Economics don't pan out for grazing buyout
By Crosby Allen
Fremont County, Wyo., commissioner
In case you have not yet seen this bill, here is a little insight on HR 3324, the "Voluntary Grazing Buyout Act."
This act would cause the appropriation of your tax dollars, by the federal government, to buy grazing permits from ranchers. These grazing areas would then be placed in non-grazing status and would no longer be used for grazing of any livestock.
The appropriation would be for $100 million, which would take approximately 571,000 animal unit months (AUMs) of grazing off BLM and national forestland.
If one rancher in the western states has a permit for 300 cow/calf pairs, for four months of summer grazing, this would equate to about 1,200 AUMs. Using this example, this taxpayer-funded buyout would remove about 475 ranchers from the ranges in the western states in one year.
Without public land grazing, these ranches will not be able to support the same number of cattle that they can with the public land grazing. The ranches that sell their grazing permits will be forced to do the following: 1) cease cattle production; 2) drastically reduce the number of cattle they are currently running; or, 3) subdivide their privately owned ranchlands to replace the income lost from their annual cattle sales (unless they are already wealthy).
Here's what this means to you. You are going to pay the cost of your own community's economic funeral.
As an example, let's say we have a typical rancher who runs 300 head of mother cows. Using central Wyoming as the location for the operation, the rancher would run about four months on BLM-managed land. While the cattle were summering on the BLM, the rancher would be irrigating and haying his base property (privately owned) in preparation for keeping the cattle on the private property for the remaining eight months of the year.
At first the cattle would graze the pasture when they come home; then, when the pasture snows under or runs out, the hay would be fed to the animals until the next grazing season, when the cattle would be turned back out on the BLM managed land and the annual cycle would begin anew.
Now, let's say this same rancher takes the buyout and sells his BLM grazing permit. He would sell his 1,200 AUMs (300 pair x 4 months) for $175 per AUM, which would equal $210,000.
Most of this amount would most likely go to pay off his bills and maybe buy a new pickup, which would be a short-term injection into the local economy. However, the long-term effect will be devastating to the local economy.
You see, while the public ground under the BLM grazing permit supported 1200 AUMs, the base property (privately owned by the rancher) would have to support about 2400 AUMs which would require at least 100 head of mother cows be sold, as the remaining operation would not longer be able to support 300 pairs without the public grazing permit.
When the rancher was fully stocked at 300 pair, he would sell about 285 calves weighing 475 lbs each at a price of $425 totaling $121,125. Now that he has sold his grazing permit, he can only run about 200 pair (actually less than that, but for simplification of math we'll use 200). Now, after the buyout, he will sell about 190 calves at 475 lbs each at a price of $425 totaling $80,750. This is a difference of $40,375.
Now let's use University of Wyoming figures that estimate that one dollar will turn over in a community six times before it falls out of local circulation. When we multiply the $40,375 by six, we see that $242,250, approximately one-quarter of a million dollars, is lost from the local economy each and every year thereafter.
This example illustrates the negative economic impact to a local economy from just one rancher selling his grazing permit back to the government. The total effect from HR 3324, the "Voluntary Grazing Buyout Act," would be over $115 million that would come out of local western economies in just one year, and these economies would suffer this loss directly every year after that.
In other words, the feds will use $100 million (of your tax dollars) to cause your local western economies to suffer an approximate loss of $115 million this year and every year after.
If you know someone who works at a bank, sells gasoline or diesel, sells clothing, sells ranch and cattle supplies or equipment, works in or owns a restaurant or a grocery store, is or works for a veterinarian, drives a cattle truck or works at the livestock auction barn, then you know someone who is going to take a direct economic hit from this "buyout."
You, as a citizen making your living in one of the western states, your family and your friends, will suffer the indirect economic hit resulting from the lack of this economic activity occurring from the grazing of livestock on public lands.
This buyout is an agenda being driven by people who want all cattle off all public land. Guess what, Phase Two of their agenda is to drive all cattle off all private land.
I hope this sheds some light on this simple but critically important issue. If you feel it's important, maybe you ought to share your thoughts with your friends, neighbors, and elected officials. This example uses conservative, average numbers and is simplified for the purposes of illustration. An exact accounting and use of actual costs of production and actual market values would show the actual negative economic impact to local economies to be significantly higher.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
OPINION/COMMENTARY
First, Do No Household Harm
The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a bill that would impose mandatory restrictions on emissions of greenhouse gases, affecting practically every business and consumer in the country.
While supporters claim that the climate-change legislation, S.139, introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), has been toned down in response to concerns about its negative economic effects, a new study by Charles River Associates finds that the impact would still be dramatic -- a cost of between $350 and $1,300 per family per year through 2020.
At a minimum, the study found, "refined petroleum product prices would rise by 12 percent to 16 percent" even under the milder, amended McCain-Lieberman bill. Under the most optimistic assumptions, "the associated consumer costs are estimated to be $350 per household in 2010, rising to $530 per household by 2020."
Coming on top of separate new research that shows clearly that the 20th Century is not the warmest period on record, the Charles River study should discourage Senators concerned about the uncertain U.S. economic recovery from approving McCain-Lieberman -- which would raise energy costs, reduce consumer spending, and kill jobs...
Another Setback for Kyoto
Coming on the heels of Russia's apparent decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the Wall Street Journal reports that the European Union's efforts to implement the agreement on their own may be stalling.
The EU is having trouble keeping its promises to cut so-called greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, by 8 percent from 1990 levels by the end of the decade.
--Based on current trends, the European Environment Agency predicts emissions will fall only 4.7 percent by the time the targets become binding between 2008 and 2012.
--Furthermore, the European Parliament is delaying consideration of a bill to regulate the trading of credits for greenhouse gas emissions reductions -- risking a 2005 deadline for implementation.
--Use of pollution credits would allow the EU to cut its Kyoto bill by about 20 percent from an estimated 3.4 billion euros.
Furthermore, EU diplomats say some governments are backing away from promises to give aid to poorer countries.
--The EU, along with several industrialized nations, promised two years ago to contribute $523 million to developing countries beginning in 2005 to help them combat greenhouse gas emissions.
--But EU environment ministers meeting Monday in Luxembourg failed to agree on the share each country will contribute, with Spain, Greece and Portugal arguing that they are poorer than their Northern European counterparts.
--The southern European countries want their combined contribution reduced by about 20 million (Euro) a year -- but countries are supposed to pay in proportion to their pollution, not their gross domestic product.
Source: Victoria Knight (Dow Jones Newswires), "EU Effort to Fight Global Warming Hits Money Snag," Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2003.
George W. AlGore?
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) recently sued over the Bush administration's adoption of the thoroughly debunked National Assessment in the 2002 report to the U.N. The basis for the suit is the Federal Data Quality Act (FDQA), a new law intended to prevent the circulation of flawed data by government agencies. Thus far, the Bush administration has evaded every private-sector attempt to employ the FDQA. In its efforts to defend the indefensible National Assessment, the administration continues to fight against judicial enforcement of the FDQA, threatening to emasculate the law in the process.
The National Assessment is fatally flawed. It employs computer models that are proven to project climate less capably than a table of random numbers. Though the models also carry disclaimers admitting their futility at producing regional and even national results, the Assessment nonetheless purports that they detail dire calamities broken down with specificity even to the state level.
CEI's suit challenging the Assessment's junk science places "global-warming" alarmism before the courts. In response, the administration is not just protecting the National Assessment: The word is out on K Street that the White House will actively seek to eviscerate the FDQA and its troublesome requirement that data disseminated by the government be objective and have utility for its intended purpose. According to the Bush administration, regulators cannot be held to FDQA's requirements. By implication, their position is that the sole regulatory reform achieved by the Republican Congress contains nothing but toothless exhortations of regulators to do the right thing...
First, Do No Household Harm
The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a bill that would impose mandatory restrictions on emissions of greenhouse gases, affecting practically every business and consumer in the country.
While supporters claim that the climate-change legislation, S.139, introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), has been toned down in response to concerns about its negative economic effects, a new study by Charles River Associates finds that the impact would still be dramatic -- a cost of between $350 and $1,300 per family per year through 2020.
At a minimum, the study found, "refined petroleum product prices would rise by 12 percent to 16 percent" even under the milder, amended McCain-Lieberman bill. Under the most optimistic assumptions, "the associated consumer costs are estimated to be $350 per household in 2010, rising to $530 per household by 2020."
Coming on top of separate new research that shows clearly that the 20th Century is not the warmest period on record, the Charles River study should discourage Senators concerned about the uncertain U.S. economic recovery from approving McCain-Lieberman -- which would raise energy costs, reduce consumer spending, and kill jobs...
Another Setback for Kyoto
Coming on the heels of Russia's apparent decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the Wall Street Journal reports that the European Union's efforts to implement the agreement on their own may be stalling.
The EU is having trouble keeping its promises to cut so-called greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, by 8 percent from 1990 levels by the end of the decade.
--Based on current trends, the European Environment Agency predicts emissions will fall only 4.7 percent by the time the targets become binding between 2008 and 2012.
--Furthermore, the European Parliament is delaying consideration of a bill to regulate the trading of credits for greenhouse gas emissions reductions -- risking a 2005 deadline for implementation.
--Use of pollution credits would allow the EU to cut its Kyoto bill by about 20 percent from an estimated 3.4 billion euros.
Furthermore, EU diplomats say some governments are backing away from promises to give aid to poorer countries.
--The EU, along with several industrialized nations, promised two years ago to contribute $523 million to developing countries beginning in 2005 to help them combat greenhouse gas emissions.
--But EU environment ministers meeting Monday in Luxembourg failed to agree on the share each country will contribute, with Spain, Greece and Portugal arguing that they are poorer than their Northern European counterparts.
--The southern European countries want their combined contribution reduced by about 20 million (Euro) a year -- but countries are supposed to pay in proportion to their pollution, not their gross domestic product.
Source: Victoria Knight (Dow Jones Newswires), "EU Effort to Fight Global Warming Hits Money Snag," Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2003.
George W. AlGore?
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) recently sued over the Bush administration's adoption of the thoroughly debunked National Assessment in the 2002 report to the U.N. The basis for the suit is the Federal Data Quality Act (FDQA), a new law intended to prevent the circulation of flawed data by government agencies. Thus far, the Bush administration has evaded every private-sector attempt to employ the FDQA. In its efforts to defend the indefensible National Assessment, the administration continues to fight against judicial enforcement of the FDQA, threatening to emasculate the law in the process.
The National Assessment is fatally flawed. It employs computer models that are proven to project climate less capably than a table of random numbers. Though the models also carry disclaimers admitting their futility at producing regional and even national results, the Assessment nonetheless purports that they detail dire calamities broken down with specificity even to the state level.
CEI's suit challenging the Assessment's junk science places "global-warming" alarmism before the courts. In response, the administration is not just protecting the National Assessment: The word is out on K Street that the White House will actively seek to eviscerate the FDQA and its troublesome requirement that data disseminated by the government be objective and have utility for its intended purpose. According to the Bush administration, regulators cannot be held to FDQA's requirements. By implication, their position is that the sole regulatory reform achieved by the Republican Congress contains nothing but toothless exhortations of regulators to do the right thing...
NEWS ROUNDUP
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Forest Service retirees chide firefighting litigation Calling it "ridiculous" and "irresponsible," the National Association of Forest Service Retirees on Tuesday lambasted a lawsuit filed against the agency by current employees who want an evaluation of the environmental and social effects of wildland firefighting. "It is so outrageous, it boggles my mind," said Richard Pfilf, executive director of the 250-member retirees' group. Retirees lodged their objection in a news release out of Alexandria, Va., saying they are "alarmed by the total lack of responsibility demonstrated" by the lawsuit. In an interview, Pfilf said the lawsuit would attempt to stop the use of chemical retardants while the EIS was prepared, a process that could take years. "Forest Service retirees wonder how anyone can be so irresponsible as to demand stopping the use of retardant to prepare an EIS when Santa Ana winds are now pushing an inferno through Southern California communities," he said. In his news release, Pfilf went further: "FSEEE mischievously contrived this lawsuit as a way to interfere with and subvert proven, effective methods of fighting forest fires. "Claiming possible detriment to fish, should retardant accidentally fall into a water body, and citing a number of deaths of firefighters over the years, the suit fails to mention or equate stream habitat saved by fire suppression and the human lives saved by the use of retardant."...Groups file lawsuit over Kootenai forest timber sale Environmentalists filed another lawsuit against the Kootenai National Forest on Tuesday, hoping to stop a 12.5 million-board-foot timber sale they believe would pollute an already degraded stream. At almost the same time, not knowing a lawsuit had been filed, the Forest Service awarded a contract for the Garver timber sale to Riley Creek Lumber Co. - which bid $1.3 million over the advertised price of $230,000. Filed by Alliance for the Wild Rockies and The Lands Council, the complaint seeks to stop the Garver sale on grounds it violates the Clean Water Act and destroys habitat for species that depend on old-growth trees...House Conferees Backpedal on Protection of Public Lands Conferees from the House and Senate voted last night to reject attempts to protect national parks and monuments, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas from a Bush Administration rule that could turn cow paths and jeep tracks into thousands of miles of bulldozed highways. The joint House-Senate FY 2004 Interior Appropriations Conference approved a conference report that fails to include a bipartisan House provision aimed at limiting a controversial Bush administration regulation. This House provision would have limited the Bush administration from moving forward with efforts to allow BLM to recognize rights-of-way across public lands where there are now little more than footpaths. The Interior Department funding bill now goes back to both houses for final passage...Environmental group plans to sue agency The Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project plans to sue the U.S. Forest Service to stop a large-scale thinning and logging project in the Metolius Basin, according to the environmental group's executive director. Karen Coulter said Monday that her group would file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court because the federal agency denied the organization's appeal of the project. That denial was issued Oct. 17. Coulter said the lawsuit would seek to prohibit the Forest Service from allowing large and old-growth trees to be logged and to prevent the agency from allowing activities that could harm soil productivity...Congress feels heat on logging proposals The wind-whipped wildfires scorching Southern California are providing momentum for legislation moving through Congress to speed thinning of dense forests and brush on public lands throughout California and the West. The fast-moving blazes that have already consumed more than 400,000 acres, destroyed 1,100 homes and claimed at least 13 lives are being cited as exhibit A by advocates of President Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative" as well as by those supporting a compromise proposal being pushed by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to thin at least 20 million acres of land at high risk of a catastrophic fire. On Friday, even before the wildfires raged out of control, House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, urged the Senate to "wake up and smell the smoke" and rally behind a House-passed bill that encompasses much of Bush's original proposal to limit administrative appeals and court challenges for logging and brush-clearing projects. But critics say they fear the hysteria over deadly wildfires in California will help gain approval for a bill that could increase logging in old-growth forest areas and curtail the rights of citizens to challenge Forest Service decisions...Environmentalists suspicious over Bush's Healthy Forest plan "They're working on public fear that a big, catastrophic fire is going to come eat my home," said Deb Robison, a Sierra Club organizer in Boulder, Colo. "The problem is, this won't really protect people's homes." Environmentalists sense a logging giveaway. They accuse the administration of eliminating the threat of forest fires by cutting down forests. And they contend that the fuel-reduction approach is going largely to the wrong places. Rather than thin the woods close to developed areas, they say, Bush is opening too much of the backcountry. Logging there will bring more roads into more wilderness, they say, and bring more fire-starting human activity into the backcountry...Column:Greens' blues over Bush off key A prime example just arrived in the mail from actor Robert Redford on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Redford's fund-raising letter accuses Bush of "waging a sweeping attack on our environmental laws," of "cynical new policies ... (that) will enrich giant corporations even as they increase pollution and destroy some of our most treasured wild lands" and of "allow(ing) 17,000 of the nation's worst polluters to spew more toxic chemicals into our air and harm the health of millions of Americans." When the administration recently announced possible removal of Endangered Species Act protection for Oregon coastal coho salmon because of the species' return to Oregon rivers in record numbers, the National Wildlife Federation accused Bush of "abrogating responsibility" while the Native Fish Society called it "a political fix." The Greens' hatred for Bush's environmental programs is no mystery. To them, Clinton-Gore -- with Bruce Babbitt at Interior -- ranks as the all-time dream-team of environmental politics. So close was the partnership between Clinton-Gore and the vast network of eco-activist organizations that no appreciable differences in their agendas are detectable. Now, viewed from the far left end of the environmental spectrum, each of Bush's programs to balance environmental protection with concern for the lives and livelihoods of people is regarded, and portrayed to the public, as a radical departure from the glory days of Clinton-Gore...Plan to save endangered toad hailed as 'astute compromise' The endangered Houston toad is making more friends among the pines and sandy soil east of Austin. They include weekend farmers and other residents of Bastrop County who have helped compile a conservation plan to save the palm-size amphibian from extinction. A two-volume, 300-page Lost Pines habitat conservation plan compiled by a 15-member citizens' work group is under review by the county attorney's office. By April, it is expected to be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is responsible under the federal Endangered Species Act for ensuring the survival of the 3.5-inch-long amphibian...Guinn urges panel to finish sage grouse plan Gov. Kenny Guinn urged a state panel Tuesday to complete a conservation plan to protect sage grouse in Nevada before a possible listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. Guinn appointed the committee made up of representatives of various interest groups and government agencies in 2000 and charged them with developing a conservation strategy to protect the birds and their sagebrush habitat...Rare sighting: Ranchers and farmers join efforts to save a bird Ken Morgan knows it isn't often that significant conservation deals begin with dozens of cups of coffee sipped around kitchen tables in farm country. But with the possibility of yet another species being added to the federal protected list, biologist Morgan asked a smattering of farmers to consider an unusual proposition: Identify, and then acknowledge that endangered mountain plovers nest on their land. In a surprising move of cooperation, the overall-clad agrarians agreed, even if it meant environmentalists could someday use the information against them to justify increased regulation of their land as plover habitat. In this litigious era when the fate of more and more species is being decided in courtrooms, the idea of farmers and ranchers willingly divulging the location of rare animals on the back 40 might seem counterintuitive...Park Service will study 'parasite' bird The National Park Service at Grand Canyon plans to study the possibility of trapping a species of bird that causes problems because it lays eggs in the nests of other birds -- namely the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. Grand Canyon Deputy Superintendent Kate Cannon recently wrote a letter to the Center for Biological Diversity to let it know that the Park Service would conduct a environmental analysis of capturing and removing brown-headed cowbirds. The analysis also will examine other alternatives. The Center wrote the Grand Canyon superintendent in August, critical of the park for ignoring recommendations of a 1996 report that suggested the cowbird was causing problems for the endangered species...Authorities kill 3rd male wolf For the third time, a male wolf joining the Green River pack in Wyoming has had to be killed because of depredations on livestock in the area. The pack, which roams southwest of Grand Teton National Park, has had a consistent alpha female but a revolving door when it comes to male leadership. Federal Wildlife Services, working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has had to shoot three males that have joined the pack successively -- each entering the picture when another is removed...Man sought after assault on ranger One man has been arrested and the search for another continued this morning in connection with shooting at a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger in the Red Hills area west of Jamestown yesterday. John James Heller, 20, booked on suspicion of drug possession, remained in custody this morning in lieu of $10,000 bail...Column: Horse (Non) Sense Wild horses is an oxymoron. Wild equines did evolve in the Western Hemisphere, but they also started going extinct here millions of years ago. The last native, truly wild horses vanished from North America in advance of mammoths, camels, and even