Song Of The Day #366

It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio and we're bringing you the rip snortin'est version of Sally Gooden I'll bet you've ever heard. It's by Boone Creek, the bluegrass group started by Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas in 1977.

You'll find the tune on their One Way Track CD by Sugarhill Records.

And then, there were 10, but still no Champion

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

Last week the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee met to conclude work on S.1689, the Organ Mountain and Desert Peaks Wilderness Act. The bill, cosponsored by Senators Bingaman and Udall of New Mexico, has generated a contentious and divisive debate in Dona Ana County, New Mexico where the federal land designations would occur.

In work done Wednesday and finished Thursday, July 22, the markup of the bill was approved and cleared for action on the floor of the Senate. That approval came with the vote and the decision of that committee’s membership. The vote was 23-0 in favor of allowing the bill to go to the Senate floor. Thirteen Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to allow the bill to proceed.

The Organ Mountain and Desert Peaks Wilderness Act is an attempt to designate higher protection status to five mountain ranges. If successful, this action would expand federal control and diminished access to all mountain ranges within that County.

Only seven percent of the county is held privately. Slightly more of the county is controlled by the state of New Mexico and the remainder is all federal land. The backdrop of federal and or state lands with restricted access includes more than 4.5 million acres of Ft. Bliss, White Sands Missile Range, McGregor Range, White Sands National Monument, Holloman Air Force Base, the Jornada Range, the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge, and the New Mexico State University college ranch.

The local debate has created a wide divide. The environmental supporters of the bill have built a coalition of local businesses and organizations that number about 220 while the opposition has a coalition of more than 800 that do not support the bill in its current form. The Las Cruces Hispano Chamber of Commerce has recently conducted an externally funded media blitz in favor of the bill and appears to be the environmental spearhead of the action, while the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce (GLCCC) has become the symbolic antagonist to the bill in its current form.

“It became very clear to us that Senator Bingaman was not interested in our concerns about the whole process of how this thing happened,” says Sara Cox Hopkins, a descendent of ranching pioneer W.W. Cox and rancher within the Organ Mountain portion of the proposal. “When we were finally allowed to talk to the Senator, we had to travel to his office in Albuquerque and he granted us 30 minutes. That’s it. That’s all we have seen him other than in public forums.”

The opposition of S.1689 has evolved from attempts to voice concerns by those who have duties, responsibilities, and investments on the lands involved to what has become the center of the storm, border security. “The matter of border security really got our attention,” relates current GLCCC board chair, Kiehl Hoffman. “When we started understanding the conditions of human and drug trafficking issues, our perspective changed dramatically. We didn’t want that duplicated here.”

That argument against the bill has focused on the Potrillo Mountain Complex portion of the proposal. That component lies near the Mexican border and the argument has centered on matters of national security. From work done in conjunction with the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO), a profile of the characteristics of the “Arizona Class” human and drug smuggling corridors was compiled. Every one of those corridors that emanate from the 388 miles of the Arizona border with Mexico have similar characteristics.

The characteristics they share are as follows:

1. The corridors have wilderness/de facto wilderness safe havens.
2. They have east /west highway access north and south of the corridors.
3. They have rugged and complex north/south mountain and drainage orientation which provides channels of movement.
4. They are almost entirely or heavily dominated by federal land agency management.
5. The concentration of American private property rights at risk is limited as is the presence of resident American habitation.
6. All corridors have high, strategically located points of observation.

“If anything, the Potrillo Mountain complex portion of S.1689 has the potential to exceed the dangers of the Arizona corridors,” retired Border Patrol agent and current head of the National Border Patrol Museum Board of Governors, David Ham says. “Along with the classic characteristics of the Arizona corridors, the presence of the major interstate railroad, the interstate pipeline, the Las Cruces airport, and the Robledo-Las Uvas corridor extension north from the Potrillos is a major national security risk waiting to happen if this bill passes.”

With the problems occurring in Arizona and the firestorm that has been created with Arizona’s attempt to protect itself from illegal immigration, one would think that Arizona leadership in the House and Senate would be acutely aware of the border dangers. American citizens would think that sitting, senior senators would be especially alert to matters of national security risk and yet John McCain (R-AZ) was one of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members who voted for the bill to be heard on the Senate floor. Neither Mr. McCain nor any of his colleagues even suggested amendments to the bill that would serve to blunt the danger that the Potrillo Mountain complex portion of the bill will pose to American security.

Mere citizens must learn that the action by the Republicans on the committee was an exercise in tradition and protocol. Committee members are expected to honor the wishes of senators when those elected officials jointly sponsor a bill that affects their state. At least Republican senators are expected to follow that protocol, but the border community of Arizona and New Mexico is getting weary of tradition and protocol.

Following the Krentz murder, border district representatives and state senators rushed to the press with demands for more security. Harry Teague (D-NM) hurled a letter out into space pledging millions of dollars to be spent on enhanced border security measures. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) motored to Apache, Arizona and told the locals that she was going to find solutions. Senator McCain himself declared he would like to be at that meeting if he could find a ride that night from his campaign stop at Sierra Vista, but the fact is there is no true border champion.

If Americans were polled to name the most visible and vocal border champion in Congress, there would not be a name that would surface from a border state. Jan Brewer, no doubt, would be a clear favorite among state leaders, but Congress would have a hard time fielding a border state leader who has demonstrated that he or she would stake a career on his or her border security principles. There isn’t such a leader.

The adherence to the powerful environmental agenda on the American border has put us all in jeopardy. Senator Bingaman’s actions prove that point. He was intent from the jump to elevate his name into the history of wilderness champions, no matter the negative impact on his constituents in Southern New Mexico. After all, it is easier to slap a name on a piece of land than it is to engineer legislation that encourages and stimulates community independence and resourcefulness.

Arrests shed light on border kidnappings

The bedraggled immigrants were picking their way through the boulders and scrub when a group of heavily armed men descended on them just short of the California- Mexico border. They corralled them in a cave and pointed their guns on the 10 men and one woman. These lawless badlands in the hills east of Tijuana have long teemed with bandits and rapists, but these criminals demanded only phone numbers. They started calling the immigrants' loved ones in Pomona, San Diego and Bakersfield: Send us money or we'll shoot, they said. The days-long kidnapping ordeal in May illustrates a growing trend as roaming gangs of well-organized, heavily armed gunmen turn their sights on illegal immigrants, making a treacherous journey ever more dangerous for people trekking north. In the spree of kidnappings, which began about two years ago, gunmen hold people captive until family members in the U.S. send wire transfers of up to $5,000 to accounts in Mexico. Some immigrants are beaten; several have been killed, including a pair of brothers from Mexico City. Many straggle across the border and turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents. Others end up in migrant shelters in Tijuana, too frightened to report the cases to Mexican police...more

Ranchers looking for more help on border

It's been four months since the murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz and his neighbors are speaking out about the response made along the border. The murder put the ranching community and the nations border problems in the spot light and ranchers were hoping the tragedy might mean changes; changes some of them are still waiting to see. Cochise County rancher Gary Thrasher said, "I'm frustrated. I thought they could get something done a whole lot quicker than what they are. I thought they could move more people to the border with a simple stroke of a pen." Steve Brophy, the President of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association said, "Enough hasn't been done and it needs to be." And some of them said because the response hasn't changed neither has the foot traffic coming through. Patrick Bray the Executive Vice President of the Arizona Cattleman's Assoc. said, "The sad thing is that we're over a hundred days out from the murder of Robert Krentz and these guys say its status quos. Nothing has changed." But not all ranchers agree. Kelly Glenn-Kimbro was lucky enough to have the border patrol become her new neighbors...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The young guns have arrived

by Julie Carter

He was only about 3 feet tall - boots, hat and all. He stood looking through the rails of the arena fence as his daddy and three other cowboys rode into the arena, pulling their hats down tight and shaking out their ropes.

