Global warming mascot left out in cold Temperatures are rising over the delay in deciding whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. "The polar bear cannot wait much longer," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the three litigants. "As our greenhouse emissions increase and the Arctic sea ice melts, the window of opportunity to save the polar [bear] is closing rapidly." The problem, say Bush administration officials, is that the polar bear is no longer just a shaggy, white mammal with a taste for seal. The species has become a proxy for the debate on global warming, and the implications of a listing decision stretch far beyond its U.S. habitat in northern Alaska. "The world is watching," Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Valerie Fellows said. "It"s been fascinating. In the eyes of the public, the polar bear has really become the face of global climate change."....
Holding the Earth hostage As Christopher Booker and Richard North detail in "Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares Are Costing Us the Earth," recent decades have witnessed a flurry of scares that have gripped the public. These scares exact high costs: Wrong-headed policies are put in place that make us more vulnerable instead of less; costly measures are taken that disrupt economies and the public needlessly worries and changes their lives to response to the latest media bogeyman. Mr. Booker and Mr. North identify a dynamic through which a marginal public concern mushrooms into a full-blown scare — from salmonella and mad cow disease to DDT and asbestos, and focus on what may be the greatest, most costly scare of all: Global warming. Competing factions drive a scare's progress. There are pushers "whose interest is to promote the scare and to talk it up, such as scientists for whom it provides the promising of winning public attention or further funding," and blockers whose interest is to downplay it. The lay reader is unlikely to be surprised at the role that the media and politicians play in sensationalizing a threat. More jarring is the role that the scientific community plays. As the authors write: "At the heart of every scare we have looked at has been a group of scientists or technical experts making a wrong or exaggerated guess on the basis of what eventually turns out to be inadequate data."....
Water for smelt equals water supply for over 1 million homes Cannon Michael, the water watchdog for the family-owned Bowles Farming Company, Los Banos, Calif., kindly pointed out in an e-mail that I missed the mark by a mile. It is more like 300,000 acre feet that have been precluded from moving through the Delta and into the state and federal water projects delivering water to Central and Southern California since last Dec. 12. This is because of a federal district court judge’s ruling last fall protecting the Delta smelt. The revised estimate came from Steve Chedester of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority in Los Banos who said the inflow into the San Luis Reservoir is now at a trickle. The outflow is rapidly drawing down the reservoir three months before the peak irrigation season begins. That ups the ante to representing 300,000 California households. If you figure a household is four people who use an acre foot of water (326,000 gallons) per year, then schools of minnows have basically taken the water supply equal to what is used by the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana and Riverside for one year. Of course radical environmentalists do not want to put it in those terms. They’d rather put it in terms of water used by farmers. It always amazes me when farmers are criticized for using water. What do people think farmers are using water for; brushing their teeth or washing pickups? It is used in their business to produce food. Let’s put 300,000 acre feet of water in true “farming” perspective — the production of food people like to eat. The 300,000 acre feet represent the water supply to irrigate 100,000 acres (assuming 3 acre feet of water per crop season). That is high for some crops listed below and low for others. However, allow me to use it for the following points. Let’s translate 100,000 acres of food for the people of Anaheim, Santa Ana and Riverside and the judge and the people who love minnows. If that lost water was used to produce 10,000 acres of romaine lettuce, we’re talking roughly 168 million heads of lettuce; 10,000 acres of wheat would produce at least 60 million loaves of bread; and 10,000 acres of processing tomatoes would produce roughly 350,000 tons of tomatoes. I have no idea how many bottles of ketchup that represents....
