Panel urges federal gas-tax hike The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission is urging that federal gasoline taxes be increased by up to 40 cents a gallon over five years to fix the nation's aging infrastructure. The cost, the commission estimates, would be 41 to 66 cents a day - less than the price of a candy bar, one commissioner said - for the average motorist. The two-year study by the 12-member commission is the first to propose broad changes after a devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August shone a spotlight on the deteriorating state of the nation's infrastructure. Undersized plates used in the bridge were "the critical factor" in the collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. In a 10-page dissent to the report, the commission's chairwoman, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and two other members sharply criticized the proposal for higher gasoline taxes. She and the two commissioners are calling instead for sole reliance on tolls and private investment. Under the proposal, the current tax of 18.4 cents per gallon would be increased by 5 cents to 8 cents annually for five years and then indexed to inflation afterward to help fix the infrastructure, expand public transit and highways as well as broaden railway and rural access. The increase is designed to take effect in 2009, after President Bush leaves office....
Navy Wins Exemption From Bush to Continue Sonar Exercises in Calif. The White House has exempted the Navy from two major environmental laws in an effort to free the service from a federal court's decision limiting the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises. Environmentalists who had sued successfully to limit the Navy's use of loud, mid-frequency sonar -- which can be harmful to whales and other marine mammals -- said yesterday that the exemptions were unprecedented and could lead to a larger legal battle over the extent to which the military has to obey environmental laws. In a court filing Tuesday, government lawyers said President Bush had determined that allowing the use of mid-frequency sonar in ongoing exercises off Southern California was "essential to national security" and of "paramount interest to the United States." Based on that, the documents said, Bush issued the order exempting the Navy from provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality granted the Navy a waiver from the National Environmental Protection Act....
Ex-ferret-recovery head blames political pressure for prairie dog decisions The Bush administration has pressured federal resource managers to make decisions that could hurt the black-footed ferret recovery effort in South Dakota's Conata Basin, according to the recently retired head of the federal ferret recovery program. Mike Lockhart, who retired Jan. 3 after 32 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sent an internal memo charging that his former regional director and U.S. Forest Service officials bowed to political pressure in decisions involving ferrets and prairie dogs in South Dakota and elsewhere. Conata Basin, just south of Badlands National Park, is home to the most successful black-footed ferret reintroduction in the country, he said. The project has been a cooperative effort among federal and state agencies and private groups. Lockhart said the ferret population in Conata Basin is still doing well. But he said his former boss with the Fish and Wildlife Service, retired Region 6 Director Mitch King, undercut efforts of the ferret-recovery team....
Montana's Black Gold Underneath eastern Montana and western North Dakota lies a thin (in some places, just five feet thick) stratum called the Bakken Formation, which holds a mother lode of Jurassic goo. Pick a statistic or a superlative: The Bakken is the biggest inland oil find in the United States in 50 years or so; it might contain 200 billion barrels of oil, far more than the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge reserve politicians fight about; last year, Montana pumped about 3 million barrels a month out of its side of the Bakken—about 45 times more than the field produced in 2002. Montana’s role in the global scramble for oil is modest, so far. Bakken production covers only a small percentage of U.S. oil consumption. It’s not big enough to make us bosom pals with Saudi sheiks (though there are some wild, as-yet-unsubstantiated geological estimates that it could well be). It has yet to equal the tar-sands jackpot that would make the Province of Alberta the world’s second-richest nation per capita (after Luxembourg) if it seceded from Canada. But it is of unquestionable national importance: In the last few years, Montana and North Dakota are the only states to increase oil-production....
Biologists study the shy wolverine in the North Cascades An animal so ferocious that it is said to chase bears and kill elk by hopping on their backs and severing their throats lives in Snohomish County. But don't believe everything you hear about wolverines, experts say. "Wolverines have a longstanding reputation of being particularly fierce and dangerous," said Keith Aubry, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. "They're sort of a mythological creature because they are so often not seen." But in reality, they may be more shy than tough, Aubry said. Petitions to have them listed as a federally endangered species in the late 1990s and early this decade were turned down for a lack of information. Those denials spurred research on the whereabouts of the wolverine in Washington, as well as the northern Rocky Mountain areas of Idaho and Montana. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- acting under the order of a federal judge -- is finishing a year-long assessment of the animal that could lead it to be proposed for listing. A decision likely will be made at the end of February, said Diane Katzenberger, a spokeswoman for the agency....
