A little-known pipeline could win the race to ship heavy Canadian crude oil from the Midwest to the U.S. Gulf Coast if it comes online as planned in 2015. Called the Eastern Gulf Crude Access Pipeline Project, the 774-mile line would be capable of carrying almost as much oil as the Keystone XL, the controversial pipeline mired in its fifth year of federal review. The Eastern Gulf would run from Patoka, Ill. to St. James, La., carrying oil from North Dakota's Bakken formation as well as Canadian oil sands crude. Both types of oil are creating a bottleneck in the Midwest, which doesn't have the refining or pipeline capacity to handle the large amounts of oil now being produced. The project is a joint venture between Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas, Texas, and Enbridge, Inc. of Alberta, Canada. Enbridge is the company responsible for the largest inland oil pipeline spill in U.S. history—the 2010 accident in Michigan's Kalamazoo River, which is still being cleaned up today. It's also a major competitor of TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL. The 30-inch wide Eastern Gulf pipeline would carry up to 660,000 barrels per day out of Patoka, an industrial hub of the region's refineries, storage facilities and pipelines. Energy Transfer bills the project as the "first pipeline transportation option for transportation of crude oil to the eastern Gulf Coast from the midwest U.S." The Eastern Gulf is just one of many new pipelines designed to move North American oil to the Gulf Coast for refining and export...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Federal agency turns over bison hazing documents after conservation group sues
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has turned over its analysis on the effects of hazing bison back into Yellowstone National Parks on threatened grizzly bears after a conservation group sued for the information. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy dismissed the Alliance for the Wild Rockies' lawsuit on Monday and awarded the alliance $3,531 in attorney fees and costs. Attorney Rebecca Smith of the Public Interest Defense Center filed a complaint on behalf of the conservation group in May asking Molloy to rule that the federal agency acted illegally by not responding and by failing to produce the requested documents. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year rejected the alliance's request to block the annual spring hazing of bison from Montana into the park to make way for cattle to graze. The alliance says helicopters used to haze the bison cause grizzlies, a federally protected species, to panic and flee from their habitat. In April, the alliance requested the file for the Fish and Wildlife Service's analysis on the effects of the hazing on grizzly bears in the area. The group asked for the final analysis and backing documents, along with all correspondence and meeting minutes regarding the analysis...more
Study finds destructive Medfly entrenched in Calif
Fruit flies that are highly destructive to crops are now permanently established in California and spreading, according to a new study published on Wednesday. The study, published in the science journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that despite decades of costly eradication efforts by the state, the Mediterranean fruit fly and the Oriental fruit fly have not been eliminated. The flies' populations are currently low, said study co-author and University of California, Davis entomologist James Carey. But if the state does not change its long-term strategy to control the flies, the future could bring frequent, widespread outbreaks that would devastate California's $43.5 billion agricultural industry, he said. AP
Billionaire environmentalist goes big in Virginia governor's race
Tom Steyer, the environmentalist billionaire who has mounted a national campaign opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, has directed his political operation to spend heavily in the Virginia governor’s race in support of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, POLITICO has learned. Steyer, a California-based financier, instructed advisers on Friday to launch television ads starting this week. The paid-media blitz from his group, NextGen Climate Action, will be the opening salvo in what’s expected to be a much larger effort aimed at mobilizing and turning out climate-oriented voters in a key off-year gubernatorial race.
The enterprise will be a test both of Steyer’s individual influence in electoral politics, and of the impact of heavily-funded advocacy politics within the Democratic Party. The bet, for Steyer, is that making climate issues a prominent part of the Virginia election will nudge the center of national politics in a greener direction, shaping the political landscape for 2014 and 2016 and giving environmental interests a stronger hand to play in Washington policy debates. It will be Steyer’s second major foray this year into electoral politics, after he funded a turnout operation in Massachusetts on behalf of now-Sen. Ed Markey in the special election to replace Secretary of State John Kerry. In 2012, he put about $30 million into a successful home-state ballot initiative, Proposition 39, which will require multi-state companies to pay higher taxes in California and put a percentage of the proceeds toward energy efficiency. Plans for Steyer to play in Virginia have been in the works for some time now: his consultants have already polled the state and drawn up plans for an extensive voter contact and turnout effort. But the timetable for spending money on television accelerated last week in reaction to stepped-up advertising on the Republican side. In a lengthy interview with POLITICO, Steyer outlined the thinking behind his decision to engage in Virginia, calling Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli an environmentalist’s nightmare and describing the 2013 election as an opportunity to send a national message about the power of climate-oriented politics...more
Sagebrush Rebel - Between The Covers
I recently wrote about the new book by William Perry Pendley, Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan's Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today. I plan to write more but in the meantime here's an excellent interview with Pendley conducted by National Review.
