence. "We predicted we might get bears dispersing into that area," said Chris Servheen, the Montana-based grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Maybe that bear's been a resident in that area his whole life." The bear had not been captured previously, so state and federal regulators are not sure where it came from, Servheen said....
Feds: New wolf rule won't hurt overall numbers New rules making it easier to kill wolves that are reducing wild game herds won't hurt the overall population in the Northern Rockies, according to a review released Tuesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to loosen legal language allowing state agencies to kill wolves that are having an "unacceptable impact" on elk, deer and other ungulate herds. Wolves could be taken out if they are "one of the major causes" of a herd's decline, the proposed rule says. Right now, most wild ungulate herds outside Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are at "record high" levels and above state management goals, according to the agency's environmental assessment of the proposal....
Veto of lead-bullet ban in condor range urged Officials responsible for regulating hunting and fishing in California asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a bill passed by the state Legislature that would ban the use of lead bullets for hunting in the California condor range. On Tuesday, the state Fish and Game Commission sent Schwarzenegger a letter asking that he veto Assembly Bill 821, which is headed to his desk after final passage by the state Assembly and Senate last week. The legislation, known as the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, written by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, requires the use of nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition when shooting big game or coyotes within specific areas of the state identified as the condor's range. The commission's letter contends that the legislation is flawed and that the commission should be the regulating agency for what kind of ammunition is allowed for hunting in the state. "The commission has been dealing with this issue for more than two and a half years now," said Fish and Game Commission executive director John Carlson Jr. A lead ban had been proposed to commissioners in January 2005 as an emergency petition, he said, which they voted down....
Growers, companies on the 'fence' about barriers A year after tainted spinach from the Central Coast killed three people, sickened more than 200 and cost local growers and companies millions of dollars, the industry is still grappling with the best way to make sure an outbreak never happens again. One idea that's causing a quiet controversy in the Salinas Valley: Fences. Short of growing under a bubble, many in the industry are now wondering whether putting tall fences around fields could be the most effective way to keep animals, particularly deer, away from crops. But while deer are on the Centers for Disease Control's list of animals found to carry potentially deadly strains of E. coli in their intestines, scientists studying E. coli in the Salinas Valley say there is little evidence to show they spread the pathogen. There is also limited information about how fences could affect animal populations along the 100-mile stretch of the Salinas River between San Ardo to the ocean. Investigators aren't sure where the E. coli, traced to neighboring San Benito County, came from, but speculate that the deadly pathogen may have been spread through a spinach field by wild pigs....
Proposed crop ordinance rejected A proposed ordinance banning the use of manure on food crops in Kern County died on Tuesday. County supervisors instead endorsed the use of a state-monitored system of agricultural health standards as a way to prevent biological contamination of food. The ordinance was proposed earlier this summer, said Environmental Health Services Director Matt Constantine, after lettuce and spinach crops from other counties were identified as the cause of national E. coli outbreaks. "Times are changing," said Supervisor Michael Rubio. "Whenever you can trace DNA from a person in the Midwest to a dairy in the Central Valley we all have to be on alert." The goal of the proposed ban, Constantine said, was to ensure Kern County wouldn't be added to the list of counties where outbreaks originated. But agricultural growers and cattle ranchers expressed sharp opposition to the ban....
Wheat Price Rises to Record $9 a Bushel on Global Crop Concerns Wheat prices surpassed $9 a bushel for the first time as a drought in Australia cut production, pushing global stockpiles toward a 26-year low. Australia's wheat crop may fall to 18 million metric tons from a prediction of 23 million tons in a U.S. report today. Reserves of the grain in Canada, the world's second-largest wheat exporter, plunged 29 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Increasing demand from Egypt to India and weather damage to crops from Canada to Australia have driven up global prices by 81 percent this year. Users including Sara Lee Corp. and PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's biggest producer of instant noodles, are responding by raising prices, fueling inflation. ``The market is in a real frenzy,'' said Tobin Gorey, commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``It's feeding through to the consumer.''....
Two horses slain in Madera Co. pasture wo mares were shot to death over the weekend in a foothill pasture beside Highway 41, and the Madera County Sheriff's Department is asking the public's help to find out who did it. Sheriff's investigators believe the mares were shot late Friday or early Saturday in a 40-acre pasture just north of the Yosemite Lakes Park turnoff. But the horses' owner, who declined to be identified, did not discover the carcasses until Monday, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart. A third horse in the pasture was unharmed. The mares, ages 5 and 7, were valued at about $4,000 each. The horses were 100 feet to 150 feet from the roadway when they were shot, one in the head and one in the neck, Stuart said. Investigators believe both mares lived for some time after they were shot. The family that owned the mares told investigators that they had been using the roadside pasture for the past four years. They had planned to breed the two mares that were shot, Stuart said. The shootings angered some Madera County horse owners....
Kobe beef farmed on secret Texas ranch It's served at some of Dallas's hottest restaurants - Wagyu beef. Some say it is better than prime, but it's price is higher than prime, too. It sells for about $30 an ounce. Many who taste the mouthwatering, marble-laced delicacy, also called Kobe beef, say it's worth it. But, this special occasion steak, which hails from Japan, is now taking root (or hoof) in the Lone Star State. "These are Japanese Wagyu which produce the Kobe beef," said Gary Yamamoto, a Wagyu rancher. Yamamoto is not your typical rancher. "Basically not, I'd rather be fishing," he said. He's spent millions earned as a professional bass fisherman cultivating a herd of pure-blood black Wagyu. He prefers not to say where his ranch is because while typical cows may sell for $800 each, Wagyu can fetch $10,000, and attract cattle rustlers....
Cactus Ropes, the official PRCA rope Cactus Ropes, located between Pleasanton and Floresville on S.H. 97, set a new company record in August, shipping 21,700 ropes that month to various merchants across the nation. This is a big improvement from their beginnings in 1991, when the company shipped only 10,000 ropes for the whole year. So how does a company go from 10,000 ropes in a year to over 200,000? The answer is quality. Since its inception, Cactus Ropes has had its eye on building a reputation for quality. This is a process that takes time, patience, and consistency. It also requires progression. The business spent almost 17 years perfecting its ropes. The business has developed a process that creates some of the toughest and most durable ropes in the nation, capturing the attention of the top professional ropers in the business, like Allen Bach, and earning the official approval of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association)....
California's wine country farmers go nearly nude to take a stand for the land Winegrowers, ranchers and other members of Napa's farming community in California are showing their green thumbs and quite a bit more in hopes of raising money to protect the valley's rich agricultural resources. Members of the Napa County Farm Bureau, all men, have stripped for a 2008 "Napa Uncovered" calendar that shows them strategically photographed in bucolic settings. The farmers, who are following in the nearly nude footsteps of a number of similar fundraising calendars - including an effort by French winemakers a few years ago - are hoping to draw attention to the issue of dwindling farmlands as well as show a lighter side of the Napa scene. Al Wagner, the vineyard manager for Clos Du Val, appears as Mr. July in a cowboy hat, boots and an apron. "A couple of the guys had a few little misgivings," Wagner said, "but after it was all done they kind of sat back and laughed about it." Those in the calendar come from ranching, vineyard management, and wineries....