NEWS ROUNDUP
Environmentalists make final bid to block energy leases The Pitkin County commissioners and a coalition of environmental groups made a desperate attempt Wednesday to prevent 1,560 acres of rugged forest land from being leased for natural gas development. The commissioners and the environmental coalition filed separate protests with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to try to remove the land in extreme western Pitkin County from being offered at an auction in Denver Thursday.... Guard Deployments Worry States With so many National Guard troops in Iraq, officials in some states are worried they could be caught short-handed if an emergency flares up at home. More Guard members are deployed now than have been since the Korean War, about a quarter of the 460,000 nationwide. Their more frequent and longer overseas deployments "absolutely" affect states' emergency response, said Chris Reynolds, a battalion fire chief in Tampa, Fla., who also teaches disaster management at American Military University.... Report finds other fires depleted resources to fight Biscuit fire A government review of the initial fight to stop the massive 2002 Biscuit fire found that delays in marshaling firefighting forces, mostly because of other fires burning around the West, allowed the blaze to grow to nearly 500,000 acres. "These delays were primarily due to the severe fire season — there were many higher priority fires within and outside the region," according to the report by the General Accounting Office released Wednesday. By the time highly experienced teams arrived, the fire had already grown from a few hundred acres to almost 200,000 acres, the review found.... Lawmakers Promise Return Of Firefighting Air Tankers Lawmakers said Thursday they'll try to get grounded air tankers back in the air to fight wildfires. "I don't think we have an adequate substitute out there," Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said at a hearing of the House Resources subcommittee on forests. Officials with the Forest Service and Interior Department testified they had no choice after the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the airworthiness of the big fixed-wing aircraft could not be ensured. One problem is the Federal Aviation Administration lacks the authority to inspect the former military tankers and certify them as airworthy for firefighting because the FAA deals with civilian -- not government -- flights. The Forest Service and the Interior Department are not equipped to carry out such inspections, officials said. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., pledged to meet Tuesday with the head of the FAA to resolve the problem. The FAA does inspect and certify many of the same aircraft for non-government purposes.... County looking to protect gas To protect gas development in Moffat County, residents have begun working with gas companies to complete a sage grouse management plan. The working group met with representatives from Tom Brown Inc. and Western Gas Resources Inc. last week to open a dialogue on management of the greater sage grouse, said Jeff Comstock, Moffat County Natural Resources Department director. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a study to determine whether the greater sage grouse requires protection under the Endangered Species Act. They're scheduled to make a decision by the end of the year. The county's sage grouse working group opposes a listing of the greater sage grouse. Indeed, the purpose of the plan is prevent the need for a greater sage grouse listing, said Jean Stetson, a member of the working group.... Court Enjoins Blue Rock Country Club Development A judicial panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today temporarily enjoined the grading of land for a golf course development known as the Blue Rock Country Club east of the City of Hayward, CA, on Walpert Ridge. The court agreed that the development’s proposed golf course may imperil endangered species and has scheduled oral arguments in the case. The housing aspect of the project includes 614 luxury homes proposed to be constructed over a 356-acre area. But what conservation groups opposed was a golf course sprawling nearly three quarters of a mile across Walpert Ridge, in prime open space and habitat for the imperiled Alameda whipsnake and the California red legged frog.... Bush Administration Refuses to Release Otero Mesa Development Documents Earthjustice filed suit in federal court in New Mexico today to acquire documents relating to the government’s plan to open unroaded wild areas of the Otero Mesa to oil and gas drilling. Representing New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the public interest law firm filed its complaint after the US Fish and Wildlife Service failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted five months ago. The Bureau of Land Management submitted a biological assessment to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in April 2003 that identified likely negative impacts to the falcon from oil and gas development. Later that same year, under goading from the Bush administration, the BLM concluded that its proposed oil and gas development plan wouldn’t impact any federally protected species enough to warrant a formal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by law.... Go here(pdf) to view the complaint....Water supply forecast down again for Northwest Water supply forecasts for the entire Columbia River Basin have been below normal this spring, pointing to a difficult summer ahead for electricity management and protection of threatened fish, energy planners were told Thursday. Runoff at six hydroelectric dams in the basin bottomed out at 63 percent of normal for January through July 2004, according to a forecast produced by the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center and presented to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.... Preble's mouse decision may not end the saga A decision next year on whether to remove federal protection for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse may not end the controversial environmental and economic saga surrounding the elusive critter, the regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned Thursday. Ralph Morgenweck said he is concerned Coloradans may believe the “game is over” for the Preble's because a recent scientific study found it was not a distinct subspecies from a mouse found in northern Wyoming and South Dakota, the Bear Lodge jumping mouse. Yes, Morganweck said, that finding could play a key role in the agency's decision - expected in late December or early 2005 - on whether the Preble's mouse should be removed from protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act. But there's a complication, once that could delay or prevent a ruling on the Preble's mouse protection that some critics say has cost highway builders, developers and landowners millions dollars. That's because Morgenweck said the federal agency is hearing “rumors” that environmentalists may soon ask that the Bear Lodge mouse itself be listed as a threatened species.... Chinook run appears 48 percent under forecast The spring chinook salmon run headed for the upper Columbia and Snake rivers appears to be 48 percent smaller than predicted. State, federal and tribal biologists have updated the forecast, downgrading it from a prediction of 360,700 in December to 189,200 adult chinook.... Column: Condors, Salmon and the Land One rides the summer thermals; the other glides through rivers and streams like a pale torpedo. They could not be more dissimilar, this big buzzard and the silvery fish, yet they have a great deal in common: Both are icons of the environmental movement, and both challenge us to deepen our understanding of the relationship between living creatures and the landscapes they inhabit. California condors and Pacific salmon both reached milestones in the past month. For the condors, still the rarest birds in North America despite a 20-year campaign to boost their numbers, the milestone was superficially a happyone: Three chicks hatched in the backcountry of Ventura County, Calif., the product of breeding by birds in the wild.... Pete Seeger's environmental sloop Clearwater designated historic The National Register of Historic Places on Thursday acquired a new member that sails the Hudson River, with an engine that will soon be fueled by soy oil. The 35-year-old sloop Clearwater, which helped inspire the nation's environmental movement, is now a waterborne classroom that teaches new generations about clean air and water. The 108-foot tall ship, made mostly of white oak, with a yellow pine deck, was constructed to fulfill folk singer Pete Seeger's 1968 pledge to "build a boat to save the river.".... Activists fight McCullough Peaks road plan Environmentalists are blasting a plan to manage motorized vehicles in the McCullough Peaks area east of Cody, calling it an unbalanced proposal that could ruin the fragile desert landscape. The Bureau of Land Management already allows cars, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and other vehicles on designated roads in the 120,000-acre travel management area. Under the plan, BLM officials hope to better tailor motorized vehicle use to individual roads and trails and determine which routes should be closed to such use.... Gas lease dispute The federal auction Thursday of 72,000 acres of Colorado land for oil and gas drilling came under a cloud, as activists led by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette disputed most of the sale for the lands' wilderness values. Amid beefed-up security, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned 70 parcels at its Lakewood office. Companies forked over $6.62 million - the second-highest amount for a single auction in the BLM's Colorado history - for drilling rights to the natural gas-loaded areas in the Rocky Mountains.... SD expands aerial hunting Aerial hunting of coyotes that threaten livestock will be allowed on certain state-managed land under a decision by the state's Game, Fish & Parks Commission. The panel's vote last week opens up land owned or managed by the Office of School and Public Lands to aerial depredation hunting, which is allowed when coyotes or fox have attacked livestock or are a potential threat to do so.... Column: Celebrating 40 years of the Wilderness Act Wilderness, as the conservationist Aldo Leopold put it, is “the very stuff America is made of.” As pioneers settled our continent, their encounter with wilderness shaped our national character. Today, as Americans flock to our national forests, parks and other federal lands, many seek the wilderness, savoring its scenic splendors and a quiet that’s increasingly rare. Hikers and hunters, birders and anglers, families with kids and those like us, who are closing in on their 80s, find in wilderness the opportunity to reconnect with pioneer skills and relive our national history.... NM leases land to Texas wind farm company The New Mexico State Land Office has signed an agreement with a Texas wind farm company to lease 1,840 acres of state trust land to establish a wind power facility in Quay County. The wind farm will consist of 80 turbines, eight of which will be built on state land, which are predicted to produce 80 megawatts of power. Another 72 turbines will be located on private land. The Cielo project units will join 136 other turbines spread across Quay and De Baca counties that are part of the New Mexico Wind Energy Center, the third-largest wind power facility in the nation.... Missouri lows may hit record Spring runoff is so poor this year that flows on the Missouri River below Holter Dam could hit record lows this summer, officials say. And, if the water gets too warm on the blue ribbon trout stream between Holter Dam and Cascade, fishing will be restricted. That could happen as early as late July. "It was grim in April. It is grimmer now," said Steve Leathe, regional director of fisheries for Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.... Signs point to judge allowing Green Mountain lawsuit The lawsuit concerning how Green Mountain Reservoir water was allocated during Colorado’s driest summer on record will likely be allowed to proceed, with intervention from the state. Western Colorado water providers sued the Bureau of Reclamation over how it assigned a shortage of water in Green Mountain in 2002; the shortage was caused by the drought and compounded by release restrictions to avoid aggravating the Heeney slide.... Globe Grows Darker as Sunshine Diminishes 10% to 37% n the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place. Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950's to the early 90's, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. In some regions like Asia, the United States and Europe, the drop was even steeper. In Hong Kong, sunlight decreased 37 percent. No one is predicting that it may soon be night all day, and some scientists theorize that the skies have brightened in the last decade as the suspected cause of global dimming, air pollution, clears up in many parts of the world. Yet the dimming trend — noticed by a handful of scientists 20 years ago but dismissed then as unbelievable — is attracting wide attention. Research on dimming and its implications for weather, water supplies and agriculture will be presented next week in Montreal at a joint meeting of American and Canadian geological groups.... Dry Times: Cattlemen Start Selling Producers are starting to cull their herds after another dry spring leaves little in the way of grass or water for cattle in western South Dakota. Some areas in the south central part of the state are classified in extreme drought and Congress is considering giving producers some financial leeway if they have to sell cattle. The Fort Pierre Livestock Auction is adding a second day of auctions each week because of the increased volume, said manager Dennis Hanson.... Prosecutors probing cattle futures trade Federal prosecutors are looking into possible criminal violations by commodities traders who may have received advance knowledge about the first U.S. case of mad cow disease and used it to reap profits in the cattle futures market. The disclosure of an investigation by criminal authorities, being conducted in tandem with a previously known civil probe by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was made by agency Chairman James Newsome on Thursday in testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee.... Lowe to President Bush: Howdy, partner It's not very often that a rodeo cowboy will trade in his Resistol and Wranglers for a tie and sport coat. So when Will Lowe's wife suggested the world champion bareback rider update his wardrobe for a recent after-hours function, he began to grumble. I mean, you would think he was meeting the President or something. Exactly.... People who live at the end of dirt roads Do you really want to know what is wrong with American society today? Too many of our roads have been paved! There's not a problem in America today...crime, education, drugs, the divorce rate, that could not be improved with more dirt roads. Dirt roads build character. People who live at the end of dirt roads know that life is much more enjoyable when taken at a slower pace. They know that life can be dirty, boring and can jar you right down to your teeth at times. But they also have a greater appreciation for what's waiting at the end of the bumpy ride...their kids, a frisky dog and a loving spouse....
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Salmon plan may add artificial twist to species protection
In the effort to rebuild the Northwest's iconic salmon runs, the Bush administration has outlined a plan in which artificially produced fish, turned out by the hundreds of millions each year, could help decide whether salmon require continued federal protection.
This is a tectonic shift in the nation's approach to preventing wildlife from going extinct -- and may have broad implications for the future of the Endangered Species Act.
The proposal specifically addresses only Pacific salmon. But in making it, the Bush administration raises wider questions about standards for other endangered species. If hatchery fish can count toward reducing extinction risk, what about zoo populations? What combination of genes and rearing does it take to make an artificially produced animal the same as its wild kin? What, finally, does it mean to be wild or natural?
As copies of the draft policy spread by fax machine and e-mail in recent days, some scientists and environmental advocates said the plan could set a clear precedent allowing federal authorities to declare a wildlife population recovered even if its survival depends in part on continued artificial production....
In the effort to rebuild the Northwest's iconic salmon runs, the Bush administration has outlined a plan in which artificially produced fish, turned out by the hundreds of millions each year, could help decide whether salmon require continued federal protection.
This is a tectonic shift in the nation's approach to preventing wildlife from going extinct -- and may have broad implications for the future of the Endangered Species Act.
The proposal specifically addresses only Pacific salmon. But in making it, the Bush administration raises wider questions about standards for other endangered species. If hatchery fish can count toward reducing extinction risk, what about zoo populations? What combination of genes and rearing does it take to make an artificially produced animal the same as its wild kin? What, finally, does it mean to be wild or natural?
As copies of the draft policy spread by fax machine and e-mail in recent days, some scientists and environmental advocates said the plan could set a clear precedent allowing federal authorities to declare a wildlife population recovered even if its survival depends in part on continued artificial production....
