19 Bald Eagles Die After Eating Fish Waste in Alaska At least 19 bald eagles died Friday after gorging themselves on a truck full of fish waste outside a processing plant. Fifty or more eagles swarmed into the truck, whose retractable fabric cover was open, after the truck was moved outside the plant, said Brandon Saito, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who coordinated the recovery operation. The birds became too soiled to fly or clean themselves, and with temperatures in the mid-teens, began to succumb to the cold. Some birds became so weak they sank into the fish slime and were crushed. The truck's contents had to be dumped onto the floor of the Ocean Beauty Seafoods plant so the birds could be retrieved. Some tried to scatter, but since they couldn't fly, wildlife officers soon retrieved them. The eagles were then cleaned with dish soap in tubs of warm water to remove the oily slime and warm them....
General Motors finances ethanol maker Coskata General Motors (GM) says it is investing in a fledgling company that claims its secret process could be able to make ethanol from waste in large quantity as soon as 2010 for $1 a gallon or less, half the cost of making gasoline. Bill Roe, CEO of 18-month-old ethanol maker Coskata, says the company's process uses bacteria developed at the University of Oklahoma and existing gasification technology to generate 99.7% pure ethanol, plus water. He says the method should leapfrog cellulosic production, which has been seen as the next step from today's ethanol production using corn. Coskata's process can use garbage, old tires and other waste, but Roe says wood waste probably will be used at first because it's available, cheap and easy to handle. Roe pledges to be operating a 40,000-gallon-per-year pilot plant this year and to line up partnerships with other companies to build $400 million facilities that each could produce 100 million gallons a year as soon as late 2010. The USA uses 140 billion gallons of gasoline a year....
Rancher donates easement on Front Nearly 3,000 acres have been protected from development under a conservation easement on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. A rancher, Colin Phipps, donated an easement on 2,900 acres along Dupuyer Creek to the Missoula-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The creek corridor, which is home to elk, grizzly bears, moose, wolverines, deer and other wildlife, abuts national forest land and has been identified by state wildlife biologists as some of the most vital and threatened habitat in the state. “Dupuyer Creek is deep in the crosshairs of development,” Mike Mueller, lands manager for the foundation, said Thursday. Phipps said he donated the easement to protect the land from being divided into 10- and 20-acre ranchettes and to preserve it as a traditional working ranch. Across the West, a growing number of family ranchers and farmers are signing conservation easements, giving up some development rights in exchange for tax benefits. Phipps' easement allows him to continue traditional ranching activities, including grazing, farming and logging, and to build a few homes on the property....
$1 million deal means ranchland will be preserved More than 3,000 acres of environmentally rich Monterey ranchland will be saved for future generations under a deal announced by two conservation groups this past week. The Big Sur Land Trust and the Nature Conservancy announced the acquisition of a conservation easement on most of the Violini Ranch west of Gonzales, which the groups said will preserve 3,200 acres of oak- and grass-covered hills that straddle the Carmel and Salinas valleys. "It's a stunning, stunning example of what people think of as 'Steinbeck Country,' with rolling hills, canyons, wildflower-filled meadows in the springtime," said Rachel Saunders, spokeswoman for the Big Sur Land Trust. The conservation easement covering four-fifths of the 4,000-acre Violini Ranch was appraised at $1.86 million, the groups said. The Violini family agreed to sell the easement, which prevents future development, for $1 million while taking the balance as a charitable donation. A 2006 federal law gave farmers and ranchers increased tax incentives to donate conservation easements, the groups said....
