'Virtual fence' gets second chance on border

The Homeland Security Department is accelerating plans to build a costly and long-troubled "virtual fence" of sensors and cameras along the U.S.-Mexican border, aided by $100 million from the economic stimulus package. The government already has spent $600 million and built a failed prototype of the high-tech network that would be used by border agents to try to catch illegal immigrants and drug runners. A 28-mile test patch built in Arizona over the past two years had so many problems that it was scrapped. The department is now embarking on what its officials and members of Congress are calling a "do-over" on the same land near Tucson and another along 30 miles in Ajo, Ariz. Some question whether Boeing, the government contractor for the job, should be allowed to continue with the multiyear, $6.7 billion project after botching the first effort. Its pole cameras and radar and communications systems didn't work well and couldn't be used effectively by border agents...USA Today

Terrorist watch list hits 1 million, up 32%

The government's terrorist watch list has hit 1 million entries, up 32% since 2007. Federal data show the rise comes despite the removal of 33,000 entries last year by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center in an effort to purge the list of outdated information and remove people cleared in investigations. It's unclear how many individuals those 33,000 records represent — the center often uses multiple entries, or "identities," for a person to reflect variances in name spellings or other identifying information. The remaining million entries represent about 400,000 individuals, according to the center. People put on the watch list by intelligence and law enforcement agencies can be blocked from flying, stopped at borders or subjected to other scrutiny. About 95% of the people on the list are foreigners, the FBI says, but it's a source of frequent complaints from U.S. travelers. In the past two years, 51,000 people have filed "redress" requests claiming they were wrongly included on the watch list, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In the vast majority of cases reviewed so far, it has turned out that the petitioners were not actually on the list, with most having been misidentified at airports because their names resembled others on it...USA Today

Drug Smugglers Using Ultralights to Cross Border

Smugglers facing strengthened border defenses have turned to an old and risky tactic -- using single-seat ultralight aircraft to fly marijuana loads into the country. Officials know of at least three such attempts in recent months -- all of which ended badly for the smugglers -- but they don't know how many others have been made or whether any have been successful. The incidents are worrisome to federal officials. They believe more such attempts are happening or will be, though there's no agreement on whether use of the small aluminum tubing aircraft represents a trend or a novelty. "If the cartels feel they're successful, they'll go with it," said Rick Crocker, deputy special agent in charge with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tucson. "If we can shut it down, they'll go with other means." The recent flights all came late at night at different points along the Arizona-Mexico border, the busiest region for smugglers...AP

‘Undeclared War’ on Mexican Border Greater Challenge than Afghanistan, Congressmen Say

The violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is the biggest threat to the nation’s security, members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security said at back-to-back hearings on Tuesday. The two back-to-back hearings on border security and the drug cartel-induced violence along the U.S. Mexico border, which lasted four hours, revealed details about the ongoing violence in Mexico as the drug cartels battle the police and military for access to smuggling routes that bring drugs into the United States and money and guns into Mexico. Witnesses said drug dealers use gliders and a massive network of tunnels to surpass border security, including the 610 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing that’s been constructed along the border. The hearing included discussion on a wide range of issues, including the progress and funding of the 2005 Secure Border Initiative and the treatment of women and children who are detained for illegally entering the country. But Culberson said the answer to the border question has already been found in the Del Rio section of Texas where a “zero tolerance” operation, dubbed Operation Streamline, has resulted in approximately 80 percent of people who cross into the country illegally being arrested. “It’s a great success story,” Culberson said. “This is, Mr. Chairman, the win-win situation we are looking for.”...CNS News

Public Lands Bill Defeated in House

For now, the mega-public lands bill that would have greatly expanded public wilderness areas, parks and miles and miles of public trails, is stalled. House Republicans managed to maintain enough opposition to the omnibus measure to defeat the measure earlier today in a vote requiring two-thirds of the House members, by 282-144. House Democratic leaders had brought the bill to the floor under suspension of the rules, as a way to keep the opposition from altering the legislation through amendments. But getting two-thirds remained dicey. Democrats tried to persuade Republicans (and conservative Democrats) that the bills were gun-friendly by the insertion of an amendment that would have prohibited any effort to close lands in the omnibus to hunting and fishing, but many Republicans still believed the legislation did not include enough gun rights protections (see below). Three Democrats voted no; 34 Republicans voted with Democrats; and six did not vote. It fell two votes short of passage. Beyond guns, the House Republican leadership had complained all along that the total size of the bill was extraordinary, and would cost billions of dollars. It also opposed the legislation on the grounds that many pieces of the omnibus, totaling more than 150 bills that would have created new national parks, expanded the boundaries of existing one, created monuments or “heritage areas” and nationalized trails, had never been thoroughly examined in the House. A senior Democratic aide in the House said the best option under consideration would be to have the Senate shoehorn it onto another bill and ship it back. House Democratic leaders have not definitively ruled out a floor vote using a simpler rule, needing only a majority for passage, but that move would leave the measure wide open for amendments. As for the ever-present gun lobby, an amendment by Democrat Jason Altmire, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was meant to assuage those concerned about hunting and fishing rights. And Democrats’ pointed to the N.R.A.’s satisfaction with that amendment. But Gun Owners of America sent out a letter this week objecting to the overall omnibus on many grounds, and urged House members to vote against it...NY Times

Lawmakers, ranchers warn Army on Pinon Canyon lease

News that Army officials were preparing to announce a lease agreement to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site rankled key Colorado lawmakers Tuesday as well as surrounding landowners. They say the Pentagon still has not justified the proposed expansion and is defying Congress in pursuing any acquisition in the face of a federal budget moratorium on the expansion. Rep. John Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes Pinon Canyon, said he will oppose the Army acquiring additional land around the 238,000-acre training site - through purchase or lease - until Army officials guarantee that eminent domain will not be used against any landowner, a step Army officials have said they cannot legally offer. Salazar said he repeated his opposition to Keith Eastin, the Army's assistant secretary for installations, a week ago when Eastin asked him to support a lease agreement with Denver businessman Craig Walker, which would give the Army access to Walker's 70,000 acres south of the training area. "Those of us in Congress cannot limit what Craig Walker wants to do with his property, but we can decide how the Defense Department spends its money," said Salazar, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee...Pueblo Chieftain

I don't understand why the Army "cannot legally offer" to forgo eminent domain. Is it against the law to NOT use eminent domain? Show me that statute. If there is no such law, then the Army can "legally offer" to only deal with willing sellers. They may not want to limit their authority, but they can certainly "legally" do so.

I don't believe the Army needs this land, which I addressed in this previous post:


"The Base Structure Report(pdf) for FY 2008 contains the land profile for the Department of Defense. The introduction to the report states, "The Depart of Defense remains one of the world's largest 'landlords' with a physical plant consisting of more than 545,700 facilities (buildings, structures and linear structures) located on more than 5400 sites, on approximately 30 million acres."

The land profile further refines that to 29.8 million acres owned or controlled by DOD. More than 98% of the land is in the US, with the Army managing 52% and the Air Force 33%.

29.8 million acres equals 46,562.5 square miles. How do you put that in perspective? Let's try this: Of the Thirteen Original Colonies, six of them (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire & Massachusetts) would fit into the land mass controlled by DOD, with 8359 square miles or 5.3 million acres left over. In other words, you could add another New Jersey.

29.8 million acres and they don't have enough land to practice? They may have a turf problem or a setting of priorities problem, but they don't have a lack of land problem."

EPA Wants Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reports

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to require companies for the first time to disclose how much greenhouse gases they're releasing. "Our efforts to confront climate change must be guided by the best possible information," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said Tuesday. "This is a critical step toward helping us better protect our health and environment –- all without placing an onerous burden on our nation’s small businesses.” EPA is proposing mandatory reporting of the gases blamed for global warming at approximately 13,000 facilities nationwide which account for about 85-90 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The facilities include refineries, automobile manufacturers, power plants, coal mines and large manure ponds at farms. The information EPA gathers will be needed if it decides to control greenhouse gases or if Congress passes a law limiting the pollution. EPA said the expected costs to the private sector to comply with the reporting requirements be $160 million for the first year and about $127 million annually in subsequent years...Internet Broadcasting Systems

Federal land agencies: Planning for damage from climate change

The government needs a comprehensive plan to address the potential damage of climate change on forests, parks and other federal lands, experts agree. Land-holding agencies such as the Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management have begun assessing the impact of climate change on public lands, but no comprehensive strategy exists for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or mitigating the harm of rising global temperatures. Interior would receive $40 million in the Obama administration’s 2010 budget to assess the impact of climate change on the nation’s lands, fish and wildlife. Armstrong said the funding request is an important endorsement of the need for scientific analysis to understand and address climate change. Some ecosystems adapt rapidly enough to react to climate change, while others cannot. Those differences make it difficult to predict the impact from climate change on public lands overall, said Abigail Kimbell, chief of the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service. Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist at the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy and president-elect of the Society for Conservation Biology, said Congress needs to set an aggressive national goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to specify agency steps to manage the impact of climate change on public lands. Subcommittee Chairman Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said he will hold additional hearings and ensure that federal lands are included in climate change legislation. “I feel strongly that while our public lands are threatened by climate change, they are also critical in finding solutions to combat climate change,” Grijalva said...Federal Times

Here they come, polar bear or no polar bear.