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Fed fire funding burns hole in pockets Federal land managers are burning through firefighting money at a record pace while making untimely decisions that could dramatically hinder crews' ability to control catastrophic blazes this summer, members of a Senate panel said. "Fire spending seems to be out of control," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told officials from the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Interior at a hearing Tuesday. The wildfires of 2003 cost taxpayers more per acre to fight than any other season in history, Domenici said, but the 3.9 million acres burned were the fewest since 1922. The agencies are counting some 2003 fire suppression costs against their 2004 operational budgets, continuing a pattern of "fire-borrowing" that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said has pulled $2.7 billion from other nonfire accounts in the past five years. The practice also is forcing the cancellation of $540 million in public land improvement projects that had been appropriated by Congress. "That money was programmed across the agencies to be put on the ground and it never got there," said Craig.... Governor leads fight to restore air tankers Fire officials throughout the West were scrambling Tuesday to fill a gaping hole in their wildfire arsenal: the loss of 33 air tankers used to drop fire retardant and water on growing wildfires. "The timing of this is unbelievable," lamented Gov. Janet Napolitano. Arizona firefighters had used two of the now-grounded tankers as recently as Saturday to fight back a wildfire in Buckeye. As if to underscore the poor timing of the tanker announcement, the first fire restrictions of the season were issued Tuesday by the Tonto National Forest, northeast of Phoenix.... Regrowth at the mercy of the drought Six months ago, the worst wildfires in California history charred a 40-mile swath from Highland to the Los Angeles County line, leaving behind a moonscape of scorched slopes, blackened soil and skeletal twigs. Today, many of those same slopes are bathed in a sea of green. Wild cucumber vines weave across the still-sooty ground and delicate tendrils of chemise sprout from charred stumps. The manzanita, chemise, mountain mahogany, knob cone pines, deer brush and grasses that cover the hillsides have adapted to live with fire. Some even rely on fire for their germination.... Environmentalists Want Beetle Protected Environmentalists want emergency federal protection for the Casey's June beetle, one of the rarest insects in the world that lives on only 600 acres south of the city and is threatened by the desert building boom. In a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity listed two building projects already under way in beetle habitat and five more in development. They want emergency protection under the Endangered Species Act.... Salamander habitat proposal draws opponents A string of speakers Tuesday pleaded for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect people's habitat for housing, jobs and farming, not only the home of a blunt-nosed amphibian labeled as endangered in northern Santa Barbara County. Citing both religion and research, the hearing drew dozens of people during afternoon and evening sessions to comment on the proposal to designate 14,000 acres locally as critical habitat for the California tiger salamander.... Studying the Lamprey: They're Elusive Little Suckers Swollen with as many as 100,000 tiny eggs, the 2-foot-long lamprey soon would be released to continue its journey toward spawning grounds farther upstream. Conservation groups contend the lamprey has dwindled perilously low in number in the Columbia River and across the West Coast. Fossil records trace the lamprey as far back as any fish, including the prehistoric sturgeon. "They pre-date salmon," Le said. "They're kind of like sturgeon, in a way. They've never changed.".... The World's Largest Democratic Environmental Forum to Assemble in Thailand in November 2004 How can our planet meet the needs of growing populations and expanding markets without sacrificing nature? This question will be at the heart of the debate at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, which will open on 17 November in Bangkok, Thailand, under the theme: "People and Nature - only one world". The Congress is the governing body of IUCN - The World Conservation Union. It is held every four years and represents the world's largest democratic environmental forum where governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) jointly establish conservation priorities, guide the Union's policy and approve its Programme. IUCN's six specialist Commissions draw on the expertise of some 12,000 of the world's leading scientists, practitioners, economists, lawyers, and educators.... U.N. Looks at Endangered Species List Namibia has requested permission to loosen a global ban on ivory sales, Japan wants to ease restrictions on trade in whales, and Australia is seeking protection for the great white shark, a United Nations body said Wednesday. The proposals are among more than 50 submitted to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, ahead of a conference later this year. Every two years, CITES reviews the global list of endangered species, which offers varying degrees of protection to some 30,000 plant and animal species.... Dry, dying orange grove is home to endangered kangaroo rat A dispute with wildlife officials over clearing land for a proposed sports park has left 100 acres northeast of the city ripe for a major fire. The dry, dying orange grove is the result of the latest clash between federal efforts to protect the endangered kangaroo rat and local concerns about reducing the threat of wildfires. The city wants to use bulldozers to remove the dried vegetation.... National Park Service Gagging On Its Own Talking Points Doing damage control on recent embarrassing disclosures, the National Park Service has directed its superintendents to obtain prior approval before they depart from "talking points" provided to them on controversial issues, according to internal emails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Following revelations that park superintendents were supposed to mask budget cutbacks by calling them "service level adjustments," the National Park Service Headquarters (Washington Office or WASO) and regional offices have been issuing scripts or "talking points" that park superintendents must follow in communicating with the media.... Animal Overpasses, Tunnels Offering Roadkill Remedy Scientists and highway planners are now working to help get wildlife and motorists to their destinations. From salamander tunnels in Massachusetts to cougar corridors in southern California, the ecopassages that run under and above roads are allowing animals to cross roads and highways safely. "These ecopassages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid human conflicts," said Jodi Hilty of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society. Animals that migrate can also use make use of these passages when busy roads interrupt the animals' routes, she said. Hilty has studied ecopassages in California's oak woodlands.... Healing the fire-scarred Henry Mountains One of last year's biggest range fires could turn into one of this summer's biggest reclamation efforts. The Nature Conservancy has joined forces with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of an all-volunteer effort to stabilize fragile hillsides and begin reviving the fire-scarred, rugged slopes of the Henry Mountains near Hanksville. Last week, rehabilitation teams began spreading native seed, clearing out dead trees, planting ponderosa pine and building a series of dams to stabilize banks in the fire-ravaged areas of the Henry Mountains.... Logging helicopter crashes, killing one A helicopter pilot died Wednesday when the aircraft's rotor blades struck a tree, the authorities said. The pilot was James Ladd, 41, of Erowal Bay, New South Wales, Australia. He had worked at Superior Helicopter of Grants Pass for a year and had over 9,700 flight hours in helicopters. Ladd was removing timber from the Bear Pen timber sale on Bureau of Land Management property 14 miles northwest of Glendale. He was flying a Kaman Kmax K-1200 lift helicopter.... Conservation groups to tie up BLM leases with protests The government will auction leases covering more than 73,000 acres in energy-rich western Colorado this week, but environmental protests could tie up half the land for months. The Bureau of Land Management will offer the leases Thursday on land some say should be left alone. Conservationists plan to protest leasing 32 of the 73 parcels, land either in a wilderness bill proposed by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., or in roadless forest. Protests trigger an automatic review by BLM and can ultimately be appealed to the Interior Board of Lands Appeal in Washington, D.C. No lease is issued until the matter is resolved.... BLM agrees with church's proposals The faithful who hope to trace the footprints of their families in large numbers along the historic Mormon Trail in central Wyoming appear to have the blessing of the federal government. A preferred plan drafted by Bureau of Land Management officials for managing the popular handcart trekking program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would allow for a higher number of trekkers than any other plan considered.... Gore Warns of 'Climate Emergency' While Promoting Disaster Film Former Vice President Al Gore warned of a "climate emergency" on Tuesday as he joined forces with political activists from MoveOn.org to promote a Hollywood disaster film that shows global warming creating an ice age and causing massive destruction. The Day After Tomorrow , a 20th Century Fox production set for release on Memorial Day, stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid. The $125-million movie will offer "a rare opportunity to have a national conversation about what truly should be seen as a global climate emergency," Gore told reporters.... Bob Cox: Cowboy, lawman, fighting Seabee As a young cowboy, Bob Cox became familiar with the territory between Willcox and Mexico. Through the years, he went on to use his knowledge as a lawman in the area, and later served his country in three wars. His father, Andrew Cox, was a blacksmith from San Antonio, Texas, who led the family out of Texas looking for work during the Great Depression. "Dad used mule teams to grade the roads (for the railroad). He shod the mules. When work would play out in one place he'd find another" Cox said.... Blazing the trail On a cold, wet morning just outside Vernon, representatives from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas met at the old Doan's Crossing on the North Texas prairie near the Red River. A marker was placed in the rain-softened ground to show the route of the old Western Trail, one of the country's major cattle trails. Seven million head of horses and cattle went up the trail from Texas, roughly between 1876 and 1893....
Jailed Rancher Is Freed After Roping In Renegade Cattle
The wide open life of cattle ranching is something Wally Klump has known for almost 71 years in his life east of Willcox, Arizona. It’s a life far different from this past year he just spent in prison, after he refused to remove his cattle from an area the Bureau of Land Management said he had to leave.
"I was real surprised to be put in jail for just saying no to the judge,” Klump said.
"The court repeatedly reminded Mr. Klump that the keys to the prison door were in his pocket and that he would be released any time that he decided to comply with the court’s orders," said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Guerin, who handled the prosecution of Wally Klump.
Wally Klump agreed to corral his cattle so that he could get out of jail. He still said he had every right to use that land, but Guerin said Klump wasn’t abiding by the Bureau of Land Management's rules.
"Mr. Klump hasn’t been able to establish any right to graze on federal lands since 1991, and there have been lawsuits about this issue,” Guerin said.
Guerin said Klump threatened anyone who tried to move his cattle.
"He believed that the Second Ammendment permitted him to bear arms against government employees who were tyrants in his opinion because the federal government cannot own land. (And he believes) that gave him the right to bear arms against those employees of the government,” Guerin said.
"I'm not going to answer that (question about threatening government employees with the Second Ammendment) because people will take it the wrong way. (They can take it) anyway they want to take it,” Klump said.
But now the cattle are fenced in, and the prosecution rests.
"I would say the government is cautiously optimistic,” Guerin said.
But Klump said an even larger issue is still on the horizon.
"(This dispute) has nothing to do with cattle or land. It’s a means for a cause, and, here again I go, Liberty and Freedom, private ownership by that individual who does the work,” Klump said.
Klump will graze his cattle on land available to him, and said he has no plans to return the cattle to the area in dispute.
WELDA MCKINLEY GRIDER COMMENTS
Wayne Klump left a message on my machine.
Wally Klump is out of jail. He agreed to move his cattle. The BLM agreed to drop the accumulating trespass charges.
I'm glad Wally is out of jail. The rest saddens me. Guess he didn't win anything. Guess he lost all the way around.
Lost more than his cattle. The sadness just creeps into your bones and stays there. The hopelessness..........
The Laney's....the Forest Service....
Can't even keep the agencies straight...is it the BLM or the Forest Service??? They are all beginning to sound alike..the stories all sound alike...The Klumps..the Laney's...the Hage's..the Dann's...
A quote that I like: "I don't believe in conspiracy's. Doesn't mean the S.O.B.'s ain't out to get me."
No, we can't give up. No, we can't weaken. But taking a moment for the sadness..is like taking a moment for grief at a funeral. Not a person, thank you God, not a person..but a right...we lose a right here and we lose a right there...it amounts to a death in the family. Even though, I am taking pause to grieve another loss...it just makes me grit my teeth....
Dammitt, we may lose one...but we are getting tougher as a breed, instead of getting weaker. As supporters, we stiffen our backbones, we get more determined. The next fight? The next one...we are better educated and we are meaner..we get more determined not to lose another round. This is where we will win and the government will lose. Because we have something to lose and something to win and they have nothing. They have a job. We have a life.
It's times like these that it is hard to remember, the government is us. We the people...and we the people have let a few dictate the many.
In the big picture, I realize for the ranching community to come together and fight together, we had to lose a few. We had to feel the pain, in order to stand up and be counted. We had to read the story's. We had to look across the country and see baby calves with their tails up in the air, bucking down the trails behind their mama's..to think..oh God, what if it was me? Dear Lord in Heaven, what if I am next? This is what we had to have..the fear...the sadness..the despair.
There is a lot of things that spur citizens into action. Despair. Anger. Righteous Outrage. The joy of taking up a cause. Nothing spawns action like fear.
In l988, I went with a German friend back to Germany. One night her father, after having some wine, went into a tirade in German (he didn't speak English - I certainly don't speak German), he wanted his daughter to translate. She didn't want to translate. I told her, go ahead. I am a guest in this man's house. I want to hear him. He started out saying that he was a member of the SS. A very young man then, a very old man when I was his guest. He spoke of the pride of being in the SS. He wanted me to understand...the United States was wrong in declaring war. Those people were enemies of the government. He spoke long and hard about the reasons...ended up crying and saying...I just took orders...I just took orders..we all took orders. Your country wants us all dead....and because we took the orders of our country. We had to take orders or die. I don't remember his words...translated...but I do remember the look of despair on his face, while he was trying to get me to understand, they either took orders or died.
We don't have this in our country. Not yet. We have to remember those agents...those agents have a job and they are brain washed. Brain washed to the point of not having any common sense. The people of America who have the most gumption...they aren't government employees for the most part. People with gumption are self-employed citizens who pay taxes out the nose. Taxes that support the family's of government employees. Sorry, I can't put it any nicer. The thing to remember, is that those people have jobs. To excel or even keep their jobs, they have to follow orders. Hate the agency. Hate the laws or regulations that we, as ranchers, in our years of compliancy allowed to come into play, but don't hate the people.
It's us, babe, that either put this into action or allowed it to do so. Every time we say, "Somebody should do something about this..." Somebody is us. Either we handle it or we allow the government to handle it. Everytime you turn a government agency loose on a problem...we lose. Plain and simple.
Be very careful who you vote for. Do they want the government to fix it or do they want to change the laws? This is not the same thing. You need to understand the difference and you need to know who knows the difference.
Most of us have never been bucked off. I personally have never rode anything beyond the second jump that bucked, with the exception of a kid horse one time. It hurts to hit the ground. It knocks the air out of you and there is a moment of wondering if you will ever again breathe or ever again move. (I got bucked off this last summer for a reminder). I justified this by saying...."It wasn't his fault, he got in wire." That's true. But the truth is...I rode him into wire, not paying attention.
Not paying attention is what got us into government wire (red tape). My fault or the horses? My fault or the governments?
Two choices. Either sell the horse or train him better.
Two choices. Either move to another country or make this one better. Another country would be where?
Grabbing the horse and kicking him in the belly for doing what came natural does one thing. Makes us feel better. Changes the horse? By being kicked in the belly 10 minutes later? (Took me awhile to get up). Not likely.
There is the thought that if we personally sue the employees, they will become so scared they won't do it again. I am not against that thought totally and even see some merits in that action...but remember you are only kicking the belly. The rest of the horse is still there. The belly is a long ways from their brain. The employee is a long ways from the agency. So they loose an employee..the world is full of possible employees.
People with knowledge tell me a horse's brain is the size of a walnut. What can a horse know? Let me tell you, I've been outsmarted by cows, horses, kids and government employees. The fact they have a brain the size of a walnut doesn't help my pride any.
The point I am trying desperately to make is. We either caused this wreck or allowed it to happen. We...you and I are going to unravel it and get it right. Get it right or loose it all. One person, one case can't do it. It's been too long in the making. We'll have to fight and fight and fight. If we loose one. Then don't sell the horse. Get back on. Get tough or walk home.
