NEWS ROUNDUP
V.P.-Turned-Environmentalist Al Gore Creates Frenzy At U. Of T. He's a former Vice-President of the United States. His movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", is up for an Oscar. And he's the poster boy for the environment - printed on recycled paper of course. All of which is making Al Gore a hot ticket in Toronto. The American politician turned environmentalist came to the U. of T. Wednesday night for a long awaited speech, and there were throngs of fans to greet him. So were ticket scalpers, who are seeing a different type of green. Reports indicate more than 20,000 people were trying to get their hands on a ducat for the event. But there's only room for 1,500 of them inside. What tickets there were originally cost $20. They sold out almost immediately. "We had about 23,000 hits on our website, which of course collapsed the website because we couldn't sustain it," muses the U. of T.'s Ingrid Stefanovic. "So there's been a huge enthusiasm for the event." And not just huge but expensive. The demand was so high that on the Internet auction site Craig's List, people were offering up to $500 for a single pass....
Wyo. Senate turns back industry amendment A move to remove a section that industry doesn't like from a bill reforming Wyoming's eminent domain law failed Tuesday on a tie vote in the Senate. The Senate went on to adopt House Bill 124 on a strong voice vote. It comes up today or second reading in the Senate. The contentious section in the bill says fair market value can be determined by the price paid for other comparable easements. It also allows disclosure of confidential settlement agreements if a case goes to court and the judge agrees the sales price is relevant to a claim. Opponents of the section argue it will lead to more court cases if left in the bill. They also contend the existing eminent domain law works well and doesn't need a fix. The original purpose of the bill is a response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case out of Connecticut. In that case the court upheld the action of a public government entity which condemned private property and transferred it to a private entity for development....See email from Laura Goodman
Midland oilman shares water study plans An Austin hydrology and water resource specialist firm will conduct a year-long study of an aquifer under Clayton Williams' farm and the Belding area in Pecos County. Plans were presented Tuesday at Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District meeting in the Pecos County Courthouse in Fort Stockton. The meeting was set for January, but was postponed due to weather. Williams, a Midland oilman who grew up in Fort Stockton, said he studied the water under his property in the early 1980s and this is just an extension. The information will be available first to the groundwater district, then to the public through the board. Purposes of the study are to get updated information about the Edwards-Trinity aquifer and well conditions, compile data into a form that can be updated continuously and assess groundwater conditions, water quality and recharge, Thornhill Group President Mike Thornhill said. "We already know there's enough water just from producing wells to last 55 years. We know there's recharge. We want to make sure Fort Stockton has enough, not only for today, but for growth," Williams said. "We'll take the study one step at a time. If at some point Midland needs the water and we can make the economics work," Williams indicated he could sell some to Midland. " ... But that's an if."....
Pipelines studied for coalbed water The Wyoming Pipeline Authority is trying to determine whether it makes sense to develop a network of pipelines to carry coalbed methane water away from the Powder River Basin and discharge it into the North Platte or Bighorn rivers. Don Likwartz, supervisor of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the amount of water being discharged by coalbed methane wells is growing rapidly. He said that by the end of October 2006, the industry already had produced more water than it did in all of 2005. When the final numbers are in, Likwartz expects the industry will have produced 680 million barrels of water last year. "It's going to be the highest year ever for water production," he said. Some view that as a problem because of what's in the water. Some ranchers and landowners complain that salts and other compounds in the discharged water kill trees and grass. Environmental regulators in Montana have sued Wyoming in an attempt to get the state to regulate methane water discharges into rivers that flow into Montana....
Wyo. Panel angrily rejects bill on wolf plan Several legislators who voted against a proposed wolf management bill Wednesday expressed bitter frustration with how the federal government has treated the state since the predators were reintroduced in the northern Rocky Mountains more than a decade ago. "I'm frustrated. I'm irritated," said Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, chairman of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee. "Quite frankly, I'm pissed with the Fish and Wildlife Service." Childers' committee unanimously rejected a proposed Senate bill and associated amendments that would have accepted the federal government's proposal to designate a permanent management area in northwestern Wyoming. The committee vote came after several ranchers, outfitters and representatives of agricultural groups testified that wolves are killing too many elk, moose and livestock in the state....
Wolf center seeking to breed two endangered species Just beyond a path of wood chips, a gray wolf peers out from its fenced-in enclosure. The 7-year-old male, Lukas, is one of the Wolf Conservation Center's "ambassador" wolves, shown to visitors to help dispel myths about an animal that has fascinated and frightened humans. Farther up the path, past a roped-off area, are two enclosures for the center's more elusive residents - breeding pairs of Mexican gray wolves and red wolves, endangered species driven to near extinction in the 20th century. The breeding pairs don't have names. They are not shown to the public and are mostly hidden by plastic slats in their fencing to minimize contact with people and to lessen distractions during the breeding season - which ends this month. The breeding pairs are part of federal programs designed to bolster the population of both species so they can be reintroduced to their traditional ranges - the Southwest for the Mexican gray wolf and the southeastern United States for the red wolf....
Tre Arrow offers wrong lessons Tre Arrow spends his days in the Wilkinson Road jail, waiting for the legal system to deal with an extradition order that would send him back to the U.S. Before he was arrested for shoplifting in Victoria, Arrow was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list, accused of firebombing and burning logging and gravel trucks in Oregon. Since his arrest, he has pleaded guilty to the shoplifting charge and applied for refugee status. Arrow -- who changed his name from Michael Scarpitti for spiritual reasons -- is an environmental activist who will go any length for his cause. What makes Arrow different? Well, he has a network of supporters and $350,000 has been collected for his legal war chest. And the other inmates aren't guest lecturers in local schools....
Some wildland firefighters shun top ranks, poll finds A survey of wildland firefighters indicates many are reluctant to volunteer for supervisory jobs after an incident commander was criminally charged in the deaths of four firefighters in Washington state. But a spokeswoman for federal firefighting agencies said Wednesday there has been no decline in the numbers of firefighters signing up to lead management teams. Ellreese Daniels, a former U.S. Forest Service incident commander, was charged in federal court here last month with involuntary manslaughter and lying to investigators in the wake of the deaths of four firefighters in the Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan County in July 2001. Responding to concerns that the federal charges would make wildfire incident commanders more reluctant to serve if their decisions could lead to a prison sentence, the International Association of Wildland Fires conducted an online survey of its members Jan. 28-Feb. 15....
A speck of a species – felling pines across West The pristine mountainsides of the Gore Range, across the lower Blue River Valley, have taken on a new color lately. The red hue stretching like fingers through the normally dark-green forests is a telltale sign – even from a distance – of the devastation being wreaked by a tiny culprit, about the size of a match head: the mountain pine beetle. This color is becoming increasingly common in northern Colorado and throughout the West as the tiny beetle lays waste to vast swaths of vulnerable lodgepole pine forests, typically monocultures of trees that are weakened by drought and are all about the same mature age – perfect fodder for the voracious beetle. The destruction, which has killed millions of lodgepole pines in Colorado alone, will alter the look of the landscape and is a risk to local economies that depend on mountain tourism. It's also prompting a major response because of concerns about the threat to life and property from falling trees, as well as the increased risk of wildfire. "The forest is resetting itself on a landscape scale," says Jim Maxwell, a US Forest Service spokesman for the Rocky Mountain region....
Audit shows Interior workers exposed Workers at the massive U.S. Department of Interior headquarters in downtown Washington are exposed to potentially hazardous waste and life-threatening fire hazards, according to an internal audit. The findings come as employee health complaints have skyrocketed in connection with the large-scale renovation of the 71-year-old building, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the D.C.-based organization that released the audit Wednesday. Interior officials said they expected to find health and safety violations when they requested the audit. Most of the findings stemmed from the modernization work itself, such as the removal of asbestos and installation of new electrical systems. “The buildings are completely safe for employees and visitors,” spokesman Frank Quimby said. Officials have already started addressing the findings....
Sharpshooters cull deer in northwestern Minnesota Sharpshooters are culling deer in northwestern Minnesota to try to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis. Six sharpshooters with the U.S. Department of Agriculture began killing deer on Tuesday at 56 baited sites in an area east of Thief River Falls, and more shooters are expected to arrive this week. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife health program coordinator Michelle Powell said the culling likely will continue through March. She estimates that hundreds of deer will be shot. The deer are being killed in an area where an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis has infected both cattle and wild deer. DNR aerial surveys indicate there are about 1,000 deer in the area. "It's extremely critical," Powell said. "The risk of not stopping it basically means an ongoing transmission potential between deer and cattle."....
Anti-cruelty bill advances (Colo) A sweeping animal protection bill that would ban everything from bestiality to dogs' riding unrestrained in the back of pickups was endorsed by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The bill also would extend domestic violence protection orders to pets, make it easier to pursue felony charges in animal abuse cases, remove a requirement that veterinarians get a court order to euthanize some seriously injured or abused animals and change the definition of dangerous dogs. But rural lawmakers objected to its broad nature and the pickup ban. "What I see is a real difference between urban and rural Colorado," Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, said of the pickup provision, which includes an exemption for ranching and farming. "If anyone's been out to the Western Slope lately, that's how the dog goes to work. That's how the dog travels with the family." Indeed, some witnesses expressed concern that the measure would hinder the ability of ranchers and rural law enforcement officers to shoot injured animals without a veterinarian's consent....
Mad-cow scrutiny is scaled way back While Washington ranchers are raising a fuss over Canadian cattle and the danger of mad-cow disease, the region's only mad-cow testing lab is quietly preparing to close March 1. The lab at Washington State University in Pullman opened after the nation's first mad-cow case spurred a flurry of new safeguards against the fatal, brain-wasting disease. But three years later, many of those measures are being dismantled. Others proposed after the infected dairy cow was discovered in Mabton, Yakima County, never materialized. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently scaled back mad-cow testing by more than 90 percent, leading to closure of the WSU lab and several others around the country. The agency has backed off plans for a mandatory animal-tracking system, which can help identify the source of an infection and other animals at risk, and now says the program will be voluntary. Several of the unappetizing — and risky — practices that came to light in the wake of the initial mad-cow case are still allowed, including the use of cow blood as a food supplement for calves. And even the prohibition on slaughtering sickly cows, called downers, for human consumption has not been made permanent, though it is being enforced....
Sitting Bull's kin seek home for chief's bones Sitting Bull's four surviving great-grandchildren want the bones of their famous ancestor moved from a cement-clad grave in South Dakota to Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. Ernie LaPointe of Lead, S.D., the spokesman for the family, said that for 50 years, Sitting Bull's grave on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Mobridge, S.D., has been neglected and dishonored. Now, LaPointe says, new owners of the property plan to exploit the legendary Lakota political and spiritual leader's memory. LaPointe and his sisters, Marlene Little Spotted Horse Andersen, Ethel Little Spotted Horse Bates and Lydia Little Spotted Horse Red Paint, sent letters Wednesday advising government and tribal officials in the Dakotas and Montana of their intent to have the remains moved. "This is to notify you and other interested parties of family right and authority to re-inter our Great-Grandfather Sitting Bull to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana," it says. "We do this because North Dakota, South Dakota and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have not honored their promise for proper care and maintenance of our Grandfather's burial site."....
Bones aren't Sitting Bull's, some say Some contend that the bones cemented into the ground at Mobridge, S.D., aren't those of Sitting Bull, but of an unknown man placed in his grave in the middle of the night after the Hunkpapa Sioux leader's death. For a century or more, rumors have circulated that Sitting Bull's body was spirited away by his followers and reburied in Canada. That's the story Jerome First Jr., 70, of Poplar, heard from his father and grandfathers. "Years ago, when I was younger, my Dad told me that when Sitting Bull was sick and near death that he told the old chiefs he wanted to be buried in Turtle Mountain just across the border in Canada where he went after the Little Bighorn," First said. Even before Sitting Bull was killed Dec. 15, 1890, he knew he was dying, First said. "Sitting Bull had a dream of his death and he knew there would be a fight over his grave," First recounted....
Great leader cast his legend in Eastern Montana Sitting Bull will be on familiar ground should his remains be re-interred at Little Bighorn Battlefield. He knew Eastern Montana well. The Lakota recognized no state boundaries in their nomadic world. Sitting Bull often camped north of the Yellowstone in the winter and hunted south of it during the summer. He prayed here, sought visions here and did battle here for nearly 30 years. At midlife, the legendary Sioux war chief and spiritual leader forged the mightiest alliance of Indian forces on the Northern Plains and won his greatest victory here. Montana knew him at the height of his power, before his sad subjection and violent death. Sitting Bull was born along the Grand River in what is now South Dakota sometime in the 1830s. Euro-Americans were already trickling toward the frontiers of the Northern Plains, displacing native populations as they advanced. The Lakota were feeling the pressure as they roamed a huge territory that included the Dakotas and parts of Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming. As they ranged westward, the Lakota increasingly clashed with other tribes in ever-shrinking Indian Country....
Art of the Saddle comes to Museum Fans of western movies and sophisticated scholars of history alike recognize the importance of the horse in the winning of the West. (Humorists often point out that, back in the old days, girlfriends and wives sometimes ran a poor second compared to a favorite Cayuse.) As revered as these four-footed friends were, however, it was the western saddle that made days, even weeks, of riding possible for cowboys, soldiers and outlaws. Beginning March 10 and continuing through Sept. 2, artful examples of this indispensable gear will come out of history's shadows and into the spotlight at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. The exhibition entitled “Art of the Saddle: A Leather Canvas in Miniature” will feature half-scale saddles designed and constructed by Wickenburg's Carson Thomas. “These are functional art forms as well as pieces of history,” said Museum Director Royce Kardinal. “Our exhibit will dramatize their significance from the 1830s to present day.”....
Rodeo show took rural cowgirls all the way to New York City When MaryAnn Mayfield Stephen went to New York in 1950 to promote the Dublin-based World Championship Rodeo, she performed alongside Milton Berle on "Texaco Star Theater." And she was so young and naive, she didn't even know Berle was the biggest star in the early days of television. In fact, when she began performing her trick-roping stunts, she scolded Berle for touching her ropes. "We didn't have television, so I had no idea who he was," Stephen said. "That shows you where I was from." The cowgirls who rode in the Dublin World Championship Rodeo may have been from the country. But in the middle of the 20th century, they participated in a sparkling spectacle that took them from Erath County all the way to New York City. Whether they were performing in the Quadrille (a square dance with horses), trick riding or roping, the women combined beauty, grace, skill and athletic ability. These were accomplished horsewomen — most could ride before they could walk — and they often performed their stunts while riding horses galloping at top speed. They dressed in sleek, flamboyant western pant suits that most made themselves. And they entertained thousands of people across the country. The World Championship Rodeo was directed by rancher and rodeo promoter Everett Colborn. He put Dublin, about 95 miles east of Abilene, on the map as the Rodeo Capital of Texas from 1937 to 1959 when the rodeo was headquartered there....
The Corn Flakes Cure The fall of 1970 found me and my bride on a place on Clear Creek on the north side of the Bear Paw Mountains. I was working for Harry Olson, and it was sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The cattle were shipped, the hay was all up, and we were doing the usual fall chores. Harry had an old wooden grain bin with a pile of rye in it that he'd thrashed a year or two before, and he wanted to take it in to the feed plant in town to have it mixed with a little barley to be made into pellets for the cows. Boy, was that some awful stuff. It was full of smut or ergot or whatever that stuff was, and the dust was as black as coal. Bein' the low man on the totem pole, it was my job to get in the bin and shovel that valuable commodity into a little auger that he'd stuffed in a window. I don't know if anyone has ever died from breathin' that black junk, but it sure wouldn't surprise me any if that were the case. I think it was beyond a doubt the worst bin I've ever had the pleasure of shovelin' in my life. By the time we finally got that truck full, I was in pretty bad shape....