lumbering giant ground sloths. The two species of so-called wild horse and donkey at large on our prairies, plains, and deserts today were never originally on this continent but are the result of Spaniards' and prospectors' losing their livestock -- or cutting it loose to get rid of it. These feral horses and donkeys are about as wild as stray cats and park pigeons. Like many feral animals, they are whizzes at exploiting newfound habitats. As anyone who has ever followed a parade can testify, they are blessed with "straight-through" digestive systems that let them flourish on a high-fiber, low-nutrient diet. They can reproduce at an annual rate of 15 percent, potentially doubling their population every five years. And predators have never represented a threat: In the early 1800s, when it was seemingly possible to walk (rather briskly, to be sure) on the backs of wolves and grizzly bears from the Mississippi to the Pacific, feral horses were estimated to number 2 million...BLM boosts bonds for oil, gas wells Under the proposed rules, oil and gas companies will have to pay $20,000 in bonds for wells they drill in a particular lease areas. This is double the current rate of $10,000. Bonds for statewide leases, or for wells drilled in federal lands within a particular state, would jump three times to $75,000 from the current rate of $25,000. Bonds for nationwide leases, however, would remain unchanged at $150,000...Column: SUWA on the Defense: Rich Enviro Group Things must be heating up in southern Utah. A rich, Salt Lake City-based environmental group has charged into the middle of recent events involving Kane County’s push for equal treatment of road signage in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). On Saturday, all Garfield and Kane County post office box holders received an arrogant letter from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), informing them that their elected county officials “took actions that lack common sense and may not be in your best interest.” It looks like SUWA is attempting to instill fear into the hearts of private property owners, a large segment of those who received the mailing, by suggesting that the Federal R.S. 2477 law might someday encroach upon them by building a road across their land. SUWA, an environmental organization that has fought legal application of R.S. 2477 for years, deliberately ignores the fact that R.S. 2477 relates to rights-of-way “over public lands”, not over private lands...Park Service Studying Hacienda Casino Purchase The National Park Service has sought for decades to purchase the Hacienda casino, located within what is now the Lake Mead National Recreation Area along U.S. Highway 93 west of Boulder City and long considered an aberration at the entrance to one of the most-visited parks in the nation. After decades of waiting, the Park Service may now have its chance. The owners of the Hacienda Hotel & Casino have recently approached Lake Mead officials about possibly selling the property, an action that has triggered a government-funded appraisal and hazardous materials review of the site that is expected by March, National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said...Saving suckers with a shock Endangered suckers still lingering in the A Canal are in for a shock. An electric shock. Fishery biologists with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last week began to "salvage" suckers trapped in the receding waters of the A Canal, which was shut off for the season on Oct. 15. The operation involves sending an electric current through a pool of water, which harmlessly stuns the fish and sends them floating to the top. The fish are then gathered up and carted by pickup to Upper Klamath Lake so they don't dry up with the canal, stay trapped in isolated pools or become lunch for a gull, said Rich Piaskowski, a fishery biologist with the Bureau...Make Way for Buffalo This forlorn farm town — Rawson, population 6 — is a fine place to contemplate the boldest idea in America today: rescuing the rural Great Plains by returning much of it to a vast "Buffalo Commons." The result would be the world's largest nature park, drawing tourists from all over the world to see parts of 10 states alive again with buffalo, elk, grizzlies and wolves. Restoring a large chunk of the plains — which cover nearly one-fifth of the lower 48 states — to their original state may also be the best way to revive local economies and keep hamlets like Rawson from becoming ghost towns. It sounds cruel to say so, but towns like Rawson are a reminder that the oversettlement of the Great Plains has turned out to be a 150-year-long mistake, one of the longest-running and most costly errors in American history. Families struggled for generations to survive droughts and blizzards, then finally gave up and moved on. You can buy a home out here for $3,000, and you can sometimes rent one for nothing at all if you promise to mow the lawn and keep up the house. The rural parts of the Great Plains are emptying, and in some cases reverting to wilderness...PETA plans shareholder campaign against restaurant company An animal-rights group that has pressured fast-food companies is turning its attention to Brinker International Inc., owner of casual-dining chains including Chili's. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday it has bought 110 shares of Brinker to pressure the company on the raising and slaughter of animals used to fill the restaurants' menus. PETA said owning the shares would give it the right to speak at shareholder meetings and offer resolutions calling for tougher standards for animal care...R-CALF cautiously optimistic on COOL rules The mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) rules released Monday by USDA were met with cautious optimism by the cattle association that helped write the law in the 2002 Farm Bill. Leo McDonnell, President of R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) said the group's preliminary analysis of the rules reveals significant improvements over the voluntary guidelines released by USDA last November, but there are still some issues that need to be addressed. "For the most part, the process is working as USDA has clarified and corrected a number of deficiencies contained in its first draft," he said. McDonnell said the improvements indicate USDA has listened to industry concerns and has taken steps to address these concerns in a meaningful way...50% Chance Of Australian/US FTA The chances of finishing an Australian-U.S. free trade agreement were described as "better than 50 percent" Sunday by Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile. Vaile also defended AWB Ltd. -- the former Australian Wheat Board -- against charges it may have been involved in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq under an Oil For Food contract for Australian wheat with unusually high prices, as was first reported on DTN. Told by an interviewer on the Australian television program Sunday Sunrise that if the FTA is not signed by Christmas, the consensus is the deal won't be done, Vaile said, "[I] still think it's probably better than 50 percent, but it's very hard to tell. It's a very comprehensive and complex negotiation. We have been given a short time frame to do it in by comparison to other negotiations. It's a matter now of matching the political will with the energy from our negotiating teams and focusing on finding answers to some of the more sensitive issues."...
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Forest Service retirees chide firefighting litigation Calling it "ridiculous" and "irresponsible," the National Association of Forest Service Retirees on Tuesday lambasted a lawsuit filed against the agency by current employees who want an evaluation of the environmental and social effects of wildland firefighting. "It is so outrageous, it boggles my mind," said Richard Pfilf, executive director of the 250-member retirees' group. Retirees lodged their objection in a news release out of Alexandria, Va., saying they are "alarmed by the total lack of responsibility demonstrated" by the lawsuit. In an interview, Pfilf said the lawsuit would attempt to stop the use of chemical retardants while the EIS was prepared, a process that could take years. "Forest Service retirees wonder how anyone can be so irresponsible as to demand stopping the use of retardant to prepare an EIS when Santa Ana winds are now pushing an inferno through Southern California communities," he said. In his news release, Pfilf went further: "FSEEE mischievously contrived this lawsuit as a way to interfere with and subvert proven, effective methods of fighting forest fires. "Claiming possible detriment to fish, should retardant accidentally fall into a water body, and citing a number of deaths of firefighters over the years, the suit fails to mention or equate stream habitat saved by fire suppression and the human lives saved by the use of retardant."...Groups file lawsuit over Kootenai forest timber sale Environmentalists filed another lawsuit against the Kootenai National Forest on Tuesday, hoping to stop a 12.5 million-board-foot timber sale they believe would pollute an already degraded stream. At almost the same time, not knowing a lawsuit had been filed, the Forest Service awarded a contract for the Garver timber sale to Riley Creek Lumber Co. - which bid $1.3 million over the advertised price of $230,000. Filed by Alliance for the Wild Rockies and The Lands Council, the complaint seeks to stop the Garver sale on grounds it violates the Clean Water Act and destroys habitat for species that depend on old-growth trees...House Conferees Backpedal on Protection of Public Lands Conferees from the House and Senate voted last night to reject attempts to protect national parks and monuments, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas from a Bush Administration rule that could turn cow paths and jeep tracks into thousands of miles of bulldozed highways. The joint House-Senate FY 2004 Interior Appropriations Conference approved a conference report that fails to include a bipartisan House provision aimed at limiting a controversial Bush administration regulation. This House provision would have limited the Bush administration from moving forward with efforts to allow BLM to recognize rights-of-way across public lands where there are now little more than footpaths. The Interior Department funding bill now goes back to both houses for final passage...Environmental group plans to sue agency The Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project plans to sue the U.S. Forest Service to stop a large-scale thinning and logging project in the Metolius Basin, according to the environmental group's executive director. Karen Coulter said Monday that her group would file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court because the federal agency denied the organization's appeal of the project. That denial was issued Oct. 17. Coulter said the lawsuit would seek to prohibit the Forest Service from allowing large and old-growth trees to be logged and to prevent the agency from allowing activities that could harm soil productivity...Congress feels heat on logging proposals The wind-whipped wildfires scorching Southern California are providing momentum for legislation moving through Congress to speed thinning of dense forests and brush on public lands throughout California and the West. The fast-moving blazes that have already consumed more than 400,000 acres, destroyed 1,100 homes and claimed at least 13 lives are being cited as exhibit A by advocates of President Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative" as well as by those supporting a compromise proposal being pushed by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to thin at least 20 million acres of land at high risk of a catastrophic fire. On Friday, even before the wildfires raged out of control, House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, urged the Senate to "wake up and smell the smoke" and rally behind a House-passed bill that encompasses much of Bush's original proposal to limit administrative appeals and court challenges for logging and brush-clearing projects. But critics say they fear the hysteria over deadly wildfires in California will help gain approval for a bill that could increase logging in old-growth forest areas and curtail the rights of citizens to challenge Forest Service decisions...Environmentalists suspicious over Bush's Healthy Forest plan "They're working on public fear that a big, catastrophic fire is going to come eat my home," said Deb Robison, a Sierra Club organizer in Boulder, Colo. "The problem is, this won't really protect people's homes." Environmentalists sense a logging giveaway. They accuse the administration of eliminating the threat of forest fires by cutting down forests. And they contend that the fuel-reduction approach is going largely to the wrong places. Rather than thin the woods close to developed areas, they say, Bush is opening too much of the backcountry. Logging there will bring more roads into more wilderness, they say, and bring more fire-starting human activity into the backcountry...Column:Greens' blues over Bush off key A prime example just arrived in the mail from actor Robert Redford on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Redford's fund-raising letter accuses Bush of "waging a sweeping attack on our environmental laws," of "cynical new policies ... (that) will enrich giant corporations even as they increase pollution and destroy some of our most treasured wild lands" and of "allow(ing) 17,000 of the nation's worst polluters to spew more toxic chemicals into our air and harm the health of millions of Americans." When the administration recently announced possible removal of Endangered Species Act protection for Oregon coastal coho salmon because of the species' return to Oregon rivers in record numbers, the National Wildlife Federation accused Bush of "abrogating responsibility" while the Native Fish Society called it "a political fix." The Greens' hatred for Bush's environmental programs is no mystery. To them, Clinton-Gore -- with Bruce Babbitt at Interior -- ranks as the all-time dream-team of environmental politics. So close was the partnership between Clinton-Gore and the vast network of eco-activist organizations that no appreciable differences in their agendas are detectable. Now, viewed from the far left end of the environmental spectrum, each of Bush's programs to balance environmental protection with concern for the lives and livelihoods of people is regarded, and portrayed to the public, as a radical departure from the glory days of Clinton-Gore...Plan to save endangered toad hailed as 'astute compromise' The endangered Houston toad is making more friends among the pines and sandy soil east of Austin. They include weekend farmers and other residents of Bastrop County who have helped compile a conservation plan to save the palm-size amphibian from extinction. A two-volume, 300-page Lost Pines habitat conservation plan compiled by a 15-member citizens' work group is under review by the county attorney's office. By April, it is expected to be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is responsible under the federal Endangered Species Act for ensuring the survival of the 3.5-inch-long amphibian...Guinn urges panel to finish sage grouse plan Gov. Kenny Guinn urged a state panel Tuesday to complete a conservation plan to protect sage grouse in Nevada before a possible listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. Guinn appointed the committee made up of representatives of various interest groups and government agencies in 2000 and charged them with developing a conservation strategy to protect the birds and their sagebrush habitat...Rare sighting: Ranchers and farmers join efforts to save a bird Ken Morgan knows it isn't often that significant conservation deals begin with dozens of cups of coffee sipped around kitchen tables in farm country. But with the possibility of yet another species being added to the federal protected list, biologist Morgan asked a smattering of farmers to consider an unusual proposition: Identify, and then acknowledge that endangered mountain plovers nest on their land. In a surprising move of cooperation, the overall-clad agrarians agreed, even if it meant environmentalists could someday use the information against them to justify increased regulation of their land as plover habitat. In this litigious era when the fate of more and more species is being decided in courtrooms, the idea of farmers and ranchers willingly divulging the location of rare animals on the back 40 might seem counterintuitive...Park Service will study 'parasite' bird The National Park Service at Grand Canyon plans to study the possibility of trapping a species of bird that causes problems because it lays eggs in the nests of other birds -- namely the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. Grand Canyon Deputy Superintendent Kate Cannon recently wrote a letter to the Center for Biological Diversity to let it know that the Park Service would conduct a environmental analysis of capturing and removing brown-headed cowbirds. The analysis also will examine other alternatives. The Center wrote the Grand Canyon superintendent in August, critical of the park for ignoring recommendations of a 1996 report that suggested the cowbird was causing problems for the endangered species...Authorities kill 3rd male wolf For the third time, a male wolf joining the Green River pack in Wyoming has had to be killed because of depredations on livestock in the area. The pack, which roams southwest of Grand Teton National Park, has had a consistent alpha female but a revolving door when it comes to male leadership. Federal Wildlife Services, working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has had to shoot three males that have joined the pack successively -- each entering the picture when another is removed...Man sought after assault on ranger One man has been arrested and the search for another continued this morning in connection with shooting at a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger in the Red Hills area west of Jamestown yesterday. John James Heller, 20, booked on suspicion of drug possession, remained in custody this morning in lieu of $10,000 bail...Column: Horse (Non) Sense Wild horses is an oxymoron. Wild equines did evolve in the Western Hemisphere, but they also started going extinct here millions of years ago. The last native, truly wild horses vanished from North America in advance of mammoths, camels, and even lumbering giant ground sloths. The two species of so-called wild horse and donkey at large on our prairies, plains, and deserts today were never originally on this continent but are the result of Spaniards' and prospectors' losing their livestock -- or cutting it loose to get rid of it. These feral horses and donkeys are about as wild as stray cats and park pigeons. Like many feral animals, they are whizzes at exploiting newfound habitats. As anyone who has ever followed a parade can testify, they are blessed with "straight-through" digestive systems that let them flourish on a high-fiber, low-nutrient diet. They can reproduce at an annual rate of 15 percent, potentially doubling their population every five years. And predators have never represented a threat: In the early 1800s, when it was seemingly possible to walk (rather briskly, to be sure) on the backs of wolves and grizzly bears from the Mississippi to the Pacific, feral horses were estimated to number 2 million...BLM boosts bonds for oil, gas wells Under the proposed rules, oil and gas companies will have to pay $20,000 in bonds for wells they drill in a particular lease areas. This is double the current rate of $10,000. Bonds for statewide leases, or for wells drilled in federal lands within a particular state, would jump three times to $75,000 from the current rate of $25,000. Bonds for nationwide leases, however, would remain unchanged at $150,000...Column: SUWA on the Defense: Rich Enviro Group Things must be heating up in southern Utah. A rich, Salt Lake City-based environmental group has charged into the middle of recent events involving Kane County’s push for equal treatment of road signage in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). On Saturday, all Garfield and Kane County post office box holders received an arrogant letter from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), informing them that their elected county officials “took actions that lack common sense and may not be in your best interest.” It looks like SUWA is attempting to instill fear into the hearts of private property owners, a large segment of those who received the mailing, by suggesting that the Federal R.S. 2477 law might someday encroach upon them by building a road across their land. SUWA, an environmental organization that has fought legal application of R.S. 2477 for years, deliberately ignores the fact that R.S. 2477 relates to rights-of-way “over public lands”, not over private lands...Park Service Studying Hacienda Casino Purchase The National Park Service has sought for decades to purchase the Hacienda casino, located within what is now the Lake Mead National Recreation Area along U.S. Highway 93 west of Boulder City and long considered an aberration at the entrance to one of the most-visited parks in the nation. After decades of waiting, the Park Service may now have its chance. The owners of the Hacienda Hotel & Casino have recently approached Lake Mead officials about possibly selling the property, an action that has triggered a government-funded appraisal and hazardous materials review of the site that is expected by March, National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said...Saving suckers with a shock Endangered suckers still lingering in the A Canal are in for a shock. An electric shock. Fishery biologists with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last week began to "salvage" suckers trapped in the receding waters of the A Canal, which was shut off for the season on Oct. 15. The operation involves sending an electric current through a pool of water, which harmlessly stuns the fish and sends them floating to the top. The fish are then gathered up and carted by pickup to Upper Klamath Lake so they don't dry up with the canal, stay trapped in isolated pools or become lunch for a gull, said Rich Piaskowski, a fishery biologist with the Bureau...Make Way for Buffalo This forlorn farm town — Rawson, population 6 — is a fine place to contemplate the boldest idea in America today: rescuing the rural Great Plains by returning much of it to a vast "Buffalo Commons." The result would be the world's largest nature park, drawing tourists from all over the world to see parts of 10 states alive again with buffalo, elk, grizzlies and wolves. Restoring a large chunk of the plains — which cover nearly one-fifth of the lower 48 states — to their original state may also be the best way to revive local economies and keep hamlets like Rawson from becoming ghost towns. It sounds cruel to say so, but towns like Rawson are a reminder that the oversettlement of the Great Plains has turned out to be a 150-year-long mistake, one of the longest-running and most costly errors in American history. Families struggled for generations to survive droughts and blizzards, then finally gave up and moved on. You can buy a home out here for $3,000, and you can sometimes rent one for nothing at all if you promise to mow the lawn and keep up the house. The rural parts of the Great Plains are emptying, and in some cases reverting to wilderness...PETA plans shareholder campaign against restaurant company An animal-rights group that has pressured fast-food companies is turning its attention to Brinker International Inc., owner of casual-dining chains including Chili's. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday it has bought 110 shares of Brinker to pressure the company on the raising and slaughter of animals used to fill the restaurants' menus. PETA said owning the shares would give it the right to speak at shareholder meetings and offer resolutions calling for tougher standards for animal care...R-CALF cautiously optimistic on COOL rules The mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) rules released Monday by USDA were met with cautious optimism by the cattle association that helped write the law in the 2002 Farm Bill. Leo McDonnell, President of R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) said the group's preliminary analysis of the rules reveals significant improvements over the voluntary guidelines released by USDA last November, but there are still some issues that need to be addressed. "For the most part, the process is working as USDA has clarified and corrected a number of deficiencies contained in its first draft," he said. McDonnell said the improvements indicate USDA has listened to industry concerns and has taken steps to address these concerns in a meaningful way...50% Chance Of Australian/US FTA The chances of finishing an Australian-U.S. free trade agreement were described as "better than 50 percent" Sunday by Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile. Vaile also defended AWB Ltd. -- the former Australian Wheat Board -- against charges it may have been involved in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq under an Oil For Food contract for Australian wheat with unusually high prices, as was first reported on DTN. Told by an interviewer on the Australian television program Sunday Sunrise that if the FTA is not signed by Christmas, the consensus is the deal won't be done, Vaile said, "[I] still think it's probably better than 50 percent, but it's very hard to tell. It's a very comprehensive and complex negotiation. We have been given a short time frame to do it in by comparison to other negotiations. It's a matter now of matching the political will with the energy from our negotiating teams and focusing on finding answers to some of the more sensitive issues."...
