Administration Forest Plan Assailed Millions of acres of the country's largest national forest would be open for logging and other development under a Bush administration forest management plan released yesterday, a move critics said will hurt wildlife and destroy pristine lands. Under the plan, about 2.4 million acres of roadless areas within Alaska's 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest could be used for logging and building roads, critics said. They described the plan, and similar efforts in Idaho and Colorado, as an attempt by the Bush administration to help the timber industry by circumventing federal court rulings protecting roadless areas. The dispute is the latest skirmish in a years-long battle between environmentalists and the Bush administration over the Clinton-era "roadless rule," which put nearly a third of the national forests -- about 60 million acres -- off-limits to most development....
Plan allows for sheep killing Trying to keep the management of bighorn sheep and domestic sheep out of federal courts, an Idaho plan to prevent the two species from mingling calls for the killing of both bighorns and domestic sheep that enter "sheep free" zones. The Idaho Bighorn/Domestic Sheep Working Group met this week at the state Department of Agriculture to discuss its interim policy for the management of bighorn sheep and domestic sheep. That interim plan, which officials said is likely to change little before being given to Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Feb. 15, could be implemented this spring ahead of domestic sheep being turned out onto grazing allotments on federal land. The interim plan calls for buffer zones to be set up between domestic sheep and bighorn sheep, although it is unclear where or even how many of the zones would be created, or how they would be formed. The goal of the plan is to create areas for bighorn sheep and areas for domestic sheep, doing so in a way that allows bighorn populations to remain viable while also keeping domestic sheep operations in business....
Utah resident makes living hunting coyotes Newell Fredrickson doesn't enjoy killing coyotes. It's just something he does to earn a living. In 40 years with Wildlife Services--the branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture charged with removing problem predators--Fredrickson has trapped and shot all sorts of animals, crashed in helicopters half a dozen times, roped eagles and seen a lot of country. But the large majority of his job these days focuses on one thing: killing coyotes. Folks with Wildlife Services (formerly Animal Damage Control) tend to tiptoe when discussing their work. The Utah Wildlife Services Web page states that "Utah WS is uniquely positioned to assist livestock producers, industries and our cooperating agency partners with wildlife damage issues. Professional wildlife biologists and trained technicians provide direct assistance (their emphasis) when wildlife damage requires special skills." Fredrickson, on the other hand, doesn't trade in euphemisms. "That old coyote supported me for 40 years and let me be as free as a bird on the wing," Fredrickson says. "He's my brother, but that don't mean I won't kill him." Which is not to say that he does it for fun or, as some people imagine, that he guns down every coyote he sees: "I ain't going out there to see how many I can kill." The Hyrum resident targets offending animals in specific areas, answering calls from ranchers and sheepherders after they lose livestock to suspected wild predators. And he knows that his solutions, final as they may be for the targets, are a temporary fix at best, since coyotes reproduce rapidly....
Wolves breed their way out of protection This is the year that the new wolves of the Old West step out of the protection of the Endangered Species List and into the crosshairs of those who wish they had not been reintroduced to Yellowstone and Idaho, but I wouldn't sound the funeral dirge just yet. Ten years ago, gray wolves were captured in Canada and flown south, sneaked into the park in horse trailers, then acclimated and released into the wild to make more wolves. The Fish and Wildlife managers who planned the reintroduction said that in the most optimistic circumstances there would be 300 wolves by now. They forgot to tell the wolves. The canines happily replicated themselves to the point that there are more than 1,300 wolves now living in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and some say those wolves have been wandering off into Washington, Oregon, Nevada and even California, maybe. If the wolves just hung out on street corners or pool halls, that would be one thing, but in order to keep on breeding the way they have, wolves need to eat. Bears might sup on berries and grubs. Not wolves. They're meat eaters - big meat eaters....