DOE made a $500 million "math error"

The Energy Department made a $500 million math error a year ago when it withdrew its support from a “near-zero emissions” coal plant in Illinois, Congressional auditors will say in a report to be released Wednesday. The error led the department to say mistakenly that the project, known as FutureGen, had nearly doubled in cost — an increase the Bush administration deemed too expensive. At the time, FutureGen was the leading effort to capture and sequester carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming. If the project were resumed and proved successful, it could provide a model for curbing the carbon dioxide that coal adds to the atmosphere. The new energy secretary, Steven Chu, has said that he will consider renewing support for FutureGen but that changes will be needed. He did not specify what those might be...NY Times

Salazar names Coloradan to Interior deputy post

A Colorado conservationist and former congressional candidate has been named the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Will Shafroth’s appointment Tuesday. Shafroth was a founding director of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, which distributes Colorado Lottery proceeds for wildlife, parks, rivers, trails and open space. Salazar, a former Colorado senator, worked with Shafroth on Great Outdoors Colorado. Shafroth served as GOCO’s executive director from 1994 to 2000. Shafroth was also a founding director of the Colorado Conservation Trust...Summit Daily News

Gun Alert On Omnibus Lands Bill

Gun Owners of America does not sound the "Emergency alarm" often -- and when we do, we mean it. Remember the massive land bill, S. 22, that passed out of the Senate last month? It was expected to pass quickly in the House, but your opposition to an expansion of gun control contained in the bill forced it to be pulled from the floor. GOA has just learned that after some backroom deals, the bill is headed to the floor WEDNESDAY MORNING, without any amendments to truly protect your Second Amendment rights on National Park Service (NPS) land. You have fought the battle over the NPS gun ban for a long time. Unlike U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, which allow for state and local law to govern firearms possession, NPS land is subject to a complete gun ban for any citizen who does not hold a concealed carry permit. The bill coming to the floor March 11 greatly expands NPS land, thus spreading the agency's anti-gun regulations into more areas. S. 22 is actually a compilation of over 190 bills, many of which were never even debated on their own merits...GOA

Trinidad, Colo. rancher finds mutilated cow

A cattle rancher made a horrific and mysterious discovery Sunday when he found the carcass of one of his cattle that was missing its udders and other female parts. No one is sure what killed the cow on a pasture near the Purgatoire River, but Trinidad rancher Mike Duran said he definitely finds the death unusual. Duran, 49, said Monday that after the cow had been missing for two days, he went to look for it in a pasture where he runs cattle a mile west of the town of Weston near Colorado 12. "I last saw her Friday. She's an older cow so I thought she may have died. "On Sunday, I spotted her near the (Purgatoire) river bottom and went and looked at her. She was on her side and it looked a little odd. "When I took a closer look I saw that her udders had been removed," Duran said. The cow had its udders cleanly cut off with no blood on or around the carcass, Duran said. "It was a perfect circle almost like a laser cut," he said. "It's not like a knife. it seemed to be cut and sealed at the same time," he said. This is not the first time Duran has found a mutilated cow on his ranch. In 1995, Duran said he found a cow that had been mutilated the exact same way on the same pasture. "The other cow's udders were snipped off the same way. It's hard to imagine what or who could have done this to me again," Duran said. The mutilation in 1995 never has been solved. Duran, who operates a 30-head cattle ranch, said that in both occurrences, there were no animal or human tracks around the carcasses. "There was no blood around either and if you cut off an udder there would be a whole lot of blood," Duran said. Duran said he has notified the Las Animas County Sheriff's Department about the mutilated cattle...Pueblo Chieftain

PETA Gives Oprah The Person Of The Year Award

The National Institute of Canine Experts is confused and dismayed by Oprah Winfrey's acceptance of PETA's Person of the Year Award for 2008. By accepting this award, it appears to NICE, The National Institute of Canine Experts, that Oprah Winfrey sends the message that she agrees with PETA's mission and actions. Oprah, 'Do you support eliminating medical research for American children who suffer from diseases such as cancer and AIDS? PETA does. PETA's president has said that 'even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we would be against it.' And PETA has repeatedly attacked many well-respected medical research foundations such as the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, solely because they support animal-based research. Oprah, 'Do you support organizations that kill 90% of their shelter animals?' PETA does just that. According to government documents, PETA employees have killed more than 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens since 1998. In 2005, two PETA employees were charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty each, after authorities found them dumping the dead bodies of 18 animals they had just picked up from a North Carolina animal shelter into a Dumpster. PETA puts to death over 90 percent of the animals it accepts from members of the public who expect the group to make a reasonable attempt to find them adoptive homes. PETA spends part of its $32 million annual income on a contract with a crematory service to periodically empty hundreds of animal bodies from its large walk-in freezer...PR-Inside

NM fairgrounds future uncertain as Downs delays move

Warped plywood is all that keeps the dirt horse track at the state fairgrounds from crumbling over the path to the old grandstands. The owner of the Downs at Albuquerque Racetrack and Casino announced plans last year to move his operation from the fairgrounds to Moriarty so he can offer his customers a nicer, cleaner location. But he's now asking for an extension of his lease through 2012. Owner Paul Blanchard says Moriarty hasn't been able to fund the infrastructure to support the complex and a private company with a gas pipeline running under the proposed development has concerns. The delay has thrown off all fairgrounds redevelopment plans. A consultant's report on redevelopment options at the fairgrounds is due out by the end of March. AP

Bounty hunting for feral hogs

Hunting feral hogs from the air has been grounded. Importing alligators from Florida to control the population fell flat, but the latest idea to elminate the pests may work - bounty hunting. Coryell County officials are considering paying hunters and ranchers cash rewards for each feral hog shot dead. While the county hasn't estimated the exact price yet, County Judge John Firth said Tuesday the problem needs immediate action. "This is a real burden," he said...KXXV-TV

I'm sure we can't import alligators either, but we should sure consider importing these county officials.

West Texas Trail Ride to teach school kids about state’s pioneer roots

Thirty youngsters from three north and west Texas school districts will spend their Spring Break rolling through the rugged expanses of West Texas in covered wagons to get a taste of what their pioneering forebears experienced some 150 years ago. The youth outreach trail ride, sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association, will cover roughly 75 miles from Marfa to Big Bend Ranch State Park outside Presidio. Trail riders will gather March 14 at the Marfa Fairgrounds, and depart the next morning for the MacGuire Ranch and points south. The trail ride concludes March 21 after several days of exploring local ranches and camping out at Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas’ largest state park. “We want to provide an educational program that gives youngsters a chance to experience what pioneer life might have looked like years ago from the confines of a wagon,” said trail ride boss Karl Cloninger, TPWD’s director of the Parrie Haynes Ranch in central Texas. “We’ll be teaching the children about the cultural resources of the Alamito Creek watershed and the history of ranching in the Big Bend. A top-notch educational team supported by numerous local ranchers and speakers will make this an experience not to be forgotten.”...North Texas E-News

AQHA Reviews Cloning; Delays Vote Until 2010

On Monday, March 9, the Board of Directors of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) voted that action on a member proposal to approve the registration of foals produced by cloning be postponed until the 2010 AQHA Annual Convention. In the interim, the committee recommended the appointment of a task force to continue to seek information and input from informed sources regarding cloning, and to conduct further study of, among other things, parentage verification issues, the implications of cloning on the registration process, sentiment of the general membership, the impact of cloning with respect to genetic diseases, and to continue the effort to educate the general membership regarding cloning and its potential effect on the breed, the Association, and its members. Within the past couple of years, commercial cloning of a number of horses, including American Quarter Horses, has been well publicized. However, under Rule 227(a) of the AQHA Official Handbook, a rule that became effective in 2004, American Quarter Horses produced by any cloning process are not eligible for registration. The proposed change would allow a live foal produced via a particular type of cloning to be registered if its DNA matches that of a registered American Quarter Horse...The Horse.com

The Dulce Base: Fact or Fiction?

