NEWS ROUNDUP

Wisconsin to hunters: Kill wild pigs on sight State wildlife officials are encouraging hunters to report feral pig sightings or shoot them if they see them while pursuing other game. The wild pigs are exotic, non-native animals that threaten both the environment and agricultural operations, according to the Department of Natural Resources. "Free-roaming pigs can be found across a wide variety of habitats and are highly destructive because of the rooting they do in search of food," said Brad Koele, a wildlife biologist for the DNR. "They're also efficient predators preying on many species including white-tailed deer fawns and ground-nesting birds like grouse, woodcock, turkeys and songbirds." Wild pigs are known to carry a number of diseases worrisome to the domestic swine industry, including swine brucellosis, pseudorabies and leptospirosis, but infected pigs have not been documented in Wisconsin....
Wild Boar in Ohio Ohio’s hunters are encouraged to harvest any feral swine they encounter in the wild in order to limit the spread of this destructive wild animal species in the state. Wild boars feed most heavily at dawn and dusk, spending their days resting in dense vegetation or wallowing in mud holes. These nuisance animals may be legally harvested year-round by hunters with a valid Ohio hunting license or by landowners on their own property. During the deer gun and the statewide muzzleloader seasons, a valid Ohio deer permit is also required and hunters should use only the firearm legal for the season. Known in Ohio as “wild boars,” they also are also called free-ranging European wild boar, Russian wild boar, wild pigs, wild hogs, or razorbacks. These “eating machines” damage agricultural crops, degrade wildlife habitat and consume ground-nesting bird eggs, reptiles, amphibians, or just about anything else they come across, say state wildlife biologists. They also carry diseases that can infect domestic livestock, wildlife, and even people. At present, the two most significant diseases wild boars carry are Pseudorabies and swine brucellosis....
Europe Eyes 20 to 30 Percent Post-Kyoto Emission Cuts Laying the groundwork for a major climate change meeting next month where a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol will be discussed, the European Union plans to ask developed countries to agree to cut their "greenhouse gas" emissions by 20 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. And if a "fair and effective" global agreement is reached, then the E.U. will push for a 30 percent reduction, the president of the E.U.'s Executive Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said this week. Greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2) and others that many believe are affecting the climate. December's U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali will discuss a climate treaty for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's commitment period ends....
U.S. auto workers, allies charge GOP’s ‘Nissan bloc’ is driving energy bill talks Three GOP senators are driving behind-the-scenes negotiations on higher fuel efficiency standards because their support could hand Democratic leaders the key to passing a contentious energy bill before the end of the year, according to union and auto industry lobbyists. Unions and some auto industry lobbyists have dubbed Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Tennessee GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker “the Nissan bloc” because Nissan has manufacturing plants in their states and the senators are backing the Japanese company’s positions in the complicated fight over imposing more stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on automakers. Critics of the Senate version of the energy bill, which would require each manufacturer’s vehicle fleet to average at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020, charge that the three are supporting tougher CAFE provisions because they would give Nissan a competitive advantage while potentially crippling an already ailing domestic auto industry....
Colorado Ranchers Angry Over Army Site Expansion Herman Moltrer returned from Vietnam to be a cattle rancher on the broad shortgrass prairie that stretches as far as the eye can see in southern Colorado. The rugged work earned him a living and a little something extra for his soul, but now he fears he may have to sell his land, at someone else's price. The U.S. Army wants 418,000 acres of private ranch land to triple the size of its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, a training area considered suitable -- some would say essential -- for preparing American warriors to do battle in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The 1,000-square-mile facility would be 15 times the size of the District. Several dozen ranchers and members of 15 county commissions that voted to oppose the project find themselves pitted against the Pentagon and Colorado business interests in a struggle over property rights, personal heritage and the contested priorities of national security. Amid countless conversations around Colorado dinner tables about the potential for an economic boom or a government betrayal, experts on the environment, archaeology and paleontology are registering their concerns that the land will suffer. Both chambers of Congress voted against funding further work next year, one skirmish in a fight not nearly over. Colorado may not be alone. Military planners foresee a need for 5 million more acres for training facilities by 2011....
Drought-Ravaged Town Trucks In Water As twilight falls over this Tennessee town, Mayor Tony Reames drives up a dusty dirt road to the community's towering water tank and begins his nightly ritual in front of a rusty metal valve. With a twist of the wrist, he releases the tank's meager water supply, and suddenly this sleepy town is alive with activity. Washing machines whir, kitchen sinks fill and showers run. About three hours later, Reames will return and reverse the process, cutting off water to the town's 145 residents. The severe drought tightening like a vise across the Southeast has threatened the water supply of cities large and small, sending politicians scrambling for solutions. But Orme, about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out. The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle, and now the creek running through the center of town is dry....
