Saturday, October 15, 2005
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Aging gradually but not so gracefully
By Julie Carter
Every single one of you that is reading this has a birthday. A given fact.
Accepting that fact is step number six of my 11 steps on aging gracefully. It reads “Accept some realities.” My reality is I had a birthday and I plan on having just as many more as I can.
A look at the birthday cards I received is a clue that others either notice the aging or my friends are getting more ruthless. With humor these cards give a long list, at least 25 ways, to know if you are getting older.
You know you’re getting older when….
Everything hurts and what doesn’t, doesn’t work.
Your knees buckle and your belt won’t.
You can only burn the midnight oil until nine o’clock.
Your back goes out more often than you do.
You start thinking Sarasota, Florida is a lot more cutting edge than most people give it credit for.
Conversations with people your age often turn into “dueling ailments.”
Most of your co-workers were born the year you got your last promotion.
Cards like that used to be, in my mind, tasteless and insensitive. Now they make me laugh and leave me with diabolical thoughts of who I will send one to next.
When you look at what the world sees as “aging gracefully” words like dignity, self-confidence, quality of life, personal growth are used repeatedly. Following is usually another list that includes terminology such as psychological challenges, physical fitness, retirement, senior discounts, antioxidants, proper sleep, caregivers and laxatives.
One article proclaimed the secret to the “art of aging gracefully.” I thought, oh it is now an art is it? But then that turned out to be about how to properly age wine.
Here are the eleven tips on successful aging, gracefully or not, I believe to be sound advice.
--Balance the focuses in your life. Too much or not enough has a middle road.
Develop a positive mindset. Successful aging means we see the opportunities in life rather than life lost.
--Develop relationships. Invest in friendships and caring for others in demonstrable ways.
--Learn something new all the time. Contrary to what you would like us to believe, you don’t know everything.
--Become a mentor. Share your many experiences, both positive and negative, with someone who can benefit from them
--Accept some realities. These include things you can control like diet and lifestyle choices. They also should include those things you have no control over but spend an inordinate amount of time trying to control.
--Be creative. Paint that picture, write that book or simply call someone you love and tell them a story you want someone to remember.
--Play. We aren’t kids any more but we still need to play, have fun and find the laughter we once knew.
--Get physical. Everyone needs physical activity, regardless of age and physical limitations. Jumping to conclusions and losing your mind does not qualify.
--Learn from the past without dwelling on it. Mistakes are human but become tragic when we fail to learn from them and when we relive them constantly. Learn the lesson and move on.
--Walk daily with God. Daily spiritual development is a lifelong process with an out of this world retirement plan. Stay signed up.
While graceful may not be properly descriptive of aging in my life, gradual is a perfect word. Gradually, one year at a time, I will age. Just like the rest of you.
© Julie Carter 2005
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Aging gradually but not so gracefully
By Julie Carter
Every single one of you that is reading this has a birthday. A given fact.
Accepting that fact is step number six of my 11 steps on aging gracefully. It reads “Accept some realities.” My reality is I had a birthday and I plan on having just as many more as I can.
A look at the birthday cards I received is a clue that others either notice the aging or my friends are getting more ruthless. With humor these cards give a long list, at least 25 ways, to know if you are getting older.
You know you’re getting older when….
Everything hurts and what doesn’t, doesn’t work.
Your knees buckle and your belt won’t.
You can only burn the midnight oil until nine o’clock.
Your back goes out more often than you do.
You start thinking Sarasota, Florida is a lot more cutting edge than most people give it credit for.
Conversations with people your age often turn into “dueling ailments.”
Most of your co-workers were born the year you got your last promotion.
Cards like that used to be, in my mind, tasteless and insensitive. Now they make me laugh and leave me with diabolical thoughts of who I will send one to next.
When you look at what the world sees as “aging gracefully” words like dignity, self-confidence, quality of life, personal growth are used repeatedly. Following is usually another list that includes terminology such as psychological challenges, physical fitness, retirement, senior discounts, antioxidants, proper sleep, caregivers and laxatives.
One article proclaimed the secret to the “art of aging gracefully.” I thought, oh it is now an art is it? But then that turned out to be about how to properly age wine.
Here are the eleven tips on successful aging, gracefully or not, I believe to be sound advice.
--Balance the focuses in your life. Too much or not enough has a middle road.
Develop a positive mindset. Successful aging means we see the opportunities in life rather than life lost.
--Develop relationships. Invest in friendships and caring for others in demonstrable ways.
--Learn something new all the time. Contrary to what you would like us to believe, you don’t know everything.
--Become a mentor. Share your many experiences, both positive and negative, with someone who can benefit from them
--Accept some realities. These include things you can control like diet and lifestyle choices. They also should include those things you have no control over but spend an inordinate amount of time trying to control.
--Be creative. Paint that picture, write that book or simply call someone you love and tell them a story you want someone to remember.
--Play. We aren’t kids any more but we still need to play, have fun and find the laughter we once knew.
--Get physical. Everyone needs physical activity, regardless of age and physical limitations. Jumping to conclusions and losing your mind does not qualify.
--Learn from the past without dwelling on it. Mistakes are human but become tragic when we fail to learn from them and when we relive them constantly. Learn the lesson and move on.
--Walk daily with God. Daily spiritual development is a lifelong process with an out of this world retirement plan. Stay signed up.
While graceful may not be properly descriptive of aging in my life, gradual is a perfect word. Gradually, one year at a time, I will age. Just like the rest of you.
© Julie Carter 2005
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Ideologues Hinder Environmental Clean-up
Areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina continue to be environmental wastelands and some environmental ideologues are doing their best to keep them that way, according to The National Center for Public Policy Research. Government officials recently warned of serious health hazards spawned by bacteria, fecal contamination, and various chemicals still prevalent in the sediment left behind by floodwaters. Despite this toxic soup and all its dangers, some environmental groups are scaremongering against a congressional measure that would permit the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive onerous regulations that hamper the clean-up effort. Peyton Knight, Director of the John P. McGovern MD Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at the National Center, notes that such obstructionism is sadly ironic. "The same brand of environmental obstructionism that prevented the City of New Orleans from building vitally-necessary flood gates almost 30 years ago, is now impeding the clean-up of the disaster," he said. In 1977, the environmental group Save Our Wetlands (SOWL) successfully sued to stop the construction of a hurricane barrier project that was designed to thwart flooding wrought by powerful storms such as Hurricane Katrina. The Save Our Wetlands website even boasts: "While politicians talk, SOWL sues! SOWL has been involved in countless lawsuits involving Lake Ponchartrain on every subject... In 1977, SOWL obtained an injunction from U.S. District Judge Charles Schwartz enjoining the Corps of Engineers from building a billion dollar dam at the Chef Mentaur Rigolets Fort Pike Area, where the Gulf of Mexico enters into Lake Ponchartrain." Joseph Towers, retired chief counsel for the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans district, told the Los Angeles Times last month: "If we had built the barriers, New Orleans would not be flooded." Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is now sponsoring a measure that would give the Environmental Protection Agency the ability to grant a temporary waiver of certain environmental regulations that hamstring the Katrina recovery effort. While EPA officials consider Inhofe's proposal important to the recovery effort, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and the Natural Resources Defense Council are demonizing the measure....
An Energy Solution
By virtue of alarmist environmental rhetoric and ill-informed media coverage, much of the public has been convinced that we’re about to run out of fossil fuels. Actually, the U.S. is an energy-rich country. We have, for instance, the world’s largest known coal reserves. It is true, however, that environmentalists are with each passing day making it more difficult to access our reserves. In 1996, for instance, they succeeded in cutting us off from 68 billion tons of our cleanest coal reserves. Located in Utah, this coal is of a type sought by utility companies to satisfy the EPA’s ever-rising requirements. It is worth more than $2.6 trillion after extraction, or more than $9,000 for each man, woman, and child in the United States. Even if all U.S. electric power plants were using coal, 68 billion tons could run them for more than 45 years at the present rate of consumption. Yet access to this resource was blocked by the Clinton administration on the grounds that mining it would despoil the environment. Thus we are forced to buy coal from overseas sources. Tampa Electric of Florida recently contracted to purchase 400,000 tons of coal per year from Borneo. Along with the coal from Utah, it is among the highest quality on earth. Interestingly, it comes from mines largely owned by the Lippo Group, the Indonesian conglomerate which made a heavy financial contribution to Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign. When Clinton banned the use of those 68 billion tons of coal from Utah, Lippo’s equally good coal increased immensely in value. Doubtless its owners are delighted by this, while U.S. environmentalists gloated about winning another round “to save the planet” when they locked up Utah’s coal. If they were consistent they would admit that mining coal in Utah is no more destructive to Mother Earth than mining it in Borneo—indeed, because Borneo’s environmental standards are much less restrictive, mining there is very probably more polluting. In addition, many extra pollutants are being discharged by the smokestacks of ships transporting the coal on their 20,000 mile roundtrips from Borneo to Florida. We calculate that some 20 percent more carbon dioxide and other emissions are vented into the atmosphere through this substitution of Bornese for American coal....
Newsweek Fawns over New Head of ‘Frugal’ Environmental Group
At Newsweek, “The Fight Is Never Over” trying to convince the public that global warming is a problem, and the magazine applied that attitude to an interview under that headline with the incoming head of the left-wing Natural Resources Defense Council. Under the header “Leadership & Innovation,” Newsweek described Frances Beinecke as the new president of “the most influential environmental group in the nation.” However, the piece attributed 650,000 members to the group, which is 350,000 fewer than it claims on its Web site. The story didn’t delve into the speckled history of NRDC, a group involved in the now-discredited Alar pesticide/apple scandal. Instead, Newsweek’s Jerry Adler depicted Beinecke sitting “in a corner office with not much space to spare; frugally, the lights are switched off on a sunny afternoon and the coffee served to visitors is barely lukewarm.” Adler hammered home the “frugal” description of NRDC’s new boss by calling her “a Prius-driving graduate of Yale and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.” But Adler’s questions about global warming were even more revealing. He prepped Beinecke: “You’re taking over at a critical time for the environmental movement, when people are suddenly waking up to the threats of global warming and the need for energy conservation.” A few questions later, Adler asked about NRDC’s position on nuclear power, “in light of the greater threat posed by greenhouse gases.” That wasn’t a new position for Newsweek. Despite scientific opposition, the magazine has done its part to say any weather changes are likely “initial symptoms of enduring climate change,” as the magazine said on August 8. That same issue described nations coming “to grips with global warming.”....
USFS Propaganda
The news broadcast on my truck radio mentioned a "new weather system approaching the Gulf" – so when I got home, I turned on The Weather Channel. Big mistake. What I caught on TWC was a "Joint Presentation of the U.S. Forest Service and The Weather Channel" on "Forest Fires." It was all U.S. Forest Service, ex-Forest Service (i.e. the retired and likely-rehired annuitant or consultant "Chief"), and Interagency Fire Center federal employees. They were all dressed in their best "Orvis-casual" duds, as they spoke in ponderous tones in front of spectacular outdoor backdrops. Clearly, it was paid for and scripted by the U.S. Forest Service. It went on for about 25 minutes, and it was the most egregious bit of environmental propaganda I have ever witnessed. The fact that our taxes paid for it, only rubbed salt in the wound. One of the most recent models for this planned rural land clearance was the British conquest, and subsequent clearance of Ireland and Scotland, to give to favored aristocrats. Environmentalists and animal rights radicals are every bit as intolerant, and dismissive as British conquerors, hundreds of years ago. Just as the British had no intention of living with unruly inferiors or allowing them property or their freedoms or traditions, today's radicals have no intention of practicing vegetarianism, or managing their own lands as sacred "fuel" dumps: these are things to be forced on others. Today's radicals want to eliminate ranchers, farmers, loggers, hunters, fishermen, trappers, and others, as surely as British aristocrats wanted to eliminate native Scots and Irish, to possess their lands. Today's radicals don't fight their own fights, they employ surrogate politicians, professors, and bureaucrats, like mercenaries, to clear the land for their wishes, in return for more money and support. The propaganda, to accomplish this, is paid for by all of us....
PETA Employees Face Added Felony Charges
Prosecutors in Hertford County, North Carolina filed additional charges today in the case of two People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employees accused of killing adoptable puppies and kittens with the controlled substance pentobarbital, and tossing their bodies into a grocery-store dumpster. Felony animal-cruelty charges were re-filed this morning against defendants Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook in Superior Court. In addition, they were each charged with three felony counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses. The pair is expected to be formally indicted in Superior Court on October 31. According to the new felony warrants, the charges of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses allege that Hinkle and Cook removed healthy animals from shelters and veterinary offices under the false promise that adoptive homes would be found for them. When the two were arrested in June, police found 31 dead animals which had been obtained only hours earlier. They also found several vials of the narcotics pentobarbital and ketamine....
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Ideologues Hinder Environmental Clean-up
Areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina continue to be environmental wastelands and some environmental ideologues are doing their best to keep them that way, according to The National Center for Public Policy Research. Government officials recently warned of serious health hazards spawned by bacteria, fecal contamination, and various chemicals still prevalent in the sediment left behind by floodwaters. Despite this toxic soup and all its dangers, some environmental groups are scaremongering against a congressional measure that would permit the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive onerous regulations that hamper the clean-up effort. Peyton Knight, Director of the John P. McGovern MD Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at the National Center, notes that such obstructionism is sadly ironic. "The same brand of environmental obstructionism that prevented the City of New Orleans from building vitally-necessary flood gates almost 30 years ago, is now impeding the clean-up of the disaster," he said. In 1977, the environmental group Save Our Wetlands (SOWL) successfully sued to stop the construction of a hurricane barrier project that was designed to thwart flooding wrought by powerful storms such as Hurricane Katrina. The Save Our Wetlands website even boasts: "While politicians talk, SOWL sues! SOWL has been involved in countless lawsuits involving Lake Ponchartrain on every subject... In 1977, SOWL obtained an injunction from U.S. District Judge Charles Schwartz enjoining the Corps of Engineers from building a billion dollar dam at the Chef Mentaur Rigolets Fort Pike Area, where the Gulf of Mexico enters into Lake Ponchartrain." Joseph Towers, retired chief counsel for the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans district, told the Los Angeles Times last month: "If we had built the barriers, New Orleans would not be flooded." Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is now sponsoring a measure that would give the Environmental Protection Agency the ability to grant a temporary waiver of certain environmental regulations that hamstring the Katrina recovery effort. While EPA officials consider Inhofe's proposal important to the recovery effort, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and the Natural Resources Defense Council are demonizing the measure....
