NEWS

Wyoming House votes to give landowners more information on condemnations Determining the fair market value of private property that government or private entities want to condemn for roads and pipelines may include weighing the price paid for comparable easements or leases elsewhere, the House decided Thursday. The House on second reading approved an amendment to its eminent domain bill to allow a number of factors to be considered in determining fair market value. On Wednesday the House had approved language specifying that value would be based on certified appraisals. The bill faces one more vote in the House before heading to the Senate. Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, proposed the amendment to allow determinations of fair market value to consider not only certified appraisals, but also other factors including how much the entity seeking to condemn private property had paid for other portions of the proposed project and the income the property could have realized for its owner if it weren't condemned. Laurie Goodman of the Wyoming Landowners Association said Thursday's discussions shows the House has a growing awareness of the private property rights issue....
Letter: Regulations needed for methane industry I am proud to live in a state where there are a few individuals who stand up for what is right in spite of attempted interference from the governor's office. The hay meadows, the most productive part of our ranch, are on Spotted Horse Creek, an ephemeral drainage. I am sorry to say that our experiences with the coalbed methane industry have not been happy ones. Devon Energy has flooded our hay meadows three times since 2000-01. In spite of a surface use agreement reached in 2002, they have not reclaimed our hay meadows as our surface use agreement states they will by May of 2002. We lost three artesian wells located in our winter pastures within hours of Marathon's dewatering of coalbed methane wells. We have lost over 200 beautiful old stand cottonwood trees that lined Spotted Horse Creek. When our hay meadows were flooded and subsequently froze over, they were drowned. Four of our baby calves were drowned in Spotted Horse Creek when it was running full of coalbed methane gas discharge water. Have we been compensated for any of these losses? Of course not. However, I am not opposed to the coalbed methane gas industry. What I am opposed to is their blatant disregard for the people, the land and the water....Hat Tip to Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere.
California bans greenhouse gas power sources California moved Thursday to ban electricity from major greenhouse gas sources, an action that came as no surprise for Wyoming energy officials hoping to ship more Cowboy State coal by wire. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 to adopt the "greenhouse gas emissions performance standard," which will prohibit utilities and other energy providers from entering long-term contracts with sources that emit more carbon dioxide than a modern natural gas plant. "It represents a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to address the challenge of climate change," California PUC President Michael Peevey said. The new rules are expected to affect energy markets across the West. While there are almost no coal-fired plants in California, about 20 percent of the state's electricity comes from coal plants in Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and other Western states....
Survey finds mercury in fish Scientists looking for fish tainted by mercury found them in every fish and every river they sampled across the West, suggesting that industrial pollution generated around the world is likely responsible for at least some of it. The survey of 2,707 fish randomly collected from 626 rivers in 12 states represents the biggest regional sampling yet of mercury in fish in the West, said Spencer A. Peterson, senior research ecologist EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Corvallis. The findings by scientists from the EPA and Oregon State University were reported in this month's issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology and came out of an EPA survey of various environmental factors in rivers conducted between 2000 and 2004. Though the survey found some fish with elevated mercury levels, suggesting a local source such as an old mercury mine, most levels were low, in line with canned tuna found in grocery stores, said Alan T. Herlihy, associate research professor in the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. No attempt was made to specifically link the mercury in the fish to mercury in the atmosphere, but the low but widespread levels suggest the mercury came from deposition -- mercury in the atmosphere falling to the earth in rain and snow, Herlihy added....
Wolf compensation board plan praised A bill that would set up a long-awaited board to compensate Montana ranchers who lose livestock to wolves drew widespread support Thursday, although lawmakers are still looking for a way to fund it. Montana is required to create such a board under its wolf management plan approved in 2004 by the federal government. But the fiscal note attached to Rep. Bruce Malcolm's bill contained no money for it, only suggesting that livestock losses due to wolves could cost up to $200,000 a year and stating the board would not use money from state fishing and hunting licenses. Malcolm, a Republican from Emigrant, told the House Agriculture Committee that funding could come from several sources, but he said he planned to try to insert a request for $200,000 into the governor's proposed budget....
Feds review dispute over bison range Four high-ranking Department of Interior officials met Tuesday with employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Confederat-ed Salish and Kootenai tribal members to hear both sides in an argument over management of the National Bison Range near Moiese. "It's clear that both sides are passionate about the range," tribal spokesman Rob McDonald said. "Our history goes back longer, but (FWS) history there is 100 years long, too, and I think they see how much we both care about the land, the animals and the complex itself." Tribal employees were locked out of their jobs on Dec. 11 when FWS Director H. Dale Hall canceled a funding agreement that had made tribes responsible for some of the duties at the range for the previous 14 months. Hall had received a letter from regional director Mitch King saying King had come to the conclusion that joint operation of the range would not work. King cited unacceptable work performed by the tribes, concern for visitor safety and a hostile work environment created by CSKT's involvement....