Welda McKinley Grider
Fed fire funding burns hole in pockets Federal land managers are burning through firefighting money at a record pace while making untimely decisions that could dramatically hinder crews' ability to control catastrophic blazes this summer, members of a Senate panel said. "Fire spending seems to be out of control," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told officials from the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Interior at a hearing Tuesday. The wildfires of 2003 cost taxpayers more per acre to fight than any other season in history, Domenici said, but the 3.9 million acres burned were the fewest since 1922. The agencies are counting some 2003 fire suppression costs against their 2004 operational budgets, continuing a pattern of "fire-borrowing" that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said has pulled $2.7 billion from other nonfire accounts in the past five years. The practice also is forcing the cancellation of $540 million in public land improvement projects that had been appropriated by Congress. "That money was programmed across the agencies to be put on the ground and it never got there," said Craig.... Governor leads fight to restore air tankers Fire officials throughout the West were scrambling Tuesday to fill a gaping hole in their wildfire arsenal: the loss of 33 air tankers used to drop fire retardant and water on growing wildfires. "The timing of this is unbelievable," lamented Gov. Janet Napolitano. Arizona firefighters had used two of the now-grounded tankers as recently as Saturday to fight back a wildfire in Buckeye. As if to underscore the poor timing of the tanker announcement, the first fire restrictions of the season were issued Tuesday by the Tonto National Forest, northeast of Phoenix.... Regrowth at the mercy of the drought Six months ago, the worst wildfires in California history charred a 40-mile swath from Highland to the Los Angeles County line, leaving behind a moonscape of scorched slopes, blackened soil and skeletal twigs. Today, many of those same slopes are bathed in a sea of green. Wild cucumber vines weave across the still-sooty ground and delicate tendrils of chemise sprout from charred stumps. The manzanita, chemise, mountain mahogany, knob cone pines, deer brush and grasses that cover the hillsides have adapted to live with fire. Some even rely on fire for their germination.... Environmentalists Want Beetle Protected Environmentalists want emergency federal protection for the Casey's June beetle, one of the rarest insects in the world that lives on only 600 acres south of the city and is threatened by the desert building boom. In a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity listed two building projects already under way in beetle habitat and five more in development. They want emergency protection under the Endangered Species Act.... Salamander habitat proposal draws opponents A string of speakers Tuesday pleaded for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect people's habitat for housing, jobs and farming, not only the home of a blunt-nosed amphibian labeled as endangered in northern Santa Barbara County. Citing both religion and research, the hearing drew dozens of people during afternoon and evening sessions to comment on the proposal to designate 14,000 acres locally as critical habitat for the California tiger salamander.... Studying the Lamprey: They're Elusive Little Suckers Swollen with as many as 100,000 tiny eggs, the 2-foot-long lamprey soon would be released to continue its journey toward spawning grounds farther upstream. Conservation groups contend the lamprey has dwindled perilously low in number in the Columbia River and across the West Coast. Fossil records trace the lamprey as far back as any fish, including the prehistoric sturgeon. "They pre-date salmon," Le said. "They're kind of like sturgeon, in a way. They've never changed.".... The World's Largest Democratic Environmental Forum to Assemble in Thailand in November 2004 How can our planet meet the needs of growing populations and expanding markets without sacrificing nature? This question will be at the heart of the debate at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, which will open on 17 November in Bangkok, Thailand, under the theme: "People and Nature - only one world". The Congress is the governing body of IUCN - The World Conservation Union. It is held every four years and represents the world's largest democratic environmental forum where governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) jointly establish conservation priorities, guide the Union's policy and approve its Programme. IUCN's six specialist Commissions draw on the expertise of some 12,000 of the world's leading scientists, practitioners, economists, lawyers, and educators.... U.N. Looks at Endangered Species List Namibia has requested permission to loosen a global ban on ivory sales, Japan wants to ease restrictions on trade in whales, and Australia is seeking protection for the great white shark, a United Nations body said Wednesday. The proposals are among more than 50 submitted to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, ahead of a conference later this year. Every two years, CITES reviews the global list of endangered species, which offers varying degrees of protection to some 30,000 plant and animal species.... Dry, dying orange grove is home to endangered kangaroo rat A dispute with wildlife officials over clearing land for a proposed sports park has left 100 acres northeast of the city ripe for a major fire. The dry, dying orange grove is the result of the latest clash between federal efforts to protect the endangered kangaroo rat and local concerns about reducing the threat of wildfires. The city wants to use bulldozers to remove the dried vegetation.... National Park Service Gagging On Its Own Talking Points Doing damage control on recent embarrassing disclosures, the National Park Service has directed its superintendents to obtain prior approval before they depart from "talking points" provided to them on controversial issues, according to internal emails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Following revelations that park superintendents were supposed to mask budget cutbacks by calling them "service level adjustments," the National Park Service Headquarters (Washington Office or WASO) and regional offices have been issuing scripts or "talking points" that park superintendents must follow in communicating with the media.... Animal Overpasses, Tunnels Offering Roadkill Remedy Scientists and highway planners are now working to help get wildlife and motorists to their destinations. From salamander tunnels in Massachusetts to cougar corridors in southern California, the ecopassages that run under and above roads are allowing animals to cross roads and highways safely. "These ecopassages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid human conflicts," said Jodi Hilty of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society. Animals that migrate can also use make use of these passages when busy roads interrupt the animals' routes, she said. Hilty has studied ecopassages in California's oak woodlands.... Healing the fire-scarred Henry Mountains One of last year's biggest range fires could turn into one of this summer's biggest reclamation efforts. The Nature Conservancy has joined forces with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of an all-volunteer effort to stabilize fragile hillsides and begin reviving the fire-scarred, rugged slopes of the Henry Mountains near Hanksville. Last week, rehabilitation teams began spreading native seed, clearing out dead trees, planting ponderosa pine and building a series of dams to stabilize banks in the fire-ravaged areas of the Henry Mountains.... Logging helicopter crashes, killing one A helicopter pilot died Wednesday when the aircraft's rotor blades struck a tree, the authorities said. The pilot was James Ladd, 41, of Erowal Bay, New South Wales, Australia. He had worked at Superior Helicopter of Grants Pass for a year and had over 9,700 flight hours in helicopters. Ladd was removing timber from the Bear Pen timber sale on Bureau of Land Management property 14 miles northwest of Glendale. He was flying a Kaman Kmax K-1200 lift helicopter.... Conservation groups to tie up BLM leases with protests The government will auction leases covering more than 73,000 acres in energy-rich western Colorado this week, but environmental protests could tie up half the land for months. The Bureau of Land Management will offer the leases Thursday on land some say should be left alone. Conservationists plan to protest leasing 32 of the 73 parcels, land either in a wilderness bill proposed by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., or in roadless forest. Protests trigger an automatic review by BLM and can ultimately be appealed to the Interior Board of Lands Appeal in Washington, D.C. No lease is issued until the matter is resolved.... BLM agrees with church's proposals The faithful who hope to trace the footprints of their families in large numbers along the historic Mormon Trail in central Wyoming appear to have the blessing of the federal government. A preferred plan drafted by Bureau of Land Management officials for managing the popular handcart trekking program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would allow for a higher number of trekkers than any other plan considered.... Gore Warns of 'Climate Emergency' While Promoting Disaster Film Former Vice President Al Gore warned of a "climate emergency" on Tuesday as he joined forces with political activists from MoveOn.org to promote a Hollywood disaster film that shows global warming creating an ice age and causing massive destruction. The Day After Tomorrow , a 20th Century Fox production set for release on Memorial Day, stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid. The $125-million movie will offer "a rare opportunity to have a national conversation about what truly should be seen as a global climate emergency," Gore told reporters.... Bob Cox: Cowboy, lawman, fighting Seabee As a young cowboy, Bob Cox became familiar with the territory between Willcox and Mexico. Through the years, he went on to use his knowledge as a lawman in the area, and later served his country in three wars. His father, Andrew Cox, was a blacksmith from San Antonio, Texas, who led the family out of Texas looking for work during the Great Depression. "Dad used mule teams to grade the roads (for the railroad). He shod the mules. When work would play out in one place he'd find another" Cox said.... Blazing the trail On a cold, wet morning just outside Vernon, representatives from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas met at the old Doan's Crossing on the North Texas prairie near the Red River. A marker was placed in the rain-softened ground to show the route of the old Western Trail, one of the country's major cattle trails. Seven million head of horses and cattle went up the trail from Texas, roughly between 1876 and 1893....
Jailed Rancher Is Freed After Roping In Renegade Cattle
The wide open life of cattle ranching is something Wally Klump has known for almost 71 years in his life east of Willcox, Arizona. It’s a life far different from this past year he just spent in prison, after he refused to remove his cattle from an area the Bureau of Land Management said he had to leave.
"I was real surprised to be put in jail for just saying no to the judge,” Klump said.
"The court repeatedly reminded Mr. Klump that the keys to the prison door were in his pocket and that he would be released any time that he decided to comply with the court’s orders," said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Guerin, who handled the prosecution of Wally Klump.
Wally Klump agreed to corral his cattle so that he could get out of jail. He still said he had every right to use that land, but Guerin said Klump wasn’t abiding by the Bureau of Land Management's rules.
"Mr. Klump hasn’t been able to establish any right to graze on federal lands since 1991, and there have been lawsuits about this issue,” Guerin said.
Guerin said Klump threatened anyone who tried to move his cattle.
"He believed that the Second Ammendment permitted him to bear arms against government employees who were tyrants in his opinion because the federal government cannot own land. (And he believes) that gave him the right to bear arms against those employees of the government,” Guerin said.
"I'm not going to answer that (question about threatening government employees with the Second Ammendment) because people will take it the wrong way. (They can take it) anyway they want to take it,” Klump said.
But now the cattle are fenced in, and the prosecution rests.
"I would say the government is cautiously optimistic,” Guerin said.
But Klump said an even larger issue is still on the horizon.
"(This dispute) has nothing to do with cattle or land. It’s a means for a cause, and, here again I go, Liberty and Freedom, private ownership by that individual who does the work,” Klump said.
Klump will graze his cattle on land available to him, and said he has no plans to return the cattle to the area in dispute.
WELDA MCKINLEY GRIDER COMMENTS
Wayne Klump left a message on my machine.
Wally Klump is out of jail. He agreed to move his cattle. The BLM agreed to drop the accumulating trespass charges.
I'm glad Wally is out of jail. The rest saddens me. Guess he didn't win anything. Guess he lost all the way around.
Lost more than his cattle. The sadness just creeps into your bones and stays there. The hopelessness..........
The Laney's....the Forest Service....
Can't even keep the agencies straight...is it the BLM or the Forest Service??? They are all beginning to sound alike..the stories all sound alike...The Klumps..the Laney's...the Hage's..the Dann's...
A quote that I like: "I don't believe in conspiracy's. Doesn't mean the S.O.B.'s ain't out to get me."
No, we can't give up. No, we can't weaken. But taking a moment for the sadness..is like taking a moment for grief at a funeral. Not a person, thank you God, not a person..but a right...we lose a right here and we lose a right there...it amounts to a death in the family. Even though, I am taking pause to grieve another loss...it just makes me grit my teeth....
Dammitt, we may lose one...but we are getting tougher as a breed, instead of getting weaker. As supporters, we stiffen our backbones, we get more determined. The next fight? The next one...we are better educated and we are meaner..we get more determined not to lose another round. This is where we will win and the government will lose. Because we have something to lose and something to win and they have nothing. They have a job. We have a life.
It's times like these that it is hard to remember, the government is us. We the people...and we the people have let a few dictate the many.
In the big picture, I realize for the ranching community to come together and fight together, we had to lose a few. We had to feel the pain, in order to stand up and be counted. We had to read the story's. We had to look across the country and see baby calves with their tails up in the air, bucking down the trails behind their mama's..to think..oh God, what if it was me? Dear Lord in Heaven, what if I am next? This is what we had to have..the fear...the sadness..the despair.
There is a lot of things that spur citizens into action. Despair. Anger. Righteous Outrage. The joy of taking up a cause. Nothing spawns action like fear.
In l988, I went with a German friend back to Germany. One night her father, after having some wine, went into a tirade in German (he didn't speak English - I certainly don't speak German), he wanted his daughter to translate. She didn't want to translate. I told her, go ahead. I am a guest in this man's house. I want to hear him. He started out saying that he was a member of the SS. A very young man then, a very old man when I was his guest. He spoke of the pride of being in the SS. He wanted me to understand...the United States was wrong in declaring war. Those people were enemies of the government. He spoke long and hard about the reasons...ended up crying and saying...I just took orders...I just took orders..we all took orders. Your country wants us all dead....and because we took the orders of our country. We had to take orders or die. I don't remember his words...translated...but I do remember the look of despair on his face, while he was trying to get me to understand, they either took orders or died.
We don't have this in our country. Not yet. We have to remember those agents...those agents have a job and they are brain washed. Brain washed to the point of not having any common sense. The people of America who have the most gumption...they aren't government employees for the most part. People with gumption are self-employed citizens who pay taxes out the nose. Taxes that support the family's of government employees. Sorry, I can't put it any nicer. The thing to remember, is that those people have jobs. To excel or even keep their jobs, they have to follow orders. Hate the agency. Hate the laws or regulations that we, as ranchers, in our years of compliancy allowed to come into play, but don't hate the people.
It's us, babe, that either put this into action or allowed it to do so. Every time we say, "Somebody should do something about this..." Somebody is us. Either we handle it or we allow the government to handle it. Everytime you turn a government agency loose on a problem...we lose. Plain and simple.
Be very careful who you vote for. Do they want the government to fix it or do they want to change the laws? This is not the same thing. You need to understand the difference and you need to know who knows the difference.
Most of us have never been bucked off. I personally have never rode anything beyond the second jump that bucked, with the exception of a kid horse one time. It hurts to hit the ground. It knocks the air out of you and there is a moment of wondering if you will ever again breathe or ever again move. (I got bucked off this last summer for a reminder). I justified this by saying...."It wasn't his fault, he got in wire." That's true. But the truth is...I rode him into wire, not paying attention.
Not paying attention is what got us into government wire (red tape). My fault or the horses? My fault or the governments?
Two choices. Either sell the horse or train him better.
Two choices. Either move to another country or make this one better. Another country would be where?
Grabbing the horse and kicking him in the belly for doing what came natural does one thing. Makes us feel better. Changes the horse? By being kicked in the belly 10 minutes later? (Took me awhile to get up). Not likely.
There is the thought that if we personally sue the employees, they will become so scared they won't do it again. I am not against that thought totally and even see some merits in that action...but remember you are only kicking the belly. The rest of the horse is still there. The belly is a long ways from their brain. The employee is a long ways from the agency. So they loose an employee..the world is full of possible employees.
People with knowledge tell me a horse's brain is the size of a walnut. What can a horse know? Let me tell you, I've been outsmarted by cows, horses, kids and government employees. The fact they have a brain the size of a walnut doesn't help my pride any.
The point I am trying desperately to make is. We either caused this wreck or allowed it to happen. We...you and I are going to unravel it and get it right. Get it right or loose it all. One person, one case can't do it. It's been too long in the making. We'll have to fight and fight and fight. If we loose one. Then don't sell the horse. Get back on. Get tough or walk home.
