Property right wrongly taken The story is so absurd, so unfair, so ludicrous, I had a difficult time believing that it could actually happen - even in Boulder. It's about a couple named Don and Susie Kirlin. They moved to the city in 1980. A few years later, the Kirlins purchased a plot of land near their residence, hoping to someday build a "dream home." Children interfered slightly with the master plan - three of them in the next few years - postponing any development of the property. As the children began to make their own way in life, the couple decided it was time to finally develop the property in late 2006. By then, it was too late. Despite owning the land, despite living only 200 yards from the property, despite hiking past it every week with their three dogs, despite spraying for weeds and fixing fences, despite paying homeowner association dues and property taxes each year, someone else had taken a shine to it. Someone powerful. Former Boulder District Judge, Boulder Mayor, RTD board member - among other elected positions - Richard McLean and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, used an arcane common law called "adverse possession" to claim the land for their own....
Subpoenas issued over easements The Department of Regulatory Agencies has issued 30 subpoenas as part of a statewide investigation into Colorado's conservation-easement program. Issued over the past two days, the subpoenas will be used to gain information about appraisals that may have been overvalued and sales of unregulated securities. "This could place the entire conservation-easement program in jeopardy," said Rico Munn, DORA's executive director. "Coloradans value this program, and we hope to save this program." DORA's Division of Real Estate is investigating the appraisals of certain properties on which easements were obtained. The Division of Securities, also part of DORA, is investigating abuses in sales of the tax credits to investors. The subpoenas were issued to anyone involved in a transaction that is being investigated, including landowners. Munn declined to name the people or organizations under investigation. "We won't know if there's collusion (between appraisers and landowners) until after the investigation," said Fred Joseph, commissioner of the Division of Securities....
Bush administration drops effort to ease salmon protections The Bush administration has abandoned efforts pushed by the timber industry to allow more logging around salmon streams on Northwest national forests. The administration's motion to withdraw an appeal of a lawsuit brought by salmon advocates to reinstate what is known as the Aquatic Conservation Strategy of the Northwest Forest Plan was approved Tuesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In April, a federal judge ruled that the Bush administration illegally suppressed and misrepresented the views of scientists who objected to revising the salmon protections. "It's a victory for salmon protections against years of efforts by the Bush administration to roll them back on federal lands," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations....
Judge tosses $7.5 million plan Hiking and wilderness advocacy groups won a key legal victory when a federal judge threw out a U.S. Forest Service plan that would have permitted more commercial packstocking in the central Sierra Nevada. In her Oct. 30 ruling, Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte found the Forest Service's 2005 management plan for the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas "allows for significantly increased commercial packstock use in some parts of the wilderness, including areas previously recognized by the Forest Service as already heavily damaged from excessive stock use." Citing the agency's past failure to protect and restore areas damaged by commercial packstocking, Laporte further ruled it was "irrational" for the Forest Service to approve a new plan that allows for more packstocking in the future. Gary Guenther, a former backcountry ranger who now serves as the eastern Sierra representative for Wilderness Watch, one of the case's plaintiffs, called the ruling "a win-win" for anyone who loves wilderness and the High Sierra....
U.S. Forest Service employee gets 21 months An Oregon woman who embezzled more than $600,000 from the U.S. Forest Service has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution. Prosecutors called it by far the largest theft from an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture since the government began keeping searchable records of such crimes in 2000. Deborah Durfey of Echo oversaw and audited purchases of firefighting equipment for the Forest Service. Prosecutors say she stole the money by writing checks to her live-in boyfriend and depositing the money in a joint account she controlled. The government contended the embezzlement involved about 180 separate thefts. She pleaded guilty in June to embezzlement and tax fraud charges.
