Forest Service May Move to Interior In Washington, the organizational chart helps bring order to chaos, sorting the many federal agencies of the vast bureaucracy into manageable boxes. Among some lawmakers who hold the purse strings, there is a belief that the U.S. Forest Service is out of place. The 103-year-old agency, which manages 193 million acres of forests and grasslands, is part of the Department of Agriculture. Its bureaucratic cousins -- the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, which manage 84 million acres, 96 million acres and 258 million acres of public land, respectively -- are in the Interior Department. The five agencies have overlapping missions that include fire prevention and suppression, natural resource conservation, fostering recreational uses, and regulating commercial activities such as logging, drilling, mining and livestock grazing. At the request of the House Appropriations subcommittee on interior, environment and related agencies, the Government Accountability Office this month began examining whether it would make sense to move the Forest Service to Interior's purview. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over both agencies. "The public perceives them as being very similar," said Robin M. Nazzaro, director of the Natural Resources and Environment group at GAO, which is conducting the study. "They've just asked us to look at, could any money be saved, and would it result in a more efficient, effective and coordinated management of federal lands and the natural resources?" Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the panel's chairman, believes such a move would help shore up the Forest Service's budget and align agencies with similar missions, said his spokesman, George Behan....
U.S. jaguars threatened by Mexico border fence Jaguar biologist Emil McCain stoops over a remote-sensing camera attached to a tree in these rugged mountains a few miles to the north of the Arizona-Mexico border. The researcher is checking for images of a handful of extremely rare jaguars that prowl up from Mexico over mountain trails in some of the wildest country in the southwest, although they are now under threat. Scrolling through images of bobcats and deer snapped by the camera, he explains how the habitat for one of the United States' most elusive predators is being pressured by illegal immigration from Mexico and the controversial remedies sought by the U.S. government to curb it: building fences. In this election year, Washington hopes to complete 670 miles (1,070 kilometres) of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers in a bid to seal off some of the most heavily crossed areas of the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200 km) border, despite opposition from some landowners and environmentalists. "The low flat valleys are effectively walled off to wildlife. As a result everything is funneled up through the high mountain ranges that span the border" McCain said, standing by the camera box in an area spotted with trash tossed by illegal immigrants. "The border barriers are directly linked with the funneling of people into the last remaining habitats. Jaguars are very solitary animals, they can't move freely where there are a lot of people."....
Thawing oil spill sends "something" downstream Ruth Lindauer sets her lips in a tight line as she gazes at the milky gray water burbling down the cottonwood-lined creek behind her home. She and her rancher husband, Sid, don't know what's in that water — what the spring runoff is carrying down the creek from a giant, filthy monolith of frozen oil-and-gas-well spills melting in a gulch 10 miles upstream. The blackened ice formed from November through February when four oil-and-gas-well pits leaked 1 million gallons of something into Parachute Creek, the source for the Lindauers' irrigation water as well as the irrigation water for the town of Parachute. "Something" is the word people around here use because they don't know yet what's in the spills that froze as they poured into Garden Gulch. They didn't even know there were spills until two weeks ago, when it was reported in a local newspaper. Now that the frozen waterfall of gunk has melted into an estimated 100-foot-tall ice spire in a remote, rugged gulch and warmer temperatures are speeding up the melt, the wait for answers is starting to make some folks nervous....
End of the trail Jimenez would eventually become Wyoming's wolf recovery project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after the canines were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. Because wolves are set to lose their protection under the federal Endangered Species Act Friday, Wyoming will take over management of the animals. Jimenez's job will be phased out in September, after almost a decade in the state. In the mid-1980s, Jimenez got his start with wolves when he spent three summers and two winters in the remote mountain woods of British Columbia, tracking the animals and trying to catalog their interactions with livestock, deer and other wildlife. Now, after nine years of "wearing out trucks," traveling all over Wyoming's wolf country -- tracking and trapping them in the summer, darting them from helicopters in the winter, investigating livestock conflicts and doing research into wolves' eating habits -- Jimenez's job has a definite expiration date. Twenty-two years after his first winter with the wolves, the canines have been successfully reintroduced to the Northern Rockies. Their population has grown from just a handful in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho to more than 1,500 now roaming in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming....