New Mexico is the driest of the dry
Scientists in the West have a particular way of walking a landscape and divining its secrets: They kick a toe into loamy soil or drag a boot heel across the desert's crust, leaning down to squint at the tiny excavation. Try that maneuver in New Mexico these days and it yields nothing but bad news in a puff of dust. Across the West, changes in the climate are taking a toll. Almost 87% of the region is in a drought. Nevada is removing wild horses and stocks of cattle from federal rangelands, Wyoming is seeding clouds as part of a long-term "weather modification program," officials in Colorado say the state's southeastern plains are experiencing Dust Bowl conditions, and the entire western U.S. has been beset by more frequent and ferocious wildfires across an ever-more combustible landscape. But nowhere is it worse than in New Mexico. In this parched state, the question is no longer how much worse it can get but whether it will ever get better — and, ominously, whether collapsing ecosystems can recover even if it does. The statistics are sobering: All of New Mexico is officially in a drought, and three-quarters of it is categorized as severe or exceptional. Reservoir storage statewide is 17% of normal, lowest in the West. Residents of some towns subsist on trucked-in water, and others are drilling deep wells costing $100,000 or more to sink and still more to operate. Wildlife managers are hauling water to elk herds in the mountains and blaming the drought for the unusually high number of deer and antelope killed on New Mexico's highways, surmising that the animals are taking greater risks to find water. Thousands of Albuquerque's trees have died as homeowners under water restrictions can't afford to water them, and in the state's agricultural belt, low yields and crop failures are the norm. Livestock levels in many areas are about one-fifth of normal, and panicked ranchers face paying inflated prices for hay or moving or selling their herds. The last three years have been the driest and warmest since record-keeping began here in 1895. Chuck Jones, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said even the state's recent above-average monsoon rains "won't make a dent" in the drought; deficits will require several years of normal rainfall to erase, should normal rain ever arrive...more
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Wolves to roam toward Flagstaff?
Editorial: Change in forest policy could avert fire devastation
Decades
ago, when Smokey Bear became an icon, his mantra was, “Only you can
prevent forest fires.” The warning has since evolved into, “Only you can
prevent wildfires.”
But as we learned with the devastating Carpenter 1 Fire, which was started by a lightning strike and scorched 28,000 acres of Mount Charleston last month, preventing wildfires can exacerbate them.
Scott Abella, a forest ecologist, research professor and expert on forest fires, says such fires are ever more devastating because of the way forests throughout the West are managed by the federal government.
“When U.S. policy became fire is bad — Smokey Bear and all that — there was a huge increase in tree density and underbrush,” Mr. Abella told the Review-Journal’s Henry Brean last month. Translation: Lots of fuel to facilitate the growth and duration of a wildfire, thereby increasing the threat to the forest, property and people.
In the case of the Carpenter 1 Fire, Mr. Brean reported, the Ponderosa pine forest of old featured more widely spaced trees and light ground cover that was regularly swept clean by low-intensity fires in the Spring Mountains.
That’s no longer the case, leading to the overgrowth that Mr. Abella said sets the stage for massive “forest-killing type fires” such as Carpenter 1.
The solution, according to Mr. Abella and a growing number of scientists, is smarter land management policy: thinning trees and brush so the landscape can be allowed to safely burn in the healthy, renewing way it once did before the government got carried away with preservation.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has co-sponsored legislation to simplify such a process. According to Sen. Heller’s office, the Stewardship Contracting Reauthorization and Improvement Act would make it easier for the Bureau of Land Managment and the U.S. Forest Service “to enter into contracts with public or private entities to carry out a variety of land-management projects, including those that can reduce the risk of wildland fire.” If the bill isn’t passed, the Interior Department’s authority to enter such contracts expires at the end of September.
Some people disagree with forest thinning, stating that it’s “logging disguised as restoration,” Mr. Abella said. And so what if it is? If there’s an economic benefit to go with the safety benefit, that makes thinning a doubly good policy.
The Spring Mountains have mostly low-quality wood that isn’t marketable, so costs of thinning couldn’t be recouped. But as Mr. Brean noted, the government just spent $15 million putting out the Carpenter 1 outburst, and without a better policy, taxpayers could be coughing up similar sums on a regular basis. If the Spring Mountains wood can’t be sold, give it away to those who have wood-burning fireplaces. Find a reasonable location to haul the wood to, and invite the public to come and take it all away.