Idaho gov: Build dams Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has proposed building more dams and expanding existing ones to keep more water from the Snake River in Idaho and recharge the dwindling Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. "Rather than looking at how to divide up scarcity, we ought to be looking at how we can get more to stay here," Otter said Wednesday at the Idaho Water Users Association convention. "The more water that we can keep from getting past that head gate, the more water we can have." Otter said he had met with Bureau of Reclamation officials about two or three new potential dam sites, which he did not identify. He also did not say which dams might be raised to impound more water. Tension over rights to water from the aquifer has risen with a case pending before the state Supreme Court, which has been asked to resolve a dispute between canal companies that hold senior rights and groundwater pumpers with junior rights. A decision could come between now and April, and any ruling could be followed by state legislation that would revise laws on water rights to ease the economic impact....
U.N. climate report will shock the world - chairman A forthcoming U.N. report on climate change will provide the most credible evidence yet of a human link to global warming and hopefully shock the world into taking more action, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on Thursday. The IPCC report, due for release on Feb. 2 in Paris, draws on research by 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries and has taken six years to compile. "There are a lot of signs and evidence in this report which clearly establish not only the fact that climate change is taking place, but also that it really is human activity that is influencing that change," R.K. Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, told Reuters. "I hope this report will shock people, governments into taking more serious action as you really can't get a more authentic and a more credible piece of scientific work. So I hope this will be taken for what it's worth."....
Preparing cloning for market Nestled in the picturesque countryside, two subzero coolers on a farm owned by Cyagra Inc. keep a hope of livestock cloning alive. The tanks hold genetic material for a virtual Noah's ark of cattle species as their optimistic owners wait for consumers to embrace the idea of consuming meat and milk from the offspring of clones. The Food and Drug Administration has already said it considers meat and milk from most cloned animals and their offspring safe, but the agency is months from allowing those products to be sold. Clones are produced by using a snippet of genetic material from an animal to create an embryo that develops in a surrogate mother's womb. The clones allow breeders to produce genetically identical copies of prized animals, more quickly reproducing valuable traits -- such as better health, leaner meat, and higher butterfat content in milk. While it is legal to clone domestic livestock, since 2001 the FDA has asked producers to refrain from selling milk or meat from such animals while it studies the food-safety question. Now that a final answer appears near, people who raise such animals are fine-tuning business plans. Some ranchers now pay Cyagra $17,000 for a single cloned calf, and a Texas rancher last month paid tens of thousands of dollars for nine clones of an elite longhorn cow. Why? Simple math: People who sell the offspring of prized breeds already pocket far more than that. For instance, three partners last year bid $100,000 for the daughter of a famed Triple Twist longhorn, a vanishing breed. They now are working with ViaGen Inc., a Texas firm that, like Cyagra, produces genetically identical twins. "We have acquired some of the best genetics in the longhorn," said Barbara Marquess , of Marquess Arrow Ranch , which is working with ViaGen to clone the $100,000 cow. Marquess said she and her partners have no intention of turning the cloned animals into food. "We're trying to save that genetics," she said. In the northeast corner of Iowa , rancher Frank Regan projects potential revenue from the sale of elite offspring could far exceed his cloning investment. In particular, he is counting on livestock descended from a cow nicknamed Dellia . Dellia produced high-protein milk used for making cheese , and gave birth to equally valuable offspring. Regan sold one of Dellia's granddaughters as a calf for $6,000 . The new owners made a quarter million dollars selling that cow's offspring. Regan figures he can eventually get $40,000 to $50,000 for offspring of a clone from that same lineage....
Cowboy confab courts kids Schoolchildren moseyed up for a sarsaparilla, donned bandanas and pounded leather tools at the Western Folklife Center this week in anticipation of the 23rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The Gathering starts Saturday and continues through Feb. 3. On Tuesday, the center hosted home-schooled children, as well as youngsters from Southside Elementary, Mound Valley Rural School and Battle Mountain Elementary. Other schools joined the fun on Wednesday and Thursday. Workshops included leather key chain making, cowboy history lessons and handkerchief tying. Volunteer staff member Pami Briggs told a group of students about the origins of cattle herding in Mongolia and the development of cowboy traditions as they spread westward across Asia to northern Africa and Spain, finally crossing the ocean to Mexico and the United States. She also informed the students of the history of the Stetson hat and why cowboys slickers have such a tall slit up the back....

