Judge orders federal government to decide polar bear listing A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed with conservation groups that the department missed a Jan. 9 deadline for a decision. She rejected a government request for a further delay and ordered it to act by May 15. "Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days," the judge, based in Oakland, Calif., wrote in a decision issued late Monday. "Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the delay, much less further delay." Allowing more time would violate the Endangered Species Act and congressional intent that time was of the essence in listing threatened species, Wilken wrote. The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast to oil company bidders. A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger a recovery plan with consequences beyond Alaska. Opponents fear it would subject new power plants and other development projects to federal review if they generate greenhouse gasses that add to warming in the Arctic....
State Management of Wolves Recipe for Conflict A month ago the wolf was delisted under the Endangered Species Act and state wildlife agencies were permitted to take over wolf management. Most state wildlife agencies profess a desire to minimize human-wolf conflicts. Yet their management plans are, without exception, guaranteed to create greater conflicts. All state wildlife agencies (and FWS employees in charge of managing wolves are as guilty) conveniently ignore the socio-biological relationship of predators like the wolf which makes any indiscriminate killing of animals counter productive. Just as a hundred years of coyote persecution has failed to reduce rancher/coyote conflicts, so called wolf “management” by the states will have the same effect. Indiscriminate killing of predators--and hunting by sportsmen and/or predator control by wildlife services is indiscriminate--disrupts wolf social relationships within packs, relations with other packs, as well as relations with other predators. Even if hunting/predator control worked--which it doesn’t--it is a blunt tool at best for resolving wolf-human conflicts....
LA Times - Keeping gray wolves alive That didn't take long. One month after the gray wolves of the northern Rockies were expelled from the endangered species list, at least 35 have been shot and killed. That's nearly twice the number killed in the first four months of last year, when shooting the wolves was allowed almost solely to protect livestock. The federal government will not intervene again on the wolves' behalf until their numbers fall as low as 300. Taxpayers will then bear the burden of re-listing the wolves. That's partly why environmentalists have gone to court over the delisting. The Fish and Wildlife Service should re-list the wolves until it receives more reasonable management plans from the states involved, and should demand that the population fall no lower than 1,000. The wolves weren't reintroduced to provide target practice for hunters....
Association of Counties opposes Mexican gray wolf reintroduction Members of New Mexico Association of Counties recently banded together to oppose the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico. "These wolves were kicked out of Arizona," said Tony Atkinson, chairman of San Juan County Commission. "They're not wild." Atkinson is vice president of the Association of Counties. The group acted during its meeting last month, held in Truth or Consequences. The wolves are of more concern to New Mexico's southern counties, where cattle ranching plays a larger part of local economies than in San Juan County. The animals migrate, however, and that habit prompted the statewide group to band together against their reintroduction. "The New Mexico Association of Counties shall oppose any rule or proposed rule related to the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf that does not provide the opportunity for continual involvement of New Mexico's county elected officials in the decision-making process," the resolution stated. The group's opposition is keyed to the present lack of recognition to county officials to protect the safety, health and prosperity of their citizens and communities....
Wild Sky Wilderness bill finally clears Congress Dreams of a Wild Sky Wilderness are a pen stroke from reality today. A bill providing permanent federal protection on 106,000 acres of public land in eastern Snohomish County cleared its final hurdle in Congress on Tuesday and is headed to President Bush for approval. The president is expected to sign the bill that would give Washington its first new wilderness area in a generation. "It does feel real now," said Tom Uniack, conservation director of the Washington Wilderness Coalition that campaigned for Wild Sky. "The bill has passed Congress and that has been the uphill hike." The final legislative action came Tuesday when the House of Representatives voted 291-117 to pass the Consolidated Natural Resources Act. This package of 61 different bills dealing mostly with federal properties includes legislation to create Wild Sky. The Senate approved the same bill April 10....
