Saturday, January 08, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Judge kills general dam-building Coal-bed methane producers may no longer construct "in-channel" water reservoirs under a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers general permit. U.S. District Judge William Downes signed a decision Friday overturning the general permit, which has allowed producers to proceed with some methane projects without seeking individual permits. The industry constructs hundreds of in-channel reservoirs in northeast Wyoming to control water that is pumped from coal seams in the production of coal-bed methane. And many of those reservoirs come under the authority of the corps. "Ranching is our lifestyle. And it (in-channel dam construction) was compromising our lifestyle completely. We have personally experienced the impacts," said Campbell County rancher Bernadette Barlow, who had testified in the case....
Lawsuit targets grazing U.S. Bureau of Land Management is in the initial stages of a court-ordered study of grazing impacts on sensitive bird species on 11 allotments in Elko County, but Western Watersheds Project now says it's not enough. Ranchers, on the other hand, are worried about grazing losses because of the Western Watersheds Project lawsuit that led to the study. The Idaho-based group recently filed a new request in federal court in Reno asking Judge Howard McKibben for an injunction to stop grazing on the 11 allotments....
Sage Grouse Doesn't Merit Protected Lists, U.S. Finds The Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that the sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird of the arid West, will not be placed on the lists of species requiring special protection. The grouse's numbers have declined, sporadically, for the last century. A listing for special protection often requires businesses whose activities could harm the habitat of a plant or animal to take sometimes costly measures to minimize their impact. The wide range of the sage grouse, which can be found in 11 Western states, meant that listing it could have cost ranchers and oil and natural gas companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost time or minimized access to land. The decision, which followed the recommendation of an internal group of scientists and managers, rested in part on the idea that private-public conservation efforts, like those recently expanded by the Bureau of Land Management, would help restore and maintain existing grouse populations. But conservation groups said voluntary efforts could not be depended on to protect the bird....
Western Governors Pledge to Continue Sage Grouse Conservation Efforts Western Governors pledged today to continue their efforts to promote conservation of the Greater Sage Grouse with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's expected announcement that the bird does not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act. "This is the right decision for the sage grouse, for conservation and for the West," said Gov. Bill Owens, chairman of the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and a co-lead for ESA related issues. "This decision ensures that the most effective efforts to conserve the sage grouse will continue, and it demonstrates that the states are ready and willing partners in the protection of the country's endangered species."....
Governor praises grouse decision Gov. Dave Freudenthal praised the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to leave the sage grouse off the endangered species list. "From the beginning, we have advanced the notion that the states, in conjunction with our federal partners, provide the best opportunity to conserve the sage grouse," Freudenthal said Friday. "Now we get a chance to prove that theory."....
Man's 14- year forest stay comes to end Bear Thomas-Hunter is packing up his van, his horse and his three pet wolves, and hitting the road. Forest Service officials wish he had done his packing weeks ago. Thomas-Hunter is a volunteer campground host who has lived for 14 years in a small trailer at Gould Mesa campground, tucked away at the bottom of the Arroyo Seco. Forest Service officials recently informed him by certified letter that they want him out. Howard Okamoto, recreation officer for the Los Angeles River Ranger District, said the campground doesn't need a full-time monitor between Dec. 1 and April 1....
New orders guiding federal land exchanges Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton has issued new orders guiding federal land exchanges that would prevent a repeat of Utah's errant San Rafael land swap and could affect another Utah exchange being negotiated. The guidelines will keep Interior Department negotiators from unilaterally stretching the national appraisal rules to try to take into account scenic value, endangered species habitat or public policy objectives. When those hard-to-measure values need to be addressed, negotiators can depart from the appraisal rules, but they must notify Congress and the Interior Department's inspector general and clearly explain the valuation method, Norton wrote....
Effort Under Way to Weaken U.S. Endangered Species Law For the first time in three decades, critics of the Endangered Species Act are building momentum to rewrite the law implemented to save America's threatened flora and fauna, from the star cactus to the grizzly bear. Weakening the law has been a priority for Republican Western governors, and a second Bush term provides critics of the act a prime opportunity to push the U.S. Congress for changes that would help open up vast stretches of wilderness for development. Rep. Richard Pombo of California, chairman of the House of Representatives natural resources committee, is expected to introduce legislation this session to revamp the law. Activists on both sides of the issue say there is little chance of truly gutting the act given its mission of saving plants and animals, but environmentalists fear it could become significantly watered down....
Oil, gas drilling going to court The clash over expanding oil and gas drilling in the West will play out in federal court next week when environmentalists challenge a deal between Utah and the Interior Department on proposed wilderness areas that critics argue sacrifices the region's pristine areas for unbridled development. The case before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver stems from a 2003 agreement that settled a lawsuit by the state of Utah. That state opposed protecting federal land proposed by the public for wilderness designation. The deal, though, reaches far beyond Utah; it applies to millions of acres throughout the West previously shielded from development while advocates lobbied for permanent protection. "This affects millions of acres of our most pristine, remote wild lands in very fundamental ways for years to come," said Jim Angell, a lawyer with the Denver office of Earthjustice, which will represent several environmental groups in a hearing Wednesday in the federal appeals court....
Navajo pass water rights settlement The Navajo Nation Council passed a New Mexico water rights settlement and agreed to give up 44 percent of its water rights claims to the San Juan River Basin. LaVern Wagner, Resources Committee vice chairperson and delegate from Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse, N.M. praised passage of the water rights settlement. ''I'm proud of the prestigious 20th Navajo Nation Council delegates for taking action and voting in favor of the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement. ''This settlement agreement has been in negotiating discussions for over a decade. It is important that the settlement agreement is finally moving forward to make the terms of the water rights settlement agreement a reality to improve the social economic wellbeing and living standards of many Navajo people in New Mexico....
Students to follow leg of Gold Rush trail A group of students, including youngsters from Crane, McCamey and Rankin, will retrace the route of gold rush adventurer William P. Huff this month. Huff’s trip, recounted in a 300,000-word diary, tells of his trip from near Houston to Fresno, Calif. In this case, the four-leg trip started at Socorro Mission in El Paso on Jan. 4 and ends near Houston Jan. 29. Each morning, students will read from Huff’s diary, then travel his route that day. They will discuss diary segments in terms of content and vocabulary, but the readings are also meant to prepare students to closely compare what they will see to what Huff wrote more than 150 years ago, a news release said. Students will help harness mules, hook the wagons, learn to drive the mules, help pitch camp every night and generally experience as much of 1800s pioneer life as possible. Youngsters will also take notes along the day then find a quiet spot to record their thoughts into a tape recorder....
Cowgirl legend Kramer dies at 91 One month after her 91st birthday, National Cowgirl Hall of Fame celebrity Bobby Brooks Kramer died Wednesday evening. She was surrounded by a lifetime of trophies and awards from horse shows and cutting contests at her Billings home. Known throughout Montana and the West as an excellent horsewoman and a savvy rancher, Kramer was one of the first women to begin riding rodeo broncs for prize money. With the shortage of men after World War II and trucks and tractors replacing work horses, many horses were out of a job and got kicked out on the open range. After marrying Bud Kramer, Mrs. Kramer and her husband ranched near Cohagen in Garfield County. Part of their ranch income involved capturing these open range ponies, breaking them and selling them as riding or draft horses. For years they would ship up to 10,000 horses annually by railroad out of Ingomar....
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Judge kills general dam-building Coal-bed methane producers may no longer construct "in-channel" water reservoirs under a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers general permit. U.S. District Judge William Downes signed a decision Friday overturning the general permit, which has allowed producers to proceed with some methane projects without seeking individual permits. The industry constructs hundreds of in-channel reservoirs in northeast Wyoming to control water that is pumped from coal seams in the production of coal-bed methane. And many of those reservoirs come under the authority of the corps. "Ranching is our lifestyle. And it (in-channel dam construction) was compromising our lifestyle completely. We have personally experienced the impacts," said Campbell County rancher Bernadette Barlow, who had testified in the case....
Lawsuit targets grazing U.S. Bureau of Land Management is in the initial stages of a court-ordered study of grazing impacts on sensitive bird species on 11 allotments in Elko County, but Western Watersheds Project now says it's not enough. Ranchers, on the other hand, are worried about grazing losses because of the Western Watersheds Project lawsuit that led to the study. The Idaho-based group recently filed a new request in federal court in Reno asking Judge Howard McKibben for an injunction to stop grazing on the 11 allotments....
Sage Grouse Doesn't Merit Protected Lists, U.S. Finds The Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that the sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird of the arid West, will not be placed on the lists of species requiring special protection. The grouse's numbers have declined, sporadically, for the last century. A listing for special protection often requires businesses whose activities could harm the habitat of a plant or animal to take sometimes costly measures to minimize their impact. The wide range of the sage grouse, which can be found in 11 Western states, meant that listing it could have cost ranchers and oil and natural gas companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost time or minimized access to land. The decision, which followed the recommendation of an internal group of scientists and managers, rested in part on the idea that private-public conservation efforts, like those recently expanded by the Bureau of Land Management, would help restore and maintain existing grouse populations. But conservation groups said voluntary efforts could not be depended on to protect the bird....
Western Governors Pledge to Continue Sage Grouse Conservation Efforts Western Governors pledged today to continue their efforts to promote conservation of the Greater Sage Grouse with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's expected announcement that the bird does not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act. "This is the right decision for the sage grouse, for conservation and for the West," said Gov. Bill Owens, chairman of the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and a co-lead for ESA related issues. "This decision ensures that the most effective efforts to conserve the sage grouse will continue, and it demonstrates that the states are ready and willing partners in the protection of the country's endangered species."....
Governor praises grouse decision Gov. Dave Freudenthal praised the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to leave the sage grouse off the endangered species list. "From the beginning, we have advanced the notion that the states, in conjunction with our federal partners, provide the best opportunity to conserve the sage grouse," Freudenthal said Friday. "Now we get a chance to prove that theory."....
Man's 14- year forest stay comes to end Bear Thomas-Hunter is packing up his van, his horse and his three pet wolves, and hitting the road. Forest Service officials wish he had done his packing weeks ago. Thomas-Hunter is a volunteer campground host who has lived for 14 years in a small trailer at Gould Mesa campground, tucked away at the bottom of the Arroyo Seco. Forest Service officials recently informed him by certified letter that they want him out. Howard Okamoto, recreation officer for the Los Angeles River Ranger District, said the campground doesn't need a full-time monitor between Dec. 1 and April 1....
New orders guiding federal land exchanges Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton has issued new orders guiding federal land exchanges that would prevent a repeat of Utah's errant San Rafael land swap and could affect another Utah exchange being negotiated. The guidelines will keep Interior Department negotiators from unilaterally stretching the national appraisal rules to try to take into account scenic value, endangered species habitat or public policy objectives. When those hard-to-measure values need to be addressed, negotiators can depart from the appraisal rules, but they must notify Congress and the Interior Department's inspector general and clearly explain the valuation method, Norton wrote....
Effort Under Way to Weaken U.S. Endangered Species Law For the first time in three decades, critics of the Endangered Species Act are building momentum to rewrite the law implemented to save America's threatened flora and fauna, from the star cactus to the grizzly bear. Weakening the law has been a priority for Republican Western governors, and a second Bush term provides critics of the act a prime opportunity to push the U.S. Congress for changes that would help open up vast stretches of wilderness for development. Rep. Richard Pombo of California, chairman of the House of Representatives natural resources committee, is expected to introduce legislation this session to revamp the law. Activists on both sides of the issue say there is little chance of truly gutting the act given its mission of saving plants and animals, but environmentalists fear it could become significantly watered down....
Oil, gas drilling going to court The clash over expanding oil and gas drilling in the West will play out in federal court next week when environmentalists challenge a deal between Utah and the Interior Department on proposed wilderness areas that critics argue sacrifices the region's pristine areas for unbridled development. The case before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver stems from a 2003 agreement that settled a lawsuit by the state of Utah. That state opposed protecting federal land proposed by the public for wilderness designation. The deal, though, reaches far beyond Utah; it applies to millions of acres throughout the West previously shielded from development while advocates lobbied for permanent protection. "This affects millions of acres of our most pristine, remote wild lands in very fundamental ways for years to come," said Jim Angell, a lawyer with the Denver office of Earthjustice, which will represent several environmental groups in a hearing Wednesday in the federal appeals court....
Navajo pass water rights settlement The Navajo Nation Council passed a New Mexico water rights settlement and agreed to give up 44 percent of its water rights claims to the San Juan River Basin. LaVern Wagner, Resources Committee vice chairperson and delegate from Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse, N.M. praised passage of the water rights settlement. ''I'm proud of the prestigious 20th Navajo Nation Council delegates for taking action and voting in favor of the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement. ''This settlement agreement has been in negotiating discussions for over a decade. It is important that the settlement agreement is finally moving forward to make the terms of the water rights settlement agreement a reality to improve the social economic wellbeing and living standards of many Navajo people in New Mexico....
Students to follow leg of Gold Rush trail A group of students, including youngsters from Crane, McCamey and Rankin, will retrace the route of gold rush adventurer William P. Huff this month. Huff’s trip, recounted in a 300,000-word diary, tells of his trip from near Houston to Fresno, Calif. In this case, the four-leg trip started at Socorro Mission in El Paso on Jan. 4 and ends near Houston Jan. 29. Each morning, students will read from Huff’s diary, then travel his route that day. They will discuss diary segments in terms of content and vocabulary, but the readings are also meant to prepare students to closely compare what they will see to what Huff wrote more than 150 years ago, a news release said. Students will help harness mules, hook the wagons, learn to drive the mules, help pitch camp every night and generally experience as much of 1800s pioneer life as possible. Youngsters will also take notes along the day then find a quiet spot to record their thoughts into a tape recorder....
Cowgirl legend Kramer dies at 91 One month after her 91st birthday, National Cowgirl Hall of Fame celebrity Bobby Brooks Kramer died Wednesday evening. She was surrounded by a lifetime of trophies and awards from horse shows and cutting contests at her Billings home. Known throughout Montana and the West as an excellent horsewoman and a savvy rancher, Kramer was one of the first women to begin riding rodeo broncs for prize money. With the shortage of men after World War II and trucks and tractors replacing work horses, many horses were out of a job and got kicked out on the open range. After marrying Bud Kramer, Mrs. Kramer and her husband ranched near Cohagen in Garfield County. Part of their ranch income involved capturing these open range ponies, breaking them and selling them as riding or draft horses. For years they would ship up to 10,000 horses annually by railroad out of Ingomar....
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MAD COW DISEASE
Animal From Canada Mad Cow Herd May Have Reached U.S. The Canadian government said that an animal raised with an 8-year-old cow that had mad cow disease may have been sent to the U.S. An initial investigation suggests one cow from the infected cow's birth ``cohort'' of 141 animals may have gone to the U.S., Gary Little, senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told reporters in a conference call from Ottawa. There may be others, he said, while declining to be more specific. ``It is too early to speculate on how many animals and their BSE-status,'' Little said, referring to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the scientific name for the disease. Little said nine dairy cows from the birth cohort -- animals born on the same farm and within a year of the infected animal -- have been located and will be slaughtered and tested for BSE. Some U.S. lawmakers and a ranchers group have cited Canada's second case of mad cow disease, confirmed Jan. 2, as a reason to scuttle plans to ease a 19-month-old import ban on Canadian cattle. Tyson Foods Inc. and National Beef Packing Co. said they will cut beef production in the U.S. partly because of tight animal supplies. Beef from some of the animals being traced may have gotten into the human food chain, Little said. Those animals ``represent a very low risk,'' he said, as ``multiple cases in the same birth cohort is rare.'' ``What we can't say is that's a zero risk,'' he said. ``That doesn't exist.''....
Government tries to find cow related to infected animal Government officials were trying Friday to trace a cow shipped to the United States from the same Canadian herd as an animal infected with mad cow disease, yet officials said it was unlikely the imported cow had been infected. In Canada, investigators identified 93 dairy and 48 beef animals that were born in the year before through the year after the infected cow was delivered in October 1996. Investigators are trying to trace all 141 animals, including the one shipped to the United States. "USDA believes it is extremely unlikely that this imported cow would have been infected," said Ron DeHaven, administrator for the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Nonetheless, DeHaven said, the department is making "every reasonable effort to obtain and provide information about the disposition of this animal as well as any other birth cohorts that are traced to the United States through Canada's epidemiological investigation."....