Thursday, February 22, 2007
EMINENT DOMAIN - WYOMING
From: Ldgoodman
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 6:44 PM
Subject: Senate amended HB 124 today....PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL NOW!!!
On a 15-14 vote, the Senate accepted part of an amendment offered by Senators Scott (R-Casper), Geis (R-Worland) and Vasey (D-Rawlins) to limit the information available to property owners when negotiating compensation for condemned easements or rights-of-way. Consequently, the bill must now go to a conference committee with the House where things can get a little unpredictable -- and time is getting short. The bill must be passed by the Senate tomorrow, and then referred to and passed out of a Conference, and then passed again by both chambers -- all by next Friday, only six working days. We've got our work cut out for us!!
While the Senate later voted overwhelming (23-6) to retain the majority of the provision that will allow comparable sales to be used for the first time ever when determining value for condemnations of easements and rights-of-way, today's narrow amendment deleted language that would have allowed property owners to know and use in their own negotiations the amounts "paid by the condemnor for other portions of the proposed project of comparable, type, size and location." (i.e.: the amounts paid to neighbors or other folks along the same project.) While Sen. Scott argued that this amendment would reduce lawsuits, the net effect of this amendment is simply to reduce the amount of information available to the property owner, thereby keeping him a little more in the dark as he attempts to negotiate the compensation for the property right that was taken from him.
Tomorrow is the 3rd and final reading in the Senate. While property owners also want to avoid lawsuits (given they are more burdensome and expensive for us!), we do not want to do that by sacrificing our access to good, credible information that will help establish the value of our condemned property. Comparable sales information is statutorily available for ALL OTHER CONDEMNATIONS in Wyoming, and is only restricted for partial takings of easements and rights-of-way. This is a gross inequity in the current law that we hope the Senate will correct tomorrow before its final passage.
Please take a minute and write the Senators. Thoughtfully encourage them to:
1. Support any amendment that will improve and increase the amount of information provided to property owners to give them more equal footing during their negotiations with condemnors. Remember, these are not WILLING SELLERS, but rather folks who are forced to sell some or all of their property to another party. They deserve as much information as possible in order to negotiate as good of a financial deal as they can.
2. Oppose any amendment that will decrease the participation a property owner has during the condemnation process, be it during the planning of the project, or the development of the compensation for the project. The goal of this bill is to increase the power to the unwilling property owner, when he is forced to sell his property under the powers of condemnation.
3. Work diligently toward final passage during this session of a strong bill that will strengthen private property rights, while honoring the limited need for condemnation. Property owners should not have to endure delay for another year, but cannot afford to compromise their rights even further....
From: Ldgoodman
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 6:44 PM
Subject: Senate amended HB 124 today....PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL NOW!!!
On a 15-14 vote, the Senate accepted part of an amendment offered by Senators Scott (R-Casper), Geis (R-Worland) and Vasey (D-Rawlins) to limit the information available to property owners when negotiating compensation for condemned easements or rights-of-way. Consequently, the bill must now go to a conference committee with the House where things can get a little unpredictable -- and time is getting short. The bill must be passed by the Senate tomorrow, and then referred to and passed out of a Conference, and then passed again by both chambers -- all by next Friday, only six working days. We've got our work cut out for us!!
While the Senate later voted overwhelming (23-6) to retain the majority of the provision that will allow comparable sales to be used for the first time ever when determining value for condemnations of easements and rights-of-way, today's narrow amendment deleted language that would have allowed property owners to know and use in their own negotiations the amounts "paid by the condemnor for other portions of the proposed project of comparable, type, size and location." (i.e.: the amounts paid to neighbors or other folks along the same project.) While Sen. Scott argued that this amendment would reduce lawsuits, the net effect of this amendment is simply to reduce the amount of information available to the property owner, thereby keeping him a little more in the dark as he attempts to negotiate the compensation for the property right that was taken from him.
Tomorrow is the 3rd and final reading in the Senate. While property owners also want to avoid lawsuits (given they are more burdensome and expensive for us!), we do not want to do that by sacrificing our access to good, credible information that will help establish the value of our condemned property. Comparable sales information is statutorily available for ALL OTHER CONDEMNATIONS in Wyoming, and is only restricted for partial takings of easements and rights-of-way. This is a gross inequity in the current law that we hope the Senate will correct tomorrow before its final passage.
Please take a minute and write the Senators. Thoughtfully encourage them to:
1. Support any amendment that will improve and increase the amount of information provided to property owners to give them more equal footing during their negotiations with condemnors. Remember, these are not WILLING SELLERS, but rather folks who are forced to sell some or all of their property to another party. They deserve as much information as possible in order to negotiate as good of a financial deal as they can.
2. Oppose any amendment that will decrease the participation a property owner has during the condemnation process, be it during the planning of the project, or the development of the compensation for the project. The goal of this bill is to increase the power to the unwilling property owner, when he is forced to sell his property under the powers of condemnation.
3. Work diligently toward final passage during this session of a strong bill that will strengthen private property rights, while honoring the limited need for condemnation. Property owners should not have to endure delay for another year, but cannot afford to compromise their rights even further....
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Former California congressman Richard Pombo joins Oregon lobbying firm Former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo announced he accepted a job with an Oregon lobbying and public relations firm that specializes in Western resource issues. The one-time rancher and former chairman of the House Resources Committee will find clients for Pac/West Communications, but will do no lobbying, company President Paul Phillips said. The company’s clients include the Save Our Species Alliance, which supported Pombo’s unsuccessful efforts to rewrite the Endangered Species Act. Those attempts spurred environmental groups to pour money into the campaign of wind energy engineer Jerry McNerney, a Democrat who defeated him in November. Pac/West has about two dozen employees in offices throughout the West and in Washington, D.C. Pombo will be based in Sacramento....
Judge blocks Perry's coal plant order, urges delay of hearing A judge on Tuesday blocked Gov. Rick Perry's executive order fast-tracking the permitting process for proposed coal-fired plants and ordered that state hearing administrators reconsider environmentalists' request for a delay. A major hearing on the coal plant permitting is scheduled to begin Wednesday. But lawyers for several environmental groups argued before state District Judge Stephen Yelenosky that Texas and Oklahoma citizens opposed to the plants were at a disadvantage because there hadn't been enough time to prepare. They claimed the governor's order was unconstitutional, and the judge agreed that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their argument. Yelenosky's temporary injunction did not cancel the hearing, but he said administrative judges should reconsider the schedule....
State advisory group focuses on wilderness hot spot management The Maroon Bells-Snowmass and Collegiate Peaks wildernesses are among several Colorado wilderness areas that a group of experts in Denver weighed in on yesterday. After more than 1,000 hours of volunteered work, including several meetings and a few on-the-ground field trips over the past year, a group of 14 wilderness stakeholders made comprehensive recommendations for statewide wilderness management on Tuesday to U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Rick Cables. The committee, whose members include representatives from nonprofit Forest Service partners and "friends" that focus on trail maintenance, wilderness advocacy, outdoor education, volunteering and other areas, have identified the Maroon Bells-Snowmass and the Collegiate Peaks wildernesses, both in the Aspen area, among the nine most heavily used wilderness areas in the state. The group told Forest Service regional personnel in a formal presentation that "keeping pristine areas pristine, managing to minimize environmental impacts and the need to research social impacts are considered primary goals." They also made a long list of specific recommendations, from ramping up education efforts to advocating for more wilderness-specific funding to getting more Forest Service and volunteer "boots on the ground."....
Elk prefer people on foot Ongoing research into how recreation affects wildlife shows that ATVs, then mountain bikes, have the largest impact on elk, while hiking and horseback riding have the least effect. Forest Service researchers in Northwest Oregon found that elk were more likely to flee, and more likely to flee faster, from ATVs – all terrain vehicles – than other forms of recreation. Mule deer, on the other hand, seem mostly unphased by humans in the forest. The research could have important implications for local forest planners as they establish a motorized trail system in the Bridger-Teton. Michael Wisdom, lead author of the study, will join a panel of local and regional experts to discuss motorized use on area forest lands tonight at the Teton Science Schools....
Industry wants in on Roan An energy industry group is objecting to being closed out of a Glenwood Springs meeting Thursday to consider alternatives to a proposed management plan for the Roan Plateau. The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States has written a letter to U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, voicing disappointment over not being invited to the meeting. Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, have invited local elected officials, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and environmental and wildlife groups to the meeting. The congressmen may explore legislative and other alternatives to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's proposed plan, which among other things would allow drilling on top of the plateau. Environmentalists and area communities had called for keeping drilling off the plateau top. The BLM is reviewing protests of the plan and hopes to issue a final decision by summer....
Report on Kim case says BLM violated no rules in leaving road's gate open Government employees violated no rules when they failed to lock a gate for winter on the road where James Kim and his family became stranded in December, a report released today concludes. The account of the gate -- issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management -- contradicts what a BLM employee said in December. Then, a BLM spokesman said the gate should have been locked Nov. 1: "The idea was our BLM engineer, the lead engineer, had directed the staff to go out there and lock the gate on Nov. 1," said Michael Campbell, a BLM spokesman. "Basically what they found was, when they got out there, they were unable to confirm no one was trapped behind the gate. So they made the decision not to close it." In the new report, BLM Oregon State Director Edward W. Shepard wrote, "This management review found that no Bureau of Land Management employee failed to carry out any specific order or work assignment concerning locking a specific gate by a specific date or time."....
Idaho county creates anti-wolf chapter Residents in Bingham County have started a local chapter of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, which is collecting signatures to once again try to get an initiative to ban gray wolves from Idaho on the ballot. The group failed to gather enough signatures to get a similar initiative on the ballot last year. Coalition Chairman Ron Gillett of Stanley said the group's new goal is to gather 100,000 signatures. He also has instructed petition carriers to make certain that everyone who signs is a registered voter. In 2006, the group collected more than 40,000 signatures in six weeks before running out of time and falling short of the required 45,893 signatures. Organizers also learned that many signatures proved to be worthless because the signers were not registered voters. "If we could get that many signatures in six weeks, I don't think we'll have any problem getting the 45,893 we need by April 30, 2008," Gillett said....
Federal Wildlife Enforcement is Leaderless and in Decline The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) law enforcement program lacks credible leadership that is trusted by its special agents, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Interior Office of Inspector General. At the same time, criminal enforcement of wildlife protection laws under Interior Department jurisdiction has fallen to decade-low levels, according to Justice Department figures compiled and released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). FWS special agents are the federal officers charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty act and other federal laws governing hunting and interstate transportation of wildlife. The 208 special agents are the backbone of the law enforcement program which also includes 111 inspectors and 166 support personnel. The Inspector General transmitted its new “Assessment of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement” to the Secretary of Interior on February 13, 2007. It was the first look by the Inspector General at FWS enforcement since 2001. Key findings include....Go here to view the IG's report.
Midwest Wolves Fall Prey to PR Scam The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in late January that there are now enough gray wolves in the wilds of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan to warrant taking the wolf off the federal roster of endangered and threatened species in the upper Midwest. About 4,000 wolves now roam across the three states, according to the agency. Real conservationists see another Endangered Species Act success story. But slob hunters and apologists for land-abusing industries--including those who'd rather let Safari Club International chapters do their talking--are salivating over their gun sights. The Wisconsin Cattlemen's Association, in cahoots with SCI and an outfit called the Wisconsin Bear Hunters' Association, needed only a day or two to roll out a 30-second "Little Red Riding Hood" TV ad it plans to air through the rest of this year. "People used to believe that wolves lived in remote forests, but the reality is that the wolf population has exploded to the point where they are now wreaking havoc on cows, sheep, dogs and property," SCI's Bob Welch said in a news release which the Madison Capital Times newspaper quoted Jan. 30....
Yellowstone air improves, study finds The air quality at two of the most popular winter spots here continues to improve, a study finds. Levels of carbon monoxide and certain particulate at the park's west entrance at West Yellowstone, the most popular winter gate, and Old Faithful, the most popular destination, still are "well below" national ambient air-quality standards and the air quality is good, the study by the National Park Service concluded. Those pollutants have decreased in recent winters because fewer snowmobiles travel into the park and because of new requirements that all snowmobiles meet standards for noise and emissions, park officials said. The study analyzes air quality at Old Faithful and the West Yellowstone entrance during the winter of 2005-06. It's the latest in a series of studies aimed at helping park officials decide how best to manage winter traffic in Yellowstone....
Jerome County commissioners vote against livestock ban By a 2-1 vote, Jerome County commissioners killed a proposal Tuesday that would have placed an emergency moratorium on new livestock operations in the county. Instead of the ban, commissioners will refine the county comprehensive plan to address citizens' concerns that there might already be too many cows. "This whole thing is going to take some time, you know," said Commissioner Joe Davidson, who voted against the emergency moratorium. Commissioner Charlie Howell also voted against the cow ban. Commissioner Diana Obenauer voted for the moratorium. According to a Boise State University report published in September, Jerome has more cows than any other Magic Valley county except Gooding - where a moratorium is in effect. Cows have been a contentious issue in Jerome County in the past few months. Legislators, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Park Service have criticized commissioners for their handling of a livestock permit application that was recently withdrawn....
Antlers of a dilemma For a case study in why bureaucracies tend to be unimaginative, consider the question of the elk herd in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Park Service could reduce the swollen numbers of elk, which are destroying vegetation and otherwise wreaking havoc, by culling the animals itself, hiring sharpshooters, or permitting qualified private hunters to do the job. The third option is the least expensive, so naturally it's the one the Park Service has all but ruled out. All right, maybe that's a cheap shot. The Park Service says it can't legally permit a private hunt even if it wanted to, with an emphasis on the "even if." Comes now Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., with legislation authorizing the Park Service to tap the services of qualified sportsmen in order to save the government money. Is everyone pleased with this common-sense, problem-solving approach? Of course not....
Park service cancels elk meetings Meetings to talk about how to take out as many as 1,000 elk from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora have been canceled. The National Park Service called off meetings Wednesday and Thursday after the state Game and Fish Department pulled out because the park won't let qualified hunters shoot the elk, rather than using contract sharpshooters. Park superintendent Valerie Naylor said the sudden withdrawal by Game and Fish makes it better to talk about the elk issue at a later date. Naylor said it would take an act of Congress to change law allowing hunting inside a national park. "That is not a reasonable or legal alternative that the park can pursue," she said. Kreil said the distinction between a sharpshooter and a qualified hunter is "murky." He said the agency didn't envision a wide-open hunt in the park, but rather a tightly monitored method used over several seasons....
Gore may get doctorate former Vice President Al Gore could pay a visit to the University in the near future to receive an honorary degree for his work in climatology. University President Bob Bruininks spilled the beans at the February Board of Regents meeting, saying that "two of our colleges are working with Vice President Gore to provide, we hope, an honorary doctorate." Gore has been in the news lately for his 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming. University spokesperson Daniel Wolter said since Gore is an expert in the subject, several colleges at the University have expressed interest in inviting Gore to speak on campus. "He's in the news and is a legitimate expert on a pressing issue of global concern, climate change, so this level of interest is understandable," Wolter said. "However, no plans have been set and it's unlikely that would occur this spring."....