Proposed law may restrict hunting Members of Colorado's House Agricul-ture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee this month will hear the outlining details of proposed legislation, which may have a significant impact on the future of hunting in the state, if approved. Colorado State Represen-tative Debbie Stafford (D-40) has introduced House Bill 08-1096, which may, under the initial language of the draft, ban all hunting within confined areas. HB-1096 "Prohibits a person from offering another person the opportunity to hunt, wound, or take any mammal that is intentionally confined, tied, staked, caged or otherwise re-strained from engaging in normal movement." Specifically, proposed HB-1096 would amend Article 6 of Title 33, by making it unlawful for a person to hunt, or provide hunting opportunities of any animals considered confined, regardless of the size of the enclosure. Stafford's proposed legislation has already come under severe fire from the National Rifle Association (NRA,) as well as the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA.) Together the associations say the language of Staf-ford's bill is vague, and its far-reaching wording could seriously jeopardize the future of hunting in Colorado. "Every piece of fenced property would be off-limits to hunting behind enclosures in Colorado," the associations worry. "As written, it could preclude a farmer or rancher who fences his or her property from allowing anyone, including family and friends, to hunt; regardless of the size of the property," warn the associations....
In Search Of Wild Horses New Mexico’s high desert is an unforgiving land, one of climatic extremes, sparse water and dry forage. But to the bands of wild horses lurking within the juniper, sagebrush and pines, it’s a place of freedom and peace. Active ImageAs dawn breaks over the hills of the Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory in northwestern New Mexico, a bay stallion stands alert on the horizon while his band of mares contently graze below. But when triggered by a mere rustling of a branch or crunch of a fallen leaf, the stallion abruptly leaves his post to guide the fleeing herd through a labyrinth of dense brush. Framed by a hazy, gray-green panorama, this scene represents the West’s strength, spirit and boundless freedom. Located 40 miles east of Bloomfield, the Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory consists of 76,000 acres within the Carson National Forest, bordering the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. The land was one of 303 areas set aside for the horses in 1971 with the passing of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Today, 186 designated wild-horse territories remain, and, according to the latest Bureau of Land Management census, approximately 25,689 wild horses and 2,874 burros roam these lands....
Wolves raise emotions is western Montana A new federal rule being issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service is going to make it easier for ranchers to kill wolves that threaten pets and livestock. The ruling hits especially close to home for ranchers who are trying to protect their cattle from wolves, as well as those who are trying to protect wolves. However, the rule may also affect those who take their pets into the back country. Wolves elicit emotion like no other predator, and when their prey changes from an elk to the family dog, that's when emotions really explode. Rancher John Myers has some first hand experience. "They killed Yukon, our black lab within 25 yards of the house." Wildlife officials eventually wiped out an entire wolf pack because the wolves also killed two steers and three calves on neighboring Sula ranches. "Down outside Hamilton, they're losing dogs, cats, llamas and really rattling the horses." One wrinkle of the regulation has to do with pets, and not just those that are around the ranch house. The rule also protects Rover when you take them into the back country." Those who look out for wolves, including Suzanne Ahsa Stone with Defenders of Wildlife say the new rule is a step backward....
Grazing's future still up in the air The long-anticipated cattle grazing impact studies on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument were released Thursday afternoon, but the roughly 500-page document contains no recommendation about the future of grazing within the monument. "We're not in the decision-making process," explained Paul Hosten, the monument ecologist and scientist heading up the study group. The studies will help U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials determine whether livestock grazing is consistent with the 2000 presidential proclamation creating the monument, he said. A decision on the grazing issue is expected later this year. The studies have cost an estimated $1.2 million, officials said. The 52,940-acre monument in the mountains east of Ashland with Soda Mountain as its centerpiece was created because of what scientists described as one of the most biologically diverse places on the continent. The proclamation directed the BLM to study the impacts of livestock on the "objects of biological interest in the monument with specific attention to sustaining the natural ecosystem dynamics." Should grazing be found incompatible with that goal, then the grazing allotments within the monument shall be retired, it stated....