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Washington Post Editorial
This is the kind of crap our elected officials read in D.C. It's enough to make you sick.
Fire Damage
Wednesday, October 29, 2003; Page A24
WITH TERRIFYING intensity, fires are burning across Southern California and Mexico this week, proving once again that natural disasters can be no less devastating than the man-made kind. They have already killed more than a dozen people, destroyed more than 1,500 homes and burned half a million acres. A staggering 50,000 more homes are thought to be under threat, as the fires, fanned by desert winds, move into the Los Angeles and San Diego suburbs. It's a genuine national tragedy -- and one that shouldn't be misused for political purposes.
Unfortunately, that is a distinct possibility. The fires happen to have arrived just as the Senate is wrestling with a bill, already passed by the House, which is supposedly designed to help prevent catastrophic fires. In theory, the bill would address the environmental imbalance that has developed over the past several decades from the Forest Service's misguided policy of preventing all forest fires, even the low-level fires that once cleared away brush and young trees from old forests. Without these periodic fires, forests have become much denser, and big fires are far more damaging than they used to be.
But although foresters and scientists now recognize this problem, brush is still not being cleared away fast enough. Why? The House Republican authors of the forest bill blame overly bureaucratic environmental regulations. Accordingly, their bill attempts to loosen the procedures that the Forest Service must go through before it can carry out "fuel reduction activity" -- a change that would also help the timber industry dodge objections to the cutting down of older forests. This explanation does not stand up to close scrutiny. Last week, the General Accounting Office released the final results of its study on fuel reduction activity and discovered that of the Forest Service's 818 applications to cut brush, only one-quarter were appealed. Of these, 79 percent were processed within 90 days. What is hampering the process is not environmental litigators but finances. To carry out more brush-clearing operations, the Forest Service needs more resources.
But the Forest Service is unlikely to get significantly more resources anytime soon. It would therefore make sense for Congress, instead of passing laws that appear to be largely of benefit to the timber industry, to encourage the Forest Service to spend whatever money it does have on brush-clearing projects closer to human communities. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has helped write a compromise bill that would instruct the Forest Service to spend at least 50 percent of its fuel reduction resources on precisely that. Although this is the right approach, Ms. Feinstein has received no guarantee that her bill won't be completely rewritten by a Republican conference committee, as has lately become common practice.
In the absence of such a guarantee -- which would have to come from the White House -- it's probably better to pass no bill at all. We retain just the slimmest hope that the California blazes might cause members of Congress to redirect their energy toward saving people and homes, and away from helping loggers cut down mature trees.
That's right, let the west burn if need be, just don't do anything that might be beneficial to the timber industry.
Too bad the following column by Alan Caruba is not in a daily paper read by most people on the hill.
When Will Congress Stop Pandering To Greens And Begin To Protect Our Forests And People?
On September 22 of this year, Jack Blackwell, a regional forester of the Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service, testified before the Committee on Resources of the House subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. Barely a month later, his warnings about the conditions of the forested areas of southern California came true, destroying countless homes and taking lives in its path.
He began by noting that the 672,000 acres of the San Bernadino National Forest had some 24 million people living within a two-hour drive and that it was going through "a significant cycle of drought-related, vegetation mortality" involving "severe tree loss." The result was "a tremendous build-up of hazardous fuels" for a cataclysmic fire.
He noted, "Some community covenants have restricted landowners since the 1920s from tree removal activities on private land within the National Forest" and that the "Forest has not had an active timber harvest program for nearly ten years. There are no lumber mills in southern California and now the current removal of dead and dying trees is difficult and expensive."
How much more expensive will be the replacement of the homes that have since been destroyed? Or the loss of revenue due to the restrictions on properly managing this forest areas that could have been gained by cutting and thinning its overgrown mass of trees? Since the Greens mounted their Spotted Owl hoax in the northwest more than a decade ago, countless sawmills have gone out of business and many small towns dependent on them have withered to a few families.
Blackwell told the committee "The President´s Healthy Forest Initiative would play a key role in helping us avoid situations such as we see on the San Bernadino National Forest today. The initiative is based on a common-sense approach to reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfires by restoring forest and rangeland health and ensuring the long-term safety and health of communities and natural resources in our care."
He urged "a public and private partnership" as "critical in providing an integrated and coordinated approach to address the crisis forest-wide." And he told the committee that the Forest Service had "redirected $3.2 million in State Fire Assistance and Community Protection/Community Assistance funding for wildfire prevention and hazardous fuels reduction…"
Blackwell warned that other forested areas have similar conditions. "Those ecological conditions, combined with the massive influx of people into California´s wildlands and the rapid growth of communities in and around those wildlands, particularly in the Sierra Nevada, have created the potential for truly disastrous wildfires."
One can hardly wonder what Blackwell is thinking these days or the many forest managers and others who, for years now, have been warning against the now annual loss of huge forest areas to these fires. The plain fact is that the US Forest Service has known for decades that these problems exist and has been issuing these warnings, but the success of the environmental movement in deterring the proper management of forests has once again reaped the whirlwind.
There literally is no excuse for the loss of life and property we have witnessed on our television news and read about in our daily newspapers. The President has been under attack the Greens for his proposed solution to this problem and this is just one more example of the irresponsible and dangerous efforts of Greens to attack the timber industry in every way possible.
It is, of course, all part of the Green attack on the economy in general. It has succeeded, not only with the huge loss of forested areas, the homes of those in and adjacent to them, but also in driving up the cost of lumber in an economy in which new home sales plays a significant, if not the leading role.
There are 490 million acres called timberlands in the US. They can produce more than 20 cubic feet of wood per acre annually. They´re growing more trees today than they were fifty years ago. At the same time, 247 million acres (33.5%) are reserved from harvest by law or are slow-growing woodlands unsuitable for timber production. The bottom line is that the US has some 70% of the forestland that was here in 1600, fully 737 million acres, when the pilgrims first arrived.
The US National Park System represents 83 million acres and unlike national forests, national parks do not allow any timber harvesting. The National Forest System, some 191 million acres, was established "…to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States." These National Forests contribute 25% of the gross receipts from timber sales directly to states for county roads and schools, amounting to millions of dollars each year. All that revenue has been lost because of these preventable catastrophic fires.
This situation has long been known to Congress and to Americans who have witnessed the annual losses. Civil servants like Jack Blackwell have been telling Congress what the problem is and how to solve it. The real question is when will Congress stop pandering to vocal Green organizations and their lobbying, and begin to protect our forests and our people? And when will Americans stop buying into all their lies?
And Hugh Hewitt absolutely gets it
How 'habitat protection' causes killer infernos
...Of course, fire has always been with us. What has not been a feature of the West, however, has been the perversion of land-management policies to extremist environmental agendas.
Serious students of land use in the West know that since 1992, the aggressive expansion of the mandates of the federal Endangered Species Act has led to a crazy quilt approach of federal dictates, many of which are simply incomprehensible. The bewildering array of designations of critical habitat for a variety of species and the threat of federal criminal law violations for illegal "take" of any of a growing list of species has led to a dramatic curtailment of habitat management that has allowed fuel loads to skyrocket throughout the region.
Similarly, the radical expansion of the National Environmental Policy Act as a tool of obstruction has mirrored the rise of the "no growth" movement among environmental activists. Logging plans are routinely challenged and die a death of delay and obstruction. The predictable consequences are infernos that feed on the years of neglect.
When the media arrive at the scene of the disaster, they hear of Santa Ana winds and drought, but never of the relentless opposition to common-sense management practices that could limit the destruction. They never learn that the California Gnatcatcher, to use just one example, was listed as endangered a decade ago despite a robust population here and in Mexico, or that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service routinely refuses to propose aggressive brush-management practices that would allow local governments and landowners to proactively clear habitat that might house the birds. Rather, the Service continues to issue sweeping designations of "critical habitat," the publication of which complicates the management and use of land that doesn't even support gnatcatchers.
For more than a decade, the leadership of the "resource" agencies at the state and local level has included numerous individuals who lack the ability or the motivation to serve the communities that need innovation and action, not more grand plans and environmental documents. President Bush and Gov. Schwarzenegger would both do themselves great good with the public if they embraced reform of these government bureaucracies that have once again failed to protect either the public or the environment from disaster.
This is the kind of crap our elected officials read in D.C. It's enough to make you sick.
Fire Damage
Wednesday, October 29, 2003; Page A24
WITH TERRIFYING intensity, fires are burning across Southern California and Mexico this week, proving once again that natural disasters can be no less devastating than the man-made kind. They have already killed more than a dozen people, destroyed more than 1,500 homes and burned half a million acres. A staggering 50,000 more homes are thought to be under threat, as the fires, fanned by desert winds, move into the Los Angeles and San Diego suburbs. It's a genuine national tragedy -- and one that shouldn't be misused for political purposes.
Unfortunately, that is a distinct possibility. The fires happen to have arrived just as the Senate is wrestling with a bill, already passed by the House, which is supposedly designed to help prevent catastrophic fires. In theory, the bill would address the environmental imbalance that has developed over the past several decades from the Forest Service's misguided policy of preventing all forest fires, even the low-level fires that once cleared away brush and young trees from old forests. Without these periodic fires, forests have become much denser, and big fires are far more damaging than they used to be.
But although foresters and scientists now recognize this problem, brush is still not being cleared away fast enough. Why? The House Republican authors of the forest bill blame overly bureaucratic environmental regulations. Accordingly, their bill attempts to loosen the procedures that the Forest Service must go through before it can carry out "fuel reduction activity" -- a change that would also help the timber industry dodge objections to the cutting down of older forests. This explanation does not stand up to close scrutiny. Last week, the General Accounting Office released the final results of its study on fuel reduction activity and discovered that of the Forest Service's 818 applications to cut brush, only one-quarter were appealed. Of these, 79 percent were processed within 90 days. What is hampering the process is not environmental litigators but finances. To carry out more brush-clearing operations, the Forest Service needs more resources.
But the Forest Service is unlikely to get significantly more resources anytime soon. It would therefore make sense for Congress, instead of passing laws that appear to be largely of benefit to the timber industry, to encourage the Forest Service to spend whatever money it does have on brush-clearing projects closer to human communities. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has helped write a compromise bill that would instruct the Forest Service to spend at least 50 percent of its fuel reduction resources on precisely that. Although this is the right approach, Ms. Feinstein has received no guarantee that her bill won't be completely rewritten by a Republican conference committee, as has lately become common practice.
In the absence of such a guarantee -- which would have to come from the White House -- it's probably better to pass no bill at all. We retain just the slimmest hope that the California blazes might cause members of Congress to redirect their energy toward saving people and homes, and away from helping loggers cut down mature trees.
That's right, let the west burn if need be, just don't do anything that might be beneficial to the timber industry.
Too bad the following column by Alan Caruba is not in a daily paper read by most people on the hill.
When Will Congress Stop Pandering To Greens And Begin To Protect Our Forests And People?
On September 22 of this year, Jack Blackwell, a regional forester of the Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service, testified before the Committee on Resources of the House subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. Barely a month later, his warnings about the conditions of the forested areas of southern California came true, destroying countless homes and taking lives in its path.
He began by noting that the 672,000 acres of the San Bernadino National Forest had some 24 million people living within a two-hour drive and that it was going through "a significant cycle of drought-related, vegetation mortality" involving "severe tree loss." The result was "a tremendous build-up of hazardous fuels" for a cataclysmic fire.
He noted, "Some community covenants have restricted landowners since the 1920s from tree removal activities on private land within the National Forest" and that the "Forest has not had an active timber harvest program for nearly ten years. There are no lumber mills in southern California and now the current removal of dead and dying trees is difficult and expensive."
How much more expensive will be the replacement of the homes that have since been destroyed? Or the loss of revenue due to the restrictions on properly managing this forest areas that could have been gained by cutting and thinning its overgrown mass of trees? Since the Greens mounted their Spotted Owl hoax in the northwest more than a decade ago, countless sawmills have gone out of business and many small towns dependent on them have withered to a few families.
Blackwell told the committee "The President´s Healthy Forest Initiative would play a key role in helping us avoid situations such as we see on the San Bernadino National Forest today. The initiative is based on a common-sense approach to reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfires by restoring forest and rangeland health and ensuring the long-term safety and health of communities and natural resources in our care."
He urged "a public and private partnership" as "critical in providing an integrated and coordinated approach to address the crisis forest-wide." And he told the committee that the Forest Service had "redirected $3.2 million in State Fire Assistance and Community Protection/Community Assistance funding for wildfire prevention and hazardous fuels reduction…"
Blackwell warned that other forested areas have similar conditions. "Those ecological conditions, combined with the massive influx of people into California´s wildlands and the rapid growth of communities in and around those wildlands, particularly in the Sierra Nevada, have created the potential for truly disastrous wildfires."