Environmental hysterics Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley recently warned that failure to take action on global warming could mean the extinction of the human race. Over the last few years, we've been repeatedly warned we are in the midst of a climate crisis that threatens our survival. Al Gore calls it a "planetary emergency." We might take this concern more seriously if the doom-mongering wing of the environmental movement weren't burdened by a long history of false prophecies. In the mid- to late-1960s, the leading environmental concern was overpopulation. The 1967 book "Famine 1975!" warned "by 1975 a disaster of unprecedented magnitude will face the world ... famines will ravage the undeveloped nations ... this is the greatest problem facing mankind." A sober review of the book in the scholarly journal Science characterized the prediction of mass starvation as "self-evident," argued that technological solutions were "unrealistic," and concluded that catastrophe was unavoidable. The reviewer concluded "all responsible investigators agree that the tragedy will occur." More widely read was Paul Ehrlich's shrill screed, "The Population Bomb" (1968). Mr. Ehrlich began with the infamous words "the battle to feed all of humanity is over," and claimed that "in the 1970s ... hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." "We must have population control," Mr. Ehrlich argued, because it is the "only answer." Mr. Ehrlich followed "The Population Bomb" in 1969 with publication of the essay, "Eco-Catastrophe," in which he predicted the Green Revolution would fail and that the "ignorance" of the Cornucopian economists would be exposed. By 1980, environmental degradation would wipe out all "important animal life" in the world's oceans, people would choke to death from air pollution by the hundreds of thousands, and life expectancy in the United States would fall to 42 years. "Western society," Mr. Ehrlich proclaimed, "is in the process of completing the rape and murder of the planet for economic gain." In 1975, the news media informed us that a new Ice Age was imminent. An article in the Chicago Tribune titled "B-r-r-r-r: New Ice Age on way soon?" noted "It's getting colder." The Tribune interpreted a number of ordinary weather events "as evidence that a significant shift in climate is taking place — a shift that could be the forerunner of an Ice Age." The New York Times chimed in, warning their readers that "a major cooling may be ahead." Famed science reporter Walter Sullivan announced "the world's climate is changing ... a new ice age is on the way." Within 10 years, the imminent calamity of global cooling was replaced by global warming. And the mass famines predicted by Paul Ehrlich and others never happened....
Gail Norton defends her record As secretary of the interior, Gale Norton was criticized by environmentalists for allowing the energy development that is booming in the Rockies. In front of an audience of mostly Colorado College students Monday night, Norton defended her environmental record and that of the Bush administration, and said the successes of her "cooperative conservation" policy were not widely reported because of a lack of conflict. "It was intensely frustrating when we did things that I was very proud of and got no coverage," she said. "There's no conflict. It's only when people criticize that you get conflict." Norton was the keynote speaker for the 2008 State of the Rockies conference, an annual report and conference led by students that focuses on social, economic and environmental issues affecting the region. Two-term attorney general for Colorado before she became secretary of the interior in 2000, Norton oversaw decisions that gave greater access on federal lands to many of the factors identified as threats in the State of the Rockies - mining, oil and gas drilling and offroad vehicles....
As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation Out on the farm, the ducks and pheasants are losing ground. Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government’s biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate. They are spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops. Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Environmental and hunting groups are warning that years of progress could soon be lost, particularly with the native prairie in the Upper Midwest. But a broad coalition of baking, poultry, snack food, ethanol and livestock groups say bigger harvests are a more important priority than habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife. They want the government to ease restrictions on the preserved land, which would encourage many more farmers to think beyond conservation. Now, because of a growing global middle class as well as federal mandates to turn large amounts of corn into ethanol-based fuel, food prices are beginning to jump. Cropland is suddenly in heavy demand, a situation that is fraying old alliances, inspiring new ones and putting pressure on the Agriculture Department, which is being lobbied directly by all sides without managing to satisfy any of them. Born nearly 25 years ago in an era of abundance, the Conservation Reserve Program is having a rough transition to the age of scarcity. Its 35 million acres — about 8 percent of the cropland in the country — are the big prize in this brawl....
Open space district awards grazing lease for San Mateo property Reversing a no-cow trend, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is awarding a five-year grazing lease for its Tunitas Creek property to San Mateo Coastside rancher Doug Edwards. This is the second grazing lease awarded by the district in the past year. Last December, a five-year grazing lease was awarded to rancher Vince Fontana for the former Big Dipper Ranch at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. The old paradigm was to kick cattle off property when acquired by conservation groups. Overgrazed, eroded and trampled pastures had alarmed the region's environmentalists. But further research brought a turnaround in thinking. Removing cattle from San Jose's Silver Creek Hills in the 1990s, for instance, led to depletion of wildflowers that are food for the endangered bay checkerspot butterfly. Inspired by successful grazing on San Jose's Coyote Ridge, district managers seek to reduce wildfire risk in an area that is too big to mow and too dangerous to burn - and fend off the encroachment of forest. The district's adoption of "conservation grazing" - the use of livestock to boost the diversity of native plants and animals, control the spread of invasive non-native plants and prevent fire - may eventually reintroduce cattle to 5,000 grassy acres in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Both Edwards and Fontana are longtime ranchers in the region....