Welda McKinley Grider
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Groups' appeal says road plan bad for bears The Lolo, Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle national forests are not taking seriously their obligation to protect grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk ecosystems, environmentalists said in an administrative appeal filed Monday. A new access management plan for the forests closes far too few roads - and roads kill grizzly bears, said the complaint filed by seven environmental groups led by the Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Grizzly bear populations in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk ecosystems number only about 30-40 animals, so few that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared them warranted for listing as endangered species in 1999.... Military planes to be used to fight forest fires Firefighting agencies will use as many as eight military C-130 planes along with water-carrying helicopters and fixed-wing planes akin to crop-dusters, officials said. It will cost anywhere from $26 million to $40 million to replace the big tankers, including costs to terminate the existing contracts, which had been signed though the 2004 fire season, said Mark Rey, the Agriculture undersecretary who directs forest policy.... Forest Service investigates paintball play More than a dozen lean-to's, wooden barricades and a plastic fence have been erected in about an acre of forest land along the Peaks Trail south of Frisco. Dozens of trees have been marred with paint marks, and hundreds of uncharged paint balls lay on the forest floor in the area. A small table has also been stored in the area. According to Ken Waugh, district recreation staff officer with the Dillon Ranger District, playing paintball is illegal on national forest land.... Oregon biz leaders back roadless-area protections Some of the biggest names in Oregon's corporate world joined with local manufacturers of outdoor equipment Tuesday to call on the Bush Administration to uphold protections for National Forest roadless areas. Nike, Adidas, Salomon, Columbia Sportswear, and seven other outdoor recreation businesses headquartered in Oregon spoke of the importance of wild roadless forests to their customers and their businesses. Paul Kelly, Nike's Global Director of Public Affairs announced, "As a company committed to environmental stewardship and innovation, Nike supports the 2001 Roadless Rule and believes that it is fundamental to maintaining the integrity of some of our country's most beautiful natural areas for the outdoor athletes and enthusiasts of today, and for generations to come.".... Conservation Groups Sue to Protect California Spotted Owl The Center for Biological Diversity and four other groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for wrongfully denying protection for the California spotted owl under the federal Endangered Species Act. The suit challenges the Fish and Wildlife Service’s February 10, 2003 decision denying protection for the owl, which was in response to a petition filed by the groups. The owl, which inhabits old growth forests in the Sierra Nevada, is threatened by logging on Forest Service and private lands.... USDA Announces Interim Final Rule for Grassland Reserve Program Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced the release of an interim final rule to implement the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. The GRP helps landowners restore and protect grassland, rangeland, pastureland, shrubland and certain other lands and provides assistance for rehabilitating grasslands. By issuing an interim final rule with request for public comments, USDA can conduct a program sign-up and implementation this fiscal year, according to the rule. USDA will consider all comments received during a 60-day public comment period in developing a final GRP rule.... Analysis shows Northern spotted owl still declining The latest five-year update on the Northern spotted owl shows the threatened bird is declining faster than ever. The study appears to be a blow to timber industry efforts to loosen restrictions on national forest logging in Washington, Oregon and Northern California to protect fish and wildlife habitat. The study follows another report that found the threatened marbled murrelet in decline. While owl numbers from 1998 to 2003 held steady or declined only slightly in most of the study areas in Oregon and California, they declined so fast in Washington that the population as a whole fell by 4.1 percent, the study found.... Environmentalists seek stronger scrub jay status Just a few birds can halt a fleet of bulldozers, but environmentalists still want more protection for the Florida scrub jay. They hope to slow the destruction of the birds' habitat by forcing the federal government to dub them "endangered." Four environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, sued to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the scrub jay's listing from "threatened," its less-critical status since 1987.... Column: Salmon recovery efforts must be based on science The Pacific Northwest faces a new threat to the long-term survival of our wild salmon runs: environmental policy decisions based on federal politics, not science. The Bush administration proposes in a draft policy to count millions of hatchery fish as part of West Coast wild salmon runs, when in fact they are very different animals. The administration is all but saying that hatchery fish production can make up for land use and industrial actions that destroy salmon habitat and harm water quality for people. The administration is wrong.... Peregrines nest on San Francisco building They've raised families in suburban counties surrounding San Francisco Bay, and nested on the Bay Bridge. Now, peregrine falcons have moved downtown. For the first time in perhaps decades, peregrines have successfully nested on a San Francisco building - the headquarters of utility company PG&E. Two 4-week-old nestlings have been sighted.... State to revisit plover habitat plan Facing increasing criticism from coastal communities, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department said it is reconsidering a plan to restrict public access to 57 miles of state beaches for the protection of threatened populations of Western snowy plovers. Michelle Michaud, a natural resource manager for OPRD, said the state has received a "mixed bag" of comments regarding its proposal to expand beach restrictions for the threatened shorebird. But Michaud added that the majority of the public was concerned about losing access and recreational opportunities on miles of state lands.... Endangered Species Act reconsidered Republicans have introduced at least four bills in the U.S. House or Senate to reform the Endangered Species Act in the current legislative session. And in the last six months, the Bush administration has made two internal decisions, and is considering a third, that change the act. The new slate of legislation differs from other efforts to change the law. Republican legislators now speak of improving the act for the sake of animals, rather than for defending the rights of property owners.... Wolf case becomes battle of which court A territorial dispute of sorts has arisen in the case of four tranquilized wolves, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist and his assistant and criminal charges of trespassing and littering levied against the two. An order of removal has already switched the venue in the case of the State of Wyoming v. Michael Jimenez, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf manager, from Park County to U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. Federal employees are permitted to take state charges filed against them into a federal courtroom. Wes Livingston, a Cody resident who helped Jimenez with wolf-collaring operations, is also entitled to this protection, said attorney Mike Messenger. Though Livingston was arraigned in Park County on Tuesday, Messenger indicated that he was waiting for a federal judge to ship Livingston's case to Cheyenne and that the paperwork could arrive "any minute." But Park County Attorney Brian Skoric plans to challenge the order today.... State Rangeland Database Discussed Ranchers helping each other set fire to their land might sound a bit odd, but popularity of this concept is growing. Ranchers are organizing Prescribed Burning Associations to make prescribed fire a safe, ecologically-friendly tool for managing rangelands, said Dr. Mort Kothmann, rangeland scientist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burning Association, organized in 1997, was the first landowner coop. Since then, new chapters have been forming across the state, and in Oklahoma and Colorado. Interest is also building in New Mexico.... Battles brew over land rights Investors in a central Utah company are the largest beneficiaries of a 132-year-old federal mining law that sells mining rights to prospectors for as little as 84 cents an acre, according to data compiled by an environmental group. The records also reflect an ongoing battle between Crippled Horse Investments, a Texas corporation, and the federal government. Crippled Horse is suing the government, trying to force the transfer of more than 23,000 acres in Uintah County near the Colorado border for oil shale mining, despite a moratorium on transfers that has been in place since 1994. The company is scheduled to go before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene on Friday. At issue is the 1872 Mining Act, a landmark piece of homestead legislation, passed by Congress to encourage starry-eyed prospectors to develop the frontier.... TPL Receives "Four Cs" Award for NM Work In recognition of their outstanding collaborative efforts to protect beautiful landscapes in Northern New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) presented the prestigious Four Cs Award to the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national non-profit land conservation organization. The award was presented during a ceremony Friday, May 7, at the Orilla Verde Recreation Area near Taos. BLM Director Kathleen Clarke presented the award on behalf of the BLM.... Rancher fighting feds relents Luther "Wally" Klump, the Willcox rancher who spent a year in prison defying a federal court order to move his cattle off public land, was freed Tuesday after he agreed to round up the herd and not shoot government agents. "I'm ready to remove my cows from the Simmons Peak allotment and withdraw my Second Amendment mandate," Klump wrote in a surrender note to U.S. District Court Judge John Roll.... Sierra Club Endorses Kerry for President The Sierra Club -- the nation's oldest, largest and most influential environmental group -- today endorsed Sen. John Kerry for President of the United States, citing his outstanding leadership in safe-guarding America's air, water and public lands. "John Kerry will provide the environmental leadership that has been sorely missing in the Bush White House," said Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. "His commitment to environmental progress stands in stark contrast to the Bush administration's all-out assault on the environment and its record of putting polluting corporations before the American public's health and safety.... Climate Change Gets a Hollywood Makeover It is just another digitally enhanced disaster movie, but campaigners hope "The Day After Tomorrow," a climate change Armageddon blockbuster, will have a lasting special effect on respect for the planet. 20th Century Fox's $125 million film opens in cinemas worldwide on May 28. Riding on its coat tails is an army of environmentalists hoping it will win new recruits to their cause.... Global Warming Ignites Tempers, Even in a Movie Any studio that makes a $125 million movie about global warming is courting controversy. But 20th Century Fox does not seem to have fully anticipated the political firestorm being whipped up by its film "The Day After Tomorrow." Environmental advocates are using the film's release, scheduled for May 28, as an opening to slam the Bush administration, whose global warming policies they oppose. Industry groups in Washington are lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure the film does not help passage of a bill limiting carbon-dioxide emissions, which many scientists say contribute to global warming. Meanwhile on Tuesday Fox sparred with celebrity advocates who complained that they had been disinvited to the movie's premiere, only to be reinvited later in the day.... Tribes seeking $1 billion The Klamath Tribes are seeking at least $1 billion in compensation for the loss of salmon runs in the Upper Klamath Basin. An attorney for the Chiloquin-based Tribes said he filed a suit this morning in U.S. District Court in Portland against PacifiCorp, which operates a series of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. Plaintiffs in the suit include the Klamath Tribes, several individual tribal members, and Klamath Claims Committee, a little-known entity that dates to the termination of the tribes in the 1950s.... Fallow land traded for water The Metropolitan Water District approved an agreement Tuesday in which Riverside and Imperial county farmers would be paid to take land out of production so irrigation water could be diverted to urban users in Southern California coastal communities. The 35-year agreement, which will have a startup cost of $100 million, calls for farmers in the Palo Verde Irrigation District to receive steady payments for rotating their crops and making the water from the Colorado River available to 18 million customers from Ventura County to the Mexican border.... Sand, Sagebrush and Spearfishing in the N.M. Desert Fishermen love to tell tall tales but the one about spearfishing in the desert plains of New Mexico is true. Among the white sands, sagebrush and sandstone cliffs, a group of doggedly determined divers earlier this month held what they billed as one of the few spearfishing competitions in the world at the Elephant Butte Lake reservoir -- right in the desert. "People don't believe there's spearfishing in the desert, but there is and it's a very active sport in the state," said desert sportsman Jim Summers, who organized the competition. The reservoir, New Mexico's largest man-made lake, is in a basin region just west of what is called Jornada Del Muerto (the Path of the Dead).... Fishing deal lets ranchers say no to developers' bait Seven miles of prime trout fishing streams that carve through Park County ranchland have been opened to the public this week in an unprecedented deal that open-space advocates say will ultimately save 13,000 acres in danger of being developed. The deal allows anglers who enjoy flyfishing to sign up, pay a fee ranging from $25 to $50 and spend the day along a stream on one of six private ranches. A part of that cash goes to the ranch owner, giving them an income source so they do not have to sell when the developers come knocking. But the best part, anglers say, is that it opens up more fishing access in a state that is losing streams to subdivisions and private-land grabs.... Groups Lash Out at USDA Conservation Plan An Agriculture Department plan to pay farmers and ranchers to protect and improve natural resources will freeze out most potential participants, critics of the plan said Tuesday. Critics said the department was not doing what Congress had wanted with the Conservation Security Program, which would provide money and technical assistance for environmentally friendly land management practices. The program should be open to producers who are eligible, not only to the limited number that USDA proposes, they said.... USDA orders silence on mad cow in Texas The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an order instructing its inspectors in Texas, where federal mad cow disease testing policies recently were violated, not to talk about the cattle disorder with outside parties, United Press International has learned. The order, sent May 6 by e-mail from the USDA's Dallas district office, was issued in the wake of the April 27 case at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo, in which a cow displaying signs of a brain disorder was not tested for mad cow disease despite a federal policy to screen all such animals.... Continuing Will’s roping legacy Will Rogers used the rope to underline a style of humor that was to become his trademark, his son Will Jr. wrote in the forward to “Will Rogers Rope Tricks” by Frank Dean, rodeo trick roper and author. Frank Dean’s legacy is helping to perpetuate the memory of Will Rogers and the role trick roping played in his career and his life. The Wild West Arts Club Frank Dean-Will Rogers Award was presented to a Mexican charro at International Convention in Las Vegas. Funds left to Will Rogers Heritage Inc. in Dean’s will are used for WWAC trick roping prizes and awards....
Groups' appeal says road plan bad for bears The Lolo, Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle national forests are not taking seriously their obligation to protect grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk ecosystems, environmentalists said in an administrative appeal filed Monday. A new access management plan for the forests closes far too few roads - and roads kill grizzly bears, said the complaint filed by seven environmental groups led by the Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Grizzly bear populations in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk ecosystems number only about 30-40 animals, so few that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared them warranted for listing as endangered species in 1999.... Military planes to be used to fight forest fires Firefighting agencies will use as many as eight military C-130 planes along with water-carrying helicopters and fixed-wing planes akin to crop-dusters, officials said. It will cost anywhere from $26 million to $40 million to replace the big tankers, including costs to terminate the existing contracts, which had been signed though the 2004 fire season, said Mark Rey, the Agriculture undersecretary who directs forest policy.... Forest Service investigates paintball play More than a dozen lean-to's, wooden barricades and a plastic fence have been erected in about an acre of forest land along the Peaks Trail south of Frisco. Dozens of trees have been marred with paint marks, and hundreds of uncharged paint balls lay on the forest floor in the area. A small table has also been stored in the area. According to Ken Waugh, district recreation staff officer with the Dillon Ranger District, playing paintball is illegal on national forest land.... Oregon biz leaders back roadless-area protections Some of the biggest names in Oregon's corporate world joined with local manufacturers of outdoor equipment Tuesday to call on the Bush Administration to uphold protections for National Forest roadless areas. Nike, Adidas, Salomon, Columbia Sportswear, and seven other outdoor recreation businesses headquartered in Oregon spoke of the importance of wild roadless forests to their customers and their businesses. Paul Kelly, Nike's Global Director of Public Affairs announced, "As a company committed to environmental stewardship and innovation, Nike supports the 2001 Roadless Rule and believes that it is fundamental to maintaining the integrity of some of our country's most beautiful natural areas for the outdoor athletes and enthusiasts of today, and for generations to come.".... Conservation Groups Sue to Protect California Spotted Owl The Center for Biological Diversity and four other groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for wrongfully denying protection for the California spotted owl under the federal Endangered Species Act. The suit challenges the Fish and Wildlife Service’s February 10, 2003 decision denying protection for the owl, which was in response to a petition filed by the groups. The owl, which inhabits old growth forests in the Sierra Nevada, is threatened by logging on Forest Service and private lands.... USDA Announces Interim Final Rule for Grassland Reserve Program Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced the release of an interim final rule to implement the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. The GRP helps landowners restore and protect grassland, rangeland, pastureland, shrubland and certain other lands and provides assistance for rehabilitating grasslands. By issuing an interim final rule with request for public comments, USDA can conduct a program sign-up and implementation this fiscal year, according to the rule. USDA will consider all comments received during a 60-day public comment period in developing a final GRP rule.... Analysis shows Northern spotted owl still declining The latest five-year update on the Northern spotted owl shows the threatened bird is declining faster than ever. The study appears to be a blow to timber industry efforts to loosen restrictions on national forest logging in Washington, Oregon and Northern California to protect fish and wildlife habitat. The study follows another report that found the threatened marbled murrelet in decline. While owl numbers from 1998 to 2003 held steady or declined only slightly in most of the study areas in Oregon and California, they declined so fast in Washington that the population as a whole fell by 4.1 percent, the study found.... Environmentalists seek stronger scrub jay status Just a few birds can halt a fleet of bulldozers, but environmentalists still want more protection for the Florida scrub jay. They hope to slow the destruction of the birds' habitat by forcing the federal government to dub them "endangered." Four environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, sued to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the scrub jay's listing from "threatened," its less-critical status since 1987.... Column: Salmon recovery efforts must be based on science The Pacific Northwest faces a new threat to the long-term survival of our wild salmon runs: environmental policy decisions based on federal politics, not science. The Bush administration proposes in a draft policy to count millions of hatchery fish as part of West Coast wild salmon runs, when in fact they are very different animals. The administration is all but saying that hatchery fish production can make up for land use and industrial actions that destroy salmon habitat and harm water quality for people. The administration is wrong.... Peregrines nest on San Francisco building They've raised families in suburban counties surrounding San Francisco Bay, and nested on the Bay Bridge. Now, peregrine falcons have moved downtown. For the first time in perhaps decades, peregrines have successfully nested on a San Francisco building - the headquarters of utility company PG&E. Two 4-week-old nestlings have been sighted.... State to revisit plover habitat plan Facing increasing criticism from coastal communities, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department said it is reconsidering a plan to restrict public access to 57 miles of state beaches for the protection of threatened populations of Western snowy plovers. Michelle Michaud, a natural resource manager for OPRD, said the state has received a "mixed bag" of comments regarding its proposal to expand beach restrictions for the threatened shorebird. But Michaud added that the majority of the public was concerned about losing access and recreational opportunities on miles of state lands.... Endangered Species Act reconsidered Republicans have introduced at least four bills in the U.S. House or Senate to reform the Endangered Species Act in the current legislative session. And in the last six months, the Bush administration has made two internal decisions, and is considering a third, that change the act. The new slate of legislation differs from other efforts to change the law. Republican legislators now speak of improving the act for the sake of animals, rather than for defending the rights of property owners.... Wolf case becomes battle of which court A territorial dispute of sorts has arisen in the case of four tranquilized wolves, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist and his assistant and criminal charges of trespassing and littering levied against the two. An order of removal has already switched the venue in the case of the State of Wyoming v. Michael Jimenez, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf manager, from Park County to U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. Federal employees are permitted to take state charges filed against them into a federal courtroom. Wes Livingston, a Cody resident who helped Jimenez with wolf-collaring operations, is also entitled to this protection, said attorney Mike Messenger. Though Livingston was arraigned in Park County on Tuesday, Messenger indicated that he was waiting for a federal judge to ship Livingston's case to Cheyenne and that the paperwork could arrive "any minute." But Park County Attorney Brian Skoric plans to challenge the order today.... State Rangeland Database Discussed Ranchers helping each other set fire to their land might sound a bit odd, but popularity of this concept is growing. Ranchers are organizing Prescribed Burning Associations to make prescribed fire a safe, ecologically-friendly tool for managing rangelands, said Dr. Mort Kothmann, rangeland scientist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burning Association, organized in 1997, was the first landowner coop. Since then, new chapters have been forming across the state, and in Oklahoma and Colorado. Interest is also building in New Mexico.... Battles brew over land rights Investors in a central Utah company are the largest beneficiaries of a 132-year-old federal mining law that sells mining rights to prospectors for as little as 84 cents an acre, according to data compiled by an environmental group. The records also reflect an ongoing battle between Crippled Horse Investments, a Texas corporation, and the federal government. Crippled Horse is suing the government, trying to force the transfer of more than 23,000 acres in Uintah County near the Colorado border for oil shale mining, despite a moratorium on transfers that has been in place since 1994. The company is scheduled to go before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene on Friday. At issue is the 1872 Mining Act, a landmark piece of homestead legislation, passed by Congress to encourage starry-eyed prospectors to develop the frontier.... TPL Receives "Four Cs" Award for NM Work In recognition of their outstanding collaborative efforts to protect beautiful landscapes in Northern New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) presented the prestigious Four Cs Award to the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national non-profit land conservation organization. The award was presented during a ceremony Friday, May 7, at the Orilla Verde Recreation Area near Taos. BLM Director Kathleen Clarke presented the award on behalf of the BLM.... Rancher fighting feds relents Luther "Wally" Klump, the Willcox rancher who spent a year in prison defying a federal court order to move his cattle off public land, was freed Tuesday after he agreed to round up the herd and not shoot government agents. "I'm ready to remove my cows from the Simmons Peak allotment and withdraw my Second Amendment mandate," Klump wrote in a surrender note to U.S. District Court Judge John Roll.... Sierra Club Endorses Kerry for President The Sierra Club -- the nation's oldest, largest and most influential environmental group -- today endorsed Sen. John Kerry for President of the United States, citing his outstanding leadership in safe-guarding America's air, water and public lands. "John Kerry will provide the environmental leadership that has been sorely missing in the Bush White House," said Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. "His commitment to environmental progress stands in stark contrast to the Bush administration's all-out assault on the environment and its record of putting polluting corporations before the American public's health and safety.... Climate Change Gets a Hollywood Makeover It is just another digitally enhanced disaster movie, but campaigners hope "The Day After Tomorrow," a climate change Armageddon blockbuster, will have a lasting special effect on respect for the planet. 20th Century Fox's $125 million film opens in cinemas worldwide on May 28. Riding on its coat tails is an army of environmentalists hoping it will win new recruits to their cause.... Global Warming Ignites Tempers, Even in a Movie Any studio that makes a $125 million movie about global warming is courting controversy. But 20th Century Fox does not seem to have fully anticipated the political firestorm being whipped up by its film "The Day After Tomorrow." Environmental advocates are using the film's release, scheduled for May 28, as an opening to slam the Bush administration, whose global warming policies they oppose. Industry groups in Washington are lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure the film does not help passage of a bill limiting carbon-dioxide emissions, which many scientists say contribute to global warming. Meanwhile on Tuesday Fox sparred with celebrity advocates who complained that they had been disinvited to the movie's premiere, only to be reinvited later in the day.... Tribes seeking $1 billion The Klamath Tribes are seeking at least $1 billion in compensation for the loss of salmon runs in the Upper Klamath Basin. An attorney for the Chiloquin-based Tribes said he filed a suit this morning in U.S. District Court in Portland against PacifiCorp, which operates a series of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. Plaintiffs in the suit include the Klamath Tribes, several individual tribal members, and Klamath Claims Committee, a little-known entity that dates to the termination of the tribes in the 1950s.... Fallow land traded for water The Metropolitan Water District approved an agreement Tuesday in which Riverside and Imperial county farmers would be paid to take land out of production so irrigation water could be diverted to urban users in Southern California coastal communities. The 35-year agreement, which will have a startup cost of $100 million, calls for farmers in the Palo Verde Irrigation District to receive steady payments for rotating their crops and making the water from the Colorado River available to 18 million customers from Ventura County to the Mexican border.... Sand, Sagebrush and Spearfishing in the N.M. Desert Fishermen love to tell tall tales but the one about spearfishing in the desert plains of New Mexico is true. Among the white sands, sagebrush and sandstone cliffs, a group of doggedly determined divers earlier this month held what they billed as one of the few spearfishing competitions in the world at the Elephant Butte Lake reservoir -- right in the desert. "People don't believe there's spearfishing in the desert, but there is and it's a very active sport in the state," said desert sportsman Jim Summers, who organized the competition. The reservoir, New Mexico's largest man-made lake, is in a basin region just west of what is called Jornada Del Muerto (the Path of the Dead).... Fishing deal lets ranchers say no to developers' bait Seven miles of prime trout fishing streams that carve through Park County ranchland have been opened to the public this week in an unprecedented deal that open-space advocates say will ultimately save 13,000 acres in danger of being developed. The deal allows anglers who enjoy flyfishing to sign up, pay a fee ranging from $25 to $50 and spend the day along a stream on one of six private ranches. A part of that cash goes to the ranch owner, giving them an income source so they do not have to sell when the developers come knocking. But the best part, anglers say, is that it opens up more fishing access in a state that is losing streams to subdivisions and private-land grabs.... Groups Lash Out at USDA Conservation Plan An Agriculture Department plan to pay farmers and ranchers to protect and improve natural resources will freeze out most potential participants, critics of the plan said Tuesday. Critics said the department was not doing what Congress had wanted with the Conservation Security Program, which would provide money and technical assistance for environmentally friendly land management practices. The program should be open to producers who are eligible, not only to the limited number that USDA proposes, they said.... USDA orders silence on mad cow in Texas The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an order instructing its inspectors in Texas, where federal mad cow disease testing policies recently were violated, not to talk about the cattle disorder with outside parties, United Press International has learned. The order, sent May 6 by e-mail from the USDA's Dallas district office, was issued in the wake of the April 27 case at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo, in which a cow displaying signs of a brain disorder was not tested for mad cow disease despite a federal policy to screen all such animals.... Continuing Will’s roping legacy Will Rogers used the rope to underline a style of humor that was to become his trademark, his son Will Jr. wrote in the forward to “Will Rogers Rope Tricks” by Frank Dean, rodeo trick roper and author. Frank Dean’s legacy is helping to perpetuate the memory of Will Rogers and the role trick roping played in his career and his life. The Wild West Arts Club Frank Dean-Will Rogers Award was presented to a Mexican charro at International Convention in Las Vegas. Funds left to Will Rogers Heritage Inc. in Dean’s will are used for WWAC trick roping prizes and awards....
Monday, May 10, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
U.S. grounds firefighting tankers Just as the 2004 wildfire season is opening, the government on Monday grounded an aging fleet of 33 former military tankers that had been among the biggest weapons in its arsenal for fighting the blazes. The Forest Service and the Interior Department terminated contracts with private companies for use of the planes after the National Transportation Safety Board determined their airworthiness could be not assured. Three such planes crashed between 1994 and 2002, killing seven crew members. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said that, in the wake of the NTSB report, continuing to use the tankers posed "an unacceptable risk" to aviators, ground firefighters and communities near the blazes.... Editorial: During dry times, side with people If one were forced to choose, which species has a greater claim to what little water remains in a region’s drought-depleted reservoirs: human beings or fish? Readers who chose fish over their fellow man should change careers — they have all the common sense it takes to be a federal judge. U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming last week prohibited the U.S. Forest Service from allowing rivers and streams below certain dams in the region to go dry, no matter the time of year, no matter conditions. The ruling could force water authorities all along the Front Range in Wyoming and Colorado to flush precious drinking water from reservoirs in order to accommodate wildlife downstream. Any dams located on national forests could be affected.... 500 Rare butterflies discovered in Ore. About 500 rare butterflies were recently found thriving in the hills west of here, thrilling conservationists who hope the colorful Taylor's checkerspot will fight back from near extinction. The new colony, along with roughly 1,000 butterflies on nearby private and county park land, account for about three-quarters of all Taylor's checkerspot known to exist. The rest are scattered across 10 sites in western Washington.... Column: On the Protection of Species Last week a group of environmentalists and scientists petitioned the federal government protect 225 plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act. Good luck. All those species are already on a list of "candidates" for federal protection. Yet a species can spend years waiting for the federal government to act and provide needed protections. In fact a quarter of the 225 species petitioned have been "candidates" for protection since the 1970s -- the threat of extinction has been hanging over their heads almost since Richard Nixon signed the Act into law. The fact that they haven't already gone extinct is probably pure luck.... Bald eagle poisonings bewilder investigators For more than a decade, someone has been poisoning bald eagles in the mid-Willamette Valley. Since 1991, 18 bald eagles -- including three this year -- have been found dead in a 25-mile radius of Linn, Benton and Lane county farmland. Fifteen had the same poison and sheep meat in their bellies.... Snowmobile town takes 15 percent hit in Yellowstone confusion Resort tax collections here declined more than 15 percent this past winter, and town officials put the blame squarely on confusion over snowmobile rules at adjacent Yellowstone National Park. "This winter was a humbling experience," said Gibson Bailey, a town councilman and gift shop owner.... Once public land goes private Under a 132-year-old federal law, foreign companies have gained control of an estimated 1.2 million acres of federal lands containing gold, silver and other minerals -- an area roughly six times the size of Mount Rainier National Park, a new analysis shows. Together with U.S. citizens and companies, the foreign companies have been able to convert 9.2 million acres of public land to private use, according to a report released yesterday by the non-profit Environmental Working Group. When Congress passed the General Mining Law of 1872, it said the privilege of carting away minerals dug from public land -- and in some cases, buying the land for $5 an acre or less -- was for "citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such." But an 1898 Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations legal treatment as "persons" effectively overruled that, leaving public lands in the West open to non-American mining companies.... Go here to view the EWG report.... Fossil protection has off-roaders in bind Seen from a distance, the chalky-colored sedimentary layer of earth found in the Pine Nut Mountains southeast of Gardnerville doesn't look like much. Crisscrossed by motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle trails, the soft ground is littered with shotgun shells, discarded tires and beer cans. But the area, inhabited by pinyon pine and juniper and rabbits and quail, is precious ground to paleontologists.... BLM seeking funds to buy land along the Colorado The Moab office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management hopes to win congressional funding for a series of land acquisitions near the Westwater Ranger Station along the Colorado River. BLM officials submitted a proposal for 2006 Land Water Conservation Fund money to buy more than 1,100 acres within the Colorado River Special Recreation Management Area near Westwater, and to purchase a 530-acre conservation easement on privately owned riverfront land downstream of the ranger station.... Road ownership test case hits a bump In the first test of a landmark deal between Utah and the Interior Department to settle disputed ownership of old roads across federal lands, the "Weiss Highway" spanning Juab County has been billed as irrefutably and rightfully the property of the state. But records held by Juab County and the Interior Department show the road was in fact built by federal employees at taxpayers' expense to provide access to federal grazing allotments. And Juab County officials signed away any ownership claim to a major section of the road in a 1936 easement in return for the Interior Department paying the county one dollar. The road was even named for the Department of Interior employee who oversaw its construction, Henry L. Weiss. The origins of the 99-mile route between Jericho Junction and Callao were outlined in testimony filed Friday with the Bureau of Land Management by national conservation groups opposing Utah's request for the federal government to surrender ownership interest in the straight-as-a-preacher gravel road.... Suit would open San Rafael roads A Utah off-highway-vehicle (OHV) advocacy group has filed a lawsuit to force Emery County and Utah to open routes the federal government closed in the San Rafael Swell last May. The Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) believes the so-called "San Rafael Swell Route Designation Plan" is an affront to the county's alleged rights to a number of dirt trails and streambeds. USA-ALL last week filed a lawsuit in 4th District Court in Emery County to compel the state, the County Commission and sheriff to "remove all obstructions blocking all RS 2477 highways in Emery County.".... Pack and saddle stock permitted Legislation that would require federal agencies to permit the use of pack and saddle stock on lands they manage was approved by a congressional committee on Wednesday. Representatives Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., and Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., support the legislation, but both fellow lawmakers and Bush administration officials have weighed in against the proposal. The House Resources Committee, which both Cubin and Rehberg serve on, approved the bill, HR 2966, by voice vote. Under the legislation, which is commonly referred to as "Right to Ride" the secretaries of both the Interior and Agriculture departments would be required to "preserve and facilitate the continued use and access of pack and saddle stock animals on such lands where there is a historical tradition of such use.".... Bighorns shot after they strayed Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens have shot six of seven bighorn sheep that wandered from their new home in the Greenhorn Mountains. The sheep were destroyed as part of an agreement established in the environmental assessment the agency put together before reintroducing bighorns into the Greenhorn Mountains a couple of years ago. State wildlife officials want to keep the wild and domestic sheep apart to ensure that the bighorns don't contract a disease and bring it back to the rest of the herd. Ranchers worry about bighorn rams breeding their domestic ewes.... Director turning Sierra Club into political force Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls. The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness.... Monsanto drops GM wheat projects The St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. quietly and unexpectedly said Monday it is stopping all efforts to commercialize its genetically modified wheat. Monsanto, the world's biggest seller of genetically modified seeds, started field testing its GM wheat in 1997. In 2002, Monsanto wheat had been modified to resist the company's own herbicide, RoundUp, but it faced worldwide opposition from farmers, food manufacturers, environmentalists and consumers.... EPA issues rules cutting pollution in construction and farming vehicles and equipment Pollution is expected to be sharply reduced from off-road vehicles and equipment ranging from forklifts to farm tractors to tugboats under regulations announced Monday by the Bush administration. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule Tuesday that requires refiners to remove nearly all the sulfur in diesel fuel used by these off-road engines. The rules are aimed at cutting their tailpipe releases of smog-causing chemicals and fine soot by more than 90 percent. Off-road vehicles used in construction, farming, industrial plants, and airports account for one-quarter of all the smog-causing nitrogen oxide and nearly half of the fine soot from mobile sources, according to the EPA.... Editorial: America's mad cow hypocrisy Canadian beef is every bit as safe as American meat, and very likely safer. Canadian BSE testing standards meet or exceed international standards set by the final authority on such screening, the World Animal Health Organization's Office International des Epizooties (OIE). This year, veterinarians and animal pathologists in Canada will test the brains of more than 8,000 high-risk animals that are brought for slaughter or die prematurely on farms and ranches. That's nearly triple the pre-BSE level. And next year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency expects to increase that again to 30,000 animals. The national network of eight federal, provincial and university veterinary pathology labs responsible for animal testing have all added more staff, purchased more equipment and reformed their testing procedures to ensure suspicious cattle are tested promptly and their disease status determined in days rather than weeks. The OIE still wishes the Canadian government would ban the use of feed made from cattle by-products for non-ruminants such as pigs and chickens, but it has complimented Canada for one of the swiftest responses to BSE it has ever seen. The Americans, by contrast, have yet to establish a laboratory network to conduct tests. Indeed, there are troubling signs that they would prefer not to find any BSE cases that may plague their own herds. Last week, reports emerged that the carcass of a "downer" cow was destroyed at the Lone Star Beef packing house in San Angelo, Tex., before its brain could be sent for BSE testing at a federal laboratory. Even though the cow exhibited classic symptoms of BSE, its remains were rendered before tissue samples could be taken. The New York Times reported last Thursday this was likely done under orders from the USDA's regional office in Austin, Tex., and that USDA inspectors have been coming forward across the United States with stories about supervisors who have encouraged them to look the other way as high-risk animals are destroyed.... Cattlemen Have Beef With USDA Signals on Canadian Imports Let's just say the regulators at the Department of Agriculture stepped in some cow dung. Last week, the Bush administration admitted that it did not follow regulatory procedure in deciding what Canadian beef products can come into the country legally. This caused three problems. It called public attention to a highly contentious issue. The administration's effort to normalize trade relations in Canadian beef may be sidetracked. And the final rule that the USDA currently is working on to expand beef imports from Canada will be scrutinized even more closely by opponents in the wake of the infection called mad cow disease being discovered in Canada and the United States. The issue turned out to be one that shed light on how regulators have used rulemaking -- or in this case, avoided rulemaking -- to manage the political and food safety ramifications of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in this country....Senator slams USDA's mad cow plan U.S. Senator Tom Harkin sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Monday criticizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's mad cow testing plan. Referring to a recent incident in Texas, in which a cow with symptoms consistent with mad cow disease was not tested, the Iowan Democrat said the case "calls into question the effectiveness and reliability of USDA's current and proposed surveillance system.".... King’s Saddlery: Tack and much more The narrow building front of King’s Saddlery in Sheridan, Wyo., looks like a nondescript Western store. Inside, Western artifacts and Wyoming memorabilia line the walls and the displays of rodeo tack, polo equipment, boots, hats and accessory items belie the first impression. Friendly clerks greet us with, “Good morning, how are you today?” Our main interest here is to see the rope-making process, saddles and museum. Don King is famous for making saddles and lariats that are the favorites of ranchers and cowboys around the world. Three of his four sons, all of whom are former individual and team-roping champions, are in the business with Don. The other son, Bill, is in real estate. Dan Morales greets us with a smile and drops what he is doing to give us a tour of the rope-making process. Coiled ropes hang over pegs that reach from floor to ceiling. Dan explains the different fibers, sizes, lengths and uses for the variety of ropes. Downstairs he takes us through the rope making process.... It's All Trew: Domino, pool parlors were pre-TV entertainment I apologize at the start if I step on a few toes. I've been asked to write about old-time pool halls and domino parlors which in the Trew family was strictly off-limits. If you frequented such establishments you were considered lazy and a wastrel o' time. (My grandma's exact words.) These legitimate businesses go way back in history especially in areas where men worked in shifts around the clock. Mines, manufacturing plants and night work was usually done by single men who eventually had a little spare time and nowhere else to go....