According to Hayakawa, Dulce, New Mexico, a sleepy little town of less than 4000 (inhabited by the Jicarilla Apache nation), has attracted quite a number of UFO and conspiracy buffs ever since rumors surfaced in the mid-80s that a U.S./alien joint biological laboratory and base exists a mile under the town's Archuleta Mesa. "This rumor has become so well known among UFO buffs around the world that anyone doing a Yahoo or Google search on Dulce, New Mexico would find the bulk of over 300,000 search results related to the alleged underground base," Hayakawa said. Skeptical of such claims, Hayakawa, a retired funeral director, visited the town of Dulce in 1990 with the crew of a Japanese television program to attempt to document the existence of such an alien base. Although he was unsuccessful in locating it, Hayakawa claims that he and the television crew were inexplicably detained by the police chief while interviewing the citizens on the street about UFOs and cattle mutilations. Now, almost 19 years later, Hayakawa and a few UFO enthusiasts from New Mexico, California and Arizona, would like to clear these unfounded rumors. They are planning to have a one-day public conference in the town of Dulce next March. It will be appropriately titled: "The Dulce Base: Fact or Fiction?" Hayakawa likes to separate fact from fiction. "There has not been any physical evidence whatsoever that there is such a base in or near Dulce," Hayakawa asserted. "However, when it comes to UFOs, many of the residents there are believers, since beginning around the mid-1970s and lasting till the mid-1980s, the entire town of Dulce was buzzed by frequent sightings of strange lights in the sky." This is fact, according to Hayakawa. Another fact is that many ranchers in the nearby communities began to report mysterious cattle mutilations and frequent sightings of military helicopters during that time. Some Dulce officials, concerned about these incidents, attended the first Cattle Mutilations conference in Albuquerque in 1979, including Raleigh Tafoya, who was the chief at the time. This also is fact, not fiction...UFO Digest

Enviro Orgs Looking To Add Diversity

When Jerome C. Ringo joined the board of the National Wildlife Federation in 1995, he was the only African-American at the meetings. Mr. Ringo, now president of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmental, labor and business groups, says that even today, he is often the only environmentalist in the room who is not white. “We’re not where we were, but we’re not where we want to be,” Mr. Ringo said of the environmental movement’s efforts to diversify. National environmental organizations have traditionally drawn their membership from the white and affluent, and have faced criticism for focusing more on protecting resources than protecting people. But with a black president committed to environmental issues in the White House and a need to achieve broader public support for initiatives like federal legislation to address global warming, many environmentalists say they feel pressure to diversify the movement further, both in membership and at higher levels of leadership. “Our groups are not as diverse as we’d like, but every one of the major groups has diversity as a top priority,” said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “There’s great commitment to making the environmental movement representative of what the country is.”...NY Times

While you're at it, how about adding some diversity of ideas.

The Bush court sets back environmental litigation

The Bush environmental legacy won one and lost one on March 3. It lost when President Barack Obama scrapped last-minute regulations that had threatened to undercut the Endangered Species Act. The new Bush rules exempted any federal agency contemplating action that might jeopardize the recovery of an endangered species from consulting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service, arguing that the requirement consumed too much time. Consultation had been the rule before, and it is the rule again. Chalk one up for the tree huggers. But Bush’s legacy triumphed when his Supreme Court appointees joined for a 5-4 ruling against environmentalists who had challenged Forest Service regulations for small salvage logging projects in northern California and elsewhere. In Summers v. Earth Island Institute, the Court decided that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue, limiting the opportunity for environmentalists to challenge government actions in the future. How great a blow to environmental litigants will this be? “My suspicion is it will be raised in countless cases,” says Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles. “The other side will say this is the end of environmental law as we know it.” Boyles doesn’t buy that. The Supreme Court ruled on Constitutional grounds. The ruling doesn’t undercut statutory provisions for citizen suits under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, or other laws. And even the Constitutional concepts aren’t really new. The court has simply required more specificity. In the future, environmental plaintiffs can respond by getting more specific. Instead of saying they plan to visit a particular forest sometime in the future; they may name specific GPS coordinates and specific dates...Crosscut

Czech president gives keynote address to climate change doubters

Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, addressed an audience of doubters of the manmade climate change theory at the second International Conference on Climate Change yesterday. The two-and-a-half day conference titled, "Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?” features a number of speakers from the political and scientific communities and is billed as ‘the world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming skeptics.’ See the organization's video below for more on the event. Dr. Klaus, an economist by education, has been a very outspoken voice in expressing his doubts and is known not to mince words. At the conference, he had strong words for those he called ‘alarmists’ saying they, "are interested neither in temperature, carbon dioxide, competing scientific hypotheses and their testing, nor in freedom or markets. They are interested in their businesses and their profits--made with the help of politicians." Continuing, Klaus cast doubt on the very science that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) bases its predictions of global climate disaster on. He said they are, "not able to explain why the global temperature increased from 1918 to 1940, decreased from 1940 to 1976, increased from 1976 to 1998, and decreased from 1998 to the present, irrespective of the fact that the people have been adding increasing amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere."...The Examiner

Among the Global Warming Skeptics

"Global warming alarmism has always been a political movement," declared Massachusetts Institute of Technology climatologist Richard Lindzen during his keynote address at the second International Conference on Climate Change. Organized by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free market think tank, the conference has 700 registered participants who are attending the three day meeting in New York. Lindzen offered a few simple truths that "our side" often forgets. For example, skepticism about man-made global warming does not, by itself, make a good scientist. Nor does accepting global warming make one a poor scientist. Lindzen acknowledged that most of the atmospheric scientists he respects do endorse man-made global warming. He added, however, that most of their science is not actually about global warming. Lindzen decried what he sees as the intellectual corruption that global warming alarmism has brought to climatology. He noted that many climatologists are happy to issue ambiguous statements that are then spun by activists into alarms. The result is increased funding for climate research, so no one publicly complains about the spinning. Most of the funding for climate research would not be there were it not for the global warming issue. Lindzen added, "Most science funded under the rubric of climate does not actually deal with climate, but rather with the alleged impact of arbitrarily assumed climate change."...Reason

A decade after Headwaters deal, truce comes to Northern California redwood country

Ten years ago this week, the state and federal government spent $480 million to buy 7,472 acres from Pacific Lumber and other landowners to create the Headwaters Forest Reserve six miles south of Eureka. The deal ended one of the most bitter environmental conflicts in California history, pitting blue-collar loggers against tree-sitters in dreadlocks, and establishing Pacific Lumber owner Charles Hurwitz as the greatest eco-villain for U.S. environmental groups since the Exxon Valdez's Capt. Joseph Hazelwood. Today, the misty forest is a national preserve. Some of its trees are more than 320 feet tall — higher than the Statue of Liberty — and were growing during the Roman empire. But because of concerns over endangered species, the federal government has sharply limited public access, with only one year-round public trail into the forest. There is no visitor center and last year just 10,300 pilgrims came to this wooden cathedral, a fraction of the amount who visit Bay Area beaches on a single sunny weekend. Now the immense forest, 250 miles north of the Bay Area, is beginning a rebirth of sorts...Mercury News

Valles Caldera: A turning point

Joan Kavanau would love to see more of the green valleys and forests in the Valles Caldera National Preserve near Los Alamos. The Santa Fe resident has driven along the edge of the 88,900-acre preserve in the Jemez Mountains on N.M. 4, but never through the ancient collapsed volcano. Kavanau, 75, can't hike and there's no place to park a car and take a short walk or sit and have a picnic in the preserve's interior. Two years ago she joined a line of 1,500 cars trying to drive into the preserve on the first, and only, open access day. The line was so long she gave up. "It would be nice if they could open access more," Kavanau said. "Even to be given the opportunity to call and make an appointment to go see it. Right now it's inaccessible really except under their terms." Public access remains one of the biggest bones of contention between the Valles Caldera Trust that manages the preserve and the people who want to experience it. Congress bought the former ranch for $101 million in 2000 and established the preserve as an experiment in land management, with a 15-year initial timeline to meet a difficult set of goals: protect the natural resources, allow public access, maintain a working ranch and be financially self-sufficient...Santa Fe New Mexican