Business big in fighting water crisis Urinals without water. Fountains without water. A waterfall without water. Dry is the goal as United Parcel Service Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and other top companies in the Atlanta area lead the rally to cut water use in response to the region's most extreme drought since at least the 1920s. Metropolitan Atlanta, which has added more new residents than any other U.S. city since 2000, may face limits on growth if the shortage persists, business officials said. And many worry that the water-saving efforts might not be enough to head off a near-term crisis. ''It is the No. 1 topic that businesses are concerned about,'' said John Somerhalder II, CEO of AGL Resources Inc., which provides natural gas in Atlanta. He also is vice chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's environmental committee. UPS, the world's biggest package-delivery company, is following the lead of many businesses and facilities in the West and using urinals that drain without water. Coca-Cola turned off the fountain in front of its Atlanta headquarters and canceled planting of new flowers that would require watering, said spokeswoman Kirsten Witt....
Groups work to increase the number of conservation easements in the state A third of the plant species that exist in Montana grow on the Rocky Mountain Front because of its elevation and moisture variants. Grizzly bears still roam in the prairies, and wetlands still exist. That makes the Rocky Mountain Front pretty unique, said Dave Carr, the Nature Conservancy's Rocky Mountain Front program director. That's why the Nature Conservancy is making it a priority to preserve land on the Front. Meanwhile, the Montana Land Reliance is focusing on the Smith River, where the organization holds 46,000 acres in conservation easement, as well as a number of other river drainages. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement where a landowner sells or donates certain rights — typically the right to subdivide or develop the land — to a land trust or other conservation organization. The easements are tied to the land and last forever, regardless of sale or the land being passed on. About 100,000 acres on the Front are protected....
Forest Service ruled not liable for Cedar fire The U.S. Forest Service isn't responsible for the 2003 Cedar fire, a federal judge ruled this week. Fifteen people who lost houses when the 2003 wildfire swept through the Cleveland National Forest sued, saying the Forest Service had a 100-year-old policy of putting out naturally occurring fires to preserve the forest for public use. The result was unnaturally dense trees and brush, they said. Or, in other words, a recipe for an unholy firestorm. The homeowners allege their losses were a predictable result of Forest Service policies and that the government effectively “took” their property. But Judge John Wiese of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims disagreed, dismissing the case. In short, the judge said the Forest Service isn't responsible because a lost hunter caused the Cedar fire. The hunter, Sergio Martinez of West Covina, eventually pleaded guilty to setting the fire and was sentenced to six months of private confinement and 960 hours of community service. “Unless one is prepared to say that the hunter was acting as the government's agent, causation cannot be attributed to the government,” Wiese wrote....
Shrinking glaciers affect park's wildlife This summer, for the first time in Glacier National Park's 100-year history, Gem Glacier was entirely snow-free, a glistening sheet of bare ice sweating dark and blue under a relentless sun. Many miles away, a bubbling mountain stream turned to a trickle, fading finally, underground. It was one of many streambeds that dried up this year, and one of many more to come. "There's still water down there under the cobble," Dan Fagre said of that stream, "but it's not so good if you're a fish." Fagre, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has been monitoring Glacier's glaciers for years, studying the many implications of retreating ice and snow. This summer's disappearing streams, he said, are but the latest signs of a rapidly changing climate driving an equally rapidly changing park system....
Glaciers grow on Mount Shasta Ever since Eric White first climbed to the top of 14,162-foot Mount Shasta 22 years ago, he has kept an eye on the mountain. He has watched its blanket of snow rise and fall with each passing season. And he has studied the changes on Shasta's seven glaciers. "One of the things I've really noticed is that some of the glaciers have moved a bit lower since I first saw them back in the '80s," said the 42-year-old lead climbing ranger and avalanche specialist for the U.S. Forest Service's Mount Shasta Ranger Station. What he has noticed is what appears to be a rare phenomenon of growing glaciers, an aberration in an era when many of the Earth's leading scientists report global warming is shrinking glaciers worldwide. Indeed, Mount Shasta's glaciers have continued to expand in the past half-century, according to a research paper published last year by Ian M. Howat, then a doctoral student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Four other scientists assisted him in the project....
Fires not caused by climate, panel says The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming yesterday acknowledged that climate change is not responsible for California's devastating wildfires, but members of the committee nonetheless blamed President Bush, land development and the theoretical fallout of rising temperatures for an increase in national forest fires. "Not since Hurricane Katrina slammed the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts have so many suffered from extreme weather," said committee Chairman Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, evoking images of 2005's devastating hurricane. That storm damage, in part, has been attributed to climate change by the news media and many members of Congress. Mr. Markey quickly added, "Global warming does not cause an individual fire or hurricane, and global warming is not the cause of the California fires." California authorities have said that at least one of the fires was started by a child playing with matches. "Death and destruction aren't the only thing wildfires and hurricanes share in common. They are both now being used as poster children for global warming," said the committee's ranking Republican, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin....