USDA Responds To Concerns About Canadian Cattle Imports Responding to a media report that documents obtained by Washington cattlemen show hundreds of cattle from Canada are entering the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, USDA officials indicated that no significant violations have occurred. Andrea McNally of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's legislative and public Affairs division told Meatingplace.com that her agency is "reviewing the concerns that have been brought to our attention in Washington state." "As we are reviewing these records, we have discovered that a large portion are minor record-keeping problems that are not material to the entry requirements of the cattle," she said. "Nonetheless, we are looking closely to make sure the balance of the paperwork shows proper documentation, and we will respond according to our findings."Meanwhile, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association is questioning both the Chicago Tribune article and the motives of the Cattle Producers of Washington. John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for CCA, told Meatingplace.com that a different set of rules apply to those Canadian cattle imports used for immediate slaughter and those going to feedlots. Masswohl explained that the USDA only requires that Canadian slaughter cattle go from the border to the slaugherhouse in a sealed truck. That these cattle have identification papers when they arrive is the result of Canada's own export requirements, he said.....
Hundreds Quit Smithfield Plant In Wake Of Immigration Crackdown Hundreds of workers have left their jobs or have refused to come to work at Smithfield Packing Co.'s Tar Heel, N.C., plant since federal agents initiated a crackdown on illegal immigrants, the company said. The world's largest hog slaughterhouse is now missing about 300 employees, a void that has led to slower production and overtime work. Some have tendered resignation letters and collected unused vacation pay, while others have quit without notice after having been identified in November as having unverifiable employment papers, Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman told reporters. Back in November, as part of a voluntary enforcement program offered by Immigration Customs and Enforcement, Smithfield notified by letter between 500 and 600 workers that their Social Security numbers, names or other personal data were unverifiable. The company also fired roughly 50 employees for providing false information, which prompted nearly 1,000 of their co-workers, most of them Hispanic, to walk out in protest. The workers returned two days later after Smithfield agreed to rehire the fired workers and meet individually with the letter recipients. The company gave them 60 days to produce proper documentation, a grace period that has since ended. Only 50 workers have done so and have kept their jobs, but none have been fired, Pittman said....
Shipments to Mexico Drive U.S. Beef Exports in 2006 U.S. beef exports in the fourth quarter totaled 308 million pounds, bringing the 2006 export total to 1.153 billion pounds. This marks a 65-percent increase over 2005, although it is only 46 percent of the record set in 2003. One highlight for exports in 2006 was the record level going to Mexico. Exports to Mexico reached 668 million pounds, easily surpassing the 2002 record of 629 million pounds. A strong Mexican economy, buoyed by high prices for oil exports, appeared to support this buying. Exports to Canada also bounced back, reaching 238 million pounds, more than doubling the 2005 export level. A weak U.S. dollar vis-à-vis the Canadian dollar was an important factor over the last three quarters of 2006. U.S. exports to Japan were interrupted in January 2006 with the discovery of prohibited material (a vertebral column in a veal rack), and exports did not resume in earnest until August. Total exports to Japan reached only 52 million pounds in 2006 (the United States had frequently exported over 900 million pounds to Japan prior to 2004). Japanese consumer acceptance of U.S. beef seems to be rebounding, and high domestic beef prices there make imports attractive....
U.S. Cattle Imports Up In 2006, Small Decline Expected In 2007 U.S. cattle imports totaled 2,289,000 head in 2006, based on December trade data recently released by the U.S. Commerce Department. Mexico remained the largest source of imported cattle to the United States, sending 1,257,000 head last year, virtually even with its 2005 total. The United States imports almost entirely lightweight stocker-feeder calves from Mexico, but the decline in calf prices in late 2006 in response to rising corn prices did not significantly dampen imports of Mexican calves. In the short run, their supply appears to be quite inelastic, as the U.S. market remains the best outlet for those animals already on hand. Weekly reports from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), USDA, indicate imports from Mexico so far in 2007 are down significantly, but this appears to be related to poor weather and related conditions in the United States, and the cattle are expected to come north when conditions improve. U.S. cattle imports from Canada totaled 1,032,000 head in 2006, marking the first full calendar year of imports from Canada since 2002. Imports were suspended in May 2003 following the discovery of the first Canadian BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) case, and imports of Canadian feeder cattle and slaughter steers and heifers resumed in July 2005. The July-December total for 2006 was 504,000 head, down about 10 percent from the same period in 2005....
Officials aim to halt hormone thefts sweeping dairy industry Surveillance video captured three thieves slipping onto E.J. deJong's dairy farm under the cover of night, making their way past the cows in his milking parlor. One, wearing a cowboy hat, used a bar to pry open the door to the farmer's office, where deJong stored thousands of drug-filled syringes used to boost milk production in his herd. They made quick work carting out their haul. In just one night, deJong lost about $30,000 worth of the genetically engineered hormone rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, in what police say was one of the most brazen, high-value heists to date. The three suspects still haven't been caught. Rural crime officials say vials of rBST are a favorite among thieves who resell the growth hormone for top dollar on the black market. Fewer dairy farmers use it these days due to concerns over its health effects, and thefts had declined in recent years, but the sophistication and overall worth of the December break-in have alarmed authorities over the possibility of a larger hormone-peddling syndicate....
Cowboys and sodbusters fight over cheap land The Borden County courthouse was the scene of a noholds barred wrestling match on Feb. 27, 1904, as cowboys and sodbusters fought over cheap land in a once-in-a-lifetime sale. A favorite subject of motion pictures and television has long been the "range war," violent clashes between ranchers and homesteaders for the wideopen spaces. While the West Texas real-estate row in the opening decade of the twentieth century featured plenty of bumps, bruises and bloody noses, the fact that fists were the weapon of choice prevented the loss of a single life. By 1880 Texas had set aside an area the size of North Carolina for public education and given away the equivalent of Maine to the railroads. Ranchers bought up the iron- horse sections that came onto the market and later doubled the grazing range for their huge herds by leasing school land for as little as eight cents an acre....
It's All Trew: First ranchers adapted Choosing "the first ranchers" depends on where you are located. In the South, from the Mississippi River east, people raised livestock for both work and meat. However, they were called "stockmen" and most used dogs and slaves to tend their livestock. In the states bordering Mexico where Spanish land grants were given to the first settlers, we find early "ranchos" owned by "rancheros" with the employees called "vaqueros.'' As the Spanish influence worked its way up the California coast, we find "haciendas" and "rancherias" with the employees called "caballeros." The rancher, as we know him, had not arrived. Some of the last areas of the West to be settled stretched from the Red River in Texas to the Canadian border and was called The Great Plains. In this vast area were mountain men and trappers whose vocations were dying. There were also gold seekers and Indian traders whose heyday had passed. With the Indian Nations captured and placed onto reservations, many soldiers were out of work. All had years of experience in the West and were looking for a place to settle down....
Former California congressman Richard Pombo joins Oregon lobbying firm Former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo announced he accepted a job with an Oregon lobbying and public relations firm that specializes in Western resource issues. The one-time rancher and former chairman of the House Resources Committee will find clients for Pac/West Communications, but will do no lobbying, company President Paul Phillips said. The company’s clients include the Save Our Species Alliance, which supported Pombo’s unsuccessful efforts to rewrite the Endangered Species Act. Those attempts spurred environmental groups to pour money into the campaign of wind energy engineer Jerry McNerney, a Democrat who defeated him in November. Pac/West has about two dozen employees in offices throughout the West and in Washington, D.C. Pombo will be based in Sacramento....
Judge blocks Perry's coal plant order, urges delay of hearing A judge on Tuesday blocked Gov. Rick Perry's executive order fast-tracking the permitting process for proposed coal-fired plants and ordered that state hearing administrators reconsider environmentalists' request for a delay. A major hearing on the coal plant permitting is scheduled to begin Wednesday. But lawyers for several environmental groups argued before state District Judge Stephen Yelenosky that Texas and Oklahoma citizens opposed to the plants were at a disadvantage because there hadn't been enough time to prepare. They claimed the governor's order was unconstitutional, and the judge agreed that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their argument. Yelenosky's temporary injunction did not cancel the hearing, but he said administrative judges should reconsider the schedule....
State advisory group focuses on wilderness hot spot management The Maroon Bells-Snowmass and Collegiate Peaks wildernesses are among several Colorado wilderness areas that a group of experts in Denver weighed in on yesterday. After more than 1,000 hours of volunteered work, including several meetings and a few on-the-ground field trips over the past year, a group of 14 wilderness stakeholders made comprehensive recommendations for statewide wilderness management on Tuesday to U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Rick Cables. The committee, whose members include representatives from nonprofit Forest Service partners and "friends" that focus on trail maintenance, wilderness advocacy, outdoor education, volunteering and other areas, have identified the Maroon Bells-Snowmass and the Collegiate Peaks wildernesses, both in the Aspen area, among the nine most heavily used wilderness areas in the state. The group told Forest Service regional personnel in a formal presentation that "keeping pristine areas pristine, managing to minimize environmental impacts and the need to research social impacts are considered primary goals." They also made a long list of specific recommendations, from ramping up education efforts to advocating for more wilderness-specific funding to getting more Forest Service and volunteer "boots on the ground."....
Elk prefer people on foot Ongoing research into how recreation affects wildlife shows that ATVs, then mountain bikes, have the largest impact on elk, while hiking and horseback riding have the least effect. Forest Service researchers in Northwest Oregon found that elk were more likely to flee, and more likely to flee faster, from ATVs – all terrain vehicles – than other forms of recreation. Mule deer, on the other hand, seem mostly unphased by humans in the forest. The research could have important implications for local forest planners as they establish a motorized trail system in the Bridger-Teton. Michael Wisdom, lead author of the study, will join a panel of local and regional experts to discuss motorized use on area forest lands tonight at the Teton Science Schools....
Industry wants in on Roan An energy industry group is objecting to being closed out of a Glenwood Springs meeting Thursday to consider alternatives to a proposed management plan for the Roan Plateau. The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States has written a letter to U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, voicing disappointment over not being invited to the meeting. Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, have invited local elected officials, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and environmental and wildlife groups to the meeting. The congressmen may explore legislative and other alternatives to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's proposed plan, which among other things would allow drilling on top of the plateau. Environmentalists and area communities had called for keeping drilling off the plateau top. The BLM is reviewing protests of the plan and hopes to issue a final decision by summer....
Report on Kim case says BLM violated no rules in leaving road's gate open Government employees violated no rules when they failed to lock a gate for winter on the road where James Kim and his family became stranded in December, a report released today concludes. The account of the gate -- issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management -- contradicts what a BLM employee said in December. Then, a BLM spokesman said the gate should have been locked Nov. 1: "The idea was our BLM engineer, the lead engineer, had directed the staff to go out there and lock the gate on Nov. 1," said Michael Campbell, a BLM spokesman. "Basically what they found was, when they got out there, they were unable to confirm no one was trapped behind the gate. So they made the decision not to close it." In the new report, BLM Oregon State Director Edward W. Shepard wrote, "This management review found that no Bureau of Land Management employee failed to carry out any specific order or work assignment concerning locking a specific gate by a specific date or time."....
Idaho county creates anti-wolf chapter Residents in Bingham County have started a local chapter of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, which is collecting signatures to once again try to get an initiative to ban gray wolves from Idaho on the ballot. The group failed to gather enough signatures to get a similar initiative on the ballot last year. Coalition Chairman Ron Gillett of Stanley said the group's new goal is to gather 100,000 signatures. He also has instructed petition carriers to make certain that everyone who signs is a registered voter. In 2006, the group collected more than 40,000 signatures in six weeks before running out of time and falling short of the required 45,893 signatures. Organizers also learned that many signatures proved to be worthless because the signers were not registered voters. "If we could get that many signatures in six weeks, I don't think we'll have any problem getting the 45,893 we need by April 30, 2008," Gillett said....
Federal Wildlife Enforcement is Leaderless and in Decline The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) law enforcement program lacks credible leadership that is trusted by its special agents, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Interior Office of Inspector General. At the same time, criminal enforcement of wildlife protection laws under Interior Department jurisdiction has fallen to decade-low levels, according to Justice Department figures compiled and released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). FWS special agents are the federal officers charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty act and other federal laws governing hunting and interstate transportation of wildlife. The 208 special agents are the backbone of the law enforcement program which also includes 111 inspectors and 166 support personnel. The Inspector General transmitted its new “Assessment of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement” to the Secretary of Interior on February 13, 2007. It was the first look by the Inspector General at FWS enforcement since 2001. Key findings include....Go here to view the IG's report.
Midwest Wolves Fall Prey to PR Scam The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in late January that there are now enough gray wolves in the wilds of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan to warrant taking the wolf off the federal roster of endangered and threatened species in the upper Midwest. About 4,000 wolves now roam across the three states, according to the agency. Real conservationists see another Endangered Species Act success story. But slob hunters and apologists for land-abusing industries--including those who'd rather let Safari Club International chapters do their talking--are salivating over their gun sights. The Wisconsin Cattlemen's Association, in cahoots with SCI and an outfit called the Wisconsin Bear Hunters' Association, needed only a day or two to roll out a 30-second "Little Red Riding Hood" TV ad it plans to air through the rest of this year. "People used to believe that wolves lived in remote forests, but the reality is that the wolf population has exploded to the point where they are now wreaking havoc on cows, sheep, dogs and property," SCI's Bob Welch said in a news release which the Madison Capital Times newspaper quoted Jan. 30....
Yellowstone air improves, study finds The air quality at two of the most popular winter spots here continues to improve, a study finds. Levels of carbon monoxide and certain particulate at the park's west entrance at West Yellowstone, the most popular winter gate, and Old Faithful, the most popular destination, still are "well below" national ambient air-quality standards and the air quality is good, the study by the National Park Service concluded. Those pollutants have decreased in recent winters because fewer snowmobiles travel into the park and because of new requirements that all snowmobiles meet standards for noise and emissions, park officials said. The study analyzes air quality at Old Faithful and the West Yellowstone entrance during the winter of 2005-06. It's the latest in a series of studies aimed at helping park officials decide how best to manage winter traffic in Yellowstone....
Jerome County commissioners vote against livestock ban By a 2-1 vote, Jerome County commissioners killed a proposal Tuesday that would have placed an emergency moratorium on new livestock operations in the county. Instead of the ban, commissioners will refine the county comprehensive plan to address citizens' concerns that there might already be too many cows. "This whole thing is going to take some time, you know," said Commissioner Joe Davidson, who voted against the emergency moratorium. Commissioner Charlie Howell also voted against the cow ban. Commissioner Diana Obenauer voted for the moratorium. According to a Boise State University report published in September, Jerome has more cows than any other Magic Valley county except Gooding - where a moratorium is in effect. Cows have been a contentious issue in Jerome County in the past few months. Legislators, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Park Service have criticized commissioners for their handling of a livestock permit application that was recently withdrawn....
Antlers of a dilemma For a case study in why bureaucracies tend to be unimaginative, consider the question of the elk herd in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Park Service could reduce the swollen numbers of elk, which are destroying vegetation and otherwise wreaking havoc, by culling the animals itself, hiring sharpshooters, or permitting qualified private hunters to do the job. The third option is the least expensive, so naturally it's the one the Park Service has all but ruled out. All right, maybe that's a cheap shot. The Park Service says it can't legally permit a private hunt even if it wanted to, with an emphasis on the "even if." Comes now Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., with legislation authorizing the Park Service to tap the services of qualified sportsmen in order to save the government money. Is everyone pleased with this common-sense, problem-solving approach? Of course not....
