NEWS ROUNDUP
Report: BLM right to suspend employee The Bureau of Land Management could have done more to ease tension among staff in Bakersfield, but the agency was right to discipline an employee who later killed herself, a federal investigation found. Marlene Braun, former manager of Carrizo Plain National Monument, shot her two dogs and then herself in May 2005. In a suicide note, she blamed her boss, Ron Huntsinger, saying "she could no longer take (his) abuse, humiliation and lies," wrote Earl Devaney, inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Devaney's office has yet to release a detailed account of Braun's death, but its findings are summarized in a two-page letter sent to members of Congress and others Aug. 8. These are its main points: * BLM was right to suspend Braun for complaining about Huntsinger to the Nature Conservancy and state Department of Fish and Game, BLM's partners in managing the Carrizo Plain. * As a manager, Braun had become "confrontational and one-sided," steamrolling opposition and refusing to attend management training....
Northern Nevadans Don't Want to Gamble With Their Water Las Vegas is a parched desert city in a four-year drought, with new residents pouring in at a rate of at least 5,000 per month. So water officials plan to tap a great system of aquifers that form underground lakes in a swath across Nevada, some of them hundreds of miles away. But the water is not free for the taking. On top of the aquifers are ranches and small towns, where a small, tenacious group of rural residents are fighting hard to keep Las Vegas from sucking them dry. "It's a question of values," said Dean Baker, a rancher with 2,000 head of cattle in White Pine County. "Will society accept drying up this environment to feed Las Vegas's money appetite?" The battle is the latest in a long series of skirmishes between Western cities and rural areas over limited supplies of water and how it should be allocated. Typically, cities win. Coastal California, Phoenix and Salt Lake City all rely on distant groundwater supplies. Such transfers of water from rural to urban areas "have not yet occurred in Nevada," said Hal Rothman, a professor of history at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. "But they are beginning here."....
Gypsum settles out of court on water After 15 years of negotiations that culminated with a condemnation lawsuit, the town of Gypsum has settled its water rights fight with Gypsum Creek rancher Ned Goldsmith. The out-of-court settlement specifies that the town will pay Goldsmith and his companies, Agvest LLC and L.E.D.E. Limited Liability, $2 million over a four-year period. In exchange, the town gets water rights and water storage rights out of L.E.D.E. Reservoir, located on Forest Service land about 20 miles up Gypsum Creek. A limited portion of the water rights will remain available to Goldsmith. Paul Noto, the town’s water attorney, described the out-of-court settlement as a “win-win for all involved.” Goldsmith sees the deal differently. “I felt like I was negotiating with a gun held to my head,” he said. The town has been seeking to bolster its water rights on Gypsum Creek for decades. Noto said that during the drought of 2002, town leaders saw a need to find another source of water to ensure residents would be supplied adequately in dry years....
Burns defends right to question fire tactics U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns has defended his right to question how the Bundy Railroad fire was fought near Worden last month and accused his opponents of making “a little political hay” over the issue. Burns, a Republican up for re-election this year, told a picnic of campaign supporters in Billings last Thursday night that he only asked a question to some firefighters at the Billings airport on July 23, contrary to what has been reported previously. Burns and the firefighters were waiting to catch an airplane that was delayed by mechanical problems. The senator also acknowledged at the picnic that he has the ability to say things off the cuff that can hurt him politically. The Burns comments came from a transcript prepared by Montana Democrats, who videotape Burns at every public event. The Burns campaign did not dispute the transcript. “But nonetheless, my first obligation is to the ranching and the farming community of this state,” Burns said. “That's my first obligation. The ranchers down there, some of whom were not allowed to go back, even on their own ranches and fight that fire. And so that's, that's the bottom line. I represent them. And I'll continue to do that. That's just the way I am. So is that all right?”....
Heat kills fish High temperatures and prolonged drought led to a major fish kill at Great Salt Plains Lake in northcentral Oklahoma this week. Biologists with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation estimate 10,000 fish have died due to low dissolved oxygen levels in the lake. “This is a major fish kill and it reflects how this abnormal weather not only affects farmers and ranchers, but it also affects our lakes and our fisheries resources,” said Barry Bolton, assistant chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “We are monitoring the situation closely. Unfortunately, there is simply not anything we can do to remedy high heat and lack of rain.” According to Bolton, Great Salt Plains is a relatively shallow reservoir making it particularly susceptible to warm water temperatures....
California's New Experimental Forest The U.S. Forest Service has just dedicated the first new experimental forest in California in 40 years. That means science and research will get priority over all other activities in the area. The Sagehen Forest is in the Lake Tahoe Basin, eight miles outside of Truckee. In this Assignment 7 report we take you there for a look at what it is all about. This is bug boot camp. A right of passage for UC students studying insects. Students spend five weeks, from early in the morning until late at night, collecting and examining bugs in one of the most diverse habitats in the world. Prof. Phil Ward, UC Davis: "There are about 600 families of insects in North America and we have recorded about 340 of them just within the Sagehen Creek Basin, so that's more than half of all the families of insects in North America are found just within this one basin."....
Suit: Plans won't protect tortoise The two huge plans designed to protect the threatened desert tortoise and other rare species in the desert are actually damaging the environment by expanding routes for off-roading enthusiasts, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday. "We want the desert tortoise recovered and that's what the law requires,'' said Daniel Patterson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, the Tucson-based group that has filed scores of environmental lawsuits. The suit filed in San Francisco against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeks to have the plans modified or invalidated. Fifteen years in the making, the West Mojave Plan covers 9.3 million acres, or roughly 14,500 square miles, in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Inyo and Kern counties. The Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan covers about 5.5 million acres of the Sonoran Desert in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties....
NIFC Turns to Military For Help There are 38 blazes burning across the country, most in western states, Michigan and Florida. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise is busy dispatching resources to those fires. Now, they're relying on at least one Army battalion to help suppress a blaze burning forest land in Washington state. Getting the upper hand on fast moving wildfires is the goal of firefighters across the country, battling 38 blazes right now. There's such a need for resources that the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise has called on an army battalion from Fort Lewis to help. The 500-soldier unit is working on the Tripod Complex Fire burning northeast of Winthrop, Washington. "The National Interagency Fire Center has an agreement with the Department of Defense through U.S. Northern Command to activate soldiers if we need them to fight fire, dig fire line," said Rose Davis with the National Interagency Fire Center. NIFC not only requests help from the military in the form of personnel, but also equipment. Last month, the agency activated Air National Guard Units with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System to serve as airtankers....
Gators vs. people: Who's winning? Wildlife officer Chris Ehrismann says alligators are an inescapable part of Florida's landscape. There are, after all, nearly 1.5 million gators statewide and more than 17 million humans steadily encroaching on their turf, setting up confrontations that in one week in May ended in death for three women. But, since 1973, there have been only 20 fatal attacks, including several in Central Florida. People, Ehrismann said, must use common sense on the front lines of alligator habitat: Don't feed the reptiles, or they will associate humans with food. Don't antagonize them. Don't swim in fresh water during dusk or dawn, when gators are active. Keep small children and dogs away from the water's edge. The wildlife agency receives about 17,000 alligator complaints a year and authorizes the removal of about 7,000 gators annually. This year, perhaps because of the three deaths, complaint calls totaled 14,156, and 6,198 gators have been removed so far. "Be aware that there are alligators in almost any fresh water in Florida," said Allan Woodward, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who has studied gators for 30 years....
Comments old on new listening tour The Bush administration's "cooperative conservation" listening tour may be new, but the complaints coming from industry, environmentalist and farming groups don't appear to have changed much. Managers with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said they would take comments from Monday's listening session in Helena, the second of 25 planned around the country, to the White House. Environmentalists bemoaned what they called the Bush administration's attempts to undermine the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws, and inadequate federal funding for conservation. Representatives of the timber industry complained that a bureaucracy ties up timber projects and laws let environmentalists use the courts to delay logging. Farming groups said more money is needed to pay for conservation programs that pay farmers to preserve the land, and said the Endangered Species Act is being misused....
Researchers are cloning endangered plants Researchers at the Cincinnati Zoo are cloning a threatened plant for an Akron park, one of only two locations in Ohio where the northern monkshood has been found. The purple-blue northern monkshood, which can grow 4 feet tall, has been reproduced through cloning by a team led by Valerie Pence of the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife. The northern monkshood has been on the federal threatened list since 1978. A threatened species is likely in the foreseeable future to become endangered and at risk of extinction, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan is to transplant 25 cloned plants to the Gorge Metro Park in Akron and adjacent Cuyahoga Falls to help boost the population of northern monkshood growing there. Northern monkshood, a relative of the buttercup, is found in only four states: Iowa, New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. In Ohio, it's found only in the Crane Hollow nature preserve in Hocking County southeast of Columbus and Gorge Park....
Experts say border fence would hurt bighorn sheep If a proposed 15-foot-tall triple barrier is built between the United States and Mexico, illegal immigrants may have to take a tip from The Odyssey to get across. That's assuming measures are taken to safeguard the crossing of the endangered peninsular ranges bighorn sheep, whose survival could be threatened by the wall. In Washington earlier this month, a legislative rider attached to the 2007 defense appropriations bill by Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., calls for spending $2 billion to construct the 370-mile-long wall. The bighorns, which inhabit parts of the San Bernardino National Forest and thrive on Mount San Jacinto, migrate across the border to mate with herds in Baja California. It fortifies the gene pool enhancing survival of the breed. "If the California herds are isolated from herds in Mexico, repopulation and genetic flow in both herds will be affected," said Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity....
Fishing advocate says water district retaliating against scientist A biologist who reported the December deaths of hundreds of stranded salmon below a small dam operated by Stockton East Water District was ordered soon after by district officials to turn in the keys that gave him access to the river. Now, a sport fishing advocate says the district was retaliating against the scientist for providing information to authorities. The scientist, Trevor Kennedy of the Fishery Foundation, declined to discuss the matter in detail, saying he did not want to foster poor relations with the water district. Foundation scientists are still under a federal contract to study salmon and steelhead and to help ensure the survival of those species on the Calaveras River. But Kennedy acknowledged that Stockton East Water District ordered him to turn in his keys shortly after he reported the salmon stranding and other problems with the district's management of the river....
Two Michigan swans have avian flu; experts quell concerns The federal government announced today that two swans in Michigan tested positive for both the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes, but initial genetic sequencing suggests that it is a low-pathogenic type rather than the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain spreading through birds in Asia, Europe, and Africa and causing deaths in humans. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinary officer for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), said at a media briefing today that the birds appeared healthy and normal and were part of a group of 20 nonmigratory, resident mute swans that were sacrificed and tested on Aug 8 as part of a population reduction plan at a game area on Lake Erie in southeast Michigan. Bill Raub, science advisor to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the findings should not cause alarm. "There is no threat to human health, and there is no cause for any special actions," he said. "This is a matter of wildlife biology." On Aug 9 the samples were tested at Michigan State University's Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, part of the USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network, where tests confirmed the presence of an H5 avian influenza virus. The samples were then sent to the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, which is the only national reference laboratory that can confirm the H5N1 virus. Confirmatory tests at the NVSL lab showed the presence of an H5 virus along with an N1 subtype; however, experts aren't sure if the birds were infected with two separate avian influenza strains or if the findings represent low-pathogenic H5N1. Testing began at the NVSL on Aug 12 to further characterize the virus, and results are expected in about 2 weeks....
Veterinary students urged to specialize in large-animal care Students should be encouraged to pursue careers in large-animal veterinary medicine to help replenish declining numbers in the field, vets and ranchers said. Participants at a meeting hosted by the Texas Veterinary Medical Association said rural areas need more vets who specialize in treating cattle and horses. Dr. Guy Sheppard, the association's president, said most of the students who graduate from the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine choose to practice small-animal medicine in larger cities. "I think the biggest challenge we have is trying to attract young people to go to vet school and want to do what we do," said Sheppard, of San Angelo. Participants at the meeting said large-animal vets are important to livestock production, food hygiene, controlling animal disease and public health....
The West recognizes 'Cowboy' His full name is William Daven Farr, but for most of his 96 years he's been W.D., or, in his younger years, Cowboy. But more appropriately, for the past 25 year or more, it's been Mr. Farr, a title he more than deserves. He is the only true pioneer left in Greeley and its only true statesman. His amazing career will be recognized once again next spring when he is inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He will join other illustrious members of the hall: Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody, Gene Autry, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Zane Grey, and others. It is a Who's Who list of not only Western American history but American history. Just to be considered for such an honor is an honor in itself....
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
PLC COMMENTS ON GRAZING DECISION
Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, No. 05-297-E-BLW, Judge Winmill, (D. Id. August 11, 2006) Decision on Motions for Preliminary Injunction.
On July 12, 2006, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued final rules for the administration of grazing. Immediately, the Western Watersheds Project (WWP) and four other environmental groups filed suit in federal district court in Idaho, before Judge Winmill, seeking to enjoin implementation of the regulations because of alleged violations of NEPA, ESA, and FLPMA, among other statutes. WWP’s most important challenges were to BLM’s changes to the amount of public participation, the fundamentals of rangeland health, and to range improvement ownership. The Public Lands Council has intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of the BLM.
The United States and the PLC overwhelmingly succeeded at this very early stage of the litigation. None of the challenged substantive provisions of the regulations were enjoined. These are all in effect. BLM had sought to focus public participation in the new rule to those instances when the participation would have a concrete impact on the resource. WWP cried foul that BLM was seeking to make better use of limited government resources and Judge Winmill responded, saying BLM failed to take a “hard look” under NEPA at the cost rationale for narrowing the amount of participation.
PLC is hopeful that BLM’s public participation provisions in the rule will ultimately be upheld either by Judge Winmill or the Ninth Circuit. Neither WWP nor the court identified a specific legal duty to provide the amount of participation sought by the environmentalists. It is also not clear how searching an inquiry a federal agency must make under NEPA in disclosing the impacts of a non-environmental concern, such as public participation. In the worst case, BLM would have to go back and prepare a further disclosure of the cost rationale for narrowing the amount of public participation in grazing administration.
At this time, the government is digesting the decision and considering its options for the next phase of the litigation. PLC congratulates the United States and our attorney Bill Thomas, for this excellent result.
Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, No. 05-297-E-BLW, Judge Winmill, (D. Id. August 11, 2006) Decision on Motions for Preliminary Injunction.
On July 12, 2006, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued final rules for the administration of grazing. Immediately, the Western Watersheds Project (WWP) and four other environmental groups filed suit in federal district court in Idaho, before Judge Winmill, seeking to enjoin implementation of the regulations because of alleged violations of NEPA, ESA, and FLPMA, among other statutes. WWP’s most important challenges were to BLM’s changes to the amount of public participation, the fundamentals of rangeland health, and to range improvement ownership. The Public Lands Council has intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of the BLM.
The United States and the PLC overwhelmingly succeeded at this very early stage of the litigation. None of the challenged substantive provisions of the regulations were enjoined. These are all in effect. BLM had sought to focus public participation in the new rule to those instances when the participation would have a concrete impact on the resource. WWP cried foul that BLM was seeking to make better use of limited government resources and Judge Winmill responded, saying BLM failed to take a “hard look” under NEPA at the cost rationale for narrowing the amount of participation.