Apologies for the shortened version, but my internet connection was down for three hours, and has been back on intermittenly since. I'm going to post this while I can. Thank you Quest.

Pearce Dear Colleague Letter - Wolves Slaughter Little Girl's Horse

January 22, 2007

STOP THE HORSE SLAUGHTER

Photo from a Jan 9, 2007

Dear Colleague,

Horses are being slaughtered in front of family homes in New Mexico. Above is a picture of the Miller family corral beside their home and the corpse of their family horse, “Six,” which was killed on Jan. 9th. The same pack of wolves responsible for this attack recently maimed the family dog while it played in their front yard with their 8-year-old daughter.

In the 2nd District of New Mexico, citizens being asked to support a program for the reintroduction of Mexican Wolves to their communities. On Jan. 9, this program has taken a disastrous new turn for the worse. My constituent, Ms. Laura Schneberger of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, has recently written about the attack at the Miller Family house. Mr. Schneberger writes:

“On Jan 9, 2007 the Aspen Pack killed one of the Miller family’s horses at the Link Camp in the Gila National Forest. The kill was on private land and occurred in the corrals approximately 40 feet from the residence. Approximately a month earlier a member of this same pack attacked one of their dogs in front of their 8 year old daughter near the house. The horse was killed while the family was away and from the evidence the horse was run from its pasture into the corral, probably seeking help from the family, but unfortunately they were not there to help. Although even if they were, this pack given its prior history would have likely proceeded to kill this horse unless the family was willing to kill them instead. The horse belonged to the same little girl that witnessed the dog attack. The wolves ate the horse and then spent time around the house even defecating on the porch of the house.

“This Aspen Pack was removed from the Blue River area of Arizona because of continuous problems attacking dogs and frequenting the school yard and post office as well as numerous residents. The USFWS decided to remove this pack because of frequent problems. However, instead of solving the problem they just moved it to another area. This pack of wolves is getting bolder and gaining confidence and future problems are likely. The USFWS management of this pack and others makes very little sense to those impacted and just seems to move them to another area and a new set of victims to violate. The Aspen Pack has already killed six dogs and now a horse and many of these attacks have occurred with humans present or very near by.

“It probably is only a matter of time before something more serious may occur with a human. Although wolf attacks on humans are rare they have occurred. Because many of these wolves are captive bred and due to the fact that they cannot be killed or harmed unless in the act of killing livestock on private land they have become very aggressive and have very little fear of humans.“

The wolf reintroduction program was established by the Fish and Wildlife Service to reestablish Mexican Wolves on federal lands where the wolves could prey on wild game away from the population centers of New Mexico. Since its inception, this program has produced dire consequences. Originally, the wolves preyed on cattle owned by Ranchers, across New Mexico. This tremendous economic burden, for which there is no federal compensation for the rancher’s losses, was borne by New Mexico citizens. More recently, the wolves have started to prey upon family pets including an attack on a family dog that was playing in the front yard of a home with an 8-year-old girl.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to control this wolf pack from preying on cattle, on pets, and now the pack has moved onto horses. The fear is that this pattern of habituation and escalating level of violence will lead directly to an attack on a child.

I encourage all members to examine this program. I urge you to ask the Fish and Wildlife Service what their goals are with this program? What is their standards for success? What level of tolerance does the program have for attacks in the front yard of homes and around children? What is their plan to protect the people of New Mexico?

I believe that this federal program, established against the wishes of the people of New Mexico, deserves greater scrutiny and for that reason I will continue to give you regular updates on problems in this program. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,


