Groups sue over rules for killing wolves Seven conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging new rules intended to make it easier to kill wolves in the Northern Rockies that are killing livestock and having a detrimental effect on elk herds. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Monday. The group's said the rule, published Monday in the Federal Register, could allow wildlife officials to kill all but 600 of the estimated 1,500 wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Federal officials, in announcing the rule last week, said that estimate was unrealistic. The new rules announced Thursday will give state wildlife agencies authority to take out wolves if it's shown they are one of several major factors in keeping down elk herds. The rules prohibit each state from having less than 200 wolves and 20 breeding pair. Before wolves are killed, though, there would have to be a public comment period, peer review and approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Most ungulate herds outside of Yellowstone in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are at "record high" levels and above state management goals, according to a federal assessment of the new rules released in September....
Group a force of nature for endangered species From a cluttered, borrowed warehouse in an industrial neighborhood on Tucson's near North Side, a small group of environmentalists is changing the world - one lawsuit at a time. The Center for Biological Diversity staff brandishes the Endangered Species Act like a blunt-force instrument. Leverage from its petitions and lawsuits - more than 500 in 18 years - helped gain protection for nearly a fourth of the 1,351 endangered or threatened plants and animals in the United States. The nonprofit organization that started in 1989 as three idealists in a Phoenix apartment, two of them on unemployment after being fired by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, has grown to more than 40,000 members with 11 offices in six states. The center's budget grew tenfold in the past decade. In 1989, Peter Galvin, Kierán Suckling and Todd Shulke were counting and mapping Mexican spotted owls for the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico. When they saw that the Forest Service was planning to allow logging in owl territory, they told a newspaper where the birds' nests were, Suckling said. "That was the end of our Forest Service jobs," he said with a chuckle. Suckling, then a doctoral candidate in philosophy, and Galvin, who was studying conservation biology, moved in with Silver, who had recently written the petition to add the Mexican spotted owl to the endangered species list. Together they formed the nucleus of what would be the Center for Biological Diversity....
Green groups combine efforts Forest Guardians of Santa Fe and Sinapu of Boulder, Colo., have joined forces to create WildEarth Guardians, which organizers say will be in a better position to pressure government agencies to protect and restore lands, wildlife and water. WildEarth Guardians will do much of the same work the two organizations did in the past, but also will increase its focus in some areas. "We've created a bigger, bolder and better organization to achieve our goals to restore wolves across the West, protect iconic western rivers such as the Rio Grande and keep wild places like the Sagebrush Sea intact," said John Horning, who headed Forest Guardians and is now executive director of WildEarth Guardians. The two groups have collaborated in the past two years, and agreed to merge a year ago. Forest Guardians was founded in 1989 to save old growth forests in northern New Mexico. Sinapu was founded in 1990 to protect and restore native carnivores in the Southern Rockies. The priorities of WildEarth Guardians are to restore wolves to the West, including protecting Mexican gray wolves in the Gila area of southwestern New Mexico and reintroducing wolves to the Southern Rockies; protecting the Rio Grande from its headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico; restoring species such as prairie dogs across the West; restoring wildfire as a natural process in healthy western forest ecosystems; abolishing the wildlife killing program of Wildlife Services; and inspiring residents of the West to become a cohesive voice to protect nature. The organization has 18 staff members and a budget of nearly $1.5 million. It has offices in Denver, Boulder, Santa Fe and Phoenix....
The Preservation Predicament Conservation organizations that work to preserve biologically rich landscapes are confronting a painful realization: In an era of climate change, many of their efforts may be insufficient or beside the point. Some scientists say efforts to re-establish or maintain salmon runs in Pacific Northwest streams will be of limited long-term benefit to the fish if warming makes the streams inhospitable. Others worry about efforts to restore the fresh water flow of the Everglades, given that much of it will be under water as sea level rises. Some geologists say it may be advisable to abandon efforts to preserve some fragile coastal barrier islands and focus instead on allowing coastal marshes to migrate inland, as sea level rises. And everywhere, ecologists and conservation biologists wonder how landscapes already under preservation will change with the climate. “We have over a 100-year investment nationally in a large suite of protected areas that may no longer protect the target ecosystems for which they were formed,” said Healy Hamilton, director of the California Academy of Sciences, who attended a workshop on the subject in November in Berkeley, Calif. “New species will move in, and the target species will move out.” As a result, more and more conservationists believe they must do more than identify biologically important landscapes and raise money to protect them. They must peer into an uncertain future, guess which sites will be important 50 or 100 years from now, and then try to balance these guesses against the pressing needs of the present. “It’s turning conservation on its head,” said Bill Stanley, who directs the global climate change initiative at the Nature Conservancy....
