NEWS ROUNDUP
Awarding bison management to Native American tribes hits an outsourcing nerve The bison is a cultural icon for Native Americans, who lived for centuries alongside the woolly beasts. But an 18-month contract that handed over responsibility for hundreds of Montana bison to nearby tribes on March 15 is anything but a return to tradition, say wildlife professionals who oppose it. Critics see the controversial deal between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, based in Pablo, Mont., as part of the current push to privatize federal land and jobs, jeopardizing wildlife by replacing scientists and experts with private contractors. "Our national system is beginning to be broken down and piecemealed away," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Washington D.C.-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Refuge managers nationwide have denounced the move to outsource duties formerly handled by the Fish and Wildlife Service as ineffective and costly....
State appeals wolf ruling The state is appealing a federal judge's order dismissing its lawsuit against the federal government over wolf management, Attorney General Pat Crank said Monday. Crank said the state is also looking at petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho from protection under the Endangered Species Act. "We're still doing some research, but we'll probably proceed down both courses at the same time," he said. Crank said a notice of appeal was filed Friday....
Forest, lake closures help bald eagles mate Bald eagles have returned to Whiskeytown and other north state reservoirs this spring, building treetop nests that biologists hope will each cradle at least one tiny fledgling in a month or so. Fierce spring storms sometimes blow nests out of the trees. Changing lake levels at larger reservoirs like Shasta make it harder to find fish to pluck from the water. The buzz of boats or the heavy footsteps of hikers can prompt an eagle to abandon its nest. That's why the public is usually kept at least a quarter-mile away from nest sites. Buoys are set out in the water to keep boats at a safe distance. Those nests are sometimes impressive. The largest bald eagle nest on record was nearly 10 feet wide, 20 feet tall and about 6,000 pounds, according to U.S. Forest Service publications. There were once fewer than 30 pairs of bald eagles in the entire state. Now the Shasta-Trinity National Forest alone has about 40 pairs....
Ecosystem losing critical piece Herring swim in such large groups that biologists measure them in tons. And over the last 30 years, tons of the small, silvery, schooling fish have disappeared from Puget Sound. Throughout the Sound, adult herring are dying off years earlier than normal. And a herring stock that used to be one of the Puget Sound’s largest might become extinct, despite limits on commercial fishing....
How Foxes in the Aleutian Henhouse Doomed Islands' Plant Life oxes may not graze, but a new scientific study describes how their arrival on Aleutian islands destroyed rich grasslands and left only sparse tundra. The authors of the report, which appeared in Science last week, say this transformation shows how an entire ecosystem may go into a tailspin if just one new top carnivore shows up. The inadvertent experiment began in the late 1700's and continued into the early 20th century as fur traders looking to expand their supply released nonnative arctic foxes and, in some cases, red foxes on more than 400 Alaskan islands. Some died out, but many populations survived. The new habitats included much of the Aleutian archipelago that curves west toward Asia. Except for the occasional polar bear rafting in on winter ice, the windswept islands had few predators before. The botanical impoverishment that has resulted is the reverse of what usually happens when a new meat-eater comes along....
Successor named for parks police chief A former Durham police officer was named Monday as chief of the U.S. Park Police, replacing a former Durham police chief who was dismissed from the federal post last year. Dwight Pettiford, who has been acting chief for the past year, will succeed Teresa Chambers, who was fired as chief of the police force for the National Park Service in July. Pettiford joined the park service in 2002 after rising through the ranks to major at the Durham police department. He followed Chambers to Washington as one of her two deputies after Chambers took over as park police head in 2002....
BLM rangers pelted with eggs at Sand Mt. over weekend Three major accidents, two arrests and personal attacks on Bureau of Land Management rangers marred a crowded Easter weekend at Sand Mountain, 30 miles east of Fallon. A BLM official estimated there were 2,500 people at the popular off-road recreation area between Thursday and Sunday. Elayn Briggs, associate field manager for the BLM, said extra park rangers were sent to Sand Mt. after raw eggs were thrown at rangers enforcing the law and at their vehicles. The egg-throwing occurred Thursday night, Briggs said. On Friday, there were eight rangers patrolling the area....
Army Corps: 'Glades work bogged down A frank internal memo from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paints a troubling picture of the Everglades' restoration at the five-year mark. Bogged down by paperwork. Over budget. Behind schedule. And plagued by congressional skepticism and negative perceptions on Capitol Hill about its direction. The March 7 memo from Gary Hardesty, Corps of Engineers Everglades project manager in Washington, D.C., bluntly points out that while the Army Corps has been immersed in preparing restoration rules and other documents, "We haven't built a single project during the first five years ... we've missed almost every milestone." The memo, released last week by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, was written to guide Corps of Engineers colleagues as they prepare a mandatory five-year update on restoration progress for Congress, an assessment due at the end of this year. But coming directly from an Army Corps official, the admissions and warnings it contains could provide more ammunition for restoration critics on Capitol Hill to draw money and support away from the $8.4 billion project the state and federal government are paying for 50-50. The memo says the project is beset with questions about its scientific underpinnings, about computer projections of its potential impacts and about its ballooning costs, including a potential $1 billion increase in the tab for the first four projects....
State officials shed light on potential 'shroom boom Alaska has a history of booms--fur, gold, oil. This summer could see another--a 'shroom boom. Morel mushrooms, treasured for French cooking, thrive on land a year after it's disturbed by forest fires. Alaska set records in scorched earth last year. More than 6.5 million acres burned, mostly in Alaska's Interior, the vast middle swath between the Brooks Range in the north and the Alaska Range in the south. With the right moisture and temperatures, Alaska could witness a morel gold rush in late spring. "That is what we're hoping on," said Jay Moore of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. "It really depends on environmental factors."....
Column: Water is at once a beverage and a utility These disturbing facts have set off a storm in the water industry, which is fragmented among water suppliers, treatment companies, technology and equipment firms, and bottlers. Water is at once a beverage and a utility. If there's confusion as to how to assess water, its need is certainly clear. Without it, we as humans die within about a week. Moreover, its potability is a huge factor in fighting disease. For example, one of the major health concerns after the Asian tsunami crisis was water-related infection. The increase in population, combined with limited source supply, make water an increasingly valued commodity. And that isn't lost on the capital markets. The Dow Jones US Water Index is up 18.6 percent over the past year. And there is a race to capture market share among municipalities, multinational concerns and US industrial corporations to get in on the water industry's growth....
Definition of 'Ditch' Is Muddy at Best Under the 1972 Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have jurisdiction over whether a ditch qualifies to be protected as a wetland. The Corps considers whether a ditch is an isolated, non-navigable waterway open to development or a navigable U.S. waterway that deserves protection. This can include consideration of whether a ditch is a tributary, as some courts have ruled, and, thus, part of a U.S. waterway. Seem a little confusing? The distinctions and interpretations are left up to the Corps, which issues permits to protect wetlands from pollutants. The extent of its power has been controversial since the Supreme Court in 2001 struck down a "migratory bird rule" that gave regulators expansive authority to protect any kind of wetland used by a bird. The court said isolated, intrastate, non-navigable waters that have no connection to other waters could not be considered protected wetland in that circumstance. At stake is the fate of thousands of miles of such isolated wetland, including the kinds of ditches that run along highways or drain farmland....
Clear Lake water users may go dry Irrigators in the Bonanza area are working with federal water managers to find ways to avoid what appears to be a disastrous summer ahead. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials met Friday with Langell Valley and Horsefly irrigation district officials to discuss low water levels in Clear Lake. Officials have said the low water could mean no water for irrigation from the lake this year. Now discussion is on hold until next month when the Bureau comes out with its operations plan, which will set forth who will get how much water for the growing season....
Major war brewing over efforts to save Spokane River Few cities have waterfalls thundering through the downtown core. Even fewer have one like Spokane's, which can be - and often is - shut off at the spigot. Facing a rare opportunity to reshape the Spokane River, environmental groups are pressing demands that water should be used for fish and natural aesthetics rather than strictly to generate electricity and carry pollution. The fight over this relatively short and obscure river is a microcosm of what is happening across the West, where scarce water is the prize in many battles....
Environmentalists Fight Transfer Of Water To LA Suburbs A pair of environmental groups are suing to prevent shipments of water from Central Valley farms to some of Southern California's rapidly growing suburbs. About 41,000-acre feet of water per year is destined for the Castaic Lake Water Agency. It goes to the agency's customers in northern Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County as well as to future developments in the rapidly growing Santa Clarita Valley. The agency paid nearly $46 million for the water in 1999, and transfers began the following year. Some of the water is being used, some is being stored, and still more is being set aside to accommodate future development....
Fishing: The New Resource War Until the mid-20th century, the ocean was a key watery terrain of conflict between competing colonial powers seeking to expand their control over territories and natural resources. Today, the ocean is again a renewed place of conflict. This time it is a battle of small-scale subsistence fishermen battling governments and industrial fishing companies to whom their traditional fishing rights have been given away. These battles, raging from Canada to Chile to Scotland to Taiwan, are the newest round of global resource wars....
Eco-Lessons Taught in a Surfer-Girl Patois eated in the choicest nook in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles recently, the actress Cameron Diaz was attended to by chiseled waiters who apparently knew her dietary tastes and needs. In Hollywood's hierarchical taxonomy, Ms. Diaz is at the top of the food chain. So why was she eating her arugula and proscuitto with her fingers? "I embarrass myself on a day-to-day basis," said Ms. Diaz, 32, laughing. "And happily so. It keeps me humble." Just back from two weeks in Tanzania, she was readjusting to American ways and bubbling with enthusiasm for what had actually been a solemn mission. She had been in Africa finishing the location shooting for "Trippin," her unscripted MTV travelogue with a save-the-planet goal that has its premiere tonight. "Trippin" combines school and recess, as Ms. Diaz leads celebrity adventurers to wild places in ecological jeopardy. This isn't nature photography à la Jacques Cousteau or Marlin Perkins; instead, the show invites viewers to be part of an eco-entourage....
Herding cats ... Jackpot prepares for 'Cat Roundup' Leaders of this casino town along the Idaho-Nevada border think they've found a possible solution to their feral cat problem. Gene Frank, chairman of the Jackpot Advisory Board, is spearheading a "Cat Roundup" scheduled for April 12 and 13. "Our hope is to trap and release around 100 to 200 during this two-day program," Frank said. The U.S. Humane Society's nonprofit Rural Area Veterinary Service branch, known as RAVS, is sponsoring the roundup. Volunteers will employ the Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage method, or TNR-M, in which the cats will be caught, neutered and released without being harmed. The program's goal is to stabilize the size of feral cat groups and to achieve a gradual decline of the population....
Cowboy Classic coming April 15-17 The Wild West may have been tamed a long time ago, but it has never gone away. Western culture is still alive and well, particularly here in the heart of Oklahoma. With that in mind, there is no better place than the Grady County Fairgrounds in Chickasha for the home of the Oklahoma Cowboy Classic, which offers a weekend full of events on April 15, April 16 and April 17 that showcases and honors the heart of the American West - cowboys and cowgirls and the ranches that employ them. The Oklahoma Cowboy Classic ranch rodeo brings together ranchers, both large and small, from several surrounding states. They know of no other ranch rodeo that has the number of ranches and participants that the Oklahoma Cowboy Classic has, making theirs one of the largest ranch rodeos in the United States. There will be three sessions on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night with a total of thirty-six teams....
Las Vegas 'stolen' from Arizona by Nevada You've probably heard the old saw: "Of all the things I've lost over the years, I think I miss my mind the most." For Arizona, the answer might be Pah-Ute County. Or, as it's known these days, Clark County, Nev. - the home of Las Vegas, fastest-growing city in the fastest-growing state in the nation, and celebrating its 100th anniversary May 15. Nevada, which became a state in 1864, "acquired" (or as Arizona Territory residents of the time phrased it, "stole") the northwest corner of Arizona in 1867 with the help of another bunch of confirmed ne'er-do-wells: Congress. The real estate in question amounted to 12,000 square miles - an area larger than the state of Maryland, according to late Tucson cartographer/artist/historian Donald Bufkin, who authored "The Lost County of Pah-Ute" in a 1964 volume of the Journal of Arizona History....
It's All Trew: A shine on your shoes can make your day My favorite story is during the Civil War, most military boots were made on the same cast with no difference between left and right feet. To get a fit, you soaked the new boots in water overnight then wore them until they became dry thus forming them to your feet. The Army at that time used stove blacking as polish. A doctor raised in Wellington told of his mother's shoe habits in the late 1890s. She let the dishpan water sit until cold, then poured it on her flowers. The greasy ring left in the pan was applied to her shoes keeping them soft and supple. To prepare for a trip to town, she turned a stove plate over and applied the black suet to her shoes for polish....
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Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Monday, March 28, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
Japan Panel Recommends Easing Beef Import Rules Japan's food-safety panel on Monday ruled that relaxing domestic cattle testing standards for mad-cow disease won't put consumers at risk, raising the possibility that Tokyo will reopen its lucrative market to U.S. beef imports. The Food Safety Commission found that tests for the fatal bovine illness on cattle aged 20 months or younger were unable to detect the proteins linked to the fatal bovine illness. Scientists believe the proteins associated with mad-cow disease don't accumulate in cows that young. "We have concluded that the risk of excluding cows younger than 21 months old from inspections is negligible or extremely small," said Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, chairman of the panel's scientific experts. The ruling allows Tokyo to begin considering whether to lower restrictions on American beef imports. The health and agriculture ministries will now consider revising food safety standards, which would allow Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration to restart discussions with U.S. officials about resuming American beef imports....
Canadian Farmers Ask Ottawa to Challenge U.S. Ban Canadian ranchers want Ottawa to mount a legal challenge against a U.S. ban on Canadian cattle and consider testing more animals for mad cow disease, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said on Monday. The lobby group has changed tack to push for measures it previously had shied away from because of worries Canada could lose ground in its 22-month fight to regain access to its biggest market, the United States. "With the March 2 ruling from the judge in Montana, it's definitely changed our whole outlook on things," said Stan Eby, president of the association, who raises cattle near Kincardine, Ontario. Canada used to count on exporting about 1 million live cattle a year to U.S. feedlots and slaughter plants, along with about 70 percent of its processed beef exports. Canadian ranchers want Ottawa to begin a challenge of the U.S. ban under the North American Free Trade Agreement or World Trade Organization rules. Ottawa has not ruled out a challenge, but still wants to try to resolve the issue bilaterally, because a formal trade challenge could take years to work through, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell said....
Taiwanese move on US beef bad for NZ The golden run for beef exporters could be drawing to an end after Taiwan's decision to lift its ban on United States beef on April 16. If Japan and Korea follow suit, the effect could be disastrous for beef exporters already struggling to cope with the high kiwi dollar. Strong commodity prices for beef and lamb have so far buffered exporters from the effects of the rising currency. But global beef markets have been distorted by the ban on US product. Beef exports to Taiwan were worth $174 million last year, up 44 per cent on the year to September 2003. A single case of mad cow disease (BSE) in December 2003 prompted the Asian ban on US beef and Asia turned to New Zealand and Australia to fill the gap. New Zealand beef exports to Japan in the year to September 2004 were up 96 per cent by volume and 124 per cent by value....
Japan's 16th case of mad cow disease confirmed A 9-year-old slaughtered cow was confirmed Sunday as having been infected with mad cow disease — Japan's 16th case, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. A ministerial experts panel confirmed the infection of the cow, born March 23, 1996, in Hokkaido. The cow was being inspected after being suspected of infection in a preliminary BSE test at a local examination center Thursday.