Losers in Boulder land dispute file appeal A Boulder couple who watched a judge give nearly one-third of their building lot in a pricy residential development to a neighbor who claimed using it has filed an appeal of the decision. The Denver Post said Don and Susie Kirlin are attempting to reclaim the nearly one-third of their residential property in Boulder that a neighbor won in October in a court ruling in an "adverse possession" lawsuit. The neighbors, former District Judge Richard McLean, and wife Edith Stevens, a lawyer, were awarded ownership of the chunk of property after arguing they had maintained the property for more than 25 years. Colorado's adverse possession law allows those who "openly and notoriously" maintain property that is not their own for many years eventually to claim title to it. The appeal focuses on arguments by the Kirlins that McLean and Stevens failed to meet the burden of proof needed to be awarded ownership, and that Judge James Klein, who issued the controversial ruling, erred in his decision....
Mtn. bikers dislike wilderness closure Mountain bikers are disturbed by a recommendation from the U.S. Forest Service to create a new wilderness area between Durango and Silverton that would close 20 miles of the Colorado Trail to wheels. The recommendation, if adopted by Congress, would also make at least six other trails off-limits to biking, reports the Durango Telegraph. “It’s definitely a conundrum for mountain bikers,” said Mark Richey, a mountain biking advocate. “We all love wilderness areas, but we feel like we're excluded by their (recommendation) designation. It’s not a comfortable place to be in.” While the Forest Service cites comparatively little use by mountain bikers in the area in question, mountain bikers disagree. Bill Manning, director of the Colorado Trail Foundation, also noted that the wilderness designated would eliminate the ride from Molas Divide to Durango, a 75-mile grunt considered one of the nation’s epic rides.
Rescuers Search for Survivors After Montana Avalanches Kill at Least 5 An avalanche on the back side of Whitefish Mountain Resort killed two backcountry skiers Sunday and searchers combed the slide area for other possible victims, Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan said. Meehan said the avalanche occurred on Fiberglass Hill in the Canyon Creek drainage. Emergency responders were alerted to the avalanche around noon, and more than 100 search and rescue people were quickly called to the scene. Meehan released a statement indicating the body of a victim was recovered at about 1:18 p.m. and a second body at 4:16 p.m. No names were released. The number of people missing in the slide is unknown, Meehan said early Sunday evening. "At this time, there are conflicting statements to responders about how many more victims might have been buried in the avalanche," he said. "If the scene of the avalanche is safe for rescue workers, rescue efforts will continue throughout the night." In addition, three men caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling in the Star Valley south of Jackson have been found dead. The Star Valley Search and Rescue team found the three men in the Cottonwood Lake area Saturday....
Scientists, Congress worry about move to restrict access to satellite data Ten years ago, a Canadian ice breaker was deliberately parked in an ice pack 300 miles north of Barrow and allowed to drift as scientists studied the environment and the effects of global warming. Among those tracking the ice breaker were top-secret U.S. spy satellites. With the OK of a little-noticed but influential government committee known as the Civil Applications Committee, those reconnaissance photos were released to scientists. The committee, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Geological Survey, reviews civilian requests for classified reconnaissance information and makes a recommendation to the intelligence community, which has the final say on what is declassified. The spy data can be helpful to scientists studying everything from volcanoes, forest fires, earthquakes and landslides to climate change, hurricanes, flooding and pollution. The Bush administration plans to abolish the committee and create an office within the Department of Homeland Security to review such requests, along with those from law enforcement agencies. Scientists are concerned their requests could be sidetracked or delayed as security and law enforcement needs take precedent....
Judge ready to hold Forest Service in contempt A federal judge in Montana said Friday he's prepared to hold the U.S. Forest Service in contempt of court for a "duplicitous" strategy of skirting the law so it can keep fighting wildfires with retardant that kills fish. Judge Donald Molloy set a Feb. 26 hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula to give the Forest Service a chance to convince him that Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey should not be put in jail and that fire retardant drops from aircraft should not be stopped until the agency properly considers the danger to the environment. "The Forest Service, throughout these proceedings, evidenced a strategy of circumventing, rather than complying with," the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, he wrote. "The apparent pattern suggests a strategy of looking for ways to avoid the law's mandate as opposed to looking for a means of complying with the law." Potential sanctions include sending Rey to jail, putting him under house arrest and banning the Forest Service from using any fire retardants but water in air tankers, Molloy wrote. In an earlier order, Molloy wrote that Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, should appear in person. "We take very seriously our obligations to perform the environmental analysis required by law, and have made every effort to comply with the court's rulings in this case," Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh said. "We expect to demonstrate the government's good faith in further proceedings before the court."....