U.S. grounds firefighting tankers Just as the 2004 wildfire season is opening, the government on Monday grounded an aging fleet of 33 former military tankers that had been among the biggest weapons in its arsenal for fighting the blazes. The Forest Service and the Interior Department terminated contracts with private companies for use of the planes after the National Transportation Safety Board determined their airworthiness could be not assured. Three such planes crashed between 1994 and 2002, killing seven crew members. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said that, in the wake of the NTSB report, continuing to use the tankers posed "an unacceptable risk" to aviators, ground firefighters and communities near the blazes.... Editorial: During dry times, side with people If one were forced to choose, which species has a greater claim to what little water remains in a region’s drought-depleted reservoirs: human beings or fish? Readers who chose fish over their fellow man should change careers — they have all the common sense it takes to be a federal judge. U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming last week prohibited the U.S. Forest Service from allowing rivers and streams below certain dams in the region to go dry, no matter the time of year, no matter conditions. The ruling could force water authorities all along the Front Range in Wyoming and Colorado to flush precious drinking water from reservoirs in order to accommodate wildlife downstream. Any dams located on national forests could be affected.... 500 Rare butterflies discovered in Ore. About 500 rare butterflies were recently found thriving in the hills west of here, thrilling conservationists who hope the colorful Taylor's checkerspot will fight back from near extinction. The new colony, along with roughly 1,000 butterflies on nearby private and county park land, account for about three-quarters of all Taylor's checkerspot known to exist. The rest are scattered across 10 sites in western Washington.... Column: On the Protection of Species Last week a group of environmentalists and scientists petitioned the federal government protect 225 plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act. Good luck. All those species are already on a list of "candidates" for federal protection. Yet a species can spend years waiting for the federal government to act and provide needed protections. In fact a quarter of the 225 species petitioned have been "candidates" for protection since the 1970s -- the threat of extinction has been hanging over their heads almost since Richard Nixon signed the Act into law. The fact that they haven't already gone extinct is probably pure luck.... Bald eagle poisonings bewilder investigators For more than a decade, someone has been poisoning bald eagles in the mid-Willamette Valley. Since 1991, 18 bald eagles -- including three this year -- have been found dead in a 25-mile radius of Linn, Benton and Lane county farmland. Fifteen had the same poison and sheep meat in their bellies.... Snowmobile town takes 15 percent hit in Yellowstone confusion Resort tax collections here declined more than 15 percent this past winter, and town officials put the blame squarely on confusion over snowmobile rules at adjacent Yellowstone National Park. "This winter was a humbling experience," said Gibson Bailey, a town councilman and gift shop owner.... Once public land goes private Under a 132-year-old federal law, foreign companies have gained control of an estimated 1.2 million acres of federal lands containing gold, silver and other minerals -- an area roughly six times the size of Mount Rainier National Park, a new analysis shows. Together with U.S. citizens and companies, the foreign companies have been able to convert 9.2 million acres of public land to private use, according to a report released yesterday by the non-profit Environmental Working Group. When Congress passed the General Mining Law of 1872, it said the privilege of carting away minerals dug from public land -- and in some cases, buying the land for $5 an acre or less -- was for "citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such." But an 1898 Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations legal treatment as "persons" effectively overruled that, leaving public lands in the West open to non-American mining companies.... Go here to view the EWG report.... Fossil protection has off-roaders in bind Seen from a distance, the chalky-colored sedimentary layer of earth found in the Pine Nut Mountains southeast of Gardnerville doesn't look like much. Crisscrossed by motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle trails, the soft ground is littered with shotgun shells, discarded tires and beer cans. But the area, inhabited by pinyon pine and juniper and rabbits and quail, is precious ground to paleontologists.... BLM seeking funds to buy land along the Colorado The Moab office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management hopes to win congressional funding for a series of land acquisitions near the Westwater Ranger Station along the Colorado River. BLM officials submitted a proposal for 2006 Land Water Conservation Fund money to buy more than 1,100 acres within the Colorado River Special Recreation Management Area near Westwater, and to purchase a 530-acre conservation easement on privately owned riverfront land downstream of the ranger station.... Road ownership test case hits a bump In the first test of a landmark deal between Utah and the Interior Department to settle disputed ownership of old roads across federal lands, the "Weiss Highway" spanning Juab County has been billed as irrefutably and rightfully the property of the state. But records held by Juab County and the Interior Department show the road was in fact built by federal employees at taxpayers' expense to provide access to federal grazing allotments. And Juab County officials signed away any ownership claim to a major section of the road in a 1936 easement in return for the Interior Department paying the county one dollar. The road was even named for the Department of Interior employee who oversaw its construction, Henry L. Weiss. The origins of the 99-mile route between Jericho Junction and Callao were outlined in testimony filed Friday with the Bureau of Land Management by national conservation groups opposing Utah's request for the federal government to surrender ownership interest in the straight-as-a-preacher gravel road.... Suit would open San Rafael roads A Utah off-highway-vehicle (OHV) advocacy group has filed a lawsuit to force Emery County and Utah to open routes the federal government closed in the San Rafael Swell last May. The Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) believes the so-called "San Rafael Swell Route Designation Plan" is an affront to the county's alleged rights to a number of dirt trails and streambeds. USA-ALL last week filed a lawsuit in 4th District Court in Emery County to compel the state, the County Commission and sheriff to "remove all obstructions blocking all RS 2477 highways in Emery County.".... Pack and saddle stock permitted Legislation that would require federal agencies to permit the use of pack and saddle stock on lands they manage was approved by a congressional committee on Wednesday. Representatives Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., and Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., support the legislation, but both fellow lawmakers and Bush administration officials have weighed in against the proposal. The House Resources Committee, which both Cubin and Rehberg serve on, approved the bill, HR 2966, by voice vote. Under the legislation, which is commonly referred to as "Right to Ride" the secretaries of both the Interior and Agriculture departments would be required to "preserve and facilitate the continued use and access of pack and saddle stock animals on such lands where there is a historical tradition of such use.".... Bighorns shot after they strayed Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens have shot six of seven bighorn sheep that wandered from their new home in the Greenhorn Mountains. The sheep were destroyed as part of an agreement established in the environmental assessment the agency put together before reintroducing bighorns into the Greenhorn Mountains a couple of years ago. State wildlife officials want to keep the wild and domestic sheep apart to ensure that the bighorns don't contract a disease and bring it back to the rest of the herd. Ranchers worry about bighorn rams breeding their domestic ewes.... Director turning Sierra Club into political force Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls. The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness.... Monsanto drops GM wheat projects The St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. quietly and unexpectedly said Monday it is stopping all efforts to commercialize its genetically modified wheat. Monsanto, the world's biggest seller of genetically modified seeds, started field testing its GM wheat in 1997. In 2002, Monsanto wheat had been modified to resist the company's own herbicide, RoundUp, but it faced worldwide opposition from farmers, food manufacturers, environmentalists and consumers.... EPA issues rules cutting pollution in construction and farming vehicles and equipment Pollution is expected to be sharply reduced from off-road vehicles and equipment ranging from forklifts to farm tractors to tugboats under regulations announced Monday by the Bush administration. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule Tuesday that requires refiners to remove nearly all the sulfur in diesel fuel used by these off-road engines. The rules are aimed at cutting their tailpipe releases of smog-causing chemicals and fine soot by more than 90 percent. Off-road vehicles used in construction, farming, industrial plants, and airports account for one-quarter of all the smog-causing nitrogen oxide and nearly half of the fine soot from mobile sources, according to the EPA.... Editorial: America's mad cow hypocrisy Canadian beef is every bit as safe as American meat, and very likely safer. Canadian BSE testing standards meet or exceed international standards set by the final authority on such screening, the World Animal Health Organization's Office International des Epizooties (OIE). This year, veterinarians and animal pathologists in Canada will test the brains of more than 8,000 high-risk animals that are brought for slaughter or die prematurely on farms and ranches. That's nearly triple the pre-BSE level. And next year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency expects to increase that again to 30,000 animals. The national network of eight federal, provincial and university veterinary pathology labs responsible for animal testing have all added more staff, purchased more equipment and reformed their testing procedures to ensure suspicious cattle are tested promptly and their disease status determined in days rather than weeks. The OIE still wishes the Canadian government would ban the use of feed made from cattle by-products for non-ruminants such as pigs and chickens, but it has complimented Canada for one of the swiftest responses to BSE it has ever seen. The Americans, by contrast, have yet to establish a laboratory network to conduct tests. Indeed, there are troubling signs that they would prefer not to find any BSE cases that may plague their own herds. Last week, reports emerged that the carcass of a "downer" cow was destroyed at the Lone Star Beef packing house in San Angelo, Tex., before its brain could be sent for BSE testing at a federal laboratory. Even though the cow exhibited classic symptoms of BSE, its remains were rendered before tissue samples could be taken. The New York Times reported last Thursday this was likely done under orders from the USDA's regional office in Austin, Tex., and that USDA inspectors have been coming forward across the United States with stories about supervisors who have encouraged them to look the other way as high-risk animals are destroyed.... Cattlemen Have Beef With USDA Signals on Canadian Imports Let's just say the regulators at the Department of Agriculture stepped in some cow dung. Last week, the Bush administration admitted that it did not follow regulatory procedure in deciding what Canadian beef products can come into the country legally. This caused three problems. It called public attention to a highly contentious issue. The administration's effort to normalize trade relations in Canadian beef may be sidetracked. And the final rule that the USDA currently is working on to expand beef imports from Canada will be scrutinized even more closely by opponents in the wake of the infection called mad cow disease being discovered in Canada and the United States. The issue turned out to be one that shed light on how regulators have used rulemaking -- or in this case, avoided rulemaking -- to manage the political and food safety ramifications of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in this country....Senator slams USDA's mad cow plan U.S. Senator Tom Harkin sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Monday criticizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's mad cow testing plan. Referring to a recent incident in Texas, in which a cow with symptoms consistent with mad cow disease was not tested, the Iowan Democrat said the case "calls into question the effectiveness and reliability of USDA's current and proposed surveillance system.".... King’s Saddlery: Tack and much more The narrow building front of King’s Saddlery in Sheridan, Wyo., looks like a nondescript Western store. Inside, Western artifacts and Wyoming memorabilia line the walls and the displays of rodeo tack, polo equipment, boots, hats and accessory items belie the first impression. Friendly clerks greet us with, “Good morning, how are you today?” Our main interest here is to see the rope-making process, saddles and museum. Don King is famous for making saddles and lariats that are the favorites of ranchers and cowboys around the world. Three of his four sons, all of whom are former individual and team-roping champions, are in the business with Don. The other son, Bill, is in real estate. Dan Morales greets us with a smile and drops what he is doing to give us a tour of the rope-making process. Coiled ropes hang over pegs that reach from floor to ceiling. Dan explains the different fibers, sizes, lengths and uses for the variety of ropes. Downstairs he takes us through the rope making process.... It's All Trew: Domino, pool parlors were pre-TV entertainment I apologize at the start if I step on a few toes. I've been asked to write about old-time pool halls and domino parlors which in the Trew family was strictly off-limits. If you frequented such establishments you were considered lazy and a wastrel o' time. (My grandma's exact words.) These legitimate businesses go way back in history especially in areas where men worked in shifts around the clock. Mines, manufacturing plants and night work was usually done by single men who eventually had a little spare time and nowhere else to go....