PLC is hopeful that BLM’s public participation provisions in the rule will ultimately be upheld either by Judge Winmill or the Ninth Circuit. Neither WWP nor the court identified a specific legal duty to provide the amount of participation sought by the environmentalists. It is also not clear how searching an inquiry a federal agency must make under NEPA in disclosing the impacts of a non-environmental concern, such as public participation. In the worst case, BLM would have to go back and prepare a further disclosure of the cost rationale for narrowing the amount of public participation in grazing administration.
At this time, the government is digesting the decision and considering its options for the next phase of the litigation. PLC congratulates the United States and our attorney Bill Thomas, for this excellent result.
Monday, August 14, 2006
FLE
Convicted border agent tells his story
Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos could hear his heart racing. He could feel the dry, hot dust burning against his skin as he chased a drug trafficker trying to flee back into Mexico. Ramos' fellow agent, Jose Alonso Compean, was lying on the ground behind him, banged up and bloody from a scuffle with the much-bigger smuggler moments earlier. Suddenly the smuggler turned toward the pursuing Ramos, gun in hand. Ramos, his own weapon already drawn, shot at him, though the man was able to flee into the brush and escape the agents. Now, nearly 18 months after that violent encounter, Ramos and Compean are facing 20 years in federal prison for their actions. Why? According to the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the agents, the man they were chasing didn't actually have a gun, shooting him in the back violated his civil rights, the agents didn't know for a fact that he was a drug smuggler, and they broke Border Patrol rules about discharging their weapons and preserving a crime scene. Even more broadly, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof said, Ramos and Compean had no business chasing someone in the first place. "It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing," she said. "The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone." The smuggler was given full immunity to testify against the agents and complete medical care at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, in El Paso....
Convicted border agent tells his story
Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos could hear his heart racing. He could feel the dry, hot dust burning against his skin as he chased a drug trafficker trying to flee back into Mexico. Ramos' fellow agent, Jose Alonso Compean, was lying on the ground behind him, banged up and bloody from a scuffle with the much-bigger smuggler moments earlier. Suddenly the smuggler turned toward the pursuing Ramos, gun in hand. Ramos, his own weapon already drawn, shot at him, though the man was able to flee into the brush and escape the agents. Now, nearly 18 months after that violent encounter, Ramos and Compean are facing 20 years in federal prison for their actions. Why? According to the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the agents, the man they were chasing didn't actually have a gun, shooting him in the back violated his civil rights, the agents didn't know for a fact that he was a drug smuggler, and they broke Border Patrol rules about discharging their weapons and preserving a crime scene. Even more broadly, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof said, Ramos and Compean had no business chasing someone in the first place. "It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing," she said. "The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone." The smuggler was given full immunity to testify against the agents and complete medical care at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, in El Paso....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Judge blocks part of new grazing rules for ranchers using federal land A judge blocked new grazing rules for ranchers using federal land Friday, saying the regulations would exclude public input. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction while environmental groups sue against the federal rules. Environmental groups claim the new rules give ranchers more water rights and control over public lands while cutting the public out of the decision-making process. Federal officials say the regulations, the first overhaul of rules since 1995, will make management of public lands more efficient - in part by limiting public comment on day-to-day rangeland management decisions. The Bureau of Land Management oversees 262 million acres, mostly in 12 Western states. About 160 million acres are used for grazing livestock. Winmill allowed the agency to overturn the Clinton-era regulations that kept ranchers from applying for private ownership of new water rights on federal land. But he said there was no evidence that cutting the public out of decision making was more efficient. ''The changes would appear to substantially affect both the amount and quality of public input,'' the judge wrote in a 19-page ruling....
Army wages a range war This quiet corner of southeast Colorado has met an unlikely enemy: the U.S. Army. The military branch wants to expand an existing weapons training site onto many of the parched cattle ranches that have sustained the fragile economies of nearby towns and villages. But the emerging opponents go far beyond the area's longtime ranchers. They seem to include just about everyone in this particular town - from a waitress at the local watering hole to a bank president to a veterinarian who performs C-sections on pregnant cows. "It's not a good thing for us," said La Junta City Manager Rick Klein, who grew up in this town of about 7,500 residents. "There's zero positive impact." When the Army wanted to build the existing Piñon Canyon maneuver site in the early 1980s, it condemned ranches south of the town to get the roughly 250,000 acres it said it needed to train soldiers for war. It has drawn a big circle around the current site in hopes it will find enough willing sellers to more than double the size of its holdings if it gets approval to do so....
Montana Ranchers criticize state over wolf management State wildlife officials take too long to authorize the killing of problem wolves, ranchers and others said Friday at a meeting of the agency oversight committee of the Environmental Quality Council. "It's like a guy's robbing a bank and you have to go get an arrest warrant," committee member Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense." More than 50 people attended the meeting that drew Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener, agency biologists and several state legislators. People from Idaho and Wyoming and members of anti-wolf groups pushing for indiscriminate killing of the predators also attended. A few members of conservation groups praised FWP for the job it has done since it took over wolf management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year. However, the majority complained that FWP's reluctance to decide to kill a wolf has let too many problem animals get away. Others say the state has at times made it difficult for federal trappers to kill wolves on state land. Shockley said when ranchers were dealing directly with federal officials, problem wolves could be taken care of quickly. But since the state has taken over, things take too long....
Ranchers say livestock are losing weight from fear of wolves Consequences of the federal wolf reintroduction program in the Northern Rockies may be visible on the dinner table soon, in the form of skimpier lamb chops and porterhouse steaks that expose more bone than beef. For years, cattle ranchers and wool growers have fretted over wolves that kill dozens of cows and sheep each year. But the steepest price might be the declining weight of livestock terrified by the howls and footsteps of the predators. Currently, calves fetch $1.45 per pound on the market. So if wolves cause just a few lost pounds on each head of cattle, that quickly mounts into big losses, said Lloyd Knight, the executive director of the Idaho Cattle Association. “When the cows are scared, they bunch together, they don't spread out like they're used to. They don't eat and drink — you can just tell they're losing weight,” he said. “The loss of weight from the whole herd could cost far more than the depredation of a few calves. It's something we've been afraid of since the reintroduction program began.”....
Christo 'Over the River' proposal rolls slowly on course One year after the Over the River project moved back into the spotlight, it is still very much a proposal. Over the River, which began in 1992, next will be the subject of an exhaustive environmental impact statement, to be filed with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The bottom line: Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude want to hang 750 polypropylene panels in eight sections over 6.9 miles of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. They estimate 250,000 people would visit the valley to view the work. "We're being very cautious," said Roy L. Masinton, manager of the BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office. "The ball primarily is in their court. They need to get us the complete proposal."....
Four killed in chopper crash on fire lines Four people are dead after a helicopter crash in Valley County just after 5 p.m. Sunday. A spokesperson for the Payette National Forest tells NewsChannel 7 the chopper went down off South Fork Salmon Road in the Krassel Ranger district - that's about 20 miles west of Yellow Pine. The helicopter was ferrying three Forest Service employees to a guard station when it went down. The pilot and those three employees died. The spokesperson says the crew was part of the fire suppression effort but wouldn't say which fire they were working. The names of those aboard have not yet been released, while officials work to identify the family of those killed. The helicopter is owned by Evergreen Aviation out of McMinnville, Oregon. Calls to Evergreen late Sunday evening were not immediately returned....
Property owners sue over Colo. wildfire The owners of four properties sued the Forest Service Friday for damages sustained in the state's 2002 record-setting wildfire, saying the agency's missteps allowed the blaze to grow out of control. The federal lawsuit claims the Forest Service is responsible for the actions of a former forestry worker who pleaded guilty to starting the fire that burned 215 square miles in central Colorado about 55 miles southwest of Denver. The plaintiffs fault the agency for allowing Terry Lynn Barton to patrol the forest alone the day she set the fire, for clogging radio channels with a weather report when she tried to report the fire, and failing to properly train Barton. The suit lists plaintiffs Wallace White; Laurie Glauth and the Zelma L. Worden Trust; Charles and Marcia Phillips and the Phillips Family Trust; and Gary and Sandra Bieske. It does not specify how much of their property burned or what financial losses they suffered....
Judge halts 49 gold mining operations A federal judge ordered the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest to suspend 49 gold mining operations, citing violations of clean water laws. The mines are along the North Fork of the Burnt River near Unity in Baker County. Gold mining in the region is characterized by small-scale operations. The decision last week from Magistrate Judge Paul Papak of Portland said a Forest Service decision allowed mining that could further degrade streams that don't meet federal standards, a violation of the Clean Water Act. ''The Forest Service may not ignore or defer its responsibility to remedy existing water pollution in the project area based on a misguided notion that the right to mine trumps federal and state environmental laws,'' Papak wrote....
Opinions split on ancient footprints Plenty of southern New Mexico sun reflected off jumbles of rock and cascaded a host of colors toward the 10 hikers trekking through a canyon in the Robledo Mountains west of Las Cruces last week. Hues of gray, black, and brown — each representing a slice of the area's geologic past — were visible on slopes rising up from the canyon floor as the group progressed. But the color hikers were most interested in was red, which marks a 290-million-year-old rock layer known for containing fossilized footprints of animals. The layer has prompted contention recently because of a proposal by two New Mexico senators to create a 5,370-acre national monument (about 8.4 square miles) north of Picacho Peak to preserve fossils. The trekkers were members of an off-road vehicle group and were leading a staff member from the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., on a tour. Several contended there's not enough fossil rock exposed to merit a national monument and said an existing designation by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is enough to keep the area's fossils safe. The proposed monument boundaries contain trails that are popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts....
Drilling rules proposed Voters here might get a chance in November to decide whether the city should have its own regulations for energy development in its watershed. The city clerk Thursday certified that 2,635 signatures of registered voters out of the 4,270 on petitions turned in by the group Concerned Citizens Alliance for the proposal were valid. Only 1,580 were needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. The Grand Junction City Council is expected to decide Wednesday whether to put the measure on the ballot or consider passing the proposal itself. The alliance, the local chapter of the conservation group Western Colorado Congress, launched the initiative drive after federal oil and gas leases were sold in areas supplying drinking water for Grand Junction and neighboring Palisade. "The incredible outpouring of support this issue received from the business community, churches and from citizens of every background proves that protection of our water supply is a truly a matter of common sense," said Janet Magoon, a local school teacher....
Supplier of habitat funds receives own chunk of money Officials managing money supplied by EnCana Oil and Gas, Inc., for habitat improvement work near the Jonah Field tapped the first grant winners this week. A major winner? EnCana. The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office, established in the wake of huge energy development plans for the Jonah Field 35 miles southeast of Pinedale, awarded seven grants for mitigation work from 19 applications. Each project is designed to offset the major habitat impacts projected for the Jonah Field. EnCana Oil and Gas, the main development company for the Jonah Field, was awarded up to $499,000 for a habitat improvement project that repairs the existing John Arambel Reservoir dam, provides fencing to exclude livestock from portions of the reservoir, and treats several five-acre tracts of sagebrush with an aerator. The next highest grant awarded was $76,500 for well development. In the Bureau of Land Management's decision earlier this year to allow high levels of development on the Jonah Field, EnCana agreed to give $24.5 million for mitigation work. No more than 20 percent of that can be spent in a given year....
BLM defers 16 drilling lease sales The Utah office of the federal Bureau of Land Management has decided not to include nearly 20,000 acres in an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in light of a court ruling that found the agency acted illegally when selling similar parcels. State BLM spokeswoman Christine Tincher on Friday said 16 parcels that were to be part of a 334,000-acre Aug. 15 lease sale share characteristics with those U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball on Aug. 2 said the BLM had improperly evaluated for wilderness potential. The 16 parcels are controlled by the Moab, Price and Richfield field offices of the BLM. They include land on a flank of Boulder Mountain near Bicknell, an area near Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River, an area west of Moab near the Dolores River and parcels in the Dome Plateau proposed wilderness area east of Arches National Park. For now, the sale of those parcels is deferred, but the BLM hasn't made a decision yet whether they will reappear on later lease-sale lists, Tincher said....
Burning Man celebration returns for 21st year, with more than 35,000 expected to show As if it were not hot enough, it's time for the annual Burning Man event Aug. 28-Sept. 4. Burning Man is a celebration of alternate lifestyles, and takes place on the playa of the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach. The party comes to a climax at the end of the week, when the 35,000-plus guests gather to watch the towering man erected atop of a wooden building go up in flames - the Burning Man. Onlookers make a gigantic circle around the man, many grabbing front-row seats as early as mid-Saturday afternoon. All agree it's a marvelous climax to a week of outrageous living. The whole affair takes place on the barren, flat playa about seven miles from Gerlach. It's not an inexpensive affair; tickets cost $280 until this Sunday. After that, the price goes up - how high has not been announced as yet. Tickets at the gate are sold through Aug. 31 - after that you're out of luck....
SPRING VALLEY: Water rights, riches If good fences make good neighbors, the Southern Nevada Water Authority should fit in nicely at its new spread in White Pine County. The patchwork of ranch property the authority bought last month came complete with improved fencing installed just a few years ago by the previous owner, Vidler Water Company. But new fences alone cannot explain the tremendous profit Vidler made on the deal. The Nevada-based water development company paid $4.5 million cash for the 7,150-acre ranch and its water rights during a court-ordered bankruptcy sale in 2000. Three appraisals performed between 1994 and 1999 placed the value of the ranch, one of the largest in the vast and sparsely populated Spring Valley, at $10 million to $14 million. Vidler fixed the fences and the irrigation system at the ranch, then sold the whole thing after six years to the water authority for $22 million....
Animals disappear when rivers die The water sliding down the San Pedro River near Picnic Wash won't green up many front yards in the subdivisions under construction back in town, but it is enough for a colony of beavers to build a dam. The dam, the javelina tracks, the mountain lion scat, the croaking bullfrog, the hawk soaring overhead, the chattering songbirds in the cottonwood trees, all bear witness to the power of water barely ankle deep. And yet the San Pedro can't muster even that much along lengthening stretches of its 140-mile course. Depleted by groundwater pumping, the river dries up for longer periods each year, weakening wildlife habitat until the habitat can no longer function. The jaguar, grizzly bear, river otter, gray wolf and other large mammals have gone extinct or prowl the river corridor only rarely. Only two of the San Pedro's 13 native fish survive, the rest shoved aside by as many as 14 non-natives. At increasing risk is the river's greatest treasure, its 400 species of nesting and migratory birds....
Water-spouting tree has owner scratching head Is it an artesian spring, a broken water pipe or an abandoned well? Lucille Pope's red oak tree has gurgled water for about three months, and experts can't seem to get to the root of the problem. Pope, 65, has sought answers from the Texas Forest Service, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and nurseries. They have taken pictures and conducted studies, but none have arrived at a firm answer. ''I got a mystery tree,'' Pope said in Friday editions of the San Antonio-Express News. ''What kind of mystery do I have where water comes out of a tree?''. Her son, Lloyd, 47, discovered water leaking from the tree in April. He said it was cool, like it came from the tap. Mark Peterson from the Texas Forest Service said he believes it could be a spring, but pointed out that would be rare with the drought conditions this summer....