Idaho wolf spotted in northeast Oregon A gray wolf from Idaho was spotted from the air Wednesday by wildlife biologists on a flight over the western fringes of northeast Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness. The radio-collared female was the fifth -- but only the second living -- wolf identified in Oregon in eight years. The sighting validates beliefs that wolves have been migrating into the state from Idaho, Russ Morgan, wolf coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in La Grande, said Thursday in announcing the sighting. The animal is a 2- to 3-year-old female that biologists are calling B-300. She probably weighed 80 pounds to 90 pounds and has been wearing a radio collar since Idaho biologists captured her northeast of Boise in August 2006, Morgan said. The wolf was spotted in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest between Medical Springs and Wallowa near the boundary of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Ranchers reported seeing her near the town of Wallowa several days earlier....
How public wildlife became something for sale Wildlife management in North America has been based on more than a century of inclusion between the hunting public and landowners. But that has been changing over the past 30 years in Montana. The so-called North American model of wildlife management began with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1842 that declared that fish and wildlife are owned by the states and their people as a public trust. It also got a big boost from Theodore Roosevelt during his presidency, when he began protecting land and conserving wildlife, said Jim Posewitz, founder of the Helena-based Orion, The Hunter's Institute. "The model has seven basic principles," Posewitz said. "Wildlife is a public resource. Wildlife was recovered by eliminating the markets for wildlife. Wildlife can only be allocated by law. Wildlife can only be killed for a legitimate purpose. Wildlife is considered an international resource. Science is the proper tool for the discharge of wildlife policy. And the crown jewel of the seven is the democracy of hunting. Nobody gets privilege. We're all equal. We all conserve, and we all share."....
The battle for access Deer, elk and antelope are undeniably owned by all of us. Public lands are owned by all of us, too. And private agricultural lands are undeniably owned by farmers and ranchers. Those are the facts. Somewhere in between lie the management and harvest of that public wildlife, tangled in a mess of access issues and fights among the stakeholders in who gets to hunt what, when and where. The problem of access and hunting is an old, old story. Our European forebears knew better than to even try to shoot the king's deer. When they came to America, they reveled in the freedom of its wildlife bounty.With that bounty available again, some say that we're heading back to the days of the king's deer as more and more people seek to control access to wildlife, privatize it and profit from it. The public is being squeezed out, they say. The sport is being turned into a pastime reserved for the privileged few. In Montana, the stakeholders in the access battle are outfitters, landowners and the average resident hunter. Friction among them has been growing for at least the past 30 years, and with each passing hunting season, it seems to get worse. Why is the access battle blowing up into a firestorm right now?....
Ranchers say they're being squeezed out Ranchers operating around the Bighorn National Forest say ongoing drought, tougher environmental oversight, disputed monitoring techniques and growing legal challenges are making it increasingly difficult to effectively use their federal grazing allotments. U.S. Forest Service managers say they are working to support grazing in the Bighorn National Forest, but must balance it against a host of other appropriate public land uses. Dozens of ranchers met with Forest Service managers this week for the first of what is likely to be a series of discussions aimed at improving relations between the two sides. There are 91 permit holders operating on grazing allotments in the Bighorn National Forest, said Bernie Bornong, a Forest Service resource specialist....
Groups object to wolf rule The number of wolves killed as a result of a new federal rule could number in the dozens, state and federal officials say. But critics contend officials in Wyoming and Idaho -- spurred on by anti-wolf livestock interests -- are gearing up to kill hundreds of the animals. Those critics say that could knock down the animal's population in the region by more than half, undermining a decade-long restoration effort that has cost more than $24 million. "There's just no biological justification for killing that many wolves," said Suzanne Stone with Defenders of Wildlife. "It's politically driven." The rule announced Thursday was crafted to meet the demands of Wyoming lawmakers, who made it a condition of their acceptance of a federal plan to lift endangered species protection from wolves. Officials from the state said they wanted to have a way to deal with wolves if delisting is blocked in court. The rule would empower state wildlife agents to kill packs of wolves if they can prove the animals are having a "major impact" on big game herds such as elk, deer or moose. It also would allow hunting guides and others to kill wolves caught harassing dogs or stock animals on public land....