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Japan Panel Recommends Easing Beef Import Rules Japan's food-safety panel on Monday ruled that relaxing domestic cattle testing standards for mad-cow disease won't put consumers at risk, raising the possibility that Tokyo will reopen its lucrative market to U.S. beef imports. The Food Safety Commission found that tests for the fatal bovine illness on cattle aged 20 months or younger were unable to detect the proteins linked to the fatal bovine illness. Scientists believe the proteins associated with mad-cow disease don't accumulate in cows that young. "We have concluded that the risk of excluding cows younger than 21 months old from inspections is negligible or extremely small," said Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, chairman of the panel's scientific experts. The ruling allows Tokyo to begin considering whether to lower restrictions on American beef imports. The health and agriculture ministries will now consider revising food safety standards, which would allow Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration to restart discussions with U.S. officials about resuming American beef imports....
Canadian Farmers Ask Ottawa to Challenge U.S. Ban Canadian ranchers want Ottawa to mount a legal challenge against a U.S. ban on Canadian cattle and consider testing more animals for mad cow disease, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said on Monday. The lobby group has changed tack to push for measures it previously had shied away from because of worries Canada could lose ground in its 22-month fight to regain access to its biggest market, the United States. "With the March 2 ruling from the judge in Montana, it's definitely changed our whole outlook on things," said Stan Eby, president of the association, who raises cattle near Kincardine, Ontario. Canada used to count on exporting about 1 million live cattle a year to U.S. feedlots and slaughter plants, along with about 70 percent of its processed beef exports. Canadian ranchers want Ottawa to begin a challenge of the U.S. ban under the North American Free Trade Agreement or World Trade Organization rules. Ottawa has not ruled out a challenge, but still wants to try to resolve the issue bilaterally, because a formal trade challenge could take years to work through, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell said....
Taiwanese move on US beef bad for NZ The golden run for beef exporters could be drawing to an end after Taiwan's decision to lift its ban on United States beef on April 16. If Japan and Korea follow suit, the effect could be disastrous for beef exporters already struggling to cope with the high kiwi dollar. Strong commodity prices for beef and lamb have so far buffered exporters from the effects of the rising currency. But global beef markets have been distorted by the ban on US product. Beef exports to Taiwan were worth $174 million last year, up 44 per cent on the year to September 2003. A single case of mad cow disease (BSE) in December 2003 prompted the Asian ban on US beef and Asia turned to New Zealand and Australia to fill the gap. New Zealand beef exports to Japan in the year to September 2004 were up 96 per cent by volume and 124 per cent by value....
Japan's 16th case of mad cow disease confirmed A 9-year-old slaughtered cow was confirmed Sunday as having been infected with mad cow disease — Japan's 16th case, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. A ministerial experts panel confirmed the infection of the cow, born March 23, 1996, in Hokkaido. The cow was being inspected after being suspected of infection in a preliminary BSE test at a local examination center Thursday.
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Pickens spends $50 million on water rights Boone Pickens is putting up $50 million dollars to buy water rights in Roberts, Gray and Hemphill Counties. Pickens, president and CEO of Mesa Water Inc., sent out letters this month to landowners in those counties offering to buy an undivided one-half interest of landowners' water rights. Many of those getting the offers were part of a Roberts County landowners group that had sided with Mesa Water in trying to gain permits during the last few years from the Panhandle Ground Water Conservation District, the body that regulates ground water in Roberts County. "Everybody that has been with us," Pickens said, "we made an offer to." The offers went to about 200 individuals and range from $525 to $350 an acre. Pickens said last week that the average offer is more than $450 an acre. The differing figures reflect the amounts of water available from individual properties....
Editorial - Crying wolf: A good foundation for easing the return of wolves to Utah Utah used to be home to thousands of wolves that ranged everywhere but the salty desert. Eight years before statehood, the territorial government began rewarding wolf kills at a buck a head. Annihilation took 42 years. Now, 75 years on, the return of gray wolves to Utah is expected in the next decade, as individuals branch off from up around Yellowstone, where more than 700 are thriving. When the federal government eventually strips the wolf of the endangered status that has aided its recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains, management of Canis lupus will fall to the states. So the Legislature in 2003 wisely ordered up a management plan that was made public this past week following two years of sometimes ferocious wrangling. The 96-page result is a solid, reassuringly complex, framework to build upon. It is void of the shoot-on-sight simplicity of its territorial antecedent, though it could be a bit kinder to the newcomers....
PG&E must lose 140,000 acres, but how is a complex matter It's been called one of the biggest land deals in California's history. Under an agreement stemming from its bankruptcy four years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must rid itself of 140,000 acres of watershed lands the utility had acquired piece by piece dating back to the Gold Rush. Now those lands are scattered over 21 counties -- nearly 1,000 separate parcels worth $300 million altogether. PG&E bought all this land to prevent erosion into streams and rivers the utility needs to produce hydroelectric power. But under its bankruptcy pact with the state Public Utilities Commission, the lands will either be donated to nonprofit groups or government agencies, or be set aside through conservation easements for a range of "beneficial public uses."....
Global warming allows beetles to attack whitebark pines There's an incredibly effective predator in the woods, a real life giant killer. And it is marching, taking new life and succor from the hot, dry climate that vexes so much of the West. For most plants and animals, such weather is an enemy. But mountain pine beetles are different. For them, it's time to breed and feast, to colonize new places. And that's exactly what they're doing. In Canada, the beetles are killing millions of acres of trees. Officials say they've never seen anything like it. "It's the worst ever, anywhere in the world, as far as anyone knows," said Jesse Logan, an insect specialist at the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Logan, Utah. Logan is the lead author of a recent scientific report that says an onslaught of the voracious, predatory insects could devastate whitebark pine trees, a species already suffering. And if the whitebarks go, that will mean trouble for grizzly bears, which could translate into more dangerous encounters with people, a potential reversal of many years of grizzly conservation, and setting up some contentious legal and social battles....
Lots of logs, not enough loggers When the U.S. Forest Service received no bids on two small timber sales in Eagle County earlier this year, the agency's local rangers encountered what is becoming a problem throughout the intermountain West. The federal agency got a lesson in market economics and the three-way tug of war over lumber in national forests. There were no bidders for the timber "salvage" sales designed to remove trees killed by infesting pine beetles. The Forest Service also wants to sell the dead trees so they won't add extra fuel to wildfires. "We think the market is just flooded with all the beetle-killed trees," said Cal Wettstein, district ranger of the forest lands surrounding Eagle County. "The long-term concern for us is every (dead) tree that doesn't come out of the woods eventually is going to burn."....
Rare Bugs Arrest a Development In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear Purcell's lawsuit against the federal government, which he brought in 1999 after determining that he would not be able to develop his land, largely because the cave bugs are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The case is more than another skirmish pitting a developer against an obscure critter. Purcell and his partners have taken aim at the Endangered Species Act. His case argues that the government should have never been given the right to protect a number of rare species in the first place. Legal observers say the case, if Purcell wins, could throw out the protection of more than half of the 1,264 species covered by the law. Environmentalists say it would gut a central plank of conservation, threatening a host of cherished species, such as the Florida panther. Purcell's lawsuit argues that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should have never been given the right, through the Endangered Species Act, to regulate the cave bugs. The act was created in 1973 through the Constitution's commerce clause, which gives Congress the right to regulate commercial activity "among the several states." Many conservatives believe commerce clause regulation has inflated the role of the federal government beyond what the authors of the Constitution intended. Purcell's lawsuit argues that cave bugs cannot be regulated through the clause because they have no commercial value and are found only in a tiny area of Texas — meaning they do not cross state lines....
Logging, pesticides curtail monarchs Homero Aridjis, a poet and naturalist, can remember years when monarch butterflies filled the streets here in his hometown like a living torrent of orange and black and stayed all winter on the fir-covered mountain rising above the village. Not this year. The colony of butterflies that arrived in November was tiny and retreated up the mountain, as far away as possible from the lower slopes where loggers have thinned or destroyed the forest that the butterflies depend on. "There used to be rivers of butterflies, but now there are years when there are no butterflies at all," Aridjis said as he climbed the mountain of his youth recently. "This is a village full of ghosts, not of people, but of nature, a paradise lost." Not only are there comparatively few monarchs in Contepec, but the numbers that came to weather the winter at five other forest sanctuaries in central Mexico also dropped sharply this year....
Devils Tower heritage woven into fight over name change Jutting more than 1,200 feet into the air in northeastern Wyoming, Devils Tower National Monument draws athletes and tourists as well as movie buffs seeking the setting of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The monument's name threads through the nearby town of Hulett, from the Devils Tower Golf Course and Devils Tower Forest Products to the high school team's Hulett Red Devils. Today, that name is part of a symbolic struggle over land that once belonged to American Indian tribes and now is owned by the federal government. The monument's superintendent wants to add the name "Bear Medicine Lodge" to the site, recognizing what tribes called the monument before it became a national monument. If the plan succeeds, the monolithic rock formation would have two names. A U.S. congresswoman from Wyoming has introduced a bill to prevent that change from happening....
Column: Want fries with that mustang? In a twist of fate and palate, Americans do not pull up to the drive-thru window and order McMustangs instead of beef McRibs. Although 50,000 domestic horses are killed each year in U.S. slaughterhouses, Americans retain a collective revulsion at the thought of Seabiscuit Stew and My Friend Fried Flicka. Not so in France. It is ironic that our president stands tall in his cowboy boots as special interests ride off into the sunset to butcher one of the remaining icons of the American West. That France will consume most of these wild horses adds another level of irony....
Toxic mine sites need securing, bureau is told A new report from the Interior Department's Inspector General's Office says the federal government has failed to protect hikers, four-wheelers and mountain bikers from toxic metals in the soil of some old mining sites here. The Bureau of Land Management has allowed unrestricted access for many years to arsenic and lead soil contamination at levels of 17 to 20 times the allowable or recommended federal limits, according to the report issued March 15. The sites, mined from the late 1800s into the 1950s, are in an area known as Saginaw Hill on Tucson's southwest side. The report said that as recently as May 2003, BLM officials classified the site as "high risk."....
Border crossers' environmental damage bemoaned Land managers for Arizona's borderlands are overwhelmed by a rise in the environmental damage caused by people sneaking into the country from Mexico. Stretches of land in southwestern Arizona are pockmarked with the debris of illegal immigration from rusting cars to the rutted trails that migrants and their U.S. Border Patrol pursuers cut into the desert. Conservationists complain that Border Patrol activities have pushed too far into the desert interior and are critical of a plan that proposes to expand off-road operations, introduce towering stadium-style lights in critical enforcement areas and build more roads and fences....
Column - ANWR: Dump Lamar's billion-dollar-boondoggle Not all the ANWR news is good. At the last moment, Tennessee's liberal Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, dredged up a provision from the old failed Conservation and Recovery Act (CARA) and attached a requirement that $350 million of oil revenues be set aside for three years for grants to green organizations and the acquisition of private property. How dumb is it to designate $350 million per year to the very organizations that have prevented the use of ANWR oil for decades? How dumb is it to designate even more money for the government and green groups to buy up even more of the remaining private property in this country. Governments already own almost 45 per cent of the total land area -- besides the land already acquired by The Nature Conservancy and thousands of other "land trusts?" Liberal Lamar's billion-dollar-boondoggle can be stripped from the budget bill in conference committee, but this could upset the delicate vote in the Senate, and ANWR oil could be denied for another decade. Both green and blue Senators should recognize two glaring facts: (1) America needs to develop all of its energy reserves to minimize dependence on foreign sources; and (2) governments and land trusts have already taken too much land out of the private sector, and should begin returning this treasure to private owners....
Column: State of the Rockies Some of us here in Colorado see things differently. Beyond our Hollywood image, prominent observers struggle with more serious allegations that the eight-state Rockies region lacks regional sovereignty and has inland colony status. In talking about sovereignty, observers are mostly referring to lack of participatory management for the Rockies. And without control of, or at least a significant say about the region's land, politics, and economy, Westerners do not dictate the region's destiny. The harsh truth, according to Ed Marston, former editor of the High Country News, is that we live as southerners did during Reconstruction, occupied an often federal force, and for many of the same dismal reasons. Because we have so far proven ourselves to be inadequate stewards of the region's vast public land holdings, the rest of the country does not trust us to control our own destiny. And, ads Marston, they are right....
Eastwood building plan leads to environmental battle It's Clint Eastwood's half-billion-dollar baby - a sweeping development plan for Monterey Peninsula's fabled Del Monte Forest. So far the "baby" is garnering both jeers and plaudits. In one corner: environmental activists and the California Coastal Commission staff. In the other: the Pebble Beach Co. and Monterey County's elected officials. And both sides are digging in for the long haul. The Pebble Beach Co., owned by Eastwood, golfer Arnold Palmer, ex-baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth and other investors, wants to build a championship 18-hole golf course and driving range in the area's signature Monterey pine forest. The 150-acre development would also include a new equestrian center, 33 luxury homes and 160 hotel rooms and suites. In exchange, the company is offering to preserve more than 800 acres as permanent open space - most of it in Pebble Beach, a 5,200-acre gated community that is home to the 17-Mile Drive, seven 18-hole courses and one nine-hole course....
Owners forced to give ground, study indicates The increasing cost of logging regulations may prompt more landowners to sell their timberland for development and other uses, particularly in areas where property values are rising, according to a new study. The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo study released Wednesday finds the average cost of meeting the regulations has increased 1,200 percent over the last 30 years, and now tops $30,000. But the study also is triggering criticism of the researchers for accepting partial funding from the timber industry. Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration, environmentalists and some state lawmakers have said the price of a timber harvest plan isn't high enough to cover the state's costs in regulating the timber industry. Plans to increase state regulatory fees have consistently failed, however, and the administration dropped its attempt to raise fees last year....
Book Review: Still caught in the dammed current The debate over Hetch Hetchy Resevoir in Yosemite National Park presents us with an extraordinary opportunity not only to re-examine our past but also to relive the past and remake it in our image. This is a dangerous temptation. When people speak of correcting "the mistakes of history," they seldom mean they want to understand the past better. What they're usually doing is using a particular judgment of history to short-circuit an argument about the present and where we should go from here. We're going to be hearing a lot of that as San Francisco and Peninsula communities that share water from Hetch Hetchy embark on a multibillion-dollar project to repair and upgrade the system that brings water from Yosemite National Park to our taps, and as environmental groups take this opportunity to push for draining the reservoir and restoring the valley about which John Muir once protested: "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." Reading "The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy" gives that strange sensation of deja vu all over again. Robert W. Righter has done a workmanlike job of reconstructing the political battles that accompanied San Francisco's struggle to secure a source of Sierra Nevada water -- from 1882, when an aqueduct from Tuolumne River was first proposed, to 1934, when water from the Hetch Hetchy system finally flowed into the city....
Book Review: The Making of an Eco-Revolutionary For all its faults—and there are more than enough to fill Kate Coleman’s eminently readable new book, The Secret Wars of Judi Bari: A Car Bomb, the Fight for the Redwoods, and the End of Earth First!—the radical environmentalist group Earth First! was a proponent of truth in advertising. The group’s notorious rallying cry said it all: “No compromise in defense of Mother Nature!” Few embodied the ideological rigidity of that cri de couer like the group’s legendarily volatile leader, Judi Bari. Born in 1949 to communist parents who once harbored the Soviet spy Morton Sobell, Bari seemed destined for the radical life. Recounted in investigative journalist Kate Coleman’s crisp, Newsweek-style reportage, Bari’s life takes a particularly interesting turn in the early '70s. It was then that Bari, trapped in a loveless, wooden marriage, spied salvation in the ancient redwoods that dotted the Northern California countryside. Bari the eco-radical was born. Coleman traces Bari’s rise through ranks of then-budding environmentalist group called Earth First!, transforming it from a ragtag jumble of delinquent pranksters, drug-dazed hippies, and back-to-nature enthusiasts, into a nettlesome cadre of professional saboteurs....