Ottawa downplays mad cow health worries Information about the infected cow gathered so far includes:---she gave birth to two offspring, both of which have since died of causes unrelated to BSE,---her birth herd of 93 cattle comprised 55 bull calves that would have been slaughtered very young. Of the remaining 38 animals, one tested negative for BSE late last year, and another nine have been located and placed under quarantine,---another 48 beef cattle that were born on her farm of origin between 1995 and 1997 are also being sought. Some of the animals have likely died, been slaughtered or even exported to the United States, officials added....
Statement By Dr. Ron DeHaven Administrator, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service "The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in their investigation of the Canadian dairy cow that recently tested positive for BSE. This investigation is focused on identifying birth cohorts - animals born in the same herd within one year of the affected animal. The preliminary investigation has shown that one of these birth cohorts was imported into the United States in February 2002 for immediate slaughter. USDA, in collaboration with FDA, is currently tracing the disposition of this animal and will provide further details as the investigation evolves. "Even at the height of BSE infection in Europe and the United Kingdom, it was extremely rare to have more than one animal in the same herd affected with BSE, therefore USDA believes it is extremely unlikely that this imported cow would have been infected."....
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Animal From Canada Mad Cow Herd May Have Reached U.S. The Canadian government said that an animal raised with an 8-year-old cow that had mad cow disease may have been sent to the U.S. An initial investigation suggests one cow from the infected cow's birth ``cohort'' of 141 animals may have gone to the U.S., Gary Little, senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told reporters in a conference call from Ottawa. There may be others, he said, while declining to be more specific. ``It is too early to speculate on how many animals and their BSE-status,'' Little said, referring to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the scientific name for the disease. Little said nine dairy cows from the birth cohort -- animals born on the same farm and within a year of the infected animal -- have been located and will be slaughtered and tested for BSE. Some U.S. lawmakers and a ranchers group have cited Canada's second case of mad cow disease, confirmed Jan. 2, as a reason to scuttle plans to ease a 19-month-old import ban on Canadian cattle. Tyson Foods Inc. and National Beef Packing Co. said they will cut beef production in the U.S. partly because of tight animal supplies. Beef from some of the animals being traced may have gotten into the human food chain, Little said. Those animals ``represent a very low risk,'' he said, as ``multiple cases in the same birth cohort is rare.'' ``What we can't say is that's a zero risk,'' he said. ``That doesn't exist.''....
Government tries to find cow related to infected animal Government officials were trying Friday to trace a cow shipped to the United States from the same Canadian herd as an animal infected with mad cow disease, yet officials said it was unlikely the imported cow had been infected. In Canada, investigators identified 93 dairy and 48 beef animals that were born in the year before through the year after the infected cow was delivered in October 1996. Investigators are trying to trace all 141 animals, including the one shipped to the United States. "USDA believes it is extremely unlikely that this imported cow would have been infected," said Ron DeHaven, administrator for the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Nonetheless, DeHaven said, the department is making "every reasonable effort to obtain and provide information about the disposition of this animal as well as any other birth cohorts that are traced to the United States through Canada's epidemiological investigation."....
Ottawa downplays mad cow health worries Information about the infected cow gathered so far includes:---she gave birth to two offspring, both of which have since died of causes unrelated to BSE,---her birth herd of 93 cattle comprised 55 bull calves that would have been slaughtered very young. Of the remaining 38 animals, one tested negative for BSE late last year, and another nine have been located and placed under quarantine,---another 48 beef cattle that were born on her farm of origin between 1995 and 1997 are also being sought. Some of the animals have likely died, been slaughtered or even exported to the United States, officials added....
Statement By Dr. Ron DeHaven Administrator, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service "The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in their investigation of the Canadian dairy cow that recently tested positive for BSE. This investigation is focused on identifying birth cohorts - animals born in the same herd within one year of the affected animal. The preliminary investigation has shown that one of these birth cohorts was imported into the United States in February 2002 for immediate slaughter. USDA, in collaboration with FDA, is currently tracing the disposition of this animal and will provide further details as the investigation evolves. "Even at the height of BSE infection in Europe and the United Kingdom, it was extremely rare to have more than one animal in the same herd affected with BSE, therefore USDA believes it is extremely unlikely that this imported cow would have been infected."....
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Friday, January 07, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Protection not likely for sage grouse Secretary of Interior Gale Norton is expected to announce today that the greater sage grouse is not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Listing would have meant added protection for the bird, whose numbers have dropped from 2 million in the mid-19th century to fewer than 200,000. "This is great news for everyone across the West, highlighting this administration's willingness to listen to the ideas and perspectives of the scientific community, as well as local and tribal governments and those most impacted by such a listing," said U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. He said, "Listing of the greater sage grouse would have triggered a number of cumbersome regulations and costly land-use restrictions throughout the state of Colorado." Allard said by empowering local people to develop their own conservation plans and allowing them to work in partnership to strengthen the bird population, the species can be protected and the goals of the Endangered Species Act furthered without action from the federal government....
Critter rights imperil graves The wood stork, the indigo snake and the gopher tortoise are delaying construction of a military cemetery in Florida. Environmentalists are concerned that the burial ground for veterans would harm wetlands and the endangered species that live there. Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican, says he is "deeply disturbed" by the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to approve quickly work on the site, west of Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County. He said animals and ponds should not take precedence over veterans....
Wolf comeback turns predator into prey The US Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced that it will now be easier for ranchers and others in the Northern Rockies to shoot wolves. Some environmentalists and animal-lovers object. But the new regulations in fact are a sign that the wolf - hunted to near-extinction over the past century - is making a healthy comeback. Gray wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s are thriving, to the discomfort of elk and coyotes, who used to have the run of the place, and to the delight of tourists who gather to catch a glimpse of the mythic animal and to hear its distinctive howl. The wolf's presence there has helped restore the ecosystem to something closer to the natural, which is part of the argument for allowing wolves to live elsewhere as well - as long as they don't eat too many sheep, cows, or game animals favored by sport hunters. Meanwhile, administration officials say wolf populations in the upper Midwest have grown to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list, and they've loosened the restrictions on shooting wolves from airplanes in Alaska....
Sierra Club Cautiously Optimistic About State Management of Wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke new ground in endangered species management by transferring limited management authority to the states of Montana and Idaho today – a move that comes prior to the species’ official delisting. The rule change will be published in the Federal Register today, sparking a cautiously optimistic stance from the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservation group. "With broader state level participation in wolf management, wildlife managers in Montana and Idaho will now have the chance to prove themselves worthy of continuing the success the federal government has had in bringing wild wolves back from extinction in the West," said Bart Semcer, Sierra Club’s Washington, D.C. Representative for Fish and Wildlife Policy....
Grizzly Bear Livestock Kills Drop in 2004 Defenders of Wildlife paid $12,795 in grizzly bear compensation funds to ranchers and sheep growers in 2004, representing a 32% drop from the previous year. Payments were for one horse, 9 cattle and 13 sheep that were confirmed kills by grizzly bears and an additional three calves that were most likely bear kills. In all, Defenders has paid $112,668 in compensation from The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Grizzly Bear Compensation Trust since its founding in 1997. "Prevention and compensation are crucial for grizzly bear recovery in the West. While overall losses may be small, individual ranchers feel the sting when it's their sheep or cattle." said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife. "These initiatives help prevent problems in the first place, and promptly compensate local people when they do occur."....
Citing Costs, U.S. Trims Critical Habitat for Santa Ana Sucker The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has eliminated critical habitat for the endangered Santa Ana sucker fish in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, saying the economic benefits of the new plan outweigh the benefits to the fish. The agency kept 8,305 acres of critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker in Los Angeles County along the San Gabriel River and Big Tujunga Creek. Originally more than 20,000 acres, most of it along the Santa Ana River, had been designated under a court order last February. The decision is the latest by the Bush administration to scrap critical habitat, which can complicate home and road building, dams and other development. Construction on critical habitat can require additional federal permits....
Column: Endangered act At the Western Governors Association's two-day Executive Summit on the Endangered Species Act, I told the governors that the Endangered Species Act is broken – that it was born broken. The ESA is based on a flawed understanding of the Americas at Columbian contact and on the myth of the balance of nature. In addition, it is not even an endangered species act; it is an endangered subpopulation and distinct population segment act. It uses a regulatory approach born in the Nixon administration, and it ignores the role of states and landowners. It ignores incentives. A new endangered species act should correct these misunderstandings....
Coal keeps cruising Wyoming coal miners continued to break industry records in 2004, including the high-water mark for production, surprising even market analysts. More than 4,500 coal miners in the state collectively scooped 395.8 million tons of coal, according the Casper Star-Tribune's annual statewide survey. That's 19.5 million tons more than the year before -- an increase of more than 5 percent and the largest annual increase since 2001....
Drilling battle Fight brews over Valle Vidal future The 100,000-acre Valle Vidal in Northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains is a place of spectacular beauty, say people who've grown up in the area and people who love to visit it. New Mexico's largest elk herd makes its home there. Rio Grande cutthroat trout swim in its blue-ribbon mountain streams. And oil and gas companies want to drill there for methane trapped in underground coal-bed seams. The threat of mineral exploration is bringing together an unlikely group of bedfellows who oppose drilling in the scenic area. The Coalition for the Valle Vidal has more than 60 members so far, from a longtime Republican businessman in Raton to the Western Environmental Law Center in Taos and the town councils of Eagle Nest, Cimarron and Taos. Members include hunters, anglers, scientists, politicians and environmental activists -- groups that don't always get along in the Land of Enchantment's political landscape....
Bill proposed to force talks before drilling Rep. Kathleen Curry says her constituents have told her, loud and clear, that she should protect landowners who don't own the mineral rights to oil and gas underneath their properties from the energy companies that do own those rights. She's working on a bill to do just that. "It basically forces both parties to come to the table and negotiate a surface-use agreement before a final permit to drill can be issued," Curry said Tuesday. Curry's bill, which Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, is co-sponsoring, would compensate landowners for damages from "loss of agricultural production and income, loss of land value, loss of land use, loss of value of improvements, damage to on-site water supplies and costs of surface reclamation."....
Fight bubbles up over vernal pools Controversy still swirls around the Central Valley's vernal pools, the seasonal wetlands now returning to the center of political struggle. Under legal pressure, the Bush administration this month is reconsidering which Valley lands should be deemed critical habitat for endangered vernal pool species. In time, several Valley counties could find themselves back in the same critical habitat zone that local officials thought they had once escaped. "I'm very concerned," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced. "We need to re-rally the troops who had fought this in the first place."....
Nevada Gets Green Light to Drill for Water in Desert National Wildlife Refuge Plans to drill for water within Nevada’s Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex moved closer to realty yesterday when the Nevada State Engineer granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority permission to drill seven groundwater wells within and around the Refuge. Pumping from the proposed wells could potentially damage springs and streams containing habitat for endangered species, including many that are found nowhere else. “Wildlife refuges are for wildlife,” said Brian Segee, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife “The Desert Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states and one of Nevada’s greatest natural treasures. This is the last place the state should be looking to drill.”....
Drought provokes regional response: Santa Fe, Albuquerque to import water for growth, but prolonged dry spell could affect the West's source New Mexico is increasingly relying on water from the Colorado River Basin to support growth just as the federal government warns that ongoing drought might force cutbacks for all states with rights to the river. Speaking at a water conference in Nevada last month, top federal officials warned that the prolonged drought means that New Mexico and the six other states that draw from the Colorado River must devise a plan by April 1 spelling out how they can cut consumption. "We have now completed five years of drought, and we don't know when it will end," Stephen Griles, deputy secretary of the Interior, told the Colorado River Water Users Association on Dec. 17. "That is the reality we collectively face in the Colorado Basin."....
Historic AuSable River dam to be removed The AuSable River dam, built during the former mill town's lumbering days but now posing a threat to fish hatcheries, will be removed, a legislator said Thursday. After decades of debate, state and local officials have reached an agreement to dismantle the structure, which dates from the late 1800s, said state Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena. The job should be done by early March. The $385,000 project will be funded by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Native Americans' income increasing Native Americans, the poorest minorities in the United States, made substantial economic and social gains in the last decade of the 20th century, according to a report released Wednesday by Harvard's American Indian Project on Economic Development. The study, which compared census data from 1990 and 2000, showed income and education increased, housing improved, and poverty and unemployment decreased. Arizona tribes shared in the gains, which paved the path to independence, local Native leaders said....
Country music has strong year in 2004 Early predictions of increased album sales of Country Music in 2004 proved true with 77,912,000 units sold from Jan. 5, 2004, through Jan. 2, 2005 – a 12 percent increase over 2003, which had sales of 69,311,000 units, according to figures released today by Nielsen SoundScan. The news was promising with a 1.6 percent rebound of the total music industry following a four-year period of steady decline, which was stemmed slightly in 2003 once Internet and digital track sales were factored into the equation by Nielsen SoundScan research. Overall music purchases in 2004 exceeded 800 million for the fist time since 2000. And while the bulk of the industry slumped since that time, Country Music pushed to develop the next round of Country hitmakers. By mid 2004, the outlook was promising when for the first time in five years, Recording Industry Association of America shipments for the first half of the year increased (RIAA tabulates store shipments which are expected to be future sales to consumers and Nielsen SoundScan tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product). “Country Music held its own and even enjoyed growth during a very tumultuous period for the music industry over the past five years,” said CMA Executive Director Ed Benson....
Greeley hatter making custom cowboy hat for Bush A custom cowboy hat being handcrafted by a Greeley hatter will be presented to President Bush before inauguration but probably won't be worn during the swearing in ceremony Jan. 20. ''No president has worn a hat for inauguration since JFK quit wearing them,'' said Trent Johnson, owner of Greeley Hat Works Inc. The sand-colored pure beaver felt hat will be presented to Bush by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which each year commissions Johnson to build a custom hat for the group's president. In 2002, the cattlemen's group asked Johnson to create a one-of-a-kind hat for a Denver appearance by President Bush. Johnson said the president wears that hat regularly and keeps it handy in the Oval Office. The 2005 Republican calendar has a photograph of Bush wearing the hat on the steps of the White House....
Church favors boots-and-jeans crowd The Narrow Trail Cowboy Church in Plano may seem like a study in contradictions to some. Held beneath a covered patio at the Love and War In Texas restaurant, it attracts more suburban professionals than real rural cowhands. Yet, it's one of three so-called cowboy churches that have sprung up in Collin County in recent months with moral support from the Collin Baptist Association. Statewide, there are more than 30. This is a place where folks say they can worship God in pointy-toed cowboy boots or comfy tennis shoes without feeling judged or preached at....
Rodeo Pioneer Gerald Roberts Dead at 85 Gerald Roberts, the longtime rodeo star who worked in Western films, has died. He was 85. Roberts died Dec. 31 and was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Abilene. Roberts, whose brother and sister also were successful on the rodeo circuit, won his first world all-around world title in 1942 at the age of 22. He won a second world championship six years later. He was one of the charter members of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita in 1961, and was later inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Roberts, who started a rodeo gear company in 1964, worked in Hollywood for some time, serving as a stunt double for actors such as Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon....
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Protection not likely for sage grouse Secretary of Interior Gale Norton is expected to announce today that the greater sage grouse is not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Listing would have meant added protection for the bird, whose numbers have dropped from 2 million in the mid-19th century to fewer than 200,000. "This is great news for everyone across the West, highlighting this administration's willingness to listen to the ideas and perspectives of the scientific community, as well as local and tribal governments and those most impacted by such a listing," said U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. He said, "Listing of the greater sage grouse would have triggered a number of cumbersome regulations and costly land-use restrictions throughout the state of Colorado." Allard said by empowering local people to develop their own conservation plans and allowing them to work in partnership to strengthen the bird population, the species can be protected and the goals of the Endangered Species Act furthered without action from the federal government....
Critter rights imperil graves The wood stork, the indigo snake and the gopher tortoise are delaying construction of a military cemetery in Florida. Environmentalists are concerned that the burial ground for veterans would harm wetlands and the endangered species that live there. Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican, says he is "deeply disturbed" by the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to approve quickly work on the site, west of Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County. He said animals and ponds should not take precedence over veterans....
Wolf comeback turns predator into prey The US Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced that it will now be easier for ranchers and others in the Northern Rockies to shoot wolves. Some environmentalists and animal-lovers object. But the new regulations in fact are a sign that the wolf - hunted to near-extinction over the past century - is making a healthy comeback. Gray wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s are thriving, to the discomfort of elk and coyotes, who used to have the run of the place, and to the delight of tourists who gather to catch a glimpse of the mythic animal and to hear its distinctive howl. The wolf's presence there has helped restore the ecosystem to something closer to the natural, which is part of the argument for allowing wolves to live elsewhere as well - as long as they don't eat too many sheep, cows, or game animals favored by sport hunters. Meanwhile, administration officials say wolf populations in the upper Midwest have grown to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list, and they've loosened the restrictions on shooting wolves from airplanes in Alaska....