Experts uncover clues to slide Avalanche experts digging into last Sunday's deadly slide north of Whitefish Mountain Resort are turning over not just snowpack and clues, but also many weeks of winter weather history. Turns out, the snowpack conditions that made the weekend avalanche possible were laid down back before Christmas, when winter was warmer and snowstorms still were tangled with rainstorms. All that was needed, then, was a human to pull the trigger these many weeks later. That's according to Stan Bones, a U.S. Forest Service avalanche analyst who also works with the Glacier Country Avalanche Center. At the center's Web site, www.glacieravalanche.org, Bones has posted his official review of the incident in which two skiers were killed - 19-year-old Anthony Kollmann of Kalispell and 36-year-old David Gogolak of Whitefish. On Wednesday, Bones talked about that report, detailing a story that begins not with Sunday's slide, but rather back in December, when the top layers of early season snow melted and later re-froze into an icy sheet....
NEPA jobs threatened A proposed “reengineering” by U.S. Forest Service officials could move thousands of agency employees involved in drafting environmental assessments out of the national forests where they work. According to a feasibility report by Management Analysis, Inc., a Virginia-based consulting firm, the “Business Process Reengineering” plan would consolidate all work performed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to six “eco-based Service Centers” instead of individual field offices. At least one group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), sees the plan as a step backwards for the Forest Service that could have far reaching impacts beyond removing employees from their jobs. According to PEER, over 3,000 Forest Service employees have NEPA-related responsibilities to assess the potential consequences of projects in the national forests. For now, the agency hasn’t specified any time frame to implement the plan, and Ruch worries the changes will occur without adequate public notice or close scrutiny....
Lynx Pinched by Recreation Finding room for lynx to roam in the wide-open spaces of Montana and Wyoming may not be a huge issue. But in crowded Colorado, researchers are finding that intensive recreational use—especially snowmobiling—is crowding the rare cats out of some critical areas. At issue is the management of the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area (VPWRA), a 50,000-acre pocket of rolling, forested terrain along Interstate 70, between Copper Mountain and Vail. Several commercial snowmobile tour and rental operators have asked the U.S. Forest Service for permission to increase trips in the area. Before issuing any new permits, the agency decided to take a hard look at the overall capacity of the area. As part of that study, White River National Forest biologist Liz Roberts wrote a formal biological assessment, trying to measure and quantify the impacts of recreation to the wildlife habitat in the area. Long story short, Roberts concluded that human activity in the area is “adversely affecting” the cats....
Ecological genius played huge role in shaping New Mexico's landscape, environment Fresh out of Yale, where his strong attraction to the outdoors had led him to study forestry, Aldo Leopold arrived in Albuquerque early in July 1909 and began working in the forests of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. His headquarters was in Springerville, Ariz. — a two-day, 85-mile stagecoach ride from where the train would leave him off in Holbrook, Ariz. In these and other forests he later supervised in New Mexico, Leopold observed overgrazing, overstocking, erosion, successions of plants, prey-and-predators relations and the role of fire in a natural setting. These provided the facts, clues and impressions that led him to his final conclusions about the relation between humans, their cultures and the land. An indication of Leopold's awakening understanding occurred during a 1919 horseback inspection trip he made deep into the Gila National Forest, when he resolved to do what he could to keep those forests free of "civilizing" influences, such as roads. His efforts, with some like-minded supporters, resulted in 755,000 acres being set aside by the Forest Service on June 3, 1924, as the Gila Wilderness — the first wilderness area in the country. In 1980, the National Wilderness Preservation System formalized this wilderness and added the contiguous Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Primitive Area....
County faces drop in federal PILT funding An announced 30 percent reduction in payment in lieu of taxes funds comes as Uintah County faces an additional two percent cut in mineral lease funding. In an interview on Monday, county commissioner Mike McKee explained the loss of PILT funds blindsided county officials completely. “Thirty percent reduction in funding will occur in PILT monies,” stated McKee. “The irony is that we just met with Senator Bennett’s office looking to raise our share of PILT funding. We went from seeking full-funding to accepting a significant reduction.” McKee spoke of his disappointment over the Washington meeting where he and Duchesne County commissioner Rod Harrison received assurances that the potential for full-funding was close. “PILT is a static appropriation of $230 million for Pacific Northwest rural schools,” said Bob Widner, Uintah County’s Washington, D.C., lobbyist “A deduction from those monies comes to us as PILT funds.” The reduction in PILT funding came from “a congressional review that determined the Pacific Northwest rural school’s should receive their total entitlement,” Widner said. “That came as the senate failed to pass reauthorization of PILT funding by one vote last month. For us, it translates into a 30 percent reduction in funding.”....