It surely beats the alternative of another devastating blaze that fills our skies with ash. And the next one might not spare Mount Charleston’s homes and residents.
But as we learned with the devastating Carpenter 1 Fire, which was started by a lightning strike and scorched 28,000 acres of Mount Charleston last month, preventing wildfires can exacerbate them.
Scott Abella, a forest ecologist, research professor and expert on forest fires, says such fires are ever more devastating because of the way forests throughout the West are managed by the federal government.
“When U.S. policy became fire is bad — Smokey Bear and all that — there was a huge increase in tree density and underbrush,” Mr. Abella told the Review-Journal’s Henry Brean last month. Translation: Lots of fuel to facilitate the growth and duration of a wildfire, thereby increasing the threat to the forest, property and people.
In the case of the Carpenter 1 Fire, Mr. Brean reported, the Ponderosa pine forest of old featured more widely spaced trees and light ground cover that was regularly swept clean by low-intensity fires in the Spring Mountains.
That’s no longer the case, leading to the overgrowth that Mr. Abella said sets the stage for massive “forest-killing type fires” such as Carpenter 1.
The solution, according to Mr. Abella and a growing number of scientists, is smarter land management policy: thinning trees and brush so the landscape can be allowed to safely burn in the healthy, renewing way it once did before the government got carried away with preservation.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has co-sponsored legislation to simplify such a process. According to Sen. Heller’s office, the Stewardship Contracting Reauthorization and Improvement Act would make it easier for the Bureau of Land Managment and the U.S. Forest Service “to enter into contracts with public or private entities to carry out a variety of land-management projects, including those that can reduce the risk of wildland fire.” If the bill isn’t passed, the Interior Department’s authority to enter such contracts expires at the end of September.
Some people disagree with forest thinning, stating that it’s “logging disguised as restoration,” Mr. Abella said. And so what if it is? If there’s an economic benefit to go with the safety benefit, that makes thinning a doubly good policy.
The Spring Mountains have mostly low-quality wood that isn’t marketable, so costs of thinning couldn’t be recouped. But as Mr. Brean noted, the government just spent $15 million putting out the Carpenter 1 outburst, and without a better policy, taxpayers could be coughing up similar sums on a regular basis. If the Spring Mountains wood can’t be sold, give it away to those who have wood-burning fireplaces. Find a reasonable location to haul the wood to, and invite the public to come and take it all away.
It surely beats the alternative of another devastating blaze that fills our skies with ash. And the next one might not spare Mount Charleston’s homes and residents.
Fewer lawsuits, bigger harvests will restore timber industry
by U.S. Rep. Steve Daines
Montana once boasted a strong timber industry that helped maintain healthy forests, supported local jobs and provided a steady revenue stream for our counties and schools.
But in recent decades, inflexible federal policies and unrelenting appeals and lawsuits have imposed a huge administrative burden on federal agencies, limited our mills’ access to timber and ultimately resulted in the mismanagement of our forests, leaving our homes and businesses at risk for wildfire.
A U.S. Forest Service official recently acknowledged that the abundance of litigation has played a “huge role” in blocking responsible timber sales in Montana and other Region 1 states, including projects supported by collaborative groups consisting of timber and conservation leaders.
“It has virtually shut things down on the national forest,” U.S. Forest Service Deputy Chief Jim Hubbard stated during a recent Natural Resources Committee hearing.
The result: Montana used to be home to more than 30 lumber mills. Now we have just seven.
Vulnerable to wildfire
This has left numerous Montana counties without the necessary funds to provide for communities’ needs, like emergency services and pay for teachers. It has also left our forests more vulnerable to wildfire. Last summer, Montana experienced one of the worst fire seasons in our state’s history, and this year’s fires have already consumed thousands of acres of trees. This is unacceptable.
Over the past few months, I’ve met with managers of Montana’s lumber mills, conservation groups and local elected officials to have candid conversations about how we can revitalize our timber industry and keep our forests healthy.
The responsible and active management of our national forests is critical for the health of Montana’s economy, as well as the health of our forests themselves.
That’s why I helped introduce the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act. This bill will help revitalize the timber industry throughout Montana and create thousands of good, long-term jobs. It also tackles beetle kill, protecting our environment for future generations and reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfires in Montana.