One can hardly wonder what Blackwell is thinking these days or the many forest managers and others who, for years now, have been warning against the now annual loss of huge forest areas to these fires. The plain fact is that the US Forest Service has known for decades that these problems exist and has been issuing these warnings, but the success of the environmental movement in deterring the proper management of forests has once again reaped the whirlwind.
There literally is no excuse for the loss of life and property we have witnessed on our television news and read about in our daily newspapers. The President has been under attack the Greens for his proposed solution to this problem and this is just one more example of the irresponsible and dangerous efforts of Greens to attack the timber industry in every way possible.
It is, of course, all part of the Green attack on the economy in general. It has succeeded, not only with the huge loss of forested areas, the homes of those in and adjacent to them, but also in driving up the cost of lumber in an economy in which new home sales plays a significant, if not the leading role.
There are 490 million acres called timberlands in the US. They can produce more than 20 cubic feet of wood per acre annually. They´re growing more trees today than they were fifty years ago. At the same time, 247 million acres (33.5%) are reserved from harvest by law or are slow-growing woodlands unsuitable for timber production. The bottom line is that the US has some 70% of the forestland that was here in 1600, fully 737 million acres, when the pilgrims first arrived.
The US National Park System represents 83 million acres and unlike national forests, national parks do not allow any timber harvesting. The National Forest System, some 191 million acres, was established "…to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States." These National Forests contribute 25% of the gross receipts from timber sales directly to states for county roads and schools, amounting to millions of dollars each year. All that revenue has been lost because of these preventable catastrophic fires.
This situation has long been known to Congress and to Americans who have witnessed the annual losses. Civil servants like Jack Blackwell have been telling Congress what the problem is and how to solve it. The real question is when will Congress stop pandering to vocal Green organizations and their lobbying, and begin to protect our forests and our people? And when will Americans stop buying into all their lies?
And Hugh Hewitt absolutely gets it
How 'habitat protection' causes killer infernos
...Of course, fire has always been with us. What has not been a feature of the West, however, has been the perversion of land-management policies to extremist environmental agendas.
Serious students of land use in the West know that since 1992, the aggressive expansion of the mandates of the federal Endangered Species Act has led to a crazy quilt approach of federal dictates, many of which are simply incomprehensible. The bewildering array of designations of critical habitat for a variety of species and the threat of federal criminal law violations for illegal "take" of any of a growing list of species has led to a dramatic curtailment of habitat management that has allowed fuel loads to skyrocket throughout the region.
Similarly, the radical expansion of the National Environmental Policy Act as a tool of obstruction has mirrored the rise of the "no growth" movement among environmental activists. Logging plans are routinely challenged and die a death of delay and obstruction. The predictable consequences are infernos that feed on the years of neglect.
When the media arrive at the scene of the disaster, they hear of Santa Ana winds and drought, but never of the relentless opposition to common-sense management practices that could limit the destruction. They never learn that the California Gnatcatcher, to use just one example, was listed as endangered a decade ago despite a robust population here and in Mexico, or that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service routinely refuses to propose aggressive brush-management practices that would allow local governments and landowners to proactively clear habitat that might house the birds. Rather, the Service continues to issue sweeping designations of "critical habitat," the publication of which complicates the management and use of land that doesn't even support gnatcatchers.
For more than a decade, the leadership of the "resource" agencies at the state and local level has included numerous individuals who lack the ability or the motivation to serve the communities that need innovation and action, not more grand plans and environmental documents. President Bush and Gov. Schwarzenegger would both do themselves great good with the public if they embraced reform of these government bureaucracies that have once again failed to protect either the public or the environment from disaster.
Monday, October 27, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Congress OKs $3B to Combat Wildfires Congressional negotiators agreed Monday to spend almost $3 billion in the coming year to combat and prevent wildfires, making history's largest one-time firefighting allocation as a series of devastating blazes tore through California. The firefighting money includes $289 million for suppression, $11 million to cut down trees in overgrown or disease-ridden forests to reduce fire threats and $9 million in state and community fire assistance. It also repays $400 million that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management borrowed from other programs to battle blazes this summer... Hamstrung heroes?: A devastating wave of fires underscores perilous choices of when to attack and when to retreat. The current conflagrations in Southern California involve both city and wildland firefighters, but it's the issue of wildland firefighters losing their edge that has singed the grapevine for several years now, discussed among firefighters and argued on the pages of their professional journals. The charge is that wildland firefighters - from the elite smoke jumpers to the novice "Type 2s" - lack the gung-ho spirit of 20 years ago. They don't work as hard on the fire line. They don't go after fires as aggressively. Whereas crews used to spend days in the sticks eating only what they carried or what helicopters could sling in, they now return after each shift to fire camps that are sometimes more like summer camp, with catered steak dinners, laundry service and hot showers instead of soot-caked bodies and C rations. Larry Humphrey, an outspoken 30-year veteran and the commander at the Summerhaven fire that destroyed more than 250 Arizona homes in June, sees increasing caution. "We're becoming less aggressive when we fight fire," says Humphrey, who works for the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona. "There's a trigger point for engagement, and a trigger point for disengagement." And fire teams yo-yo between attack and retreat. To Humphrey, it's an aggressive crew that stays alert and safe. Dan Buckley, a mustached 45-year-old who manages fires in Yosemite, says teams just quit the fire line while battling the 500,000-acre Biscuit fire in Oregon in summer 2002. "Even if they were doing critical work, they'd just get up and leave," he recalls. "It was crazy."...Ranchers cool to proposed western grazing law Legislation that would give western cattle and sheep ranchers a chance to sell their federal grazing leases back to the government is getting a cold reception from stockmen in Southwest Colorado. "It would be disastrous," said Sid Snyder, a Cortez cattleman whose family has grazed stock on federal land since 1952. "It might be good for a short while, but it takes away opportunities. What if my son wants to continue the operation and doesn't have the option?" Ned Jefferies, president of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association, doesn't know anyone anxious to sell. "In Southwest Colorado, if you're going to have an economical unit pay your bills and make a profit it's hard to make it work without a permit," Jefferies said. "All kinds of livestock operations do it without a permit, but a lot of cattlemen work at something else or they have mineral income or the wife goes to town to work." "I don't think many ranchers would agree with the buyout," said Steve Suckla, a third-generation San Miguel County cattleman whose family has used federal grazing permits for 45 years. Suckla said ranchers commonly buy and sell grazing permits among themselves under established guidelines. A government buyout, which would retire land from grazing permanently, could prove too definitive, Suckla said. "Grazing permits here are part of the community, a part of the infrastructure," Suckla said. "The fires and the drought show just how shaky tourism is. Agriculture isn't going to go away."...Proposed legislation offers money for ranchers' grazing rights Legislation has been proposed to Congress to offer ranchers money in exchange for their public grazing leases with the support from Graham and Greenlee county residents. According to the text of the Arizona Voluntary Grazing Permit Act, the intent of the legislation is, "To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease on federal lands in the state of Arizona the opportunity to relinquish their grazing permit or lease in exchange for compensation, and for other puposes." Arizona Cattle Grower's Association lobbyist "Doc" C.B. Lane said he spoke with three ranchers who are pushing the bills. "The bills have very big, fatal holes in them and no one seems to notice," he said in an e-mail to the Courier. "In both bills, the 'waiving of the permit' does not exclude all of the permits that are sold between ranchers." If either bill passes, every government agency that has grazing permits would have to retire every permit permanently as each one is waived, he said...Shoshone settlement remains distant A settlement for the Western Shoshone's long disputed land claims in Nevada has taken one step forward and one step back. The Senate last week voted to pay nearly $145 million to the Western Shoshone as reparations for ancestral land taken by the federal government. Eligible tribal members would get about $20,000 apiece to settle a 1977 land claims case. But opponents of the payout filed a lawsuit in federal district court earlier this month seeking to assert title to more than 60 million acres, mostly in Nevada, under a treaty signed with the U.S. government in 1866. The dispute over land claims dates back more than 50 years and seems destined to drag on, especially as tribal members remained divided over whether to accept a one-time payment from the government or continue seeking ownership of the land...Wyoming Checks Mines for West Nile Source An outbreak of West Nile virus in northeastern Wyoming has scientists and some residents wondering if an unconventional approach to natural gas extraction is increasing the risk of the disease. The treeless prairie of the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming is dotted with thousands of wells for extracting methane, which like other types of natural gas is used to heat homes. But in these wells, unlike traditional ones, the natural gas is mixed with ground water. Every well that pumps out methane also pumps out ground water round the clock, and the arid region is dotted with hundreds of new ponds to hold the excess water. In all parts of the country, health officials have advised residents that one of the first lines of defense against the mosquito-borne virus is to get rid of standing water. While the link between the methane wells and the virus is still under study, some scientists suspect that the standing water may be a rich breeding ground...Grouse face new threat in W. Nile West Nile virus has killed almost two dozen of Wyoming's greater sage grouse, a species already imperiled by drought, overgrazing and the splintering of the sagebrush steppe they need to survive. Experts say the deaths foreshadow what could occur in Colorado next year, when the Western Slope is expected to suffer more intense West Nile infection. Already, 19 sage grouse in Wyoming, the state with the West's last sizable stand of the birds, have succumbed to West Nile. That number will grow...CA Fires: And now for the REST of the story..... San Diego County instituted the first Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Program (MSHCP) in the nation about 10 years ago. The MSHCP was supposed to provide "islands of connected habitat" to "preserve a rich diversity of sensitive flora and fauna". By some counts, San Diego County has the highest number of plants, animals, birds, and reptiles in the threatened and endangered species list. The corner stone of the MSHCP is (or was) the Mission Trails Regional Park. This "park" connected pocket of habitat from the mountains to the coast. This same "park" is the corridor that allowed the fire to progress rapidly through residential and industrial areas; claiming untold millions in property damage and human life. While this news report cites eight deaths due to the fire, updated reports have attributed eleven deaths. The grand MSHCP "preserve" is now charred lands...Ranch owner: Access ruling will help all citizens The owners of a ranch that won a Wyoming Supreme Court decision allowing them to control access through their spread said the ruling will help all Wyoming property owners and those who wish to use their land. ''The clarity of the Supreme Court's decision should remove all future uncertainties,'' said Spike Forbes, who co-owns the Beckton Stock Farm west of Sheridan with other relatives. ''Such clarity is a clear benefit to all the citizens of Wyoming, whether they own property or simply wish to use the property of others.'' In their decision issued Friday, the justices unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that allowed the ranch to close access to the Soldier Creek Trail which crosses their property. The trail leads to prime public hunting lands managed by the Bighorn National Forest, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state of Wyoming. The trail had been used by the public since the 1890s, but in 2001, the Forbeses locked off the trail because hunters were continually leaving gates open and littering. Hunters were asked to either use a new corridor or call for permission to use the existing trail...Outdoor retailers nag Leavitt Outdoor retailers, restless with what they see as inaction by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt on promised protections for the state's wild lands, are talking again about packing up their twice-yearly trade show and pitching camp outside Utah. Although Leavitt insists he has made solid progress in keeping his pledge to make Utah the nation's recreation capital, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) said Sunday in a letter to the governor it was "immensely disappointed" with his lack of results. "Whatever his goals were, whatever his objectives were," said OIA President Frank Hugelmeyer, "at this point they are just words." The retailers' latest threat to pull their big trade show out of Utah came on the eve of plans for a crucial vote in the U.S. Senate to push forward Leavitt's stalled nomination to be the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, action which could come as soon as today. Some of the Democratic senators blocking a Senate confirmation vote on Leavitt have called the governor's handling of wilderness evidence that he is not suited to the nation's top environmental protection job...Details in death of bear researcher may never be known After investigating the scene of the killings and listening to a six-minute tape recording of the screams and shouts made during the attack, officials can guess what happened, but they can't be sure, Ellis said. He was one of the rangers who found the bodies in the Kaflia Lake area on Oct. 6, and he shot the large bear guarding the bodies as the bruin approached him, with a bullet stopping the bear only 12 feet away. A necropsy of the bear's stomach two days later found human remains. Still, officials can't be sure that bear killed the pair. Rangers and troopers also shot a young, aggressive bear that approached their plane shortly before taking off with the victims' remains, according to the Associated Press. After piecing various evidence together in the past few weeks, Ellis now speculates that a bear came through the Treadwell/Huguenard camp the evening of Oct. 5 and "when Treadwell went out to investigate, the bear probably took a swipe (at) or bite" out of Treadwell, injuring him...Editorial: Klamath conundrum The Klamath River basin, site of one of the West's most intractable water problems, recently got a new and important dose of science that should make alfalfa farmers, salmon fishermen and federal agencies equally uncomfortable. These groups are all part of the problem. If there is ever to be peace on the river, they have to work together for a solution that provides enough clean water at the right temperature to keep fish swimming and spawning in the Klamath. The current situation produces a near-monthly political battle over flows in the river. Does the federal Bureau of Reclamation release water from the polluted Klamath Lake, home of endangered suckerfish, which need clean water? If so, does the water flow into the Pacific Ocean to help sustain the river's salmon and steelhead? Or does this flow get diverted by farmers who contract with the bureau for irrigation water? This new, exhaustive review by the National Academies of Science adds two important ingredients to this ongoing political struggle -- temperature and tributaries...Surface damage painful subject It's been eight months since a 12-person jury awarded Dan ''Buck'' and Mary Brannaman damages of $810,887 in their civil lawsuit against Paxton Resources Inc. The award was for breaching a surface and damage use agreement in the first such trial involving coal-bed methane development in the Powder River Basin counties of Sheridan, Campbell and Johnson. While many landowners in Sheridan County and surrounding areas have reaped benefits from coal-bed methane development in the form of royalty payments and property improvements, others say they are still experiencing problems with operators, for reasons similar to those listed by the Brannamans in their case. Proponents of methane development and extraction, including Paxton Resources President Greg Vadnais, assert they just want to do the right thing, and maintain there are mutual benefits for both operators and landowners. For people like Bill and Marge West, landowners in the Spotted Horse area with significant methane development on their property, and Sheridan County rancher Bill Doenz, the Brannaman case - once seen as a turning point in landowner/methane operator cooperation - hasn't really changed the attitudes of methane operators they claim still refuse to honor negotiated surface-damage agreements. ''I wish the Brannaman case had turned things around, so that methane companies would start doing what they should be doing. I don't see how it's affected things at all,'' said Marge West...Gov't Doubles Food Labels Cost Estimate People probably will have to pay more for their food to cover the cost of new labels Congress ordered to tell where their meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and peanuts come from, the Agriculture Department said Monday. The department released figures doubling from $2 billion to $4 billion its estimate of what the labels will cost in their first year, largely from procedures required for labeling livestock origins. In the 2002 farm bill, Congress required that the labels start appearing on products by next September. Kenneth Clayton, associate administrator for the department's Agricultural Marketing Service, said the costs are likely to be passed on to consumers as higher shelf prices at grocery stores. Clayton offered no estimate of how much prices might go up because of the labels...Head vet lays out BSE trail The case of the cow with BSE could be a novel written by British mystery novelist Agatha Christie. Instead, it's a true-life story that Canadian veterinarians had to deduce in a race against time. Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff had few clues when they got the call May 16, just before the Victoria Day long weekend, that a cow had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, said George Luterbach, a CFIA veterinarian. They knew the remains of a black cow had gone to a rendering plant three months earlier and the hide had been stripped and sent to a tannery. That basic knowledge launched parallel investigations within CFIA. Investigators had to find out what happened to the animal and where it had come from...Necessity mothered creative inventions The ingenuity and creativeness of our ancestors never cease to amaze me. It was a time of few towns, fewer stores, no money, and if you needed something you didn't have at hand, you made it or did without. Addie Adkins of Pampa tells how her daddy made an ice cream freezer out of two buckets. Seems a bad hailstorm hit their farm when Addie was about 5 years old. Her mother mixed ice cream in a one-gallon syrup bucket with lid and bail. Her daddy inserted the small bucket into a larger milk bucket and packed the extra space with hail stones and cow salt. Using the bail on the smaller bucket, he twisted it around and around until it froze the ice cream inside. Addie said it sure was a treat...