Wilderness advocates 'overplayed their hand' Rep. Dean Heller said a proposal by the Nevada Wilderness Project will make it difficult to do a lands bill of any sort for Lyon and Mineral counties. "This has played out very poorly," Heller, R-Nev., told The Record-Courier on Monday. "The special interest groups have made this process very difficult. They've overplayed their hand is the bottom line." The wilderness project is proposing that 195,638 acres in Lyon County and 497,251 acres in Mineral County be set aside as wilderness. Heller said the proposal was supposed to be worked out between the project and others who use the land, such as ranchers and those using it for recreation. "The Nevada Wilderness Project was supposed to be negotiated between local cattlemen, county commissioners and the people involved," he said. "It was supposed to be done in good faith and it wasn't." Heller said he met with Lyon County commissioners and held a town hall meeting in Hawthorne to hear what residents had to say about the proposal. "I've traveled around quite a bit over this issue," he said. "People are very vocal and for good reason. They are very concerned about a bill that doesn't have community buy-in. I believe they have every reason to be upset."....
County joins opposition to Pinon Canyon expansion The Pueblo County Board of Commissioners made official its opposition to the U.S. Army's plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver site Tuesday. In a resolution passed unanimously by the three-member board, the county joined ranchers and other opponents of a plan to expand the Army's training grounds by 414,000 acres. Commissioner Jeff Chostner, a retired Air Force colonel, expanded on his comments from a March 27 meeting in which the commissioners indicated they would stand with the ranchers and other county officials against the Army's plans. "I took the opportunity to drive (Colorado 10) and it gave me further resolve to support this resolution," Chostner said. "This is an absolutely gorgeous part of Southern Colorado and I'm afraid it will be completely cut off from the public." Chostner mentioned states like Nevada and New Mexico, where the federal government and military operations have gobbled up scores of acres over the years. "I don't want to see that happen in Southeastern Colorado," he said. Chostner added that he believed that allowing the site to expand was an economic gamble, trading the predictable economic benefits of longtime ranching operations with what he termed "nebulous" benefits of soldiers coming to the area from Fort Carson and other points in El Paso County. Finally, Chostner noted that he believed the Army doesn't need the extra acreage because the soldiers currently deployed in the Middle East and other areas are already adequately trained for their jobs.
Easement proposal fails A failed attempt to amend a conservation-easement bill in the legislature would have required the state Division of Real Estate to review applications for easement holders within 180 days of receiving them. Lobbyist Erik Groves of Integrated Legislative Solutions LLC was pushing the amendment on behalf of Family Farmers and Ranchers to Protect Open Space, a group of Eastern Plains farmers formed Feb. 27. Groves formed the lobbying firm last July while working as a law clerk at the Denver firm Zak hem Atherton LLC. In 2007, Groves was a registered lobbyist for Zakhem Atherton, according to records from the Colorado secretary of state's office. A partner in the firm, Rodney Atherton, helped engineer a conservation-easement deal being investigated by the Division of Real Estate. He couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. "I find it interesting that an entity that we are investigating would attempt to push legislation that attempts to restrict our efforts to protect the conservation-easement program," said Erin Toll, executive director of the Division of Real Estate. "That smells really bad to me. I also think legislators will be able to see through that ploy."....
Merger may be bad news for ranchers Sen. Jeff Bingaman is warning that the acquisition of two beef processors by the world's largest beef producer could have a significant impact on cattle ranchers in Otero County. The Brazilian-owned JBS Corporation announced last month that it has arranged to purchase Smithfield Beef Group and National Beef Packing Company, which will make JBS the largest beef producer in the United States. "JBS' proposal to acquire these two U.S. beef processors would give a single company control of about one-third of the domestic market and a monopoly in many areas of the county," Bingaman said in an interview Tuesday. "I am concerned about the possible antitrust implications of the acquisition, as well as its impact on competitive market access for the many small and independent cattle growers (including) those in Otero County, who are vulnerable to unfair market pricing." Bingaman, D-N.M., said that with no competition, JBS could offer ranchers less for cattle, knowing they have nowhere else to go. There were a total of 622 cattle ranchers in the county according to 2006 government figures....
