Senate Might Take Up ‘Smaller’ Energy Bill This Year, Reid Says

Legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions from industrial polluters may be set aside this year in favor of a measure that ramps up electricity production from renewable sources such as wind farms, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. The “smaller energy bill,” which includes a national renewable electricity standard, has the support of “a couple of Republicans,” the Nevada Democrat said in an interview on Univision network’s “Al Punto” program. He didn’t name them. A “big” energy bill limiting the greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil doesn’t have Republican support, Reid said in yesterday’s interview. The 57 Democratic senators and the two independents who caucus with them usually need the support of at least one Republican to pass major legislation. The bill would, among other things, require utilities to obtain 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021, set new energy efficiency standards and open more of the eastern Gulf to oil and gas drilling...more

Scientists Unite Against Climate Skeptics

The latest issue of Science carries a letter that calls recent political attacks on the work of climate scientists “McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution.” The letter was written and signed by 250 members of the National Academies of Science, a grouping of the most distinguished scientists in the country. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a research center in Oakland, Calif., that works on environmental preservation issues, helped lead the effort. “It’s a witch hunt,” Dr. Gleick said in an interview. “Let’s have a debate about the science; these attacks on climate science are not based on science, they’re based on politics.”...more

Now they want to have a "debate about the science." Up until recently they told us the science was "settled" and scoffed at their critics. With some of their scientific chicanery exposed, they seem to be changing their tune.

Congressman Says Climate Science Should Be Simplified to ‘Sixth Grade Level’ Because Americans ‘Don’t Get’ It

Americans are growing skeptical about the threat of global warming because “they don’t get” the complex information that scientists deliver, according to Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). Unless scientists can simplify their arguments to the level of newspapers that “print at the sixth grade level,” Cleaver said, the public is “going to get a headache and bail out.” Cleaver made his comments to a panel of scientists on Capitol Hill at a hearing last Thursday of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. The committee was investigating the “foundation” of climate science after the Climategate scandal saw thousands of damaging e-mails leaked from scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit...more

Maybe they need to lower it even more...so Congress can "get it".

Veterans Group Vows to Rebuild Mojave Desert Cross

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has vowed to rebuild a 7-foot high cross-shaped memorial to the nation’s veterans which was stolen by vandals over the weekend. The cross was at the center of a legal fight that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the cross should remain on federal land. “The memorial will be rebuilt and the vandals will be caught and prosecuted in federal court, since the crime occurred on government property,” said VFW National Commander Thomas J. Tradewell, Sr. Thieves cut the metal bolts that attached the cross to a rock in the Mojave Desert. Police believe the cross was stolen late Sunday or early Monday...more

Green power line project in N.M., Arizona draws opposition

If a recent public-input session is any indication, power transmission lines are not welcome neighbors, even if the electricity they carry is generated by renewable resources. The Bureau of Land Management held its 14th public-input session regarding the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project. SunZia is a proposed 460-mile, high-capacity 500-kilovolt transmission line across New Mexico and Arizona. It would tap into wind energy generated in New Mexico as well as solar energy generated in New Mexico and Arizona, said Ian Calkins, a project spokesman. And it would present the opportunity for several substations to set up along the way to tap into the energy as well, he said. Arizona mandates that utilities generate at least 15 percent of their energy through renewable resources by 2025. In New Mexico, the mandate is 20 percent by 2020. But the proposed routes have people buzzing...more

Swarms of grasshoppers predicted to plague the West this year

A storm of 2-inch-long grasshoppers swept across Roaring Springs Ranch in southeastern Oregon's high desert last summer -- turning roads slippery, crunchy and "kind of gross" on their way to devouring 7,000 acres of grass intended as spring forage for the cattle. "Most people slowed down out of curiosity and awe" as clouds of grasshoppers carpeted Oregon 205 that passes through Roaring Springs, said ranch resident Elaine Davies. The onslaught may be a mere prelude to a grasshopper invasion of near-mythic proportions predicted this summer in Harney County and across the American West. Hungry grasshoppers are starting to hatch in Arizona and New Mexico and could make 2010 the worst grasshopper year since the mid-1980s -- consuming huge swaths of grasslands and crops, said U.S. Department of Agriculture expert Charles Brown. The anticipated glut results from natural population cycles and widespread drought conditions that grasshoppers thrive under...more

Vilsack confident farm programs will help

Vilsack continues to spar with mostly GOP congressmen in farm states over the direction of federal agriculture policy. Last week, House Agriculture Committee Republican leader Frank Lucas of Oklahoma blasted Vilsack's emphasis on nontraditional farm issues such as regional food systems, organic vegetable cultivation, community gardens and other initiatives as threats to turn rural America into "bedroom communities." GOP U.S. Senators John McCain of Arizona, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas, the ranking Republican on the powerful Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote Vilsack last week accusing his "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program of helping "small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets" instead of traditional producers who grow most of America's food. "Well, it's really an unfortunate circumstance," Vilsack told the Trib. "These senators have not taken the time to understand and appreciate our 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' program."...more

Tighter rules fail to rein in farm subsidies

New rules that were supposed to cut off farm subsidies to rich landowners and farmers did little to stem the flow of payments to Iowa's largest corn and soybean operations. Twenty percent of the subsidy recipients in Iowa accounted for 63 percent of the payments in 2009, compared with 64 percent in 2007 before the rules were tightened, according to government data. Some farm leaders and members of Congress say the disclosure of the subsidy numbers — and the looming federal budget deficit — may lead to a significant overhaul of farm programs when lawmakers are due to write the next farm bill in 2012. Farm groups are likely to resist efforts to tighten eligibility rules further, but Congress could change the way growers and their landowners get paid. In the middle of the cross hairs are the $511 million in fixed annual payments that Iowa landowners and farmers got last year. One farm operation in Iowa, Sonstegard Family Farms, received $294,296 in such payments in 2009 for acreage in three counties...more

Tax Dollars Going To Dead Farmers

Millions of your tax dollars are being paid to nearly 2,400 people in Florida, just over 250 in Central Florida, who may not deserve one cent. That's because federal records show they're dead. WFTV obtained the entire federal list of dead farmers (read it) who may still be receiving tax dollars. Reporter Berndt Petersen reveals abuse in the federal farm aid program. John Arnold's family has grown citrus in Lake County for three generations. But if there's one thing about farming that really burns him up, it's fraud. He hates government subsidies that are paid to people who don't deserve them. Nearly 2,400 people in Florida, who received more than $88 million tax dollars in the form of federal farm aid, have one thing in common: they're all dead. "People do the same thing with social security checks. Their relatives are cashing the checks when the person is dead. That's against the law," Representative Cliff Steams (R-Ocala) said. Stearns said the U.S. Department of Agriculture was told about it in 2007, when the Government Accountability Office discovered 172,000 dead people nationwide received $1.1 billion in farm aid. "The federal employees are derelict in their duty. They know about it. Why aren't they doing something about it?" Stearns questioned...more

Who knows, the federal employees might be dead too.

Song Of The Day #308

Ranch Radio will stick with the dobro but slow things down with McHattie's Waltz by Rob Ickes.

You'll find it on the 21 track CD Great Dobro Sessions, a various artists compilation by Sugar Hill records.

NMSU Rodeo team finishes season strongly

The New Mexico State University Rodeo men and women’s teams each placed second overall at the home National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association rodeo April 30-May 1 in Las Cruces.

“NMSU held their own during the final rodeo of the season. I was proud of the performances by our student athletes. The rodeo was great, the fans were great, the weather not so great. But it was a solid weekend for us, enabling NMSU to keep a hold of our top spot in the region,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU Rodeo coach.

For the men’s team, JoDan Mirabal, of Grants, N.M., won first in the tie-down roping, with teammate Johnny Salvo, of Horse Springs, N.M., placing second.

In the team roping, Rodee Walraven, header, of Datil, N.M., and Salvo, heeler, received second.

