Friday, April 22, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Environmental movement struggling to regain momentum This may be Earth Day, but there is little joy in America's environmental movement. After years of success, environmentalism is undergoing a midlife crisis, stewing in internal debate over how to regain momentum. Polls consistently show at least 70 percent of Americans say they support the goals of the environmental movement. Yet environmentalists have less national political power today than at any time since the first Earth Day in 1970. Some say the movement is in need of a major overhaul: Environmentalists should become part of a larger left-leaning coalition of labor, civil rights, anti-war activists and others - while talking more about mainstream American values and less about lawsuits and lobbying. But many leaders of America's largest green groups say what they need instead is to find more common goals with business owners, farmers, ranchers and religious conservatives....
On Earth Day, environmentalists debate future of movement As the world marks the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, environmentalists are debating the future of a movement that seems to be losing the battle for public opinion. President Bush's re-election, the failure to slow global warming and the fact that large numbers of Americans seem to dismiss them as tree-hugging extremists has green leaders looking for new approaches. Some think it's a message problem - that environmental groups simply need to improve their communication with the voting public. Others are calling for more fundamental changes in how the groups operate. The "Green Group," a coalition of 30 national environmental organizations, is seeking help from an expert championed by Democratic Party insiders - George Lakoff, a University of California, Berkeley linguistics professor with strong ideas about how language colors political discourse....
Dearth day Today, on the 35th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on, and widely expected to pass, a grossly porkified energy bill that would dole out billions in subsidies to fossil-fuel industries, shortchange alternative-energy and efficiency initiatives, and indemnify makers of the gasoline additive MTBE against liability for groundwater contamination. And this time the bill may actually have a chance of passing in the Senate, perhaps as early as next month, after years of stalemate. This and other dismal news rolling off Capitol Hill of late would seem good reason to make Earth Day 2005 a revolt, not a celebration. Yet when Muckraker searched high and low for organizers of big, spirited, on-the-ground protests, we found little resembling the kind of mutiny the current political moment would seem to demand....
Lodge owner sues Forest Service A $2.5 million lawsuit filed against the Forest Service by Jeff Mummery of Cody will go to trial here in September. Mummery's attorney says the case could establish a precedent for cooperation between the agency and recreational permit holders. At issue is whether the Forest Service committed a breach of contract with Mummery, his attorney, Kevin Garden of Washington, D.C., said last week. Mummery is managing member of The Sweetwater, A Wilderness Lodge, LLC, a corporation formed in 1995 to purchase the property from Dave and Nancy Brannon. The lodge operated for one season before its access was deemed unsafe by the Forest Service. Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesman Charles Miller said the case has been assigned to Judge James Merrill of the Court of Federal Claims, who is expected to travel from Washington, D.C., to Cody to hear the case Sept. 19. Garden said the fact that Senior Judge James Merow of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently forwarded the case for trial is an initial victory and a precedent with positive implications for other forest lodge owners/permittees....
Air tanker crash could ground other firefighting planes The fatal crash of a firefighting air tanker in California could have repercussions for Arizona's fire season. The P-3 Orion that crashed late Wednesday killing three crew members while on a training run over the Lassen National Forest is the same type of plane that wildland fire officials are counting on to help battle Arizona blazes. The U.S. Forest Service grounded the planes Thursday but said the "stand-down" order should end today or Saturday....
Christine Mine plan review put on hold A proposal for a gold-mining operation in the vicinity of McCullough Gulch has been formally put on hold by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), pending further review of wetlands issues. The environmental analysis for the Christine Mine near the base of Quandary Peak's northern flank had been creeping along for the past four years, as Forest Service officials developed a preliminary feasibility study for the project. In its early stages, the plan drew mostly critical reviews from local residents, who value the area for open space and recreation. But bound by federal mining laws, the Forest Service is obligated to look at such proposals and evaluate and disclose potential impacts....
Smith wants USFS to measure toxic fumes In observance of Earth Day, Senator Gordon Smith sent a letter to Chief Dale Bosworth of the United States Forest Service requesting that he focus existing Forest Service scientific research efforts on measuring the toxic fumes emitted by wildfire. Currently, federal agencies track industrial emissions, but not those related to wildfire. “Wildfire incinerates spotted owl habitat and fills the sky with smoke, yet we’ve done almost nothing to determine the effects that it has on the air we breathe,” said Smith. New research shows that forest fires are a major and increasing source of dioxins, “greenhouse” and other harmful gases. In 2002, the Biscuit Fire may have released as much as 40 million tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of burning 3 billion gallons of gasoline, or the equivalent of 10% of the annual emissions from all coal-fire power plants in the United States....
Analysis: Oil, environment clash in West A coalition of environmental groups again protested a sale of federal oil and gas leases in New Mexico and Oklahoma this week, a classic showdown that's become routine every quarter as the rising price of oil spurs more exploration and drilling in the West. On Wednesday the Bureau of Land Management in Santa Fe, N.M., netted $12,293,788 in revenue from 73 federal leases sold in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, but leases sold on about 26,394 acres were sold under protest and will require a review. On the eve of the sale a coalition of the Forest Guardians, the Chihuahuan Desert Conservation Alliance, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the Southwest Environmental Center filed a 40-page protest letter....
Oil and Gas Drilling Threatens Endangered Cactus with Extinction A Bureau of Land Management proposal for more than 900 new oil wells in Utah's Uinta Basin threatens the endangered Pariette cactus with extinction, asserts a legal petition filed today. Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society filed a formal "emergency listing petition" seeking immediate protection for this spectacular native wildflower. "In the face of intense oil and gas drilling, the Pariette cactus is just hanging on," noted Tony Frates of the Utah Native Plant Society. "It is critically important that we protect it under the Endangered Species Act." The proposed oil and gas drilling would irreversibly damage the only known habitat for Pariette cactus - a single drainage in this part of eastern Utah - as well as the Pariette Wetlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern....
Norbeck Society fighting for limits on off-roading vehicles in sensitive areas Hikers and others seeking to protect sensitive areas from off-road vehicles have formed an organization to make their case to the U.S. Forest Service. The new group is called the Norbeck Society — after the late South Dakota governor and U.S. senator Peter Norbeck, best known as a conservationist, especially in the Black Hills. "We're not just hikers," organizer Colin Paterson emphasized. "We're open to everyone."....
First time under new law, six wild horses slaughtered Wild horses rounded up on federal land in the West and sold to a private owner have been slaughtered for the first time since a new law went into effect, a government official told The Associated Press on Thursday. "This is something we regret and are very disappointed this has happened," said Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Washington D.C. "We make every possible effort when the horses are sold to make sure the animals are placed in good homes for long-term care," she said. The BLM is investigating this month's sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man and their subsequent slaughter at a commercial packing plant in Illinois, Boddington said....
Judge: Tribes' salmon suit too late by decades A federal judge in Medford says a $1 billion lawsuit brought by members of the Klamath Tribes against PacifiCorp for the loss of salmon should be thrown out. Judge John P. Cooney, a magistrate, said the lawsuit was decades too late. The statue of limitations ran out on the case in 1971, he said in a decision Thursday. "This action was not filed until May 2004," he wrote. "Therefore, it is barred by the statute of limitations." In the suit, members of the Tribes claim construction of power dams on the Klamath River destroyed the Tribes' federal treaty rights to fish for salmon in the river's headwaters. As compensation, they are asking for $1 billion....
Mesa Water to Continue Purchase Plans; Minimum Purchase Condition Satisfied Boone Pickens stated today that Mesa Water would follow through on its recently announced plans to purchase water rights in Roberts, Gray, and Hemphill Counties. Commenting on announced purchases by Canadian River Municipal Water Authority, Mr. Pickens said: "CRMWA's and Mesa Water's combined purchases are exactly what Mesa has had in mind to create value for area water rights. This is great for the ranchers to have two buyers for their water rights. "We bought 70,000 acres two years ago, and we are buying another 100,000 acres now," Pickens added. "Combined with my 30,000 acre ranch, that puts our total ownership at 200,000. The combination of CRMWA's purchases and our purchases has brought almost $75 million - $100 million to Roberts County ranchers. This is a win-win for the area economy and the ranchers, which will enable many of them to sustain their family ranches for many years into the future." Mr. Pickens further stated that "we have always emphasized that water is abundant in this four-county area, and there is plenty of water for CRMWA's purposes and for our purposes. There are many landowners who still want to sell water. I personally hope that CRMWA will continue to buy water as long as they can afford to do so. It is much fairer to the ranchers to be paid for their water than to be trapped with no use for their water and no buyer."....
Growth In Biomass Could Put Us On Road To Energy Independence Relief from soaring prices at the gas pump could come in the form of corncobs, cornstalks, switchgrass and other types of biomass, according to a joint feasibility study for the departments of Agriculture and Energy. The recently completed Oak Ridge National Laboratory report outlines a national strategy in which 1 billion dry tons of biomass – any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis – would displace 30 percent of the nation's petroleum consumption for transportation. Supplying more than 3 percent of the nation's energy, biomass already has surpassed hydropower as the largest domestic source of renewable energy, and researchers believe much potential remains. "Our report answers several key questions," said Bob Perlack, a member of ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division and a co-author of the report. "We wanted to know how large a role biomass could play, whether the United States has the land resources and whether such a plan would be economically viable."....
Dozens of U.S. groups support Canada in mad cow legal battle Dozens of cattle and farm groups representing the majority of U.S. ranchers are supporting Canada in a legal battle to reopen the border. In a court brief filed Thursday, the groups said a Montana judge was wrong to prolong the cattle ban based on a lawsuit from a protectionist ranchers' group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America. The so-called friend of the court brief was also endorsed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, 29 state cattle organizations, 18 state farm bureaus, the National Pork Producers Council and individual independent cattlemen. Collectively, the states represented by the co-signers represent more than 85 per cent of U.S. cattle farms and ranches and 75 per cent of the country's cattle, said John, while the farm bureau represents 5.6 million farm families. The cattlemen's association didn't want the only industry voice at the appeal court to be that of an "activist minority group with an isolationist agenda," said John....
Cattle ban a big hairy deal Two ranchers from southern Saskatchewan haven't cut their hair for a year and say they won't pull out the clippers until the United States reopens the border to Canadian cattle. "I was starting to get a little scruffy," Miles Anderson said, recalling the day his hair protest began. "I said, 'Well, I'll just let it grow until the border opens.'" He thought that would be a few months. But with his once close-cropped hair now shoulder-length, he's wondering how much longer he'll have to wait. "It sounds like it's a while now," said Anderson. Sharing that concern is Jay Fitzpatrick, a rancher and bronco rider who's now sporting a mane that would make Bon Jovi proud. "It certainly draws some oohs and ahs," Fitzpatrick said. "The odd old-timer is wondering what in the hell I'm thinking."....
New America’s Heartland Public TV Series to Celebrate Agriculture A new weekly public television show that celebrates the miracle of American agriculture and the farm and ranch families that help make it possible will hit the airwaves this fall, it was announced today. America’s Heartland will profile the people, places and products of U.S. agriculture. The magazine-style, half-hour program will focus on our national love for the land, our fascination with food and the bedrock American values of family, hard work and independence that make our agricultural system the finest in the world. In announcing the ground-breaking series today, the series’ two flagship supporters – Monsanto Company and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) – along with the show’s producer, KVIE, the public television affiliate in Sacramento, Calif., said they are proud to collaborate with other U.S. agriculture groups to raise awareness of the significant contribution that agriculture makes to the quality of American living. America’s Heartland supporting contributors include American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, United Soybean Board and U.S. Grains Council. America’s Heartland will help viewers better understand the nation’s farm and ranch families and the challenges and opportunities they face as they produce food and fiber for Americans and people in other countries....
Lawmakers warm to Dutch oven as Texas icon The Dutch oven — "a welcome and dependable" stalwart of chuckwagon cooking — is on its way to becoming the official state cooking implement. Texas lawmakers have previously grappled with weighty issues of bluebonnets, pecan trees, lightning whelks and jalapeño peppers. The state Senate approved a resolution Thursday to designate the three-legged cast-iron pot as a state symbol. "The Dutch ovens had a great history cooking in the state of Texas, and I think it's a very appropriate thing," said Tracy Scannell of the San Jacinto Sons Chapter of the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society. "I'm glad it's being recognized. We're hoping it gets a lot more people interested in cooking." Theories about the pot's evolution abound. According to Merriwether, it originated in England and was brought to the colonies by Dutch traders; hence its name. Paul Revere is credited with adding the feet, which protect the contents from direct heat. George Washington and the Continental Army are said to have used the pots, too. Whatever its precise origins, the sturdy, versatile pot proved an indispensable tool for pre-Teflon-era Americans. It can steam, bake, stew and braise. Its lid, when inverted, serves as a griddle. Coals can be piled on top of the pot's lid to bake. Chuckwagon cooks used it for chili, sourdough bread, biscuits, beans and cornbread....
Magnificent 7 Rides Again The nation's top trainers are headed back to Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California for the premier stock horse competition known as the Magnificent 7, held June 9-10, 2005 at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento, CA. Under the expert supervision of John Deinhart at West Coast Footings, the Sundowner Arena will once again be prepared for the ultimate showdown. For two days one man and one horse will put themselves to the test in a series of four events that will showcase their athletic ability and raw stock horse talent. The skill and versatility of both rider and horse will be challenged in herd work, rein work, steer stopping and fence work. By Friday night, only seven horse and rider teams will remain to compete for the title of All-Around Stock Horse Champion. Based on the historical 1972 event called the World's Championship All-Around Stock Horse Contest, the Magnificent 7 is a revival of the first one man, one horse competition created by Pro Rodeo Hall of Famers, Cotton Rosser and Benny Bennion. The idea came to pass over drinks in Benny Bennion's notorious Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas, NV when the two men started talking about putting together a competition showcasing the horses many a rancher talked about; the horse that ranchers would love to have; the horse that could rope, cut, rein, and run a cow down the fence....
Stock dogs valuable tool on farm As a veterinarian for the Calgary Humane Society, Schmaltz knows the importance of pets in people’s lives and how much a rancher can benefit from having a fully-trained stock dog working the cattle. “If you have ever had a fully trained stock dog, you would wonder how you ever did without -- they save miles and stress reduction when you can move cattle and sheep efficiently,” said Schmaltz. Proper training is important alongside the already-ingrained instinct seemingly inherent in dogs such as border collies, Kelpies and Heelers. Stock dogs are commonly trained by voice or whistle to maneouvre stock (whether it be cattle or sheep) from area to area around a farm. “Ranchers can move hundreds of cows or sheep with the help of one or two stock dogs,” said Schmaltz. “For the most part they use their eye, or presence to move stock around -- we like to say a dog has power if stock moves off a dog.” Most often trained on sheep, trainers will cultivate a dog’s natural instinct to bring stock over to them and most often teach the animal to “come by” and herd in a clockwise rotation, or “away to me” in the opposite motion....
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Environmental movement struggling to regain momentum This may be Earth Day, but there is little joy in America's environmental movement. After years of success, environmentalism is undergoing a midlife crisis, stewing in internal debate over how to regain momentum. Polls consistently show at least 70 percent of Americans say they support the goals of the environmental movement. Yet environmentalists have less national political power today than at any time since the first Earth Day in 1970. Some say the movement is in need of a major overhaul: Environmentalists should become part of a larger left-leaning coalition of labor, civil rights, anti-war activists and others - while talking more about mainstream American values and less about lawsuits and lobbying. But many leaders of America's largest green groups say what they need instead is to find more common goals with business owners, farmers, ranchers and religious conservatives....
On Earth Day, environmentalists debate future of movement As the world marks the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, environmentalists are debating the future of a movement that seems to be losing the battle for public opinion. President Bush's re-election, the failure to slow global warming and the fact that large numbers of Americans seem to dismiss them as tree-hugging extremists has green leaders looking for new approaches. Some think it's a message problem - that environmental groups simply need to improve their communication with the voting public. Others are calling for more fundamental changes in how the groups operate. The "Green Group," a coalition of 30 national environmental organizations, is seeking help from an expert championed by Democratic Party insiders - George Lakoff, a University of California, Berkeley linguistics professor with strong ideas about how language colors political discourse....
Dearth day Today, on the 35th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on, and widely expected to pass, a grossly porkified energy bill that would dole out billions in subsidies to fossil-fuel industries, shortchange alternative-energy and efficiency initiatives, and indemnify makers of the gasoline additive MTBE against liability for groundwater contamination. And this time the bill may actually have a chance of passing in the Senate, perhaps as early as next month, after years of stalemate. This and other dismal news rolling off Capitol Hill of late would seem good reason to make Earth Day 2005 a revolt, not a celebration. Yet when Muckraker searched high and low for organizers of big, spirited, on-the-ground protests, we found little resembling the kind of mutiny the current political moment would seem to demand....