Pickens sends landowners letters A select number of property owners from Childress to Jacksboro learned this week that T. Boone Pickens would like to do a little business with them. The man who has made billions in gas, oil and hedge funds has an ambitious plan to build a combination water pipeline and electric transmission line from Roberts County in the Panhandle to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Landowners along the proposed route got notification that Pickens’ company is interested in buying right-of-way from them — or seizing it through the law of eminent domain. The North Texas properties are in Hardeman, Wilbarger, Wichita, Archer and Jack counties. The notices, on joint letterhead from Mesa Power and the Roberts County Fresh Water Supply District, invited property owners along the route to attend a series of open houses to learn more. “It scared me,” said one woman who lives on a single acre near Scotland in Archer County and received a notice. “They talk pretty tough in the letters,” said Wichita County Commissioner Bill Presson. The proposed pipeline route runs through a portion of his precinct near Electra. Presson said it appears that by teaming with the water district, Pickens essentially created a public utility, giving him the power of eminent domain....
To Save a Species, Serve It for Dinner SOME people would just as soon ignore the culinary potential of the Carolina flying squirrel or the Waldoboro green neck rutabaga. To them, the creamy Hutterite soup bean is too obscure and the Tennessee fainting goat, which keels over when startled, sounds more like a sideshow act than the centerpiece of a barbecue. But not Gary Paul Nabhan. He has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often involves urging people to eat them. Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35). “This is not just about the genetics of the seeds and breeds,” said Mr. Nabhan, an ethnobotanist and an expert on Native American foods who raises Navajo churro sheep and heritage crops in Arizona. “If we save a vegetable but we don’t save the recipes and the farmers don’t benefit because no one eats it, then we haven’t done our work.”....
Bison Can Thrive Again, Study Says Bison can repopulate large areas from Alaska to Mexico over the next 100 years provided a series of conservation and restoration measures are taken, according to continental assessment of this iconic species by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups. The assessment was authored by a diverse group of conservationists, scientists, ranchers, and Native Americans/First Nations peoples, and appears in the April issue of the journal Conservation Biology. The authors say that ecological restoration of bison, a keystone species in American natural history, could occur where conservationists and others see potential for large, unfettered landscapes over the next century. The general sites identified in the paper range from grasslands and prairies in the southwestern U.S., to Arctic lowland taiga in Alaska where the sub-species wood bison could once again roam. Large swaths of mountain forests and grasslands are identified as prime locations across Canada and the U.S., while parts of the desert in Mexico could also again support herds that once lived there....
Relief, disappointment expressed after Rio Arriba drilling halt Rio Arriba County may be the recipient of legal action from a Fort Worth, Texas-based oil producing company in the wake of county commissioners' unanimous vote April 24 to halt oil and gas drilling for four months. The commissioners' action pertains to "the entirety of the territory of Rio Arriba County, except for state, federal and tribal lands, over which the county has no jurisdiction, and any lands within the zoning jurisdiction of a municipality." "This is better than I expected it to be, but I also believe it is unnecessary," said Tom Mullins, principal/engineering manager of Synergy Operating, LLC. in Farmington. "We have more than sufficient regulations and rules to protect the environment." The moratorium won't affect Mullins' company, which holds leases only on federal lands. The vote was enough to prompt Texas company Approach Resources to indicate in a letter hand-delivered to commissioners that legal action was likely. Rio Arriba County Manager Lorenzo J. Valdez would not divulge the contents of the letter, other than to say that it specified amounts of damages Approach Resources wanted to recoup from the county....
Ex-fire boss pleads guilty in 4 deaths A former fire boss on Tuesday pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the deaths of four firefighters in the 2001 Thirtymile Fire near Winthrop, Okanogan County. Ellreese Daniels, 47, of Lake Wenatchee, Chelan County, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle to two misdemeanor counts of making false statements to investigators. In exchange, the government dropped four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven felony counts of making false statements. Sentencing was set for July 23 in what is believed to be the first criminal case against a wildland firefighter for the death of comrades on the line. "Like all plea agreements, there was a recognition of the evidence and the law as it exists," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice. "We feel this is an appropriate disposition of the case." Daniels' trial was set to begin Monday. Federal defender Tina Hunt, Daniels' lawyer, said the agreement was fair because Daniels had not committed any crimes and should not face felony charges....