Sierra Club Cautiously Optimistic About State Management of Wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke new ground in endangered species management by transferring limited management authority to the states of Montana and Idaho today – a move that comes prior to the species’ official delisting. The rule change will be published in the Federal Register today, sparking a cautiously optimistic stance from the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservation group. "With broader state level participation in wolf management, wildlife managers in Montana and Idaho will now have the chance to prove themselves worthy of continuing the success the federal government has had in bringing wild wolves back from extinction in the West," said Bart Semcer, Sierra Club’s Washington, D.C. Representative for Fish and Wildlife Policy....
Grizzly Bear Livestock Kills Drop in 2004 Defenders of Wildlife paid $12,795 in grizzly bear compensation funds to ranchers and sheep growers in 2004, representing a 32% drop from the previous year. Payments were for one horse, 9 cattle and 13 sheep that were confirmed kills by grizzly bears and an additional three calves that were most likely bear kills. In all, Defenders has paid $112,668 in compensation from The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Grizzly Bear Compensation Trust since its founding in 1997. "Prevention and compensation are crucial for grizzly bear recovery in the West. While overall losses may be small, individual ranchers feel the sting when it's their sheep or cattle." said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife. "These initiatives help prevent problems in the first place, and promptly compensate local people when they do occur."....
Citing Costs, U.S. Trims Critical Habitat for Santa Ana Sucker The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has eliminated critical habitat for the endangered Santa Ana sucker fish in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, saying the economic benefits of the new plan outweigh the benefits to the fish. The agency kept 8,305 acres of critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker in Los Angeles County along the San Gabriel River and Big Tujunga Creek. Originally more than 20,000 acres, most of it along the Santa Ana River, had been designated under a court order last February. The decision is the latest by the Bush administration to scrap critical habitat, which can complicate home and road building, dams and other development. Construction on critical habitat can require additional federal permits....
Column: Endangered act At the Western Governors Association's two-day Executive Summit on the Endangered Species Act, I told the governors that the Endangered Species Act is broken – that it was born broken. The ESA is based on a flawed understanding of the Americas at Columbian contact and on the myth of the balance of nature. In addition, it is not even an endangered species act; it is an endangered subpopulation and distinct population segment act. It uses a regulatory approach born in the Nixon administration, and it ignores the role of states and landowners. It ignores incentives. A new endangered species act should correct these misunderstandings....
Coal keeps cruising Wyoming coal miners continued to break industry records in 2004, including the high-water mark for production, surprising even market analysts. More than 4,500 coal miners in the state collectively scooped 395.8 million tons of coal, according the Casper Star-Tribune's annual statewide survey. That's 19.5 million tons more than the year before -- an increase of more than 5 percent and the largest annual increase since 2001....
Drilling battle Fight brews over Valle Vidal future The 100,000-acre Valle Vidal in Northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains is a place of spectacular beauty, say people who've grown up in the area and people who love to visit it. New Mexico's largest elk herd makes its home there. Rio Grande cutthroat trout swim in its blue-ribbon mountain streams. And oil and gas companies want to drill there for methane trapped in underground coal-bed seams. The threat of mineral exploration is bringing together an unlikely group of bedfellows who oppose drilling in the scenic area. The Coalition for the Valle Vidal has more than 60 members so far, from a longtime Republican businessman in Raton to the Western Environmental Law Center in Taos and the town councils of Eagle Nest, Cimarron and Taos. Members include hunters, anglers, scientists, politicians and environmental activists -- groups that don't always get along in the Land of Enchantment's political landscape....
Bill proposed to force talks before drilling Rep. Kathleen Curry says her constituents have told her, loud and clear, that she should protect landowners who don't own the mineral rights to oil and gas underneath their properties from the energy companies that do own those rights. She's working on a bill to do just that. "It basically forces both parties to come to the table and negotiate a surface-use agreement before a final permit to drill can be issued," Curry said Tuesday. Curry's bill, which Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, is co-sponsoring, would compensate landowners for damages from "loss of agricultural production and income, loss of land value, loss of land use, loss of value of improvements, damage to on-site water supplies and costs of surface reclamation."....
Fight bubbles up over vernal pools Controversy still swirls around the Central Valley's vernal pools, the seasonal wetlands now returning to the center of political struggle. Under legal pressure, the Bush administration this month is reconsidering which Valley lands should be deemed critical habitat for endangered vernal pool species. In time, several Valley counties could find themselves back in the same critical habitat zone that local officials thought they had once escaped. "I'm very concerned," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced. "We need to re-rally the troops who had fought this in the first place."....
Nevada Gets Green Light to Drill for Water in Desert National Wildlife Refuge Plans to drill for water within Nevada’s Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex moved closer to realty yesterday when the Nevada State Engineer granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority permission to drill seven groundwater wells within and around the Refuge. Pumping from the proposed wells could potentially damage springs and streams containing habitat for endangered species, including many that are found nowhere else. “Wildlife refuges are for wildlife,” said Brian Segee, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife “The Desert Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states and one of Nevada’s greatest natural treasures. This is the last place the state should be looking to drill.”....
Drought provokes regional response: Santa Fe, Albuquerque to import water for growth, but prolonged dry spell could affect the West's source New Mexico is increasingly relying on water from the Colorado River Basin to support growth just as the federal government warns that ongoing drought might force cutbacks for all states with rights to the river. Speaking at a water conference in Nevada last month, top federal officials warned that the prolonged drought means that New Mexico and the six other states that draw from the Colorado River must devise a plan by April 1 spelling out how they can cut consumption. "We have now completed five years of drought, and we don't know when it will end," Stephen Griles, deputy secretary of the Interior, told the Colorado River Water Users Association on Dec. 17. "That is the reality we collectively face in the Colorado Basin."....
Historic AuSable River dam to be removed The AuSable River dam, built during the former mill town's lumbering days but now posing a threat to fish hatcheries, will be removed, a legislator said Thursday. After decades of debate, state and local officials have reached an agreement to dismantle the structure, which dates from the late 1800s, said state Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena. The job should be done by early March. The $385,000 project will be funded by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Native Americans' income increasing Native Americans, the poorest minorities in the United States, made substantial economic and social gains in the last decade of the 20th century, according to a report released Wednesday by Harvard's American Indian Project on Economic Development. The study, which compared census data from 1990 and 2000, showed income and education increased, housing improved, and poverty and unemployment decreased. Arizona tribes shared in the gains, which paved the path to independence, local Native leaders said....
Country music has strong year in 2004 Early predictions of increased album sales of Country Music in 2004 proved true with 77,912,000 units sold from Jan. 5, 2004, through Jan. 2, 2005 – a 12 percent increase over 2003, which had sales of 69,311,000 units, according to figures released today by Nielsen SoundScan. The news was promising with a 1.6 percent rebound of the total music industry following a four-year period of steady decline, which was stemmed slightly in 2003 once Internet and digital track sales were factored into the equation by Nielsen SoundScan research. Overall music purchases in 2004 exceeded 800 million for the fist time since 2000. And while the bulk of the industry slumped since that time, Country Music pushed to develop the next round of Country hitmakers. By mid 2004, the outlook was promising when for the first time in five years, Recording Industry Association of America shipments for the first half of the year increased (RIAA tabulates store shipments which are expected to be future sales to consumers and Nielsen SoundScan tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product). “Country Music held its own and even enjoyed growth during a very tumultuous period for the music industry over the past five years,” said CMA Executive Director Ed Benson....
Greeley hatter making custom cowboy hat for Bush A custom cowboy hat being handcrafted by a Greeley hatter will be presented to President Bush before inauguration but probably won't be worn during the swearing in ceremony Jan. 20. ''No president has worn a hat for inauguration since JFK quit wearing them,'' said Trent Johnson, owner of Greeley Hat Works Inc. The sand-colored pure beaver felt hat will be presented to Bush by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which each year commissions Johnson to build a custom hat for the group's president. In 2002, the cattlemen's group asked Johnson to create a one-of-a-kind hat for a Denver appearance by President Bush. Johnson said the president wears that hat regularly and keeps it handy in the Oval Office. The 2005 Republican calendar has a photograph of Bush wearing the hat on the steps of the White House....
Church favors boots-and-jeans crowd The Narrow Trail Cowboy Church in Plano may seem like a study in contradictions to some. Held beneath a covered patio at the Love and War In Texas restaurant, it attracts more suburban professionals than real rural cowhands. Yet, it's one of three so-called cowboy churches that have sprung up in Collin County in recent months with moral support from the Collin Baptist Association. Statewide, there are more than 30. This is a place where folks say they can worship God in pointy-toed cowboy boots or comfy tennis shoes without feeling judged or preached at....
Rodeo Pioneer Gerald Roberts Dead at 85 Gerald Roberts, the longtime rodeo star who worked in Western films, has died. He was 85. Roberts died Dec. 31 and was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Abilene. Roberts, whose brother and sister also were successful on the rodeo circuit, won his first world all-around world title in 1942 at the age of 22. He won a second world championship six years later. He was one of the charter members of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita in 1961, and was later inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Roberts, who started a rodeo gear company in 1964, worked in Hollywood for some time, serving as a stunt double for actors such as Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon....
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Thursday, January 06, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
U.S. agriculture secretary nominee agrees to play role in cattle trade hearing U.S. politicians were unsuccessful Thursday when they pressed agriculture secretary nominee Mike Johanns to delay dropping the ban on Canadian cattle. But Johanns, who will soon be confirmed as the new department chief, did agree to participate in a congressional hearing on the issue before the cattle trade is set to resume March 7. "As a nominee today, I would not indicate any kind of decision to postpone or whatever," Johanns told a confirmation hearing of the Senate's agriculture committee. "Today what I can offer to you is I'll participate aggressively in that hearing," he said. "We need to make sure that (animal and food safety) issues have been touched, that we've paid attention to them, that we're doing the right things in those areas in terms of this rule and in terms of Canada."....
Tyson Says It Will Trim Beef Operations Tyson Foods Inc. said Thursday it would temporarily cut operations at four beef plants and scale back production at another because of tight cattle supplies, low demand and a reduction in the number of its overseas markets. The reduction, expected to last three to five weeks, affects about 2,100 workers, who are being asked to take one week of paid vacation. Production will be suspended at Denison, Iowa; Norfolk and West Point, Neb.; and Boise, Idaho. Second-shift processing at a plant in Pasco, Wash., will also be temporarily halted. The suspensions take effect Monday. The plants process up to a combined 30,000 head per week. Visiting a Lexington, Neb., plant last month, Tyson said part of his company's cattle supply problem stems from a U.S. ban on live cattle from Canada that began in May 2003 because of a case of mad cow disease in that country. Also, a number of overseas countries closed their markets to American beef after a mad cow scare....
Mexico: Mad Cow Scare Boosted Industry The scare over mad cow diseases in the United States and Canada may have cost producers in those countries much of their Mexican market permanently, Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga said Wednesday. Usabiaga told a news conference that Mexico's meat industry has managed to fill the gap in supply left since U.S. beef was first barred in December 2003 after the discovery of a Washington State animal with mad cow disease - bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The measure later eased to allow cuts of meat without bone or nerve material, though machine-boned meat remains barred. Some industry officials were more cautious, however. Daniel Curiel, president of the Mexican Meat Council, said the industry might keep some of the market, but said it had not been able to fill all of the demand left by the absence of U.S. cuts....
State Begins New Cattle Disease Protection Program Alabama is one of the first states in the country to establish a program to protect consumers from such cattle diseases as mad cow disease. The State of Alabama is planning a new way to keep track of the state’s cattle market "to make sure they understand that we have a safe industry and to use the technology that is available so that we can have a great program," said Ron Sparks, the Alabama Agricultural Commissioner. After filling out a form, each farmer and his or her farm gets an identification number. That number follows the particular livestock from registration to slaughter to the supermarket. In case of disease, it'll be easier to track the livestock back to it's origin. Perry Debter is a fourth generation heifer farmer and the president-elect of the state’s Cattleman's Association. He believes this new registry will ensure safety and enhance the good job Alabama cattlemen already do....
Infected cow ate feed made of cattle remains Investigators have confirmed that the latest cow infected with mad cow disease ate feed containing the remains of other ruminants. Alberta's chief veterinarian, Dr. Gerald Ollis, says the confirmation fits with the widely accepted belief about how bovine spongiform encephalopathy is contracted. "If we had a situation where this cow had never been exposed to meat meal in its entire life, and you could prove that, that would cause some concern about how it had become infected. The fact that meat meal has now been determined to have been in the diet of that animal within its first six months of age, just confirms the current theory on the spread of BSE," Ollis said. Cattle eating the remains of other infected cattle is the most common way the disease is spread....
LMA Urges Bush To Reconsider Reopening Border To Canadian Cattle The domestic cattle industry should not be “sacrificed on the altar of foreign trade” by the March reopening of the U.S. – Canadian border to Canadian cattle, Livestock Marketing Association told the Bush Administration on Jan. 6. Given recent events in Canada – finding the second Canadian “mad cow” in 20 months – resuming cattle trade with Canada now would be “premature and put at risk the health” of the U.S. herd and “diminish consumer confidence in our domestic meat supply,” LMA President Randy Patterson said in letters to President George W. Bush and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. Patterson urged both officials to reconsider the announced border reopening “until more information can be obtained” about Canada’s enforcement of their ban on feeding certain protein materials “and the extent of the BSE problem is more carefully assessed, based on the latest confirmed BSE case.”....
Editorial: Risk to food safety is low from BSE The Greek chorus south of the 49th parallel is a bit overwrought. This is an animal health issue, not one of food safety. And as the Harvard studies show, the risk is low in either case. Much of the cacophony opposed to reopening the border to Canadian live cattle smacks of trade protectionism or false perceived risk to human health. Calls by U.S. cattlemen for testing of all slaughtered Canadian cattle for BSE is more than disingenuous in that a similar demand by Japan was categorically rejected by the U.S. cattlemen as unnecessary and too expensive. What the U.S. cattle industry needs to keep in mind is that it is not improbable that somewhere in the United States there is a cow or cows with BSE that did not originate in Canada. If the United States sets up an unrealistic regimen for those sending beef or cattle into the United States, domestic producers might find the world returning the favor when BSE pops up here....
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U.S. agriculture secretary nominee agrees to play role in cattle trade hearing U.S. politicians were unsuccessful Thursday when they pressed agriculture secretary nominee Mike Johanns to delay dropping the ban on Canadian cattle. But Johanns, who will soon be confirmed as the new department chief, did agree to participate in a congressional hearing on the issue before the cattle trade is set to resume March 7. "As a nominee today, I would not indicate any kind of decision to postpone or whatever," Johanns told a confirmation hearing of the Senate's agriculture committee. "Today what I can offer to you is I'll participate aggressively in that hearing," he said. "We need to make sure that (animal and food safety) issues have been touched, that we've paid attention to them, that we're doing the right things in those areas in terms of this rule and in terms of Canada."....
Tyson Says It Will Trim Beef Operations Tyson Foods Inc. said Thursday it would temporarily cut operations at four beef plants and scale back production at another because of tight cattle supplies, low demand and a reduction in the number of its overseas markets. The reduction, expected to last three to five weeks, affects about 2,100 workers, who are being asked to take one week of paid vacation. Production will be suspended at Denison, Iowa; Norfolk and West Point, Neb.; and Boise, Idaho. Second-shift processing at a plant in Pasco, Wash., will also be temporarily halted. The suspensions take effect Monday. The plants process up to a combined 30,000 head per week. Visiting a Lexington, Neb., plant last month, Tyson said part of his company's cattle supply problem stems from a U.S. ban on live cattle from Canada that began in May 2003 because of a case of mad cow disease in that country. Also, a number of overseas countries closed their markets to American beef after a mad cow scare....
Mexico: Mad Cow Scare Boosted Industry The scare over mad cow diseases in the United States and Canada may have cost producers in those countries much of their Mexican market permanently, Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga said Wednesday. Usabiaga told a news conference that Mexico's meat industry has managed to fill the gap in supply left since U.S. beef was first barred in December 2003 after the discovery of a Washington State animal with mad cow disease - bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The measure later eased to allow cuts of meat without bone or nerve material, though machine-boned meat remains barred. Some industry officials were more cautious, however. Daniel Curiel, president of the Mexican Meat Council, said the industry might keep some of the market, but said it had not been able to fill all of the demand left by the absence of U.S. cuts....