It's true: wolverine is thriving near Tahoe Two more photographs of a wolverine lurking in the Tahoe National Forest were released Monday, extinguishing all doubt that the elusive predator exists in the wilds of California. The wolverine pictures, taken from remote digital cameras by U.S. Forest Service researchers, mean the muscular carnivore with the almond-colored stripe has either avoided detection for three-quarters of a century or returned to the state after an epic journey. An earlier image of what may be the same wolverine was captured inadvertently on Feb. 28 by a graduate student doing research on the wolverine's weasel family relative, the marten, and set off a near frenzy among giddy scientists and wildlife experts. Researchers, biologists and volunteers have fanned out over 155 square miles from the spot where the photo was taken in the forest north of Truckee, hunting for genetic material. Cameras and "hair snares," which capture animal hair, were rigged and all suspicious-looking animal deposits were scooped up. Dogs trained to detect wolverine scat were unleashed in the forest by the Center of Conservation Biology in Washington. Airplanes even flew overhead in an attempt to pick up signals from wolverines surgically fitted with radio transmitters during studies in Montana. Several wolverines with the internal transmitters have disappeared from study areas, but no signal was detected in the Tahoe area, Zielinski said....
Drilling plan exceeds new ozone rule The Bureau of Land Management's preferred plan for new natural gas drilling in the Pinedale Anticline would create more air pollution than would be allowed by recently announced federal air quality standards, according to the BLM's own projections. The BLM has proposed to permit the drilling of 4,400 new natural gas wells in the Pinedale Anticline in Sublette County. That development would result in high-end ozone concentrations of about 77 parts per billion, according to BLM computer models. The Environmental Protection Agency's new standard for ozone -- announced just two weeks ago -- will allow for high averages of only 75 parts per billion. Any eight-hour average above 75 will be considered unhealthy for children, the elderly and those with existing respiratory conditions. Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality has issued a series of ozone advisories for the Pinedale area this winter, warning residents about anticipated unhealthy ozone spikes, including one each for Sunday and Monday. Those unhealthy levels, tied to energy development in the Upper Green River Basin, are being recorded even before the additional drilling is allowed. But an industry representative said Monday that air pollution generated by the 4,400 new wells, given year-round access, would actually be less than the BLM has projected....
Monument's science chief to take D.C. post From the redrock solitude of southern Utah to the bustling pace of Washington, D.C., Marietta Eaton is moving on. The science administrator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be taking over a similar post for the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), based in the nation's capital. As part of the Bureau of Land Management, the conservation system oversees more than 850 scenic river, wilderness areas, wilderness study areas and historic and scenic trails on agency land. "We want to find more effective ways of implementing and applying science programs where we can," said Eaton, who takes over her new position on Tuesday. "We want to make science usable." She is well-suited for the job, having spent two years working with a diverse team of state and federal officials to devise the management plan for the Grand Staircase monument created in 1996 by President Clinton. Eaton, who was born in Albuquerque, N.M., describes herself as "a fifth-generation 'southwestern.' " After graduating from Northern Arizona University with a degree in archaeology, Eaton worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and California until hired by the BLM in 1997....
Ancient legal concept may affect use of Delta A powerful state agency is coming under increasing pressure to apply an ancient, obscure and potent legal concept to sort out the state's untenable water mess and save the Delta's dying ecosystem for future generations. The public trust doctrine, which has roots in the Roman Empire, could lead to sweeping revisions in the amount of water that may be taken from the Delta. The doctrine, which has been buttressed in California's courts, says that certain values belong to present and future generations and that the state is obligated to protect those values. In the Delta, that could mean regulators might strike a new balance between the needs for Delta water and recreational fishing and water quality, for example. The idea is prompting fierce opposition from some of the state's largest water agencies, which fear water will be taken away from them for environmental benefits. Several months ago, an independent panel appointed to make recommendations on water policy and the Delta concluded that public trust and a related constitutional doctrine should become the very foundation of decision-making about California water. Then this week, environmental and sportfishing groups threatened to sue unless the state board agrees to restrict two mammoth water pumping projects owned by the state and federal governments that they blame for the bulk of the Delta's environmental problems....
Lawsuit seeks to save sea lions A new front opened Monday in the expanding war of sea lions versus salmon. The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two citizens filed suit in U.S. District Court in Portland to halt the authorized killing of sea lions at the base of Bonneville Dam. The conservationists argue that the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong in ruling last week that some sea lions can be shot if they won’t stop eating salmon that congregate below the dam. The lawsuit alleges the fisheries service has failed to show the hungry sea lions have a significant impact on salmon runs. But Congressmen Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, and Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, both said the killing is necessary to save salmon runs. They spoke in favor of plans to shoot as many as 85 sea lions annually, killing only those animals that can’t be driven away from the rich feeding waters. The fisheries service order encourages trapping the animals if possible and relocating them to sea parks, aquariums or similar facilities. Those that can’t be stopped in any other way would be destroyed....