An Energy Solution
By virtue of alarmist environmental rhetoric and ill-informed media coverage, much of the public has been convinced that we’re about to run out of fossil fuels. Actually, the U.S. is an energy-rich country. We have, for instance, the world’s largest known coal reserves. It is true, however, that environmentalists are with each passing day making it more difficult to access our reserves. In 1996, for instance, they succeeded in cutting us off from 68 billion tons of our cleanest coal reserves. Located in Utah, this coal is of a type sought by utility companies to satisfy the EPA’s ever-rising requirements. It is worth more than $2.6 trillion after extraction, or more than $9,000 for each man, woman, and child in the United States. Even if all U.S. electric power plants were using coal, 68 billion tons could run them for more than 45 years at the present rate of consumption. Yet access to this resource was blocked by the Clinton administration on the grounds that mining it would despoil the environment. Thus we are forced to buy coal from overseas sources. Tampa Electric of Florida recently contracted to purchase 400,000 tons of coal per year from Borneo. Along with the coal from Utah, it is among the highest quality on earth. Interestingly, it comes from mines largely owned by the Lippo Group, the Indonesian conglomerate which made a heavy financial contribution to Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign. When Clinton banned the use of those 68 billion tons of coal from Utah, Lippo’s equally good coal increased immensely in value. Doubtless its owners are delighted by this, while U.S. environmentalists gloated about winning another round “to save the planet” when they locked up Utah’s coal. If they were consistent they would admit that mining coal in Utah is no more destructive to Mother Earth than mining it in Borneo—indeed, because Borneo’s environmental standards are much less restrictive, mining there is very probably more polluting. In addition, many extra pollutants are being discharged by the smokestacks of ships transporting the coal on their 20,000 mile roundtrips from Borneo to Florida. We calculate that some 20 percent more carbon dioxide and other emissions are vented into the atmosphere through this substitution of Bornese for American coal....
Newsweek Fawns over New Head of ‘Frugal’ Environmental Group
At Newsweek, “The Fight Is Never Over” trying to convince the public that global warming is a problem, and the magazine applied that attitude to an interview under that headline with the incoming head of the left-wing Natural Resources Defense Council. Under the header “Leadership & Innovation,” Newsweek described Frances Beinecke as the new president of “the most influential environmental group in the nation.” However, the piece attributed 650,000 members to the group, which is 350,000 fewer than it claims on its Web site. The story didn’t delve into the speckled history of NRDC, a group involved in the now-discredited Alar pesticide/apple scandal. Instead, Newsweek’s Jerry Adler depicted Beinecke sitting “in a corner office with not much space to spare; frugally, the lights are switched off on a sunny afternoon and the coffee served to visitors is barely lukewarm.” Adler hammered home the “frugal” description of NRDC’s new boss by calling her “a Prius-driving graduate of Yale and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.” But Adler’s questions about global warming were even more revealing. He prepped Beinecke: “You’re taking over at a critical time for the environmental movement, when people are suddenly waking up to the threats of global warming and the need for energy conservation.” A few questions later, Adler asked about NRDC’s position on nuclear power, “in light of the greater threat posed by greenhouse gases.” That wasn’t a new position for Newsweek. Despite scientific opposition, the magazine has done its part to say any weather changes are likely “initial symptoms of enduring climate change,” as the magazine said on August 8. That same issue described nations coming “to grips with global warming.”....
USFS Propaganda
The news broadcast on my truck radio mentioned a "new weather system approaching the Gulf" – so when I got home, I turned on The Weather Channel. Big mistake. What I caught on TWC was a "Joint Presentation of the U.S. Forest Service and The Weather Channel" on "Forest Fires." It was all U.S. Forest Service, ex-Forest Service (i.e. the retired and likely-rehired annuitant or consultant "Chief"), and Interagency Fire Center federal employees. They were all dressed in their best "Orvis-casual" duds, as they spoke in ponderous tones in front of spectacular outdoor backdrops. Clearly, it was paid for and scripted by the U.S. Forest Service. It went on for about 25 minutes, and it was the most egregious bit of environmental propaganda I have ever witnessed. The fact that our taxes paid for it, only rubbed salt in the wound. One of the most recent models for this planned rural land clearance was the British conquest, and subsequent clearance of Ireland and Scotland, to give to favored aristocrats. Environmentalists and animal rights radicals are every bit as intolerant, and dismissive as British conquerors, hundreds of years ago. Just as the British had no intention of living with unruly inferiors or allowing them property or their freedoms or traditions, today's radicals have no intention of practicing vegetarianism, or managing their own lands as sacred "fuel" dumps: these are things to be forced on others. Today's radicals want to eliminate ranchers, farmers, loggers, hunters, fishermen, trappers, and others, as surely as British aristocrats wanted to eliminate native Scots and Irish, to possess their lands. Today's radicals don't fight their own fights, they employ surrogate politicians, professors, and bureaucrats, like mercenaries, to clear the land for their wishes, in return for more money and support. The propaganda, to accomplish this, is paid for by all of us....
PETA Employees Face Added Felony Charges
Prosecutors in Hertford County, North Carolina filed additional charges today in the case of two People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employees accused of killing adoptable puppies and kittens with the controlled substance pentobarbital, and tossing their bodies into a grocery-store dumpster. Felony animal-cruelty charges were re-filed this morning against defendants Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook in Superior Court. In addition, they were each charged with three felony counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses. The pair is expected to be formally indicted in Superior Court on October 31. According to the new felony warrants, the charges of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses allege that Hinkle and Cook removed healthy animals from shelters and veterinary offices under the false promise that adoptive homes would be found for them. When the two were arrested in June, police found 31 dead animals which had been obtained only hours earlier. They also found several vials of the narcotics pentobarbital and ketamine....
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Thursday, October 13, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Column: Hunting Access and Conservation Consensus So just how is it that private landowners came to open up 9 million acres of their ranches and farms each autumn to the public? And more importantly, what does it all mean to the conservation of wildlife, fisheries, and landscape integrity in the rapidly changing West of the 21st century? I cannot say for sure. But I can explain, as a hunter, how I came to understand that the Block Management Program was not, and is not, about me and my kind. It is about keeping ranching and farming economically viable and protecting valuable landscapes through activities that help the private landowner – nominal compensation for allowing people on their land, hunter management services, and keeping elk herds from building to the point that they wreak havoc on fences and haystacks all winter. Likewise, public hunting access remains an absolute requirement of Habitat Montana. But therein lies a likely source of conservative political support for a program that secures perpetual conservation easements and fee-title acquisitions right alongside The Nature Conservancy and a host of land trusts. Granted, Habitat Montana may be more focused on elk winter range than on rare plant communities but the reality is that the program is connecting the dots of ecosystem linkages with lands that will be managed in the public trust forever. In places such as the Blackfoot Valley, that is every bit as significant as anything generated by the environmental movement, past or present....
Column: Nature works better with us Along the Gila River in New Mexico, a rancher has re-watered some old dirt irrigation ditches and restored a riparian forest to such a state of health that it supports the largest known population of an endangered bird, the southwestern willow flycatcher. An adjacent preserve, where the land is protected, supports none. That same ranch also hosts the largest known population of a threatened fish, the 3-inch spikedace. It prefers streams that get stirred up now and then and thrives where cattle regularly shuffle through the water. The Verde River in Arizona used to support healthy populations of spikedace until the riverbanks were declared off limits to livestock in 1997. No spikedace have been seen in the Verde since. In North Dakota, ecologists found that, where a family began herding their cattle across their ranch the way bison once moved across it to evade Indian hunting parties, this "pulsed" grazing is literally pumping carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil and combating global warming in the process. They found it is also restoring the carbon-rich, black soils that made the Great Plains one of the most fertile areas on Earth. Nearby lands protected from the pulse of animal movement show no such effect....
Threat to lynx won't stop resort The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that the possible loss of up to 40 Canada lynx over the next 30 years isn't sufficient reason to block construction of the Village at Wolf Creek resort in Southern Colorado. A draft lynx habitat assessment sent to the U.S. Forest Service gave a green light to building two roads for the 287-acre resort next to the Wolf Creek Ski Area in the Rio Grande National Forest. The $1 billion resort, proposed by Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs, would be in the same area where the Colorado Division of Wildlife released more than 200 Canada lynx since 1999 in an effort to restore the cats to the state. The Canada lynx, a medium-sized wildcat that primarily preys on snowshoe hares, was added to the endangered species list as a "threatened" species in 2000....
Environmental groups aim to sue the U.S. government over polar bears Representatives of three environmental groups on Wednesday charged that the U.S. government is failing to curb the global warming that is slowly destroying the bears' habitat, possibly leading to their extinction. The environmental groups made their announcement at a news conference in the Central Park Zoo. "The Bush administration has refused to act," said Kert Davies, the Washington-based research director for Greenpeace. The groups filed a petition last February to have the polar bear formally declared a threatened species _ a step they said would require the government to try and cut down the toxic industrial byproducts that are causing global warming, and the polar meltdown....
A Study Shows Cattle Grazing May Help Endangered Species An article published in the latest issue of Conservation Biology states cattle grazing plays an important role in maintaining wetland habitat necessary for some endangered species. Removing cattle from grazing lands in the Central Valley of California could, inadvertently, degrade the vernal pool habitat of fairy shrimp and tiger salamanders. Cattle grazing affects the rate of evaporation, which works together with the climate to determine the depth and duration of wetland flooding. Cattle have been feeding on the land for over 150 years and have found a way to be a naturalized part of the ecosystem. Author Christopher R. Pyke states, "In practical terms, this means that grazing may help sustain the kinds of aquatic environments endangered fairy shrimps need to survive."....
Groups Sue To Get Rare Cactus Listed As Endangered Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to protect a rare cactus in two northeastern Utah counties near the Colorado border, which are slated for increased oil and gas drilling. In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the groups asked a judge for an emergency order granting endangered or threatened species protection for the Pariette cactus to prevent the Bureau of Land Management from approving drilling in the plant's only habitat. The Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society claim the cactus can only be found in a small 30-square-mile area in the Uinta and Duchesne counties, where the BLM is considering a project that would double the number of wells in the area....
New Report Unveils List of America's Most Endangered Forests Today(10/12/05), the National Forest Protection Alliance released its third bi-annual report listing twelve of the country's most endangered national forests. The report, America's Endangered National Forests: Lumber, Landfill or Living Legacy?, also provides a groundbreaking economic analysis demonstrating that the Bush Administration's push for more industrial logging in our nation's public forests defies the market realities for wood products. This year's report is unique in that it offers the most up-to-date analysis of the marketplace for wood products from national forests. The major conclusion drawn from this research is that the market share of national forest wood products will likely remain near its current level - 2% of the U.S.'s total consumption - despite the federal government's efforts to increase industrial logging through higher subsidies and policies like the Healthy Forests Initiative. America's Most Endangered Forests: Malheur National Forest (OR), Siskiyou National Forest (OR), Oregon BLM Forests; Allegheny National Forest (PA); Bighorn National Forest (WY); Daniel Boone National Forest (KY); Los Padres National Forest (CA); George Washington & Jefferson National Forest (VA); Rio Grande National Forest (CO); Tongass National Forest (AK); National Forests in Mississippi; Bitterroot National Forest (MT). Special Mention: Black Hills National Forest (SD) and Nantahala National Forest (NC). Threatened: Carson National Forest (NM); Wayne National Forest (OH); Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (KY); Flathead National Forest (MT); Kaibab National Forest (AZ); Michigan National Forests: (Huron-Manistee, Hiawatha and Ottawa); Klamath National Forest (CA); Nez Perce National Forest (ID); Umpqua National Forest (OR)....
EPA: Jonah Field pollution too high The Environmental Protection Agency wants slower gas development in western Wyoming's Jonah Field unless companies cut air pollution from wells by 80 percent. The EPA says the cut is necessary to protect wilderness areas and Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks from being blanketed by haze, according to remarks the agency has sent to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is weighing several approaches for allowing drilling in the area. In a letter to the BLM, EPA Regional Administrator Robert Roberts said drilling companies should use new, cleaner diesel-engine technology to reduce emissions. "If emissions are reduced, the operator would be allowed to drill more natural gas wells," he wrote. The BLM is to rule by January on an EnCana Corp. proposal to drill as many as 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which holds one of the region's most concentrated natural-gas deposits....
Forests suddenly off-limits to pickers An abrupt change in U.S. Forest Service policy will leave thousands of Oregon mushroom harvesters without a means of picking up spare cash - beginning now, on the very cusp of chanterelle season. But that's not all. The lawsuit-driven policy shift also may severely restrict the availability of Christmas trees on Forest Service land, disappointing as many as 65,000 wild-tree-hunting families during the coming holidays. Forest Service officials say they have no choice. The restrictions come from a California court ruling that says the agency has to give the public appeal rights - now - with regard to nearly every project or activity the forest allows or under- takes....
New Mexico, Utah Govs. Want the West To Be a 2008 Force New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Utah Governor John Huntsman want the rest of the country to recognize what we already know: The West is becoming a strong political force. The two, Richardson, a Democrat (and a 2008 contender) and Huntsman, a Republican, want Western states to hold primaries and caucuses on the same date, Feb. 5. The Western Governors Association, of which Richardson is past chair, supports the idea. Right now, three states, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, are considering holding their primaries on Feb. 5. Huntsman and Richardson hope to influence the rest of the states to join them. Richardson and Huntsman say the West's issues are increasingly the country's most pressing: Natural resource development, land use, weapons and defense development among others....
River plan roils tribe Deep in the bowels of the far western part of the Grand Canyon, where the mighty Colorado River turns from roiling rapids into steady stream, it's like a big lake party. Speedboat operators rev up to 50 mph before doing sharp 180-degree turns in the river's channels as joyful tourists shriek in delight. A steady stream of helicopters ferrying tourists from the Hualapai Tribe's Grand Canyon West airport sink stomachs by surging out beyond the rim into the open air above the deep gorge. But lost in all the hair-raising thrills for tourists is a bitter battle between the Hualapai Tribe and National Park Service as to who controls the river along the 108-mile northern boundary of the reservation. The decision has huge implications for the river-tour industry, which transports nearly 25,000 people annually through the Grand Canyon....
National parks do duty as nature's labs Traveling through more than 300 national parks, you can ascend glacier-topped mountains, wade through mangrove swamps and float through majestic canyons. You will be joined by 266 endangered species, according to the National Park Service. And you'll find working scientists. Last year, almost 277 million people visited the parks, an increase of 4% from 2003, the park service says. There were even more substantial gains in research: The park service approved 2,774 research permits in 2004, up 11% from 2003. Scientists say the intact ecosystems and landscapes are natural laboratories. "If the country were a museum, the national parks would be the exhibits," says forest ecologist Dan Kashian of Colorado State University-Fort Collins. "The national parks are where you go when you want to work in an environment that is relatively free of human disturbance."....
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE POLICIES BEING REVAMPED A proposal that could significantly change US National Park Service management policies is scheduled to be unveiled no later than Oct. 18, 2005, and possibly earlier (NPS: David Barna, 202-208-6843). A leaked draft of an earlier version of the proposal has raised the hackles of many critics, who are concerned the changes would seriously degrade the parks. Supporters say the changes would better balance the two primary mandates of the NPS — to protect resources and allow for visitor use — and would reduce the ability of the NPS to "lock up" lands. The 388 national park system units in 49 states and many territories are a huge draw, attracting more than 276 million recreational visitors in 2004. Management policies for the system (including 58 national parks, as well as many national monuments, recreation areas, etc.) have been revamped about half a dozen times since they were first adopted in 1916, but the Bush administration is slashing that average interval of 15 years by more than two-thirds, proposing revisions soon after the 2001 revisions approved in the last days of the Clinton administration....