State Begins New Cattle Disease Protection Program Alabama is one of the first states in the country to establish a program to protect consumers from such cattle diseases as mad cow disease. The State of Alabama is planning a new way to keep track of the state’s cattle market "to make sure they understand that we have a safe industry and to use the technology that is available so that we can have a great program," said Ron Sparks, the Alabama Agricultural Commissioner. After filling out a form, each farmer and his or her farm gets an identification number. That number follows the particular livestock from registration to slaughter to the supermarket. In case of disease, it'll be easier to track the livestock back to it's origin. Perry Debter is a fourth generation heifer farmer and the president-elect of the state’s Cattleman's Association. He believes this new registry will ensure safety and enhance the good job Alabama cattlemen already do....
Infected cow ate feed made of cattle remains Investigators have confirmed that the latest cow infected with mad cow disease ate feed containing the remains of other ruminants. Alberta's chief veterinarian, Dr. Gerald Ollis, says the confirmation fits with the widely accepted belief about how bovine spongiform encephalopathy is contracted. "If we had a situation where this cow had never been exposed to meat meal in its entire life, and you could prove that, that would cause some concern about how it had become infected. The fact that meat meal has now been determined to have been in the diet of that animal within its first six months of age, just confirms the current theory on the spread of BSE," Ollis said. Cattle eating the remains of other infected cattle is the most common way the disease is spread....
LMA Urges Bush To Reconsider Reopening Border To Canadian Cattle The domestic cattle industry should not be “sacrificed on the altar of foreign trade” by the March reopening of the U.S. – Canadian border to Canadian cattle, Livestock Marketing Association told the Bush Administration on Jan. 6. Given recent events in Canada – finding the second Canadian “mad cow” in 20 months – resuming cattle trade with Canada now would be “premature and put at risk the health” of the U.S. herd and “diminish consumer confidence in our domestic meat supply,” LMA President Randy Patterson said in letters to President George W. Bush and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. Patterson urged both officials to reconsider the announced border reopening “until more information can be obtained” about Canada’s enforcement of their ban on feeding certain protein materials “and the extent of the BSE problem is more carefully assessed, based on the latest confirmed BSE case.”....
Editorial: Risk to food safety is low from BSE The Greek chorus south of the 49th parallel is a bit overwrought. This is an animal health issue, not one of food safety. And as the Harvard studies show, the risk is low in either case. Much of the cacophony opposed to reopening the border to Canadian live cattle smacks of trade protectionism or false perceived risk to human health. Calls by U.S. cattlemen for testing of all slaughtered Canadian cattle for BSE is more than disingenuous in that a similar demand by Japan was categorically rejected by the U.S. cattlemen as unnecessary and too expensive. What the U.S. cattle industry needs to keep in mind is that it is not improbable that somewhere in the United States there is a cow or cows with BSE that did not originate in Canada. If the United States sets up an unrealistic regimen for those sending beef or cattle into the United States, domestic producers might find the world returning the favor when BSE pops up here....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Jogger fights off timber wolf attack A man's evening jog became a struggle for his life in northern Saskatchewan when a timber wolf lunged at his head and sank its teeth into his leg. But Fred Desjarlais, 55, was able to fight off several attacks by the large predator and then wrestled it into submission long enough for a busload of co-workers to arrive and scare the beast away. "I don't know what came over me or how I did it," Desjarlais said from his Saskatoon home where he was recuperating. "All I know is I had his head and I wasn't letting go until someone came to help me."....
Gray wolf thriving in Rockies Seeking to reintroduce an animal that had been an icon of the West even though it was reviled by ranchers, the Clinton administration 10 years ago this month released gray wolves imported from Canada into Yellowstone with great fanfare. The following year they introduced more into nearby Idaho. The effort has been a resounding success. From just 14 when the program began, the population has risen to 165 wolves in 15 packs in Yellowstone, a 3,472-square-mile expanse that lies mostly in Wyoming. Including those that have migrated outside the park, their number stands at about 850....
Wyoming stands its ground on wolf rules Wyoming has no plans to back away from its lawsuit over wolf management even as the federal government grants Idaho and Montana more authority to kill problem wolves. Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Tuesday that the new rules, which provides added leeway to state officials as well as private landowners, give those states little new flexibility. "I didn't see where it was a significant advantage," he said, pointing out that Idaho and Montana must still answer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "When you look at it, I think it's a lot like taking your sister to the prom." Wyoming sued Fish and Wildlife last year over its rejection of Wyoming's plan for managing wolves after their removal from Endangered Species Act protection. The sticking point is Wyoming's proposal to allow wolves to be shot more or less on sight in most of the state....
Blue Planet: Congress may act on ESA The long, lonely flight of the Endangered Species Act might just result in revision and reauthorization this year as all sides have been worn down by the debate over its future. The ESA is at once one of the most popular and most vilified pieces of legislation ever to grace the American legal landscape. It is popular because of what it does -- helps ensure the survival of animal species imperiled by a variety of threats. It is unpopular because it can be tough, inflexible, litigious and counterproductive....
Governor would end bison hunt Gov. Brian Schweitzer, fearing a national "public relations nightmare" for Montana, said Wednesday he wants to cancel the revived hunting of bison that wander from Yellowstone National Park, but is unsure he can do it before the season starts Jan. 15. After meetings with state wildlife and livestock officials and a representative of the ranching industry, the newly inaugurated Democrat said he is convinced the planned sale of 10 bison hunting licenses will give the state a black eye while doing nothing to curb the ballooning Yellowstone herd. "My instinct is to cancel it," Schweitzer said. "How does this make sense to shoot 10 head? We're still going to suffer" the negative national publicity....
Alternate forest plan suggested Interest groups, including the timber industry, are calling for a 30 percent increase in logging in the Black Hills National Forest. That recommendation, along with others, will be submitted late next week to the U.S. Forest Service. "Wildfires and bugs have taken hold of our forest," Aaron Everett of Black Hills Forest Resource Association told reporters Wednesday in Rapid City. The association represents loggers and sawmills. Everett said beetles had killed a million trees in the Black Hills since the forest plan was adopted in 1997. Wildfires have burned 170,000 acres in the Black Hills — more than the total for any decade in the 130-year recorded history of the Black Hills. Thinning overgrown forests could reduce the risk of catastrophic fires and mountain pine beetle infestations, Everett said. But he added that timber harvests in the Black Hills currently average only 13,000 to 15,000 acres a year, compared to 30,000 acres a year in the 1980s. "We're going down when we should be going up," he said. Black Hills Forest Resource Association is joined in its recommendations by the Black Hills Regional Multiple Use Coalition, which represents 40 groups, including ranchers, hunters, homeowners, four-wheelers, fly fishers, the tourism industry and other groups....
Trail-building fund catches state agencies by surprise Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, seeing that the state didn't have any major trail-building fund, created one and put $4 million into it. The Alaska Trails Initiative was included in the big spending bill that passed Congress late last year to fund government agencies and pay for projects across the nation. At first, no one in the state Department of Transportation, the state Parks Division, or even the Federal Highway Administration's Alaska office knew what this money was for. Trail enthusiasts were clueless too. But word has trickled out....
Cast-off fishing line poses significant danger to wildlife The Montana Wildlife Federation, in partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, is beginning a program to recycle old monofilament fishing line. The effort is being funded by a private grant, said Craig Sharpe, the federation's executive director. "I think it's a good, positive thing for Montana sportsmen to set up and show that they're responsible," he said. Fishing line left on river banks and in the water can be hazardous to fish and other wildlife, said Rob Brassfield, Forest Service fisheries biologist on the Stevensville Ranger District. Brassfield once rescued a bird with fishing line wrapped around its beak and tongue. He's also seen ducks and small mammals tangled in it....
Walden wants to pick up pace on forest health Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, addressed over 500 attendees from across the country Thursday at a congressional policy discussion hosted by the Department of Agriculture honoring the centennial anniversary of the U.S. Forest Service. "Theodore Roosevelt was many things, but principal among them he was a man of action. And if he were to join us today, I hardly believe he would be happy knowing that 190 million acres of the federal forest reserves are subject to catastrophic wildfire, disease and bug infestation,” said Walden. “This Rough Rider of a president would throw a fit if he knew we were losing more than 4,500 acres a day to the spread of noxious weeds. The man who charged up San Juan Hill would never stand for the gridlock that has overtaken the ability of the trained professionals in the Forest Service to effectively manage the forests. And neither should we.”....
Group teaches animal tracking to urbanites Jason Davis knelt in a snow-filled ditch beside a frozen gravel road, the bill of his baseball cap nearly touching four small marks in the snow. As he examined the marks, more than a dozen other animal trackers gathered around. The trackers are volunteers with Cascadia Wild, which has organized the Wolverine Tracking Project for the past five years to bring urbanites closer to nature and gather information about animal species in Mount Hood National Forest. Every Saturday and Sunday for six winter weekends, volunteers strap on showshoes to spot signs of wildlife around Oregon's tallest mountain, Mount Hood. They record how many animal tracks they find and add the information to a growing database that is shared with the U.S. Forest Service....
Eco-terrorists' elusiveness frustrate law enforcement in Pa. On New Year's Day two years ago, the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group, claimed responsibility for igniting several trucks and sport utility vehicles at an auto dealership - the fourth and last known attack in northwestern Pennsylvania in the preceding year. No one has ever been charged and eco-terrorism experts say it's unlikely that anyone will. "Unless somebody squeals or somebody got a license place number, they're probably not going to get caught," said Gary Perlstein, an eco-terrorism expert and professor emeritus at Portland State University. Gerald Clark Jr., acting supervisory special agent of the FBI's Erie office, remains optimistic. Agents "continue to follow leads that we feel have potential in the investigation," he said Wednesday....
Boggs’ big-game furor: Hall of Famer’s hunting prowess upsets activists Newly elected Hall of Famer Wade Boggs made millions hitting baseballs but now spends tens of thousands killing scores of exotic animals - including some critics charge are ``threatened'' species - as a member of an elite safari club. Boggs has been honored with a ``Diamond Grand Slam'' by the Safari Club International for gunning down 70 animals, including lions, hippopotamuses, zebras, bears, crocodiles, buffaloes and leopards during international hunting trips, mostly in Africa. Among Boggs' acknowledged kills: a leopard during a trip to Tanzania and Mozambique. Leopards are listed as ``threatened'' on the U.S. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife's endangered species list. ``He's a pretty vile individual contrary to his deity status in baseball,'' said animal rights activist Bob MacKay....
Alaska plans to sue feds over water rights The state plans to challenge the federal government's right to control certain Alaska waters, contending the U.S. departments of Interior and Agriculture have overstepped their bounds and failed to follow proper procedure in setting forth reserved water rights. The deadline for challenging the regulations is Sunday. The state said it would file a lawsuit against the two federal agencies in U.S. District Court on Friday. The lawsuit will challenge the expansion of federal jurisdiction over certain waterways and water bodies, over marine waters beyond the mean high tide mark and over state and private lands....
Bureau asks for drought declaration Less than a week into 2005, Bureau of Reclamation officials want it officially declared a drought year. They face a thin snowpack in the Cascades and a demand to set aside 100,000 acre-feet of water for coho salmon downstream of the Klamath Reclamation Project. So they want Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski to give them the OK to increase groundwater pumping to provide irrigation water that would offset the demand for in-stream water....
Governor, Tribes sign Lake Roosevelt water agreement Washington Gov. Gary Locke, Colville Tribal Chairman Joe Pakootas and state Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings signed an agreement Tuesday that will allow the state to obtain intermittent releases of water from Lake Roosevelt, when needed, from April to August each year. The agreement with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is an important component of Locke's Columbia River Initiative, a new proposal for managing Columbia River water resources for the next 20 years....
Panel looks at animal massage rule More then a century after statehood, lawmakers on Wednesday at long last tackled the tough question: Is it time to formally define animal deep-tissue massage in Montana? Sen. Rick Laible, R-Victor, and several Western Montana cattle owners and equine masseuses think it is. Laible's Senate Bill 22 would define in state law that animal massage therapy is not a form of veterinary medicine. At issue, Laible said, is whether the state Board of Veterinary Medicine should regulate animal massage therapists. Right now, he told the committee, the board does regulate animal massage and is making it more difficult for horse owners and other animal lovers to get the hands-on massage their animals need....
Lawmakers seek to block border reopening Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth will back efforts brewing in Congress to block the Bush administration's proposal to reopen the border to Canadian cattle and additional Canadian beef. Herseth will support a bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., that would maintain the current ban on live Canadian cattle, a spokesman said. She also has asked Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to reconsider the border reopening proposal. Pomeroy's bill would prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture from resuming imports of Canadian cattle unless the United States regains major beef export markets, including Japan and Korea, which were shut down after the discovery in December 2003 of a Washington state cow with mad cow disease. That cow originated in Alberta....
Two U.S. politicians urge probe of Canadian feed before cattle ban dropped Two U.S. politicians said Wednesday the ban on Canadian cattle shouldn't be dropped until officials investigate whether feed rules are routinely violated north of the border. In a letter to the man nominated as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Michael Johanns, the two cite what they describe as new information suggesting Canadian companies are flouting rules that ban feeding animal remains to cows. That practice, considered the primary way mad cow disease is spread, was banned in Canada in August 1997. U.S. Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Kent Conrad said regulators have discovered animal material in Canadian feed over the last 15 months, issuing import alerts to block products from 17 companies. Recent inspections have revealed seven Canadian feed mills had "major non-compliance issues" and three were failing to prevent contamination of cattle feed, they said....
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Jogger fights off timber wolf attack A man's evening jog became a struggle for his life in northern Saskatchewan when a timber wolf lunged at his head and sank its teeth into his leg. But Fred Desjarlais, 55, was able to fight off several attacks by the large predator and then wrestled it into submission long enough for a busload of co-workers to arrive and scare the beast away. "I don't know what came over me or how I did it," Desjarlais said from his Saskatoon home where he was recuperating. "All I know is I had his head and I wasn't letting go until someone came to help me."....
Gray wolf thriving in Rockies Seeking to reintroduce an animal that had been an icon of the West even though it was reviled by ranchers, the Clinton administration 10 years ago this month released gray wolves imported from Canada into Yellowstone with great fanfare. The following year they introduced more into nearby Idaho. The effort has been a resounding success. From just 14 when the program began, the population has risen to 165 wolves in 15 packs in Yellowstone, a 3,472-square-mile expanse that lies mostly in Wyoming. Including those that have migrated outside the park, their number stands at about 850....
Wyoming stands its ground on wolf rules Wyoming has no plans to back away from its lawsuit over wolf management even as the federal government grants Idaho and Montana more authority to kill problem wolves. Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Tuesday that the new rules, which provides added leeway to state officials as well as private landowners, give those states little new flexibility. "I didn't see where it was a significant advantage," he said, pointing out that Idaho and Montana must still answer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "When you look at it, I think it's a lot like taking your sister to the prom." Wyoming sued Fish and Wildlife last year over its rejection of Wyoming's plan for managing wolves after their removal from Endangered Species Act protection. The sticking point is Wyoming's proposal to allow wolves to be shot more or less on sight in most of the state....
Blue Planet: Congress may act on ESA The long, lonely flight of the Endangered Species Act might just result in revision and reauthorization this year as all sides have been worn down by the debate over its future. The ESA is at once one of the most popular and most vilified pieces of legislation ever to grace the American legal landscape. It is popular because of what it does -- helps ensure the survival of animal species imperiled by a variety of threats. It is unpopular because it can be tough, inflexible, litigious and counterproductive....
Governor would end bison hunt Gov. Brian Schweitzer, fearing a national "public relations nightmare" for Montana, said Wednesday he wants to cancel the revived hunting of bison that wander from Yellowstone National Park, but is unsure he can do it before the season starts Jan. 15. After meetings with state wildlife and livestock officials and a representative of the ranching industry, the newly inaugurated Democrat said he is convinced the planned sale of 10 bison hunting licenses will give the state a black eye while doing nothing to curb the ballooning Yellowstone herd. "My instinct is to cancel it," Schweitzer said. "How does this make sense to shoot 10 head? We're still going to suffer" the negative national publicity....
