NEWS ROUNDUP

Blackfoot land deal announced Hoping to maintain their traditional way of life, upper Blackfoot Valley landowners on Thursday announced an agreement to buy 40,780 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. land, with an option on 47,933 acres more. If both sales eventually close, the Blackfoot Challenge will buy all of Plum Creek's midelevation timberland between Clearwater Junction and Rogers Pass, north and south of Highway 200. Purchase of the land, residents said, is the only way they know to preserve the upper Blackfoot's heritage of ranching, forestry, public access and wildlife habitat...ONRC announces its ideas for tribal lands The federal government should use private lands - instead of Forest Service lands - to re-establish a reservation for the Klamath Indian Tribes, according to a proposal put forward Wednesday by the Oregon Natural Resources Council. The proposal calls for the government to purchase lands or, when necessary, use eminent domain to acquire private lands within the boundary of the reservation as it existed in 1954, when the Klamath Tribes were terminated. Homes and up to 40 acres of adjoining would be exempt from government acquisition...Species Exemption 'Bad Precedent' Pending federal legislation to exempt water imported into New Mexico from being used to satisfy the federal Endangered Species Act would set a bad precedent, environmentalists in Washington, D.C., and New Mexico say. Both the U.S. Senate and House have passed language that would exempt water from the federal San Juan-Chama diversion project from the Endangered Species Act. In addition, the language proposed by New Mexico's congressional delegation would specify that a study issued this spring by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is legally sufficient and can't be challenged in court. The study concluded that portions of the designated habitat of the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow could run dry. All members of New Mexico's congressional delegation except Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., have endorsed the proposals. Rather than being free-standing legislation that would be subject to independent vote and debate in Congress, the ESA language is included as a rider in both the House and Senate versions of the energy bills. Differences between the two versions of the legislation is scheduled to be resolved in conference in coming weeks...Fire destroys Hells Canyon recreation field office An early morning fire destroyed the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area field office at Riggins Wednesday. Manager Earl Baumgarten says the building -- a doublewide trailer -- is a total loss. But he says there's still hope that many of the agency's records and documents could be saved... Energy project celebrated It might fit in the back of a pickup. But don't be fooled by its size. The BioMax 50 may have applications as big as its appetite. If properly fed - it'll devour about a ton of wood chips per day - the biomass generator will help reduce built-up forest fuels while producing energy. When finished, the machine will be connected to the power grid and will become the first such generator to be tested in the United States...Private firms won't get jobs in federal forests The U.S. Forest Service will not tap the private sector for some basic maintenance jobs at forests throughout California. Those who oppose the "competitive outsourcing" by the Bush administration call this week's announcement a partial victory, though many other jobs are still up for consideration...Truce maintained in federal 'war in the woods' Controversy continues to stir around the Northwest Forest Plan, developed in the early days of the Clinton administration. The plan has evolved since it was approved 11 years ago, but the purpose remains the same: to protect all forest species while getting logging operations moving again. Protections have been put in place, but logging remains in a holding pattern. Until the plan was adopted, courts had blocked dozens of timber sales because of procedural and legal failures by the U.S. Forest Service...Saving fish may endanger farmers' control of water The politicians, farmers and businessmen who control Idaho's water have avoided a legal confrontation with the Endangered Species Act over the fate of Pacific salmon for more than a decade. Those water barons compromised, cajoled and bullied to keep Idaho in control of water stored behind federal dams in reservoirs on the Snake, Boise and Payette rivers. Now Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo is shuttling between water users and environmentalists to stave off a lawsuit that recent court decisions suggest would wrest control from Idaho and divert water away from farms, cities and industry to increase flows to help salmon. He has until Sunday, the deadline set by salmon advocates, to convince them to withdraw or alter their proposed lawsuit. Complicating his effort are secret court-ordered talks between water users, the Nez Perce Tribe and state and federal officials that address many of the same water issues... Renzi's father said he didn't push son to introduce rider regarding fort The father of U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., said he never asked his son to introduce an amendment to a House Defense Authorization bill to remove this Southern Arizona Army post from any responsibility for water use off the installation. The Renzi rider, as the amendment is called, has stirred up some environmentalists who say the amendment will mean the San Pedro River will be harmed, if not killed, if the rider is adopted...GAO report faults endangered species program The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program for designating critical habitat for endangered species is in disarray because of tangled litigation that is devouring the agency's funding, the General Accounting Office reports. As a consequence, Fish and Wildlife priorities, such as listing new endangered species, are being delayed, says the GAO, Congress' investigative arm. "The GAO report states basically what we have been saying for years," said Mitch Snow, the Fish and Wildlife chief of media services. "We would like to have funds available for doing other things besides critical habitat."... Fish and Wildlife study shows economic benefits of wildlife refuges People living near the nation's 542 wildlife refuges also gain from the protected wildlife habitat, according to a government study that touts the economic benefits of the refuge system. The study by the Fish and Wildlife Service finds 35.5 million people visited the nation's 542 refuges in 2002, up 42 percent from 24.9 million visitors in 1995, bringing a huge boost in spending and jobs to communities located just outside the refuges...Judge lets convicted pilot keep plane used in hunt The Harding County pilot convicted last month of illegal aerial hunting will not have to forfeit the airplane and shotgun he used in the hunt, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marshall P. Young decided Thursday. Young rejected arguments by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Royce that pilot Jerry Janvrin should forfeit his 1946 Piper airplane valued at $15,000 to $20,000, as well as a Benelli shotgun valued at about $900. Jurors found Janvrin guilty Sept. 18 of one count of illegal aerial hunting and acquitted him on another charge. The prosecution said he was trespassing on private land in September of 2002 when he killed a coyote from his airplane...Talks continue over land, water swap A high-level Interior Department official spent three days in the Klamath Basin last week, meeting with various parties to discuss water supplies for the Klamath Basin and restoration of reservation lands for the Klamath Tribes. But his visit isn't a sign that any deals are being made, officials said. Bill Bettenberg, director of the Interior Department's office of policy analysis, said he was in the Basin to give updates on negotiations with the Klamath Tribes and run through scenarios of different water management options for the Klamath Reclamation Project. "I didn't come with any proposals," he said...Nature Conservancy, Plum Creek strike deal LINCOLN and Plum Creek Timber Co. announced plans on Thursday to sell almost 41,000 acres scattered throughout the Blackfoot River Valley for $30 million to The Nature Conservancy. In addition, the conservation organization has an option to purchase an additional 47,900 acres in the area within the next few years for approximately $38 million, bringing the total land deal to 88,700 acres for $68 million an and average of $766 per acre. The non-profit Nature Conservancy plans to resell the large parcels to public and private entities, with the promise that the vast majority of the land would not be subdivided and turned into million dollar ranchettes...Secretary Norton Appoints Chad Calvert Deputy Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Calvert will assist Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Rebecca Watson in management oversight and policy direction for the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service and the Office of Surface Mining. "Chad Calvert has rapidly earned a reputation as an individual who immerses himself in a myriad of projects and with positive results," Secretary Norton said. "His experience in dealing with Congress, coupled with his positive outreach experience, increases his value to our team." Calvert was a member of the Bush-Cheney transition team, where he worked on Interior policy and coordinated outreach with external groups. He also assisted in preparing the Secretary for her Senate confirmation hearings and has worked with each of the presidential appointees at Interior to get them through their confirmations...Possible changes to NPR-A stir debate A swath of land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska sought by oil and gas developers is called critical to wildlife by conservationists. Speakers addressed both issues Wednesday at a public meeting designed to aid the Bureau of Land Management as it rethinks 1998 regulations of the 4.6 million acre northeast NPR-A. About 600,000 northernmost acres--with reportedly high potential for oil and gas deposits--is off-limits to leasing, though that could change if BLM changes its 5-year-old regulations... Fish plan would cause big county expense Santa Barbara County would have to pay $12 million in reconstruction costs if it is required to make habitat improvements at Lake Cachuma for the benefit of endangered steelhead trout in the Santa Ynez River. A recent biological opinion has resulted in a proposal to raise the maximum level of Lake Cachuma by 3 feet to provide more water that can be released into the river for the fish, as well as for South County water users. Raising the lake level would also flood county facilities -- including picnic and camping sites, Mohawk Road, a water intake facility, a water treatment plant, a marina, a launch ramp, trails, two sewer lift stations, and the UCSB crew area. Rebuilding these facilities would cost $12 million. The proposal to raise the lake comes from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation and the Lake Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board -- consisting of five South County water agencies -- which are responsible for maintenance and operations of Lake Cachuma's water supply facilities...Trinity settlement pitch: End of fight or bogus science? Northern Californians working to get back some Trinity River water are unconvinced that a proposal by Central Valley irrigators would be best for salmon and river communities. On Tuesday, the Westlands Water District, which has sued to block restoration of the river, pitched the settlement proposal to Trinity County supervisors and this newspaper. It aims to pare down water allowed down the river under the restoration plan, in order to boost supplies to the Central Valley Project where Westlands and other districts get their water. The suit is now in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after a Fresno U.S. District Court judge ordered the federal restoration plan reworked. The Hoopa Valley Tribe -- which has intervened on the part of the U.S. Interior Department -- is the key player that would have to agree to the proposal. Westlands will not meet with the tribe until next week...New definition of waste sets precedent in Western water policy For most of the year, several of the nation's biggest, richest, and most politically influential water agencies have been squabbling over the best way to divide California's share of the Colorado River - the lifeblood of the Southwest. A conclusion of sorts came last month when the state approved legislation needed to carry out key components of a tortuously negotiated deal, which involves a transfer of water from inland farmers to coastal cities, although litigation and last-minute disagreements still could derail the pact. The loud and divisive rhetoric of conflict overshadowed a subtle but important development that occurred during the summer, at the height of the confrontation. Although it would appear superficially to be a matter of mere semantics, it is potentially the most far-reaching aspect of the entire debate...Trust turns to rust: Western Slope's ties to the Front Range corroding over water When it comes to water, western Colorado hasn't trusted blossoming Front Range cities since the 1930s. So when Gov. Bill Owens asks voters from Meeker to Cortez to "trust" that there's something good in Referendum A for western Colorado, he's paddling upstream against decades of doubt. Referendum A would create $2 billion in state-backed bonds for large, undisclosed water projects. For many folks on the west side of the Continental Divide - the source of most of Colorado's water - Referendum A translates as another water grab... Eleven cities' water allocations reduced Eleven cities that depend on shrinking Lake Meredith for their water are having their allotments cut by millions of gallons, but most say they will still have enough to meet their demands. The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority voted Wednesday to reduce the amounts by 5 percent...Supreme Court urged to protect states environmental authority The Supreme Court was urged Wednesday to keep the federal government from second-guessing state environmental decisions. The justices are considering whether the Environmental Protection Agency went too far by overruling Alaska regulators' decision to let the operators of a zinc and lead mine use less costly anti-pollution technology for power generation. The Clean Air Act allows state officials to make some decisions involving their own facilities...Activists worry over eco-terror A time bomb planted near a controversial water bottling plant last month has the state's environmental community racing to distance itself from the sabotage. The bomb was found Sept. 22 at an unmanned pumping station of Nestle Waters' Ice Mountain water bottling plant near Big Rapids. Police disarmed it, and the FBI is investigating. It is the latest in a string of attacks nationwide this year claimed by the radical Earth Liberation Front... Area Water District Management Adapts to Drought Conditions The current drought has taught the Elephant Butte Irrigation District management a great deal, especially in water conservation and how to adapt to drought conditions. But EBID Board of Directors chairman Gary Arnold also said that he is impressed how well the farmers and district managed its limited water allotment this year. "We pretty much hit it on the nose as far as using our allocation," Arnold said. "We used it all except couple hundred acre-feet. That showed that our hydrologists knew how to figure out how to use the water so that we could spread out what little water we had over several months." During the past irrigation season, the United Stages Bureau of Reclamation allotted only 354,000 acre-feet of water to EBID, or 34 percent of the normal quota. The EBID board decided that it could only supply eight inches of irrigation water, far below the two to three acre-feet it allows when it has a good snow pack runoff...Lake Powell: Half empty or half full? Much reduced from its historic high-water level, the question can be posed: Is Lake Powell half empty or half full? And the answer depends upon whom you ask. Those who live and work near the huge reservoir straddling the Utah/Arizona border worry that the outside world's perception, at least, is that the half-empty desert lake — a tourist magnet — is drying up, like many much-shallower reservoirs in the drought-stricken West. "Some people think we're just a mud puddle," says Bob Seney, vice president of operations for Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas, a concessionaire. The low-water stigma and the stagnant economy are both to blame for business that's down 15 percent to 20 percent for his company, he said... Groups try ecologically sound ranching model Can the tiny leopard frog live alongside a 1,500-pound bull? Will the western tiger swallowtail butterfly prosper sharing the same habitat as a cow? A partnership between Bently Agrowdynamics of Minden and The Nature Conservancy at the 788-acre River Fork Ranch on Carson Valley's west side hopes to demonstrate that a viable cattle operation can coexist with environmental protection and restoration of the property's fish, bird and wildlife habitat...High beef prices no comfort to ranchers with small herds Recent rising beef prices are bitter-sweet for the Valley's ranchers, who survived the drought by selling off the bulk of their herds last year. "Everyone sold when the prices were low," said Randy Rusk, past president of the Custer County Stockgrowers. "There was not enough feed so they sold the weaners, then the calves, then the cows."...Rodeo doctor wins medical society award Dr. Charles Rush Jr.'s birthday is not until Saturday, but he celebrated a little early Thursday night with more than 260 friends at a ceremony where he received the Tarrant County Medical Society's most prestigious award. Rush, a Hurst allergist and longtime doctor to rodeo cowboys, was recognized with the 2003 Gold-Headed Cane award for his years of service. As Rush donned his black cowboy hat, the crowd gave him an ovation, one of many during the night...Have bull; can't travel Rodeo bulls are left pawing the ground in Canada this year, at a time when they would usually be headed south for the bright lights of the American rodeo circuit. Ever since the US border has been closed to cattle because of the BSE scare, absolutely no live cattle have been moving into the States. Rodeo bull breeders are losing money, and are uncertain about the future...