West Nile kills N.M. ranch hand West Nile virus has claimed the life of a prominent member of the Tucumcari agricultural community. Alan Bugg, 50, died Friday at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque after being disconnected from life support. He had been transferred from a hospital in Tucumcari on Sept. 24, said Catherine Bugg, his wife. Alan Bugg had a kidney-pancreas transplant at Fairview University Medical Center in Minneapolis in June, she said. "So he was severely immuno-compromised to begin with," she said. "So he was very susceptible to everything." Alan Bugg was a ranch hand who worked on several ranches and farms in the area, and with the recent wet weather, Catherine Bugg said, she had no doubt a mosquito bit him....
Hangin’ Tree Cowdogs to be demonstrated “When you can’t work harder, you have to work smarter.” That age-old advice has never been more appropriate than today’s busy life on the ranch, with time, money, fuel and man-power getting harder to come by. Many ranchers are turning to well-trained cowdogs to fill the gap, with growing interest in a composite breed known as Hangin’ Tree Cowdogs. These dogs and their ability to perform on a working cattle ranch will be featured in two free demonstrations at the NILE Stock Show, ProRodeo & Horse Extravaganza. The first demonstration will be Thursday, October 13 at noon in the Superbarn at MetraPark in Billings. The second demonstration will be Friday, October 14 at noon, also in the Superbarn. Scott Allison, a cowdog breeder and trainer from Dillon, MT will demonstrate how one lone rider can gather, hold, sort, doctor and even load cattle into a stock trailer on the open range, with only his dogs for help....
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Column: Hunting Access and Conservation Consensus So just how is it that private landowners came to open up 9 million acres of their ranches and farms each autumn to the public? And more importantly, what does it all mean to the conservation of wildlife, fisheries, and landscape integrity in the rapidly changing West of the 21st century? I cannot say for sure. But I can explain, as a hunter, how I came to understand that the Block Management Program was not, and is not, about me and my kind. It is about keeping ranching and farming economically viable and protecting valuable landscapes through activities that help the private landowner – nominal compensation for allowing people on their land, hunter management services, and keeping elk herds from building to the point that they wreak havoc on fences and haystacks all winter. Likewise, public hunting access remains an absolute requirement of Habitat Montana. But therein lies a likely source of conservative political support for a program that secures perpetual conservation easements and fee-title acquisitions right alongside The Nature Conservancy and a host of land trusts. Granted, Habitat Montana may be more focused on elk winter range than on rare plant communities but the reality is that the program is connecting the dots of ecosystem linkages with lands that will be managed in the public trust forever. In places such as the Blackfoot Valley, that is every bit as significant as anything generated by the environmental movement, past or present....
Column: Nature works better with us Along the Gila River in New Mexico, a rancher has re-watered some old dirt irrigation ditches and restored a riparian forest to such a state of health that it supports the largest known population of an endangered bird, the southwestern willow flycatcher. An adjacent preserve, where the land is protected, supports none. That same ranch also hosts the largest known population of a threatened fish, the 3-inch spikedace. It prefers streams that get stirred up now and then and thrives where cattle regularly shuffle through the water. The Verde River in Arizona used to support healthy populations of spikedace until the riverbanks were declared off limits to livestock in 1997. No spikedace have been seen in the Verde since. In North Dakota, ecologists found that, where a family began herding their cattle across their ranch the way bison once moved across it to evade Indian hunting parties, this "pulsed" grazing is literally pumping carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil and combating global warming in the process. They found it is also restoring the carbon-rich, black soils that made the Great Plains one of the most fertile areas on Earth. Nearby lands protected from the pulse of animal movement show no such effect....
Threat to lynx won't stop resort The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that the possible loss of up to 40 Canada lynx over the next 30 years isn't sufficient reason to block construction of the Village at Wolf Creek resort in Southern Colorado. A draft lynx habitat assessment sent to the U.S. Forest Service gave a green light to building two roads for the 287-acre resort next to the Wolf Creek Ski Area in the Rio Grande National Forest. The $1 billion resort, proposed by Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs, would be in the same area where the Colorado Division of Wildlife released more than 200 Canada lynx since 1999 in an effort to restore the cats to the state. The Canada lynx, a medium-sized wildcat that primarily preys on snowshoe hares, was added to the endangered species list as a "threatened" species in 2000....
Environmental groups aim to sue the U.S. government over polar bears Representatives of three environmental groups on Wednesday charged that the U.S. government is failing to curb the global warming that is slowly destroying the bears' habitat, possibly leading to their extinction. The environmental groups made their announcement at a news conference in the Central Park Zoo. "The Bush administration has refused to act," said Kert Davies, the Washington-based research director for Greenpeace. The groups filed a petition last February to have the polar bear formally declared a threatened species _ a step they said would require the government to try and cut down the toxic industrial byproducts that are causing global warming, and the polar meltdown....
A Study Shows Cattle Grazing May Help Endangered Species An article published in the latest issue of Conservation Biology states cattle grazing plays an important role in maintaining wetland habitat necessary for some endangered species. Removing cattle from grazing lands in the Central Valley of California could, inadvertently, degrade the vernal pool habitat of fairy shrimp and tiger salamanders. Cattle grazing affects the rate of evaporation, which works together with the climate to determine the depth and duration of wetland flooding. Cattle have been feeding on the land for over 150 years and have found a way to be a naturalized part of the ecosystem. Author Christopher R. Pyke states, "In practical terms, this means that grazing may help sustain the kinds of aquatic environments endangered fairy shrimps need to survive."....
Groups Sue To Get Rare Cactus Listed As Endangered Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to protect a rare cactus in two northeastern Utah counties near the Colorado border, which are slated for increased oil and gas drilling. In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the groups asked a judge for an emergency order granting endangered or threatened species protection for the Pariette cactus to prevent the Bureau of Land Management from approving drilling in the plant's only habitat. The Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society claim the cactus can only be found in a small 30-square-mile area in the Uinta and Duchesne counties, where the BLM is considering a project that would double the number of wells in the area....
New Report Unveils List of America's Most Endangered Forests Today(10/12/05), the National Forest Protection Alliance released its third bi-annual report listing twelve of the country's most endangered national forests. The report, America's Endangered National Forests: Lumber, Landfill or Living Legacy?, also provides a groundbreaking economic analysis demonstrating that the Bush Administration's push for more industrial logging in our nation's public forests defies the market realities for wood products. This year's report is unique in that it offers the most up-to-date analysis of the marketplace for wood products from national forests. The major conclusion drawn from this research is that the market share of national forest wood products will likely remain near its current level - 2% of the U.S.'s total consumption - despite the federal government's efforts to increase industrial logging through higher subsidies and policies like the Healthy Forests Initiative. America's Most Endangered Forests: Malheur National Forest (OR), Siskiyou National Forest (OR), Oregon BLM Forests; Allegheny National Forest (PA); Bighorn National Forest (WY); Daniel Boone National Forest (KY); Los Padres National Forest (CA); George Washington & Jefferson National Forest (VA); Rio Grande National Forest (CO); Tongass National Forest (AK); National Forests in Mississippi; Bitterroot National Forest (MT). Special Mention: Black Hills National Forest (SD) and Nantahala National Forest (NC). Threatened: Carson National Forest (NM); Wayne National Forest (OH); Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (KY); Flathead National Forest (MT); Kaibab National Forest (AZ); Michigan National Forests: (Huron-Manistee, Hiawatha and Ottawa); Klamath National Forest (CA); Nez Perce National Forest (ID); Umpqua National Forest (OR)....
EPA: Jonah Field pollution too high The Environmental Protection Agency wants slower gas development in western Wyoming's Jonah Field unless companies cut air pollution from wells by 80 percent. The EPA says the cut is necessary to protect wilderness areas and Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks from being blanketed by haze, according to remarks the agency has sent to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is weighing several approaches for allowing drilling in the area. In a letter to the BLM, EPA Regional Administrator Robert Roberts said drilling companies should use new, cleaner diesel-engine technology to reduce emissions. "If emissions are reduced, the operator would be allowed to drill more natural gas wells," he wrote. The BLM is to rule by January on an EnCana Corp. proposal to drill as many as 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which holds one of the region's most concentrated natural-gas deposits....
Forests suddenly off-limits to pickers An abrupt change in U.S. Forest Service policy will leave thousands of Oregon mushroom harvesters without a means of picking up spare cash - beginning now, on the very cusp of chanterelle season. But that's not all. The lawsuit-driven policy shift also may severely restrict the availability of Christmas trees on Forest Service land, disappointing as many as 65,000 wild-tree-hunting families during the coming holidays. Forest Service officials say they have no choice. The restrictions come from a California court ruling that says the agency has to give the public appeal rights - now - with regard to nearly every project or activity the forest allows or under- takes....
New Mexico, Utah Govs. Want the West To Be a 2008 Force New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Utah Governor John Huntsman want the rest of the country to recognize what we already know: The West is becoming a strong political force. The two, Richardson, a Democrat (and a 2008 contender) and Huntsman, a Republican, want Western states to hold primaries and caucuses on the same date, Feb. 5. The Western Governors Association, of which Richardson is past chair, supports the idea. Right now, three states, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, are considering holding their primaries on Feb. 5. Huntsman and Richardson hope to influence the rest of the states to join them. Richardson and Huntsman say the West's issues are increasingly the country's most pressing: Natural resource development, land use, weapons and defense development among others....
River plan roils tribe Deep in the bowels of the far western part of the Grand Canyon, where the mighty Colorado River turns from roiling rapids into steady stream, it's like a big lake party. Speedboat operators rev up to 50 mph before doing sharp 180-degree turns in the river's channels as joyful tourists shriek in delight. A steady stream of helicopters ferrying tourists from the Hualapai Tribe's Grand Canyon West airport sink stomachs by surging out beyond the rim into the open air above the deep gorge. But lost in all the hair-raising thrills for tourists is a bitter battle between the Hualapai Tribe and National Park Service as to who controls the river along the 108-mile northern boundary of the reservation. The decision has huge implications for the river-tour industry, which transports nearly 25,000 people annually through the Grand Canyon....
National parks do duty as nature's labs Traveling through more than 300 national parks, you can ascend glacier-topped mountains, wade through mangrove swamps and float through majestic canyons. You will be joined by 266 endangered species, according to the National Park Service. And you'll find working scientists. Last year, almost 277 million people visited the parks, an increase of 4% from 2003, the park service says. There were even more substantial gains in research: The park service approved 2,774 research permits in 2004, up 11% from 2003. Scientists say the intact ecosystems and landscapes are natural laboratories. "If the country were a museum, the national parks would be the exhibits," says forest ecologist Dan Kashian of Colorado State University-Fort Collins. "The national parks are where you go when you want to work in an environment that is relatively free of human disturbance."....
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE POLICIES BEING REVAMPED A proposal that could significantly change US National Park Service management policies is scheduled to be unveiled no later than Oct. 18, 2005, and possibly earlier (NPS: David Barna, 202-208-6843). A leaked draft of an earlier version of the proposal has raised the hackles of many critics, who are concerned the changes would seriously degrade the parks. Supporters say the changes would better balance the two primary mandates of the NPS — to protect resources and allow for visitor use — and would reduce the ability of the NPS to "lock up" lands. The 388 national park system units in 49 states and many territories are a huge draw, attracting more than 276 million recreational visitors in 2004. Management policies for the system (including 58 national parks, as well as many national monuments, recreation areas, etc.) have been revamped about half a dozen times since they were first adopted in 1916, but the Bush administration is slashing that average interval of 15 years by more than two-thirds, proposing revisions soon after the 2001 revisions approved in the last days of the Clinton administration....
West Nile kills N.M. ranch hand West Nile virus has claimed the life of a prominent member of the Tucumcari agricultural community. Alan Bugg, 50, died Friday at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque after being disconnected from life support. He had been transferred from a hospital in Tucumcari on Sept. 24, said Catherine Bugg, his wife. Alan Bugg had a kidney-pancreas transplant at Fairview University Medical Center in Minneapolis in June, she said. "So he was severely immuno-compromised to begin with," she said. "So he was very susceptible to everything." Alan Bugg was a ranch hand who worked on several ranches and farms in the area, and with the recent wet weather, Catherine Bugg said, she had no doubt a mosquito bit him....
Hangin’ Tree Cowdogs to be demonstrated “When you can’t work harder, you have to work smarter.” That age-old advice has never been more appropriate than today’s busy life on the ranch, with time, money, fuel and man-power getting harder to come by. Many ranchers are turning to well-trained cowdogs to fill the gap, with growing interest in a composite breed known as Hangin’ Tree Cowdogs. These dogs and their ability to perform on a working cattle ranch will be featured in two free demonstrations at the NILE Stock Show, ProRodeo & Horse Extravaganza. The first demonstration will be Thursday, October 13 at noon in the Superbarn at MetraPark in Billings. The second demonstration will be Friday, October 14 at noon, also in the Superbarn. Scott Allison, a cowdog breeder and trainer from Dillon, MT will demonstrate how one lone rider can gather, hold, sort, doctor and even load cattle into a stock trailer on the open range, with only his dogs for help....
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Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Red tape has farmer fuming
Most folks, when they suddenly discover they need a pound of hamburger for the evening meal, can simply pop over to their freezer and grab a package. Not Dennis Stoltzfoos. If he wants something from his own freezer, the organic farmer must fill out a form, detailing what he needs and why. Then, an inspector from the state Department of Agriculture must make the 60-mile round trip from Lake City, snip the official tape holding the freezer shut and document everything Stoltzfoos removes for his personal use. The freezer is then retaped shut. The tape's actually white, but it's government-red as far as Stoltzfoos is concerned. "They're harassing us," Stoltzfoos said. "This is not an isolated case. It's happening all over the country." Stoltzfoos' predicament illustrates what happens when what some call a New Age return to a simpler life bumps up against government regulations drawn in an era of agribusiness. Stoltzfoos, raised Amish on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, is trying to maintain a simple lifestyle for himself, his wife and their two young daughters on a self-sufficient family farm. But his 60-acre Full Circle Farm, where he raises 12 cows, two bulls, two pigs, 25 beef cattle and assorted chickens and turkeys, has been, for all intents and purposes, shut down by the state since July. The white tape and bright orange signs depict a Stop Sale Order, forbidding Stoltzfoos from selling milk, cream, butter, eggs, meat or any of his other agricultural products to the neighbors who want them. The organic farm was shut down after the state discovered Stoltzfoos was selling unpasteurized milk and dairy products as well as beef and processed vegetables. John Fruin, chief of the Bureau of Food and Meat Inspection at the Agriculture Department, said the process allows the farmer's family to continue consuming the products it cannot sell, but the state monitors it. Thus, the inspector has to be there for the farmer to retrieve his own hamburger....