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Congress OKs $3B to Combat Wildfires Congressional negotiators agreed Monday to spend almost $3 billion in the coming year to combat and prevent wildfires, making history's largest one-time firefighting allocation as a series of devastating blazes tore through California. The firefighting money includes $289 million for suppression, $11 million to cut down trees in overgrown or disease-ridden forests to reduce fire threats and $9 million in state and community fire assistance. It also repays $400 million that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management borrowed from other programs to battle blazes this summer... Hamstrung heroes?: A devastating wave of fires underscores perilous choices of when to attack and when to retreat. The current conflagrations in Southern California involve both city and wildland firefighters, but it's the issue of wildland firefighters losing their edge that has singed the grapevine for several years now, discussed among firefighters and argued on the pages of their professional journals. The charge is that wildland firefighters - from the elite smoke jumpers to the novice "Type 2s" - lack the gung-ho spirit of 20 years ago. They don't work as hard on the fire line. They don't go after fires as aggressively. Whereas crews used to spend days in the sticks eating only what they carried or what helicopters could sling in, they now return after each shift to fire camps that are sometimes more like summer camp, with catered steak dinners, laundry service and hot showers instead of soot-caked bodies and C rations. Larry Humphrey, an outspoken 30-year veteran and the commander at the Summerhaven fire that destroyed more than 250 Arizona homes in June, sees increasing caution. "We're becoming less aggressive when we fight fire," says Humphrey, who works for the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona. "There's a trigger point for engagement, and a trigger point for disengagement." And fire teams yo-yo between attack and retreat. To Humphrey, it's an aggressive crew that stays alert and safe. Dan Buckley, a mustached 45-year-old who manages fires in Yosemite, says teams just quit the fire line while battling the 500,000-acre Biscuit fire in Oregon in summer 2002. "Even if they were doing critical work, they'd just get up and leave," he recalls. "It was crazy."...Ranchers cool to proposed western grazing law Legislation that would give western cattle and sheep ranchers a chance to sell their federal grazing leases back to the government is getting a cold reception from stockmen in Southwest Colorado. "It would be disastrous," said Sid Snyder, a Cortez cattleman whose family has grazed stock on federal land since 1952. "It might be good for a short while, but it takes away opportunities. What if my son wants to continue the operation and doesn't have the option?" Ned Jefferies, president of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association, doesn't know anyone anxious to sell. "In Southwest Colorado, if you're going to have an economical unit pay your bills and make a profit it's hard to make it work without a permit," Jefferies said. "All kinds of livestock operations do it without a permit, but a lot of cattlemen work at something else or they have mineral income or the wife goes to town to work." "I don't think many ranchers would agree with the buyout," said Steve Suckla, a third-generation San Miguel County cattleman whose family has used federal grazing permits for 45 years. Suckla said ranchers commonly buy and sell grazing permits among themselves under established guidelines. A government buyout, which would retire land from grazing permanently, could prove too definitive, Suckla said. "Grazing permits here are part of the community, a part of the infrastructure," Suckla said. "The fires and the drought show just how shaky tourism is. Agriculture isn't going to go away."...Proposed legislation offers money for ranchers' grazing rights Legislation has been proposed to Congress to offer ranchers money in exchange for their public grazing leases with the support from Graham and Greenlee county residents. According to the text of the Arizona Voluntary Grazing Permit Act, the intent of the legislation is, "To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease on federal lands in the state of Arizona the opportunity to relinquish their grazing permit or lease in exchange for compensation, and for other puposes." Arizona Cattle Grower's Association lobbyist "Doc" C.B. Lane said he spoke with three ranchers who are pushing the bills. "The bills have very big, fatal holes in them and no one seems to notice," he said in an e-mail to the Courier. "In both bills, the 'waiving of the permit' does not exclude all of the permits that are sold between ranchers." If either bill passes, every government agency that has grazing permits would have to retire every permit permanently as each one is waived, he said...Shoshone settlement remains distant A settlement for the Western Shoshone's long disputed land claims in Nevada has taken one step forward and one step back. The Senate last week voted to pay nearly $145 million to the Western Shoshone as reparations for ancestral land taken by the federal government. Eligible tribal members would get about $20,000 apiece to settle a 1977 land claims case. But opponents of the payout filed a lawsuit in federal district court earlier this month seeking to assert title to more than 60 million acres, mostly in Nevada, under a treaty signed with the U.S. government in 1866. The dispute over land claims dates back more than 50 years and seems destined to drag on, especially as tribal members remained divided over whether to accept a one-time payment from the government or continue seeking ownership of the land...Wyoming Checks Mines for West Nile Source An outbreak of West Nile virus in northeastern Wyoming has scientists and some residents wondering if an unconventional approach to natural gas extraction is increasing the risk of the disease. The treeless prairie of the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming is dotted with thousands of wells for extracting methane, which like other types of natural gas is used to heat homes. But in these wells, unlike traditional ones, the natural gas is mixed with ground water. Every well that pumps out methane also pumps out ground water round the clock, and the arid region is dotted with hundreds of new ponds to hold the excess water. In all parts of the country, health officials have advised residents that one of the first lines of defense against the mosquito-borne virus is to get rid of standing water. While the link between the methane wells and the virus is still under study, some scientists suspect that the standing water may be a rich breeding ground...Grouse face new threat in W. Nile West Nile virus has killed almost two dozen of Wyoming's greater sage grouse, a species already imperiled by drought, overgrazing and the splintering of the sagebrush steppe they need to survive. Experts say the deaths foreshadow what could occur in Colorado next year, when the Western Slope is expected to suffer more intense West Nile infection. Already, 19 sage grouse in Wyoming, the state with the West's last sizable stand of the birds, have succumbed to West Nile. That number will grow...CA Fires: And now for the REST of the story..... San Diego County instituted the first Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Program (MSHCP) in the nation about 10 years ago. The MSHCP was supposed to provide "islands of connected habitat" to "preserve a rich diversity of sensitive flora and fauna". By some counts, San Diego County has the highest number of plants, animals, birds, and reptiles in the threatened and endangered species list. The corner stone of the MSHCP is (or was) the Mission Trails Regional Park. This "park" connected pocket of habitat from the mountains to the coast. This same "park" is the corridor that allowed the fire to progress rapidly through residential and industrial areas; claiming untold millions in property damage and human life. While this news report cites eight deaths due to the fire, updated reports have attributed eleven deaths. The grand MSHCP "preserve" is now charred lands...Ranch owner: Access ruling will help all citizens The owners of a ranch that won a Wyoming Supreme Court decision allowing them to control access through their spread said the ruling will help all Wyoming property owners and those who wish to use their land. ''The clarity of the Supreme Court's decision should remove all future uncertainties,'' said Spike Forbes, who co-owns the Beckton Stock Farm west of Sheridan with other relatives. ''Such clarity is a clear benefit to all the citizens of Wyoming, whether they own property or simply wish to use the property of others.'' In their decision issued Friday, the justices unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that allowed the ranch to close access to the Soldier Creek Trail which crosses their property. The trail leads to prime public hunting lands managed by the Bighorn National Forest, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state of Wyoming. The trail had been used by the public since the 1890s, but in 2001, the Forbeses locked off the trail because hunters were continually leaving gates open and littering. Hunters were asked to either use a new corridor or call for permission to use the existing trail...Outdoor retailers nag Leavitt Outdoor retailers, restless with what they see as inaction by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt on promised protections for the state's wild lands, are talking again about packing up their twice-yearly trade show and pitching camp outside Utah. Although Leavitt insists he has made solid progress in keeping his pledge to make Utah the nation's recreation capital, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) said Sunday in a letter to the governor it was "immensely disappointed" with his lack of results. "Whatever his goals were, whatever his objectives were," said OIA President Frank Hugelmeyer, "at this point they are just words." The retailers' latest threat to pull their big trade show out of Utah came on the eve of plans for a crucial vote in the U.S. Senate to push forward Leavitt's stalled nomination to be the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, action which could come as soon as today. Some of the Democratic senators blocking a Senate confirmation vote on Leavitt have called the governor's handling of wilderness evidence that he is not suited to the nation's top environmental protection job...Details in death of bear researcher may never be known After investigating the scene of the killings and listening to a six-minute tape recording of the screams and shouts made during the attack, officials can guess what happened, but they can't be sure, Ellis said. He was one of the rangers who found the bodies in the Kaflia Lake area on Oct. 6, and he shot the large bear guarding the bodies as the bruin approached him, with a bullet stopping the bear only 12 feet away. A necropsy of the bear's stomach two days later found human remains. Still, officials can't be sure that bear killed the pair. Rangers and troopers also shot a young, aggressive bear that approached their plane shortly before taking off with the victims' remains, according to the Associated Press. After piecing various evidence together in the past few weeks, Ellis now speculates that a bear came through the Treadwell/Huguenard camp the evening of Oct. 5 and "when Treadwell went out to investigate, the bear probably took a swipe (at) or bite" out of Treadwell, injuring him...Editorial: Klamath conundrum The Klamath River basin, site of one of the West's most intractable water problems, recently got a new and important dose of science that should make alfalfa farmers, salmon fishermen and federal agencies equally uncomfortable. These groups are all part of the problem. If there is ever to be peace on the river, they have to work together for a solution that provides enough clean water at the right temperature to keep fish swimming and spawning in the Klamath. The current situation produces a near-monthly political battle over flows in the river. Does the federal Bureau of Reclamation release water from the polluted Klamath Lake, home of endangered suckerfish, which need clean water? If so, does the water flow into the Pacific Ocean to help sustain the river's salmon and steelhead? Or does this flow get diverted by farmers who contract with the bureau for irrigation water? This new, exhaustive review by the National Academies of Science adds two important ingredients to this ongoing political struggle -- temperature and tributaries...Surface damage painful subject It's been eight months since a 12-person jury awarded Dan ''Buck'' and Mary Brannaman damages of $810,887 in their civil lawsuit against Paxton Resources Inc. The award was for breaching a surface and damage use agreement in the first such trial involving coal-bed methane development in the Powder River Basin counties of Sheridan, Campbell and Johnson. While many landowners in Sheridan County and surrounding areas have reaped benefits from coal-bed methane development in the form of royalty payments and property improvements, others say they are still experiencing problems with operators, for reasons similar to those listed by the Brannamans in their case. Proponents of methane development and extraction, including Paxton Resources President Greg Vadnais, assert they just want to do the right thing, and maintain there are mutual benefits for both operators and landowners. For people like Bill and Marge West, landowners in the Spotted Horse area with significant methane development on their property, and Sheridan County rancher Bill Doenz, the Brannaman case - once seen as a turning point in landowner/methane operator cooperation - hasn't really changed the attitudes of methane operators they claim still refuse to honor negotiated surface-damage agreements. ''I wish the Brannaman case had turned things around, so that methane companies would start doing what they should be doing. I don't see how it's affected things at all,'' said Marge West...Gov't Doubles Food Labels Cost Estimate People probably will have to pay more for their food to cover the cost of new labels Congress ordered to tell where their meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and peanuts come from, the Agriculture Department said Monday. The department released figures doubling from $2 billion to $4 billion its estimate of what the labels will cost in their first year, largely from procedures required for labeling livestock origins. In the 2002 farm bill, Congress required that the labels start appearing on products by next September. Kenneth Clayton, associate administrator for the department's Agricultural Marketing Service, said the costs are likely to be passed on to consumers as higher shelf prices at grocery stores. Clayton offered no estimate of how much prices might go up because of the labels...Head vet lays out BSE trail The case of the cow with BSE could be a novel written by British mystery novelist Agatha Christie. Instead, it's a true-life story that Canadian veterinarians had to deduce in a race against time. Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff had few clues when they got the call May 16, just before the Victoria Day long weekend, that a cow had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, said George Luterbach, a CFIA veterinarian. They knew the remains of a black cow had gone to a rendering plant three months earlier and the hide had been stripped and sent to a tannery. That basic knowledge launched parallel investigations within CFIA. Investigators had to find out what happened to the animal and where it had come from...Necessity mothered creative inventions The ingenuity and creativeness of our ancestors never cease to amaze me. It was a time of few towns, fewer stores, no money, and if you needed something you didn't have at hand, you made it or did without. Addie Adkins of Pampa tells how her daddy made an ice cream freezer out of two buckets. Seems a bad hailstorm hit their farm when Addie was about 5 years old. Her mother mixed ice cream in a one-gallon syrup bucket with lid and bail. Her daddy inserted the small bucket into a larger milk bucket and packed the extra space with hail stones and cow salt. Using the bail on the smaller bucket, he twisted it around and around until it froze the ice cream inside. Addie said it sure was a treat...
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Posturing and Reality on Warming
For the first time, the Senate is about to vote on whether to restrict national emissions of carbon dioxide -- the respiration of our civilization and our economy -- in an attempt to control the world's uncontrollable climate. This legislation has absolutely no basis in science.
The bill in question is S.139, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, and John McCain, Arizona Republican. Both are global-warming hawks who see an opportunity to bring about the Kyoto Protocol through a legislative back door. Both also know it won't do a measurable thing about the Earth's temperature and that it hasn't a snowball's chance in a Washington summer of passage.
But that's not the point. S.139 is designed to embarrass President Bush and to embolden the Senate's green posturers by neutralizing the 1997 Byrd-Hagel "Sense of the Senate" Resolution which, 95-0, stated the Senate would never entertain any climate change treaty that would cost American jobs. Instead, expect S.139 to get between 30 and 40 votes. No doubt, the green lobby will crow about rapidly growing support for instruments like the Kyoto Protocol and (egad) beyond...
Dioxin Shenanigans: Why the is EPA Afraid of Independent Peer Review?
If he makes it past a bruising Senate confirmation process, Utah Governor and EPA Administrator-designate Mike Leavitt will soon face an even bigger challenge. How does he deal with an entrenched EPA bureaucracy that - if it can get away with it - is perfectly willing to put its own narrow regulatory interests above those of the public it is supposed to serve?
As Leavitt prepares to take the reins at the EPA, the agency is set to release its long-awaited reassessment of dioxin. But the document the EPA is about to foist on the public has set off alarm bells in Congress where lawmakers rightly fear that the agency has sacrificed science for the sake of expanding its already vast regulatory empire.
Eleven years in the making, the EPA study is supposed to review the scientific data to determine whether exposure to dioxin in the environment poses any significant risk to human health. The EPA's findings could then serve as the basis for regulating the sources of dioxin emissions...
Fearful that the agency was cooking the books on dioxin, Congressman James T. Walsh (R-NY), chairman of the House Appropriation Committee's subcommittee on VA, HUD, and independent agencies, has twice - in February 2002 and again in February of this year - asked the EPA to submit its dioxin reassessment to the National Academy of Sciences for independent review.
Walsh's requests have fallen on deaf ears. Stiffing Congress has done little to allay the suspicion that the EPA doesn't want an independent entity mucking around its handling of dioxin...
Farming On Trial
British farmers must be wondering if they've been transported to Alice's Wonderland. Suddenly, normal farm activities like combating weeds in the fields are akin to crimes against nature.
Last week, the UK government released the results of its 3-year farm-scale evaluations (FSEs) supposedly examining the environmental impacts of genetically modified, or "GM" crops. According to the headlines in scores of UK newspapers, the results indicate that two of the three GM crops were "damaging to wildlife."
The Guardian headline read, "Two GM crops face ban for damaging wildlife." Commentator John Vidal says the trials provide "a legal basis for banning the two crops under European Union rules, which say that either health or environmental detriment must be proved."
This is a sham. They aren't talking wildlife; they're literally talking about weeds. The FSE measured the number and density of weeds and associated insects in the crop fields. The researchers call it "farmland biodiversity" and assume that fewer weeds and dependent bugs in farm fields means fewer birds and other critters off the farm. The FSE researchers refer to this assumption as "the negative impacts of cleanliness."...
Cooler Heads Project
Schwarzenegger's Campaign Cheers Environmentalists
According to Greenwire (Oct. 15), California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's "policy agenda reads like an environmentalist's wish list." He has set a target of reducing "air pollution by up to 50 percent, through incentives for clean fuel usage, and build hydrogen car fueling stations along California highways. The governor-elect also supports the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which would require that 20 percent of the state's power come from solar and wind power by 2017."
In addition, he has promised to defend the state's greenhouse gas legislation against legal challenges, saying, "California's landmark legislation to cut greenhouse gases is now law, and I will work to implement it and to win the expected challenges in court along the way."
Schwarzenegger's campaign was not wholly attractive to the environmental lobby, which reacted badly to his suggestion that he might want to close down the state's environmental protection agency as part of his campaign against government bureaucracy. However, Terry Tamminen, an unpaid adviser to Schwarzenegger on environmental issues, and executive director of Environment Now, told Greenwire that he hoped the new Governor would be able to work more closely with the White House than Gov. Davis did on issues like global warming and air pollution, saying, "As a Republican governor, Arnold is much more likely to be able to work with the Bush administration to resolve differences. California could persuade the federal government to take another look at those policies."
Kyoto Ratification Latest
Since March of this year, eleven more countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol: Botswana, Ghana, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Moldova, St. Lucia, Solomon Islands, and Switzerland. Of these, Switzerland is the only Annex I country subject to emissions controls under the pact, responsible for 0.3 percent of the emissions concerned.
Switzerland's ratification brings the total percentage of Annex I emissions belonging to countries that have ratified the protocol to 44.2 percent. The USA (36.1), Australia (2.1) and Russia (17.4) together make up 55.6 percent, meaning that as long as either Russia or the U. S. fails to ratify the protocol, it cannot go into effect.
Eco-radicals Twist Tax Law to Feed Habits
Corporate misbehavior remains much in the news in America. One day it is Enron; next it is the New York Stock Exchange. Big Labor, too, must routinely be called to account. Now comes a study, "Green-Peace, Dirty Money: Tax Violations in the World of non-Profits," from Public Interest Watch, demonstrating the importance of scrutinizing nonprofit organizations.
PIW charges the radical environmental group Greenpeace with misusing tax-exempt donations for political purposes. Greenpeace, it says, is "the most egregious offender we reviewed," and thus warrants a thorough investigation. Greenpeace activists sometimes risk life and limb trying to blockade bases and ships and invade businesses and power plants. Alas, the group lacks an appreciation for the importance of protecting humans as well as whales and plants.