His little brother played in the dirt on the ground behind him, driving a toy truck and trailer through freshly built "roads" headed toward a tiny stick corral. His interest in the arena was intense, but only for short periods of time. He had "work" to do.

It was ranch rodeo time, in the infancy of the sport as a competition. That was 20 years ago.

Today, both those little cowboys are grown up.

The older one rides into that same arena with his britches tucked in the tops of his boots, a trendy shape to his straw hat and a cocky grin on face.

The other, sitting solid in the saddle on a horse that isn't as calm as he is, wears a look of serious competitive intent.

A cousin rides in next to him, followed by a friend that rounds out the team of four.

The game is on. The young guns have arrived and before the day is over, they will have proved themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Ranch rodeo is a family sport as much as any has ever been. As it evolved through the years, the youngsters of the early days fell eagerly into the footsteps of their fathers, holding out for the day they too could participate.

Father and son, father and daughter, husband and wife, cousins, brother-in-laws, father-in-laws and any other assorted family connection possible, team up, enter up and in the spirit of competition, spend a day roping, riding and hoping to claim a little of the prizes at the end of the day.

Youth ranch rodeo hit the scene some years back, serving to fine tune the young buckaroos into competition-ready young adults.

A cowboy with a baby on the saddle in front of him during the warm-up or after the rodeo is a common sight. Before long, that same baby is the toddler at the arena fence shouting "Go Dad," with all his might.

The family dynamics at any event make it a kinfolk reunion as much as a rodeo competition. There will be several family patriarchs and matriarchs watching the events and being greatly entertained as they observe different branches of the family compete against each other, young and old.

There isn't much left out here in the West that keeps families connected like they were 50 years ago.

The few remaining big family ranches maintain a connection through the work they do, but this venue for ranch family playtime has added a new dimension.

Whether the "kids", taking in all ages from 9-60, arrive from the ranch, from a titled job, a college campus or anywhere in between, it all comes together in the competition.

Watching brothers rope and load a steer into a trailer with the same banter and sibling "encouragement" going on as would happen in the middle of a four-section pasture, takes "reality" entertainment to a new level.

And that little cowboy I saw last week standing on the fence rail hollering encouragement to his dad?

He'll be a third generation ranch rodeo cowboy and with any luck, his old dad might be given a spot on the team.

Julie has been watching and photographing ranch rodeo for two decades and still loves the next one just as much as the first one. Reach her for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net

He taught yours truly about media bias - Daniel Schorr, Journalist, Dies at 93

Daniel Schorr, whose aggressive reporting over 70 years as a respected broadcast and print journalist brought him into conflict with censors, the Nixon administration and network superiors, died on Friday in Washington. He was 93...more

In July of 1974 I went to work as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Pete Domenici.

On August 9, 1974 Richard Nixon resigned his Presidency.

Several of us staffers sat with Domenici in his office and watched Nixon's resignation speech. Just as the speech ended, CBS called Domenici and wanted him to come to their studio for an interview. There were several senior staffers there, but for some reason Domenici asked me to drive him to CBS (I later figured out that since I was the last person to go on his staff from NM, Domenici figured I had been least influenced by the system and most accurately reflected the views of New Mexicans, especially rural New Mexicans, on Nixon).

When we arrived at CBS they put us in a waiting room which was surrounded by tv monitors. After a short period of time a CBS employee came and took Domenici away to get his nose powdered for the tv appearance.

That left me in the room alone. Keep in mind that at this point I had not quite bought into the media bias thing.

I was watching the monitors as they interviewed Ronald Reagan who at that time was the Governor of California. In walked Daniel Schorr, chief White House correspondent for CBS. Schorr looked up at the monitors, saw Reagan being interviewed, and with a hateful scowl on his face said,"Burn, Ronnie baby, Burn."

I remember thinking, "You know, there might be something to this media bias after all."

That thought has been mightily reinforced over the last thirty-six years.

Rider Grabbed Life by the Reins

Edgewood's Kenny McOsker was not one to hide from the dangers of life. And, in the end, it was one of those dangers that killed him. The 34-year-old McOsker was at the Galisteo Rodeo on Sunday when, upon finishing his winning bronc ride, he was kicked in the head by his horse. The horse's hoof caught him in the face, crushing his left cheek and making it difficult for paramedics to give him oxygen. He was rushed to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, where his family made the difficult decision Tuesday to unhook the machines keeping him alive. McOsker died soon afterward. "He certainly always lived life to the fullest," said his father, Martin McOsker. Kenny McOsker was a construction engineer for a firm in Corrales, but his weekends were spent on a horse. He was part of the close-knit fraternity of amateur rodeoers who travel each weekend to events all over the state. He shared his passion with his family: His 14-year-old daughter Bailey and 6-year-old son Kole also compete. His other son, Zeb, is 17 months and a little young for the cowboy life. His wife, Tay, is expecting their fourth child...more

Song Of The Day #365

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is Pickin' Time by Johnny Cash.

The tune is on his 12 track CD The Fabulous Johnny Cash.

Will America’s Police Become Federales?

Police unions across America are moving closer to being federalized. The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 was reintroduced in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid on April 12, where it currently awaits debate. The act is part of a supplemental appropriations bill meant to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. If passed, the act would place first responders (police, firemen, paramedics) under federal union regulations. Control would be removed from state and local authorities except in places with fewer than 5,000 people or with fewer than 25 full-time first responders. In effect the act seeks to nullify important aspects of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 which in turn reversed much of the pro-union Wagner Act of 1935. Taft-Hartley is currently the cornerstone of U.S. labor law and allows individual states to regulate their own public-sector worker relations. Most of the attention paid to the act has focused on the disastrous budget consequences it would have for local authorities. Public-employee payments (wages, pensions, and health benefits) already consume a huge slice of the expenditures of cities and states; for many the burden is so heavy they are verging on bankruptcy. The San Francisco Chronicle (July 14) reported, “Oakland [Calif.] laid off 80 police officers Tuesday after negotiations between city officials and union leaders failed on one simple matter: job security. The police union demanded that the city guarantee that its officers would not be laid off for three years in exchange for giving up some pension benefits that would have eased the city’s budget problems. City leaders, however, said it would have been irresponsible of them to agree to protect police jobs for more than one year because the city’s budget problems are likely to worsen.” The act would remove such flexibility from local authorities and instead impose the unfunded mandate of applying federal standards that would be determined by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. In disputes a labor relations czar would arbitrate the “hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment.” Local governments would no longer be able to adjust pay scales and benefits according to their own budgets nor would local voters have any input...more

Life on the border — the ranchers

by Hugh Holub

The ranchers in the border zone have been frustrated for a long time about how much illegal activity goes on through federal lands at the border. It has steadily gotten more and more dangerous out on the range due to the drug cartels. None of the ranchers I’ve talked to are willing to have their names used in a story for fear of retaliation.

Part of the recent secret video showing illegal entry and drug smuggling on the border was shot in the borderlands near Nogales. It should not be any surprise that if you set up a camera in one of the canyons near the border you will see lots of illegal activity. That’s because the Border Patrol is not sitting there to catch the illegal activity. Doubtless given the amount of electronic surveillance at the border, the Border Patrol’s video tapes would be extremely shocking to see how much illegal ativity is actually monitored, but not responded to because agents are not close enough to react. This is a point made over and over again by border ranchers.

Border area ranchers have had to deal with illegal entry and drug smuggling for years. Except where the Border Patrol has set up a Forward Observation Base (one of them is on a ranch west of Nogales), the borderlands are a dangerous place.

