Advisory council proposal tabs 130 wolves for hunting Up to 130 wolves in Montana could be shot next year as part of a first-time wolf-hunting season proposal put forth by Montana’s Wolf Management Advisory Council Monday. The 10-person group of ranchers, hunters, scientists and others didn’t tie its recommendation to that number as a quota. But 130 wolves could be killed in Montana — half of which probably would be shot for preying on livestock — without reducing the overall number of wolves in the state. That’s the amount of anticipated population increase next year due to births and immigration, according to Carolyn Sime, wolf coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Keeping the population stable at present levels would aid scientists as they try to figure out how many wolves the landscape and inhabitants of Montana can tolerate and sustain, Sime noted after the meeting....
Forest Service objects to proposed Virginia power plant The U.S. Forest Service is warning Virginia environmental officials that pollution from a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant proposed for Wise County would violate federal clean-air laws. In a letter to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the supervisor of the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina said the plant proposed by Dominion Virginia Power would pump enough sulfur dioxide into the air to possibly damage plant life and visibility in the 12,000-acre Linville Gorge Wilderness. The anticipated 3,300 tons per year in sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant would violate the federal Clean Air Act, which affords special protection to the pristine area, according to Forest Supervisor Marisue Hilliard....
U.S. Forest Service sells off two unneeded houses FOR SALE: Three bedroom, one bath, 1,830-square-foot house on 1.41 acres nestled in the picturesque hamlet of Butte Falls. $90,000 minimum bid. The ranch-style home, built in 1960, is one of two residential properties at 700 Laurel Avenue in Butte Falls that the U.S. Forest Service hopes to auction off beginning with on-line bidding today and continuing into early next year. The sale is part of the Forest Service's continuing effort to rid itself of property no longer used by the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest staff. The other residence, circa 1957, is a 1,475-square-foot home on .32 of an acre at 695 Laurel Avenue. The bidding for the three-bedroom, one-bath home starts at $70,000. The Web-based auction is being conducted by the General Services Administration for the forest. Both houses are being sold under the "Forest Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act of 2005," which allows the agency to sell properties no longer needed while using the proceeds for deferred maintenance and improvements. The act also requires the Forest Service to receive market value for each property it sells....
Uncertainty scuttles 2 coal-based power projects Two coal-based power projects planned for southwest Wyoming have been snuffed due to an uncertain political climate regarding greenhouse gases. PacifiCorp, which operates as Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming, said it has pulled all coal-based power generation from its plan to meet increasing load demand within the six Western states it serves. The action scraps a planned 527-megawatt, "super-critical" pulverized coal unit at the Jim Bridger power plant in Sweetwater County. It also scraps a coal-gasification, carbon capture and sequestration demonstration project in partnership with the state of Wyoming at Jim Bridger, according to Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen. "The situation the company finds itself in now is a significant amount of uncertainty about what climate change regulation might do to the cost of coal plants," Eskelsen said Monday. "Coal projects are no longer viable."....
State warns of mercury in fish Wyoming became the last state in the lower 48 to warn about possibly unhealthy levels of mercury in fish, advising anglers on Monday to be cautious about eating some saltwater fish and fish taken from Big Horn, Seminoe and Pathfinder reservoirs. "Eating fish with high amounts of mercury can cause health problems, especially in children," said Timothy Ryan, environmental public health section chief with the state Department of Health. "In general, Wyoming fish are low in mercury," Ryan said. "But we are recommending that women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under the age of 15 should eat more small Wyoming-caught fish and fewer large fish, and should avoid eating channel catfish, bass, sauger and walleye from certain waters."....