Carlsbad, N.M., native Brooke Hughes placed second in the breakaway roping event. Staci Stanbrough, of Capitan, N.M., received second in the goat tying.

Salvo was named the men’s all-around champion for the weekend.

Members of the rodeo team will go on to compete at the College National Finals Rodeo June 13-19 in Casper, Wyo.

[link]

'Smart dust' aims to monitor everything

In the 1990s, a researcher named Kris Pister dreamed up a wild future in which people would sprinkle the Earth with countless tiny sensors, no larger than grains of rice. These "smart dust" particles, as he called them, would monitor everything, acting like electronic nerve endings for the planet. Fitted with computing power, sensing equipment, wireless radios and long battery life, the smart dust would make observations and relay mountains of real-time data about people, cities and the natural environment. Now, a version of Pister's smart dust fantasy is starting to become reality. "It's exciting. It's been a long time coming," said Pister, a computing professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "I coined the phrase 14 years ago. So smart dust has taken a while, but it's finally here." Maybe not exactly how he envisioned it. But there has been progress. The latest news comes from the computer and printing company Hewlett-Packard, which recently announced it's working on a project it calls the "Central Nervous System for the Earth." In coming years, the company plans to deploy a trillion sensors all over the planet. The wireless devices would check to see if ecosystems are healthy, detect earthquakes more rapidly, predict traffic patterns and monitor energy use...more

This should, of course, immediately raise some privacy concerns. The CNN article quotes Lee Tien

"It's a very, very, very huge potential privacy invasion because we're talking about very, very small sensors that can be undetectable, effectively," said Lee Tien, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocate. "They are there in such numbers that you really can't do anything about them in terms of easy countermeasures."

Scott Bowen paints this scenario:

What is not voluntary give-away of information is when I go hiking in a remote place and think I’m all on my own, but the trees, coated with “smart dust,” are watching me. Perhaps in the year 2040, the Forest Service, Park Service, and BLM will post disclaimers at trailheads: “Dear Citizen: The trees of this publicly owned land have been coated with ’smart dust’ and will be collecting air, soil, and tissue samples. By entering this National Forest, you consent to the National Institutes of Health collecting your DNA.” That’s not too far fetched, and it is also creepy and wrong...

You can bet those D.C. dust fairies will have all kinds of fun with this.

Just imagine the BLMers or Forest Rangers driving by ranch headquarters sprinkling dust as they go. And you're worried about animal ID?

All you city folks just go right ahead and invite those census takers into your house. Better damn well vacuum up when they leave though.

On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice to spread a bit of that dust in some of those government offices? Hell, we might even restore the Republic.

I can just see them boys now, sneaking around the federal building late at night. I'll tell you who they are in my next Stockman article...maybe.

Controversial real estate speculator alone in the wilderness

Real-estate speculator Tom Chapman has long thrived on threats. His threats to bulldoze roads for a community on the rim of Black Canyon along the Gunnison River. Threats to build helicopter-access luxury homes in the heart of wilderness areas. Threats to burn down famed mining structures to make room for mansions. Threats to close off recreational access. Over the years, federal and local officials have caved and paid his price before anything gets built. This time, he has moved beyond brinkmanship and built a 4,700-square-foot luxury home, now for sale, on 33 acres atop the south rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Last week, he sold 79 acres inside the park to an out-of-state buyer in an undisclosed deal. The Black Canyon home marks Chapman's return, after a break of several years, to high- end, high-stakes development on islands within public land. He's foreclosing on a conservation-minded buyer who acquired 19 of Chapman's wilderness parcels in Colorado in 2007 and says he will again market the remote acres as home sites. He also vows to block skiers and hikers on land he owns in a popular backcountry drainage next to Telluride ski area...more

Crested Butte ski resort loses appeal on expansion proposal

The U.S. Forest Service has rejected Crested Butte Mountain Resort's appeal of a decision in November that blocked a long-planned expansion at the resort. Deputy Regional Forester Jim Peña affirmed the decision by Gunnison National Forest supervisor Charlie Richmond, who last fall decided the resort's proposed expansion onto neighboring Snodgrass Mountain was not in the public interest and should not proceed into deeper environmental review. Tim Mueller, Crested Butte resort's president, said Peña failed to consider "fundamentally unfair aspects" of Richmond's decision. Mueller spent four years and $2 million working with Richmond to sculpt the Snodgrass proposal in a "pre-application" process before the project entered into formal review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. He said Richmond indicated the proposal had met pre-application concerns, and he thought the project was set to move ahead. "Richmond abruptly reversed his decision in November 2009, citing a previously nonexistent test," Mueller said...more

Knievel, agencies explore possibility of 1974 repeat

At age 48, Robbie Knievel’s already pursued his daredevil career longer than his father, the late, famous Evel Knievel. But there’s one jump the younger Knievel hasn’t tried. In 1974, Evel Knievel brought spectacle and, by many accounts, chaos to Twin Falls when he attempted and failed to jump the Snake River Canyon on his “skycycle” — essentially a large rocket. On Monday, Robbie Knievel asked local-government agencies and tourism groups to let him try his father’s failed feat, with a jump proposed for the same site on Fourth of July weekend in 2011. “I don’t ever think I’ll be too old to push that ‘fire’ button, but let’s get it done,” Robbie Knievel told reporters after the meeting. Knievel faces a number of hurdles if he’s going to pull the jump off, including a range of agreements with city, county, state and federal entities. He’ll also have to overcome any bad feelings lingering from both his father’s visit, when biker groups rioted and Evel allegedly skipped town without paying some debts, and his own attempt in the early ’90s to stage a second jump, when Twin Falls County commissioners threatened to secure a court injunction against him...more

Bozeman officials propose building dam

City officials in Bozeman want to build a dam on Sourdough Creek to supply enough water to allow the city to double its population to about 80,000. ``We're anticipating 10 to 15 years to make this thing happen,'' Mayor Jeff Krauss told the editorial board of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. City engineer Brian Heaston said the city's current water system can handle about 57,000 people. Heaston said the dam would be built downstream from the old Mystic Lake dam, which was breached by a landslide in 1984 and knocked down in 1985. The dam would cost up to $50 million, officials said, and create a reservoir with a surface area of about 100 acres to meet water demands. ``Our responsibility is to see a little farther down the road,'' Krauss said. ``We know conservation efforts will only go so far, and we need to incorporate water-supply planning into those efforts.'' Officials also said the city has a water storage right on Sourdough Creek of 6,600 acre feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre with water 1 foot deep. But officials said they could lose that water right if they don't start using it...more

5 reasons to carry guns in our national parks

In February a federal law went into effect that allows firearms in many national park areas, including Grand Canyon National Park. The new law (Sec. 512 of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, Public Law 111-24) was passed by Congress and signed last May by President Obama. Since then, many have been concerned about people carrying guns in national parks. Before this law was passed, people did carry guns in national parks, but they did so illegally. The law levels the playing field. Now law-abiding citizens, who can legally possess firearms under federal and state law, can now possess those firearms in the recreation area. Not that carrying weapons is a solution to crime, but it might deter those plotting against park visitors and employees. Here are fives reasons to carry a gun in the national parks: 1.) Yosemite National Park – In 1999 motel handyman Cary Stayner sexually assaults Juli Sund, 16 and Silvina Pelosso, 15 before murdering them and Sund’s mother, Sund, 42. The woman and children were staying at a Yosemite lodge where he worked. 2.) Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ranger Kris Eggle, 28, is killed in 2002 while helping Border Patrol agents capture two suspects of a drug-related quadruple murder...more