Too much? Senators indicated Thursday that they will pass a less-sweeping reform of 1872 hardrock mining law than the House did late last year, imposing royalties on new mines but perhaps not on existing ones. At a hearing on the issue, senators generally agreed to put in place a royalty on future mines, to create a fund to clean up abandoned hardrock mines and to replace the outmoded patenting system with a more modern practice. But they expressed more reluctance than their House counterparts to impose a royalty on mines already operating. The House-passed bill would charge an 8 percent royalty on the gross revenue from new mineral production and a 4 percent royalty on existing operations. That includes gold, silver, copper, uranium and more. The royalty would be used for cleanup of abandoned mines. Under the 1872 law, federal land can be sold for $2.50 or $5 an acre. Congress for more than a decade has annually approved a moratorium on such sales, and the House bill would permanently end them. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, objected to some of the increased environmental regulations in the House bill. He said that because other national environmental laws already apply, the new rules are "solutions in search of a problem." But some Democrats and environmental groups want to keep a House-passed provision that gives the Interior secretary the power to veto a mining operation if it would cause undue degradation of the environment....
BLM follows Nev. cattle seizure with horse impoundment at McDermitt Federal agents who seized more than 100 cattle from Nevada ranchers accused of trespassing on public rangeland this week have confiscated 200 horses from an American Indian and his son they say were grazing the animals without a permit near the Nevada-Oregon line. The Bureau of Land Management's roundup of the privately owned horses near a reservation at McDermitt, Nevada, yesterday followed Monday's impoundment of 107 cattle near Winnemucca, Nevada. Larry Crutcher was cited by the BLM along with his father, Leonard. Agency officials say the Crutchers ignored warnings for years that their horses were trespassing on federal land....
Don't List the Polar Bear Under the Endangered Species Act The Department of the Interior (DOI), in response to litigation from environmental groups, is considering whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For the first time in the history of the ESA, the threat of global warming would be the reason for listing a well-known species. Given the ESA's sweeping powers, such a move would raise energy prices by putting an end to promising new oil and natural gas production in Alaska. Even more troubling, listing the polar bear could be used as a back door to implement global warming policy nationwide by restricting energy production and use throughout the U.S. This would obviously harm the economy and—considering the ESA's poor track record—could also harm the polar bears as well. The President should tell the DOI not to take this highly problematic step....
Suspected “eco-terrorist” on trial Nearly seven years after an arson caused about $1.5 million in damages to UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture, Briana Waters, 32, will be facing trial on Feb. 11 for her alleged participation in the attack. Federal prosecutors said Waters was a part of the five-person Earth Liberation Front (ELF) team that set fire to professor Toby Bradshaw’s office on May 21, 2001, according to a Jan. 21 article from The Seattle Times (“Arson suspect facing trial”). “Ms. Waters naturally has very little recollection of exactly what she was doing in the early morning hours of May 21, 2001,” said her attorneys Robert Bloom and Neil Fox, in a statement to the Times. “She is, however, certain that one thing she did not do is participate in the arson at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture.” Waters’ trial will be the first of the 18 men and women accused of being involved in the series of attacks that caused tens of millions of dollars in damages to institutions they believe to be threats to the environment and animals. Bradshaw’s research on genetically modifying poplar trees was seen as an “ecological nightmare” for the biodiversity of native forests, according to an ELF news release....
Forest Service, OSHA reach agreement on Esperanza Fire report The U.S. Forest Service has reached a settlement with federal investigators over a report outlining violations of safety standards that led to the deaths of five firefighters during the Esperanza blaze, a spokesman for the fire service said. The settlement, which was announced Friday, comes after negotiations between the Forest Service and officials with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA released a tentative report in July that criticized the crew of Engine 57 and the forest service for committing six serious violations during the October 2006 fire. Serious violations are those that created a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could happen and employers knew or should have known about the danger. An OSHA spokesman said previously that the federal agency sometimes amends its findings after negotiations or an appeal hearing. Under the settlement, two of the six violations were withdrawn and the four others were amended, said Jason Kirchner, public affairs specialist for the Pacific Southwest Region of the Forest Service....