Conservationists believe Ogallala Aquifer recharged through playa lakes Birds dart toward the edge of the great saucer-shaped depression and disappear in a patch of yellowed grass. John Wood stands in the middle of his concave field, and observes the flurry, amused. Some seasons, his field fills with water. This summer, a drought has caked the root-beer dirt, driven fissures through it. Mint-green sage and sporadic reeds cover its bottom, like camouflage. Despite its appearance, this is no ordinary field, but a wetland. Wood owns one of the largest playa lakes in Curry County. The depression spans 154 acres. A good rain — of 3 inches or more — will transform it into an oasis....
Jurassic Park Mundy visited Spring Creek in 2000 and saw the dinosaur bones and the Native American sites. "The ranch was just gargantuan," Mundy recalled. "I told Allen, 'In my opinion you don't have a ranch, you have a natural science laboratory.' And besides that, there's this huge history in the region." Which might make the property even more attractive. Besides its history of Tom Horn and the Swan ranch, Spring Creek is next door to what is left of Wilcox, Wyo., where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed the Union Pacific, triggering the manhunt that eventually forced them to flee to Bolivia. The Union Pacific still whistles past the Cook ranch today on the original track bed of the transcontinental railroad, barreling through cities and towns known to generations of Western history buffs -- Cheyenne, Laramie, Wilcox and Medicine Bow, the setting for Owen Wister's 1902 novel, The Virginian, whose laconic hero was the central character in two movies and a TV show. Mundy appraised Spring Creek at $8 million and offered a suggestion. His boyhood friend Alec Stewart served as dean of the University of Pittsburgh's Honors College, which might be interested in buying Spring Creek. The Honors College ran a student summer camp outside Yellowstone Park to study natural science. Mundy telephoned Stewart in the autumn of 2000 and told him how "you stumble all over the dinosaurs" at Spring Creek and how it was "a national treasure. What better way to oversee it than to associate it with a university?"....
Only 1 Japan Food Co Plans To Use US Beef After Ban Only one Japanese food company said in a survey that it plans to use U.S. beef following the lifting of a ban on U.S. imports, a news report said Saturday. Sales of U.S. beef resumed this week for the first time since January, after Tokyo announced on July 27 that it was easing its ban on imports of U.S. beef over mad-cow disease fears. While the decision renewed U.S. access to what was once the most lucrative export market for U.S. ranchers, Kyodo News agency cited a survey that suggests winning back market share will be difficult. In the survey, conducted last month by the Consumers Union of Japan and Food Safety Citizens' Watch, questionnaires were sent to major food industry companies such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Of the 21 companies that replied, only beef bowl chain Yoshinoya D&C Co. said it would use U.S. beef, the report said. Seven companies - including McDonald's Holdings Co. and Zensho Co., which also sells beef bowl dishes - said they had no plans to use U.S. beef, while seven others indicated they won't use U.S. beef "for the time being," Kyodo News reported....
Processor seeks OK for own cow testing After another futile visit to the nation's capital, John Stewart faced a tough decision. Give up, or let the courts decide. So Stewart, founder and CEO of Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the right to test every animal slaughtered at his plant for mad cow disease. The lawsuit has placed Creekstone -- a cutting-edge meat packer 25 miles north of Ponca City -- in the national spotlight. Stewart has appeared on National Public Radio to plead his case. Other media have interviewed him, and interest groups and lawmakers have joined the fray with their opinions. The USDA says it has legal jurisdiction over mad cow testing. But Stewart says the agency isn't taking the mad cow threat seriously enough....
No Man's Land: Life in the wide-open spaces No Man's Land. That's what Oklahoma's far western counties were called before statehood. A century later, the region is largely empty and getting emptier. The northwest corridor of Oklahoma is home to six counties -- Cimarron, Roger Mills, Beaver, Harper, Ellis and Dewey -- with such small population densities that the U.S. Census Bureau classifies them in its most remote category: Frontier status. That means there's six or fewer people per square mile. Census reports show the Oklahoma frontier counties reached their population peaks in the 1930s and have dwindled gradually since then, drying up like a dusty stream bed in the Oklahoma summer. But for some people, this frontier is home, and they couldn't care less about the opinions of folk from the more populous world....
Where trains once roamed A railroad section house used to sit close to Lower River Road, just across from Allen Way and catawampus from the entrance to the Chaparral subdivision. Precursor to the tavern, the first Woody Creek Store also used to be in that neighborhood, on land owned by my family, and consisted of old motel rooms and a hodgepodge of hastily built architecture that served the Rio Grande Railroad. In later years, the store used those old rooms for storage, and had a few chickens and rabbits stashed behind closed doors, ostensibly safe from the prying teeth of predators. When I was a kid, the train didn't stop at Woody Creek much, yet an employee named Blough, his wife and three kids kept the section house alive with the tasks of daily life. There were stockyards for cattle, sheep and horses, and a huge water tank, solely for the purpose of replenishing the coal-car tanks on the chuf-chuffing steam engines. The D&RG (Denver & Rio Grande Railway), as we called it, would drop off rail cars for the rancher's use, mostly in the autumn. There would be cars for shipping cattle to the packing houses in Denver, cars to be loaded with potatoes, picked from local ranches, and sometimes, a carload or two of grapes would arrive, solely for the making of wine from European recipes salvaged by our ancestors. Imagine the thrill of a kid, 8 or 9, being allowed for the first time to accompany his dad and granddad on a cattle drive to the Woody Creek stockyards, in preparation for the long haul to Denver....
Judge blocks part of new grazing rules for ranchers using federal land A judge blocked new grazing rules for ranchers using federal land Friday, saying the regulations would exclude public input. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction while environmental groups sue against the federal rules. Environmental groups claim the new rules give ranchers more water rights and control over public lands while cutting the public out of the decision-making process. Federal officials say the regulations, the first overhaul of rules since 1995, will make management of public lands more efficient - in part by limiting public comment on day-to-day rangeland management decisions. The Bureau of Land Management oversees 262 million acres, mostly in 12 Western states. About 160 million acres are used for grazing livestock. Winmill allowed the agency to overturn the Clinton-era regulations that kept ranchers from applying for private ownership of new water rights on federal land. But he said there was no evidence that cutting the public out of decision making was more efficient. ''The changes would appear to substantially affect both the amount and quality of public input,'' the judge wrote in a 19-page ruling....
Army wages a range war This quiet corner of southeast Colorado has met an unlikely enemy: the U.S. Army. The military branch wants to expand an existing weapons training site onto many of the parched cattle ranches that have sustained the fragile economies of nearby towns and villages. But the emerging opponents go far beyond the area's longtime ranchers. They seem to include just about everyone in this particular town - from a waitress at the local watering hole to a bank president to a veterinarian who performs C-sections on pregnant cows. "It's not a good thing for us," said La Junta City Manager Rick Klein, who grew up in this town of about 7,500 residents. "There's zero positive impact." When the Army wanted to build the existing Piñon Canyon maneuver site in the early 1980s, it condemned ranches south of the town to get the roughly 250,000 acres it said it needed to train soldiers for war. It has drawn a big circle around the current site in hopes it will find enough willing sellers to more than double the size of its holdings if it gets approval to do so....
Montana Ranchers criticize state over wolf management State wildlife officials take too long to authorize the killing of problem wolves, ranchers and others said Friday at a meeting of the agency oversight committee of the Environmental Quality Council. "It's like a guy's robbing a bank and you have to go get an arrest warrant," committee member Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense." More than 50 people attended the meeting that drew Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener, agency biologists and several state legislators. People from Idaho and Wyoming and members of anti-wolf groups pushing for indiscriminate killing of the predators also attended. A few members of conservation groups praised FWP for the job it has done since it took over wolf management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year. However, the majority complained that FWP's reluctance to decide to kill a wolf has let too many problem animals get away. Others say the state has at times made it difficult for federal trappers to kill wolves on state land. Shockley said when ranchers were dealing directly with federal officials, problem wolves could be taken care of quickly. But since the state has taken over, things take too long....
Ranchers say livestock are losing weight from fear of wolves Consequences of the federal wolf reintroduction program in the Northern Rockies may be visible on the dinner table soon, in the form of skimpier lamb chops and porterhouse steaks that expose more bone than beef. For years, cattle ranchers and wool growers have fretted over wolves that kill dozens of cows and sheep each year. But the steepest price might be the declining weight of livestock terrified by the howls and footsteps of the predators. Currently, calves fetch $1.45 per pound on the market. So if wolves cause just a few lost pounds on each head of cattle, that quickly mounts into big losses, said Lloyd Knight, the executive director of the Idaho Cattle Association. “When the cows are scared, they bunch together, they don't spread out like they're used to. They don't eat and drink — you can just tell they're losing weight,” he said. “The loss of weight from the whole herd could cost far more than the depredation of a few calves. It's something we've been afraid of since the reintroduction program began.”....
Christo 'Over the River' proposal rolls slowly on course One year after the Over the River project moved back into the spotlight, it is still very much a proposal. Over the River, which began in 1992, next will be the subject of an exhaustive environmental impact statement, to be filed with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The bottom line: Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude want to hang 750 polypropylene panels in eight sections over 6.9 miles of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. They estimate 250,000 people would visit the valley to view the work. "We're being very cautious," said Roy L. Masinton, manager of the BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office. "The ball primarily is in their court. They need to get us the complete proposal."....
Four killed in chopper crash on fire lines Four people are dead after a helicopter crash in Valley County just after 5 p.m. Sunday. A spokesperson for the Payette National Forest tells NewsChannel 7 the chopper went down off South Fork Salmon Road in the Krassel Ranger district - that's about 20 miles west of Yellow Pine. The helicopter was ferrying three Forest Service employees to a guard station when it went down. The pilot and those three employees died. The spokesperson says the crew was part of the fire suppression effort but wouldn't say which fire they were working. The names of those aboard have not yet been released, while officials work to identify the family of those killed. The helicopter is owned by Evergreen Aviation out of McMinnville, Oregon. Calls to Evergreen late Sunday evening were not immediately returned....
Property owners sue over Colo. wildfire The owners of four properties sued the Forest Service Friday for damages sustained in the state's 2002 record-setting wildfire, saying the agency's missteps allowed the blaze to grow out of control. The federal lawsuit claims the Forest Service is responsible for the actions of a former forestry worker who pleaded guilty to starting the fire that burned 215 square miles in central Colorado about 55 miles southwest of Denver. The plaintiffs fault the agency for allowing Terry Lynn Barton to patrol the forest alone the day she set the fire, for clogging radio channels with a weather report when she tried to report the fire, and failing to properly train Barton. The suit lists plaintiffs Wallace White; Laurie Glauth and the Zelma L. Worden Trust; Charles and Marcia Phillips and the Phillips Family Trust; and Gary and Sandra Bieske. It does not specify how much of their property burned or what financial losses they suffered....
Judge halts 49 gold mining operations A federal judge ordered the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest to suspend 49 gold mining operations, citing violations of clean water laws. The mines are along the North Fork of the Burnt River near Unity in Baker County. Gold mining in the region is characterized by small-scale operations. The decision last week from Magistrate Judge Paul Papak of Portland said a Forest Service decision allowed mining that could further degrade streams that don't meet federal standards, a violation of the Clean Water Act. ''The Forest Service may not ignore or defer its responsibility to remedy existing water pollution in the project area based on a misguided notion that the right to mine trumps federal and state environmental laws,'' Papak wrote....
Opinions split on ancient footprints Plenty of southern New Mexico sun reflected off jumbles of rock and cascaded a host of colors toward the 10 hikers trekking through a canyon in the Robledo Mountains west of Las Cruces last week. Hues of gray, black, and brown — each representing a slice of the area's geologic past — were visible on slopes rising up from the canyon floor as the group progressed. But the color hikers were most interested in was red, which marks a 290-million-year-old rock layer known for containing fossilized footprints of animals. The layer has prompted contention recently because of a proposal by two New Mexico senators to create a 5,370-acre national monument (about 8.4 square miles) north of Picacho Peak to preserve fossils. The trekkers were members of an off-road vehicle group and were leading a staff member from the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., on a tour. Several contended there's not enough fossil rock exposed to merit a national monument and said an existing designation by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is enough to keep the area's fossils safe. The proposed monument boundaries contain trails that are popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts....
Drilling rules proposed Voters here might get a chance in November to decide whether the city should have its own regulations for energy development in its watershed. The city clerk Thursday certified that 2,635 signatures of registered voters out of the 4,270 on petitions turned in by the group Concerned Citizens Alliance for the proposal were valid. Only 1,580 were needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. The Grand Junction City Council is expected to decide Wednesday whether to put the measure on the ballot or consider passing the proposal itself. The alliance, the local chapter of the conservation group Western Colorado Congress, launched the initiative drive after federal oil and gas leases were sold in areas supplying drinking water for Grand Junction and neighboring Palisade. "The incredible outpouring of support this issue received from the business community, churches and from citizens of every background proves that protection of our water supply is a truly a matter of common sense," said Janet Magoon, a local school teacher....
Supplier of habitat funds receives own chunk of money Officials managing money supplied by EnCana Oil and Gas, Inc., for habitat improvement work near the Jonah Field tapped the first grant winners this week. A major winner? EnCana. The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office, established in the wake of huge energy development plans for the Jonah Field 35 miles southeast of Pinedale, awarded seven grants for mitigation work from 19 applications. Each project is designed to offset the major habitat impacts projected for the Jonah Field. EnCana Oil and Gas, the main development company for the Jonah Field, was awarded up to $499,000 for a habitat improvement project that repairs the existing John Arambel Reservoir dam, provides fencing to exclude livestock from portions of the reservoir, and treats several five-acre tracts of sagebrush with an aerator. The next highest grant awarded was $76,500 for well development. In the Bureau of Land Management's decision earlier this year to allow high levels of development on the Jonah Field, EnCana agreed to give $24.5 million for mitigation work. No more than 20 percent of that can be spent in a given year....
BLM defers 16 drilling lease sales The Utah office of the federal Bureau of Land Management has decided not to include nearly 20,000 acres in an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in light of a court ruling that found the agency acted illegally when selling similar parcels. State BLM spokeswoman Christine Tincher on Friday said 16 parcels that were to be part of a 334,000-acre Aug. 15 lease sale share characteristics with those U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball on Aug. 2 said the BLM had improperly evaluated for wilderness potential. The 16 parcels are controlled by the Moab, Price and Richfield field offices of the BLM. They include land on a flank of Boulder Mountain near Bicknell, an area near Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River, an area west of Moab near the Dolores River and parcels in the Dome Plateau proposed wilderness area east of Arches National Park. For now, the sale of those parcels is deferred, but the BLM hasn't made a decision yet whether they will reappear on later lease-sale lists, Tincher said....
Burning Man celebration returns for 21st year, with more than 35,000 expected to show As if it were not hot enough, it's time for the annual Burning Man event Aug. 28-Sept. 4. Burning Man is a celebration of alternate lifestyles, and takes place on the playa of the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach. The party comes to a climax at the end of the week, when the 35,000-plus guests gather to watch the towering man erected atop of a wooden building go up in flames - the Burning Man. Onlookers make a gigantic circle around the man, many grabbing front-row seats as early as mid-Saturday afternoon. All agree it's a marvelous climax to a week of outrageous living. The whole affair takes place on the barren, flat playa about seven miles from Gerlach. It's not an inexpensive affair; tickets cost $280 until this Sunday. After that, the price goes up - how high has not been announced as yet. Tickets at the gate are sold through Aug. 31 - after that you're out of luck....