Conservation groups will challenge the removal of essential federal protections

Conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, will send the Fish and Wildlife Service a notice that the delisting violates the Endangered Species Act when the government formally submits the rule to the Federal Register, presumably next week. If the agency does not reconsider the delisting rule, the conservation groups will again ask a federal court to reinstate federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the northern Rockies until wolf numbers are stronger and the states pledge to responsibly manage wolves. Suzanne Stone, northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife: "Nothing about this rule has changed since it was rejected and deemed unlawful in federal court. It still fails to adequately address biological concerns about the lack of genetic exchange among wolf populations and it still fails to address the concerns with the states' wolf management plans. If this rule is allowed to stand, nearly two-thirds of the wolves in the northern Rockies could be killed. We had hoped for a new delisting plan, based on current science that provides for a healthy, well connected wolf population in the region. Instead we are forced to, once again, challenge a bad rule forcing the expenditure of time and money that would have been much better served towards developing responsible state management plans." Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity: "Today's announcement means wolves will lose their federal protections before recovery is complete. And, as we saw last year before a federal judge reversed a Bush administration delisting rule, that will result in an unconstrained and unconscionable slaughter of these animals. It is disappointing that the Obama administration is choosing to follow a bad Bush policy to piecemeal wolf conservation efforts instead of prioritizing the development of a national wolf recovery plan. Setting up a system in which wolves in a population are both endangered and not endangered was not contemplated and is not supported by the Endangered Species Act."...Media-Newswire

Tools That Leave Wildlife Unbothered Widen Research Horizons

You may remember Senator John McCain’s criticism of a study of grizzly bear DNA as wasteful spending. And you may have wondered how the scientists got the DNA from the grizzlies. The answer is hair. The study, which Mr. McCain referred to during his run for president, was a large one, and it provided an estimate of the population of threatened grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, in and around Glacier National Park. The researchers did not trap the bears or shoot them with tranquilizers. Instead, they prepared 100 55-gallon drums with a mixture of whole fish and cattle blood that was allowed to ferment until it had the aroma of grizzly bear candy. They built 2,400 hair corrals — 100 feet of barbed wire around five or six trees — and placed the fish and blood mix in the center. When bears went under the wire to check it out they left hair behind. The team collected 34,000 hair samples in 14 weeks this way. And the population estimate from the study, announced late last year, was 765, a figure 2.5 times the estimate based on sightings of females and cubs, the previously used method. “Hair snaring has given us a much more precise number,” said Katherine C. Kendall, a research ecologist with the United States Geological Survey who designed and implemented the study. The results were just published in The Journal of Wildlife Management. It also gives a glimpse of a growing trend in wildlife biology toward research methods that are gentler — and cheaper — than the classic “capture, mark, recapture.” In that process researchers trap an animal, sometimes drug it and fasten on a radio collar or implant or attach a transmitter. Then they follow the radio signal or catch the animal again to see where it goes...NY Times

American Horse Council Urges Land Managers to Use Stimulus Funding for Equestrian Trails

The American Horse Council (AHC) has asked the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to use stimulus funding for trails. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 signed into law on February 17 appropriates over $1.7 billion for the NPS, USFS, and BLM that can be used for the maintenance and construction of trails and other infrastructure improvements on public lands. The AHC recently wrote to NPS Acting Director Dan Wenk, Chief of USFS Gail Kimbell, and BLM Acting Director Mike Pool urging the agencies to allocate a significant portion of stimulus funding to address the current backlog of needed infrastructure improvements on public lands, including maintenance and construction of trails and other facilities that are open to equestrians. The AHC cited the importance of public lands and trails to recreational riders around the country and the economic impact of the recreational riding community on the national economy...Industry News

Sharpshooters kill 5 coyotes in Broomfield, Colo.

Five coyotes in Broomfield were shot by the Colorado Division of Wildlife last week following the most recent coyote attack. Sharpshooters killed the animals after earlier attempts failed to locate the coyote that bit a 38-year-old Broomfield man Feb. 23. The man was bitten while walking his dogs near Trails Park in the city's Westlake neighborhood. He was playing fetch with one of his dogs, which spotted a coyote and chased it. A second coyote bit the man in the arm. The coyote involved in the incident could not be identified, so all were killed as a precautionary measure, wildlife officials said. "Since this coyote seemed to be an especially aggressive coyote, we wanted to do everything we could to remove an aggressive animal," said Larry Rogstad, an area wildlife manager with the division. The coyotes were living near the Tom Frost Reservoir in Broomfield County Commons Park. Wildlife officers determined the pack used public trails to move through the city. Coyotes also bit a 9-year-old Erie boy in December and a 26-year-old Broomfield resident in the Anthem neighborhood in January...Denver Post

Ornery owl attacks late-night skiers in Maine

Cross-country skiers who set out on a crisp, moonlit night for a peaceful outing in Bangor's city forest are being targeted by a least one ornery and territorial owl. Over the past three weeks, at least eight skiers and a few romping dogs apparently have fallen victim to a great horned owl that swoops down from a tree with talons outstretched and smacks them on the head. Jim Allen of Bangor said he was skiing in the dark on East Trail in the Rolland F. Perry City Forest when he got hit. "I've got my headlamp on, and all of a sudden, I felt a whack in the back of my head and this stinging, and I understood what everybody was talking about," said Allen, who said he screamed and waved his poles. His thick winter hat protected him from scratches. Others haven't been so lucky. Dr. Dan Cassidy, a local physician and avid night skier, said three skiers suffered small lacerations, but none needed stitches to close their wounds. Cassidy has been documenting owl attacks after one of the noctural birds swooped down on him in nearby Orono in January. He was able to identify it as a great horned owl, and he and others suspect that one or more of those owls are the culprits in the Bangor attacks...AP

Ike’s salty floods leach ranches of life

The two brothers are the sixth generation of their family to oversee one of the state’s oldest ranches, dating back to 1819. But Steven and Bill White could never have imagined their 60,000-acre spread in Chambers County would look the way it does, today. Patches of salt encrust the soil where rice should have been planted this month. Most of the pasture, which should be feeding 2,500 head of cattle, is so dead that thebrothers’boots crunch when they walk across it. “Look at that,” said Bill White, squatting to pick up dead baby crabs. Further proof, he noted, that for 12 days after Hurricane Ike’s surge, their ranch became part of the Gulf of Mexico. The water has receded eight miles back into the Gulf, but it left behind a salty residue that continues to threaten the ranchers and farmers who live in the surge zone east of Houston in Chambers, Jefferson and Orange counties. About 4,800 cows and 5,600 calves drowned in the three-county surge zone, the Farm Service Agency estimates. Bill Wilson, a rancher and farmer from Beaumont, lost more than half his herd in the Sept. 13 storm. His soybean fields also were underwater, and afterward his 16.000 acres looked like “somebody had sprayed it with Roundup,” he said. Most ranchers have had to relocate their herds as much as 400 miles outside the surge zone and pay for grazing rights ($15 each month per head). Others, including Ralph Leggett and Leroy Ezer in southern Chambers County, opted to sell their herds at discounted prices because they had nowhere to keep them. All the fences keeping cattle penned in the surge zone — 1,700 miles’ worth — had been blown down...Houston Chronicle

'Grand Ole Opry' great Hank Locklin dies at 91

Hank Locklin -- the Grand Ole Opry star and singer of country music classics “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” and “Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On” — died Sunday at his home in Brewton, Ala. He was 91. Mr. Locklin sang in a tenor both pliant and unadorned, and his voice remained a powerful instrument throughout most of his life. Even in his late 80s, he sang his hits (and a thrilling cover of Irish standard “Danny Boy”) on the Opry stage and performed the songs in the keys in which they were initially recorded. Born in the Florida Panhandle town of McLellan in 1918, Mr. Locklin began playing the guitar at age 9, after an accident — he was hit by a school bus — left him bedridden. He made his radio debut at a Pensacola, Fla., station in the 1930s, and in the 1940s he and a band began working clubs and southern radio stations. Mr. Locklin’s recording career began in earnest in 1949, when he recorded “The Same Sweet Girl” for California-based Four Star Records. He also wrote “Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On” in 1949. Often, he’d play the song live on radio stations, and listeners would then mail their own pillows to him in care of the station. “The pillows started rollin’ in,” he told journalist Rich Kienzle, in a conversation recounted in the liner notes of Mr. Locklin’s RCA Country Legends CD. “Let Me Be The One” was Mr. Locklin’s first No. 1 country hit, in 1953. Two years later, he signed with RCA Victor in Nashville. Chet Atkins was a fan of Mr. Locklin’s voice, and Atkins began producing and playing guitar on Mr. Locklin’s sessions. At one of those sessions, Atkins recorded Mr. Locklin’s pillow song, which stalled at No. 5 on the Billboard country chart but which endured to become a much-covered composition: It would later be recorded by the Everly Brothers, Dwight Yoakam, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Dolly Parton and others...The Tennessean

Mileage Tax Would ‘Track Where Motorists Have Been’

Gas tax revenues declined by $78 million in FY 2008 according to the USDOT. Americans drove 12.9 billion miles less in November 08 than they did in November 07. We are driving less and cars are more efficient. Isn't that what they wanted?