Alternate forest plan suggested Interest groups, including the timber industry, are calling for a 30 percent increase in logging in the Black Hills National Forest. That recommendation, along with others, will be submitted late next week to the U.S. Forest Service. "Wildfires and bugs have taken hold of our forest," Aaron Everett of Black Hills Forest Resource Association told reporters Wednesday in Rapid City. The association represents loggers and sawmills. Everett said beetles had killed a million trees in the Black Hills since the forest plan was adopted in 1997. Wildfires have burned 170,000 acres in the Black Hills — more than the total for any decade in the 130-year recorded history of the Black Hills. Thinning overgrown forests could reduce the risk of catastrophic fires and mountain pine beetle infestations, Everett said. But he added that timber harvests in the Black Hills currently average only 13,000 to 15,000 acres a year, compared to 30,000 acres a year in the 1980s. "We're going down when we should be going up," he said. Black Hills Forest Resource Association is joined in its recommendations by the Black Hills Regional Multiple Use Coalition, which represents 40 groups, including ranchers, hunters, homeowners, four-wheelers, fly fishers, the tourism industry and other groups....
Trail-building fund catches state agencies by surprise Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, seeing that the state didn't have any major trail-building fund, created one and put $4 million into it. The Alaska Trails Initiative was included in the big spending bill that passed Congress late last year to fund government agencies and pay for projects across the nation. At first, no one in the state Department of Transportation, the state Parks Division, or even the Federal Highway Administration's Alaska office knew what this money was for. Trail enthusiasts were clueless too. But word has trickled out....
Cast-off fishing line poses significant danger to wildlife The Montana Wildlife Federation, in partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, is beginning a program to recycle old monofilament fishing line. The effort is being funded by a private grant, said Craig Sharpe, the federation's executive director. "I think it's a good, positive thing for Montana sportsmen to set up and show that they're responsible," he said. Fishing line left on river banks and in the water can be hazardous to fish and other wildlife, said Rob Brassfield, Forest Service fisheries biologist on the Stevensville Ranger District. Brassfield once rescued a bird with fishing line wrapped around its beak and tongue. He's also seen ducks and small mammals tangled in it....
Walden wants to pick up pace on forest health Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, addressed over 500 attendees from across the country Thursday at a congressional policy discussion hosted by the Department of Agriculture honoring the centennial anniversary of the U.S. Forest Service. "Theodore Roosevelt was many things, but principal among them he was a man of action. And if he were to join us today, I hardly believe he would be happy knowing that 190 million acres of the federal forest reserves are subject to catastrophic wildfire, disease and bug infestation,” said Walden. “This Rough Rider of a president would throw a fit if he knew we were losing more than 4,500 acres a day to the spread of noxious weeds. The man who charged up San Juan Hill would never stand for the gridlock that has overtaken the ability of the trained professionals in the Forest Service to effectively manage the forests. And neither should we.”....
Group teaches animal tracking to urbanites Jason Davis knelt in a snow-filled ditch beside a frozen gravel road, the bill of his baseball cap nearly touching four small marks in the snow. As he examined the marks, more than a dozen other animal trackers gathered around. The trackers are volunteers with Cascadia Wild, which has organized the Wolverine Tracking Project for the past five years to bring urbanites closer to nature and gather information about animal species in Mount Hood National Forest. Every Saturday and Sunday for six winter weekends, volunteers strap on showshoes to spot signs of wildlife around Oregon's tallest mountain, Mount Hood. They record how many animal tracks they find and add the information to a growing database that is shared with the U.S. Forest Service....
Eco-terrorists' elusiveness frustrate law enforcement in Pa. On New Year's Day two years ago, the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group, claimed responsibility for igniting several trucks and sport utility vehicles at an auto dealership - the fourth and last known attack in northwestern Pennsylvania in the preceding year. No one has ever been charged and eco-terrorism experts say it's unlikely that anyone will. "Unless somebody squeals or somebody got a license place number, they're probably not going to get caught," said Gary Perlstein, an eco-terrorism expert and professor emeritus at Portland State University. Gerald Clark Jr., acting supervisory special agent of the FBI's Erie office, remains optimistic. Agents "continue to follow leads that we feel have potential in the investigation," he said Wednesday....
Boggs’ big-game furor: Hall of Famer’s hunting prowess upsets activists Newly elected Hall of Famer Wade Boggs made millions hitting baseballs but now spends tens of thousands killing scores of exotic animals - including some critics charge are ``threatened'' species - as a member of an elite safari club. Boggs has been honored with a ``Diamond Grand Slam'' by the Safari Club International for gunning down 70 animals, including lions, hippopotamuses, zebras, bears, crocodiles, buffaloes and leopards during international hunting trips, mostly in Africa. Among Boggs' acknowledged kills: a leopard during a trip to Tanzania and Mozambique. Leopards are listed as ``threatened'' on the U.S. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife's endangered species list. ``He's a pretty vile individual contrary to his deity status in baseball,'' said animal rights activist Bob MacKay....
Alaska plans to sue feds over water rights The state plans to challenge the federal government's right to control certain Alaska waters, contending the U.S. departments of Interior and Agriculture have overstepped their bounds and failed to follow proper procedure in setting forth reserved water rights. The deadline for challenging the regulations is Sunday. The state said it would file a lawsuit against the two federal agencies in U.S. District Court on Friday. The lawsuit will challenge the expansion of federal jurisdiction over certain waterways and water bodies, over marine waters beyond the mean high tide mark and over state and private lands....
Bureau asks for drought declaration Less than a week into 2005, Bureau of Reclamation officials want it officially declared a drought year. They face a thin snowpack in the Cascades and a demand to set aside 100,000 acre-feet of water for coho salmon downstream of the Klamath Reclamation Project. So they want Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski to give them the OK to increase groundwater pumping to provide irrigation water that would offset the demand for in-stream water....
Governor, Tribes sign Lake Roosevelt water agreement Washington Gov. Gary Locke, Colville Tribal Chairman Joe Pakootas and state Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings signed an agreement Tuesday that will allow the state to obtain intermittent releases of water from Lake Roosevelt, when needed, from April to August each year. The agreement with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is an important component of Locke's Columbia River Initiative, a new proposal for managing Columbia River water resources for the next 20 years....
Panel looks at animal massage rule More then a century after statehood, lawmakers on Wednesday at long last tackled the tough question: Is it time to formally define animal deep-tissue massage in Montana? Sen. Rick Laible, R-Victor, and several Western Montana cattle owners and equine masseuses think it is. Laible's Senate Bill 22 would define in state law that animal massage therapy is not a form of veterinary medicine. At issue, Laible said, is whether the state Board of Veterinary Medicine should regulate animal massage therapists. Right now, he told the committee, the board does regulate animal massage and is making it more difficult for horse owners and other animal lovers to get the hands-on massage their animals need....
Lawmakers seek to block border reopening Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth will back efforts brewing in Congress to block the Bush administration's proposal to reopen the border to Canadian cattle and additional Canadian beef. Herseth will support a bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., that would maintain the current ban on live Canadian cattle, a spokesman said. She also has asked Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to reconsider the border reopening proposal. Pomeroy's bill would prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture from resuming imports of Canadian cattle unless the United States regains major beef export markets, including Japan and Korea, which were shut down after the discovery in December 2003 of a Washington state cow with mad cow disease. That cow originated in Alberta....
Two U.S. politicians urge probe of Canadian feed before cattle ban dropped Two U.S. politicians said Wednesday the ban on Canadian cattle shouldn't be dropped until officials investigate whether feed rules are routinely violated north of the border. In a letter to the man nominated as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Michael Johanns, the two cite what they describe as new information suggesting Canadian companies are flouting rules that ban feeding animal remains to cows. That practice, considered the primary way mad cow disease is spread, was banned in Canada in August 1997. U.S. Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Kent Conrad said regulators have discovered animal material in Canadian feed over the last 15 months, issuing import alerts to block products from 17 companies. Recent inspections have revealed seven Canadian feed mills had "major non-compliance issues" and three were failing to prevent contamination of cattle feed, they said....
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Wednesday, January 05, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Former Forest Service chiefs say public support crucial From overgrown forests that contribute to major fires to the spread of invasive species, the U.S. Forest Service faces a host of weighty concerns. But as the agency begins its second century, four former Forest Service chiefs say it must address an even basic more challenge: Convincing an increasingly urbanized public of the agency's importance. "Our biggest challenge is connecting people with the land and nature," said Mike Dombeck, who served as Forest Service chief from 1997 to 2001. Without public support, Dombeck and other former chiefs said, the Forest Service will have trouble with everything from getting proper funding to enforcing complex rules over management of the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands....
Feds asked to stop wolves from chasing elk Wolves are chasing elk from state feedgrounds, increasing the potential for disease transmission to cattle, Gov. Dave Freudenthal was told Tuesday during a cabinet meeting. "In the last month we've moved well in excess of 3,000 elk back on the feedgrounds that wolves have been instrumental in moving," Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland said. He told the governor that dispersing the elk in the Daniel area is causing "significant commingling issues with livestock and potential for brucellosis transmission and even public safety in that we've ended up with elk herds on public road rights of way at least two different times."....
Column: Tiny bird wields great power A bird standing 5 inches tall and weighing five grams will hold bulldozers at bay in Carlsbad for six months beginning March 1, temporarily halting work on the city's new golf course. It will be just one more delay for a project that began with the appointment of a citizens committee 15 years ago. Preparation of the site will be suspended during the breeding season of Polioptila californica californica, better known as the coastal California gnatcatcher. Construction of Murrieta's newest and largest shopping center was delayed for seven months when it was learned the site of a traffic signal would be located within the gnatcatcher's nesting habitat. Work cannot begin on the Carlsbad Oaks North business park until after a Jan. 8 federal court hearing on the project....
Wind turbines taking toll on birds of prey The big turbines that stretch for miles along these rolling, grassy hills have churned out clean, renewable electricity for two decades in one of the nation's first big wind-power projects. But for just as long, massive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors. After years of study but little progress reducing bird kills, environmentalists have sued to force turbine owners to take tough corrective measures....
Judge delays BLM timber sale over environmental analysis A judge has delayed a federal timber sale that combined logging mature trees with reducing fire danger, finding that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to fully analyze the combined effects of past and future logging on northern spotted owls and salmon. "We're hoping this legal win convinces the BLM to sit down and finally design a restoration alternative with us, instead of the old-growth logging they have pushed for over the last decade," said Spencer Leonard of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, an environmental group that sued BLM. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan granted a preliminary injunction barring timber harvest on the Scattered Apples sale while the two sides offer suggestions on how to fix the problems identified in the ruling....
Court rules Bush administration's off-road plan is illegal threat to desert web-of-life In a big win for desert tortoise and other endangered species in the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA), a federal court in San Francisco yesterday agreed with conservationists and issued an injunction ordering the Bush administration to stop off-road vehicle damage on over half-a-million acres of desert washes and critical habitat in Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino Counties. Desert washes (dry streams) on U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert (NECO) planning area, which are critical for tortoise survival and recovery, are now off-limits to off-road vehicles until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) completes new biological opinions that protect critical habitat and promote tortoise recovery. There are thousands of desert washes weaving across the landscape in this part of the CDCA, and BLM's 'washes open' policy allowed driving in all of them, creating off-road sacrifice zones....
Oh, No. John Turner For Under Secretary of Interior YOU can have a say in who is the next Secretary of the Interior! And you must because ... The Greens are planning to take back the position. Great favorite John Turner is being considered for the position of Under-Secretary of the Interior to replace Steven Griles. The idea is to have Gale Norton resign in the next two years and move Turner up to Secretary of Interior. Thousands of landowners and Federal land users worked hard in 2001 to head off Turner. Now you must do it again....
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival Starts on Friday Like the first two, the 3rd annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Friday-Sunday, January 7-9, 2005, will again be a not-to-be-missed event. Celebrities, filmmakers, environmental activists, a VIP party, and of course an array of fabulous award-winning films will highlight the 2005 festival. In the two years of this soldout event, the WSEFF has brought in celebrities like actors and activists Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Splash) and Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brokovich), and adventurers like mountaineer Carlos Buhler, speed climber Hans Florine, and extreme boater Scott Lindgren. Environmental activists and filmmakers from Colorado, the Yukon, Wyoming, and California have spoken about issues including bio-diesel, water rights, endangered species, oil drilling in Alaska, forestry, and the organic movement. In addition, the festival has screened nearly 100 award-winning environmental and adventure films from all over the world....
Flats whistleblowers to speak The book "The Ambushed Grand Jury" paints a tale of alleged environmental crimes and high-level government cover-up of said crimes at Rocky Flats in the late 1980s. Wes McKinley, a rancher from southeastern Colorado and "Ambushed" co-author, served as foreman of a special grand jury formed to complete a report about federal investigations into alleged Flats violations. The grand jury finished the report in 1992, but large portions of the report were not made public. McKinley could not release the details himself due to grand jury secrecy laws. Jon Lipsky, a former FBI Special Agent, participated in a 1989 FBI raid of the Flats facility. Lipsky said he has been "muzzled for over a decade" by the federal government to keep him from speaking about Rocky Flats, and Wednesday's event will be his first public discussion of the Flats investigation....
USDA's Veneman Sees Canada Cattle Trade Resuming We believe that the rule is based upon good analysis, sound science and a thorough risk analysis," Venetian told reporters after addressing a celebration of the U.S. Forest Service's 100th anniversary. The plan to expand bilateral cattle and beef trade, which was interrupted in May 2003 by the discovery of Canada's first domestic case of mad cow disease, faces a couple of possible roadblocks. Congress has until March 7 to review the trade plan. If enough lawmakers express reservations, the USDA might be pressured to delay the regulation. So far, only a couple members of Congress have publicly stated their opposition. Also, at least two farm groups, R-CALF USA and the National Farmers Union, have challenged the USDA's plan. R-CALF USA has said it is considering a lawsuit to stop the border opening, claiming the expanded trade could threaten U.S. consumers and American cattle herds....
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Former Forest Service chiefs say public support crucial From overgrown forests that contribute to major fires to the spread of invasive species, the U.S. Forest Service faces a host of weighty concerns. But as the agency begins its second century, four former Forest Service chiefs say it must address an even basic more challenge: Convincing an increasingly urbanized public of the agency's importance. "Our biggest challenge is connecting people with the land and nature," said Mike Dombeck, who served as Forest Service chief from 1997 to 2001. Without public support, Dombeck and other former chiefs said, the Forest Service will have trouble with everything from getting proper funding to enforcing complex rules over management of the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands....
Feds asked to stop wolves from chasing elk Wolves are chasing elk from state feedgrounds, increasing the potential for disease transmission to cattle, Gov. Dave Freudenthal was told Tuesday during a cabinet meeting. "In the last month we've moved well in excess of 3,000 elk back on the feedgrounds that wolves have been instrumental in moving," Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland said. He told the governor that dispersing the elk in the Daniel area is causing "significant commingling issues with livestock and potential for brucellosis transmission and even public safety in that we've ended up with elk herds on public road rights of way at least two different times."....
Column: Tiny bird wields great power A bird standing 5 inches tall and weighing five grams will hold bulldozers at bay in Carlsbad for six months beginning March 1, temporarily halting work on the city's new golf course. It will be just one more delay for a project that began with the appointment of a citizens committee 15 years ago. Preparation of the site will be suspended during the breeding season of Polioptila californica californica, better known as the coastal California gnatcatcher. Construction of Murrieta's newest and largest shopping center was delayed for seven months when it was learned the site of a traffic signal would be located within the gnatcatcher's nesting habitat. Work cannot begin on the Carlsbad Oaks North business park until after a Jan. 8 federal court hearing on the project....
Wind turbines taking toll on birds of prey The big turbines that stretch for miles along these rolling, grassy hills have churned out clean, renewable electricity for two decades in one of the nation's first big wind-power projects. But for just as long, massive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors. After years of study but little progress reducing bird kills, environmentalists have sued to force turbine owners to take tough corrective measures....
Judge delays BLM timber sale over environmental analysis A judge has delayed a federal timber sale that combined logging mature trees with reducing fire danger, finding that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to fully analyze the combined effects of past and future logging on northern spotted owls and salmon. "We're hoping this legal win convinces the BLM to sit down and finally design a restoration alternative with us, instead of the old-growth logging they have pushed for over the last decade," said Spencer Leonard of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, an environmental group that sued BLM. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan granted a preliminary injunction barring timber harvest on the Scattered Apples sale while the two sides offer suggestions on how to fix the problems identified in the ruling....
Court rules Bush administration's off-road plan is illegal threat to desert web-of-life In a big win for desert tortoise and other endangered species in the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA), a federal court in San Francisco yesterday agreed with conservationists and issued an injunction ordering the Bush administration to stop off-road vehicle damage on over half-a-million acres of desert washes and critical habitat in Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino Counties. Desert washes (dry streams) on U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert (NECO) planning area, which are critical for tortoise survival and recovery, are now off-limits to off-road vehicles until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) completes new biological opinions that protect critical habitat and promote tortoise recovery. There are thousands of desert washes weaving across the landscape in this part of the CDCA, and BLM's 'washes open' policy allowed driving in all of them, creating off-road sacrifice zones....