OPINION/COMMENTARY

A Mountain of Money

...Yet that mountain of money is but a molehill compared to the fortune that will be up for grabs if the government ever imposes carbon rationing. The Kyoto protocol and its progeny -- including the McCain-Lieberman bill (S.139) and various "micro-Kyoto" bills circulating in state legislatures -- would cap, or ration, not only gasoline, but most other carbon-based fuels as well, including diesel fuel, jet fuel, natural gas, and coal. While none of the proposed programs use paper coupons, the cost of the carbon allowances, or "C-rations," would be built into the price of fuels and into the price of electricity and all the other products and services that use them. With a cap for U.S. carbon emissions of about 1.5 billion tons (carbon-equivalent) per year, and a market price anywhere from $20 to $200 per ton (depending on how binding the cap is), the value of C-rations distributed by the government would be in the range of $30 to $300 billion dollars per year.
The cost of all those C-rations will be passed on to U.S. consumers -- a fact that advocates of carbon rationing typically neglect to mention. Most "Cost of Kyoto" estimates look only at the real-resource cost (reduced GNP) of carbon rationing, yet this represents only about 10 percent of the total cost to consumers. The other 90 percent is the price consumers pay to holders of the coveted C-rations. In that sense carbon rationing is like a tax -- it produces revenue -- but the revenues from carbon rationing will not go to reduce the budget deficit. Instead, the C-rations will be allocated to industries and organizations that find favor with the government...

NAACP To PETA: We Have No Problem With KFC

Last month we told you that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had apparently endorsed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA's) campaign against KFC. But now the Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that the NAACP has come to its senses.
According to the Courier-Journal:

A spokesman for NAACP president Kweisi Mfume said the group's leader was only curious about charges leveled against KFC by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals when he wrote Yum! Brands Inc. chairman David Novak last month ... [Mfume] also said he was glad to hear "of your commitment to adopt comprehensive industry-leading guidelines and audits" of the handling and raising of poultry.


The NAACP has asked PETA, the Courier-Journal reports, to remove Mfume's picture and signature from its website. But to no one's surprise, PETA is still trumpeting "NAACP Head Speaks Up for Chickens!" on its anti-KFC page.
As the NAACP leaves animal rights to the PETAphiles and returns to its regularly scheduled programming, PETA is only intensifying its opposition to the horror of the two-piece dinner, both in the U.S. and overseas. In late September PETA tried to intimidate a KFC executive by protesting outside his home and church. And PETA recently announced that it would also initiate shareholder resolutions in an attempt to sway KFC's chicken suppliers.

Bye-Bye Kyoto

Gray Davis's political career isn't the only thing circling the drain this week. Remember the Kyoto protocol on global warming? Russia is about to flush it.
Ever since President Bush decided to withdraw the U.S. from the unratified (and unratifiable) treaty, environmentalists have been scheming to drag the U.S. into Kyoto through the back door. If one more "Annex 1" nation ratifies the treaty, it will go into effect among the nations that have already signed on. The requirements of the treaty would then begin having an effect on American companies doing business in Europe and other Kyoto-conforming countries. This, the greens hoped and expected, would increase pressure on business here in the U.S. to get with the program...

Global Warming Shakeup in Moscow

Events at a recent scientific conference in Moscow represent an important and dramatic change in the worldwide debate over global warming. Several distinguished scientists who spoke at the World Climate Change Conference in Moscow last week shattered claims that the science is settled and any consensus that the Kyoto Protocol would serve any useful purpose.
“This is the most important development in the public debate over global warming since President Bush’s decision that the United States wouldn’t ratify the Kyoto treaty,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute president Fred L. Smith, Jr. “Major scientific voices from both Russia and the U.S. emphasized the uncertainties underlying the theory that man is causing catastrophic global warming. The challenge now is to address these scientific uncertainties while continuing to improve global economic and environmental conditions.” ...

Air Pollution is Declining Under Bush

Nothing you hear about worsening air pollution is true. Air pollution is declining under President Bush, just as it declined under Bill Clinton. With the exception of greenhouse gases, trends in air pollution have been favorable for years or decades, says author Gregg Easterbrook.
According to the author:

"Aggregate emissions," the sum of air-pollution categories, have fallen 48 percent since 1970, although the U.S. population has grown 39 percent.
Local newscasts have recently begun to emphasize code red and code orange ozone-warning days, making smog seem more prevalent, yet the overall number of bad-air days has actually been falling steadily.
In 2001, there were fewer than half as many air-quality warning days across the country as in 1988; Los Angeles, for example, has experienced just one Stage 1 ozone warning in the past five years, whereas in the 1970s it averaged about 100 Stage-1-alert days per year.