Column: Replanting the environmental garden Many of us around the nation look to Oregon for environmental inspiration. For example, since 1973, Oregon has led the nation in the prevention of urban sprawl. But in December, Measure 37 went into effect, requiring money-strapped Oregon officials either to compensate landowners retroactively for regulations that reduce a property's value or to waive those restrictions. As the reality of the Oregon retrenchment set in, I spoke with Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute in El Cerrito, Calif. He and his associate, Ted Nordhaus, vice president of Evans/McDonough, an opinion-research firm, had just released a broadside called "The Death of Environmentalism." To Shellenberger, Oregon's Measure 37 was one more nail in the coffin of the environmental movement. He and Nordhaus contend that, after a string of stunning successes in the 1970s and '80s, environmentalists are losing ground. Their thesis: "The environmental community's narrow definition of its self-interest leads to a kind of policy literalism that undermines its power." What the movement needs most, they say, is to take a collective step back to rethink its strategy and tactics. Response by many environmentalists has been less than enthusiastic. Instinctively, they prefer solidifying and marshalling their base; considering the intense challenges posed by the Bush administration, this is no time for a wave of self-doubt or analysis-paralysis. And they point to such positive achievements as the growth of the land conservancy movement....
Column: The 500 mpg solution Soaring oil prices -- crude is more than $55 a barrel and unleaded gasoline more than $2 a gallon -- are not much of an economic or political issue. Yet. In absolute terms, today's prices are still half of the 1970s peaks, and the U.S. economy depends much less on petroleum than then. (Computers run on electricity, not gasoline.) But imagine what would happen if al Qaeda hit the giant Ras Tanura terminal in Saudi Arabia, where a tenth of global oil supplies are processed every day. Prices could soar past $100 a barrel, and the U.S. economy could go into a tailspin. As it is, high oil prices help Saudi Arabia subsidize hate-spewing madrassas and Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Both Democrats and Republicans know this, but neither party is serious about solving this growing crisis. Democrats who couldn't tell the difference between a caribou and a cow grandstand about the sanctity of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even though 70 percent of Alaskans are happy to see a bit of drilling in this remote tundra. Republicans pretend tapping ANWR will somehow solve all our problems. If only....
Column: It's Decision Time for J.P. Morgan Chase's CEO Living in gated communities may soon become a necessity rather than an option for corporate managers. Social activists are escalating their anti-business campaigns by taking them into management's own backyards — well, make that front yards. Last week, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) expanded its jihad against the financial services industry into tony Greenwich, CT — to the very street where J.P. Morgan Chase's CEO, William Harrison, lives. RAN activists put up old-fashioned Wild West-type "Wanted" posters featuring Mr. Harrison and calling him "Billy the Kid." The posters criticized the bank for "reckless investment in environmentally and socially destructive projects in dozens of countries" and urged Mr. Harrison's neighbors and friends to "ask him to do the right thing." Although this may sound like harmless and perhaps even prankish activism, the stakes are much higher than that....
Wild dog attacks spook desert equestrians Despite his long experience as a horseman, Dick Holt was scared when a vicious dog broke its chain and attacked his horse, Spooky, as they passed a rural home near the Calico Mountains northwest of Yermo. The 12-year-old gelding, bitten three times by the pit bull, panicked and bucked. "That dog grabbed Spooky's underbelly and was hanging in the air until he tore loose," Holt said. Holt was accompanied by two young girls from his neighborhood, who rode a second horse named Cody. "It was a dangerous situation for me, the girls and the horses," the 58-year-old Yermo area man said. "I stood the dog off so the kids could get away. That's when the dog attacked." In the wake of incidents such as Holt's, a dozen federal and state agencies are looking into complaints throughout Southern California about uncontrolled or feral canines in the region....
Hand spinners create lucrative market for fleece au naturel Like most ranchers, wool growers who produce fleeces for the handspun fiber market spend a lot of time mending fences, pitching alfalfa and cleaning out water troughs. They also spend hours washing and mending coats. Hand spinners generally prefer to buy their fleeces in a "raw" or uncleaned and unprocessed state, the better to observe and preserve the natural quality of the fibers. At shearing, wool growers may "skirt" or cut off the dirtiest belly and rump hair from the fleece, but aside from this bit of trimming, hand spinners purchase their wool fibers in the same state as the sheep wore them. So, the cleaner the fleeces remain between shearings, the better, and the higher price the fleeces will earn....
Lifetime on the land On Feb. 2, 1905, a boy was born in a sod house on his father's homestead near Rushville, Neb. Louis Aime Wuthier was the second son of a French/Swiss couple, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wuthier. As he grew up, L.A., known as "Aim," worked closely with his father on the Rushville ranch. "Life wasn't easy then," the now 100-year-old rancher says. "Dad couldn't speak a word of English when he came to the United States, but he made up his mind to learn the language by himself, and he put a lot of effort into doing that. I've always been proud of him for learning to read and write so well." Aim took over the ranch operation and remembers the tough years of the Great Depression. "I sold cows for $10 a head," he says. "Calves were only bringing 4 or 5 cents a pound. It wasn't easy surviving, but we managed....
A cowboy's last hand The funeral for Chase County cowboy Dan Matile wouldn't start for more than an hour but mud-streaked pickups, flat-bed trucks and a few sedans were already filling Charter Funerals' parking lot just west of downtown Emporia. Most of the men behind the wheel, middle-aged and older, wore their western headgear low, barely above their ears, the way they were made to be worn. Most shook hands and traded smiles and stories in the parking lot with hands buried in the front pockets of their fresh blue jeans or in the side pockets of stitched, western jackets. There were boots, lots of boots. Small talk covered January's bad ice storm and the mud it left behind. Some talked pasture burning and fence mending and one mentioned Don Matile's mules. "He always had them damned big, old mules around," one man said....
On The Edge of Common Sense: 'Humane' killing is touchy issue for all involved There is nothing pretty about killing a horse. Nobody knows that more than those of us who have done it. There are people who are actively attempting to get a federal bill passed that will "prevent the slaughter of horses in and from the U.S. for human consumption and other purposes." Those supporting this bill seem to fall into two groups: (1) those that have very little knowledge of the horse industry, of the problems facing the BLM Wild Horse Program, and the practical realities of burying a dead horse, and (2) people who are very knowledgeable about horses yet find the slaughter of them using packing house methods inhumane. Both of these groups are sincere and are not always raving animal-rights lunatics....
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Pickens spends $50 million on water rights Boone Pickens is putting up $50 million dollars to buy water rights in Roberts, Gray and Hemphill Counties. Pickens, president and CEO of Mesa Water Inc., sent out letters this month to landowners in those counties offering to buy an undivided one-half interest of landowners' water rights. Many of those getting the offers were part of a Roberts County landowners group that had sided with Mesa Water in trying to gain permits during the last few years from the Panhandle Ground Water Conservation District, the body that regulates ground water in Roberts County. "Everybody that has been with us," Pickens said, "we made an offer to." The offers went to about 200 individuals and range from $525 to $350 an acre. Pickens said last week that the average offer is more than $450 an acre. The differing figures reflect the amounts of water available from individual properties....
Editorial - Crying wolf: A good foundation for easing the return of wolves to Utah Utah used to be home to thousands of wolves that ranged everywhere but the salty desert. Eight years before statehood, the territorial government began rewarding wolf kills at a buck a head. Annihilation took 42 years. Now, 75 years on, the return of gray wolves to Utah is expected in the next decade, as individuals branch off from up around Yellowstone, where more than 700 are thriving. When the federal government eventually strips the wolf of the endangered status that has aided its recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains, management of Canis lupus will fall to the states. So the Legislature in 2003 wisely ordered up a management plan that was made public this past week following two years of sometimes ferocious wrangling. The 96-page result is a solid, reassuringly complex, framework to build upon. It is void of the shoot-on-sight simplicity of its territorial antecedent, though it could be a bit kinder to the newcomers....
PG&E must lose 140,000 acres, but how is a complex matter It's been called one of the biggest land deals in California's history. Under an agreement stemming from its bankruptcy four years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must rid itself of 140,000 acres of watershed lands the utility had acquired piece by piece dating back to the Gold Rush. Now those lands are scattered over 21 counties -- nearly 1,000 separate parcels worth $300 million altogether. PG&E bought all this land to prevent erosion into streams and rivers the utility needs to produce hydroelectric power. But under its bankruptcy pact with the state Public Utilities Commission, the lands will either be donated to nonprofit groups or government agencies, or be set aside through conservation easements for a range of "beneficial public uses."....
Global warming allows beetles to attack whitebark pines There's an incredibly effective predator in the woods, a real life giant killer. And it is marching, taking new life and succor from the hot, dry climate that vexes so much of the West. For most plants and animals, such weather is an enemy. But mountain pine beetles are different. For them, it's time to breed and feast, to colonize new places. And that's exactly what they're doing. In Canada, the beetles are killing millions of acres of trees. Officials say they've never seen anything like it. "It's the worst ever, anywhere in the world, as far as anyone knows," said Jesse Logan, an insect specialist at the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Logan, Utah. Logan is the lead author of a recent scientific report that says an onslaught of the voracious, predatory insects could devastate whitebark pine trees, a species already suffering. And if the whitebarks go, that will mean trouble for grizzly bears, which could translate into more dangerous encounters with people, a potential reversal of many years of grizzly conservation, and setting up some contentious legal and social battles....
Lots of logs, not enough loggers When the U.S. Forest Service received no bids on two small timber sales in Eagle County earlier this year, the agency's local rangers encountered what is becoming a problem throughout the intermountain West. The federal agency got a lesson in market economics and the three-way tug of war over lumber in national forests. There were no bidders for the timber "salvage" sales designed to remove trees killed by infesting pine beetles. The Forest Service also wants to sell the dead trees so they won't add extra fuel to wildfires. "We think the market is just flooded with all the beetle-killed trees," said Cal Wettstein, district ranger of the forest lands surrounding Eagle County. "The long-term concern for us is every (dead) tree that doesn't come out of the woods eventually is going to burn."....
Rare Bugs Arrest a Development In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear Purcell's lawsuit against the federal government, which he brought in 1999 after determining that he would not be able to develop his land, largely because the cave bugs are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The case is more than another skirmish pitting a developer against an obscure critter. Purcell and his partners have taken aim at the Endangered Species Act. His case argues that the government should have never been given the right to protect a number of rare species in the first place. Legal observers say the case, if Purcell wins, could throw out the protection of more than half of the 1,264 species covered by the law. Environmentalists say it would gut a central plank of conservation, threatening a host of cherished species, such as the Florida panther. Purcell's lawsuit argues that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should have never been given the right, through the Endangered Species Act, to regulate the cave bugs. The act was created in 1973 through the Constitution's commerce clause, which gives Congress the right to regulate commercial activity "among the several states." Many conservatives believe commerce clause regulation has inflated the role of the federal government beyond what the authors of the Constitution intended. Purcell's lawsuit argues that cave bugs cannot be regulated through the clause because they have no commercial value and are found only in a tiny area of Texas — meaning they do not cross state lines....
Logging, pesticides curtail monarchs Homero Aridjis, a poet and naturalist, can remember years when monarch butterflies filled the streets here in his hometown like a living torrent of orange and black and stayed all winter on the fir-covered mountain rising above the village. Not this year. The colony of butterflies that arrived in November was tiny and retreated up the mountain, as far away as possible from the lower slopes where loggers have thinned or destroyed the forest that the butterflies depend on. "There used to be rivers of butterflies, but now there are years when there are no butterflies at all," Aridjis said as he climbed the mountain of his youth recently. "This is a village full of ghosts, not of people, but of nature, a paradise lost." Not only are there comparatively few monarchs in Contepec, but the numbers that came to weather the winter at five other forest sanctuaries in central Mexico also dropped sharply this year....
Devils Tower heritage woven into fight over name change Jutting more than 1,200 feet into the air in northeastern Wyoming, Devils Tower National Monument draws athletes and tourists as well as movie buffs seeking the setting of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The monument's name threads through the nearby town of Hulett, from the Devils Tower Golf Course and Devils Tower Forest Products to the high school team's Hulett Red Devils. Today, that name is part of a symbolic struggle over land that once belonged to American Indian tribes and now is owned by the federal government. The monument's superintendent wants to add the name "Bear Medicine Lodge" to the site, recognizing what tribes called the monument before it became a national monument. If the plan succeeds, the monolithic rock formation would have two names. A U.S. congresswoman from Wyoming has introduced a bill to prevent that change from happening....
Column: Want fries with that mustang? In a twist of fate and palate, Americans do not pull up to the drive-thru window and order McMustangs instead of beef McRibs. Although 50,000 domestic horses are killed each year in U.S. slaughterhouses, Americans retain a collective revulsion at the thought of Seabiscuit Stew and My Friend Fried Flicka. Not so in France. It is ironic that our president stands tall in his cowboy boots as special interests ride off into the sunset to butcher one of the remaining icons of the American West. That France will consume most of these wild horses adds another level of irony....
Toxic mine sites need securing, bureau is told A new report from the Interior Department's Inspector General's Office says the federal government has failed to protect hikers, four-wheelers and mountain bikers from toxic metals in the soil of some old mining sites here. The Bureau of Land Management has allowed unrestricted access for many years to arsenic and lead soil contamination at levels of 17 to 20 times the allowable or recommended federal limits, according to the report issued March 15. The sites, mined from the late 1800s into the 1950s, are in an area known as Saginaw Hill on Tucson's southwest side. The report said that as recently as May 2003, BLM officials classified the site as "high risk."....
Border crossers' environmental damage bemoaned Land managers for Arizona's borderlands are overwhelmed by a rise in the environmental damage caused by people sneaking into the country from Mexico. Stretches of land in southwestern Arizona are pockmarked with the debris of illegal immigration from rusting cars to the rutted trails that migrants and their U.S. Border Patrol pursuers cut into the desert. Conservationists complain that Border Patrol activities have pushed too far into the desert interior and are critical of a plan that proposes to expand off-road operations, introduce towering stadium-style lights in critical enforcement areas and build more roads and fences....
Column - ANWR: Dump Lamar's billion-dollar-boondoggle Not all the ANWR news is good. At the last moment, Tennessee's liberal Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, dredged up a provision from the old failed Conservation and Recovery Act (CARA) and attached a requirement that $350 million of oil revenues be set aside for three years for grants to green organizations and the acquisition of private property. How dumb is it to designate $350 million per year to the very organizations that have prevented the use of ANWR oil for decades? How dumb is it to designate even more money for the government and green groups to buy up even more of the remaining private property in this country. Governments already own almost 45 per cent of the total land area -- besides the land already acquired by The Nature Conservancy and thousands of other "land trusts?" Liberal Lamar's billion-dollar-boondoggle can be stripped from the budget bill in conference committee, but this could upset the delicate vote in the Senate, and ANWR oil could be denied for another decade. Both green and blue Senators should recognize two glaring facts: (1) America needs to develop all of its energy reserves to minimize dependence on foreign sources; and (2) governments and land trusts have already taken too much land out of the private sector, and should begin returning this treasure to private owners....
Column: State of the Rockies Some of us here in Colorado see things differently. Beyond our Hollywood image, prominent observers struggle with more serious allegations that the eight-state Rockies region lacks regional sovereignty and has inland colony status. In talking about sovereignty, observers are mostly referring to lack of participatory management for the Rockies. And without control of, or at least a significant say about the region's land, politics, and economy, Westerners do not dictate the region's destiny. The harsh truth, according to Ed Marston, former editor of the High Country News, is that we live as southerners did during Reconstruction, occupied an often federal force, and for many of the same dismal reasons. Because we have so far proven ourselves to be inadequate stewards of the region's vast public land holdings, the rest of the country does not trust us to control our own destiny. And, ads Marston, they are right....
Eastwood building plan leads to environmental battle It's Clint Eastwood's half-billion-dollar baby - a sweeping development plan for Monterey Peninsula's fabled Del Monte Forest. So far the "baby" is garnering both jeers and plaudits. In one corner: environmental activists and the California Coastal Commission staff. In the other: the Pebble Beach Co. and Monterey County's elected officials. And both sides are digging in for the long haul. The Pebble Beach Co., owned by Eastwood, golfer Arnold Palmer, ex-baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth and other investors, wants to build a championship 18-hole golf course and driving range in the area's signature Monterey pine forest. The 150-acre development would also include a new equestrian center, 33 luxury homes and 160 hotel rooms and suites. In exchange, the company is offering to preserve more than 800 acres as permanent open space - most of it in Pebble Beach, a 5,200-acre gated community that is home to the 17-Mile Drive, seven 18-hole courses and one nine-hole course....