SPRING VALLEY: Water rights, riches If good fences make good neighbors, the Southern Nevada Water Authority should fit in nicely at its new spread in White Pine County. The patchwork of ranch property the authority bought last month came complete with improved fencing installed just a few years ago by the previous owner, Vidler Water Company. But new fences alone cannot explain the tremendous profit Vidler made on the deal. The Nevada-based water development company paid $4.5 million cash for the 7,150-acre ranch and its water rights during a court-ordered bankruptcy sale in 2000. Three appraisals performed between 1994 and 1999 placed the value of the ranch, one of the largest in the vast and sparsely populated Spring Valley, at $10 million to $14 million. Vidler fixed the fences and the irrigation system at the ranch, then sold the whole thing after six years to the water authority for $22 million....
Animals disappear when rivers die The water sliding down the San Pedro River near Picnic Wash won't green up many front yards in the subdivisions under construction back in town, but it is enough for a colony of beavers to build a dam. The dam, the javelina tracks, the mountain lion scat, the croaking bullfrog, the hawk soaring overhead, the chattering songbirds in the cottonwood trees, all bear witness to the power of water barely ankle deep. And yet the San Pedro can't muster even that much along lengthening stretches of its 140-mile course. Depleted by groundwater pumping, the river dries up for longer periods each year, weakening wildlife habitat until the habitat can no longer function. The jaguar, grizzly bear, river otter, gray wolf and other large mammals have gone extinct or prowl the river corridor only rarely. Only two of the San Pedro's 13 native fish survive, the rest shoved aside by as many as 14 non-natives. At increasing risk is the river's greatest treasure, its 400 species of nesting and migratory birds....
Water-spouting tree has owner scratching head Is it an artesian spring, a broken water pipe or an abandoned well? Lucille Pope's red oak tree has gurgled water for about three months, and experts can't seem to get to the root of the problem. Pope, 65, has sought answers from the Texas Forest Service, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and nurseries. They have taken pictures and conducted studies, but none have arrived at a firm answer. ''I got a mystery tree,'' Pope said in Friday editions of the San Antonio-Express News. ''What kind of mystery do I have where water comes out of a tree?''. Her son, Lloyd, 47, discovered water leaking from the tree in April. He said it was cool, like it came from the tap. Mark Peterson from the Texas Forest Service said he believes it could be a spring, but pointed out that would be rare with the drought conditions this summer....
Conservationists believe Ogallala Aquifer recharged through playa lakes Birds dart toward the edge of the great saucer-shaped depression and disappear in a patch of yellowed grass. John Wood stands in the middle of his concave field, and observes the flurry, amused. Some seasons, his field fills with water. This summer, a drought has caked the root-beer dirt, driven fissures through it. Mint-green sage and sporadic reeds cover its bottom, like camouflage. Despite its appearance, this is no ordinary field, but a wetland. Wood owns one of the largest playa lakes in Curry County. The depression spans 154 acres. A good rain — of 3 inches or more — will transform it into an oasis....
Jurassic Park Mundy visited Spring Creek in 2000 and saw the dinosaur bones and the Native American sites. "The ranch was just gargantuan," Mundy recalled. "I told Allen, 'In my opinion you don't have a ranch, you have a natural science laboratory.' And besides that, there's this huge history in the region." Which might make the property even more attractive. Besides its history of Tom Horn and the Swan ranch, Spring Creek is next door to what is left of Wilcox, Wyo., where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed the Union Pacific, triggering the manhunt that eventually forced them to flee to Bolivia. The Union Pacific still whistles past the Cook ranch today on the original track bed of the transcontinental railroad, barreling through cities and towns known to generations of Western history buffs -- Cheyenne, Laramie, Wilcox and Medicine Bow, the setting for Owen Wister's 1902 novel, The Virginian, whose laconic hero was the central character in two movies and a TV show. Mundy appraised Spring Creek at $8 million and offered a suggestion. His boyhood friend Alec Stewart served as dean of the University of Pittsburgh's Honors College, which might be interested in buying Spring Creek. The Honors College ran a student summer camp outside Yellowstone Park to study natural science. Mundy telephoned Stewart in the autumn of 2000 and told him how "you stumble all over the dinosaurs" at Spring Creek and how it was "a national treasure. What better way to oversee it than to associate it with a university?"....
Only 1 Japan Food Co Plans To Use US Beef After Ban Only one Japanese food company said in a survey that it plans to use U.S. beef following the lifting of a ban on U.S. imports, a news report said Saturday. Sales of U.S. beef resumed this week for the first time since January, after Tokyo announced on July 27 that it was easing its ban on imports of U.S. beef over mad-cow disease fears. While the decision renewed U.S. access to what was once the most lucrative export market for U.S. ranchers, Kyodo News agency cited a survey that suggests winning back market share will be difficult. In the survey, conducted last month by the Consumers Union of Japan and Food Safety Citizens' Watch, questionnaires were sent to major food industry companies such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Of the 21 companies that replied, only beef bowl chain Yoshinoya D&C Co. said it would use U.S. beef, the report said. Seven companies - including McDonald's Holdings Co. and Zensho Co., which also sells beef bowl dishes - said they had no plans to use U.S. beef, while seven others indicated they won't use U.S. beef "for the time being," Kyodo News reported....
Processor seeks OK for own cow testing After another futile visit to the nation's capital, John Stewart faced a tough decision. Give up, or let the courts decide. So Stewart, founder and CEO of Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the right to test every animal slaughtered at his plant for mad cow disease. The lawsuit has placed Creekstone -- a cutting-edge meat packer 25 miles north of Ponca City -- in the national spotlight. Stewart has appeared on National Public Radio to plead his case. Other media have interviewed him, and interest groups and lawmakers have joined the fray with their opinions. The USDA says it has legal jurisdiction over mad cow testing. But Stewart says the agency isn't taking the mad cow threat seriously enough....
No Man's Land: Life in the wide-open spaces No Man's Land. That's what Oklahoma's far western counties were called before statehood. A century later, the region is largely empty and getting emptier. The northwest corridor of Oklahoma is home to six counties -- Cimarron, Roger Mills, Beaver, Harper, Ellis and Dewey -- with such small population densities that the U.S. Census Bureau classifies them in its most remote category: Frontier status. That means there's six or fewer people per square mile. Census reports show the Oklahoma frontier counties reached their population peaks in the 1930s and have dwindled gradually since then, drying up like a dusty stream bed in the Oklahoma summer. But for some people, this frontier is home, and they couldn't care less about the opinions of folk from the more populous world....
Where trains once roamed A railroad section house used to sit close to Lower River Road, just across from Allen Way and catawampus from the entrance to the Chaparral subdivision. Precursor to the tavern, the first Woody Creek Store also used to be in that neighborhood, on land owned by my family, and consisted of old motel rooms and a hodgepodge of hastily built architecture that served the Rio Grande Railroad. In later years, the store used those old rooms for storage, and had a few chickens and rabbits stashed behind closed doors, ostensibly safe from the prying teeth of predators. When I was a kid, the train didn't stop at Woody Creek much, yet an employee named Blough, his wife and three kids kept the section house alive with the tasks of daily life. There were stockyards for cattle, sheep and horses, and a huge water tank, solely for the purpose of replenishing the coal-car tanks on the chuf-chuffing steam engines. The D&RG (Denver & Rio Grande Railway), as we called it, would drop off rail cars for the rancher's use, mostly in the autumn. There would be cars for shipping cattle to the packing houses in Denver, cars to be loaded with potatoes, picked from local ranches, and sometimes, a carload or two of grapes would arrive, solely for the making of wine from European recipes salvaged by our ancestors. Imagine the thrill of a kid, 8 or 9, being allowed for the first time to accompany his dad and granddad on a cattle drive to the Woody Creek stockyards, in preparation for the long haul to Denver....
Sunday, August 13, 2006
What We Need
by Larry Gabriel
It is not always easy to know what farmers and ranchers really need from the government. Many of them don't complain during tough times because they are tough people.
Most of the farms and ranches in the western half of the United States have been hit by drought since the turn of this century. For some it has been six years of tough times. We tend to think there is something the government can do about that.
The government cannot do the one thing we really need, make it rain. Governments need to focus on doing for people what the private sector cannot do. What is that in this case? What do these people really need from the government?
For one thing we need public leadership to give focus, direction and hope. Without those, nothing else will work. That's a real need and something the private sector cannot provide.
The next most important need is water. Everything must have to it survive in the West. The number of people, livestock, crops, wildlife and even trees is controlled by available water. Have you ever noticed that all the large cities in the West are near a water source? That is no accident, and most of the time government delivers the water because no one else has the power or resources to do it. That's a real need and something the private sector cannot provide.
So what else can the government do that no one else can? It can give temporary tax relief. Only the government can do that, but there is a down side. Unless government spending is reduced, tax breaks just shift a burden to others.
The government can hand out credit or hand out money, but those things don't really do much to fix the problem. They too just shift burdens in most cases.
The government can perform research and development of methods and products less dependent upon rainfall. That helps.
The government has been promoting no-till and minimum-till farming for many years. That helps.
The government has done a little work on developing new drought resistant or tolerant varieties of crops. That helps.
The government has been promoting some forms of "alternative agriculture" (mostly for very small operations). That helps.
However, what we really need (if we are in for a decade or longer drought) is leaders with vision. We need to take a look at the water we have and think of ways to use that water wisely in combination with our other efforts to build a more drought resistant economy.
Think it can't be done? If so, you are wrong. The people of South Dakota and its leaders will figure out a way.
The impossible is just something we ain't got around to yet.
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
by Larry Gabriel
It is not always easy to know what farmers and ranchers really need from the government. Many of them don't complain during tough times because they are tough people.
Most of the farms and ranches in the western half of the United States have been hit by drought since the turn of this century. For some it has been six years of tough times. We tend to think there is something the government can do about that.
The government cannot do the one thing we really need, make it rain. Governments need to focus on doing for people what the private sector cannot do. What is that in this case? What do these people really need from the government?
For one thing we need public leadership to give focus, direction and hope. Without those, nothing else will work. That's a real need and something the private sector cannot provide.
The next most important need is water. Everything must have to it survive in the West. The number of people, livestock, crops, wildlife and even trees is controlled by available water. Have you ever noticed that all the large cities in the West are near a water source? That is no accident, and most of the time government delivers the water because no one else has the power or resources to do it. That's a real need and something the private sector cannot provide.
So what else can the government do that no one else can? It can give temporary tax relief. Only the government can do that, but there is a down side. Unless government spending is reduced, tax breaks just shift a burden to others.
The government can hand out credit or hand out money, but those things don't really do much to fix the problem. They too just shift burdens in most cases.
The government can perform research and development of methods and products less dependent upon rainfall. That helps.
The government has been promoting no-till and minimum-till farming for many years. That helps.
The government has done a little work on developing new drought resistant or tolerant varieties of crops. That helps.
The government has been promoting some forms of "alternative agriculture" (mostly for very small operations). That helps.
However, what we really need (if we are in for a decade or longer drought) is leaders with vision. We need to take a look at the water we have and think of ways to use that water wisely in combination with our other efforts to build a more drought resistant economy.
Think it can't be done? If so, you are wrong. The people of South Dakota and its leaders will figure out a way.
The impossible is just something we ain't got around to yet.
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Friday, August 11, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Appeals court rejects Bush administration forest rules A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned 2003 Bush administration forest rules while upholding a lower court decision giving the public greater say in national forest management. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the U.S. Forest Service must take public comments and consider appeals on projects such as prescribed burns and timber sales on public lands. Thursday's decision stemmed from a 2003 lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the harvest of burned trees in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California - a plan approved without public comment or appeals. The administration argued it was necessary to curtail public comments when it came to thinning burned forests or controlling infestations because the quicker the work could be done, the better off the environment would be. The San Francisco-based appeals court said the administration's position was "contrary to Congressional intent."....go here(pdf) to read the decision.
Judge blocks state from killing problem wolves A federal judge on Thursday stopped authorities in Wisconsin from killing problem wolves after animal welfare advocates said the practice violated the Endangered Species Act. The decision could spur the illegal shooting of wolves, a spokesman for cattle ranchers in Wisconsin said. Meanwhile, authorities said they will stop killing wolves starting today on three farms in Burnett and Bayfield counties that are believed to be threatening livestock. So far this year, federal authorities have killed 18 gray wolves in Wisconsin under a special permit system approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency had allowed authorities to kill up to 43 wolves. But Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rights groups by ruling that authorities could not kill wolves because of federal protections. "Simply put," she wrote in her decision, "the recovery of the gray wolf is not supported by killing 43 gray wolves."....
Editorial - A sound plan for state roadless areas Last week, the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force took a major step in the process of determining the future of 4.1 million acres of Colorado roadless areas. It was public policy the way it should be done: a balanced group of experts, representing a wide variety of interests, reached compromise conclusions designed to serve the public interest. The task force settled on recommendations that would uphold the overwhelming public opposition to building new roads in undeveloped areas while adhering to the reasonable needs demonstrated by forest managers and industry. After the Bush administration overturned President Clinton's poorly regarded roadless policy in 2001, the government asked individual states to recommend how Washington should handle the areas within their borders. In May 2005, the U.S. Forest Service gave governors 18 months to provide plans for roadless protection in their states. Five states - California, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have already responded....
Roadless areas leased over protests The 14 parcels of roadless Forest Service land leased for energy development Thursday went for premium prices compared with bids on unprotected areas. The top bid on a roadless area was $300 per acre for 1,117 acres in Mesa County near Grand Junction, said Vaughn Whatley of the Bureau of Land Management. The average price on the 118 parcels offered, totaling 139,555 acres, was $32.97 per acre, but the bid on many parcels was $2 an acre - the lowest allowed - Whatley said. The identities of the oil and gas companies that purchased the leases weren't available, officials said. The 14 roadless parcels, about 14,400 acres and 11 percent of the land drawing bids, were promised roadless protections by the Bush administration in 2005. In all, 158 parcels of Forest Service, BLM and private land were offered for sale, 127 had protests filed and only 118 drew bids. While most of the protests were filed by Colorado conservation groups, the Gunnison County commissioners protested six leases on roadless areas in their county....
Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock: A Documentary that Shows What Goes into the Creation of the Weeklong Event Burning Man is a phenomenon that is held in the deserts of Black Rock, Nevada, 100 miles north of Reno. In 1990, 80 people were in attendance; last year’s attendance rose to 36,500. It is a gathering of artists and like-minded individuals who come to express themselves and their creativity at a weeklong Brigadoon that vanishes back into the desert without a trace to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management will allow them to return. The event culminates in the burning of a wooden sculpture of a man that has ranged in height from 40 to 80 feet over the years. The filmmakers were granted access to many of those involved with the creation of the event as it led up to the 2003 Burning Man. They reveal the enormous effort that goes into creating this temporary artistic community. Some participating artists, such as David Best who creates very large pieces, also added their voices because many start planning their projects the day Burning Man ends and work on it up to the event....