One rancher described how his cowboys are aware of drug cartel and human smugglers perched on hilltops near the border, spotting when the Border Patrol is absent, so they can run their loads of drugs or chains of people through the line. The rancher believes the cartel spotters are using satellite phones to report since cell phone service is non-existent on most of the ranch.

“We just go about our business being cowboys hoping the smugglers will leave us alone,” said the rancher.

Up until Douglas rancher Robert Krentz was murdered by a suspected drug smuggler or spotter, the ranchers and their cowboys always offered aid and assistance to illegal entrants who got into trouble on their ranches.

But since the murder of Krentz, the cowboys all over the border region have been instructed not to have any contact with illegal entrants out of fear they will be murdered.

All the ranchers I’ve talked to are armed. But they joke that “a 94 [Winchester rifle] is not match for a 47 [an AK 47 carried by drug smugglers]”.

They fervently hope they will never encounter a convoy of smugglers armed with automatic weapons on their ranches. When they see suspected illegal entrants or drug smugglers, they head off in the opposite direction.

Some ranchers have given up their federal leases on some lands simply because continuing to run cows in those areas was too risky. They also joke about how the cartel and the anti-ranching environmentalists win in that case. “Some of the environmentalists would rather have illegal entrants and drug smugglers out there instead of our cows,” said one rancher. He then joked that maybe the jaguars and wolves should be trained to eat drug smugglers.

There are also stories about how the drug cartel has been buying up ranches on the Mexican side of the border to protect their smuggling zones. Even though the boundary of the US ranches abuts Mexico, there was a long history of cooperation between ranchers on both sides of the border. That is disappearing...

Several of the ranches have installed drinking foundations at their watering tanks in the canyons north of the border, so illegal entrants don’t die of thirst. It is an amazing site to be in one of these remote canyons near the border and see drinking fountains.

Some of the ranchers have installed “side step” gates on their fence lines. The reason for this is they got sick and tired of people cutting their fences.

However, on one of the ranches, the Border Patrol installed sensors at the side step gates, rendering them useless. The illegal immigrants continue cutting the rancher’s fences...

Read the complete article at the Tucson Citizen.

51 Bodies Found in Mass Graves in Mexico

In one of the more macabre discoveries of Mexico’s drug wars, soldiers have found at least 51 bodies dumped in mass graves after what appeared to be a series of executions by drug gangs in northern Mexico. The bodies were buried in several graves scattered over an area the size of three soccer fields in an isolated zone east of the city of Monterrey, Mexican officials said. Since receiving an anonymous tip on Thursday, soldiers have been using backhoes to dig up plots . There were so many bodies that the authorities were using refrigerated trucks to hold them. Alejandro Garza y Garza, the prosecutor for the state of Nuevo León, told local news media on Saturday that investigators were nearing the end of their search. Many of the dead, he said, appeared to have been tortured. “Some were tied up with rope, others taped up with their hands bound with tape,” he said. “There are others with handcuffs. Most of them have tattoos.” Photographs showed charred spots on the ground, suggesting some bodies may have been partially burned. Mexico’s drug cartels sometimes use corrosive liquids, fire and other methods to dispose of victims or make it harder to identify the bodies...more

Battles paralyze Mexican city across from Texas

Late-night gunbattles with gangs who forced citizens from their cars and used the vehicles to block streets paralyzed a border city, sound of gunfire alarmed Texans on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. The Nuevo Laredo city government posted messages on Facebook warning citizens to stay indoors as the battles erupted at several intersections in the city across from Laredo, Texas. Frightened people on the U.S. side of the border called emergency dispatchers after hearing the gunfire, Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza said Thursday. "We were getting reports from people who live on the river's edge that they could hear gunfire and explosions from the Mexico side," Baeza said. Gangs used stolen cars and buses to block several main avenues in the city across from Laredo, Texas. Several residents called local newspapers to report thefts. "For your security, stay in your homes until the alert has passed," the city government wrote on Facebook. When the violence subsided, the government urged citizens to come forward and reclaim their stolen vehicles. Nuevo Laredo is among several northern cities under siege from a turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas gang of hit men. Violence has surged along the northeastern border with the United States since the two gangs split earlier this year...more

Senate rejects $3B Indian trust settlement

The U.S. Senate has rejected a $3.4 billion government settlement with American Indians that had been added to a much larger war-funding bill. The Senate passed the almost $60 billion bill funding President Barack Obama’s troop surge in Afghanistan late Wednesday — but not before stripping out the settlement and $20 billion in other domestic spending approved by the House. The Senate’s approval would have given the Obama administration the authority to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont. Between 300,000 and 500,000 Native Americans claim the Interior Department mismanaged billions of dollars held in trust by the government. The House attached the settlement to the war-funding bill earlier this month. [link]

NM reps Heinrich & Lujan vote against hunters, handicapped community

Yesterday the House Resources Committee marked up Heinrich & Lujan's H.R. 5388, a bill to expand the boundaries of the Cibola National Forest. As part of the expansion the BLM Manzano Wilderness Study Area would be transferred to the Forest Service and designated as wilderness.

During markup, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) offered an amendment which would have allowed hunters and the handicapped community to use "wheeled, muscle-powered carts for the removal of shot game" in the wilderness. Both Heinrich & Lujan voted against the amendment and it failed. Note the "muscle-powered" limitation. No motor, just a cart with wheels (which the agencies say is mechanical transport and disallowed by the Wilderness Act).

Interestingly, during the markup several weeks ago of H.R. 3914, the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act, the full committee approved the language allowing the game carts. Coloradans will be authorized to use the game carts in their new wilderness, but thanks to Heinrich & Lujan, hunters and the handicapped in NM will be prohibited from using game carts.

Rep. Bishop said, “The right to hunt shouldn’t just be limited to those physically fit enough to carry their game out on their backs or who can afford to hire expensive guides and pack animals." Apparently Heinrich & Lujan think hunting should be limited to a select few.

And do Heinrich & Lujan really believe a wheeled cart with no motor will destroy the resource or ruin someone's wilderness experience? Are they so anxious to do the bidding of the enviros that they will oppose any amendment to the Wilderness Act no matter how reasonable? The ability to use the carts would expand the hunting opportunities for many New Mexicans, but apparently environmental lobbyists come first.

Heinrich & Lujan are all for expanding the federal domain, but oppose expanding hunting opportunities. Shame on them.

Let this also serve as a lesson to all those who continue to say the Border Patrol will have adequate access to Bingaman's proposed new wilderness designations in southern NM. They can't even patrol in a motorless wheeled cart!