Site yields bounty of dino tracks More than 100 members of the public made tracks to a site in southern Utah on Saturday to marvel at fossilized footprints pressed into the area's red sandstone by dinosaurs drinking from a pond 185 million years ago. "The site is outstanding for the quality of the tracks, diversity of animals represented and continuum of time they were created," said Alan Titus, paleontologist for the Bureau of Land Management who led two tours of interested people to the location under clear blue skies. Located in Kane County about 3 miles west of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, the site was documented last October in a popular riding area for all-terrain vehicles. The area has since been closed to riders to preserve the site, named the Northern Moccasin Mountain Track Site. The area, about the size of a football field, is covered with perhaps thousands of prehistoric footprints from the Jurassic period, when the region was covered with the largest sand desert the world has known, Titus said....
Mountain critters' disappearance may be a global warning The "canary in the coal mine" on global warming when it comes to the mountains may very well be a hamster-like rodent that squeaks from among the talus above tree line. Pushed by warmer weather to ever-higher elevations, the tiny pika is losing real estate at an alarming rate, according to scientists, and is disappearing rapidly from much of its historic territory in the West. "They've been driven upslope a half mile since the end of the last ice age," said Donald Grayson, an archaeologist and paleontologist with the University of Washington who has documented the presence of pika over the past 40,000 years. "Pikas in general are now found at such high elevations that there's not a lot of places left for them," Grayson said. The plight of the pika has grown so dire, conservationists are seeking endangered- species protection for the critters and demanding that federal officials target global warming as a threat to their existence....
Sage grouse designation up for debate The U.S. Department of the Interior will reconsider its 2006 decision to not classify several species as endangered, including the Gunnison sage grouse. Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., said the department agreed to reconsider its stance after a request from U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, a few weeks ago. Wyden’s request expands an earlier investigation into wrongly overturned decisions by Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary of the Interior for fish, wildlife and parks. Devaney’s response to Wyden said his office will “… initiate an investigation to determine whether improper political influence affected a number of species and critical habitat decisions…” It’s unclear whether the new investigation will affect a lawsuit filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity against the Interior Department for its failure to classify the Gunnison sage grouse as endangered....
McCain, Democrats good for environment President Bush showed such antagonism toward the environment that the next resident of the White House can't help but be seen as an improvement. Bush scorned science, mocked climate change, shortchanged national parks and public land, undermined integrity at the Interior Department and made a joke of our most revered laws on clean air and water, and endangered species. Even former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, by admitting that human activity has contributed to global warming but stopping short of a remedy, sounds reasonable. Voters deserve more, however, particularly on the greatest environmental challenge of our time - responding to the threat of climate change. So they should press the presidential candidates more closely on environmental issues and demand more detailed answers. Here is a starting point: The only Republican candidate to spell out a progressive agenda on combating climate change is Sen. John McCain....
Park Service using choppers to trap sheep in Canyonlands The National Park Service may be using helicopters to capture and collar 19 desert bighorn sheep in Arches and Canyonlands national parks in eastern Utah. The Park Service is seeking public comment until Jan. 21 on an environmental review of the proposed Arches and Canyonlands sheep capture, which will help the agency learn about how diseases can be transmitted from livestock to sheep, and other health problems. Tracking the sheep in Canyonlands National Park has been difficult because of the park’s ruggedness and remoteness, according to the review. Helicopters would be used to chase the sheep in the parks during late January or early February, when park visitation is sparse....