Mount St. Helens growls mysteriously As John Pallister circled above Mount St. Helens on Sunday afternoon, a sharply defined line of steam caught his attention. "It was interesting enough to take some pictures," said Pallister, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist and private pilot. He didn't know it, but his USGS colleagues back in Vancouver had already noticed a 2.9-magnitude earthquake followed by a small but unusually long tremor at the steadily erupting volcano. The tremor, in fact, continued for almost an hour and a half, punctuated by a 2.7-magnitude quake. Such tremors typically signal that magma or gases are flowing underground like water in a pipe. The last tremor of note - a 55-minute stemwinder big enough to register on seismometers from Bend, Ore., to Bellingham on Oct. 2, 2004 - prompted the Forest Service to hastily evacuate the Johnston Ridge Observatory five miles north of the crater's mouth....
Park Service airs complaint against proposed coal plant The National Park Service says the $3.8 billion, coal-fired power plant that Nevada utilities propose to build near Ely is "unacceptable" because it would damage air and water quality and would interfere with scenic views in the Great Basin National Park. "Like a clean white page, the relatively clear air in the Great Basin can be marred easily," wrote Paul DePrey, park superintendent. DePrey made the comment in a Jan. 9 letter to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in response to the draft air permit the division has issued for the 1,500-megawatt Ely Energy Center. The center is a project of Sierra Pacific Power Co. and Nevada Power Co. The division can issue a final permit without substantial changes in the draft document, amend the permit or deny it after reviewing comments about the power plant....
Local mill to close Boise Cascade said Tuesday it will permanently close its sawmill and planer operations at its lumber manufacturing plant near Antelope Road and Agate Road. The operations will be phased out during the next two months and put 32 of the plant's 59 employees out of work. "It's something we've been evaluating for a long time," said Boise spokesman Bob Smith. "The issue with log supply goes back to the 1990s and it is why we curtailed a shift early last year. We are to the point where pine supplies are not affordable. Essentially, we have to go into central California to buy pine logs and when you add transportation costs, that's what drives this decision." In March 2007, the mill eliminated its second shift and the third shift was discontinued in 2000. Even as Dave Schott of Southern Oregon Timber Industry Association was telling Jackson County's natural resources advisory committee that Boise Cascade's sawmill days were numbered Tuesday, word was going out from the company headquarters about the closure. "It's the end of an era," Schott said. "It's the last regular sawmill in Jackson County. In 1947, when my father came out to join the lumber industry, there were close to 40 mills in Jackson and Josephine counties, including three or four in Ashland."....
Child Artists Help Save Endangered Species Poloppo is the first company to empower child artists by paying royalties directly on products sold displaying their work. The ingenuity of the children combined with the unique business model of Poloppo provides a fertile ground for creative brilliance. Poloppo is excited to announce the latest opportunity that gives kids a chance to express their creativity and have a voice that will make a difference in helping to save endangered species throughout the world. Poloppo's Fall/Winter 2008 collection from its line of apparel for kids and babies proudly displays art from child artists who have drawn their favorite endangered animal and get to have it featured on high-quality, eco-friendly sweatshirts, t-shirts, dresses, aprons and bibs. According to EndangeredSpecie.com the number one way for kids to step in and help protect endangered species and their habitats is to draw pictures of their favorite endangered creatures and send them to their political representatives. Because of Poloppo's reach and distribution, senators and members of congress are not the only ones who will benefit from the youthful perspective....