Swaths of Tongass opening for logging More than 3 million acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest is being opened to logging, mining and road building under a new Bush administration decision that supporters say will revive Alaska's timber industry but environmentalists fear will devastate the forest. The Tongass is the largest remnant of the rich coastal rain forest that once stretched from northern California through modern-day Seattle and on to south-central Alaska. The Bush administration on Friday released a revised management plan for the southeast Alaska forest, the largest in the country at nearly 17 million acres. The plan would leave about 3.4 million acres open to logging and other development, including about 2.4 million acres that are now remote and roadless. About 663,000 acres are in areas considered most valuable for timber production....
Access facts hard to run down At the heart of some Montana residents’ discontent with hunting outfitters is the perception that they are responsible for resident hunters’ loss of access to private lands. In addition, outfitters are sometimes vilified for keeping the public from accessing public lands that are landlocked or difficult to access, giving the outfitters and their clients exclusive use of public property and wildlife. Mac Minard, executive director of Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, blamed the media for the public’s negative perception of outfitters. “It is far more popular to bash the outfitting industry and nonresident sportsmen and blame them for all that is wrong with the sporting tradition in Montana,” Minard wrote in an e-mail. Trying to sort out the numbers and replace rhetoric with facts is difficult. Some numbers simply aren’t available, and others don’t tell the whole story....
Utah guv stakes a claim on roads Employing a 2-year-old state law for the first time, the Governor's Office is claiming ownership of roads that cross federal lands as a way to keep them open to off-highway recreation and oil and gas drilling. The maneuver, which relies on a bill sponsored by Kanab Republican Rep. Mike Noel that passed during the 2003 and 2006 legislative sessions, could be a tidy way to skirt federal law. Or it could set up yet another expensive series of courtroom fights and ratchet up the New West's already intractable civil war over wilderness and access to some of Utah's most beautiful wildlands. The state law allows counties to record the roads on their master land documents. Federal agencies, organizations and other members of the public have 60 days to protest the action in state court. If no one protests, the county assumes ownership of the right of way. In its first action under the 2006 Noel bill, the state's Public Lands Policy Coordination Office has sent a list of 60 Class B roads to Box Elder County for recording, and will do the same with 23 more counties by mid-summer, said coordinator John Harja....
Calif. Farmers Want to Sell Water With water becoming increasingly precious in California, a rising number of farmers figure they can make more money by selling their water than by actually growing something. Because farmers get their water at subsidized rates, some of them see financial opportunity this year in selling their allotments to Los Angeles and other desperately thirsty cities across Southern California, as well as to other farms. "It just makes dollars and sense right now," said Bruce Rolen, a third-generation farmer who grows rice, wheat and other crops in Northern California's lush Sacramento Valley. Instead of sowing in April, Rolen plans to let 100 of his 250 acres of white rice lie fallow and sell his irrigation water on the open market, where it could fetch up to three times the normal price. What effect these deals will have on produce prices remains to be seen, because the negotiations are still going on and it is not yet clear how many acres will be taken out of production. Environmental restrictions, booming demand for water, and persistent drought along the Colorado River have combined to create one of the worst water shortages in California in the past decade, and prices are shooting up in response....
