FBI gave inaccurate statements on surveillance

The FBI gave inaccurate information to Congress and the public when it claimed a possible terrorism link to justify surveilling an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday in a report on the bureau's scrutiny of domestic activist groups. Inspector General Glenn Fine said the FBI had no reason to expect that anyone of interest in a terrorism investigation would be present at the 2002 event sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, a nonviolent anti-war and anti-discrimination group. The surveillance was "an ill-conceived project on a slow work day," the IG stated in a study of several FBI domestic terrorism probes of people affiliated with organizations such as Greenpeace and the Catholic Worker. Earlier, in statements to Congress and in a press release, the FBI had described the Pittsburgh rally surveillance by one agent as related to a terrorism investigation. In a letter to the IG, FBI Deputy Director Timothy Murphy said the FBI regrets that inaccurate information was provided to the FBI director and Congress regarding the basis for the agent's presence at the rally. Speaking generally of the FBI probes it studied, the IG said a domestic terrorism classification has far-reaching impact because people who are subjects of such investigations are normally placed on watchlists and their travels and interactions with law enforcement may be tracked...more

Gun Ownership Rises to All-Time High, Violent Crime Falls to 35-Year Low

Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.1 Since 1991, when violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. Murder has fallen 49 percent to a 45-year low.2 At the same time, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about 90 million. Predictions by gun control supporters, that increasing the number of guns, particularly handguns and so-called “assault weapons,” would cause crime to increase, have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance.4...more

Farmers fear dust rules won't reflect rural life

As they begin the fall harvest, wary farmers are watching a federal debate over whether to clamp down on one of rural life's constant companions — the dust clouds that farm machinery kick up in fields and along unpaved roads. Farming groups have urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to retain its current standards for dust, soot and other microscopic particles, arguing that tighter restrictions would be unworkable and that dust isn't a real pollutant. Grain farmer Charles Schmitt, who farms about 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans near the southwestern Indiana town of Haubstadt, called the possibility of tougher rules on dust "ridiculous." The 59-year-old, who's farmed for more than four decades, said there's little farmers can do to reduce dust, especially after a dry summer like this year's that left his fields parched. "Mother Nature has more to do with it than we do — there's going to be dust and dirt no matter what," Schmitt said. The EPA is reviewing its airborne pollutant standards, as required every five years under the Clean Air Act. It's looking both at its standards for tiny particles of industrial pollution, and slightly larger particles called "coarse particulate matter" that include dust...more

Bill would exempt Idaho wolves from protections

U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo say they plan to introduce a bill that aims to exempt wolves in Idaho from federal protections that were restored by a court order in August. Crapo spokesman Lindsay Nothern said the Idaho lawmakers, both Republicans, are still working on the legislation and are in communication with Montana's congressional delegation. "We have been looking at a lot of language and trying to figure out what has the best chance of gaining traction in Congress and getting the job done and addressing the situation here in Idaho," Nothern told the Lewiston Tribune. Idaho's senators hope to find a solution that will work for several different parties and a bill could be introduced as early as next week, Risch spokesman Brad Hoaglun said. "We are trying to see where the common ground is and if legislation can be crafted to meet the needs of a lot of different people," he said. "It's too soon to say if that can be done or not."...more

In Utah, conservation easements key to protecting prairie-dog populations

The government is offering private landowners money to protect southern Utah's prairie-dog populations. Five landowners already have applied for a program that buys conservation easements, leaving land undeveloped for the prairie dogs. Developers can buy so-called habitat credits to evict or work around prairie dogs on other lands. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a draft recovery plan for the Utah prairie dog last week. Officials say 80 percent of the colonies reside on private land, so a conservation program is critical to maintaining stable populations. "We believe that recovery of the species will be achieved more rapidly if we increase conservation of the species on these lands in a way that benefits private landowners and Utah prairie dogs simultaneously," said Laura Romin, assistant supervisor for a Fish and Wildlife Service field office in Utah. The recovery plan also seeks to protect prairie dogs on federal land...more

Government panel tackles salmon engineering issues

What if grocery stores could sell salmon that was less expensive, didn't deplete wild stocks of the fish and was cleaner for the environment than the farm-raised variety? Here's the catch: The salmon would be genetically engineered. A government-sponsored panel on Monday wrestled with some of the many questions surrounding genetically modified salmon, examining the still-evolving science before issuing a cautious assessment that moves the idea a small step toward American dinner tables. The panel of outside experts urged the Food and Drug Administration to require more studies to satisfy lingering questions about the safety of genetically engineered salmon, without offering a consensus view about whether or when the fish should come to market...more

Congress toughens anti-fraud Indian-crafts law

Zuni silversmith Tony Eriacho stands behind tables of American Indian jewelry and crafts that are not what they seem. He picks up a necklace of Indian-style fetish animals made in the Philippines; dangles an earring with colored stones made of plastic; explains that what looks like solid turquoise is glued-together dust of turquoise and other rocks; uses a magnet to pick up beads supposedly made of silver, but they aren't magnetic. What bothers Eriacho isn't just that these objects look like something they're not. It's that too often, they're fraudulently marketed as authentic, a violation of federal law. Falsely suggesting goods are Indian- or Alaska Native-made could be harder to get away with now that Congress has approved changes to the 1990 Indian Arts and Crafts Act. The revisions, approved in July as part of the Tribal Law and Order Act, allow all federal law enforcement officers, not just the FBI, to investigate suspected violations. That includes officers working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Parks Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection...more

Trew: English filled with nicknames in everyday life

America seems to always have had a passion for nicknames. Most of our heros have nicknames and obituaries nearly always list the deceased persons nickname so friends will recognize them. Sometimes we do not know the real names of closest friends. This habit also extends to objects. For example, for years I did not recognize the word camera. We called it a Kodak. As shaving progressed from a straight razor they called it, "shaving with a Gillette or Schick" not a safety razor. We did not vacuum the carpet we "Hoovered the rug." Women benefitted greatly with the invention of the Singer sewing machine. Consequently, all "sewed with a Singer." Isaac Singer once received a protest from a labor union against his invention wanting him to stop production. He answered saying, "You want me to stop producing the only thing that will keep a woman quiet for an hour?"...more

Song Of The Day #411

Ranch Radio will take a look at 1964 this week.

We'll begin by offering the #1 and #2 songs on the country charts that year: Once A Day by Connie Smith and My Heart Skips A Beat by Buck Owens.

Wilderness: Expansion and (Lawful) Beneficiary Use

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

New Mexico Senators Bingaman and Udall introduced S.1689, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act, in part on the basis of economic growth for southern New Mexico. Senator Bingaman is quoted in a Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces ad campaign that was funded by sources outside the local community that “(public lands) . . . provide significant economic benefit and help attract good companies and jobs to our state.”

It is obvious the senators have relied on models of economic forecasting that require a defined set of circumstances, along with a certain class of higher income residents in order to predict that outcome. If that wasn’t the case, they would be compelled to remind their constituency that pure wilderness economics have combined to make the most wilderness dependent county in the nation, New Mexico’s Catron County, arguably one of the top five most poverty stricken counties in the United States.