Air pollution can decline as the population rises because antipollution technology keeps getting better and because the Clean Air Act controls on cars, power plants and factories have been growing stricter for two decades. Most Clean Air Act enforcement continues to become more strict under Bush, says Easterbrook.

Source: Gregg Easterbrook, "Why Bush Gets A Bad Rap On Dirty Air; But he still needs to tackle the real problem: greenhouse gases," Time Magazine, September 29, 2003.

Energy Exploration in Wildlife Refuges

Environmentalists say drilling in wildlife refuges causes devastating damage while the energy industry says wildlife and drilling can thrive together. However, a new General Accounting Office's analysis of drilling in the lower 48 states concludes that environmental damage can be avoided.
Oil and gas exploration and drilling has or is taking place in hundreds of refuges, says the GAO:
--One-fourth of the nation's more than 500 refuges have a history of oil and gas activity, in some cases dating back to the 1920s.
--Wells on refuges are pumping nearly 24 million barrels of oil annually, more than 1 percent of the nation's total production.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is charged with protecting refuges, has not managed the process well. Among the federal shortcomings cited by the report:
--The Service didn't even know how many oil and gas wells are operating on its refuges.
--It does not keep records on oil spills and other damage, and has never assessed the cumulative effects of oil and gas operations on refuges.
--Refuge managers often lack the knowledge, resources, training and commitment to regulate oil-drilling operations effectively.
However, the records at some refuges is better than others. At Hopper Mountain Wildlife Refuge in California, for example, 15 active wells have caused only two oil spills in the past 30 years; each was cleaned up quickly with no detectable effects on wildlife. In Louisiana, where two refuges are strictly monitored, oil and gas operators pay fees to finance the costs of monitoring compliance.
But at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge in Texas, 50 active wells have caused at least seven spills just since 1991, and one killed more than 180,000 fish.
Source: Editorial, "Alaskan drilling debate ignores failures in lower 48," USA Today, October 9, 2003; National Wildlife Refuges: Opportunities to Improve the Management and Oversight of Oil and Gas Activities on Federal Lands GAO-03-517, September 23, 2003, General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C.
For text
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-10-08-our-view_x.htm For GAO report
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03517.pdf

NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service proposed dramatic grazing cuts in Sawtooth The Forest Service wants to reduce grazing by more than a third on two allotments east of the White Cloud Mountains in the Sawtooth National Forest. The management change is for the Upper East Fork and Lower East Fork allotments along the East Fork of the Salmon River. It would ban grazing on 33,500 acres until vegetation improves. It also would require fences to keep cattle out of some areas used by people for recreation... Grand jury indicts two in theft of petroglyphs near Reno A federal grand jury indicted two men on felony charges Wednesday for allegedly damaging and stealing rocks with American Indian petroglyphs from a national forest bordering Reno... Construction Equipment Vandalized, Possibly By Radical Environmental Group Construction equipment used for a rehabilitation project in the Jemez Mountains has been vandalized. U.S. Forest Service officials say someone cut electrical wires and broke a window on a backhoe and slashed tires on a water trailer. Officials say both vehicles had the initials ELF scratched onto them...Guest opinion: Election cycle at odds with forest cycle This year, the Bush administration's so-called "Healthy Forest Initiative" (H.R.1904, known in the Senate as the "Senate Logging Bill"), was a document born of the times, one which only aggravates a credibility gap that it would seem this administration would be attempting to close. The Healthy Forest Initiative is most dangerous and untruthful on two major points: First, it focuses on increasing logging of the national forests in the remote backcountry, far from the human communities supposedly at risk. The Forest Service's own studies show that fire prevention is most effective within 200 feet of a dwelling; beyond that, proposing to stop a fire by logging a certain grove carries the same odds as finding a needle in a haystack... Forest Service struggles to battle beetles The Dillon Ranger District is desperately hoping it will receive the funds necessary to halt the explosion of the mountain pine beetle population. The pest has killed hundreds of trees in and around the Dillon Reservoir-area campgrounds, and rangers expect the problem to multiply if they don't take significant action quickly...Yellowstone wolf expert honored by Park Service The head of the park's wolf project was honored Wednesday night for his work with wolves since they were reintroduced here in 1995. Doug Smith has received awards from both the regional and national directors of the National Park Service...35 greatest threats to fishing Like those of us born in the baby boom generation, fishing has aged. We can see its vulnerabilities, even as we assess our own. But unlike us, fishing can endure. If we protect that which we profess to love so much, and if we pass that stewardship on to our children and our children's children, fishing will enrich lives for centuries to come...Migratory Bird Loses Some Protection The double-crested cormorant is losing some federal protection. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a rule Wednesday allowing state wildlife agencies in 24 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, to control cormorant populations without first getting a federal permit, as is required now. Population control measures could include killing the birds or taking steps to prevent their eggs from hatching, said Nicholas Throckmorton, a spokesman for the federal agency...BLM's plan to open dunes delayed for another season The Bureau of Land Management's plan to open parts of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation area to off-road vehicles has been delayed for another season, according to environmental groups fighting to keep the area closed. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco ruled this week that nothing can change at the dunes until the court has had a chance to review a new biological opinion being prepared about the potential impacts to the Pierson's milk-vetch, a rare plant found in the dunes...Column: Off-road, off-limits Off-road vehicle and SUV manufacturers understand this phenomenon, and their advertising reflects it. The typical commercial shows the vehicle-owner as conqueror. Powerful machines plow through muddy streams and race up steep hillsides to subdue the highest point in the wilderness. Advertisers are selling the ability to get to places that people with lesser vehicles can't. An implicit (but not so subtle) message is that if you buy their vehicle, then you are the one who gets to deflower the last bit of virgin landscape, away from the unwashed masses...Wranglers, researchers conduct annual Bison Range roundup "Prairie music," Bill West said. The bison snorted, grunted and groaned a few feet away, unnerved by the arrival of the wranglers. Calves crowded close to their mothers. The biggest, oldest bulls turned to face the riders. The cowboys smiled. "These are the best days of the year," said West, assistant manager of the National Bison Range and a cowboy for the range's annual roundup...Tribal control of National Bison Range unlikely The U.S. government will not turn over management of the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the government's lead negotiator said Tuesday. Rick Coleman, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional refuge chief, said the service has identified "functions and activities" that could be performed by the tribe "in cooperation with the refuge system." But management of the 18,799-acre refuge will remain with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Coleman said during the Bison Range's annual roundup - where he was a first-time visitor... Animal Protection Groups Question Federal Plan to Kill Millions of Canada Geese The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) joined today with the Fund for Animals on behalf of more than eight million members and constituents nationwide to question plans recently announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that call for killing between 400,000 and 800,000 "resident" Canada geese and their goslings each year for the next ten years...Domenici Wants Water-Law Changes Just a few more court decisions like the one this summer that said New Mexico's imported water supply might be tapped for the silvery minnow, and Congress could scrap the Endangered Species Act as we know it, New Mexico's senior U.S. senator says. Republican Pete Domenici is spearheading legislation to block a federal appeals-court ruling this summer that said water from the federal San Juan/Chama diversion project could be taken to sustain the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow. The project carries water from Colorado into New Mexico, and cities including Santa Fe and Albuquerque are counting on the water for present needs and future growth. "A few more rotten decisions, and the Endangered Species Act won't be fixed the way I'm fixing it," Domenici said. "It will finally get modified. It is hanging on by its teeth. It will get modified just to flat be practical, so that you don't do things like this."