Seeds contain hope of healing Great Basin Months after huge rangeland wildfires scorched millions of acres of the interior West, the recovery of its vast sagebrush may depend on volunteers such as Rachel Morgan and Angie Robles. The friends from Caldwell, Idaho, taking a "moms' day out" Saturday, joined more than 70 other unpaid helpers to pluck and bag the ripe brown stems off waist-high sagebrush in the foothills 50 miles southeast of Boise. Hundreds more volunteers from the Idaho Fish and Game Department will follow in the coming weeks, including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, who issued an unusual plea last month for help gathering seeds to restore fire-damaged areas. Using canvas hoppers, work gloves and even tennis rackets, volunteer and paid gatherers comb unburned zones from Duchesne, Utah, to Spring Valley, Nev., to gather more than 2 million pounds of sagebrush seeds that are smaller than cracked pepper. Land managers also will spread millions of pounds of seeds of other grasses, wildflowers and plants....
Conservationists Challenge Controversial New Rules for Forest Wildlife Rejecting a decade of restoration-based forest management, the U.S. Forest Service has unilaterally revised its guidelines for management of wildlife on national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. On November 19th, the Coconino National Forest agreed with conservationists that the first major logging project under the new guidelines required additional environmental analysis. But the agency stopped short of agreeing that the new wildlife guidelines required independent environmental review and public consideration. “The Forest Service illegally amended every forest plan in Arizona and New Mexico by failing to involve the public and state agencies prior to weakening important wildlife protections for national forests,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The new guidelines spell disaster for southwestern wildlife and old growth.” The new guidelines significantly weaken wildlife protections and could lead to dramatically increased logging of large, old-growth trees. The amended guidelines could signal a new round of timber wars in the Southwest....
Aerial Firefighting The United States Forest Service is the largest user of aerial firefighting aircraft. They deploy a variety of aircraft in order to fight wildfires. The range of aircraft includes smaller helicopters to large DC-10 aircraft. On a local level, some police agencies use their aircraft to fight small wildfires. These small wildfires are not confined to rural areas. The New York City Police Department Aviation Unit (NYPD) conducts approximately 25 aerial firefighting operations a year within the borders of the City of New York. Aerial firefighting missions can certainly be considered high risk. Not only does the flight crew have to contend with the usual safety of flight issues, they now have to fly fairly low, often very close to smoke and flying debris. Teamwork is essential for the safe and effective completion of these missions. When an aircraft is called to a scene to assist with aerial firefighting operations, there are many considerations for the flight crew. Where exactly do fire ground commanders want the water drops? Are there any persons in the drop area? Considering that a load of water can weigh up to 1500 lbs, the danger to persons or property on the ground becomes obvious. What are the wind conditions? In short, the mission becomes a complex consideration of risk vs. benefit. The missions are not carried out lightly....
A deadly showdown with the Means clan The deadliest feud in Texas inflamed DeWitt County after the Civil War. The feud was between the Taylors, ex-Confederates, and the Suttons, who were allied with radical Republicans who controlled state government. As many as 200 people may have been killed in the Sutton-Taylor feud, which lasted a decade. The gunslinger John Wesley Hardin was in the Taylor faction. After the violence spilled over into adjacent counties, a Texas Ranger said, "It takes five large counties to bound DeWitt -- and it is an awful strain to hold it all in." A blood feud closer to Corpus Christi pitted the Garner and Means families in San Patricio County. The story of this feud is told in the history of San Patricio County by Keith Guthrie. In 1876, ranchers around Meansville near Odem agreed to have their cattle dipped to control ticks. All the cattle were treated except for those owned by Col. William Means, former sheriff and founder of Meansville, who refused to have his cattle dipped. Sheriff Ed Garner hired cowboys to round up Means' cattle and have them dipped. The colonel was billed $35 for expenses, which he refused to pay. Soon after this, three of Means' six sons shot up a dance at Papalote and Sheriff Garner led a posse to arrest them. The posse surrounded Means' house and ordered the hell-raisers to come out. Instead, Col. Means came out with a rifle. Garner said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Shots were fired and Means was killed....