Sea lions eat endangered river sturgeon The survival of sturgeon in the Columbia River Gorge along the Washington-Oregon state line is threatened by feasting Steller sea lions. Fish and wildlife officials in the two Pacific Northwest states reportedly have tried to frighten away the almost extinct Steller sea lions, which weigh as much 2,400 pounds, with rubber bullets and underwater noise bombs, The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., reported Wednesday. The gorge is 40 miles east of Portland, Ore. Officials said one of the main facets of the problem is that the sea lions have targeted egg-bearing sturgeon. "These fish are essentially the anchor for the entire species on the West Coast of North America," sturgeon biologist Blaine Parker said. Wildlife experts say stronger measures need to be taken against the sea lions for the sturgeon to survive. "I'm not going to dispute the fact that Stellers need protection, also," Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Executive Director Liz Hamilton said. The predatory Steller sea lions are protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act....
No bears for oil By 2050, two-thirds of the world's polar bears will have vanished, as a result of global warming melting their icy habitat, according to scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey. There may no longer be any polar bears at all living in Alaska, their only home in the United States. Still, this stark prediction, revealed in September 2007, after a yearlong review of the impact of melting sea ice on the Alaskan bears, hasn't inspired the Bush administration to list the bear as even a threatened species, much less an endangered one, under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for listing mammals as threatened or endangered, has been one of the most politically compromised scientific divisions in the Bush administration. It didn't consider extending federal protections to polar bears until it was petitioned, and subsequently sued, to do so by a coalition of environmental groups back in 2005. Now it admits that polar bears are "likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future," and explained recent delays by citing the complexity of the decision: It has never before had to designate a species as threatened because of global warming. But critics say that Fish and Wildlife hasn't made a ruling yet because another agency within the Department of Interior, the Minerals Management Service, is on the verge of handing out oil and gas leases in vast swaths of the polar bears' remaining habitat....
Of wolves and willows Don Despain and Roy Renkin aren’t the first scientists to notice how the climate is changing in Yellowstone National Park. But they are among the first to examine the link between climate change and the growth of certain plants, such as the willow bush. For the last couple of years, Despain and Renkin have been studying the remarkable growth of willow bushes along places such as Blacktail Deer Creek in the northwest section of the park. During most of the 1900s, willows here averaged around 2 to 3 feet tall, significantly under their usual height. Today, these willows are back to normal height, up to 8 feet tall. Despain, a retired U.S. Geological Survey scientist in Bozeman, and Renkin, a management biologist with the National Park Service in Yellowstone, aren’t the only ones to ponder the willows’ dramatic recovery. But many scientists connect it to the return of wolves in the mid-1990s rather than to changes in climate. These researchers note the changes in elk behavior since the wolves’ return: Wolf-wary elk spend less time in open riparian areas, choosing safer borders near forests. With fewer elk browsing on streamside willows, the plants have an opportunity to recover. Or so the theory goes. Whatever is causing the willow to recover is also affecting the whole ecology of the region....
Obama Pledges Support for Animal Rights Democrat Barack Obama says he won't just be a president for the American people, but the animals too. "What about animal rights?" a woman shouted out during the candidate's town hall meeting outside Las Vegas Wednesday after he discussed issues that relate more to humans, like war, health care and the economy. Obama responded that he cares about animal rights very much, "not only because I have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old who want a dog." He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society. "I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other," he said. "And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals."
Ranchers and Environmentalists to Host Third Annual Summit in Sacramento The California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, a group comprised of 78 diverse ranching and conservation organizations and government agencies in California, are gathering for their third annual summit to be held Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008, at the Holiday Inn at 300 J. St., in Sacramento. The eclectic grouping of agencies and individuals formed the Coalition three years ago, driven by their common goal of protecting both wildlife and the rangelands that shelter them. "Gradually all groups have come to realize that to be successful we need to work together, despite any differences we may have, we are interdependent in protecting what each of us values most," says Kim Delfino, California program director, Defenders of Wildlife. Topics to be discussed range from the scientific to sociological, reflecting the many types of issues encountered in conserving wildlife and rangeland. Scientists from the University of California and the PRBO Conservation Science will address topics such as: Using Birds as Indicators of Conservation Effectiveness; Regenerating Oaks on Grazed Rangelands; and Building Bridges between Public and Private Rangelands. The event will also feature a panel of ranchers for a question and answer session on issues such as the perceptions ranchers have of conservation easements, what drives ranchers to voluntarily enhance wildlife habitat on their property, and the effects of current and future regulations on ranching....