Does leasing land gouge hunters or protect owners?(Montana) The fee hunting comes in several forms. Some landowners and outfitters may charge hunters a trespass fee. Other ranchers and farmers may provide an exclusive lease to their ranch to a single group of hunters. New to the equation are hunting clubs that, after a membership fee, provide access to cooperating ranches for a fee. Some ranches are owned exclusively to provide hunting and recreation for the landowner, some of whom reside out of state. Realtors even advertise such properties as "private sanctuaries" and tout the landlocked public land to which the new owners will have exclusive access. "There's a fair amount of leasing going on where the licensed outfitter has ranches leased and they're not taking clients out, but if a hunter gets a license and wants to pay to hunt, they'll let him on," Charles aid. "I know of individual resident hunters paying for a lease for their own use. But we're limited in what we actually know." There are an estimated 20,000 private farms and ranches across the state. Private and reservation lands account for more than 60 percent of the acreage in Montana. Out of that 60-plus percent, about 20 percent is in Block Management or leased by outfitters....
Uranium 'capital' awaits good times When a uranium boom hit this former logging and farming community in the mid-1970s, housing was so scarce people slept in campgrounds and cemeteries. Schools, hospitals and bars were jam packed with miners and their families. And young people could buy cars and houses with the good pay they earned in the mines. It was the second boom for the central New Mexico town's uranium industry that started when a Navajo sheepherder, Paddy Martinez, picked up a bright yellow rock in 1950. Then the so-called "Uranium Capital of the World" suffered the bust. In the early '80s, the price of uranium plummeted as the anti-nuclear movement grew and domestic demand stagnated. Eight-thousand jobs disappeared in a few years. "It kind of devastated Grants with all these people leaving, houses empty everywhere, businesses closing," said Terry Fletcher, president of Rio Algom Mining LLC, who has lived in Grants for 50 years. "On my block alone, every two out of three houses was empty." But these days something is stirring. Hotels are booked, restaurants and retail businesses are busy and local drilling companies are swamped with work. A 40-house development, the town's first in 25 years, is being built ahead of the expected arrival of more residents. With the price of uranium up to $90 to $100 per pound, Grants is anticipating good economic times ahead. Uranium company executives say uranium could be a $2 billion industry for New Mexico over its lifetime and bring in as many as 4,000 jobs to the Grants area....
Ranchers take side of power company in dispute over 'tax' But the primary focus of their meeting is what they refer to as the "streambed water tax." The state, however, says the "tax" is actually a lease charged to privately owned power companies for use of the state's navigable riverbeds where hydroelectric dams sit. But ranchers Larry LuLoff of Boyd, Bill Burgan of Roberts and Ed Draper of Red Lodge are not splitting hairs over terminology. They oppose the state's effort to extract payment from power companies, saying it could be a steppingstone to charging similar fees to other users. "It's a bad, bad deal for the people of the state of Montana," LuLoff said. "We got concerned, if they could put a streambed water tax on power companies, the next big usage of water is agriculture." To date, two power companies - Spokane, Wash.-based Avista and Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp - have agreed to pay Montana for their use of the riverbed. PPL Montana is contesting the matter in court. Not surprisingly, the state has a different take than the ranchers. Anthony Johnstone, assistant attorney general, insists that the court case is not about water, but about the use of state trust lands underneath the dams and reservoirs. The constitution dictates that the state, as a trustee of state lands, has a duty to get full market value for the use of those lands, he said....
Sleek Critters Get Second Chance The elusive fisher, famous for its fabulous fur and for picking fights with porcupines, slipped back into the wilds of Washington Sunday. Its mission: to re-establish a homeland. Fishers, cat-sized members of the weasel family, have been missing from Washington's forest landscape for decades, wiped out by early 20th-century trappers. On Sunday, biologists released 11 Canadian fishers -- five males and six females -- into the dense thickets of the park's Elwha River and Morse Creek drainages, near the Olympic Peninsula city of Port Angeles. "They just took off like a shot," said Jeff Lewis, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist. "You just see a streak of black rushing across the ground and they disappear." Sunday's release was the first step in a state, federal and privately supported effort to revive the state's population of the sleek, dark carnivores. While Canada's fisher population is hardy, on the U.S. West Coast, fishers have been on the official waiting list for federal Endangered Species Act protection since 2004....