Judge, attorney hammer away at Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to pull Utah oil leases

A federal judge on Wednesday grilled an attorney defending Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to pull 77 oil and gas leases that were successfully bid on at a Salt Lake City auction in 2008, asking repeatedly how the federal government can get around the language of the law that said the leases should have gone through. "You are fast and loose with the terms 'offer' and 'acceptance,' " Judge Dee Benson said during the questioning of Department of Justice attorney Tyler Welti. "You keep telling me your conclusions, but tell me why … tell me how you get around the plain language?" Benson asked. The federal judge did not issue a decision in the hearing, but he indicated at its conclusion that he would rule quickly on the issue. That "plain language" is the key component of the statute governing such sales and leases. It says that, once parcels are offered at auction, the government shall award the bid to the highest qualified bidder and shall issue the lease. Welti had argued that Salazar continued to have discretion to pull the leases even though money had changed hands, because the leases had yet to be physically issued with an official signature. In a suit brought by the impacted Utah counties of Uintah, Duchesne and Carbon and joined by three oil and gas companies, attorney Robert Thompson said there was nothing in the statute or corresponding regulations that support Salazar's February 2009 decision...more

Oil chiefs urge lifting of deep-water ban; Propose $1 billion response plan

Four major oil companies' new $1 billion plan for a quick-response system to fight oil spills should help soothe concerns about the safety of deep-water drilling and prod regulators to lift a temporary ban, executives with Chevron Corp. and Shell said in interviews Thursday. Marvin Odum, who heads Houston-based Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, sees the four companies' initiative working in concert with new offshore drilling standards from the Interior Department and a separate ongoing industry effort to develop better oil cleanup technology. "I think the elements combined should solve the problem," Odum said. Chevron Corp., Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips on Wednesday announced plans to spend a combined $1 billion on a system for containing blown-out wells in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. It would be faster to deploy, more robust and more flexible than tools BP is using on damaged Macondo well. Targeted for completion within 18 months, the system will be capable of mobilizing within 24 hours of a spill, working in up to 10,000 feet of water — twice the depth of Macondo - and collecting 100,000 barrels per day of leaking oil, the companies said...more

Moratorium process investigated

The U.S. Interior Department’s inspector general is conducting an investigation into how the Obama administration came up with its recommendation for a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf. Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall sent a letter to two of the seven congressmen who requested the probe, notifying them of the decision. The congressmen made the request after seven members of a science panel that reviewed safety concerns related to the moratorium complained that their names were used to appear that they supported the ban. U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, among those who sought the review, called the news of the investigation bittersweet. “It’s just bad that we’re losing these jobs,” said Cassidy, who has introduced a bill to repeal the moratorium. “To the degree that we can prevent science from being corrupted to support bad political decisions then we’ve accomplished something.”...more

Range Rider Will Discourage Wolves From Targeting Livestock

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is trying a new approach to decreasing the conflict between wolves and the owners of livestock. The Fish and Wildlife Department is using federal grant money to help a rancher in Wallowa County employ a range rider. The rider will track and document wolf activity, and use non-lethal methods to discourage any wolves that are targeting livestock. ODFW's Rick Hargrave says this pilot program could be a model for other areas. Rick Hargrave: "I think people just want to see, the fact that we have a range rider out there and kind of see how things work. And we're hoping to be positive that this will be a step, a non-lethal deterrent that will keep these conflicts from happening."...more

Wow, a game dept. trying to work with and assist a rancher.

I wonder if that concept will ever be tried in NM?

Lightening strikes 17 in Grand Tetons

Grand Teton National Park rangers rescued 16 climbers injured in a lightning storm on the 13,770-foot Grand Teton on Wednesday but had to call off the search for a 17th at dark. The 17 were caught in the storm, which reached a crescendo between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Jenny Lake climbing rangers used two helicopters to evacuate the 16, all of whom were injured by lightning strikes. All were higher than 13,200 feet. The event was likely the largest search and rescue operation in Grand Teton since the early 1960s. Rangers accomplished the rescue after being dropped on the mountain’s summit pyramid from a rope dangling beneath a helicopter, then plucking nine of the injured off the peak using the same dangling “short haul” technique. Skaggs said a lightning map showed at least six or seven strikes in the area...more

Critics blast oil-gas hire

Former Bureau of Land Management District Manager Steve Henke's hire as president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association has drawn the ire of environmental groups that requested federal investigation into Henke's BLM tenure. A half-dozen environmental advocacy groups on Wednesday submitted a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and U.S. BLM Director Ben Abbey expressing concern that Henke's hire as president of the state's largest oil and gas lobbying group raises questions about his work as district manager of the BLM Farmington Field Office, where he oversaw oil and gas development in northwest New Mexico for nine years. Henke resigned from the BLM in May after applying for the industry job. He begins work as NMOGA president Aug. 1. The coalition has requested an investigation into whether Henke was improperly influenced by the oil and gas industry during his BLM tenure and seeks a two-year restriction from lobbying his former co-workers at BLM offices across New Mexico, according to the letter. The coalition of environmental groups also expressed concern that Henke had access to confidential, proprietary information through his dealings with the BLM, which now can be shared with industry leaders, although it remains unavailable for public release, Nichols said...more

New Mexico Apache tribe wins natural gas appeal

An appellate court in Washington, D.C., has ruled in favor of northern New Mexico's Jicarilla Apache Nation in a dispute over natural gas royalties dating from more than 20 years ago. The decision could mean millions of dollars for the tribe. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last week the U.S. Department of Interior improperly relied on regulations that went into effect after the 1984-1988 period in question. The judges reversed part of a federal court summary judgment in favor of the department. They returned the case to that court with instructions to send it back to the agency to fix how it calculated natural gas royalties. "We have waited long enough for our rights to be protected and now look forward to working with the Interior Department to swiftly conclude this matter," Jicarilla President Levi Pesata said in a news release. The judges said the tribe "likely will receive additional revenue" if Interior reverses course on computing royalties. Attorney Steven Gordon of Washington, D.C., who represented the tribe in the appeal, said it's his understanding the royalties plus interest would total about $6 million. The Jicarilla tribe, with more than 4,000 members, is a large natural gas producer and receives royalty payments for leases for production on its 1 million acres of trust land...more

Luna County takes step closer to wind energy

An inducement resolution to pave the way for the Macho Springs Wind Energy Project was unanimously approved during a Thursday special meeting of the Luna County Board of Commissioners. The resolution is the first of many steps to help Oregon-based Element Power erect 28 wind turbines in Northeastern Luna County. The resolution outlines the responsibilities of each party for the project and, according to Luna County manager John Sutherland, it keeps the county from any liability in the event the project fails before the 30-year agreement reaches its endpoint. Before the commission voted, it heard a wide range of thoughts and questions from the public. Proponents and opponents of the measure were heard in detail. Local rancher Joe Bill Nunn came out fully against the measure, saying that by approving the proposal, the county is "helping the decimation" of property rights in the area. "Livestock production is still the second-highest cash crop in New Mexico and I, as a rancher, don't get any of the incentives these guys do," he added. The incentives to which Nunn referred come in the form of benefits attached to an industrial revenue bond, which will be the next step of consideration for the county. An IRB would put the project lease in the county's name, which would give the developer a tax-exempt status in the applicable areas. However, the developer will be required to make payments in lieu of taxes to the county and Deming Public Schools District to the estimated tune of $8.6 million, instead of $8.5 million over 30 years via traditional taxation. The company plans to build 28 wind turbines in Luna County and another 28 in Sierra County...more

Audit picks a bone with US relics office

To scientists, ancient human bones and artefacts from Native American burial sites can offer a unique window onto history. But to some modern Native American tribes, allowing researchers to study these remains amounts to desecration. Long-standing tensions between the two groups were meant to be eased by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990, which allows tribes to reclaim many remains held in museum collections. But the first official audit of the government agency that administers NAGPRA portrays a troubled organization that has failed to serve tribes well, and does not always give a fair hearing to scientists' claims. The final report, from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), is expected by autumn, but Nature has obtained a draft that is currently under review. Yet as NAGPRA administrators struggle to manage these disputes, the GAO report finds that the NAGPRA office — which has an annual budget of US$1 million — is beset by problems including inadequate resources and poor record-keeping. These can delay repatriations and make it harder to reach decisions on contentious cases. The report also suggests that the NAGPRA office has manipulated the make-up of the seven-person committee, weakening scientists' voices in its decisions. The committee comprises three tribal members, three representatives of scientific organizations and an independent member agreed on by the others...more

Tenn. Man Jailed For Fishing After Conviction

A Tennessee man has been sent to jail for nearly two years after he was caught fishing in northern Georgia after being barred for 20 years. The Tennessean reported Georgia wildlife agents were tipped by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency that 31-year-old Kurt Wesley Ellis of Cleveland had been fishing under an assumed name. Ellis had served a short jail stint in Bradley County, Tenn., and was on intensive probation for multiple wildlife violations. Authorities said Ellis was supposed to leave his home only to shop, work and worship...more

Give a man a fish and he will eat for one day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat three meals a day for nearly two years.

