More bad warming data A meteorologist performing a comprehensive study of temperature-monitoring stations that provide data about global warming says the official facility at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is riddled with problems that render it useless to scientists. But the data collected there is being used nonetheless. Anthony Watts concludes in his investigation that the station at O'Hare is affected by an urban heat effect that would make temperature readings inaccurate as an indicator of what is actually occurring regionally. "The community around O'Hare was much smaller during World War II, when the airport was built, than it is now," says Watts. "The area had a significantly less-urban population and lacked the acres of concrete and asphalt that exist there today." The problems at O'Hare are similar to those found by Watts around the country in his study of temperature stations used by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What he has found elsewhere are temperature stations with sensors on the roofs of buildings, near air-conditioning exhaust vents, in parking lots near hot automobiles, barbecues, chimneys and on pavement and concrete surfaces – all of which would lead to higher temperature recordings than properly established conditions. To qualify as a properly maintained temperature station, sensors must be placed in elevated, slatted boxes on flat ground surrounded by a clear surface on a slope of less than 19 degrees with surrounding grass and vegetations ground cover of less than 10 centimeters high. The sensors must be located at least 100 meters from artificial heating or reflecting surfaces, such as buildings, concrete surfaces and parking lots....
Wolves to Be Removed From Species List Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list, following a 13-year restoration effort that helped the animal's population soar, federal officials said Thursday. An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That represents a dramatic turnaround for a predator that was largely exterminated in the U.S. outside of Alaska in the early 20th century. "Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story." The restoration effort, however, has been unpopular with ranchers and many others in the three states since it began in the mid-1990s, and today some state leaders want the population thinned significantly. The states are planning to allow hunters to target the animals as soon as this fall. That angers environmental groups, which plan to sue over the delisting and say it's too soon to remove federal protection....
Northeastern Nevada Hit by 6.0 Quake Windows shattered and building facades and signs fell, but no one was seriously injured when a powerful earthquake shook this rural northeastern town on Thursday. The quake, which had an estimated magnitude of 6.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., struck at 6:16 a.m., near Wells in a sparsely populated area near the Nevada-Utah line. Elko County commissioners declared a state of emergency. "Almost all of the businesses are shut down. We have no services and no fuel," Commissioner Mike Nannini said. Almost all the 700 residential structures in town had some damage, said Tom Turk, a state spokesman at the scene. The temblor was felt across much of the West, from northern Idaho and Utah to Southern California, and as many as 30 aftershocks were reported. The most serious damage was reported in Wells' largely unoccupied historic district, where an estimated 20 to 25 buildings have been "heavily damaged," Elko County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin McKinney said. Brick facades tumbled off several buildings, signs fell and windows broke, and some vehicles arked on the street were damaged by falling debris, KELK Radio in Elko reported. The town of about 1,300 was closed to all but residents, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. Officials posted signs along nearby highways telling motorists to fill up on gasoline elsewhere....
Waterfowl area grazing benefits birds, cattle Dan Jenniges’ cattle are eating better and helping to create better nesting areas for migratory birds, thanks to the managed grazing agreement he has with the Morris Wetlands Management District, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Waterfowl Production Areas are managed to attract and produce migratory waterfowl, migratory nongame birds and resident wildlife. “In the remnant (native) prairie, the exotic (grass) species move in and thistle comes with them,” Brite says. “We’re trying to maintain the integrity of the prairie for ease of maintenance and a diverse (mix) of waterfowl and songbirds. When brome and bluegrass take over, you get more of a monoculture. They mat over more quickly, and that’s not as attractive to the birds.” The most common tools used to manage these grasses include grazing, haying and prescribed burning, which are followed by a period of rest. Working with local ranchers, cattle are allowed to graze on certain Waterfowl Production Areas using a permit system. This grazing closely mimics the effects native bison once provided to stimulate plant growth....
Gibbons takes another whack at pipeline plan Gov. Jim Gibbons is again saying he opposes Southern Nevada’s plan to get water from rural Nevada. On Tuesday, Gibbons told the Fallon Rotary Club that the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has proposed a multibillion-dollar pipeline to eastern Nevada to supply Las Vegas with a backup source of drinking water, should instead build a desalination plant in California and trade that plant’s water for some of California’s allocation of the Colorado River, according to the Lahontan Valley News. During his nearly 45-minute speech Tuesday, which focused mostly on the state budget crisis, Gibbons pitched the desalination proposal as “a better plan than what Clark County has,” according to reporter Christy Lattin. On Wednesday Melissa Subbotin, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed that Gibbons “wants to bring water to Southern Nevada without taking it straight from Northern Nevada.” Conservationists noted this is not the first time the governor has questioned pursuing the 250-mile pipeline, which environmentalists and ranchers say would destroy the ecology and rural way of life of eastern Nevada....