...BLM head says she wants Congress to designate N.M. wilderness The head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says Congress should act on an aging report that could decide the fate of proposed New Mexico wilderness. Kathleen Clarke says the BLM has identified nearly 10 million acres across the West that should be protected as wilderness. She says chunks of wilderness from that report have been approved, but the entire list has not been addressed. She says the land that has not been approved by Congress is being managed as wilderness pending a decision...Ag Groups Rally Congress to Prevent Buyout of Grazing Leases Members of the House of Representatives are being asked to oppose efforts to introduce legislation which would authorize a "buyout" of grazing permits on federal lands. A letter signed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), the Public Lands Council (PLC) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) was sent to every house member late yesterday urging support for "continued multiple use of public lands and opposition to federal grazing permit buy-out legislation." The buyout program would allow a federal grazing permittee to "sell" their permit back to the federal government. The associated grazing allotment would then be permanently retired from domestic livestock grazing use. Costs for the buyout program have been estimated at $3.3 billion, and the measure is reportedly being proposed by Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)... Proposal to open 30,000 acres of public land awaits state OK Hunters could have access to 30,000 acres of public land in southeast Montana by next fall, much to the displeasure of some area ranchers. The Bureau of Land Management, in cooperation with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, has proposed an easement across state land to allow vehicle access to BLM holdings. Currently, the only way for the public to reach the BLM land is by foot...Japan quarantines cattle after 8th mad cow disease discovery Japan has quarantined 604 cows to prevent the spread of mad cow disease after authorities confirmed that a 23-month-old bull had a new strain of the bovine illness, an official said Wednesday. The bull, which tested positive for the disease on Sept. 29, was the youngest animal to be found here with the fatal brain-wasting disease, known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The other infected cattle, the most recent case in January, were five years old. Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said Tuesday that follow-up tests by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases revealed a possible new strain of the disease. Within hours, officials in northern Ibaraki prefecture, where the cow had been screened before it was to be slaughtered, incinerated the animal. The case showed heightened resistance to certain enzymes, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Officials were considering giving more vaccinations to cattle and possibly adjusting them to fight the new strain, it said... Latest BSE case no cause for panic (Japan) The experts say they found abnormal prions--the protein molecules believed to cause the disease--in the infected bull. The prions differed not only from the previous seven Japanese cases, but also from those found overseas. One difference was discovered in a test used to determine the existence of substances from the size of their molecules. Morikazu Shinagawa, head of the expert group, pointed out, "The structure of a sugar chain that makes up a part of the protein is different." Also, previously identified prions are highly resistant to splitting by enzymes. But the newly discovered abnormal prions can be readily dissolved by enzymes. The new prions also failed to conform with the results expected in the government's standard tests for BSE. A test on the cow's brain did not find spongelike holes or an accumulation of abnormal prions. The cow did not show signs of a loss of balance while walking, unlike all previous BSE cows... Tests confirm Saskatchewan cow sparked crisis A diseased cow that sparked a national mad cow crisis costing the cattle industry billions of dollars was born in Saskatchewan, a federal veterinarian has confirmed. "We went back and did further DNA extraction so we got a better quality of DNA," Dr. George Luterbach of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said today. "We were able to confirm an offspring of the positive cow and through records we cross-referenced that calf to its mother. About 2,700 animals which might have been associated with the infected cow were slaughtered in herds across Alberta and Saskatchewan last spring. Agriculture officials believed the animal was born on a farm owned by Mel and Betty Ann McCrae near Baldwinton, Sask., but could not prove it even after the tests... Mad cow leads 25 RMs to declare economic disaster About 25 Saskatchewan rural municipalities have declared an economic disaster due to the fallout from mad cow disease, grasshoppers and a summer heat wave. And some 125 other rural municipalities Canadawide have made the same announcement, deepening concern that piles of property tax notices will go unpaid and services will suffer, rural leaders said Tuesday...USDA Sends Rules for Live Canadian Cattle Imports to OMB The U.S. Department of Agriculture has finished writing up a proposal that seeks to eventually allow some Canadian live cattle into the U.S. and it is now being reviewed by the White House's Office of Management and Budget, according to U.S. government and industry sources. "I know it's out of (USDA) and its over (at OMB)," said a U.S. government official, who asked not to be named. "I know that as soon as it comes back, we'll publish it, but it's not back yet." OMB, which lists the USDA proposed regulation on its Web site as docket No. 03-080-1, says it was submitted for review on Oct. 1. An OMB official said traditionally it has 90 days to review proposed new regulations, but stressed the agency "likes to review rules as quickly as we can."... USDA Seeks Info On Japan BSE Case The USDA said on Monday that it was seeking more details about a new case of mad cow disease (BSE) in Japan that could impact plans to reopen U.S. borders to shipments of live Canadian cattle under 30 months of age. Japanese officials earlier confirmed the case of mad cow disease, the eighth in that country since the illness was first discovered there in September 2001. The twist is that this case is apparently a new strain of the disease and was found in a 23-month-old cow, raising new questions about what cattle may be considered safe... Montana Ag director urges trade changes Canada must remove trade barriers before the United States reopens its borders to live cattle exports, Montana's agriculture chief said Tuesday. Peck, who co-chairs a U.S.-Canada Working Group focusing on such issues, believes that federal officials must insist on equal treatment of U.S. producers to gain access to cattle, sheep and hog markets in Canada before the border is reopened to live cattle shipments... Royalty owners may receive millions A 6th Judicial District Court judge has ruled that BP can't deduct the cost of bringing natural gas to marketable condition from the royalties it pays some 4,000 lessors in La Plata and Archuleta counties. An attorney for the royalty owners estimated the ruling could mean hundreds of millions of dollars owed to lessors, but actual damages will be determined at a later hearing. Monday's ruling by Judge David Dickinson would affect the payments on the production of 600 gas wells since June 1, 1991... County cattle branding in the spotlight A new exhibit called "Cattle Branding: A Rancher's Signature" will open Thursday at the Merced County Courthouse Museum. The theme of the exhibit is that each brand tells its own story. When they come together, they present a pictorial history of cattle ranching in Merced County from the Miller & Lux cattle enterprise on the Westside to Crocker-Huffman's cattle operation in Eastern Merced County... Scottsdale ranch offers boot camp for cowboys Arizona Cowboy College was founded in 1989 by New Mexico native Lloyd Bridwell. He and his wife, Lori, had opened the equestrian center 20 years earlier. For almost a dozen years, the easygoing Lloyd served as head instructor, turning greenhorns into wranglers with two days instruction in town and four days on the trail... Western Drought (PBR Transcript) TED ROBBINS: For John Whitney, the current drought has been devastating. It helped force him out of the ranching business. JOHN WHITNEY: In 2000, we had to remove all because of the drought. TED ROBBINS: Whitney is in a former pasture, one of the few green areas on his 150,000-acre grazing lot. JOHN WHITNEY: The first year we took the cattle off, it was tough. But now... I still get emotional about it. TED ROBBINS: Much of the West is in the sixth consecutive year of drought. This map shows how bad it was this year. Snow pack and stream runoff in the red areas were 30-70 percent below normal. The drought has contributed to devastating forest fires, increased ground water consumption, and agricultural failure. Water levels in large storage reservoirs along the Colorado River, Lake Powell, and Lake Mead are down record levels... A two-lamb wagon With the lambs in tow, Gertrude and Mildred walked some distance away, then turned about so they were facing the barn at the end of the lane. Millie sat in the wagon, holding the lambs’ lead-ropes while Gertrude put her homemade harness on the pair. To get them going, Gertie whooped. The lambs took off hell-bent for election. Gertrude had planned to leap aboard the wagon behind Millie, but she missed, so she grabbed the tailgate and, like the stunt guy in an old Western movie, she ate dirt while being dragged...