Illinois wild-horse complex heads into sunset

Tucked among the rolling fields of southern Illinois, Walt Gentry may have found his little slice of heaven on the farm where he tends to 160 horses and burros that once galloped the wilds of the American West. The 75-year-old retiree, his boots mucked with mud and manure, tries to find loving homes for the horses — among the most stirring symbols of the former frontier — as part of a federal effort to thin mustang herds on the Western range. But seven years after the farm that Gentry manages for a Nebraska man became the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s only holding facility for horses and burros east of the Mississippi River, he’s hosting his final adoption event. The Department of Interior decided not to renew the farm’s contract and plans to move any horses not adopted on Friday and Saturday to a new holding site near Jackson, Miss. For Ewing, the news is bittersweet...more

It's All Trew: Winter scene paves way to ranch memories

That same year we received a pot load of light steers, conditioned them and taught them to eat cake. When all were well and coming to the feed truck we turned them into a big pasture for the summer. The pasture contained many cap-rocks and deep canyons. A few days later a spring blizzard hit, leaving a foot of snow and ice on the grass. The load of fresh steers just disappeared into thin air. Deep snow drifts limited getting around in the feed truck so I walked to some of the cap-rock areas peering into the canyons trying to find the steers. After three days I was convinced the young southern steers had drifted before the storm and dropped off the tall cap-rock, falling into the canyon below. I rehearsed my lines of how to explain to my banker how I had literally lost a pot load of steers to the storm. On the afternoon of that third day the sun came out and I walked to the head of the deepest canyon in the pasture with a drop off of more than 100 feet. I peeped over the edge expecting to see a pile of cattle at the bottom frozen to death...more

Song Of The Day #307

Ranch Radio is having a hellacious week so we ain't gonna slow it down this morning. That, plus me wanting to feature the dobro this week leads to today's selection: Eight String Swing by Mike Auldridge.

The tune can be found on his 13 track CD Eight String Swing which is one of Ranch Radio's favorite instrumental albums.

Bucky's Birthday Bash

Guy Howard Schickedanz 10/20/1913 – 05/07/2010

Guy Howard Schickedanz, 96, passed from this life on May 07, 2010 and journeyed to a new adventure to be with his heavenly Father. His adventure began when he was born at home near Gage, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1913. He married Teola Faye Schneider, October 20, 1935, and raised three sons, Larry, Jerry, Glen, and a daughter, Susan. He was preceded in death by his parents, August and Mildred Morrow Schickedanz; three brothers, Thomas, Grafton, and Ray Schickedanz; a sister, Marie Luthi; his wife, Faye; and daughter, Susan Millyana Broadfoot.

Guy was a lifetime member of Liberty Baptist Church and Deacon for most of his adult life. His father, August, helped found Liberty Baptist Church in 1906.

Guy grew to manhood on the Oklahoma Plains. He remembered the hard times and good times, which included: droughts, blizzards, grasshoppers, family and friends - all part of survival for homesteader families.

Guy always liked to see what was over the next hill. During his lifetime he visited all 50 states as well as 13 countries. When work was scarce in the early 1930s, he and a friend drove a Model T Ford to California looking for work. He found work on a lemon ranch near Ventura, California. He said that the first day of picking lemons was the hardest day of work he had ever experienced - carrying a wooden ladder, wooden boxes, and a picking sack.

He was married to his one and only girlfriend, Faye Schneider. Guy made a living for his wife and children by farming and raising cattle in Oklahoma and South Dakota and was able to send all of their children to college.

Guy liked learning something new each day and viewed life as a gift from God. He lamented recently that his first and only helicopter ride was to the hospital and “that it got dark and he wasn’t able to see the country.” He always said he would like to go to the moon. Hopefully, he was able to get a good look as he passed by on his way to his new adventure.

He is survived by his sons and their wives Larry and Charleen of Perryton, Texas; Jerry and Dale of Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Glen and Elaine of Piedmont, Oklahoma; a son-in-law Ronnie and Karin Broadfoot of Wood River, Illinois, fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and numerous friends from all around the world.

Church services will be held at Liberty Baptist Church, Fargo, Oklahoma at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, with the burial and graveside services to follow at Fargo Cemetery in Fargo, Oklahoma. Reverends Donnie Higgie and Junior Zollinger will officiate. Pall bearers and honorary pall bearers will be Guy’s grandsons, grandsons-in-law, and nephews. Arrangements are being made by Billings Funeral Home in Woodward, Oklahoma.

The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Guy and Faye Schickedanz Family Endowed Scholarship c/o Communities Foundation of Oklahoma, Inc., 2932 NW 122 Suite D., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120. Education has always been important to Guy and Faye Schickedanz and the scholarship’s goal is to continue the Schickedanz legacy in Agriculture through education for qualifying students from Fargo, Oklahoma. More information can be found at fargofund.org.

Group pushes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on wolf recovery

The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation organization dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places, challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take action in the next two weeks, to move along the agency's efforts on the issue of the Mexican Wolf Recovery. The call came on the heels of the release of the Mexican Wolf Conservation Assessment, a non-binding document that assesses the results of Fish and Wildlife's Mexican wolf recovery efforts. The assessment documents the significant threats to the Mexican wolf from poaching and from the Fish and Wildlife Service's own management decisions in removing wolves from the wild, and the vulnerability of the single wild Mexican wolf population in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona - last counted in January at 42 animals and two breeding pairs - and of the approximately 300 wolves in 47 captive-breeding facilities in the United States and Mexico. Robinson challenged Fish and Wildlife to act immediately by appointing a panel of scientists to a new Mexican wolf recovery team in the next two weeks who would work toward completing a new Mexican wolf recovery plan by October 15...more

One Way to Save the Wolf? Hunt It.

The hide from the wolf Carl Lewis shot stretches 7 feet, 9 inches long, the back and ruff as black as a Montana midnight, easing along the legs and flanks to a color that Lewis likens to that of a blue roan horse. Lewis shot the big radio-collared alpha male on his ranch, high on the east side of the Big Hole Valley, last fall. "I really wanted to get a wolf this year," he says, "because we have to live around them, and I wanted to see a few less around our place." Lewis and his family saw wolves 22 different times on their ranch during the past summer, so he knew where to start hunting. "I went out that morning on a fresh snow, and saw no tracks at all. Got up to the top of the ridge, though, and there he was." Lewis shot the wolf from 400 yards with his .338, the rifle he normally uses for elk hunting. Three days later, his son Tanner got a wolf of his own. Montana's first-ever wolf season was viewed with horror by many environmental groups, and by many people who have celebrated the charismatic predator's return to the Northern Rockies. The hunt was simply too much, too soon, they said; it would kill off the alpha males and females that are the primary breeders and break the slowly building matrix of genetic diversity that is key to the long-term health of the returning populations. They predicted that leaderless wolf packs would go after even more livestock, leading to more wolf-killing by the federal Wildlife Services...more

Klamath farmers will see fraction of water needs

An operations plan released Thursday for a drought-stressed federal irrigation project in the upper Klamath Basin offered no new hope for farmers struggling to find water for their crops. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said farmers on the 200,000 acres irrigated by the Klamath Reclamation Project can expect 30 percent to 40 percent of normal deliveries this summer. The deliveries would start by May 15 -- six weeks late. The cutbacks were triggered by drought and Endangered Species Act requirements involving protected fish. Federal grants are paying for extra well water and for farmers to leave land dry, but about a third of the project area is still looking for water or money. Many farmers have gone outside the project to rent land with wells. Farmer Rob Unruh in Malin said the irrigation districts he relies on inside the project will be dry this year after officials agreed to land-idling payments, so he will use well water to irrigate his potatoes. Klamath Project water that would be available will probably be too little and come too late to save his grain, he said...more