Yes, except for one itty, bitty, little thing. We are supposed to cut back but the Politically Superior Ones are not. If conservation cuts revenues, then something must be done. Enter the mileage tax.

With gas tax revenue declining and fuel efficiency the holy grail of car manufacturers, officials across the country are testing systems that could move Americans from paying a per-gallon tax at the pump to some form of fee based on road usage. The challenges with such a shift are immense. Economists are not sure the idea will be practical, and privacy advocates oppose the notion of governments monitoring motorists’ driving habits. But millions of dollars are being spent on experiments with ways to collect such fees, and the idea seems to be gaining support in some quarters...NY Times

The mileage tax studies are being conducted nationally and locally. The feds are spending $16.5 million on 1,200 volunteers in 6 cities whose vehicles have tracking devices "to record where motorists have been." Oregon has already completed a field test. Others considering the tax are North Carolina, Massachusetts and Nevada.

Here's a classic quote from a Politically Superior One in Nevada:

“We’re seeing more fuel-efficient cars or even cars that run on electricity,” said Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation. “Those people are not paying as much, and yet they’re still on the road and still causing congestion and impacting pavement. How do I get at those people?”

She's going to "get at" you with a mileage tax.

The NY Times article concludes:

Despite the problems, some move to replace or supplement the gas tax seems inevitable.

They are planning to "get at" you wherever you go.

Driving less, and driving more fuel efficient vehicles (even electric ones) has the big spenders upset. Imposing the mileage tax would cause consumers to seek out even less costly modes of transportation, such as a horse-drawn cart or wagon.

Then we could look forward to a "horse turd tax."

Is George Soros a Global Warming Turncoat?

NASA’s global-warming-alarmist-in-chief James Hansen is urging the public to join the likes of Greenpeace and the Ruckus Society and others in a March 2 rally in Washington to protest the burning of coal for electricity. But before further clogging the already busy streets of the nation’s capital perhaps Hansen ought to first lay siege to the offices of billionaire supporter George Soros. According to a February 17 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, investment funds managed by Soros own more than $112 million worth of stock in Arch Coal and CONSOL Energy — the third and fifth largest coal companies in the U.S. Other SEC filings indicate that Soros began investing in coal during 2008 — hardly an auspicious time for such investment. Odder still is that this is the same George Soros who, in October 2007, told CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo “I think we have to stop the increased use of coal if we want to bring climate change under control…” This is also the same George Soros who, through his Open Society Institute, may have provided as much as $720,000 in 2006 to help finance Hansen’s global warming activism. Coal investments may not be Soros’ only problem with Hansen on the day of reckoning. Soros also owns and/or manages $900 million worth of the Brazilian state oil company, $218 million of Hess Corp., $177 million of ConocoPhillips and $72 million of oil driller Schlumberger...Fox News

Battle Of The Bighorn: Sheep Ranchers Lose

A battle on the steep slopes of the Snake and Salmon river canyons that pits one of Idaho's most iconic wild animals against one of the state's historic industries is inching toward a conclusion. Managers of the Payette National Forest are faced with what looks like a stark choice between preserving majestic bighorn sheep or reducing and maybe even eliminating grazing by domestic sheep on much of the forest. Years of deliberation, research and political maneuvering appear to be tilting in favor of the wild sheep and at the expense of a handful of ranching families with decades-long ties to the land. The complex issue boils down to a simple reality in the eyes of wild sheep advocates and game and land managers. When wild bighorns and their domestic cousins mix, the bighorns die from pneumonia. Scientists don't know all the hows or whys. But game and land managers say the science is clear enough for them to proclaim the two species should be kept apart. "When you put domestics and bighorns together, the bighorns die. We don't need to know any more than that. It is clear we have to have separation," said Keith Lawrence, director of the Nez Perce Tribe's wildlife department. To that end, managers on the Payette National Forest are working on a plan that attempts to keep domestic sheep from commingling with bighorns. The preferred alternative of the plan draft would reduce sheep grazing on the forest by about 60 percent. Other alternatives call for steeper cuts and some allow more liberal grazing. Many environmental groups and bighorn advocates favor an alternative that ends sheep grazing or one that reduces grazing even more. The ranchers say if the preferred alternative is selected, it will spell doom for their livelihoods...Salt Lake Tribune

Can't see the forest for the fees

I’ve said this before and it never ceases to be true: giving government agencies near-total control with virtually zero accountability is always — always — a bad idea. This axiom is playing itself out again in the Kern River Valley where Sequoia National Forest Service officials have earned the community’s ire by bumping up day use and camping fees. Everyone knows it costs money to keep up with the potties, trash and vandalism massive crowds bring with them over the summer. What’s sticking in residents’ craws, however, is this: • The Forest Service isn’t keeping up with trash, sanitation and vandalism. • It isn’t providing better amenities. • It hasn’t properly accounted for fees it’s collected and spent over the last several years. And, in the process of doubling its fees on several sites, it also proposed a host of new fee sites the community feared would ensnare the whole lake and upper Kern River into a scheme that would have seen visitors charged $10 for parking to snap a few pictures...Bakersfield Californian

Analysis for Navajo power line in question

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is reconsidering a decision on a right-of-way easement for an electrical transmission line that is expected to carry energy from the Navajo Nation to areas across the Southwest. The federal agency granted the easement for a 3.4-mile stretch of the line near Shiprock, N.M., in September. A group of environmentalists later appealed, saying the bureau relied on an outdated environmental analysis in issuing its decision and that the analysis should include both the transmission line and a proposed coal-fired power plant because the two projects would go hand in hand...KNXV-TV

Water plan hits wall of foes

A water war is brewing on the Yampa River. A bid by the Shell Exploration and Production Co. for a 15 billion- gallon water right has sparked opposition letters from 25 federal, state and local agencies, along with businesses and environmental groups. The battle runs from Parker, which is seeking more water amid Front Range suburbs, to Dinosaur National Monument, where National Park Service officials worry that Shell's plan to divert water for oil-shale development may hurt the park. Other objections filed with the Steamboat Springs water court came from a coal company, a power company, an agricultural ditch company and Cross Mountain Ranch, a hunting resort. The Shell application and the opposition letters will be reviewed by the water court, a process that water lawyers say could take a year. The Shell bid is provoking such a strong reaction because the Yampa is Colorado's last river with unclaimed water...Denver Post

Grazing: Good or bad for wildfires?

The Bureau of Land Management is launching studies to find out if livestock grazing can be a tool to reduce the threat of wildfires or if it may make them worse. Mike Pellant, coordinator of the Great Basin Restoration Initiative for BLM, said grazing and anti-grazing proponents made claims on both sides of the issue after the 2007 Murphy Complex fire, Idaho's second-largest wildfire on record. "Our own studies indicate grazing made a difference and can be a tool, but it needs to be used properly. We think targeted grazing by specific kinds of livestock might be an answer, but we need solid, scientific data," Pellant said. He said the BLM wants to develop internal guidelines for grazing to reduce fuels. Tom Dyer, Idaho director for BLM, put together a group to study the issue, Pellant said. "We're requesting funds for pilot projects, which would involve participation by permittees," he said. The agency is also continuing to monitor its own tools and methods of evaluating fires...Capital Press

A toxic home on the range?