Ranchers Have a Cow Over Financial Regs - Video

The funny, far-reaching business of regulatory reform. "I don't think anybody has read it," says cowboy Brett Crosby of the 2,300-page FinReg bill. "War and peace is only 1,400 pages, for crying out loud, and people don't even read that." Crosby is very concerned that somewhere in the just-signed monumental piece of legislation are rules that will hurt his ability to manage risk at his Wyoming cattle ranch. This self-described "MBA Cowboy" has been using futures contracts for years to provide a hedge against the often volatile price of cattle. Crosby prefers feeder cattle futures, as they most closely match his business. An agricultural economist for Wells Fargo recently encouraged farmers to use more tools like futures contracts to stabilize cash flow. However, the new legislation will move many futures contracts onto exchanges where they can be better regulated and monitored, and speculators who don't own any of the underlying commodity—in this case, cattle—will have to put up more cash on margin. Some believe even commercial hedgers, people who, like Crosby, actually own cows, will have to also put up more money. "Feeder cattle futures may not survive," says Crosby, though he admits that is a "doomsday scenario". Crosby says more than 90 percent of the most recent open positions on feeder cattle were held by speculators or index traders, the very people about to face higher hurdles to trade. If they decide it's not worth it and walk away, there may no longer be enough of a market to make the hedge a hedge...more

Here is CNBC's interview with Brett Crosby.

Bill seeks to end vet shortage

Ending a shortage of rural veterinary medicine is the aim of bipartisan legislation introduced today by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) with Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) as an original co-sponsor. The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act would bolster our nation´s veterinary work force by eliminating taxes on programs that encourage veterinarians to practice in underserved areas. Nationwide, there are 500 counties with at least 5,000 farm animals but with no local veterinarians in the area to treat the animals. This shortage could have dire consequences on human and animal health, public safety, animal welfare, disease surveillance and economic development. The demand for veterinarians across the United States could increase 14 percent by 2016. The Crapo-Johnson legislation would provide a federal income tax exemption for payments received under the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) and similar state programs that encourage veterinarians to practice in smaller and rural communities...more

Song Of The Day #364

You can't have a last name like DuBois and have kinfolks in East Texas and La. and not like cajun music.

So Ranch Radio will close out the week with a rousing cajun number by Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys titled Le Dans de Mardi Gras. You'll find the tune on their 16 track CD Best of Steve Riley & Mamou Playboys.

Five Federal Lands in Arizona Have Travel Warnings in Place

Imagine the federal government closing a section of the Lincoln Memorial because it was under the control of Mexican drug lords and bands of illegal immigrants. That scenario is playing out as reality in southern Arizona, where parts of five federal lands -- including two designated national monuments -- continue to post travel warnings or be outright closed to Americans who own the land because of the dangers of "human and drug trafficking" along the Mexican border. Roughly 3,500 acres of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge -- about 3 percent of the 118,000-acre park -- have been closed since Oct. 6, 2006, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials acknowledged a marked increase in violence along a tract of land that extends north from the border for roughly three-quarters of a mile. Federal officials say they have no plans to reopen the area. Elsewhere, at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which shares a 32-mile stretch of the border with Mexico, visitors are warned on a federally-run website that some areas are not accessible by anyone. "Due to our proximity to the International Boundary with Mexico, some areas near the border are closed for construction and visitor safety concerns," the website reads. On another page titled "Border Concerns," the website warns that visitors should be aware that "drug smuggling routes" pass through the park...more

8 suspects killed in clash with Mexican soldiers

Eight suspected drug gang gunmen died in a battle with Mexican soldiers in the remote mountains of northern Chihuahua state, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday. The department cited an internal army report saying the clash occurred near the rural town of Madera, about 145 miles (230 kilometers) south of the U.S. border. The gunmen apparently opened fire on an army patrol, but the Defense Department did not offer any information on the attack or the identity of the attackers. The area is frequently used by gangs to produce and traffic drugs. Also Thursday, the army command in the border state of Tamaulipas said soldiers seized two extended pickup trucks painted with Mexican army emblems and colors near the border community of Ciudad Mier. A statement by the Eighth Military Region command said drug traffickers had painted the trucks "to disguise themselves as military personnel" and "confuse the public and cover up their illegal acts." The army has been the subject of numerous human rights complaints since it moved into a front-line role against drug gangs in late 2006. The military claims drug gangs have used army uniforms to discredit troops. On Wednesday, the border city of Nuevo Laredo was practically paralyzed by late-night gunbattles in which gangs forced citizens from their cars and used the vehicles to block streets. The sound of gunfire alarmed Texans on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. The Nuevo Laredo city government posted messages on its Facebook page warning citizens to stay indoors as shooting erupted at several intersections in the city across from Laredo, Texas. Frightened people on the U.S. side of the border called emergency dispatchers after hearing the gunfire, Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza said Thursday. But he said there was no spillover violence...more

Undocumented Immigrants Increasingly Filling Arizona Prisons

New data from the Arizona Department of Corrections shows that undocumented immigrants are increasingly over-represented in the state's prison population. In June 2010, undocumented immigrants represented 14.8 percent of Arizona state prisoners, but accounted for only 7 percent of the state's overall population according to the Department of Homeland Security. The new data also revealed for the first time a breakdown of crimes for which undocumented immigrants were incarcerated. For example of all the prisoners serving time in Arizona state prisons for kidnapping, 40 percent were undocumented. Of those in prison on drug charges, 24 percent were undocumented. And 13 percent of those serving time for murder were undocumented immigrants, according to the new data from the Arizona Department of Corrections...more

NM man accused of cattle rustling

A New Mexico man is accused of stealing 200 head of cattle from an Arizona ranch, packing them into trailers, then moving them out of state. Authorities recently brought charges against 34-year-old Jason Kirby of Datil, N.M. An Arizona grand jury indicted Kirby on charges of fraudulent schemes, trafficking in stolen property and two counts of theft. Arizona Department of Agriculture investigators say Kirby was hired to tend the cattle on a piece of land near Superior in eastern Arizona. Kirby allegedly moved 202 head of cattle, worth an estimated $200,000, across two states with the intention of selling them to a buyer in Texas. Kirby faces a pretrial conference Monday. AP

The Arizona Republic reports:

Jason Lon Kirby, 34, of Datil, N.M., was indicted by an Arizona grand jury on charges of fraudulent schemes and artifices, trafficking in stolen property and two counts of theft. Kirby was picked up in Georgia on a warrant and arraigned June 18 in Pinal County, said Molly Edwards, spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General's Office. His next hearing is a pretrial conference scheduled for Monday. Zeke Austin, special investigations supervisor for the Arizona Department of Agriculture, said he has not seen a crime involving movement of that many cattle during his more than 20-year career as a livestock investigator. Early last year, Kirby entered into an agreement with Jay Platt, of the Plateau Partnership, based in northern Arizona, to tend up to 500 cattle on a piece of land near Superior, Austin said. According to the pasture agreement, the Plateau Partnership paid Kirby $10,000 up front, with Kirby to be paid $10 per animal per month. The contract covered January to May of last year, Austin said. Platt said he met the ranch manager through Kirby's wife, Toni, who worked at New Mexico's Natural Resources and Conservation Service. Platt said he checked up on Kirby's reputability as a ranch manager before entering into the pasture agreement with him. Austin said 19 of the cattle were sold to a cattle owner in May 2009, and 183 of them were sold to a cattle buyer in July 2009, both sales occurring in Texas. Austin said the latter sale happened at Friona Feedyard in the Texas panhandle...