Owners forced to give ground, study indicates The increasing cost of logging regulations may prompt more landowners to sell their timberland for development and other uses, particularly in areas where property values are rising, according to a new study. The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo study released Wednesday finds the average cost of meeting the regulations has increased 1,200 percent over the last 30 years, and now tops $30,000. But the study also is triggering criticism of the researchers for accepting partial funding from the timber industry. Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration, environmentalists and some state lawmakers have said the price of a timber harvest plan isn't high enough to cover the state's costs in regulating the timber industry. Plans to increase state regulatory fees have consistently failed, however, and the administration dropped its attempt to raise fees last year....
Book Review: Still caught in the dammed current The debate over Hetch Hetchy Resevoir in Yosemite National Park presents us with an extraordinary opportunity not only to re-examine our past but also to relive the past and remake it in our image. This is a dangerous temptation. When people speak of correcting "the mistakes of history," they seldom mean they want to understand the past better. What they're usually doing is using a particular judgment of history to short-circuit an argument about the present and where we should go from here. We're going to be hearing a lot of that as San Francisco and Peninsula communities that share water from Hetch Hetchy embark on a multibillion-dollar project to repair and upgrade the system that brings water from Yosemite National Park to our taps, and as environmental groups take this opportunity to push for draining the reservoir and restoring the valley about which John Muir once protested: "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." Reading "The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy" gives that strange sensation of deja vu all over again. Robert W. Righter has done a workmanlike job of reconstructing the political battles that accompanied San Francisco's struggle to secure a source of Sierra Nevada water -- from 1882, when an aqueduct from Tuolumne River was first proposed, to 1934, when water from the Hetch Hetchy system finally flowed into the city....
Book Review: The Making of an Eco-Revolutionary For all its faults—and there are more than enough to fill Kate Coleman’s eminently readable new book, The Secret Wars of Judi Bari: A Car Bomb, the Fight for the Redwoods, and the End of Earth First!—the radical environmentalist group Earth First! was a proponent of truth in advertising. The group’s notorious rallying cry said it all: “No compromise in defense of Mother Nature!” Few embodied the ideological rigidity of that cri de couer like the group’s legendarily volatile leader, Judi Bari. Born in 1949 to communist parents who once harbored the Soviet spy Morton Sobell, Bari seemed destined for the radical life. Recounted in investigative journalist Kate Coleman’s crisp, Newsweek-style reportage, Bari’s life takes a particularly interesting turn in the early '70s. It was then that Bari, trapped in a loveless, wooden marriage, spied salvation in the ancient redwoods that dotted the Northern California countryside. Bari the eco-radical was born. Coleman traces Bari’s rise through ranks of then-budding environmentalist group called Earth First!, transforming it from a ragtag jumble of delinquent pranksters, drug-dazed hippies, and back-to-nature enthusiasts, into a nettlesome cadre of professional saboteurs....
Column: Replanting the environmental garden Many of us around the nation look to Oregon for environmental inspiration. For example, since 1973, Oregon has led the nation in the prevention of urban sprawl. But in December, Measure 37 went into effect, requiring money-strapped Oregon officials either to compensate landowners retroactively for regulations that reduce a property's value or to waive those restrictions. As the reality of the Oregon retrenchment set in, I spoke with Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute in El Cerrito, Calif. He and his associate, Ted Nordhaus, vice president of Evans/McDonough, an opinion-research firm, had just released a broadside called "The Death of Environmentalism." To Shellenberger, Oregon's Measure 37 was one more nail in the coffin of the environmental movement. He and Nordhaus contend that, after a string of stunning successes in the 1970s and '80s, environmentalists are losing ground. Their thesis: "The environmental community's narrow definition of its self-interest leads to a kind of policy literalism that undermines its power." What the movement needs most, they say, is to take a collective step back to rethink its strategy and tactics. Response by many environmentalists has been less than enthusiastic. Instinctively, they prefer solidifying and marshalling their base; considering the intense challenges posed by the Bush administration, this is no time for a wave of self-doubt or analysis-paralysis. And they point to such positive achievements as the growth of the land conservancy movement....
Column: The 500 mpg solution Soaring oil prices -- crude is more than $55 a barrel and unleaded gasoline more than $2 a gallon -- are not much of an economic or political issue. Yet. In absolute terms, today's prices are still half of the 1970s peaks, and the U.S. economy depends much less on petroleum than then. (Computers run on electricity, not gasoline.) But imagine what would happen if al Qaeda hit the giant Ras Tanura terminal in Saudi Arabia, where a tenth of global oil supplies are processed every day. Prices could soar past $100 a barrel, and the U.S. economy could go into a tailspin. As it is, high oil prices help Saudi Arabia subsidize hate-spewing madrassas and Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Both Democrats and Republicans know this, but neither party is serious about solving this growing crisis. Democrats who couldn't tell the difference between a caribou and a cow grandstand about the sanctity of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even though 70 percent of Alaskans are happy to see a bit of drilling in this remote tundra. Republicans pretend tapping ANWR will somehow solve all our problems. If only....
Column: It's Decision Time for J.P. Morgan Chase's CEO Living in gated communities may soon become a necessity rather than an option for corporate managers. Social activists are escalating their anti-business campaigns by taking them into management's own backyards — well, make that front yards. Last week, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) expanded its jihad against the financial services industry into tony Greenwich, CT — to the very street where J.P. Morgan Chase's CEO, William Harrison, lives. RAN activists put up old-fashioned Wild West-type "Wanted" posters featuring Mr. Harrison and calling him "Billy the Kid." The posters criticized the bank for "reckless investment in environmentally and socially destructive projects in dozens of countries" and urged Mr. Harrison's neighbors and friends to "ask him to do the right thing." Although this may sound like harmless and perhaps even prankish activism, the stakes are much higher than that....
Wild dog attacks spook desert equestrians Despite his long experience as a horseman, Dick Holt was scared when a vicious dog broke its chain and attacked his horse, Spooky, as they passed a rural home near the Calico Mountains northwest of Yermo. The 12-year-old gelding, bitten three times by the pit bull, panicked and bucked. "That dog grabbed Spooky's underbelly and was hanging in the air until he tore loose," Holt said. Holt was accompanied by two young girls from his neighborhood, who rode a second horse named Cody. "It was a dangerous situation for me, the girls and the horses," the 58-year-old Yermo area man said. "I stood the dog off so the kids could get away. That's when the dog attacked." In the wake of incidents such as Holt's, a dozen federal and state agencies are looking into complaints throughout Southern California about uncontrolled or feral canines in the region....
Hand spinners create lucrative market for fleece au naturel Like most ranchers, wool growers who produce fleeces for the handspun fiber market spend a lot of time mending fences, pitching alfalfa and cleaning out water troughs. They also spend hours washing and mending coats. Hand spinners generally prefer to buy their fleeces in a "raw" or uncleaned and unprocessed state, the better to observe and preserve the natural quality of the fibers. At shearing, wool growers may "skirt" or cut off the dirtiest belly and rump hair from the fleece, but aside from this bit of trimming, hand spinners purchase their wool fibers in the same state as the sheep wore them. So, the cleaner the fleeces remain between shearings, the better, and the higher price the fleeces will earn....
Lifetime on the land On Feb. 2, 1905, a boy was born in a sod house on his father's homestead near Rushville, Neb. Louis Aime Wuthier was the second son of a French/Swiss couple, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wuthier. As he grew up, L.A., known as "Aim," worked closely with his father on the Rushville ranch. "Life wasn't easy then," the now 100-year-old rancher says. "Dad couldn't speak a word of English when he came to the United States, but he made up his mind to learn the language by himself, and he put a lot of effort into doing that. I've always been proud of him for learning to read and write so well." Aim took over the ranch operation and remembers the tough years of the Great Depression. "I sold cows for $10 a head," he says. "Calves were only bringing 4 or 5 cents a pound. It wasn't easy surviving, but we managed....
A cowboy's last hand The funeral for Chase County cowboy Dan Matile wouldn't start for more than an hour but mud-streaked pickups, flat-bed trucks and a few sedans were already filling Charter Funerals' parking lot just west of downtown Emporia. Most of the men behind the wheel, middle-aged and older, wore their western headgear low, barely above their ears, the way they were made to be worn. Most shook hands and traded smiles and stories in the parking lot with hands buried in the front pockets of their fresh blue jeans or in the side pockets of stitched, western jackets. There were boots, lots of boots. Small talk covered January's bad ice storm and the mud it left behind. Some talked pasture burning and fence mending and one mentioned Don Matile's mules. "He always had them damned big, old mules around," one man said....
On The Edge of Common Sense: 'Humane' killing is touchy issue for all involved There is nothing pretty about killing a horse. Nobody knows that more than those of us who have done it. There are people who are actively attempting to get a federal bill passed that will "prevent the slaughter of horses in and from the U.S. for human consumption and other purposes." Those supporting this bill seem to fall into two groups: (1) those that have very little knowledge of the horse industry, of the problems facing the BLM Wild Horse Program, and the practical realities of burying a dead horse, and (2) people who are very knowledgeable about horses yet find the slaughter of them using packing house methods inhumane. Both of these groups are sincere and are not always raving animal-rights lunatics....
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Sunday, March 27, 2005
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Two women, a rope and cow
By Julie Carter
Sometimes roping has nothing to do with skill with a rope. It can simply be fun, a challenge, or a survival tool.
When the neighbor calls and prefaces the conversation with "Feel free to say no" immediately after she says "good morning" you know it's not a good sign for what is to follow. And even when you react immediately with a “no” you realize she didn’t really mean what she said because she then tells you she already has the horses in the corral.
With anything resembling “man” power gone far away last weekend just we “wimmen folk” were left here at the ranch. The project outlined by the phone call was to get to the corrals a big 4 year-old cow who had gone blind and not been to water for a few days.
For those of you that haven’t tried it, cowboying a blind cow anywhere is not a feasible project. But we tried. She followed the fence the fair distance to the corrals and was within spittin’ distance of the gate when she decided to go back from where she’d come and did so at a fairly rapid pace.
This is the place where it becomes not really about getting the cow in but about not having to tell the men we tried and didn’t get the job done.
That left the only option remaining to two of us who really didn’t want to do it. Rope her, load her in the trailer and haul her home. Short sentence, long project.
The roping was the easy part. The getting her in the trailer turned into a battle of wits, cuss words and strained body parts. The cow, while not wild, was not cooperative in the least. With no help whatsoever from her; we got her snubbed up close enough to have her head in the trailer with great hopes of finding a way to get the rest of her to follow.
Pulling her in the trailer the traditional horse and rope method failed. It wasn’t a pretty sight and unless you’ve done it, the explanation wouldn’t make sense anyway. So with the horse tied elsewhere, we resorted to “brute” strength and sinister plotting.
We seemed to have an adequate amount of "know how" but fell considerably short with the physical ability to execute the plan.
At one point the rope on the cow had her a little short of air so she decided to lie down and quit completely. We loosened her up and after she revived she didn't want to get up on her feet. My partner suggested pouring a little water on her nose from her water bottle hoping it might make her feel better and she'd get up.
I doubted it would work but what do I know. It could. So I poured water on her nose and hoped she’d either get up or drown and we could go home.
The water baptism didn’t work but a little nylon rope therapy did. She got up and it was shortly thereafter she got her front feet and most her body up into the trailer. It was progress.
We were now totally committed. Everything but her back feet was in the trailer. We bodily tried to shove her in but no budging. Too much cow, not enough muscle from us.
I was getting tired and very aggravated over the cows lack of cooperation. But with a little more nylon encouragement she decided that getting up in the trailer was better than where she was. It only took a minute.
I laughed when my friend said, "Well maybe that's why my husband just gets mad first." I agreed. A cow can make a man angrier faster than just about anything in the world!
There is no glory for the rope burns I wear in places I can’t show. Three days of hot showers and ibuprofen and I’m as good as new and with a new story to tell on myself.
And I have new wisdom. I either need to quit this line of work or get in much better shape. I’m not sure which is harder to do.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.com. Bring your own rope.
© Julie Carter 2005
Do you know any old cowboys?
by Larry Gabriel
Western folklore and cowboy poets say heaven has a special reward for old cowboys. They may be right.
This is a story I heard…
Cowboy: Excuse me mister. Can you tell me where I am?
St. Peter: Sure I can. You're at the pearly gate.
Cowboy: It looks a little like a cattle chute.
St. Peter: Well I am sure it does to you. You see, each person has his own kind of gate and his own brand of standards by which he will be measured.
Cowboy: I'm not sure I am up to being measured. I didn't always spend a lot of time in church.
St. Peter: I know that, but you do recall hearing things about reaping what you sow and the measure you use is the measure you will receive, don't you?
Cowboy: I remember hearing that, but it was never very clear to me what that was all about.
St. Peter: It is very simple really. I will apply to you the same standards you used all your life. Cowboy: That's fair enough.
St. Peter: It says here you always believed in honor, integrity and trying to do the right thing. Is that true?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Did you always try to do that?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Did you regret it anytime you didn't live up to that?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Well, that's the only test we've got for cowboys. You passed. You can go home.
Cowboy: What do mean go home?
St. Peter: Pass through this chute. I'll put a little brand on you and you can go back to your ranch on the Moreau River. It won't be exactly the same, because you don't have to work unless you want to and you will never be hungry or tired or cold or sick, and when the horse throws you your bones won't break. It's your new Moreau River ranch.
Cowboy: I can't quite get my mind wrapped around all you are saying. How is it that you talk just like me?
St. Peter: Have you ever heard of "speaking in tongues"?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Well, that just means that when I speak each person hears it in his own language. So I talk "cowboy" when you hear me speak.
Cowboy: That's really something! If I had known how great this was I would've spent less time talking to my horse and the cows and more time visiting with religious folks about this stuff.
St. Peter: But then you wouldn't be a cowboy and you'd be standing at a different gate.
Cowboy: I see your point. Maybe I'll just shut up and be on my way.
St. Peter: Good choice.
I don't claim this story is a fact, but it is dedicated to the memory of my uncle Frank, a real South Dakota cowboy from a West River ranch on the Moreau River, who headed home this week.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
We welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
===
Two women, a rope and cow
By Julie Carter
Sometimes roping has nothing to do with skill with a rope. It can simply be fun, a challenge, or a survival tool.
When the neighbor calls and prefaces the conversation with "Feel free to say no" immediately after she says "good morning" you know it's not a good sign for what is to follow. And even when you react immediately with a “no” you realize she didn’t really mean what she said because she then tells you she already has the horses in the corral.
With anything resembling “man” power gone far away last weekend just we “wimmen folk” were left here at the ranch. The project outlined by the phone call was to get to the corrals a big 4 year-old cow who had gone blind and not been to water for a few days.
For those of you that haven’t tried it, cowboying a blind cow anywhere is not a feasible project. But we tried. She followed the fence the fair distance to the corrals and was within spittin’ distance of the gate when she decided to go back from where she’d come and did so at a fairly rapid pace.
This is the place where it becomes not really about getting the cow in but about not having to tell the men we tried and didn’t get the job done.
That left the only option remaining to two of us who really didn’t want to do it. Rope her, load her in the trailer and haul her home. Short sentence, long project.
The roping was the easy part. The getting her in the trailer turned into a battle of wits, cuss words and strained body parts. The cow, while not wild, was not cooperative in the least. With no help whatsoever from her; we got her snubbed up close enough to have her head in the trailer with great hopes of finding a way to get the rest of her to follow.
Pulling her in the trailer the traditional horse and rope method failed. It wasn’t a pretty sight and unless you’ve done it, the explanation wouldn’t make sense anyway. So with the horse tied elsewhere, we resorted to “brute” strength and sinister plotting.