NEWS ROUNDUP

Grazing to be curtailed in East Fork drainage The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is scheduled today to release a long-awaited environmental study and related management decisions on cattle grazing in the East Fork of the Salmon River valley on the eastern slope of the White Cloud mountains. The decision appears to reach a compromise position between proposed curtailment of grazing in the area and the status quo, which was deemed to be damaging to natural resources and recreation opportunities. In March, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft of the Upper and Lower East Fork Cattle and Horse Allotment Management Plans that proposed to reduce in half the size and scope of two grazing allotments used by seven Custer County ranchers...Bear Expert and Companion Killed in Bear Attack at Alaska Park A self-taught bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at their campsite when a pilot arrived who was supposed to take them to Kodiak, state troopers said Tuesday. Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Information on Huguenard was not immediately Available. The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, at the camp near Kaflia Bay... Official: Burned timber no longer salvageable "Little to no" merchantable timber likely remains in several fire-salvage sales stopped by an environmental lawsuit earlier this year, a Kootenai National Forest official said. Another summer of heat and drought probably dealt the final blow to thousands of board feet of timber damaged by wildfires during the summer of 2000, said Tom Maffei, timber sale contracting officer for the Kootenai forest. Twelve of 16 active timber sales and six of 26 planned sales stopped by a court order last July were intended to salvage burned trees. Still, Maffei said language attached to the Interior Appropriations Bill by U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., "would be helpful" in renewing work on the green timber sales and in completing restoration work in the burned areas... Editorial: Forest health may rely on fire prevention effort In a June study by the Northern Arizona University Forestry Department, "Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Restoration-Based Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments vs. No Treatment," G.B. Snider, D.B. Wood and P.J. Daugherty studied the conditions of forests in the early 1900s and compared them to current conditions. They compared the effects of wildfires then and now and determined that recent forest management practices have been a contributing cause to the out-of-control fires such as Rodeo-Chedeski in Arizona last year, which conservatively cost $300 million to suppress. This study says it would be more cost effective to spend $500 per acre to prevent forest fires rather than millions to suppress them once they've started. The authors summarize their findings by saying "each year that no action is taken to restore acres that are at highest risk for unnatural fire, the problem becomes worse. Fuels resulting from beetle outbreaks are contributing to the hazardous fuels build up." The actions that the authors recommend include drastic thinning of small-diameter timber and removal of dead and dying beetle- and drought-damaged trees... Mapping the Forest Disaster ESRI, the recognized world leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, is providing extraordinary support to our public safety officials who are striving to manage the effects of the drought and beetle infestation disaster in the San Bernardino Mountains. The company is also now providing free, detailed information to the public through a new Web portal...Forest officials forging ahead with marginal timber sale The Forest Service is moving ahead with a controversial timber sale south of here, even though it probably will lose money and irritate the neighbors while sawmills might not even want the logs. Since it was first proposed four years ago, its "purpose and need" was to provide cash so the Gallatin could buy land in the Taylor Fork drainage south of Big Sky from Big Sky Lumber Co. The "timber for land" provision in the BSL swaps was approved by Congress in 1998 and was a provision that Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., insisted upon. It called upon the Gallatin to sell $4.5 million worth of logs in several separate timber sales by the end of this year, or BSL would get land in the Bangtail Mountains northeast of Bozeman in exchange for its Taylor Fork land...Forest Service to use fire to improve game range A $7,000 grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will help the U.S. Forest Service get moving on a project designed to keep trees from taking over some important grasslands. The project calls for chopping down some small trees and lighting some controlled burns in meadows that elk and other wildlife rely on for winter forage. "We're trying to restore fire back into those areas," said Rachel Feigley, a biologist on the Gallatin National Forest's Livingston District... Saving a forest by cutting it The U.S. Forest Service is proposing cutting trees north of Vail to save a forest. This counter-intuitive approach is sure to become a controversial proposal for managing up to 10,000 acres of lodgepole pines north of Vail. The Forest Service contends that cutting a majority of the trees can actually improve lynx habitat and make the forest healthier and less prone to major wildfires. The approach is also being recommended by wildlife biologists and forest managers who are charged with making sure there is adequate habitat for the shy, tuft-eared feline and other animals... Native California plant taken off federal protection list A native California plant that has been federally protected for 13 years has recovered, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday in removing it from the endangered species list. The decision to remove Hoover's woolly-star from a list of threatened species comes after the discovery of new populations in three counties, the service said...Summit unveils land-use proposal Summit County planning officials unveiled a revised land-use plan Monday night that includes a toolbox full of smart growth measures. The proposal includes a development cap and a transfer-of-rights program aimed at steering development away from the backcountry and toward areas with existing infrastructure. While limiting growth, the goal also is to preserve the rural character of certain areas: for example the upper Snake River Basin, around Montezuma, and the Lower Blue Valley, north of Silverthorne...In the Northwest: Gas drillers poised along Rocky Mountain Front R.L. "Stoney" Burk is a country lawyer who has practiced for 21 years in Choteau. A decorated former fighter pilot, Burk is conservative to the core in his suspicions of federal power and the exercise thereof from Ruby Ridge, Idaho, to Waco, Texas. When it comes to oil and gas leasing on "the Front," he sounds like John Muir. "They'll road it, contaminate it, leave it and step on our faces on their way out," Burk said. "They've done it again and again in Montana." Fighting words, but there is much to fight for...Methane company fined $20,000 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has fined a coal-bed methane company $20,000 for unauthorized construction on federal land near the Powder River...BLM Sweetens Deal for Online Auction of Mustang Ranch It's not as easy to get rid of a brothel as you might think. The Bureau of Land Management has listed the Mustang Ranch on eBay for a second time. This time the agency is sweetening the deal. After the brothel failed to sell the first time around, officials add the naming rights and trademark "World Famous Mustang Ranch" to the package...Federal agency considers changes to NPR-A regulations The Bureau of Land Management is gathering public comment about proposed land-use plan changes that could allow more oil and gas development on a 4.6-million-acre portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The proposed changes for the northeast section of the reserve could make the requirements for development more flexible and better accommodate new production technology as it emerges, said Susan Childs, a BLM environmental program analyst...BLM separates roads from planning process for public lands As Utah's six Bureau of Land Management field offices develop plans for 9.9 million acres of public lands, the simple definition of what constitutes a road or trail promises to cause grief. That is why the agency's national office issued planning guidelines Monday that give field offices like those in Utah more time to complete route designations while they finish their resource management plans. Essentially, BLM will be able to produce the overall management plans before, and separate from, the road plans... Zuni Salt Lake threatened again The sanctity of the Zuni Salt Lake is again in jeopardy. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced earlier this month plans to possibly lease a part of a recently abandoned mine site to oil and gas development. The area, sacred to Zuni and other native people, had been under consideration as a coal mine by Salt River Project, an Arizona utility company...Bond referendum ignites water wars in Colorado It has pitted farmers against city folks, environmentalists against Front Range governments and conservative Republicans against the Republican governor. Although lawmakers intended a $2 billion bond referendum on Colorado's Nov. 4 ballot to find solutions for a record drought, it instead has ignited divisive water wars over how best to use and conserve the state's limited resource. Influential western Colorado politicians, lobbying groups and residents are concerned Referendum A will enable thirsty, populated areas in eastern Colorado to take their water with little regard for the region's future... Law of the lands Some people think Robert J. Miller, an Indian law scholar, specializes in an obscure area of legal academia. But the associate professor at Lewis & Clark Law School disagrees. Tribal sovereignty is quickly becoming one of the fundamental legal, economic and environmental questions of our time, said Miller, who is a member of the Eastern Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma... Legal battle centers on basin As 180 gallons of water gush from his well every minute, George Adam wonders how anyone can believe the Santa Maria Valley groundwater basin isn't full. Last year, Adam's family spent $48,000 for a tiling system to divert the water - which was flooding his 18-acre cauliflower field off Simas Road - to the nearby Solomon Slough and then to the ocean. Grower George Adam stands along a channel that cuts through a field leading water to the ocean. Adam says groundwater in the Santa Maria basin is plentiful and state water is not needed. Below, water pours out of an irrigation pipe into a channel that will eventually take the water to the ocean. He says rising water levels are a problem faced by many area farmers - and an indication that there is plenty of groundwater in the basin. Adam can cite charts and studies that bolster his claim. But then again, so can others who believe that groundwater demand has outstripped supply. Wednesday is the opening day of a trial in San Jose to determine just how much water is flowing in the valley's basin - and whether there is enough to go around... Another Bush Administration 'Leak' Says Group; Snowmobiles Leak Pollution into Yellowstone; Court to Decide Issue Before Winter Snowmobiles may be barred from nearly all of Yellowstone National Park this winter as a federal judge has announced that he will issue a ruling in the lawsuit filed by animal protection and environmental groups before the winter snowmobile season. The groups, suing to stop the White House's latest attack on the environment, have filed a legal brief illustrating how the Bush Administration has sold out Yellowstone to the snowmobile industry by allowing the use of polluting, noisy, and wildlife-harming machines despite its own studies that show exactly how harmful they are...Editorial: Congress, Bush must challenge Antiquities Act The problem is that the Antiquities Act consists of vague language. For example, there is no definition of what "historic" or "scientific" means in the act. It is left to each president to decide how he or she will define the term. To say that Clinton's use of the Antiquities Act caused some unrest would be a big understatement. We still feel the effects of his declaration today. While changing what already has been done might be difficult -- if not impossible -- there is room for improving the process to ensure such decisions aren't made by one person in the heat of a campaign, as it could be argued Clinton did to enhance presidential and congressional campaigns in the past. It's time for the president and Congress to pass another act that supersedes the Antiquities Act. The goal would not be to remove any chance of protecting public lands from development, but the process should have to be put through Congress... Some things technology won't helpGoing, going, gone. Our calves sold a week ago today on an Internet cattle auction. It's the latest technology to hit the cattle industry that once was as simple as a horse, a saddle and a man. None of it is so simple today. As I write, six semi-trucks sit ready to load as soon as the pasture is gathered and the calves are sorted and weighed. It's shipping day. It is part of the normal process of the cattle business. It is the once a year pay day for the rancher. This is where you very likely in today's economics of ranching, find out you worked all year for nothing... Balancing Cattle, Land and Ledgers Mr. Kahrle practices what is called sustainable ranching. By avoiding pesticides and relying more on range grass than feed grown with fertilizers, he says, he is helping to sustain the environment. By avoiding antibiotics and hormones, he is sustaining the quality of his beef. And by reducing his costs and becoming part of a network of distributors, retailers and chefs who care about what they are doing and are willing to pay for it, he is sustaining what is often an economically precarious way of life. "We use more of what nature gives us," Mr. Kahrle said. "It makes sense on every level." Mr. Kahrle is part of a small, growing group of ranchers and business owners who say the meat industry has cut so many corners for the sake of profit that the environment and the quality of beef have been compromised and small ranchers have been driven out of business. With recent outbreaks of disease, like mad cow in Canada, and a larger trend toward organic and humane treatment of animals, those out West in big hat country feel the time is ripe to market beef with a known history...Idaho cattle may open export market for Northwest An Idaho rancher who recently delivered nearly 800 cattle to a ship in The Dalles bound for South Korea may have helped open a national export market for ranchers in the Pacific Northwest. If the ship docks in the South Korean cities of Inchon and Busanin with healthy steers, the cattle fatten up to provide nicely marbled meat, and the export costs prove to be reasonable, the success could launch a $40 million annual market of exports from Oregon to South Korea...FISHING FOR HORSES But Jason Mercurio is the scion of a Monterey Bay commercial fishing family, grew up in Monterey and literally won his spurs as a cowboy and wrangler, competing against longtime ranching families at the Carmel Valley Ranchers Days held each year at the end of September. Mercurio, 23, took the Old Style Roping championship this year on the last day of Ranchers Days at the Carmel Valley Trail and Saddle Club, throwing a flawless figure-eight loop -- a California vaquero technique that allows a riata to catch a cow by both neck and forelegs -- while riding with partner Mollie Dorrance of Salinas...Last look at Happy Trails before move After forging happy trails in the High Desert for 35 years, family members of Western film icons Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are packin' up and movin' out. The Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum, which has fallen on hard times since the deaths of its namesake stars, is relocating to Branson, Mo., where country-western reigns supreme...