There may be no more avid antagonist to technological innovation than Greenpeace, which sees danger in every advance and most ferociously opposes changes that offer the greatest potential benefits. If the organization had its way, we'd all be living in primitive hovels with dirt floors, sharing our single room with farm animals while enjoying the wonders of cholera, smallpox and typhoid...
Posturing and Reality on Warming
For the first time, the Senate is about to vote on whether to restrict national emissions of carbon dioxide -- the respiration of our civilization and our economy -- in an attempt to control the world's uncontrollable climate. This legislation has absolutely no basis in science.
The bill in question is S.139, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, and John McCain, Arizona Republican. Both are global-warming hawks who see an opportunity to bring about the Kyoto Protocol through a legislative back door. Both also know it won't do a measurable thing about the Earth's temperature and that it hasn't a snowball's chance in a Washington summer of passage.
But that's not the point. S.139 is designed to embarrass President Bush and to embolden the Senate's green posturers by neutralizing the 1997 Byrd-Hagel "Sense of the Senate" Resolution which, 95-0, stated the Senate would never entertain any climate change treaty that would cost American jobs. Instead, expect S.139 to get between 30 and 40 votes. No doubt, the green lobby will crow about rapidly growing support for instruments like the Kyoto Protocol and (egad) beyond...
Dioxin Shenanigans: Why the is EPA Afraid of Independent Peer Review?
If he makes it past a bruising Senate confirmation process, Utah Governor and EPA Administrator-designate Mike Leavitt will soon face an even bigger challenge. How does he deal with an entrenched EPA bureaucracy that - if it can get away with it - is perfectly willing to put its own narrow regulatory interests above those of the public it is supposed to serve?
As Leavitt prepares to take the reins at the EPA, the agency is set to release its long-awaited reassessment of dioxin. But the document the EPA is about to foist on the public has set off alarm bells in Congress where lawmakers rightly fear that the agency has sacrificed science for the sake of expanding its already vast regulatory empire.
Eleven years in the making, the EPA study is supposed to review the scientific data to determine whether exposure to dioxin in the environment poses any significant risk to human health. The EPA's findings could then serve as the basis for regulating the sources of dioxin emissions...
Fearful that the agency was cooking the books on dioxin, Congressman James T. Walsh (R-NY), chairman of the House Appropriation Committee's subcommittee on VA, HUD, and independent agencies, has twice - in February 2002 and again in February of this year - asked the EPA to submit its dioxin reassessment to the National Academy of Sciences for independent review.
Walsh's requests have fallen on deaf ears. Stiffing Congress has done little to allay the suspicion that the EPA doesn't want an independent entity mucking around its handling of dioxin...
Farming On Trial
British farmers must be wondering if they've been transported to Alice's Wonderland. Suddenly, normal farm activities like combating weeds in the fields are akin to crimes against nature.
Last week, the UK government released the results of its 3-year farm-scale evaluations (FSEs) supposedly examining the environmental impacts of genetically modified, or "GM" crops. According to the headlines in scores of UK newspapers, the results indicate that two of the three GM crops were "damaging to wildlife."
The Guardian headline read, "Two GM crops face ban for damaging wildlife." Commentator John Vidal says the trials provide "a legal basis for banning the two crops under European Union rules, which say that either health or environmental detriment must be proved."
This is a sham. They aren't talking wildlife; they're literally talking about weeds. The FSE measured the number and density of weeds and associated insects in the crop fields. The researchers call it "farmland biodiversity" and assume that fewer weeds and dependent bugs in farm fields means fewer birds and other critters off the farm. The FSE researchers refer to this assumption as "the negative impacts of cleanliness."...
Cooler Heads Project
Schwarzenegger's Campaign Cheers Environmentalists
According to Greenwire (Oct. 15), California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's "policy agenda reads like an environmentalist's wish list." He has set a target of reducing "air pollution by up to 50 percent, through incentives for clean fuel usage, and build hydrogen car fueling stations along California highways. The governor-elect also supports the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which would require that 20 percent of the state's power come from solar and wind power by 2017."
In addition, he has promised to defend the state's greenhouse gas legislation against legal challenges, saying, "California's landmark legislation to cut greenhouse gases is now law, and I will work to implement it and to win the expected challenges in court along the way."
Schwarzenegger's campaign was not wholly attractive to the environmental lobby, which reacted badly to his suggestion that he might want to close down the state's environmental protection agency as part of his campaign against government bureaucracy. However, Terry Tamminen, an unpaid adviser to Schwarzenegger on environmental issues, and executive director of Environment Now, told Greenwire that he hoped the new Governor would be able to work more closely with the White House than Gov. Davis did on issues like global warming and air pollution, saying, "As a Republican governor, Arnold is much more likely to be able to work with the Bush administration to resolve differences. California could persuade the federal government to take another look at those policies."
Kyoto Ratification Latest
Since March of this year, eleven more countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol: Botswana, Ghana, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Moldova, St. Lucia, Solomon Islands, and Switzerland. Of these, Switzerland is the only Annex I country subject to emissions controls under the pact, responsible for 0.3 percent of the emissions concerned.
Switzerland's ratification brings the total percentage of Annex I emissions belonging to countries that have ratified the protocol to 44.2 percent. The USA (36.1), Australia (2.1) and Russia (17.4) together make up 55.6 percent, meaning that as long as either Russia or the U. S. fails to ratify the protocol, it cannot go into effect.
Eco-radicals Twist Tax Law to Feed Habits
Corporate misbehavior remains much in the news in America. One day it is Enron; next it is the New York Stock Exchange. Big Labor, too, must routinely be called to account. Now comes a study, "Green-Peace, Dirty Money: Tax Violations in the World of non-Profits," from Public Interest Watch, demonstrating the importance of scrutinizing nonprofit organizations.
PIW charges the radical environmental group Greenpeace with misusing tax-exempt donations for political purposes. Greenpeace, it says, is "the most egregious offender we reviewed," and thus warrants a thorough investigation. Greenpeace activists sometimes risk life and limb trying to blockade bases and ships and invade businesses and power plants. Alas, the group lacks an appreciation for the importance of protecting humans as well as whales and plants.
There may be no more avid antagonist to technological innovation than Greenpeace, which sees danger in every advance and most ferociously opposes changes that offer the greatest potential benefits. If the organization had its way, we'd all be living in primitive hovels with dirt floors, sharing our single room with farm animals while enjoying the wonders of cholera, smallpox and typhoid...
OPINION/COMMENTARY
The radical green god-squad
When the radical greens began distributing bumper stickers that read "No moo in '92," and "Cattle free by '93," most people just laughed, unable to comprehend the idea of completely eliminating ranching in the American West. Radical greens, however, are dedicated to the proposition that:
"A radical notion may become rational, and then, over time, reasonable and realistic – if you work your butt off."
This is the slogan that heads Andy Kerr's website. Kerr heads the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign, a coalition of radical green groups that have been working their butts off over the last decade to make the radical notion of a cattle-free West a reality.
A handful of radical congressmen has now introduced legislation that, if adopted, would be the final blow to the troubled ranching industry. Their plan requires taxpayers to cough up more than $3 billion to buy grazing rights from ranchers...
The radical green god-squad
When the radical greens began distributing bumper stickers that read "No moo in '92," and "Cattle free by '93," most people just laughed, unable to comprehend the idea of completely eliminating ranching in the American West. Radical greens, however, are dedicated to the proposition that:
"A radical notion may become rational, and then, over time, reasonable and realistic – if you work your butt off."
This is the slogan that heads Andy Kerr's website. Kerr heads the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign, a coalition of radical green groups that have been working their butts off over the last decade to make the radical notion of a cattle-free West a reality.
A handful of radical congressmen has now introduced legislation that, if adopted, would be the final blow to the troubled ranching industry. Their plan requires taxpayers to cough up more than $3 billion to buy grazing rights from ranchers...
NEWS ROUNDUP
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Animas-La Plata District: The tape is silent A tape of a closed-door meeting to discuss cost overruns on the Animas-La Plata Project may never become public. Blame the equipment. The Durango Herald and an environmental group, Taxpayers for the Animas River, have separately demanded that the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District release a tape recording of the closed Aug. 14 meeting at which A-LP supporters discussed what to do about the overruns. The A-LP District has refused both requests. But even if the district had said yes, the tape wouldn't have revealed anything, said Mike Griswold, president of the conservancy district board. That's because a tape recorder used during the closed session apparently did not work properly, he said...Suspect preached peace: FBI links man to possible sabotage of power lines Michael Devlyn Poulin preached nonviolence and took part in anti-war rallies earlier this year. That made it all the more shocking to his friends Thursday that Poulin, 62, was the target of an FBI investigation into two acts of sabotage at transmission line towers in Anderson and in southern Oregon. A federal warrant has been issued for the arrest of Poulin, whom authorities suspect unscrewed at least 18 bolts securing the base of a tower along Interstate 5 near Riverside Avenue on Monday. Police have equated the alleged act with domestic terrorism, since a toppled tower might have injured someone, started a fire or caused a massive blackout...Land Trust Alliance Rewriting Its Ethics Standards The nation's largest coalition of land preservationists is rewriting its ethical standards in response to recent reports of conflicts of interest and questionable land deals cut in the name of the environment. At its annual conference last weekend in Sacramento, the Washington-based Land Trust Alliance announced plans to add ethics training to its professional workshops, begin an ethics column in its quarterly magazine and develop regulations governing land-preservation techniques. An alliance "strategic plan" distributed at the conference said: "The U.S. Senate has launched an investigation of land trust practices, and land trusts are receiving increased critical scrutiny from the national media. Sooner or later, the government will demand stricter standards and credentialing for land trusts. . . . The best solution is a single, national set of standards and a credentialing process that is designed and managed by the land trust community."...Wyoming lawmakers, ranchers oppose grazing permit buyouts Federal efforts to encourage conservation groups to buy grazing rights from willing sellers are getting a cold reception from some ranchers and Wyoming's congressional delegation. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., calls the Shays bill ''a shot aimed at the heart of Wyoming,'' her press secretary, Joe Milczewski, said. Cubin will fight the bill in the House Resources Committee, he said...Bears find grapes tasty With the exceptionally late grape harvest this year, it's no wonder there have been reports of bears feasting on some of the lingering crop here in the Ukiah hills. Some east hills residents have noted there has been more bear activity in their locale than they have seen in decades, and pillaged vinerows have had certain bear-specific calling cards left behind on the ground...Trail Responsibility and Accountability for the Improvement of Lands (TRAIL) Act Just three weeks after the bill was introduced in Congress, the House Resources Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee held a hearing on a proposal to crack down on people who willfully damage public land, reports the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). "Congress is moving quickly because it recognizes that this is a problem that needs to be addressed," noted AMA Washington Representative Patrick Holtz. The bill, HR 3247, is called the Trail Responsibility and Accountability for the Improvement of lands (TRAIL) Act. It would create consistent standards for law enforcement on federal land. Also, the proposal substantially increases the penalties on recreational users of the land who willfully cause damage to public land. The fines would be used for rehabilitation, education, and awareness. At the hearing, Mark Rey, U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary for natural resources and the environment, and Larry Parkinson, U.S. Interior Department deputy secretary for law enforcement and security, offered support for the goals of the bill and offered to work with the subcommittee on the final language of the bill...Environmentalists, Off-Road Drivers Battle for Sand A turf war is being waged between environmentalists and off-road drivers on the sand dunes of California. In the last 30 years, the amount of protected wilderness in the Golden State jumped from 2 million to 14 million acres, while off-roading, an activity in which drivers take their vehicles into areas where they can drive more adventurously, has become wildly popular there, leaving the remaining open space contested. California's Imperial Sand Dunes, the largest mass of sand dunes in the state, are designated as a recreation area, but environmentalists consider the land a unique and fragile ecosystem that needs protection...Gas-royalty ruling a victory BP America Production Co. has improperly deducted costs from payments to 4,000 gas-royalty owners in La Plata and Archuleta counties since 1991, according to a recent court ruling. But it could be years before damages are determined and awarded in the case. Tens of millions of dollars in royalties and interest on unpaid royalties are at stake, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Bob Miller. The figure could rise to more than $100 million. Sheep ranchers Linda and Richard Parry filed the lawsuit in 1994 after Amoco Production Co., now part of BP, nearly halved their royalty payments...Another Bush court nominee draws fire Another of President Bush's federal court nominees could be in for a rough ride, this time at the hands of environmentalists. William G. Myers III, nominated in May to sit on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves Montana, is drawing fire for his relationship with the ranching and mining industries he once represented as a lawyer and lobbyist...On The Edge Of Common Sense: Neighbor roped into doin' things the hard way Dave is one of those good men that neighbors feel comfortable asking for a little help now and then. Homer is a trader of livestock, canned goods, used lumber, small appliance parts and railroad salvage. He's known for bein' tight with a dollar and for his primitive thinking. Homer caught Dave at the coffee shop and asked if he'd be able to help him castrate some bull calves he'd recently bought from a rancher south of St. Francis, Kan. "Anything I need to bring?" asked Dave. "Yup," said Homer, "a good horse."...Saving Seabiscuit's ranch Beneath the trademark diamond H insignia of millionaire Charles Howard's Ridgewood Ranch, state Sen. Wes Chesbro stood with representatives of the Department of Conservation, the Mendocino Land Trust and the Church of the Golden Rule Thursday morning to kick off the cause of converting the historic ranch to a conservation easement. Home of the celebrated Depression-era equine hero, Seabiscuit, the Ridgewood Ranch's prospects of being preserved forever in its present state are strong with the signing at Thursday's press conference of a letter of intent to provide up to $1 million through the California Farmland Conservancy Program toward the preservation of the ranch's prime farmland, which includes irrigated pasture, orchards and an organic farm, old-growth redwoods, five miles of fish-bearing creeks, vernal pools, oak woodlands, habitat for diverse species of plants and wildlife, and scenic vistas that border both sides of Highway 101 for three miles...A sure shot returns to a Wild West town Ol' Dead Eye returned home the other day to bury a relative almost 30 years younger than she. At 91, Louise Carpenter has seen it all in Paradox, a town so named because things just ain't natural here. The Dolores River crosscuts Paradox Valley - not running parallel with the canyon walls, as it naturally should. Carpenter is among the last in this town of 250 who can connect its 19th century frontier roots with its 21st century present - "from outhouse to modern plumbing," as she put it. She earned the nickname Dead Eye around 1931, when as a young woman she entered a turkey shoot in Grand Junction, about 100 miles away. Women participated separately. When Carpenter took her one practice shot, borrowing a friendly stranger's firearm, all the women backed out: Carpenter scored a bull's-eye. So she entered the men's competition, and using the same man's gun, she won - beating even the friendly gun owner. Her reputation as a sure shot was secured later when she shot a deer right through the eye...Town passes diapers for horses law LUCEDALE, Miss. - If a horse wants to gallop into this town, it's going to have to diaper up, and not horse around. Unbeknownst to horse lovers, the city of Lucedale approved a new ordinance earlier this month that requires horses to wear diapers when in town. The ordinance requires all livestock - horses, cattle, sheep, mules and others - to be diapered. Some horse riders now may boycott the city's annual Christmas parade. Last year, the parade drew 250 riders. The law will take effect Nov. 7...
NOTE: Click on the highlighted areas in orange to go to the article, study, report, etc.