Where's the beef? Trailer of meat stolen from San Angelo plant A man claiming to be a driver for Pratte Trucking pulled up at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo last night in a cab marked with PDP logos, spoke to Lone Star personnel and then hooked up to a trailer full of meat and drove off, police said. An hour and a half later, the real driver showed up. Authorities are now hunting for the tractor and trailer, which contained about $100,000 worth of meat. The trailer, a Wabash refrigerator unit marked PDP No. 9 on its rear doors and bearing Oklahoma licence plate 135-4CZ, alone was valued at $40,000, authorities said....
Ranch Sells Beef for Dinner, Bones for Surgery Prather Ranch's dry-aged, organic New York steaks will set you back $20 per pound at its upscale stall in San Francisco's Ferry Building farmers market. But even at that price, foodies aren't the company's best market. The most valuable parts of its cows are the inedible parts: pituitary glands, bones, heart muscles and hides. Medical companies covet them for making surgical glue, bone screws, collagen and artificial skin. "In most years, these things are more valuable than the meat," said Jim Rickert, a fifth-generation farmer. "We also think out of an ethical-moral thing. The animal deserves us using it completely." The impetus for producing medical-grade cattle, however, was economic. California is an expensive state for anyone, and it's a particularly challenging place for cattle ranchers. But Rickert and his wife have deep local roots. So rather than move to a cheaper state, the Rickerts built a diversified business that would remain sustainable through fluctuations in the price of meat. And it turns out that the rules for raising cows appropriate for medical use dovetail nicely with organics and a sustainable farming model....
Charlie Matteri reaped rewards of hard work Charlie Matteri laughs out loud and punctuates his colorful stories with lots of smiles as he describes his childhood and recalls what it was like growing up on a dairy ranch in Petaluma’s Lakeville district, working under inhospitable conditions in Alaska, and returning to Petaluma where he’s lived for 57 years on his own Lakeville spread. The Lakeville area, south of town and east of the Petaluma River, was a bastion for Italian-born ranchers and dairymen who located there in the early 1900s. Charlie’s parents, Giovanni and Maria, got their start there in 1914 on a 75-acre parcel on Brown’s Lane. The fourth of their five kids, after Katie (Allen), Ann (Broxmeyer), and Elsie (Marsh), and before John, Charlie was born in 1920. Tragedy struck the family when Giovanni Matteri died in 1922, but with everybody pitching in, the family became self-sufficient, allowing Maria to keep the ranch until she married Elvezio Rosselli five years later. “We didn’t have any toys, we didn’t even have an extra nickel to buy a ball, but we were happy,” Charlie explained. The kids attended rural Lakeville School, but Charlie, like many others, spoke only Italian, and didn’t enjoy school much. “How could I learn English? It was like Little Italy around here,” Charlie said, pointing in different directions and reciting the names of neighboring ranches. “There was Vivenzi, Patocchi, Cincera, Tarca, Giannini and many more.”....
Ranch History Display at Wings Over Willcox In 1877 the White brothers, Theodore, Jarrett and Thomas, established El Dorado Ranch on Turkey Creek near the base of the Chiricahua Mountains; others followed and within a few years many small ranches existed in the Sulphur Springs Valley. In 1883 John V. and Sumner Vickers began running cattle on the open range in the valley. John, a wealthy Pennsylvanian residing in Tombstone, was involved in the brokerage of cattle range, real estate and mining. Later that year he bought the interests of Thomas and Jarrett White in the El Dorado Ranch. Vickers loaned money for the purchase of cattle and acted as sales agent for the El Dorado and other area ranches. El Dorado prospered and by 1885 had over 6,000 head of cattle. Theodore White and John Vickers were not only cattlemen, they were speculators with a vision of creating a cattle empire. To make their dream a reality, they needed a large number of cattle and a lot of land. In the spring of 1885, White, Vickers, and several small ranchers combined land, cattle and water rights and formed the Chiricahua Cattle Company. The CCC brand was registered and a cattle empire of 1,685,880 acres of public domain with about 15,000 head of cattle and 300 horses was created. The CCC, run by daring men, prospered and by 1889 the herd had increased to 19,520 head of cattle and 375 horses. The CCC dominated the valley from Willcox to Elfrida and soon extended its range into Graham County and other areas of southeastern Arizona. The CCC seemed to be everywhere; it had become one of the largest and best run cattle companies in Arizona Territory.