This Dona Ana County debate has turned out to be a watershed event. It became a quest for the newly elevated senior senator from New Mexico to create a legacy without the moderating influence and wisdom of now retired New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici. When Mr. Domenici was approached by the EarthFirst! influenced New Mexico Wilderness Alliance to introduce legislation, he demanded that such legislation have community support. When no consensus could be reached the legislation was stalled, and, unfortunately, Mr. Domenici retired. The door was then opened for Senator Bingaman to elevate his own agenda. He not only bought the entire package of ideas for wilderness, he expanded the footprint of the plan to extend outside of Wilderness Study Areas with National Conservation Areas and a heretofore undisclosed Limited Access Area along with at least one withdrawal adjacent to the Texas border.

For the record, business leadership in the community support Mr. Bingaman’s bill to the tune of some 220 coalition members while the larger business community’s coalition against the effort number over 800. From Mr. Domenici’s demand that the community find consensus, any objective explanation of why the entire package was expanded without any discussion remains shrouded with skepticism and mistrust. It certainly wasn’t based on community support. The outcome begs for an assessment of who is really behind wilderness and, why is there such a push to expand wilderness designations.

The United States owns about 29% of the land within its territorial boundaries. A total of 23% of that total land is now in wilderness status. That total alone constitutes seven percent of the land mass within the boundaries of the United States.

It must be acknowledged that there is a growing awareness of the once underground environmental Rewilding Project that seeks to create wildlife corridors up and down the Cordilleran spine, but a more objective assessment of the current set of circumstances should first be presented by a recapitulation of what is being published in the literature. Two definitive issues stand out. The first is why additional wilderness is being sought and the second is who has actually been the beneficiary of wilderness designations (aside from grants and trust fund support extended to wilderness creation businesses and or campaign funds generated for cooperating legislators).

It is interesting to read Aldo Leopold, the original Father of Game Management, and, more recently, the unofficially appointed Father of the American Wilderness Movement from the perspective of an environmentalist versus “a steward too poor to pay for his sport”. Leopold suggested that up to 10% of lands be set aside by the insightful steward for the purpose of land withdrawal ethics, or, as we know it today, wilderness. When the impact of that statement is contemplated, the Leopold benchmark is probably supported by more stewards than anybody would guess. For example, even in California’s most intensively cultivated farm land that figure consistently runs six to ten percent of lands in “out ground”. That figure is made even more meaningful because that habitat is protected through access limitations.

Private lands ranchers can argue that they consistently expand that mark by their rotation strategies. They are doing it in the exact character of stewardship that Leopold described in his writings. They are doing it because of their insight into the rhythms and the cycles they have become so much a part of in their tenure on the land.

What about the federal government? The United States owns about 29% of the land within its territorial boundaries. A total of 23% of that total land is now in wilderness status. That total alone constitutes seven percent of the land mass within the boundaries of the United States. When the realization that the majority of lands owned by the United States exist west of the 100th Meridian, the story starts to emerge that the benchmark is already surpassed, and, in places in the West, it has no resemblance to the ethical suggestion made by Leopold.

When the chief architect of the Wilderness Act, Howard Zahniser, testified to the Senate in 1961, he promised that the “outside maximum” expansion of the wilderness system would never exceed 50 million acres. Today, that number stands at 152.8 million acres of designated wilderness and lands being protected for future wilderness consideration. That expansion is not simply a function of the public’s demand to establish more wildernesses. It is coming from the unseen wilderness management policies of the federal land agencies and their counterparts in universities.

Following the hoopla of the Wilderness Act passage in 1964 and extending to 1994, wilderness visitation expanded 86%. With that expansion and the concern that the wilderness experience itself was starting to harm the wilderness areas, numerous regulations were imposed including limits on visitation.

Permitted entry was started, and history will show that that system of management was a primary cause of impact proliferation and crowding in theretofore lightly used areas. Displaced visitors were redirected to more vulnerable areas and dissatisfaction among visitors and wilderness advocates alike increased.

By 1974, the concept of “recreational carrying capacity” had been advanced. Wilderness scholars were worried about their own assessment of a wilderness experience and started a process to attempt to quantify limits. It was suggested that it wasn’t a matter of “if” but “when” and “how much” limits must be placed on visitor use of wilderness. Additionally, if wilderness use was going to parallel previous utility measures, the only alternative was and is to add more wildernesses to the system. That would be the only way that wildness, “the relative lack of intentional human manipulation” and naturalness, “the relative lack of human influence” could be balanced. The first theorem of modern wilderness science, expansionism, was established. Expansion remains the byword of that position today.

When the chief architect of the Wilderness Act, Howard Zahniser, testified to the Senate in 1961, he promised that the “outside maximum” expansion of the wilderness system would never exceed 50 million acres. Today, that number stands at 152.8 million acres of designated wilderness and lands being protected for future wilderness consideration.

So, if expansion is the salvation of the wilderness experience, who is the beneficiary? For that answer, facts and statistics must be reviewed. Mr. Bingaman wrote that his wilderness legislation “offers special opportunities for families to spend quality time together as they hunt, hike, ride horses and relax.” In reviewing the actual wilderness use statistics, 63.4% of all wilderness visits were made by men. In fact, that statistic remains consistent through time. Wilderness is not a family use destination. It is the domain of the male.

If it is a man’s world, what men use it? Statistics suggest that Hispanic and Latinos as a whole hover around the three percent use mark, Black Americans at consistently less than one percent, and all other categories except the dominant use category run about three percent. It is the one dominant use group, the group made up of white Americans that truly use wilderness. About 96% of all wilderness visitations are made by white Americans and males can be expected to spend about 42% more days per year visiting wilderness areas than females. The second fact of American wilderness use can now be established. Wilderness is the domain of white American men.

And who are those white men? Fully 66% of them have incomes of $75,000 or more per year and nearly 11% of them have incomes of $150,000 or more. By all measures those incomes reach into the affluent levels of society. So, adding to the fact that wilderness is the domain of men, those men are also affluent, white, and more than half of them are older than 40 years of age. Affluent, white men over the age of 40 . . . hardly fits the profile of the typical cross section of Dona Ana County residents does it?

From a practical matter there is logic in this finding. It is only an affluent person who can afford to take the time, afford the equipment, or pay the price of an outfitter to take an extended trip into the wilderness. It isn’t a family on an afternoon jaunt after church, and it isn’t the typical resident of Dona Ana County, so using the patronizing play on words that S.1689 is a benefit for all and will be for years to come is disingenuous. Those words are fundamentally dishonest and misleading.

This debate and the growing awareness of the agenda of the environmental movement will not stop with the passage or the extension of any pending status of S.1689. What will come out of this debate, however, should make Dona Ana County residents more cognizant of the external influences that have made this debate so divisive. Both of the New Mexico senators need to explain their actions and the aggressive intent to expand the scope of this legislation from its original draft. Where Mr. Bingaman could have found community unity, he elected to forgo it with a much more ambitious wilderness plan. Constituents are left wondering why he made that choice. Was it driven by the prevailing environmental agenda that he chose to support or was it driven by thinking S.1689 would secure a personal legacy?