Senate Shelves Efforts to Cap Carbon Emissions

The U.S. Senate is shelving efforts to pass legislation that would limit emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to climate change, dealing a major blow to one of President Barack Obama's top priorities. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Thursday that neither he nor the White House had persuaded 60 senators to support even a limited proposal seeking to restrict emission from electric-power companies. Mr. Reid offered no timetable for action on such a bill, but said Democrats would continue trying to build support for such legislation. Mr. Reid said the party's leadership will push instead for more limited legislation, aimed at holding oil giant BP PLC "accountable" for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Specifically, he said the measure would include a provision to remove the cap on economic damages paid to residents and small businesses by oil companies after oil spills. Mr. Reid said the bill would also include incentives to encourage the production and purchase of vehicles fueled by natural gas, and to fund various land and water-conservation programs...more

Wife Still Reeling from Loss of Rancher Husband

The unsolved murder of Douglas, Ariz. rancher Rob Krentz spurred Arizona's controversial crackdown on illegal immigration. In this exclusive story, Rob's wife Sue Krentz tells FOX 10 about her husband, her experiences with illegal immigration, and the emptiness of her husband's passing...more

Here is the Fox-TV video report.

Song Of The Day #363

Ranch Radio brings you two different versions of the same song, Cruel Willie.

The song originated as a traditional fiddle tune, and we provide the version arranged and played by Howdy Forrester. That is followed by the song with lyrics as performed by Kenny & Amanda Smith on their Live and Learn CD.

Wolf Recovery Sought Across Country: West Coast, New England, Colorado and Great Plains

Gray wolves should be recovered in multiple, connected populations throughout the United States, according to a scientific petition filed today by the Center for Biological Diversity with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The petition asks for development of a national recovery plan for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act to establish wolf populations in suitable habitat in the Pacific Northwest, California, Great Basin, southern Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and New England. “Existing recovery plans for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and upper Midwest are out of date and apply to a small fraction of the wolf’s historic range,” said the Center’s Michael Robinson. “It’s time to develop a national recovery plan to facilitate true recovery of the gray wolf.” Currently, gray wolf populations are limited to the northern Rocky Mountains, western Great Lakes and Southwest, which makes up less than 5 percent of their historic range. In part, this reflects the fact that the gray wolf has never had a national recovery plan, though it has been listed in the entire conterminous United States since 1978. Instead, individual recovery plans have been developed for only the three areas that now harbor populations. These plans were developed in the late 1970s and 1980s and are now outdated. Besides failing to recognize that wolves can be recovered to other areas, the plans set population goals well below what are now considered necessary for population health and survival. In the northern Rocky Mountains, for example, the recovery plan only called for 30 breeding pairs, split between three subpopulations. Small, isolated wolf populations are a recipe for extinction,” said Robinson. “Science teaches us that we need far more wolves that range across a much wider swath of the continent than the current minimalistic approach.” The Center’s petition starts a process in which the Fish and Wildlife Service must make a determination on whether to develop such a recovery plan based on the science in the petition and the requirements of the law. The Endangered Species Act requires recovery of endangered animals and plants throughout all significant portions of their range...more

Groups at odds hinder wildlife conservation efforts - wolves

State and federal agencies have spent more than $20 million over 30 years to restore the Mexican gray wolf to its native habitat in eastern Arizona, an effort now teetering toward failure as the dwindling wild population struggles to survive. What has happened has exposed troubling weaknesses in the wildlife conservation system. Politics, competing interests and drawn-out lawsuits hinder on-the-ground work to protect the species, while three groups that should work together - state regulators, the federal government and environmental organizations - are too often at odds. Emotions have magnified the conflicts over the wolf's return, but most of the arguments surface repeatedly in other cases. Wildlife agencies say courts, ruling on suits filed by environmental groups, increasingly trump science in management decisions. Environmental groups accuse the agencies of dragging their feet and favoring hunters and ranchers over native species...But ranchers resisted, arguing that wolves kill their livestock. They lobbied Congress and their state lawmakers and sued the federal government. The result, environmental groups say, is a program that was designed to fail. First, the government decided to release wolves under rules that give agencies more leeway to remove or kill a wolf if it is caught preying on livestock. Such latitude is unusual in an endangered-species case. Then, the federal agency limited the wolf packs to territory in Arizona after New Mexico gave in to protests by ranchers and refused to allow wolves in the wild. The wolves are the only endangered species limited by political boundaries, said Michael Robinson, who works on wolf issues for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity...more

Wolf shot in AZ; officials probe use of radio tracking

Another endangered Mexican gray wolf was found shot to death this week in Arizona - and one of the possibilities authorities are looking into is that ranchers or others may have used radios to track and target radio-collared wolves. Environmentalists are pushing the feds - "as a precaution" - to take back the radios loaned to ranchers and others in Arizona and New Mexico that allow the wolves to be tracked. Ranching groups deny the "ridiculous" suggestion that any ranchers would use the radios to target wolves for shootings. They say they only monitor the wolves to try to keep them from attacking their cattle or getting too close to homes. Agents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have drawn no conclusions as to whether the receivers are being used to target wolves, said Nicholas Chavez, the service's Southwest law enforcement chief. "We put everything into the realm of possibility. We always look into that but we have not confirmed that at all," said Chavez, whose agents have investigated more than 30 Mexican wolf shootings. The radios are loaned to two groups of people: those wishing to protect livestock against wolf attacks and those wishing to protect their property against nuisance wolves, says a document written by officials with the federal wolf reintroduction project. The latest dead male wolf, a yearling, was found Thursday near Big Lake, in Eastern Arizona, about two miles from where an adult alpha male from the same pack - the Hawks Nest Pack - was found shot to death June 18. On June 24, another adult alpha male - the leader of its pack - was found dead in southern New Mexico under "suspicious circumstances." Authorities won't know if that one was shot to death until a necropsy is done...more

The enviros have written to Salazar, asking that the radios be assigned only to government employees.

Bear researchers gamble with lives of citizens

One June 17, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team gambled that nobody would happen upon a trap site near Yellowstone Park where a 430# male grizzly had just been caught in a foot snare, tranquilized, and released. Wrong. The bear killed 70 year-old botanist Erwin Evert. The government gambled. A citizen lost. Evert, a prominent botanist from Oak Park, IL, had a summer cabin on Kitty Creek, roughly seven miles from the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. There were 13 other cabins in the area. A U.S. Forest Service road ends just beyond the cabins, then trail # 756 leads up Kitty Creek into the Shoshone National Forest. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) gambled there was no need to warn cabin owners it was trapping grizzlies up Kitty Creek. The IGBST gambled there was no need to post warning signs at the trailhead. The IGBC gambled that all it had to do was post sign warning signs in the immediate area surrounding the bear trapping site. The IGBST gambled, Erwin Evert died. The IGBST could easily have prevented Evert's death by closing the Kitty Creek trail and drainage. Instead, the IGBST gambled that it could just close a tiny trapping site--now Erwin Evert is dead. A July 16 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report says that after releasing a grizzly at bear trapping site #3, IGBST employees took down their warning signs and left. That fatal mistake cost Erwin Evert his life. But even if signs had been left up at the trapping site, why would the IGBST gamble by allowing citizens to get so close to grizzlies?...more