River's wonder has the ability to lift spirits A sign along Arizona 95 alerts motorists that beneath the bridge they're crossing flows the Bill Williams River, but even then most people probably miss it. The river's mouth lies hidden in broad cattail marsh on the eastern shore of Lake Havasu, and the highway twists past a ridge after just a teasing glimpse upstream. Its headwaters gather in similar obscurity above Alamo Lake, nearly three hours west of Phoenix in a maze of desert arroyos and bluffs that only hint at the nearness of water. For nearly 40 miles, the river winds through the tight canyons of the Buckskin Mountains, passing sheer walls that afford no passage to the channel, dipping below ground at times as desert rivers do. This protective landscape and the isolation it affords are why the Bill Williams lives while other Arizona rivers edge toward extinction. Aside from a few ranchers over the years, no one has plundered this river for its water. Only a few scattered wells punch into the aquifers on either side of it. The greatest threat, a plan by Scottsdale to export water from a ranch that sits astride the river, dissolved this summer when the city sold the property to mining giant Phelps-Dodge for care as a wildlife preserve....
Judge orders Interior to take bald eagle off endangered list A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Department of Interior to remove the bald eagle from the list of endangered species by Feb. 16 unless persuasive evidence is presented of the need for limited delay. Judge John R. Tunheim's order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property in Morrison County where there is an active bald eagle nest. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a letter recommending no development within 330 feet of the nest to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Eagle Protection Act, according to the court filing. Landowner Edmund Contoski, whose property abuts Sullivan Lake in central Minnesota, filed the lawsuit Oct. 31, 2005....Go here(pdf) to read the ruling.
Property Owner Sues to Strike Down Open Beaches Plan As Unconstitutional On July 26 Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit in federal court against government officials charged with enforcing the Texas Open Beaches Act, claiming that they are unconstitutionally depriving beachfront property owners of their private property rights. PLF is representing a homeowner forced to suffer a public invasion of private property and potential destruction of her homes under the Open Beaches Act simply because government officials have determined that the vegetation line has moved to the landward side of the homes. PLF’s suit demands that government officials cease applying the Act to strip property owners of their homes and land without just compensation. “For too long, state and local government officials have used the Open Beaches Act as an excuse to take valuable beachfront property without constitutional due process or just compensation,” said J. David Breemer, a lawyer with Pacific Legal Foundation. “This suit aims to strike down GLO Commissioner Patterson’s policy of applying the Act to impose the public beach on private property based on the movement of vegetation, in violation of the United States Constitution.”....Go here to view the lawsuit.
Column - A Cartel Worse Than OPEC Today the United States faces a cartel far more destructive of America's energy independence than OPEC's nine nations. This new cartel is composed of an assortment of envirocrat groups posing as environmentalists, endangered species advocates, animal rights promoters, property rights destroyers and assorted ice-age fanciers turned global warmers. Leaders among these envirocrats are Greenpeace, the Green Party, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Earth First, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Wilderness Society and Defenders of Wildlife, to name a few. Individuals such as former Presidential candidates Ralph Nader and former Vice President Albert A. Gore, Jr. are prominent spokesmen for the envirocrat causes. What has become the obvious intent of this cartel is the destruction of America's access to its own resources. Examples are: "protection" of a spotted owl despite near destruction of the timber industry in Oregon and Washington; desperately needed petroleum reserves set aside in Alaska to protect the sex habits of the caribou; the set-aside of vitally needed sulfur-free coal reserves in Utah; and denial of offshore drilling for a number of reasons, including the spoiling of the view of a few people by rigs 15 miles away. This list could continue for a full column. This cartel of envirocrat groups is permitted by both political parties in Congress to disrupt America's access to its own natural resources. Kneeling at the feet of the envirocrat intimidators, Congress accepts the barrage of false and phony claims that, if examined closely, would reveal the fraud....
Protecting the tortoises Already listed as a threatened species, the desert tortoise is facing even more obstacles in recent years. Lori Rose, a county biologist for the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, said the biggest challenge to protecting the tortoises once was just keeping them within the low fences surrounding the reserve. But recent droughts and wildfires have caused even more havoc for the tortoises. "We've found that fences don't work with fire and drought," she said. "You put those things together and we took two big hits back to back." In 2003 biologists recorded a 25 percent population decline because of the drought. They also estimate there was a 37 percent mortality rate among tortoises in areas of the 60,000-acre reserve that burned during 2005 wildfires. The wildfires burned 15,000 acres, including more than a quarter of the critical area that is prime habitat for the tortoises. Rose said more fires are likely because of the highly flammable, invasive cheat grass. Rose said Washington County had one of the healthiest and densest populations of desert tortoises in the Mojave range for a long time. Before the fires, biologists estimated the reserve's tortoise population to be 2,406....
Meeting on Bush enviro proposal draws disparate views Well, it was billed as a "listening session." More than 180 people signed up to speak at the first public hearing on the Bush administration's "cooperative conservation" plan, which is seeking ideas on how groups with radically different goals can work together to protect the environment. "I don't believe Washington, D.C., has all the answers. Neither does the president," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in opening the first of at least 24 planned public meetings. The Bush administration, which held a conference on the topic last year, defines cooperative conservation as the efforts of landowners, communities, conservation groups, industry and government to work together to preserve the environment. Many speakers applauded the concept, and some pointed to examples where groups had already cooperated to protect the environment, but many others were skeptical. Washington state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said it was paramount that private property rights be protected from bureaucrats and special interests. "Only the private property owner has anything tangible on the table," Kretz said....
Chief of Army Corps of Engineers Is Quitting The head of the Army Corps of Engineers will resign, the Army announced last night. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, the chief of engineers and commander of the corps since July 1, 2004, asked Francis J. Harvey, the secretary of the Army, that he be allowed to resign “based on family and personal reasons, which the secretary of the Army honors and supports,” according to the Army announcement. The chief of engineers runs a huge array of engineering and construction projects around the world, including work in the Iraq war and responding to natural disasters, including the recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as on flood control and environmental projects. The corps has come under fire for the progress of Iraq reconstruction and for the failures of the New Orleans levee system. In June, the corps report on the disaster called the levee system “a system in name only,” and Gen. Strock admitted that the corps had missed a flaw in the design that led to some of the most destructive breaches....
Cities, States Aren't Waiting For U.S. Action on Climate With Washington lawmakers deadlocked on how best to curb global warming, state and local officials across the country are adopting ambitious policies and forming international alliances aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. The initiatives, which include demands that utilities generate some of their energy using renewable sources and mandates for a reduction in emissions from motor vehicles, have emboldened clean-air advocates who hope they will form the basis for broader national action. But in the meantime, some businesses say the local and state actions are creating a patchwork of regulations that they must contend with. This flurry of action is part of a growing movement among state and local leaders who have given up hope that Congress and the administration will tackle major issues, and are launching their own initiatives on immigration, stem cell research and energy policy. Last week alone, former president Bill Clinton launched an effort with 22 of the world's largest cities to cut their emissions, while California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they will explore trading carbon dioxide pollution credits across the Atlantic. Recently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have set standards demanding that utilities generate a specific amount of energy -- in some cases, as high as 33 percent -- from renewable sources by 2020. And 11 states have set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050....
Niman Ranch Will Benefit From Significant New Resources Niman Ranch, Inc. has received a substantial capital investment and has hired a new CEO and three key executives with combined experience of more than 100 years in the natural meat industry. Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, continues in his role as Chairman. The new resources will allow Niman Ranch to focus on its core business and -- expand the supply of natural and organic beef, pork and lamb; -- further enhance product quality; and -- upgrade operations to improve customer service. Established in 1972, Niman Ranch and its network of more than 500 family farmers and ranchers raise livestock traditionally, humanely, and sustainably. Its meat routinely wins taste tests and is featured on the menus of the nation's most discerning chefs. Niman Ranch's independent family farmers practice the highest standards of traditional animal husbandry and environmental stewardship....
Horse Slaughter Ban Would Be A Blow To Production Agriculture I recently had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify on behalf of NCBA’s cattle producer-members on H.R. 503, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It is well-known that I am a great lover of horses. As I shared with the House Agriculture Committee, I regard horses not only as exceptional tools of the ranching trade and wonderful companions, but also as one of God’s great masterpieces. So it does not surprise me that some folks are repulsed by the idea of processing horses for food. My goal is not to persuade anyone that horse processing is desirable, but it certainly should not be outlawed as an option for managing horses. That’s precisely the goal of H.R. 503, and it is a serious threat to animal agriculture as we know it. When legislators are asked to ban horse processing based simply on the negative emotions it evokes in some people, we have started down a very slippery slope. I have all the confidence in the world that cattle are harvested in a humane, sanitary and defensible manner, because I’ve seen it personally. Horse processing faces all of the same scrutiny and inspections that other livestock slaughter plants do. The process is regulated by USDA under the Humane Slaughter Act. I believe eliminating the processing of horses as a management option actually poses a risk to horse welfare. At the hearing, the Ag Committee heard witnesses – including horse welfare and veterinary experts – discuss the options for handling as many as 90,000 unwanted or abandoned horses that will have to be cared for. They discussed the costs related to this care, the unintended mistreatment of these animals in non-regulated rescue facilities, and the environmental concerns of disposing of horse carcasses. The committee feels, and cattlemen agree, that HR 503 fails to address any of these issues....
Emergency hay delivery approved by Perry Gov. Rick Perry directed the Texas Department of Transportation to waive certain trucking restrictions. This action is to allow the emergency delivery of hay to help Texas farmers and ranchers recover from the drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated a 77 percent loss in hay production in Texas. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs and the Texas Farm Bureau requested that hay delivery be expedited. "Hay importation from neighboring states less affected by drought will help Texas producers survive the final hot months of the year," Perry wrote. In the same letter, he directed the Texas Department of Transportation to forgive normal transportation requirements, such as height restrictions for the round hay bales and permit fees. Normal requirements and restrictions will resume on Oct. 31....
Ranchers seeing life's work dry up Mondays are now the saddest day in Wise County. That's when ranchers who can no longer maintain their cattle in a prolonged drought deliver yet more animals to the weekly auction. Painfully, they are selling more of their core breeding animals -- the fruit of hands-on genetics, representing decades of work. Although the bred cows represent a bigger investment, calves are fetching better prices, said Hugh Pegues, a rancher forced to cull a number of both. "I've sold at least half of mine," said Pegues, 85, who has spent three decades improving his herd of Herefords since retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration. He's now down to about 70 head. "I'm trying to keep the seed stock so I can stay in business, if it ever rains again." Some producers are folding their cards and giving up. "We had a grown man crying because he had to sell his whole herd," said Kimberly Shaw, the Decatur Livestock Market's office manager. "He had no grass or water."....
Appeals court rejects Bush administration forest rules A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned 2003 Bush administration forest rules while upholding a lower court decision giving the public greater say in national forest management. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the U.S. Forest Service must take public comments and consider appeals on projects such as prescribed burns and timber sales on public lands. Thursday's decision stemmed from a 2003 lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the harvest of burned trees in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California - a plan approved without public comment or appeals. The administration argued it was necessary to curtail public comments when it came to thinning burned forests or controlling infestations because the quicker the work could be done, the better off the environment would be. The San Francisco-based appeals court said the administration's position was "contrary to Congressional intent."....go here(pdf) to read the decision.
Judge blocks state from killing problem wolves A federal judge on Thursday stopped authorities in Wisconsin from killing problem wolves after animal welfare advocates said the practice violated the Endangered Species Act. The decision could spur the illegal shooting of wolves, a spokesman for cattle ranchers in Wisconsin said. Meanwhile, authorities said they will stop killing wolves starting today on three farms in Burnett and Bayfield counties that are believed to be threatening livestock. So far this year, federal authorities have killed 18 gray wolves in Wisconsin under a special permit system approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency had allowed authorities to kill up to 43 wolves. But Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rights groups by ruling that authorities could not kill wolves because of federal protections. "Simply put," she wrote in her decision, "the recovery of the gray wolf is not supported by killing 43 gray wolves."....
Editorial - A sound plan for state roadless areas Last week, the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force took a major step in the process of determining the future of 4.1 million acres of Colorado roadless areas. It was public policy the way it should be done: a balanced group of experts, representing a wide variety of interests, reached compromise conclusions designed to serve the public interest. The task force settled on recommendations that would uphold the overwhelming public opposition to building new roads in undeveloped areas while adhering to the reasonable needs demonstrated by forest managers and industry. After the Bush administration overturned President Clinton's poorly regarded roadless policy in 2001, the government asked individual states to recommend how Washington should handle the areas within their borders. In May 2005, the U.S. Forest Service gave governors 18 months to provide plans for roadless protection in their states. Five states - California, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have already responded....
Roadless areas leased over protests The 14 parcels of roadless Forest Service land leased for energy development Thursday went for premium prices compared with bids on unprotected areas. The top bid on a roadless area was $300 per acre for 1,117 acres in Mesa County near Grand Junction, said Vaughn Whatley of the Bureau of Land Management. The average price on the 118 parcels offered, totaling 139,555 acres, was $32.97 per acre, but the bid on many parcels was $2 an acre - the lowest allowed - Whatley said. The identities of the oil and gas companies that purchased the leases weren't available, officials said. The 14 roadless parcels, about 14,400 acres and 11 percent of the land drawing bids, were promised roadless protections by the Bush administration in 2005. In all, 158 parcels of Forest Service, BLM and private land were offered for sale, 127 had protests filed and only 118 drew bids. While most of the protests were filed by Colorado conservation groups, the Gunnison County commissioners protested six leases on roadless areas in their county....
Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock: A Documentary that Shows What Goes into the Creation of the Weeklong Event Burning Man is a phenomenon that is held in the deserts of Black Rock, Nevada, 100 miles north of Reno. In 1990, 80 people were in attendance; last year’s attendance rose to 36,500. It is a gathering of artists and like-minded individuals who come to express themselves and their creativity at a weeklong Brigadoon that vanishes back into the desert without a trace to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management will allow them to return. The event culminates in the burning of a wooden sculpture of a man that has ranged in height from 40 to 80 feet over the years. The filmmakers were granted access to many of those involved with the creation of the event as it led up to the 2003 Burning Man. They reveal the enormous effort that goes into creating this temporary artistic community. Some participating artists, such as David Best who creates very large pieces, also added their voices because many start planning their projects the day Burning Man ends and work on it up to the event....
River's wonder has the ability to lift spirits A sign along Arizona 95 alerts motorists that beneath the bridge they're crossing flows the Bill Williams River, but even then most people probably miss it. The river's mouth lies hidden in broad cattail marsh on the eastern shore of Lake Havasu, and the highway twists past a ridge after just a teasing glimpse upstream. Its headwaters gather in similar obscurity above Alamo Lake, nearly three hours west of Phoenix in a maze of desert arroyos and bluffs that only hint at the nearness of water. For nearly 40 miles, the river winds through the tight canyons of the Buckskin Mountains, passing sheer walls that afford no passage to the channel, dipping below ground at times as desert rivers do. This protective landscape and the isolation it affords are why the Bill Williams lives while other Arizona rivers edge toward extinction. Aside from a few ranchers over the years, no one has plundered this river for its water. Only a few scattered wells punch into the aquifers on either side of it. The greatest threat, a plan by Scottsdale to export water from a ranch that sits astride the river, dissolved this summer when the city sold the property to mining giant Phelps-Dodge for care as a wildlife preserve....
Judge orders Interior to take bald eagle off endangered list A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Department of Interior to remove the bald eagle from the list of endangered species by Feb. 16 unless persuasive evidence is presented of the need for limited delay. Judge John R. Tunheim's order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property in Morrison County where there is an active bald eagle nest. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a letter recommending no development within 330 feet of the nest to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Eagle Protection Act, according to the court filing. Landowner Edmund Contoski, whose property abuts Sullivan Lake in central Minnesota, filed the lawsuit Oct. 31, 2005....Go here(pdf) to read the ruling.