Feds approve Jonah man camp EnCana workers in southwest Wyoming's lucrative gas fields will be housed a little closer to the job site this coming year, after federal officials approved the construction of a new man camp. EnCana Oil and Gas Inc. proposed building the 350-worker man camp -- dubbed the Jonah Workforce Facility -- last fall on 20 acres of Bureau of Land Management land near the company's Jonah Field leases southeast of Big Piney. BLM spokeswoman Kellie Roadifer said the agency concluded in an environmental assessment released Monday that the man camp would be "beneficial" to the workers and residents in the region. Federal officials said the company proposed the facility in an effort to reduce the travel required of gas field workers coming from nearby Big Piney, where an existing man camp houses them. Officials said the worker camp will also reduce impacts to the environment and improve safety on roads around the Jonah Field and Big Piney....
Increase in OHV Use Leads to Stricter Regulations Colorado Division of Wildlife officers would be allowed to issue tickets and fines for unlawful use of off highway vehicles (OHV) on almost 23 million acres of federally-owned land under a bill scheduled for debate this week in the state House of Representatives. One of the most contentious issues to be resolved is which trails will be marked with signs and on maps – those that are open or those that are closed. House Bill 1069, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, was crafted by a coalition of sportsmen, environmentalists and OHV users to support new management policies of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. “For the first time, non-federal officers will be able to enforce regulations on federal land,” Curry said. Violators would be fined $100 and given 10 license suspension points if the violator is hunting, fishing, trapping, or engaged in similar activity on public land. The penalty increases to a $200 fine and 15 license suspension points if the violator is in a federal wilderness area....Ms. Curry must not be familiar with legislative jurisdiction. Either that, or Colorado has waived legislative jurisdiction to the Feds.
Fish and Game tells employees to avoid Marvel Idaho Department of Fish and Game employees have been instructed to halt communications with an environmentalist who is accused of harassing staffers and assaulting a top state official, the agency said Monday. Agency Deputy Director Virgil Moore sent a memo Monday to Fish and Game employees urging them to avoid phone conversations with Jon Marvel, head of Hailey-based anti-grazing group Western Watersheds Project. "Jon's behavior is simply out of hand," Moore said in an interview after the memo was released. "It's a pattern of behavior we've seen toward public officials. And I've asked (employees)to politely withdraw from communicating with Mr. Marvel." Moore alleges Marvel shouted at Wayne Wright, the Fish and Game commissioner who represents the Magic Valley, on Dec. 17 after a public meeting in Hailey about removing wolves from the endangered species list. Moore and another official stepped between the two as Marvel began to shout, and as the men were leaving the building, Marvel cursed at Wright and shoved him in the back or side, Moore said. Fish and Game officials said they didn't press charges or alert police because they didn't want to inflame tensions between Marvel and the department. Marvel has repeatedly harassed and threatened Fish and Game employees in phone calls, Moore said, which also prompted the memo. Marvel has a history of run-ins with government officials. The Bureau of Land Management banned its staffers from communicating with Marvel for one year after an incident in May 2000, when officials said he orally and physically threatened BLM workers during a public tour of rangeland in Cassia County. Marvel disputed the accusations, and no charges were filed after a U.S. Attorney's Office investigation....
The Navy and the Whales ON ITS FACE, the battle between the Navy and environmental groups over the use of sonar off the coast of Southern California pits national security against the preservation of marine life. It is a false choice. The Navy in 2007 began exercises off California to train sailors in the use of mid-frequency active sonar, which emits high-intensity underwater blasts of sound. But the California waters are home to several endangered species, including whales, which can suffer permanent injury or death from the sonar. The Natural Resources Defense Council sued last year in federal court to stop the training exercises unless the Navy adopted mitigation measures to prevent harm to marine life. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California concluded that the service was bound by environmental laws to implement such measures, including a prohibition against using sonar within 12 nautical miles of the coast or when marine life came within a certain range of a vessel. The Navy balked, claiming the court-ordered measures were unnecessary; it cited its preliminary analysis that sonar would not significantly harm marine life. After losing several rounds of litigation, the Navy turned to the White House, which two weeks ago concluded that the service was exempt from one law, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and had the right to disregard the court-ordered mitigation measures and rely on "alternative arrangements" to comply with a second law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Navy has a strong case with respect to the Coastal Zone Management Act, which allows exemptions to the law if the president deems such exemptions to be in the "paramount interest of the United States." It is on far less solid ground in its challenge under NEPA....