Feds snatch counties’ share of money from geothermal leases

Rural Nevada counties have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income over the past year because of a federal money grab that has yet to be reversed. Ten months ago, the U.S. Interior Department, in its annual budget request to Congress, commandeered counties’ share of revenue generated from geothermal energy rent and royalties. The move diverted to the department’s programs millions of dollars destined for rural county coffers across the West. The change, which affected at least six states, was overlooked by the congressional delegations of every major geothermal energy state, including Nevada and California. In March, several politicians, including Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign as well as Rep. Dean Heller, introduced legislation that would return the revenue. But the legislation was attached to an unrelated bill, which failed to pass. That was more than four months ago and 12 rural Nevada counties are still struggling to maintain roads and pay teachers. The Interior Department was able to take the money because the 2005 law that created the revenue-sharing system made it optional, at the discretion of Congress and the Interior Department. When the department submitted its 2010 fiscal year budget to Congress, the Senate reallocated counties’ share of the revenue to the Interior Department, of which the BLM is a part. The House version left it intact, but its bill was superseded by the Senate version. Now counties want the income to be permanently guaranteed and they want it protected from state and federal money grabs...more

Ca. rancher furious over oil sump on his property

A rancher is angry about an oil drilling sump on his land and worried about its impact on wildlife and his animals. On Tuesday, the drillers were ordered to remove oil from the material in the sump and get it cleaned up. Wendell Weller, 89, has owned land on South Granite Road for about 70 years, but the Bureau of Land Management has the mineral rights. For about two years Bonanza Creek Energy has leased the site from the BLM, and they've been drilling wells on the rolling hills where Weller pastures cattle and horses. Recently one horse died, and Weller is more worried than ever. Tuesday Weller went to the current drilling site demanding to look at the sump. He said a bulldozer had started that morning to clear out the sump. "I want to get a sample of this right here," Weller said -- pointing at the large sump. By his estimate, it's 300 feet long, 20 feet wide, and ten to 15 feet deep. "They wouldn't have touched this," Weller told Eyewitness News, "Had I not gotten a hold of you to come out. They wouldn't have touched it."...more

Lawsuit paints bull’s-eye on Fossil Creek grazing

The Forest Service’s decision to let some 300 cattle graze near Fossil Creek violates the law and will harm the Chiricahua Leopard Frog and other endangered species, according to a lawsuit filed by the Centers for Biological Diversity. The alarming deterioration of the condition of the watershed had prompted the Forest Service to suspend grazing permits for more than 500 cattle several years ago, but after a study the Forest Service renewed the lease to a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. “Even the Forest Service’s own wildlife specialists concluded this is more than double (the number of cattle) the range can support,” said Jay Lininger, with the Centers for Biological Diversity. “Despite all the work that’s gone into restoring flows, this will wipe out the soil, change the hydrology and harm endangered species." Spokesman for the Coconino National Forest declined to comment, due to the pending lawsuit and referred all questions to the information in the Environmental Assessment posted on its Web site...more

Logs fly to Skokomish river rescue

A stretch of degraded habitat on the South Fork Skokomish River once slated to be a dam reservoir will soon house 28 large woody debris structures to provide refuge for fish and improved water quality. More than 2,000 whole trees pulled out of an Olympic National Forest stand are being transported about one mile this week to a big bend in the river, about 11 miles upstream from where it empties into Hood Canal in Mason County. The transporter is a twin-rotor, heavy-duty helicopter hired by the U.S. Forest Service to strategically place the trees, which will be arranged in engineered log jams. The large woody debris piles, which will be buried in the stream bed and river banks, will serve multiple purposes, Forest Service fish biologist Marc McHenry said. “They provide places for fish to hide, help cool the water and retain spawning gravel for the fish to use,” he said. This section of the river upstream of the Skokomish River gorge was heavily logged in the 1950s and ’60s to prepare a lake reservoir for a dam that was never built. Starved of trees, the river grew wide and shallow, causing water temperatures to rise and fish to lose habitat...more

Lawsuit Opposes California Mustang Gather

Wild horse advocates are seeking a federal court order to prevent the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from removing approximately 2,000 mustangs from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area near Susanville, Calif. The gather is slated to begin in August. The complaint alleges that the gather violates the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 because it endangers horses. The act protects mustangs and burros from harassment, capture, or death, and places the animals' management under BLM jurisdiction. The complaint also alleges that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act. That act requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts of their proposed actions and offer reasonable alternatives to those actions. The complaint alleges that the BLM failed to prepare an environmental impact study demonstrating that animals residing in the Twin Peaks management area exceed levels appropriate to maintain that range's ecological balance, and that the agency failed to offer alternatives to the gather to maintain such an appropriate ecological balance...more

It's a wonder BLM ever gets anything done.

Flagstaff Snowbowl water dispute back in court

A federal judge Tuesday postponed a request for an injunction against the Arizona Snowbowl to keep the Flagstaff ski area from starting construction on a pipeline that would carry reclaimed wastewater 15 miles from town to produce artificial snow. Judge Mary Murguia asked the resort and the Native Americans who brought suit to discuss whether they can reach agreement on when land clearing can begin. Injunctions are imposed only in emergency situations, and Snowbowl argued that there was hardly an emergency if there was no chance of actually making snow until November 2011. If necessary, Murguia will reconsider the issue Thursday. Snowbowl and its landlord, the U.S. Forest Service, have been locked in litigation with several tribes and environmental groups since 2006 over whether the resort can make snow at all, let alone from reclaimed wastewater. Snowbowl and the Forest Service won in District Court and in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in June 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider that ruling. Attorney Howard Shanker, who represented the Navajo, Hopi and other tribes, immediately filed a new lawsuit zeroing in on whether the government had adequately analyzed the possible ill effects of ingesting artificial snow made from what he called "sewer water."...more

California's New Pot Patch

Northern California's so-called Emerald Triangle, famous for marijuana farms that supply much of the U.S. with high-quality pot, is facing competition from hundreds of miles away—in Los Angeles County. As this year's marijuana-harvest season gets under way, law-enforcement officials are focused on the Southern California county, which by some measures has bloomed into the nation's most productive pot garden. Law-enforcement agents seized more than 734,000 pot plants in Los Angeles County last year—the highest number of seizures in the country for that year. The haul surpassed those even in California's most-prolific northern counties, with the biggest 2009 seizure coming from Shasta County at 629,000 plants. Law-enforcement officials have seized 103,000 plants in Los Angeles County since April, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which takes the lead in pot seizures in the county. Recent seizures in Los Angeles County have astonished even veterans of the state's long drug war. On a single Friday in late June, law-enforcement agents destroyed 19,000 plants with a street value of $39 million, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said. Most of the county's marijuana plants are grown in the Angeles National Forest, a rugged wilderness stretching over 650,000 acres east of Los Angeles, according to U.S. Forest Service records. Forest Service and Sheriff's Department officials recently warned hikers about the presence of pot farms in the forest—along with the armed guards and booby traps that come with them...more

Groups Ask For End To Ethanol Subsidies

“Although we support the need to advance renewable and alternative sources of energy, we strongly believe it is time that the mature corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities that rely on corn as their major input. Favoring one segment of agriculture at the expense of another does not benefit agriculture as a whole or the consumers that ultimately purchase our products.” That’s what the nation’s largest livestock and poultry trade associations (including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and American Meat Institute) said in a letter sent to Senate leadership Friday, They asked Senate leadership to allow a 30-year-old tax credit and a protective tariff for ethanol to expire as scheduled at the end of the year. The Senate Finance Committee now is considering whether or not to extend the ethanol blender’s credit and the tariff on imported ethanol. The groups noted their concerns over the negative economic effects on animal agriculture stemming from the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the import tariff on foreign ethanol. “The blender’s tax credit, coupled with the import tariff on foreign ethanol, has distorted the corn market, increased the cost of feeding animals, and squeezed production margins, resulting in job losses and bankruptcies in rural communities across America,” they say...more

It will never happen while the Dem's are in control, and probably won't happen while Iowa stays so important in the Presidential primary.