It had to be one or the other because it wasn’t driven by the single factor upon which the community was in full agreement. The original premise of the debate . . . the protection of the Organ Mountains . . . is literally lost out there in the wilderness. That issue is the political high ground of this debate, and that is where an insightful leader would have concentrated. Perhaps that is the real story that has emerged.

In the meantime, the long term usage of the pending wilderness as set forth in S.1689 has been forecasted from data and statistics claimed and provided by those who have pushed the proposal. Maybe Bend, Oregon and Cedar City, Utah can make wilderness a component of economic well being of the community, but our New Mexico examples where communities must depend solely on wilderness for their economic well-being are utter failures. It won’t be because of wilderness that Las Cruces will grow and prosper. That is as much a myth as the representation of who will use the wilderness areas. The real data is contrary to the representations of the proponents, and Dona Ana residents should be aware that hidden little secret exists out there in the wilderness world.

This legislation isn’t for the common citizen. It is for someone and something else.


Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. He has long been a student of Aldo Leopold, but has a far different interpretation of his concepts than the prevailing environmental representations. His belief in Leopold’s stance on stewardship comes from the fact that Leopold was first and last a farmer. It would have been with that personal commitment to conservation that Leopold would have understood what he wrote when he described the true stewards of the land. Environmentalists today stand in juxtaposition to that understanding of stewardship. Many will already argue that the misinformed have become the misdirected.

Juarez Newspaper Pleas With Drug Cartels

The El Diario de Juarez newspaper wrote an open letter to the city’s drug cartels Sunday asking for mercy. In the editorial, the paper asked the cartels to let the journalists do their jobs without the threat of being killed. Friends and family buried slain photographer Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco Sunday, after he was shot several times Thursday while sitting inside of a car outside of a Juarez shopping mall. Authorities have not linked the death to the drug cartel, but after having two journalists killed, in just two years, the newspaper is now pleading with the cartels through an editorial published Sunday. In addition to last week's incident, the paper cites the 2008 death of crime reporter Armando Rodriguez. He was gunned down in his car outside of his home. The newspaper says in it's editorial, it is clear the cartels are the city's authorities, especially since the Mexican government is not protecting journalists. The editorial said, "We ask you to explain what you want from us, what we should try to publish or not publish, so we know what to expect."...more

Mexico govt rejects call for truce in drug war

Mexico's government has scoffed at the idea of a truce in the country's raging drug war as a Ciudad Juarez newspaper pleaded with drug cartels after one of its photographers was slain. "It simply is not appropriate in any way shape or form, for any party to try to make agreements with, promote a truce with, or negotiate with criminals," said Alejandro Poire, spokesman for security matters for President Felipe Calderon. "We ask you to explain what you want from us, what you want us to publish or stop publishing," a cowed El Diario de Juarez wrote in a front-page editorial in calling for a truce. Unidentified gunmen attacked two El Diario photographers Thursday, shooting dead 21-year-old Luis Carlos Santiago and leaving Carlos Sanchez seriously wounded. Santiago was the second journalist from El Diario killed in less than two years...more

Arizona Lawmaker Questions Border Patrol Strategy

The deployment of Border Patrol agents in Arizona has led one of its members of Congress to question whether Border Patrol operations are as effective as they could be. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) initiated a request to congressional investigators at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last month to examine the problem to determine if Border Patrol were neglecting rural areas, where illegal immigrants have continued to stream into the United States and where Arizona ranchers have seen escalating violence and property damage. "Despite the statements by some that our border is more secure than it ever has been, legitimate and serious questions have been raised by Southeastern Arizonans about the Border Patrol's deployment strategies," Giffords explained in a Sept. 15 statement on the request. "The men and women I represent need to know that our nation's limited border security resources are being used in the most effective way possible, especially in the rural parts of Cochise County. This is why we are asking for an independent review of Border Patrol deployment decisions." Giffords was joined by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, in requesting specifically that GAO take a look at how Border Patrol deploys agents across Arizona. They sought to compare this to how Border Patrol agents are deployed in other southwestern states...more

Cross-Border Tensions Are Seen at Governors’ Conference

There were hearty handshakes and friendly words, but the annual binational conference of border governors wound up here Monday as divided as it has ever been, as well as being a little short on governors. The final communiqué showed a common vision among the participants about cracking down on violence along the border between the United States and Mexico, changing immigration laws and promoting economic development in the border zone. But it was the no-shows that made clear that cross-border unity was seriously frayed. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona was supposed to host the 28th annual conference in Phoenix, but all six Mexican border governors refused to attend in protest of the immigration crackdown she signed into law. After Ms. Brewer canceled her session, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico stepped in to organize a conference of his own, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California as co-host. Ms. Brewer stayed away, as did a fellow Republican, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Then Mr. Schwarzenegger canceled because he was ill and sent his lieutenant governor, Abel Maldonado, a fellow Republican. That left Mr. Richardson as the lone United States governor in the discussions...more

Border-crossers report two more confrontations

The sheriff’s office says two more groups of undocumented migrants have reported being confronted by masked gunmen in remote areas of the local border region. They are the latest alleged victims in a string of similar incidents that authorities say are so difficult to investigate, they are not even sure if they are happening in Mexico or the United States. In the first incident, deputies met with two Mexican men at the Nogales Border Patrol Station on Monday after they told agents they had fled from masked men who fired a warning shot in the air, said Sgt. Jerry Maldonado of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. The men, aged approximately 21 and 25, told investigators that they had crossed illegally into the United States on foot when they came upon at least two men wearing black clothing and red bandanas over their faces. When the masked men gestured for the migrants to come near, they turned to flee as one of the men fired a rifle into the air. On Tuesday, two more undocumented immigrants detained by the U.S. Border Patrol told sheriff’s investigators that they were traveling in a group of seven people through an area west of Nogales the previous night when they were accosted. “They said two male subjects in camouflage clothing wearing ski masks ambushed them while they were getting something to eat,” Maldonado said. The reporting victims were both men, aged approximately 18 and 28, and one said he was robbed of about $200. “One of them says he was hit because he wouldn’t give up his rosary, and that he was threatened with a handgun,” Maldonado said...more

Las Cruces BLM office has issued border safety warnings to visitors

The Las Cruces office of the BLM has produced a brochure titled Borderland Safeguards which contains border "watchouts" for visitors to the federal lands. The "watchouts" deal mainly with dangers from drug smuggling and human trafficking on federal lands in the district.

The BLM's Eddy Guerrero said other BLM districts in California and Arizona with lands along the border with Mexico had produced similar brochures, but the Las Cruces District's version was prepared to "make it relevant to our situation in New Mexico."

Guerrero said the brochures had been available for over a year.