Coyotes hungrily eye watermelon farms

Florida's watermelon growing season is in full swing, and for the next few months, farmers across North Central Florida will be busy caring for their rows of melon plants. But as the melons ripen on the vines, farmers will not be the only ones watching. Hungry animals are always waiting for a chance to feast on the juicy melons, and in recent years, farmers have had to keep a wary eye out for one particularly cunning foe: the coyote. Coyotes are not historically found in Florida but have quietly crept into the state over the past 40 years and as their population continues to increase farmers have found that, especially during dry years, coyotes seek out watermelons as a succulent meal and will devour between 10 and 15 watermelons a night. Lois McPherson, a watermelon grower at Bellevue Gardens Organic Farm in Archer, said she will always remember the first time her fields were visited by coyotes. One morning about 20 years ago, when she went out to inspect her fields, the melons were demolished. It looked as if they had simply "exploded on the vines", she said, and all that remained were large chunks of rind strewn across the field...more

Yellowstone bison drive

Montana livestock agents plan a major push over the next week to haze several hundred wild bison back into Yellowstone National Park to protect area cattle ranches from disease. Helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and horseback riders will attempt to drive about 400 animals into the park. The bison had exited Yellowstone over the winter in search of food at lower elevations. Critics say the hazing is unnecessary, particularly in areas where cattle no longer graze. But facing pressure from the ranching industry, Montana officials said they plan to remove all bison from public and private lands around West Yellowstone by May 15. That's about a month before cattle will return to their summer grazing plots. Whether the bison cooperate remains to be seen: Late spring snowstorms have stalled the emergence of grasses inside Yellowstone that bison depend on for forage. The park's chief ranger, Tim Reid, said the delayed "greenup" of Yellowstone could complicate the hazing effort unless warm weather sets in quickly. Reid said if conditions are not right, bison hazed into the park could simply circle around and leave again. The animal disease brucellosis can cause infected animals to abort their young. It has been eradicated nationwide except for the Yellowstone region. About half of Yellowstone's bison test positive for exposure, although the rate of active infections is much lower...more

Having a Cow About Steak Quality

Let's talk about steak for a moment. Was the last one you ate good? How about the one before that? Be honest. The first bite, in all probability, was juicy and tender. Not bad. A brief hit of beefiness, enough to spur you on to bite No. 2. But by bite No. 4, there was a problem: grease. The tongue gets entirely coated in it. It is at this point that many hands reach for that terrible abomination called steak sauce. It's acidic and zingy and cuts through grease, but it blots out the weak flavor of the steak. At steak houses all over the country, wine drinkers know the variety of grapes used to make the wine, the patch of earth where they were grown, and the year they were picked. They might even know whether the wine was aged in a barrel made from oak grown in France or America. They don't know nearly as much about their steak. Not the breed, not what the cow ate, or where it was raised. All anyone seems to know about steak today is this: It doesn't have much flavor. The great American steak is great in name only. It has become like its hated nemesis, boneless chicken breast: bland. The decline started back in 1926 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began grading beef...more

New book offers colorful pictorial history of Florida's cowboys

"FLORIDA COWBOYS: Keepers of the Last Frontier." Photographs by Canton Ward Jr. Publisher: University Press of Florida. $45. There are 232 pages in this handsome book about cowboys and the cattle country they work and protect. There are twice that many full-color photos by Canton Ward Jr., who founded the Legacy Institute for Nature and Culture - all of this in one of the most extraordinary books ever published on the Florida cowboys. You will want to frame nearly every photo - especially the close-up of the rugged sunburned faces of these men and women to whom we owe so much. According to Patrick D. Smith, author of "A Land Remembered," Florida is this country's first cattle state - not the Southwest or West, but here. There are still, large and small, about 15,500 cattle ranches in Florida. One of them is the largest beef producer in the nation, and six are in the top 10. One can read and read and marvel at the many ranches and the people who work them - the owners and their hands. To name a few, there is the Lykes Ranch in Glades County, the Duda Farms of Hendry County, Two Rivers Ranch in Hillsborough County, the Lightsey Cattle Company in Polk County, Strickland Ranch in Manatee County, Clay Ranch in Putnam County and Big Cypress Rodeo in Hendry County...more

It's hard to tell where facts end and legends begin

In the Western classic "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," Jimmy Stewart plays a fictional U.S. senator who recounts the real story behind the shootout that made his reputation and launched his career. When he's done telling a much different account than was popularly believed, the newspaper editor he's been talking to tears up his notes. "This is the West, sir," explains the newsman. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." He wasn't off the mark. Naturally, many people would prefer to believe that their Western heroes were tough but honest men rather than listen to people who cast aspersions on their character. Wyoming had two 20th century lawmen who were charged in sensational murders: Tom Horn and Ed Cantrell. The criminal justice system treated the pair very differently, but their legends continue to grow. For many years, both men have been the subject of considerable debate about their innocence or guilt. Word that a screenplay touting the exploits of Cantrell, known as "the fastest draw in the West," is making the rounds in Hollywood stirred a lot of memories recently in the Cowboy State. It also raises the question whether he will be remembered by future generations by the historic facts of his case, or the legend. There's no doubt that in 1978 Cantrell shot and killed an undercover narcotics agent, Michael Rosa, who was in the back seat of a car in a Rock Springs parking lot...more

Sycamore Inn in Rancho Cucamonga served an historic crossroads

Long before the Sycamore Inn in Rancho Cucamonga became a gathering place for diners, the land was a gathering place for Indians and explorers. The local Indians met at this spot where large sycamore, cottonwood and willow trees grew. In March 1774, Spanish explorer Captain Juan Batista de Anza brought his exploration group to the lush, shady oasis with a creek and a view of the mountains. The Indians invited him to stay awhile. Because bears loved the gathering place too, the Spanish named the spot Arroyo Los Osos or Bear Gulch, a name that lingers today. One of the Spanish soldiers decided to stay. Felipe Santiago Tapia, and his grandson, Tiburcio Tapia received the land grant of more than 13,000 acres by then governor of California, Juan Alvarado. It became known as Rancho Cucamonga. Over the years, he said the place has been a lot of things. Stagecoaches and other travelers used the rutted Santa Fe Trail as a main thoroughfare from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. William "Uncle Billy" Rubottom from Missouri saw an opportunity to build a place where they could stop and rest. He built an inn and tavern there called the Mountain View Inn where he served southern fare of buttermilk biscuits, corndodgers and southern fried chicken. It became a popular place not only to travelers, but to the local people, including southern sympathizers during the Civil War. Another southern thing Uncle Billy brought to the area was slavery, but the slaves emancipated themselves and stayed to help settle the area...more

Murder in Mogollon

In 1912, the bustling mining town of Mogollon was part of western Socorro County. While the mines and mills around Socorro were in decline, those at Mogollon were producing 70 percent of New Mexico’s gold and silver. The dominant mining operations were the Last Chance and Maud S. mines, operated by the Ernestine Mining Company; and the Little Fanny and Champion mines, operated by the Socorro Mines Company. Mogollon, with a population of about 1,500 people, had produced nearly $3 million in gold and $7 million in silver by statehood. This wealth allowed Mogollon, in many respects, to become a modern town. Some of the mines were electrified and electric lighting illuminated the main street and some businesses. Telephone service had arrived for those who could afford the $2 monthly fee. Even Mogollon Deputy Sheriff Cipriano Baca had a telephone in his office. An automobile or motor-truck would occasionally be seen on her dusty streets, although mule-drawn wagons and folks on horseback were still the common sight. In spite of these modern 20th century conveniences, Mogollon was still a very remote mining camp filled with rough miners, hard gamblers and others keeping the reputation of the “Wild West” alive. To them, it was still the 1800s. Although the Gun Law of 1899 prohibited the carrying of deadly weapons in New Mexico’s towns and cities, this seemed to have had little effect in Mogollon...more

Baxter Black: Yes, Rural Arizonans Cling To Their Guns

During the presidential election, Barack Obama made a very telling comment about "bitter, small towns, clinging to their guns and religion." He is from the big-city prey mentality. If the president thinks the community is bitter, he just might be right. They are on the front lines in a war to supply recreational drug users their daily toke or weekly snort. The smugglers are doing quite well. I hear of no shortages from celebrities and potheads. And, in truth, I would guess most ranchers are ambivalent about dope smokers and drug users. Unfortunately, they are trying to ranch on the battlefield where the self-righteous, self-centered stoners, snorters, smokers, shooters and suppliers are fighting the law. You can see in this Arizona rural community why we cling to our guns. We don't have police cars patrolling our neighborhoods. The nearest neighbor could be 10 or 12 miles away, and the criminals pass like ghosts in the night. We use our guns because we are not prey, we take responsibility for our own lives and livelihood. The president's unfortunate denigration of religion as a source of strength is something he probably wishes he could take back. His past church membership speaks to his faith. Suffice it to say when we turn to God for help it is because he has proven to be more reliable than the stream of politicians' promises that continue to pour over us like dirty water sluicing down the drain. And nobody seems to have a clue...more

Song Of The Day #306

Ranch Radio will help get your heart started this Monday morning with Doc Watson flatpicking the fiddle tune Black Mountain Rag.