The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act will cut the red tape that has held up responsible forest management and timber production. It includes comprehensive reforms to discourage and limit the flood of frivolous appeals and litigation. It also requires the Forest Service to increase timber harvests on non-wilderness lands, now that it will have much-needed latitude to do its work. This improved management will protect the health of our forests and watersheds, the safety of our communities and jobs in the timber industry.
BLM to premier new film Wednesday night
The Bureau of Land Management will host a premiere of its new film, “Arctic Visions and Voices,” on Wednesday at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks. A reception will start at 7 p.m., with the film screening at 8. The 34-minute film celebrates the landscapes, natural history, and people of northern Alaska with a focus on the Dalton Highway area. The premiere is sponsored by the Alaska Public Lands Information Center and Alaska Geographic. It is free and open to the public...more
Were you aware the BLM was an award-winning film maker? Yes, they won a bronze medal "telly" award in the travel/tourism category for a version of this film.
You thought they were broke didn't you. Well apparently not. We need more sequesters. Otherwise, they will complete the mutation from the Bureau of Livestock & Mining to the Bureau of Liberals & Movies.
Were you aware the BLM was an award-winning film maker? Yes, they won a bronze medal "telly" award in the travel/tourism category for a version of this film.
You thought they were broke didn't you. Well apparently not. We need more sequesters. Otherwise, they will complete the mutation from the Bureau of Livestock & Mining to the Bureau of Liberals & Movies.
BLM wild horse program slammed in National Academy of Sciences report
An independent report released today by The National Academy of Sciences is critical of the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States and urges changes to its current roundup policies. The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros, to model the effects of management actions on the animals, or to assess the availability and use of forage on rangelands, the report by the 14-member panel of the National Research Council states. Evidence suggests that horse populations are growing by 15 to 20 percent each year, a level that is unsustainable for maintaining healthy horse populations as well as healthy ecosystems. BLM's current policy regarding the removal of wild horses, may be causing more harm to populations than the BLM's intentions, the report says. The panel says there are promising birth control methods available to help limit this population growth as well as science-based methods for improving population estimates and predicting the effects of management practices in order to maintain genetically diverse, healthy populations, and estimating the productivity of rangelands...more
Or better yet, ship them to Roswell.
USGS interactive map tracks U.S. water flows
A new U.S. Geological Survey interactive map lets viewers trace the nation’s waterways – both where they go and where they come from. Click on little Beaver Creek in the Mission Mountains, and see its contribution spread throughout the Flathead Basin to the Columbia River. Reverse the process at St. Louis, Mo., and see how Missouri River barge traffic depends on all of eastern Montana for source water. “Connectivity is underappreciated,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research ecologist Jock Conyngham. “A lot of people tend to focus on the big trunk channels. This is a good way to remind people of the significance of small tributary channels.” The map can zoom in to the level of almost any named stream or creek, and out to encompass the entire nation. A click on the mouths of major rivers like the Columbia, Mississippi or Colorado divide the country into huge drainages. Downstream displays aren’t as dramatic, unless you consider the point of view of a fish. The Streamer map lets users locate points of interest by name, GIS coordinates, USGS streamflow gauging station number or simply scanning the map for regions. It can print images of upstream or downstream traces, along with reports of the river miles, populations affected and other details about a selected waterbody. It gives historic and current streamflow figures derived from those gauging stations...more
The Streamer map is here.
The Streamer map is here.