NEWS ROUNDUP

Tribes set to release forest plan The Klamath Tribes are nearing completion of a forest management plan for former reservation lands they hope to reacquire, according to the tribes' most recent newsletter. The plan will be a key piece of negotiations with the U.S. government to restore lands to the Tribes, according to the September issue of the "Klamath News," the monthly tribal newsletter. For about two decades, the Tribes have been trying to get land back from the U.S. government. The Tribes' reservation, which had about a million acres, was abolished when the Tribes were terminated in 1954. The Tribes regained federal recognition in 1986. The Tribes now hope to gain ownership of about 660,000 acres of former reservation land now owned by the U.S. Forest Service...Voting booths set up at firefighting scene Firefighters have contained a 6,050-acre blaze in the Mendocino National Forest, and some celebrated Sunday by getting involved in another California firestorm -- the recall vote. Firefighters fulfilled their civic duty Sunday in voting booths that the Glenn County Elections Office set up at the fire camp. As many as 800 firefighters are still fighting the fire, which could take weeks or months to completely control, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rebeca Franco said. Those who voted Sunday will have their ballots delivered to their home counties... Editorial: Wyden timber plan follows natural path Smokey Bear was wrong. So are many of his detractors. For generations, misguided forest officials attacked wildfires as soon as they started. Fire is a natural part of the forest cycle. By curbing smaller fires that removed shrubs and other fuels, humans opened the forests to the catastrophic blazes that we have witnessed in Southern Oregon and elsewhere. The answer is not to walk away from firefighting or from reforesting. It is to work in concert with nature -- carefully thinning fire-prone lands, swiftly assessing and restoring burned areas, protecting homes in and near forests and preserving old growth. Legislation guided by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon would lead America's Forest Service managers down that reasonable path. But it won't succeed unless the timber and environmental communities quit sniping at and distrusting each other... Environmentalists balk at plan for Idaho's old-growth timber An Idaho Department of Lands plan to increase old-growth timber harvests in northern Idaho has stunned conservation groups that already had threatened to sue the state for what they say was overcutting. Department Director Winston Wiggins said the proposed increase is driven by the growing preference among northern Idaho's lumber mills for smaller logs. Soon, he said, the mills will have no demand for larger trees... Editorial: Fining the feds The Utah Division of Air Quality is considering what to do about the recent Cascade Springs fire, which got away from the U.S. Forest Service officials who started it, spread over 8,000 acres and caused health warnings and difficult breathing in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys late last month. One option is to fine Uncle Sam up to $10,000 a day for violating the conditions of its controlled burn permit. It could be worth it... Nevada Rancher Sues Federal Government for 30 Million in Takings Suit (Longer Story) Colvin is following the litigation strategy set forth in the similar and successful case of his neighbor, Wayne Hage. Hage filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1991 after years of attempts by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to reclassify his rangelands as "public lands" and convert it to other uses. In the January 29, 2002 Final Decision and Finding of Fact, the Court ruled that Hage had "title to the fee lands", an area of land identified as his grazing allotment. The Court will determine the compensation owed Hage for the government taking of his property in a trial set for May 2004. "The Hage decision is important to hundreds of western ranchers who have been subjected to years government harassment and interference with their ranching operations. Nothing has changed for many ranchers under the Bush Administration. Clinton bureaucrats are still largely in control. But we now have a victory in Hage that provides other ranchers with a road-map showing them how to keep the government honest when they take our property," said Wayne Hage from his ranch in Monitor Valley, Nevada...Elite units take on arduous wildfire duties Matt Hennessy is happiest scaling a hillside, a saw in his hand, while flames lick close enough to singe his hair and smoke obscures anything more than 5 feet away. "I love it, it's a rush," said Hennessy, 23, of Riverside. "The whole side of the mountain is ripping and you're there to do your work." Hennessy isn't crazy. He's a hotshot... Conservationist backtracks on wolf remarks Lambasted by his fellow conservationists for remarks he made at a law conference in Missoula last week, National Wildlife Federation attorney Tom France issued a written statement Monday chiding the federal government for failing to recover the gray wolf "on suitable habitat across a significant portion of its historic range." "Removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the West is clearly premature," France said in a statement issued by the Wildlife Federation's Washington, D.C., office. However, the group's national communications director said France's comments at last week's Public Land and Resources Law Conference in Missoula caused "some difficulties" and were contrary to the federation's national wolf policy...For the original story with the comments, go here....U.S. inquiry targets Bush's $120 million oil rights buyout in Glades The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior has begun an inquiry into the Bush administration's $120 million buyout of oil rights in the western Everglades. The deal was intended to thwart a massive oil-drilling plan by the Collier family of southwest Florida, which held the mineral rights at Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. When the buyout was announced last year at a White House news conference, environmentalists gave the administration a rare round of applause in a crucial state for the 2004 election. But now the Interior Department's Inspector General's Office has begun reviewing the transaction. The Inspector General's Office would not comment. But Hugh Vickery, spokesman for the Interior Department, said the inquiry focused on how the administration arrived at the $120 million price...Agreement in Maine Will Remove Dams for Salmon's Sake But on Monday an unusual agreement was announced between a coalition of environmentalists and the power company that operates dams on Maine's largest river, an agreement many environmentalists believe stands a good chance of saving the struggling salmon, along with a dozen other species of faltering fish. Under the agreement, two dams on the sprawling Penobscot River are to be torn down, removing important barriers to salmon returning from the ocean to the river to spawn. A third dam will be decommissioned, and a bypass will be built around the structure so the salmon can pass. In exchange, the environmental coalition will pay the power company, the PPL Corporation, about $25 million. And PPL will be able to increase its power generation on six other dams on the Penobscot and its offshoots, recapturing about 90 percent of the power it will lose when the dams are demolished. The environmentalists also agreed to drop legal challenges to the relicensing of the dams by the federal government... Falcon Pair Stall Illumination Of Bridge A pair of peregrine falcons have stalled illumination of the port's Vincent Thomas Bridge. The lights won't be switched on until next summer so the pair can mate and raise their young in peace. Falcons are protected under the state Endangered Species Act. Supporters of the lights had hoped to see the outline of the region's largest suspension bridge ablaze with small blue lights by New Year's Eve. The idea was to transform the bridge into a showpiece...Interiorofficial rallies Republicans at annual barbecue The event's guest speaker -- Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior -- spoke about the vision Bush and Interior Secretary Gale Norton have for the agency and how it would affect the Santa Maria Valley. Scarlett said the Bush administration wants to move away from the "Washington knows best approach" regarding land issues, especially when it comes to the Endangered Species Act, which the department implements. "What we are trying to do is reorient how people think of endangered species," said the UC Santa Barbara alumna. During her speech, Scarlett said the nation's conservation agency plans to start looking at independent scientific reviews on endangered species and make land-management decisions based on those results. She added that the department wants to change its environmental policy so that it focuses more on combined efforts between land owners and the government. "Real conservatism springs from folks like yourselves working with the land," she said. Scarlett also talked about a "four point plan" the department is working on. Those four points are: Fiscal responsibility, better management, building partnerships and working at the local level, she said...Budget cuts forcing massive Fish and Game layoffs With cuts in January that reduced state game warden numbers from 400 to around 350 positions, reduced personnel in the California Department of Fish and Game is not an unfamiliar situation to the department's game wardens. Now over 140 more wardens could soon be eliminated from what many feel is an already depleted workforce... Agency resumes bull trout protection plan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials resumed work last week for the first time since April on a plan to protect Northwest bull trout habitat and the agency has found a new ally among Central Oregon irrigators. Just six months ago, Central Oregon ranchers and farmers braced for a fight with the federal agency that manages threatened and endangered species... Businesses welcome resumed river dredging After an eight-month delay, the final phase of the Petaluma River dredging project is under way and city tourism officials hope the work will help reverse a decline in boat traffic. About 85 percent of the work was completed last winter but work was halted in January when a large piece of debris damaged the motor of a suction dredge. By the time repairs were completed, spawning season had begun for endangered steelhead trout and the rest of the work had to be postponed...Sec. Norton Announces Agreement by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State of Colorado to Conserve Mountain Plover Interior Secretary Gale Norton has announced a new agreement with the State of Colorado to promote the conservation of mountain plovers on agricultural lands while providing assurances to farmers and ranchers that they will not be prosecuted for inadvertently violating a federal law protecting the birds. Mountain plovers are high prairie birds that nest in open areas such as farm and ranch fields. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR), participating farmers and ranchers agree to notify the state at least 72 hours before tilling their fields, allowing biologists to survey and flag plover nests. Farmers and ranchers also agree to till around the nests while gaining assurances they will not be prosecuted by the Department of Justice under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which strictly protects all migratory birds, if they accidentally harm a bird...Coyotes killing pets in Anchorage neighborhood Roaming coyotes apparently are targeting people's pets in an Anchorage neighborhood. Two coyotes killed a puppy running in the woods near its owners on a trail in the federal Campbell Tract within Far North Bicentennial Park. Just to the south, as many as a dozen cats and dogs have disappeared from the Zodiac Manor neighborhood... Interior defends roads deal to Congress Despite a congressional backlash and the threat of lawsuits, Interior Department officials have told members of Congress that they intend to go forward with the program to surrender federal ownership claims to miles of backcountry roads in Utah. Agency officials also say they have discussed developing similar road-release pacts with Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and San Bernardino County in California. But six months after the first-ever plan for resolving disputed road rights was agreed to by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Bureau of Land Management has not received a single request to disclaim any federal right of way in Utah... Ranchers seek compensation for wildlife eating too much grass Wyoming took a step Monday toward creating four pilot programs that would pay ranchers and farmers for "extraordinary" wildlife consumption of grass on their property. Extraordinary damage is already defined in law as consumption or use of grass in excess of normal consumption by wildlife that took place two years prior to the damage claim. The state's Legislative Service Office has been asked to review rules and regulations to see whether four regional pilot programs can be established for a temporary period to compensate agricultural producers...Avila Gets Third Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship Bob Avila and Remedys Magic Potion powered their way to an insurmountable lead late in the first section of the Cow Work Finals of the 34th Annual NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity on Sunday, October 5. The near-capacity crowd at the Reno Livestock cheered as the score of 221.5 was given, and the cheering increased when Announcer Mark Thompson noted that the composite of 660 (Herd - 214.5, Rein - 224) had made them the new leaders. The score held and the win gave Avila his third NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship and a check for $100,000 to split with his partners _ Doug Carpenter of Sulphur, Oklahoma and Alan and Kay Needle of Temecula, California...Easy does it: Horse whisperer talks softly, carries small stick Dennis Reis has spent as much time behind the wheel of his truck as he has astride a horse lately, but that's just fine by the cowboy who has traveled across the country on a mission. Reis has traveled to 29 states in recent months to stage seminars to promote both his own gentle technique of training horses and riders, and his campaign for a National Day of the Horse... Western Writers of America to Have Presence at WHA Conference Fact meets fiction when Western novelist Elmer Kelton, seven-time winner of the Spur Award, delivers the keynote address at the Oct. 10 banquet of the 43rd annual Western History Association Conference. Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of 600 fiction and nonfiction writers, will also staff a booth at the WHA conference, Oct. 8-11 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel. "The WHA meeting in Fort Worth will feature many WWA faces, including Elmer Kelton as the banquet speaker," said Paul Hutton, executive director of the WHA and president of the WWA. "This continues a growing tradition of convergence between the two organizations as they both work toward their mutual goal of promoting the best in western writing -- both fiction and nonfiction."...