Oh, No. John Turner For Under Secretary of Interior YOU can have a say in who is the next Secretary of the Interior! And you must because ... The Greens are planning to take back the position. Great favorite John Turner is being considered for the position of Under-Secretary of the Interior to replace Steven Griles. The idea is to have Gale Norton resign in the next two years and move Turner up to Secretary of Interior. Thousands of landowners and Federal land users worked hard in 2001 to head off Turner. Now you must do it again....
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival Starts on Friday Like the first two, the 3rd annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Friday-Sunday, January 7-9, 2005, will again be a not-to-be-missed event. Celebrities, filmmakers, environmental activists, a VIP party, and of course an array of fabulous award-winning films will highlight the 2005 festival. In the two years of this soldout event, the WSEFF has brought in celebrities like actors and activists Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Splash) and Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brokovich), and adventurers like mountaineer Carlos Buhler, speed climber Hans Florine, and extreme boater Scott Lindgren. Environmental activists and filmmakers from Colorado, the Yukon, Wyoming, and California have spoken about issues including bio-diesel, water rights, endangered species, oil drilling in Alaska, forestry, and the organic movement. In addition, the festival has screened nearly 100 award-winning environmental and adventure films from all over the world....
Flats whistleblowers to speak The book "The Ambushed Grand Jury" paints a tale of alleged environmental crimes and high-level government cover-up of said crimes at Rocky Flats in the late 1980s. Wes McKinley, a rancher from southeastern Colorado and "Ambushed" co-author, served as foreman of a special grand jury formed to complete a report about federal investigations into alleged Flats violations. The grand jury finished the report in 1992, but large portions of the report were not made public. McKinley could not release the details himself due to grand jury secrecy laws. Jon Lipsky, a former FBI Special Agent, participated in a 1989 FBI raid of the Flats facility. Lipsky said he has been "muzzled for over a decade" by the federal government to keep him from speaking about Rocky Flats, and Wednesday's event will be his first public discussion of the Flats investigation....
USDA's Veneman Sees Canada Cattle Trade Resuming We believe that the rule is based upon good analysis, sound science and a thorough risk analysis," Venetian told reporters after addressing a celebration of the U.S. Forest Service's 100th anniversary. The plan to expand bilateral cattle and beef trade, which was interrupted in May 2003 by the discovery of Canada's first domestic case of mad cow disease, faces a couple of possible roadblocks. Congress has until March 7 to review the trade plan. If enough lawmakers express reservations, the USDA might be pressured to delay the regulation. So far, only a couple members of Congress have publicly stated their opposition. Also, at least two farm groups, R-CALF USA and the National Farmers Union, have challenged the USDA's plan. R-CALF USA has said it is considering a lawsuit to stop the border opening, claiming the expanded trade could threaten U.S. consumers and American cattle herds....
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Texas ranchers and their land safe from development The Davis Mountains project that King has directed since 1989 recently achieved its core goal of preserving about 100,000 acres of this "sky island" ecosystem, where creatures found nowhere else on the planet live in a mountain range that rises like an island out of the surrounding Chihuahua Desert. In the process, some of the once skeptical ranching clans have started capitalizing on the expanded eco-tourism opportunities -- offering lodging and ranch access to birdwatchers, hikers, hunters and stargazers -- to bring in the extra income many ranches need to survive lean years when drought limits livestock herds. It's hard to gauge the extent to which self interest, economic reality or other factors are behind the changing attitudes here. The long-running decline in the ranching economy has been emotionally painful, with some ranchers and townsfolk still viewing the Conservancy's presence as a threat to their traditional way of life. Yet the region's legendary distrust of outsiders, the Conservancy included, shows signs of easing both on the range and the streets of Fort Davis....
Montana gains control of its wolves Proclaiming it both a biological and a political success story, Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Monday announced plans to turn over the management of Montana's booming population of gray wolves to Montanans. Under the rule announced Monday, the states of Montana and Idaho - and Indian tribes in those states - can assume virtually all responsibility for wolf management, if they have Fish and Wildlife Service-approved wolf management plans. Montana and Idaho already have such plans, so will take over most wolf-management duties within the next few months....
Horse-killing wolves put down The death of a horse from a wolf attack triggered the killing of two wolves in the Meeteetse area Sunday. A blue roan gelding, severely injured by wolves in a pasture on the Wood River, made it back to the corral before dying Dec. 26, Bobby Joe Long said. "He leaned against the fence, bleeding out of his mouth, and died," he said. The horse had injuries to his neck, stomach and a rear leg but was not eaten, Long added. "I have pictures of two visible canine bites. He had a rip in his belly, and his right rear leg was evidently ripped," he said. The roan's death brings the total 2004 confirmed losses in Wyoming to three horses, along with 56 cattle, 10 sheep and one dog, said Bangs, who added that the only horse mortalities have occurred in Wyoming....
Forest congress to seek plan for sharing Straining to meet its mandate of allowing multiple - and often conflicting - uses on the nation's public lands, the U.S. Forest Service is revisiting a model from its past with visions of a less- contentious future. Hundreds of government officials, industry representatives and environmental organizations have gathered here this week to re-create the landmark "congress" that established the agency 100 years ago. Featuring speakers ranging from outgoing Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to four past and present Forest Service chiefs, the four-day gathering will try to move the conversation beyond decades of polarization over management of the 192 million acres of forest....
Wild horse patrons to appeal to public Wild horse advocates from throughout the country said Monday they intend to appeal to the American public to help reverse a new federal law allowing many of the animals to be sold at auction, after which they could be taken to slaughterhouses. In concluding an emergency two-day conference in Carson City, representatives of some of the nation’s leading wild horse and burro protection groups said they also are looking into ways to legally challenge an amendment to the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The amendment, or rider, was approved over Thanksgiving weekend as part of the federal spending bill and signed into law by President Bush last month....
State outlines sage-grouse protection efforts The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the release Monday of a draft plan for managing greater sage-grouse in Oregon. The state's management strategy is “intended to promote the conservation of greater sage-grouse and intact functioning sagebrush communities in Oregon,” using “the best science available,” according to the report’s executive summary. The added “intent is to benefit conservation needs of other sagebrush-steppe species,” it said. Interested individuals can view the full draft plan on the agency Website at www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrWild/sage-grouse.pdf or send a request for a copy to Wildlife Division, ODFW, 3406 Cherry Avenue NE, Salem, OR 97303....
For rafters, a rift runs through it Last summer, Leanne Emm and 11 friends rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. For Emm, an experienced river runner, it was trip of a lifetime - even if she had to linger on the National Park Service waiting list 12 years to do it. More than 22,000 people raft through the Grand Canyon each year while thousands of others wait for the chance to do it. When the Park Service stopped taking names in December 2003, there were almost 1,500 Coloradans still on the list of 8,000 people. To juggle the overwhelming demand on the Grand Canyon, the Park Service has recently proposed sweeping changes to how it manages trips on 277 miles of the Colorado River....
Column: Property Rights, Measure 37 to the Rescue Victims of Oregon’s tyrannical web of land use restrictions, ordinances, and regulatory takings can finally seek justice. Measure 37 passed on November 2 and it allows Oregon property owners who have been wronged by any myriad of radical land use restrictions imposed by the state and local governments to seek just compensation for their monetary losses. And if the governmental body responsible for the offending regulation can’t pony up the dough, the Measure calls for the property owner to be immune from the regulation. Measure 37 is right. It is fair. It is brilliant in its simplicity....
Alberta farm quarantined as BSE case confirmed The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has quarantined an Alberta farm where they believe that a dairy cow infected with mad cow disease was born. Agriculture officials refused to provide any details about the farm or its owners. They would only say they are now moving their investigation into trying to find the infected cow's offspring and other cows born on the farm within the same year....
Canadian official says mad cow case not a threat A new case of mad cow disease discovered in Canada poses no threat to human health or trade, and the United States has assured Canadian officials it will not block beef imports, the country's agriculture minister said Monday. "Canada has a strong regulatory regime in place to protect against the spread of BSE," Minister Andrew Mitchell said, referring to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. "From a public health perspective, this finding does not threaten the safety of Canadian beef."....
A High-Octane Property Dispute Their family dynasty once embraced 6,656 acres and included 4 1/2 miles of some of California's most beautiful beachfront. These days, descendants of Spanish land-grant owner Francisco Marquez are down to their last 17,000 square feet deep inside Santa Monica Canyon. And as it's often been for the last 165 years, Marquez family property is again in the middle of a tug-of-war. The fight this time is not over entitlement to the sweeping mesa that forms the center of today's Pacific Palisades. Or the glittering coastline that is now Will Rogers State Beach. This dispute is over Angelina Marquez Olivera's filling station....
It's All Trew: Mistletoe a big help for one wanting a kiss A student of mythology states: "Kingdoms fell as mistletoe caught the attention of the Greek Gods of Old. The Goddess of Love, Friggu, was given custody of mistletoe, thus becoming associated with kissing." Christian mythology suggests the cross of Christ was made of the mistletoe tree, which suffered such guilt over the crucifixion that it fled to the tops of trees to hide throughout eternity. All ages have pushed mistletoe as a medicinal cure-all for such diseases as infertility, epilepsy, palsy and ulcers. Old-time livestock doctors used mistletoe to help animals recover after giving birth to young. In heavy mistletoe growth, "mistletoe moonshine" might be available around Christmas time....
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Texas ranchers and their land safe from development The Davis Mountains project that King has directed since 1989 recently achieved its core goal of preserving about 100,000 acres of this "sky island" ecosystem, where creatures found nowhere else on the planet live in a mountain range that rises like an island out of the surrounding Chihuahua Desert. In the process, some of the once skeptical ranching clans have started capitalizing on the expanded eco-tourism opportunities -- offering lodging and ranch access to birdwatchers, hikers, hunters and stargazers -- to bring in the extra income many ranches need to survive lean years when drought limits livestock herds. It's hard to gauge the extent to which self interest, economic reality or other factors are behind the changing attitudes here. The long-running decline in the ranching economy has been emotionally painful, with some ranchers and townsfolk still viewing the Conservancy's presence as a threat to their traditional way of life. Yet the region's legendary distrust of outsiders, the Conservancy included, shows signs of easing both on the range and the streets of Fort Davis....
Montana gains control of its wolves Proclaiming it both a biological and a political success story, Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Monday announced plans to turn over the management of Montana's booming population of gray wolves to Montanans. Under the rule announced Monday, the states of Montana and Idaho - and Indian tribes in those states - can assume virtually all responsibility for wolf management, if they have Fish and Wildlife Service-approved wolf management plans. Montana and Idaho already have such plans, so will take over most wolf-management duties within the next few months....
Horse-killing wolves put down The death of a horse from a wolf attack triggered the killing of two wolves in the Meeteetse area Sunday. A blue roan gelding, severely injured by wolves in a pasture on the Wood River, made it back to the corral before dying Dec. 26, Bobby Joe Long said. "He leaned against the fence, bleeding out of his mouth, and died," he said. The horse had injuries to his neck, stomach and a rear leg but was not eaten, Long added. "I have pictures of two visible canine bites. He had a rip in his belly, and his right rear leg was evidently ripped," he said. The roan's death brings the total 2004 confirmed losses in Wyoming to three horses, along with 56 cattle, 10 sheep and one dog, said Bangs, who added that the only horse mortalities have occurred in Wyoming....
Forest congress to seek plan for sharing Straining to meet its mandate of allowing multiple - and often conflicting - uses on the nation's public lands, the U.S. Forest Service is revisiting a model from its past with visions of a less- contentious future. Hundreds of government officials, industry representatives and environmental organizations have gathered here this week to re-create the landmark "congress" that established the agency 100 years ago. Featuring speakers ranging from outgoing Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to four past and present Forest Service chiefs, the four-day gathering will try to move the conversation beyond decades of polarization over management of the 192 million acres of forest....
Wild horse patrons to appeal to public Wild horse advocates from throughout the country said Monday they intend to appeal to the American public to help reverse a new federal law allowing many of the animals to be sold at auction, after which they could be taken to slaughterhouses. In concluding an emergency two-day conference in Carson City, representatives of some of the nation’s leading wild horse and burro protection groups said they also are looking into ways to legally challenge an amendment to the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The amendment, or rider, was approved over Thanksgiving weekend as part of the federal spending bill and signed into law by President Bush last month....
State outlines sage-grouse protection efforts The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the release Monday of a draft plan for managing greater sage-grouse in Oregon. The state's management strategy is “intended to promote the conservation of greater sage-grouse and intact functioning sagebrush communities in Oregon,” using “the best science available,” according to the report’s executive summary. The added “intent is to benefit conservation needs of other sagebrush-steppe species,” it said. Interested individuals can view the full draft plan on the agency Website at www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrWild/sage-grouse.pdf or send a request for a copy to Wildlife Division, ODFW, 3406 Cherry Avenue NE, Salem, OR 97303....
For rafters, a rift runs through it Last summer, Leanne Emm and 11 friends rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. For Emm, an experienced river runner, it was trip of a lifetime - even if she had to linger on the National Park Service waiting list 12 years to do it. More than 22,000 people raft through the Grand Canyon each year while thousands of others wait for the chance to do it. When the Park Service stopped taking names in December 2003, there were almost 1,500 Coloradans still on the list of 8,000 people. To juggle the overwhelming demand on the Grand Canyon, the Park Service has recently proposed sweeping changes to how it manages trips on 277 miles of the Colorado River....
Column: Property Rights, Measure 37 to the Rescue Victims of Oregon’s tyrannical web of land use restrictions, ordinances, and regulatory takings can finally seek justice. Measure 37 passed on November 2 and it allows Oregon property owners who have been wronged by any myriad of radical land use restrictions imposed by the state and local governments to seek just compensation for their monetary losses. And if the governmental body responsible for the offending regulation can’t pony up the dough, the Measure calls for the property owner to be immune from the regulation. Measure 37 is right. It is fair. It is brilliant in its simplicity....
Alberta farm quarantined as BSE case confirmed The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has quarantined an Alberta farm where they believe that a dairy cow infected with mad cow disease was born. Agriculture officials refused to provide any details about the farm or its owners. They would only say they are now moving their investigation into trying to find the infected cow's offspring and other cows born on the farm within the same year....
Canadian official says mad cow case not a threat A new case of mad cow disease discovered in Canada poses no threat to human health or trade, and the United States has assured Canadian officials it will not block beef imports, the country's agriculture minister said Monday. "Canada has a strong regulatory regime in place to protect against the spread of BSE," Minister Andrew Mitchell said, referring to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. "From a public health perspective, this finding does not threaten the safety of Canadian beef."....
A High-Octane Property Dispute Their family dynasty once embraced 6,656 acres and included 4 1/2 miles of some of California's most beautiful beachfront. These days, descendants of Spanish land-grant owner Francisco Marquez are down to their last 17,000 square feet deep inside Santa Monica Canyon. And as it's often been for the last 165 years, Marquez family property is again in the middle of a tug-of-war. The fight this time is not over entitlement to the sweeping mesa that forms the center of today's Pacific Palisades. Or the glittering coastline that is now Will Rogers State Beach. This dispute is over Angelina Marquez Olivera's filling station....
It's All Trew: Mistletoe a big help for one wanting a kiss A student of mythology states: "Kingdoms fell as mistletoe caught the attention of the Greek Gods of Old. The Goddess of Love, Friggu, was given custody of mistletoe, thus becoming associated with kissing." Christian mythology suggests the cross of Christ was made of the mistletoe tree, which suffered such guilt over the crucifixion that it fled to the tops of trees to hide throughout eternity. All ages have pushed mistletoe as a medicinal cure-all for such diseases as infertility, epilepsy, palsy and ulcers. Old-time livestock doctors used mistletoe to help animals recover after giving birth to young. In heavy mistletoe growth, "mistletoe moonshine" might be available around Christmas time....