LA Times: Anarchy along Mexico's southern border crossings
CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico — The Mexican government is pledging to bring order to its wild southern border. The stakes couldn't be higher, and the job couldn't be more difficult. The proof lies in this dusty border town of 14,000 people. Here, unmonitored goods and travelers float across the wide Suchiate River — the boundary between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas — on a flotilla of inner-tube rafts. They cross all day long, in plain sight of Mexican authorities stationed a few yards upriver at an official border crossing. Some of the Central Americans are visiting just for the day. Others are hoping to find work on Mexican coffee plantations or banana farms. But many will continue north toward the United States. There is no guarantee they will ever get there. Lying in wait are Mexican criminals, and even Mexican officials, who aim to kidnap northbound travelers, extort money from them and sometimes even rape and kill them. About 10,000 such migrants have disappeared in Mexico every year since 2008, according to Mexican government estimates. Along with drug violence and the slaying of journalists, the ugly fate of the Central American migrant has become one of the darkest stains on Mexico's reputation. The U.S. has as much interest as does Mexico in ensuring that the flow is stanched, particularly as Congress, in its consideration of immigration reform proposals, debates whether undocumented migrants can be effectively dissuaded from showing up on the U.S. doorstep. Central American migrants are a growing source of concern for the U.S. Although the number of Mexicans detained for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has been steadily declining, the number of non-Mexicans apprehended jumped from about 47,000 in fiscal 2011 to 94,500 in fiscal 2012, according to government statistics. Most were Central Americans, fleeing the region's stagnant economies, gang violence and street crime. (Despite their declining numbers, Mexicans, still represent the majority of people apprehended at the US border.) The Mexican government estimates that 300,000 of those who cross the nation's southern border each year without authorization are headed to the United States...more
BLM settlement prompts new air analysis, online drilling updates
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) settled a lawsuit with environmental groups on Monday, agreeing to conduct new analysis of air pollution impacts from oil and gas drilling on public land in Garfield County and the surrounding area. The agency also agreed to establish an Internet tracking system for drilling permits evaluated by the Colorado River Valley Field Office, which includes Garfield County, the Roaring Fork Valley and the Thompson Divide area. Environmental groups had specifically challenged 34 projects in Garfield County, with permits granted to various gas companies between 2008 and 2010. New permits for the drilling areas will use new analysis of air quality impacts. The BLM stopped relying on the Roan analysis in late 2011, when they began using a new air quality model. The settlement agreement states the agency can no longer rely on the old Roan air work for the 34 projects at issue. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in June 2011 by Wilderness Workshop, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club. Those groups agreed, in the settlement, no longer to “seek to prevent the drilling, construction and/or operation of wells or of any equipment or facilities associated with any wells” based on deficient BLM air quality review...more
Officials want Green Mountain lookout to stay
Members of Congress are asking the U.S. Forest Service to delay plans to move the Green Mountain forest fire lookout out of the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Rick Larsen, both Democrats who represent portions of Snohomish County, and a member of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter Friday to the chief of the Forest Service describing their intent to pass legislation to protect the lookout where it sits. In July, Darrington Historical Society member Scott Morris joined DelBene and Larsen in testifying before the congressional committee in support of the Green Mountain Heritage Protection Act, which could be heard by the full House of Representatives in September. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, also Democrats, also are pursuing identical legislation in the Senate. At a cost of about $100,000, the Forest Service is planning to use a helicopter to haul away the lookout from the 6,500-foot mountain and put it down eight miles away at the top of Circle Peak, also in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The plan follows an order by the U.S. District Court in Seattle to remove the lookout. The court sided with a lawsuit by Montana-based Wilderness Watch against the Forest Service for using a helicopter to shore up the lookout, a violation of the federal Wilderness Act...more
Monday, August 05, 2013
Eagles doom Ca. wind project
A plan to build 27 wind turbines on a mountain range east of Apple Valley appears doomed, a Bureau of Land Management official said Friday. BLM Barstow Resources Branch Chief Mickey Quillman said he was told this week by the BLM project manager that developer RES Americas withdrew its application to build the Granite Mountain Wind Energy Project. “I have not seen anything officially in writing, but it’s my understanding that the project has gone by the wayside,” Quillman said. Attempts to reach RES Americas were not immediately successful on Friday. An RES official confirmed last month that the company terminated its agreement to sell the power generated by the project to Southern California Edison — another grim sign for the project. The plan had been on the drawing board for more than five years. The development hit a major snag when golden eagles were found nesting near the project site, which lies on 72 acres in the Granite Mountain range near Apple Valley and Lucerne Valley. Quillman did not know the reasons for RES’ decision, but he said the golden eagle issue was not resolved and was likely a factor in the project’s downfall...more
The DC Deep Thinkers have got endangered species eating other endangered species and endangered species killing green energy projects, all while the science behind the listings are kept secret. An impressive policy, ain't it?
The DC Deep Thinkers have got endangered species eating other endangered species and endangered species killing green energy projects, all while the science behind the listings are kept secret. An impressive policy, ain't it?
Wyo. to get its first Forest Legacy Program grant ($3 million from the supposedly broke Forest Service)
The Jackson Hole Land Trust will use a $3 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service to buy conservation easements. The easements will be located on acreage near Munger Mountain south of Jackson. Land trust land protection manager Liz Long says the amount of property the grant will preserve is being determined through an appraisal. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Legacy Program. Long tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/15lDB5a ) that the project is considered original for Wyoming because it is the first Forest Legacy grant to be awarded in the state. Since 1990, the Forest Legacy Program has preserved more than 2.3 million acres. A conservation easement will limit development of the property. AP
I thought the FS was so broke they were having problems fighting fires, were unable to maintain camping grounds and that all their programs were "starved". Yet here they are giving $3 million away to tie up more private property (at the direction of the Deep Thinkers in Congress).