Some of the items on the "watchout" list are:

° Armed confrontations either by law enforcement and/or illegal entrants

° Small or large groups of people being transported either on foot or in a vehicle

° Accidental witnessing of (large) quantities of drug deals and drug transportation

° Aircraft trying to avoid detection and frequent law enforcement aircraft operations due to these illegal activities

° Locks and fences deliberately knocked down or cut

° Abandoned vehicles either intact or set on fire

° Wildfires caused by abandoned warming and cooking fires

° Trash and high concentrations of human fecal material in heavily used illegal entrants staging areas and routes

Upon request, Guerrero also provided a similar document which was prepared strictly for BLM personnel. The "safety concerns" and "watchouts" listed in that document contained those listed above plus such items as:

° Leaving your BLM vehicle unattended

° Let dispatch & law enforcement know your trip plan

° Large amounts of footprints---these may be headed to your work area

° High-speed driving and law enforcement pursuits in your work areas

° Undocumented Alien (UDA) traveling in vehicles, groups on foot

° New "UDA Layup Areas"

Since these documents have been available for more than a year, that means they were available before Senator Bingaman introduced S.1689, his wilderness bill. The "Fact Sheet" which accompanied the introduction of S.1689 says Bingaman consulted with the Las Cruces BLM Office.

This leads to some interesting questions: Was Bingaman's staff aware of these documents, and if so did they advise the Senator of their existence? Did Bingaman introduce the bill knowing of these concerns? Why would a U.S. Senator introduce a bill that would make the situation even worse?

Personally, I would find it hard to believe Bingaman's staff didn't know of these documents existence. You take it from there.

Travel site discourages visits to Wilderness areas

Yesterday I received the following email from a Las Cruces resident:

I was looking online for local vacation spots, parks and recreation for my family and came across this website. When I clicked on Arizona this is the message I received:

Wilderness Areas of Southern Arizona

Drug and human smuggling activities have made Arizona's wilderness areas extremely unsafe. We no longer encourage you to visit them.
http://www.discoverseaz.com/Attractions/Wilderness.html

Click on the link and see for yourself.

The Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces continues to lobby for wilderness designations in southern NM, and I continue to wonder why.

UPDATE: The link has been corrected.

Optimism, worries amid new rush to tap oil in West

A well named Jake and a controversial drilling technique are fueling a Western oil rush, raising hopes for economic revival and questions about the environment - and who's going to share in the wealth. Not many wells have been drilled yet, but just about everything else is in place for an oil boom in eastern Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska, where the Niobrara Shale and its hard-to-tap crude lay nearly two miles underground. Preliminary work is under way to map underground geological formations to figure out the best places to drill. Oil prospectors are poring over courthouse records to see who holds mineral rights so they can negotiate deals. Companies large and small are betting millions that the Niobrara holds gobs of recoverable oil like the similar - and booming - Bakken Shale field in western North Dakota. With oil money leading the way, North Dakota has coasted through the recession with 3.6 percent unemployment, lowest of any state, and a budget surplus of over $500 million. Surely everyone is excited, right? Not exactly, not with so many questions still to be answered...more

Farm bureaus seek to quash lawsuit

The Utah Farm Bureau Federation has joined the fight against a lawsuit it warns would increase the cost of grazing permits and slow down permit approval. The group joined 11 other Western farm bureaus that want to intervene in the lawsuit. The Utah farm bureau says the suit threatens the economic viability of nearly 1,600 sheep and cattle ranchers with grazing permits in Utah. The case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is led by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project. The groups want the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to raise grazing fees to accurately reflect the administrative and environmental costs associated with grazing on public lands. AP

BLM revising tribal consultation agreement

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is soliciting input from tribes, State Historic Preservation Offices and its field offices on revisions to an agreement governing activities on federal lands that could affect historic properties. The revisions clarify the BLM's responsibilities for consultation with tribes. "When examining proposals for activities on the public lands, we must be mindful of our unique relationship with the tribes and carefully consider their views and concerns," said BLM Director Bob Abbey. "Through consultation and with a spirit of mutual respect and understanding, we can help preserve treasured resources on public lands for generations to come." Revisions will be made to the programmatic agreement signed in 1997 between the BLM and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers to guide BLM's planning and decision making under the National Historic Preservation Act. Among other things, the draft revised programmatic agreement emphasizes the requirement for the BLM to consult with tribes in order to obtain their views on the potential effects of actions on resources of significance to tribes and resolution of any adverse effects stemming from those actions, according to the BLM...more

Displaced Community Tries to Reclaim Land

"This is the place where I wish I had grown up cause this is my heritage," said Wilson Moran, as he walked through the national wildlife refuge that was once his parents' neighborhood. Moran wants the federal government to give back land it seized from his parents just before he was born in 1942. They were part of Harris Neck, a small community founded by former slaves, making their livings by harvesting shellfish from Georgia's coastal wetlands. "This was their independence," Moran said. "This was their freedom. This was their life." A cracked runway serves as a reminder of the World War II army airfield that forced residents off their land. While government seizures for the war effort were common around the country, Harris Neck's former citizens believe their community was targeted because of race. "They wouldn't treat their own like that, so what else would it be?" said Rev. Robert Thorpe, who remembers being evicted from Harris Neck as a young boy. "They didn't treat us like human beings." Rev. Thorpe and others from this community are asking Congress to return the land. But Harris Neck is currently a 2,800 acre national wildlife refuge. And its managers say even moderate residential development would disrupt the fragile ecosystem they're trying to maintain...more

Meatpacker JBS beefs up employment in Weld County

For decades, the big cattle slaughterhouse on the north end of town was known as the Monfort plant. Then ConAgra. Then Swift & Co. The facility's current owner, JBS USA, doesn't have the same local history. But what it lacks in institutional tradition, it's making up for in sheer size and growth. Since acquiring Swift & Co. in 2007, Brazil-based meatpacking giant JBS has beefed up the Greeley operation to become the largest employer in Weld County with a workforce of 5,000. Visitors to the sprawling headquarters of JBS's U.S. unit in Greeley receive a quick corporate education via a video screen in the lobby that plays a continuous loop of JBS's vital statistics. Among the company's superlatives: Largest beef packer in the world. Largest meatpacker in the world. One of the three largest meatpackers in the U.S. Major cattle feedlot operator in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2010, JBS USA's beef operations had $3.3 billion in sales, up 14 percent from the prior year. Operating earnings increased 86 percent, to $194.9 million. Greeley is the hub of operations. But with the Swift purchase and other acquisitions, JBS has a national presence with 45 meat processing facilities and 11 feedlots that in total employ 70,000 workers. Since the Swift & Co. acquisition, JBS subsequently has purchased the beef processing operations of Smithfield Foods and acquired poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride. The acquisitions brought hundreds of new administrative workers to the Greeley headquarters. In addition, JBS established a trucking hub in Greeley with 419 drivers and support workers...more

Song Of The Day #410

It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio.

How am I gonna pick an uptempo song when I've been sick for three days?

Well, how about Three Days Straight by Ray Wylie Hubbard. He's ill too, although it's self inflicted.

The tune is on his 11 track CD Eternal and Lowdown

New Template

Let me know what you think.

I'm not too hot on the birds, but they come with this version.

I've stretched the post section so you don't have to scroll down so far to see the posts. I looked at it on my wife's Netbook and it looks ok although it does make the print smaller.

I'm still playing around with the colors.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Cowboy loving ways

by Julie Carter

They weren't newlyweds by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, just days after this birthday event I'm going to tell you about, they celebrated their 35th anniversary.

Keeping that in mind, this tale will give a glimpse of the depth of love and tolerance honed over that period of longevity.