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Most folks, when they suddenly discover they need a pound of hamburger for the evening meal, can simply pop over to their freezer and grab a package. Not Dennis Stoltzfoos. If he wants something from his own freezer, the organic farmer must fill out a form, detailing what he needs and why. Then, an inspector from the state Department of Agriculture must make the 60-mile round trip from Lake City, snip the official tape holding the freezer shut and document everything Stoltzfoos removes for his personal use. The freezer is then retaped shut. The tape's actually white, but it's government-red as far as Stoltzfoos is concerned. "They're harassing us," Stoltzfoos said. "This is not an isolated case. It's happening all over the country." Stoltzfoos' predicament illustrates what happens when what some call a New Age return to a simpler life bumps up against government regulations drawn in an era of agribusiness. Stoltzfoos, raised Amish on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, is trying to maintain a simple lifestyle for himself, his wife and their two young daughters on a self-sufficient family farm. But his 60-acre Full Circle Farm, where he raises 12 cows, two bulls, two pigs, 25 beef cattle and assorted chickens and turkeys, has been, for all intents and purposes, shut down by the state since July. The white tape and bright orange signs depict a Stop Sale Order, forbidding Stoltzfoos from selling milk, cream, butter, eggs, meat or any of his other agricultural products to the neighbors who want them. The organic farm was shut down after the state discovered Stoltzfoos was selling unpasteurized milk and dairy products as well as beef and processed vegetables. John Fruin, chief of the Bureau of Food and Meat Inspection at the Agriculture Department, said the process allows the farmer's family to continue consuming the products it cannot sell, but the state monitors it. Thus, the inspector has to be there for the farmer to retrieve his own hamburger....
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"HATE" tattooed on his right hand as he pleads guilty under oath
Christopher W. McIntosh, 23, of Maple Shade, New Jersey has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of arson, setting fire to the McDonald's restaurant near Seattle's Space Needle in 2003, an act he claimed he did on behalf of two groups of domestic terrorists - Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Before pleading guilty, McIntosh raised his right hand to be sworn under oath and revealed the letters "H-A-T-E" tattooed onto four fingers. The Seattle Times did not report the "hate" message that was clearly visible on the arsonist's hand, but the Seattle Post Intelligencer prominently mentioned it. Under terms of the plea agreement, McIntosh will be sentenced on December 16 to eight to 10 years in a federal prison. His attorney, Stephan Illa, said McIntosh decided to make a deal because prosecutors were prepared to invoke an anti-terrorism statute and seek a mandatory minimum of 30 years if he lost at trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Friedman told the court that after setting the fire, at 10:39 a.m. that same day, McIntosh placed an anonymous phone call to the Seattle arson tipline, stating, "[t]here was an E-L-F-A-L-F hit at McDonald's across from the Space Needle. There will be more. ... As long as mother Earth is pillaged, raped, destroyed. As long as McDonald's keeps hurting our furry brothers, there will be more."....
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Christopher W. McIntosh, 23, of Maple Shade, New Jersey has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of arson, setting fire to the McDonald's restaurant near Seattle's Space Needle in 2003, an act he claimed he did on behalf of two groups of domestic terrorists - Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Before pleading guilty, McIntosh raised his right hand to be sworn under oath and revealed the letters "H-A-T-E" tattooed onto four fingers. The Seattle Times did not report the "hate" message that was clearly visible on the arsonist's hand, but the Seattle Post Intelligencer prominently mentioned it. Under terms of the plea agreement, McIntosh will be sentenced on December 16 to eight to 10 years in a federal prison. His attorney, Stephan Illa, said McIntosh decided to make a deal because prosecutors were prepared to invoke an anti-terrorism statute and seek a mandatory minimum of 30 years if he lost at trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Friedman told the court that after setting the fire, at 10:39 a.m. that same day, McIntosh placed an anonymous phone call to the Seattle arson tipline, stating, "[t]here was an E-L-F-A-L-F hit at McDonald's across from the Space Needle. There will be more. ... As long as mother Earth is pillaged, raped, destroyed. As long as McDonald's keeps hurting our furry brothers, there will be more."....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Utah prairie dog gains useful friends The embattled Utah prairie dog faces an uncertain future, but plans are afoot to give the critter a boost. And the help is coming from some unlikely sources. A pair of first-time programs in the state - one engineered by a national environmental group with the help of local ranchers, the other by Utah's School Institutional and Trust Lands Administration - will soon create new habitat for a species that has been listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of its historic range in southern Utah. "These are incentive-based projects to help us realize some progress that otherwise wouldn't happen," Colin Rowan, spokesman for the New York-based Environmental Defense, said last week. "They're not the silver bullet. But if we sit around and wait for the perfect solution, it might not ever come."....
Editorial: Crying wolf Wolves or cows? Ranchers or enviros? Enough. The Hatfield-McCoy approach to public land management is unproductive and hopelessly out of date. The public wants Mexican gray wolves returned to the lands from which they were slaughtered at ranchers' requests and public expense. We learned a few things in the past century, and one of them is that habitats are healthier when they include the top predators. Like wolves. Ranchers who use the public lands have an obligation to accommodate the public's desire to see endangered wolf populations increase in wild areas of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Some accept the wolf recovery efforts that began seven years ago. Others don't....
‘Malicious’ acts scar land Dead cows, busted fences and garbage are plaguing ranchers and Bureau of Land Management staff on the southern Caja del Rio mesa, southwest of Santa Fe. At the beginning of this month, former Santa Fe County Commissioner Jose Varela Lopez, whose family has ranched in the area for four generations, found one of his grandfather’s pregnant cows shot multiple times — including in the eye — and left to die on a BLM grazing allotment near ancient petroglyphs in the area. It is the first time one of the family’s cows had been shot, Varela Lopez said. Another cow was shot in a similar manner six months ago near the allotment on rancher Howard Mier’s property west of the Santa Fe River....
Ranchers Sign Away Rights to Develop Near Zion A number of ranchers in Southern Utah have taken a major step to protect land adjacent to Zion National Park. They've agreed to permanently sign away their right to sell their own land to developers. When there's extraordinary scenery, excellent wildlife habitat, and strong people pressure, something's got to give. What popped out of that pressure cooker is a deal that may turn out to be a win-win for everyone in one of Utah's most scenic places. Dave Livermore of The Nature Conservancy says landowners mostly use the land for grazing sheep. They've now come up with a grassroots approach to protecting the land. Dave Livermore, The Nature Conservancy: "This is a case of 17 landowners working together to implement a common vision."....
Ruling means woman who started massive Colorado wildfire could be free after 6 years A former forestry worker who started the worst wildfire in Colorado history could be out of prison after six years instead of 12 because of a state Supreme Court ruling Tuesday. Terry Lynn Barton pleaded guilty to state arson charges for the 2002 Hayman fire, which charred 138,000 acres and destroyed 133 houses. A judge sentenced her to 12 years — twice the normal term — but the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentence, saying the judge did not have the authority to extend the sentence. The Supreme Court refused to hear prosecutors’ appeal, so Barton’s case now goes to another state judge for re-sentencing. Barton’s attorney Sharlene Reynolds said she expects a six-year sentence....
Underlying cause of massive pinyon pine die-off revealed The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research. The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecosystems may result from global climate change. "We documented a massive forest die-off – and it’s a concern because it’s the type of thing we can expect more of with global warming," said research team leader David D. Breshears, a professor of natural resources in The University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources in Tucson and a member of UA’s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth. At study sites in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, the team found that from 40 to 80 percent of the pinyon trees died between 2002 and 2003. The researchers confirmed the massive regional dieback of vegetation through both aerial surveys and analysis of satellite images of those states’ pinyon-juniper woodlands....
They helped make backpacking a family affair Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman thought he was roughing it deep in the backwoods of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Traveling horseback with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and U.S. Forest Service Chief Edward Cliff, the men were in the middle of a guided pack trip to view some of the challenges facing managers of the wilderness area in 1962. "We had enjoyed every minute of the trip -- the magnificent scenery, long days in the saddle, the smell of wood smoke and the big meals matched only by our hearty appetites," Freeman later wrote. "As we silently viewed the lake, the stillness was broken by voices and six hikers came into view, full packs riding head high on their backs." "They came toward us with light and tireless step -- four youngsters and two adults."....
Endangered salmon numbers hurt by fishing Trying to apply what they called a “common sense solution’’ to saving salmon, three members of Congress suggested Tuesday cutting back on the numbers of fish that can be killed by fishermen. “I have trouble, my little brain can’t understand, how it’s OK to slaughter the fish?’’ said Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, who was joined by Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks, both Democrats from Washington, for the first of three informal hearings to hear from various interest groups. Their approach provoked criticism from environmental groups, who say dams are responsible for killing many more salmon than fishing. It also raised fears among American Indian tribes, whose treaty rights have guaranteed that they can fish both wild and hatchery-raised salmon. The two types of fish can be distinguished because most hatchery-raised salmon have had their fin clipped — a move that was implemented two years ago through legislation sponsored by Dicks....
Viagra could be conservation tool The emergence of impotence drugs like Viagra may end up reducing demand for body parts from threatened or endangered species that are used for traditional Asian cures, a new study says. The study concludes that people who use traditional Chinese medicine are switching to Viagra, Cialis and other Western drugs to treat their impotence. The two main authors, Alaskan brothers Bill and Frank von Hippel, published their conclusions in the journal Environmental Conservation this month based on their studies of Hong Kong men over 50. The authors surveyed 256 men seeking treatment at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic....
Column: House takes an ax to the ESA As former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it, the states can serve as "laboratories of democracy" by testing new approaches to see if they might work for the nation as a whole. The idea is that if a new approach falls flat, the rest of the country can learn from the mistake without going through the same experience. Unfortunately, state experiments sometimes fail, and politicians still don't learn the lesson. A case in point is Oregon's Measure 37, a sweeping "takings," or property rights measure passed by Oregon voters in November 2004. The measure has been a surprising disaster for Oregonians. Nonetheless, the U.S . House of Representatives recently passed a bill amending the Endangered Species Act that would convert Oregon's isolated mistake into national policy. By so doing, the House took an ax to the law, effectively repealing the law as it applies to private lands....
More energy security vs. hazy views in US parks At once primordial and almost overpowering to some, the pristine air quality and mountain views from Pinedale - a town of 1,500 that sits on Highway 191, a key gateway to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks - have long been among the finest in the nation. But now not only Pinedale's air quality and views are at risk - but so are those in three nearby wilderness areas just east of the town and, to a serious but lesser degree, in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. That's because there's a plan to add 3,100 new gas wells on nearby public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - a giant gas field dubbed "Jonah" just 30 miles or so south of Pinedale....
New court ready to tackle property rights issues The Supreme Court set the stage Tuesday for what could be a landmark ruling on government authority to regulate wetlands and control pollution, giving new Chief Justice John Roberts his first chance to limit federal regulation of property rights. The justices agreed to take up claims that regulators have gone too far by restricting development of property that is miles away from any river or waterway. With more than 100 million acres of wetlands in the United States, a total as big as California, the stakes are high, the justices were told. The outcome could have implications for government authority in regulating construction in obviously environmentally sensitive areas, such as Hurricane Katrina-decimated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, and even land that is not adjacent to water. “They define wetlands so broadly that even dry desert areas of Arizona are being called wetlands,’’ said Paul Kamenar, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Foundation, one of the conservative groups that called on the court to intervene. The Bush administration had urged the court to stay on the sidelines....
Anschutz ranch rich in historic, scenic value Stagecoaches, military units, gold seekers, pioneers and mountain men, plus sheep and cattle, antelope and deer, all left their tracks on the more than 300,000 acres of the Overland Trail Ranch, now for sale for $47.5 million. Owned for the past several years by Denver magnate Phil Anschutz, the Carbon County ranch is a conglomeration of historic properties including former sheep and cattle operations founded by Richard Savage, Isadore Bolten, Burton Tuttle and Curtis Rochelle. Included are nearly 150,000 deeded acres and more than 162,000 acres of leased land - much of it in checkerboard ownership where every other section was once part of the land grant to the Union Pacific Railroad. That property now is primarily managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, while minerals under it are held by Anadarko Petroleum, which also holds mineral rights to at least portions of the privately owned surface that is now up for sale. The core holdings have long been used for cattle and sheep ranching operations. At various times, bison also have been raised on the properties....
Texas cloned calves Although a study claims that cloned cows are "as safe to eat as their non-clone counterparts," the Food and Drug Administration isn't letting cloned meat into grocery stories just yet. About 80 miles east of Austin in Round Top, a several hundred-acre farm run by ViaGen Inc. recently received 20 new pregnant cows carrying cloned calves that came from the carcasses of premium grade cattle. These cows joined around 200 other cows and 150 pigs on the farm. ViaGen has produced numerous award-winning animals at shows and soon hopes to expand the company by placing beef from cloned cows on the market. "We can go from carcasses that have the characteristics that you want and create the living possibilities," said ViaGen president Mark Walton. "We select the healthier cows that thrive and reproduce the best, so we anticipate healthier in the future making, only the best." Only one in 12,000 cows is considered prime quality grade. By cloning cattle ranchers can pick the animals which will yield the best steaks or chops. Although there isn't any law prohibiting them from selling the meat, they do not currently have products in stores....
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Utah prairie dog gains useful friends The embattled Utah prairie dog faces an uncertain future, but plans are afoot to give the critter a boost. And the help is coming from some unlikely sources. A pair of first-time programs in the state - one engineered by a national environmental group with the help of local ranchers, the other by Utah's School Institutional and Trust Lands Administration - will soon create new habitat for a species that has been listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of its historic range in southern Utah. "These are incentive-based projects to help us realize some progress that otherwise wouldn't happen," Colin Rowan, spokesman for the New York-based Environmental Defense, said last week. "They're not the silver bullet. But if we sit around and wait for the perfect solution, it might not ever come."....
Editorial: Crying wolf Wolves or cows? Ranchers or enviros? Enough. The Hatfield-McCoy approach to public land management is unproductive and hopelessly out of date. The public wants Mexican gray wolves returned to the lands from which they were slaughtered at ranchers' requests and public expense. We learned a few things in the past century, and one of them is that habitats are healthier when they include the top predators. Like wolves. Ranchers who use the public lands have an obligation to accommodate the public's desire to see endangered wolf populations increase in wild areas of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Some accept the wolf recovery efforts that began seven years ago. Others don't....
‘Malicious’ acts scar land Dead cows, busted fences and garbage are plaguing ranchers and Bureau of Land Management staff on the southern Caja del Rio mesa, southwest of Santa Fe. At the beginning of this month, former Santa Fe County Commissioner Jose Varela Lopez, whose family has ranched in the area for four generations, found one of his grandfather’s pregnant cows shot multiple times — including in the eye — and left to die on a BLM grazing allotment near ancient petroglyphs in the area. It is the first time one of the family’s cows had been shot, Varela Lopez said. Another cow was shot in a similar manner six months ago near the allotment on rancher Howard Mier’s property west of the Santa Fe River....