We seemed to have an adequate amount of "know how" but fell considerably short with the physical ability to execute the plan.
At one point the rope on the cow had her a little short of air so she decided to lie down and quit completely. We loosened her up and after she revived she didn't want to get up on her feet. My partner suggested pouring a little water on her nose from her water bottle hoping it might make her feel better and she'd get up.
I doubted it would work but what do I know. It could. So I poured water on her nose and hoped she’d either get up or drown and we could go home.
The water baptism didn’t work but a little nylon rope therapy did. She got up and it was shortly thereafter she got her front feet and most her body up into the trailer. It was progress.
We were now totally committed. Everything but her back feet was in the trailer. We bodily tried to shove her in but no budging. Too much cow, not enough muscle from us.
I was getting tired and very aggravated over the cows lack of cooperation. But with a little more nylon encouragement she decided that getting up in the trailer was better than where she was. It only took a minute.
I laughed when my friend said, "Well maybe that's why my husband just gets mad first." I agreed. A cow can make a man angrier faster than just about anything in the world!
There is no glory for the rope burns I wear in places I can’t show. Three days of hot showers and ibuprofen and I’m as good as new and with a new story to tell on myself.
And I have new wisdom. I either need to quit this line of work or get in much better shape. I’m not sure which is harder to do.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.com. Bring your own rope.
© Julie Carter 2005
Do you know any old cowboys?
by Larry Gabriel
Western folklore and cowboy poets say heaven has a special reward for old cowboys. They may be right.
This is a story I heard…
Cowboy: Excuse me mister. Can you tell me where I am?
St. Peter: Sure I can. You're at the pearly gate.
Cowboy: It looks a little like a cattle chute.
St. Peter: Well I am sure it does to you. You see, each person has his own kind of gate and his own brand of standards by which he will be measured.
Cowboy: I'm not sure I am up to being measured. I didn't always spend a lot of time in church.
St. Peter: I know that, but you do recall hearing things about reaping what you sow and the measure you use is the measure you will receive, don't you?
Cowboy: I remember hearing that, but it was never very clear to me what that was all about.
St. Peter: It is very simple really. I will apply to you the same standards you used all your life. Cowboy: That's fair enough.
St. Peter: It says here you always believed in honor, integrity and trying to do the right thing. Is that true?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Did you always try to do that?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Did you regret it anytime you didn't live up to that?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Well, that's the only test we've got for cowboys. You passed. You can go home.
Cowboy: What do mean go home?
St. Peter: Pass through this chute. I'll put a little brand on you and you can go back to your ranch on the Moreau River. It won't be exactly the same, because you don't have to work unless you want to and you will never be hungry or tired or cold or sick, and when the horse throws you your bones won't break. It's your new Moreau River ranch.
Cowboy: I can't quite get my mind wrapped around all you are saying. How is it that you talk just like me?
St. Peter: Have you ever heard of "speaking in tongues"?
Cowboy: Yea.
St. Peter: Well, that just means that when I speak each person hears it in his own language. So I talk "cowboy" when you hear me speak.
Cowboy: That's really something! If I had known how great this was I would've spent less time talking to my horse and the cows and more time visiting with religious folks about this stuff.
St. Peter: But then you wouldn't be a cowboy and you'd be standing at a different gate.
Cowboy: I see your point. Maybe I'll just shut up and be on my way.
St. Peter: Good choice.
I don't claim this story is a fact, but it is dedicated to the memory of my uncle Frank, a real South Dakota cowboy from a West River ranch on the Moreau River, who headed home this week.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
We welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
===
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Bear Lobby Mauls First Amendment
One of the arguments in favor of public broadcasting was that public TV would be independent and willing to take risks. But New Jersey public television has yanked a documentary because it upset the animal rights movement. The film, titled, "Bears: Too Close for Comfort," could possibly have saved lives by alerting people in New Jersey to the very real threat posed by black bears, some weighing 500 pounds, on the prowl for food. Marauding black bears in the state are attacking people, including young children. The New Jersey Network (NJN) for public television had agreed to run the film, and had heavily promoted it. But under attack by activists who believe we should peacefully co-exist with bears who may want to maul us, NJN pulled the film. Accuracy in Media reviewed the film. It is dramatic in the sense that stories about bear attacks on human beings are, by their nature, gripping and frightening. Some involve bears breaking into peoples' back yards, attacking family pets, and actually invading homes....
===
Bear Lobby Mauls First Amendment
One of the arguments in favor of public broadcasting was that public TV would be independent and willing to take risks. But New Jersey public television has yanked a documentary because it upset the animal rights movement. The film, titled, "Bears: Too Close for Comfort," could possibly have saved lives by alerting people in New Jersey to the very real threat posed by black bears, some weighing 500 pounds, on the prowl for food. Marauding black bears in the state are attacking people, including young children. The New Jersey Network (NJN) for public television had agreed to run the film, and had heavily promoted it. But under attack by activists who believe we should peacefully co-exist with bears who may want to maul us, NJN pulled the film. Accuracy in Media reviewed the film. It is dramatic in the sense that stories about bear attacks on human beings are, by their nature, gripping and frightening. Some involve bears breaking into peoples' back yards, attacking family pets, and actually invading homes....
===
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Water Socialists Are All Wet
A global water crisis is looming. More than a billion people worldwide lack access to clean and safe water – with devastating effects: 12 million deaths annually and millions of others struck by diseases associated with the lack of sanitary water. Last year, more people likely died from lack of water than from armed conflicts. Today is World Water Day and the launch of the United Nation's international water decade, aimed at promoting the UN Millennium Goal of halving the number of people without access to clean and safe water. This is not the first time the UN has made bombastic declarations about water for everyone. It did so in 1977, when heads of state and governments of the member states promised to provide their populations with water. In fact the first international water decade actually took place in the 1980s, to little practical effect. There may be a solution to what had been an insoluble problem. In recent years, a small number of developing country governments have turned to the private sector for help and have introduced market-oriented reforms in the water sector. Overall, the results have been encouraging....
===
Water Socialists Are All Wet
A global water crisis is looming. More than a billion people worldwide lack access to clean and safe water – with devastating effects: 12 million deaths annually and millions of others struck by diseases associated with the lack of sanitary water. Last year, more people likely died from lack of water than from armed conflicts. Today is World Water Day and the launch of the United Nation's international water decade, aimed at promoting the UN Millennium Goal of halving the number of people without access to clean and safe water. This is not the first time the UN has made bombastic declarations about water for everyone. It did so in 1977, when heads of state and governments of the member states promised to provide their populations with water. In fact the first international water decade actually took place in the 1980s, to little practical effect. There may be a solution to what had been an insoluble problem. In recent years, a small number of developing country governments have turned to the private sector for help and have introduced market-oriented reforms in the water sector. Overall, the results have been encouraging....
===
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Clear Foolishness
Almost since President Bush took office, his administration has been trying to pass environmental legislation known as Clear Skies. Clear Skies would have required large reductions in air pollution from coal-fired power plants, but in exchange would also have removed them from a Clean Air Act requirement known as New Source Review, which is sacred to environmentalists and environmental enforcement officials. Clear Skies now appears to have finished dying its slow death in Congress, but EPA has just implemented the Clear Skies pollution caps through regulations known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). Though a boon to regulators and activists, the big losers from these regulations will be the American public, who will have to pay big bucks for them in the form of higher energy bills, while reaping few or no health benefits....
===
Clear Foolishness
Almost since President Bush took office, his administration has been trying to pass environmental legislation known as Clear Skies. Clear Skies would have required large reductions in air pollution from coal-fired power plants, but in exchange would also have removed them from a Clean Air Act requirement known as New Source Review, which is sacred to environmentalists and environmental enforcement officials. Clear Skies now appears to have finished dying its slow death in Congress, but EPA has just implemented the Clear Skies pollution caps through regulations known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). Though a boon to regulators and activists, the big losers from these regulations will be the American public, who will have to pay big bucks for them in the form of higher energy bills, while reaping few or no health benefits....
===
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Malthusian Warming
Two science studies (1, 2) were published last week that advanced the view that, even if we stop producing greenhouse gases immediately, global temperatures will continue to increase for decades to come. This effect is attributed to the long time necessary for the Earth's climate, especially the deep ocean, to readjust to the radiative forcing from greenhouse gases we have already put into the atmosphere. The fundamental concept is not new. It has long been recognized that if the Earth allows a radiative imbalance to persist (an important distinction) that it will take decades for much of the resulting temperature change to be realized by the deep oceans. Radiative balance is the most important paradigm in climate change research. Sunlight is essentially the only energy source for the climate system, and must be exactly balanced by the loss of infrared (heat) radiation to space in order for the temperature of the system to remain constant....
===
Malthusian Warming
Two science studies (1, 2) were published last week that advanced the view that, even if we stop producing greenhouse gases immediately, global temperatures will continue to increase for decades to come. This effect is attributed to the long time necessary for the Earth's climate, especially the deep ocean, to readjust to the radiative forcing from greenhouse gases we have already put into the atmosphere. The fundamental concept is not new. It has long been recognized that if the Earth allows a radiative imbalance to persist (an important distinction) that it will take decades for much of the resulting temperature change to be realized by the deep oceans. Radiative balance is the most important paradigm in climate change research. Sunlight is essentially the only energy source for the climate system, and must be exactly balanced by the loss of infrared (heat) radiation to space in order for the temperature of the system to remain constant....
===
Saturday, March 26, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Lawmakers seek fed land holdings audit Western lawmakers are preparing a new push to require the government to take stock of its land holdings and identify areas that are no longer needed and might be sold. "We have a lot of towns, people and ranches scattered through public lands," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. "They need to expand their towns so they can grow and expand their tax base." A campaign to broaden western land disposal is being spearheaded by Cannon, who is head of the Western Congressional Caucus. The group's 54 members often express frustration at the massive federal presence in their states. Cannon is forming legislation that would direct the Secretary of Interior to create a master property database to account for more than 671 million acres the government manages. The Interior Department administers roughly 95 percent of federal lands, according to a 2000 report by the Congressional Research Service. Management of the remainder is scattered among the Defense Department, Energy Department and a host of other agencies. "If you don't know what you have, how can you know what you need to keep and what you can dispose of," Cannon said. The government manages almost two-thirds of Utah. Across the West, inspectors estimate the government is holding onto at least 5 million acres it could sell or convey to local communities, according to the General Services Administration, the federal landlord agency....
Curry's surface-rights bill faces important first vote State Rep. Kathleen Curry's bill to give landowners in western Garfield County more clout in negotiations with gas companies is scheduled to face an important first test Monday. Curry, the chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, received special permission from the House Democratic leadership to delay a vote on her bill. The initial deadline for committee votes on bills has passed. She needed the extra time, she said, to try to shore up support for the measure. Curry is a Democrat from Gunnison whose district includes the entire Roaring Fork Valley and part of western Garfield County. She said she heard loud and clear from residents in the Silt and Rifle areas, where the natural gas boom is occurring, that they need help dealing with gas companies that want to drill on their land....
Commissioners pass wolf resolution Amid some praise and some protest, county commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday that may allow Socorro citizens greater power to protect themselves and their livestock from wolves outside of the wolf recovery area. The resolution also asked that the federal government take into consideration the wishes of the county to not expand the wolf recovery area beyond its current borders. The resolution states that Mexican gray wolves released under the Federal Wolf Recovery Program, starting in 1998, have killed livestock located on private land in the county but outside the designated recovery areas....
Plan to kill exotic deer in Point Reyes, Calif., sparks debate They are easily spotted from the road in Point Reyes National Seashore, lounging in fields and munching grass with little fear of predators. Introduced for hunting six decades ago, the fallow and axis deer are popular with tourists eager to see wildlife in the national park. But park rangers see them as an invasive species whose burgeoning numbers threaten native deer and elk, devour excessive amounts of vegetation, hurt agriculture and possibly spread disease. Now, Point Reyes officials want to eliminate more than 1,000 nonnative deer, using shotguns and contraception, from the 71,000-acre park about 40 miles north of San Francisco....
Closing roads, making trails Medicine Bow National Forest officials plan to close 267 miles of "unclassified" roads and add more than 100 miles of off-highway-vehicle trails. "It's almost certainly going to be controversial," said Paul Blackman, a recreation planner for the Forest Service. "We are designating 67 miles of motorcycle trails and 43 miles of ATV roads and for some people, that can be a hard thing to swallow." On the other hand, the Forest Service plans to close 267 miles of so-called unclassified roads, which are "user-created" roads not officially sanctioned by the Forest Service....
New users sought for public lands Kelly McGrath, 25, moved to Oregon from Ohio for the things that make the region special: mountains and coastline, salmon and deer, dripping moss and towering trees. "I dove headfirst [into the outdoors]," she said. "I moved here for the mountains and the coast." And now, she spends most of her time rock climbing, backpacking and mountain biking. More Pacific Coast residents spend their time hiking, backpacking, visiting nature centers and sightseeing than in any other region in the country, according to a U.S. Forest Service recreation survey conducted 10 years ago. More also visit beaches, study nature, sail and kayak. But teenagers and minorities are historically not in the mix....
Huntsman names public lands coordinator When it comes to public land policy, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants Utah to speak with one voice - the voice of San Juan County Commission Chairman Lynn Stevens. Huntsman's office announced Stevens' appointment as the coordinator of public lands policy Friday. He will assume his new post on May 15. Stevens will oversee the newly created office that will express the state's view on issues pertaining to federal agencies such as the Park Service, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The public policy coordination office will consolidate state workers who are now employed by the Governor's Office, Attorney General's Office, Natural Resources Department and the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration....
6 men buried but survive avalanches Six men were buried but able to escape two separate avalanches Friday as Utah's backcountry mountains reacted to the large amounts of new snow that fell throughout the week. One slide broke near Cardiff Fork on the south side of Big Cottonwood Canyon just before 4 p.m. Three cross-country skiers were hit by the slide, which they said came at them through the trees. Their equipment was tossed around, and their skis were detached from their feet, said Sgt. Mike Morgan from Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. He said Bruce Meisenheimer, 48, Draper, was able to find two skis and used them to ski down to the highway, where he called 911 from a cell phone....
Forest Service jobs moving to New Mexico A significant migration of federal jobs is under way as the U.S. Forest Service transfers hundreds of positions from regional offices across Montana and the West to a centralized office in Albuquerque, N.M. The jobs aren't leaving all at once. Some have already gone; others might not go until 2006, said Paula Nelson, a Forest Service information officer in Missoula. There is no solid figure, she said Friday. The effected fields include information technology, financial management and human resources, Nelson said. Many of the jobs are in small towns at Forest Service ranger stations. Not many are in the same place. Gupton's union says about 400 jobs in all are moving....
Snowmobile ban may be lifted A fierce argument is brewing 90 miles away that has conservationists and the snowmobile industry head-to-head over public land use. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to change its policy and officially open an area at Sonora Pass to snowmobiles, after a 24-year closure that was not enforced until two years ago. To do this, it must change its forest management plan. The move has caused conservation groups to accuse the industry of illegal tactics to kidnap public lands, while sledding enthusiasts are fighting back with allegations that opposing groups are trying to completely eliminate riders from such lands....
Gas firm plans to boost drilling in Garfield County Williams Production, one of the largest natural gas producers in mineral-rich Garfield County, plans to boost its activity beyond even recent projections. That may mean hundreds more wells and changes to a federal study of the impact on the Roan Plateau. The Tulsa, Okla.-based company announced this week that it has a contract with Helmerich & Payne Inc. for 10 rigs over the next three years, increasing the number of rigs operated by Williams in western Colorado to an average of 20 from the current 13. The rigs can drill up to 22 wells from one pad, nearly three times what Williams can drill now. The firm is on pace to drill about 300 wells this year in the Piceance Basin but could hike next's total to 450 from the projected 325. Using the new rigs, Williams has revised its projections for 2007 to 500 new wells from 350....