It was his bride's birthday and since her favorite thing was to go somewhere and see something notable, preferably historical, he offered a blank check in the "travel" department.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked, knowing she understood that didn't include destinations that required travel agents or airports.

She wasn't caught off guard with the request but truly didn't have a burning desire to visit anywhere in particular. So he decided for her. Also not a surprise.

"We'll go to East Texas," he announced helpfully. "Pick a town in East Texas."

The only town she could think of was Jefferson, selected because it had a rich history and would not require six months of travel time.

They loaded up and headed east, getting as far as Fort Worth. It was lunch time and since Joe T. Garcia's is, according to her, the best place in the world to eat, they stopped and did just that.

A $7 margarita for the birthday girl, reportedly with plenty of kick to it, sufficed as dessert and they soon were back on the road.

"Any place in Fort Worth you'd like to see?" he asked her.

She remembered the Fort Worth Water Gardens downtown and suggested that she would like to see that again.

"It is truly beautiful," she recalled. "A waterfall, a river, a stream, a pond, a cascade and anything else you can imagine doing with water.

It takes up an entire city block and you walk around in it and look at all the ways that water is distributed. It is fascinating."

Aiming to please, the cowboy headed the pickup that way.

He drove around the block a half dozen times looking for a place to park and finding none, he quickly lost interest in this particular destination.

His bride heard it coming as much as saw it. Knowing that when he's about to turn to a "silver-tongued devil," the timbre of his voice changes. So she takes a deep seat because what is next is always a "suggestion."

"You know baby, you have this wonderful memory, actually an amazing memory," he said with a glib smoothness to his words. "Since you have already seen this water display once before, how about you just remember it."

Parking problem solved, the loving couple is once again headed east.

"The east side of Fort Worth does not need seeing," she recalls. "The good news is that it was still daylight and we were relatively safe as long as we kept moving."

The redeeming factor for the trip through the seedier side of Fort Worth was summed up by the birthday girl.

Always looking for the positive aspect of things she said, "If we hadn't gone that way, I would never have known where the Bloody Knuckles Bar was."

Realizing that by now they were way in the hell on the other side of Fort Worth, they finally located the freeway. At first opportunity, they got back on it and began driving at freeway speeds to escape the adventure of the Bloody Knuckles neighborhood.

True to country-folk navigation, they ended up on the west side of Fort Worth again, at about the same point of arrival earlier in the day.

Taking matters into his own hands, the cowboy decided they'd just go on home. If he didn't tarry too long, he could still rope that evening.

Being married to a cowboy for 35 years will teach a gal how to say with a straight face, "It was a wonderful birthday."

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. Visit her website at www.julie-carter.com

It's The Pitts: The Magic Ring

by Lee Pitts

One last time the widow leaned down to kiss her husband as he reclined in his casket at his church funeral. As her bulky necklace dangled over the edge of the coffin the dead man’s hand suddenly reached up as if to grab it. When the widow saw his hand levitate above his body she let out a scream that would have shattered glass.

Ghosts were not responsible for this bizarre phenomenon and I assure you that I am not under the spell of the occult. Let me explain.

Why they called the dead man “Governor” has always been open to conjecture. After all, to the best of everyone’s recollection he had never held a political office of any kind, let alone a governorship. (A previous felony or two may have prevented his candidacy.) He may have been called Governor because he had a “full-of-himself” politician’s bearing, or more likely, because he was about as honest as a WWF wrestling match. The Governor was the kind of guy who would steal a poor man’s shoes.

The Governor was built like a bucket of KFC and had more grease on him than the Grand Champion Steer at the Chicago International in 1952. He wore a 100x Silver Belly hat and his fancy boots were so shiny he could see himself in them. That is, if he could see over and around his quite significant tummy.

Now, after being on both ends of buying and selling cattle for decades I will be the first to admit that there is a fine line between thievery and what some folks will do to eke out a profit on a set of cattle. For example, in my opinion having a cowboy whoop and holler and wade into a set of steers just as they are about to enter the corrals so they have to be gathered again, is not criminal. Neither is a butcher keeping his thumb on the scale. After all, we are just talking small “steaks” here. (Pun intended.) Unethical actions? Sure they are. But not go-to-prison types of crime. Ditto salting a set of cattle and then letting them drink right before they are weighed.

Or leaving them on feed over night when they weren’t supposed to be. These are just tricks that buyers and sellers use to counteract the tricks you know the other guy is trying to cheat you with. But what the Governor did was criminal. He not only crossed over the line, he got so much chalk on his shiny boots that he obliterated the line between right and wrong.

The Governor was able to make old Fairbanks Morris work in his favor with the aid of a huge wedding ring he wore on his right hand. (That he wore it on the wrong hand should have been the first clue to his larcenous nature.) By holding his right hand over the beam of the scale, as he waited for it to settle, he could pull it up, and by keeping it under the beam, he could pull it down, depending on whether he was buying or selling cattle at the time. This was not magic, my friends, but pure physics. You see, in that grotesque ring he wore on the wrong hand was a very strong magnet.

The trick worked every time, although the Governor had to be careful what where he put his right hand at all times. Put it in a pocket and when you brought it out your car key’s and any old steel pennies would be attached to it. Get it too close to the steel cream pot at the coffee shop and it would soon be inching towards you.

Naturally, when the Governor died all three of his sons wanted to follow in their father’s crooked foot steps. But to do so they needed that ring. Wifey number three was unaware of the ring’s special powers and did not understand the strong “attraction” the three boys had for it. So she decided the only way to handle the situation was to bury the Governor’s ring right along with him. And that is how the very dead Governor reached out to his wife while reclining in his coffin. It’s also the primary reason why, ever since the ranching community witnessed that miracle in church, they have sent their cattle to the auction, instead of selling them off the ranch.

Song Of The Day #409

Ranch Radio's Gospel song this Sunday morning is The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash.

The tune is on his 15 track CD American IV: The Man Comes Around.

Bellamy Brothers - Jalapenos

Here they are doing the Jalapeno song.

Murkowski Launches Write-In Bid; GOP Leaders Embrace Miller

The Alaska Senate race grew more interesting Friday night as GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced she is launching a write-in campaign for re-election — a last-ditch effort to retain the seat she has held since being appointed by her father, former Gov. Frank Murkowski, in 2002. The announcement sets up a three-way race between Murkowski, Democrat Scott McAdams and Republican Joe Miller, who defeated Murkowski in the Aug. 24 primary by 2,006 votes and has the full support of the Senate Republican leadership. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) made clear that the Senate GOP Conference has moved beyond the primary fight and embraced Miller. But Murkowski was defiant. “Alaskans deserve a fighter in the United States Senate who will always stand up for Alaska, who understands our great potential and has the experience, the respect and the seniority to accomplish that,” she said. “I am that Senator.” Murkowski took a shot at Sarah Palin (R), saying she, not the former governor, is “one Republican woman who won’t quit on Alaska.”...more

The late Strom Thurmond is the only Senator to be elected by write-in (1954).