Birthplace of Rivers National Monument in the works
Efforts are underway to create a national monument in West Virginia. It would be the first in the state and the first of its kind on the east coast. Mike Costello is the Executive Director of the WV Wilderness Coalition. His organization was instrumental in recent (2009) federal legislation that designated over 37,000 acres of the Monongahela National Forest as Wilderness—affording it special protections. The coalition is now working in combination with many other organizations on a new initiative that would have more than one hundred thousand acres in the Mononghela National Forest designated as a national monument called the Birthplace of Rivers National Monument. “National monuments are special designations that aim to preserve special resources that exist on federal public lands,” Costello explains. “These can be historic resources; they can be cultural resources; they can be scientific, ecologically significant resources and in this particular area we have all of them. This is the epitome of what a national monument should be.” There are several national monuments here in the East United States—most are small, historical sites. Costello says, if designated, this would be the only large-scale wild lands monument on the East Coast. The project plans to include about 123,000 acres in and around the Cranberry Wilderness which includes the headwaters of the Cranberry, Williams, Cherry, Greenbrier, Gauley and Elk rivers...more
West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a state of the Confederacy during the Civil War, so they deserve all the wilderness and national monuments the feds can grant. And good luck harvesting that coal.
West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a state of the Confederacy during the Civil War, so they deserve all the wilderness and national monuments the feds can grant. And good luck harvesting that coal.
3,600 mink released by activists at Idaho mink farm - video
Ranchers are frustrated after an extreme animal rights group broke into a mink ranch in Declo, Idaho, and released thousands of animals from their cages. Mark Moyle is the manager at the Moyle Mink Ranch. "I was downright upset!" He found a surprising scene Monday morning. About 20 percent of his animals had been let loose from their cages. Some were still on the ranch, but many of those had run through holes in the outer fence. "What they did is, they came in from the south side, cut that perimeter fence up on that side," said Moyle. "After they did that, they came in and opened up the pens over on this side here, six sheds of pens. That's 3,600 mink that escaped." Moyle also found breeding papers thrown into a pile, severely hampering their breeding programs. Moyle says they've recovered about 90 percent of the mink, but some are still showing up at neighbors, and some they're finding killed on the road. Moyle says that's because the animals are used to being fed by machines, and so they run right to the oncoming cars. "These people are releasing mink and they're domesticated animals out there," said Moyle. "Unfortunately, what they did wasn't humane because now they're getting run over on the highway." Claiming responsibility is the Animal Liberation Front, an extreme animal rights group that also claimed responsibility for arson at a Middleton fur shop in 2011. "They're just terrorists, plain and simple," said Cassia County Undersheriff George Warrell. "They're a terrorist group. They do a lot of damage, and in an area like this where we have a rural farm-base community, that really affects us."...more
Here's the KTVB.COM video report:
Here's the KTVB.COM video report:
Song Of The Day #1070
Hank Penny - Walking Home From An Old Country School (1939)
Available on the Krazy Kat cd Flamin' Mamie.
http://youtu.be/8DB7-p8f2mU
Available on the Krazy Kat cd Flamin' Mamie.
http://youtu.be/8DB7-p8f2mU
Sunday, August 04, 2013
Garden of Eden to become Iraqi national park
THE "Garden of Eden" has been saved, even as chaos grows all around. Last week, amid a wave of bombings on the streets of Baghdad, Iraq's Council of Ministers found time to approve the creation of the country's first national park – the centrepiece of a remarkable restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes in the south of the country. This vast wetland of reed beds and waterways, home of the Ma'dan Marsh Arabs, is widely held to be the home of the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, the paradise where Adam and Eve were created and from which they were subsequently expelled. After the Gulf war in 1991, Iraq's president, Saddam Hussain, used dykes, sluices and diversions to cut off the country's two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. This drained 93 per cent of the marshes, largely obliterating the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East. The purpose was to expel the rebellious Ma'dan, but in the end, it sped Saddam's downfall in 2003. Invading US tanks were able to drive north over the desert he had created and enter Baghdad far more easily. The Ma'dan later returned and broke the dykes. Water returned to some areas, as did the reed beds that sustained the birdlife and water buffalo. Conservationists have been amazed that, despite the disappearance for many years of most of the marsh, every species survived...The main issue now is the hydro-politics of the region. Syria, Turkey and Iran, Iraq's upstream neighbours, are increasingly restricting the flows of the Tigris and Euphrates. In response, Nature Iraq has persuaded the Iraqi government to construct an embankment to enable water flow in the Euphrates to be diverted onto the marshes in spring, recreating the strong "pulse" of water that is essential to its ecological cycles. Last year, 76 per cent of the potentially restorable marshland flooded...more
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
by Julie Carter
There is very little more exciting to a youngster at the
ranch than branding time. It represents a coming of age for them as they work
their way up the ranks through skill-appropriate jobs in the branding pen.