Lodge owner sues Forest Service A $2.5 million lawsuit filed against the Forest Service by Jeff Mummery of Cody will go to trial here in September. Mummery's attorney says the case could establish a precedent for cooperation between the agency and recreational permit holders. At issue is whether the Forest Service committed a breach of contract with Mummery, his attorney, Kevin Garden of Washington, D.C., said last week. Mummery is managing member of The Sweetwater, A Wilderness Lodge, LLC, a corporation formed in 1995 to purchase the property from Dave and Nancy Brannon. The lodge operated for one season before its access was deemed unsafe by the Forest Service. Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesman Charles Miller said the case has been assigned to Judge James Merrill of the Court of Federal Claims, who is expected to travel from Washington, D.C., to Cody to hear the case Sept. 19. Garden said the fact that Senior Judge James Merow of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently forwarded the case for trial is an initial victory and a precedent with positive implications for other forest lodge owners/permittees....
Air tanker crash could ground other firefighting planes The fatal crash of a firefighting air tanker in California could have repercussions for Arizona's fire season. The P-3 Orion that crashed late Wednesday killing three crew members while on a training run over the Lassen National Forest is the same type of plane that wildland fire officials are counting on to help battle Arizona blazes. The U.S. Forest Service grounded the planes Thursday but said the "stand-down" order should end today or Saturday....
Christine Mine plan review put on hold A proposal for a gold-mining operation in the vicinity of McCullough Gulch has been formally put on hold by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), pending further review of wetlands issues. The environmental analysis for the Christine Mine near the base of Quandary Peak's northern flank had been creeping along for the past four years, as Forest Service officials developed a preliminary feasibility study for the project. In its early stages, the plan drew mostly critical reviews from local residents, who value the area for open space and recreation. But bound by federal mining laws, the Forest Service is obligated to look at such proposals and evaluate and disclose potential impacts....
Smith wants USFS to measure toxic fumes In observance of Earth Day, Senator Gordon Smith sent a letter to Chief Dale Bosworth of the United States Forest Service requesting that he focus existing Forest Service scientific research efforts on measuring the toxic fumes emitted by wildfire. Currently, federal agencies track industrial emissions, but not those related to wildfire. “Wildfire incinerates spotted owl habitat and fills the sky with smoke, yet we’ve done almost nothing to determine the effects that it has on the air we breathe,” said Smith. New research shows that forest fires are a major and increasing source of dioxins, “greenhouse” and other harmful gases. In 2002, the Biscuit Fire may have released as much as 40 million tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of burning 3 billion gallons of gasoline, or the equivalent of 10% of the annual emissions from all coal-fire power plants in the United States....
Analysis: Oil, environment clash in West A coalition of environmental groups again protested a sale of federal oil and gas leases in New Mexico and Oklahoma this week, a classic showdown that's become routine every quarter as the rising price of oil spurs more exploration and drilling in the West. On Wednesday the Bureau of Land Management in Santa Fe, N.M., netted $12,293,788 in revenue from 73 federal leases sold in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, but leases sold on about 26,394 acres were sold under protest and will require a review. On the eve of the sale a coalition of the Forest Guardians, the Chihuahuan Desert Conservation Alliance, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the Southwest Environmental Center filed a 40-page protest letter....
Oil and Gas Drilling Threatens Endangered Cactus with Extinction A Bureau of Land Management proposal for more than 900 new oil wells in Utah's Uinta Basin threatens the endangered Pariette cactus with extinction, asserts a legal petition filed today. Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society filed a formal "emergency listing petition" seeking immediate protection for this spectacular native wildflower. "In the face of intense oil and gas drilling, the Pariette cactus is just hanging on," noted Tony Frates of the Utah Native Plant Society. "It is critically important that we protect it under the Endangered Species Act." The proposed oil and gas drilling would irreversibly damage the only known habitat for Pariette cactus - a single drainage in this part of eastern Utah - as well as the Pariette Wetlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern....
Norbeck Society fighting for limits on off-roading vehicles in sensitive areas Hikers and others seeking to protect sensitive areas from off-road vehicles have formed an organization to make their case to the U.S. Forest Service. The new group is called the Norbeck Society — after the late South Dakota governor and U.S. senator Peter Norbeck, best known as a conservationist, especially in the Black Hills. "We're not just hikers," organizer Colin Paterson emphasized. "We're open to everyone."....
First time under new law, six wild horses slaughtered Wild horses rounded up on federal land in the West and sold to a private owner have been slaughtered for the first time since a new law went into effect, a government official told The Associated Press on Thursday. "This is something we regret and are very disappointed this has happened," said Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Washington D.C. "We make every possible effort when the horses are sold to make sure the animals are placed in good homes for long-term care," she said. The BLM is investigating this month's sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man and their subsequent slaughter at a commercial packing plant in Illinois, Boddington said....
Judge: Tribes' salmon suit too late by decades A federal judge in Medford says a $1 billion lawsuit brought by members of the Klamath Tribes against PacifiCorp for the loss of salmon should be thrown out. Judge John P. Cooney, a magistrate, said the lawsuit was decades too late. The statue of limitations ran out on the case in 1971, he said in a decision Thursday. "This action was not filed until May 2004," he wrote. "Therefore, it is barred by the statute of limitations." In the suit, members of the Tribes claim construction of power dams on the Klamath River destroyed the Tribes' federal treaty rights to fish for salmon in the river's headwaters. As compensation, they are asking for $1 billion....
Mesa Water to Continue Purchase Plans; Minimum Purchase Condition Satisfied Boone Pickens stated today that Mesa Water would follow through on its recently announced plans to purchase water rights in Roberts, Gray, and Hemphill Counties. Commenting on announced purchases by Canadian River Municipal Water Authority, Mr. Pickens said: "CRMWA's and Mesa Water's combined purchases are exactly what Mesa has had in mind to create value for area water rights. This is great for the ranchers to have two buyers for their water rights. "We bought 70,000 acres two years ago, and we are buying another 100,000 acres now," Pickens added. "Combined with my 30,000 acre ranch, that puts our total ownership at 200,000. The combination of CRMWA's purchases and our purchases has brought almost $75 million - $100 million to Roberts County ranchers. This is a win-win for the area economy and the ranchers, which will enable many of them to sustain their family ranches for many years into the future." Mr. Pickens further stated that "we have always emphasized that water is abundant in this four-county area, and there is plenty of water for CRMWA's purposes and for our purposes. There are many landowners who still want to sell water. I personally hope that CRMWA will continue to buy water as long as they can afford to do so. It is much fairer to the ranchers to be paid for their water than to be trapped with no use for their water and no buyer."....
Growth In Biomass Could Put Us On Road To Energy Independence Relief from soaring prices at the gas pump could come in the form of corncobs, cornstalks, switchgrass and other types of biomass, according to a joint feasibility study for the departments of Agriculture and Energy. The recently completed Oak Ridge National Laboratory report outlines a national strategy in which 1 billion dry tons of biomass – any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis – would displace 30 percent of the nation's petroleum consumption for transportation. Supplying more than 3 percent of the nation's energy, biomass already has surpassed hydropower as the largest domestic source of renewable energy, and researchers believe much potential remains. "Our report answers several key questions," said Bob Perlack, a member of ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division and a co-author of the report. "We wanted to know how large a role biomass could play, whether the United States has the land resources and whether such a plan would be economically viable."....
Dozens of U.S. groups support Canada in mad cow legal battle Dozens of cattle and farm groups representing the majority of U.S. ranchers are supporting Canada in a legal battle to reopen the border. In a court brief filed Thursday, the groups said a Montana judge was wrong to prolong the cattle ban based on a lawsuit from a protectionist ranchers' group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America. The so-called friend of the court brief was also endorsed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, 29 state cattle organizations, 18 state farm bureaus, the National Pork Producers Council and individual independent cattlemen. Collectively, the states represented by the co-signers represent more than 85 per cent of U.S. cattle farms and ranches and 75 per cent of the country's cattle, said John, while the farm bureau represents 5.6 million farm families. The cattlemen's association didn't want the only industry voice at the appeal court to be that of an "activist minority group with an isolationist agenda," said John....
Cattle ban a big hairy deal Two ranchers from southern Saskatchewan haven't cut their hair for a year and say they won't pull out the clippers until the United States reopens the border to Canadian cattle. "I was starting to get a little scruffy," Miles Anderson said, recalling the day his hair protest began. "I said, 'Well, I'll just let it grow until the border opens.'" He thought that would be a few months. But with his once close-cropped hair now shoulder-length, he's wondering how much longer he'll have to wait. "It sounds like it's a while now," said Anderson. Sharing that concern is Jay Fitzpatrick, a rancher and bronco rider who's now sporting a mane that would make Bon Jovi proud. "It certainly draws some oohs and ahs," Fitzpatrick said. "The odd old-timer is wondering what in the hell I'm thinking."....
New America’s Heartland Public TV Series to Celebrate Agriculture A new weekly public television show that celebrates the miracle of American agriculture and the farm and ranch families that help make it possible will hit the airwaves this fall, it was announced today. America’s Heartland will profile the people, places and products of U.S. agriculture. The magazine-style, half-hour program will focus on our national love for the land, our fascination with food and the bedrock American values of family, hard work and independence that make our agricultural system the finest in the world. In announcing the ground-breaking series today, the series’ two flagship supporters – Monsanto Company and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) – along with the show’s producer, KVIE, the public television affiliate in Sacramento, Calif., said they are proud to collaborate with other U.S. agriculture groups to raise awareness of the significant contribution that agriculture makes to the quality of American living. America’s Heartland supporting contributors include American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, United Soybean Board and U.S. Grains Council. America’s Heartland will help viewers better understand the nation’s farm and ranch families and the challenges and opportunities they face as they produce food and fiber for Americans and people in other countries....
Lawmakers warm to Dutch oven as Texas icon The Dutch oven — "a welcome and dependable" stalwart of chuckwagon cooking — is on its way to becoming the official state cooking implement. Texas lawmakers have previously grappled with weighty issues of bluebonnets, pecan trees, lightning whelks and jalapeño peppers. The state Senate approved a resolution Thursday to designate the three-legged cast-iron pot as a state symbol. "The Dutch ovens had a great history cooking in the state of Texas, and I think it's a very appropriate thing," said Tracy Scannell of the San Jacinto Sons Chapter of the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society. "I'm glad it's being recognized. We're hoping it gets a lot more people interested in cooking." Theories about the pot's evolution abound. According to Merriwether, it originated in England and was brought to the colonies by Dutch traders; hence its name. Paul Revere is credited with adding the feet, which protect the contents from direct heat. George Washington and the Continental Army are said to have used the pots, too. Whatever its precise origins, the sturdy, versatile pot proved an indispensable tool for pre-Teflon-era Americans. It can steam, bake, stew and braise. Its lid, when inverted, serves as a griddle. Coals can be piled on top of the pot's lid to bake. Chuckwagon cooks used it for chili, sourdough bread, biscuits, beans and cornbread....
Magnificent 7 Rides Again The nation's top trainers are headed back to Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California for the premier stock horse competition known as the Magnificent 7, held June 9-10, 2005 at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento, CA. Under the expert supervision of John Deinhart at West Coast Footings, the Sundowner Arena will once again be prepared for the ultimate showdown. For two days one man and one horse will put themselves to the test in a series of four events that will showcase their athletic ability and raw stock horse talent. The skill and versatility of both rider and horse will be challenged in herd work, rein work, steer stopping and fence work. By Friday night, only seven horse and rider teams will remain to compete for the title of All-Around Stock Horse Champion. Based on the historical 1972 event called the World's Championship All-Around Stock Horse Contest, the Magnificent 7 is a revival of the first one man, one horse competition created by Pro Rodeo Hall of Famers, Cotton Rosser and Benny Bennion. The idea came to pass over drinks in Benny Bennion's notorious Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas, NV when the two men started talking about putting together a competition showcasing the horses many a rancher talked about; the horse that ranchers would love to have; the horse that could rope, cut, rein, and run a cow down the fence....
Stock dogs valuable tool on farm As a veterinarian for the Calgary Humane Society, Schmaltz knows the importance of pets in people’s lives and how much a rancher can benefit from having a fully-trained stock dog working the cattle. “If you have ever had a fully trained stock dog, you would wonder how you ever did without -- they save miles and stress reduction when you can move cattle and sheep efficiently,” said Schmaltz. Proper training is important alongside the already-ingrained instinct seemingly inherent in dogs such as border collies, Kelpies and Heelers. Stock dogs are commonly trained by voice or whistle to maneouvre stock (whether it be cattle or sheep) from area to area around a farm. “Ranchers can move hundreds of cows or sheep with the help of one or two stock dogs,” said Schmaltz. “For the most part they use their eye, or presence to move stock around -- we like to say a dog has power if stock moves off a dog.” Most often trained on sheep, trainers will cultivate a dog’s natural instinct to bring stock over to them and most often teach the animal to “come by” and herd in a clockwise rotation, or “away to me” in the opposite motion....
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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Unintended Consequences of National Historic Preservation Act Debated
Draft proposals would take private property rights, development into consideration
For Immediate Release
April 21, 2005
Contact Matt Streit or Jennifer Zuccarelli at (202) 226-9019
Washington, DC - Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and other members of the Subcommittee on National Parks convened today to hear testimony on a discussion draft to reform the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The draft would reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and would also address private property rights concerns.
"The National Historic Preservation Act has long been a useful tool in protecting our dwindling number of historic resources around the country," said Subcommittee Chairman Nunes. "However, there is a disturbing trend of abuse that has emerged, especially in the last decade. The Act has increasingly been used to trample the rights of property owners. I believe common sense reform to the Act will not only ensure its continued success, but protect the rights of individuals who are unfairly targeted under a loophole in the law."
The testimony was focused on a draft proposal to the law that would prohibit a determination of eligibility to the National Register from moving forward over the objections of the property owner. Also debated was a draft provision that would reform Section 106 of the law related to federal undertakings. This section is commonly viewed by many to be used to impede development projects due to its broad definition of what meets "eligibility for inclusion in the National Register." The draft provision would limit the review of the federal undertaking to those sites on the National Register and those sites determined eligible by the Secretary of the Interior.
"Congress recognized many years ago the importance of preserving our nation's historic places and landmarks," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA). "However, in our attempts to preserve these places, it is important to remember one of the most important foundations of our great nation, and that is an individual's right to private property."
According to witnesses at the hearing this morning, state and local preservation ordinances, rules and programs are often used to prohibit property owners from developing or even maintaining these historic structures and buildings.
Peter Blackman, an owner of a property on the National Historic Register, testified that the National Register is used as “a bludgeon against the property owner [to] trample his property rights.” According to Blackman, “the cause of this problem is what [he] calls the “add-ons” to the National Register.” The “add-ons are most often local or state preservation regulation that kicks in when a property has National Register status.”
A number of other witnesses testified to the NHPA’s impacts on development, wireless technology, and even protecting sacred tribal sites and resources.
###
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Draft proposals would take private property rights, development into consideration
For Immediate Release
April 21, 2005
Contact Matt Streit or Jennifer Zuccarelli at (202) 226-9019
Washington, DC - Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and other members of the Subcommittee on National Parks convened today to hear testimony on a discussion draft to reform the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The draft would reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and would also address private property rights concerns.
"The National Historic Preservation Act has long been a useful tool in protecting our dwindling number of historic resources around the country," said Subcommittee Chairman Nunes. "However, there is a disturbing trend of abuse that has emerged, especially in the last decade. The Act has increasingly been used to trample the rights of property owners. I believe common sense reform to the Act will not only ensure its continued success, but protect the rights of individuals who are unfairly targeted under a loophole in the law."
The testimony was focused on a draft proposal to the law that would prohibit a determination of eligibility to the National Register from moving forward over the objections of the property owner. Also debated was a draft provision that would reform Section 106 of the law related to federal undertakings. This section is commonly viewed by many to be used to impede development projects due to its broad definition of what meets "eligibility for inclusion in the National Register." The draft provision would limit the review of the federal undertaking to those sites on the National Register and those sites determined eligible by the Secretary of the Interior.
"Congress recognized many years ago the importance of preserving our nation's historic places and landmarks," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA). "However, in our attempts to preserve these places, it is important to remember one of the most important foundations of our great nation, and that is an individual's right to private property."