Park service cancels elk meetings Meetings to talk about how to take out as many as 1,000 elk from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora have been canceled. The National Park Service called off meetings Wednesday and Thursday after the state Game and Fish Department pulled out because the park won't let qualified hunters shoot the elk, rather than using contract sharpshooters. Park superintendent Valerie Naylor said the sudden withdrawal by Game and Fish makes it better to talk about the elk issue at a later date. Naylor said it would take an act of Congress to change law allowing hunting inside a national park. "That is not a reasonable or legal alternative that the park can pursue," she said. Kreil said the distinction between a sharpshooter and a qualified hunter is "murky." He said the agency didn't envision a wide-open hunt in the park, but rather a tightly monitored method used over several seasons....
Gore may get doctorate former Vice President Al Gore could pay a visit to the University in the near future to receive an honorary degree for his work in climatology. University President Bob Bruininks spilled the beans at the February Board of Regents meeting, saying that "two of our colleges are working with Vice President Gore to provide, we hope, an honorary doctorate." Gore has been in the news lately for his 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming. University spokesperson Daniel Wolter said since Gore is an expert in the subject, several colleges at the University have expressed interest in inviting Gore to speak on campus. "He's in the news and is a legitimate expert on a pressing issue of global concern, climate change, so this level of interest is understandable," Wolter said. "However, no plans have been set and it's unlikely that would occur this spring."....
USDA Responds To Concerns About Canadian Cattle Imports Responding to a media report that documents obtained by Washington cattlemen show hundreds of cattle from Canada are entering the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, USDA officials indicated that no significant violations have occurred. Andrea McNally of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's legislative and public Affairs division told Meatingplace.com that her agency is "reviewing the concerns that have been brought to our attention in Washington state." "As we are reviewing these records, we have discovered that a large portion are minor record-keeping problems that are not material to the entry requirements of the cattle," she said. "Nonetheless, we are looking closely to make sure the balance of the paperwork shows proper documentation, and we will respond according to our findings."Meanwhile, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association is questioning both the Chicago Tribune article and the motives of the Cattle Producers of Washington. John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for CCA, told Meatingplace.com that a different set of rules apply to those Canadian cattle imports used for immediate slaughter and those going to feedlots. Masswohl explained that the USDA only requires that Canadian slaughter cattle go from the border to the slaugherhouse in a sealed truck. That these cattle have identification papers when they arrive is the result of Canada's own export requirements, he said.....
Hundreds Quit Smithfield Plant In Wake Of Immigration Crackdown Hundreds of workers have left their jobs or have refused to come to work at Smithfield Packing Co.'s Tar Heel, N.C., plant since federal agents initiated a crackdown on illegal immigrants, the company said. The world's largest hog slaughterhouse is now missing about 300 employees, a void that has led to slower production and overtime work. Some have tendered resignation letters and collected unused vacation pay, while others have quit without notice after having been identified in November as having unverifiable employment papers, Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman told reporters. Back in November, as part of a voluntary enforcement program offered by Immigration Customs and Enforcement, Smithfield notified by letter between 500 and 600 workers that their Social Security numbers, names or other personal data were unverifiable. The company also fired roughly 50 employees for providing false information, which prompted nearly 1,000 of their co-workers, most of them Hispanic, to walk out in protest. The workers returned two days later after Smithfield agreed to rehire the fired workers and meet individually with the letter recipients. The company gave them 60 days to produce proper documentation, a grace period that has since ended. Only 50 workers have done so and have kept their jobs, but none have been fired, Pittman said....
Shipments to Mexico Drive U.S. Beef Exports in 2006 U.S. beef exports in the fourth quarter totaled 308 million pounds, bringing the 2006 export total to 1.153 billion pounds. This marks a 65-percent increase over 2005, although it is only 46 percent of the record set in 2003. One highlight for exports in 2006 was the record level going to Mexico. Exports to Mexico reached 668 million pounds, easily surpassing the 2002 record of 629 million pounds. A strong Mexican economy, buoyed by high prices for oil exports, appeared to support this buying. Exports to Canada also bounced back, reaching 238 million pounds, more than doubling the 2005 export level. A weak U.S. dollar vis-à-vis the Canadian dollar was an important factor over the last three quarters of 2006. U.S. exports to Japan were interrupted in January 2006 with the discovery of prohibited material (a vertebral column in a veal rack), and exports did not resume in earnest until August. Total exports to Japan reached only 52 million pounds in 2006 (the United States had frequently exported over 900 million pounds to Japan prior to 2004). Japanese consumer acceptance of U.S. beef seems to be rebounding, and high domestic beef prices there make imports attractive....
U.S. Cattle Imports Up In 2006, Small Decline Expected In 2007 U.S. cattle imports totaled 2,289,000 head in 2006, based on December trade data recently released by the U.S. Commerce Department. Mexico remained the largest source of imported cattle to the United States, sending 1,257,000 head last year, virtually even with its 2005 total. The United States imports almost entirely lightweight stocker-feeder calves from Mexico, but the decline in calf prices in late 2006 in response to rising corn prices did not significantly dampen imports of Mexican calves. In the short run, their supply appears to be quite inelastic, as the U.S. market remains the best outlet for those animals already on hand. Weekly reports from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), USDA, indicate imports from Mexico so far in 2007 are down significantly, but this appears to be related to poor weather and related conditions in the United States, and the cattle are expected to come north when conditions improve. U.S. cattle imports from Canada totaled 1,032,000 head in 2006, marking the first full calendar year of imports from Canada since 2002. Imports were suspended in May 2003 following the discovery of the first Canadian BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) case, and imports of Canadian feeder cattle and slaughter steers and heifers resumed in July 2005. The July-December total for 2006 was 504,000 head, down about 10 percent from the same period in 2005....
Officials aim to halt hormone thefts sweeping dairy industry Surveillance video captured three thieves slipping onto E.J. deJong's dairy farm under the cover of night, making their way past the cows in his milking parlor. One, wearing a cowboy hat, used a bar to pry open the door to the farmer's office, where deJong stored thousands of drug-filled syringes used to boost milk production in his herd. They made quick work carting out their haul. In just one night, deJong lost about $30,000 worth of the genetically engineered hormone rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, in what police say was one of the most brazen, high-value heists to date. The three suspects still haven't been caught. Rural crime officials say vials of rBST are a favorite among thieves who resell the growth hormone for top dollar on the black market. Fewer dairy farmers use it these days due to concerns over its health effects, and thefts had declined in recent years, but the sophistication and overall worth of the December break-in have alarmed authorities over the possibility of a larger hormone-peddling syndicate....
Cowboys and sodbusters fight over cheap land The Borden County courthouse was the scene of a noholds barred wrestling match on Feb. 27, 1904, as cowboys and sodbusters fought over cheap land in a once-in-a-lifetime sale. A favorite subject of motion pictures and television has long been the "range war," violent clashes between ranchers and homesteaders for the wideopen spaces. While the West Texas real-estate row in the opening decade of the twentieth century featured plenty of bumps, bruises and bloody noses, the fact that fists were the weapon of choice prevented the loss of a single life. By 1880 Texas had set aside an area the size of North Carolina for public education and given away the equivalent of Maine to the railroads. Ranchers bought up the iron- horse sections that came onto the market and later doubled the grazing range for their huge herds by leasing school land for as little as eight cents an acre....
It's All Trew: First ranchers adapted Choosing "the first ranchers" depends on where you are located. In the South, from the Mississippi River east, people raised livestock for both work and meat. However, they were called "stockmen" and most used dogs and slaves to tend their livestock. In the states bordering Mexico where Spanish land grants were given to the first settlers, we find early "ranchos" owned by "rancheros" with the employees called "vaqueros.'' As the Spanish influence worked its way up the California coast, we find "haciendas" and "rancherias" with the employees called "caballeros." The rancher, as we know him, had not arrived. Some of the last areas of the West to be settled stretched from the Red River in Texas to the Canadian border and was called The Great Plains. In this vast area were mountain men and trappers whose vocations were dying. There were also gold seekers and Indian traders whose heyday had passed. With the Indian Nations captured and placed onto reservations, many soldiers were out of work. All had years of experience in the West and were looking for a place to settle down....
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
FLE
Senate hearings on Ramos-Compean postponed Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., to investigate the prosecution of border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been postponed, WND has learned. Sen. Feinstein told WND that scheduling difficulties were responsible for the cancellation of the Feb. 27 hearing and her office anticipates that a new hearing date will be set soon. A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was disappointed to hear of the postponement, noting the senator's staff had done extensive work in preparation. As WND reported, Feinstein received permission from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to examine the case. The Bush administration has drawn strong criticism from Republican congressmen angry about its handling of a case in which two border agents were given 11- and 12-year sentences after granting a drug smuggler immunity to testify against them....
U.S. 'rewarded' alien for his testimony An illegal alien got a "get out of jail free card" plus U.S. legal documents and monetary compensation from federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of using excessive force during an arrest. Former agent David Sipe, who was convicted and fired, recently won an acquittal at a court-ordered retrial. A federal appeals court in Texas ordered the new trial, saying prosecutors gave the illegal alien and two others additional inducements not disclosed at the time for their testimony, including Social Security cards, witness fees, permits allowing travel to and from Mexico, living expenses and free use of government phones. "The government stated in writing the aliens were allowed to remain and work in the United States pending trial and specified that 'no other promises or advantages' had been given," the court said. "That was not true." Mr. Sipe, 35, of Bethany, Okla., was convicted in 2001 after a five-day jury trial in McAllen, Texas, before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa. U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker Jr.'s office charged the agent with using excessive force and causing bodily injury in the 2000 arrest of a Mexican national, Jose Guevara....
Smuggler's 2nd delivery of marijuana confirmed Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican drug smuggler given immunity to return to the United States and testify against two Border Patrol agents, was involved in smuggling a second load of marijuana into the United States after he was given court protection, records have confirmed. Newly released transcripts of the trial of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have corroborated WND reports that the Mexican illegal alien was involved in the second drug case, this one involving a load of marijuana brought into the U.S. in October 2005. The incident followed his grant of immunity by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in return for truthful testimony against Ramos and Compean. The former agents are serving 11 and 12 year prison terms for their actions in a Feb. 17, 2005, incident in which they shot Aldrete-Davila as he was fleeing across the border into Mexico....
Border violence rises along with enforcement Jeannine Pallotto often rides her favorite Arabian horse on desert trails through stands of saguaro cactus and ironwood trees in Arizona's Ironwood Forest National Monument -- trails crisscrossed by immigrant smuggling corridors. Mindful of escalating violence tied to a crackdown on the border, though, she knows when to retreat from strangers. ``You never know which ones will pull a gun on you,'' said Pallotto, 45, who has lived next to this mountainous terrain northwest of Tucson for four years. Illegal border crossings are declining because of tougher enforcement, posting an overall 27 percent drop in the four months ending Jan. 31, the U.S. Border Patrol says. All sectors on the southern border, even the nation's busiest one based in Tucson, are showing drops in apprehensions of illegal migrants. But the crackdown has been accompanied by deadlier tactics by the most daring smugglers, who are now charging higher fees to bring Mexicans and others from Latin America into the United States illegally. In four recent cases, seven people were killed in Arizona, mostly after apparent smuggler-on-smuggler violence; one case is also being investigated for possible vigilantism. At Ironwood Forest earlier this month, three suspected immigrants were killed after gunmen apparently tried to steal a rival organization's load of illegal migrants; one alleged smuggler is now in custody....
This is just amazing. If we go back to the Kit Laney case, the U.S. Attorney believed everything Federal law enforcement told him. This was a Federal agency against a U.S. rancher. In the cases above, Federal law enforcement is not only disbelieved by the U.S. attorney, but has charges filed against it's officers. In these cases it's a Federal agency against illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. So, don't believe the U.S. rancher but do believe the illegal drug smugglers? What has become of the Bush Justice Dept.? Let's hope Senator Feinstein holds those hearings, and then expands them to look at the practices of the entire department.
Senate hearings on Ramos-Compean postponed Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., to investigate the prosecution of border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been postponed, WND has learned. Sen. Feinstein told WND that scheduling difficulties were responsible for the cancellation of the Feb. 27 hearing and her office anticipates that a new hearing date will be set soon. A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was disappointed to hear of the postponement, noting the senator's staff had done extensive work in preparation. As WND reported, Feinstein received permission from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to examine the case. The Bush administration has drawn strong criticism from Republican congressmen angry about its handling of a case in which two border agents were given 11- and 12-year sentences after granting a drug smuggler immunity to testify against them....
U.S. 'rewarded' alien for his testimony An illegal alien got a "get out of jail free card" plus U.S. legal documents and monetary compensation from federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of using excessive force during an arrest. Former agent David Sipe, who was convicted and fired, recently won an acquittal at a court-ordered retrial. A federal appeals court in Texas ordered the new trial, saying prosecutors gave the illegal alien and two others additional inducements not disclosed at the time for their testimony, including Social Security cards, witness fees, permits allowing travel to and from Mexico, living expenses and free use of government phones. "The government stated in writing the aliens were allowed to remain and work in the United States pending trial and specified that 'no other promises or advantages' had been given," the court said. "That was not true." Mr. Sipe, 35, of Bethany, Okla., was convicted in 2001 after a five-day jury trial in McAllen, Texas, before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa. U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker Jr.'s office charged the agent with using excessive force and causing bodily injury in the 2000 arrest of a Mexican national, Jose Guevara....
Smuggler's 2nd delivery of marijuana confirmed Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican drug smuggler given immunity to return to the United States and testify against two Border Patrol agents, was involved in smuggling a second load of marijuana into the United States after he was given court protection, records have confirmed. Newly released transcripts of the trial of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have corroborated WND reports that the Mexican illegal alien was involved in the second drug case, this one involving a load of marijuana brought into the U.S. in October 2005. The incident followed his grant of immunity by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in return for truthful testimony against Ramos and Compean. The former agents are serving 11 and 12 year prison terms for their actions in a Feb. 17, 2005, incident in which they shot Aldrete-Davila as he was fleeing across the border into Mexico....
Border violence rises along with enforcement Jeannine Pallotto often rides her favorite Arabian horse on desert trails through stands of saguaro cactus and ironwood trees in Arizona's Ironwood Forest National Monument -- trails crisscrossed by immigrant smuggling corridors. Mindful of escalating violence tied to a crackdown on the border, though, she knows when to retreat from strangers. ``You never know which ones will pull a gun on you,'' said Pallotto, 45, who has lived next to this mountainous terrain northwest of Tucson for four years. Illegal border crossings are declining because of tougher enforcement, posting an overall 27 percent drop in the four months ending Jan. 31, the U.S. Border Patrol says. All sectors on the southern border, even the nation's busiest one based in Tucson, are showing drops in apprehensions of illegal migrants. But the crackdown has been accompanied by deadlier tactics by the most daring smugglers, who are now charging higher fees to bring Mexicans and others from Latin America into the United States illegally. In four recent cases, seven people were killed in Arizona, mostly after apparent smuggler-on-smuggler violence; one case is also being investigated for possible vigilantism. At Ironwood Forest earlier this month, three suspected immigrants were killed after gunmen apparently tried to steal a rival organization's load of illegal migrants; one alleged smuggler is now in custody....
This is just amazing. If we go back to the Kit Laney case, the U.S. Attorney believed everything Federal law enforcement told him. This was a Federal agency against a U.S. rancher. In the cases above, Federal law enforcement is not only disbelieved by the U.S. attorney, but has charges filed against it's officers. In these cases it's a Federal agency against illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. So, don't believe the U.S. rancher but do believe the illegal drug smugglers? What has become of the Bush Justice Dept.? Let's hope Senator Feinstein holds those hearings, and then expands them to look at the practices of the entire department.