Running: Climate change will cause more severe wildfires A Montana professor testified Thursday that climate change will increase and intensify wildfires, while members of Congress and Forest Service officials grappled with how to pay for the increased costs of fire suppression. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimball and several experts at a House hearing agreed that changes in temperature and precipitation patterns from climate change will cause longer and more severe fire seasons in the West. Kimball already has taken $300 million in the agency’s 2009 budget away from other priorities to steer it toward firefighting, she said. Steven Running, an ecology professor at the University of Montana who recently shared the Nobel Peace Prize, testified that the only way to deal with the problem in the long run is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At a hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, several witnesses noted that since 1986, the fire season in the West has grown 78 days longer. That’s a 20 to 30 percent increase, Running said, and roughly the same percentage increase can be expected over the next decades. Projections show that in a century, two or three times as much land in the West will burn each year as does today, said Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass....
BLM issues prairie chicken plan The Bureau of Land Management said Friday an amended management plan for the lesser prairie chicken will allow oil and gas development, grazing and off-road vehicles on federal land used by the birds but still will protect its population. The release of the proposed special status species management plan and final environmental impact statement starts a 30-day period for protests to the plan. The document also was sent to Gov. Bill Richardson for a 60-day review. Prairie chicken habitat covers parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Landowners and conservationists in New Mexico have been working to keep the bird from being listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. They won a major battle last year when the state Game Commission recommended not adding the bird to the state endangered species list....
Climbing's popularity comes at a cost Evidence of rock climbing's excesses are visible everywhere around the base of a popular summer ascent here. Dead pines lie decomposing on the eroded rock, their roots exposed by thousands of boot soles. The approach is marred by 40 separate trails braiding around the granite face. Then, there's the garbage. Last month, volunteers packed out 900 pounds of abandoned rope, snack wrappers and toilet paper strewn around some of Yosemite National Park's most cherished crags. Millions of Americans have developed a taste for rock climbing, a fad fueled by a proliferation of urban climbing gyms and glamorized by programs like America's Next Top Model, which recently showed its models hanging from climbing ropes. But as neophyte rock jocks head to national parks to test their skills in the great outdoors, some are unwittingly breaking the wilderness ethic governing the sport. Others are violating federal wilderness regulations by drilling into the bare rock face with power tools....
Tribes aim to hunt bison A pair of Idaho-based American Indian tribes want to hunt bison in parts of Montana and Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes would become the third Indian group in modern times to exercise their 19th century treaty rights by sponsoring an off-reservation bison hunt. Tribal leaders have been in discussions with state officials about starting an annual hunt in Montana beginning with the winter of 2008-09. No harvest numbers have yet been revealed. The tribes also are seeking a federal permit to kill up to five bison annually from the National Elk Refuge near Jackson for ceremonial purposes. "It is important for the tribes to continue practicing, teaching and preserving our unique tribal way of life in our traditional hunting areas," tribal leaders said this week in a statement to The Associated Press. "The tribes have resided and hunted bison and other big game in these areas, since time immemorial."....
Rancher vs. land-locked neighbor In February, the Trabuccos expect to appear in Department Four of Nevada County Superior Court in a civil case filed by their neighbor, Ian Garfinkel. The case also involves the Nevada County Land Trust, which holds an agricultural easement of 760 acres on the Trabuccos' land. Garfinkel wants a road easement across the ranch to reach his own 160 adjacent but land-locked acres, where he said he also plans to graze cattle and use the land for family visits. Allowing Garfinkel to drive through the heart of the ranch to access his acreage would disrupt the cattle ranch's viability, the Trabuccos said. An agreement granting a road across the Trabuccos' land could violate their contract with the land trust. It also could set a precedent for the future conservation of other agricultural lands at a time when they are quickly disappearing across the state, Anna Trabucco said....
U.S. to boost testing of imported Canada meat Meat and poultry products being imported from Canada will be subjected to increased testing and inspection after an outbreak of E. coli in several U.S. states traced to beef from a Canadian company, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Saturday. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said it would increase testing for salmonella, listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7. The agency said it would require the products be held until testing shows they do not contain any of those pathogens. Canadian meat and poultry products will also receive increased levels of reinspection by FSIS officials to confirm they are eligible to enter the U.S. market. Those requirements will begin next week. The FSIS said it would also conduct an audit of Canada's food safety system. The audit will focus on plants that export beef to the United States....