According to witnesses at the hearing this morning, state and local preservation ordinances, rules and programs are often used to prohibit property owners from developing or even maintaining these historic structures and buildings.
Peter Blackman, an owner of a property on the National Historic Register, testified that the National Register is used as “a bludgeon against the property owner [to] trample his property rights.” According to Blackman, “the cause of this problem is what [he] calls the “add-ons” to the National Register.” The “add-ons are most often local or state preservation regulation that kicks in when a property has National Register status.”
A number of other witnesses testified to the NHPA’s impacts on development, wireless technology, and even protecting sacred tribal sites and resources.
###
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SENATE RESOLUTION 85--DESIGNATING JULY 23, 2005, AND JULY 22, 2006, AS ``NATIONAL DAY OF THE AMERICAN COWBOY'' -- (Senate - March 17, 2005)
[Page: S3067] GPO's PDF
---
Mr. THOMAS (for himself, Mr. BURNS, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. SALAZAR, and Mr. ENZI) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 85
Whereas pioneering men and women, recognized as cowboys, helped establish the American West;
Whereas that cowboy spirit continues to infuse this country with its solid character, sound family values, and good common sense;
Whereas the cowboy embodies honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, respect, a strong work ethic, and patriotism;
Whereas the cowboy loves, lives off of, and depends on the land and its creatures, and is an excellent steward, protecting and enhancing the environment;
Whereas the cowboy continues to play a significant role in America's culture and economy;
Whereas approximately 800,000 ranchers are conducting business in all 50 of these United States and are contributing to the economic well being of nearly every county in the Nation;
Whereas rodeo is the sixth most-watched sport in America;
Whereas membership in rodeo and other organizations surrounding the livelihood of a cowboy transcends race and gender and spans every generation;
Whereas the cowboy is an American icon;
Whereas to recognize the American cowboy is to acknowledge America's ongoing commitment to an esteemed and enduring code of conduct; and
Whereas the ongoing contributions made by cowboys to their communities should be recognized and encouraged: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates July 23, 2005, and July 22, 2006, as ``National Day of the American Cowboy''; and
(2) encourages the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a resolution designating July 23, 2005, and July 26, 2006, as ``National Day of the American Cowboy.''
Although cowboys are typically characterized as young, single men, those of us who come from the West know that cowboys come in any age, race, marital status, and gender. One 19th-century definition described ``cowboy'' as ``anybody with guts and a horse.'' I personally believe trying to define a cowboy is like trying to rope the wind, but you certainly recognize one when you see them.
The Cowboy played a significant role in American history, specifically in establishing the American West. After the Civil War, there was an acute shortage of beef in the northern States. Western ranchers were burdened with an abundance of cattle and no railroads on which to ship them to market. Realizing the immense profit to be made, these cattlemen looked for the nearest railheads. Thus, began the era of the long cattle drive and the Cowboy.
As a result of these drives, cow towns sprung up at cattle shipping points. These areas began to grow and thrive as western communities. Even after the cattle drive era passed, many cow towns remained solid business and farming communities. Many remain so to this day.
The Cowboy continues to impact America through our economy and culture. Currently, there are approximately 800,000 ranchers conducting business in every State. These folks contribute to the economic well being of nearly every county in the Nation. Every 1 dollar in cattle sales generates about 5 dollars in additional U.S. business activity. Outside of business, cowboys also contribute significantly to humanitarian causes. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's activities alone raise millions of dollars for local and national charities each year.
Culturally, Americans have always idolized cowboys and their way of life. Most of us have fond memories of playing cowboys and outlaws, hearing stories of Buffalo Bill Cody's famous Wild West Show, or watching cowboy icons such as Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry and John Wayne. Western publications, music, television shows, movies and sporting events remain as abundant and popular as ever. In fact, rodeo, a sport which developed from the skills cowboys needed in their daily routine, is the sixth most watched sport in America.
Our country looks to cowboys as role models because we admire their esteemed and enduring code of conduct. Gene Autry's Cowboy Code does a nice job of illustrating the way a cowboy chooses to live. Cowboys are honest; they do not go back on their word. They have integrity and courage in the face of danger. Cowboys respect others, defend those who cannot defend themselves and hold their families dear. They are good stewards of the land and all its creatures, possess a strong work ethic, and are loyal to their country. The Cowboy lives his or her life in a way most cannot help but admire.
In my State, you do not have to go to the movie theater or a rodeo to see a cowboy. You see them every day on the street, in the grocery store, or driving into town from their ranches. Many of the Wyoming cowboys you see today are decedents of the cowboys that braved the frontier before Wyoming was a State. Like those before them, these folks still enjoy Wyoming's open spaces, know the satisfying feeling at the end of a good, hard day at work, and appreciate a smile or tip of the hat from a friendly neighbor. These westerners feel at home in Wyoming because they know it was, is and always will be cowboy country.
I know my State would not be the same without the contributions of cowboys, past and present, and I am sure many of my colleagues feel the same way. It is time for the American Cowboy to be recognized.
COSPONSORS(12), ALPHABETICAL
Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] - 4/4/2005
Sen Allen, George [VA] - 4/12/2005
Sen Baucus, Max [MT] - 4/6/2005
Sen Burns, Conrad R. [MT] - 3/17/2005
Sen Craig, Larry E. [ID] - 4/4/2005
Sen Crapo, Mike [ID] - 3/17/2005
Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND] - 3/17/2005
Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] - 3/17/2005
Sen Inhofe, James M. [OK] - 3/17/2005
Sen Martinez, Mel [FL] - 4/6/2005
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] - 3/17/2005
Sen Stevens, Ted [AK] - 4/6/2005
===
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[Page: S3067] GPO's PDF
---
Mr. THOMAS (for himself, Mr. BURNS, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. SALAZAR, and Mr. ENZI) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 85
Whereas pioneering men and women, recognized as cowboys, helped establish the American West;
Whereas that cowboy spirit continues to infuse this country with its solid character, sound family values, and good common sense;
Whereas the cowboy embodies honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, respect, a strong work ethic, and patriotism;
Whereas the cowboy loves, lives off of, and depends on the land and its creatures, and is an excellent steward, protecting and enhancing the environment;
Whereas the cowboy continues to play a significant role in America's culture and economy;
Whereas approximately 800,000 ranchers are conducting business in all 50 of these United States and are contributing to the economic well being of nearly every county in the Nation;
Whereas rodeo is the sixth most-watched sport in America;
Whereas membership in rodeo and other organizations surrounding the livelihood of a cowboy transcends race and gender and spans every generation;
Whereas the cowboy is an American icon;
Whereas to recognize the American cowboy is to acknowledge America's ongoing commitment to an esteemed and enduring code of conduct; and
Whereas the ongoing contributions made by cowboys to their communities should be recognized and encouraged: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates July 23, 2005, and July 22, 2006, as ``National Day of the American Cowboy''; and
(2) encourages the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a resolution designating July 23, 2005, and July 26, 2006, as ``National Day of the American Cowboy.''
Although cowboys are typically characterized as young, single men, those of us who come from the West know that cowboys come in any age, race, marital status, and gender. One 19th-century definition described ``cowboy'' as ``anybody with guts and a horse.'' I personally believe trying to define a cowboy is like trying to rope the wind, but you certainly recognize one when you see them.
The Cowboy played a significant role in American history, specifically in establishing the American West. After the Civil War, there was an acute shortage of beef in the northern States. Western ranchers were burdened with an abundance of cattle and no railroads on which to ship them to market. Realizing the immense profit to be made, these cattlemen looked for the nearest railheads. Thus, began the era of the long cattle drive and the Cowboy.
As a result of these drives, cow towns sprung up at cattle shipping points. These areas began to grow and thrive as western communities. Even after the cattle drive era passed, many cow towns remained solid business and farming communities. Many remain so to this day.
The Cowboy continues to impact America through our economy and culture. Currently, there are approximately 800,000 ranchers conducting business in every State. These folks contribute to the economic well being of nearly every county in the Nation. Every 1 dollar in cattle sales generates about 5 dollars in additional U.S. business activity. Outside of business, cowboys also contribute significantly to humanitarian causes. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's activities alone raise millions of dollars for local and national charities each year.
Culturally, Americans have always idolized cowboys and their way of life. Most of us have fond memories of playing cowboys and outlaws, hearing stories of Buffalo Bill Cody's famous Wild West Show, or watching cowboy icons such as Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry and John Wayne. Western publications, music, television shows, movies and sporting events remain as abundant and popular as ever. In fact, rodeo, a sport which developed from the skills cowboys needed in their daily routine, is the sixth most watched sport in America.
Our country looks to cowboys as role models because we admire their esteemed and enduring code of conduct. Gene Autry's Cowboy Code does a nice job of illustrating the way a cowboy chooses to live. Cowboys are honest; they do not go back on their word. They have integrity and courage in the face of danger. Cowboys respect others, defend those who cannot defend themselves and hold their families dear. They are good stewards of the land and all its creatures, possess a strong work ethic, and are loyal to their country. The Cowboy lives his or her life in a way most cannot help but admire.
In my State, you do not have to go to the movie theater or a rodeo to see a cowboy. You see them every day on the street, in the grocery store, or driving into town from their ranches. Many of the Wyoming cowboys you see today are decedents of the cowboys that braved the frontier before Wyoming was a State. Like those before them, these folks still enjoy Wyoming's open spaces, know the satisfying feeling at the end of a good, hard day at work, and appreciate a smile or tip of the hat from a friendly neighbor. These westerners feel at home in Wyoming because they know it was, is and always will be cowboy country.
I know my State would not be the same without the contributions of cowboys, past and present, and I am sure many of my colleagues feel the same way. It is time for the American Cowboy to be recognized.
COSPONSORS(12), ALPHABETICAL
Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] - 4/4/2005
Sen Allen, George [VA] - 4/12/2005
Sen Baucus, Max [MT] - 4/6/2005
Sen Burns, Conrad R. [MT] - 3/17/2005
Sen Craig, Larry E. [ID] - 4/4/2005
Sen Crapo, Mike [ID] - 3/17/2005
Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND] - 3/17/2005
Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] - 3/17/2005
Sen Inhofe, James M. [OK] - 3/17/2005
Sen Martinez, Mel [FL] - 4/6/2005
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] - 3/17/2005
Sen Stevens, Ted [AK] - 4/6/2005
===
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Change in the air, part 4: Heating up the high country Physicist-turned-ecologist John Harte says he's glimpsed the future of Colorado's high country under global warming, and it's not a pretty sight. Sagebrush will drive out wildflowers as the state's prized alpine meadows dry up, the ski industry will founder within 50 years, and property values in mountain resort towns will plummet, Harte predicts. The Berkeley, Calif., researcher has spent the past 14 years using electric heaters to simulate a warmer world on a hillside meadow at 9,600 feet in Gothic. The former mining town is several miles north of Crested Butte, designated the Wildflower Capital of Colorado by the state legislature. Harte's climate-manipulation experiment was the first to use overhead heaters to mimic some of the expected effects of global warming on a natural ecosystem. The heaters have been operating continuously - 24 hours a day, year-round - since January 1991....also see Change in the air, part 1: Pollutants raining down on Rockies , Change in the air, part 2: Going, going, gone?, Change in the air, part 3: Bleak forecast for ski industry
Alliance Starts Plan to Improve Land Trusts A national conservation group announced yesterday that it is launching a $3 million program to improve ethics and governance at the nation's 1,500 land trusts. The Land Trust Alliance, the nation's leading association of conservation organizations, is bankrolling the effort largely through a $1 million challenge grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The grant will help the alliance train and accredit conservation groups, part of a broad effort to improve professionalism and weed out rogue nonprofits. The move comes as some conservation organizations are under attack, especially for practices related to conservation easements and historic facade easements. A congressional committee has recommended doing away entirely with some tax breaks associated with the donation of such easements -- development restrictions placed on property deeds in an effort to preserve open space and protect antique streetscapes....
Drug deaths of eagles spark mystery in Canada Four bald eagles have been found dead and three more sick and motionless in a rash of barbiturate poisonings in Western Canada, and officials fear at least some of the cases may have been caused by waste from illegal drug labs. All the eagles were found poisoned by sedatives in southern Alberta over the past 10 days, including one at a bird sanctuary in downtown Calgary, Clio Smeeton, president of the Cochrane Ecological Institute, said on Tuesday. Poisoning deaths from strychnine are normal at this time of year as farmers and ranchers use the chemical to try to rid their lands of the gophers that eagles feed on. "But barbiturate poisoning has nothing to do with strychnine, nothing to do with the poison you put down for gophers," said Smeeton, whose institute is located just west of Calgary. "So then it raises the question: what is the cause?" When informed of the poisonings, police told her the drugs may have been waste materials from clandestine labs that produce crystal methamphetamine, one of the most widely bought and sold illegal drugs in the area, she said....
Column: Too much caution harms Earth and Earthlings Ever thought environmental extremism--the type practiced for years by various fringe eco-groups--would eventually capture the imagination of "security moms" and other reasonable people? Well, the newest eco-term causing significant political buzz--"the precautionary principle"--might just be the ticket into the mainstream for the "hands off Mother Earth" environmentalists. The passivity and timidity instilled by the precautionary principle are uncalled for, and go beyond the nation's environmental goals we celebrate during Earth Day. A product of Europe, the precautionary principle states that mere existence of a theoretical risk associated with an activity is enough to either prohibit or stringently regulate the activity, even though there is no scientific data documenting the threat or its potential effects on human health or the environment. Bottom line: In the face of uncertainty, the precautionary principle requires that we assume the worst about a threat, and act (or not act) accordingly....
Midland chinchilla ranchers sue PETA over video Robin and Julie Ouderkirk thought they were helping potential chinchilla-ranchers learn the ropes when they allowed the young couple to videotape them feeding, breeding - and killing and skinning - the rodents at their Midland ranch. So when the videotape made a nationwide debut last August at a press conference by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Ouderkirks were quite unprepared for the maelstrom that followed. The video, which was also made available through PETA's Web site, caused the Ouderkirks to be "ridiculed, harassed, threatened by members of the public and thrust into the public spotlight," the couple claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Bay City....
Editorial: A forest policy beyond salvage If you look at the half-million-acre Biscuit fire today, one thing is obvious: There's no good wood at the core of this nation's policy on the salvage of burned public forests. It's not just all the charred trees chewed up by insects. It's all rotten: The millions of dollars and hundreds of hours spent writing plans for salvage and restoration projects, many of which will never happen; the endless lawsuits; the dueling scientists; the cynical politics; the breathless protests. From here, nearly all of it looks like a big waste. If you are on one extreme side or the other in the Northwest forest wars, maybe you like what's going on now in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, where loggers and protesters are struggling over a few thousand acres of dead, burned trees. But everybody else ought to be disgusted by the waste of time, money and opportunities to create jobs and restore the landscape....
Four more Canada lynx released in Colorado The audience of about 30 people watching four Canada lynx dash from their metal carriers and scamper through knee-deep snow on the edge of the Weminuche wilderness Tuesday included several federal scientists and officials. The Colorado Division of Wildlife, which has released about 190 of the endangered cats since 1999, invited members of a national steering committee working on rebuilding the populations of lynx and wolverines. The scientists' consensus on the division's efforts to restore the cat to Colorado was a big thumbs up. "Colorado ought to be commended for sticking with it," said Kathy McAllister, deputy regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula, Mont....
Montana, Idaho ask U.S. to approve wolf plans With Wyoming bogged down in a dispute with the federal government, the governors of Montana and Idaho are asking Interior Secretary Gale Norton to consider handing over management of wolves in their two states. The governors said Montana and Idaho have complied with federal requests to develop acceptable wolf-management plans. With the wolf population in the two states larger than recovery goals, there ought to be discussion about lifting federal restrictions and passing management along to the states, Govs. Brian Schweitzer and Dirk Kempthorne said in a letter to Norton. "It's time to start getting together to talk about what makes sense," said Mike Volesky, natural resource adviser for Schweitzer. Governors of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan also have asked Interior to discuss options for removing wolves from the endangered species list in those states.
West's water troubles getting worse Entering the sixth year of a record dry spell in much of the West is bad enough. But what really worries the head of the federal agency that delivers water to more than 30 million people and 10 million acres of farmland is what happens when the region's precipitation returns to normal. "The biggest fear we have is that when this drought breaks and leaves, we are still short of water," John Keys, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said Tuesday at the opening of a two-day forum on the outlook for Western water supplies. Increases in population and requirements to protect endangered species will make it difficult to balance demands for water in the West this summer, Keys said....