For 200 years, Randy Mumme’s family has raised cattle on the same plot of southeast Texas land. Then, about 10 years ago, something began to change. His steers were losing weight. Cows were miscarrying; one gave birth to a calf with three legs. Many calves were stillborn. The family’s ranching practices had not changed over the centuries, but the environment had: His ranch is four miles downwind of large industrial plants that spew tons of carcinogens and other toxic substances into the air. Mumme and other ranchers in Point Comfort suspect the factories are contributing to the ill-health of their cattle. Now scientists have found DNA evidence that suggests the ranchers’ suspicions might be true, heightening concerns about their cattle as well as their own health. Tests have revealed that herds as far as six miles downwind of the factories have more DNA disturbances than other herds not downwind, according to scientists at Texas A & M University. The changes in chromosome structure and other genetic damage can increase the animal’s risk of cancer and reproductive damage...Environmental Health News

NMSU expert says New Mexico in the midst of a land rush for wind

At times, the formidable winds known across much of the Western United States can be unpleasant, but now Western farmers and ranchers are seeing dollar signs in the wind as they look to lease portions of their land to wind farm developers. “We are seeing a wind land rush in New Mexico by more than two dozen wind developers of all stripes and shades,” said Robert Foster, associate director of New Mexico State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. He also is a program manager for NMSU’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. Three elements necessary for a successful wind farm, Foster said, include land with a good wind resource, access to transmission lines and a contract to sell the energy. A piece of land is considered optimal for a wind farm if it has average annual winds greater than 15 miles per hour. On average, a wind farm’s footprint with roads and transmission lines is only about 10 percent of the land, so 90 percent is still available for livestock or crops. “Livestock are not scared of wind turbines and you’ll often see cows sitting in the shade of a turbine. Birds can easily see wind turbines and avoid flying through them. There are occasional bird kills, but usually during bad weather, such as fog, when they cannot see the turbines. That’s generally not a problem in New Mexico,” Foster said. Currently, ranchers in New Mexico receive about $1.8 million a year for leasing their lands for wind farms...Southwest Farm Press

Some ranchers at odds with state over antelope roundup

Some area ranchers are at odds with the recent herding and exporting of prong horned antelope from Quay County by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. Starting on Feb. 26 the DGF set up traps in Quay County to capture and move 161 antelope to the Santa Ana Pueblo near Albuquerque and to three areas of Mexico, said Dan J. Williams, media relations DGF. “I am against any antelope being taken out of this area,” said Van Robertson, a Quay County rancher. “In fact, there are very few people in this area that wanted this done.” Robertson said that he has tried to maintain and manage the antelope population on his property through hunts. “I am in the business of hunting,” Robertson said. “Hunting has become a business for area ranchers and they are taking that away.” One rancher disagreed with the method of herding the antelope, and in particular by helicopter. “I did not allow them on my land,” Michael Perez said. “They don’t realize that those antelope will go through fences because of helicopters and I have repaired enough fence in the past because of the antelope.” Perez said that the increase in numbers is due to the DGF taking away their hunts several years ago. “Now, we are overrun by antelope,” Perez said...Quay County Sun

Is family ranching a thing of the past?

The future of family ranching is bleak in the eyes of one Catron County rancher who recently told me he foresees the day that such ranching will end. "The days of family ranching are over," said Ace McPhaul, 32, while sitting at the home headquarters of the Southern Cross Ranch, a ranch he's managed for three years with his wife, Timber, and two small children. Instead of belonging to families, Ace said he foresees the day when the land is taken over as investment property and "as an afterthought, put cattle on it. We'll see more and more of incorporations becoming somehow involved." "It's only by passing on ranches" that the familial history of ranching will survive, he added. "We will never be able to pay for a cattle ranch with cows," he said. Those aren't very encouraging words to hear from a man whose 3-1/2 year-old daughter, Denim Bleu, and son, Blazen Trails, 1 1/2, will be the fifth generation McPhauls in Pie Town. McPhaul's great-grandfather and his three brothers drove their cattle herd out of Texas after a bad winter, said Ace. "They wanted more trees and a little more protection," he said. They headed west and stopped in Pie Town. "When they got to Pie Town, heaven only knows why they stopped," he laughed. "We've been here ever since." The Southern Cross Ranch, a 40,000-acre or 60 section ranch, runs approximately 250 to 300 head of mostly Black Angus beef cattle. The terrain of the ranch makes it difficult to run much more then that, said Ace...Silver City Sun-News

Ranch girls just wanna have fun

For someone who enjoys the company of others but lives on a ranch where the nearest neighbor is four miles away, Timber McPhaul's life on the Southern Cross Ranch may seem like a dichotomy, but she makes due with what she has. "The hardest thing is to stay involved in the community," she said. "I'm a social bug; sometimes I'm like I just need to see someone." McPhaul is a former competitive ballroom and swing dancer who teaches a class at the Quemado High School. She is now a full-time mother of daughter Denim Bleu, 3 1/2, and son Blazen Trails, 1 1/2, and helps her husband, Ace, on the ranch. "As a successful ranch wife, you participate in ranching," she said. "I can load the kids up and go with Ace. That way, you feel like you're a part than just sitting here at home. I would lose my mind." Living on the ranch near Pie Town in west-central New Mexico makes shopping trips few and far between and Timber said she usually travels to Socorro or Springerville, Ariz. "The hardest thing for me is groceries," she said. "If I go big shopping, I go every couple of months." The woman on this ranch said she likes to keep about six months' worth of canned food in the pantry and they usually butcher one beef cow a year. Most of their groceries are purchased in bulk, she said...Silver City Sun-News

Record red meat production in 2008

There was more red meat produced in 2008 than any other year in U.S. history. According to the USDA, beef, pork, veal, lamb and mutton production was 50.362 billion pounds, up 3% from 2007, as strong demand was met by the large supply of available livestock. Also, economic concerns pushed more animals to market as producers were facing high feed prices last year. Four states - Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas - accounted for roughly half of all red meat production...Brownfield

Pancho Villa rides again in U.S. border town

Scores of Mexican riders, some dressed as bandits and toting sabers, trotted across the U.S. border Saturday to remember a raid by Francisco "Pancho" Villa that left 18 Americans dead and this dusty U.S. frontier town a smoking ruin. The riders crossed the border in an annual commemoration of bandit-turned revolutionary Villa's bloody attack on Columbus, New Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution in March 1916. The reenactment is organized by historical enthusiasts from both sides of the border, and draws hundreds of tourists and residents who gather to watch and hold picnics. Villa raided the town in reprisal for the U.S. government's support for his rival, the nationalist government leader Venustiano Carranza. His gun-toting pistoleros crept into the streets under cover of darkness, attacked the U.S. Army garrison here killing 10 soldiers and eight civilians, and torched adobe and timber-framed homes across Columbus. Villa's raiders looted stores, stole machine guns and ammunition as well as horses and mules before running for the border and refuge in revolutionary Mexico. Sixty-seven of his men were killed out of more than 500. Outraged by the raid, the U.S. government dispatched an expeditionary force of 10,000 troops in a failed bid to capture Villa, who had dispersed his insurgents and vanished...Reuters

A Knack for Hooking the Longest Rattlers

Favorable rattlesnake weather calls for temperatures in the high 70s, with a gentle southerly breeze to float chaparral kisses deep into the tableland of the Balcones Escarpment. Blessed with such conditions on a weekday in late February, Eric Carl Timaeus loaded an assortment of wood crates, canvas sacks and hooked poles into his pickup truck, where a black rosary swung from the rearview mirror, and set off past miles of caliche pits and Border Patrol checkpoints into the short-grass country. “I’m on the way that way, thought I’d make sure you didn’t have a problem with me going out there today,” Timaeus, 57, said to a rancher on his cellphone. As the reptilian hibernation months have drawn to an end, ranchers across the Rio Grande Valley have been inviting Timaeus to prowl their spreads. A retired soldier with mottled features and a trim goatee, he has compiled nine consecutive titles in the length competition at the Sweetwater Jaycees Rattlesnake Roundup, held each March in West Texas. In recent years Timaeus has made it his practice to arrive at the start of the weekend festival, drop off a 100-pound pile of slithering western diamondbacks and return on Sunday to claim his prize of about $400. Along the way Timaeus has gained a certain renown. Unlike many snake hunters, he does not use gas to flush out dens. He leaves females to breed, babies to grow. He harvests only the longest, heaviest males. And he carries no weapon, preferring to coax live prey into his bag with a dull metal hook in the manner of a charmer. For such intimacy, such delicacy and such sport, directed at these lowest of earthbound creatures, Timaeus has been rewarded with uncontested dominance...NY Times