Cargill recalls 1 million-plus pounds of beef The giant agribusiness company Cargill Inc. said Saturday it is recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The ground beef was produced between Oct. 8 and Oct. 11 at Cargill Meat Solutions' plant in Wyalusing, Pa. and distributed to retailers across the country. They include Giant, Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, Wegmans and Weis. Cargill learned the meat may be contaminated after the Agriculture Department found a problem with a sample of the beef produced on Oct. 8, the company said. The bacteria is E. coli 0157:H7. "No illnesses have been associated with this product," said John Keating, president of Cargill Regional Beef, said in a statement. "We are working closely with the USDA to remove this product from the marketplace."....
Brazile dominates first night of National Finals Steer Roping Trevor Brazile knew he needed a big first night at the $195,000 National Finals Steer Roping to have a chance at defending his world championship and wasn't about to let a little thing like competing on a new horse get in the way. Brazile won two of five rounds Friday night at the Lea County Event Center and cashed checks in all but one aboard Lobo, a horse he bought Thursday from Steve Wolf after his elite steer roping mount Roan Ranger pulled a muscle Wednesday, just as Brazile was about to load his trailer and drive here from his home in Decatur, Texas. Whatever misgivings Brazile may have had about taking his new mount into a noisy building for the first time, he took an aggressive approach in every round and finished the night with an event-best $18,750, a 10-second lead over Rocky Patterson in the average standings after five rounds and what seems to be a firm grasp on first place in the Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings. Ahead of 18-time world champion Guy Allen by about $1,900 at the start of the night, Brazile enters Saturday's last five rounds of the NFSR with a lead of just more than $19,000....He won the title Saturday night.
The Professional Bull Riders Celebrate the Duke's Birthday On November 2, the Professional Bull Riders’ (PBR) will commemorate a special day in Western heritage. The 100th celebration of John Wayne’s birthday will be observed during the fifth round of the PBR’s 2007 Built Ford Tough World Finals presented by Wrangler. The salute to the Duke will include a presentation to his wife Pilar Wayne and his daughter Aissa Wayne Conrad. His granddaughter, Jennifer Wayne along with Jeremy Popof will sing “God Bless John Wayne” to complete the presentation. The top 45 bull riders will also salute one of the greatest actors in the history of films. “John Wayne is such a central figure of Western heritage,” said Randy Bernard, CEO of the PBR. “As the PBR continues to grow and reach all corners of the globe, I think it’s important to remember where we came from, and honoring the 100th celebration of the year John Wayne was born certainly does just that.”....
Unbridled history Wild horses roaming what’s now Theodore Roosevelt National Park have been linked for years to three of the area’s most noteworthy historic figures: Sitting Bull, the Marquis de Mores and Old Four Eyes himself. A trail of written accounts connects war ponies that were confiscated from Sitting Bull and his followers to horses used by ranchers during the open-range era around Medora, N.D. But the National Park Service has taken the position that airtight proof is lacking to officially acknowledge any ties. If the link were recognized, wild horse advocates say, it would force the park service to work actively to preserve an important historic legacy, and stop what they say is the systematic removal of descendant horses. The park’s horse herd, culled every few years in roundups to avoid overgrazing, is exempt from federal laws to protect horses from mistreatment. Years ago, horses were routinely sold for slaughter, including as food for zoo animals, and horse advocates say cavalier treatment continues, as evidenced by a helicopter crash during a roundup last month. That incident, which injured the pilot and a park biologist, remains under investigation. The roundup was the first on record without using horseback riders, horse advocates said. Now two noted historians – both former National Park Service officials – say compelling historic evidence shows that horses in the park are descended from Sitting Bull and his followers, and therefore should be carefully preserved as living history....
Pregnant heifer broke dragging records Charlie survived and is now a member of that elite group of cowmen who have run the O.B. Chain Marathon. “O.B. chain” for you readers who are poultry producers and might think this refers to manacles worn by Over the Border illegals or a delicate veterinary instrument used to spay heifers by Ovary Burglars, it is not. O.B. stands for Obstetrical. Obstetrics refers to pregnancy, labor and birth. During a calving … well, let me tell you Charlie’s story. He and his brother run a modest-sized cow ranch in the pretty rolling country north of Lewistown, Mont. It was a wet spring and the brothers were in the midst of calving outside. They had bought 100 bred heifers. They worked together during the day and took turns each night so the other could get some sleep. The night of the marathon, Charlie drove out through the calving pasture shining his headlights and spotlighting the group. An experienced hand in the calving can detect the subtle differences in a resting cow and one in the process of parturition. It is a developed skill....