The Natural Hoof: A Sign of the Times Wild horses have captured the public imagination in books and movies for years. But lately, wild horses have stampeded into the intellectual pursuits of many vets and farriers in America, and as far away as Australia.Will the wild horse provide a model for study of what's wrong with our domestic horses' feet? Wild horse feet first found an audience at the 1988 convention of the American Farrier's Association in Lexington, Ky., when author/researcher Les Emery of California shared the stage with farrier/horseman Jaime Jackson of Arkansas. The two presented a mass of data about wild horse feet that glazed the eyes of the assembled farriers. Tables, charts, and graphs filled the screen. Farriers rolled their eyes. Still, the two researchers insisted that they were onto what would become the biggest story in the horse world for years to come. Coincidentally, Emery and Jackson were followed on that 1988 stage by British farrier and lecturer David Duckett, FWCF, who laid down his theory of three-dimensional "balance" of a horse's foot....
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Change in the air, part 4: Heating up the high country Physicist-turned-ecologist John Harte says he's glimpsed the future of Colorado's high country under global warming, and it's not a pretty sight. Sagebrush will drive out wildflowers as the state's prized alpine meadows dry up, the ski industry will founder within 50 years, and property values in mountain resort towns will plummet, Harte predicts. The Berkeley, Calif., researcher has spent the past 14 years using electric heaters to simulate a warmer world on a hillside meadow at 9,600 feet in Gothic. The former mining town is several miles north of Crested Butte, designated the Wildflower Capital of Colorado by the state legislature. Harte's climate-manipulation experiment was the first to use overhead heaters to mimic some of the expected effects of global warming on a natural ecosystem. The heaters have been operating continuously - 24 hours a day, year-round - since January 1991....also see Change in the air, part 1: Pollutants raining down on Rockies , Change in the air, part 2: Going, going, gone?, Change in the air, part 3: Bleak forecast for ski industry
Alliance Starts Plan to Improve Land Trusts A national conservation group announced yesterday that it is launching a $3 million program to improve ethics and governance at the nation's 1,500 land trusts. The Land Trust Alliance, the nation's leading association of conservation organizations, is bankrolling the effort largely through a $1 million challenge grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The grant will help the alliance train and accredit conservation groups, part of a broad effort to improve professionalism and weed out rogue nonprofits. The move comes as some conservation organizations are under attack, especially for practices related to conservation easements and historic facade easements. A congressional committee has recommended doing away entirely with some tax breaks associated with the donation of such easements -- development restrictions placed on property deeds in an effort to preserve open space and protect antique streetscapes....
Drug deaths of eagles spark mystery in Canada Four bald eagles have been found dead and three more sick and motionless in a rash of barbiturate poisonings in Western Canada, and officials fear at least some of the cases may have been caused by waste from illegal drug labs. All the eagles were found poisoned by sedatives in southern Alberta over the past 10 days, including one at a bird sanctuary in downtown Calgary, Clio Smeeton, president of the Cochrane Ecological Institute, said on Tuesday. Poisoning deaths from strychnine are normal at this time of year as farmers and ranchers use the chemical to try to rid their lands of the gophers that eagles feed on. "But barbiturate poisoning has nothing to do with strychnine, nothing to do with the poison you put down for gophers," said Smeeton, whose institute is located just west of Calgary. "So then it raises the question: what is the cause?" When informed of the poisonings, police told her the drugs may have been waste materials from clandestine labs that produce crystal methamphetamine, one of the most widely bought and sold illegal drugs in the area, she said....
Column: Too much caution harms Earth and Earthlings Ever thought environmental extremism--the type practiced for years by various fringe eco-groups--would eventually capture the imagination of "security moms" and other reasonable people? Well, the newest eco-term causing significant political buzz--"the precautionary principle"--might just be the ticket into the mainstream for the "hands off Mother Earth" environmentalists. The passivity and timidity instilled by the precautionary principle are uncalled for, and go beyond the nation's environmental goals we celebrate during Earth Day. A product of Europe, the precautionary principle states that mere existence of a theoretical risk associated with an activity is enough to either prohibit or stringently regulate the activity, even though there is no scientific data documenting the threat or its potential effects on human health or the environment. Bottom line: In the face of uncertainty, the precautionary principle requires that we assume the worst about a threat, and act (or not act) accordingly....
Midland chinchilla ranchers sue PETA over video Robin and Julie Ouderkirk thought they were helping potential chinchilla-ranchers learn the ropes when they allowed the young couple to videotape them feeding, breeding - and killing and skinning - the rodents at their Midland ranch. So when the videotape made a nationwide debut last August at a press conference by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Ouderkirks were quite unprepared for the maelstrom that followed. The video, which was also made available through PETA's Web site, caused the Ouderkirks to be "ridiculed, harassed, threatened by members of the public and thrust into the public spotlight," the couple claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Bay City....
Editorial: A forest policy beyond salvage If you look at the half-million-acre Biscuit fire today, one thing is obvious: There's no good wood at the core of this nation's policy on the salvage of burned public forests. It's not just all the charred trees chewed up by insects. It's all rotten: The millions of dollars and hundreds of hours spent writing plans for salvage and restoration projects, many of which will never happen; the endless lawsuits; the dueling scientists; the cynical politics; the breathless protests. From here, nearly all of it looks like a big waste. If you are on one extreme side or the other in the Northwest forest wars, maybe you like what's going on now in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, where loggers and protesters are struggling over a few thousand acres of dead, burned trees. But everybody else ought to be disgusted by the waste of time, money and opportunities to create jobs and restore the landscape....
Four more Canada lynx released in Colorado The audience of about 30 people watching four Canada lynx dash from their metal carriers and scamper through knee-deep snow on the edge of the Weminuche wilderness Tuesday included several federal scientists and officials. The Colorado Division of Wildlife, which has released about 190 of the endangered cats since 1999, invited members of a national steering committee working on rebuilding the populations of lynx and wolverines. The scientists' consensus on the division's efforts to restore the cat to Colorado was a big thumbs up. "Colorado ought to be commended for sticking with it," said Kathy McAllister, deputy regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula, Mont....
Montana, Idaho ask U.S. to approve wolf plans With Wyoming bogged down in a dispute with the federal government, the governors of Montana and Idaho are asking Interior Secretary Gale Norton to consider handing over management of wolves in their two states. The governors said Montana and Idaho have complied with federal requests to develop acceptable wolf-management plans. With the wolf population in the two states larger than recovery goals, there ought to be discussion about lifting federal restrictions and passing management along to the states, Govs. Brian Schweitzer and Dirk Kempthorne said in a letter to Norton. "It's time to start getting together to talk about what makes sense," said Mike Volesky, natural resource adviser for Schweitzer. Governors of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan also have asked Interior to discuss options for removing wolves from the endangered species list in those states.
West's water troubles getting worse Entering the sixth year of a record dry spell in much of the West is bad enough. But what really worries the head of the federal agency that delivers water to more than 30 million people and 10 million acres of farmland is what happens when the region's precipitation returns to normal. "The biggest fear we have is that when this drought breaks and leaves, we are still short of water," John Keys, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said Tuesday at the opening of a two-day forum on the outlook for Western water supplies. Increases in population and requirements to protect endangered species will make it difficult to balance demands for water in the West this summer, Keys said....
The Natural Hoof: A Sign of the Times Wild horses have captured the public imagination in books and movies for years. But lately, wild horses have stampeded into the intellectual pursuits of many vets and farriers in America, and as far away as Australia.Will the wild horse provide a model for study of what's wrong with our domestic horses' feet? Wild horse feet first found an audience at the 1988 convention of the American Farrier's Association in Lexington, Ky., when author/researcher Les Emery of California shared the stage with farrier/horseman Jaime Jackson of Arkansas. The two presented a mass of data about wild horse feet that glazed the eyes of the assembled farriers. Tables, charts, and graphs filled the screen. Farriers rolled their eyes. Still, the two researchers insisted that they were onto what would become the biggest story in the horse world for years to come. Coincidentally, Emery and Jackson were followed on that 1988 stage by British farrier and lecturer David Duckett, FWCF, who laid down his theory of three-dimensional "balance" of a horse's foot....
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Score One for the Desert In 1997 passions over a reddish, muffin-size bird were beginning to boil over in the Arizona desert. The cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, its population in the state down to a dozen and clinging to the last patches of saguaro cactus not yet swallowed up by Tucson's booming suburbs, had just received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Environmentalists and developers were already embroiled in a legal battle over the site of a high school to be built on one of the bird's few remaining nesting grounds. Construction was temporarily halted after a pygmy owl was spotted in the vicinity. Leslie Dierauf, then a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist based at the agency's regional headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, could see trouble brewing. The pygmy owl was on the verge of becoming the Southwest's version of the northern spotted owl—whose status as an endangered species briefly brought the Northwest's logging industry to a halt in the early 1990s. She turned to a colleague one day and said, “They [county officials] don't know how difficult this listing is going to be.”....
Can't see the forest for the budget cuts Hikers, bikers, campers and others who enjoy U.S. Forest Service lands in Colorado may lose some of their favorite sites to budget cuts during the next three years. Cuts of 45 percent in facility maintenance and operations are expected in forests nationwide, going from a budget of $214 million this year to $117 million by 2006. "Absolutely, we are looking at the possibility of closing some campgrounds and trails in Colorado and other forests in our region," said Steve Sherwood, Rocky Mountain regional recreation, heritage and wilderness director. The region, which includes Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, already has a $7.9 million maintenance and operations backlog, Sherwood said. Jim Moe, budget coordinator in the Rocky Mountain regional headquarters in Lakewood, said such funds are expected to drop from $22 million in 2004 to around $11 million in 2006 in the five-state region. Some forest users and environmental groups blame President Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative, aimed at thinning dry Western forests, for diverting money away from the maintenance of forest facilities....
Report: Wyoming development threatens park air quality Rapid energy development in western Wyoming is the biggest threat to pristine air quality for the larger Yellowstone area, and money for monitoring the pollution may be harder to come by, according to a new report. Air quality in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding federal lands is still "generally excellent," but emissions from expanding energy development in southwest Wyoming pose concerns for nearby wilderness areas, said the report by a group of federal and state scientists. Aside from finding ways to preserve the monitoring programs, agencies should also put more manpower toward analyzing and tracking the effects of energy development in Wyoming, the report said. Already, staffs are stretched thin trying to respond to fast-paced development in Wyoming and Colorado. The report was prepared by the Greater Yellowstone Clean Air Partnership, which includes scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality....
10 more large air tankers returning to duty for wildfire season The government is allowing 10 large air tankers to return to the federal firefighting fleet, and more are possible pending a study on the life expectancy of some of the aircraft, a spokeswoman with the National Interagency Fire Center said Monday. Rose Davis said contracts have been awarded for seven P-3 Orions, as well as a DC-7 and two P-2Vs. But, she said the latter three will have data-gathering devices that will help officials determine the stresses of the firefighting environment. Additional large air tankers may also be cleared for service following the results of a study assessing operational service life of the P-2Vs, she said. The report is expected in June and would affect nine aircraft owned by private companies, Davis said....
Editorial: Biscuit Fire Salvage? - Never - The Radicals Will Win This Fight Environmental activists have a well tested strategy for winning their battles. Debate, Delay, Demonstrate, Litigate. The Biscuit Fire is history...so is any likelihood that useful timber within the 500,000 acre wildfire will ever be harvested. The process of preventing log harvest from the Biscuit Fire has been methodical...as usual. Similar to stuffing the ballot box, the US Forest Service's mailbox has been stuffed with logging protest letters, neatly organized and delivered by environmental activists from Southern Oregon to timbuctoo. While most of Southern Oregon has been gainfully employed, activists arrive from the far reaches of the universe to participate in the latest protest. These people seem to have an excess amount of time on their hands...and a yearning to engage in efforts to disrupt the normal workings of ecosystem stewardship vested in government and private land owners. So...they do their thing....
Old-growth forests gain ground The Northwest's old-growth forests, focus of a national showdown on the environment in the 1980s, are growing back. About 600,000 more acres of older forest now stand on the west sides of Oregon, Washington and California compared with 10 years ago, according to a new federal analysis of forest growth and logging on public lands. Whether all those trees qualify as old growth depends on how it is defined. They are not all the ancient giants dripping with moss often pictured on calendars, but they have grown larger than 20 inches in diameter and begun to offer the kind of habitat preferred by species such as the northern spotted owl. The findings reveal that much larger expanses of the region's prized older forests are growing back than are being cut down or burned in wildfires. The results, already reviewed by independent scientists, will be presented -- and debated -- starting Tuesday at a Portland conference reviewing the first decade of the Northwest Forest Plan, a 1994 compromise between logging and wildlife protection....
Feds endorse Wash. salmon recovery plan Federal authorities endorsed the first formal plan for restoring salmon species in the Columbia River basin — more than a decade after the first runs were declared threatened and endangered. The recovery plan endorsed Monday by the National Marine Fisheries Service calls for restoring salmon species such as chum and chinook as well as steelhead trout in watersheds that drain into the lower Columbia River. The plan includes analyzing fishing, hatchery management and hydroelectric operations to determine how the fish populations were prevented from expanding over the years and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. "This really does mark a turning point in the story of salmon management in the Northwest," said Rob Masonis, regional director for American Rivers, a conservation group. "For a long time, we've been focused on preventing stocks from going extinct. Now we are talking about trying to recover abundant populations that are fishable." Other recovery proposals are expected from Oregon, Idaho and the rest of Washington state by the end of the year. The fisheries service plans to roll those plans into a comprehensive initiative to be finalized next year, officials said....
New Slide May Help Salmon Cross Dams. But Are They Being Taken for a Ride? A giant hunk of steel that creates a slick waterslide for endangered salmon traversing the Ice Harbor Dam here, with a $20 million price tag, is at the center of the latest fight over the Bush administration's salmon recovery plan in the Pacific Northwest. The device, called a removable spillway weir, weighs 1.7 million pounds. This one was barged in February up the Snake River, where endangered species of young salmon and steelhead must cross up to eight federal hydropower dams on their long and potentially deadly journey to the Pacific Ocean. With the administration having decided late last year against removing four dams on the Lower Snake River, including Ice Harbor near this bucolic southeastern Washington town, government scientists and officials say the heavily disputed weir technology holds great hope for easing more fish safely through dams. The weirs also spill less water, saving millions of dollars for the hydropower industry. Spilling water to send salmon over the dams can be expensive for the industry, because that water is not used to produce electricity....
Developers bothered by habitat-protection process Developers on Monday blasted local agencies' handling of a sweeping plan to create 153,000 acres of endangered-species reserves in western Riverside County. The regional habitat conservation plan was supposed to bring clarity and predictability to the complicated process of setting aside land for protecting wildlife, but instead has delivered only confusion, building representatives said at a workshop hosted by the county Board of Supervisors. Many developers had supported the plan's creation because it aimed to clarify where they would be allowed to build and what requirements they would face if building in an environmentally sensitive area. The plan was supposed to speed up the process of getting approvals for building. Ten months after state and federal officials signed off on the $1 billion plan, developers said they are left with more questions than answers. Developers added that processing development plans is taking far more time and costing much more money than anticipated....
Column: Oregon's Coho Salmon Are Partying Tonight - They're Not Going Extinct After All The Ninth District Court of Appeals announced on Tuesday, February 24, 2004, that it is throwing out the Endangered Species Act "threatened" listing of Oregon coastal coho salmon. There's going to be a lot of crow to eat by State and Federal agency operatives, Oregon editorialists and environmentalists who foisted this ESA travesty on the people of Oregon and on the resource based industries of this state. Right at the top of my crow-eating list is former Governor John Kitzhaber. This governor spent eight years in office pushing the radical environmental salmon agenda. What did he gain for the state? Economic disaster. Kitzhaber's fixation with saving un-threatened salmon ushered in a calamitous loss of timber industry jobs, countless costs for litigation expenses by resource based industries and an era of economically threatened Oregon communities....
Register Rock's future may depend on price More than a century ago, wagon train travelers scrawled names, dates, even ''Wife Wanted'' in axle grease on the granite pinnacles lining this popular stopover on the trail to California's gold fields. ''There are thousands of names here,'' pioneer Richard Augustus Keen wrote in an 1852 journal entry. ''I registered mine on a large rock.'' Much of the historic graffiti is preserved in the National Park Service's City of Rocks National Reserve 200 miles southeast of Boise. But a sign reading ''Private Property No Trespassing'' sits in front of Register Rock, the towering gray monolith that contains the best-preserved inscriptions. And a sagging red-and-white ''For Sale'' sign in the sagebrush has been getting much of the attention in the federal park lately....