Hunters, anglers join global-warming outcry Anglers say trout and salmon are moving upstream looking for colder water. Duck hunters say the prairie potholes where ducklings hatch are drying up. And game hunters say moose populations are migrating north. Many of these outdoor enthusiasts blame it on global warming. Now, they are lobbying Congress to protect their favorite pastimes. Nearly 700 hunting, fishing and sporting groups, including several from Arizona, recently sent letters urging lawmakers to support a bill to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. By taking on global warming, outdoor enthusiasts join a diverse group of activists, from evangelical Christians to farmers, clamoring for legislative action on climate change. The debate could heat up this summer because lawmakers are expected to consider legislation that would cut carbon-dioxide emissions by two-thirds nationwide by 2050....
New era of oil-and-gas drilling near Santa Fe has residents on edge On a sunny winter afternoon, with a light wind rustling the brittle leaves and swaying the high, golden grasses, the Galisteo Basin is a scene of tranquility. Only the metal pole sticking up out of Steve Sugarman's front yard gives any hint of the gathering storm. It's a marker for an oil-and-gas test well that came up dry nearly three decades ago. Sugarman's partner, James Ziegler, gave it no thought when he bought the Running Water Ranch ranch eight years ago. After all, this hilly swath of high desert about 20 miles south of artsy, touristy Santa Fe has never been oil-and-gas country: That distinction belongs to the pumpjack-dotted landscape of the faraway southeastern and northwestern corners of New Mexico. Over the past couple of years, however, a Texas company has quietly leased the mineral rights to some 65,000 acres in the Galisteo Basin. Tecton Energy of Houston believes there may be as much as 50 to 100 million barrels of highly prized light, sweet crude oil tucked in the nooks and crannies of the rocks that underlie the basin....
Forest Service falls down on competitive-sourcing job The Forest Service did a poor job of competing government jobs between federal employees and the private sector and of reporting savings, according to a new report. The Government Accountability Office said today that the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service lacked a strategic plan and guidance for its public/private competition for communications work, the Geospatial Service and Technology Center, and fleet management. USDA officials told Congress the agency saved more than $38 million between 2004 and 2006. However they couldn’t tell GAO how they arrived at that figure or give supporting data to prove it’s correct, GAO said. The Forest Service didn’t have complete and reliable cost data from those two years to show whether it complied with statutory spending limits on competitive sourcing and accurately reported savings to Congress, GAO found....
Environmental analysis due on E. Idaho sheep station A federal judge has approved a settlement agreement involving two environmental groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requiring the agency to conduct an environmental analysis of the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in eastern Idaho that also manages lands in southwestern Montana. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill approved the agreement Tuesday between the agency and the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project. The agreement requires the agency to complete the analysis by Nov. 28. The two groups sued the agency last summer, citing concerns about the possible negative effects of domestic sheep on bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, lynx, wolves, grizzly bears, sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, bald eagles and other animals. They said domestic sheep could be spreading deadly diseases to bighorns, that predator control measures that may include steel leghold traps, snares, aerial gunning and poisons could be killing native wildlife, and that domestic sheep could be overgrazing wildlife winter range. The environmental groups also said sheep station lands include travel corridors for wildlife, which they said could be killed because of the predator control measures....
Water threatens old mining town The Environmental Protection Agency said it could be a month or two before drilling begins on a well to pump water from a crumbling tunnel where local officials fear more than a billion gallons of trapped water could cause a potentially catastrophic flood. EPA officials are scrambling to find a contractor and more than $4.5 million to pay for the plan east of Leadville, said Stan Christensen, remedial project manager who is heading up the EPA's effort. Lake County officials declared a state of emergency for fear that melt from record snowfall could add to growing pressure in the tunnel and cause a blowout and flood the town. The partially collapsed Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel drains contaminated water from abandoned mines that date back to the 1800s. The Bureau of Reclamation, the EPA, state agencies and Lake County officials had been working on a plan to drain the tunnel since at least 2003....