Steve Pearce
Member of Congress

NEWS ROUNDUP

NCBA: Wyoming Property Rights Case Headed for Supreme Court Among ranchers, one of the most passionately held principles is the defense of property rights. That’s why the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the Public Lands Council (PLC), the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association have joined together in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Wilkie v. Robbins. The central issue for NCBA and PLC is the right of private property owners to deny federal access to their property and the legal options available to property owners for holding federal officials accountable for inappropriate actions. “We’re fighting for individuals against government abuse,” says Jeff Eisenberg, NCBA’s director of federal lands and executive director of the PLC. “There needs to be checks in place to prevent federal officials from abusing their positions and violating the civil rights of property owners.” Harvey Frank Robbins owns the High Island Ranch near Thermopolis, Wyo.  A dispute between Robbins and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began over ten years ago when Robbins purchased the ranch. The 80,000 acres involved in this case are partly public and partly private lands, and at issue is whether Robbins had a right to deny the BLM access to his property. In court cases over the past decade, Robbins won two preliminary victories in the U.S. district and circuit courts. “We’ve heard many stories of government officials failing to respect the Fifth Amendment rights of people in ranching communities,” says Eisenberg. “But what really strikes a chord with us in this case, is the blatant abuse and harassment of Mr. Robbins at the hands of federal officials.”....
Column - Let Science Dictate Wolf Decisions A lot of misinformation regarding the impact of wolves in the northern Rockies is making the rounds these days. Our state has many important decisions to make on this issue, so it’s important that we get our facts right by taking a closer look at the most recent statistical and scientific data about wolves. First, despite unfounded rumors that wolves are depleting elk and deer for game hunting, data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) show that the hunter harvest success rate has consistently remained above 20 percent over the last five years, even as wolf populations have been steadily increasing. According to IDFG statistics, hunter harvest numbers for elk go up and down from year to year, but the overall success rate has remained relatively consistent since before wolves were reintroduced. For example, data show that in 2005, the most recent year we have statistics for, hunter harvest numbers are on par with those from 1993, two years before wolves were reintroduced. Most importantly, IDFG statistics verify that elk and deer populations are at ecologically sustainable numbers. Second, contrary to what a lot of people are saying, wolves are only responsible for less than 1 percent of all livestock deaths in the northern Rockies, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)....
Coroner's inquest to review death of Ontario man attacked by wolves An inquest will be held into the death of an Ontario man who was suspected of being attacked by wolves in northern Saskatchewan in November 2005. Saskatoon's chief coroner says the inquiry will be held in Prince Albert in Court of Queen's Bench. Kenton Carnegie, 22, of Oshawa, Ont., was working at a remote mining camp near Points North Landing, 700 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, when he failed to return from a walk. The University of Waterloo engineering student was found mauled to death near the work camp. Two wolves were later shot and sent to a lab for testing. The death prompted a call by the Opposition Saskatchewan Party to fence off an unregulated dump in the area in case it was attracting wolves, but government officials said they wanted to wait for the coroner's report before taking action. Bill allowing wolf killing passes state panel The Senate Wildlife Committee voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve a bill that would allow unlimited killing of wolves in wilderness areas. However, some referred to the bill as a "placeholder" - something that could easily be amended if the state and federal governments reach a compromise on wolf management - and at least one committee member said she didn't think the bill would pass this year. The Senate bill would classify wolves as trophy game - with regulated hunting - in an area west of a line between Cody and Meeteetse and around the western side of the Wind River Indian Reservation, as well as north of Boulder, Pinedale and Jackson. Wolves would still be fully protected in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Anywhere else, they'd be classified as predators and could be shot on sight. The bill also would require the state to maintain a total of 15 wolf packs, including eight expected to be protected inside the parks. Groups representing Wyoming ranchers opposed the bill....
Vernon ranchers, government partner to save sage grouse Ranchers and government agencies are teaming up to save threatened sage grouse in Vernon but some hope the partnership will save another threatened entity: the family farm. Elizabeth Mitchell, who along with her husband owns the Bennion Ranch in Vernon, believes the new collaboration marks a nice turnabout from the days when government and ranchers battled each other over endangered species habitat. About five years ago, Mitchell was worried that she could lose her grazing rights when three environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to put the greater sage grouse, which lives in her area, on the endangered species list. Rather than fighting the government, however, Mitchell and other landowners in the area fought to save the sage grouse. They became part of a local coalition of government agencies, ranchers, farmers, scientists and politicians determined to save a dwindling population of the indigenous high-desert birds noted for their elaborate courtship displays in the spring....
House approves Juab County water resolution In the words of Juab County rancher Cecil Garland, the state House of Representatives had a choice to make: "crops or craps." By that, he meant crops grown by residents of his arid Western region, or a Nevada groundwater project that they fear could pipe their water to Las Vegas. When the dice rolled Wednesday, Las Vegas crapped out. The House unanimously approved, 73-0, HJR1, which calls for caution on making an agreement to facilitate the Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project. The resolution now moves to the Senate. The Nevada project is intended to extract about 160,000 acre-feet of water yearly from seven areas of that state, piping the water to Las Vegas and Lincoln County. Spring Valley, which is entirely within Nevada, is to provide 91,000 acre-feet of water, while Snake Valley could provide up to another 27,000 acre-feet, according to the project's concept plan, dated March 2006. Snake Valley straddles the Utah-Nevada border, and its aquifer may be connected to Spring Valley. The U.S. Geological Survey is studying groundwater resources of the area. The study should be finished late this year. The Nevada project has drawn vehement objections from Utah and Nevada ranchers and environmentalists, among others....