L.A. Still in a Water Fight State officials and environmentalists are urging a judge to sanction the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for falling behind in its efforts to restore a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens River. The restoration project, the largest habitat rehabilitation effort proposed in the West, aims to create a healthy ecosystem in a river channel that now is mostly dry, except for the occasional puddle. The plan calls for a flowing river to support a fishery and extensive wetlands for shorebirds and ducks. The effort is already two years behind schedule. Inyo County Superior Court Judge Lee Cooper on April 25 will consider the lawsuit, which accuses the DWP of placing a higher priority on saving money and water than on meeting its legal obligations....
An auction stop that hits the spot Forget "where's the beef." Harold Bradshaw can tell how much beef just by looking at a cow. It's a skill the Beaver resident has refined after more than 30 years of buying livestock at auctions throughout Utah. But before the bidding begins - every Thursday at 11 a.m. - at the Cedar Livestock Market, Bradshaw gathers with ranchers and other buyers next door for breakfast at the Market Grill, where they talk turkey about the business of selling and buying cattle, goats, sheep and horses....
It's All Trew: State's pioneers waltzed across Texas My unofficial poll shows that about half the people enjoy dancing and the other half do not dance. The reasons, pro and con, number like the leaves on the trees with religious beliefs against dancing numbering the greatest. A bit of research found the following information. According to the book. "Dance Across Texas" by Betty Casey, Texans enjoyed public dancing as early as July 19, 1832, even before there was a Texas. A printed invitation at Brazoria announced a dance and ball honoring "the triumph and cause" of the Constitution with "everybody invited and no one slighted." They wore Sunday dress, homespun and leather, and proceeded to "stomp the splinters off the split-log floors."....
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Score One for the Desert In 1997 passions over a reddish, muffin-size bird were beginning to boil over in the Arizona desert. The cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, its population in the state down to a dozen and clinging to the last patches of saguaro cactus not yet swallowed up by Tucson's booming suburbs, had just received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Environmentalists and developers were already embroiled in a legal battle over the site of a high school to be built on one of the bird's few remaining nesting grounds. Construction was temporarily halted after a pygmy owl was spotted in the vicinity. Leslie Dierauf, then a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist based at the agency's regional headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, could see trouble brewing. The pygmy owl was on the verge of becoming the Southwest's version of the northern spotted owl—whose status as an endangered species briefly brought the Northwest's logging industry to a halt in the early 1990s. She turned to a colleague one day and said, “They [county officials] don't know how difficult this listing is going to be.”....
Can't see the forest for the budget cuts Hikers, bikers, campers and others who enjoy U.S. Forest Service lands in Colorado may lose some of their favorite sites to budget cuts during the next three years. Cuts of 45 percent in facility maintenance and operations are expected in forests nationwide, going from a budget of $214 million this year to $117 million by 2006. "Absolutely, we are looking at the possibility of closing some campgrounds and trails in Colorado and other forests in our region," said Steve Sherwood, Rocky Mountain regional recreation, heritage and wilderness director. The region, which includes Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, already has a $7.9 million maintenance and operations backlog, Sherwood said. Jim Moe, budget coordinator in the Rocky Mountain regional headquarters in Lakewood, said such funds are expected to drop from $22 million in 2004 to around $11 million in 2006 in the five-state region. Some forest users and environmental groups blame President Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative, aimed at thinning dry Western forests, for diverting money away from the maintenance of forest facilities....
Report: Wyoming development threatens park air quality Rapid energy development in western Wyoming is the biggest threat to pristine air quality for the larger Yellowstone area, and money for monitoring the pollution may be harder to come by, according to a new report. Air quality in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding federal lands is still "generally excellent," but emissions from expanding energy development in southwest Wyoming pose concerns for nearby wilderness areas, said the report by a group of federal and state scientists. Aside from finding ways to preserve the monitoring programs, agencies should also put more manpower toward analyzing and tracking the effects of energy development in Wyoming, the report said. Already, staffs are stretched thin trying to respond to fast-paced development in Wyoming and Colorado. The report was prepared by the Greater Yellowstone Clean Air Partnership, which includes scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality....
10 more large air tankers returning to duty for wildfire season The government is allowing 10 large air tankers to return to the federal firefighting fleet, and more are possible pending a study on the life expectancy of some of the aircraft, a spokeswoman with the National Interagency Fire Center said Monday. Rose Davis said contracts have been awarded for seven P-3 Orions, as well as a DC-7 and two P-2Vs. But, she said the latter three will have data-gathering devices that will help officials determine the stresses of the firefighting environment. Additional large air tankers may also be cleared for service following the results of a study assessing operational service life of the P-2Vs, she said. The report is expected in June and would affect nine aircraft owned by private companies, Davis said....
Editorial: Biscuit Fire Salvage? - Never - The Radicals Will Win This Fight Environmental activists have a well tested strategy for winning their battles. Debate, Delay, Demonstrate, Litigate. The Biscuit Fire is history...so is any likelihood that useful timber within the 500,000 acre wildfire will ever be harvested. The process of preventing log harvest from the Biscuit Fire has been methodical...as usual. Similar to stuffing the ballot box, the US Forest Service's mailbox has been stuffed with logging protest letters, neatly organized and delivered by environmental activists from Southern Oregon to timbuctoo. While most of Southern Oregon has been gainfully employed, activists arrive from the far reaches of the universe to participate in the latest protest. These people seem to have an excess amount of time on their hands...and a yearning to engage in efforts to disrupt the normal workings of ecosystem stewardship vested in government and private land owners. So...they do their thing....
Old-growth forests gain ground The Northwest's old-growth forests, focus of a national showdown on the environment in the 1980s, are growing back. About 600,000 more acres of older forest now stand on the west sides of Oregon, Washington and California compared with 10 years ago, according to a new federal analysis of forest growth and logging on public lands. Whether all those trees qualify as old growth depends on how it is defined. They are not all the ancient giants dripping with moss often pictured on calendars, but they have grown larger than 20 inches in diameter and begun to offer the kind of habitat preferred by species such as the northern spotted owl. The findings reveal that much larger expanses of the region's prized older forests are growing back than are being cut down or burned in wildfires. The results, already reviewed by independent scientists, will be presented -- and debated -- starting Tuesday at a Portland conference reviewing the first decade of the Northwest Forest Plan, a 1994 compromise between logging and wildlife protection....
Feds endorse Wash. salmon recovery plan Federal authorities endorsed the first formal plan for restoring salmon species in the Columbia River basin — more than a decade after the first runs were declared threatened and endangered. The recovery plan endorsed Monday by the National Marine Fisheries Service calls for restoring salmon species such as chum and chinook as well as steelhead trout in watersheds that drain into the lower Columbia River. The plan includes analyzing fishing, hatchery management and hydroelectric operations to determine how the fish populations were prevented from expanding over the years and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. "This really does mark a turning point in the story of salmon management in the Northwest," said Rob Masonis, regional director for American Rivers, a conservation group. "For a long time, we've been focused on preventing stocks from going extinct. Now we are talking about trying to recover abundant populations that are fishable." Other recovery proposals are expected from Oregon, Idaho and the rest of Washington state by the end of the year. The fisheries service plans to roll those plans into a comprehensive initiative to be finalized next year, officials said....
New Slide May Help Salmon Cross Dams. But Are They Being Taken for a Ride? A giant hunk of steel that creates a slick waterslide for endangered salmon traversing the Ice Harbor Dam here, with a $20 million price tag, is at the center of the latest fight over the Bush administration's salmon recovery plan in the Pacific Northwest. The device, called a removable spillway weir, weighs 1.7 million pounds. This one was barged in February up the Snake River, where endangered species of young salmon and steelhead must cross up to eight federal hydropower dams on their long and potentially deadly journey to the Pacific Ocean. With the administration having decided late last year against removing four dams on the Lower Snake River, including Ice Harbor near this bucolic southeastern Washington town, government scientists and officials say the heavily disputed weir technology holds great hope for easing more fish safely through dams. The weirs also spill less water, saving millions of dollars for the hydropower industry. Spilling water to send salmon over the dams can be expensive for the industry, because that water is not used to produce electricity....
Developers bothered by habitat-protection process Developers on Monday blasted local agencies' handling of a sweeping plan to create 153,000 acres of endangered-species reserves in western Riverside County. The regional habitat conservation plan was supposed to bring clarity and predictability to the complicated process of setting aside land for protecting wildlife, but instead has delivered only confusion, building representatives said at a workshop hosted by the county Board of Supervisors. Many developers had supported the plan's creation because it aimed to clarify where they would be allowed to build and what requirements they would face if building in an environmentally sensitive area. The plan was supposed to speed up the process of getting approvals for building. Ten months after state and federal officials signed off on the $1 billion plan, developers said they are left with more questions than answers. Developers added that processing development plans is taking far more time and costing much more money than anticipated....
Column: Oregon's Coho Salmon Are Partying Tonight - They're Not Going Extinct After All The Ninth District Court of Appeals announced on Tuesday, February 24, 2004, that it is throwing out the Endangered Species Act "threatened" listing of Oregon coastal coho salmon. There's going to be a lot of crow to eat by State and Federal agency operatives, Oregon editorialists and environmentalists who foisted this ESA travesty on the people of Oregon and on the resource based industries of this state. Right at the top of my crow-eating list is former Governor John Kitzhaber. This governor spent eight years in office pushing the radical environmental salmon agenda. What did he gain for the state? Economic disaster. Kitzhaber's fixation with saving un-threatened salmon ushered in a calamitous loss of timber industry jobs, countless costs for litigation expenses by resource based industries and an era of economically threatened Oregon communities....
Register Rock's future may depend on price More than a century ago, wagon train travelers scrawled names, dates, even ''Wife Wanted'' in axle grease on the granite pinnacles lining this popular stopover on the trail to California's gold fields. ''There are thousands of names here,'' pioneer Richard Augustus Keen wrote in an 1852 journal entry. ''I registered mine on a large rock.'' Much of the historic graffiti is preserved in the National Park Service's City of Rocks National Reserve 200 miles southeast of Boise. But a sign reading ''Private Property No Trespassing'' sits in front of Register Rock, the towering gray monolith that contains the best-preserved inscriptions. And a sagging red-and-white ''For Sale'' sign in the sagebrush has been getting much of the attention in the federal park lately....
L.A. Still in a Water Fight State officials and environmentalists are urging a judge to sanction the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for falling behind in its efforts to restore a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens River. The restoration project, the largest habitat rehabilitation effort proposed in the West, aims to create a healthy ecosystem in a river channel that now is mostly dry, except for the occasional puddle. The plan calls for a flowing river to support a fishery and extensive wetlands for shorebirds and ducks. The effort is already two years behind schedule. Inyo County Superior Court Judge Lee Cooper on April 25 will consider the lawsuit, which accuses the DWP of placing a higher priority on saving money and water than on meeting its legal obligations....
An auction stop that hits the spot Forget "where's the beef." Harold Bradshaw can tell how much beef just by looking at a cow. It's a skill the Beaver resident has refined after more than 30 years of buying livestock at auctions throughout Utah. But before the bidding begins - every Thursday at 11 a.m. - at the Cedar Livestock Market, Bradshaw gathers with ranchers and other buyers next door for breakfast at the Market Grill, where they talk turkey about the business of selling and buying cattle, goats, sheep and horses....
It's All Trew: State's pioneers waltzed across Texas My unofficial poll shows that about half the people enjoy dancing and the other half do not dance. The reasons, pro and con, number like the leaves on the trees with religious beliefs against dancing numbering the greatest. A bit of research found the following information. According to the book. "Dance Across Texas" by Betty Casey, Texans enjoyed public dancing as early as July 19, 1832, even before there was a Texas. A printed invitation at Brazoria announced a dance and ball honoring "the triumph and cause" of the Constitution with "everybody invited and no one slighted." They wore Sunday dress, homespun and leather, and proceeded to "stomp the splinters off the split-log floors."....
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Monday, April 18, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Drought crimps grazing on federal lands Drought is again prompting the U.S. Forest Service to sharply reduce the number of cattle allowed to graze on federal land in western South Dakota this summer. The Forest Service is cutting back on grazing in an attempt to encourage recovery of the grass and other vegetation on the nearly 2 million acres of federally owned land in two national forests and three national grasslands in western South Dakota, range management officials say. The grazing cutbacks will affect more than 600 private ranchers who will have to find other pasture or feed for thousands of head of cattle....
Easements to protect 2 ranches along Front The Nature Conservancy has acquired more conservation easements to prevent development along the Rocky Mountain Front, an area prized for habitat that supports grizzly bears and other wildlife. The two new agreements increase to nearly 47,000 acres the amount of Front land covered by easements involving The Nature Conservancy. Statewide, the number of conservation easement acres approaches 1.4 million, placing Montana among the leading states for use of easements as a way to control development. Public and private groups that promote easements in Montana include the Montana Land Reliance; the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Sportsmen's groups sever ties over elk slaughter program Two sportsmen's groups have parted ways over a program to test and slaughter diseased elk. The Dubois Wildlife Association voted recently to end a more than 20-year affiliation with the Wyoming Wildlife Federation because of the latter's support for a pilot program to round up, test and destroy elk infected with brucellosis, a reproductive disease also found in bison and cattle. "This is abuse of wildlife," said Robert Hoskins of the Dubois group. "They're treating (the elk) like bison in Montana." In Montana, livestock agents routinely round up bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and send to slaughter any that test positive. Hoskins said Wyoming's pilot elk program is part of a larger trend of wildlife agencies kowtowing to ranching interests to the detriment of wildlife....
The deadliest season By March 31, eight people had perished in slides, the most since 1951, when the U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center began keeping record. All eight were men, average age 35. Together, they comprise 30 percent of the 26 avalanche deaths in the United States this winter season. Gordon said he is surprised there weren't more deaths in an avalanche season he calls "historic." Between Oct. 24 and April 10, more than 300 slides broke in Utah. About 58 percent were triggered by people, mostly backcountry skiers....
Sierra report card will determine if campsites survive A recreational report card due out this year on the Sierra National Forest will determine how many of its campsites will survive into future vacations. The cash-strapped Stanislaus National Forest already shut down several campsites last year, and other national forests may follow suit. That's because the Bush administration is proposing to cut the U.S. Forest Service's facilities and maintenance budget by 27 percent. Future cuts will be made based on a 100-point rating system of recreational sites. Use, condition and cost of maintaining a site will affect a facility's rank. A seldom-used, costly facility will earn low ratings and likely be cut first. Ratings will be determined by forest managers....
Colton tries to pry land from fly habitat Every time Colton City Manager Daryl Parrish goes to Washington, D.C., he brings the same argument. The minuscule Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, just as it has done in past years, is "holding the city hostage," squashing economic development as if it were a 500-acre albatross, he tells federal officials and legislators. The annual trips have yet to force any change in the status of the endangered fly's habitat, but Colton officials continue to try, as they did this past week. In a weeklong lobbying trip that sought money for various projects throughout Colton, Parrish and four City Council members met with congressmen, senators and U.S. Department of the Interior supervisors about the fly issue. The city, as it has since the 1½-inch-long winged insect was placed on the Federal Endangered Species Act in 1993, wants a compromise that would allow development on the habitat without permanently trading in much of its remaining open space in return....
A hope of new heights for Yosemite During three decades as a rock climber, Ken Yager has amassed plenty of personal history on the towering granite walls framing Yosemite Valley. He has ascended El Capitan's wrinkled face more than 50 times and established scores of knee-quaking routes up other cliffs and sheer spires. But his biggest mark may come on flat terra firma. Yager is behind the push to build a museum celebrating Yosemite Valley's center-stage role in the development of modern rock climbing. If Chamonix in the French Alps is a birthplace of the sport and Everest its most celebrated conquest, then Yosemite is the Cape Canaveral of climbing, a place where Americans rocketed past the dominant Europeans in the 1950s and '60s with new techniques, tools, and raw tenacity....
Air quality cloudier in state's U.S. parks Air quality in three of Colorado's national parks has worsened over the past decade despite tougher rules and millions of dollars spent to fight pollution, according to new information released by the federal government. Rocky Mountain National Park, along with Great Sand Dunes in the San Luis Valley and Mesa Verde in the southwest corner of the state, have seen either increasing smog, worsening visibility or both in the 10 years from 1994 through 2003. But there also is some good news in the numbers. Visibility on clear days at Rocky Mountain National Park is improving. In addition, new regulations more tailored to the park's specific problems are expected to make at least a dent in the pollution that's dirtying its air. Of Colorado's four national parks, the data is most complete for Rocky Mountain. It shows smog levels rising and worsening visibility on the haziest days. It also shows that increasing levels of nitrogen compounds are falling on the park, chemicals that can gradually acidify park waters and soils....