Ranchers Sign Away Rights to Develop Near Zion A number of ranchers in Southern Utah have taken a major step to protect land adjacent to Zion National Park. They've agreed to permanently sign away their right to sell their own land to developers. When there's extraordinary scenery, excellent wildlife habitat, and strong people pressure, something's got to give. What popped out of that pressure cooker is a deal that may turn out to be a win-win for everyone in one of Utah's most scenic places. Dave Livermore of The Nature Conservancy says landowners mostly use the land for grazing sheep. They've now come up with a grassroots approach to protecting the land. Dave Livermore, The Nature Conservancy: "This is a case of 17 landowners working together to implement a common vision."....
Ruling means woman who started massive Colorado wildfire could be free after 6 years A former forestry worker who started the worst wildfire in Colorado history could be out of prison after six years instead of 12 because of a state Supreme Court ruling Tuesday. Terry Lynn Barton pleaded guilty to state arson charges for the 2002 Hayman fire, which charred 138,000 acres and destroyed 133 houses. A judge sentenced her to 12 years — twice the normal term — but the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentence, saying the judge did not have the authority to extend the sentence. The Supreme Court refused to hear prosecutors’ appeal, so Barton’s case now goes to another state judge for re-sentencing. Barton’s attorney Sharlene Reynolds said she expects a six-year sentence....
Underlying cause of massive pinyon pine die-off revealed The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research. The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecosystems may result from global climate change. "We documented a massive forest die-off – and it’s a concern because it’s the type of thing we can expect more of with global warming," said research team leader David D. Breshears, a professor of natural resources in The University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources in Tucson and a member of UA’s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth. At study sites in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, the team found that from 40 to 80 percent of the pinyon trees died between 2002 and 2003. The researchers confirmed the massive regional dieback of vegetation through both aerial surveys and analysis of satellite images of those states’ pinyon-juniper woodlands....
They helped make backpacking a family affair Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman thought he was roughing it deep in the backwoods of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Traveling horseback with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and U.S. Forest Service Chief Edward Cliff, the men were in the middle of a guided pack trip to view some of the challenges facing managers of the wilderness area in 1962. "We had enjoyed every minute of the trip -- the magnificent scenery, long days in the saddle, the smell of wood smoke and the big meals matched only by our hearty appetites," Freeman later wrote. "As we silently viewed the lake, the stillness was broken by voices and six hikers came into view, full packs riding head high on their backs." "They came toward us with light and tireless step -- four youngsters and two adults."....
Endangered salmon numbers hurt by fishing Trying to apply what they called a “common sense solution’’ to saving salmon, three members of Congress suggested Tuesday cutting back on the numbers of fish that can be killed by fishermen. “I have trouble, my little brain can’t understand, how it’s OK to slaughter the fish?’’ said Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, who was joined by Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks, both Democrats from Washington, for the first of three informal hearings to hear from various interest groups. Their approach provoked criticism from environmental groups, who say dams are responsible for killing many more salmon than fishing. It also raised fears among American Indian tribes, whose treaty rights have guaranteed that they can fish both wild and hatchery-raised salmon. The two types of fish can be distinguished because most hatchery-raised salmon have had their fin clipped — a move that was implemented two years ago through legislation sponsored by Dicks....
Viagra could be conservation tool The emergence of impotence drugs like Viagra may end up reducing demand for body parts from threatened or endangered species that are used for traditional Asian cures, a new study says. The study concludes that people who use traditional Chinese medicine are switching to Viagra, Cialis and other Western drugs to treat their impotence. The two main authors, Alaskan brothers Bill and Frank von Hippel, published their conclusions in the journal Environmental Conservation this month based on their studies of Hong Kong men over 50. The authors surveyed 256 men seeking treatment at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic....
Column: House takes an ax to the ESA As former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it, the states can serve as "laboratories of democracy" by testing new approaches to see if they might work for the nation as a whole. The idea is that if a new approach falls flat, the rest of the country can learn from the mistake without going through the same experience. Unfortunately, state experiments sometimes fail, and politicians still don't learn the lesson. A case in point is Oregon's Measure 37, a sweeping "takings," or property rights measure passed by Oregon voters in November 2004. The measure has been a surprising disaster for Oregonians. Nonetheless, the U.S . House of Representatives recently passed a bill amending the Endangered Species Act that would convert Oregon's isolated mistake into national policy. By so doing, the House took an ax to the law, effectively repealing the law as it applies to private lands....
More energy security vs. hazy views in US parks At once primordial and almost overpowering to some, the pristine air quality and mountain views from Pinedale - a town of 1,500 that sits on Highway 191, a key gateway to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks - have long been among the finest in the nation. But now not only Pinedale's air quality and views are at risk - but so are those in three nearby wilderness areas just east of the town and, to a serious but lesser degree, in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. That's because there's a plan to add 3,100 new gas wells on nearby public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - a giant gas field dubbed "Jonah" just 30 miles or so south of Pinedale....
New court ready to tackle property rights issues The Supreme Court set the stage Tuesday for what could be a landmark ruling on government authority to regulate wetlands and control pollution, giving new Chief Justice John Roberts his first chance to limit federal regulation of property rights. The justices agreed to take up claims that regulators have gone too far by restricting development of property that is miles away from any river or waterway. With more than 100 million acres of wetlands in the United States, a total as big as California, the stakes are high, the justices were told. The outcome could have implications for government authority in regulating construction in obviously environmentally sensitive areas, such as Hurricane Katrina-decimated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, and even land that is not adjacent to water. “They define wetlands so broadly that even dry desert areas of Arizona are being called wetlands,’’ said Paul Kamenar, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Foundation, one of the conservative groups that called on the court to intervene. The Bush administration had urged the court to stay on the sidelines....
Anschutz ranch rich in historic, scenic value Stagecoaches, military units, gold seekers, pioneers and mountain men, plus sheep and cattle, antelope and deer, all left their tracks on the more than 300,000 acres of the Overland Trail Ranch, now for sale for $47.5 million. Owned for the past several years by Denver magnate Phil Anschutz, the Carbon County ranch is a conglomeration of historic properties including former sheep and cattle operations founded by Richard Savage, Isadore Bolten, Burton Tuttle and Curtis Rochelle. Included are nearly 150,000 deeded acres and more than 162,000 acres of leased land - much of it in checkerboard ownership where every other section was once part of the land grant to the Union Pacific Railroad. That property now is primarily managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, while minerals under it are held by Anadarko Petroleum, which also holds mineral rights to at least portions of the privately owned surface that is now up for sale. The core holdings have long been used for cattle and sheep ranching operations. At various times, bison also have been raised on the properties....
Texas cloned calves Although a study claims that cloned cows are "as safe to eat as their non-clone counterparts," the Food and Drug Administration isn't letting cloned meat into grocery stories just yet. About 80 miles east of Austin in Round Top, a several hundred-acre farm run by ViaGen Inc. recently received 20 new pregnant cows carrying cloned calves that came from the carcasses of premium grade cattle. These cows joined around 200 other cows and 150 pigs on the farm. ViaGen has produced numerous award-winning animals at shows and soon hopes to expand the company by placing beef from cloned cows on the market. "We can go from carcasses that have the characteristics that you want and create the living possibilities," said ViaGen president Mark Walton. "We select the healthier cows that thrive and reproduce the best, so we anticipate healthier in the future making, only the best." Only one in 12,000 cows is considered prime quality grade. By cloning cattle ranchers can pick the animals which will yield the best steaks or chops. Although there isn't any law prohibiting them from selling the meat, they do not currently have products in stores....
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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
GAO REPORT
Waters and Wetlands: Corps of Engineers Needs to Better Support Its Decisions for Not Asserting Jurisdiction. GAO-05-870, September 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-870
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05870high.pdf
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Waters and Wetlands: Corps of Engineers Needs to Better Support Its Decisions for Not Asserting Jurisdiction. GAO-05-870, September 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-870
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05870high.pdf
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Monday, October 10, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Wolf plan at crossroads Seven years ago, a trio of wolves bounded across a snowy stretch of Hannagan Meadow, heading toward an uneasy experiment in restoring a wild landscape. At the same time, a group of ranchers gathered in nearby Alpine to protest the return of the wolf, fearing for their livelihoods - and even their lives. Today, wolves and man co-exist precariously in the canyons and hillsides of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, areas that once were the exclusive domain of one, and then the other. That uneasiness is front and center as efforts to restore the wolf, an endangered species, reach a crucial juncture. Program managers are mulling a number of controversial changes, including expansion of the wolves' territory and a one-year moratorium on releasing new wolves. Decisions are due as early as this week....
Column: Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Species There's been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the environmental community since Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) pushed his overhaul of the Endangered Species Act through the House of Representatives last week. All eyes are now on the Senate to see whether Pombo's bill -- described as "so toxic it's radioactive" by Jamie Rappaport Clark, who oversaw implementation of the ESA during the Clinton administration -- will make it through that august body and onto the desk of President Bush, who's indicated his support. Despite assumptions that the Senate -- the more deliberative, and generally more eco-friendly, chamber of Congress -- would block an initiative so controversial, enviros worry that Pombo is harrowingly close to getting his way. "I can't remember a time when any major environmental statute was under greater threat," said John Kostyack, senior counsel at the National Wildlife Federation....
The cougar's last stand Deep in the Santa Monica mountains, her exact whereabouts known only to biologists tracking her by GPS, the puma gave birth a year ago to four kittens. Two males and two females, their newborn eyes and ears sealed shut, their tiny bodies making swimming motions against the lapping of their mother's rough tongue. It was a solitary act by a secretive animal in a wilderness her species has roamed for thousands of years. Six weeks later, the cubs were media stars. Photo ops and stories by the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and ABC 7 News put them squarely in the public eye. "Last known Santa Monica Mountain lions become parents" Images of a National Park Service worker cradling a 6-week-old cub, all wide blue eyes and black-spotted fur, round and clumsy as a plush toy, gave the story legs. "It's quadruplets for the last known mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains" The timing could not have been better. Just 10 months earlier, after an investigation showed that the cubs' father, known as Puma 1 or P1, was preying on goats, a rancher had been granted a "kill" permit by the state Department of Fish and Game. News that hunters were about to shoot the last known male lion in the Santa Monica Mountains produced a public uproar. The rancher quickly backed down and the permit expired. Now, with the death sentence lifted and a litter of cubs giving the local mountain lion population a significant boost, there was cause for exultation....
Group identifying forests to remain roadless The task force determining which national forest roadless areas in Colorado should be preserved began its efforts in earnest Friday, but multiple layers of political reviews stand between what citizens want and what they'll get. After a series of public hearings, the 13-member task force will make recommendations to Gov. Bill Owens, who will submit a final state proposal to a national review committee, which then will forward its suggestions to the U.S. secretary of agriculture, who will make a final decision on which lands will be protected. The process will take several years. "We want to see if we can't come to some consensus decisions," said chairman Russell George, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. "But it's a huge task. Every time I talk to my friends in the Forest Service, I walk away more depressed than ever about the enormity of the task."....Then quit talking to the Forest Service, talk to the local citizens and get on with the job....
Tree diameter rule tests timber industry A logging limit known as the “21-inch rule” has changed forest management and the timber industry after what was intended to be a temporary rule to preserve larger trees enters it second decade. The rules adopted in 1994 were also known as the “eastside screens” because proposed timber sales had to be screened to ensure they complied with new environmental regulations that were adopted on a temporary basis. As 2005 draws to a close, loggers say those temporary rules have become permanent. U.S. Forest Service crews hike through timber sales on federal land to spray orange paint onto trees that are 21 inches in diameter, or bigger, measured at chest height, or about 4 ½ feet from the ground. The 21-inch rule is designed to produce stands of mature timber like those that stood before settlers came west. Environmentalists say the larger trees have more benefits for wildlife. But loggers say it is killing the timber industry. Smaller trees are less valuable and yield less lumber, factors that contributed to the closing of sawmills over the last decade....
Resort creator buys more land Montana's Yellowstone Club was billed as the world's first private ski and golf resort. To join the club, located near the Big Sky Resort, located between Bozeman and West Yellowstone in the scenic Gallatin River Valley, members must first prove a net worth of $3 million or more. The initiation fee is $250,000, and $16,000 in annual dues are assessed. The man who created that club, Tim Blixseth, is now in the news in Idaho. He has purchased 180,000 acres of timberland from Boise Cascade. He intends to trade large chunks of that land to the Forest Service, giving the federal agency control over the wonderfully scenic Payette River Canyon between Boise and McCall. But he intends to continue logging other chunks of the property, which is located in the broad region around the Brundage and Tamarack ski areas....
The 'Shovel Brigade' effect While Congress debates the future of the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration's enforcement of the landmark wildlife law is under renewed scrutiny with its designation of critical habitat for a threatened Western trout species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month identified thousands of miles of streams and more than 100,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs from the Pacific Ocean to the Northern Rockies as critical to the survival of the bull trout. But when it came to a relatively small stretch of a river in a remote part of northeast Nevada with a reputation for anti-federal activism, the agency concluded the fish, a native char that is part of the salmonid family, would be just fine there without any additional regulation. Citing a history of "anti-government demonstrations" and other "substantial conflicts" over the fish and a bordering road in a national forest, the agency reversed its proposed action from June 2004 and determined that designating critical habitat along 131 miles of the Jarbidge River would do more harm than good....
Grazing permittees demand federal action The government isn’t doing its paperwork fast enough, a California rancher told a U.S. Senate subcommittee last week. Mike Byrne of Tulelake, Calif., appeared Sept. 28 before the public land and forest subcommittee led by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. “Our understanding is the agencies are not processing enough permits to meet the schedule Congress anticipated,” Byrne said in prepared testimony. Byrne, who with his brother Dan runs cattle in far Northern California’s Modoc National Forest, is president of the Public Lands Council, a trade group representing sheep and cattle permittees. He is also part of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association leadership. He cited the recent Western Watersheds Project suit in Idaho that found the U.S. Bureau of Land Management out of compliance with National Environmental Protection Act assessments. Twenty-eight grazing allotments were closed in a court order. He said environmentalists are using the National Historic Protection Act to block removal of junipers encroaching on the Byrne Ranch federal grazing allotment and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to limit cattle access to streams, he said....
Rancher, county argue road access Cliff and Pam Galli want to be friendly with folks, and are willing to allow those who ask, or who buy easements, to pass through their ranch en route to national forest lands in the Seven Devils Mountains above. Right now, though, they’ve locked a gate across the dirt track known as Race Creek Road. They dispute a ruling by the Idaho County Commission that the 3-mile-long stretch is a public thoroughfare under the provisions of Revised Statute 2477. The disagreement has resulted litigation filed by Galli, leaving Randy Doman, commission chairman, unable to comment on the case beyond stating a few basic facts in the case. “A miner filed a petition asking that the road be declared an RS 2477. We held hearings, looked at the testimony and felt there was evidence a road existed before any land was withdrawn from the public domain and sold as private property. If Mr. Galli proves otherwise, great,” Doman said....