Sportsmen unite for Wyoming Range A coalition of hunter, angler and sporting organizations -- 13 in all -- launched a statewide effort this week to help preserve the Wyoming Range. The group, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, unveiled its new Web site and billboards at a Wednesday afternoon presentation in Casper, at the Rocky Mountain Discount Sports store on CY Avenue. The group hopes to prevent oil and gas development in the Wyoming Range. The coalition’s proposal comes down to no new leases on public lands in those mountains, and a process that would allow for leases to be retired, traded or bought out at fair market value. The Wyoming Range is about 400,000 acres -- 70 miles long and 25 to 30 miles wide, running north to south in far western Wyoming, with its north end about 20 miles south of Jackson. Last year, the Forest Service sold leases for 44,600 acres in the Wyoming Range, adding to the 150,000 acres leased since the 1970s. Oil and gas operators had sought leases on some 175,000 acres in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, but the agency pared that down to 44,600 after protests from Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal and U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo....
Pizza 'delivery' to forest leads to jail A former deliveryman learned the hard way that dumping two tons of spoiled pizza dumped in a national forest was an improper way to dispose of the mess. The lesson? Two days in jail for Rucky Tulio, 29, of Cortez. The 320 cases of previously frozen pizza appeared one day last summer as two soggy cardboard hillocks in the San Juan National Forest near Mancos in southern Colorado. A startled jogger reported the illegal delivery Aug. 28. Last week in federal court in Durango, Magistrate David West called the episode the most irresponsible corporate act he'd seen in the forest in 18 years on the bench. West sentenced Tulio to the two days, but he said that Tulio's employer at the time, Schwan's Distributing, should pay the restitution of $674.52. Schwan's spokesman Bill McCormick said Tuesday that the employee should have used an authorized Dumpster. Forest Service official Lloyd McNeil, responding to what his colleagues call "the pizza caper," used a pickup, horse trailer and two helpers, including the jogger, Larry Ott, to dispose of the mess over two days. Under each pile of pizza, McNeil found Schwan invoices....
West Coast Senators Put County Payments on Senate Agenda A bipartisan coalition of West Coast Senators on Wednesday announced the introduction of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Reauthorization Act of 2007, legislation that would restore funding for the critical “county payments” law by reauthorizing the successful program for seven years. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, introduced a bill with U.S. Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Patty Murray (D-WA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Jon Tester (D-MT). Over 700 counties in 39 states received funding under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000, which was allowed to expire in September 2006. Despite repeated efforts by the Senators to reauthorize the bill last year, the Congress and Administration could not agree on a funding source for the legislation....
Jury to decide Scouts' liability in fire A jury will decide whether Boy Scouts are responsible for a wildfire that burned 14,200 acres in 2002 and cost more than $12 million to control, a judge said. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said there are issues of fact that must be settled at trial, denying the government's request that she pin liability on the Great Salt Lake Council. She pointed to deposition testimony from Scouts who said they extinguished a fire with water, urine and dirt and slept next to the site. "But the record fails to provide any indication that either the young Scouts or the teen counselors conducted a 'cold-out' test," Campbell said Monday. In that test, someone can safely run a hand through the coals and ashes. A Forest Service investigator pinpointed the fire's origin to an area where Scouts had stayed overnight....
Bush strategy relies on West In his State of the Union address, President Bush addressed energy policy in the same context as the war in Iraq -- which means huge natural gas, coal and renewable energy potential in the Rockies will be paramount to a national "energy security" policy. "It reminded me of his comment about Americans being addicted to oil, how this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes," said Rebecca Watson, former assistant secretary of the Department of Interior. Watson, now with the legal firm Hogan & Hartson, said she was encouraged by the president's Tuesday proposals on energy, specifically his call to reduce consumption and expand alternative sources of fuel, because it "goes right into the sweet spot of the Democrats' approach to energy." "He's facing the fact that it's a Democratic Congress, and he's proposing ideas that will appeal to them," Watson said in a phone interview with the Casper Star-Tribune on Wednesday. Although the president primarily talked about ethanol, the demand to develop domestic natural gas in the Rockies will continue to increase, according to Watson, because the alternative is to import liquefied natural gas. And that plays against efforts to make the United States less dependent for foreign sources of energy....
West watches Bush plans From new investments in wind and biofuel research to a call to encourage the expansion of refinery capacity, the West could be at the center of energy projects laid out Tuesday in President Bush's State of the Union speech. But Western lawmakers from both parties listed a litany of other initiatives they said they wished Bush would get behind that would help farmers, develop regional energy sources and help slow global climate change. A centerpiece of Bush's speech was a 20 percent cut in gasoline usage by 2017 made possible in part by increasing the use of renewable fuels such as corn and cellulosic ethanol, which is made from materials such as corn stalks and sawdust. "That was a good start, and we're seeing progress. But much, much more can be done," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, urging Bush to encourage the development of Utah's vast geothermal energy sources derived from the natural heat of the earth....