Animas-La Plata District: The tape is silent A tape of a closed-door meeting to discuss cost overruns on the Animas-La Plata Project may never become public. Blame the equipment. The Durango Herald and an environmental group, Taxpayers for the Animas River, have separately demanded that the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District release a tape recording of the closed Aug. 14 meeting at which A-LP supporters discussed what to do about the overruns. The A-LP District has refused both requests. But even if the district had said yes, the tape wouldn't have revealed anything, said Mike Griswold, president of the conservancy district board. That's because a tape recorder used during the closed session apparently did not work properly, he said...Suspect preached peace: FBI links man to possible sabotage of power lines Michael Devlyn Poulin preached nonviolence and took part in anti-war rallies earlier this year. That made it all the more shocking to his friends Thursday that Poulin, 62, was the target of an FBI investigation into two acts of sabotage at transmission line towers in Anderson and in southern Oregon. A federal warrant has been issued for the arrest of Poulin, whom authorities suspect unscrewed at least 18 bolts securing the base of a tower along Interstate 5 near Riverside Avenue on Monday. Police have equated the alleged act with domestic terrorism, since a toppled tower might have injured someone, started a fire or caused a massive blackout...Land Trust Alliance Rewriting Its Ethics Standards The nation's largest coalition of land preservationists is rewriting its ethical standards in response to recent reports of conflicts of interest and questionable land deals cut in the name of the environment. At its annual conference last weekend in Sacramento, the Washington-based Land Trust Alliance announced plans to add ethics training to its professional workshops, begin an ethics column in its quarterly magazine and develop regulations governing land-preservation techniques. An alliance "strategic plan" distributed at the conference said: "The U.S. Senate has launched an investigation of land trust practices, and land trusts are receiving increased critical scrutiny from the national media. Sooner or later, the government will demand stricter standards and credentialing for land trusts. . . . The best solution is a single, national set of standards and a credentialing process that is designed and managed by the land trust community."...Wyoming lawmakers, ranchers oppose grazing permit buyouts Federal efforts to encourage conservation groups to buy grazing rights from willing sellers are getting a cold reception from some ranchers and Wyoming's congressional delegation. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., calls the Shays bill ''a shot aimed at the heart of Wyoming,'' her press secretary, Joe Milczewski, said. Cubin will fight the bill in the House Resources Committee, he said...Bears find grapes tasty With the exceptionally late grape harvest this year, it's no wonder there have been reports of bears feasting on some of the lingering crop here in the Ukiah hills. Some east hills residents have noted there has been more bear activity in their locale than they have seen in decades, and pillaged vinerows have had certain bear-specific calling cards left behind on the ground...Trail Responsibility and Accountability for the Improvement of Lands (TRAIL) Act Just three weeks after the bill was introduced in Congress, the House Resources Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee held a hearing on a proposal to crack down on people who willfully damage public land, reports the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). "Congress is moving quickly because it recognizes that this is a problem that needs to be addressed," noted AMA Washington Representative Patrick Holtz. The bill, HR 3247, is called the Trail Responsibility and Accountability for the Improvement of lands (TRAIL) Act. It would create consistent standards for law enforcement on federal land. Also, the proposal substantially increases the penalties on recreational users of the land who willfully cause damage to public land. The fines would be used for rehabilitation, education, and awareness. At the hearing, Mark Rey, U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary for natural resources and the environment, and Larry Parkinson, U.S. Interior Department deputy secretary for law enforcement and security, offered support for the goals of the bill and offered to work with the subcommittee on the final language of the bill...Environmentalists, Off-Road Drivers Battle for Sand A turf war is being waged between environmentalists and off-road drivers on the sand dunes of California. In the last 30 years, the amount of protected wilderness in the Golden State jumped from 2 million to 14 million acres, while off-roading, an activity in which drivers take their vehicles into areas where they can drive more adventurously, has become wildly popular there, leaving the remaining open space contested. California's Imperial Sand Dunes, the largest mass of sand dunes in the state, are designated as a recreation area, but environmentalists consider the land a unique and fragile ecosystem that needs protection...Gas-royalty ruling a victory BP America Production Co. has improperly deducted costs from payments to 4,000 gas-royalty owners in La Plata and Archuleta counties since 1991, according to a recent court ruling. But it could be years before damages are determined and awarded in the case. Tens of millions of dollars in royalties and interest on unpaid royalties are at stake, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Bob Miller. The figure could rise to more than $100 million. Sheep ranchers Linda and Richard Parry filed the lawsuit in 1994 after Amoco Production Co., now part of BP, nearly halved their royalty payments...Another Bush court nominee draws fire Another of President Bush's federal court nominees could be in for a rough ride, this time at the hands of environmentalists. William G. Myers III, nominated in May to sit on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves Montana, is drawing fire for his relationship with the ranching and mining industries he once represented as a lawyer and lobbyist...On The Edge Of Common Sense: Neighbor roped into doin' things the hard way Dave is one of those good men that neighbors feel comfortable asking for a little help now and then. Homer is a trader of livestock, canned goods, used lumber, small appliance parts and railroad salvage. He's known for bein' tight with a dollar and for his primitive thinking. Homer caught Dave at the coffee shop and asked if he'd be able to help him castrate some bull calves he'd recently bought from a rancher south of St. Francis, Kan. "Anything I need to bring?" asked Dave. "Yup," said Homer, "a good horse."...Saving Seabiscuit's ranch Beneath the trademark diamond H insignia of millionaire Charles Howard's Ridgewood Ranch, state Sen. Wes Chesbro stood with representatives of the Department of Conservation, the Mendocino Land Trust and the Church of the Golden Rule Thursday morning to kick off the cause of converting the historic ranch to a conservation easement. Home of the celebrated Depression-era equine hero, Seabiscuit, the Ridgewood Ranch's prospects of being preserved forever in its present state are strong with the signing at Thursday's press conference of a letter of intent to provide up to $1 million through the California Farmland Conservancy Program toward the preservation of the ranch's prime farmland, which includes irrigated pasture, orchards and an organic farm, old-growth redwoods, five miles of fish-bearing creeks, vernal pools, oak woodlands, habitat for diverse species of plants and wildlife, and scenic vistas that border both sides of Highway 101 for three miles...A sure shot returns to a Wild West town Ol' Dead Eye returned home the other day to bury a relative almost 30 years younger than she. At 91, Louise Carpenter has seen it all in Paradox, a town so named because things just ain't natural here. The Dolores River crosscuts Paradox Valley - not running parallel with the canyon walls, as it naturally should. Carpenter is among the last in this town of 250 who can connect its 19th century frontier roots with its 21st century present - "from outhouse to modern plumbing," as she put it. She earned the nickname Dead Eye around 1931, when as a young woman she entered a turkey shoot in Grand Junction, about 100 miles away. Women participated separately. When Carpenter took her one practice shot, borrowing a friendly stranger's firearm, all the women backed out: Carpenter scored a bull's-eye. So she entered the men's competition, and using the same man's gun, she won - beating even the friendly gun owner. Her reputation as a sure shot was secured later when she shot a deer right through the eye...Town passes diapers for horses law LUCEDALE, Miss. - If a horse wants to gallop into this town, it's going to have to diaper up, and not horse around. Unbeknownst to horse lovers, the city of Lucedale approved a new ordinance earlier this month that requires horses to wear diapers when in town. The ordinance requires all livestock - horses, cattle, sheep, mules and others - to be diapered. Some horse riders now may boycott the city's annual Christmas parade. Last year, the parade drew 250 riders. The law will take effect Nov. 7...
Sunday, October 26, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Calif. Wildfires Kill 14, Char 650 Homes Wildfires that have burned for days merged into walls of flame stretching across miles in parts of Southern California on Sunday, leaving 14 people dead, burning 650 homes and frustrating overmatched firefighters who worked relentlessly against fierce winds. The state's largest fire, in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender said. "We were literally running through fire," said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after the roar of flames woke them at 3:45 a.m. As they drove off, they saw a neighbor's mobile home explode...Editorial: A burning issue Part of the reason for intensity of the fires, of course, is that the forests have been allowed to grow unimpeded over the course of the last decade or so, and the accumulated fuel - underbrush, dead trees and the like - has just been waiting for a spark. This particular spark, firefighters believe, was provided by an arsonist, but it could just as well have been lightening or a thrown cigarette or an untended campfire. The result is the same: miles and miles, and acres and acres, of blackened wildlands, the loss of homes, the deaths of countless wildlife, and the loss of hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - of board feet of lumber that should have been harvested by commercial loggers. Instead, because of the the fires, what Southern Californians will inherit is a denuded wasteland, an inheritance willed to us all by the extreme left of the environmental movement. And that group is, even now, trying to insure the same sort of disaster will be repeated endlessly across the land, particularly in the West...Proposed off-road limits upset Amador supervisors Off-road-vehicle enthusiasts say they have no problem with a new proposal that would confine them to designated roads and trails on a popular portion of the Eldorado National Forest. But Amador County supervisors don't like the idea -- and they've let U.S. Forest Service officials know about it. The proposed order would prohibit four-wheel-drives, motorcycles, bicycles and any other wheeled vehicles from going off National Forest System roads and trails in the Bear River area, off Highway 88 in upcountry Amador County. Both Bill Dart of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a national recreation group, and Don Klusman of the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs said their respective organizations have supported staying on trails. Supervisor Richard Vinson, who represents the upcountry area, said the board's feeling was, "Here's one more restriction -- one that not only restricts you from using the national forest but says you can't even ride a bicycle. "The next step after that would be you can't even walk, either."... Border crime ravaging parks in Arizona National parks and other federal recreation sites in Arizona have some of the highest crime rates of any public lands in the country, and those in southern Arizona lead the list. "It's the Wild West out here every night," one ranger says. Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, southeast of Yuma, has more crimes per visitor than any other piece of public land in the West. The Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona leads all forest lands in the number of crimes committed on it. Two rangers in Arizona have been shot in the past two years. Rangers now spend more time patrolling the border than guarding resources they were hired to protect...Policy changes may be adding up to create a new forest order Environmental groups are lashing out, predicting doom for federal forests. Timber industry groups are hopeful, expecting a long-awaited turnaround in forest management policies. Forest Service officials are uncertain what the outcome will be. But it's clear that over the past year, a series of significant policy changes have been developing, most of them driven by Republicans who control the White House and Congress. Individually, the policy moves won't lead to substantial changes, said Julia Altemus of the Montana Logging Association, but combined they will make a difference in forest management...Cougars chewing at economy Cougars have killed so many Rocky Mountain elk in Wallowa County that only 360 tags for antlerless elk are being offered to hunters this year, down from 4,140 just eight years ago. Because hunting is big business in northeast Oregon, the economic impact quickly trickles down to the county's 7,140 residents. The sharp decline also could signal bad news for people beyond Wallowa County. State Fish and Wildlife Department biologists say heavy cougar predation of elk calves will continue and is likely to have a similar effect in Union, Baker, Umatilla and Grant counties.... Ariz. target of grazing buyout billIf you can't beat 'em, buy 'em out. Or sell. Weary of a half-century of grazing conflicts, environmentalists are pushing new proposals to pay off ranchers who want out of their permits to run cattle on public lands. Equally weary, some Arizona ranchers are climbing on board to support the effort. Bills introduced this week in Congress would offer up to $100 million in rancher payouts as a test of the feasibility of a voluntary buyout program. One bill would affect only Arizona, where the buyout effort has been centered. The other would open the federal financial tap to all public lands ranchers in the West. Organizers of the buyout campaign in Arizona say they have collected cards from 170 Arizona ranchers, including 40 from Southern Arizona, in support of the buyout out of more than 800 Arizona ranchers surveyed...Book chronicles "True Grizz" in Northwest Montana Douglas Chadwick says right up front he's no expert on grizzly bears. But that's a modest deflection toward the major themes in his latest book, "True Grizz." It's a book about bears and how bears and people mingle in Northwest Montana, not the author's many experiences with bears or the bio-political baggage that is often attached to grizzly bears and their protection under the Endangered Species Act. The title is a play on pulp magazine tales of terrifying encounters with ferocious, bloodthirsty grizzly bears. Chadwick takes an opposite view in his book: Bears and increasing numbers of people around the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem seem to be coexisting far more than they clash...Sierra Club leader ousted amid rumblings of discontent Just five months after being elected chair of the Napa Sierra Club's executive committee, Tyler York was replaced by fellow committee member Carol Kunze at the group's meeting earlier this month, a decision that may have been prompted by York's ties to the agricultural industry. Kunze, an attorney who serves on the board of several other environmental groups, would not discuss the reasons behind the change in leadership of the Napa club. York also declined to comment. He remains a voting member of the executive committee. "Questions were raised about his leadership," said Eric Antebi, the national press secretary for the Sierra Club. "The organization ultimately decided that it didn't make sense for him to continue serving as leader of the executive committee."...Editorial: Beyond farmers vs. fish A new report on the Klamath Basin should put an end to the obsession with saving threatened fish almost solely by taking water from farmers. A national panel of scientists argues persuasively that it's wrong to keep fighting over warm, polluted water in Klamath Lake, which probably would not restore coho salmon or native suckers in any case. The real solution, they say, is a basin-wide effort that includes removing three dams, restoring large areas of wetlands and returning more clean, cool water to lakes and streams. It could take decades, or longer, to accomplish the broad changes laid out by the National Research Council in its report released last week. The report describes a prescription for the Klamath Basin that is more costly, more politically difficult and, in some cases, even more unlikely than prying water out of Klamath Project farmers...Congress, farmer blast salamander proposal The Endangered Species Act is broken and needs to be changed, said congressmen Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) and George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) Friday at a meeting in Modesto to gather opinions on whether the California Tiger Salamander should be granted the endangered designation. "At some point, we could literally be preserving ourselves into extinction," Cardoza said. The tiger salamander is found throughout the Central Valley and in parts of the Bay Area and Southern California. If determined to be endangered, more than 1 million acres could be determined critical habitat...Ranchers fight plan to save critters U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials meeting in Modesto got an earful Friday from ranchers who oppose designating the California tiger salamander as a threatened species. The agency is under a court order to consider such a designation. Officials from Stanislaus County, one of 25 counties where the tiger salamander is believed to exist, have asked the agency for more background data on the proposal and for maps showing where the amphibians live...Hearing sought on fish report The three U.S. representatives from the Klamath Basin have asked for a congressional hearing on the Natural Research Council's report issued this week. The report focused on threatened and endangered fish. It was was commissioned by the U.S. Interior and Commerce departments after water to the Klamath Reclamation Project was shut off in 2001. According to the report, the shutoff was made without scientific justification. The report called for Basinwide efforts - from dam removal to river bank restoration to water right buyouts. The report also said there was insufficient evidence that the Klamath Project caused the fish kill of about 33,000 salmon on the lower reaches of the Klamath River in fall 2002. "It's critical that the House Resources Committee examines the findings of the NRC report to help identify ways we can prevent another tragedy like the one that occurred in the Klamath Basin in 2001 from happening again," said Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon in a press release. "This report has the potential to accomplish two pre-eminent, long-term goals: protecting endangered fish species and ensuring the sustainability of Klamath Basin agriculture."...Air quality a concern in big gas fields Gov. Dave Freudenthal wants the state Department of Environmental Quality's new budget to include extra money to start an air quality monitoring program in southwest Wyoming where major natural gas development is underway, according to the governor's press secretary Lara Azar. Air quality has become a focus of concern as drilling activity continues to intensify in the area. Recently, an in-house Bureau of Land Management e-mail was leaked to the public that contained speculation about whether proposals for full-scale development would degrade air quality enough that the public would have to be kept off the mostly federal land. Officials at the BLM Pinedale Field Office said the discussion was purely speculation, and they made assurances that the agency wouldn't allow such a scenario to happen...Court rules ban on public access to trail stands The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the right of a ranch in Sheridan County to block public use of a trail that has provided convenient access to prime hunting land for more than a century. In a decision issued Friday, the justices unanimously affirmed District Judge John Brackley's ruling in July 2002 that allowed the owners of the Beckton Stock Farm west of Sheridan - Waldo, William, Sarah and Edith Forbes - to close access to the Soldier Creek Trail, which crosses their property. The trail leads to public lands managed by the Bighorn National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and state of Wyoming. The dispute came to a head in September 2001 when the Forbeses, exasperated by gates being left open, locked off the trail. Hunters were asked to either use a new corridor or call for permission to use the existing trail. The ranch owners filed suit against hunters John Yeager, Larry Durante, John Reilly and George Rogers, claiming they crossed without permission...Fossil hunters comb 50,000 acres in desert A Mojave Desert tortoise, the descendant of an Ice Age survivor, hid in a burrow at the north end of the Las Vegas Valley, protecting itself from the sun's broiling rays and any predators. Researchers figure that for 40 years, this member of a threatened species has crawled over the hard, rocky terrain not far from where ancient elephants tramped 20,000 years ago through marshes at the edge of what was a shallow lake. Today, an environmental team is combing a 50,000-acre area that the Bureau of Land Management has targeted for the auction block. Significant paleontological or archaeological finds could launch a consultation process with Nevada's congressional delegation, and eventual public meetings, about how to protect the sites or preserve what is found...BLM sowing seeds in Book Cliffs The Bureau of Land Management's Moab Field Office is using cutting-edge technology to restore native vegetation to thousands of acres of public land ravaged by fire during the 2002 Rattle Complex blaze. During the next four weeks, supercharged crop-dusting planes will drop 53,200 pounds of mycorrhizae seed mix -- seeds combined with a beneficial fungus to help them take root and encased in an organic polymer coating with a starch binder -- over 1,471 acres of decimated land in the Book Cliffs areas of Cottonwood and Diamond canyons northeast of Moab... Judge halts logging on contested timber sale A federal judge has reordered a halt to logging on a contested timber sale after an environmental group charged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with ignoring the original order...