Inspectors didn't catch cattle abuse in California The undercover videos were bad enough: packing-plant workers abusing sick or disabled cattle and dragging at least one of the cows to be slaughtered, a violation of federal food-safety standards. But consumer advocates say what's also disturbing is what happened within days of that video being shot at a California slaughterhouse. Independent inspectors from two auditing firms visited the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. plant and gave it glowing marks. Companies from McDonald's to Wal-Mart are increasingly relying on similar third-party inspections to assure the public that the meat, produce and other food they are eating was properly raised and processed. But the misleading reports from the Westland/Hallmark plant are prompting questions about how meaningful these audits really are. The Humane Society of the United States, whose undercover investigator shot the video that led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history, said Westland/Hallmark coached workers on safe-handling practices a day before one auditor visited the plant....
Worker Sentenced in Slaughterhouse Abuse A man caught on video dragging sick cows and shocking them at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail. Rafael Sanchez Herrera, 34, pleaded guilty Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal. The undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States led to a federal investigation that spurred the largest beef recall in U.S. History on Feb 17. The video shows workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. dragging sick cows with metal chains and forklifts, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their noses and faces. Downer cattle have been largely barred from the food supply since a mad cow disease scare in 2003. The cows pose a higher risk of disease, partly because they often wallow in feces. Under the plea deal, Herrera will be deported to his native Mexico after serving jail time. Prosecutors had said a conviction could have put him in jail for three years. Herrera was sentenced a day after his former supervisor, Daniel Ugarte Navarro, pleaded not guilty to five felony counts and three misdemeanor counts of animal abuse.
Senators Wary of USDA Move to Ease Ban on Beef Imports From Argentina A pending Agriculture Department rule that would open U.S. markets to some Argentine beef imports is forcing prairie state lawmakers to juggle their support for free trade with their advocacy of American ranchers. The department is preparing to declare southern Patagonia free of foot and mouth disease, which would exempt beef produced in that region from a blanket ban on imports of beef from Argentina. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., joined three Democratic colleagues in expressing their concern about lifting the prohibition on beef from Patagonia. However, the senators are not currently planning legislation to bar meat imports from the region, aides said. Foot and mouth disease “is highly contagious, and an outbreak of this disease in the United States would be economically devastating for U.S. cattle and sheep producers,” the senators said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer . “Any decision to allow regional access to U.S. markets in countries with a history of [the disease] must be carefully scrutinized.” The proposed rule highlights the dilemma facing ranching state lawmakers, who want to protect U.S. markets for domestic producers while opening foreign markets for U.S. exports....
Cattle Brands: XIT In 1879, The Seventeenth Texas Legislature made a deal with Charles B. and John V. Farwell agreed to build a new $3,000,000.00 Texas State Capitol and accept the 3,000,000 acres of Panhandle land in payment. Destruction of the old capitol building by fire on November 9, 1881, made construction of the new building urgent. The first herd of 2,500 head arrived at Buffalo Springs on July 1, 1885.. They had been driven from the Fort Concho area by Abner P. Blocker,qv who reportedly devised the XIT brand with his boot in the dust when Campbell, the general manager, sought a design that could not be changed easily. Although legend persists that the brand signified "ten in Texas" since the land covered all or portions of Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran, and Hockley counties, that theory is doubtful; some speculate that it really meant "biggest in Texas." At any rate, Joe Collins, who brought in the second herd, served briefly as range foreman but was shortly afterward replaced by Berry Nations. Within the next year 781 miles of XIT range was fenced, and by November 1886 some 110,721 cattle valued at $1,322,587 had been purchased. After 1887 large-scale buying ceased, and the herd as carried averaged 150,000 head....
It's All Trew: Mail delivery often creative Time and again the first hints of a new town or settlement came when someone applied for a name for a post office. Tascosa, Mobeetie and many other early settlements had to submit name changes before being accepted as a site. Mail has been around a long time. Before post offices, mail made its way to a final destination carried by travelers, freighters, cowboys and mail hacks. Instead of mail boxes, there were mail drops left in canvas sacks often tied to a fence post. For example in 1905, near Quail a post office named Marilla was established in the dugout home of Lee Pierce. For eight years, Henry and Sarah Jones carried the mail back and forth to Quail three days each week. At first, Sarah rode side saddle with the canvas sack tied to her saddle. After starting a family, she drove a horse and buggy taking her babies along. Her duties included opening and closing seven barbed wire gates while checking on fourteen canvas sacks hanging on ranch fence posts. After reaching the Quail post office, she posted outgoing mail and sorted incoming mail in preparation for the return trip home. Many times patrons left lists of items needed at home that she purchased and delivered on her return. Salaries for post masters at the time were not great. Remote post masters were often paid a percentage of stamps and paper items sold to the public. Records show the Eldridge Post Office in Gray County paid its post master $1.03 for a 60-day period. Of interest, he only had six hen nests for post office boxes and a galvanized wash tub for general delivery, while housed in a surplus military tent....