Yosemite plan remains tangled up in court When the Merced River overran its banks and scoured Yosemite National Park a decade ago, many saw an unprecedented opportunity to restore the iconic park and cede more of the Yosemite Valley to nature. A plan by the National Park Service to reinvent the valley and another to protect the Merced River drew broad support from environmentalists, the public and the government. Years of acrimonious debate over how to manage a crown jewel of America's national park system gave way to a consensus that the Park Service had finally gotten it right. Yet 10 years after the flood, both plans remain tied up in court, challenged by a small but passionate group of activists who argue that the Park Service would render Yosemite an exclusive resort. A federal judge has rejected the river plan, the future of the valley plan is uncertain and, with several projects planned for the valley brought to a halt, frustrated park officials worry they'll be told to begin the planning process anew....
Santa Maria Ranch developers seek solution to wild horse removal dilemma A saga that has played out for almost six months pitting wild horse lovers and developers of the Santa Maria Ranch against one another may have an amicable solution. Last Friday key players in the real-life drama gathered at the Santa Maria Ranch to discuss options and solutions to resolve the situation as much as possible. Developers Matt Denio and Brandon Main stood in the chill of the early morning air to discuss the wild horses that obviously think the ranch is part of their roaming territory with Mike Holmes, Range Manager for the Nevada Department of Agriculture and Wild Horse Preservation League members Bonnie and Chuck Matton and Ed and Esther Rector. The seven people candidly discussed the wild nature of the horses and the best way to stop the negative human/wild horse interaction that has been happening since builders began completing and landscaping homes at the ranch....
Court puts hold on Colorado trapping New regulations allowing the trapping of pine martens and mink have been put on hold while environmentalists challenge them on grounds that they violate a voter-approved trapping ban. The decision earlier this month by Denver District Judge Larry Naves reverses the rules at least until their legality is determined in court. A trial is set for Sept. 10. Wendy Keefover-Ring of Boulder-based Sinapu, a wildlife advocacy group, said environmentalists challenging the regulations believe they violate a 1996 voter-approved ban on leg-hold and body-gripping traps, snares and poisons. "We think it clearly banned all commercial and recreational trapping," Keefover-Ring said. Last summer, the state Wildlife Commission approved the use of box traps to capture pine martens and mink, weasel-like animals valued for their fur....
Man attacked by mountain lion Although details about the incident were not readily available by deadline, a man attacked by a mountain lion at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on Wednesday afternoon is expected to be OK. Shortly before 4 p.m., Alder Crew five, an inmate crew from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, came across the elderly man. “They came upon a victim, a single person,” said Tom Hein, CDF battalion chief in charge of law enforcement and fire protection. He said the call came into the CDF command center in Fortuna, which dispatched Arcata Ambulance to the call. State Park employees also responded. According to dispatch directions given over the scanner, the man, who was hiking with his wife, suffered from lacerations to his face and body. Whether he suffered more injuries was not known at deadline....
Reward offered in cougar killing Federal and state law-enforcement officials are offering a $1,000-plus reward in hopes of nabbing the poacher who gunned down a young mountain lion in southern Utah. "It's a shame when something like this happens," Lt. Scott Dalebout of the state Division of Wildlife Resources said Wednesday. We can use the public's help." Dalebout said the female yearling - meaning it had been weaned from the mother but still was learning hunting skills from her - was found dead from a single bullet wound Saturday morning off State Route 12 about 200 yards inside the east boundary of Bryce Canyon National Park near Tropic. The young cougar had been seen Friday feeding on the carcass of a road-kill deer with its mother and another young lion, believed to be its twin. Dalebout believes the cat was shot by someone driving on the road. The National Park Service also is investigating the killing because it happened in the park....
Farm Bureau Urges Science in Legislation The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503 and S. 311) sets a dangerous precedent by banning a livestock product for reasons other than food safety or public health, according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. “There is no evidence suggesting products derived from equines pose any food safety or public health risk,” said Stallman. “This legislation mandates unprecedented government authority over the animal agricultural sector without any scientific justification.” Research and accredited experts have testified and documented the anticipated financial and ethical repercussions of banning equine processing. Stallman said America’s farmers and ranchers practice and encourage the humane treatment and handling of animals and livestock, but the legislation fails to provide any viable option for unwanted or unmanageable horses, opening the possibility for neglect....
EWG Supports Disaster Aid for California's Farmers, Farm Workers Hit by Freeze The Environmental Working Group called today on Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to provide disaster aid to California farmers and farm workers who have been hit hard by the recent freeze, and urged Congress to include California in any disaster aid relief legislation enacted this coming year. Ken Cook, EWG's president, issued the following statement: "EWG has already supported disaster aid for proven, weather-related losses farmers and ranchers experienced in 2005 and 2006. California agriculture has been hit very hard just months into the new year. If disaster aid is to be provided, California should receive it too. "It is important to remember that California agriculture is an infrequent beneficiary of disaster aid, because growing conditions in the state generally are favorable and crops are irrigated. Moreover, more than 90 percent of California farmers do not receive crop subsidy payments from the government. So it is only fair to ensure that in these emergency conditions, California be given full consideration by USDA and by Congress....
Western Ranchers Help Others With Stranded Cattle Ranchers on the western slope are determined to help their peers on the eastern plains who can't get enough hay to feed their cattle. The recent round of devastating blizzards has killed an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 head of cattle so far. Ranchers typically let their cattle graze on dried grasses for most of the winter, only feeding hay for about a month and a half. They’re used to dry ground. The unprecedented amount of snow has forced many cows to starve to death and those ranchers have already used up their food reserves trying to save their herds. The Middle Park Stock Growers Association has organized ranchers in Grand County, including those from Shadow Creek Ranch, Mountain Meadow Ranch and Peak Ranch, who have decided to help. The ranchers sent two semi-trucks loaded with 1500-pound bales of hay to Wiley on Wednesday and plan to send down another truck by the end of the week....