Officials probe poison deaths of prairie dogs State wildlife officials are investigating the poisoning deaths of at least 11 Utah prairie dogs in a southwestern Utah subdivision. Lynn Chamberlain, a spokesman for the Division of Wildlife Resources, said Tuesday that 10 of the dead prairie dogs were lactating females and that each probably was nursing about four pups. Chamberlain said the agency became aware of the problem Monday, when a woman out for her daily walk in Enoch noticed just a few of the federally protected rodents poking their heads aboveground from their burrows. Normally there are 100 or more. "She thought it was unusual and called," Chamberlain said. When investigators arrived at the subdivision The Fields, they recovered 57 peanut-butter balls laced with poisoned grain. They had been placed over the weekend around and in the rodent burrows and in the yards of some houses. The culprit or culprits could face state and federal felony charges. Chamberlain said a reward of at least $1,000 will be offered for information leading to an arrest....
Officials Challenge Mark Rey on Plum Creek Road Easements The dust kicked up by closed-door negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Company to amend forest road easements brought Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to Missoula Monday, where he apologized for keeping western Montana counties in the dark but did little to ease concerns that local communities will increasingly bear the burden of Plum Creek's transition into residential real estate. Rey, a Bush Administration appointee and overseer of the Forest Service, said he's "extremely sensitive" to the effects the development of Plum Creek's timber lands could have -- increased firefighting in the wildland-urban interface, road maintenance and other public service costs, plus environmental impacts -- "but that sensitivity does not empower me to write new laws," he said, and in the end Plum Creek can do whatever it wants with its land. "You ought to think harder about executing these responsibilities yourselves," he said, whether through zoning or other means. Rey acknowledged where this controversy may be headed: court. "We get sued a lot," he said. "I don't expect this will be any different."....
Stolen truck hits Juneau police vehicle A stolen truck struck a Juneau police cruiser Monday morning on Egan Drive after officers attempted to stop the vehicle, according to the police. Police reported that the truck's driver, a 14-year-old boy, failed to stop after police attempted to initiate a traffic stop near the intersection of Mendenhall Loop Road and Glacier Highway. According to the police, officers followed the truck, which slowed for a traffic light at Egan Drive. A Juneau police officer and a Forest Service law enforcement officer used their vehicles to surround the truck. According to the report, the truck collided with the police cruiser, causing $1,500 in damage. No injuries were reported....Remember this story the next time you hear the Forest Service claim they don't have enough money or personnel for law enforcement. They are too busy arresting car thieves.
Wyoming’s air is getting thick Recently, I heard an ozone warning for the first time on Wyoming radio. I grew up in the tiny town of Saratoga and have lived in Wyoming for 27 of my 34 years, and during that time I’ve watched air quality decrease in other places — like Denver. But I never expected to hear air-quality alerts in Sublette County, Wyo., where hardly anybody lives. The warning meant that children and the elderly should not go outside and breathe the mountain air; although the radio did not say that, the local newspaper did. The ozone is caused by pollutants emitted from natural gas fields in the area combined with weather conditions and temperature inversions. The warning was repeated three times over the course of 12 days. To think that this rural region is faced with air-quality issues similar to Los Angeles and Denver is downright sad. Then for this last Christmas, the Bureau of Land Management gave the citizens of Sublette County an ominous present: the Pinedale Anticline Draft Revised Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The bureaucratic mouthful is a proposal for 4,000 new gas wells in a field that already has 500 and that is the root cause of our decreased air quality....
Bull trout to remain listed as threatened species in Lower 48 Bull trout should remain listed as a threatened species in the Lower 48, and some populations may be studied for additional protections under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday. The agency announced its decision after a five-year review of the status of the fish, which is found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. "This maintains the status quo and provides opportunities for future considerations," said Ted Koch, a Fish and Wildlife biologist in Boise, Idaho. Koch said a decision will be made later this year on whether to break bull trout into five distinct populations that will be evaluated separately for future protection and recovery efforts. Environmentalists praised the decision, but said it is time to end studies and act to restore bull trout numbers. Bull trout were designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1998 and 1999. A member of the salmon family, they are typically found in high mountain streams, where the water is clean and cold....