It's all Trew: Everyone was GTT: Gone to Texas

A special treat awaits historical readers who purchase the book "Going To Texas - Five Centuries of Texas Maps" by the Center For Texas Studies at Texas Christian University. It is published by TCU Press, Fort Worth. Five centuries means 500 years and that's a long time. The state's boundaries changed so many times during this span of time more than 50 maps were needed to show all the changes in the evolution of our Grand State. The text describing the maps alone is worth the price of the book. During one span from 1800 to 1900, the most famous initials in America was GTT, which stood for "Gone to Texas." It seemed that no matter where you lived, where you were going or the route you took part of your journey would probably go through Texas. Whether you were seeking "The Promised Land" or were just curious about "The Great Space of Land Unknown," travelers listened to the land promoters and read the newspapers as they sought a better life for themselves and their families. No doubt many were dedicated to seeking a better life and fortune for their families as they broached the Great Unknown. However, many were merely struck with wanderlust, bored with their drab, harsh lives and responsibilities. Like the earlier Gold Strike Days in California or the later Great Land Run in Oklahoma, they were easily lured with vague promises of a pot at the end of the rainbow. When they left, the excuse was left written somewhere ... GTT...Amarillo Globe-News

Wrangler Timed Event Championship Finals

GUTHRIE, Okla., March 8, 2009 – The Ironman event of ProRodeo celebrated twenty-five fabulous years this weekend at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Trevor Brazile who had previously won 5 WTEC titles and second last year, reclaimed his “Ironman Title” by besting a field of the world’s best cowboys. For two and a half decades, this one-of-a-kind event has showcased the greatest timed event cowboys competing in the most unique event in rodeo – the Wrangler Timed Event Championship.

Most fans of the Wrangler Timed Event Championship of the World leave the Lazy E Arena with programs and memories. Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas leaves with championships. On Sunday, the 32-year-old self-proclaimed fan extended his record WTEC title collection to six with 313.4 on 25 head. It was a dramatic win.

Brazile led by 28.1 seconds after 22 head. But then his heel loop got away from him in the next event and he dropped to third in the average at 294.1 seconds on 23 head behind two-time WTEC Champion Daniel Green of Oakdale, Calif. (269.9 on 23 head) and Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo. (293.0 on 23 head). However, Green suffered a 60-second time in the steer wrestling. A 60-second time is used instead of a no-time at the WTEC. Peek tossed his steer in 5.3 seconds and Brazile was 7.4. So with one run left - the steer roping - Peek led Brazile by 3.2 seconds. Brazile's Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association gold buckles include two in steer roping. Brazile clocked an 11.9-second run. Peek, who had to be 15-seconds or faster for the win, ran into trouble and took a 60.0-second time (a loop missed that ultimately cost him $40,000).

In celebration of the 25th year of the prestigious WTEC, all former champions - of which there are 10 - gathered for a special recognition dinner on Saturday. When it came time for Brazile to speak, he said "I am a fan." Looking out at a room filled with gold buckle cowboys, he said, "I was watching." Whether the notes he was taking were mental or on a piece of paper, it's safely said that he studied well. Besides winning $50,000 for the average this year, he tacked on $6,000 for placing second in the fastest rounds with a 45.7-second showing in the second round. Bringing his total earnings at the WTEC to $564,500.

Brazile, a six-time all-around and nine-time overall Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Champion, claimed a share of the lead with Green during the first run of the second round, or the sixth of 25 head. He held that until the team roping - heeling on Sunday. But he worked his way back to claim the win and dedicated it to the memory of the late Clem McSpadden, Hall of Fame Announcer and the voice of the Lazy E Arena.

Green not only earned $25,000 for second in the average with 344.7 seconds on 25 head, but also had the fastest round with 45.5 seconds in the fourth round for $10,000 and 50.2 seconds in the second round for sixth fastest round and $2,000 – all totaling a weekend take of $37,000.

Finishing third was three-time WTEC champion Jimmie Cooper, who at age 52 totaled 358.2 on 25. Cooper was the PRCA all-around World Champion in 1981. The 25th WTEC included record-breaking efforts in individual events. Cade Swor of Chico, Texas broke a 10-year-old arena record in the tie-down roping. Swor roped and tied his calf in 7.9 seconds in the fourth round breaking the 1999 mark of 8.1 seconds by Blair Burk of Durant, Okla. In the team roping - heeling, the record was 5.2 seconds set by Green in 2000. In the fourth go, PRCA World Champion Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., stopped the clock in 5.1 seconds, assisted by Luke Brown on the heading end. Just a few minutes later Jo Jo LeMond of Andrews, Texas froze the scoreboard clock in 4.9 seconds, with PRCA World Champion Matt Sherwood as his header. The Lazy E Arena pays a $3,000 bonus when a contestant breaks a WTEC arena record - meaning Swor, Masters and LeMond collected $3,000 each.

The WTEC featured twenty of the world’s best cowboys in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) competing in pro rodeo’s most unique event that is often referred to as “The Ironman” — it is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five grueling timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling – over five rounds in three days.

In addition to the competition, numerous special functions were held to commemorate this special anniversary event that included appearances and highlights from previous champions such as two-time WTEC Champion Leo Camarillo; 1986 Champion Mike Beers; 1990 Champion Bobby Harris and 1995 Champion Olie Smith. These great WTEC ambassadors who are now retired, joined current competing past champions for special festivities that included Brazile; four-time Champions Paul Tierney and K.C. Jones; three-time champion Jimmie Cooper; two-time champion Daniel Green; and 2005 champion Kyle Lockett. In addition to the past champions being on hand, the Lazy E Arena paid tribute to the late Clem McSpadden honoring his twenty-four years of service to the Lazy E Arena and the WTEC. The Lazy E presented Donna McSpadden and family with a “Champion” WTEC buckle with Clem’s name inscribed and also presented long-time gate man Delmar Smith with a Shorty’s Caboy Hattery 50X hat in tribute to McSpadden establishing the first annual Clem McSpadden Pioneer Award...Lazy E

Average - Final Results

1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas 313.4 Seconds on 25 Head, $50,000
2. Daniel Green, Oakdale, Calif. 344.7 Seconds on 25 Head, $25,000
3. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, N.M. 358.2 Seconds on 25 Head, $15,000
4. Josh Peek, Pueblo, Colo. 358.3 Seconds on 25 Head, $10,000
5. Kyle Lockett, Visalia, Calif. 366.5 Seconds on 25 Head, $7,500
6. Beau Franzen, Sidney, Mont. 378.1 Seconds on 25 Head, $5,000
7. Chance Kelton, Mayer, Ariz. 400.2 Seconds on 25 Head, $4,500
8. Rhett Kennedy, Chowchilla, Calif. 412.1 Seconds on 25 Head, $3,000

Fastest Rounds - Final Results

1. Daniel Green , Oakdale, Calif. 45.5 Seconds (4th round), $10,000
2. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas 45.7 Seconds (2nd round) $6,000
3. K.C. Jones, Burlington, Wyo. 47.4 Seconds (5th round) $5,000
4. Josh Peek, Pueblo, Colo. 48.3 Seconds (3rd round) $4,000
5. Steve Duhon, Sonora, Texas 48.9, Seconds (4th round) $3,000
6. Daniel Green, Oakdale, Calif. 50.2 Seconds (2nd round) $2,000

Arena Record Bonuses

Cade Swor, Chico, Texas 7.9 Seconds (Tie-Down Roping), $3,000
Chad Masters, Clarksville, Tenn. 5.1 Seconds (Heeling), $3,000
JoJo LeMond, Andrews, Texas 4.9 Seconds (Heeling), $3,000
$159,000 Total Pay-Out

Wrangler Timed Event Championship Round 4: 3 Arena Records Broken

After 20 head, the leaders in the standings:

1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas 214.2
2. Daniel Green, Oakdale, Calif. 237.2
3. Josh Peek, Pueblo, Colo. 265.7
4. Kyle Lockett, Visalia, Calif. 298.8
5. Jimmie Cooper 301.5

Round #3 Summary
GUTHRIE, OK -- 3:30PM / March 7, 2009

What does 170 pounds of iron look like? It wears a black shirt and black cowboy hat and is named Trevor Brazile. The 5-11, 170-pounder of Decatur, Texas came into this year's "Iron Man" competition, the 25th Wrangler Timed Event Championship of the World, with a record five titles to his name.

But don't close that record book. After three rounds, the 32-year-old is showing why he's won more than a half-million dollars at the WTEC as he leads with 160.9 seconds on 15 head. He went into Saturday afternoon's third round with a 4.2 margin on 10 head over the other 19 cowboys competing this weekend at the Lazy E Arena. But Brazile, a six-time All-Around and nine-time overall Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Champion, will stretch a lead in a hurry. And he did. After 15 head he is 30.8 seconds ahead of the field. What does that mean? On the first run of the weekend he was 13.9 seconds in the team roping heading when his heeler picked up a 5-second penalty for roping only one leg. Brazile's been faster than 13.9 seconds on every run since.