Rollers rare occurence Women likened them to jellyrolls, or rolls of batting. Men described them as looking like logs or cylinders. What Quay County residents were seeing is a rare weather phenomenon called “snow rollers,” which are nature’s way of creating snowballs, according to Charlie Liles, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. “They look like a roll of insulation,” said Liles, who couldn’t recall such an incident. Conditions have to be perfect, Liles said, like those “when you make a good snowman or snowballs.” Those conditions were apparently just right on Saturday night because Quay County farmer and rancher Tom Bauler said there were hundreds and hundreds of them Sunday in his pastures off N.M. 104. “I even kicked a few because I thought there was tumbleweed inside them. But there wasn’t anything in them. I estimate they were about 2 feet thick and 2 feet long,” Bauler said. Beth Parmer also saw them. Parmer took dozens of pictures of dozens of the snow rollers on the fields at the Tucumcari Elementary School and Mesalands Community College on 11th Street. “The largest center was 18 inches, and I’d estimate the longest ones were about 30 inches long,” Parmer said....
One Seed Short If you've got cattle.... they're gonna get out. You can count on it. That's a law that must be written down someplace. A friend of mine shared a little tale with me the other day that needs repeatin'. He made me promise not to reveal his true identity, and after you hear the story, I think you'll be able to see why. The Donaldson family ran Black Angus cattle, and like most ranchers, were pretty proud of their herd. They had a good bunch of cows, but back it those days black cattle weren't as big as they are now, and a big heifer at calvin' time would weigh about 800 pounds or so. That seemed to work out just fine... as long as you were a little selective about the bulls you used on them. Right after breakfast one morning ol' Dad sent Tom and Jack out to check the heifers. It was the middle of June sometime, and breeding season was in full swing. When the two boys got to the pasture, they found an unwanted visitor..... again. They'd had trouble with one of the neighbor's bulls and had chased him home several times, but the durn thing was back in again....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Logan County files lawsuit in effort to poison prairie dogs A judge could decide on Groundhog Day whether to force some western Kansas ranchers to move their cattle so Logan County officials can poison prairie dogs. County commissioners filed a lawsuit Jan. 10 in Logan County District Court against ranchers and landowners who have fought their efforts to eradicate prairie dogs. The county says it has received complaints from numerous residents about the prairie dogs, which farmers and ranchers say destroy pastures and fields by digging holes and tunneling. They also say the rodents compete with cattle for grass to forage. Some people who oppose the county's eradication attempts support a federal effort to reintroduce the endangered black-footed ferret to the area. Prairie dogs are a main food source for the ferrets. A hearing on the county's request for a temporary injunction forcing the ranchers and landowners to remove the cattle from any lands while the county applies rodenticide is scheduled for Feb. 2, which is Groundhog Day. Prairie dogs, like groundhogs, are members of the squirrel family....
B-T Forest dismisses worries about tram Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s new tram could hurt bighorn sheep habitat in Grand Teton National Park, according to state and federal agencies. But those concerns were dismissed by Bridger-Teton National Forest officials in a decision released last week approving the tram and excluding the project from National Environmental Policy Act review. The new tram, slated for completion in late 2008, will carry a maximum of 100 passengers, or 650 passengers per hour, nearly double the capacity of the former tram. Resort officials say the new tram will be built in roughly the same location as the old one. Both the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Grand Teton National Park said in comments to the Forest Service about the new tram that an increase in backcountry traffic could harm a small population of bighorn sheep in Granite Canyon....
California Dept. of Fish & Game to re-poison Lake Davis The California Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday, Jan. 23. that it plans to apply a liquid form of rotenone to Lake Davis and its tributaries after Labor Day in another effort to eliminate northern pike. The plan calls for using CFF Legumine, according to the department's Steve Martarano. “We’ve been pleased with the alliance working with the steering committee and residents,” said Martarano. He said the agency feels this option is the “most safe and effective” for ridding the lake of pike. “We looked at everything feasible,” said Martarano. The poison will be applied at a lake level of 45,000 to 48,000 acre-feet. Martarano said there would be “virtually no recreational downtime.” Since 2000, $21 million has been spent on pike eradication efforts, according to Martarano. Fish and Game has a full-time team of 35 employees working on the pike effort....
Babbitt trying to aid proposed private-federal land swap Former U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is joining an effort to save a threatened 160-acre parcel that Saguaro National Park wants for expansion. Babbitt and a real estate investor have taken out an option from the owners that keeps what's known as the Bloom property from being sold for development for 30 days. Babbitt's goal is to have the parcel traded to the federal government for inclusion in the park. The property, which lies just south of the Sweetwater Trail in Saguaro Park West, would be part of a proposed private-federal land swap that has been in the works for three years. As the exchange now stands, some 2,400 acres of private land on the Empirita Ranch near the Pima-Cochise county line would be traded to the feds for inclusion in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. In return, landowner Don Diamond would get more than 1,200 acres of Bureau of Land Management-owned land near Corona de Tucson....
