Lawmakers propose lifting species protections in drought Georgia's entire congressional delegation introduced legislation Tuesday intended to relieve drought conditions in the Atlanta area. Gov. Sonny Perdue and other state officials have been arguing with the Army Corps of Engineers over how much of the water in Lake Lanier should be pumped downriver to Florida and Alabama. But the Corps insists it's only following federal law and continues to pump billions of gallons of water downriver to help preserve federally protected sturgeon and mussels. The legislation the Georgia lawmakers introduced would amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 so that federal protection for such species would be lifted in times of severe drought. "It's rare that the Georgia delegation is of one mind on major legislation," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Grantville Republican. "But we're united in this crisis to put our people before sturgeon and mussels." Georgia lawmakers said it defies common sense to pump water to fish when people are in such dire need....Let'see, put a coupla ranchers over here out of business, and some farmers over there are ruined and that's ok. But let the city folk feel the full brunt of the act? No, no, we can't let that happen.
Grazing for change on Steel Swamp Ranch is a team effort Dan Byrne, who helps operate a family cattle and feed business in Modoc and Siskiyou counties, says he has a great commute--30 miles of unpaved U.S. Forest Service road. In summer the red dust flies. In winter the snow and ice make driving dicey when hauling cattle and supplies. But, Byrne says there's no place he'd rather be than Steel Swamp Ranch, which was acquired by his grandfather in the early 1900s. With headquarters in Tulelake, Dan and his brother, Mike, operate both their private land and about 100,000 acres of public land for cattle grazing. Over time the family has seen many environmental changes in the high desert that cause them concern. But rather than merely watch negative environmental changes, the Byrne brothers have taken action. They're currently involved in a half dozen partnerships with government agencies and research groups to return the delicate high desert land they ranch to full vibrancy....
"Wolf Awareness Week" declared in New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has declared this week as "Wolf Awareness Week" in New Mexico, and both conservationists and ranchers see the move as an opportunity to address a controversial program aimed at reintroducing the endangered Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico and Arizona. Richardson, in a declaration issued Monday as part of National Wolf Awareness Week, said the predator plays a critical role in maintaining balanced ecosystems. "We must redouble our efforts to promote healthy wolf populations coexisting with our communities and land stewards — both in New Mexico and across the country," he said. Federal biologists began releasing wolves on the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1998 to re-establish the species in part of its historic range after it had been hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s. Conservationists have criticized the program's management, specifically a policy calling for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to remove or kill any wolf linked to three livestock killings within a year. On the other hand, some residents have been worried about the safety of their children and pets while ranchers have consistently voiced concerns about depredation of their livestock. Caren Cowan, executive director of New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said Monday that she welcomed the governor's declaration. "What I hope it does is bring about some awareness," she said. "Wolves are here to stay. They're obviously not going away, but there are some real issues that need to be worked through."...
Wildlife officials say coyote bounty wouldn't work The best way to protect livestock from coyotes is to target specific animals that are causing problems, South Dakota wildlife officials said Monday. Members of a legislative committee asked whether it would be more effective and less expensive to revive a bounty system that used to pay hunters a small amount for each coyote they killed. But state Game, Fish and Parks officials said the bounty system just paid hunters for coyotes they would have shot anyway. The current system of aerial hunting, trapping and other control works better by killing specific coyotes that are causing problems for farmers and ranchers during the spring season when calves and lambs are born, said Emmett Keyser, assistant director of the Wildlife Division. "We're targeting specific coyotes on specific ranches," Keyser told the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee, an investigative panel....
White House, Congress may find rare agreement on energy bill At odds on Iraq, children’s health insurance and eight of 12 spending measures, the Bush administration and Democratic Congress may find common ground on an unlikely topic: energy legislation. For a president raised in the Oil Patch, the victory may come with an ironic twist. One of the signature measures the bill could include is a new federal mandate on production of renewable fuels, despite opposition from oil interests. President Bush already moved away from the industry in his last State of the Union address, when he called for the production of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels in the next 15 years. In the pending Senate version, the renewable fuel standard would not include a process by which coal is converted to gasoline, a technology the administration supported. But the White House is viewed on K Street as generally supportive of a new renewable fuel mandate, although it may press Congress to make more allowances for technological advances necessary to meet the 36 billion gallon target set in the Senate bill. Other groups are aligned against the bill as well. Farmers and ranchers who rely on grain to raise livestock also worry about rising corn prices. Environmentalists fear that the new mandate would lead to a loss of habitat as more corn is planted to meet the new mandate....
Pikes Peak won't get federal designation, committee says Pikes Peak is fine just how it is. That’s the conclusion reached by a committee formed last month by U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn to examine making the mountain a national monument or some other federal designation. It took the committee just two meetings to decide to leave the status of the peak alone. It then disbanded. While being a national monument -- a status held by 70 other landmarks, including Devils Tower and Mount St. Helens -- could bring in extra visitors and offer additional protection for the peak, the committee determined it would come with too many strings attached. Colorado Springs Vice Mayor Larry Small, a committee member, said the designation would jeopardize popular events such as the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon, and the operation of the Pikes Peak Highway....
Global Warming Delusions Global warming doesn't matter except to the extent that it will affect life -- ours and that of all living things on Earth. And contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life is thin. Most evidence suggests the contrary. Case in point: This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20%-30% of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming -- a truly terrifying thought. Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct. The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age -- saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe. But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals. We're also warned that tropical diseases are going to spread, and that we can expect malaria and encephalitis epidemics. But scientific papers by Prof. Sarah Randolph of Oxford University show that temperature changes do not correlate well with changes in the distribution or frequency of these diseases; warming has not broadened their distribution and is highly unlikely to do so in the future, global warming or not....
Hunters kill at least four grizzlies so far Hunters have killed at least four grizzly bears in Wyoming since the start of this year's elk hunting season. That's according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. No one was hurt in the incidents, which happened south of Yellowstone and outside Cody, Jackson, and Lander. Game and fish officials wouldn't release more information about the grizzly deaths, saying the cases were all still under investigation. Grizzlies were removed from federal Endangered Species Act protection in April, so killings of grizzlies now are prosecuted under state and not federal law. Under state law, a person who kills a grizzly not in self-defense faces up to six months in jail and a fine up to $10,000 dollars.