Lisa Murkowski hits up lobbyists

Less than an hour before Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski planned to announce a write-in campaign to retain her seat, her top aide e-mailed scores of the most prominent lobbyists in Washington to ask them to join a Saturday conference call with the senator. Karen Knutson, Murkowski’s chief of staff, emailed scores of top lobbyists in town and employees at some of the largest oil companies – including Chevron, Conoco Phillips and Marathon Oil – to ask them to join the senator on a conference call Saturday, according to a copy of the e-mail and a recipient list obtained by POLITICO. Knutson also sent the invitation to Democratic superlobbyist Heather Podesta – a clue that Murkowski could seek bipartisan financial support in order to fund her write-in campaign. Federal Election Commission records show Podesta has been a consistent and generous Democratic political donor and has never given to Murkowski before...more

Her true colors are showing.

California’s Jobs Terminator

What state ranks third in unemployment, second in foreclosures, has the nation’s worst credit rating, is running a $19 billion deficit – yet insists on spending billions on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan that can’t possibly impact global warming? Yes, it’s California, land of the Governator, who signed a bill that may say “Hasta la vista, baby!” to perhaps a million jobs. Yet there’s hope the prosperity terminator can be stopped. The state boasts that the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, better known as AB 32, is “first-in-the-world.” It requires that by 2020 the state’s greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels, about 25-30 percent less than they’d otherwise be. It demands another 80 percent reduction by 2050. Four years ago California’s economy was booming, with joblessness a mere 4.8 percent. But now that the bear on the state’s flag has taken on new meaning and unemployment is 12.3 percent, even many that are convinced that global warming is a serious man-made problem are having second thoughts. That’s why the California Jobs Initiative, Proposition 23, got the signatures required to put it on the November ballot. It would suspend AB 32 until unemployment stays below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters...more

Texas Chef Successfully Deep-Fries...Beer!

I sincerely hope the committee that hands out Nobel Prizes in the science fields have taken notice of one Texas chef who recently achieved a gastronomical breakthrough: deep-fried beer. That’s right. According to this report: The beer is placed inside a pocket of salty, pretzel-like dough and then dunked in oil at 375 degrees for about 20 seconds, a short enough time for the confection to remain alcoholic. When diners take a bite the hot beer mixes with the dough in what is claimed to be a delicious taste sensation. Zable will introduce the dish at a fried-food competition in Texas later this month. He’ll serve five of the ravioli-like bites for a very modest $5...more

You ain't supposed to eat deep fried food, you ain't supposed to drink beer - so this let's you kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Sept. 17, Constitution Day

Choose Freedom: Ignore DC

There’s plenty of federal holidays for Americans to celebrate. On July 4th, there’s independence from King George’s England. On the first Monday in September, a holiday was dedicated to the “social and economic achievements of American workers.” Other days throughout the year celebrate autumn harvest, soldiers who died in the civil war and even a person who sailed to this continent nearly three centuries before the country was “founded.”

When there’s no federally-sanctioned holiday to call upon, protesters and activists across the political spectrum often pick “important” dates to schedule events to bring attention to their cause. We’ve seen protests on Tax Day, Independence Day, May Day, Earth Day, and more. And, in the past few weeks we saw great importance placed on days that doesn’t even have a letter in their name, 8/28 and 9/12.

But nowhere to be found on these great lists of “federal holidays” or “protest days” is a celebration of the document that defined the principles of liberty that this country was supposedly founded upon – the Constitution.

LIMITING POWER

The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and every year that date passes by with hardly a sound. Sure, now that it’s considered a day of “federal observance” you’ll find government schools around the country including it in their lesson plans. But these discussions generally focus on “Constitution Trivia” instead of what’s really important. While it may be good to educate our young on how many years a Senator serves, or how Supreme Court justices are appointed, it’s not enough. Seriously lacking in the public discourse is the actual purpose of the Constitution – its underlying principles.

When the Constitution was being considered for ratification, there was strong opposition from famous American figures that included George Mason and Patrick Henry. One major reason for this was a fear of too much power. The founding generation spent their lives toiling under a tyranny – a government without limits. But, when the Constitution was written, it was done to codify in law that the powers of government would be limited to those which had been delegated to it – and nothing more.

The entire system was created under the principle of popular sovereignty – that ‘We the People of the Several States’ created the government, and all powers not delegated to it, were retained. But that’s not something you’re likely to hear from politicians in Washington DC, political pundits, schools, or just about anywhere else. It’s generally not in their interest, either.

If politicians and their backers were promoting such crazy ideas as “originalism” and “limited government” they’d never be able to convince you that they have the power to tell you what kind of health care plan you’ll be getting, how big your toilet can be, what kind of plants you’re allowed to grow, where you’re allowed to exercise your “right” to free speech, whom you can buy and sell from, and even when you must send your children to die for them.

Read the entire article here.

Obama's Science Adviser: Don't Call it 'Global Warming'

John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, says that the term "global warming" is "a dangerous misnomer” that should be replaced with “global climate disruption." At the Environmental Protection Agency's 40th celebration of the Clean Air Act on Tuesday, Holdren said, "I think one of the failures of the scientific community was in embracing the term 'global warming'. Global warming is in fact a dangerous misnomer." And in a speech last week in Norway, echoing remarks he made at a 2007 speech at Harvard University, Holdren said the term "global climate disruption" should be used instead of "global warming."...more

Salvos Fly as Ethanol Ruling Nears

The Environmental Protection Agency has said it will rule by the end of this month on whether to allow gasoline retailers to sell a mixture that is 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent unleaded regular, a change from the current maximum of 10 percent ethanol. Coalitions have lined up — on one side, the corn farmers and ethanol producers, and on the other, the oil refiners, auto companies, manufacturers of gasoline-powered equipment and companies that use corn to raise livestock. Some opponents are raising concerns that are not important to the E.P.A. — for example, that putting more corn into the fuel supply will raise the cost of corn for feeding chickens or pigs. Another argument is that the ethanol could burn hot enough to hurt catalytic converters or eat away the seals in various parts of the engine, resulting in higher emissions. The auto companies maintain that the only way to know is to extend the testing of cars on the higher blend for several more months. Older cars are thought to be more vulnerable because they were not designed with ethanol in mind, whereas cars sold today are engineered for concentrations of at least 10 percent ethanol. So foes of the change are campaigning for a delay...more

No plan for monument,BLM chief tells crowd

The director of the Bureau of Land Management told a packed forum in northeastern Montana that there are no plans for presidential monument declarations in the region, but it did little to ease the fears of ranchers and many others that the federal government may sweep in and bar them from the land. Bob Abbey acknowledged to the crowd that he cannot rule out future discussions about land protections. However, he promised more than 1,500 people that descended from the area on the small town of Malta for the forum that local comment would be key to any future decisions. “Folks, there is no plan for a national monument in Montana. I want you to know that,” Abbey said. “I want to get the message right out front. There is no proposal for a national monument in Montana.” Ranchers, oil men and others have been very suspicious of federal plans since leaked memos revealed the Obama administration was considering 14 sites in nine states for possible presidential monument declarations. That included 2.5 million acres of northeastern Montana prairie land proposed as a possible bison range. Also included in the memo were sites in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Even after Abbey’s clarification that no plans are in the works, the large crowd remained unconvinced. “I know you said you don’t have any monument plans, but what does Obama have for plans?” said rancher Nick Schultz of Grass Range...more

An interview with BLM director Abbey

Bob Abbey, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said no "serious discussions" of creating a grasslands national monument in northeastern Montana have occurred within the Interior Department, despite "rhetoric" about a paper he authored on land protections for sensitive public lands. "I just want to put to rest the rumors and address the issues head-on," Abbey told the Tribune in an interview Thursday morning in Great Falls before departing for Malta, where he spoke from 7 to 9 p.m. at the high school. At the same time, Abbey added, grasslands contain unique values "and we need to be smart" in managing them. Abbey, who authored what he described this morning as a "concept paper" called Treasured Landscapes, said he's not ashamed of what's in it and welcomes the opportunity to discuss it with Montanans. Abbey said he used the paper to cite areas that have special characteristics worthy of consideration for additional management protections...more

Kind of funny he would get out from behind the desk and assure everyone it was just a "concept paper", about which there had been no "serious discussions"...right before an election.