EPA questions roadless plan Exceptions in Colorado's plan to manage some 4 million acres of roadless areas in national forests are worrisome because of the potential environmental impacts, a federal agency says. The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in recent comments to the U.S. Forest Service that it's concerned about "the considerable breadth of exceptions" to logging in roadless areas to prevent wildfires and stem the spread of bark beetles. The exceptions to roads and activity in those areas have also drawn criticism from environmental, hunting and angling groups that want to see the 4.1 million acres in national forests across the state remain off-limits to development. The draft environmental review "should include clear guidelines and commitments for how impacts from exemptions will be avoided, minimized and mitigated" on roadless areas, according to EPA officials. "What the EPA is saying here echoes almost precisely what the sportsmen community has been saying from the start," said David Petersen of Durango, a staffer with Trout Unlimited and a member of the statewide task force that developed the plan....
Speaker outlines climate change impact on forests Climate change likely will mean more drought, fewer trees and more invasive species for Western forests such as the Black Hills National Forest. That was the conclusion of Linda Joyce, a Forest Service researcher who was a member of a Nobel Prize winning intergovernmental panel on climate change. Joyce spoke Wednesday to more than 80 people at The Journey Museum about the implications of ongoing climate change, including rising temperatures, on Western forests. Joyce, who is based at the Rocky Mountain Research Station headquarters in Fort Collins, Colo., said ongoing climate-change studies haven't focused exclusively on the Black Hills, but a lot of data has been gathered about forests in the Rocky Mountains. The conclusions of those studies can also apply to the Black Hills, Joyce said in a short interview after her presentation. The study indicates that as average temperatures rise, vegetation decreases; vegetation tends to creep up onto higher elevations; new species come in, possibly including invasive species; and water patterns change....
Access for developers near Wolf Creek appears likely A U.S. Forest Service official said Wednesday that his agency ultimately will have to grant developers road access to private land near Wolf Creek Ski Area, even though the agency has agreed to conduct a fresh review of the project's environmental impact. "This process is not about if we will provide access, but rather what that access will look like and where on National Forest System lands it will be built," said Dan Dallas, Rio Grande National Forest supervisor. Dallas also said that the Forest Service would rule only on the access issue and not on matters such as the development's size. Developers have said it could house as many as 10,000 residents on property next to Wolf Creek Ski Area. The agency has settled a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, who alleged that the developers tried to influence the outcome of the previous environmental analysis and road-access rulings....
BLM sells seized livestock in Nevada The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has auctioned 58 head of cattle and 21 horses that were seized near Winnemucca for unlawful grazing. The federal agency said the cattle, formerly owned by Inger Casey, were sold for $17,287 on Feb. 1 to three separate bidders from Oregon and California. They were among 117 cows impounded by the BLM on Jan. 21 for trespassing on public lands. BLM said the remaining cattle, except for two, were reclaimed by their owners. In a separate impound, the BLM on Jan. 24 seized 95 horses for trespassing near Fort McDermitt along the Nevada-Oregon line. The state brand inspector determined 30 were estrays with no known owner. Those animals were turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, the BLM said. According to the agency, another 30 were owned by Leonard and Larry Crutcher. Owners of two others relinquished title to their animals. Of those, 21 horses were sold at auction Feb. 15 for a total of $1,495, the BLM said. The BLM said the remaining 11 unsold horses likely will be put up for bid at a future auction....
Wrecked ship carried lumber, ran aground in 1944 There is finally an answer to a shipwreck recently exposed by dune erosion on Oregon's south coast. The Bureau of Land Management says it is a wooden steam schooner that ran aground in 1944. The 223-foot George L. Olson had been revealed by shifting sands from time to time -- most recently after big waves started stripping away the dune near North Bend. Nearly 70 feet of the ship is now exposed. The George L. Olson was identified with help from a federal maritime heritage coordinator in Santa Barbara, California. The Oregonian newspaper reports that the ship was built at the W.F. Stone shipyards in Oakland, California. It had a 1,000-horsepower steam engine, could carry 1.4 million board feet of lumber and was launched in 1917....See Mystery solved for more info.
USDA unsure if Calif. cattle case isolated to plant Days after the largest meat recall in U.S. history, the head of the Agriculture Department said officials are reviewing why a California plant processed unfit cattle, and that it was too early to determine whether it was an incident specific to the facility. The USDA announced on Sunday that the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co was recalling 143 million lbs (65 million kilos) of meat, mostly beef, after plant workers were caught on videotape forcing unfit cattle into the slaughterhouse. "We are reviewing our procedures, how we work with the plant, how our inspectors work, our staffing needs," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters at the USDA's annual Outlook Forum. "And until we find out, we can't assess other plants, and we can't say ... this is an isolated incident or an ongoing practice."....