Calif. Wildfires Kill 14, Char 650 Homes Wildfires that have burned for days merged into walls of flame stretching across miles in parts of Southern California on Sunday, leaving 14 people dead, burning 650 homes and frustrating overmatched firefighters who worked relentlessly against fierce winds. The state's largest fire, in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender said. "We were literally running through fire," said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after the roar of flames woke them at 3:45 a.m. As they drove off, they saw a neighbor's mobile home explode...Editorial: A burning issue Part of the reason for intensity of the fires, of course, is that the forests have been allowed to grow unimpeded over the course of the last decade or so, and the accumulated fuel - underbrush, dead trees and the like - has just been waiting for a spark. This particular spark, firefighters believe, was provided by an arsonist, but it could just as well have been lightening or a thrown cigarette or an untended campfire. The result is the same: miles and miles, and acres and acres, of blackened wildlands, the loss of homes, the deaths of countless wildlife, and the loss of hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - of board feet of lumber that should have been harvested by commercial loggers. Instead, because of the the fires, what Southern Californians will inherit is a denuded wasteland, an inheritance willed to us all by the extreme left of the environmental movement. And that group is, even now, trying to insure the same sort of disaster will be repeated endlessly across the land, particularly in the West...Proposed off-road limits upset Amador supervisors Off-road-vehicle enthusiasts say they have no problem with a new proposal that would confine them to designated roads and trails on a popular portion of the Eldorado National Forest. But Amador County supervisors don't like the idea -- and they've let U.S. Forest Service officials know about it. The proposed order would prohibit four-wheel-drives, motorcycles, bicycles and any other wheeled vehicles from going off National Forest System roads and trails in the Bear River area, off Highway 88 in upcountry Amador County. Both Bill Dart of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a national recreation group, and Don Klusman of the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs said their respective organizations have supported staying on trails. Supervisor Richard Vinson, who represents the upcountry area, said the board's feeling was, "Here's one more restriction -- one that not only restricts you from using the national forest but says you can't even ride a bicycle. "The next step after that would be you can't even walk, either."... Border crime ravaging parks in Arizona National parks and other federal recreation sites in Arizona have some of the highest crime rates of any public lands in the country, and those in southern Arizona lead the list. "It's the Wild West out here every night," one ranger says. Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, southeast of Yuma, has more crimes per visitor than any other piece of public land in the West. The Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona leads all forest lands in the number of crimes committed on it. Two rangers in Arizona have been shot in the past two years. Rangers now spend more time patrolling the border than guarding resources they were hired to protect...Policy changes may be adding up to create a new forest order Environmental groups are lashing out, predicting doom for federal forests. Timber industry groups are hopeful, expecting a long-awaited turnaround in forest management policies. Forest Service officials are uncertain what the outcome will be. But it's clear that over the past year, a series of significant policy changes have been developing, most of them driven by Republicans who control the White House and Congress. Individually, the policy moves won't lead to substantial changes, said Julia Altemus of the Montana Logging Association, but combined they will make a difference in forest management...Cougars chewing at economy Cougars have killed so many Rocky Mountain elk in Wallowa County that only 360 tags for antlerless elk are being offered to hunters this year, down from 4,140 just eight years ago. Because hunting is big business in northeast Oregon, the economic impact quickly trickles down to the county's 7,140 residents. The sharp decline also could signal bad news for people beyond Wallowa County. State Fish and Wildlife Department biologists say heavy cougar predation of elk calves will continue and is likely to have a similar effect in Union, Baker, Umatilla and Grant counties.... Ariz. target of grazing buyout billIf you can't beat 'em, buy 'em out. Or sell. Weary of a half-century of grazing conflicts, environmentalists are pushing new proposals to pay off ranchers who want out of their permits to run cattle on public lands. Equally weary, some Arizona ranchers are climbing on board to support the effort. Bills introduced this week in Congress would offer up to $100 million in rancher payouts as a test of the feasibility of a voluntary buyout program. One bill would affect only Arizona, where the buyout effort has been centered. The other would open the federal financial tap to all public lands ranchers in the West. Organizers of the buyout campaign in Arizona say they have collected cards from 170 Arizona ranchers, including 40 from Southern Arizona, in support of the buyout out of more than 800 Arizona ranchers surveyed...Book chronicles "True Grizz" in Northwest Montana Douglas Chadwick says right up front he's no expert on grizzly bears. But that's a modest deflection toward the major themes in his latest book, "True Grizz." It's a book about bears and how bears and people mingle in Northwest Montana, not the author's many experiences with bears or the bio-political baggage that is often attached to grizzly bears and their protection under the Endangered Species Act. The title is a play on pulp magazine tales of terrifying encounters with ferocious, bloodthirsty grizzly bears. Chadwick takes an opposite view in his book: Bears and increasing numbers of people around the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem seem to be coexisting far more than they clash...Sierra Club leader ousted amid rumblings of discontent Just five months after being elected chair of the Napa Sierra Club's executive committee, Tyler York was replaced by fellow committee member Carol Kunze at the group's meeting earlier this month, a decision that may have been prompted by York's ties to the agricultural industry. Kunze, an attorney who serves on the board of several other environmental groups, would not discuss the reasons behind the change in leadership of the Napa club. York also declined to comment. He remains a voting member of the executive committee. "Questions were raised about his leadership," said Eric Antebi, the national press secretary for the Sierra Club. "The organization ultimately decided that it didn't make sense for him to continue serving as leader of the executive committee."...Editorial: Beyond farmers vs. fish A new report on the Klamath Basin should put an end to the obsession with saving threatened fish almost solely by taking water from farmers. A national panel of scientists argues persuasively that it's wrong to keep fighting over warm, polluted water in Klamath Lake, which probably would not restore coho salmon or native suckers in any case. The real solution, they say, is a basin-wide effort that includes removing three dams, restoring large areas of wetlands and returning more clean, cool water to lakes and streams. It could take decades, or longer, to accomplish the broad changes laid out by the National Research Council in its report released last week. The report describes a prescription for the Klamath Basin that is more costly, more politically difficult and, in some cases, even more unlikely than prying water out of Klamath Project farmers...Congress, farmer blast salamander proposal The Endangered Species Act is broken and needs to be changed, said congressmen Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) and George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) Friday at a meeting in Modesto to gather opinions on whether the California Tiger Salamander should be granted the endangered designation. "At some point, we could literally be preserving ourselves into extinction," Cardoza said. The tiger salamander is found throughout the Central Valley and in parts of the Bay Area and Southern California. If determined to be endangered, more than 1 million acres could be determined critical habitat...Ranchers fight plan to save critters U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials meeting in Modesto got an earful Friday from ranchers who oppose designating the California tiger salamander as a threatened species. The agency is under a court order to consider such a designation. Officials from Stanislaus County, one of 25 counties where the tiger salamander is believed to exist, have asked the agency for more background data on the proposal and for maps showing where the amphibians live...Hearing sought on fish report The three U.S. representatives from the Klamath Basin have asked for a congressional hearing on the Natural Research Council's report issued this week. The report focused on threatened and endangered fish. It was was commissioned by the U.S. Interior and Commerce departments after water to the Klamath Reclamation Project was shut off in 2001. According to the report, the shutoff was made without scientific justification. The report called for Basinwide efforts - from dam removal to river bank restoration to water right buyouts. The report also said there was insufficient evidence that the Klamath Project caused the fish kill of about 33,000 salmon on the lower reaches of the Klamath River in fall 2002. "It's critical that the House Resources Committee examines the findings of the NRC report to help identify ways we can prevent another tragedy like the one that occurred in the Klamath Basin in 2001 from happening again," said Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon in a press release. "This report has the potential to accomplish two pre-eminent, long-term goals: protecting endangered fish species and ensuring the sustainability of Klamath Basin agriculture."...Air quality a concern in big gas fields Gov. Dave Freudenthal wants the state Department of Environmental Quality's new budget to include extra money to start an air quality monitoring program in southwest Wyoming where major natural gas development is underway, according to the governor's press secretary Lara Azar. Air quality has become a focus of concern as drilling activity continues to intensify in the area. Recently, an in-house Bureau of Land Management e-mail was leaked to the public that contained speculation about whether proposals for full-scale development would degrade air quality enough that the public would have to be kept off the mostly federal land. Officials at the BLM Pinedale Field Office said the discussion was purely speculation, and they made assurances that the agency wouldn't allow such a scenario to happen...Court rules ban on public access to trail stands The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the right of a ranch in Sheridan County to block public use of a trail that has provided convenient access to prime hunting land for more than a century. In a decision issued Friday, the justices unanimously affirmed District Judge John Brackley's ruling in July 2002 that allowed the owners of the Beckton Stock Farm west of Sheridan - Waldo, William, Sarah and Edith Forbes - to close access to the Soldier Creek Trail, which crosses their property. The trail leads to public lands managed by the Bighorn National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and state of Wyoming. The dispute came to a head in September 2001 when the Forbeses, exasperated by gates being left open, locked off the trail. Hunters were asked to either use a new corridor or call for permission to use the existing trail. The ranch owners filed suit against hunters John Yeager, Larry Durante, John Reilly and George Rogers, claiming they crossed without permission...Fossil hunters comb 50,000 acres in desert A Mojave Desert tortoise, the descendant of an Ice Age survivor, hid in a burrow at the north end of the Las Vegas Valley, protecting itself from the sun's broiling rays and any predators. Researchers figure that for 40 years, this member of a threatened species has crawled over the hard, rocky terrain not far from where ancient elephants tramped 20,000 years ago through marshes at the edge of what was a shallow lake. Today, an environmental team is combing a 50,000-acre area that the Bureau of Land Management has targeted for the auction block. Significant paleontological or archaeological finds could launch a consultation process with Nevada's congressional delegation, and eventual public meetings, about how to protect the sites or preserve what is found...BLM sowing seeds in Book Cliffs The Bureau of Land Management's Moab Field Office is using cutting-edge technology to restore native vegetation to thousands of acres of public land ravaged by fire during the 2002 Rattle Complex blaze. During the next four weeks, supercharged crop-dusting planes will drop 53,200 pounds of mycorrhizae seed mix -- seeds combined with a beneficial fungus to help them take root and encased in an organic polymer coating with a starch binder -- over 1,471 acres of decimated land in the Book Cliffs areas of Cottonwood and Diamond canyons northeast of Moab... Judge halts logging on contested timber sale A federal judge has reordered a halt to logging on a contested timber sale after an environmental group charged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with ignoring the original order...
Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout Act
Doc Lane has sent us his comments:
Buyout Language finally shows intent!
The Grazing Buyout that has been talked about and pushed by the Whitney family and the Center for Biological Diversity has now been introduced as two different bills in Congress. Representative Shays of Connecticut introduced HB 3324 and Representative Grijalva of Arizona introduced HB 3337. The language is slightly different in the two bills BUT the important impact of both bills is exactly the same.
In this article I would like to walk you through the impact if ether of the bills is passed. If you want to see the actual bill language you can get a copy on the Internet at http//:www.firstgov.gov/ web site. I will use Mr. Shays’ bill (HB 3324) as an example because it is the most comprehensive, but the provisions that will cause the problems cited here are in both bills.
First Problem – The selling point for supporting the “buyout” is it is completely voluntary. If you don’t want to participate you don’t have to.
Well in both bills you will be forced to lose your permit no matter what over time. The language is in Section 4
(a) (a) WAIVER OF EXISTING GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE- A Permittee or lessee may waive to the Secretary (defined as Agriculture, Interior, Defense and Energy. In other words all grazing leases on all federal lands) at any time, a valid existing grazing permit or lease authorizing livestock grazing on Federal lands.
This sounds ok, except you MUST voluntarily waive you permit in order to transfer it to ANYONE. If you sell your ranch you must “waive” the permit back to the Secretary so that it can be transferred to the new buyer. If you die, your estate must “waive” it so it can be transferred to your heirs. IN OTHER WORDS ALL PERMITS ARE “WAIVED” IN THE COURSE OF NORMAL BUSINESS AT SOME POINT.
NOW THEY GOTCHA
Same Section 4
( b ) CANCELLATION OF WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE- The Secretary shall cancel grazing permits and leases waived under this section and permanently retire the associated allotments from domestic livestock grazing use notwithstanding any other provision of law.
Ok, now you sold the permit to the person who wanted to buy your ranch. You go to the local BLM or Forest Service office and “Waive” your permit back to the Secretary so it can be transferred to your buyer. SORRY, THE LAW STATES “ THE SECRETARY SHALL CANCEL …PERMITS WAIVED UNDER THIS SECTION AND PERMINATELY RETIRE THE ASSOCIATED ALLOTMENTS FROM DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK GRAZING.
I understand you are going to say it doesn’t apply to your allotment and permit because you didn’t “waive” it under Section 4 (a), you waived it to sell it to someone else. Where in 4 (a) does it say “only for voluntary permanent retirement of the allotment with compensation”? So as each permit is sold or passed on to heirs throughout the U. S. the grazing is removed PERMENTLY. The permits will have zero value because no one can ever own them but you and you won’t live forever. Very soon there will be no livestock grazing on federal land anywhere in the United States.
What happens in states like Arizona that have intermingled land throughout the state and almost all ranches depend in part on federal land as part of the ranch unit? Without the federal part they cannot ranch, it is not economically possible.
Second Problem
In Mr. Shays HB3324 the last of Section 4 acknowledge that funds to pay for the “voluntary buyout” may not be available.
Remember, appropriation of funds has to be done through Congress and NO one is guaranteeing this will be funded.
Ask yourself this question: Why would the Center for Biological Diversity want to, or Congress be willing to, pay you if this bill passes? Once the bill is signed into law, appropriating the money must be done, writing the regulations (which say “If you ever had a warning letter from the agency you don’t qualify”) and then starting to retire permits, NOT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO RETIRE THEM BUT BECAUSE THE LAW SAYS THEY HAVE TO!!! You can waive your permit but the law does NOT say the Government has to pay you!!
C. B. 'Doc' Lane
Director of Natural Resources
Arizona Cattlemen's Association
Arizona Wool Producers Association
602-267-1129
doclane@arizonabeef.org
Thanks Doc for sending your perceptive comments. I posted the text to H.R. 3324 on 10/21 along with some press on the legislation. The comments of Sue Krentz and Cynthia Coping were posted on 10/22. Please review and send your comments to flankcinch@hotmail.com or just click on "email me" to your left.
Doc Lane has sent us his comments:
Buyout Language finally shows intent!
The Grazing Buyout that has been talked about and pushed by the Whitney family and the Center for Biological Diversity has now been introduced as two different bills in Congress. Representative Shays of Connecticut introduced HB 3324 and Representative Grijalva of Arizona introduced HB 3337. The language is slightly different in the two bills BUT the important impact of both bills is exactly the same.
In this article I would like to walk you through the impact if ether of the bills is passed. If you want to see the actual bill language you can get a copy on the Internet at http//:www.firstgov.gov/ web site. I will use Mr. Shays’ bill (HB 3324) as an example because it is the most comprehensive, but the provisions that will cause the problems cited here are in both bills.
First Problem – The selling point for supporting the “buyout” is it is completely voluntary. If you don’t want to participate you don’t have to.
Well in both bills you will be forced to lose your permit no matter what over time. The language is in Section 4
(a) (a) WAIVER OF EXISTING GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE- A Permittee or lessee may waive to the Secretary (defined as Agriculture, Interior, Defense and Energy. In other words all grazing leases on all federal lands) at any time, a valid existing grazing permit or lease authorizing livestock grazing on Federal lands.
This sounds ok, except you MUST voluntarily waive you permit in order to transfer it to ANYONE. If you sell your ranch you must “waive” the permit back to the Secretary so that it can be transferred to the new buyer. If you die, your estate must “waive” it so it can be transferred to your heirs. IN OTHER WORDS ALL PERMITS ARE “WAIVED” IN THE COURSE OF NORMAL BUSINESS AT SOME POINT.
NOW THEY GOTCHA
Same Section 4
( b ) CANCELLATION OF WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE- The Secretary shall cancel grazing permits and leases waived under this section and permanently retire the associated allotments from domestic livestock grazing use notwithstanding any other provision of law.
Ok, now you sold the permit to the person who wanted to buy your ranch. You go to the local BLM or Forest Service office and “Waive” your permit back to the Secretary so it can be transferred to your buyer. SORRY, THE LAW STATES “ THE SECRETARY SHALL CANCEL …PERMITS WAIVED UNDER THIS SECTION AND PERMINATELY RETIRE THE ASSOCIATED ALLOTMENTS FROM DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK GRAZING.
I understand you are going to say it doesn’t apply to your allotment and permit because you didn’t “waive” it under Section 4 (a), you waived it to sell it to someone else. Where in 4 (a) does it say “only for voluntary permanent retirement of the allotment with compensation”? So as each permit is sold or passed on to heirs throughout the U. S. the grazing is removed PERMENTLY. The permits will have zero value because no one can ever own them but you and you won’t live forever. Very soon there will be no livestock grazing on federal land anywhere in the United States.
What happens in states like Arizona that have intermingled land throughout the state and almost all ranches depend in part on federal land as part of the ranch unit? Without the federal part they cannot ranch, it is not economically possible.
Second Problem
In Mr. Shays HB3324 the last of Section 4 acknowledge that funds to pay for the “voluntary buyout” may not be available.
Remember, appropriation of funds has to be done through Congress and NO one is guaranteeing this will be funded.
Ask yourself this question: Why would the Center for Biological Diversity want to, or Congress be willing to, pay you if this bill passes? Once the bill is signed into law, appropriating the money must be done, writing the regulations (which say “If you ever had a warning letter from the agency you don’t qualify”) and then starting to retire permits, NOT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO RETIRE THEM BUT BECAUSE THE LAW SAYS THEY HAVE TO!!! You can waive your permit but the law does NOT say the Government has to pay you!!
C. B. 'Doc' Lane
Director of Natural Resources
Arizona Cattlemen's Association
Arizona Wool Producers Association
602-267-1129
doclane@arizonabeef.org
Thanks Doc for sending your perceptive comments. I posted the text to H.R. 3324 on 10/21 along with some press on the legislation. The comments of Sue Krentz and Cynthia Coping were posted on 10/22. Please review and send your comments to flankcinch@hotmail.com or just click on "email me" to your left.
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