The song is available on the 12 track CD Doc & Merle Watson's Guitar Album.

This one goes out to my friend Burt at BEEF Magazine.

Wounded men cross Rio Grande, sent to El Paso hospital

A group of people bleeding after being shot in Mexico splashed across the Rio Grande into Hudspeth County on Sunday afternoon, officials said. A Hudspeth County sheriff's lieutenant and a Border Patrol official said four wounded men running for their lives crossed the border west of Fort Hancock. Border Patrol spokesman Agent Ramiro Cordero said an agent spotted the men and summoned medical help. Cordero said agents could see a truck on the Mexico side of the riverbank. The wounded men were rushed in ambulances to a hospital in El Paso. Names and the medical conditions of the wounded men were not available. One ambulance transmission stated a man had been shot multiple times. The spillover comes as tensions have been high in the Fort Hancock area because of the bloodshed across the border in the Valley of Juárez. The Valley of Juárez, with its collection of rural farming communities along the Rio Grande, is a prime smuggling point and a battleground between forces working with Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel and the Juárez drug cartel...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

I love them too

by Julie Carter


Dear Moms and Dads,

I want to thank you for your great kids. I am blessed to be able to share with you in their successes as their final days in high school bring the accolades they have earned.

"Our" babies are about to graduate.

I sit at each end-of-the-year ceremony and watch them with tears in my eyes and pride busting out all over, just as you do.

For eight years I've followed them around to sporting events, FFA, 4-H, county fair, rodeo, academic showcases with my camera in hand and note pad ready.

They were 10 years old and about to embark on their fifth grade adventure when I started this journey of documenting them for the "county news" section of the newspaper.

They were shorter, chubbier, tinier, ganglier with freckles and bad hair cuts or wild pony tails and braces. They giggled and snorted over nothing and traveled in pairs and trios of silliness.

The first couple of years they ducked my camera and were shy about it most of the time.

When that was over they followed me like ducklings wanting to know if I'd put them in the paper and they delighted in antics that might get them there.

Those kids in the outer county schools soon became part of my life. I watched them grow and mature.

I watched their personalities take shape and the foundations of their adulthood form one block at a time.

Teachers, coaches, family and friends all added another block, year by year ... building the child that would become the adult to be sent out the door this May.
I know great kids don't just happen. They are created, encouraged, admonished, nurtured, guided and directed.

They take a step forward and fall back two. They are caught, lifted, nudged and pushed toward a standard of excellence set before them.

Sometimes they rebel, argue, give up on themselves and think the world hates them. They are irritated by their parents who have got to be the stupidest people in the world, not to mention so archaic in all they know about anything.

They vow to never, ever be like them when they grow up.

They are sure that the system that held them captive for 13 years was pointless.

They plan their escape with an attitude of "I'll show you I don't need you to tell me what to do every day."

Which is pretty much the point, but most of them haven't figured that out just yet.
I love those kids, all of them. I feel so very much part of the lives I have documented in word and picture. I've been there for their set backs and their victories. I've watched them work hard and gain great ground in so many places.

I hold such hope in the future when I see the great young men and women they have so quickly grown to be.

I am proud with and for you, the parents, who sacrificed, hoped, prayed and worked through each stage of their life to bring them to this portal of the future.

I thank you for allowing me into their lives and into yours.

Your children are a gift, not just to you, but to the world that is about to become their challenge. You've done your job and done it well.

As you take your hands off them and let them fly, together we will watch them take wing into the next phase of their lives. Summer will dry the tears that mark this traditional transition.

With great anticipation, I will turn and look behind me at those budding young adults that will follow these into next year.

Each one is stretching and striding to find their place in the mighty footsteps left behind by this class of 2010.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net.

It's The Pitts: Suture Self

by Lee Pitts

A carpenter friend recently showed me a gruesome scar on his arm that was the result of some surgery he performed on himself with a sewing needle without any form of anesthetic! He said he played doctor and sewed up the nasty cut himself because he had no insurance and felt qualified because he’d once sewn some sails. From the looks of his arm I can only assume the sailboat subsequently capsized or ran aground.

It’s only in the last 100 years that people, like my friend, haven’t had to be their own doctor. If a cowboy in the 1800’s was seriously sick, kicked by a horse, wounded by an Indian or run over by a stampede he was simply out of luck. And out of time.

Early in our nation’s history doctors were as scarce as tuba players in a submarine, and even if one could be found the sawbones performed most operations without any anesthetic. If you don’t count the whiskey, that is. Now days when people go to the doctor for an ingrown toenail it’s hard to imagine that women had their babies at home and the only provision for pain was a stick they could bite down on. You couldn’t have found a log big enough for me to chomp on! And you think you have it bad because you have to read old magazines and wait awhile to see a doctor?

In the days of old there were no urgent care facilities or emergency rooms and if the doctor came at all it wasn’t until you were nearly ready to be cultivated under. In this day of Dr. Oz and Viagra, when there seems to be a pill for every inconvenience and a TV telethon or walkathon for every ailment, it’s hard to imagine that the best the pioneers could do was apply a poultice of fresh cow manure. If they sprained an ankle they wrapped the joint in brown paper, soaked it in vinegar and slept with their head pointed north. Often times the people used the same treatments they used on their livestock. Cowboys got the same cure as the horse they were riding. If you were wormy you took a thimble full of sheep wormer and if you ached all over you applied a little Sloan’s Liniment for Livestock. It contained turpentine and “sassafrassy” and was said to cure bruises, kicks, flatulent colic and bumblefoot. I’ve been tempted to try it once or twice myself.

Just like my buddy who sewed himself up, the pioneers improvised a lot. They were practicing holistic medicine long before anyone ever heard the phrase. In an era when doctors with tiny cameras boldly go where no man has gone before, it’s hard to imagine that people once bled, purged and puked themselves to better health.

The doctors of the nineteenth century seemed to believe that a person could not get well without a sufficient amount of pain being suffered first. And maybe they were right.

You may hate the dentist but at least you have one. If the old-timers had a toothache they jumped up and down so the blood would go to their feet and then pulled a tooth or two with a pair of horse nippers or hog ringers. If a limb needed to be amputated the only anesthetic was to have a fat man sit on the patient. Allergies and cosmetic surgery? Forget it. If you broke a leg you had a lifelong limp; a broken rib and you suffered every time you breathed for the rest of your life. If you had an excess of sagging body parts you lived with them. Hypochondriacs didn’t stand a chance.

Some things never change though. In a letter to his family in 1849 a California miner wrote, “Have now paid all my gold to the Doctors and they leave me worse in health.” See what I mean? Who knows, maybe a lot of lives were saved back when folks didn’t have access to all the over-doctoring that goes on now days.

By the time our leaders in Washington get through messing up our healthcare system, the way things are headed we’ll have to anesthetize our cattle to brand them but you and I won’t be able to get in to see a doctor. We could find ourselves living once again in a society where the rule of thumb will be, “Cowboy, heal thyself.”