Yosemite Debates the Nurturing of Nature Spawned by floodwaters and stalked by lawsuits, the long-awaited makeover of mankind's structural imprint on the Yosemite Valley has kicked into high gear and is now delivering its first major results. The biggest of several big-ticket projects is set for formal inauguration Monday as dignitaries dedicate the $13.5-million renovation of the beloved and crowded creek-side paths that serve as the front door to towering Yosemite Falls. A week later, the park will formally welcome its new fleet of 18 diesel-hybrid buses, quieter and more fuel-efficient replacements for a ragtag collection of smog-belching predecessors. Meanwhile, the remodeled visitor's center is open for business....
BLM, off-road group sparring A San Juan County off-road group says it had permission from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to do trail-maintenance work on a 1,100-foot section of the historic Hole-in-the-Rock trail near Bluff in February. Not so, says BLM Monticello Field Office Manager Sandra Meyers. Now, Meyers and Mike Washburn, president of San Juan Public Entry and Access Rights Inc. (SPEAR), hope confusion over the incident in southeastern Utah will lead to better relationships between public-lands managers and ATV users. The two groups have frequently sparred over access to public lands in San Juan County....
Raising the River by Razing the Trees Still struggling with drought on the Colorado River despite a winter of bountiful storms in the Southwest, water managers are dusting off provocative ideas for filling the river — among them, logging mountainsides to wring more runoff out of national forests and seeding clouds to pull more snow out of the sky. About 25 million people from Colorado to Southern California depend on the river for at least some of their water, and although a slew of winter storms loosened the grip of a historic drought this year, the basin's epic dry spell is far from over. Even without a drought, the time is approaching when use along the 1,400-mile river system will exceed the Colorado's average annual flow. The idea of opening up the forest to generate more runoff in mountain watersheds is not a new one. Experiments date from the early 1900s, and many have been conducted in Colorado, the main source of snowmelt for the Colorado River. "People have talked about it literally for over 100 years, and the reality is it becomes very hard to implement," said Lee H. MacDonald, a Colorado State University natural resources professor who co-wrote an extensive 2003 review of experiments to increase forest water yield. "Socially it's not particularly acceptable…. It's hard to cut enough trees to really make a substantial difference to the flow in the Colorado River."....
Ranchers to weigh in on Tomales Bay Fearing their livelihoods might be threatened, West Marin agricultural producers will air concerns about an ambitious 10-year plan to clean Tomales Bay water at a hearing in Oakland on Wednesday. Water board staff found the sources of pathogens in Tomales Bay include: faulty septic systems, small wastewater treatment facilities, boat discharge, municipal runoff, grazing and livestock farms, dairy farms and horse facilities. The plan requires all sources to take steps to identify their discharges and develop and implement a plan to reduce runoff. Specifically, it calls for the county to inspect septic tanks, a closer inspection by the water board of small wastewater facilities, better monitoring of waste discharged from boats by the National Park Service, ranch owners to keep cattle and their waste away from creeks, dairies to continue to keep manure away from creeks, equestrian facilities to keep manure from washing into the bay and the monitoring of municipal runoff into the bay. The plan would be voluntary for the first five years, but if it is found to be ineffective, the water board could require some actions be taken, officials said....
Water war out west But soon, he says, the pond and oaks may dry up and die — victims of an old-fashioned Southwest Texas water war. That war has rendered a bitter split, pitting the local water authority and its town-dwelling supporters against rural landowners — and, some accuse, water marketers with powerful political connections waiting in the shadows to buy up their water and sell it to San Antonio. Those suspicions have been fueled in recent weeks by a move in the Texas Legislature to dissolve the 3-year-old Kinney County Groundwater Conservation District and place the county under the supervision of the San Antonio-headquartered Edwards Aquifer Authority. One of the water companies, according to a lawmaker who supports the bill, had a hand in writing the bill....
Column: Meadow's End Cresting a small rise, I finally arrived at my destination: a curving, hundred-yard sweep of grasses and blossoms marked at all four corners by 10-foot steel towers connected by heavy steel cables. More cables hung crosswise, suspending the big array of infrared heat lamps strung up by U.C. Berkeley professor John Harte in 1990. Harte has kept the lamps on for 14 years now, baking this living swath of meadow to create real warming, in real time, in a real ecosystem. No fussing around with historical temperature records, no computer modeling of hypotheses, and thus no vulnerability to the claim that it's all conjecture; Harte has simply warmed a piece of the world and watched it change. So festooned is the meadow with data-collection boxes, and so riddled with multicolored wires plunging into its flesh -- sinking temperature and moisture monitors to three different depths -- that the whole thing looks less like a meadow than like a patient nailed to an operating table. The verdict? Sagebrush is already crowding out everything that makes a meadow a meadow in the first place -- the colors and textures and birds and bees. And similar experiments, not just in the Rockies and my own beloved Sierra, but also in the Alps and on the Himalayan plateau, suggest that all such dreamscapes, by century's end, will be as stark as the semiarid drive up from Gunnison. And sure, this might not be an economic disaster for anybody but ranchers and the denizens of mountain tourist towns, and it's nothing like the damage a fast-warming world will cause elsewhere, to the island nations and coastal cities sinking beneath the waves. Still, the drying up of our high mountain retreats -- and the fading away of other places equally lovely -- is the way that global warming will forever alter what Wallace Stegner called "the geography of hope."....
Biotech Company Bets on Cattle's Future At Cargill Inc.'s feedlots in Kansas and Texas, the cattle move through the chute one by one. They get their vaccines, their wormer. They're checked for lice. Their ears are pierced and tagged. Then blood samples are shipped to a California lab run by MetaMorphix Inc., of Beltsville, where they are run through a genotyping machine that quickly analyzes the animals' DNA. If it shows the genetic traits to produce the tender, thickly marbled beef that fetches top prices, it will get an extra few weeks of fattening on an expensive, high-energy diet. Otherwise it's off to a life munching cheap grass and hay, and a strong possibility of being ground into a meat pie. Upending a culture of cowboy boots, Stetson hats and pride in being able to choose the best beef cows from a herd by sight alone, MetaMorphix and a few other biotech entrepreneurs have developed DNA tests to tell with near certainty which animals will produce the juiciest steaks. With three companies working on different technologies, and major agribusinesses such as Cargill maneuvering to support them, the competition could be stiff....
Keeping tradition alive a big challenge for Montana ranch families Every spring, since the days when cattle first came onto the sprawling ranges of southwest Montana, the chore of branding has been a shared endeavor for ranch families. Friends and family recently showed up at the Anderson Ranch near Alder to lend a hand. "Everyone trades off helping out," said Ruby Valley rancher Jim Anderson. "It's a great way to keep a community together." It's been a tradition revived on the historic Anderson Ranch. For a few years, the family did the chore on their own, pushing the calves through a chute and over a branding table. But there was something missing. After all, the neighbors are starting to get spread a bit thin, and the dwindling number of ranch families in Montana need to hold onto all the traditions they can. All across the state, family ranches are being subdivided or purchased by wealthy out-of-state interests who don't have the same need to make a living from running cows. Anderson has seen it happen in the Ruby Valley. In Montana, cattle numbers have dropped dramatically since a high of nearly 3.4 million in 1974. According to statistics from the Montana Cattlemen's Association, there are about 2.35 million cattle in the state nowadays. On average, Montana is losing about 250 ranches a year, according to the association....
On The Edge of Common Sense: In spring, cowboys think of brandin' Springtime. Grass is greenin' up, wildflowers are blooming, long johns are comin' off, and it's brandin' time! It is a festive occasion on lots of ranches. For years it has become a time for neighbors to get together and help each other. The cows and calves have been gathered the day before. By daylight, horses have been unloaded, everybody's saddled up and the calves are sorted from their mamas. In the corral, propane burners and branding pots are set up, brands heating, vaccine guns loaded, ear tags laid out, and dad's knife is sharp enough to clean a hornfly's fingernails! Idyllic - right?....
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Drought crimps grazing on federal lands Drought is again prompting the U.S. Forest Service to sharply reduce the number of cattle allowed to graze on federal land in western South Dakota this summer. The Forest Service is cutting back on grazing in an attempt to encourage recovery of the grass and other vegetation on the nearly 2 million acres of federally owned land in two national forests and three national grasslands in western South Dakota, range management officials say. The grazing cutbacks will affect more than 600 private ranchers who will have to find other pasture or feed for thousands of head of cattle....
Easements to protect 2 ranches along Front The Nature Conservancy has acquired more conservation easements to prevent development along the Rocky Mountain Front, an area prized for habitat that supports grizzly bears and other wildlife. The two new agreements increase to nearly 47,000 acres the amount of Front land covered by easements involving The Nature Conservancy. Statewide, the number of conservation easement acres approaches 1.4 million, placing Montana among the leading states for use of easements as a way to control development. Public and private groups that promote easements in Montana include the Montana Land Reliance; the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Sportsmen's groups sever ties over elk slaughter program Two sportsmen's groups have parted ways over a program to test and slaughter diseased elk. The Dubois Wildlife Association voted recently to end a more than 20-year affiliation with the Wyoming Wildlife Federation because of the latter's support for a pilot program to round up, test and destroy elk infected with brucellosis, a reproductive disease also found in bison and cattle. "This is abuse of wildlife," said Robert Hoskins of the Dubois group. "They're treating (the elk) like bison in Montana." In Montana, livestock agents routinely round up bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and send to slaughter any that test positive. Hoskins said Wyoming's pilot elk program is part of a larger trend of wildlife agencies kowtowing to ranching interests to the detriment of wildlife....
The deadliest season By March 31, eight people had perished in slides, the most since 1951, when the U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center began keeping record. All eight were men, average age 35. Together, they comprise 30 percent of the 26 avalanche deaths in the United States this winter season. Gordon said he is surprised there weren't more deaths in an avalanche season he calls "historic." Between Oct. 24 and April 10, more than 300 slides broke in Utah. About 58 percent were triggered by people, mostly backcountry skiers....
Sierra report card will determine if campsites survive A recreational report card due out this year on the Sierra National Forest will determine how many of its campsites will survive into future vacations. The cash-strapped Stanislaus National Forest already shut down several campsites last year, and other national forests may follow suit. That's because the Bush administration is proposing to cut the U.S. Forest Service's facilities and maintenance budget by 27 percent. Future cuts will be made based on a 100-point rating system of recreational sites. Use, condition and cost of maintaining a site will affect a facility's rank. A seldom-used, costly facility will earn low ratings and likely be cut first. Ratings will be determined by forest managers....
Colton tries to pry land from fly habitat Every time Colton City Manager Daryl Parrish goes to Washington, D.C., he brings the same argument. The minuscule Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, just as it has done in past years, is "holding the city hostage," squashing economic development as if it were a 500-acre albatross, he tells federal officials and legislators. The annual trips have yet to force any change in the status of the endangered fly's habitat, but Colton officials continue to try, as they did this past week. In a weeklong lobbying trip that sought money for various projects throughout Colton, Parrish and four City Council members met with congressmen, senators and U.S. Department of the Interior supervisors about the fly issue. The city, as it has since the 1½-inch-long winged insect was placed on the Federal Endangered Species Act in 1993, wants a compromise that would allow development on the habitat without permanently trading in much of its remaining open space in return....
A hope of new heights for Yosemite During three decades as a rock climber, Ken Yager has amassed plenty of personal history on the towering granite walls framing Yosemite Valley. He has ascended El Capitan's wrinkled face more than 50 times and established scores of knee-quaking routes up other cliffs and sheer spires. But his biggest mark may come on flat terra firma. Yager is behind the push to build a museum celebrating Yosemite Valley's center-stage role in the development of modern rock climbing. If Chamonix in the French Alps is a birthplace of the sport and Everest its most celebrated conquest, then Yosemite is the Cape Canaveral of climbing, a place where Americans rocketed past the dominant Europeans in the 1950s and '60s with new techniques, tools, and raw tenacity....
Air quality cloudier in state's U.S. parks Air quality in three of Colorado's national parks has worsened over the past decade despite tougher rules and millions of dollars spent to fight pollution, according to new information released by the federal government. Rocky Mountain National Park, along with Great Sand Dunes in the San Luis Valley and Mesa Verde in the southwest corner of the state, have seen either increasing smog, worsening visibility or both in the 10 years from 1994 through 2003. But there also is some good news in the numbers. Visibility on clear days at Rocky Mountain National Park is improving. In addition, new regulations more tailored to the park's specific problems are expected to make at least a dent in the pollution that's dirtying its air. Of Colorado's four national parks, the data is most complete for Rocky Mountain. It shows smog levels rising and worsening visibility on the haziest days. It also shows that increasing levels of nitrogen compounds are falling on the park, chemicals that can gradually acidify park waters and soils....
Yosemite Debates the Nurturing of Nature Spawned by floodwaters and stalked by lawsuits, the long-awaited makeover of mankind's structural imprint on the Yosemite Valley has kicked into high gear and is now delivering its first major results. The biggest of several big-ticket projects is set for formal inauguration Monday as dignitaries dedicate the $13.5-million renovation of the beloved and crowded creek-side paths that serve as the front door to towering Yosemite Falls. A week later, the park will formally welcome its new fleet of 18 diesel-hybrid buses, quieter and more fuel-efficient replacements for a ragtag collection of smog-belching predecessors. Meanwhile, the remodeled visitor's center is open for business....
BLM, off-road group sparring A San Juan County off-road group says it had permission from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to do trail-maintenance work on a 1,100-foot section of the historic Hole-in-the-Rock trail near Bluff in February. Not so, says BLM Monticello Field Office Manager Sandra Meyers. Now, Meyers and Mike Washburn, president of San Juan Public Entry and Access Rights Inc. (SPEAR), hope confusion over the incident in southeastern Utah will lead to better relationships between public-lands managers and ATV users. The two groups have frequently sparred over access to public lands in San Juan County....
Raising the River by Razing the Trees Still struggling with drought on the Colorado River despite a winter of bountiful storms in the Southwest, water managers are dusting off provocative ideas for filling the river — among them, logging mountainsides to wring more runoff out of national forests and seeding clouds to pull more snow out of the sky. About 25 million people from Colorado to Southern California depend on the river for at least some of their water, and although a slew of winter storms loosened the grip of a historic drought this year, the basin's epic dry spell is far from over. Even without a drought, the time is approaching when use along the 1,400-mile river system will exceed the Colorado's average annual flow. The idea of opening up the forest to generate more runoff in mountain watersheds is not a new one. Experiments date from the early 1900s, and many have been conducted in Colorado, the main source of snowmelt for the Colorado River. "People have talked about it literally for over 100 years, and the reality is it becomes very hard to implement," said Lee H. MacDonald, a Colorado State University natural resources professor who co-wrote an extensive 2003 review of experiments to increase forest water yield. "Socially it's not particularly acceptable…. It's hard to cut enough trees to really make a substantial difference to the flow in the Colorado River."....
Ranchers to weigh in on Tomales Bay Fearing their livelihoods might be threatened, West Marin agricultural producers will air concerns about an ambitious 10-year plan to clean Tomales Bay water at a hearing in Oakland on Wednesday. Water board staff found the sources of pathogens in Tomales Bay include: faulty septic systems, small wastewater treatment facilities, boat discharge, municipal runoff, grazing and livestock farms, dairy farms and horse facilities. The plan requires all sources to take steps to identify their discharges and develop and implement a plan to reduce runoff. Specifically, it calls for the county to inspect septic tanks, a closer inspection by the water board of small wastewater facilities, better monitoring of waste discharged from boats by the National Park Service, ranch owners to keep cattle and their waste away from creeks, dairies to continue to keep manure away from creeks, equestrian facilities to keep manure from washing into the bay and the monitoring of municipal runoff into the bay. The plan would be voluntary for the first five years, but if it is found to be ineffective, the water board could require some actions be taken, officials said....