Will Peaks become religious monument? Now Native American tribes of the Southwest have their own version of the Ten Commandments case, but the monument in this case is earthen and a mountain high. Several mountains, actually. Activists and Native American tribes across the country are watching the lawsuit over snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks to see whether the tribes' religious rights trump the Forest Service's ability to allow Snowbowl to make snow there with reclaimed wastewater. If the tribes' religious rights trump the Forest Service's ability to determine land use, that would potentially give more than 550 tribes across the U.S. the right to tell federal agencies how to manage the Grand Canyon, Rainbow Bridge, Bill Williams Mountain, Mount Rushmore and thousands of other sites deemed sacred, Snowbowl argued in legal briefs. "Millions of acres of federal land across the country are at stake here," Snowbowl attorney Janice Schneider told U.S. District Court Judge Paul Rosenblatt on Thursday....
When cows don't matter Chuck Pancost knows he has to leave the ranch he has called home for more than 30 years, but there's still work to do. He revs up his Ford pickup to chase a stray cow that his son, Larry, has been following on horseback up a yucca-covered hill. There's cattle to be fed and watered, calves that need their shots and those troublesome colts. Finding ranch hands is a never- ending problem, but Pancost, a fifth-generation Colorado rancher, is facing his biggest challenge yet. The state wants to evict him from the 22,000 acres he leases just east of the Aurora reservoir. The land is being eyed for a huge development that could one day rival Highlands Ranch, with houses and strip malls and bike trails. Already, a golf course is just over the fence line, and a new mall is under construction nearby. The Pancost ranch is in its final days, something Chuck Pancost knows in his head but can't quite admit in his heart. This is the place he's raised four children, teaching them the intricacies of roping and branding and herding. He remembers when you could herd cattle right up to the edge of Colfax Avenue and drive for miles at night before seeing a light....
Column: Sharing the West’s Liquid Gold Fish get pretty scarce when creeks run out of water. But farms and ranches don’t last long without water to grow their crops, either. That’s why water in the West is more precious than gold—not only is water scarce, it’s also essential for our ecology and economy. Fortunately, a few organizations in western states are employing incentive-based methods to keep creeks flowing and cows growing. An innovative conservation approach to managing water rights within the Prior Appropriation Doctrine has recently emerged: water leasing. Groups like the Montana Water Trust (MWT), a non-profit based in Missoula, Montana, are pioneering new models for water use in the West by applying tools such as water leasing to benefit landowners, streamflows, and communities. “Water is the backbone of a healthy environment, and also the foundation of a successful ranch,” says Montana Water Trust Executive Director and co-founder, John Ferguson....
Cattle without a caretaker A scrappy herd of cattle is on its own once more, foraging for beach rye and other grasses on a solitary, storm-battered Alaska island, surviving much as it has for more than a century -- without a human caretaker. The latest custodian of the feral animals abandoned plans to sell them as livestock. That left the federal government without someone to carry out its own plans to remove the estimated 800 cows from Chirikof Island and establish a haven there for indigenous seabirds. Officials say the cattle have battered former bird nesting grounds. But with new ownership of the cattle in dispute, the herd remains trapped on the 28,000-acre island, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. A long line of adventurers has laid claim to the descendants of the animals first brought to the treeless island in the late 1800s as a meat stock for whaling ship crews and a blue fox industry established by Russian fur traders along the Aleutian Islands to the west....
Dino-lady has life by the horns Montanans know Marion Brandvold as the woman whose keen eye changed the way the world thinks about dinosaurs. Her 1978 discovery of a nest of fossilized baby dinosaurs near Choteau gave renowned paleontologist Jack Horner his first evidence that dinosaurs, like birds, were motherly creatures that tended their young — a once controversial theory that is now widely accepted. The "good mother lizard," or maiasaura as the new dinosaur was named, became Montana's state fossil. The bones, meanwhile, became the subject of a 16-year legal battle that Brandvold won last year — days shy of her 92nd birthday — when the baby dinosaur fossils were returned to Montana after spending more than two decades at Princeton and Yale....
P.I. makes living bringing cows home Detective Charles "Sherman" Boyle does what many private eyes do -- stalks unfaithful spouses, repossesses goods and finds people who'd rather not be found. But that's not the only investigative work that pays his bills. He lives in Vale, an Eastern Oregon crossroads not far from the Idaho border. It's a place where a 49-year-old Mormon with a handlebar mustache, a thirst for frontier justice and a steady horse can earn nearly half his living tracking down cattle rustlers and swiped farm equipment. Rustlers may not get strung up anymore, but they still exist. You'd be surprised, Boyle said, how many combines disappear and how many tractors seem to drive off by themselves. He started Boyle's Investigations Inc. in 2003 out of a doublewide mobile home at the end of a gravel road overlooking dairy pastures speckled with black cows....
RFD* *Roadside Folksy Designs America’s country lanes are lined with tractors, cows, horses and pigs. Not to mention teddy bears, exotic flowers, miniature barns, aging farm equipment and an occasional bald eagle. Colorful, creative, cute – and sometimes even strange – mailboxes are almost as much a part of the rural landscape as the farmland. Drive down just about any country lane in the West to find a handmade or hand-painted mailbox brightening the countryside. Fred Crowe can attest to that. A research scientist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Crowe has traveled the West in search of the most original folk art mailboxes....
Have sheep, wool travel Two thousand sheep took over Bayfield's Mill Street on Saturday, bleating their way through town as residents lined the street to watch. The running of the sheep was part of the sixth annual Bayfield Heritage Day and Sheep Trailing, which celebrates the arrival of fall and Pine River Valley's ranching history. The sheep, owned by rancher Houston Lasater, 54, spent the summer grazing near Crazy Woman Gulch. The almost 70-mile trip takes the sheep and their Peruvian herders about a week. The woolen horde ran, walked and bounded westbound on U.S. Highway 160B from Eight Corners to Mill Street, then east to Buck Highway (County Road 521), where they continued on County Road 523 to their home. "I try to do this event to keep tradition alive," Lasater said. Two thousand sheep can have a mind all their own....
Award to honor veteran 'cowmen' for hard work, honesty, integrity Recognized more as "true cowmen" than for material success, five men with lifetimes in Texas, New Mexico and South Dakota ranching today will become Foy Proctor Memorial Cowman's Award of Honor winners at the Haley Memorial Library & History Center. Johnnie Burson of Silverton, J.P. Miller Jr. of Coleman, George Meredith "Dogie" Jones of Watrous, N.M., Elliott "Chope" Phillips of Amarillo and Arlan Youngblood of Lamesa will receive medallions and scrolls at 7:30 p.m. The sixth annual "Fall Gatherin' Ranch Storytelling" starts at 3 p.m. with the telling of western ranch histories, continues with a storytelling panel at 5 p.m. and breaks for a chuckwagon supper at 6:30 p.m. in Haley Park behind the 1805 W. Indiana Ave. library. Admission is $40 per person with children under 12 admitted free. The honorees' photo will be taken and their names engraved on a permanently hanging bronze plaque. "They're not necessarily the biggest and most successful ranchers," said Library Director Pat McDaniel. "They best exemplify the hard work, honesty, integrity and spirit of a true cowman."....
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Wolf plan at crossroads Seven years ago, a trio of wolves bounded across a snowy stretch of Hannagan Meadow, heading toward an uneasy experiment in restoring a wild landscape. At the same time, a group of ranchers gathered in nearby Alpine to protest the return of the wolf, fearing for their livelihoods - and even their lives. Today, wolves and man co-exist precariously in the canyons and hillsides of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, areas that once were the exclusive domain of one, and then the other. That uneasiness is front and center as efforts to restore the wolf, an endangered species, reach a crucial juncture. Program managers are mulling a number of controversial changes, including expansion of the wolves' territory and a one-year moratorium on releasing new wolves. Decisions are due as early as this week....
Column: Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Species There's been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the environmental community since Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) pushed his overhaul of the Endangered Species Act through the House of Representatives last week. All eyes are now on the Senate to see whether Pombo's bill -- described as "so toxic it's radioactive" by Jamie Rappaport Clark, who oversaw implementation of the ESA during the Clinton administration -- will make it through that august body and onto the desk of President Bush, who's indicated his support. Despite assumptions that the Senate -- the more deliberative, and generally more eco-friendly, chamber of Congress -- would block an initiative so controversial, enviros worry that Pombo is harrowingly close to getting his way. "I can't remember a time when any major environmental statute was under greater threat," said John Kostyack, senior counsel at the National Wildlife Federation....
The cougar's last stand Deep in the Santa Monica mountains, her exact whereabouts known only to biologists tracking her by GPS, the puma gave birth a year ago to four kittens. Two males and two females, their newborn eyes and ears sealed shut, their tiny bodies making swimming motions against the lapping of their mother's rough tongue. It was a solitary act by a secretive animal in a wilderness her species has roamed for thousands of years. Six weeks later, the cubs were media stars. Photo ops and stories by the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and ABC 7 News put them squarely in the public eye. "Last known Santa Monica Mountain lions become parents" Images of a National Park Service worker cradling a 6-week-old cub, all wide blue eyes and black-spotted fur, round and clumsy as a plush toy, gave the story legs. "It's quadruplets for the last known mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains" The timing could not have been better. Just 10 months earlier, after an investigation showed that the cubs' father, known as Puma 1 or P1, was preying on goats, a rancher had been granted a "kill" permit by the state Department of Fish and Game. News that hunters were about to shoot the last known male lion in the Santa Monica Mountains produced a public uproar. The rancher quickly backed down and the permit expired. Now, with the death sentence lifted and a litter of cubs giving the local mountain lion population a significant boost, there was cause for exultation....
Group identifying forests to remain roadless The task force determining which national forest roadless areas in Colorado should be preserved began its efforts in earnest Friday, but multiple layers of political reviews stand between what citizens want and what they'll get. After a series of public hearings, the 13-member task force will make recommendations to Gov. Bill Owens, who will submit a final state proposal to a national review committee, which then will forward its suggestions to the U.S. secretary of agriculture, who will make a final decision on which lands will be protected. The process will take several years. "We want to see if we can't come to some consensus decisions," said chairman Russell George, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. "But it's a huge task. Every time I talk to my friends in the Forest Service, I walk away more depressed than ever about the enormity of the task."....Then quit talking to the Forest Service, talk to the local citizens and get on with the job....
Tree diameter rule tests timber industry A logging limit known as the “21-inch rule” has changed forest management and the timber industry after what was intended to be a temporary rule to preserve larger trees enters it second decade. The rules adopted in 1994 were also known as the “eastside screens” because proposed timber sales had to be screened to ensure they complied with new environmental regulations that were adopted on a temporary basis. As 2005 draws to a close, loggers say those temporary rules have become permanent. U.S. Forest Service crews hike through timber sales on federal land to spray orange paint onto trees that are 21 inches in diameter, or bigger, measured at chest height, or about 4 ½ feet from the ground. The 21-inch rule is designed to produce stands of mature timber like those that stood before settlers came west. Environmentalists say the larger trees have more benefits for wildlife. But loggers say it is killing the timber industry. Smaller trees are less valuable and yield less lumber, factors that contributed to the closing of sawmills over the last decade....
Resort creator buys more land Montana's Yellowstone Club was billed as the world's first private ski and golf resort. To join the club, located near the Big Sky Resort, located between Bozeman and West Yellowstone in the scenic Gallatin River Valley, members must first prove a net worth of $3 million or more. The initiation fee is $250,000, and $16,000 in annual dues are assessed. The man who created that club, Tim Blixseth, is now in the news in Idaho. He has purchased 180,000 acres of timberland from Boise Cascade. He intends to trade large chunks of that land to the Forest Service, giving the federal agency control over the wonderfully scenic Payette River Canyon between Boise and McCall. But he intends to continue logging other chunks of the property, which is located in the broad region around the Brundage and Tamarack ski areas....
The 'Shovel Brigade' effect While Congress debates the future of the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration's enforcement of the landmark wildlife law is under renewed scrutiny with its designation of critical habitat for a threatened Western trout species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month identified thousands of miles of streams and more than 100,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs from the Pacific Ocean to the Northern Rockies as critical to the survival of the bull trout. But when it came to a relatively small stretch of a river in a remote part of northeast Nevada with a reputation for anti-federal activism, the agency concluded the fish, a native char that is part of the salmonid family, would be just fine there without any additional regulation. Citing a history of "anti-government demonstrations" and other "substantial conflicts" over the fish and a bordering road in a national forest, the agency reversed its proposed action from June 2004 and determined that designating critical habitat along 131 miles of the Jarbidge River would do more harm than good....
Grazing permittees demand federal action The government isn’t doing its paperwork fast enough, a California rancher told a U.S. Senate subcommittee last week. Mike Byrne of Tulelake, Calif., appeared Sept. 28 before the public land and forest subcommittee led by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. “Our understanding is the agencies are not processing enough permits to meet the schedule Congress anticipated,” Byrne said in prepared testimony. Byrne, who with his brother Dan runs cattle in far Northern California’s Modoc National Forest, is president of the Public Lands Council, a trade group representing sheep and cattle permittees. He is also part of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association leadership. He cited the recent Western Watersheds Project suit in Idaho that found the U.S. Bureau of Land Management out of compliance with National Environmental Protection Act assessments. Twenty-eight grazing allotments were closed in a court order. He said environmentalists are using the National Historic Protection Act to block removal of junipers encroaching on the Byrne Ranch federal grazing allotment and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to limit cattle access to streams, he said....
Rancher, county argue road access Cliff and Pam Galli want to be friendly with folks, and are willing to allow those who ask, or who buy easements, to pass through their ranch en route to national forest lands in the Seven Devils Mountains above. Right now, though, they’ve locked a gate across the dirt track known as Race Creek Road. They dispute a ruling by the Idaho County Commission that the 3-mile-long stretch is a public thoroughfare under the provisions of Revised Statute 2477. The disagreement has resulted litigation filed by Galli, leaving Randy Doman, commission chairman, unable to comment on the case beyond stating a few basic facts in the case. “A miner filed a petition asking that the road be declared an RS 2477. We held hearings, looked at the testimony and felt there was evidence a road existed before any land was withdrawn from the public domain and sold as private property. If Mr. Galli proves otherwise, great,” Doman said....
Will Peaks become religious monument? Now Native American tribes of the Southwest have their own version of the Ten Commandments case, but the monument in this case is earthen and a mountain high. Several mountains, actually. Activists and Native American tribes across the country are watching the lawsuit over snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks to see whether the tribes' religious rights trump the Forest Service's ability to allow Snowbowl to make snow there with reclaimed wastewater. If the tribes' religious rights trump the Forest Service's ability to determine land use, that would potentially give more than 550 tribes across the U.S. the right to tell federal agencies how to manage the Grand Canyon, Rainbow Bridge, Bill Williams Mountain, Mount Rushmore and thousands of other sites deemed sacred, Snowbowl argued in legal briefs. "Millions of acres of federal land across the country are at stake here," Snowbowl attorney Janice Schneider told U.S. District Court Judge Paul Rosenblatt on Thursday....