Property Owner Sues to Strike Down Open Beaches Plan As Unconstitutional On July 26 Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit in federal court against government officials charged with enforcing the Texas Open Beaches Act, claiming that they are unconstitutionally depriving beachfront property owners of their private property rights. PLF is representing a homeowner forced to suffer a public invasion of private property and potential destruction of her homes under the Open Beaches Act simply because government officials have determined that the vegetation line has moved to the landward side of the homes. PLF’s suit demands that government officials cease applying the Act to strip property owners of their homes and land without just compensation. “For too long, state and local government officials have used the Open Beaches Act as an excuse to take valuable beachfront property without constitutional due process or just compensation,” said J. David Breemer, a lawyer with Pacific Legal Foundation. “This suit aims to strike down GLO Commissioner Patterson’s policy of applying the Act to impose the public beach on private property based on the movement of vegetation, in violation of the United States Constitution.”....Go here to view the lawsuit.
Column - A Cartel Worse Than OPEC Today the United States faces a cartel far more destructive of America's energy independence than OPEC's nine nations. This new cartel is composed of an assortment of envirocrat groups posing as environmentalists, endangered species advocates, animal rights promoters, property rights destroyers and assorted ice-age fanciers turned global warmers. Leaders among these envirocrats are Greenpeace, the Green Party, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Earth First, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Wilderness Society and Defenders of Wildlife, to name a few. Individuals such as former Presidential candidates Ralph Nader and former Vice President Albert A. Gore, Jr. are prominent spokesmen for the envirocrat causes. What has become the obvious intent of this cartel is the destruction of America's access to its own resources. Examples are: "protection" of a spotted owl despite near destruction of the timber industry in Oregon and Washington; desperately needed petroleum reserves set aside in Alaska to protect the sex habits of the caribou; the set-aside of vitally needed sulfur-free coal reserves in Utah; and denial of offshore drilling for a number of reasons, including the spoiling of the view of a few people by rigs 15 miles away. This list could continue for a full column. This cartel of envirocrat groups is permitted by both political parties in Congress to disrupt America's access to its own natural resources. Kneeling at the feet of the envirocrat intimidators, Congress accepts the barrage of false and phony claims that, if examined closely, would reveal the fraud....
Protecting the tortoises Already listed as a threatened species, the desert tortoise is facing even more obstacles in recent years. Lori Rose, a county biologist for the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, said the biggest challenge to protecting the tortoises once was just keeping them within the low fences surrounding the reserve. But recent droughts and wildfires have caused even more havoc for the tortoises. "We've found that fences don't work with fire and drought," she said. "You put those things together and we took two big hits back to back." In 2003 biologists recorded a 25 percent population decline because of the drought. They also estimate there was a 37 percent mortality rate among tortoises in areas of the 60,000-acre reserve that burned during 2005 wildfires. The wildfires burned 15,000 acres, including more than a quarter of the critical area that is prime habitat for the tortoises. Rose said more fires are likely because of the highly flammable, invasive cheat grass. Rose said Washington County had one of the healthiest and densest populations of desert tortoises in the Mojave range for a long time. Before the fires, biologists estimated the reserve's tortoise population to be 2,406....
Meeting on Bush enviro proposal draws disparate views Well, it was billed as a "listening session." More than 180 people signed up to speak at the first public hearing on the Bush administration's "cooperative conservation" plan, which is seeking ideas on how groups with radically different goals can work together to protect the environment. "I don't believe Washington, D.C., has all the answers. Neither does the president," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in opening the first of at least 24 planned public meetings. The Bush administration, which held a conference on the topic last year, defines cooperative conservation as the efforts of landowners, communities, conservation groups, industry and government to work together to preserve the environment. Many speakers applauded the concept, and some pointed to examples where groups had already cooperated to protect the environment, but many others were skeptical. Washington state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said it was paramount that private property rights be protected from bureaucrats and special interests. "Only the private property owner has anything tangible on the table," Kretz said....
Chief of Army Corps of Engineers Is Quitting The head of the Army Corps of Engineers will resign, the Army announced last night. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, the chief of engineers and commander of the corps since July 1, 2004, asked Francis J. Harvey, the secretary of the Army, that he be allowed to resign “based on family and personal reasons, which the secretary of the Army honors and supports,” according to the Army announcement. The chief of engineers runs a huge array of engineering and construction projects around the world, including work in the Iraq war and responding to natural disasters, including the recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as on flood control and environmental projects. The corps has come under fire for the progress of Iraq reconstruction and for the failures of the New Orleans levee system. In June, the corps report on the disaster called the levee system “a system in name only,” and Gen. Strock admitted that the corps had missed a flaw in the design that led to some of the most destructive breaches....
Cities, States Aren't Waiting For U.S. Action on Climate With Washington lawmakers deadlocked on how best to curb global warming, state and local officials across the country are adopting ambitious policies and forming international alliances aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. The initiatives, which include demands that utilities generate some of their energy using renewable sources and mandates for a reduction in emissions from motor vehicles, have emboldened clean-air advocates who hope they will form the basis for broader national action. But in the meantime, some businesses say the local and state actions are creating a patchwork of regulations that they must contend with. This flurry of action is part of a growing movement among state and local leaders who have given up hope that Congress and the administration will tackle major issues, and are launching their own initiatives on immigration, stem cell research and energy policy. Last week alone, former president Bill Clinton launched an effort with 22 of the world's largest cities to cut their emissions, while California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they will explore trading carbon dioxide pollution credits across the Atlantic. Recently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have set standards demanding that utilities generate a specific amount of energy -- in some cases, as high as 33 percent -- from renewable sources by 2020. And 11 states have set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050....
Niman Ranch Will Benefit From Significant New Resources Niman Ranch, Inc. has received a substantial capital investment and has hired a new CEO and three key executives with combined experience of more than 100 years in the natural meat industry. Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, continues in his role as Chairman. The new resources will allow Niman Ranch to focus on its core business and -- expand the supply of natural and organic beef, pork and lamb; -- further enhance product quality; and -- upgrade operations to improve customer service. Established in 1972, Niman Ranch and its network of more than 500 family farmers and ranchers raise livestock traditionally, humanely, and sustainably. Its meat routinely wins taste tests and is featured on the menus of the nation's most discerning chefs. Niman Ranch's independent family farmers practice the highest standards of traditional animal husbandry and environmental stewardship....
Horse Slaughter Ban Would Be A Blow To Production Agriculture I recently had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify on behalf of NCBA’s cattle producer-members on H.R. 503, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It is well-known that I am a great lover of horses. As I shared with the House Agriculture Committee, I regard horses not only as exceptional tools of the ranching trade and wonderful companions, but also as one of God’s great masterpieces. So it does not surprise me that some folks are repulsed by the idea of processing horses for food. My goal is not to persuade anyone that horse processing is desirable, but it certainly should not be outlawed as an option for managing horses. That’s precisely the goal of H.R. 503, and it is a serious threat to animal agriculture as we know it. When legislators are asked to ban horse processing based simply on the negative emotions it evokes in some people, we have started down a very slippery slope. I have all the confidence in the world that cattle are harvested in a humane, sanitary and defensible manner, because I’ve seen it personally. Horse processing faces all of the same scrutiny and inspections that other livestock slaughter plants do. The process is regulated by USDA under the Humane Slaughter Act. I believe eliminating the processing of horses as a management option actually poses a risk to horse welfare. At the hearing, the Ag Committee heard witnesses – including horse welfare and veterinary experts – discuss the options for handling as many as 90,000 unwanted or abandoned horses that will have to be cared for. They discussed the costs related to this care, the unintended mistreatment of these animals in non-regulated rescue facilities, and the environmental concerns of disposing of horse carcasses. The committee feels, and cattlemen agree, that HR 503 fails to address any of these issues....
Emergency hay delivery approved by Perry Gov. Rick Perry directed the Texas Department of Transportation to waive certain trucking restrictions. This action is to allow the emergency delivery of hay to help Texas farmers and ranchers recover from the drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated a 77 percent loss in hay production in Texas. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs and the Texas Farm Bureau requested that hay delivery be expedited. "Hay importation from neighboring states less affected by drought will help Texas producers survive the final hot months of the year," Perry wrote. In the same letter, he directed the Texas Department of Transportation to forgive normal transportation requirements, such as height restrictions for the round hay bales and permit fees. Normal requirements and restrictions will resume on Oct. 31....
Ranchers seeing life's work dry up Mondays are now the saddest day in Wise County. That's when ranchers who can no longer maintain their cattle in a prolonged drought deliver yet more animals to the weekly auction. Painfully, they are selling more of their core breeding animals -- the fruit of hands-on genetics, representing decades of work. Although the bred cows represent a bigger investment, calves are fetching better prices, said Hugh Pegues, a rancher forced to cull a number of both. "I've sold at least half of mine," said Pegues, 85, who has spent three decades improving his herd of Herefords since retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration. He's now down to about 70 head. "I'm trying to keep the seed stock so I can stay in business, if it ever rains again." Some producers are folding their cards and giving up. "We had a grown man crying because he had to sell his whole herd," said Kimberly Shaw, the Decatur Livestock Market's office manager. "He had no grass or water."....
Thursday, August 10, 2006
RECENT CASES
STATE OF NEVADA V. DEP'T OF ENERGY
D.C. Circuit
Nevada's petition for review of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for a repository for nuclear waste and a portion of the Record of Decision (ROD) the Department of Energy issued governing the transportation of nuclear waste from the production sources to the repository location is denied where some of the state's claims were unripe for review and the remaining claims were without merit.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/041309a.pdf
NOE V. HENDERSON
8th Circuit
The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), 16 U.S.C. sections 703-712, and federal regulations promulgated thereunder, do not preempt Arkansas regulations governing activities involving captive-reared mallard ducks.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/053244p.pdf
STATE OF NEVADA V. DEP'T OF ENERGY
D.C. Circuit
Nevada's petition for review of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for a repository for nuclear waste and a portion of the Record of Decision (ROD) the Department of Energy issued governing the transportation of nuclear waste from the production sources to the repository location is denied where some of the state's claims were unripe for review and the remaining claims were without merit.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/041309a.pdf
NOE V. HENDERSON
8th Circuit
The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), 16 U.S.C. sections 703-712, and federal regulations promulgated thereunder, do not preempt Arkansas regulations governing activities involving captive-reared mallard ducks.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/053244p.pdf
NEWS ROUNDUP
Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin." Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed. For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.) Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself. Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents. But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences....
Cattlemen push for protection Landowners with only surface rights say they deserve to have legal protections for their property and compensation when oil and gas companies damage their lands. Although legislation failed to pass this year that would have provided some protections and compensation for landowners, crafters of the bill have made some revisions with the hopes of getting the bill passed in the 2007 Legislative session. Oil and gas industry representatives say that in order for the proposed legislation to pass, representatives from the ranching and oil and gas industry need to talk and develop a bill that will be acceptable to all parties. Alisa Ogden, a rancher and president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, gave an overview of the proposed bill at a meeting held in Carlsbad on Tuesday. Ogden said that from her experience, large independent companies such as Marbob Energy (based in Artesia) have been the easiest to work with. She said there are some companies that are not good stewards of the land and the proposed legislation has come about largely because of them. Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Chaves, Eddy and Lea, who attended Tuesday's meeting, said that in his opinion the proposed bill has two major "sticking points" that could derail the bill again....
Gas industry keeps ranch alive Rancher Scott Nocks has found new money in the royalties he receives from gas development on his property and has used it to keep his fields in production and his cattle fed. Nocks, who owns a portion of the mineral rights on his 150-acre ranch near Wallace Creek west of Battlement Mesa, has contracted with Noble Energy to extract the natural gas from under his ranch for a share of the profits. "So many of the horror stories we have heard about severed mineral rights (where surface owners have no say in gas development on their land because they do not own the mineral rights) also have another side to the coin," he said. "This flip side is that many of the beautiful hay fields and pastures which border rural residential development would not be there if it weren't for this new ranch-grown product called 'natural gas.'" Nocks, who raises pure-bred Dexter cattle, an Irish breed, and hay, has used the financial gain from his royalties to install a large-scale irrigation system that has kept his hay field green....
Oil, gas leases on block, despite protests The auction of oil and gas leases on 14,400 acres of roadless federal land in Colorado moves ahead today over protests from a U.S. senator, a Congress member and a candidate for governor. Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar, both Democrats, asked the nation's top federal land managers to stop the auction until the state enacts rules governing 4.1 million roadless acres. "We haven't received a response," said Cody Wertz, Sen. Salazar's spokesman, late Wednesday. "The ball is in their court to do the right thing." Bill Ritter, the Democratic candidate for governor, also asked that the leases be withdrawn until the state's rules are completed - a process that could last two more years. Conservationists involved in almost a year of drafting the new roadless rules said more energy leases are in the works, and the lack of protection could trigger a land rush....
Soul of the desert is slipping away The Santa Cruz River flows underground along parts of its 225-mile U-shaped path, so people have always settled where the water surfaced. Tucson grew up along the river, fanning out from lush riparian landscapes that drew throngs of people looking for some green in the desert. Cottonwood trees grew along the river's meandering path. A cienega spread out near the San Xavier del Bac mission, and 60-foot mesquite trees grew nearby. As more settlers moved to Tucson in the 19th century, they demanded more water. They diverted it in ditches, they pumped it from the ground. Ranchers overgrazed the watershed, and builders forced the river into unnatural channels. Finally, when the Santa Cruz could give no more, it slid from view, and people stopped thinking of Tucson as a river city. The story of the Santa Cruz shows how Arizona rivers create communities, define towns, influence culture; and how, when the rivers fade, those communities and Arizona lose an irreplaceable part of themselves....
Wyoming notifies feds of intent to sue over wolf management The state of Wyoming has filed notice that it intends to sue the federal government over both last month's rejection of the state's wolf management plan and federal inaction on the state's request for changes in wolf management regulations. "So far, their position has been their way or the highway," Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Wednesday of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We've chosen neither; we're going to court." Last month, the federal government rejected Wyoming's petition to remove wolves in the state from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. In addition, the federal agency has yet to take action on the state's request to amend regulations. Wyoming has proposed a wolf management plan that generally calls for leaving the animals alone in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks while allowing trophy hunting for them in areas outside the parks. The state has also proposed allowing them to be shot on sight as predators elsewhere in the state....
Trees new prey for poachers The 20-foot tree stands half naked, much of the bark stripped from its trunk. It has only months to live. ''It doesn't know it's dead,'' says U.S. Forest Service botanist David Taylor, pointing to the healthy leaves overhead. This slippery elm has fallen victim to thieves who tore off its bark for profit in the lucrative and burgeoning herbal-remedy market. The gummy lining of the bark has long been used in North America, and especially Appalachia, as a soothing agent for coughs, gastrointestinal ailments and skin irritations. But now, slippery elm and other herbal products that were once used seasonally by locals are in demand by millions. ''I think that trend is going to put pressure on limited resources such as the slippery elm,'' said Dr. Michael Hirt, founding director for the Center for Integrative Medicine in Tarzana. Added John Garrison, a National Park Service spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway: ''There's a huge market in botanicals going into herbal medicines. Virtually everything on public lands has a market.''....