Sitting second is defending and two-time WTEC champion Daniel Green of Oakdale, Calif. with 191.7 seconds on 15 head. Moving up the leadboard Saturday afternoon was former PRCA Reserve All-Around World Champion Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo. who used a round of 48.3 seconds, the second fastest this year, to move to third in the average at 201.4 seconds on 15 head. The fastest round this year continues to be Brazile's 45.7 second showing in the second round.

For complete times & standings go here.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The tally book - cowboy records for all times

Julie Carter

Most folks think that if a cowboy has a brain, he wears it under his hat.

Truth of the matter is everything of importance that he might know is written in a little book carried in his shirt pocket. In fact, it's been said that was very reason for inventing pockets for shirts - that and a place to carry cigarette papers and a bag of Bull Durham.

The tally book usually sports an embossed name on the cover endorsing the company that provided it to the cowboy. This is typically a bank that has a vested interest in the cowboy keeping track of his business.

It's his little black book, often red or green, but has little if anything to do with collecting phone numbers of girls, albeit there is occasionally a need to jot one of those down.

Preprinted dates and categories in the book mean nothing. The cowboy keeps his own style of books and may mark the spot he needs to turn to often with a folded dollar bill or a toothpick.

The data that may set the course for risk management, purchases, hedging, selling or retained ownership could ultimately end up on some computer run by a guy in high-water britches and a pocket full of mechanical pencils. However, the origin of all cattle information is recorded first in the cowboy's tally book.

Similarities to methods and information end there. The detailed cowboy will record the exact date cattle were purchased, their weight and price per pound. He'll record when they were moved from one place to the other and give an estimated weight based in prior knowledge of gain per day in a specific pasture.

Death loss will be noted and counts corrected. Medicine given is accounted for, as are dates, amounts and types of feed and supplementation.

Dates are noted when the bulls are turned in with cows, how many, where and when they were pulled back out of the pastures.

At branding time, numbers of new baby heifers and steers calves are recorded from each pasture and how many are left as bull calves. Those same calves' weaning weights and price per pound will be recorded in the fall, giving historical value to the tally books that end up in a desk or dresser drawer to be found by the generations to come.

A few pages may be dedicated to phone numbers for the feed salesman, parts house, veterinarian and fuel dealer. Others will detail well information, pump jacks and windmills, including when it was last pulled, if new leathers were put in place and when pipe or sucker rod was replaced.

The personal nature of the business showed up when the cowboy recorded information about a particular cow, one of a thousand, like it was someone he knew personally. The notation would read, "White-faced cow, short in the hind quarters, 3 years old, late to breed, check next year." Or "motley-faced cow, horn cut, open last spring, light bred now.

All this critical information in one little book that, in theory, is close at hand and available, always.

But things happen. If he bends over a drinker to fix a broken float and the pocket flap wasn't snapped, the book falls in the water and it's a cussing-fit accident.

If the little woman snags up his dirty shirt off the floor at the end of the day and loads it in the washing machine without first checking the pockets, it's the end of the free world.

There's no question, there are now computer cowboys who ride a variety of noisy, expensive motorized "horses," but even so, they still have a little tally book in their shirt pocket. Likely, right next to their BlackBerry smart phones.

Julie can be reached for comment at www.julie-carter.com

Sympathizing With NCBA’s Disappointment

C.R. Jolley

The NCBA issued a press release expressing their disappointment in a denial of their petition by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for a review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule that regulates dust under the Clean Air Act.

“We are very disappointed with the Court’s decision,” NCBA Chief Environmental Counsel Tamara Thies said. “There is no scientific evidence that agriculture dust causes adverse health effects, and its regulation under the Clean Air Act is completely unjustified.”

Unjustified and ridiculous. Unfortunately “ridiculous” has no legal standing. Otherwise a whole honeywagon full of decisions by the feds would have deep-sixed a long time ago.

The NCBA release said, “The regulation of agriculture dust means that activities ranging from soil tilling, cattle movements in feedyards, driving on unpaved roads, and planting and harvesting crops could all come under the regulatory strong-arm of the EPA.”

If I understand the possibilities correctly, before you plow the south 40 this spring, you’ll have to make sure the field is sufficiently damp, but not muddy, of course. Yeah, that perfect condition happens all the time. Check the wind sock at the local airport, too, to make sure you know which way the wind is blowing.

Cattle will be forced to stand absolutely still. Any movement that might stir up a little dust will mean a visit from your good friends at the EPA who will deliver a stern lecture and maybe a bill for clean up. Sure glad we don’t have to worry about the dust kicked up by wild horses and other large wild animals that tend to stir up things in rural America.

And driving your tractor down that unpaved farm road? Sorry. You’ll have to wait until the state authorities, flush with all that bail out tax money, pave it over and turn it into 4 lanes of interstate highway, secure in the knowledge that road construction is a dust free enterprise. Dirt roads will be strictly off-limits.

No spreading fertilizer during the growing season. When it comes time to harvest – if there is a crop? Gotta do it with semi-legal campesinos because combines will definitely kick up a lot of dust. With ICE stoutly defending our southern border, though, I don’t know where you’ll find enough people to get the job done.

More from the NCBA’s Theis: “Our producers already carry out stringent dust control measures each and every day. But the requirements imposed by EPA’s rule are simply unnecessary and unattainable. In today’s tough economic times, this unwarranted and burdensome government interference could prove to be devastating for America’s cattle producers.”

And corn producers, hog producers, soy bean growers; the list goes on far into that dusty country horizon. You might conjure up a picture of a saddened John Wayne astride his horse, riding off into the sunset. Except all four hooves would be kicking up little patches of highly illegal and possibly toxic dust clouds.

I’m also wondering what the EPA will do about those thousands of square miles of drought-ridden fields in Texas that are barren. Even a slight wind can create an enormous and now illegal dust storm and the responsibility could fall on the poor rancher who owned the land. That’s a government mandated ‘gotcha’ that is only comprehensible when viewed in the dim light of some even more incomprehensible federal regulations.

"The Clean Air Act is intended to regulate pollutants that cause adverse health or environmental effects," Thies explained. "Clearly, expanding this to include the regulation of agriculture dust goes beyond the intent of the Act."

Clearly. The D.C. Court of Appeals must be staffed by people who’ve never been outside the increasingly tight beltway. The NCBA and friends need to find another court to press their point. Cattle Network

Path of the Jaguar

Alan Rabinowitz envisions a different ending to the story. He imagines that the young jaguar, when he leaves his birthplace, will pass unseen by humans through a near-continuous corridor of sheltering vegetation. Within a couple of days he'll find a small tract of forest harboring enough prey for him to stop and rest a day or two before resuming his trek. Eventually he'll reach a national park or wildlife preserve where he'll find a home, room to roam, plenty of prey, females looking for a mate. Rabinowitz is the world's leading jaguar expert, and he has begun to realize his dream of creating a vast network of interconnected corridors and refuges extending from the U.S.-Mexico border into South America. It is known as Paseo del Jaguar—Path of the Jaguar. Rabinowitz considers such a network the best hope for keeping this great New World cat from joining lions and tigers on the endangered species list. In the 1990s, having censused jaguars across their range, Rabinowitz and other specialists identified dozens of what they called jaguar conservation units (JCUs): large areas with perhaps 50 jaguars, where the local population was either stable or increasing. At the heart of most of the JCUs were existing parks or other protected areas, which Rabinowitz hoped to expand and secure with surrounding buffer zones. "I felt that the best thing we could hope to do was to lock up these great populations in these fragmented areas," he said. Within a few years, though, the new science of DNA fingerprinting—studying genetic material to determine family and species relationships—revealed an amazing fact: The jaguar is the only large, wide-ranging carnivore in the world with no subspecies. Simply put, this means that for millennia jaguars have been mingling their genes throughout their entire range, so that individuals in northern Mexico are identical to those in southern Brazil. For that to be true, some of the cats must wander regularly and widely between populations. Rabinowitz hopes to convince national governments throughout the jaguar's range to maintain this web of habitat through enlightened land-use planning, such as choosing noncritical areas for major developments and road construction. Diana Hadley of the Arizona-based Northern Jaguar Project works to protect the northernmost jaguar population in Mexico, with the long-term goal of seeing the species return to the United States. Hadley said the project and its Mexican partners "fully support" Paseo del Jaguar...National Geographic