Spencer was 11 and had been to every branding since he was
big enough to walk. However, this year was different. This was the first time
he’d be allowed to spend the night in camp down on the river with the other
hands.
As a special treat Jim, the boss, allowed Spencer to invite
two friends who looked to be about the right size for flanking calves. One was
another ranch kid, the other a town kid who aspired to one day be a cowboy.
Allen, the camp cook, had gathered up plenty of firewood,
good groceries and all that he needed to feed the crew supper and a big
breakfast.
After supper, the requisite campfire tales were told while
the boys listened wide-eyed. When the adults drifted off to sleep, they decided
to do a little exploring, run a bit and play awhile. This required keeping the
campfire going.
This went on well into the night and until wee hours of the
morning. The excited young “buttons” decided there was no need to sleep now, so
they just kept the fire going while they swapped more tales, waiting for their
big day to get underway.
When Jim came down to join the hands for breakfast, the cook
was mad, which is never a good thing under any circumstances. Everybody was
standing around with saddled horses, but nothing was happening about breakfast.
When Allen calmed down enough to speak, he reported there was no firewood so
there was no food.
Telling him it was not a problem, Jim said they would go
gather the first pasture to give him some time and then be back later to eat.
Jim instructed the boys to go with him and they followed
along thinking this was their big opening to go with the boss. Jim was riding a
colt that needed some miles, so he took the outside circle, dropping off
cowboys along the way. Three sleepy young punchers continue to follow behind
the boss.
When they got to the pens with the cattle, everybody ate and
the work started. The boys were assigned to the flanking crew as two ropers
drug calves to the branding fire in a rapid procession. The young buttons
didn’t have any time to think about much else except the next calf coming at
them.
By noon the first pasture was worked, momma cows and babies
paired back up and turn out. Jim sent everybody except the boys to the cook’s
wagon to eat. The boys were told to gather firewood, then eat last. Just as
they hit the wagon to eat, Jim was ready to gather the second pasture and said,
“You boys come with me.”
The second pasture was the same routine. The boys got to
perfect their flanking and another chance to gather more firewood.
Late in the afternoon after the third pasture was gathered,
worked, flanked and a little more wood gathered, the neighbors and hands that
had come to help drifted off toward home.
Jim told the boys to gather just a little more firewood in
case they needed to brand again someday. Lesson learned, Spencer knew better
than to object and the other ranch kid was in robot mode. The city kid decided
to become a lawyer.
The good news is that for the next 20 years, no one would
have to gather any more firewood to cook breakfast.
Cowboying is tough work, but “young button” lessons
sometimes make it tougher.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com.
Halpin McCauley and the Power Wagon Challenge
The Cherokee
Canyon Buck
Halpin McCauley
True West character and the Power Wagon Challenge
By Stephen L. Wilmeth
The head of Cherokee Canyon
and the Moonhull country south from there was once an enchanting country to
hunt a deer. Hunting down there with Halpin McCauley was a treat for any kid. We’d
crawl out on one of those big hillsides and have an excuse to eat our lunch.
“Son, this is a 12 shot hillside,” Uncle
Hap would suggest.
“Oh, I don’t know,” would be the reply. “It
might beat that.”
He’d contemplate what you said and then
he’d tell you a story of a deer he killed in this very spot. You’d lay there
fascinated by yet another grand deer hunt.
“Yea, he was a good deer,” he concluded,
“but he sure wasn’t as good as that Cherokee
Canyon buck we’ve seen.”
I knew darn well what he meant about the Cherokee Canyon buck. I had seen him, too. My dad
and I had seen him and got a second look at him when we hustled across a saddle
to meet him coming back to us around the other side of a hill. He was, in fact,
in Cherokee Canyon when we first saw him.