PRCA Rodeo commissioner resigns amid athlete steroid scandal The Colorado lawyer who pleaded guilty in San Francisco to leaking secret grand jury transcripts in a federal steroids probe has resigned as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The Colorado Springs-based PRCA announced in a news release Tuesday that Troy Ellerman submitted his letter of resignation Monday. Ellerman acknowledged in court papers filed last week that he had allowed two newspaper reporters to look at transcripts of grand jury testimony from baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, and sprinter Tim Montgomery. "Due to the fact that I have entered a plea of guilty in the BALCO case, I believe it is in the best interest of the PRCA to resign from my position as commissioner," Ellerman said in a news release. "It has been an honor to serve the PRCA. The PRCA is well served by a strong Board of Directors, and I am confident it will continue to move forward under its direction." In a statement, PRCA Chairman of the Board Keith Martin said the board appreciated Ellerman's service and credited him for helping the organization through a successful financial turnaround. The PRCA has appointed Martin as interim chief executive officer....
Verdict on reporters: sleazy double-dealing Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters - Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams - have made themselves poster children for advocates of a federal shield law by risking jail to protect the source who leaked them federal grand jury testimony by three professional baseball stars, including Barry Bonds. Thursday, we learned just whom they were protecting when Troy Ellerman, a defense attorney for one of BALCO's vice presidents, pleaded guilty to contempt of court, obstruction of justice and filing a false declaration with a federal court. Ellerman leaked the testimony to the Chronicle reporters, then went out and argued that the ensuing publicity would deny his client a fair trial. Worse, he filed motions with the court alleging that prosecutors had leaked the testimony and that charges against the BALCO official should be dismissed. The two reporters maintained their silence while all this occurred. Worse, Fainaru-Wada returned to the defense attorney's office to obtain more leaked testimony after their source had lied in public and to the court. To assert any form of journalistic privilege in a situation like that is something far worse than moral obtuseness. Conspiring with somebody who you know is actively perverting the administration of justice to your mutual advantage is a betrayal of the public interest whose protection is the only basis on which journalistic privilege has a right to assert itself....
Lawyer pleads on leak charge A Colorado lawyer pleaded guilty Thursday to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters covering the government's probe of steroids in sports. Troy Ellerman could be sent to prison for as long as two years and fined up to $250,000 for the convictions. His sentencing was scheduled for June 14. The 44-year-old Ellerman also could lose his license to practice law. Ellerman's appearance came the day after federal prosecutors announced he agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice in a deal that would prevent two San Francisco Chronicle reporters from going to jail for refusing to divulge their source. Ellerman signed agreements with prosecutors and was under court orders to keep the grand jury testimony confidential. Ellerman even made a motion in October 2004 to dismiss the case against Valente because of "repeated government leaks of confidential information." Prosecutors said a "previously unknown witness" approached the FBI and offered to help prove that Ellerman was the source. Larry McCormack, former executive director of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and a private investigator who briefly worked for Conte, said Thursday that he tipped off FBI agents. McCormack said he shared a Sacramento office with Ellerman and that Fainaru-Wada visited there several times in 2004. McCormack said Ellerman told him about the leaks....
Some won't be sorry to see rodeo official go Ellerman's tenure at the PRCA has been turbulent, according to some who served on the association's boards. His aggressive, sometimes confrontational manner may explain in part the circumstances that landed him in trouble in California, where he grew up, earned his law degree and still practices law. "I'm not surprised," said Leon Vick, a rodeo cowboy and former PRCA board member who was voted off of the board last May after clashing with Ellerman over the association's financial records. Vick said Ellerman was abusive and ruthless toward those who disagreed with him, often unleasing strings of profanity. "That's how he kept the weaker members in line," Vick said. Ellerman seemed to conduct much of the association's business on his own without bringing it to the board, Vick said. Vick's final argument with Ellerman came when Ellerman refused to show the board the documents disclosing the financial figures when he sold off the association's Pro Rodeo Tour circuit. "He never would show the board of directors the contract," said Vick. After Vick and Ellerman argued, Ellerman collected enough votes to oust Vick from the board, he said. Ellerman led the PRCA board into another vote last year to move the association and the Hall of Champions to Albuquerque, N.M., even though the hall was a separate entity. "He was dead wrong," said Harry Vold, a member of the Hall of Champions board. "They didn't even own the Hall of Champions and never consulted our board. They made a deal without any authority." Vold said the PRCA board is controlled by Ellerman. "He pretty much runs the show," Vold said. Thursday's guilty pleas should mark the end of Ellerman's control of the PRCA and usher in new leadership, Vold and Vick agreed....
Verdict on reporters: sleazy double-dealing Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters - Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams - have made themselves poster children for advocates of a federal shield law by risking jail to protect the source who leaked them federal grand jury testimony by three professional baseball stars, including Barry Bonds. Thursday, we learned just whom they were protecting when Troy Ellerman, a defense attorney for one of BALCO's vice presidents, pleaded guilty to contempt of court, obstruction of justice and filing a false declaration with a federal court. Ellerman leaked the testimony to the Chronicle reporters, then went out and argued that the ensuing publicity would deny his client a fair trial. Worse, he filed motions with the court alleging that prosecutors had leaked the testimony and that charges against the BALCO official should be dismissed. The two reporters maintained their silence while all this occurred. Worse, Fainaru-Wada returned to the defense attorney's office to obtain more leaked testimony after their source had lied in public and to the court. To assert any form of journalistic privilege in a situation like that is something far worse than moral obtuseness. Conspiring with somebody who you know is actively perverting the administration of justice to your mutual advantage is a betrayal of the public interest whose protection is the only basis on which journalistic privilege has a right to assert itself....
Lawyer pleads on leak charge A Colorado lawyer pleaded guilty Thursday to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters covering the government's probe of steroids in sports. Troy Ellerman could be sent to prison for as long as two years and fined up to $250,000 for the convictions. His sentencing was scheduled for June 14. The 44-year-old Ellerman also could lose his license to practice law. Ellerman's appearance came the day after federal prosecutors announced he agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice in a deal that would prevent two San Francisco Chronicle reporters from going to jail for refusing to divulge their source. Ellerman signed agreements with prosecutors and was under court orders to keep the grand jury testimony confidential. Ellerman even made a motion in October 2004 to dismiss the case against Valente because of "repeated government leaks of confidential information." Prosecutors said a "previously unknown witness" approached the FBI and offered to help prove that Ellerman was the source. Larry McCormack, former executive director of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and a private investigator who briefly worked for Conte, said Thursday that he tipped off FBI agents. McCormack said he shared a Sacramento office with Ellerman and that Fainaru-Wada visited there several times in 2004. McCormack said Ellerman told him about the leaks....
Some won't be sorry to see rodeo official go Ellerman's tenure at the PRCA has been turbulent, according to some who served on the association's boards. His aggressive, sometimes confrontational manner may explain in part the circumstances that landed him in trouble in California, where he grew up, earned his law degree and still practices law. "I'm not surprised," said Leon Vick, a rodeo cowboy and former PRCA board member who was voted off of the board last May after clashing with Ellerman over the association's financial records. Vick said Ellerman was abusive and ruthless toward those who disagreed with him, often unleasing strings of profanity. "That's how he kept the weaker members in line," Vick said. Ellerman seemed to conduct much of the association's business on his own without bringing it to the board, Vick said. Vick's final argument with Ellerman came when Ellerman refused to show the board the documents disclosing the financial figures when he sold off the association's Pro Rodeo Tour circuit. "He never would show the board of directors the contract," said Vick. After Vick and Ellerman argued, Ellerman collected enough votes to oust Vick from the board, he said. Ellerman led the PRCA board into another vote last year to move the association and the Hall of Champions to Albuquerque, N.M., even though the hall was a separate entity. "He was dead wrong," said Harry Vold, a member of the Hall of Champions board. "They didn't even own the Hall of Champions and never consulted our board. They made a deal without any authority." Vold said the PRCA board is controlled by Ellerman. "He pretty much runs the show," Vold said. Thursday's guilty pleas should mark the end of Ellerman's control of the PRCA and usher in new leadership, Vold and Vick agreed....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Land grab gives Army bully image When the United States Army informs you it's looking to expand - believe it. Last week, the Pentagon gave Fort Carson a pass from a 16-year-old moratorium prohibiting major land acquisitions. According to a news release, Fort Carson "intends to initiate efforts to potentially acquire up to 418,577 acres for the expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site" to get the job done. That's the size of ... well, it's freaking huge - a tripling of the present size of the Fort Carson training site. New military technology and modern warfare mean the Army needs more land. But Coloradans must ask themselves: at what price? Of the many prospective problems that come to mind - both environmental and economic - the most disquieting to the average citizen should be the way government obtains land in these situations: They take it. It's a governmentwide addiction called eminent-domain abuse. Right now, for instance, half of Fort Carson's land consists of acreage that was originally seized through condemnation of property and eminent domain. It's hard to believe that the new massive expansion can be patched together in alternative ways. Especially because many locals have no intention of selling their land....
Time to Kill the RAT? The ever-growing controversy over the Bush administration’s pay-for-play policy and efforts to make our public lands “sustainable” with recreation fees has hit another milestone. At least one member of Congress wants to repeal the law that makes it all possible, the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) or RAT, Recreation Access Tax, as it’s called by detractors, and start over with a system that the public endorses and that Congress passed the old-fashioned way, by voting on it, otherwise known as democracy. As the federal government rolls out its new America the Beautiful Pass, Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wants to go the opposite direction and eliminate fees. He thinks the Forest Service can’t see the forest through the fees. DeFazio has tried twice earlier to spike FLREA, but has gotten nowhere in the Republican Congress. Now, with the Democrats at the helm, he thinks he can get to the finish line....
Sides dig in for mine debate In the 1980s an environmental group bought roughly 900 acres of land and mining claims at the edge of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and turned it over to the U.S. Forest Service "to preserve the integrity" of a nearby river. Today, a mining company wants to explore the same land in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest for copper, gold, molybdenum and silver. The prospect of a new mine in the volcano's forested foothills has riled environmentalists, who are particularly irked because the land was purchased for its own protection. At the same time, the potential for new mining jobs is raising hopes in economically depressed nearby towns....
Basin might see 3,000 new wells near monument Some conservationists are decrying a proposed Bureau of Land Management plan that would open the Vermillion Basin near Dinosaur National Monument to oil and gas development. But the BLM’s draft Little Snake Resource Management Plan would do more than open the Vermillion Basin to drilling. The plan envisions more than 3,000 wells being drilled in the 1.3-million-acre region over the next 20 years, leaving only 160,870 acres off-limits to energy development. The agency is updating its management plan for the region that will govern how oil and gas, sage grouse habitat, wilderness study areas, off-road vehicles, wild horses and other natural features are managed. The BLM’s Little Snake Resource Area, based in Craig, includes portions of Garfield, Rio Blanco and Grand counties and most of Moffat and Routt counties. The BLM land in the plan surrounds Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and the northern half of Dinosaur National Monument, and stretches east to Steamboat Springs. Energy development in the plan is spread throughout the entire region....
Ore. timber theft increasing in rural areas, officials say Timber theft has increased in southern Oregon as more people have moved to rural areas, officials say. Tom Lowell, 53, is one of several public and private landowners hit by timber thieves. When he set out to log a parcel of land just outside Gold Hill he found the trees had already been cut. A forest engineer estimated it cost Lowell $5,000 worth of Douglas fir and madrone trees. He said any loss of income will be felt with a baby on the way. "Most people don't know how much trees are worth," Lowell said. "And unless you catch the thieves in the act, it's a tough crime to prove." Evidence suggests the trees were cut sometime in 2005. Lowell discovered the stumps late last year. Private landowners are not the only targets of forest thieves. According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, there were 65 reported cases of forest product and timber theft last year....
State-fed wolf talks could revive A little over a week after Wyoming leaders declared talks with the federal government over wolf management all but dead, momentum for such a deal may be building once again. The regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday he was encouraged that Gov. Dave Freudenthal and lawmakers are discussing changes to the state's wolf management plan. Meanwhile, a hunting group that has fought alongside the state to manage wolves on Wyoming's own terms has broken ranks with the agriculture industry by urging the state to accept the federal government's proposal to remove protection for the animals. Those developments don't eliminate the biggest remaining obstacle to a state-federal agreement that would allow wolves in Wyoming to become part of the federal government's wolf delisting process: Wyoming's insistence that it be allowed to kill wolves to protect wildlife before delisting becomes final. But Mitch King, regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said he's willing to consider the issue further....
Mouse to reign in Castle Rock digs The ravine that divides downtown Castle Rock from Interstate 25 is getting a monumental makeover fit for a mouse. The $461,000 project to rehabilitate Sellers Gulch will provide a permanent home for the endangered Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The rare rodent is usually a problem for developers and public officials who grapple with the cost and limits of federal protections. But while the price tag is hefty, so are the benefits, say town officials and environmentalists. Protecting the mouse in the shadow of downtown makes a statement about how Castle Rock values the environment, said Jane Cyphers, a member of Castle Rock's Parks and Recreation Commission....
UC expansion plans again run up against protected fairy shrimp Endangered fairy shrimp, those tiny vernal pool dwellers that have bedeviled planners at UC Merced for years, are flexing their protected status again. The half-inch-long crustaceans are in the path of the campus' long-range development plans and, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, their environmental standing might force the university to expand elsewhere -- possibly 15 miles away. The campus, which opened in 2005 and is 6 miles from downtown Merced, wants to grow directly to the north and east with new dorms, lecture halls, classroom buildings and other facilities needed to accommodate a projected enrollment of 25,000 students by 2030. The expansion would involve 910 adjacent acres, including 86 acres of seasonal wetlands over which the Corps of Engineers holds authority to regulate development or reject it outright....
Logging Permit Violates Protection of Northern Spotted Owl A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved a 22,000-acre logging project that affects northern spotted owl habitat in southern Oregon. In a case dating from 2001, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that would allow logging based on an "incidental take" statement estimating how many owls might be killed. Any landowners, companies, state or local governments with projects that might incidentally harm - or "take" - wildlife that is listed as endangered or threatened must first obtain an incidental take permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service. But the appeals court found the statement supporting the permit for about 75 proposed timber sales in the Rogue River Basin had no scientific foundation, lacked a specific estimate of how many owls would be killed by the logging, and had no "trigger" for keeping track of whether too many owls were being killed....
Scientists unite to push Bush on climate Pressure on the White House to act on scientific assessments of global warming mounted yesterday after the world’s largest general scientific society said that climate change was a “threat to society”. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined the growing clamour for political action in a public statement approved by its board. It is the first time that the AAAS, which represents 262 societies and scientific academies, has published a statement of consensus on climate change. It was issued on Sunday during a conference where a series of studies added weight to the body of evidence of human impact on the climate and environment. In the statement the association said: “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....
NMSU is home to the world’s hottest chile pepper When Paul Bosland exhaled after taking a bite of the world’s hottest chile pepper, it felt like he was breathing fire. “Got milk?” he thought. Bhut Jolokia, the world’s hottest chile pepper The next thing Bosland thought, after gulping down a soda, was, “That chile has got to be some kind of record.” He was right. In fall of 2006, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that New Mexico State University Regent’s Professor Paul Bosland had indeed discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper, Bhut Jolokia. Bhut Jolokia, at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), is nearly twice as hot as Red Savina, the chile pepper variety it replaces as the world’s hottest. A New Mexico green chile contains about 1,500 SHUs and an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000 SHUs. “The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “we’re not sure why they call it that, but I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!” Paul Bosland, NMSU professor, shows off his Guinness World Records certificate for the world’s hottest chile peppe According to Bosland, Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring inter-specific hybrid indigenous to the Assam region of northeastern India. A member of NMSU’s Chile Pepper Institute visiting India sent Bhut Jolokia seeds back to NMSU for testing in 2001....