Water war out west But soon, he says, the pond and oaks may dry up and die — victims of an old-fashioned Southwest Texas water war. That war has rendered a bitter split, pitting the local water authority and its town-dwelling supporters against rural landowners — and, some accuse, water marketers with powerful political connections waiting in the shadows to buy up their water and sell it to San Antonio. Those suspicions have been fueled in recent weeks by a move in the Texas Legislature to dissolve the 3-year-old Kinney County Groundwater Conservation District and place the county under the supervision of the San Antonio-headquartered Edwards Aquifer Authority. One of the water companies, according to a lawmaker who supports the bill, had a hand in writing the bill....
Column: Meadow's End Cresting a small rise, I finally arrived at my destination: a curving, hundred-yard sweep of grasses and blossoms marked at all four corners by 10-foot steel towers connected by heavy steel cables. More cables hung crosswise, suspending the big array of infrared heat lamps strung up by U.C. Berkeley professor John Harte in 1990. Harte has kept the lamps on for 14 years now, baking this living swath of meadow to create real warming, in real time, in a real ecosystem. No fussing around with historical temperature records, no computer modeling of hypotheses, and thus no vulnerability to the claim that it's all conjecture; Harte has simply warmed a piece of the world and watched it change. So festooned is the meadow with data-collection boxes, and so riddled with multicolored wires plunging into its flesh -- sinking temperature and moisture monitors to three different depths -- that the whole thing looks less like a meadow than like a patient nailed to an operating table. The verdict? Sagebrush is already crowding out everything that makes a meadow a meadow in the first place -- the colors and textures and birds and bees. And similar experiments, not just in the Rockies and my own beloved Sierra, but also in the Alps and on the Himalayan plateau, suggest that all such dreamscapes, by century's end, will be as stark as the semiarid drive up from Gunnison. And sure, this might not be an economic disaster for anybody but ranchers and the denizens of mountain tourist towns, and it's nothing like the damage a fast-warming world will cause elsewhere, to the island nations and coastal cities sinking beneath the waves. Still, the drying up of our high mountain retreats -- and the fading away of other places equally lovely -- is the way that global warming will forever alter what Wallace Stegner called "the geography of hope."....
Biotech Company Bets on Cattle's Future At Cargill Inc.'s feedlots in Kansas and Texas, the cattle move through the chute one by one. They get their vaccines, their wormer. They're checked for lice. Their ears are pierced and tagged. Then blood samples are shipped to a California lab run by MetaMorphix Inc., of Beltsville, where they are run through a genotyping machine that quickly analyzes the animals' DNA. If it shows the genetic traits to produce the tender, thickly marbled beef that fetches top prices, it will get an extra few weeks of fattening on an expensive, high-energy diet. Otherwise it's off to a life munching cheap grass and hay, and a strong possibility of being ground into a meat pie. Upending a culture of cowboy boots, Stetson hats and pride in being able to choose the best beef cows from a herd by sight alone, MetaMorphix and a few other biotech entrepreneurs have developed DNA tests to tell with near certainty which animals will produce the juiciest steaks. With three companies working on different technologies, and major agribusinesses such as Cargill maneuvering to support them, the competition could be stiff....
Keeping tradition alive a big challenge for Montana ranch families Every spring, since the days when cattle first came onto the sprawling ranges of southwest Montana, the chore of branding has been a shared endeavor for ranch families. Friends and family recently showed up at the Anderson Ranch near Alder to lend a hand. "Everyone trades off helping out," said Ruby Valley rancher Jim Anderson. "It's a great way to keep a community together." It's been a tradition revived on the historic Anderson Ranch. For a few years, the family did the chore on their own, pushing the calves through a chute and over a branding table. But there was something missing. After all, the neighbors are starting to get spread a bit thin, and the dwindling number of ranch families in Montana need to hold onto all the traditions they can. All across the state, family ranches are being subdivided or purchased by wealthy out-of-state interests who don't have the same need to make a living from running cows. Anderson has seen it happen in the Ruby Valley. In Montana, cattle numbers have dropped dramatically since a high of nearly 3.4 million in 1974. According to statistics from the Montana Cattlemen's Association, there are about 2.35 million cattle in the state nowadays. On average, Montana is losing about 250 ranches a year, according to the association....
On The Edge of Common Sense: In spring, cowboys think of brandin' Springtime. Grass is greenin' up, wildflowers are blooming, long johns are comin' off, and it's brandin' time! It is a festive occasion on lots of ranches. For years it has become a time for neighbors to get together and help each other. The cows and calves have been gathered the day before. By daylight, horses have been unloaded, everybody's saddled up and the calves are sorted from their mamas. In the corral, propane burners and branding pots are set up, brands heating, vaccine guns loaded, ear tags laid out, and dad's knife is sharp enough to clean a hornfly's fingernails! Idyllic - right?....
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Sunday, April 17, 2005
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
The day Buck won the big rodeo
By Julie Carter
Cowboy stories are shared over and over and usually last through several generations.
As a rule, they either impart a lesson, offer simple entertainment value, or sometimes the stories are an opening overture for a new friendship.
Cowboys value humor almost as much as they value grass and a gifted storyteller will find himself in demand at about every gathering in the county.
When strangers move into an area, the storyteller is certain to show up to give them his welcome. His real mission is to make them the beneficiary of the wildest of his stories in his repertoire since there is no way for the newcomers to determine any lack of truth.
Such is the story of Buck and Rowdy which are fictitious names to protect the liars but the story telling is true.
Rowdy just moved to the county, bought a nice little place, put few cattle out on grass to make it look right, tuned up his fishing pole, built a new roping arena and proceeded to move into what he liked to think of as semi-retirement.
Buck dropped by one day to help Rowdy out with the Coors Lite inventory in the saddle house icebox.
With the big W’s on his Wrangler pockets settled onto an upside down five-gallon bucket, Buck opened the conversation.
“Rowdy, you ever rope any calves?”
Recognizing this as an intro to a story, Rowdy allowed that he had roped a few, way back when.
There followed a Navajo length of silence just to make sure Rowdy didn’t want to tell a story first, then Buck began his story about how he won the buckle at the big rodeo.
“I had been calf roping pretty steady for a good while, but I was always coming in fourth when they were paying three places or eighty fourth when they paid eighty three places,” lamented Buck.
He went on to say he had figured out, after giving it considerable thought, that what he needed to win was a calf horse with a real good stop on him. He put out the word and not long after got a call from a fellow he knew. This guy claimed he had just the horse Buck was looking for and assured him that he had a real good stop.
The trade was made over the phone and arrangements were detailed to meet at the big rodeo with the horse. Buck was entered up in the calf roping and when they called his name, he backed his new horse in the roping box.
When everything was just right, he nodded and made a clean break from the barrier. He stood up in his stirrups and threw his best catch’em fast loop.
That was the horse’s signal and he planted his backside in dirt like he’d been pole axed. This launched Buck straight between ole “Stop Hard’s” ears.
In an effort to save his life, Buck grabbed the rope on the way to the ground and slid down it like a handrail until he got to the calf. He knocked the calf over with is head and while he was in the neighborhood, he tied up three of the calf’s legs and threw up his hands.
Turned out that was the fastest time of the day. He won the event, got his buckle and almost enough money to cover the entry fee. He was a happy man.
Out back, behind the chutes, when the rodeo was over and all the other ropers came by to congratulate him and admire the buckle, he managed to swap off that calf horse with the real good stop. That made him a real happy man.
And Rowdy was real happy he didn’t need a hard stoppin’ calf horse.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. She doesn’t know that many stories but she knows lots of gifted story tellers.
© Julie Carter 2005
I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
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Permalink 0 comments
The day Buck won the big rodeo
By Julie Carter
Cowboy stories are shared over and over and usually last through several generations.
As a rule, they either impart a lesson, offer simple entertainment value, or sometimes the stories are an opening overture for a new friendship.
Cowboys value humor almost as much as they value grass and a gifted storyteller will find himself in demand at about every gathering in the county.
When strangers move into an area, the storyteller is certain to show up to give them his welcome. His real mission is to make them the beneficiary of the wildest of his stories in his repertoire since there is no way for the newcomers to determine any lack of truth.
Such is the story of Buck and Rowdy which are fictitious names to protect the liars but the story telling is true.
Rowdy just moved to the county, bought a nice little place, put few cattle out on grass to make it look right, tuned up his fishing pole, built a new roping arena and proceeded to move into what he liked to think of as semi-retirement.
Buck dropped by one day to help Rowdy out with the Coors Lite inventory in the saddle house icebox.
With the big W’s on his Wrangler pockets settled onto an upside down five-gallon bucket, Buck opened the conversation.
“Rowdy, you ever rope any calves?”
Recognizing this as an intro to a story, Rowdy allowed that he had roped a few, way back when.
There followed a Navajo length of silence just to make sure Rowdy didn’t want to tell a story first, then Buck began his story about how he won the buckle at the big rodeo.
“I had been calf roping pretty steady for a good while, but I was always coming in fourth when they were paying three places or eighty fourth when they paid eighty three places,” lamented Buck.
He went on to say he had figured out, after giving it considerable thought, that what he needed to win was a calf horse with a real good stop on him. He put out the word and not long after got a call from a fellow he knew. This guy claimed he had just the horse Buck was looking for and assured him that he had a real good stop.
The trade was made over the phone and arrangements were detailed to meet at the big rodeo with the horse. Buck was entered up in the calf roping and when they called his name, he backed his new horse in the roping box.
When everything was just right, he nodded and made a clean break from the barrier. He stood up in his stirrups and threw his best catch’em fast loop.
That was the horse’s signal and he planted his backside in dirt like he’d been pole axed. This launched Buck straight between ole “Stop Hard’s” ears.
In an effort to save his life, Buck grabbed the rope on the way to the ground and slid down it like a handrail until he got to the calf. He knocked the calf over with is head and while he was in the neighborhood, he tied up three of the calf’s legs and threw up his hands.
Turned out that was the fastest time of the day. He won the event, got his buckle and almost enough money to cover the entry fee. He was a happy man.
Out back, behind the chutes, when the rodeo was over and all the other ropers came by to congratulate him and admire the buckle, he managed to swap off that calf horse with the real good stop. That made him a real happy man.
And Rowdy was real happy he didn’t need a hard stoppin’ calf horse.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. She doesn’t know that many stories but she knows lots of gifted story tellers.
© Julie Carter 2005
I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
The fight against government land ownership
Why does the federal government own 65 percent of all the land west of Denver and less than 2 percent of the land east of Denver? Who cares? Everyone should care. The federal government was not created to be the owner of the land; it was created expressly to get the "right of soil" out of the hands of a king – that is, out of the hands of government. The sovereign right of the king to own, to tax and control the use of land led directly to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and, after six years of bloody war, to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. This treaty was not with the federal government, which did not yet exist. The treaty was between the king of England and each of the enumerated states. The treaty specifically recognizes these states: ...to be free sovereign and independent states, that he [the king] treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof. Among the many great controversies resolved by the U.S. Constitution was the question of equality among the states that constituted the original United States of America. The principle that emerged was known as the "Equal Footing Doctrine," which supposedly insured that all states were equal in their sovereign power. Article I, Section 8 specified how the federal government might acquire land and the purposes for which it could be acquired from the states. The 10th Amendment further declared that powers not explicitly granted to the federal government were retained by the states and the people. Where, then, is the equality for the states west of the 100th meridian?....
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The fight against government land ownership
Why does the federal government own 65 percent of all the land west of Denver and less than 2 percent of the land east of Denver? Who cares? Everyone should care. The federal government was not created to be the owner of the land; it was created expressly to get the "right of soil" out of the hands of a king – that is, out of the hands of government. The sovereign right of the king to own, to tax and control the use of land led directly to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and, after six years of bloody war, to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. This treaty was not with the federal government, which did not yet exist. The treaty was between the king of England and each of the enumerated states. The treaty specifically recognizes these states: ...to be free sovereign and independent states, that he [the king] treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof. Among the many great controversies resolved by the U.S. Constitution was the question of equality among the states that constituted the original United States of America. The principle that emerged was known as the "Equal Footing Doctrine," which supposedly insured that all states were equal in their sovereign power. Article I, Section 8 specified how the federal government might acquire land and the purposes for which it could be acquired from the states. The 10th Amendment further declared that powers not explicitly granted to the federal government were retained by the states and the people. Where, then, is the equality for the states west of the 100th meridian?....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
The Exotic Species War
Since 1992, the nations of the world have been waging a war against such foreign invaders under the Convention on Biological Diversity. In the United States the public regularly reads anguished stories about the "damage" being caused by alien invaders such as zebra mussels and purple loosestrife. Environmentalist groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the National Wildlife Federation fiercely denounce these foreign intruders, urging Americans to band together to force these invaders from our shores. In response, Congress passed the National Invasive Species Act and the executive branch has adopted a National Invasive Species Management Plan aimed at closing our borders to alien species. NASA warned recently, "Non-indigenous invasive species may pose the single most formidable threat of natural disaster of the 21st century." But is all this jingoistic furor justified? Some biologists and other analysts are beginning to doubt it. For example, University of California-Santa Barbara biologist, Daniel Botkin, points out in his article "The Naturalness of Biological Invasions," that "[b]iological invasion is a natural process everywhere, requisite for the persistence of essentially all species on Earth over the long term. Being able to seek new habitats and survive in them is essential in an environment that changes at all scales of space and time."....
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The Exotic Species War
Since 1992, the nations of the world have been waging a war against such foreign invaders under the Convention on Biological Diversity. In the United States the public regularly reads anguished stories about the "damage" being caused by alien invaders such as zebra mussels and purple loosestrife. Environmentalist groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the National Wildlife Federation fiercely denounce these foreign intruders, urging Americans to band together to force these invaders from our shores. In response, Congress passed the National Invasive Species Act and the executive branch has adopted a National Invasive Species Management Plan aimed at closing our borders to alien species. NASA warned recently, "Non-indigenous invasive species may pose the single most formidable threat of natural disaster of the 21st century." But is all this jingoistic furor justified? Some biologists and other analysts are beginning to doubt it. For example, University of California-Santa Barbara biologist, Daniel Botkin, points out in his article "The Naturalness of Biological Invasions," that "[b]iological invasion is a natural process everywhere, requisite for the persistence of essentially all species on Earth over the long term. Being able to seek new habitats and survive in them is essential in an environment that changes at all scales of space and time."....
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OPNION/COMMENTARY
The Science Haters Target Johnson
Stephen L. Johnson, President Bush's nominee as EPA Administrator, is the first career scientist considered for this key position. All agree that the EPA could do with a good dose of science -- or do they? Science has traditionally been in short supply at the EPA -- politics and ideology generally rule the day (it was under the first EPA boss, William Ruckelshaus, that DDT was banned in 1972, in direct contempt of his own scientific advisors, leading directly to the deaths of millions from malaria in the Third World). So it was a hopeful sign when the name of Mr. Johnson was put forward, seemingly blemished by neither politics nor ideology. But the environmentalist fringe found something to attack him for: a never-implemented program, proposed last year, to assess the exposure and effects of common household chemicals and pesticides on toddlers in the Jacksonville, Florida area. This analysis, brightly called CHEERS (Children's Health Environmental Exposure Research Study), aimed to use financial inducements to poor families (almost one thousand dollars each) to allow investigators to monitor their youngsters' exposure to common household products over the course of two years. This doesn't sound like a big deal -- to those of us concerned with accumulating scientific data to benefit the American consumer. But activist groups -- especially the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), to no one's surprise -- and two U.S. senators have accused Johnson of everything from conspiring with industry to child molestation in their intemperate assaults on his never-initiated (and now canceled) program. Why did Johnson initially think this would be a useful program?
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The Science Haters Target Johnson
Stephen L. Johnson, President Bush's nominee as EPA Administrator, is the first career scientist considered for this key position. All agree that the EPA could do with a good dose of science -- or do they? Science has traditionally been in short supply at the EPA -- politics and ideology generally rule the day (it was under the first EPA boss, William Ruckelshaus, that DDT was banned in 1972, in direct contempt of his own scientific advisors, leading directly to the deaths of millions from malaria in the Third World). So it was a hopeful sign when the name of Mr. Johnson was put forward, seemingly blemished by neither politics nor ideology. But the environmentalist fringe found something to attack him for: a never-implemented program, proposed last year, to assess the exposure and effects of common household chemicals and pesticides on toddlers in the Jacksonville, Florida area. This analysis, brightly called CHEERS (Children's Health Environmental Exposure Research Study), aimed to use financial inducements to poor families (almost one thousand dollars each) to allow investigators to monitor their youngsters' exposure to common household products over the course of two years. This doesn't sound like a big deal -- to those of us concerned with accumulating scientific data to benefit the American consumer. But activist groups -- especially the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), to no one's surprise -- and two U.S. senators have accused Johnson of everything from conspiring with industry to child molestation in their intemperate assaults on his never-initiated (and now canceled) program. Why did Johnson initially think this would be a useful program?