New book exposes 14ers' winter beauty Leafing through Aspen skier Chris Davenport's recently released "Ski the 14ers" coffee-table book (Capitol Peak Publishing, 2007), prospective Colorado ski mountaineers are liable to be overcome by one of two reactions: inspiration or trepidation. More likely, a little bit of both. It's a matter of which of the 152 oversized pages your eye meets. Flip to photos of the sun-soaked snow bowls of Wetterhorn, Sunshine or the Collegiate Peaks and the advanced skier's mind says, "Huh, I could probably do that." Turn the page to Capitol, Pyramid or Wilson peaks and that same brain is likely to lock up momentarily before responding in a more definitive "Are you crazy?" The answer, in Davenport's case, is a staid "no," and the calculated professional who went into his year-long quest to ski all 54 Colorado peaks above 14,000 feet between Jan. 22, 2006, and Jan. 19, 2007, is presented in a stunning visual tribute to winter in the mountains he calls home....
Freudenthal repeats protest of Hoback wells Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he remains opposed to a plan to drill gas wells in Bridger-Teton National Forest near the Hoback Ranches subdivision. The U.S. Forest Service published an outline of the plan Monday in the Federal Register. Plains Exploration & Production Co. would construct 136 wells on 17 well pads on part of more than 20,000 acres of national forest land that the company has leased on the Hoback Rim adjacent to the Wyoming Range. The preliminary plan would impact about 400 acres. It calls for the construction of 15 miles of new roads and upgrading 14 miles of existing roads. “I remain opposed to the development, and frankly, I’m perplexed that the Forest Service has turned a deaf ear to both the state and the community’s concerns,” Freudenthal said in an e-mail Monday....
Under Bush's watch, decay of public firefighting has spawned billion dollar private industry Fighting fires has become big business. The National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA), a trade organization founded in 2000, now represents over 200 private companies and 10,000 wild land firefighters. The private firefighting industry is estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Some cities and counties are now hiring private contractors to replace public services provided by unionized firefighters. According to the Heartland Institute, a conservative pro-privatization think tank, Lakewood, Illinois has contracted with American Emergency Service Corporation to provide fire protection. The company’s employees are non-union; Heartland asserts that “wage and benefits costs are lower than those incurred by fire districts that hire their own firefighters and paramedics.” Another private firefighting contractor, Rural/Metro, provides private fire protection services to over 25 communities, according to the company’s website. Other contractors offer specialties; Halliburton, for instance, focuses on dousing oil well fires. Other large companies with fire protection divisions include Kellogg, Brown, and Root and Spain-based Avialsa. The U.S. government also uses private contractors to abet firefighting efforts on federal lands. The practice began during the Clinton administration in response to a decline in the logging industry and a shortage of lumberjack-firefighters to combat forest fires. Since 2000, the industry has mushroomed....
Rise in E. Coli Meat Recalls Might be Linked to Increased Use of Ethanol Byproduct as Cattle Feed A spike in E. coli meat recalls and outbreaks could be explained, in part, by the way some cattle are fed, new research says. According to a study conducted at Kansas State University, cattle fed with distiller’s grain, a byproduct of Ethanol production, are more susceptible to the E. Coli 0157:H7 strain that can cause a sometimes deadly disease in human beings. As the US looks for alternatives to oil and gasoline, ethanol – a fuel made from grains – production has skyrocketed. This has resulted in a symbiotic relationship between ethanol producers and cattle ranchers. Ethanol plants need a way to dispose of the grain left over from the manufacturing process, and cattle ranchers need a source of feed for their livestock. For this reason, ethanol factories are often built next to feed lots. Distiller’s grain is a good source of animal feed, however, scientist at Kansas State University say it could be putting the public at risk. Through three rounds of testing, they found that the prevalence of E. coli 0157:H7 was about twice as high in cattle fed distiller’s grain compared with those cattle that were on a diet lacking the ethanol byproduct....
Heineman announces registration milestone for livestock premises Gov. Dave Heineman announced Friday at the Nebraska Farmers Union convention in Grand Island that the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) has reached the halfway mark toward its goal to register all livestock premises in the state. According to the NDA, individuals have voluntarily registered 15,643 premises, 50 percent of an estimated 30,841 Nebraska premises. "We are now among the top 10 states," Heineman said. "And we did it without a mandate. That shows that Nebraska livestock producers care about animal and food safety."....