Humans' beef with livestock: a warmer planet As Congress begins to tackle the causes and cures of global warming, the action focuses on gas-guzzling vehicles and coal-fired power plants, not on lowly bovines. Yet livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. And as meat becomes a growing mainstay of human diet around the world, changing what we eat may prove as hard as changing what we drive. It's not just the well-known and frequently joked-about flatulence and manure of grass-chewing cattle that's the problem, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Land-use changes, especially deforestation to expand pastures and to create arable land for feed crops, is a big part. So is the use of energy to produce fertilizers, to run the slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants, and to pump water. "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November. Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that's more than the emissions caused by transportation....
Canadian Cattle Slip Past USDA Safeguards Hundreds of cattle from Canada, which this month confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease, have entered the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, according to documents obtained by cattlemen in Washington state. The documents, consisting largely of correspondence between state officials and American cattle and meat companies, suggest problems with numerous truckloads of cattle that are shipped into this country almost daily. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently launched an investigation into the Canadian cattle trade based on the documents, according to a top department official. Many of the documents note that cattle arrived in the U.S. without identification tags, or they had tag numbers that did not match the accompanying health certificates. Overall, the approximately 700 pages of records suggest that officials from Washington and possibly other states are having difficulty tracking hundreds of cattle that arrive from Canada each week....
Maricopa Man Guilty In Bogus Mad Cow Testing Case A Maricopa man has pleaded guilty in a case that involved bogus testing for mad cow disease. Roland Emerson Farabee, 55, had a federal government contract to collect samples from high-risk animals and submit them to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for testing. He was also supposed to keep the carcasses in a freezer until the tests were done. But Farabee delivered tests from healthy animals and didn't keep the carcasses. He and his company, Farm Fresh Meats, Inc., pleaded guilty this week to theft of government funds, wire fraud and mail fraud. The scam cost the government $390,000....
It's an original Graham The Graham truck - an Evansville original and a classic - has come home. Thomas B. Lockyear, a Vanderburgh County-based energy consultant and lifelong dabbler in antique automobiles, brought an original one-ton 1924 Graham Brothers Truck Co. pickup to his home Monday. Lockyear bought the vintage truck from a Colorado collector in January. Rusty but solid, its wooden box carrier deteriorated and its original motor intact, the rare vehicle is a tangible reminder of the truck company formed in Evansville in 1919 by Joe, Bob and Ray Graham. The company eventually surpassed Dodge in truck production and became the second-largest producer in the country, second to only General Motors. Lockyear plans to restore the truck to its former glory and ensure it remains in Evansville....
Cowboy spirit comes to life in Ellensburg There is perhaps no other American icon more commercialized than the cowboy, who over the years has been used to sell everything from jeans to cigarettes to consumers worldwide. But strip away the Levi's and the Marlboros and what you're left with are the men and women who helped to settle this country, one open range at a time. Theirs was a hard way of life — one that was remembered and celebrated during the third annual Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering in Ellensburg over the weekend. "For us, it's keeping a lot of the traditions alive of the original cowboys that settled the West," said Diana Tasker, president of the Spirit of the West board of directors. "To remember our history ... the blood, sweat and tears that ranchers put into settling this area."....
Freedom? Fat Chance! Harper’s magazine reports that Americans burn an extra 938 million gallons of gasoline each year because we’re too fat. That estimate of how much the nation’s chubses are wasting in gas comes from a study by Sheldon Jacobson, professor of computer science at the University of Illinois and director of the school’s simulation and optimization laboratory. “The key finding,” reports Jacobson, “is that nearly 1 billion gallons of fuel are consumed each year because of the average weight gain of people living in the United States since 1960 — nearly three times the total amount of fuel consumed by all passenger vehicles each day based on current driving habits.” On average, we’re up in weight per capita in the U.S. since 1960 by 24 pounds, the size of a nice Thanksgiving turkey. Officially, the federal government says that 62 percent of us are “overweight,” and probably 99 percent of us would say the government’s too fat, so we’re more than even. It’s fat city, all over....
It’s The Pitts: May He Rest In Pieces Laugh if you will, but being a writer is very dangerous work. In the telling of tales the author must often weigh the reader’s satisfaction against the possibility that the author may be putting someone’s life in danger. As in this case. In many parts of the wild West there is a growing scourge upon the land in the form of wild hogs who denude the landscape and plow up the ground as if they were D-9 Cats. In an effort to rid the landscape of these pests many ranchers have leased out hunting rights to guides who offer pig hunts to sportsmen faced with fewer places to hunt. These wild pig hunts have become popular amongst hunters who lack the money to go on safari or the necessary skill to shoot pheasants and quail. One of my friends is a guide so good he can track bees in a blizzard or follow a mountain goat over solid rock. That’s why he has a long list of clients who sign up for his pig hunts. On one such hunt he was guiding two urban hunters who wanted a trophy hog. Consequently, though they saw numerous wild hogs, they’d taken no shots. It was getting late in the day on their last day when the guide motioned for his clients to hit the ground and be very quiet. As they crept through the underbrush, guns poised at the ready, they saw in a clearing a most magnificent beast. Standing not twenty yards away, his shiny black coat reflecting the late afternoon sun, was a huge boar, with tusks as long as an elephant’s. Missing his tail, and part of an ear, the boar was so big he could shade a horse! Surely here was a hog worthy of a taxidermist’s talent....
Land grab gives Army bully image When the United States Army informs you it's looking to expand - believe it. Last week, the Pentagon gave Fort Carson a pass from a 16-year-old moratorium prohibiting major land acquisitions. According to a news release, Fort Carson "intends to initiate efforts to potentially acquire up to 418,577 acres for the expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site" to get the job done. That's the size of ... well, it's freaking huge - a tripling of the present size of the Fort Carson training site. New military technology and modern warfare mean the Army needs more land. But Coloradans must ask themselves: at what price? Of the many prospective problems that come to mind - both environmental and economic - the most disquieting to the average citizen should be the way government obtains land in these situations: They take it. It's a governmentwide addiction called eminent-domain abuse. Right now, for instance, half of Fort Carson's land consists of acreage that was originally seized through condemnation of property and eminent domain. It's hard to believe that the new massive expansion can be patched together in alternative ways. Especially because many locals have no intention of selling their land....
Time to Kill the RAT? The ever-growing controversy over the Bush administration’s pay-for-play policy and efforts to make our public lands “sustainable” with recreation fees has hit another milestone. At least one member of Congress wants to repeal the law that makes it all possible, the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) or RAT, Recreation Access Tax, as it’s called by detractors, and start over with a system that the public endorses and that Congress passed the old-fashioned way, by voting on it, otherwise known as democracy. As the federal government rolls out its new America the Beautiful Pass, Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wants to go the opposite direction and eliminate fees. He thinks the Forest Service can’t see the forest through the fees. DeFazio has tried twice earlier to spike FLREA, but has gotten nowhere in the Republican Congress. Now, with the Democrats at the helm, he thinks he can get to the finish line....
Sides dig in for mine debate In the 1980s an environmental group bought roughly 900 acres of land and mining claims at the edge of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and turned it over to the U.S. Forest Service "to preserve the integrity" of a nearby river. Today, a mining company wants to explore the same land in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest for copper, gold, molybdenum and silver. The prospect of a new mine in the volcano's forested foothills has riled environmentalists, who are particularly irked because the land was purchased for its own protection. At the same time, the potential for new mining jobs is raising hopes in economically depressed nearby towns....
Basin might see 3,000 new wells near monument Some conservationists are decrying a proposed Bureau of Land Management plan that would open the Vermillion Basin near Dinosaur National Monument to oil and gas development. But the BLM’s draft Little Snake Resource Management Plan would do more than open the Vermillion Basin to drilling. The plan envisions more than 3,000 wells being drilled in the 1.3-million-acre region over the next 20 years, leaving only 160,870 acres off-limits to energy development. The agency is updating its management plan for the region that will govern how oil and gas, sage grouse habitat, wilderness study areas, off-road vehicles, wild horses and other natural features are managed. The BLM’s Little Snake Resource Area, based in Craig, includes portions of Garfield, Rio Blanco and Grand counties and most of Moffat and Routt counties. The BLM land in the plan surrounds Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and the northern half of Dinosaur National Monument, and stretches east to Steamboat Springs. Energy development in the plan is spread throughout the entire region....
Ore. timber theft increasing in rural areas, officials say Timber theft has increased in southern Oregon as more people have moved to rural areas, officials say. Tom Lowell, 53, is one of several public and private landowners hit by timber thieves. When he set out to log a parcel of land just outside Gold Hill he found the trees had already been cut. A forest engineer estimated it cost Lowell $5,000 worth of Douglas fir and madrone trees. He said any loss of income will be felt with a baby on the way. "Most people don't know how much trees are worth," Lowell said. "And unless you catch the thieves in the act, it's a tough crime to prove." Evidence suggests the trees were cut sometime in 2005. Lowell discovered the stumps late last year. Private landowners are not the only targets of forest thieves. According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, there were 65 reported cases of forest product and timber theft last year....
State-fed wolf talks could revive A little over a week after Wyoming leaders declared talks with the federal government over wolf management all but dead, momentum for such a deal may be building once again. The regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday he was encouraged that Gov. Dave Freudenthal and lawmakers are discussing changes to the state's wolf management plan. Meanwhile, a hunting group that has fought alongside the state to manage wolves on Wyoming's own terms has broken ranks with the agriculture industry by urging the state to accept the federal government's proposal to remove protection for the animals. Those developments don't eliminate the biggest remaining obstacle to a state-federal agreement that would allow wolves in Wyoming to become part of the federal government's wolf delisting process: Wyoming's insistence that it be allowed to kill wolves to protect wildlife before delisting becomes final. But Mitch King, regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said he's willing to consider the issue further....
Mouse to reign in Castle Rock digs The ravine that divides downtown Castle Rock from Interstate 25 is getting a monumental makeover fit for a mouse. The $461,000 project to rehabilitate Sellers Gulch will provide a permanent home for the endangered Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The rare rodent is usually a problem for developers and public officials who grapple with the cost and limits of federal protections. But while the price tag is hefty, so are the benefits, say town officials and environmentalists. Protecting the mouse in the shadow of downtown makes a statement about how Castle Rock values the environment, said Jane Cyphers, a member of Castle Rock's Parks and Recreation Commission....
UC expansion plans again run up against protected fairy shrimp Endangered fairy shrimp, those tiny vernal pool dwellers that have bedeviled planners at UC Merced for years, are flexing their protected status again. The half-inch-long crustaceans are in the path of the campus' long-range development plans and, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, their environmental standing might force the university to expand elsewhere -- possibly 15 miles away. The campus, which opened in 2005 and is 6 miles from downtown Merced, wants to grow directly to the north and east with new dorms, lecture halls, classroom buildings and other facilities needed to accommodate a projected enrollment of 25,000 students by 2030. The expansion would involve 910 adjacent acres, including 86 acres of seasonal wetlands over which the Corps of Engineers holds authority to regulate development or reject it outright....
Logging Permit Violates Protection of Northern Spotted Owl A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved a 22,000-acre logging project that affects northern spotted owl habitat in southern Oregon. In a case dating from 2001, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that would allow logging based on an "incidental take" statement estimating how many owls might be killed. Any landowners, companies, state or local governments with projects that might incidentally harm - or "take" - wildlife that is listed as endangered or threatened must first obtain an incidental take permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service. But the appeals court found the statement supporting the permit for about 75 proposed timber sales in the Rogue River Basin had no scientific foundation, lacked a specific estimate of how many owls would be killed by the logging, and had no "trigger" for keeping track of whether too many owls were being killed....
Scientists unite to push Bush on climate Pressure on the White House to act on scientific assessments of global warming mounted yesterday after the world’s largest general scientific society said that climate change was a “threat to society”. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined the growing clamour for political action in a public statement approved by its board. It is the first time that the AAAS, which represents 262 societies and scientific academies, has published a statement of consensus on climate change. It was issued on Sunday during a conference where a series of studies added weight to the body of evidence of human impact on the climate and environment. In the statement the association said: “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....
NMSU is home to the world’s hottest chile pepper When Paul Bosland exhaled after taking a bite of the world’s hottest chile pepper, it felt like he was breathing fire. “Got milk?” he thought. Bhut Jolokia, the world’s hottest chile pepper The next thing Bosland thought, after gulping down a soda, was, “That chile has got to be some kind of record.” He was right. In fall of 2006, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that New Mexico State University Regent’s Professor Paul Bosland had indeed discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper, Bhut Jolokia. Bhut Jolokia, at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), is nearly twice as hot as Red Savina, the chile pepper variety it replaces as the world’s hottest. A New Mexico green chile contains about 1,500 SHUs and an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000 SHUs. “The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “we’re not sure why they call it that, but I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!” Paul Bosland, NMSU professor, shows off his Guinness World Records certificate for the world’s hottest chile peppe According to Bosland, Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring inter-specific hybrid indigenous to the Assam region of northeastern India. A member of NMSU’s Chile Pepper Institute visiting India sent Bhut Jolokia seeds back to NMSU for testing in 2001....
Humans' beef with livestock: a warmer planet As Congress begins to tackle the causes and cures of global warming, the action focuses on gas-guzzling vehicles and coal-fired power plants, not on lowly bovines. Yet livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. And as meat becomes a growing mainstay of human diet around the world, changing what we eat may prove as hard as changing what we drive. It's not just the well-known and frequently joked-about flatulence and manure of grass-chewing cattle that's the problem, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Land-use changes, especially deforestation to expand pastures and to create arable land for feed crops, is a big part. So is the use of energy to produce fertilizers, to run the slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants, and to pump water. "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November. Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that's more than the emissions caused by transportation....
Canadian Cattle Slip Past USDA Safeguards Hundreds of cattle from Canada, which this month confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease, have entered the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, according to documents obtained by cattlemen in Washington state. The documents, consisting largely of correspondence between state officials and American cattle and meat companies, suggest problems with numerous truckloads of cattle that are shipped into this country almost daily. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently launched an investigation into the Canadian cattle trade based on the documents, according to a top department official. Many of the documents note that cattle arrived in the U.S. without identification tags, or they had tag numbers that did not match the accompanying health certificates. Overall, the approximately 700 pages of records suggest that officials from Washington and possibly other states are having difficulty tracking hundreds of cattle that arrive from Canada each week....
Maricopa Man Guilty In Bogus Mad Cow Testing Case A Maricopa man has pleaded guilty in a case that involved bogus testing for mad cow disease. Roland Emerson Farabee, 55, had a federal government contract to collect samples from high-risk animals and submit them to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for testing. He was also supposed to keep the carcasses in a freezer until the tests were done. But Farabee delivered tests from healthy animals and didn't keep the carcasses. He and his company, Farm Fresh Meats, Inc., pleaded guilty this week to theft of government funds, wire fraud and mail fraud. The scam cost the government $390,000....
It's an original Graham The Graham truck - an Evansville original and a classic - has come home. Thomas B. Lockyear, a Vanderburgh County-based energy consultant and lifelong dabbler in antique automobiles, brought an original one-ton 1924 Graham Brothers Truck Co. pickup to his home Monday. Lockyear bought the vintage truck from a Colorado collector in January. Rusty but solid, its wooden box carrier deteriorated and its original motor intact, the rare vehicle is a tangible reminder of the truck company formed in Evansville in 1919 by Joe, Bob and Ray Graham. The company eventually surpassed Dodge in truck production and became the second-largest producer in the country, second to only General Motors. Lockyear plans to restore the truck to its former glory and ensure it remains in Evansville....