When cows don't matter Chuck Pancost knows he has to leave the ranch he has called home for more than 30 years, but there's still work to do. He revs up his Ford pickup to chase a stray cow that his son, Larry, has been following on horseback up a yucca-covered hill. There's cattle to be fed and watered, calves that need their shots and those troublesome colts. Finding ranch hands is a never- ending problem, but Pancost, a fifth-generation Colorado rancher, is facing his biggest challenge yet. The state wants to evict him from the 22,000 acres he leases just east of the Aurora reservoir. The land is being eyed for a huge development that could one day rival Highlands Ranch, with houses and strip malls and bike trails. Already, a golf course is just over the fence line, and a new mall is under construction nearby. The Pancost ranch is in its final days, something Chuck Pancost knows in his head but can't quite admit in his heart. This is the place he's raised four children, teaching them the intricacies of roping and branding and herding. He remembers when you could herd cattle right up to the edge of Colfax Avenue and drive for miles at night before seeing a light....
Column: Sharing the West’s Liquid Gold Fish get pretty scarce when creeks run out of water. But farms and ranches don’t last long without water to grow their crops, either. That’s why water in the West is more precious than gold—not only is water scarce, it’s also essential for our ecology and economy. Fortunately, a few organizations in western states are employing incentive-based methods to keep creeks flowing and cows growing. An innovative conservation approach to managing water rights within the Prior Appropriation Doctrine has recently emerged: water leasing. Groups like the Montana Water Trust (MWT), a non-profit based in Missoula, Montana, are pioneering new models for water use in the West by applying tools such as water leasing to benefit landowners, streamflows, and communities. “Water is the backbone of a healthy environment, and also the foundation of a successful ranch,” says Montana Water Trust Executive Director and co-founder, John Ferguson....
Cattle without a caretaker A scrappy herd of cattle is on its own once more, foraging for beach rye and other grasses on a solitary, storm-battered Alaska island, surviving much as it has for more than a century -- without a human caretaker. The latest custodian of the feral animals abandoned plans to sell them as livestock. That left the federal government without someone to carry out its own plans to remove the estimated 800 cows from Chirikof Island and establish a haven there for indigenous seabirds. Officials say the cattle have battered former bird nesting grounds. But with new ownership of the cattle in dispute, the herd remains trapped on the 28,000-acre island, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. A long line of adventurers has laid claim to the descendants of the animals first brought to the treeless island in the late 1800s as a meat stock for whaling ship crews and a blue fox industry established by Russian fur traders along the Aleutian Islands to the west....
Dino-lady has life by the horns Montanans know Marion Brandvold as the woman whose keen eye changed the way the world thinks about dinosaurs. Her 1978 discovery of a nest of fossilized baby dinosaurs near Choteau gave renowned paleontologist Jack Horner his first evidence that dinosaurs, like birds, were motherly creatures that tended their young — a once controversial theory that is now widely accepted. The "good mother lizard," or maiasaura as the new dinosaur was named, became Montana's state fossil. The bones, meanwhile, became the subject of a 16-year legal battle that Brandvold won last year — days shy of her 92nd birthday — when the baby dinosaur fossils were returned to Montana after spending more than two decades at Princeton and Yale....
P.I. makes living bringing cows home Detective Charles "Sherman" Boyle does what many private eyes do -- stalks unfaithful spouses, repossesses goods and finds people who'd rather not be found. But that's not the only investigative work that pays his bills. He lives in Vale, an Eastern Oregon crossroads not far from the Idaho border. It's a place where a 49-year-old Mormon with a handlebar mustache, a thirst for frontier justice and a steady horse can earn nearly half his living tracking down cattle rustlers and swiped farm equipment. Rustlers may not get strung up anymore, but they still exist. You'd be surprised, Boyle said, how many combines disappear and how many tractors seem to drive off by themselves. He started Boyle's Investigations Inc. in 2003 out of a doublewide mobile home at the end of a gravel road overlooking dairy pastures speckled with black cows....
RFD* *Roadside Folksy Designs America’s country lanes are lined with tractors, cows, horses and pigs. Not to mention teddy bears, exotic flowers, miniature barns, aging farm equipment and an occasional bald eagle. Colorful, creative, cute – and sometimes even strange – mailboxes are almost as much a part of the rural landscape as the farmland. Drive down just about any country lane in the West to find a handmade or hand-painted mailbox brightening the countryside. Fred Crowe can attest to that. A research scientist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Crowe has traveled the West in search of the most original folk art mailboxes....
Have sheep, wool travel Two thousand sheep took over Bayfield's Mill Street on Saturday, bleating their way through town as residents lined the street to watch. The running of the sheep was part of the sixth annual Bayfield Heritage Day and Sheep Trailing, which celebrates the arrival of fall and Pine River Valley's ranching history. The sheep, owned by rancher Houston Lasater, 54, spent the summer grazing near Crazy Woman Gulch. The almost 70-mile trip takes the sheep and their Peruvian herders about a week. The woolen horde ran, walked and bounded westbound on U.S. Highway 160B from Eight Corners to Mill Street, then east to Buck Highway (County Road 521), where they continued on County Road 523 to their home. "I try to do this event to keep tradition alive," Lasater said. Two thousand sheep can have a mind all their own....
Award to honor veteran 'cowmen' for hard work, honesty, integrity Recognized more as "true cowmen" than for material success, five men with lifetimes in Texas, New Mexico and South Dakota ranching today will become Foy Proctor Memorial Cowman's Award of Honor winners at the Haley Memorial Library & History Center. Johnnie Burson of Silverton, J.P. Miller Jr. of Coleman, George Meredith "Dogie" Jones of Watrous, N.M., Elliott "Chope" Phillips of Amarillo and Arlan Youngblood of Lamesa will receive medallions and scrolls at 7:30 p.m. The sixth annual "Fall Gatherin' Ranch Storytelling" starts at 3 p.m. with the telling of western ranch histories, continues with a storytelling panel at 5 p.m. and breaks for a chuckwagon supper at 6:30 p.m. in Haley Park behind the 1805 W. Indiana Ave. library. Admission is $40 per person with children under 12 admitted free. The honorees' photo will be taken and their names engraved on a permanently hanging bronze plaque. "They're not necessarily the biggest and most successful ranchers," said Library Director Pat McDaniel. "They best exemplify the hard work, honesty, integrity and spirit of a true cowman."....
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Sunday, October 09, 2005
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Anybody ever seen a hot pink ostrich?
By Julie Carter
I have been doing some concerned thinking about the image of the cowboy as seen by a generation; oh lets say, 50 years in the future.
I can only hope that their reference to wardrobe information would not be from the cover of any of today’s “western” wear catalogs or even the duded up images from cowboy poetry gatherings or other such collection points for cowboy loving fans.
I am truly concerned that the image of the real cowboy has been desecrated by the current version of the very icon of cowboy lore—his cowboy hat.
The new fad “cowboy hat” (and I do use that term very loosely) is an abomination. It looks like it’s been thrown down and driven over by a fleet of F-250 pickups loaded with wing- tipped line-dancing wanna be’s on their way to the honky tonk.
A recent Baxter Black column on the cowboy hat topic summed it up for me when he called it “the new Nashville, Santa Fe, Aspen, Toby Keith kind of floppy dishrag cowboy hat - which looks like a regurgitated hippopotamus cud.” Thank you Baxter. The visual is perfect.
Being a fairly nice guy, Baxter was finding a positive angle to this current fashion. He had determined that the folded up dipped down version of the cowboy hat was good for the airline traveling cowboy. It could be stuffed up in the overhead bin during the flight as required and it would not hurt the original “crease” at all.
I had one of those once. I carried it behind the seat in the pickup. I wore it only at the rodeo when I had to compete in the hurricane force winds and rain and the arena was a foot deep in mud. I knew if my hat ever came off, I wouldn’t want it back anyway.
Another good reason for an ugly hat is no one will steal it from you. I would say the theft rate on hats undoubtedly has dropped to almost nothing.
If the wadded up version of the cowboy hat isn’t bad enough, it gets worse in the female versions. Spray painted just about any color you can imagine, there is no wardrobe color you can’t match. And to add to the insult, they stick a big matching fluffy fuzzy feather in the hat band. To this day I have never seen a hot pink, lime green or passionate purple ostrich but darned if their feathers aren’t everywhere.
Somewhere along the way the cowboy hat got passed off as something of a romantic Wild West icon with no real function except to identify a cowboy in a crowd and/or make a fashion statement.
It is truly an identity to the cowboy but is also very functional. As originally intended, it shades the sun off the head and the face, ears and neck. The rains run off the brim and down the back of your slicker instead of down your neck into the inside of your shirt.
Tipped against the wind it can protect your face from the blowing dust. With your head ducked to your chest, riding into a snowstorm, it will protect against the slush trying to plaster your face. Other uses include watering your horse, fanning a fire, or signaling for help.
I continue to advocate that the cowboy hat should be designated as a historical landmark of national significance. Maybe then they’d quit insulting the cowboy with pink ostrich feathers in a hat that should never have happened.
© Julie Carter 2005
The value of a community
Sometimes I worry about the life my grandchildren will face on our West River ranch.
I know the land will still be there. Water may be scarce at times, but water will be available somehow.
Cattle will still be around, and probably more productive than ever if breeds continue to improve.
Grazing will still be allowed on private lands, even if cows do turn grass into fertilizer and gases. Even without the cows, grass will still turn into those things (just more slowly).
Will there still be enough people for a rural community? I don't know.
Some people think I favor bigger farms and ranches just because I don't oppose people who want to farm or ranch that way. It is their legal right. I support that freedom.
However, that does not make me a proponent of "bigger is always better", nor does it make me opposed to the alternatives when those work. I worry as much as others do about rural consolidation trends.
The quality of our rural life depends upon having a community. I see it all the time, whether it is at the funeral of an old friend, or the local graduation of his grandchild, or at a gathering for spring branding.
Spring branding is not really about that macho cowboy stuff you see on TV. It is really about a community of people sharing experiences, activities, food and life.
Having a sense of community requires people who live near enough to feel "together" at significant times. I don't know why we need it. Maybe it is a remnant of our tribal nature.
Whatever its origin may be, there is nothing quite like knowing that each member of the community will show up, shake your hand, and offer aid or condolences for each loss and congratulations for each success. Sharing is what rural life is really all about.
We may lose more rural communities if people do not begin to think about the future generations when selling land to a distant investor, a foreign trust, or the best offer. If we consider future generations at such times, land consolidation sales should decline.
The most precious item of the rural experience is the shared living with the fellow members of my community. That is the one important thing I fear my grandchildren may not have if they stay on the ranch.
Each time I see another empty rural home, the loss worries me a little, but not enough to give up.
Solutions will be found. We will search for them together.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
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Anybody ever seen a hot pink ostrich?
By Julie Carter
I have been doing some concerned thinking about the image of the cowboy as seen by a generation; oh lets say, 50 years in the future.
I can only hope that their reference to wardrobe information would not be from the cover of any of today’s “western” wear catalogs or even the duded up images from cowboy poetry gatherings or other such collection points for cowboy loving fans.
I am truly concerned that the image of the real cowboy has been desecrated by the current version of the very icon of cowboy lore—his cowboy hat.
The new fad “cowboy hat” (and I do use that term very loosely) is an abomination. It looks like it’s been thrown down and driven over by a fleet of F-250 pickups loaded with wing- tipped line-dancing wanna be’s on their way to the honky tonk.
A recent Baxter Black column on the cowboy hat topic summed it up for me when he called it “the new Nashville, Santa Fe, Aspen, Toby Keith kind of floppy dishrag cowboy hat - which looks like a regurgitated hippopotamus cud.” Thank you Baxter. The visual is perfect.
Being a fairly nice guy, Baxter was finding a positive angle to this current fashion. He had determined that the folded up dipped down version of the cowboy hat was good for the airline traveling cowboy. It could be stuffed up in the overhead bin during the flight as required and it would not hurt the original “crease” at all.
I had one of those once. I carried it behind the seat in the pickup. I wore it only at the rodeo when I had to compete in the hurricane force winds and rain and the arena was a foot deep in mud. I knew if my hat ever came off, I wouldn’t want it back anyway.
Another good reason for an ugly hat is no one will steal it from you. I would say the theft rate on hats undoubtedly has dropped to almost nothing.
If the wadded up version of the cowboy hat isn’t bad enough, it gets worse in the female versions. Spray painted just about any color you can imagine, there is no wardrobe color you can’t match. And to add to the insult, they stick a big matching fluffy fuzzy feather in the hat band. To this day I have never seen a hot pink, lime green or passionate purple ostrich but darned if their feathers aren’t everywhere.
Somewhere along the way the cowboy hat got passed off as something of a romantic Wild West icon with no real function except to identify a cowboy in a crowd and/or make a fashion statement.
It is truly an identity to the cowboy but is also very functional. As originally intended, it shades the sun off the head and the face, ears and neck. The rains run off the brim and down the back of your slicker instead of down your neck into the inside of your shirt.
Tipped against the wind it can protect your face from the blowing dust. With your head ducked to your chest, riding into a snowstorm, it will protect against the slush trying to plaster your face. Other uses include watering your horse, fanning a fire, or signaling for help.
I continue to advocate that the cowboy hat should be designated as a historical landmark of national significance. Maybe then they’d quit insulting the cowboy with pink ostrich feathers in a hat that should never have happened.
© Julie Carter 2005
The value of a community
Sometimes I worry about the life my grandchildren will face on our West River ranch.
I know the land will still be there. Water may be scarce at times, but water will be available somehow.
Cattle will still be around, and probably more productive than ever if breeds continue to improve.
Grazing will still be allowed on private lands, even if cows do turn grass into fertilizer and gases. Even without the cows, grass will still turn into those things (just more slowly).
Will there still be enough people for a rural community? I don't know.
Some people think I favor bigger farms and ranches just because I don't oppose people who want to farm or ranch that way. It is their legal right. I support that freedom.
However, that does not make me a proponent of "bigger is always better", nor does it make me opposed to the alternatives when those work. I worry as much as others do about rural consolidation trends.
The quality of our rural life depends upon having a community. I see it all the time, whether it is at the funeral of an old friend, or the local graduation of his grandchild, or at a gathering for spring branding.
Spring branding is not really about that macho cowboy stuff you see on TV. It is really about a community of people sharing experiences, activities, food and life.
Having a sense of community requires people who live near enough to feel "together" at significant times. I don't know why we need it. Maybe it is a remnant of our tribal nature.