New Nevada bill would limit eminent domain proceedings Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, author of SB326, said Friday the proposal would limit what he considers over-the-top moves by governments to force ownership changes without just cause. "It's real simple," Care said. "If government needs for a public purpose to take land, we all understand it. Just don't abuse it." Care's 2-page bill would bar the use of eminent domain by government agencies to get property for open-space use or for "protecting, conserving or preserving wildlife habitat." The measure also says an agency could exercise eminent domain powers to get property for a redevelopment project only after making a written finding that "a condition of blight exists for each individual parcel of property" being acquired.....
Environmental group plans lawsuit over San Pedro River water An environmental group plans to sue the military and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the threatened San Pedro River. The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity claims Fort Huachuca's expansion is hurting the river's water table and its species diversity. The environmental group filed an 83-page notice of intent Thursday in anticipation of another lawsuit against the Army post. A string of others have been filed by activists over the years. A fort spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the center's notice, which gives federal officials 60 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed....
Thirsty Lake Powell will get a big gulp of runoff How low can Lake Powell go? It's at rock bottom right now. A wet autumn, followed by an even wetter winter and what now looks to be a fairly moist spring are coming together to pull the lake level up for the first time in five years. And not just a little. Officials at the Bureau of Reclamation - which manages Glen Canyon Dam - predict that Powell will rise between 45 and 50 feet this spring and summer. That's still about 100 feet below the reservoir's high water mark, but nevertheless marks a pretty substantial climb after the worst drought cycle the bureau has catalogued since it began keeping records on the Colorado River nearly a century ago....
Kayakers, developers battle over rivers of dreams With out-of-state tourism now a $7 billion-a-year economic pillar - not counting the millions more spent by outdoor-minded Coloradans - a number of mountain towns are looking to claim some of the state's overworked rivers for whitewater parks. Pushing upstream against entrenched power brokers, communities such as Golden, Vail, Breckenridge and Gunnison have made headway in obtaining water rights for recreation, sparking a debate over water priorities. Water developers fear that, if unchecked, owners of kayak rights will be able to limit development and cut off exports of water to other parts of the state. Many feel that residential, agricultural and industrial uses should have greater priority....
Kyoto Impossible for Some Nations It will be impossible for emerging industrial powers such as China and South Korea ever to comply with the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, South Korea's environment minister said. After years of delays, the plan to fight global warming went into force last month, but key countries such as the United States and Australia have refused to join the 1997 pact because they say it unfairly excluded developing countries. The U.N. pact legally binds 39 developed countries to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012, but excludes big developing countries from mandatory cuts. Despite criticism, there is no blueprint to include large developing countries, which are considered some of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases....
The Blind Team Roper Sitting down to eat, Jerry Long's face lights up when he asks for a Braille menu. Knowing the local restaurant doesn't have one, he informs the waitress she'll have to read him the menu and adds, "But I'm hard of hearing also, so you'll have to sit on my lap while you do it." Glenda, his wife of more than eight years, doesn't seem surprised by the comment. Chances are it's a line he's used before even though he exhibits no signs of being hard of hearing. He is blind, a fact that isn't immediately noticeable, as he's chosen to leave his cane in the truck. With a patch over his left eye and a right eye that appears relatively normal, this 62-year-old New Mexico team roper has at times been accused of lying about his inability to see. One thing is certain, however. Jerry doesn't waste any time worrying about the things he can't do since diabetes robbed him of his sight in 1985. "I can't really complain about being blind," Jerry admits. "Being the blind team roper has changed things for me. If I were just any other team roper at my level (a No. 1 in the United States Team Roping Championships), nobody would be writing stories about me. I realize the kind of opportunities my blindness has given me, and I've learned to appreciate those opportunities."....
Montana's Marvel If you've ever driven through eastern Montana, you've had a taste of just how lonesome a landscape can be. Mostly brown, devoid of native trees and plastered by a relentless wind, this portion of the northern plains once was considered uninhabitable - and still is by those who measure habi-tability by the number of chain retail stores and espresso stands per square mile. Except for an interstate highway that helps travelers put eastern Montana behind them as quickly as the law allows, the country differs little from the end-of-the-earth picture it presented before the turn of the 20th century. Yet this was the landscape of choice for Evelyn Cameron, a well-born Englishwoman who gladly traded the emerald terrain and creature comforts of her native country for life as a pioneering Montana ranch wife. Evelyn, who first laid eyes on eastern Montana as a 21-year-old bride on a honeymoon hunting trip, fell in love with what she found there and never looked back. She spent the rest of her life ranching in the area between Miles City and Terry, Montana. Like her fellow pioneers, she helped shape this still-remote corner of the West. Unlike her peers, however, Evelyn did more than give form to eastern Montana's early ranching culture. She also documented it. Tapping her skill as a largely self-taught photographer and indulging her yen for keeping journals on the most minute details of daily life, she left behind a rare look at life in a bygone era. Her cache of materials, including more than 100 boxes of photographic prints and negatives, 35 handwritten journals and much more, came to light 50 years after her death....
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Lawmakers seek fed land holdings audit Western lawmakers are preparing a new push to require the government to take stock of its land holdings and identify areas that are no longer needed and might be sold. "We have a lot of towns, people and ranches scattered through public lands," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. "They need to expand their towns so they can grow and expand their tax base." A campaign to broaden western land disposal is being spearheaded by Cannon, who is head of the Western Congressional Caucus. The group's 54 members often express frustration at the massive federal presence in their states. Cannon is forming legislation that would direct the Secretary of Interior to create a master property database to account for more than 671 million acres the government manages. The Interior Department administers roughly 95 percent of federal lands, according to a 2000 report by the Congressional Research Service. Management of the remainder is scattered among the Defense Department, Energy Department and a host of other agencies. "If you don't know what you have, how can you know what you need to keep and what you can dispose of," Cannon said. The government manages almost two-thirds of Utah. Across the West, inspectors estimate the government is holding onto at least 5 million acres it could sell or convey to local communities, according to the General Services Administration, the federal landlord agency....
Curry's surface-rights bill faces important first vote State Rep. Kathleen Curry's bill to give landowners in western Garfield County more clout in negotiations with gas companies is scheduled to face an important first test Monday. Curry, the chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, received special permission from the House Democratic leadership to delay a vote on her bill. The initial deadline for committee votes on bills has passed. She needed the extra time, she said, to try to shore up support for the measure. Curry is a Democrat from Gunnison whose district includes the entire Roaring Fork Valley and part of western Garfield County. She said she heard loud and clear from residents in the Silt and Rifle areas, where the natural gas boom is occurring, that they need help dealing with gas companies that want to drill on their land....
Commissioners pass wolf resolution Amid some praise and some protest, county commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday that may allow Socorro citizens greater power to protect themselves and their livestock from wolves outside of the wolf recovery area. The resolution also asked that the federal government take into consideration the wishes of the county to not expand the wolf recovery area beyond its current borders. The resolution states that Mexican gray wolves released under the Federal Wolf Recovery Program, starting in 1998, have killed livestock located on private land in the county but outside the designated recovery areas....
Plan to kill exotic deer in Point Reyes, Calif., sparks debate They are easily spotted from the road in Point Reyes National Seashore, lounging in fields and munching grass with little fear of predators. Introduced for hunting six decades ago, the fallow and axis deer are popular with tourists eager to see wildlife in the national park. But park rangers see them as an invasive species whose burgeoning numbers threaten native deer and elk, devour excessive amounts of vegetation, hurt agriculture and possibly spread disease. Now, Point Reyes officials want to eliminate more than 1,000 nonnative deer, using shotguns and contraception, from the 71,000-acre park about 40 miles north of San Francisco....
Closing roads, making trails Medicine Bow National Forest officials plan to close 267 miles of "unclassified" roads and add more than 100 miles of off-highway-vehicle trails. "It's almost certainly going to be controversial," said Paul Blackman, a recreation planner for the Forest Service. "We are designating 67 miles of motorcycle trails and 43 miles of ATV roads and for some people, that can be a hard thing to swallow." On the other hand, the Forest Service plans to close 267 miles of so-called unclassified roads, which are "user-created" roads not officially sanctioned by the Forest Service....
New users sought for public lands Kelly McGrath, 25, moved to Oregon from Ohio for the things that make the region special: mountains and coastline, salmon and deer, dripping moss and towering trees. "I dove headfirst [into the outdoors]," she said. "I moved here for the mountains and the coast." And now, she spends most of her time rock climbing, backpacking and mountain biking. More Pacific Coast residents spend their time hiking, backpacking, visiting nature centers and sightseeing than in any other region in the country, according to a U.S. Forest Service recreation survey conducted 10 years ago. More also visit beaches, study nature, sail and kayak. But teenagers and minorities are historically not in the mix....
Huntsman names public lands coordinator When it comes to public land policy, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants Utah to speak with one voice - the voice of San Juan County Commission Chairman Lynn Stevens. Huntsman's office announced Stevens' appointment as the coordinator of public lands policy Friday. He will assume his new post on May 15. Stevens will oversee the newly created office that will express the state's view on issues pertaining to federal agencies such as the Park Service, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The public policy coordination office will consolidate state workers who are now employed by the Governor's Office, Attorney General's Office, Natural Resources Department and the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration....
6 men buried but survive avalanches Six men were buried but able to escape two separate avalanches Friday as Utah's backcountry mountains reacted to the large amounts of new snow that fell throughout the week. One slide broke near Cardiff Fork on the south side of Big Cottonwood Canyon just before 4 p.m. Three cross-country skiers were hit by the slide, which they said came at them through the trees. Their equipment was tossed around, and their skis were detached from their feet, said Sgt. Mike Morgan from Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. He said Bruce Meisenheimer, 48, Draper, was able to find two skis and used them to ski down to the highway, where he called 911 from a cell phone....
Forest Service jobs moving to New Mexico A significant migration of federal jobs is under way as the U.S. Forest Service transfers hundreds of positions from regional offices across Montana and the West to a centralized office in Albuquerque, N.M. The jobs aren't leaving all at once. Some have already gone; others might not go until 2006, said Paula Nelson, a Forest Service information officer in Missoula. There is no solid figure, she said Friday. The effected fields include information technology, financial management and human resources, Nelson said. Many of the jobs are in small towns at Forest Service ranger stations. Not many are in the same place. Gupton's union says about 400 jobs in all are moving....
Snowmobile ban may be lifted A fierce argument is brewing 90 miles away that has conservationists and the snowmobile industry head-to-head over public land use. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to change its policy and officially open an area at Sonora Pass to snowmobiles, after a 24-year closure that was not enforced until two years ago. To do this, it must change its forest management plan. The move has caused conservation groups to accuse the industry of illegal tactics to kidnap public lands, while sledding enthusiasts are fighting back with allegations that opposing groups are trying to completely eliminate riders from such lands....
Gas firm plans to boost drilling in Garfield County Williams Production, one of the largest natural gas producers in mineral-rich Garfield County, plans to boost its activity beyond even recent projections. That may mean hundreds more wells and changes to a federal study of the impact on the Roan Plateau. The Tulsa, Okla.-based company announced this week that it has a contract with Helmerich & Payne Inc. for 10 rigs over the next three years, increasing the number of rigs operated by Williams in western Colorado to an average of 20 from the current 13. The rigs can drill up to 22 wells from one pad, nearly three times what Williams can drill now. The firm is on pace to drill about 300 wells this year in the Piceance Basin but could hike next's total to 450 from the projected 325. Using the new rigs, Williams has revised its projections for 2007 to 500 new wells from 350....
New Nevada bill would limit eminent domain proceedings Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, author of SB326, said Friday the proposal would limit what he considers over-the-top moves by governments to force ownership changes without just cause. "It's real simple," Care said. "If government needs for a public purpose to take land, we all understand it. Just don't abuse it." Care's 2-page bill would bar the use of eminent domain by government agencies to get property for open-space use or for "protecting, conserving or preserving wildlife habitat." The measure also says an agency could exercise eminent domain powers to get property for a redevelopment project only after making a written finding that "a condition of blight exists for each individual parcel of property" being acquired.....
Environmental group plans lawsuit over San Pedro River water An environmental group plans to sue the military and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the threatened San Pedro River. The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity claims Fort Huachuca's expansion is hurting the river's water table and its species diversity. The environmental group filed an 83-page notice of intent Thursday in anticipation of another lawsuit against the Army post. A string of others have been filed by activists over the years. A fort spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the center's notice, which gives federal officials 60 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed....
Thirsty Lake Powell will get a big gulp of runoff How low can Lake Powell go? It's at rock bottom right now. A wet autumn, followed by an even wetter winter and what now looks to be a fairly moist spring are coming together to pull the lake level up for the first time in five years. And not just a little. Officials at the Bureau of Reclamation - which manages Glen Canyon Dam - predict that Powell will rise between 45 and 50 feet this spring and summer. That's still about 100 feet below the reservoir's high water mark, but nevertheless marks a pretty substantial climb after the worst drought cycle the bureau has catalogued since it began keeping records on the Colorado River nearly a century ago....
Kayakers, developers battle over rivers of dreams With out-of-state tourism now a $7 billion-a-year economic pillar - not counting the millions more spent by outdoor-minded Coloradans - a number of mountain towns are looking to claim some of the state's overworked rivers for whitewater parks. Pushing upstream against entrenched power brokers, communities such as Golden, Vail, Breckenridge and Gunnison have made headway in obtaining water rights for recreation, sparking a debate over water priorities. Water developers fear that, if unchecked, owners of kayak rights will be able to limit development and cut off exports of water to other parts of the state. Many feel that residential, agricultural and industrial uses should have greater priority....
Kyoto Impossible for Some Nations It will be impossible for emerging industrial powers such as China and South Korea ever to comply with the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, South Korea's environment minister said. After years of delays, the plan to fight global warming went into force last month, but key countries such as the United States and Australia have refused to join the 1997 pact because they say it unfairly excluded developing countries. The U.N. pact legally binds 39 developed countries to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012, but excludes big developing countries from mandatory cuts. Despite criticism, there is no blueprint to include large developing countries, which are considered some of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases....
The Blind Team Roper Sitting down to eat, Jerry Long's face lights up when he asks for a Braille menu. Knowing the local restaurant doesn't have one, he informs the waitress she'll have to read him the menu and adds, "But I'm hard of hearing also, so you'll have to sit on my lap while you do it." Glenda, his wife of more than eight years, doesn't seem surprised by the comment. Chances are it's a line he's used before even though he exhibits no signs of being hard of hearing. He is blind, a fact that isn't immediately noticeable, as he's chosen to leave his cane in the truck. With a patch over his left eye and a right eye that appears relatively normal, this 62-year-old New Mexico team roper has at times been accused of lying about his inability to see. One thing is certain, however. Jerry doesn't waste any time worrying about the things he can't do since diabetes robbed him of his sight in 1985. "I can't really complain about being blind," Jerry admits. "Being the blind team roper has changed things for me. If I were just any other team roper at my level (a No. 1 in the United States Team Roping Championships), nobody would be writing stories about me. I realize the kind of opportunities my blindness has given me, and I've learned to appreciate those opportunities."....
Montana's Marvel If you've ever driven through eastern Montana, you've had a taste of just how lonesome a landscape can be. Mostly brown, devoid of native trees and plastered by a relentless wind, this portion of the northern plains once was considered uninhabitable - and still is by those who measure habi-tability by the number of chain retail stores and espresso stands per square mile. Except for an interstate highway that helps travelers put eastern Montana behind them as quickly as the law allows, the country differs little from the end-of-the-earth picture it presented before the turn of the 20th century. Yet this was the landscape of choice for Evelyn Cameron, a well-born Englishwoman who gladly traded the emerald terrain and creature comforts of her native country for life as a pioneering Montana ranch wife. Evelyn, who first laid eyes on eastern Montana as a 21-year-old bride on a honeymoon hunting trip, fell in love with what she found there and never looked back. She spent the rest of her life ranching in the area between Miles City and Terry, Montana. Like her fellow pioneers, she helped shape this still-remote corner of the West. Unlike her peers, however, Evelyn did more than give form to eastern Montana's early ranching culture. She also documented it. Tapping her skill as a largely self-taught photographer and indulging her yen for keeping journals on the most minute details of daily life, she left behind a rare look at life in a bygone era. Her cache of materials, including more than 100 boxes of photographic prints and negatives, 35 handwritten journals and much more, came to light 50 years after her death....