Song Of The Day #305

Ranch Radio's Gospel selection today is Mother Thank You For The Bible You Gave by the Louvin Brothers. Then we will travel back to 1940 for some great advice from Governor Jimmie Davis with his Baby Your Mother Like She Babied You.

Happy Mother's Day.

Udall Questions Officials About Increased Border Violence And I Question Udall

U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today questioned federal officials about ongoing efforts to combat increased border violence by Mexican drug trafficking organizations during a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Udall, a member of the Caucus, told senior officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of State that he and his constituents are very concerned about violence spilling across the border into New Mexico. In March, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was fatally shot while working on his land near the Mexican border. While the case remains under investigation, law enforcement tracked a suspect from the murder scene to the border. The local sheriff says there is evidence to suggest that the suspect was a scout for a smuggling organization. "We became very concerned when we saw the murder of a rancher on the Arizona border earlier this year," Udall said during the hearing. "That's caused a level of alarm across the state that was reflected during one of my recent visits to the White Sands Missile Range. While White Sands is a significant distance from the border, I heard from a member of the engineering battalion that will soon deploy to Afghanistan. He asked me if his family was going to be safe because of this activity." During the Caucus hearing, Udall also discussed legislation he supports to establish a grant program within the Department of Justice for law enforcement agencies to address drug-related criminal activity. The legislation, introduced by Bingaman and co-sponsored by Udall, would give award priority to law enforcement agencies located in counties 150 miles of the border...press release

"We became very concerned when we saw the murder of a rancher on the Arizona border earlier this year," Udall said during the hearing.

Senator, many New Mexicans have been concerned for years. Their homes have been invaded, their fences cut, property damaged or destroyed and they have feared for their family's safety. Glad to have you finally on board though.

...legislation he supports to establish a grant program within the Department of Justice for law enforcement agencies to address drug-related criminal activity. The legislation, introduced by Bingaman and co-sponsored by Udall, would give award priority to law enforcement agencies located in counties 150 miles of the border.

Implicit within this legislation is the idea that illegal immigration and drug trafficking are having a negative impact up to 150 miles from the border. That being the case, why do you support legislation creating thousands of acres of wilderness just a few miles from the border and thereby creating a safe haven for such traffickers? It also seems incongruous you would endorse a new grant program for border area law enforcement at the same time you are supporting legislation that would deny them and their federal counterparts the access they need to address the problem. Why assist on the one hand and obstruct on the other?

For years politicians have gotten away with throwing money at a problem and calling it good, even if they were supporting other programs with cross purposes. In this case, the pols are trying to maintain the support of the enviros by introducing wilderness legislation, while at the same time trying to "buy off" local officials with a new grant program. The new grant program will also give them something to point to, to show they really "care" about our safety.

This has worked in the past, but I think the electorate is catching on to your game and they ain't buying it.

None of this is to say Senator Udall doesn't care about our public safety here in southern NM. After all, see his recent press release:
Udall Encourages NM Residents to Not Talk and Text While Driving.

Pelosi: It’s Cheaper to Treat Teens for Drug Use Than Interdict Drugs at Border

While pointing out that it is the responsibility of the federal government to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said Thursday it is cheaper to treat teens for drug use than it is to interdict drugs being smuggled across the border. CNSNews.com pointed out to the speaker at her weekly press briefing that a recent Justice Department report indicated that one in five U.S. teenagers used drugs last year, and then asked: “Are you committed to sealing the border against the influx of illegal drugs from Mexico and, if so, do you have a target date in mind for getting that done?” “Well if your question is about drugs, I’m for reducing demand in the United States,” said Pelosi. “That is what our responsibility is on this subject. The RAND Corporation a few years ago did a report that said it would be much less expensive for us to, through prevention first and foremost, but through treatment on demand to reduce demand in our country, is the cheapest way to solve this problem. “Incarceration is the next cheapest,” Pelosi continued. “It costs seven times more to incarcerate than to have treatment on demand. It costs 15 times more to interdict at the border. And it costs 25 times more with eradication of the cocoa leaf. This is an issue that it is very important to our country because of what it’s doing to our teenagers. That is the problem, what it is doing to our people.”...more

Twelve killed in Juárez since Friday afternoon

Two young men were shot and killed Friday night inside a vehicle with Texas license plates at a popular crossing in central Juárez. Chihuahua state police found 46 bullet casings at the scene where José Luis Meza Terrazas, 22, and Miguel Ángel Prieto Herrera, 25, were murdered. The attack occurred about 10:15 p.m. at the Tecnológico and Teófilo Borunda avenues near the Camino Real hotel. The men were found inside a green 2003 Ford Expedition. Separate attacks Friday afternoon, night and Saturday morning have killed 12 people in Juárez. An average of eight people are killed every day in the border city considered to be the epicenter of Mexico's drug cartel violence...more

Gunmen kill 1 at wedding in Juarez, kidnap 3, including groom

Police in the border city of Ciudad Juarez say gunmen killed a man outside a church where a wedding had just taken place and kidnapped the groom, his brother and his uncle. Chihuahua state prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval says the assailants showed up as minutes after the religious ceremony had ended Friday evening and killed a man and kidnapped the others as dozens of wedding guests watched. Sandoval says no arrests have been made and a motive for the attack has not been determined...more

Police Chief, 5 Others Slain in Border State

A municipal police chief and five other people died in three violent incidents in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, authorities said Friday. The state’s public information office said the chief of police in the rural community of Barbosa and a person accompanying him were fatally shot Thursday night by unknown assailants. Authorities did not reveal the identities of the victims nor the circumstances surrounding their deaths. In the city of Reynosa, which borders McAllen, Texas, a man with gunshot wounds who had been left outside a hospital died while receiving medical treatment. In Rio Bravo, another border town, a clash between military personnel and gunmen left three civilians dead, Mexico’s defense department said...more

US Extends Travel Warning For Mexico

The U.S. State Department has extended its travel warning for Mexico, advising US citizens about the precautions they must take while traveling or residing in certain regions in northern Mexico because of the increasing drug-related violence in those areas. The State Department, in the warning issued late Thursday, said the Mexican states of Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila were particularly dangerous and advised U.S. citizens "residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution." "US citizens should defer non-essential travel to Ciudad Juarez and to the Guadalupe Bravo area southeast of Ciudad Juarez," the statement said. "US citizens should also defer travel to the northwest quarter of the state of Chihuahua, including the city of Nuevas Casas Grandes and surrounding communities."...more

Texas senators stress need to stop Mexican violence from spreading to U.S.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison pressed for more federal action Wednesday in securing the Mexican border and preventing violence from spilling over into the United States. "We need to change the mindset here in Washington, D.C., that somehow we've done everything we need to do in terms of border security," Cornyn said. The call for help came during a Senate hearing that gave a devastating rundown of the fallout from Mexico's brutal drug war. More than 22,000 drug-related murders in Mexico since 2007. Rising reports of home invasions and cross-border kidnappings. And the growing threat of spillover into Texas and other border states. "We are in an emergency," Hutchison said. "We need manpower. We need help."...more

Border violence affecting trade, congressmen say

Livestock ports in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo will remain closed indefinitely as a security team seeks safer inspection areas for the U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarians. The U.S. State Department is assessing the quarantine pens located in northern Tamaulipas to determine whether they can be reopened with new security measures or must be relocated to safer spots elsewhere, said Lyndsay Cole, a USDA spokeswoman in Fort Collins, Colo. The pens used by veterinarians to inspect cattle before the livestock are exported to the United States were closed in late March after the USDA employees were confronted and detained by gunmen on a highway in Nuevo Laredo. About 17,000 head of cattle have been diverted to other ports of entry — mainly at Eagle Pass — in the past month while the security concerns at the facilities are addressed. But the closure of the livestock inspection ports is a “concrete example” that border violence is impeding trade between the United States and Mexico, said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who joined other border lawmakers in a meeting this week with high-ranking U.S. and Mexican security officials...more