Sunday, May 09, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Shift on Salmon Reignites Fight on Species Law Three years ago, Mark C. Rutzick was the timber industry's top lawyer trying to overturn fish and wildlife protections that loggers viewed as overly restrictive. Back then, he outlined to his clients a new strategy for dealing with diminishing salmon runs. By counting hatchery fish along with wild salmon, the government would help the timber industry by getting salmon off the endangered species list, Mr. Rutzick wrote. Now, as a high-ranking political appointee in the Bush administration who is a legal adviser to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Mr. Rutzick is helping to shape government policy on endangered Pacific salmon. And in an abrupt change, the Bush administration has decided for the first time to consider counting fish raised in hatcheries when determining if some species are going extinct. The new plan, which officials have said is expected to be formally announced at the end of the month, closely follows the position that Mr. Rutzick advocated when he represented the timber industry.... Energy Groups to Fight Bird Protection The natural gas industry and environmental groups are squaring off in the Rocky Mountains over a small chicken-like bird that makes its home in one of America's hottest gas drilling regions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed last month to look into the possibility of protecting the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would limit development around its habitat in 11 Western states. Energy producers are concerned that more protection for the sage grouse will hamper drilling in states like Wyoming and Colorado. The Rocky Mountain region has become a key area for natural gas drilling, especially the methane-rich natural gas contained deep within underground coal beds. About 80 percent of Wyoming is considered greater sage grouse habitat, according to Dru Bower, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.... 'Endangered' cactus may really be prolific The Pima pineapple cactus may not really be endangered. In 1993, the government declared the tiny plant at risk of extinction. It has since preoccupied developers, environmentalists and county officials because it lives on Tucson's quickly expanding southern fringes. The inconspicuous cactus is usually found on ridgetops and flat land that's not too rocky - perfect places for building homes. It has therefore shaped the county's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and helped decide the content of $174 million worth of open-space bonds voters that will decide on May 18. Botanists, however, continue to clash over whether the cactus was properly classified as a separate subspecies. Some think it should be lumped together with other varieties of pineapple cacti that are more numerous and stretch all the way to Texas. That's how the new edition of the influential Flora of North America deals with the situation, though other books stand by the existing labels.... Plywood renaissance Six months later, Killgore's company is out of the red, one of 34 mills in the Pacific Northwest that has been revived by an unprecedented increase in plywood prices. Last May, the price of 1,000 square feet of plywood sold for $392, according to Random Lengths, a trade publication in Eugene, Ore. A month later, prices took off "like a rocket," said Jim Enright, general sales manager at Rosboro Lumber, another plywood manufacturer in Springfield. By June, the same product sold for $435, and in August, prices topped $500. Prices reached an industry high of $650 in November -- a record that was broken month after month in the first part of this year, with the latest peak at $735.... Struggling to survive: Biologists changing strategies to aid reintroduction of ferrets After 10 years of effort and expenditures of more than $2 million, a federal program to re-establish the endangered black-footed ferret in Montana remains far from its goal. While 440 captive-raised ferrets have been released at three sites on the prairies of north-central Montana, and another 191 ferrets have been born within the reintroduced population, the latest surveys put the state's ferret number at just 23, give or take a few. A major problem for the reintroduction program has been sylvatic plague, a disease deadly to ferrets and to prairie dogs, whose fates as species are closely linked. Ferrets' main food source is prairie dogs, and they use their burrows for shelter.... Column: Wolves at the door My family has been ranching in Bear Valley on the south side of the Strawberry Mountains since 1885. The meadows along Bear Creek and the Silvies River, where our cattle spend the fall and winter, are turning green now. Soon we'll be moving them to the rolling sage and grassland beyond the meadows. Our ranch is up high, topping out at more than 6,500 feet. We average just a month of frost-free weather. It's not exactly a good spot for growing tomatoes. All we can grow is grass, and the way we can use that grass is through livestock. In our case, it's cattle, of which we have several hundred. Our passion is to raise cattle without antibiotics or growth implants in a way that's good for the land and provides a good life for the four families this ranch supports. Because I'm a rancher, you're probably thinking I see wolves from Idaho running in ravenous packs to Oregon, wiping out our cow herd. You'd be wrong.... Panthers Start to Peek Out of the Shadows In this corner of the country, nature, on occasion, bites back. Alligators have been known to slither from the primeval ooze and snatch unsuspecting pets. Surfers sometimes get attacked by sharks. Sinkholes open up and swallow homes. Carol Balman, who lives west of Miami in a former Navy bus that's been converted into a cozy home, experienced one of those Florida moments recently: She was sitting outside with visitors when a friend's Chihuahua began to growl. A tawny Florida panther, a superb killing machine that can reach 150 pounds, came into view. Over the past six months, Balman said, she has seen the normally furtive and nocturnal animals at least eight times near her home — often in broad daylight. "They've been in the yard, and I've had them in here as close as the fire," the 55-year-old Balman said, pointing to a campfire ring between the road and her bus. "They've been walking down the road. They're cool to watch, actually.".... Eagles to cost developer $20 million A pair of bald eagles chased from their treetop perch by a great horned owl spent days circling the luxurious Tesoro development in southwest Port St. Lucie this winter before settling on what Tesoro officials call "the most pristine, expensive land" in the project: a pine-studded lakefront tract overlooking what was supposed to be the eighth hole of a Tom Watson-designed golf course. As the eagles spent the next few months gathering twigs for a nest and raising two eaglets, Tesoro officials scrambled to redesign the golf course and $20 million clubhouse complex right below the eagles' new digs, abiding by federal rules that prohibit development within 750 feet of a bald eagle nest. The pricetag for the birds' new home? A cool $20 million in forgone lot sales alone.... Grazing dispute stirs on W. Slope A clash of philosophies between a powerful rancher and a national wildlife refuge is headed for a showdown in dusty northwestern Colorado. At the center of the dispute is T. Wright Dickinson, former Moffat County commissioner and vocal proponent of county efforts to gain control of federal lands. Each spring for 10 years, federal officials say, cattle owned by the Dickinson family have grazed on Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge.... Ranchers accused of illegal use of toxin on prairie dogs Some western South Dakota ranchers are accused of killing prairie dogs with a pesticide that is registered only for below-ground use on pocket gophers. With drought gripping the region for many years, prairie dog towns have been expanding, provoking many ranchers - who consider prairie dogs pests - to step up legal poisoning. But dry conditions also have led some to use Rozol, a cheaper poison that is legal only for pocket gophers.... Hunting, fishing restrictions ruffle village feathers Village leaders in Southwest Alaska are threatening civil disobedience to protest recent federal and state restrictions on subsistence hunting and fishing. Delegates to the Association of Village Council Presidents voiced their opposition to changes in federal migratory bird regulations and state-mandated closures to subsistence salmon fishing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta at the council's midyear convention here late last month.... Fearless dogs scare away bears with tough love The mere mention of the word "bear" is enough to get Mishka, Tuffy and Cassidy to stand at attention, poised to attack an animal that probably weighs at least 10 times more than they do. Say "Bark at the bear!" and they'll do it like actors on cue. Give them a crack at an actual bear, and they'll send it barreling away as if it had never encountered something so unpleasant. After centuries of breeding in Finland, these Karelian bear dogs don't show a hint of fear when they run toward a bear, pulling their handlers along as they bark furiously.... Column: A River Losing Its Soul Four decades after one of the West's last big dams blocked the free flow of water into the wild recesses of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado still manages to roar through here like the granddaddy of Western rivers. But it has become the Hollywood version — strikingly beautiful and in vital ways, fake. With every passing year, the Grand Canyon's stretch of the Colorado River bears less and less resemblance to its former self. The fine, white sand beaches on which thousands of weary boaters unfurl their sleeping bags every summer are disappearing. So are native fish species that have been in the canyon for millions of years. Millennium-old Native American burial sites are washing away with the eroding sands.... Winged dreams An anxious voice crackled over Joe Burnett's two-way radio: "Bird coming in." Whoosh! Massive wings split the still air, then boof! California condor No. 134 landed hard, inches above Burnett's hiding place in a shallow pit camouflaged by branches and leaves. Burnett remembers looking up and watching the big bird's spindly feet step toward the bait, a calf carcass rotting in 90-degree heat. Flies swarmed the rancid slab of flesh and buzzed Burnett's ears.... Pershing checkerboard land plan advances A bill to consolidate Pershing County's "checkerboard lands," a legacy of the building of the transcontinental railroad, is coming closer to reality. Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said Friday that the Nevada's Legislative Committee on Public Lands, which he chairs, heard a report Thursday in Lovelock on a plan that would transfer more than 200,000 acres of private land to the federal government at fair-market value. The proposal also calls for 950 acres around Lovelock to be made available to the city for economic development. Also, the company will pay 20 years worth of ad valorem taxes to the county on the land being conveyed to the BLM to make up for the loss of property taxes. In addition, the federal government is to put out for auction 34,000 acres to the private sector in an "orderly manner, so that it doesn't blow out the real estate market," Rhoads said. The county will have a say on how that land is sold, he said.... BLM gas leases harm roadless areas, enviros say Environmentalists claim four proposed roadless areas in the White River National Forest will be at risk, along with wildlife and plant species, when the Bureau of Land Management auctions oil- and natural-gas leases Thursday. The auction will lease more than 73,000 acres. Six of the 77 parcels are within the Thompson Creek, Middle Mountain, Reno Mountain and Mamm Peak roadless areas. The roadless-area conservation rule bans the construction of new roads. The Forest Service, however, considers the rule invalid because of an injunction by a federal judge in Wyoming. Conservation groups argue a federal circuit court ruling declared the rule valid.... BLM wants to round up abandoned llamas The Bureau of Land Management Uncompahgre Field Office is taking steps to remove a herd of 15 abandoned llamas in the Escalante Canyon area. Officials believe the llamas were abandoned approximately a year ago on the mesa tops east of Escalante Canyon, eight miles west of Delta. Since then, ranchers and recreationists in the area have reported encounters with the llama herd. The llamas will be removed for their own health and safety, in accordance with BLM land-use regulations.... Judge halts BLM grazing decision in Craters Judge James H. Heffernan, an administrative judge with the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals in Salt Lake City, had harsh words for the BLM in his written decision dated April 28. "The new grazing system may only exacerbate the poor vegetative conditions and hasten the listing of the sage grouse," the judge wrote. "The public's interest in maintaining the integrity of its lands and sensitive species outweighs the interest of BLM and the permittees in keeping livestock on the allotment. The potential hardship to be suffered by the public -- permanent or long-lasting damage to the land -- outweighs the largely economic hardship which the permittees face." Grazing within the monument will continue but will revert back to the previous grazing decision for now because of the judge's order, said Rick VanderVoet, manager of the Craters monument for the BLM. That plan is more than 10 years old, he said.... Suspected rogue bear snared, killed The bear is gone, but the stories about it will linger for decades to come. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials Friday killed a black bear snared at the site of an attack on a sleeping man Wednesday in Desolation Canyon along the Green River. Later on Friday, officials learned the bear may have gone through the screen of a tent at another camp and bitten another sleeping man in the same area on Tuesday. "It sounds like it was the same bear. The description in size and color is the same, and because it happened on the west side of the river two miles apart from each other leads me to believe it was the same bear," said Sgt. Carl Gramlich, a conservation officer with the DWR.... Development crowding military Now builders are voicing similar alarm over a statewide alliance of admirals and environmentalists who want to slow development beneath all of California's military flight paths. Aerial routes 10 miles wide, created during the 1950s and 1960s to train fighter pilots flying 500 mph at 200 feet are fast becoming growth corridors, worrying the military and those who want to keep it in California. Environmentalists want to save "vast areas of habitat" beneath military flight paths carved out when the state held half the population it does now. Indeed, as the Defense Department prepares to announce nearly 100 base closures next year, stricter growth management is becoming a key strategy in California and several other states to keep bases off the hit list. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington and more are passing laws and putting land off limits -- signaling the Pentagon of their seriousness about keeping bases viable.... Sierra Club leader blasts Bush environment polices in new book Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls. The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness. "Bush has done his best, in only three years, to break our national compact on environmental progress and turn the clock back - not years or decades but a full century," Pope writes in "Strategic Ignorance" with co-author Paul Rauber.... Editorial: The Arid West ven in May, an extraordinary number of Westerners — especially those who live in the Rocky Mountain states — are still talking about March. In many places, it was an unusually warm month without precipitation. March put an end to the hope — a well-worn hope by now — that the weather would return to normal in a region that is now entering its fifth year of drought. Every indicator is grievous. Ranchers have radically destocked the range. In Arizona and New Mexico, more than a million acres of pinyon and ponderosa pine have died off. Critical reservoirs, like Lake Powell, are holding less than half their capacity. The Rio Grande is a trickle. The entire drainage of the Colorado River — the ultimate source of water for much of the metropolitan West — is at risk. A drought of this severity naturally calls into question the definition of "normal." It appears, in fact, that what is normal is an oscillation in climate, from wet periods, like 1976 to 1998, to dry periods, which have recurred with some regularity. So far, this is a five-year drought. But no one knows how long it will last. The climatic history of Arizona, for instance, has been reconstructed by painstaking analysis of tree rings. That research shows that there have been two droughts that lasted 18 years and one, near the end of the 16th century, that lasted 28 years. Tree-ring evidence also shows that for parts of Arizona, 2002 was the driest year in the past 1,400 years.... Some breaks in corporate tax bill assembled by the U.S. Senate _Let farmers avoid taxes for replacing livestock due to drought, flood or other weather problems, at a cost of $25 million. _Give farmers and ranchers in drought areas a 30 percent tax credit on the purchase and installation of irrigation equipment. _Allow nonprofit organizations to use tax-exempt bonds to acquire forest land, with up to $1.5 billion in bonds.... Column: A Meeting of Cattlemen From Two Cultures on the Mexican Border n modern, industrialized agriculture, the benign cow sometimes looks like a nightmare creature, a carrier of human fears about E. coli, environmental degradation, mad cow disease and dire concentration in the meatpacking business. But none of this is the cow's fault. And in a few places, the cow is still something more than a warm-blooded economic integer or a plague on the hoof. In those places cattle still anchor a way of life, a grassland culture of great subtlety and beauty. Not long ago, I visited a windswept region in New Mexico and Arizona, along the Mexican border, with representatives from two of those cattle cultures: a coalition of local ranchers and scientists, called the Malpai Borderlands Group, and a group of Masai from Kenya and Tanzania. At first, the differences seemed almost overwhelming. The Masai live intimately with their zebu cattle, naming each one, walking them long distances to water and good grazing, and they could not quite believe that the Malpai ranchers gathered and counted their cow-calf pairs only twice a year, at branding and shipping. The wildness of American range cattle amazed the Masai. It seemed just as surprising to the ranchers that Masai women milked their beef cattle, sharing the udder of a lactating cow with its calf, and that a zebu could lower its metabolism in response to drought.... Endless seasons Ranching was one of the first great post-European settlement endeavors in Humboldt County. It continues to be an element of the economic and cultural picture, but changes have set in. One thing will never change: The seasons lie at the heart of ranch life. This is the first of four parts that will be spread out over the seasons of the coming year. In the rain-greened hills around Bridgeville, help is usually far away. In the spring, when there are calves to brand, help comes anyway. Neighbors and friends, cowboys and weekend ropers from the four corners of the county haul quarter horses and paint horses behind growling diesel pickups to George Brightman's ranch.... On The Edge Of Common Sense: Mountain lions cause backbiting problem In my neighboring big city of Tucson, we have a mountain lion problem. The city limit pushes up against the border of the state park like New York skyscrapers up against the East River. California studies demonstrate that the mountain lions, like coyotes, rats, cockroaches and pigeons adapt quite well to urban encroachment. They routinely stalk and eat domestic livestock, pets and the occasional human. This past winter on the outskirts of Los Angeles one lion killed and ate one person and mauled another. In our case, park visitors were reporting lions coming uncomfortably close, one being sighted crossing the parking lot of a nearby school....