Report Targets Costs Of Factory Farming Factory farming takes a big, hidden toll on human health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers, concludes an independent, 2 1/2 -year analysis that calls for major changes in the way corporate agriculture produces meat, milk and eggs. The report released yesterday, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, finds that the "economies of scale" used to justify factory farming practices are largely an illusion, perpetuated by a failure to account for associated costs. Among those costs are human illnesses caused by drug-resistant bacteria associated with the rampant use of antibiotics on feedlots and the degradation of land, water and air quality caused by animal waste too intensely concentrated to be neutralized by natural processes. Several observers said the report, by experts with varying backgrounds and allegiances, is remarkable for the number of tough recommendations that survived the grueling research and review process, which participants said was politically charged and under constant pressure from powerful agricultural interests. In the end, however, even industry representatives on the panel agreed to such controversial recommendations as a ban on the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals -- a huge hit against veterinary pharmaceutical companies -- a phaseout of all intensive confinement systems that prevent the free movement of farm animals, and more vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws in the increasingly consolidated agricultural arena....
Experts urge U.S. to bar drugs in animal feed A panel of experts, assembled in part by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is recommending that the United States ban the routine use of antibiotics in farm animal feed. The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production also proposes better tracking of diseases among farm animals, to help prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to humans. "We've got too many animals too close together producing too much waste without any realistic way of handling the waste," said John Carlin, a farmer and former Kansas governor who chairs the commission. The routine use of antibiotics in hogs and chickens in Pennsylvania, Maryland and elsewhere has prompted complaints from neighbors and researchers who suggest it can create drug-resistant supergerms. Feeding antibiotics to animals weakens the ability of the drugs to fight diseases in humans. A 111-page report released yesterday by the Pew Commission suggested that meat processing companies should share the responsibility of disposing of animal waste so that it doesn't run off into waterways....
FDA's new animal feed rules will hurt livestock-related industries Tighter federal restrictions on animal feed are expected to put added financial pressure on the livestock production, slaughter and rendering industries. The Food and Drug Administration's final rule banning certain materials from use in all animal feed, which took effect April 25, will cost livestock-related industries up to $81 million a year, according to the agency's economic analysis. Under the new rule, the brains and spinal cords of cattle over 30 months of age - closely linked to the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy - cannot be rendered for use in any animal food. The previous feed ban, enacted in 1997, only barred these materials from use in ruminant feed. The new rule prohibits making feed from rendered whole carcasses, such as those supplied by on-farm cattle deaths, unless it's proven the dead animals were under 30 months of age or the brain and spinal cords were removed. This may effectively saddle cattle producers with an additional $39 million in disposal costs and another $3.5 million to replace the lost feed. Slaughter facilities, meanwhile, are expected to lose $2.4 million annually in labor, facilities and other expenses. Rendering plants stand to lose $36 million, largely due to the loss of raw material and disposal costs....
Gunman uses cows for target practice A Tooele County rancher says he lost nine head of cattle and a calf to a gunman who apparently used his herd for target practice on public land in Skull Valley. Martin Anderson, of Grantsville, said he found the 10 Charlet cross beef cattle ''strewn around'' a popular climbing rock Friday in fields where his family's herd has grazed for 50 years. Six of the animals and the calf were shot dead; the other three were euthanized, Anderson said. "The calves were all lying by their dead mothers - that's a sad sight to see," Anderson said. The animals had bullet wounds in their heads, torsos, shoulders and hips, and many were shot multiple times, he said. When Anderson found them Friday evening, their injuries appeared to be a day or so old, he said. The financial loss is $10,000 to $15,000, he estimated. The Humane Society of Utah is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the shooter....