Whatever its origin may be, there is nothing quite like knowing that each member of the community will show up, shake your hand, and offer aid or condolences for each loss and congratulations for each success. Sharing is what rural life is really all about.
We may lose more rural communities if people do not begin to think about the future generations when selling land to a distant investor, a foreign trust, or the best offer. If we consider future generations at such times, land consolidation sales should decline.
The most precious item of the rural experience is the shared living with the fellow members of my community. That is the one important thing I fear my grandchildren may not have if they stay on the ranch.
Each time I see another empty rural home, the loss worries me a little, but not enough to give up.
Solutions will be found. We will search for them together.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
===
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
The Case Against Conservation by Regulation
To be sure, energy will be conserved this year by voluntary measures--and especially this coming winter, when heating oil prices are expected to be high. The Post reports that the Administration is asking citizens to conserve "to combat high costs this winter," but that's backwards. Energy will be conserved because of high costs and high prices. And we're already seeing this at work. Already, sales of SUVs have plummeted. This makes sense--gasoline is now expensive and looks to be so for at least the near future. The price of owning an SUV went up, and so fewer people are purchasing them. By anecdotal accounts, carpooling is up; WMATA reports that subway ridership is up in Washington; and even the region's bus companies are reporting increased business. The price of driving went up, and so people are driving less, curtailing unnecessary trips or accepting a bit of inconvenience (subways, carpools, buses) in exchange for the great savings of not driving. This is not conservation as public policy; rather, it is individual actors making voluntary choices in the marketplace based on price. Consumers are doing all this on their own, beginning well before the Department of Energy's conservation campaign. By disseminating information, the Department of Energy may goad a few more citizens into making better decisions, but the bulk will be prodded by prices alone....
No Comment’ from the Washington Post
Michael Getler, the ombudsman of the Washington Post, must not have liked the complaint we sent him two weeks ago, seeking action on an article in which a reporter seemed to act as nothing more than a willing stenographer for anti-ANWR drilling propaganda. He didn’t respond directly, and he didn’t respond publicly. Perhaps he’s just been too busy, working from bad story to bad story, more getting nailed daily by a growing corps of blog researchers. Perhaps he’s just a dead letter drop where complaints go to be buried so as not to interfere with the newspaper’s mission, which in many cases would not currently be mistaken for objective journalism. Perhaps he was too distracted by getting his new job as ombudsman for PBS, its first, which he will take next month. Regardless, we made our point, with documentation sufficient to raise red flags. (Read “Who You Gonna Trust: CFIF or the Washington Post?”) All newspapers make mistakes. But those that won’t correct them in a straightforward, timely manner have no claim to credibility. Why, The New York Times just issued its fourth correction for one Paul Krugman column. That may not instill great confidence in Krugman’s accuracy, but it’s something....
COURT OF APPEALS REFUSES TO REVIEW ERRONEOUS RULING
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today declined to reconsider its decision that the federal government is exempt from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling as to when a case is moot as a result of the voluntary cessation of illegal activity. A Montana hunting group had urged the appellate court to rehear an earlier decision by one of the court’s three judge panels. Montana Shooting Sports Association, a firearm safety and hunting group, in a motion for rehearing en banc, asked the entire court to reverse the panel’s ruling that the federal government is exempt from the Supreme Court’s requirement that a party who, after being sued, ceases its illegal conduct must prove that the illegal conduct will not recur. The panel had ruled that the federal government’s withdrawal of its order closing 20,000 acres in Phillips County in north-central Montana must be dismissed unless the group proves that the federal government would reissue the order. The Court of Appeals gave no reason for its denial. In 1994, the Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior adopted a management plan for 2.8 million acres of federal land in six counties in north-central Montana. Under the plan, a 20,000 acre area in Phillips County was to remain open, as it always had been, to the hunting of unregulated wildlife, such as prairie dogs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had announced its intention to bring a “nonessential” experimental population of captive-raised black-footed ferrets into a vast region, including land in Phillips County and neighboring Blaine County, which included some land covered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan. In October 1999, the BLM announced that the 20,000 acre area, which is known as “the 40 Complex,” would be closed to the “discharge or use of firearms” in order “to protect habitat for the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret[].” The BLM relied on assertions by the FWS that black-footed ferrets depend on prairie dogs for food and prairie dog towns for shelter....
Energy security and natural disasters
Reps. Jim Saxton and Eliot Engel claim the destruction inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita "has been a jarring reminder of our over reliance on oil" ("Energy security and oil dependence," Commentary, Monday). But Katrina and Rita also left millions of people without food, water, electricity, medicine and housing. Does that mean we are overly reliant on those necessities, too? Do Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel think disaster-induced shortages of housing, electricity, etc. are good reasons for politicians to try and end our "dependence" on such essentials? Unsurprisingly, Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel ignore their own role in weakening U.S. energy security. One reason so much energy infrastructure is located in hurricane alley is that politicians of anti-supply-side bent have enacted moratoriums prohibiting oil and gas operations on the Atlantic Coast, the California coast and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. In their eagerness to regulate Americans into "energy-efficient" (read: smaller, less-crash-worthy, more expensive) cars, Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel forget that widespread lack of car ownership contributed directly to Katrina's high death toll....
ENVIROS' ATTACK ON GAS PIPELINE IS MOOT
A challenge by an environmental group to the environmental documents relied on by the federal government in authorizing construction of a gas pipeline is moot, a Montana federal district court in Great Falls was advised today. Macum Energy of Billings, a small, family-owned company, advised the district court that, following the court’s March 2004 ruling that the documents were inadequate, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had prepared new documents that were not challenged by Montana Wilderness Association, which filed the original lawsuit in March 2000. Therefore, argued Macum, the environmental group’s original challenge is now moot and should be dismissed. To grant the relief that the group sought--removal of the pipeline--would unfairly punish Macum and render the BLM’s corrected decision-making process a nullity. “The BLM did everything that the Montana federal district court ordered it to do and, it is now clear, the new documents comply fully with federal law,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents Macum. "In fact, the Montana Wilderness Association must believe that the new documents comply fully with federal law because they have not filed any challenge to those documents.” In September 1999, the BLM made available more than 180 parcels of federal land in a competitive oil and gas lease sale at which time Macum purchased the three leases at issue in the lawsuit. In November 1999, Macum asked for and received permission for a pipeline to deliver natural gas from its previously existing wells to market. In December 1999, Macum installed the pipeline along an existing road and began selling gas. Later, Macum made application for permits to drill (APDs) natural gas wells on the new BLM leases. On March 30, 2000, BLM's approval process for those APDs was halted when the Montana Wilderness Association filed its lawsuit after it learned that President Clinton would create a national monument in the area....
Habitat and Humanity
If there is a Don Quixote of federal laws, it is the Endangered Species Act (ESA): For over three decades this law's regulations have endangered the species in distress that they are endeavoring to protect. The House last Thursday took the first step toward injecting a dose of sanity into species recovery efforts by passing the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA), a bill that fixes the perverse incentives in the original legislation that pit property owners against wildlife. But the Bush administration will have to do some political heavy-lifting to push this reform bill over the hurdles it still faces in the Senate. The problems with the original Endangered Species Act are legion: Landowners and taxpayers have been spending the equivalent of $3.5 billion annually in ESA-related activities and managed to recover only 10 of the 1,300 species listed as "endangered" or "threatened" -- a success rate of less than one percent. Part of this failure stems from the fact that the Department of Interior, the chief enforcer of the ESA, has been forced to make listing decisions by legal fiat rather than by appealing to some kind of objective scientific standards. This has resulted in a terrible misallocation of precious conservation dollars toward species that either could not be saved or were in no need of saving. TERSA, crafted by California Republican Richard Pombo, would overcome this problem by requiring a peer review of all the scientific data before a decision is made to list a species as endangered. In the interest of transparency it will also require the department to post on a publicly available website all the data that it used to make the endangered determination....
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The Case Against Conservation by Regulation
To be sure, energy will be conserved this year by voluntary measures--and especially this coming winter, when heating oil prices are expected to be high. The Post reports that the Administration is asking citizens to conserve "to combat high costs this winter," but that's backwards. Energy will be conserved because of high costs and high prices. And we're already seeing this at work. Already, sales of SUVs have plummeted. This makes sense--gasoline is now expensive and looks to be so for at least the near future. The price of owning an SUV went up, and so fewer people are purchasing them. By anecdotal accounts, carpooling is up; WMATA reports that subway ridership is up in Washington; and even the region's bus companies are reporting increased business. The price of driving went up, and so people are driving less, curtailing unnecessary trips or accepting a bit of inconvenience (subways, carpools, buses) in exchange for the great savings of not driving. This is not conservation as public policy; rather, it is individual actors making voluntary choices in the marketplace based on price. Consumers are doing all this on their own, beginning well before the Department of Energy's conservation campaign. By disseminating information, the Department of Energy may goad a few more citizens into making better decisions, but the bulk will be prodded by prices alone....
No Comment’ from the Washington Post
Michael Getler, the ombudsman of the Washington Post, must not have liked the complaint we sent him two weeks ago, seeking action on an article in which a reporter seemed to act as nothing more than a willing stenographer for anti-ANWR drilling propaganda. He didn’t respond directly, and he didn’t respond publicly. Perhaps he’s just been too busy, working from bad story to bad story, more getting nailed daily by a growing corps of blog researchers. Perhaps he’s just a dead letter drop where complaints go to be buried so as not to interfere with the newspaper’s mission, which in many cases would not currently be mistaken for objective journalism. Perhaps he was too distracted by getting his new job as ombudsman for PBS, its first, which he will take next month. Regardless, we made our point, with documentation sufficient to raise red flags. (Read “Who You Gonna Trust: CFIF or the Washington Post?”) All newspapers make mistakes. But those that won’t correct them in a straightforward, timely manner have no claim to credibility. Why, The New York Times just issued its fourth correction for one Paul Krugman column. That may not instill great confidence in Krugman’s accuracy, but it’s something....
COURT OF APPEALS REFUSES TO REVIEW ERRONEOUS RULING
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today declined to reconsider its decision that the federal government is exempt from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling as to when a case is moot as a result of the voluntary cessation of illegal activity. A Montana hunting group had urged the appellate court to rehear an earlier decision by one of the court’s three judge panels. Montana Shooting Sports Association, a firearm safety and hunting group, in a motion for rehearing en banc, asked the entire court to reverse the panel’s ruling that the federal government is exempt from the Supreme Court’s requirement that a party who, after being sued, ceases its illegal conduct must prove that the illegal conduct will not recur. The panel had ruled that the federal government’s withdrawal of its order closing 20,000 acres in Phillips County in north-central Montana must be dismissed unless the group proves that the federal government would reissue the order. The Court of Appeals gave no reason for its denial. In 1994, the Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior adopted a management plan for 2.8 million acres of federal land in six counties in north-central Montana. Under the plan, a 20,000 acre area in Phillips County was to remain open, as it always had been, to the hunting of unregulated wildlife, such as prairie dogs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had announced its intention to bring a “nonessential” experimental population of captive-raised black-footed ferrets into a vast region, including land in Phillips County and neighboring Blaine County, which included some land covered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan. In October 1999, the BLM announced that the 20,000 acre area, which is known as “the 40 Complex,” would be closed to the “discharge or use of firearms” in order “to protect habitat for the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret[].” The BLM relied on assertions by the FWS that black-footed ferrets depend on prairie dogs for food and prairie dog towns for shelter....
Energy security and natural disasters
Reps. Jim Saxton and Eliot Engel claim the destruction inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita "has been a jarring reminder of our over reliance on oil" ("Energy security and oil dependence," Commentary, Monday). But Katrina and Rita also left millions of people without food, water, electricity, medicine and housing. Does that mean we are overly reliant on those necessities, too? Do Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel think disaster-induced shortages of housing, electricity, etc. are good reasons for politicians to try and end our "dependence" on such essentials? Unsurprisingly, Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel ignore their own role in weakening U.S. energy security. One reason so much energy infrastructure is located in hurricane alley is that politicians of anti-supply-side bent have enacted moratoriums prohibiting oil and gas operations on the Atlantic Coast, the California coast and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. In their eagerness to regulate Americans into "energy-efficient" (read: smaller, less-crash-worthy, more expensive) cars, Mr. Saxton and Mr. Engel forget that widespread lack of car ownership contributed directly to Katrina's high death toll....
ENVIROS' ATTACK ON GAS PIPELINE IS MOOT
A challenge by an environmental group to the environmental documents relied on by the federal government in authorizing construction of a gas pipeline is moot, a Montana federal district court in Great Falls was advised today. Macum Energy of Billings, a small, family-owned company, advised the district court that, following the court’s March 2004 ruling that the documents were inadequate, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had prepared new documents that were not challenged by Montana Wilderness Association, which filed the original lawsuit in March 2000. Therefore, argued Macum, the environmental group’s original challenge is now moot and should be dismissed. To grant the relief that the group sought--removal of the pipeline--would unfairly punish Macum and render the BLM’s corrected decision-making process a nullity. “The BLM did everything that the Montana federal district court ordered it to do and, it is now clear, the new documents comply fully with federal law,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents Macum. "In fact, the Montana Wilderness Association must believe that the new documents comply fully with federal law because they have not filed any challenge to those documents.” In September 1999, the BLM made available more than 180 parcels of federal land in a competitive oil and gas lease sale at which time Macum purchased the three leases at issue in the lawsuit. In November 1999, Macum asked for and received permission for a pipeline to deliver natural gas from its previously existing wells to market. In December 1999, Macum installed the pipeline along an existing road and began selling gas. Later, Macum made application for permits to drill (APDs) natural gas wells on the new BLM leases. On March 30, 2000, BLM's approval process for those APDs was halted when the Montana Wilderness Association filed its lawsuit after it learned that President Clinton would create a national monument in the area....
Habitat and Humanity
If there is a Don Quixote of federal laws, it is the Endangered Species Act (ESA): For over three decades this law's regulations have endangered the species in distress that they are endeavoring to protect. The House last Thursday took the first step toward injecting a dose of sanity into species recovery efforts by passing the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA), a bill that fixes the perverse incentives in the original legislation that pit property owners against wildlife. But the Bush administration will have to do some political heavy-lifting to push this reform bill over the hurdles it still faces in the Senate. The problems with the original Endangered Species Act are legion: Landowners and taxpayers have been spending the equivalent of $3.5 billion annually in ESA-related activities and managed to recover only 10 of the 1,300 species listed as "endangered" or "threatened" -- a success rate of less than one percent. Part of this failure stems from the fact that the Department of Interior, the chief enforcer of the ESA, has been forced to make listing decisions by legal fiat rather than by appealing to some kind of objective scientific standards. This has resulted in a terrible misallocation of precious conservation dollars toward species that either could not be saved or were in no need of saving. TERSA, crafted by California Republican Richard Pombo, would overcome this problem by requiring a peer review of all the scientific data before a decision is made to list a species as endangered. In the interest of transparency it will also require the department to post on a publicly available website all the data that it used to make the endangered determination....
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