Jim Beers on Wolves

"So 4 wolves killed 85 sheep in central Idaho in one weekend. But they only kill the sick ones. They only "balance" Mother Nature. They don't kill for "sport." It is "important" that they be reintroduced back to where a wiser generation eradicated them. They "don't" reduce game populations. They aren't "dangerous" to people. And so the Defenders of Wildlife and their US Fish & Wildlife partners tuck us all into bed.
They are on the verge of spreading like wildfire across the country. Between all the protection and unoccupied (by large canid competitors) habitat, and an ability to morph and adapt even greater than their more solitary coyote cousins they will spread like ink on a pain of glass. They WILL reduce deer, elk, moose, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, domestic dogs, horses, sheep, calves (and an occasional cow), and yes they will be a danger to unaccompanied children and older people under certain circumstances. They will learn to come into mall garbage sites for food scraps in the evening. They will follow deer into housing areas in the winter and be a hazard to dogs and schoolchildren. They (like the increasingly unmanaged and no-longer-harassed bears and cougars) will grow bolder around people and eventually attack adult joggers on trails or old folks walking their dog. And all the while the newspapers and TV folks will swallow and regurgitate the pap served up by the animal rights cults that wolves; like sharks, cougars, and bears “don't do that.” That people are "in their habitat." That the savaged person "behaved" incorrectly. That their habitat should be "saved" and people and homes and roads removed. That they have important “functions” in the ecosystem. Like the turkeys that were once claimed to “need” virgin forests or the Canada geese that were once said to be able to breed only in far northern marshes, the wolves will prove just how ignorant we are about their capabilities and “needs.”
The latest sleeping pill about what is happening is that places outside current “critical habitats” can manage the arriving wolves without Federal control (at this time.) Ah yes, like including “local governments” in planning committees we are assuaged. We are calmed by the “fact” that although 5 or 6 western states are having a lot of trouble it won’t be like that for “us.” As Bugs Bunny used to whisper, “sucker!” ".....

You can see all of the Jim Beers essays here

Court declines to consider challenge to Clinton monuments

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt praised the Supreme Court for refusing to consider a lawsuit challenging the creation of national monuments in five Western states.
The court reinforced the president's power to protect federal lands, Babbitt said Monday.
''I would suggest this is good news for future presidents,'' said Babbitt, who oversaw President Clinton's designation of 19 national monuments under the century-old Antiquities Act.
''This is a statement that the Antiquities Act continues in full force and will be available for future presidents to continue a centurylong tradition that has been extremely productive and helped shape our national park system and our system of refuges of all kinds,'' Babbitt said.
The Mountain States Legal Foundation of Denver, a conservative public interest law firm, said Clinton overstepped his authority in making the 2000 designations in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state.
And Tulare County, Calif., argued that restrictions on timber harvesting as a result of the designation of a California monument have turned the forest into ''virtual tinder boxes'' that threaten safety and property.
Bush administration lawyer Theodore Olson said lawsuits against the president over the designation of national monuments are not allowed.
Last October, an appeals court dismissed Mountain States' challenge, saying it failed to spell out how the proclamations exceeded the authority that had been conveyed by Congress. The Supreme Court on Monday let the appellate ruling stand.
Attorneys for the groups challenging the monuments did not return phone messages.
The Antiquities Act gives presidents the power to protect land threatened by development. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to use it to establish Devil's Tower in Wyoming as a national monument.
Since then, every president but Reagan and the two Bushes have used the power to create or expand a monument, establishing about 120 monuments spanning more than 70 million acres.
Clinton used the Antiquities Act to create 19 monuments and expand three others, protecting 5.9 million acres. State and local officials, ranchers, off-road vehicle users, oil and gas companies and others complained that his proclamations locked up too much land.
Babbitt said careful research went into decisions on boundaries. The Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona was cut almost in half because archaeologists said part of the area proposed for monument designation didn't warrant protection.
Jim Angell, the Earthjustice attorney who defended the monument designation, said that, in addition to reinforcing the appeals court decision supporting the president's authority to designate monuments, it put to rest an argument floated by the Bush administration that it had the power to shrink or eliminate monuments, as well as create them.
''Monuments have a strong public constituency and it would have been a pretty blatant affront to those constituencies to start shrinking or eliminating monuments,'' Angell said. ''This is the last nail in the coffin of that argument.''
The monuments that were the focus of the legal challenge are the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona; the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado; the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; and the Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington.
The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of planning how to manage the monuments. The lawsuits did not affect that work.
The cases are Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Bush, 02-1590, and Tulare County v. Bush, 02-1623.

The Pilgrim Family & The NPS

The Anchorage Daily News has run a two part story on the current controversy and the background of the Pilgrim family. Part one is Pilgrims vs. Park Service and is accompanied by Alaska offers test of RS 2477. Part two of the series is Papa's passage: A long-ago tragedy, fed-up neighbors, and a mysterious blue Chevy Corvette. This is an amazing article, which not only discusses the current controversy, but includes JFK, Judith Exner and John Connally. I recommend you read all three articles. For the most recent ALRA alert on this family go here. For additional background from the ALRA go here.