Cowboy spirit comes to life in Ellensburg There is perhaps no other American icon more commercialized than the cowboy, who over the years has been used to sell everything from jeans to cigarettes to consumers worldwide. But strip away the Levi's and the Marlboros and what you're left with are the men and women who helped to settle this country, one open range at a time. Theirs was a hard way of life — one that was remembered and celebrated during the third annual Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering in Ellensburg over the weekend. "For us, it's keeping a lot of the traditions alive of the original cowboys that settled the West," said Diana Tasker, president of the Spirit of the West board of directors. "To remember our history ... the blood, sweat and tears that ranchers put into settling this area."....
Freedom? Fat Chance! Harper’s magazine reports that Americans burn an extra 938 million gallons of gasoline each year because we’re too fat. That estimate of how much the nation’s chubses are wasting in gas comes from a study by Sheldon Jacobson, professor of computer science at the University of Illinois and director of the school’s simulation and optimization laboratory. “The key finding,” reports Jacobson, “is that nearly 1 billion gallons of fuel are consumed each year because of the average weight gain of people living in the United States since 1960 — nearly three times the total amount of fuel consumed by all passenger vehicles each day based on current driving habits.” On average, we’re up in weight per capita in the U.S. since 1960 by 24 pounds, the size of a nice Thanksgiving turkey. Officially, the federal government says that 62 percent of us are “overweight,” and probably 99 percent of us would say the government’s too fat, so we’re more than even. It’s fat city, all over....
It’s The Pitts: May He Rest In Pieces Laugh if you will, but being a writer is very dangerous work. In the telling of tales the author must often weigh the reader’s satisfaction against the possibility that the author may be putting someone’s life in danger. As in this case. In many parts of the wild West there is a growing scourge upon the land in the form of wild hogs who denude the landscape and plow up the ground as if they were D-9 Cats. In an effort to rid the landscape of these pests many ranchers have leased out hunting rights to guides who offer pig hunts to sportsmen faced with fewer places to hunt. These wild pig hunts have become popular amongst hunters who lack the money to go on safari or the necessary skill to shoot pheasants and quail. One of my friends is a guide so good he can track bees in a blizzard or follow a mountain goat over solid rock. That’s why he has a long list of clients who sign up for his pig hunts. On one such hunt he was guiding two urban hunters who wanted a trophy hog. Consequently, though they saw numerous wild hogs, they’d taken no shots. It was getting late in the day on their last day when the guide motioned for his clients to hit the ground and be very quiet. As they crept through the underbrush, guns poised at the ready, they saw in a clearing a most magnificent beast. Standing not twenty yards away, his shiny black coat reflecting the late afternoon sun, was a huge boar, with tusks as long as an elephant’s. Missing his tail, and part of an ear, the boar was so big he could shade a horse! Surely here was a hog worthy of a taxidermist’s talent....
Monday, February 19, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Embattled warden once recognized by state A federal game warden in Pierre who is now being shunned by the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department for alleged heavy-handed law enforcement was once honored by that same agency. But Prieksat is now the object of public criticism from Rob Skjonsberg, chief of staff to Gov. Mike Rounds, for law-enforcement techniques that Skjonsberg claims have been overzealous and abusive. Skjonsberg wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reassign Prieksat, who currently oversees law enforcement for that agency in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Skjonsberg also has ordered GF&P conservation officers not to work with Prieksat, except in special situations approved individually by GF&P Secretary Jeff Vonk. Although the state can’t control Prieksat or determine Fish and Wildlife Service personnel policy, it can isolate the federal agent from state officers, Skjonsberg said. “My message is actually very simple. This agent is not our employee, and we are not obligated to do anything with him. And if the federal agency isn’t going to do something about his behavior, then I can certainly make a management decision within state government that limits our exposure to him.”....
Pinon Canyon expansion foes sue Army over information requests Opponents of a plan to nearly triple the size of a military training site in remote southeastern Colorado sued the Army on Friday, claiming it has failed to provide information requested under the Freedom of Information Act. An attorney for the group Not 1 More Acre said the group needs documents from Fort Carson on the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site to comment "effectively and fully" on a draft environmental study of the proposal released in October. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, attorney Stephen Harris asked a judge to rule that the Army has violated the Freedom of Information Act and order it to provide all the records the group is seeking. The lawsuit said the group filed five requests for records between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14. Fort Carson officials told the group that one request had been forwarded to a different agency, but the lawsuit said it had received no response to the other four requests, despite an Army regulation requiring some response within 20 days of a Freedom of Information Act request....
Senators have key voice on Pinon Canyon Ray Kogovsek learned the hard way back in 1981 that it is almost impossible for a congressman, even a member of the majority party, to stop the Pentagon once it starts pushing to acquire land. "I was trying to stop the first Pinon Canyon land acquisition and I went to House Speaker Tip O'Neill and told him I needed help, that the Army was going to take land in my (3rd District)," the former Democratic congressman recalled last week. "I loved Tip, but he took me aside and said, ‘Ray, it's just about impossible to stop the Army,’ and he turned out to be right." Now the Army wants to more than double the size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, adding another 418,000 acres to the training area that straddles the Purgatoire River southwest of La Junta. As in 1981, many if not all the area ranchers are angry and want the expansion stopped, afraid they will lose their land through condemnation or the use of it by being engulfed by the larger training area. While the Army downplays the likelihood that will happen, the real battle over the expansion will be in the halls of the Senate and the House, as lawmakers weigh the Pentagon's request. But there are two votes that matter more than any others Ñ the votes of Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. And just the opposition of one of them would be enough to block the expansion....
Rancher says wolves drove him out One day after selling his cattle, hay and farm machinery, Mike Kasten Sr. visited with his good friend, John Eischeid, in the office of Tri-County Livestock Auction Inc. Still sporting his cowboy hat and boots, Kasten pulled up a chair and explained why he decided to sell. Last June, he said he was getting his two grandsons off to summer school classes when he noticed trouble in a pasture close his house. "The cows were up close, calving," he recalled, "and there were three timber wolves, two of them working the cow. One calf took off running toward the brush, and I ran to get my .243. "When I got back, they were by another cow that had just calved that morning, and they were trying to get her." Kasten said the adult female wolf ran off, but he managed to shoot two young males. He notified the local authorities, who in turn summoned a DNR official and trapper from the USDA office in Grand Rapids. By midwinter, Kasten said he had lost several more calves to wolves, but he had no carcasses to prove his damages. He said it is common knowledge that wolves can tear carcasses to pieces, dragging them away to their den....
Wyo looks to operate state conservation corps A proposal to create a Wyoming conservation corps is rapidly heading to the governor’s desk, and will be modeled on similar programs in Utah, Montana and Colorado. Senate File 85 was approved on second reading in the House on Friday, and would create the conservation corps under the auspices of the University of Wyoming at the William D. Ruckelshaus Institute and Helga Otto Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Based on the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s New Deal days, youth corps programs put their participants to task on labor-intensive conservation and stewardship projects, such as fencing, weed mitigation, park development, rehabilitation of sensitive riparian areas, historical restoration, biological research, community service and trail maintenance, in both urban and rural areas....
House panel hears of management mess The Interior Department has "a culture replete with a lack of accountability" and at least a half-dozen major management problems that have festered for years, federal officials testified Friday. The department faces "enormous challenges in several areas," Inspector General Earl Devaney said at an oversight hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee. In the last two years alone, Devaney's office has uncovered golf outings, dinners, hunting trips, concert tickets and box seats at sporting events being accepted against the rules by Interior officials. The office also uncovered exclusive access and special favors by Interior employees to select outside groups. "Throughout the department, the appearance of preferential treatment in awarding contracts and procurements has come to our attention far too frequently, and the failure of department officials to remain at arm's length from prohibited sources is pervasive," Devaney said. The offending officials, many of them political appointees, were "primarily scolded or counseled and directed to take ethics training," while for others no action was taken whatsoever, Devaney said....
Rule would give landowners say on CBM water Landowners would have more say over whether water from coalbed methane wells is discharged on their land and the amount of water would be considered by the state in issuing discharge permits, under a rule change approved Friday by a divided state Environmental Quality Council. Advocates for landowners adversely affected by methane water applauded the action, while representatives of methane developers withheld comment until they could study the proposed rule. Other provisions in the Powder River Basin Resource Council petition seeking tougher standards on the level of chemicals allowed in the methane water were put off by the council until new scientific studies could be completed. The proposed change still needs the approval of Gov. Dave Freudenthal before it would take effect. Rob Black, a spokesman for the governor, said Freudenthal was reserving comment until he studies the proposal....
Ag producers worry about CBM water When the soil in Roger Muggli's fields turned bad last year, damaging more than 300 acres of alfalfa, the third-generation farmer quickly settled on a culprit: coal-bed methane drilling along the nearby Tongue River. It's a charge that has made Muggli few friends in a region where economic development is desperately sought after and future coal-bed methane development could mean hundreds of new jobs. His claims are denied by industry representatives and some federal scientists, who say there is no way to prove Muggli's assertion of a tie between coal-bed methane and his bad soil. But state officials and an independent researcher who investigated the case warned that Muggli's problems could be a harbinger of more to come, as the industry prepares to dramatically ramp up operations across 20 million acres in southeastern Montana in coming years. They said his fields bear the hallmarks of coal-bed methane effects, though they were careful to add that a direct link was impossible to prove. "We knew this was coming and we wanted to prepare for it," said Richard Opper, director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. "It's definitely a wake-up call when you see the impact." At issue are millions of gallons of water pumped daily from coal seams to access trapped methane, or natural gas. The water, which can be loaded with salts harmful to plants or soil, is sometimes treated or used to water livestock. Other times it is pumped directly into local stream and river drainages....
Column - Wolves here to stay Politically, Idaho didn't appear to be a friendly place for wolves, either. Then-Gov. Phil Batt and the state legislature said they wanted nothing to do with wolves. So the federal government handed over management to the Nez Perce Tribe, though without adequate funding. Fortunately, Idaho's wolves didn't notice their second-class status because today, Idaho has a wolf population twice the size of Yellowstone's. At more than 650 animals, Idaho has more wolves than Montana and Wyoming combined, and the state's wolf numbers have exceeded federal recovery goals. Most important, Idaho's leaders and most of the livestock community have learned to live with the predators. They helped put together a wolf management plan that, for all of its anti-wolf rhetoric, allows the animals to flourish. Yet Otter expressed his true feelings - and the feelings of many ranchers and hunters - when he said he wanted to manage wolves for the minimum population goals, which would be 10 packs and a little over 100 animals. This immediately concerned wolf advocates, who foresaw a great slaughter as soon as wolves were removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. But most wolf experts - scientists who have studied both wolves and their prey - doubt that such a slaughter could occur even if the state decided to sanction it. Jim Peek, University of Idaho wildlife management professor emeritus, said hunting won't by itself result in a dramatic decrease in wolf numbers. The more wolves killed, the more productive they become, as females have larger litters and breed more often in the face of reduced numbers. Idaho might be able to cut numbers through helicopter-gunning, but that's a practice that's both expensive and unpopular. Trapping, too, has its difficulties. It may have proved effective a century ago, but in Quebec, Canada, for example, where officials are trapping to reduce the population, wolves have become as wary as coyotes....
Climate and homes factors in increasing wildfire deaths The number of people killed fighting wildfires in the U.S. hit 24 last year — five of them a U.S. Forest Service engine crew overrun by flames as they tried to protect homes in Southern California chaparral country. The 2006 death toll is not an all-time high, but is part of a rising trend — double the number in 2005, and six more than the average of the past 10 years. The 10-year average has been rising, too, from 6.6 in the 1930s to 18 in the 2000s. Experts warn that the size and intensity of wildfires is increasing due to longer, hotter and drier summers and a buildup of fuel from trying to put out every fire. As a result, wildland firefighters face greater dangers, particularly trying to protect the growing number of homes in the woods....
Editorial - Bush budget misses mark on public lands "Stay the course" has been excised from the White House phrasebook, but the philosophy seems very much alive in the administration's public lands policy. Unfortunately, it's the wrong course. President Bush's budget for 2007-08 includes funding for the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. We were disappointed to see that the White House simply patched up and resubmitted its widely disparaged plan for Forest Service land sales. And the parks budget also includes some all too familiar and all too unacceptable elements. The overall budget for the Forest Service is disquieting enough; the administration has proposed spending $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2007-08, down from about $5 billion during the current year. But what's really drawn attention is the administration's recycled plan to sell up to about 274,000 acres of forest land. This gambit would raise about $800 million over five years. While some conservationists recoil at the idea of selling off any federal green- space, it's not a significant chunk of the inventory. Forest Service holdings nationwide are more than 192 million acres. Any sales receipts would be used to aid rural counties that have lost federal aid because of declining government timber sales. The financial problems of those local governments are real, particularly in the Northwest. But it makes no sense to use one-time asset sales to finance a continuing need. Since the administration is stuck in the land-sales rut, Congress needs to solve the problem another way....
Protection Granted for Mountain Caribou The last remaining mountain caribou in the lower 48 states received an extra measure of protection from the Eastern District Court in Washington. The court issued a February 14 ruling that will allow the endangered caribou to migrate from the northern areas to the southern areas of their habitat, while still permitting snowmobiles in much of the Priest Lake region. “This ruling demonstrates that Idaho is big enough for both snowmobiles and mountain caribou, something we’ve believed all along,” said Mike Petersen with The Lands Council in Spokane. “Once a species goes extinct, there’s no bringing it back, so we have to protect the few caribou we have.” A single herd of mountain caribou, recently estimated at approximately 37 animals, remain in the lower 48 states, making them the most endangered large mammal in North America. Like elk and other wildlife, caribou are most vulnerable in the winter when they are stressed by cold weather and deep snows. Snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles passing through caribou habitat have put additional strain on the herd....
Father of Green Revolution Receives Top Civilian Honor Scientist Norman Borlaug received the nation's highest civilian honor--the Congressional Gold Medal--on December 6, 2006, making him one of only 300 or so people who have received the medal since it was first given to George Washington in 1776. Borlaug is widely regarded as the "Father of the Green Revolution" and was lauded by Congress for developing technologies that dramatically increased food production, particularly in Third World nations. Those technologies include the use of pesticides to fend off crop-destroying insects, nitrogen fertilizer to increase plant growth and food yields, irrigation projects to expand crop acreage, and high-yield seeds created to absorb additional nitrogen from the soil....
Flagstaff man rejects plea deal in eco-saboteur case A man accused of stringing heavy cables across forest trails to stop motorcyclists has rejected a plea deal with prosecutors who filed felony charges that could lead to a 31-year prison term. J.D. Protiva, 72, said he refused the deal offered by Coconino County prosecutors because he wanted to take jurors into the forest to show them the damage caused by off-highway vehicles. The deal he refused Tuesday could have resulted in probation or up to two years in prison. Protiva said Coconino National Forest officials were allowing the off-road use, to the detriment of endangered species habitat on the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff....
Embattled warden once recognized by state A federal game warden in Pierre who is now being shunned by the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department for alleged heavy-handed law enforcement was once honored by that same agency. But Prieksat is now the object of public criticism from Rob Skjonsberg, chief of staff to Gov. Mike Rounds, for law-enforcement techniques that Skjonsberg claims have been overzealous and abusive. Skjonsberg wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reassign Prieksat, who currently oversees law enforcement for that agency in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Skjonsberg also has ordered GF&P conservation officers not to work with Prieksat, except in special situations approved individually by GF&P Secretary Jeff Vonk. Although the state can’t control Prieksat or determine Fish and Wildlife Service personnel policy, it can isolate the federal agent from state officers, Skjonsberg said. “My message is actually very simple. This agent is not our employee, and we are not obligated to do anything with him. And if the federal agency isn’t going to do something about his behavior, then I can certainly make a management decision within state government that limits our exposure to him.”....