Beef Recall Latest in a Bad Year The record recall, announced on Sunday and prompted by an explicit video taken by an undercover Humane Society employee, has generated outrage from members of Congress and other American consumers. The video shows downed cattle being forced from the ground with forklifts and electric shocks and prodded toward the slaughterhouse. In some shots, a cow is unable to support itself and falls over again, only to be subjected to a second round of battery. But the primary concern has been for public health. Had the meatpacking plant followed government notification rules, the USDA says, some of the meat never would have seen the light of day, much less the inside of a gastrointestinal tract. "Downed" cows are often weak and diseased, and plant owners are required to notify USDA inspectors if a cow goes down on its way to the slaughterhouse. The USDA, which has closed the plant pending further investigation, has said that on multiple occasions no such notification took place. Yet an estimated 37 million pounds of beef, as part of the National School Lunch Program, was sent to schools in at least 36 states, and the rest was purchased by wholesale food companies. The recall at the California plant, which is owned by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., is not the first such case, though it is the largest. In fact, the United States just completed what is arguably the worst year for beef safety in its history. In 2007, there were 21 beef recalls nationwide for possible E. coli contamination, the most in five years; the amount of beef recalled—33.4 million pounds—was a new record. In many of the cases in 2007, the reason for the recall was remarkably similar to the current one: The workers at the plant allegedly didn't communicate information to the government, and the government took action only after the meat was already in the grocery store or consumed. One notable example: the recall of 21.7 million pounds of meat in September by Topps Meat, now out of business, for possible E. coli problems. Prior to the recall, Topps reportedly reduced the frequency of its safety inspections but failed to notify USDA officials....
USDA: More than a third of recalled beef went to schools Federal authorities say more than a third of the 143 million pounds of beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs. And, they say at least 20 million pounds of that has been eaten. Officials say they still don't know all the places the meat wound up. The USDA shut down the California-based company that produced the meat after the Humane Society released undercover video from its plant. The video showed workers kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses. The USDA says the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company produces 20 percent of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs....
USDA Urged to Disclose Where Recalled Meat Was Sold In a letter to the Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, seven consumer groups yesterday urged the USDA to issue an emergency rule to allow the agency to identify all of the outlets that purchased recalled ground beef from the Hallmark/Westland company. The groups also urged the agency to finish a long delayed rule change that would require the agency to list retailers that sold recalled meat and poultry products in official recall announcements. Consumer groups have for years been urging the agency to release the identify of “retail consignees”, pointing out that consumers need more than just a code found in the fine print on a meat package –– they need to know what stores carry the product to increase the odds that they heed the recall notice and don’t eat possibly dangerous products. A USDA rule to make this change has been in the works for two years and, according to the agency, is now stuck in the departmental review process....
25 area schools have recalled beef on hand Twenty-five schools in The Daily Republic coverage area have reported that they still are in possession of ground beef that is part of a nationwide recall. State Department of Education spokeswoman Mary Stadick Smith said that overall, 121 out of 220 schools in the state report having received, and still have on hand, some of the beef from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant in Chino, Calif. She estimates that there are 650 cases, 40 pounds each, statewide. The amount of meat still at each school varies. “South Dakota has received USDA-donated beef from Westland Meat Company for two years,” Stadick Smith said. “It is likely that almost every school food authority has received USDA donated beef from Westland Meat Company over that time.” The 143 million pounds of recalled meat from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. plant must be destroyed following strict USDA procedures. The USDA ordered the recall after receiving evidence that the slaughterhouse did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection. There have been no reports of illnesses in South Dakota school systems related to the recalled beef, Stadick Smith said....
Burger-free and bummed-out Where's the beef? The old catchphrase from a 1980s Wendy's ad campaign has found a 21st-century reprise. Chicken, pizza and yet more chicken have replaced beef on lunch plates in school cafeterias across California in the wake of a national recall of meat from a Southern California distributor accused of animal abuse. "I'm not the biggest fan of chicken," said Anthony Castro, 13, an eighth-grader at Burnett Academy in North San Jose as he chowed down Wednesday on a chicken quesadilla. "But there are not that many options." For two weeks now - even before Sunday's recall of beef from the Westland Meat Co. - public schools have not served any ground beef. Westland, a major supplier to the National School Lunch Program, is under investigation for allegedly abusing sick cattle before slaughter. Health officials say use of meat from sick animals increases the risk of exposure to mad cow disease and E. coli. After hearing the news reports of the animal abuse, state schools chief Jack O'Connell on Jan. 31 ordered public schools to stop serving all ground beef until further notice. Because of the federal recall, schools must now destroy the meat....