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Monday, January 03, 2005
GAO REPORTS
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following
reports:
REPORTS
1. Agricultural Conservation: USDA Should Improve Its Methods for Estimating Technical Assistance Costs. GAO-05-58, November 30. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-58
2. Oil and Gas Development: Challenges to Agency Decisions and Opportunities for BLM to Standardize Data Collection. GAO-05-124, November 30. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-124
3. Rural Housing: Changing the Definition of Rural Could Improve Eligibility Determinations. GAO-05-110, December 3. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-110
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following
reports:
REPORTS
1. Agricultural Conservation: USDA Should Improve Its Methods for Estimating Technical Assistance Costs. GAO-05-58, November 30. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-58
2. Oil and Gas Development: Challenges to Agency Decisions and Opportunities for BLM to Standardize Data Collection. GAO-05-124, November 30. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-124
3. Rural Housing: Changing the Definition of Rural Could Improve Eligibility Determinations. GAO-05-110, December 3. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-110
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NEWS ROUNDUP
America's Keystone Forests: A Map for Moving Forward The U.S. Forest Service will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2005, an event the agency will trumpet with much pomp and circumstance. But in the 100 years since the Forest Service was first charged with "sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands," our national forests have been ravaged by mismanagement and special private interests. We propose a blueprint for moving forward in our new report America’s Keystone Forests: Mapping the Next 100 Years of Forest Protection. (Go here to view the report)....
Editorial: New Forest Service rules long overdue Despite the alarmist claims of some environmental groups, the reforms to the forest planning process rolled out by the Forest Service recently are long-awaited and much-needed. Critics claim the changes will lead to some kind of environmental disaster, but we have long argued on these pages that the Forest Service's current approach to planning simply does not work. It is cumbersome and expensive, progressing at a pace so glacial that it actually discourages public involvement. It is so inflexible and unresponsive that a forest plan can be outdated the same year it is approved....
Editorial: New Forest Service rules silence public New rules the U.S. Forest Service recently announced could silence the public's voice and make it harder to know if wildlife will be harmed by logging, road building or oil and gas drilling. At stake is the future of 191 million acres of national forests, including 14 million acres in Colorado. For the West, where most national forests are located, the new rules could have profound environmental and economic consequences. We Westerners rely on the national forests for clean water, wildlife protection, recreation and resources. So the uproar over the Forest Service's new planning rules is about much more than a bureaucratic process. At stake is how our national forests will be cared for in the future....
Editorial: Forest planning can stand improvement The near-Pavlovian response of outrage from environmentalists last week to changes announced in the procedures the U.S. Forest Service follows in making its long-range management plans for the national forests may be understandable. The Bush administration has been rather unabashed in its ambition to log, drill and mine more on public lands, so it's perhaps natural to view any proposal to "streamline" planning as a thinly veiled effort to expedite mayhem. But anyone who has paid much attention to the cumbersome, bureaucratic process that has come to dominate national forest management must admit, at least privately, that the system bears improving. Unfortunately, the planning rules first adopted in 1976 have proved so cumbersome, so unwieldy, that the Forest Service sometimes seems to spend more time managing paperwork than resources. The gestation period for some of the agency's forest plans rivals the intended lifespan of the plans - it takes an average of nearly eight years to prepare a 15-year plan....
Unmanned aircraft may help fight forest fires The U.S. Forest Service is looking to unmanned aircraft as a way to track forest fires while keeping firefighters safe. Tracking the location of a forest fire is a crucial part of battling the blaze. Traditionally, fire managers have relied on pilots flying over the flames at night, shooting pictures using heat-sensitive cameras. Mission managers then assign tasks based on the photos. But there are situations that are too dangerous for human pilots -- such as low visibility caused by a smoky fire. So when the U.S. Forest Service learned of the tests that researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory were doing on small, cheaper unmanned aerial vehicles, they jumped on board....
Forest agency centennial brings revelry, debate The US Forest Service is marking its 100th anniversary amid debate over whether it is living up to the mission that President Theodore Roosevelt gave it in 1905: to "perpetuate the forest as a permanent resource of the nation." Dampening the revelry for a centennial celebration that will run from tomorrow through Friday, the Forest Service is so tied up in litigation that some say it no longer has the focus of Gifford Pinchot, its first director. "A hundred years later, the whole picture is significantly more complex," said Dale Bosworth, the Forest Service chief. "The population has increased significantly. There are much more demands than there were 100 years ago in terms of recreation and solitude." From overgrown forests that contribute to major fires to the spread of invasive species and urban encroachment on open space, the agency's 37,600 employees have a host of modern concerns, Bosworth said....
A Look at U.S. Forest Service Number of Forests - 1905: 83 forest reserves 2005: 155 National Forests and 20 National Grasslands Number of Acres - 1905: 63 million 2005: 192 million Budget - 1905: $400,000 2005: $4.1 billion Number of Employees - 1905: 270 2005: 37,648 U.S. Population - 1905: 76 million 2005: 290 million....
Wyoming wants testimony for wolf lawsuit Testimony of a U.S. Interior Department official before a Wyoming legislative committee should be admitted as evidence in the state's wolf lawsuit against the federal government, Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank has argued. Rejection of the state's wolf management plan was based on legal and political reasons, not science, according to a brief that Crank filed in U.S. District Court. At issue is testimony by Paul Hoffman, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, before the Joint Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Jan. 15, 2004, in Laramie. The state contends Hoffman's remarks confirm the state's position that the wolf management plan was adequate from a scientific perspective, but that the agency was swayed by political and legal considerations to reject it....
Column: Saving the sage grouse On the sagebrush sea of the American West, people are embarking on an uncharted new journey called community-based conservation. Their flagship is the greater sage grouse, a bird that has narrowly avoided being added to the endangered species list because of the cooperative efforts of people around the region. The decision not to list the sage grouse signals the beginning of a bold experiment. For many years, people in communities around the West have been arguing that they are the best stewards of their local public lands, resources and wildlife. Now, locals are being given the chance to prove it....
Editorial: The enemy within WHEN IT comes to despoiling the environment, the Department of Defense has the worst record of any federal agency. It promised to turn a new leaf in 1996, when it adopted a directive committing it to "environmental security leadership." Now it wants to drop that policy in favor of managing its facilities "to sustain the national defense mission." The draft of the new directive refers to preventing pollution, but the focus is on "mission accomplishment" and enhanced readiness. The Pentagon's new leaf is losing its green faster than a New England maple in October. The proposed new directive comes on top of the Defense Department's success at getting Congress to exempt its training operations from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Congress went along with this even though it had always granted case-by-case exemptions on national security grounds. There is no record of any training operation ever being hindered by compliance with an environmental law....
Giant Gambian rat target of eradication The Florida Keys, already dealing with invasive exotics including melaleuca and iguanas, have added another to the list of unwanted newcomers: the African Gambian pouch rat. Biologists and conservationists in the Keys say the rodent needs to be eradicated before it increases its range and harms native species that live in natural areas of the Keys. Although it is unclear how or why the rats - which can grow as big as a raccoons - were released on Grassy Key, biologists are saying the animals could be devastating to the Florida Keys' ecological system....
Alaska scientists fear rat invasion on islands Only hours after a giant soybean freighter ran aground a few hundred miles from this small island in the middle of the Bering Sea, the research scientists stationed here began to panic. It would be merely a matter of time before oil from the freighter Selendang Ayu, which broke apart on Dec. 8, would begin oozing into the ocean, straight into one of the world's most diverse and delicate wildlife habitats. But worse than an oil spill, in the view of wildlife biologists working furiously to protect millions of exotic animals, the freighter, if it got close enough, could cause an even greater environmental calamity: a rat spill. Rats, of the hardy Norway breed, are now present on 82 percent of the world's islands, including, of course, Manhattan. Like killer bees swarming across the continents, rats are now burrowing into the farthest reaches of Alaska, attacking seabirds where they nest, along with their eggs and chicks....
Experts explore weather-wildlife link as behavior changes Canada geese are spending mild winters in Montana. Ducks are bypassing their normal pit stops. American pikas, tiny rodents known for their high-pitched squeak, are disappearing from some mountain landscapes. Even the elk and frogs are acting a little odd compared with years past. Warmer temperatures and less snowfall, caused by years of drought and perhaps a symptom of changes in the global climate, are making a mark on the way waterfowl and wildlife in much of the West behave. The Wildlife Society and National Wildlife Federation chartered a committee to investigate possible links between wildlife and climate change. Earlier this month, the organizations released the first comprehensive assessment of how wildlife across North America are responding to global warming....
2004 Conservation Achievements: The Trust for Public Land Yesterday, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation nonprofit, announced its conservation achievements for the year 2004. Across the country, TPL protected more than 111,532 acres in 35 states during 2004, with a fair-market value of $403 million. In addition, TPL and its affiliate, the Conservation Campaign helped 41 counties and municipalities nationwide pass measures that will generate more than $2.3 billion in new funding for parks and open space. In a New York Times Op-Ed from Nov. 20, TPL president Will Rogers said that despite a divided electorate, "these measures unify Americans. It's hard to be against new parks and trails, or to disagree with wanting to protect farms and forests from development." In fact, American voters in 2004 approved 162 conservation ballot measures, raising over $4 billion nationwide for land conservation according to TPL....
"Broads" help keep land wild A Durango-based national conservation group is trying to be a different kind of voice crying in the wilderness. With public land managers spread thinly over millions of acres, the group intends to enhance stewardship by combining technology with two of the things its members love best: hiking and being "great old broads." The women, who call themselves Great Old Broads for Wilderness, will team up with Bureau of Land Management staff to document the shape of the landscape at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado. And they are using their corps of volunteers to collect field data in southern Utah, where land management agencies have been overwhelmed by the explosive growth of off-road-vehicle use, or lack the personnel to monitor degradation caused by oil and gas drilling or overgrazing, says the group's executive director, Ronni Egan....
Oil and gas work keeps lawyers busy Oil and gas work isn't all drilling, tripping pipe and metering gas flows. When the activities clash with the interests of other land uses, lawyers get involved. And some people argue that there's more discovery, motions and orders happening in Wyoming's courts and law offices than in the oil and gas fields. "I can tell you that my workload, with regard to access issues and resolving disputes between operators and surface owners, has mushroomed in the last two years. And I am not the only lawyer who is very busy doing that," said Gillette attorney R.T. Cox....
As gold price rises, mining fever surges A rapid rise in gold prices has led to an increase in mining claims in the past year in Oregon and Washington. The price of gold is now close to $450 an ounce, after 10 years of seesawing between $280 to $380 an ounce. The last major gold rush in the Northwest dates back to 1980, when prices spiked to more than $800 an ounce. That surge made paper multimillionaires of a few mine owners before the bottom again dropped out of the gold market....
Column: Misinformation drives students' environmental gloom and doom Too often, environmental teaching takes the form of fearful and gloomy messages, presented to children as early as kindergarten or even preschool. It's a disturbing trend with potentially devastating ramifications. In 1994, Nancy Bray Cardozo, writing in Audubon magazine, shared her uneasiness about children's environmental education. Her 6-year-old daughter had received a hand-me-down bed from an aunt, and she was about to sleep in it for the first time. Cardozo noticed that something was bothering her daughter, and she asked what it was. The little girl told her, "They killed trees to make my bed.' The gloom and anxiety often overshadow the facts. Students become alarmed about toxic waste, acid rain, deforestation and global warming, without ever learning basic scientific facts about these complex issues....
Column: When visions collide Rainforests are disappearing at a frightening rate, the students were taught, so they raised $523 for an activist group's "protect an acre" program. At the behest of their teacher and the group, they trekked into Manhattan to ask a major bank to "stop lending money to projects that destroy endangered forests and cause global warming." Indoctrination and manipulation are deplorable enough when high school or college students are involved. But these were second graders, and the close cooperation between their teacher and radical environmentalists underscores a widening problem. But what happens when their vision of a "better Earth" collides with the dreams of billions of poor people who still don't enjoy even the most rudimentary necessities: electricity, safe water, basic nutrition and health care, and a chance to see their children live past age five? Who then gets to decide which dreams and priorities take precedence, how high a price must be paid, and who pays that price?....
PETA asks SU, LSU to drop live mascots An animal-rights group wants Southern University to refrain from replacing the jaguar mascot that died Sunday from symptoms related to old age. But Southern's chancellor said the university is likely to get a new cat and raise money for a habitat much larger than the previous mascot's 418-square-foot cage on the Baton Rouge campus. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Norfolk, Va., group critical of schools that keep big cats as mascots, says Southern should end its three-decade-old practice of keeping a pet jaguar. Rhodes said PETA also opposes LSU keeping its Mike the Tiger mascot, who will be furnished with a larger $2.9 million habitat this summer....
Column: New freedoms for a new year The new year will likely be much happier than it would have been had the November election results been different. But a Republican majority in Congress and a Republican administration provide no guarantee that public policy will be influenced by either common sense or by red-state voters. The people who elected the current congressional majority and the administration should gear up to hold government's feet to the fire to see that badly needed reforms in public policy are actually made. Among the new year's resolutions should be a firm resolve to insist that elected officials address these issues:....
Ranchland stampede Ranching has never been a big-money enterprise. Drought years can sink ranchers into deep debt. Swaying beef prices can pinch budgets. Tax bills can be hefty, work days long. And as playground-seeking jet-setters and big-plan developers hungrily eye Colorado's dwindling ranchland with millions of dollars in hand, selling out has never been more tempting for calloused, sun-bleached cowboys. "Farmers and ranchers in Colorado are seeing their equity slipping away, and they see an opportunity to cash in and start sipping piña coladas, even though most of them don't know what that is," says Don Ament. He's a Colorado farmer and the commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state's third-largest economic engine....
Keeping it all in the family Over the years, the Yturria ranch was divided among various children, but all the parcels have remained in the hands of direct descendants, one of the few big estates from the early era still entirely in family hands. The largest portion of the original ranch – more than 15,000 acres six miles north of Raymondville – is owned by Frank Yturria. Frank Yturria has succeeded by taking cues from his ancestor, chartering two banks and making friends with powerful politicians. His great-grandfather sided with Emperor Maximilian and received a plush customs appointment as a result. Mexican President Porfirio Diaz plotted his revolution while a guest in Francisco's home....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Freedom America's gift to entire world We live in a country that, if you believe the polls, the whole world hates. If so, then why do they risk their lives every day, by the hundreds of thousands, to come here and live and become citizens? One word: freedom. And that is what infuriates the twisted, hate-driven pied pipers posing as religious figures who threaten, condemn and boast about killing 3,000 Christians and Jews in the inferno of Sept. 11, 2001. Freedom. It is the kryptonite that defeats the despots. And that has been America's gift to the world....
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America's Keystone Forests: A Map for Moving Forward The U.S. Forest Service will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2005, an event the agency will trumpet with much pomp and circumstance. But in the 100 years since the Forest Service was first charged with "sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands," our national forests have been ravaged by mismanagement and special private interests. We propose a blueprint for moving forward in our new report America’s Keystone Forests: Mapping the Next 100 Years of Forest Protection. (Go here to view the report)....
Editorial: New Forest Service rules long overdue Despite the alarmist claims of some environmental groups, the reforms to the forest planning process rolled out by the Forest Service recently are long-awaited and much-needed. Critics claim the changes will lead to some kind of environmental disaster, but we have long argued on these pages that the Forest Service's current approach to planning simply does not work. It is cumbersome and expensive, progressing at a pace so glacial that it actually discourages public involvement. It is so inflexible and unresponsive that a forest plan can be outdated the same year it is approved....
Editorial: New Forest Service rules silence public New rules the U.S. Forest Service recently announced could silence the public's voice and make it harder to know if wildlife will be harmed by logging, road building or oil and gas drilling. At stake is the future of 191 million acres of national forests, including 14 million acres in Colorado. For the West, where most national forests are located, the new rules could have profound environmental and economic consequences. We Westerners rely on the national forests for clean water, wildlife protection, recreation and resources. So the uproar over the Forest Service's new planning rules is about much more than a bureaucratic process. At stake is how our national forests will be cared for in the future....
Editorial: Forest planning can stand improvement The near-Pavlovian response of outrage from environmentalists last week to changes announced in the procedures the U.S. Forest Service follows in making its long-range management plans for the national forests may be understandable. The Bush administration has been rather unabashed in its ambition to log, drill and mine more on public lands, so it's perhaps natural to view any proposal to "streamline" planning as a thinly veiled effort to expedite mayhem. But anyone who has paid much attention to the cumbersome, bureaucratic process that has come to dominate national forest management must admit, at least privately, that the system bears improving. Unfortunately, the planning rules first adopted in 1976 have proved so cumbersome, so unwieldy, that the Forest Service sometimes seems to spend more time managing paperwork than resources. The gestation period for some of the agency's forest plans rivals the intended lifespan of the plans - it takes an average of nearly eight years to prepare a 15-year plan....
Unmanned aircraft may help fight forest fires The U.S. Forest Service is looking to unmanned aircraft as a way to track forest fires while keeping firefighters safe. Tracking the location of a forest fire is a crucial part of battling the blaze. Traditionally, fire managers have relied on pilots flying over the flames at night, shooting pictures using heat-sensitive cameras. Mission managers then assign tasks based on the photos. But there are situations that are too dangerous for human pilots -- such as low visibility caused by a smoky fire. So when the U.S. Forest Service learned of the tests that researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory were doing on small, cheaper unmanned aerial vehicles, they jumped on board....