Nice try Mr. Abbey, but everyone knows this will be hanging over their heads until the last day of the Obama presidency.

Rehberg Proposes Endangered Species Act Amendment

Montana congressman Denny Rehberg says Montanans are steamed about a federal court decision to relist wolves and he’s proposing changes to the Endangered Species Act. Rehberg's written a bill that would prohibit the “endangered” designation for Grey Wolves in Montana and Idaho. First, however, Rehberg wants the public to look at the bill and offer possible changes. Rehberg’s challenger in the general election generally agrees with the congressman’s idea but he would add language providing compensation to ranchers who lose animals to wolf depredation. Dennis Macdonald says Montana has a good management plan. He says the state is being held hostage by Wyoming’s failure to develop an acceptable plan. [link]

The draft Rehberg bill states, "Any Rocky Mountain gray wolf in Idaho or Montana shall not be treated as an endangered species" and "Each of the States of Idaho and Montana shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the management of Rocky Mountain gray wolves within the borders of that State."

Look how far we have come from the vision of our Founding Fathers of a small federal government with limited and delegated powers to a situation where States can't even management wildlife within their borders unless "permission" is given by the feds.

ESA requires real repairs

For the past year and a half, Congress and the Obama administration have become the Mr. Fix-its of politics. They've strapped on their legislative toolbelts and gone to work in the name of "change." They fixed health care -- even though it wasn't needed -- and they fixed Wall Street just in time for those fat executive bonus checks to go out. But one law that is profoundly broken -- and has been since Richard Nixon signed it in 1973 -- has been totally ignored: the Endangered Species Act. The ESA doesn't accomplish its stated goal -- helping to bring back species from the brink of extinction. Since it was passed, 25 species of plants and animals have been delisted -- most because they were put there by mistake. In all 1,375 plants and animals have been put on the list as threatened or endangered. But not helping endangered species is the least of the act's shortcomings. The ESA is the Gordian knot of laws. It creates problems that cannot be solved. In the Klamath Basin, the Columbia and Snake rivers, the Sacramento Delta, and the forests, rangeland and farms of the West environmental extremists use the ESA as a blunt legal instrument to stop economic activity...more

Though the excuse used by the extremists and their lawyers is to "save" salmon, suckers, smelt, wolves, owls, sage grouse and worms, the real, albeit unstated, goal is to stop economic activity they don't support or to shake the federal money tree, or both.

Plan Proposed to Change Federal Land

Eighteen counties in Western Oregon have proposed federal legislation they say would preserve over a million acres of old growth forest, while selling a million acres of less ecologically sensitive federal land. The proceeds would create a permanent trust to replace the money counties came to rely on from timber payments. It would also help fund a 10-year reauthorization of The Secure Rural Schools and County Self Determination Act -- set to expire next year. But the proceeds from the sale would only cover half that bill. Congress would have to come up with the rest. Doug Robertson represents the counties behind the plan. He says for years elected officials have grappled with the question of what to do with these particular lands. He says they have a different legal standing than other public lands. Robertson says study after study was commissioned but in the end little was done...more

HAPNER v. TIDWELL

No. 09-35896.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted February 4, 2010—Seattle, Washington.
Filed September 15, 2010.

OPINION

W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge.

The United States Forest Service (the "Service") proposed the Smith Creek Project (the "Project") in the Gallatin National Forest to reduce the risk of severe wildfire, to reduce the risk of insect infestation and disease, and to promote habitat diversity. Sharon Hapner, Alliance for Wild Rockies, and Native Ecosystems Council (collectively "Plaintiffs") challenged the Project, contending that it violated the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and the National Forest Management Act ("NFMA"). After a remand, the district court granted summary judgment to the Service on all of Plaintiffs' claims.

We affirm the district court in almost all respects. We reverse on only one claim, holding that the Project violates NFMA by failing to comply with the elk-cover requirement contained in the Gallatin National Forest Plan...

Read the entire opinion here.

Wolf-Watching Range Rider Quits

The man who garnered international attention for patrolling on horseback for conflicts between wolves and cattle in eastern Oregon, has left the job. The image of Jason Cunningham on a horse warning ranchers about wolves was featured in newspapers around the Northwest. Film crews from as far away as Australia profiled him, too. Cunningham started as Oregon’s first range rider in July. He quit last week. Neither he nor his boss – a Wallowa County rancher – has returned calls asking for explanation. State officials say that his departure isn’t significant, since someone else is taking his place – and the job of mediating wolf-livestock conflict continues. But multiple sources told OPB that Cunningham was forced out for not being anti-wolf enough. One of the environmental groups raising money to pay the range rider’s salary -- Oregon Wild -- says ranchers kept Cunningham from speaking at a recent meeting the group held on wolf eco-tourism. But Oregon Wild says it still supports the range rider program. OPB

NM outstanding water proposal comes under fire

New Mexico regulators are continuing to hear testimony from environmentalists who are backing a proposal to give special protection to headwater streams, lakes and wetlands in wilderness areas across the state. The New Mexico Supreme Court cleared the way for the hearing to begin in Santa Fe earlier this week, but critics say the court has yet to issue a final ruling on whether the state's petition to designate the streams and lakes as "outstanding national resource waters" meets regulations. Attorney Dan Dolan, who represents a statewide ranchers' group, says the court has given him until Sept. 24 to file a response. He's hopeful that means the court will look closer at the petition. Supporters of the petition say it would be "quite the injustice" if the court halted the proceedings now. AP

World's Smallest Cow is a mere 33 inches tall

A minuscule cow with a taste for contemporary music has been named the world's smallest by the Guinness World Records book. Guinness says the sheep-sized bovine from the West Yorkshire region of northern England measures roughly 33 inches (84 centimeters) from hind to foot. The 11-year-old cow is named Swallow and her owner, Caroline Ryder, said she would spend Thursday either grazing with her herd or listening to BBC radio in her cowshed. Swallow is a Dexter cow, an Irish breed known for its diminutive stature, but is small even by Dexter standards. She already has nine regular-sized calves and is pregnant with her 10th. Guinness said her youngest calf has already grown larger than she is. [link]

Horse and mule sale attracts international buyers and sellers

Buyers and sellers are at the Boone County Fairgrounds this week for one of the biggest horse and mule sales in the country. The Boone County Draft Horse and Mule Sale offers everything from saddles to stallions. Some of the best horses and mules in the world are up for grabs at this sale. People from all across the United States are looking for bargains on some of the world’s best teams of draft horses. This is the only American sale where Canadian Rancher Norman Nikkel sells his horses and mules. Nikkel has been raising horses for three generations on his ranch in Manitoba with some of the top bloodlines in Canada and the United States. “We have a lot of satisfied customers down here," Nikkel said. "We really appreciate them. We really enjoy them. We get to see a lot of our horses that we’ve sold in the show ring. It’s a real pleasure.” Many Amish horse owners from across the country come to the Boone County Fairgrounds for this semi-annual auction. This is the 21st year for the Boone County Draft Horse and Mule Sale. The event gets bigger every year...more

Song Of The Day #408

Ranch Radio will close out the week with a double dose of country.