Doesn't hurt to ask though.

Kansas heat wave has killed 2,000 cattle

The intense heat and humidity that blanketed central Kansas since late last week have killed more than 2,000 cattle and one state official called the heat-related losses the worst in his 17 years on the job. However, conditions for the cattle improved somewhat on Tuesday as the humidity has decreased and the wind has picked up, state and feedlot sources said. Kansas is the third largest cattle state with more than 2 million cattle in feedlots. "It is all cattle in feedlots. It is more the humidity than the heat," Ken Powell, environmental scientist with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said of the more than 2,000 cattle deaths. The cattle deaths have overwhelmed rendering plants and some feedlots are burying the carcasses in accordance with state regulations, said Powell...more

Song Of The Day #362

Ranch Radio wasn't able to broadcast yesterday, so we'll have a double whammy today.

There will be no theme or particular era this week, just whatever strikes me.

Several recent happenings have got me to thinking about my youth. So here are two songs that may make you think of yours. They are both in the Texas country or alt-country style. Some of those are too rocky, some too folky, but most are more country than what you hear on top 40 radio. Many of them tell a great story, which I like in a song.

Here is James McMurtry performing See The Elephant from his Childish Things CD. And yes, novelist Larry McMurtry is his father. That's followed by Mark David Manders performing My Old Friend from his Cannonball CD.

Did you get to see the elephant? I did, and a helluva lot more than I should have.

Go To FileFactory.com

NOTE

My apologies for the short version this morning. My internet connection was so slow I couldn't even upload the Song Of The Day.

It's been like this for the last three hours, and of course, just before I started typing this it returned to DSL speed.

Thank you Qwest.

James Gammon, Character Actor, Dies at 70

James Gammon, a squint-eyed, froggy-voiced character actor who was best known as the manager in the baseball film comedy “Major League,” one of the rough-hewn American types — cowboys, rednecks and the alcoholic family patriarchs in the plays of Sam Shepard — that were his specialty, died Friday at his home in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was 70. The cause was cancer of the adrenal glands and the liver, said his wife, Nancy. With a bushy mustache, large, weathered-looking features and a voice full of gravel, Mr. Gammon was a natural for roles that called for men with the experience of dusty roads, out-of-the-way saloons, physical work and family travails written on their faces. And he became a familiar presence on television and in the movies, lending a seeming authenticity to settings where the townsfolk wore 10-gallon hats or overalls — or both — and did a lot of spitting. He began his career in the 1960s, appearing on “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “The Wild Wild West,” “The Virginian” and other television westerns; he made his movie debut in 1967, as a member of the chain gang in “Cool Hand Luke.” He played a redneck murder victim in “Natural Born Killers” and the revered cattle rancher Charles Goodnight in the television mini-series based on Larry McMurtry’s novel “Streets of Laredo,” a follow-up to “Lonesome Dove.” He also appeared in “Cold Mountain” “Urban Cowboy” and “Appaloosa.” “Major League” (1989) was the biggest hit of his career...more

I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to visit with Gammon. He was a close friend of Max Evans, who introduced us. That kind of ornery, yet fun-loving squint was there in real life too.

Godspeed.

A Rancher's Personal Border Battle

This Arizona rancher is on the front lines of the border battle, living not far from a nearly non-existant border fence east of Douglas in the southeastern part of the state.

It's where cowboys and their families deal with illegal aliens, drug runners, and thieves -- something they never expected to live with, but now have to fight.

When Ed Ashurst hears the statistics that border crime is going down, he says, the crime in his neighborhood is tenfold what it was five years ago.

FOX 10's John Hook reports.

Here is the video report. If you want to see what it's like to ranch or live on the border surrounded by federal land, then watch this tv news report

Churches (must) pay cartels to operate

The President of the National Fraternity of Evangelical and Christian Churches, Arturo Farela, revealed that various community churches in the State of Michoacán have been threatened by criminal organizations and must pay for the right to operate. He said says that this is a delicate situation they must get through, not only in Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Michoacán but in other states as well. There have been threats from different people claiming to be members of organized crime. The churches are told they must pay weekly fees according to the number of members, or the number of seats available or else there will be kidnappings or assassinations of the member or of the member’s family. The most recent incidents occurred in Michoacán, Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua City and some in the northern regions of Tamaulipas...more

Politicians, border residents say National Guard just a start

Word that National Guard will deploy to the border August 1st is news politicians and border residents have been waiting a long time to hear but they are looking for more. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords all basically said the National Guard deployment is good but Arizona needs much more to be safe. All the Guardsmen will be assigned to do surveillance and intelligence work for the Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force. Attorney General Terry Goddard says going after the smuggling cartels is the best way to boost border safety. He's happy to see the Guard assigned to the drug task force but KGUN9 News asked if putting Guardsmen on short term assignments will help much. Goddard says, "No, I think a three month rotation or some kind of short term assignment on the border is not gonna be effective because, bottom line, we need to have people that know the problem who are experienced in observation; these are subtle investigative signals that have to be picked up on." The idea that Guardsmen may not be right there on the border disappoints border ranchers and the association that represents them. Patrick Bray of the Arizona Cattlemen's Association says, "Our intent for the Guard to be down there was to basically be that presence with full law enforcement authority on the border." Cochise County Rancher Gary Thrasher thinks assigning the Guard is a start. "…But I think it's not nearly enough. And I also think that once people get down here they'll probably see that it's not enough and they can help influence Washington a little bit more to get the help that's really needed through the entire border."...more

An AP story says, "The 1,200 troops will be distributed among four border states, with Arizona getting 524; Texas, 250; California, 224 and New Mexico, 72. Another 130 would be assigned to a national liaison office."

Over 10% are "assigned to a national liaison office." What the heck is that?

The same story reports, "The troops will be armed but can use their weapons only to protect themselves, Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told a Pentagon news conference."

That ought to strike fear into the heart of every drug runner!

Let's remember George Bush sent 6,000 troops to the border in June of 2006, which also just happened to be during a midterm election.

This looks like nothing but political showmanship to me.

Border security must be viewed with an eye on terrorists

Border security is national security. The latest confirmation of what should be an obvious statement came last week from Uganda. What does the East African nation have to do with America's porous borders? Terrorists struck in the capital Kampala as fans watched the World Cup championship. Suicide bombers set off lethal charges at a mass viewing party and a crowded restaurant. Seventy-six people were killed. The group claiming responsibility for the deadly attacks is al-Shabab, an Islamist group not well-known in the United States, but one that is waging an insurgency against the Somali government. “Whatever makes them cry, makes us happy,” Sheik Yusuf Sheik Issa, an al-Shabab commander in Mogadishu, told the Associated Press. “May Allah's anger be upon those who are against us.” As I discussed recently, the Department of Homeland Security in May warned Texas law enforcement officials of the potential illegal entry from Mexico of Mohamed Ali, a suspected member of al-Shabab. A Homeland Security intelligence assessment produced before the Uganda bombings and obtained by the Associated Press warned, “We cannot exclude the possibility that U.S. persons aligned with al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa may return to the U.S., possibly to carry out acts of violence.” Let's acknowledge that the overwhelming number of unauthorized immigrants entering the United States are simply seeking better lives and economic opportunity. Let's also acknowledge that in most cases, they are compelled to break the law because of irrationally restrictive U.S. immigration policies. Those are arguments in favor of reforming immigration. They are not reasons to ignore the federal government's responsibility to secure the border. And they are certainly not reasons to legally challenge states that act to remedy the federal government's delinquency. In most cases, unauthorized immigrants come here to cut American lawns, make American beds and pick American crops. But some of them want to come here to cut American throats. And there's no way to turn a blind eye to the former without also enabling the latter...more