Pinon Canyon expansion foes sue Army over information requests Opponents of a plan to nearly triple the size of a military training site in remote southeastern Colorado sued the Army on Friday, claiming it has failed to provide information requested under the Freedom of Information Act. An attorney for the group Not 1 More Acre said the group needs documents from Fort Carson on the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site to comment "effectively and fully" on a draft environmental study of the proposal released in October. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, attorney Stephen Harris asked a judge to rule that the Army has violated the Freedom of Information Act and order it to provide all the records the group is seeking. The lawsuit said the group filed five requests for records between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14. Fort Carson officials told the group that one request had been forwarded to a different agency, but the lawsuit said it had received no response to the other four requests, despite an Army regulation requiring some response within 20 days of a Freedom of Information Act request....
Senators have key voice on Pinon Canyon Ray Kogovsek learned the hard way back in 1981 that it is almost impossible for a congressman, even a member of the majority party, to stop the Pentagon once it starts pushing to acquire land. "I was trying to stop the first Pinon Canyon land acquisition and I went to House Speaker Tip O'Neill and told him I needed help, that the Army was going to take land in my (3rd District)," the former Democratic congressman recalled last week. "I loved Tip, but he took me aside and said, ‘Ray, it's just about impossible to stop the Army,’ and he turned out to be right." Now the Army wants to more than double the size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, adding another 418,000 acres to the training area that straddles the Purgatoire River southwest of La Junta. As in 1981, many if not all the area ranchers are angry and want the expansion stopped, afraid they will lose their land through condemnation or the use of it by being engulfed by the larger training area. While the Army downplays the likelihood that will happen, the real battle over the expansion will be in the halls of the Senate and the House, as lawmakers weigh the Pentagon's request. But there are two votes that matter more than any others Ñ the votes of Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. And just the opposition of one of them would be enough to block the expansion....
Rancher says wolves drove him out One day after selling his cattle, hay and farm machinery, Mike Kasten Sr. visited with his good friend, John Eischeid, in the office of Tri-County Livestock Auction Inc. Still sporting his cowboy hat and boots, Kasten pulled up a chair and explained why he decided to sell. Last June, he said he was getting his two grandsons off to summer school classes when he noticed trouble in a pasture close his house. "The cows were up close, calving," he recalled, "and there were three timber wolves, two of them working the cow. One calf took off running toward the brush, and I ran to get my .243. "When I got back, they were by another cow that had just calved that morning, and they were trying to get her." Kasten said the adult female wolf ran off, but he managed to shoot two young males. He notified the local authorities, who in turn summoned a DNR official and trapper from the USDA office in Grand Rapids. By midwinter, Kasten said he had lost several more calves to wolves, but he had no carcasses to prove his damages. He said it is common knowledge that wolves can tear carcasses to pieces, dragging them away to their den....
Wyo looks to operate state conservation corps A proposal to create a Wyoming conservation corps is rapidly heading to the governor’s desk, and will be modeled on similar programs in Utah, Montana and Colorado. Senate File 85 was approved on second reading in the House on Friday, and would create the conservation corps under the auspices of the University of Wyoming at the William D. Ruckelshaus Institute and Helga Otto Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Based on the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s New Deal days, youth corps programs put their participants to task on labor-intensive conservation and stewardship projects, such as fencing, weed mitigation, park development, rehabilitation of sensitive riparian areas, historical restoration, biological research, community service and trail maintenance, in both urban and rural areas....
House panel hears of management mess The Interior Department has "a culture replete with a lack of accountability" and at least a half-dozen major management problems that have festered for years, federal officials testified Friday. The department faces "enormous challenges in several areas," Inspector General Earl Devaney said at an oversight hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee. In the last two years alone, Devaney's office has uncovered golf outings, dinners, hunting trips, concert tickets and box seats at sporting events being accepted against the rules by Interior officials. The office also uncovered exclusive access and special favors by Interior employees to select outside groups. "Throughout the department, the appearance of preferential treatment in awarding contracts and procurements has come to our attention far too frequently, and the failure of department officials to remain at arm's length from prohibited sources is pervasive," Devaney said. The offending officials, many of them political appointees, were "primarily scolded or counseled and directed to take ethics training," while for others no action was taken whatsoever, Devaney said....
Rule would give landowners say on CBM water Landowners would have more say over whether water from coalbed methane wells is discharged on their land and the amount of water would be considered by the state in issuing discharge permits, under a rule change approved Friday by a divided state Environmental Quality Council. Advocates for landowners adversely affected by methane water applauded the action, while representatives of methane developers withheld comment until they could study the proposed rule. Other provisions in the Powder River Basin Resource Council petition seeking tougher standards on the level of chemicals allowed in the methane water were put off by the council until new scientific studies could be completed. The proposed change still needs the approval of Gov. Dave Freudenthal before it would take effect. Rob Black, a spokesman for the governor, said Freudenthal was reserving comment until he studies the proposal....
Ag producers worry about CBM water When the soil in Roger Muggli's fields turned bad last year, damaging more than 300 acres of alfalfa, the third-generation farmer quickly settled on a culprit: coal-bed methane drilling along the nearby Tongue River. It's a charge that has made Muggli few friends in a region where economic development is desperately sought after and future coal-bed methane development could mean hundreds of new jobs. His claims are denied by industry representatives and some federal scientists, who say there is no way to prove Muggli's assertion of a tie between coal-bed methane and his bad soil. But state officials and an independent researcher who investigated the case warned that Muggli's problems could be a harbinger of more to come, as the industry prepares to dramatically ramp up operations across 20 million acres in southeastern Montana in coming years. They said his fields bear the hallmarks of coal-bed methane effects, though they were careful to add that a direct link was impossible to prove. "We knew this was coming and we wanted to prepare for it," said Richard Opper, director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. "It's definitely a wake-up call when you see the impact." At issue are millions of gallons of water pumped daily from coal seams to access trapped methane, or natural gas. The water, which can be loaded with salts harmful to plants or soil, is sometimes treated or used to water livestock. Other times it is pumped directly into local stream and river drainages....
Column - Wolves here to stay Politically, Idaho didn't appear to be a friendly place for wolves, either. Then-Gov. Phil Batt and the state legislature said they wanted nothing to do with wolves. So the federal government handed over management to the Nez Perce Tribe, though without adequate funding. Fortunately, Idaho's wolves didn't notice their second-class status because today, Idaho has a wolf population twice the size of Yellowstone's. At more than 650 animals, Idaho has more wolves than Montana and Wyoming combined, and the state's wolf numbers have exceeded federal recovery goals. Most important, Idaho's leaders and most of the livestock community have learned to live with the predators. They helped put together a wolf management plan that, for all of its anti-wolf rhetoric, allows the animals to flourish. Yet Otter expressed his true feelings - and the feelings of many ranchers and hunters - when he said he wanted to manage wolves for the minimum population goals, which would be 10 packs and a little over 100 animals. This immediately concerned wolf advocates, who foresaw a great slaughter as soon as wolves were removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. But most wolf experts - scientists who have studied both wolves and their prey - doubt that such a slaughter could occur even if the state decided to sanction it. Jim Peek, University of Idaho wildlife management professor emeritus, said hunting won't by itself result in a dramatic decrease in wolf numbers. The more wolves killed, the more productive they become, as females have larger litters and breed more often in the face of reduced numbers. Idaho might be able to cut numbers through helicopter-gunning, but that's a practice that's both expensive and unpopular. Trapping, too, has its difficulties. It may have proved effective a century ago, but in Quebec, Canada, for example, where officials are trapping to reduce the population, wolves have become as wary as coyotes....
Climate and homes factors in increasing wildfire deaths The number of people killed fighting wildfires in the U.S. hit 24 last year — five of them a U.S. Forest Service engine crew overrun by flames as they tried to protect homes in Southern California chaparral country. The 2006 death toll is not an all-time high, but is part of a rising trend — double the number in 2005, and six more than the average of the past 10 years. The 10-year average has been rising, too, from 6.6 in the 1930s to 18 in the 2000s. Experts warn that the size and intensity of wildfires is increasing due to longer, hotter and drier summers and a buildup of fuel from trying to put out every fire. As a result, wildland firefighters face greater dangers, particularly trying to protect the growing number of homes in the woods....
Editorial - Bush budget misses mark on public lands "Stay the course" has been excised from the White House phrasebook, but the philosophy seems very much alive in the administration's public lands policy. Unfortunately, it's the wrong course. President Bush's budget for 2007-08 includes funding for the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. We were disappointed to see that the White House simply patched up and resubmitted its widely disparaged plan for Forest Service land sales. And the parks budget also includes some all too familiar and all too unacceptable elements. The overall budget for the Forest Service is disquieting enough; the administration has proposed spending $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2007-08, down from about $5 billion during the current year. But what's really drawn attention is the administration's recycled plan to sell up to about 274,000 acres of forest land. This gambit would raise about $800 million over five years. While some conservationists recoil at the idea of selling off any federal green- space, it's not a significant chunk of the inventory. Forest Service holdings nationwide are more than 192 million acres. Any sales receipts would be used to aid rural counties that have lost federal aid because of declining government timber sales. The financial problems of those local governments are real, particularly in the Northwest. But it makes no sense to use one-time asset sales to finance a continuing need. Since the administration is stuck in the land-sales rut, Congress needs to solve the problem another way....
Protection Granted for Mountain Caribou The last remaining mountain caribou in the lower 48 states received an extra measure of protection from the Eastern District Court in Washington. The court issued a February 14 ruling that will allow the endangered caribou to migrate from the northern areas to the southern areas of their habitat, while still permitting snowmobiles in much of the Priest Lake region. “This ruling demonstrates that Idaho is big enough for both snowmobiles and mountain caribou, something we’ve believed all along,” said Mike Petersen with The Lands Council in Spokane. “Once a species goes extinct, there’s no bringing it back, so we have to protect the few caribou we have.” A single herd of mountain caribou, recently estimated at approximately 37 animals, remain in the lower 48 states, making them the most endangered large mammal in North America. Like elk and other wildlife, caribou are most vulnerable in the winter when they are stressed by cold weather and deep snows. Snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles passing through caribou habitat have put additional strain on the herd....
Father of Green Revolution Receives Top Civilian Honor Scientist Norman Borlaug received the nation's highest civilian honor--the Congressional Gold Medal--on December 6, 2006, making him one of only 300 or so people who have received the medal since it was first given to George Washington in 1776. Borlaug is widely regarded as the "Father of the Green Revolution" and was lauded by Congress for developing technologies that dramatically increased food production, particularly in Third World nations. Those technologies include the use of pesticides to fend off crop-destroying insects, nitrogen fertilizer to increase plant growth and food yields, irrigation projects to expand crop acreage, and high-yield seeds created to absorb additional nitrogen from the soil....
Flagstaff man rejects plea deal in eco-saboteur case A man accused of stringing heavy cables across forest trails to stop motorcyclists has rejected a plea deal with prosecutors who filed felony charges that could lead to a 31-year prison term. J.D. Protiva, 72, said he refused the deal offered by Coconino County prosecutors because he wanted to take jurors into the forest to show them the damage caused by off-highway vehicles. The deal he refused Tuesday could have resulted in probation or up to two years in prison. Protiva said Coconino National Forest officials were allowing the off-road use, to the detriment of endangered species habitat on the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff....
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Advice - for what it's worth
By Julie Carter
I wander through my days pretty much like everybody else. I have to make a living, take care of my family and, each week, find inspiration to share something with you here.
Usually I'm as surprised as you are at what might finally hit the page and it's not uncommon to come to the keyboard with a hodgepodge of ideas - or none at all.
A writer's prompt showed up in my email box that asked "what is the best advice you ever received?" I queried a few friends with the same question, and each answered true to their personalities.
--Never date a woman you don't respect enough to marry.
--Marry a good man. In 20 years, their looks will be gone but if you marry a good man, he will still be a good man in 20 years.
--Stand straight. Tall girls don't have to be beautiful. The boys see them first.
--I get so much advice from my husband and he assures me it is all wonderful.
--No matter who says what, don't believe it if it doesn't make sense.
--When someone shows you what they are, don't ask them to show you again.
One cowboy, who is clever with his short, direct answers simply said, "Never saddle a horse named Bucky." I fell for that once, thinking that the horse's name, Buck, was for his color. The bad advice that follows is always, "Just turn your toes out. There ain't nothing to him." It worked but it wasn't pretty.
Along those same lines, there are some classics among cowboys that are worth repeating. I credit most of these to Texas Bix Bender's book, "Don't Squat with your Spurs On! - A Cowboy's Guide to Life."
--Don't believe all that you hear, spend all that you have or sleep all that you want.
--When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
--Don't judge folks by their relatives.
--There are three kinds of men. Some learn by reading, some by observation and the rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
--If you get to thinking you are a person of influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.
--Good judgment comes from experience but a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.
--It's best to keep your troubles to yourself because half the people you tell them to won't give a darn and the other half will be glad to hear you've got them.
--Most folks are like a barbwire fence. They have their good points.
--The best way to keep your word is not to give it foolishly.
--Always take a good look at what you are about to eat. It's not so important to know what it is but it's critical to know what it was.
--The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow.
--Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
--If it doesn't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably isn't.
And my favorite: The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every morning.
By Julie Carter
I wander through my days pretty much like everybody else. I have to make a living, take care of my family and, each week, find inspiration to share something with you here.
Usually I'm as surprised as you are at what might finally hit the page and it's not uncommon to come to the keyboard with a hodgepodge of ideas - or none at all.
A writer's prompt showed up in my email box that asked "what is the best advice you ever received?" I queried a few friends with the same question, and each answered true to their personalities.
--Never date a woman you don't respect enough to marry.
--Marry a good man. In 20 years, their looks will be gone but if you marry a good man, he will still be a good man in 20 years.
--Stand straight. Tall girls don't have to be beautiful. The boys see them first.
--I get so much advice from my husband and he assures me it is all wonderful.
--No matter who says what, don't believe it if it doesn't make sense.
--When someone shows you what they are, don't ask them to show you again.
One cowboy, who is clever with his short, direct answers simply said, "Never saddle a horse named Bucky." I fell for that once, thinking that the horse's name, Buck, was for his color. The bad advice that follows is always, "Just turn your toes out. There ain't nothing to him." It worked but it wasn't pretty.
Along those same lines, there are some classics among cowboys that are worth repeating. I credit most of these to Texas Bix Bender's book, "Don't Squat with your Spurs On! - A Cowboy's Guide to Life."
--Don't believe all that you hear, spend all that you have or sleep all that you want.
--When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
--Don't judge folks by their relatives.
--There are three kinds of men. Some learn by reading, some by observation and the rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
--If you get to thinking you are a person of influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.
--Good judgment comes from experience but a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.
--It's best to keep your troubles to yourself because half the people you tell them to won't give a darn and the other half will be glad to hear you've got them.
--Most folks are like a barbwire fence. They have their good points.
--The best way to keep your word is not to give it foolishly.
--Always take a good look at what you are about to eat. It's not so important to know what it is but it's critical to know what it was.
--The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow.
--Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
--If it doesn't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably isn't.
And my favorite: The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every morning.
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