NEWS ROUNDUP

Let it burn; put it out The Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains are practically joined at the hip, but their relationship with fire has become a study in contrasts. For thousands of years, lightning-sparked fires crept across both ranges in a similar way, consuming fuel on the forest floor once or twice a decade. But in the past century, as the Catalinas were developed and the Rincons stayed primitive, federal officials were forced to handle fire quite differently in the neighboring mountains... State report says California sapping world's timber California's efforts to protect its own forest land is spurring more logging in other nations, particularly Canada, to feed construction in the nation's most populous state, according to a new state report...Archaeologists find evidence of Chinese camp in Sierra Archaeologists have uncovered evidence near this Sierra town of what's thought to be a Chinese logging camp that dates back to the 1870s. Artifacts found at the Tahoe National Forest site off Sawtooth Road include an ax head, metal files, opium can fragments, a Chinese medicine bottle and tableware fragments... National needs, local concerns The push to develop rich natural gas fields in the West has officials in three Colorado communities concerned the Bush administration is forgetting promises it made to give them influence over use of federal lands. La Plata and Garfield county commissioners are pleading for more environmentally friendly drilling techniques. The Grand Junction City Council was angered by what some saw as a federal failure to protect the local water supply...Use of hatchery salmon to boost wild runs raises thorny questions Many of the spawning salmon were born in the stainless-steel trays of hatcheries and are now being encouraged to mate in the rivers to try to boost the population of wild runs listed under federal Endangered Species Act. This practice raises a complicated and fundamental question in the multibillion-dollar regional effort to save wild Northwest salmon runs: When is a wild fish really wild, with the genetic smarts to help sustain healthy runs for generations to come?...Editorial: Environmentalists should be held accountable An absurd battle is brewing around a congressional act concerning public-lands grazing. The Senate recently adopted a provision to keep ranchers' grazing permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed. Environmentalists are up in arms over the provision, claiming it bypasses federal policy that requires environmental analysis be done before grazing permits are reissued. They want those reviews to justify grazing and want all grazing activity to cease until such assessments can be done...Comeback of prairie chickens a success story Thirty years ago, only about 600 greater prairie chickens remained, prompting a listing as a state endangered species. Now that number has swelled to an estimated 10,000, and the wildlife agency allows a limited hunting season that ranks as Colorado's most arcane adventure with a shotgun...Trinity River settlement eyed with suspicion A proposed settlement to a suit over sending more water down the Trinity River has sent a torrent of concern over Northern California officials who want to revive the river's salmon and steelhead runs. The proposal will be pitched by Westlands Water District, a main beneficiary of Trinity water, to Trinity County supervisors this week, and soon to supervisors in Humboldt County. Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham will outline an offer the irrigation giant has made to the U.S. Interior Department, which is defending its Trinity restoration plan against Westlands in federal court...Grazing Permits Amendment Comes Under AttackRecent land-use legislation to streamline the permit process for ranchers who graze cattle on public lands has some environmental groups crying foul. Adopted by the Senate on Tuesday, the provision seeks to keep ranchers' permits current until environmental reviews of their allotments are completed... Editorial: Norton puts wilderness at risk U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton violated common sense and her own promises by opening 3 million acres of fragile federal lands to energy drilling and off-road-vehicles (ORVs). In Colorado, 600,000 acres are at risk, including Western Slope scenic areas and wildlife habitat like the Roan Plateau, Vermillion Basin and Big Ridge. The new policy, announced last week, means the Bureau of Land Management won't preserve pristine qualities that make the areas eligible for wilderness designation. In a designated wilderness, mineral development is banned and motorized vehicles are prohibited except in emergencies. By letting ORVs and drill rigs into the areas, Norton will let their pristine nature be ruined - and so ensure that Congress never gets to consider them for wilderness designation...Regulation of the environment benefits the economy, says a White House report It came as a surprise, therefore, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently declared that environmental regulations are good for the economy. Looking at a variety of areas - education, energy, housing, health, labor, but mostly the environment - the Bush administration's budget office reported to Congress that "the estimated total annual quantified benefits of these rules range from $146 billion to $230 billion, while the estimated total annual quantified costs range from $36 billion to $42 billion." Of these totals, according to OMB, the yearly benefits of environmental regulations range from $121 billion to $193 billion, the costs from $37 billion to $43 billion. In other words, benefits of things like government-mandated clearer air and cleaner water outweigh costs by as much as 5 to 1...Animas-La Plata meeting may be illegal A closed-door meeting attended by proponents of the Animas-La Plata Project may have violated Colorado and New Mexico open-meeting laws, said opponents and a news-media lawyer... Public help is sought to solve deaths of 7 wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public for information in the deaths of seven Mexican gray wolves in Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico since March. Rewards of up to $10,000 are offered to anyone who can assist agents in the arrests of those responsible for the deaths of the wolves, a species that was reintroduced in 1998, said Victoria Fox, a service spokeswoman in Albuquerque...Norton names Montana BLM advisory members Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the appointment of 17 members to Montana's three citizen-based Resource Advisory Councils that advise the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on public land issues... A Dying Tradition Lehi resident Dale Hunter is a rancher at heart. "I love spending my summers up with the cattle," he said. "It gets me out and I get to see wildlife. It is a hands-on job, it's very enjoyable. You've just got to love that way of life. I grew up with it and my ancestors were always that way and so it was passed on to me. It is a good way of life." But urban sprawl is changing that. Hunter was recently forced to sell more than two-thirds of the farmland that had been in his family for generations because American Fork wanted to build a park. "I really wasn't ready to sell, but it got condemned by American Fork," he said. "They wanted it for its aesthetic value. If I could have it all back again it would be nice, but it is not the same when you have homes and subdivisions all around you." Hunter was one of 42 ranchers who spent Thursday and Friday participating in an agricultural ritual that is as old as the valley's pioneer settlements -- gathering their combined 2,273 cattle from the summer grazing range in Spanish Fork Canyon to take them home for the winter. He said it is a tradition that may have no future...National Park Service Launches New Web Site to Highlight Hispanic Heritage Parks National Park Service Director Fran Mainella today announced the availability of a new web site designed to highlight the importance of Hispanic Heritage Parks and the part they play in the nation's history. The new site titled, "Hispanic Heritage Parks: An Iberian Project," assists visitors in experiencing the nation's Hispanic heritage that is preserved and interpreted throughout the National Park Service... Woolly workers prove their worth They're nature's lawnmowers. But a sheepish plan to cut the grass on Alberta's right-of-ways with a small army of woolly workers is struggling to overcome a basic design flaw: the sheep keep jumping the fence... Editorial: Don't play with fire It seems the fire bill is not out of the congressional woods yet. The agreement between the Senate and the White House on a landmark bill to protect public forests from fire and disease could still get lost in a procedural thicket in Congress. It also could still be smashed by the old-growth-size egos of members of Congress angered by a take-it-or-leave-it letter from seven Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who reached the deal with the White House. House members don't have to like the letter or the process, but they should take seriously Wyden's threat to withdraw his support if the House starts tinkering with the deal. Wyden and other Senate Democrats have every reason to run, not walk, away if the House blows up their compromise... Stumbling Upon Wolf Tracks in the Northern Reaches of Yellowstone Three weeks ago I saw two wolf tracks in the mud of a creek bank high in Yellowstone National Park. It was old mud, from the last time the creek had overrun its banks, but the tracks had blurred only slightly. Each one was larger than my hand, fingers outstretched. Rain and snow blew in squalls across the valley, near the northern edge of the park. The long gravel beach was as gray as the clouds overhead, which dimmed and brightened minute by minute. I bent down to look at the tracks again and then returned to my fishing. But before long I reeled in and walked back over to the mud flat, just to reassure myself that the tracks were really there. They were... Democrats blasted for stalling Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., charged his Democratic colleagues with playing politics in stalling Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. "This boycott is nothing more than a political ploy by committee Democrats to try to influence the presidential election next year and disparage our president," Thomas said in a release... Crisis Looming: Demand for natural gas may produce next energy shortage Nationwide, as demand for natural gas grows and production from domestic supplies flattens out or declines, experts say the odorless, colorless gas -- the primary component of which is methane -- may be the source of the next energy crisis. Industry executives, analysts and politicians are all looking at ways to meet the nation's growing thirst for natural gas. Expanding supplies in the Rocky Mountains, offshore drilling and bringing in gas from overseas are all on the table... Goldwater Scholar Applauds Appeals Court Decision in Bailey Case, Warns Property Rights Still Not Safe in Arizona Goldwater Institute constitutional studies director Mark Brnovich applauded yesterday's decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals in the case of Bailey v. Myers, which pitted brake shop owner Randy Bailey against the City of Mesa. The Court ruled in favor of the Bailey family, holding that "Article 2, Section 17 of the Arizona Constitution prevents the City from taking the Baileys' property for this redevelopment project because the ultimate use of the property is not a public use. " But Brnovich also stated that the matter is far from settled. "Bailey and the Institute for Justice have won an important battle for Arizona property owners," he said. But the war is not over. First, Mesa may appeal the case to the Arizona Supreme Court, where Bailey's brake shop will face an uncertain outcome. Second, whatever happens in the Bailey case, the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down Arizona's 1997 redevelopment statute, which Brnovich sees as a primary cause of eminent domain abuse... With liberty and salmon for all The creators of Salmon Nation ask that you think of it as a real place, defined not by political boundaries, but rather by the mountains, rivers, estuaries and ocean waters where salmon hold a keystone position among living things -- a land stretching from Alaska to California. "Imagine, if you could, a society and an economy based on the natural character of the land," said Spencer Beebe, founder and president of Ecotrust, the Portland nonprofit group orchestrating the Salmon Nation campaign, with help from Patagonia and other sponsors... Smell on earth: Grass Mesa residents choking on fumes from gas drilling Doug Dennison says he doesn't doubt natural gas drilling smells give many western Garfield County residents headaches, makes them nauseous, and is hard on their sleep. "I've spent the better part of two nights on Grass Mesa," said Dennison, Garfield County's oil and gas auditor. "The smell is worse in the early morning." Grass Mesa resident Rebecca Brock said that in July she started smelling the four gas wells that operate about a mile from her house. "I had to close the windows, and almost roasted to death," Brock said. "I couldn't run the swamp cooler, because it sucked the smells in."...Mule rides halted at Grand Canyon The popular mule train rides from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park have been temporarily halted while canyon trails undergo maintenance. The mule rides, which ended in late September, could resume in about six months, according to Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which operates the rides along with lodges and restaurants at the South Rim...Lost sheep? Not on Dotti the llama's watch She is a 6-foot-tall creature with a shaggy body and a haughty air, her large brown eyes staring intently at a visitor who dares to approach her on a sunny afternoon. Dotti the llama has reason to be suspicious of strangers. Guarding sheep is a serious business. If Dotti is successful at her job, she will help a Humboldt County rancher resurrect the family's sheep farming business...Conservancy won't renew ranch lease The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy will not renew a lease next year with a local horse rancher after its board decided it could not rent out land purchased with public money to a private business. Jim Engel, the conservancy's executive director, said the recent decision was not influenced by a petition signed by about 35 residents complaining about Sue Gruber's Oso Ranch on Meyer Road... Glendive TV station is one-man operation As Ed Agre videotapes this small Montana town's annual parade, candy skids along the ground - thrown from a bank-sponsored float. Behind, farming tractors follow the local football team roaring from a flatbed truck. Though he looks like a proud grandfather trying to catch his grandchildren on tape, Agre, 66, is covering the news. He's news director, reporter and desk anchor for KXGN-Ch. 5 in Glendive, the smallest television news market in the nation. For a 100-mile radius, the only local broadcast news source from the Canadian border to southern Montana is KXGN, aka Ed Agre... Debts force cattle ranch liquidation Leachman Cattle Co. is going through a liquidation to pay off huge debts, likely marking the end of its world-renowned annual auction. Most ranch hands received their last paychecks Tuesday, and the fate of what's left of the ranch assets was being debated last week in Yellowstone District Court. Two ranches are on the block, along with the Leachman Cattle Co. name and the Hairpin brand...Future eyed in old dude ranch Interior Secretary Gale Norton is looking to an old dude ranch in Grand Teton National Park to help ensure the West's historic buildings do not simply rot away...Bison Burgers, for Humanity's Sake THREE years ago, Ted Turner's effort to restore the country's bison herds was such a success that it created a problem: a glut of bison meat. So Mr. Turner has started a restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill, where he is turning bison into burgers and, in the process, hoping to build what he calls "another great fortune.'' With little fanfare, Mr. Turner opened the first of the restaurants in 2002 and now has 11 of them in the South and West, five in this city alone. But as everyone knows, Mr. Turner thinks big. So it should come as no surprise that he has ambitious plans for what started as a simple experiment to see if he could create an appetite for bison...