Protesters defend controversial tactics The arrests of a dozen activists this week have prompted a debate within the environmental community about tactics employed in an attempt to stop logging on the roadless area in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Activist Laurel Sutherlin was arrested Tuesday morning after authorities found him standing on a platform swinging from the end of a log used to block the Eight Dollar Road bridge that provided access to the Mike's Gulch logging unit in the Illinois Valley Ranger District. The log had been illegally cut from a nearby botanical area. Eleven protesters were arrested in front of the forest headquarters in Medford for blocking a street on Monday, the day logging started. The Sierra Club doesn't condone illegal activities, stressed Tom Dimitre, chairman of the Rogue Group Sierra Club. "But as far as general protests, you've got the Bush administration ramming these things (roadless logging) down people's throats," he said, noting that polls have shown overwhelming public support for preserving roadless areas. "It leaves folks with few options to keep their sanity. I think protesting is essential."....
Effect of fire retardant on wildlife to be studied In response to a court order, the U.S. Forest Service will complete a study to determine whether using fire retardant to fight wildfires poses risks to wildlife in national forests. Air tankers dropping cherry-red plumes of fire retardant near blazes are a frequent sight over wildfires. During fire season, tanker pilots travel across the country, flying from wildfire to wildfire as needed. The use of fire-retardant drops was one of many tactics employed by firefighters when the Sawtooth and Millard fires raged near the Morongo Basin and San Gorgonio Wilderness in July. But tactics might need to change. The new study is expected to be completed by next spring, and forest officials are waiting to form their conclusions before discussing how the study's results may change firefighting policies, said Nadine Pollock, the study's project manager with the Forest Service. The Forest Service officially proposed continuing its use of fire retardant when the study was announced late last month. A primary environmental question that the study would need to address is whether fire retardant is harmful to fish and other aquatic life. "It could be toxic," said Chris Wehrli, leader of the study team. "It could promote invasive or non-native species, noxious weeds. It could change the chemistry enough to kill desirable plants." If the eight-person team concludes that fire retardant damages the environment, forestry officials would have to prepare a new environmental document that describes new firefighting proposals and how each of those policies would affect forests, Wehrli said. If the team determines that fire retardant can be used safely, firefighters can continue to fight fires under existing rules or make slight modifications to their tactics....
Creating a bountiful lynx buffet on Burnt Mountain Where there are bunnies in Colorado's mountains, there are often lynx, so the U.S. Forest Service and Aspen Skiing Co. are teaming on a project to make part of Burnt Mountain more like a buffet table for both animals. A 43-acre stand of mostly mature spruce and fir trees will be thinned out, and the forest floor will be scared in a manner that spurs regeneration of trees. Snowshoe hares depend largely on conifer needles for food in the winter, so the idea is to provide them with more forage, according to Kelly Colfer, a principal owner of Western Bionomics LLC, a consultant to the Skico. By improving snowshoe hare habitat, the Skico and Forest Service hope to make the area more inviting to lynx, a reclusive predator reintroduced to the state starting in 1999....
Ranger Danger In Central Arizona's Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests, sheriff's deputies battled a hammer-wielding man apparently drunk and high on mushrooms. Next door in the Coconino National Forest, a female federal officer single-handedly struggled with a drunk camper until reinforcements zapped him with a Taser gun. Further north in Montana, rangers tracked a man far into the forest, acting on a report that he'd beaten his wife at a campground. When cornered, the suspect turned his pit bull loose on the rangers. Closer to home, 60 miles of national forest along the Arizona-Mexico border have become a jungle of illicit trafficking, where visitors are warned of the dangers up-front--and enter at their own peril. Much of this crime is blamed on ever-growing urban areas, which increasingly brush at the forests' fringes. Even as these once-bucolic preserves become crime-ridden enclaves, the Forest Service has seen its law-enforcement staff cut by a third since the early 1990s. Over that time, "the size of the national forests certainly hasn't gotten any smaller," says Bill Dougan, president of the Forest Service Council, a union representing about 20,000 agency employees. He blames the Forest Service for skewing its priorities away from law enforcement, placing the public and employees at greater risk. "This has been a budget issue in our agency for a number of years, in terms of what the agency chooses to spend its money on."....More of about a six-month campaign to increase the budgets for Federal law enforcement. If he was really concerned about the safety of the public, he would be calling for the Forest Service to contract with local law enforcement who can provide the protection more efficiently. But that would mean fewer union members.
Ranching Over Rockets While leasing land in Cochise County to test some of its products, one of Tucson's biggest employers and manufacturers recently found itself in hot water. The rural neighborhood north of Willcox is almost entirely agricultural and residential. Many residents raise livestock and keep horses for riding. Arenas, where riders practice rodeo skills, dot the landscape, along with fields of alfalfa, squash, pumpkins, corn and chilies. Considering the rural lifestyle here, some locals were shocked to learn that Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems leased land from one of their neighbors in 2005, set up a five-acre test site--without a special-use permit, in violation of county zoning laws--and were testing missile components. Area residents began hearing what sounded like a cannon being fired. There were also strange lights flickering from the site on some nights....
Copper joins conservation partnership A new partnership between Copper Mountain Resort, the U.S. Forest Service and the nonprofit National Forest Foundation could raise up to $75,000 per year for local conservation projects on the White River National Forest. The program will launch Nov. 3, Copper’s opening day, and will raise money by soliciting voluntary $1 per night donations from resort guests. The money generated by the resort will be matched with a 50 percent grant through the National Forest Foundation. A similar program in Aspen raises money for the Roaring Fork Conservancy, and the National Forest Foundation also partners with Timberline Resort in Oregon and Snowbird, in Utah. The Snowbird program started last winter and raised as much as $10,000 to $15,000 per month during the peak season, said National Forest Foundation president Bill Possiel. The National Forest Foundation is also discussing the program with Vail Resorts, he added....
'Closed-door deal' at BLM? A New York congressman is calling for an investigation into whether Utah's new Bureau of Land Management director violated the public trust by pledging to help open federal lands to oil and gas development. A memo released today by environmentalists and written last month by Robert Weidner, a lobbyist for several Utah counties, says that Henry Bisson, the state's interim BLM director, and the national BLM deputy director, Jim Hughes, promised to take steps to "promote economic growth and reduce restrictions on access to the public lands." The memo reported on a meeting attended by commissioners from booming oil and gas counties and representatives from 10 major oil companies drilling in the state. Environmentalists and New York Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a longtime advocate of environmental causes and Utah wilderness, blasted the arrangement as "apparently illegal" and sent a letter to Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney asking for an investigation into the conduct of Hughes and Bisson....
BLM chief frets over partisanship A Bush administration official complained about the partisanship that accompanies oil and gas development in the West at an industry conference Tuesday, the same day a senator urged the administration to slow down on Western gas drilling. "If you think of the mantra that all politics is local, it's surprising sometimes that management of public lands is so partisan," said Kathleen Clarke, director of the Bureau of Land Management, which is in charge of leasing the rights to drill for gas on public lands. Clarke spoke Tuesday at Rocky Mountain Natural Gas 2006, a conference for energy industry executives and employees. She said she sees the BLM's mission as protecting Americans' "quality of life," a theme that includes not only land protection but also economic prosperity. "What is at stake is our ability to accommodate the growing population and urbanization of the West," Clarke said....
Global Warming: Utah's climate shift would touch all species Having spent 35 years on the Great Salt Lake and its surrounding marshes as a student and biologist studying everything from pelicans to pintails, Val Bachman is a keen observer of nature. He has seen floods and droughts, and watched how those changes have affected the birds on one of the Western Hemisphere's key waterfowl and shorebird habitats. What the Division of Wildlife Resources biologist has observed has convinced him that global warming is a reality already affecting Utah. "We've had some awfully significant cycles on the Great Salt Lake," said Bachman, the longtime Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area superintendent. "The extremes seem to be getting closer together. We've had some real wet periods and real dry periods."....
Ranchers ride out summer rebuilding from ashes of spring People still feel the heat of March's wildfires. "We're doing as well as can be expected," Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook said. "We had several ranches totally liquidated. Most of the others are in the process of rebuilding fences." Dead cattle, scorched pastures, seared horses and a lot of work are the legacy of the fires, and Roberts County was one of the hottest spots. "We're saying just short of 300,000 acres, or roughly half the county, burned. There were 400 miles of fence lost," Cook said. Roberts officials are scheduled to meet today to decide how to distribute about $80,000 in donations meant to compensate for loss of livestock, fences and grass....
Fire leaves area ag producers uncertain The Dawes and Sioux County Complex fires are now 100 percent contained. But some ranchers are still reeling from the damage and have not fully assessed the damage of their property or decided what their next plan of action will be. Ron Scherbarth lives south of Chadron. Fires came within a half mile from his family's place and three quarters of a mile from his house, he said. He had “about 100 acres of pasture land and some land up in the buttes burned by the Deadhorse fire” and the Roberts Tract fire took out all of his summer grazing land for this year. Luckily none of the family's cattle was lost. When the fires were about two miles away from the cattle, his mother and sister hopped on four-wheelers and got the herds to safety using their normal cattle gate routes. The herds now are grazing in their winter grazing fields. Scherbarth was unable to assist with the cattle as he was one of many battling the fire. He began duty Tuesday, July 25 fighting the Roberts fire and worked through Monday, July 31 and “slept very little.” After that the fires were taken over by bigger crews, he said....
Prairies' anthrax outbreak kills livestock An outbreak of anthrax has killed hundreds of farm animals in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and has ranchers in affected areas scrambling to make sure their livestock are protected from the naturally occurring but deadly bacterial disease. As of this week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had reported anthrax had been found on 17 farms in Manitoba and 118 animals had died. Hardest hit, however, was Saskatchewan and a large area to the east of Saskatoon, where 615 animals have died on 123 different farms since the outbreak was first noticed a month ago....
Out on Video: Jubal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Not rated, contains adult situations, sexual innuendo and violence. A mature, literate horse opera in the Louis L'Amour tradition, Delmer Daves' 1956 Western is based on a Paul Wellman novel and features an excellent cast headed by Ford in the title role, that of a quintessential Man With a Past. He doesn't go looking for trouble, but it always seems to find him. Thanks to friendly rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine, fresh from his Oscar-winning triumph in Marty), Jubal is given shelter and then the foreman's job on Shep's ranch. This puts Jubal at odds with the vengeful Pinky (Rod Steiger), who coveted the job for himself and whose affections for Shep's lusty wife, Mae (Valerie French), have been rebuffed because Mae now has her eye on Jubal. Shakespearean echoes abound as Pinky attempts to engineer Jubal's downfall by spreading vicious innuendo about him and Mae. Beautifully filmed in CinemaScope by Charles Lawton Jr., Jubal is something of a miniclassic, with intelligent plotting, layered characterizations and fine performances all around....
Calling all Kern bachelor cowboys A new reality TV show is searching Kern County and other Central Valley communities for lonely farmers, cowboys and ranchers who are too busy tending to cattle and crops to find themselves a misses. "The Farmer Wants a Wife" is one of the newest shows by the producers of "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" and is slated to air this winter. But first, the producers need to find six boot-wearing bachelors to star in the show and they're turning to California's rural areas to find them. "We need to get the hottest cowboys possible," said Jennifer Carollo, the show's casting director, who described the project as "The Simple Life" meets "The Bachelor." The show will pair each guy with three city girls who are fed up with the Los Angeles dating scene and want to find love and the traditional way of life....
Inaugural Mail Trail ride set for September For 30 years, the Camp Verde-to-Payson mail trail served as the only line of communication between the two communities, along with several outlying ranches and the tiny mountain towns of Pine and Strawberry. From 1884 to 1914, a succession of young and hearty mail riders brought town residents and rural ranchers the many wants and necessities the outside world had to offer. They brought medicine, cloth, books and booze, and much to their dismay, they even delivered the annual Sears catalogue a task that required a spare mule. Their arrival was more often than not an event to celebrate. Now, one year after the Forest Service gave official recognition the route the riders followed, it is time to celebrate again....
The Receding Tide of Waves It’s getting harder and harder to catch a good wave here in the Valley. Not surfing, but an old-fashioned Westcliffe Wave, the hallmark of rural friendliness. These waves take many forms. Often it’s a friendly lifting of an index finger as a rancher rattles by in an ancient pickup. It could be the full-handed wave of a retiree in a little two-door sedan. Sometimes it’s the ripple of fingers as a motorist’s grip unfurls from the steering wheel for a moment in greeting to another driver headed in the opposite direction. A few years ago waves were pretty ubiquitous around the Valley. We got one from just about everyone we passed on the road. Times are changing though. The waves are becoming more seasonal. We get a lot more waves in the winter, when the Valley isn’t filled with tourists and part-time residents who live in the big city the rest of the year. Folks who, when waved at, don’t wave back, because they just aren’t used to someone being friendly for no reason other than that they share the same patch of pavement....
& HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling Sharon.
Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin." Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed. For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.) Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself. Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents. But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences....
Cattlemen push for protection Landowners with only surface rights say they deserve to have legal protections for their property and compensation when oil and gas companies damage their lands. Although legislation failed to pass this year that would have provided some protections and compensation for landowners, crafters of the bill have made some revisions with the hopes of getting the bill passed in the 2007 Legislative session. Oil and gas industry representatives say that in order for the proposed legislation to pass, representatives from the ranching and oil and gas industry need to talk and develop a bill that will be acceptable to all parties. Alisa Ogden, a rancher and president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, gave an overview of the proposed bill at a meeting held in Carlsbad on Tuesday. Ogden said that from her experience, large independent companies such as Marbob Energy (based in Artesia) have been the easiest to work with. She said there are some companies that are not good stewards of the land and the proposed legislation has come about largely because of them. Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Chaves, Eddy and Lea, who attended Tuesday's meeting, said that in his opinion the proposed bill has two major "sticking points" that could derail the bill again....
Gas industry keeps ranch alive Rancher Scott Nocks has found new money in the royalties he receives from gas development on his property and has used it to keep his fields in production and his cattle fed. Nocks, who owns a portion of the mineral rights on his 150-acre ranch near Wallace Creek west of Battlement Mesa, has contracted with Noble Energy to extract the natural gas from under his ranch for a share of the profits. "So many of the horror stories we have heard about severed mineral rights (where surface owners have no say in gas development on their land because they do not own the mineral rights) also have another side to the coin," he said. "This flip side is that many of the beautiful hay fields and pastures which border rural residential development would not be there if it weren't for this new ranch-grown product called 'natural gas.'" Nocks, who raises pure-bred Dexter cattle, an Irish breed, and hay, has used the financial gain from his royalties to install a large-scale irrigation system that has kept his hay field green....
Oil, gas leases on block, despite protests The auction of oil and gas leases on 14,400 acres of roadless federal land in Colorado moves ahead today over protests from a U.S. senator, a Congress member and a candidate for governor. Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar, both Democrats, asked the nation's top federal land managers to stop the auction until the state enacts rules governing 4.1 million roadless acres. "We haven't received a response," said Cody Wertz, Sen. Salazar's spokesman, late Wednesday. "The ball is in their court to do the right thing." Bill Ritter, the Democratic candidate for governor, also asked that the leases be withdrawn until the state's rules are completed - a process that could last two more years. Conservationists involved in almost a year of drafting the new roadless rules said more energy leases are in the works, and the lack of protection could trigger a land rush....