U.S., Mexico trumpet NAFTA changes but farmers balk U.S. officials trumpeted an end to farm trade restrictions under NAFTA, the controversial North American trade deal, on Friday, while Mexican farmers vowed to take to the streets to protest liberalization they fear will run them into the ground. On January 1, Mexico and the United States dropped the few trade restrictions on farm goods that remained fourteen years after NAFTA brought a new era of commerce to the regional economy. Overnight, quotas and tariffs were eliminated on U.S. exports of corn and beans going to Mexico, and to two-way trade in sweeteners like sugar. Corn tariffs have gradually been phased out since the trade deal was implemented, and imports of U.S. yellow corn to Mexico, mostly used in animal feed, have skyrocketed. They now account for close to 35 percent of Mexican consumption....
Animal owners treated like sex offenders Sex offenders are required to register their premises and report to the government when they move. Similarly, the USDA is implementing a so-called "voluntary" program that requires owners of livestock animals to register their premises and report to the government when any animal is moved off the premises. The program is called the National Animal Identification System, or NAIS; it is rolling toward implementation, despite the fact that it has not yet been authorized by Congress. When first introduced, it was scheduled to be mandatory, with every premises or property in the nation where livestock animals are housed, registered in a federal database by 2007. Every animal was to be identified by a 15-digit, internationally unique number and tag, by 2008. And by 2009, the movement of any animal off the registered premises was to be reported to the federal government. Animal owners rebelled and forced the USDA to rethink its plan. Now, they say the program is "voluntary," but it is far from voluntary. By heaping taxpayer-funded grants to state departments of agriculture, and ag-related organizations, the USDA is "partnering" with other organizations that are effectively mandating participation in the program. For example, in Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina and elsewhere, students enrolled in 4-H and Future Farmers of America are required to have the premises where their animals are housed registered in the NAIS before they can participate in state fairs. At least two states have convinced their legislatures to make NAIS participation mandatory at the state level, and other state departments of agriculture are working to do the same....
Stock show benefits from resolved border battle Canadian cattle are back at the National Western Stock Show for the first time since 2003, when concerns about Mad Cow Disease caused a border shutdown. "We welcome our Canadian friends down here," said Stock Show Livestock Manager Bill Angell. "It was kinda tough that they couldn't come down here for five years." Darrell Gotaas owns Big Island Lowlines, a ranch that breeds lowline angus cattle, in Edmonton, Alberta. "We've been sort of holed up waiting for things to turn around so that we can get down here and show our animals," said Gotaas. The U.S. government closed the border to Canadian beef after a 2003 case of the condition commonly called Mad Cow Disease. The shutdown cost the Canadian cattle industry nearly $2 billion and kept their animals from participating in Denver's annual stock show. "We're happy this is behind us now," said Gotaas. Colorado requires imported Canadian cattle to carry a brand. All of Gotaas' show cattle now bear the brand "CAN."....
Jean Barton: Even cowboys take easy way sometimes Lee Pitts wrote "Tabled" in the January issue of Tehama County Farm Bureau News. To quote Lee " ... let me educate you. Calf tables are a device with which you can tip a calf on its side to brand and vaccinate. To own a calf table, or ever having made the acquaintance of one, indicates that you are wuss, a wimp and a terrible roper." He went on to tell, "Real men, and real women, rope their calves and stretch them on the ground. They never table them!" Then he confessed to owning and using a calf table. Well, this year we used Dad's Teco Calf Squeeze, serial number 600, instead of having a roping. It must be 60 years old, but still worked after Kevin put on a new rope, oiled the hinges and put new boards on the chute. Not sure when it was purchased but in Dad's tally book, June 13, 1943, cattle were put in Worley Ranch at Susanville. Before that he just had sheep. In the late 1800s my great-grandfather and his sons had cattle on the open range east of Red Bluff. But the calves on the Willard cows had the neighbor's brand instead of the HW. Sheep were the major livestock in Tehama County a hundred years ago, and Willards gave up trying to raise cattle for at least 60 years. What was interesting to learn, after quietly saying we used the calf table instead of roping this year, was before the 1960s everyone in Tehama County used a calf table....