Shift on Salmon Reignites Fight on Species Law Three years ago, Mark C. Rutzick was the timber industry's top lawyer trying to overturn fish and wildlife protections that loggers viewed as overly restrictive. Back then, he outlined to his clients a new strategy for dealing with diminishing salmon runs. By counting hatchery fish along with wild salmon, the government would help the timber industry by getting salmon off the endangered species list, Mr. Rutzick wrote. Now, as a high-ranking political appointee in the Bush administration who is a legal adviser to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Mr. Rutzick is helping to shape government policy on endangered Pacific salmon. And in an abrupt change, the Bush administration has decided for the first time to consider counting fish raised in hatcheries when determining if some species are going extinct. The new plan, which officials have said is expected to be formally announced at the end of the month, closely follows the position that Mr. Rutzick advocated when he represented the timber industry.... Energy Groups to Fight Bird Protection The natural gas industry and environmental groups are squaring off in the Rocky Mountains over a small chicken-like bird that makes its home in one of America's hottest gas drilling regions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed last month to look into the possibility of protecting the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would limit development around its habitat in 11 Western states. Energy producers are concerned that more protection for the sage grouse will hamper drilling in states like Wyoming and Colorado. The Rocky Mountain region has become a key area for natural gas drilling, especially the methane-rich natural gas contained deep within underground coal beds. About 80 percent of Wyoming is considered greater sage grouse habitat, according to Dru Bower, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.... 'Endangered' cactus may really be prolific The Pima pineapple cactus may not really be endangered. In 1993, the government declared the tiny plant at risk of extinction. It has since preoccupied developers, environmentalists and county officials because it lives on Tucson's quickly expanding southern fringes. The inconspicuous cactus is usually found on ridgetops and flat land that's not too rocky - perfect places for building homes. It has therefore shaped the county's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and helped decide the content of $174 million worth of open-space bonds voters that will decide on May 18. Botanists, however, continue to clash over whether the cactus was properly classified as a separate subspecies. Some think it should be lumped together with other varieties of pineapple cacti that are more numerous and stretch all the way to Texas. That's how the new edition of the influential Flora of North America deals with the situation, though other books stand by the existing labels.... Plywood renaissance Six months later, Killgore's company is out of the red, one of 34 mills in the Pacific Northwest that has been revived by an unprecedented increase in plywood prices. Last May, the price of 1,000 square feet of plywood sold for $392, according to Random Lengths, a trade publication in Eugene, Ore. A month later, prices took off "like a rocket," said Jim Enright, general sales manager at Rosboro Lumber, another plywood manufacturer in Springfield. By June, the same product sold for $435, and in August, prices topped $500. Prices reached an industry high of $650 in November -- a record that was broken month after month in the first part of this year, with the latest peak at $735.... Struggling to survive: Biologists changing strategies to aid reintroduction of ferrets After 10 years of effort and expenditures of more than $2 million, a federal program to re-establish the endangered black-footed ferret in Montana remains far from its goal. While 440 captive-raised ferrets have been released at three sites on the prairies of north-central Montana, and another 191 ferrets have been born within the reintroduced population, the latest surveys put the state's ferret number at just 23, give or take a few. A major problem for the reintroduction program has been sylvatic plague, a disease deadly to ferrets and to prairie dogs, whose fates as species are closely linked. Ferrets' main food source is prairie dogs, and they use their burrows for shelter.... Column: Wolves at the door My family has been ranching in Bear Valley on the south side of the Strawberry Mountains since 1885. The meadows along Bear Creek and the Silvies River, where our cattle spend the fall and winter, are turning green now. Soon we'll be moving them to the rolling sage and grassland beyond the meadows. Our ranch is up high, topping out at more than 6,500 feet. We average just a month of frost-free weather. It's not exactly a good spot for growing tomatoes. All we can grow is grass, and the way we can use that grass is through livestock. In our case, it's cattle, of which we have several hundred. Our passion is to raise cattle without antibiotics or growth implants in a way that's good for the land and provides a good life for the four families this ranch supports. Because I'm a rancher, you're probably thinking I see wolves from Idaho running in ravenous packs to Oregon, wiping out our cow herd. You'd be wrong.... Panthers Start to Peek Out of the Shadows In this corner of the country, nature, on occasion, bites back. Alligators have been known to slither from the primeval ooze and snatch unsuspecting pets. Surfers sometimes get attacked by sharks. Sinkholes open up and swallow homes. Carol Balman, who lives west of Miami in a former Navy bus that's been converted into a cozy home, experienced one of those Florida moments recently: She was sitting outside with visitors when a friend's Chihuahua began to growl. A tawny Florida panther, a superb killing machine that can reach 150 pounds, came into view. Over the past six months, Balman said, she has seen the normally furtive and nocturnal animals at least eight times near her home — often in broad daylight. "They've been in the yard, and I've had them in here as close as the fire," the 55-year-old Balman said, pointing to a campfire ring between the road and her bus. "They've been walking down the road. They're cool to watch, actually.".... Eagles to cost developer $20 million A pair of bald eagles chased from their treetop perch by a great horned owl spent days circling the luxurious Tesoro development in southwest Port St. Lucie this winter before settling on what Tesoro officials call "the most pristine, expensive land" in the project: a pine-studded lakefront tract overlooking what was supposed to be the eighth hole of a Tom Watson-designed golf course. As the eagles spent the next few months gathering twigs for a nest and raising two eaglets, Tesoro officials scrambled to redesign the golf course and $20 million clubhouse complex right below the eagles' new digs, abiding by federal rules that prohibit development within 750 feet of a bald eagle nest. The pricetag for the birds' new home? A cool $20 million in forgone lot sales alone.... Grazing dispute stirs on W. Slope A clash of philosophies between a powerful rancher and a national wildlife refuge is headed for a showdown in dusty northwestern Colorado. At the center of the dispute is T. Wright Dickinson, former Moffat County commissioner and vocal proponent of county efforts to gain control of federal lands. Each spring for 10 years, federal officials say, cattle owned by the Dickinson family have grazed on Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge.... Ranchers accused of illegal use of toxin on prairie dogs Some western South Dakota ranchers are accused of killing prairie dogs with a pesticide that is registered only for below-ground use on pocket gophers. With drought gripping the region for many years, prairie dog towns have been expanding, provoking many ranchers - who consider prairie dogs pests - to step up legal poisoning. But dry conditions also have led some to use Rozol, a cheaper poison that is legal only for pocket gophers.... Hunting, fishing restrictions ruffle village feathers Village leaders in Southwest Alaska are threatening civil disobedience to protest recent federal and state restrictions on subsistence hunting and fishing. Delegates to the Association of Village Council Presidents voiced their opposition to changes in federal migratory bird regulations and state-mandated closures to subsistence salmon fishing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta at the council's midyear convention here late last month.... Fearless dogs scare away bears with tough love The mere mention of the word "bear" is enough to get Mishka, Tuffy and Cassidy to stand at attention, poised to attack an animal that probably weighs at least 10 times more than they do. Say "Bark at the bear!" and they'll do it like actors on cue. Give them a crack at an actual bear, and they'll send it barreling away as if it had never encountered something so unpleasant. After centuries of breeding in Finland, these Karelian bear dogs don't show a hint of fear when they run toward a bear, pulling their handlers along as they bark furiously.... Column: A River Losing Its Soul Four decades after one of the West's last big dams blocked the free flow of water into the wild recesses of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado still manages to roar through here like the granddaddy of Western rivers. But it has become the Hollywood version — strikingly beautiful and in vital ways, fake. With every passing year, the Grand Canyon's stretch of the Colorado River bears less and less resemblance to its former self. The fine, white sand beaches on which thousands of weary boaters unfurl their sleeping bags every summer are disappearing. So are native fish species that have been in the canyon for millions of years. Millennium-old Native American burial sites are washing away with the eroding sands.... Winged dreams An anxious voice crackled over Joe Burnett's two-way radio: "Bird coming in." Whoosh! Massive wings split the still air, then boof! California condor No. 134 landed hard, inches above Burnett's hiding place in a shallow pit camouflaged by branches and leaves. Burnett remembers looking up and watching the big bird's spindly feet step toward the bait, a calf carcass rotting in 90-degree heat. Flies swarmed the rancid slab of flesh and buzzed Burnett's ears.... Pershing checkerboard land plan advances A bill to consolidate Pershing County's "checkerboard lands," a legacy of the building of the transcontinental railroad, is coming closer to reality. Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said Friday that the Nevada's Legislative Committee on Public Lands, which he chairs, heard a report Thursday in Lovelock on a plan that would transfer more than 200,000 acres of private land to the federal government at fair-market value. The proposal also calls for 950 acres around Lovelock to be made available to the city for economic development. Also, the company will pay 20 years worth of ad valorem taxes to the county on the land being conveyed to the BLM to make up for the loss of property taxes. In addition, the federal government is to put out for auction 34,000 acres to the private sector in an "orderly manner, so that it doesn't blow out the real estate market," Rhoads said. The county will have a say on how that land is sold, he said.... BLM gas leases harm roadless areas, enviros say Environmentalists claim four proposed roadless areas in the White River National Forest will be at risk, along with wildlife and plant species, when the Bureau of Land Management auctions oil- and natural-gas leases Thursday. The auction will lease more than 73,000 acres. Six of the 77 parcels are within the Thompson Creek, Middle Mountain, Reno Mountain and Mamm Peak roadless areas. The roadless-area conservation rule bans the construction of new roads. The Forest Service, however, considers the rule invalid because of an injunction by a federal judge in Wyoming. Conservation groups argue a federal circuit court ruling declared the rule valid.... BLM wants to round up abandoned llamas The Bureau of Land Management Uncompahgre Field Office is taking steps to remove a herd of 15 abandoned llamas in the Escalante Canyon area. Officials believe the llamas were abandoned approximately a year ago on the mesa tops east of Escalante Canyon, eight miles west of Delta. Since then, ranchers and recreationists in the area have reported encounters with the llama herd. The llamas will be removed for their own health and safety, in accordance with BLM land-use regulations.... Judge halts BLM grazing decision in Craters Judge James H. Heffernan, an administrative judge with the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals in Salt Lake City, had harsh words for the BLM in his written decision dated April 28. "The new grazing system may only exacerbate the poor vegetative conditions and hasten the listing of the sage grouse," the judge wrote. "The public's interest in maintaining the integrity of its lands and sensitive species outweighs the interest of BLM and the permittees in keeping livestock on the allotment. The potential hardship to be suffered by the public -- permanent or long-lasting damage to the land -- outweighs the largely economic hardship which the permittees face." Grazing within the monument will continue but will revert back to the previous grazing decision for now because of the judge's order, said Rick VanderVoet, manager of the Craters monument for the BLM. That plan is more than 10 years old, he said.... Suspected rogue bear snared, killed The bear is gone, but the stories about it will linger for decades to come. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials Friday killed a black bear snared at the site of an attack on a sleeping man Wednesday in Desolation Canyon along the Green River. Later on Friday, officials learned the bear may have gone through the screen of a tent at another camp and bitten another sleeping man in the same area on Tuesday. "It sounds like it was the same bear. The description in size and color is the same, and because it happened on the west side of the river two miles apart from each other leads me to believe it was the same bear," said Sgt. Carl Gramlich, a conservation officer with the DWR.... Development crowding military Now builders are voicing similar alarm over a statewide alliance of admirals and environmentalists who want to slow development beneath all of California's military flight paths. Aerial routes 10 miles wide, created during the 1950s and 1960s to train fighter pilots flying 500 mph at 200 feet are fast becoming growth corridors, worrying the military and those who want to keep it in California. Environmentalists want to save "vast areas of habitat" beneath military flight paths carved out when the state held half the population it does now. Indeed, as the Defense Department prepares to announce nearly 100 base closures next year, stricter growth management is becoming a key strategy in California and several other states to keep bases off the hit list. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington and more are passing laws and putting land off limits -- signaling the Pentagon of their seriousness about keeping bases viable.... Sierra Club leader blasts Bush environment polices in new book Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls. The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness. "Bush has done his best, in only three years, to break our national compact on environmental progress and turn the clock back - not years or decades but a full century," Pope writes in "Strategic Ignorance" with co-author Paul Rauber.... Editorial: The Arid West ven in May, an extraordinary number of Westerners — especially those who live in the Rocky Mountain states — are still talking about March. In many places, it was an unusually warm month without precipitation. March put an end to the hope — a well-worn hope by now — that the weather would return to normal in a region that is now entering its fifth year of drought. Every indicator is grievous. Ranchers have radically destocked the range. In Arizona and New Mexico, more than a million acres of pinyon and ponderosa pine have died off. Critical reservoirs, like Lake Powell, are holding less than half their capacity. The Rio Grande is a trickle. The entire drainage of the Colorado River — the ultimate source of water for much of the metropolitan West — is at risk. A drought of this severity naturally calls into question the definition of "normal." It appears, in fact, that what is normal is an oscillation in climate, from wet periods, like 1976 to 1998, to dry periods, which have recurred with some regularity. So far, this is a five-year drought. But no one knows how long it will last. The climatic history of Arizona, for instance, has been reconstructed by painstaking analysis of tree rings. That research shows that there have been two droughts that lasted 18 years and one, near the end of the 16th century, that lasted 28 years. Tree-ring evidence also shows that for parts of Arizona, 2002 was the driest year in the past 1,400 years.... Some breaks in corporate tax bill assembled by the U.S. Senate _Let farmers avoid taxes for replacing livestock due to drought, flood or other weather problems, at a cost of $25 million. _Give farmers and ranchers in drought areas a 30 percent tax credit on the purchase and installation of irrigation equipment. _Allow nonprofit organizations to use tax-exempt bonds to acquire forest land, with up to $1.5 billion in bonds.... Column: A Meeting of Cattlemen From Two Cultures on the Mexican Border n modern, industrialized agriculture, the benign cow sometimes looks like a nightmare creature, a carrier of human fears about E. coli, environmental degradation, mad cow disease and dire concentration in the meatpacking business. But none of this is the cow's fault. And in a few places, the cow is still something more than a warm-blooded economic integer or a plague on the hoof. In those places cattle still anchor a way of life, a grassland culture of great subtlety and beauty. Not long ago, I visited a windswept region in New Mexico and Arizona, along the Mexican border, with representatives from two of those cattle cultures: a coalition of local ranchers and scientists, called the Malpai Borderlands Group, and a group of Masai from Kenya and Tanzania. At first, the differences seemed almost overwhelming. The Masai live intimately with their zebu cattle, naming each one, walking them long distances to water and good grazing, and they could not quite believe that the Malpai ranchers gathered and counted their cow-calf pairs only twice a year, at branding and shipping. The wildness of American range cattle amazed the Masai. It seemed just as surprising to the ranchers that Masai women milked their beef cattle, sharing the udder of a lactating cow with its calf, and that a zebu could lower its metabolism in response to drought.... Endless seasons Ranching was one of the first great post-European settlement endeavors in Humboldt County. It continues to be an element of the economic and cultural picture, but changes have set in. One thing will never change: The seasons lie at the heart of ranch life. This is the first of four parts that will be spread out over the seasons of the coming year. In the rain-greened hills around Bridgeville, help is usually far away. In the spring, when there are calves to brand, help comes anyway. Neighbors and friends, cowboys and weekend ropers from the four corners of the county haul quarter horses and paint horses behind growling diesel pickups to George Brightman's ranch.... On The Edge Of Common Sense: Mountain lions cause backbiting problem In my neighboring big city of Tucson, we have a mountain lion problem. The city limit pushes up against the border of the state park like New York skyscrapers up against the East River. California studies demonstrate that the mountain lions, like coyotes, rats, cockroaches and pigeons adapt quite well to urban encroachment. They routinely stalk and eat domestic livestock, pets and the occasional human. This past winter on the outskirts of Los Angeles one lion killed and ate one person and mauled another. In our case, park visitors were reporting lions coming uncomfortably close, one being sighted crossing the parking lot of a nearby school....
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