Forest agency centennial brings revelry, debate The US Forest Service is marking its 100th anniversary amid debate over whether it is living up to the mission that President Theodore Roosevelt gave it in 1905: to "perpetuate the forest as a permanent resource of the nation." Dampening the revelry for a centennial celebration that will run from tomorrow through Friday, the Forest Service is so tied up in litigation that some say it no longer has the focus of Gifford Pinchot, its first director. "A hundred years later, the whole picture is significantly more complex," said Dale Bosworth, the Forest Service chief. "The population has increased significantly. There are much more demands than there were 100 years ago in terms of recreation and solitude." From overgrown forests that contribute to major fires to the spread of invasive species and urban encroachment on open space, the agency's 37,600 employees have a host of modern concerns, Bosworth said....
A Look at U.S. Forest Service Number of Forests - 1905: 83 forest reserves 2005: 155 National Forests and 20 National Grasslands Number of Acres - 1905: 63 million 2005: 192 million Budget - 1905: $400,000 2005: $4.1 billion Number of Employees - 1905: 270 2005: 37,648 U.S. Population - 1905: 76 million 2005: 290 million....
Wyoming wants testimony for wolf lawsuit Testimony of a U.S. Interior Department official before a Wyoming legislative committee should be admitted as evidence in the state's wolf lawsuit against the federal government, Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank has argued. Rejection of the state's wolf management plan was based on legal and political reasons, not science, according to a brief that Crank filed in U.S. District Court. At issue is testimony by Paul Hoffman, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, before the Joint Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Jan. 15, 2004, in Laramie. The state contends Hoffman's remarks confirm the state's position that the wolf management plan was adequate from a scientific perspective, but that the agency was swayed by political and legal considerations to reject it....
Column: Saving the sage grouse On the sagebrush sea of the American West, people are embarking on an uncharted new journey called community-based conservation. Their flagship is the greater sage grouse, a bird that has narrowly avoided being added to the endangered species list because of the cooperative efforts of people around the region. The decision not to list the sage grouse signals the beginning of a bold experiment. For many years, people in communities around the West have been arguing that they are the best stewards of their local public lands, resources and wildlife. Now, locals are being given the chance to prove it....
Editorial: The enemy within WHEN IT comes to despoiling the environment, the Department of Defense has the worst record of any federal agency. It promised to turn a new leaf in 1996, when it adopted a directive committing it to "environmental security leadership." Now it wants to drop that policy in favor of managing its facilities "to sustain the national defense mission." The draft of the new directive refers to preventing pollution, but the focus is on "mission accomplishment" and enhanced readiness. The Pentagon's new leaf is losing its green faster than a New England maple in October. The proposed new directive comes on top of the Defense Department's success at getting Congress to exempt its training operations from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Congress went along with this even though it had always granted case-by-case exemptions on national security grounds. There is no record of any training operation ever being hindered by compliance with an environmental law....
Giant Gambian rat target of eradication The Florida Keys, already dealing with invasive exotics including melaleuca and iguanas, have added another to the list of unwanted newcomers: the African Gambian pouch rat. Biologists and conservationists in the Keys say the rodent needs to be eradicated before it increases its range and harms native species that live in natural areas of the Keys. Although it is unclear how or why the rats - which can grow as big as a raccoons - were released on Grassy Key, biologists are saying the animals could be devastating to the Florida Keys' ecological system....
Alaska scientists fear rat invasion on islands Only hours after a giant soybean freighter ran aground a few hundred miles from this small island in the middle of the Bering Sea, the research scientists stationed here began to panic. It would be merely a matter of time before oil from the freighter Selendang Ayu, which broke apart on Dec. 8, would begin oozing into the ocean, straight into one of the world's most diverse and delicate wildlife habitats. But worse than an oil spill, in the view of wildlife biologists working furiously to protect millions of exotic animals, the freighter, if it got close enough, could cause an even greater environmental calamity: a rat spill. Rats, of the hardy Norway breed, are now present on 82 percent of the world's islands, including, of course, Manhattan. Like killer bees swarming across the continents, rats are now burrowing into the farthest reaches of Alaska, attacking seabirds where they nest, along with their eggs and chicks....
Experts explore weather-wildlife link as behavior changes Canada geese are spending mild winters in Montana. Ducks are bypassing their normal pit stops. American pikas, tiny rodents known for their high-pitched squeak, are disappearing from some mountain landscapes. Even the elk and frogs are acting a little odd compared with years past. Warmer temperatures and less snowfall, caused by years of drought and perhaps a symptom of changes in the global climate, are making a mark on the way waterfowl and wildlife in much of the West behave. The Wildlife Society and National Wildlife Federation chartered a committee to investigate possible links between wildlife and climate change. Earlier this month, the organizations released the first comprehensive assessment of how wildlife across North America are responding to global warming....
2004 Conservation Achievements: The Trust for Public Land Yesterday, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation nonprofit, announced its conservation achievements for the year 2004. Across the country, TPL protected more than 111,532 acres in 35 states during 2004, with a fair-market value of $403 million. In addition, TPL and its affiliate, the Conservation Campaign helped 41 counties and municipalities nationwide pass measures that will generate more than $2.3 billion in new funding for parks and open space. In a New York Times Op-Ed from Nov. 20, TPL president Will Rogers said that despite a divided electorate, "these measures unify Americans. It's hard to be against new parks and trails, or to disagree with wanting to protect farms and forests from development." In fact, American voters in 2004 approved 162 conservation ballot measures, raising over $4 billion nationwide for land conservation according to TPL....
"Broads" help keep land wild A Durango-based national conservation group is trying to be a different kind of voice crying in the wilderness. With public land managers spread thinly over millions of acres, the group intends to enhance stewardship by combining technology with two of the things its members love best: hiking and being "great old broads." The women, who call themselves Great Old Broads for Wilderness, will team up with Bureau of Land Management staff to document the shape of the landscape at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado. And they are using their corps of volunteers to collect field data in southern Utah, where land management agencies have been overwhelmed by the explosive growth of off-road-vehicle use, or lack the personnel to monitor degradation caused by oil and gas drilling or overgrazing, says the group's executive director, Ronni Egan....
Oil and gas work keeps lawyers busy Oil and gas work isn't all drilling, tripping pipe and metering gas flows. When the activities clash with the interests of other land uses, lawyers get involved. And some people argue that there's more discovery, motions and orders happening in Wyoming's courts and law offices than in the oil and gas fields. "I can tell you that my workload, with regard to access issues and resolving disputes between operators and surface owners, has mushroomed in the last two years. And I am not the only lawyer who is very busy doing that," said Gillette attorney R.T. Cox....
As gold price rises, mining fever surges A rapid rise in gold prices has led to an increase in mining claims in the past year in Oregon and Washington. The price of gold is now close to $450 an ounce, after 10 years of seesawing between $280 to $380 an ounce. The last major gold rush in the Northwest dates back to 1980, when prices spiked to more than $800 an ounce. That surge made paper multimillionaires of a few mine owners before the bottom again dropped out of the gold market....
Column: Misinformation drives students' environmental gloom and doom Too often, environmental teaching takes the form of fearful and gloomy messages, presented to children as early as kindergarten or even preschool. It's a disturbing trend with potentially devastating ramifications. In 1994, Nancy Bray Cardozo, writing in Audubon magazine, shared her uneasiness about children's environmental education. Her 6-year-old daughter had received a hand-me-down bed from an aunt, and she was about to sleep in it for the first time. Cardozo noticed that something was bothering her daughter, and she asked what it was. The little girl told her, "They killed trees to make my bed.' The gloom and anxiety often overshadow the facts. Students become alarmed about toxic waste, acid rain, deforestation and global warming, without ever learning basic scientific facts about these complex issues....
Column: When visions collide Rainforests are disappearing at a frightening rate, the students were taught, so they raised $523 for an activist group's "protect an acre" program. At the behest of their teacher and the group, they trekked into Manhattan to ask a major bank to "stop lending money to projects that destroy endangered forests and cause global warming." Indoctrination and manipulation are deplorable enough when high school or college students are involved. But these were second graders, and the close cooperation between their teacher and radical environmentalists underscores a widening problem. But what happens when their vision of a "better Earth" collides with the dreams of billions of poor people who still don't enjoy even the most rudimentary necessities: electricity, safe water, basic nutrition and health care, and a chance to see their children live past age five? Who then gets to decide which dreams and priorities take precedence, how high a price must be paid, and who pays that price?....
PETA asks SU, LSU to drop live mascots An animal-rights group wants Southern University to refrain from replacing the jaguar mascot that died Sunday from symptoms related to old age. But Southern's chancellor said the university is likely to get a new cat and raise money for a habitat much larger than the previous mascot's 418-square-foot cage on the Baton Rouge campus. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Norfolk, Va., group critical of schools that keep big cats as mascots, says Southern should end its three-decade-old practice of keeping a pet jaguar. Rhodes said PETA also opposes LSU keeping its Mike the Tiger mascot, who will be furnished with a larger $2.9 million habitat this summer....
Column: New freedoms for a new year The new year will likely be much happier than it would have been had the November election results been different. But a Republican majority in Congress and a Republican administration provide no guarantee that public policy will be influenced by either common sense or by red-state voters. The people who elected the current congressional majority and the administration should gear up to hold government's feet to the fire to see that badly needed reforms in public policy are actually made. Among the new year's resolutions should be a firm resolve to insist that elected officials address these issues:....
Ranchland stampede Ranching has never been a big-money enterprise. Drought years can sink ranchers into deep debt. Swaying beef prices can pinch budgets. Tax bills can be hefty, work days long. And as playground-seeking jet-setters and big-plan developers hungrily eye Colorado's dwindling ranchland with millions of dollars in hand, selling out has never been more tempting for calloused, sun-bleached cowboys. "Farmers and ranchers in Colorado are seeing their equity slipping away, and they see an opportunity to cash in and start sipping piña coladas, even though most of them don't know what that is," says Don Ament. He's a Colorado farmer and the commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state's third-largest economic engine....
Keeping it all in the family Over the years, the Yturria ranch was divided among various children, but all the parcels have remained in the hands of direct descendants, one of the few big estates from the early era still entirely in family hands. The largest portion of the original ranch – more than 15,000 acres six miles north of Raymondville – is owned by Frank Yturria. Frank Yturria has succeeded by taking cues from his ancestor, chartering two banks and making friends with powerful politicians. His great-grandfather sided with Emperor Maximilian and received a plush customs appointment as a result. Mexican President Porfirio Diaz plotted his revolution while a guest in Francisco's home....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Freedom America's gift to entire world We live in a country that, if you believe the polls, the whole world hates. If so, then why do they risk their lives every day, by the hundreds of thousands, to come here and live and become citizens? One word: freedom. And that is what infuriates the twisted, hate-driven pied pipers posing as religious figures who threaten, condemn and boast about killing 3,000 Christians and Jews in the inferno of Sept. 11, 2001. Freedom. It is the kryptonite that defeats the despots. And that has been America's gift to the world....
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Sunday, January 02, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
Canada Confirms Second Case of Mad Cow Canada on Sunday confirmed its second case of mad cow disease, just days after the United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef. A 10-year-old dairy cow from Alberta has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as mad cow disease is formally known, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The results confirmed preliminary tests released earlier this week. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the infected cow did not enter the human food or animal feed supply and posed no risk to the public. Authorities said cow was born in Alberta in 1996, prior to the introduction of the 1997 feed ban. It is suspected that the animal became infected by contaminated feed before the ban....
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Canada Confirms Second Case of Mad Cow Canada on Sunday confirmed its second case of mad cow disease, just days after the United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef. A 10-year-old dairy cow from Alberta has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as mad cow disease is formally known, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The results confirmed preliminary tests released earlier this week. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the infected cow did not enter the human food or animal feed supply and posed no risk to the public. Authorities said cow was born in Alberta in 1996, prior to the introduction of the 1997 feed ban. It is suspected that the animal became infected by contaminated feed before the ban....
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SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Blame it on the Babylonians
By Julie Carter
What do you know about the New Year’s celebration except that it is when you make resolutions you won’t keep?
Jan. 1 wasn’t always the day celebrated for New Years although the celebration is one of the oldest of holidays.
It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now Mar. 23. It made more sense in that it was the time of year that spring began and new crops were planted. Jan. 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance.
The Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared Jan. 1 to be the beginning of the New Year and Julius Caesar did the same in 46 BC for the Julian calendar.
George Washington began the custom of holding a party on New Year's Day where everyone was welcome. This became known as having an "open house" and is still done in many places today.
Regional foods help welcome the New Year in various parts of America. In Pennsylvania Dutch country, eating sauerkraut on New Year's Day is said to bring good luck. In the South the custom is to eat black-eyed peas. More often now, people use Tylenol to cure their celebration pain.
Making resolutions on this first day of the New Year also dates back to the early Babylonians. While popular modern resolutions might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking, the Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
Here at the ranch, resolutions might include a solemn promise to never eat Brussels sprouts, tofu, skinless chicken breasts, spinach anything or fermented cabbage.
On the upside, a rural ranch dweller might dream of swearing off ice breaking, manure shoveling or any horse called Bronc. High on that dream list would be riding shorter days, sleeping longer nights. Next would be no dead cow skinning or pitchfork using and no work that requires a shovel or a mechanics tool box.
Of course all those dream resolutions come because the thought is-- if you are going to make yourself promises you can’t keep, may as well make big ones.
I would like to resolve to be more disciplined with my work, smile more often when I’d really rather not, and first look to find praise for someone or something before I find criticism. I would like to act better today than I thought possible yesterday and set a higher standard for tomorrow.
I resolve to not mention the words exercise, diet, or botox in the same sentence with my name. Health and beauty should be a natural daily process, not a resolution.
I will continue to remind myself that Jan. 1 is the day after Dec. 31 and the day before Jan. 2. Nothing more. I will strive to remember that everyday is a gift, tomorrow is never promised to us, and that the people in my life are precious. If they aren’t, then I need to look again.
I live an abundant blessed life and want to never fail to recognize that. But most of all I want to resolve to be resolute-- firm in purpose, belief and unshakeable determination.
May the year bring to you all of what you need and even some of what you want.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2005
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Blame it on the Babylonians
By Julie Carter
What do you know about the New Year’s celebration except that it is when you make resolutions you won’t keep?
Jan. 1 wasn’t always the day celebrated for New Years although the celebration is one of the oldest of holidays.
It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now Mar. 23. It made more sense in that it was the time of year that spring began and new crops were planted. Jan. 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance.
The Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared Jan. 1 to be the beginning of the New Year and Julius Caesar did the same in 46 BC for the Julian calendar.
George Washington began the custom of holding a party on New Year's Day where everyone was welcome. This became known as having an "open house" and is still done in many places today.
Regional foods help welcome the New Year in various parts of America. In Pennsylvania Dutch country, eating sauerkraut on New Year's Day is said to bring good luck. In the South the custom is to eat black-eyed peas. More often now, people use Tylenol to cure their celebration pain.
Making resolutions on this first day of the New Year also dates back to the early Babylonians. While popular modern resolutions might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking, the Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
Here at the ranch, resolutions might include a solemn promise to never eat Brussels sprouts, tofu, skinless chicken breasts, spinach anything or fermented cabbage.
On the upside, a rural ranch dweller might dream of swearing off ice breaking, manure shoveling or any horse called Bronc. High on that dream list would be riding shorter days, sleeping longer nights. Next would be no dead cow skinning or pitchfork using and no work that requires a shovel or a mechanics tool box.
Of course all those dream resolutions come because the thought is-- if you are going to make yourself promises you can’t keep, may as well make big ones.
I would like to resolve to be more disciplined with my work, smile more often when I’d really rather not, and first look to find praise for someone or something before I find criticism. I would like to act better today than I thought possible yesterday and set a higher standard for tomorrow.
I resolve to not mention the words exercise, diet, or botox in the same sentence with my name. Health and beauty should be a natural daily process, not a resolution.
I will continue to remind myself that Jan. 1 is the day after Dec. 31 and the day before Jan. 2. Nothing more. I will strive to remember that everyday is a gift, tomorrow is never promised to us, and that the people in my life are precious. If they aren’t, then I need to look again.
I live an abundant blessed life and want to never fail to recognize that. But most of all I want to resolve to be resolute-- firm in purpose, belief and unshakeable determination.
May the year bring to you all of what you need and even some of what you want.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2005
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