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Friends or foes?
Imagine the United States' natural resources users as a medieval community living peacefully around a large castle. Think of the castle as the U.S. Constitution, a bulwark against those who would do away with all the members of the community. Lately, we, the natural resource users and property owners, have been seeking refuge in the castle, as the Animal Welfare Act attempts to eradicate the concept of animals as property; as the Endangered Species Act attempts to place growing amounts of unprecedented power over plants, animals, and property in the hands of federal bureaucrats; and as federal land managing agencies abjure any resource management and eliminate human uses, access roads, and rural economies, and communities. The two latest threats (as of April 2005) are federalizing authority over Invasive Species and a multi-billion dollar raid on the federal treasury, intended to give federal land managing agencies, and their state counterparts, the financial resources to undercut and phase out resource uses, from hunting and fishing, to logging and public land recreation. Each of these egregious programs has been quietly placed in seemingly harmless legislation, in the dark of night, by U.S. Senators....
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Friends or foes?
Imagine the United States' natural resources users as a medieval community living peacefully around a large castle. Think of the castle as the U.S. Constitution, a bulwark against those who would do away with all the members of the community. Lately, we, the natural resource users and property owners, have been seeking refuge in the castle, as the Animal Welfare Act attempts to eradicate the concept of animals as property; as the Endangered Species Act attempts to place growing amounts of unprecedented power over plants, animals, and property in the hands of federal bureaucrats; and as federal land managing agencies abjure any resource management and eliminate human uses, access roads, and rural economies, and communities. The two latest threats (as of April 2005) are federalizing authority over Invasive Species and a multi-billion dollar raid on the federal treasury, intended to give federal land managing agencies, and their state counterparts, the financial resources to undercut and phase out resource uses, from hunting and fishing, to logging and public land recreation. Each of these egregious programs has been quietly placed in seemingly harmless legislation, in the dark of night, by U.S. Senators....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
U.S. SUPREME COURT SHOULD RESOLVE SPLIT ON CLEAN WATER ACT
The U.S. Supreme Court should agree to hear a case that originated in Michigan in order to address the issue of what lands are “waters of the United States” under the federal Clean Water Act, a public interest law firm urged in a friend of the court brief filed today. The case concerns the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that a Michigan man, his wife, and their companies violated the law when they conducted activity on various lands that they own. The Sixth Circuit rejected the argument by John A. Rapanos that his lands are miles from navigable water and thus may not be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Clean Water Act. “The Clean Water Act does not define the term ‘waters of the United States,’ nor does it include, let alone define, the word ‘wetland’; as a result, landowners who have been at the mercy of federal regulators must seek court rulings defining those terms,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the brief. “Although, in January 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act, not all the appellate courts, including the Sixth Circuit, have adhered to that ruling. That is why the Supreme Court should hear this case.”...In 2001, the Supreme Court limited federal CWA jurisdiction to navigable or open water waters and waters, including wetlands, immediately “adjacent to open water”. In the years since that ruling, federal courts have disagreed over its meaning. For example, a conflict exists between the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Mr. Rapanos seeks to resolve the conflict.....
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U.S. SUPREME COURT SHOULD RESOLVE SPLIT ON CLEAN WATER ACT
The U.S. Supreme Court should agree to hear a case that originated in Michigan in order to address the issue of what lands are “waters of the United States” under the federal Clean Water Act, a public interest law firm urged in a friend of the court brief filed today. The case concerns the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that a Michigan man, his wife, and their companies violated the law when they conducted activity on various lands that they own. The Sixth Circuit rejected the argument by John A. Rapanos that his lands are miles from navigable water and thus may not be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Clean Water Act. “The Clean Water Act does not define the term ‘waters of the United States,’ nor does it include, let alone define, the word ‘wetland’; as a result, landowners who have been at the mercy of federal regulators must seek court rulings defining those terms,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the brief. “Although, in January 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act, not all the appellate courts, including the Sixth Circuit, have adhered to that ruling. That is why the Supreme Court should hear this case.”...In 2001, the Supreme Court limited federal CWA jurisdiction to navigable or open water waters and waters, including wetlands, immediately “adjacent to open water”. In the years since that ruling, federal courts have disagreed over its meaning. For example, a conflict exists between the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Mr. Rapanos seeks to resolve the conflict.....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
A matter of perspective, the Endangered Species Act at 30
I recently received a series of articles that help to point out the need to strengthen and update the Endangered Species Act. According to one source, the ESA is 99.3 percent successful, as only 9 out of a total of 1,330 species listed, since the law was passed in 1973, have gone extinct. This source goes on to claim that the ESA has saved the Bald Eagle, the Chinook Salmon, the Peregrine Falcon, and the American Alligator from extinction. These are great claims, but how accurate are they? While we, as a society, have made great strides in species conservation, several of these success stories are based on activities that began long before the ESA was signed into law in 1973. The American Bald Eagle Act of 1940 made it illegal to hunt the eagle. A ban on use of the pesticide DDT, as well as state and local conservation efforts has contributed to the recovery of both the eagles and Peregrine Falcons. The American Alligator was originally listed, not because it was found to be very rare, but because of concerns about poorly regulated or unregulated harvests that had the potential to reduce the species' numbers. In the case of the Chinook Salmon, much depends on how you define the species; if you include the genetically-identical captive stock with the wild stock, they are not endangered at all. Three bird species, the Palau dove, the Palau fantail, and the Palau owl were removed from the endangered species list, and termed to be "recovered" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. However, a GAO report stated that "although officially designated as recovered, the three Palau species owe their "recovery" more to the discovery of additional birds than to successful recovery efforts." The original surveys used to list these species were incomplete and flawed. The snail darter was listed on October 9, 1975. It is a classic example of how the ESA has been manipulated, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Its designation as an endangered species stopped construction of the Tellico Dam, causing a lawsuit that eventually led to the landmark TVA vs. Hill decision....
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A matter of perspective, the Endangered Species Act at 30
I recently received a series of articles that help to point out the need to strengthen and update the Endangered Species Act. According to one source, the ESA is 99.3 percent successful, as only 9 out of a total of 1,330 species listed, since the law was passed in 1973, have gone extinct. This source goes on to claim that the ESA has saved the Bald Eagle, the Chinook Salmon, the Peregrine Falcon, and the American Alligator from extinction. These are great claims, but how accurate are they? While we, as a society, have made great strides in species conservation, several of these success stories are based on activities that began long before the ESA was signed into law in 1973. The American Bald Eagle Act of 1940 made it illegal to hunt the eagle. A ban on use of the pesticide DDT, as well as state and local conservation efforts has contributed to the recovery of both the eagles and Peregrine Falcons. The American Alligator was originally listed, not because it was found to be very rare, but because of concerns about poorly regulated or unregulated harvests that had the potential to reduce the species' numbers. In the case of the Chinook Salmon, much depends on how you define the species; if you include the genetically-identical captive stock with the wild stock, they are not endangered at all. Three bird species, the Palau dove, the Palau fantail, and the Palau owl were removed from the endangered species list, and termed to be "recovered" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. However, a GAO report stated that "although officially designated as recovered, the three Palau species owe their "recovery" more to the discovery of additional birds than to successful recovery efforts." The original surveys used to list these species were incomplete and flawed. The snail darter was listed on October 9, 1975. It is a classic example of how the ESA has been manipulated, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Its designation as an endangered species stopped construction of the Tellico Dam, causing a lawsuit that eventually led to the landmark TVA vs. Hill decision....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Now Is Time to Bet on Environmental Good News
For several years now he has been releasing an annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. It's his own way of celebrating Earth Day. And sure enough, for several years now, the leading lights of the environmental movement have been pretending Hayward and his index don't exist. Why? Hayward is an optimist. His index of environmental indicators is a collection of good news. And, for the professional pessimists of the green movement, too much good news is bad news. In last year's index, for example, Hayward and his colleagues cheerfully noted that levels of ambient air pollution in the U.S. had dropped dramatically, beginning in 1976. By 2002, ozone was down 31 percent, sulfur dioxide 70 percent and carbon monoxide 75 percent. Lead, once one of the deadliest, scariest and most ubiquitous pollutants, had dropped 98 percent. U.S. water quality, though much more difficult to measure consistently over so large an area, has also shown steep improvement. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the percentage of the U.S. population served by community water systems with no reported violations of health-based standards has grown from just under 80 percent a decade ago to nearly 95 percent today. This year, when Hayward releases his new index, the EPA data will be even sunnier: U.S. air quality, measured in levels of particulates, is better than it has been since such measurements were first made....
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Now Is Time to Bet on Environmental Good News
For several years now he has been releasing an annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. It's his own way of celebrating Earth Day. And sure enough, for several years now, the leading lights of the environmental movement have been pretending Hayward and his index don't exist. Why? Hayward is an optimist. His index of environmental indicators is a collection of good news. And, for the professional pessimists of the green movement, too much good news is bad news. In last year's index, for example, Hayward and his colleagues cheerfully noted that levels of ambient air pollution in the U.S. had dropped dramatically, beginning in 1976. By 2002, ozone was down 31 percent, sulfur dioxide 70 percent and carbon monoxide 75 percent. Lead, once one of the deadliest, scariest and most ubiquitous pollutants, had dropped 98 percent. U.S. water quality, though much more difficult to measure consistently over so large an area, has also shown steep improvement. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the percentage of the U.S. population served by community water systems with no reported violations of health-based standards has grown from just under 80 percent a decade ago to nearly 95 percent today. This year, when Hayward releases his new index, the EPA data will be even sunnier: U.S. air quality, measured in levels of particulates, is better than it has been since such measurements were first made....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Why Mother Earth Needs Head and Shoulders
This month saw the emergence of yet another study about the environment. When these things come out, it is tempting to tune out. Inevitably, a hard core of environmentalists will rush forward to declare the planet doomed and the human race responsible, while a hard core of naysay-happy scientists will meet the claims with an abundance of evidence that...well, that the environmentalists haven't got any evidence themselves. By the time they're done, some of us have turned into environmental paranoids, some of us have purposely started chucking Styrofoam and old computers into landfills as an expression of defiance, and the rest of us have quickly moved on to more manageable topics that evoke less moral passion, such as abortion or the death penalty. The interesting thing, though, is that this latest study seems to have surprised everyone without particularly serving as perfect ammunition for either side of the pollution debate. It turns out, according to research published in the April issue of Science magazine, that more than 50 percent of the fine dust in the earth's atmosphere comes, not from sinister man-made creations, but from natural sources including dandruff, animal hair, dead skin, and decaying leaves. These are not products of the industrial age. They are perfectly, well, organic substances that are doing nasty things like blocking light from the sun, causing climate change and perhaps even spreading disease. So the darling songbird flying across a clear blue sky may be contributing as much to the level of dust pollution through the particles left behind by its feathers as any man-made soot or pollution....
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Why Mother Earth Needs Head and Shoulders
This month saw the emergence of yet another study about the environment. When these things come out, it is tempting to tune out. Inevitably, a hard core of environmentalists will rush forward to declare the planet doomed and the human race responsible, while a hard core of naysay-happy scientists will meet the claims with an abundance of evidence that...well, that the environmentalists haven't got any evidence themselves. By the time they're done, some of us have turned into environmental paranoids, some of us have purposely started chucking Styrofoam and old computers into landfills as an expression of defiance, and the rest of us have quickly moved on to more manageable topics that evoke less moral passion, such as abortion or the death penalty. The interesting thing, though, is that this latest study seems to have surprised everyone without particularly serving as perfect ammunition for either side of the pollution debate. It turns out, according to research published in the April issue of Science magazine, that more than 50 percent of the fine dust in the earth's atmosphere comes, not from sinister man-made creations, but from natural sources including dandruff, animal hair, dead skin, and decaying leaves. These are not products of the industrial age. They are perfectly, well, organic substances that are doing nasty things like blocking light from the sun, causing climate change and perhaps even spreading disease. So the darling songbird flying across a clear blue sky may be contributing as much to the level of dust pollution through the particles left behind by its feathers as any man-made soot or pollution....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Global Warming Tax
Duke Energy, a leading U.S. electricity and gas utility, announced this week its support for a global warming tax — essentially a consumption tax on consumers of gasoline, oil, natural gas and coal. The tax is intended to reduce energy use and resulting emissions of greenhouse gases. Duke calls it a “carbon tax,” but we might call it the “Greenpeace tax” in honor of the various radical environmental groups, like Greenpeace, pushing global warming hysteria and supporting such a tax. But we could also call it the “corporate appeasement tax” in honor of businesses like Duke Energy that are stumbling over themselves to curry favor with the Greens. Duke’s announcement apparently is the idea of its Australian CEO, Paul Anderson, who explained it to Australian media in March as follows, “Every time somebody buys something at the store (they) pay a 10 per cent tax, based on how much carbon was in the fuel that they consumed.” Duke prefers the “carbon tax” to other options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as those known as cap-and-trade and the Kyoto Protocol....
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Global Warming Tax
Duke Energy, a leading U.S. electricity and gas utility, announced this week its support for a global warming tax — essentially a consumption tax on consumers of gasoline, oil, natural gas and coal. The tax is intended to reduce energy use and resulting emissions of greenhouse gases. Duke calls it a “carbon tax,” but we might call it the “Greenpeace tax” in honor of the various radical environmental groups, like Greenpeace, pushing global warming hysteria and supporting such a tax. But we could also call it the “corporate appeasement tax” in honor of businesses like Duke Energy that are stumbling over themselves to curry favor with the Greens. Duke’s announcement apparently is the idea of its Australian CEO, Paul Anderson, who explained it to Australian media in March as follows, “Every time somebody buys something at the store (they) pay a 10 per cent tax, based on how much carbon was in the fuel that they consumed.” Duke prefers the “carbon tax” to other options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as those known as cap-and-trade and the Kyoto Protocol....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
How the West Was Wet
One of the problems in communicating climate science concerns peoples' perceptions versus climate reality. For example, most middle-to-slightly-older-agers who grew up in the Mid-Atlantic region will tell you that it just doesn't snow like it did in their youth (and usually they will blame global warming). Indeed, the 1960s were a very snowy decade. But somehow, we tend to view what we grew up with as "normal," while everything different in our adult lives is "abnormal." [Caution: this applies to more than weather and climate.] Consider what happened in the American West in the early 20th century, when population grew roughly 50% from decade-to-decade, the largest regional growth spurt in post-colonial American history. People were lured by warm temperatures and abundant moisture. For much of that period, believe it or not, the West was a green paradise. Abundant moisture was so much du jour that allocation rights for Colorado River water, which have been contended ever since, were based upon what turns out to be the wettest period in nearly 1200 years. Had early 20th century planners had modern climatological analyses in their hands, it's doubtful they would have been so profligate with water distribution from what really is the only big river in the Pacific Southwest. Connie Woodhouse and three co-authors have just published an interesting paper that puts the southwestern moisture picture in long-term perspective. It contains some remarkable findings, which includes an obvious transition from domination by persistent and severe drought to relatively wet conditions some five centuries ago. Woodhouse et. al. also show how remarkably wet the 1905-1917 period was....
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How the West Was Wet
One of the problems in communicating climate science concerns peoples' perceptions versus climate reality. For example, most middle-to-slightly-older-agers who grew up in the Mid-Atlantic region will tell you that it just doesn't snow like it did in their youth (and usually they will blame global warming). Indeed, the 1960s were a very snowy decade. But somehow, we tend to view what we grew up with as "normal," while everything different in our adult lives is "abnormal." [Caution: this applies to more than weather and climate.] Consider what happened in the American West in the early 20th century, when population grew roughly 50% from decade-to-decade, the largest regional growth spurt in post-colonial American history. People were lured by warm temperatures and abundant moisture. For much of that period, believe it or not, the West was a green paradise. Abundant moisture was so much du jour that allocation rights for Colorado River water, which have been contended ever since, were based upon what turns out to be the wettest period in nearly 1200 years. Had early 20th century planners had modern climatological analyses in their hands, it's doubtful they would have been so profligate with water distribution from what really is the only big river in the Pacific Southwest. Connie Woodhouse and three co-authors have just published an interesting paper that puts the southwestern moisture picture in long-term perspective. It contains some remarkable findings, which includes an obvious transition from domination by persistent and severe drought to relatively wet conditions some five centuries ago. Woodhouse et. al. also show how remarkably wet the 1905-1917 period was....
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