Jaguar whistle-blower faces charges

The woman who said she planted female jaguar scat at the trap where jaguar Macho B was caught last year said she was told Thursday by federal investigators to prepare to face prosecution for her actions in the case. "They told me to be prepared to be charged for a violation of the Endangered Species Act" and that "now's a good time to get a lawyer," said Janay Brun, 38, of Arivaca. Brun said investigators told her she could be charged with the "take" of an endangered species. That's a legal term meaning killing, harming or harassing an endangered animal or plant. The jaguar is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Macho B was the last jaguar known to be living in the wild in the United States. Brun sparked a federal criminal investigation when she told the Arizona Daily Star more than a year ago that she had placed the scat at the eventual Macho B trap site at the direction of Emil McCain. McCain was a biologist for the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project, where Brun also worked as a research technician. Until her statement that the jaguar was intentionally lured by the scat, Arizona Game and Fish Department officials had said the capture was accidental, occurring during a state study of black bears and mountain lions, for which McCain was setting snares. At the time of Brun's allegations, McCain vehemently denied them. Macho B was captured in a snare trap and radio-collared by Game and Fish biologists on Feb. 18, 2009, then released back into the wild. On March 2, 2009, after he slowed down dramatically, he was recaptured and euthanized at the Phoenix Zoo after veterinarians determined he had kidney failure...more

BP spill may kill hopes for climate deal

When John Kerry addressed environmental groups about the need to pass his comprehensive energy reform bill this year, he did not mention the disastrous oil spill now threatening the Gulf of Mexico and Florida's west coast. Kerry focused his Wednesday speech on "green" jobs, but he and his bill are in a perilous position when it comes to oil drilling. The legislation is expected to call for an expansion of drilling in coastal waters, a provision needed to lure enough votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats to pass the bill. The bill will also call for steep reductions in carbon emissions and potentially a gas tax, which many Republicans oppose. But the drilling provision inserted to draw support on the right has now caused a collapse in support on the left, as Democrats lined up to denounce any plans to widen drilling...more

Patents: Greenies get the fast track

Today the office still struggles with a major backlog. But inventors of green technology may have a leg up. Under a program that started in December, they can request that their patents be put through an accelerated queue. The purpose of the program is to help them raise money, start up businesses and bring products to the market more rapidly. On Tuesday, Skyline Solar, a solar panel builder in Silicon Valley, was awarded one of the first patents to emerge from the queue. “When a company says a patent is pending, things are uncertain. This gives us certainty,” said Bob MacDonald, the chief executive officer of Skyline. “And it helps get new investors comfortable with the intellectual property,” he added. Skyline filed its patent application in April 2008 and petitioned to move it into the accelerated queue in December. It’s a remarkable speed-up: it had typically taken two to three years for a green technology patent application to be reviewed...more

I guess the subsides weren't enough. Meanwhile, everyone else faces delays and "uncertainty."

I say clear-cut the regulatory jungle for everybody.

U.S. facing 'grievous harm' from chemicals in air, food, water, panel says

An expert panel that advises the president on cancer said Thursday that Americans are facing "grievous harm" from chemicals in the air, food and water that have largely gone unregulated and ignored. The President's Cancer Panel called for a new national strategy that focuses on such threats in the environment and workplaces. Epidemiologists have long maintained that tobacco use, diet and other factors are responsible for most cancers, and that chemicals and pollutants cause only a small portion -- perhaps 5 percent. The presidential panel said that figure has been "grossly underestimated" but it did not provide a new estimate. Federal chemical laws are weak, funding for research and enforcement is inadequate, and regulatory responsibilities are split among too many agencies, the panel found...more

In a surprise development a panel appointed by Obama recommends more and stronger laws, increased appropriations and more centralization of authority.

President’s Cancer Panel’s Alarming Alarmism

The President’s Cancer Panel has caused quite a stir with its release of a report imputing cancer to environmental chemicals. The report practically plagiarizes the work of anti-chemical activist groups, including the Environmental Working Group’s catchphrase that babies are “pre-polluted” with chemicals, and in its frequent homage to the precautionary principle. “This so-called Presidential Cancer Panel, which consists of two physicians, has obviously been politically pressured by the activists running the EPA,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “When they mention babies being ‘pre-polluted’ and the alleged dangers of all of these chemicals, they not only sign their name to activist screeds, they neglect to mention that the dose makes the poison, and that finding traces of chemicals at levels of parts-per-billion does not imply a health hazard. And of course they do not address the potential health hazards of banning important chemicals from consumer products.” Despite all of the alarmism, some news sources are bringing balance to the narrative. The L.A. Times quotes our own Dr. Whelan pointing out that, despite what Nicholas Kristof says, “cancer death rates are going down. The so-called environmental trace levels of chemicals play no role whatsoever in the etiology of cancer.” And both the L.A. Times and Reuters Health quote Dr. Michael Thun, emeritus vice president of epidemiology at the American Cancer Society. “We agree that there are many important issues here … but a reader would come away from this report believing that pollutants cause most cancer,” Dr. Thun tells the L.A. Times. The article continues: “In fact, he said, most cancers are caused by tobacco, alcohol, overexposure to ultraviolet light, radiation and sexually transmitted infections. The report ‘presents an unbalanced perspective’ of the relative importance of these various factors, he said.”...more

Calf killed by wolf on private property in Wallowa County

Federal and Oregon state wildlife officials say one or more wolves has killed a calf on private property in the Zumwalt area of northeast Oregon's Wallowa County. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy says a state wildlife employee found the dead calf Wednesday. Agents examined tracks and bite marks to determine what happened. Under Oregon's wolf management plan, nonlethal measures to avoid future problems are the first response to such attacks. Oregon wildlife officials are working with area landowners to consider such measures. Wolves are federally protected as an endangered species in the western two-thirds of Oregon and are also listed as a state endangered species. AP

Organic Farming Shows Limited Benefit to Wildlife

Organic farms may be seen as wildlife friendly, but the benefits to birds, bees and butterflies don't compensate for the lower yields produced, according to new research from the University of Leeds. In the most detailed, like-for-like comparisons of organic and conventional farming to date, researchers from Leeds' Faculty of Biological Science found that the benefits to wildlife and increases in biodiversity from organic farming are much lower than previously thought -- averaging just over 12 percent more than conventional farming. The organic farms in the study produced less than half of the yield of their conventional counterparts, so the research -- published online in Ecology Letters -- raises serious questions about how we can use agricultural land to maximise food production and still protect our wildlife. "Over the next forty years, we're going to have to double food production worldwide to keep pace with population increases," says Professor Tim Benton, who led the project. "Our results show that to produce the same amount of food in the UK using organic rather than conventional means, we'd need to use twice the amount of land for agriculture."...more

Air Force making its case for bomber training

The Air Force will release a report next month outlining the impacts of its plan to train bomber pilots over massive stretches of Montana and neighboring states. Meantime, Ellsworth Air Force Base brass is selectively making its case to critics of the proposed Powder River Training Complex, which would set aside 20.3 million acres of airspace across Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming for military exercises. The training area, stretching roughly 300 miles between Billings and Bismarck, N.D., would be used by B-1B and B-52 pilots occupying the skies for several hours at a time on weekdays and flying within 500 feet off the ground. With miles of ranches and 66 small airports in or around the flight zone, opponents aren’t in short supply. “We were kind of a practice run for the B-52s and others years ago, and it really disturbs cattle a lot,” said Pat Goggins, owner of the Vermillion Ranch, which has properties throughout the area. “It’s a rough deal trying to get good (weight) gain on them.”...more