Ban only hurts horses it tries to protect No one likes to contemplate the idea that Flicka will someday end up on the menu in a Paris restaurant, and the success of the ban is certainly seen by many as a step forward in our treatment of animals. Only agriculture groups argued against the ban, and celebrities like Bo Derek and groups like the Humane Society easily defeated them. But repealing the right to turn horses into steaks was easy: It’s more difficult to repeal the law of unintended consequences. Neither the animal rights groups nor the various legislatures have provided funding to take care of horses whose owners can no longer provide for them. Horses eat a lot, and need veterinary care, and clean water, and a place to live. The ability to sell horses to the slaughterhouses was the most efficient, and yes, the most humane way to handle horses whose owners wouldn’t or couldn’t take care of them. Public animal rescue facilities are full, and horses without caring owners have been sentenced to a long, slow, painful death. Three years ago, a fully-grown horse sent to slaughter was worth around $600. Even though only 1 percent of horses were sent to slaughterhouses each year, the ability to market horses in this manner put a floor under horse prices. Now the same horse will net around $30. It costs about $70 per year to vaccinate horses against West Nile and to treat for parasites. It takes about $200 a year for feed to maintain a horse, and that assumes plenty of grass is available. The ban on horse slaughter has guaranteed that more horses will be mistreated and will be abandoned. “We have cases where they have been turned loose in parks,” said Dave Howell of the American Horse Council. “They’ve been turned loose in coal mine areas, they’ve been turned loose on private property.”....
Yaketty yak? Ranchers listening in new way Sitting in the sun munching on a yak burger, Bob Hasse sees the future in a stocky bovine with a thick wooly coat, a gentle disposition and an independent streak. "This is an idiot-proof cattle breed," he says of the yaks he is showing at the National Western Stock Show. "They are definitely the breed of the future in the beef business." Hasse, 58, bought his first yak after moving to a ranch on the Western Slope 10 years ago. He wanted an animal that required little care and could thrive in country where coyotes, mountain lions and bears all have a taste for beef. "A yak will confront its enemy. It wants to be in charge," he said. Yaks are smarter by far than their cousin cattle. Some of those visiting the row of penned yaks gave another reason for enjoying the beasts. "They're adorable," said Tyra Finch, 12, of Parker....
A steak and a smile Occasionally, there comes an idea that everyone can grab a hold of. One that farmers and ranchers can get behind, regardless of where they live or their political leanings. All American Beef Battalion is one of those missions. AABB aims to show support for American soldiers by putting steaks on their plates and smiles on their faces. AABB is the brain child of long-time cattleman and Vietnam war veteran, Bill Broadie. About a year and a half ago, Broadie was tired of hearing all of the bad news about the war and the American soldiers fighting in it. He wondered what he could do. He turned to what he knew--beef--and the good people in the beef industry. All American Beef Battalion was born. Broadie's original idea was to provide a steak to all soldiers in the combat zone. And not just any old steak. AABB wants the steak to be one they will remember, long after the steak knife has been put away. As their goals took shape, Broadie's idea was expanded to include deployment and homecoming steak feeds for soldiers and their families, as well as helping military families in need. AABB hopes to provide "beef debit cards" that will allow those families to buy beef with donated funds....
A Dying Breed GERSHOM MUGIRA COMES from a long line of cattle-keepers. His people, the Bahima, are thought to have migrated into the hilly grasslands of western Uganda more than a thousand years ago, alongside a hardy breed of longhorns known as the Ankole. For centuries, man and beast subsisted there in a tight symbiotic embrace. Mugira’s nomadic ancestors wandered in search of fresh pasture for their cattle, which in turn provided them with milk. It is only within the last few generations that most Bahima have accepted the concept of private property. Mugira’s family lives on a 500-acre ranch, and one sunny day in November, the wiry 26-year-old showed me around, explaining, with some sadness but more pragmatism, why the Ankole breed that sustained his forebears for so many generations is now being driven to extinction. As we walked down the sloped valley path that led to a watering hole, we found a few cows lolling beneath a flat-topped acacia. They looked like the kind of cattle you might encounter in Wisconsin: plump and hornless creatures with dappled black-and-white coats. Mugira, a high-school graduate, was wearing a pair of fashionably baggy jeans and spiffy white sneakers. To a modern African like himself, he said, the most desirable cattle were the American type: the Holsteins. In recent decades, global trade, sophisticated marketing, artificial insemination and the demands of agricultural economics have transformed the Holstein into the world’s predominant dairy breed. Indigenous animals like East Africa’s sinewy Ankole, the product of centuries of selection for traits adapted to harsh conditions, are struggling to compete with foreign imports bred for maximal production....