Soul of the desert is slipping away The Santa Cruz River flows underground along parts of its 225-mile U-shaped path, so people have always settled where the water surfaced. Tucson grew up along the river, fanning out from lush riparian landscapes that drew throngs of people looking for some green in the desert. Cottonwood trees grew along the river's meandering path. A cienega spread out near the San Xavier del Bac mission, and 60-foot mesquite trees grew nearby. As more settlers moved to Tucson in the 19th century, they demanded more water. They diverted it in ditches, they pumped it from the ground. Ranchers overgrazed the watershed, and builders forced the river into unnatural channels. Finally, when the Santa Cruz could give no more, it slid from view, and people stopped thinking of Tucson as a river city. The story of the Santa Cruz shows how Arizona rivers create communities, define towns, influence culture; and how, when the rivers fade, those communities and Arizona lose an irreplaceable part of themselves....
Wyoming notifies feds of intent to sue over wolf management The state of Wyoming has filed notice that it intends to sue the federal government over both last month's rejection of the state's wolf management plan and federal inaction on the state's request for changes in wolf management regulations. "So far, their position has been their way or the highway," Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Wednesday of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We've chosen neither; we're going to court." Last month, the federal government rejected Wyoming's petition to remove wolves in the state from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. In addition, the federal agency has yet to take action on the state's request to amend regulations. Wyoming has proposed a wolf management plan that generally calls for leaving the animals alone in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks while allowing trophy hunting for them in areas outside the parks. The state has also proposed allowing them to be shot on sight as predators elsewhere in the state....
Trees new prey for poachers The 20-foot tree stands half naked, much of the bark stripped from its trunk. It has only months to live. ''It doesn't know it's dead,'' says U.S. Forest Service botanist David Taylor, pointing to the healthy leaves overhead. This slippery elm has fallen victim to thieves who tore off its bark for profit in the lucrative and burgeoning herbal-remedy market. The gummy lining of the bark has long been used in North America, and especially Appalachia, as a soothing agent for coughs, gastrointestinal ailments and skin irritations. But now, slippery elm and other herbal products that were once used seasonally by locals are in demand by millions. ''I think that trend is going to put pressure on limited resources such as the slippery elm,'' said Dr. Michael Hirt, founding director for the Center for Integrative Medicine in Tarzana. Added John Garrison, a National Park Service spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway: ''There's a huge market in botanicals going into herbal medicines. Virtually everything on public lands has a market.''....
Protesters defend controversial tactics The arrests of a dozen activists this week have prompted a debate within the environmental community about tactics employed in an attempt to stop logging on the roadless area in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Activist Laurel Sutherlin was arrested Tuesday morning after authorities found him standing on a platform swinging from the end of a log used to block the Eight Dollar Road bridge that provided access to the Mike's Gulch logging unit in the Illinois Valley Ranger District. The log had been illegally cut from a nearby botanical area. Eleven protesters were arrested in front of the forest headquarters in Medford for blocking a street on Monday, the day logging started. The Sierra Club doesn't condone illegal activities, stressed Tom Dimitre, chairman of the Rogue Group Sierra Club. "But as far as general protests, you've got the Bush administration ramming these things (roadless logging) down people's throats," he said, noting that polls have shown overwhelming public support for preserving roadless areas. "It leaves folks with few options to keep their sanity. I think protesting is essential."....
Effect of fire retardant on wildlife to be studied In response to a court order, the U.S. Forest Service will complete a study to determine whether using fire retardant to fight wildfires poses risks to wildlife in national forests. Air tankers dropping cherry-red plumes of fire retardant near blazes are a frequent sight over wildfires. During fire season, tanker pilots travel across the country, flying from wildfire to wildfire as needed. The use of fire-retardant drops was one of many tactics employed by firefighters when the Sawtooth and Millard fires raged near the Morongo Basin and San Gorgonio Wilderness in July. But tactics might need to change. The new study is expected to be completed by next spring, and forest officials are waiting to form their conclusions before discussing how the study's results may change firefighting policies, said Nadine Pollock, the study's project manager with the Forest Service. The Forest Service officially proposed continuing its use of fire retardant when the study was announced late last month. A primary environmental question that the study would need to address is whether fire retardant is harmful to fish and other aquatic life. "It could be toxic," said Chris Wehrli, leader of the study team. "It could promote invasive or non-native species, noxious weeds. It could change the chemistry enough to kill desirable plants." If the eight-person team concludes that fire retardant damages the environment, forestry officials would have to prepare a new environmental document that describes new firefighting proposals and how each of those policies would affect forests, Wehrli said. If the team determines that fire retardant can be used safely, firefighters can continue to fight fires under existing rules or make slight modifications to their tactics....
Creating a bountiful lynx buffet on Burnt Mountain Where there are bunnies in Colorado's mountains, there are often lynx, so the U.S. Forest Service and Aspen Skiing Co. are teaming on a project to make part of Burnt Mountain more like a buffet table for both animals. A 43-acre stand of mostly mature spruce and fir trees will be thinned out, and the forest floor will be scared in a manner that spurs regeneration of trees. Snowshoe hares depend largely on conifer needles for food in the winter, so the idea is to provide them with more forage, according to Kelly Colfer, a principal owner of Western Bionomics LLC, a consultant to the Skico. By improving snowshoe hare habitat, the Skico and Forest Service hope to make the area more inviting to lynx, a reclusive predator reintroduced to the state starting in 1999....
Ranger Danger In Central Arizona's Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests, sheriff's deputies battled a hammer-wielding man apparently drunk and high on mushrooms. Next door in the Coconino National Forest, a female federal officer single-handedly struggled with a drunk camper until reinforcements zapped him with a Taser gun. Further north in Montana, rangers tracked a man far into the forest, acting on a report that he'd beaten his wife at a campground. When cornered, the suspect turned his pit bull loose on the rangers. Closer to home, 60 miles of national forest along the Arizona-Mexico border have become a jungle of illicit trafficking, where visitors are warned of the dangers up-front--and enter at their own peril. Much of this crime is blamed on ever-growing urban areas, which increasingly brush at the forests' fringes. Even as these once-bucolic preserves become crime-ridden enclaves, the Forest Service has seen its law-enforcement staff cut by a third since the early 1990s. Over that time, "the size of the national forests certainly hasn't gotten any smaller," says Bill Dougan, president of the Forest Service Council, a union representing about 20,000 agency employees. He blames the Forest Service for skewing its priorities away from law enforcement, placing the public and employees at greater risk. "This has been a budget issue in our agency for a number of years, in terms of what the agency chooses to spend its money on."....More of about a six-month campaign to increase the budgets for Federal law enforcement. If he was really concerned about the safety of the public, he would be calling for the Forest Service to contract with local law enforcement who can provide the protection more efficiently. But that would mean fewer union members.
Ranching Over Rockets While leasing land in Cochise County to test some of its products, one of Tucson's biggest employers and manufacturers recently found itself in hot water. The rural neighborhood north of Willcox is almost entirely agricultural and residential. Many residents raise livestock and keep horses for riding. Arenas, where riders practice rodeo skills, dot the landscape, along with fields of alfalfa, squash, pumpkins, corn and chilies. Considering the rural lifestyle here, some locals were shocked to learn that Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems leased land from one of their neighbors in 2005, set up a five-acre test site--without a special-use permit, in violation of county zoning laws--and were testing missile components. Area residents began hearing what sounded like a cannon being fired. There were also strange lights flickering from the site on some nights....
Copper joins conservation partnership A new partnership between Copper Mountain Resort, the U.S. Forest Service and the nonprofit National Forest Foundation could raise up to $75,000 per year for local conservation projects on the White River National Forest. The program will launch Nov. 3, Copper’s opening day, and will raise money by soliciting voluntary $1 per night donations from resort guests. The money generated by the resort will be matched with a 50 percent grant through the National Forest Foundation. A similar program in Aspen raises money for the Roaring Fork Conservancy, and the National Forest Foundation also partners with Timberline Resort in Oregon and Snowbird, in Utah. The Snowbird program started last winter and raised as much as $10,000 to $15,000 per month during the peak season, said National Forest Foundation president Bill Possiel. The National Forest Foundation is also discussing the program with Vail Resorts, he added....
'Closed-door deal' at BLM? A New York congressman is calling for an investigation into whether Utah's new Bureau of Land Management director violated the public trust by pledging to help open federal lands to oil and gas development. A memo released today by environmentalists and written last month by Robert Weidner, a lobbyist for several Utah counties, says that Henry Bisson, the state's interim BLM director, and the national BLM deputy director, Jim Hughes, promised to take steps to "promote economic growth and reduce restrictions on access to the public lands." The memo reported on a meeting attended by commissioners from booming oil and gas counties and representatives from 10 major oil companies drilling in the state. Environmentalists and New York Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a longtime advocate of environmental causes and Utah wilderness, blasted the arrangement as "apparently illegal" and sent a letter to Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney asking for an investigation into the conduct of Hughes and Bisson....
BLM chief frets over partisanship A Bush administration official complained about the partisanship that accompanies oil and gas development in the West at an industry conference Tuesday, the same day a senator urged the administration to slow down on Western gas drilling. "If you think of the mantra that all politics is local, it's surprising sometimes that management of public lands is so partisan," said Kathleen Clarke, director of the Bureau of Land Management, which is in charge of leasing the rights to drill for gas on public lands. Clarke spoke Tuesday at Rocky Mountain Natural Gas 2006, a conference for energy industry executives and employees. She said she sees the BLM's mission as protecting Americans' "quality of life," a theme that includes not only land protection but also economic prosperity. "What is at stake is our ability to accommodate the growing population and urbanization of the West," Clarke said....
Global Warming: Utah's climate shift would touch all species Having spent 35 years on the Great Salt Lake and its surrounding marshes as a student and biologist studying everything from pelicans to pintails, Val Bachman is a keen observer of nature. He has seen floods and droughts, and watched how those changes have affected the birds on one of the Western Hemisphere's key waterfowl and shorebird habitats. What the Division of Wildlife Resources biologist has observed has convinced him that global warming is a reality already affecting Utah. "We've had some awfully significant cycles on the Great Salt Lake," said Bachman, the longtime Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area superintendent. "The extremes seem to be getting closer together. We've had some real wet periods and real dry periods."....
Ranchers ride out summer rebuilding from ashes of spring People still feel the heat of March's wildfires. "We're doing as well as can be expected," Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook said. "We had several ranches totally liquidated. Most of the others are in the process of rebuilding fences." Dead cattle, scorched pastures, seared horses and a lot of work are the legacy of the fires, and Roberts County was one of the hottest spots. "We're saying just short of 300,000 acres, or roughly half the county, burned. There were 400 miles of fence lost," Cook said. Roberts officials are scheduled to meet today to decide how to distribute about $80,000 in donations meant to compensate for loss of livestock, fences and grass....
Fire leaves area ag producers uncertain The Dawes and Sioux County Complex fires are now 100 percent contained. But some ranchers are still reeling from the damage and have not fully assessed the damage of their property or decided what their next plan of action will be. Ron Scherbarth lives south of Chadron. Fires came within a half mile from his family's place and three quarters of a mile from his house, he said. He had “about 100 acres of pasture land and some land up in the buttes burned by the Deadhorse fire” and the Roberts Tract fire took out all of his summer grazing land for this year. Luckily none of the family's cattle was lost. When the fires were about two miles away from the cattle, his mother and sister hopped on four-wheelers and got the herds to safety using their normal cattle gate routes. The herds now are grazing in their winter grazing fields. Scherbarth was unable to assist with the cattle as he was one of many battling the fire. He began duty Tuesday, July 25 fighting the Roberts fire and worked through Monday, July 31 and “slept very little.” After that the fires were taken over by bigger crews, he said....
Prairies' anthrax outbreak kills livestock An outbreak of anthrax has killed hundreds of farm animals in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and has ranchers in affected areas scrambling to make sure their livestock are protected from the naturally occurring but deadly bacterial disease. As of this week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had reported anthrax had been found on 17 farms in Manitoba and 118 animals had died. Hardest hit, however, was Saskatchewan and a large area to the east of Saskatoon, where 615 animals have died on 123 different farms since the outbreak was first noticed a month ago....
Out on Video: Jubal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Not rated, contains adult situations, sexual innuendo and violence. A mature, literate horse opera in the Louis L'Amour tradition, Delmer Daves' 1956 Western is based on a Paul Wellman novel and features an excellent cast headed by Ford in the title role, that of a quintessential Man With a Past. He doesn't go looking for trouble, but it always seems to find him. Thanks to friendly rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine, fresh from his Oscar-winning triumph in Marty), Jubal is given shelter and then the foreman's job on Shep's ranch. This puts Jubal at odds with the vengeful Pinky (Rod Steiger), who coveted the job for himself and whose affections for Shep's lusty wife, Mae (Valerie French), have been rebuffed because Mae now has her eye on Jubal. Shakespearean echoes abound as Pinky attempts to engineer Jubal's downfall by spreading vicious innuendo about him and Mae. Beautifully filmed in CinemaScope by Charles Lawton Jr., Jubal is something of a miniclassic, with intelligent plotting, layered characterizations and fine performances all around....
Calling all Kern bachelor cowboys A new reality TV show is searching Kern County and other Central Valley communities for lonely farmers, cowboys and ranchers who are too busy tending to cattle and crops to find themselves a misses. "The Farmer Wants a Wife" is one of the newest shows by the producers of "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" and is slated to air this winter. But first, the producers need to find six boot-wearing bachelors to star in the show and they're turning to California's rural areas to find them. "We need to get the hottest cowboys possible," said Jennifer Carollo, the show's casting director, who described the project as "The Simple Life" meets "The Bachelor." The show will pair each guy with three city girls who are fed up with the Los Angeles dating scene and want to find love and the traditional way of life....
Inaugural Mail Trail ride set for September For 30 years, the Camp Verde-to-Payson mail trail served as the only line of communication between the two communities, along with several outlying ranches and the tiny mountain towns of Pine and Strawberry. From 1884 to 1914, a succession of young and hearty mail riders brought town residents and rural ranchers the many wants and necessities the outside world had to offer. They brought medicine, cloth, books and booze, and much to their dismay, they even delivered the annual Sears catalogue a task that required a spare mule. Their arrival was more often than not an event to celebrate. Now, one year after the Forest Service gave official recognition the route the riders followed, it is time to celebrate again....
The Receding Tide of Waves It’s getting harder and harder to catch a good wave here in the Valley. Not surfing, but an old-fashioned Westcliffe Wave, the hallmark of rural friendliness. These waves take many forms. Often it’s a friendly lifting of an index finger as a rancher rattles by in an ancient pickup. It could be the full-handed wave of a retiree in a little two-door sedan. Sometimes it’s the ripple of fingers as a motorist’s grip unfurls from the steering wheel for a moment in greeting to another driver headed in the opposite direction. A few years ago waves were pretty ubiquitous around the Valley. We got one from just about everyone we passed on the road. Times are changing though. The waves are becoming more seasonal. We get a lot more waves in the winter, when the Valley isn’t filled with tourists and part-time residents who live in the big city the rest of the year. Folks who, when waved at, don’t wave back, because they just aren’t used to someone being friendly for no reason other than that they share the same patch of pavement....
& HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling Sharon.
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