The
hunt and beyond
The next day we were back and this time
we came up from the old Turner place on foot. Jerry Carter and my brother were
with us. We had rimmed out and crossed into the head of Cherokee when somebody
started shooting from where we had just come. Looking back to the sounds
several bucks were seen on the skyline. The mounted hunters continued to blast
away. The deer were scattering from our view into the drainage now between us.
Shortly, one of those deer came into view
right in front of us. Initially, all you could see was the flash of horns, but
the way he was coming you just knew he was a big deer. Could it be?
The deer was within a rocks throw from us
when we got a shot. He was ours … a good deer, but the big deer, the real
Cherokee buck, he was not.
Our day, though, was now before us.
We had to get this deer out.
The walk to Uncle Hap and Aunt Mary’s at
the mouth of the Mangus was a long one. Before we got there we had concluded
the easiest way to get the deer out was to take a horse back and pack him.
Eating lunch with Uncle Hap, we had to
tell him the whole story. He was interested in the deer, of course, but he was
more interested in our insistence we had to take a horse to get the deer.
“Tell me again where that deer is,” was his
inquiry. “I think we can get a truck right to him.”
My dad assured him that there was no way,
but now Hap was challenged. Outside sat his brand new 1967 Dodge Power Wagon. Hap
was as proud of that truck as he was his International crawler and his
Remington 721 .270. My dad’s insistence only redoubled Hap’s intent.
“Let’s
go,” was his unilateral decision.
The
challenge
We crossed the river and drove up Davis Canyon
to the mouth of Cherokee. There was a two track up Cherokee from that point. We
knew we could get a good way up the drainage, but the prospects of packing that
deer a long way still seemed like the most likely outcome.
When we reached a point where a two wheel
drive pickup would be stalled, my dad told Hap, “Well, we’ll have to walk from
here.”
Hap didn’t even respond. He got out and
locked the hubs and onward we crept. When a tree halted our progress, my dad
again served notice we would be walking.
“Son, bring that chainsaw,” Hap
requested. Three pulls and the David Bradley came to life.
“Takes three men and a little boy to hold
that thing doesn’t it?” Hap reflected in his business monotone.
Onward we crept. The next obstacle was a
cut bank. This time it was my dad.
“Bring me that shovel,” he ordered.
From that point, we were a team. Hap was
beaming in that Hap McCauley way with his lips pursed. We were going to get
there.
Searching, seeking, attempting, cutting,
engineering we made our way up the drainage. The Dodge crawled around and over
and under and through. Hap was seriously intent now. His hat was now tipped
down low and his eyes were reduced to slits. This was now a challenge in only
the way he could address such a thing.
The next stop seemed impossible, but Jerry
Carter was now fully in the battle. “Hap, what size is your high lift jack?” he
asked.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” was the
response.
This time, though, near tragedy was
afoot. We had the truck suspended with two quarters on blocks and the near side
slid off the jack. The left rear quarter panel was crushed against the
rock.
“Jack ‘er up again,” was the order now from
the field marshal.
When we got it up, Hap goosed it off the
blocks and we landed on the bench forward of the back tires.
About the time someone was trying to
finish, “Gheez, Uncle Hap we’re sorry about your truck”… bang! He hit the
quarter panel with a sledge hammer and drove it back out of the way to be free
of the tire.
“We can fix that,” was all he said. “Let’s
go.”
Respect
From that point forward there was no
turning back. There was no thought of anything short of full victory. We were a
family. He was ours and we were his … And, we cherish his memory … and his humor
…and his patience … and his curiosity more each passing year.
The last deer I got I went by to share the
event with him. He was then frail and it was near the end. I told him I needed
him to come out to the truck and share something with me.
“I’m getting pretty weak, son,” he told me
with some embarrassment.
“Guess that means I may have to help
you, then,” was my response.
As we approached the side of the pickup, he
could smell what was there. “Where did you get him,” was his question before he
could even see the deer.
“Not so far I had to build a road to get to
him,” I smiled at him.
We stood there and talked until he tired. It was then I saw his response and his
apparent pain. I reached to help him, and, with my hands on him, I hugged him. He
couldn’t say anything more. He just stood there with tears in his eyes and
looked at me.
“I know, Uncle Hap . . . me, too.”
Stephen
L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New
Mexico. “Hap
McCauley was one of the great characters of the modern West. A book of Hap
stories could be written, and, if circumstances allow and God is willing, he will
be back from time to time for a visit.”
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