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Friday, March 25, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Drought reducing cattle grazing in southwestern North Dakota Drought is reducing the number of cattle grazing on the Little Missouri National Grasslands in western North Dakota, and the amount of time they can munch the grass. The Medora Grazing Association expects a 20 percent reduction in cattle numbers this year, and a later turnout of cattle onto rangeland. Range managers say more cuts are possible if no rain falls in April or May. The goal is to give the range room to recover. The region has experienced dry years since the late 1990s, and the 460 ranchers who lease grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service will have to reduce their overall cattle count for the second year in a row....
Protest yields more arrests Two men were arrested Thursday as protests continued at the Fiddler timber sale in Southern Oregon. Liam O'Reilly of Ashland and Gordon Gilbrook of San Diego were charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with agricultural process, authorities said. They were booked at the Josephine County Jail. Forty-eight arrests have been made at the sale in less than three weeks. O'Reilly has been arrested twice. Rich Parrett was driving a log truck early Thursday when he spotted Gilbrook in the middle of the road. The activist was suspended 20 feet high in a platform below two poles anchored to a Volvo. A banner below the platform read "These forests need fire, not old-growth tree removal.'' By 7 a.m., at least 10 law enforcement officers had arrived, along with more than two dozen activists....
Crocodiles lose endangered tag The American crocodile, once among the most imperiled animals in the United States, has rebounded so robustly that the federal government announced plans Thursday to cease classifying it as endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed upgrading the crocodile's status from endangered to threatened, a change that would recognize the crocodile's improved prospects while leaving its legal protection intact. Once reduced to a last stronghold in northeastern Florida Bay, the crocodile has reclaimed some of its old territory, extending its range up both coasts of Florida. A crocodile recently showed up in a lake at the University of Miami's campus in Coral Gables. Occasional reports of crocodiles come from Fort Lauderdale and the West Lake section of Hollywood. The number of crocodiles in South Florida rose to as many as 1,000 from a low point in the 1970s of fewer than 300....
How to train a bear Male grizzlies and black bears are currently coming out of hibernation in Montana’s bear country, with female grizzlies and cubs likely to follow in April. Bear experts are hoping to help more of them survive the spring. Last year, bear deaths stemming from human/bear interaction rocketed: The grizzly bear mortality in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem hit a new record of 31 fatalities, including the deaths of 18 females essential to the reproduction efforts of a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. One key is reducing spillage from freight trains along railroad tracks in bear habitat. Last year, at least three bears were killed on Montana tracks, possibly searching for food from spills during a particularly poor huckleberry season....
Study finds species introduced to Alaska's Aleutian Islands has adverse effect on both birds and plant life Talk about an extreme makeover. The introduction of arctic foxes to about 100 islands in Alaska's Aleutian archipelago has reduced the seabird population so much that grasslands once nourished by bird droppings have been reduced to tundra, new research suggests. The dramatic domino effect, begun by 18th century trappers seeking a new fur source, suggests that putting predators in places that previously lacked them can decimate not only prey species but also entire plant communities by cutting off their source of nutrients. "One of the things this underlines is how much of an impact introduced species can have on island ecosystems," said Dan Croll, a study co-author and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz....
Wasting disease plan insufficient, federal official says Tom Roffe, the federal agency's chief of wildlife health, praises the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for acknowledging that the 23 state elk feedgrounds could help spread chronic wasting disease. But he said the proposals would come too little, too late to protect elk. Researchers suspect the disease spreads through animal-to-animal contact. The plan recommends keeping feedgrounds open even after chronic wasting disease is discovered, although feeding areas would be spread out and feeding days cut back to disperse elk. While Roffe praised those goals, he warned that Wyoming should not wait until the disease reaches feedgrounds....
Photographer, bear advocate cited for getting to close to bruins A Bozeman photographer, author and bear advocate has been cited with intentionally approaching within 20 yards of a family of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park. It's illegal to approach within 100 yards of bears in the park. Jim Cole was cited last July in the Gardner Hole area, he confirmed Thursday. A trial was scheduled for Wednesday, but has been rescheduled because an attorney had a conflict. Cole agreed that he had approached the bears, but insisted it happened accidentally....
State sends three bison to slaughter Three of the six bison that were captured outside Yellowstone National Park's western boundary this week tested positive for brucellosis and were sent to slaughter, a Montana Department of Livestock official confirmed Thursday. "Six bison were captured on Monday the 21st and they were tested on Tuesday," Karen Cooper, DOL spokeswoman said. "Three tested negative and they were released back onto Horse Butte, onto public land. Three were sent to slaughter. The meat, heads and hides will go to tribal organizations." All six were held at Duck Creek, a permanent holding area on private land near West Yellowstone. The brucellosis tests were administered by federal veterinarians, Cooper said....
Delicate balance After 12 years of crafting compromises, the federal government on Thursday released the nation's largest habitat conservation plan. The plan carves out land in San Bernardino County's high desert to preserve for wildlife while making it easier to build new homes in Victorville and other fast-growing high cities. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan, encompassing 9.3 million acres of the western Mojave Desert, seeks to balance an ancient landscape of rugged volcanic mountains, 11,000-year-old creosote bushes and more than 100 species that depend on that habitat with mushrooming suburbs and strip malls....
Environmentalists oppose plan for Imperial Sand Dunes A federal agency says its new plan regulating how land is used in the popular Imperial Sand Dunes area will balance off-road use with the need to protect the wilderness and threatened plant and animal species. On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced a Recreation Area Management Plan for the 160,000-acre area in Imperial County. The dunes draw more than 1.2 million visitors annually. But environmentalists criticized the plan, calling it "flawed." They predicted it will not withstand legal challenges. A key off-roading group praised the BLM plan in a press release, but said it changes little on the ground for the sport. "This is just one more step in a five-year journey to re-open areas that were unnecessarily closed," Vince Brunasso, founder and legal chairman of the American Sand Association, said in the release....
Judge refuses to close hearing in coal-bed methane case A federal judge has denied a gas production company's request to close a March 29 hearing in a lawsuit challenging federal regulation of coal-bed methane development in Montana. Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. contended that public disclosure of information on its operations could harm the company. However, U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson found that public interest outweighs the company's need to protect financial information. "The Court will not close any part of the proceedings to the public in a case such as this, where the government is a party and where the action is based on a public interest law, the National Environmental Policy Act," Anderson said Monday. Anderson's decision came despite no objections from plaintiffs or the Bureau of Land Management to Fidelity's motion. Anderson, who ruled within two hours of the motion's filing, also pointed to what he called unusual teamwork between Fidelity and government attorneys. "The United States Attorney's apparent cooperation in Fidelity's attempt to clothe at least part of the hearing in secrecy is in this court's experience unprecedented," Anderson wrote....
Commissioners work through ordinance process to protect water countywide The ordinance Otero County commissioners are considering to safeguard water from oil and gas contamination on Otero Mesa — as well as preserve water countywide — is modeled after one in Lovington. On Wednesday, Lovington City Manager Pat Wise told commissioners Lovington’s ordinance was passed because oil drillers were polluting city water sources. “I was ... horrified at what oil companies had done,” Wise said. At first, according to Wise, drillers threatened to sue to stop the ordinance. Wise, though, said the situation was “unacceptable” as well as “atrocious,” and the Lovington commission did not waver. “We were successful after numerous hard-fought months,” he said. Otero Mesa ranchers Bobby Jones and Bebo Lee have asked Otero’s commissioners to pass a similar ordinance. At a March 1 public hearing, Jones and Lee said they only want to keep pristine the water that is life to their cattle. The ordinance defines drilling permits, waste storage and pollution prevention. Currently, the Bureau of Land Management and the Oil Conservation Division of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department inspect drillers under state and federal regulations. While Commission Vice Chair Doug Moore does not expect full petroleum production on Otero Mesa to begin for “many years,” he said the county must position now for “protection of ground water (and) protection of whatever we deem necessary in Otero County.” Commissioners held a second public hearing on Wednesday, and are forming a committee to develop the ordinance....
Column: Removing Lower Snake dams will save the salmon As a rancher and former state senator, I am well acquainted with the various water issues facing the state of Idaho today. As early as 1976, I introduced S.B. 1400, which called for a moratorium on new water diversions along the Lower Snake River. It got 12 votes at a time when few people understood how severe our water management problems would become. Earlier this month, I testified before the House Resources and Conservation Committee in support of bills needed to ratify the Nez Perce-Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) agreement. Since our state was short-sighted years ago, I believe this agreement is the best chance we have now for protecting Idaho's agricultural economy. But at the same time, I urged legislators to begin negotiations to address one of the most critical issues surrounding Idaho's water woes: salmon recovery. Why is Idaho water being used to defend four dams in Washington state?....
Imperiled species plan set A plan to protect endangered species along the lower Colorado River and shield critical water supplies from future lawsuits will be formally signed next month by representatives from Arizona, Nevada and California. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who pushed to complete the $626 million Multi-Species Conservation Plan, is expected to attend the ceremony April 4 at Hoover Dam. Arizona's largest water provider, the Central Arizona Project, formally adopted the plan earlier this month, joining agencies in all three states. The CAP board agreed to spend about $52 million over the plan's 50-year lifespan. Ultimately, most Colorado River water users in Arizona will contribute to the habitat plan in the form of user fees or surcharges. Arizona's share of the program is roughly $78 million. California and Nevada have also pledged money, and the federal government is expected to foot half the bill. The habitat plan was designed to protect 26 species on the lower Colorado, the section of river below Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona....
Cutthroat Country! The Rocky Mountain West holds a treasure chest for outdoorsmen and women. Its riches are many, with copious opportunities to hunt big game and birds and to fish for warm- and coldwater fishes. But it's the region's colorful cutthroat trout that are the shimmering jewels on top of cache. Anglers in the region are blessed with several cutthroat trout subspecies with which to match wits, from Montana to New Mexico. The subspecies are unique, scientists say, because they have been isolated from each other for thousands of years. Essentially, each cutthroat subspecies is in itself an expression of the different environments it inhabits....
PG&E to give up dam to revive fish habitat California's largest utility said Wednesday it will not renew its license to operate a small Shasta County hydroelectric project, dedicating the water instead to threatened salmon and steelhead trout. State and federal wildlife officials and environmental groups praised Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s agreement, which they hope will spur similar decisions by other utilities as several hundred dams come up for re-licensing in the next few years. Removing the dams, powerhouses, aqueducts and forebays would revive about 20 miles of fish habitat by restoring the natural flows currently diverted from South Cow and Old Cow creeks. The creeks flow directly into the Sacramento River, giving the chinook and trout the ocean access they require....
Norton appoints Nomsen to wetlands post Pheasants Forever's (PF) Dave Nomsen, vice president of governmental affairs, has been appointed to the North American Wetlands Conservation Council (Council). Gale Norton, secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, made the three year appointment. Nomsen has served as an alternate member on the Council since 1999. His new appointed term will run from March 1, 2005 through March 1, 2008. The Council was established by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) to review and recommend project proposals to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, which has the ultimate authority to approve funding for projects under NAWCA....
Women answer call of wild The women all carried shotguns and they knew how to use them. But the middle-aged guys in ballcaps weren't worried. In fact, the middle-aged guys in ballcaps were from the Golden Triangle Sporting Dog Club and were mentoring the women, who were becoming some of Montana's most passionate upland game bird hunters. In all, 14 women from as far away as De Borgia gathered in Great Falls on March 11-12 for an annual Becoming an Outdoor Woman Upland Game Bird Clinic, sponsored by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks BOW program. "They all knew how to shoot a gun but some had very little hunting experience," said Liz Lodman, coordinator for BOW in Montana....
Arizona Senate votes to close DEQ After weeks of public disagreements, the Senate on Wednesday voted to kill the state agency in charge of protecting Arizona's water, land and air. Supporters of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality don't expect the vote to stick, saying the agency has been caught up in a game of political football. The vote to discontinue the department came just days after Republican legislative leaders tried to delay funding for DEQ because of a dispute between agency heads and Senate Appropriations Chairman Bob Burns, R-Peoria. The Senate vote, if it stands, would end DEQ as of July 1. But it probably won't stand for too long, according to Gov. Janet Napolitano....
Grand Canyon's Mysteries of Origin Solved For over 135 years, the best scientific minds were baffled by the origin of the Grand Canyon. They recognized that the Colorado River carved this natural masterpiece, but exactly when and how eluded them. Only in the last few years has a consensus begun to emerge and now, for the first time, author James Lawrence Powell reveals how the mystery came to be solved in his new book, "Grand Canyon: Solving Earth's Grandest Puzzle." Powell explains how geologists have concluded that the rock forming the Grand Canyon emerged from underground, and the Colorado River cut through it, actually running in the opposite direction. At another time, hundreds of feet of gravel buried an ancestor of today's Colorado River, then erosion removed the gravel and resurrected the river in what James Lawrence Powell has dubbed the "Lazarus Theory." James Lawrence Powell is Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium, and a former Director and President of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.Powell's book is published by Pi Press and will be released on April 18, 2005. It is filled with historical photographs of the early research expeditions, is 352 pages, cloth, and will retail for $27.95....
Montana T. Rex Yields Next Big Discovery in Dinosaur Paleontology A Tyrannosaurus rex discovered during a lunch break in eastern Montana -- and the oldest T. rex on record -- has produced the latest major discovery in dinosaur paleontology, said Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies. Researchers led by Mary Higby Schweitzer, formerly of MSU, found soft tissues preserved in both hind thigh bones of the dinosaur, according to an article in the March 25 issue of the journal Science. The dinosaur known as B. rex also contained transparent, flexible and hollow blood vessels with round microscopic structures inside. The structures look like cells, leading the scientists to believe that some dinosaur soft tissues may keep a portion of their flexibility, elasticity and resilience even after 68 million years. B. rex, found north of Jordan, Mont. in 2000, is estimated to be about 68 million years old....
Colorado Says Aliens Must Go! Just north of the almost-Ghost Town of Hooper in Colorado's beautiful and weird San Luis Valley, there's a truly oddball roadside attraction known as the UFO Watchtower. Local rancher Judy Messoline opened the elevated viewing platform (and the required gift shop full of Flying Saucer trinkets & gewgaws) to capitalize on the valley's long history of bizarre aerial phenomena and the wave of UFO-conspiracy teevee shows in the 1990s. Visitors know they're getting close when they see the 3-foot tall plywood aliens along the roadside. But the humorless anti-American drones of the Colorado Department of Transportation, otherwise known as CDOT, have decided the colorful little critters must go....
Hispanic cowboy church first of its kind Iglesia Bautista de Los Vaqueros in Waxahachie is the first church of its kind, but it definitely will not be the last, predicted Ron Nolen, Baptist General Convention of Texas consultant on Western heritage churches. “We believe 100 of these (Hispanic cowboy) churches could be started in Texas,” Nolen said. “The potential for the vaquero church is tremendous when you consider that there is a Hispanic population of 6 million (in Texas), and a significant percentage of those are agrarian people. A lot of those are cowboyed up—with their hats and boots.” The vaquero church began when Frank Sanchez, a member of the Cowboy Church of Ellis County, noticed several Hispanic men were coming to the church’s Thursday night buck-outs, where men attempted to ride bulls. Sanchez began talking to them, and several began meeting him for Bible study on Sunday evenings. The group has become a mission church of about 50 people meeting each Sunday evening at the Cowboy Church facilities. Sanchez has turned leadership of the group over to Herman Martinez, who is serving as interim pastor. Martinez also is pastor of Templo Alpha and Omega in Waxahachie, which meets on Sunday mornings. Services at Templo Alpha and Omega are a combination of Spanish and English, but the vaquero church services are all Spanish, including the music, Martinez noted. The music also is Western-style, with accordion, acoustic guitar and bass guitar accompaniment....