First up is a song you won't hear everywhere, the 1957 recording of I Want Her Blues by Bob Gallion.

That's followed by a warning to all you Weekend Warriors from Johnny Bond in his recording of Put Me To Bed.

Gallion's tune is on his 20 track CD Out Of A Honky Tonk.

Bond's song is on his 30 track CD Put Me To Bed.

Ranchers react to ruling on grazing permits

Idaho ranchers expressed disappointment with Monday’s U.S. District Court ruling requiring the Bureau of Land Management to release the names and addresses of grazing permit holders. “We see this as an invasion of privacy,” said Wyatt Prescott, executive vice president of the Idaho Cattlemen’s Association. The Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians sued for the information under the Freedom of Information Act, and the judge ruled that the public’s need to know about public land use outweighed any privacy concerns. Jon Marvel, Western Watersheds executive director, said the ruling forwarded the cause of transparency in government. Prescott said Marvel’s intent had little to do with transparency. “This is just part of an anti-grazing agenda,” Prescott said. “This is a threat to those families, but not from the standpoint that they’re doing anything wrong.” Prescott said Western Watersheds has the resources to tie ranchers up in litigation until they go broke. He said that would affect the vast majority of Idaho cattle ranchers because most use public land, including corporations such as J.R. Simplot Co. and Agri Beef Co...more

Committee nixes EPA spending vote

The Obama administration scored a minor victory Tuesday when Senate Democrats abandoned plans for a committee vote that could have handcuffed its ability to write climate regulations. The Appropriations Committee canceled Thursday’s markup of the fiscal 2011 spending bill for the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department. Republicans were optimistic they would win on an amendment targeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s global warming authority because of help from moderate and conservative Democrats. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the subcommittee in charge of EPA’s budget, issued a statement blaming the delay on a $100 million amendment offered by the White House Monday affecting the reorganization of the Interior agency that oversees offshore drilling permits and revenue. But Republicans quickly labeled Democrats as chickens, saying the schedule change was really about EPA. “They’ve turned tail and run once again,” said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a member of the Appropriations Committee. “It’s amazing how afraid they can be to take a vote.”...more

Bozeman man attacked by grizzly while bow hunting

A grizzly bear attacked a Bozeman bow hunter in the southern Gravelly Mountains last Sunday morning, according to a state game warden. Matt Menge suffered a broken right forearm and large cuts on his head from the attack, which he described as a fast and sudden attack in dense forest, said Warden Sam Sheppard with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Sheppard said Menge was bow hunting near the west fork of the Madison River south of Ennis. While he had driven up to the area with a friend, he was hunting alone, traveling back to his truck when the attack happened, he said. "This is just something that has the potential to happen when people archery hunt in those areas with a resident grizzly bear population," Sheppard said. "You're stealthing along, cammo-ed up, being extremely quite and you just bump into them." Menge was carrying pepper spray, but could not reach it before the bear reached him, Sheppard said...more

Outfitter camps drawing grizzlies

Bear managers have relocated five grizzlies in the past week from the Pacific Creek area east of Grand Teton National Park after the bears raided outfitter camps for horse feed. On Sept. 9, Wyoming Game and Fish personnel captured an adult female with three yearling cubs. The bears were relocated to the North Fork of the Shoshone River. “The mother with the cubs got a food reward and did a small amount of damage to a utility trailer,” said Mark Bruscino, Game and Fish bear management program supervisor. Monday, Game and Fish captured another grizzly, an adult male, after he obtained horse feed and damaged a tent. That bear was also relocated to the North Fork of the Shoshone. Bruscino said the Pacific Creek area is a hot spot for bears and also an area highly used by outfitters and other members of the public. The relocations were necessary to ensure public safety, he said...more

Bureaucracy complicated news of man’s fatal grizzly mauling

Fatal bear attacks are rare, and the deadly mauling in June of a botanist by a grizzly bear that researchers had trapped and released just hours earlier is thought to be the first and only such incident in the United States. Any attack on a human by a predator draws intense scrutiny from the news media and the public. But bear attacks around Yellowstone National Park happen in a politically charged climate where every rumor, fact and utterance can become fodder for a wider debate on wildlife management. Internal communications and other documents from federal, state and local agencies gathered using public records laws show that wildlife officials closely monitored media coverage of Evert’s death. But there was no single authority that represented a unified voice for a diverse group of individuals and agencies involved in grizzly bear management. Those documents, and interviews with officials involved with the response to Evert’s death, also show that concern about politics, legal liability and interagency relationships complicated communications with the press and the public...more

Wyoming Delegation Protests Interior Memo

Wyoming's congressional delegation is taking issue with a U.S. Interior Department memorandum that they say suggests a secret plan to restrict land use in the state. Republican Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday expressing their concerns about the memo. In an internal BLM memo, the agency identified up to 13 million acres nationwide that President Barack Obama could designate as new national monuments. The delegation says the memo mentions using land-use planning to limit oil and gas development in Wyoming. The Interior Department has insisted the memo is nothing more than brainstorming. Federal law prohibits the president from designating monuments in Wyoming without congressional approval. The delegation says the memo appears to suggest ways to circumvent the law. AP

Forest supervisors oppose mega-loads

Supervisors of the Clearwater and Lolo national forests say they're concerned allowing oversized loads of oil processing equipment to travel from Lewiston into Montana could set a precedent that transforms the scenic highway into an industry byway. Clearwater supervisor Rick Brazell and Lolo supervisor Deborah Austin each wrote letters to the Departments of Transportation in both states. The Lewiston Tribune reports both are concerned that the slow-moving loads which will cause periodic road closures could hamper public access to the forest, pose safety hazards, alter natural views and disturb campers. Both Brazell and Austin acknowledge that they have little authority to prevent the shipments, but asked the state agencies to consider the long-term effects of permitting the loads. AP

MT ranchers go to court to end well exemptions

Montana ranchers are asking a state court to review a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation ruling that said homes built in rural areas can be exempted from water permit rules. Four ranchers and a conservation group, the Clark Fork Coalition, were named in the lawsuit. It was filed Tuesday in Lewis and Clark County, and says the DNRC was wrong to uphold well exemptions in an August decision. More than 70,000 permit exemptions have been granted in recent decades, allowing developers to drill wells despite senior rights held by other water users...more