Stock dog does cowboy's job Much of a dog's score comes from how well each one listens to its handler's commands. Jim Gilligan, one of the five judges, said the dogs know many commands such as right, left, stop or walk up. They respond both to the handler saying the command or whistling. A tone of voice tells the dog to speed up or slow down, and dogs also recognize commands by how loud or soft the handler says them. "It's amazing what the dogs will pick up on," Gilligan said. One third of each dog's score is based on strength. Judges look at whether the dog displays enough power to stop or turn the cattle when challenged. One third of the score comes from obedience, where judges look at how well the dog obeys commands and tries to help its handler accomplish a goal. And one third of the score comes from control. Judges determine how well the dog balances the cattle to the handler and how effectively it keeps the cattle together. They also see if the dog can think for itself and is not overly dependent on the handler....
Rancher turned writer Earl Ray Forehand considers himself a rancher. From the boots on his feet to the cowboy hat without which he won't leave the house, it's a persona that's deeply ingrained. And he's got the black Angus calves out back to prove it. But now Forehand has revealed an alter ego: that of newly published author. A couple of weeks ago, several boxes of freshly printed and bound books arrived at the Forehand home on Cherry Lane, just north of Carlsbad. Inside was the first printing of "The River Calls," a historical novel that tells how Forehand's ancestors converged on Eddy County and helped build the little town of Eddy that would one day become Carlsbad. The book opens just after the fall of the Alamo, when Tennessee farmer Martin Forehand decided to leave his worn out farmland for the reputedly rich land available in Texas. At about the same time, an Indiana man named Levi Lockhart signed up to fight in the Texas war of independence from Mexico. By the time the Civil War rolled around, the two families were still in Texas, but on different sides of the conflict. Rich Forehand hauled cotton to Mexico for the Confederacy, while Joe Lockhart, as a Union soldier, tried to stop the traffic....
Self-rediscovery arises in the West Salt Lake City author Jana Richman began writing her debut novel, The Last Cowgirl, about four years ago. But she's been carrying the book around her entire life. The novel, published this month by William Morrow, was inspired by two pivotal events in Richman's childhood. The first happened when she was about 10 and her father bought a small, run-down ranch near Rush Valley, in Utah's west desert. From then on, Richman grudgingly spent her summers hauling hay and working cattle - experiences, she later realized, that fed her love of the arid West. The second occurred two years later in 1968, when malfunctioning Army jets from Dugway Proving Ground reportedly released nerve gas over a west-desert valley, killing some 6,000 sheep. Richman was amazed to discover that because the Army was the largest employer in the area, residents didn't complain or even discuss the incident publicly. This love-hate relationship between Westerners and the federal government is a key theme of The Last Cowgirl, a bittersweet and redemptive story about a middle-aged woman coming to terms with her past....
Cowboy poets bound for Alpine's annual festival Cowboy poetry lets cowboys tell their story without spangled myth or Hollywood treatment. Tales told in verse about barbed wire, horses and campfire cooking mingle with tributes to friendship, wide-open spaces and philosophies of life that developed during days and nights of solitary work. It's an oral tradition of the American West. More than 40 cowboy poets, storytellers and singers will mosey to Sul Ross State University in Alpine from Feb. 29 through March 2 for the 21st annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the country's second-oldest such festival. Over two days, tales will be shared in themed sessions, which are called "recitations," in Sul Ross classrooms, conference rooms and auditoriums adorned for the event with mock cowboy camps and hand-painted backdrops depicting West Texas vistas. At the Alpine gathering, classic cowboy poetry shares the bill with contemporary poetry about modern ranch and cowboy life. Cowboy music and nonrhyming storytelling about cowboys and Western life also are included....