Cowboys for Hire Some ranch owners in Hidalgo County say they're being over billed for livestock that gets loose, the county has cowboys for hire, but ranch owners say there needs to be some sort of regulation for the fees they charge. When livestock gets loose in Hidalgo County authorities call in cowboys for hire, cowboys who round up the animals and returning them to their owners for a fee. Tony Arroyo, a rancher who has had animals have gotten loose from his property, tells us the fees need to be regulated. He believes ranchers are being more than they should at times. Teo Martinez, one of the county's cowboys for hire, tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 aren't much better for him either, there's been instances when customers can't afford to pay him, so he's forced to keep the animals and sell to make sure his fees are covered. A Texas Ranger who is assigned to cattle rustling and other livestock crimes is looking into a solution....
'Judas Horse' by April Smith IN two previous thrillers, FBI Special Agent Ana Grey stalked criminals through the same neighborhoods around Santa Monica where she'd been raised by her grandfather. Among the highlights of those books -- "North of Montana" and "Good Morning, Killer" -- were the spot-on observations about daily Los Angeles life, the keen glimpses of parallel cultures that coexist on the same streets without much connection. The third novel in the series by April Smith, "Judas Horse," also begins in Los Angeles, but its narrative propels Ana out of her native territory into a dizzying new world. This time the bureau is sending her on an undercover assignment to infiltrate a terrorist cell in the Pacific Northwest. After a rigorous stint in undercover school at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Ana assumes a new identity: that of a scruffy, down-and-out animal rights sympathizer named Darcy DeGuzman. As Darcy, armed only with a phony driver's license and a specially designed Oreo-sized cellphone for contact with former partner Mike Donnato, who will serve as her "handler," she heads to Portland to begin her mission. Agent Crawford had been working undercover to infiltrate a radical group called FAN, for "Free Animals Now." It's a covert collection of ecoterrorists, linked to increasingly violent anarchist activity throughout the Northwest and probably serving as a front for a larger, looser amalgamation of assorted extremists. FAN operates through intimidation, with a particular fondness for firebombing institutions that insult its live-free-or-die ideology. The FBI's latest intelligence suggests that FAN's current target is a mid-level bureaucrat at the Bureau of Land Management named Herbert Laumann, whom FAN accuses of mismanaging herds of wild mustangs protected by federal law....
Riders Recreate Life On The Cracker Trail What sounded like the rapid snapping of cap pistols filled the air on Wednesday, while students at Cracker Trail Elementary School responded by cheering wildly. Nearby, more than 140 horses took their fill of water, while some seemed spooked by the clamor of more than 200 appreciative children, amid the loud snapping. The elementary school is a regular stop on the 120-mile-long Cracker Trail Ride. Some had never seen a horse or heard the "crack" of the whips made by cowboys and cowgirls. The event brought history home to kindergarten through fifth-graders and gave them insight into the school's name. Eighteen-year old Kaylelyn Pella, of Lorida, participated in her second Cracker Trail Ride and enjoyed "cracking" a whip during an outdoor demonstration for students. Some of more than 140 cowpokes explained about long range trail riders who drove cattle, and then demonstrated with their whips why the cowboys were called "Florida Crackers."....
Mass. vegan competes in ‘Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door’ contest Lettuce be clear: Matthew Pidge may be sexy, but don’t call him “beefcake.” It’s not that he’s scrawny, but as he is a vegan, the remark isn’t exactly fitting. Pidge, 23, a Brookline resident, doesn’t consume or wear any animal products or by-products as part of his lifestyle, which is how he got to be a finalist in PETA’s “Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door” nationwide contest. Although Pidge was knocked out in the first round, which ended on Feb. 19, the future vegan restaurateur said he’ll “keep up the advocacy work” and hopes to volunteer on an organic farm. His flat abs, blue-green eyes and smooth olive skin made him a solid contender in the contest, but the Lexington native said those things have nothing to do with why he believes he is one of the sexiest herbivores in America. “[It’s] that I’m a vegan, that it’s just my compassion for animals,” said Pidge, a Longwood Avenue resident. “Being a compassionate person is really sexy.” The Web contest run by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is divided into separate competitions for men and women....Posted for Jimmy Bason, who has announced he will enter the contest.