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Drought reducing cattle grazing in southwestern North Dakota Drought is reducing the number of cattle grazing on the Little Missouri National Grasslands in western North Dakota, and the amount of time they can munch the grass. The Medora Grazing Association expects a 20 percent reduction in cattle numbers this year, and a later turnout of cattle onto rangeland. Range managers say more cuts are possible if no rain falls in April or May. The goal is to give the range room to recover. The region has experienced dry years since the late 1990s, and the 460 ranchers who lease grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service will have to reduce their overall cattle count for the second year in a row....
Protest yields more arrests Two men were arrested Thursday as protests continued at the Fiddler timber sale in Southern Oregon. Liam O'Reilly of Ashland and Gordon Gilbrook of San Diego were charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with agricultural process, authorities said. They were booked at the Josephine County Jail. Forty-eight arrests have been made at the sale in less than three weeks. O'Reilly has been arrested twice. Rich Parrett was driving a log truck early Thursday when he spotted Gilbrook in the middle of the road. The activist was suspended 20 feet high in a platform below two poles anchored to a Volvo. A banner below the platform read "These forests need fire, not old-growth tree removal.'' By 7 a.m., at least 10 law enforcement officers had arrived, along with more than two dozen activists....
Crocodiles lose endangered tag The American crocodile, once among the most imperiled animals in the United States, has rebounded so robustly that the federal government announced plans Thursday to cease classifying it as endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed upgrading the crocodile's status from endangered to threatened, a change that would recognize the crocodile's improved prospects while leaving its legal protection intact. Once reduced to a last stronghold in northeastern Florida Bay, the crocodile has reclaimed some of its old territory, extending its range up both coasts of Florida. A crocodile recently showed up in a lake at the University of Miami's campus in Coral Gables. Occasional reports of crocodiles come from Fort Lauderdale and the West Lake section of Hollywood. The number of crocodiles in South Florida rose to as many as 1,000 from a low point in the 1970s of fewer than 300....
How to train a bear Male grizzlies and black bears are currently coming out of hibernation in Montana’s bear country, with female grizzlies and cubs likely to follow in April. Bear experts are hoping to help more of them survive the spring. Last year, bear deaths stemming from human/bear interaction rocketed: The grizzly bear mortality in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem hit a new record of 31 fatalities, including the deaths of 18 females essential to the reproduction efforts of a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. One key is reducing spillage from freight trains along railroad tracks in bear habitat. Last year, at least three bears were killed on Montana tracks, possibly searching for food from spills during a particularly poor huckleberry season....
Study finds species introduced to Alaska's Aleutian Islands has adverse effect on both birds and plant life Talk about an extreme makeover. The introduction of arctic foxes to about 100 islands in Alaska's Aleutian archipelago has reduced the seabird population so much that grasslands once nourished by bird droppings have been reduced to tundra, new research suggests. The dramatic domino effect, begun by 18th century trappers seeking a new fur source, suggests that putting predators in places that previously lacked them can decimate not only prey species but also entire plant communities by cutting off their source of nutrients. "One of the things this underlines is how much of an impact introduced species can have on island ecosystems," said Dan Croll, a study co-author and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz....
Wasting disease plan insufficient, federal official says Tom Roffe, the federal agency's chief of wildlife health, praises the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for acknowledging that the 23 state elk feedgrounds could help spread chronic wasting disease. But he said the proposals would come too little, too late to protect elk. Researchers suspect the disease spreads through animal-to-animal contact. The plan recommends keeping feedgrounds open even after chronic wasting disease is discovered, although feeding areas would be spread out and feeding days cut back to disperse elk. While Roffe praised those goals, he warned that Wyoming should not wait until the disease reaches feedgrounds....
Photographer, bear advocate cited for getting to close to bruins A Bozeman photographer, author and bear advocate has been cited with intentionally approaching within 20 yards of a family of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park. It's illegal to approach within 100 yards of bears in the park. Jim Cole was cited last July in the Gardner Hole area, he confirmed Thursday. A trial was scheduled for Wednesday, but has been rescheduled because an attorney had a conflict. Cole agreed that he had approached the bears, but insisted it happened accidentally....
State sends three bison to slaughter Three of the six bison that were captured outside Yellowstone National Park's western boundary this week tested positive for brucellosis and were sent to slaughter, a Montana Department of Livestock official confirmed Thursday. "Six bison were captured on Monday the 21st and they were tested on Tuesday," Karen Cooper, DOL spokeswoman said. "Three tested negative and they were released back onto Horse Butte, onto public land. Three were sent to slaughter. The meat, heads and hides will go to tribal organizations." All six were held at Duck Creek, a permanent holding area on private land near West Yellowstone. The brucellosis tests were administered by federal veterinarians, Cooper said....
Delicate balance After 12 years of crafting compromises, the federal government on Thursday released the nation's largest habitat conservation plan. The plan carves out land in San Bernardino County's high desert to preserve for wildlife while making it easier to build new homes in Victorville and other fast-growing high cities. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan, encompassing 9.3 million acres of the western Mojave Desert, seeks to balance an ancient landscape of rugged volcanic mountains, 11,000-year-old creosote bushes and more than 100 species that depend on that habitat with mushrooming suburbs and strip malls....
Environmentalists oppose plan for Imperial Sand Dunes A federal agency says its new plan regulating how land is used in the popular Imperial Sand Dunes area will balance off-road use with the need to protect the wilderness and threatened plant and animal species. On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced a Recreation Area Management Plan for the 160,000-acre area in Imperial County. The dunes draw more than 1.2 million visitors annually. But environmentalists criticized the plan, calling it "flawed." They predicted it will not withstand legal challenges. A key off-roading group praised the BLM plan in a press release, but said it changes little on the ground for the sport. "This is just one more step in a five-year journey to re-open areas that were unnecessarily closed," Vince Brunasso, founder and legal chairman of the American Sand Association, said in the release....
Judge refuses to close hearing in coal-bed methane case A federal judge has denied a gas production company's request to close a March 29 hearing in a lawsuit challenging federal regulation of coal-bed methane development in Montana. Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. contended that public disclosure of information on its operations could harm the company. However, U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson found that public interest outweighs the company's need to protect financial information. "The Court will not close any part of the proceedings to the public in a case such as this, where the government is a party and where the action is based on a public interest law, the National Environmental Policy Act," Anderson said Monday. Anderson's decision came despite no objections from plaintiffs or the Bureau of Land Management to Fidelity's motion. Anderson, who ruled within two hours of the motion's filing, also pointed to what he called unusual teamwork between Fidelity and government attorneys. "The United States Attorney's apparent cooperation in Fidelity's attempt to clothe at least part of the hearing in secrecy is in this court's experience unprecedented," Anderson wrote....
Commissioners work through ordinance process to protect water countywide The ordinance Otero County commissioners are considering to safeguard water from oil and gas contamination on Otero Mesa — as well as preserve water countywide — is modeled after one in Lovington. On Wednesday, Lovington City Manager Pat Wise told commissioners Lovington’s ordinance was passed because oil drillers were polluting city water sources. “I was ... horrified at what oil companies had done,” Wise said. At first, according to Wise, drillers threatened to sue to stop the ordinance. Wise, though, said the situation was “unacceptable” as well as “atrocious,” and the Lovington commission did not waver. “We were successful after numerous hard-fought months,” he said. Otero Mesa ranchers Bobby Jones and Bebo Lee have asked Otero’s commissioners to pass a similar ordinance. At a March 1 public hearing, Jones and Lee said they only want to keep pristine the water that is life to their cattle. The ordinance defines drilling permits, waste storage and pollution prevention. Currently, the Bureau of Land Management and the Oil Conservation Division of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department inspect drillers under state and federal regulations. While Commission Vice Chair Doug Moore does not expect full petroleum production on Otero Mesa to begin for “many years,” he said the county must position now for “protection of ground water (and) protection of whatever we deem necessary in Otero County.” Commissioners held a second public hearing on Wednesday, and are forming a committee to develop the ordinance....
Column: Removing Lower Snake dams will save the salmon As a rancher and former state senator, I am well acquainted with the various water issues facing the state of Idaho today. As early as 1976, I introduced S.B. 1400, which called for a moratorium on new water diversions along the Lower Snake River. It got 12 votes at a time when few people understood how severe our water management problems would become. Earlier this month, I testified before the House Resources and Conservation Committee in support of bills needed to ratify the Nez Perce-Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) agreement. Since our state was short-sighted years ago, I believe this agreement is the best chance we have now for protecting Idaho's agricultural economy. But at the same time, I urged legislators to begin negotiations to address one of the most critical issues surrounding Idaho's water woes: salmon recovery. Why is Idaho water being used to defend four dams in Washington state?....
Imperiled species plan set A plan to protect endangered species along the lower Colorado River and shield critical water supplies from future lawsuits will be formally signed next month by representatives from Arizona, Nevada and California. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who pushed to complete the $626 million Multi-Species Conservation Plan, is expected to attend the ceremony April 4 at Hoover Dam. Arizona's largest water provider, the Central Arizona Project, formally adopted the plan earlier this month, joining agencies in all three states. The CAP board agreed to spend about $52 million over the plan's 50-year lifespan. Ultimately, most Colorado River water users in Arizona will contribute to the habitat plan in the form of user fees or surcharges. Arizona's share of the program is roughly $78 million. California and Nevada have also pledged money, and the federal government is expected to foot half the bill. The habitat plan was designed to protect 26 species on the lower Colorado, the section of river below Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona....
Cutthroat Country! The Rocky Mountain West holds a treasure chest for outdoorsmen and women. Its riches are many, with copious opportunities to hunt big game and birds and to fish for warm- and coldwater fishes. But it's the region's colorful cutthroat trout that are the shimmering jewels on top of cache. Anglers in the region are blessed with several cutthroat trout subspecies with which to match wits, from Montana to New Mexico. The subspecies are unique, scientists say, because they have been isolated from each other for thousands of years. Essentially, each cutthroat subspecies is in itself an expression of the different environments it inhabits....
PG&E to give up dam to revive fish habitat California's largest utility said Wednesday it will not renew its license to operate a small Shasta County hydroelectric project, dedicating the water instead to threatened salmon and steelhead trout. State and federal wildlife officials and environmental groups praised Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s agreement, which they hope will spur similar decisions by other utilities as several hundred dams come up for re-licensing in the next few years. Removing the dams, powerhouses, aqueducts and forebays would revive about 20 miles of fish habitat by restoring the natural flows currently diverted from South Cow and Old Cow creeks. The creeks flow directly into the Sacramento River, giving the chinook and trout the ocean access they require....
Norton appoints Nomsen to wetlands post Pheasants Forever's (PF) Dave Nomsen, vice president of governmental affairs, has been appointed to the North American Wetlands Conservation Council (Council). Gale Norton, secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, made the three year appointment. Nomsen has served as an alternate member on the Council since 1999. His new appointed term will run from March 1, 2005 through March 1, 2008. The Council was established by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) to review and recommend project proposals to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, which has the ultimate authority to approve funding for projects under NAWCA....
Women answer call of wild The women all carried shotguns and they knew how to use them. But the middle-aged guys in ballcaps weren't worried. In fact, the middle-aged guys in ballcaps were from the Golden Triangle Sporting Dog Club and were mentoring the women, who were becoming some of Montana's most passionate upland game bird hunters. In all, 14 women from as far away as De Borgia gathered in Great Falls on March 11-12 for an annual Becoming an Outdoor Woman Upland Game Bird Clinic, sponsored by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks BOW program. "They all knew how to shoot a gun but some had very little hunting experience," said Liz Lodman, coordinator for BOW in Montana....
Arizona Senate votes to close DEQ After weeks of public disagreements, the Senate on Wednesday voted to kill the state agency in charge of protecting Arizona's water, land and air. Supporters of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality don't expect the vote to stick, saying the agency has been caught up in a game of political football. The vote to discontinue the department came just days after Republican legislative leaders tried to delay funding for DEQ because of a dispute between agency heads and Senate Appropriations Chairman Bob Burns, R-Peoria. The Senate vote, if it stands, would end DEQ as of July 1. But it probably won't stand for too long, according to Gov. Janet Napolitano....
Grand Canyon's Mysteries of Origin Solved For over 135 years, the best scientific minds were baffled by the origin of the Grand Canyon. They recognized that the Colorado River carved this natural masterpiece, but exactly when and how eluded them. Only in the last few years has a consensus begun to emerge and now, for the first time, author James Lawrence Powell reveals how the mystery came to be solved in his new book, "Grand Canyon: Solving Earth's Grandest Puzzle." Powell explains how geologists have concluded that the rock forming the Grand Canyon emerged from underground, and the Colorado River cut through it, actually running in the opposite direction. At another time, hundreds of feet of gravel buried an ancestor of today's Colorado River, then erosion removed the gravel and resurrected the river in what James Lawrence Powell has dubbed the "Lazarus Theory." James Lawrence Powell is Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium, and a former Director and President of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.Powell's book is published by Pi Press and will be released on April 18, 2005. It is filled with historical photographs of the early research expeditions, is 352 pages, cloth, and will retail for $27.95....
Montana T. Rex Yields Next Big Discovery in Dinosaur Paleontology A Tyrannosaurus rex discovered during a lunch break in eastern Montana -- and the oldest T. rex on record -- has produced the latest major discovery in dinosaur paleontology, said Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies. Researchers led by Mary Higby Schweitzer, formerly of MSU, found soft tissues preserved in both hind thigh bones of the dinosaur, according to an article in the March 25 issue of the journal Science. The dinosaur known as B. rex also contained transparent, flexible and hollow blood vessels with round microscopic structures inside. The structures look like cells, leading the scientists to believe that some dinosaur soft tissues may keep a portion of their flexibility, elasticity and resilience even after 68 million years. B. rex, found north of Jordan, Mont. in 2000, is estimated to be about 68 million years old....
Colorado Says Aliens Must Go! Just north of the almost-Ghost Town of Hooper in Colorado's beautiful and weird San Luis Valley, there's a truly oddball roadside attraction known as the UFO Watchtower. Local rancher Judy Messoline opened the elevated viewing platform (and the required gift shop full of Flying Saucer trinkets & gewgaws) to capitalize on the valley's long history of bizarre aerial phenomena and the wave of UFO-conspiracy teevee shows in the 1990s. Visitors know they're getting close when they see the 3-foot tall plywood aliens along the roadside. But the humorless anti-American drones of the Colorado Department of Transportation, otherwise known as CDOT, have decided the colorful little critters must go....
Hispanic cowboy church first of its kind Iglesia Bautista de Los Vaqueros in Waxahachie is the first church of its kind, but it definitely will not be the last, predicted Ron Nolen, Baptist General Convention of Texas consultant on Western heritage churches. “We believe 100 of these (Hispanic cowboy) churches could be started in Texas,” Nolen said. “The potential for the vaquero church is tremendous when you consider that there is a Hispanic population of 6 million (in Texas), and a significant percentage of those are agrarian people. A lot of those are cowboyed up—with their hats and boots.” The vaquero church began when Frank Sanchez, a member of the Cowboy Church of Ellis County, noticed several Hispanic men were coming to the church’s Thursday night buck-outs, where men attempted to ride bulls. Sanchez began talking to them, and several began meeting him for Bible study on Sunday evenings. The group has become a mission church of about 50 people meeting each Sunday evening at the Cowboy Church facilities. Sanchez has turned leadership of the group over to Herman Martinez, who is serving as interim pastor. Martinez also is pastor of Templo Alpha and Omega in Waxahachie, which meets on Sunday mornings. Services at Templo Alpha and Omega are a combination of Spanish and English, but the vaquero church services are all Spanish, including the music, Martinez noted. The music also is Western-style, with accordion, acoustic guitar and bass guitar accompaniment....
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