Species denied federal protection Two rare salamanders do not need Endangered Species Act protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. The agency said neither species is threatened by habitat loss, and increased survey efforts are turning up more Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders. "The perception of extreme rarity that's been sort of perpetuated is really not turning out to be the case," said Brian Woodbridge, a Fish and Wildlife biologist. "The more people are looking, the more people are finding them and the wider the variety of habitats that they are being found in." The announcement comes one year after a federal judge ruled that the agency illegally rejected a petition to protect the salamanders and ordered the agency to reconsider....
Going green — at a cost
Increasingly, federal buildings are falling into one of two camps: those that are certified green by the country’s leading independent rating system, and those that just say they are. But Congress last month ordered the government to certify all new buildings and large renovations as eco-friendly and, by March, administration officials will decide which certification will be used. The smart money is on a certification system called Leadership and Energy in Environmental Design, or LEED, which was developed seven years ago by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is the most recognized green building certification program in the country today and has been endorsed by the General Services Administration, which will make the key recommendation on what system to use. But that certification comes at a significant cost. Achieving basic LEED certification can add anywhere from 2 percent to 5 percent to the overall cost of a project, while the paperwork requirements alone take hundreds of hours. The LEED system is seen as so costly and time-consuming by some agencies that they’ve given up seeking certification, even though they claim to be building facilities that meet the LEED standards. “I don’t think it’s worth the certificate,” said Lloyd Siegel, director of facilities strategic management at the Veterans Affairs Department. “We’d rather use that money to get more efficient in our energy systems or [window] glazing systems or whatever, rather than just have a certificate to hang on the wall.”....
Senate Confirms New Ag Secretary Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer was confirmed in short order by the full Senate Monday. There was no vote; Senator Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., read a simple request for unanimous consent. "Governor Schafer is a distinguished former governor from our state," Dorgan said. "It's a great honor for our state to have him nominated for Secretary of Agriculture. I ask for unanimous consent." Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., also addressed the matter. "We obviously need a good strong Secretary of Agriculture," Bond said. "And we are pleased to see this body move forward." There was no dissention and Schafer became head of the USDA. Schafer was nominated last fall following former Ag Secretary Mike Johanns' resignation to run for the Senate from Nebraska....
97-Year-Old Cattleman Got Start in 4-H 4-H in Louisiana turns 100 this year and with the livestock show coming up this week we wanted to speak with some cattlemen who got their start in 4-H. In the first of a two part series News Channel 5’s Joel Massey shows us a rancher who’s been going strong almost as long as 4-H has been in Louisiana. For 97 year old Cecil Price of see-per Louisiana working cattle has been a part of his life his whole life. He still moves them from pasture to pasture every day. He opens the gates and they respond to his voice. Like countless Louisiana ranchers, as a boy Price gained skills showing livestock through a 4-h club. It’s a tradition passed on in his family of cattleman. His nephew Clayton Brister is the state president of the Cattleman’s Association and was named cattleman of the year. Brister said, “I was in 4-h when I was young and my sons have too, it’s just been all of our lives.” Price’s herd is unique, since the 1920’s he’s only replaced females with cows born on his farm and the LSU Ag Center thinks his is the oldest crossbred foundation herd in the state....
It's All Trew: Dust Bowl was deadly Until 1930, most agriculture workers, and especially the cattlemen, had retained their independence from government help and interference. However, the Crash of 1929 ushered in the beginnings of the Great Depression. By 1931 severe drought set in all across the Great Plains from Canada to Texas with annual rainfall averages cut in half from normal. By 1933, areas in the Southern Plains began to experience dust storms that eventually grew into the Dust Bowl. Wind velocities often ranged from thirty to sixty miles per hour, with Amarillo experiencing 192 "dusters" between January 1933 and February 1936. Commodity prices dropped approximately 50 percent by 1933 while taxes and interest rates remained unchanged. A total collapse of the agricultural industry threatened in spite of efforts by the Hoover administration and numerous commodity marketing boards. The situation became so desperate, massive federal action seemed to be the only alternative for relief. In June of 1934, almost as a last resort, Congress authorized a Drought Relief Service for purchasing drought-stricken cattle. Depending on weight and condition, the agency would pay $4 to $8 for calves, $10 to $15 for yearlings, with cows, big steers and bulls bringing $12 to $20. Those in the worst condition were killed immediately and buried while others were sent to packing plants for slaughter. Starting in June of 1934, the program ran until late January of 1935 with the government eventually purchasing almost 8.3 million head of livestock providing $111 million in payments to the livestock owners and their creditors....I need to write about the experience my dad had as a kid hiring out to Willis Lovelace to gather cattle for this program.