AQHA, WRCA Create Ranch Rodeo Award

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) has teamed with the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA) to recognize top horses at WRCA rodeos across the nation. To honor the contributions ranch horses have made to the heritage of the American Quarter Horse, AQHA will sponsor a special recognition award to the top horse at every WRCA-sanctioned rodeo. The special achievement by these top horses will be placed on the horse's permanent AQHA record. The AQHA Top Horse Award will be presented at each sanctioned WRCA rodeo to the best all-around registered American Quarter Horse. The first presentation of this new award was at the Green Country Classic Ranch Rodeo, which took place in Claremore, Okla., in March. Little Tronas Will, owned and exhibited by Jeff Heaton of Alva, Okla., was the inaugural award recipient...more

Pasco ranchers share memories, history

The smell of cooking barbecue was complemented by the sound of fireworks. Or, were those bullets being fired? Those entering the Back Forty Pavilion at Starkey Ranch, quickly realized that the crackling pops they heard involved not pyrotechnics or gunpowder, but handmade whips slung by the hands of 16-year-old Chase Kiefer of Bushnell. The event drew a crowd of more than 200 people, many of them from ranching families around Pasco County. The event, hosted by SCENIC, a nonprofit organization, was attended by families who brought cattle brands from yesteryear, old pictures, plenty of stories and an appetite for barbecue and live country music, which was performed by Kissimmee-based Kenyon Lockry. The cattle brands are part of SCENIC's Living Legacy Project, which works to preserve the area's rich ranching history with photos, video and written stories on the organization's Web site. At a booth under the pavilion, historian and author Jeff Cannon of Hudson displayed several brands from families around the region. His oldest was an 1845 brand used by John S. Taylor, a Civil War veteran who lived in Hernando County. There was an 1883 brand made by Constantine "Bud" Stevenson, a blacksmith killed during a "family feud" with the Whidden family, Cannon said. Cannon explained that ranching was prevalent throughout Pasco during the Civil War, when the area's "Cow Calvary" rounded up beef cattle for Confederate soldiers fighting up north...more

Barbed-wire pitch posts preserve forest history

At old ranches and on some remaining farms near the foothills, one can see old barbed-wire-fence "pitch posts." These relics of a bygone era artistically reveal some Colorado history and provide an interesting forestry lesson. Pitch posts were cut and split from the dense and heavy wood of live pitchy trees. Pitch is a resin found in evergreen trees and it forms when trees are injured. When the injury is caused by heat from ground-surface, low-intensity forest fires, and the fire has not killed the tree, more sap is made. This resin then concentrates in outer layers of sap-wood. Long ago, forest fires were started from lightning and often times by indigenous people. Native Americans knew that a flush of new and tender vegetation that sprouts after fire meant well-nourished game and thus better hunting. With no human effort to suppress forest fires, they were frequent, and trees were often injured by fire. In those conditions, a "relatively young," 150-year-old tree may have received fire damage three, four, five or more times in its lifetime. A living tree exposed to that many fires accumulates high concentrations of pitch all the way from its heartwood center out to the bark. Many fire-injured trees had a portion of their lower bark burned off. Exposed and charcoaled wood made inverted V-shaped black areas called "cat faces," usually on the uphill side. Often, the cat-faced trees healed over the charred surface with new wood, which can be seen in cross-sections of old pitch posts. Fire events can sometimes be dated by annual tree rings of wood that grew over the black fire scar or surround it...more

Song Of The Day #304

Ranch Radio will close out the week of honoring those who "stick with tradition" with a tripple whammy.

Rayna Gellert practices the old time type of fiddling and today we feature three of her songs: Old Yeller Dog Come Trotting Through The Meetinghouse, Swannanoa Waltz and Wagoner One-Step.

All three selections are available on her 20 track CD Ways Of The World.

Today's program goes out to Joe Delk, Bobby Jones and Junior Daugherty.

While Oil Slick Spread, Interior Dept Chief of Staff Rafted with Wife in Grand Canyon

Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned. Other leaders of the Interior Department were focused on the Gulf, joined by other agencies and literally thousands of other employees. But Strickland’s participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was “work-focused” raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News. Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his wife Beth for a total of three days, including one day of rafting. Beth Strickland paid her own way, Obama administration officials said...more

How Cronyism Is Infesting Cap-And-Trade

In January, investigative reporter John Stossel, now with Fox Business, reported on an exceptionally cozy relationship between Serious Materials, an energy-efficient building materials company, and an Obama administration pushing what was dubbed "cash for caulkers" as part of its failing stimulus package. As Julia A. Seymour of the Business and Media Institute reports, Stossel showed video clips of a Serious Materials representative introducing President Obama and CEO Kevin Surace and thanking Vice President Biden for his "unwavering support."So unwavering has this support been that when a list of such companies receiving tax credits was released in January, only one window manufacturer, Serious Materials, was a recipient. This attracted the attention of Annette Meeks of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, a much-colder state that also has manufacturers of energy-efficient windows. Meeks asked: "How does it come about that repeatedly — at least six times last year — executives from one window manufacturer, one small California company, appeared with the president and vice president and no other company even gets a mention?" As it turns out, according to Meeks' colleague Jonathan Blake, the company's policy director is married to Cathy Zoi, the administration's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. In that position, Zoi has control of $16.8 billion in stimulus funds. Environmental guru and reporter Christopher Horner, writing for Pajamas Media, also notes that Zoi, formerly CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection (founded by, you guessed it, Al Gore) and her husband hold 120,000 shares in Serious Materials, as well as stock options. Zoi and her husband also have a substantial stake in a Swiss firm, Landis+Gyr, that makes the "smart meters" that are a central component of the administration's plans to reduce electricity consumption as part of a national "smart grid." Can anyone say "conflict of interest"?...more

Democrats thwart Rep. Rob Bishop's move to obtain 'national monument' documents

Democrats on Wednesday narrowly beat back a Republican attempt co-led by Rep. Rob Bishop to force the Obama administration to turn over the still secret portions of a partially leaked document that showed the administration was considering creating 14 new national monuments, including two in Utah. However, Bishop said the administration did turn over 383 out of 2,399 pages Republicans have been seeking, but that means its batting average is only .149 in providing the documents. "By refusing to turn over thousands of pages of documents to Congress about this administration's potential plans to lock up millions of acres of lands, they have destroyed any remaining illusion about being transparent," Bishop said. Bishop and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., tried to push through the House Natural Resources Committee a "resolution of inquiry" to force the release of the full document. However, the committee on Wednesday killed a motion to favorably report it on a 22-20 vote. Instead, it reported the resolution by voice vote without recommendation, a sign that it has small chance of making it to the House floor...more

So what happened to the most transparent administration in history?

As Rep. Doc Hastings pointed out, Interior "is withholding over five times as much information as they are disclosing to Congress and the American people."

This has to be an embarrassment to the Committee Democrats who voted against the resolution. They really fell on their sword for Obama and the enviros and in the process kicked the separation of powers into the ditch.

Here is the video of Rep. Hastings' presentation to the Committee:

Monument expanded, grazing permits retired

A bill expanding protection of the Oregon Caves National Monument moved a step closer to becoming law following approval in the House Natural Resources Committee Wednesday morning. HR 2889, introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, calls for the 480-acre monument to be expanded by some 4,070 acres. Supporters say it would protect the monument's water source, improve forest health and increase tourism in the area. But a local timber industry spokesman worries it reflects an effort to continue to whittle away at the potential local harvest from public land. The expanded area, now part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, would be known as the Oregon Caves National Preserve and would allow continued fishing, hunting and trapping in the area. A provision in the bill allows thinning to promote forest health and reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfires that would threaten the monument's historic chateau. The legislation provides for the retirement of grazing permits within the monument by the National Park Service. Applegate Valley rancher Phil Krouse, whose family has grazed cattle in the area each summer for three generations, has agreed to sell his grazing privileges within the monument. In addition, the bill also designates the River Styx, the underground stream running out of the caves, as the first subterranean Wild and Scenic River in the nation...more