USDA Finds Violations in Slaughterhouses A federal audit of 18 beef slaughterhouses following the nation's largest beef recall found humane handling violations in four of them, including one serious enough for the plant to be temporarily suspended. The audit by the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service concluded that a plant was insufficiently stunning animals, failing to make them insensible to pain on the first attempt. That plant has taken corrective actions and its suspension has been lifted, said Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer. None of the plants was identified. The audit, which covered slaughterhouses that supply beef to the National School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance programs, was requested by Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee. Schafer provided the results to Kohl in a letter for a hearing on the beef recall Tuesday. The USDA's audit didn't uncover problems with downer cattle, but it did issue "noncompliance" records to plants for excessive use of electronic stunning prods; overcrowding of animals in the pens; and bunching up of cattle going into the stunning area. Those three were in addition to the plant that was suspended for insufficient stunning. In addition, one plant received a "letter of concern" for using a high-powered hose to wash cattle before slaughter. While not a violation, FSIS informed the plant that care should be taken to avoid undue stress or excitement to the animals....
Corn prices eating away cattle profits High prices for corn have farmers smiling, but those same prices are wiping out profits for feedlot operators who have to buy corn to feed cattle, ag specialists say. Many feedlot operators have lost money over the past year because they’ve had to buy ever more expensive corn, according to Ken Olson, beef specialist at South Dakota State University’s West River Ag Center in Rapid City. Next on the hit list will be ranchers who raise the calves to sell to those feedlots, Olson said. “The folks in the feedlot business are losing a lot of money right now because the cost of corn is so high,” Olson said. “They’re not going to be able to pay the kind of prices that they have for calves in the past.” Most of the feedlots in South Dakota are in central and eastern South Dakota. But most West River ranchers focus on raising calves for the feedlots. Wall area rancher Myron Williams is in both parts of the cattle business, raising his own calves, and feeding grain and hay to them and calves he buys. Williams said he hasn’t bought much corn of late because he uses dried distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol process. Dried distillers grain has been a cheaper option than corn in recent years, but it now is in short supply, driving prices up, Olson said. “It used to be less than $100 a ton delivered, but now it’s well in excess of $200 a ton delivered to the ranch,” he said....
Cattle Brands: The Long Rail CHISUM, JOHN SIMPSON (1824-1884). John Simpson Chisum, pioneer cattleman, son of Claiborne C. and Lucinda (Chisum) Chisum, was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on August 16, 1824. Claiborne Chisum, probably the earliest settler in Paris, Texas, was public-spirited and wealthy. John Chisum worked as a store clerk in Paris, served briefly as a road overseer in Hopkins County, accumulated land, operated several small grocery stores, was a member of the I.O.O.F. Lodge, and held the office of Lamar county clerk from 1852 to 1854. With Stephen K. Fowler, a New Orleans investor, he filed on land in northwestern Denton County, purchased a partnership herd, and entered the cattle business with the Half Circle P brand. Chisum also managed herds for neighboring families and various partners and shared in the calves. He became an active cattle dealer in search of markets and drove a small herd to a packing house in Jefferson. Chisum and his partners soon had 18,000 head grazing along the Colorado. In the fall of 1866 he joined Charles Goodnight and others driving cattle to feed the 8,000 Navajos on the Bosque Redondo Reservation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Chisum wintered 600 steers near Bosque Grande, below Fort Sumner, and in the spring sold his herd and contracted to furnish additional cattle. Chisum arranged to supply Goodnight, now ranching in Colorado, with Texas cattle for markets there and in Wyoming. For three years he delivered 10,000 head annually to Goodnight crews at Bosque Grande, for one dollar a head over Texas prices. During this period he the Long Rail brand which was a horizontal line across the entire side of the cow and the Jinglebob earmark for his herds. In 1872 Chisum abandoned his base in Texas and established his headquarters at Bosque Grande; he claimed a range extending more than 100 miles down the Pecos. In November of 1875 he transferred his livestock holdings, estimated at over 60,000 head of cattle, to Hunter, Evans, and Company, a St. Louis beef-commission house, which assumed his indebtedness, mostly for Texas cattle, of over $200,000. Chisum settled at South Spring River, near Roswell, New Mexico. As he helped Hunter and Evans gather cattle for markets, horse thieves and renegade Indians struck branding crews and horse herds. Lincoln County authorities and the army at Fort Stanton offered little help. Simultaneously, Chisum was drawn into the Lincoln County range war of 1878 by festering difficulties generated by his attorney, Alexander A. McSween, and rancher John H. Tunstall, who defied Judge Lawrence G. Murphy's economic stranglehold on the county. In the summer of 1878, with both Tunstall and McSween dead and the county in chaos, Chisum and Hunter and Evans cleared their cattle from the Pecos....