BLM: Vets say horses are OK The “vast majority” of the wild horses on the Sheep Mountain Ranch west of Laramie “are in very good condition, considering the weather conditions and the age of the horses,” a Bureau of Land Management official reported Tuesday following a Monday inspection. BLM wild horse program manager Alan Shepherd said Wyoming State Veterinarian Duane Oldham and veterinarian Al Kane of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Fort Collins, Colo., on Monday saw well over 200 of the estimated 350 former wild horses on the ranch. The two veterinarians will release a report in a couple of days, Shepherd said. The veterinarians made their inspection following citizen complaints in recent weeks that some of the horses looked to be in poor shape. The officials who toured the ranch Monday disagreed. “Everybody who went on the tour Monday is comfortable with what they saw,” Shepherd said. “The horses are being fed hay in two or three locations, and they have open ridges where they can graze. They seem to be moving around well and feeding good. They’re not lethargic like a starving horse would be.”....
County resists OHV limits Another confrontation is brewing in southern Utah between local county officials and the federal Bureau of Land Management. Apparently angered by the BLM's recent emergency order restricting off-highway vehicle travel in the popular Factory Butte area, Wayne County commissioners have proposed an amendment to the county's general plan that would essentially flout the BLM's new rules by once again allowing cross-country OHV use in the region, located just east of Capitol Reef National Park. "Open, cross-country OHV recreation is a firmly established recreational activity and an important cultural value for a large segment of the citizens of Wayne County," said a draft of the "Factory Butte Cross Country OHV Special Recreation Management Area" proposal, a copy of which was obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune. The county's intent, the draft continued, "is to preserve the open and unrestricted nature of cross-country travel that existed historically in the Factory Butte area." Wayne County officials were mum on their proposal Tuesday....
Interior official: Blame errors on many Federal Minerals Management Service Director Johnnie Burton should have taken action when she first heard of billion-dollar errors with oil and gas drilling leases, but career staffers deserve most of the blame for the problems, the Interior Department's inspector general said Tuesday. "It's a mess, and anybody in a leadership position is at some level responsible for a mess that occurs on their watch, but this particular mess started before Johnnie Burton was in office, and she was not well served by career staff that were involved," Inspector General Earl Devaney said in an exclusive interview. "My critique of her is that when she did hear about it in 2004, she didn't take a more overt action on it," he said. "But that doesn't mean I've lost faith in her honesty and integrity." Deep-water leases signed in 1998 and 1999 during the Clinton administration omitted a clause triggering royalty payments if energy prices rose over a certain amount. Officials say they raised the matter with Burton in early 2004, although she does not remember being told until late 2005 or early 2006, the inspector general found. The error has already cost the government about $1 billion in revenue and if not fixed could cost $10 billion....
The domain debate Some members of agriculture industry groups say what's being represented as a "coalition" compromise eminent domain bill is a misrepresentation. The members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Wyoming Wool Growers Association and Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation say the bill headed to the House floor this morning has been stripped to its original form, which does not contain several key changes that agriculture interests have asked for. "Our executive director says he supports this bill that just left the House Agriculture Committee, yet not one thing that the groups have asked for is in this bill," said Taylor Haynes, who is a member of the stock grower and wool grower organizations. Eminent domain involves the taking of private land deemed necessary for the public good, such as a public-works project or energy development....
Environmental groups, developers to cooperate to protect Gallatin After years of wrangling, environmental groups seeking state protection for the Gallatin River have decided to work with developers to protect the Gallatin river while still preserving property rights. American Wildlands has decided to suspend its pursuit of an "Outstanding Resource Water" designation for a 38-mile stretch of the river between Yellowstone National Park and its confluence with Spanish Creek. "We're putting it on hold right now to give everybody a little more breathing room," said Sean Regnerus of American Wildlands, the group that led efforts for the special status. Developers has strongly opposed the designation, saying it infringed on property rights. American Wildlands, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Trout Unlimited and developers James Taylor and Bill Simkins have signed a memorandum of understanding that calls on them, and others in the Big Sky community, to identify within six months "the alternatives that offers the most cost effective and environmentally protective means of addressing Gallatin River water quality." They say they'll have a conceptual plan put together within 18 months....
Navy exempt in sonar ban The Navy has been given a two-year exemption from provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that will allow it to use mid-frequency sonar and a new sensor that uses small explosive charges during major training exercises and on established ranges and operating areas. These areas don't include Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said Navy Lt. Ryan Perry of the Office of Naval Information at the Pentagon. "We don't exercise there," he said. "The Navy has worked closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on our long-term compliance strategy, and the national defense exemption is an agreed-upon part of the strategy," said Navy Rear Adm. James Symonds, director of environmental readiness. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the fall of 2005 to stop the Navy's sonar exercises, contending that numerous mass whale strandings and deaths of whales have been associated with sonar use in areas that include Hawaii, Washington state, North Carolina and the Bahamas. The organization believes the exemption invoked by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, who previously served as Secretary of the Navy, is a ploy to place the Navy above the law and avoid the suit, said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Cara Horowitz. Conservationists argue that the Navy is also operating in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the federal Endangered Species Act....
Pregnant polar bears use land for dens More pregnant polar bears in Alaska are digging snow dens on land instead of sea ice, according to a federal study, and researchers say deteriorating sea ice due to climate warming is the likely reason. From 1985 to 1994, 62 percent of the female polar bears studied dug dens in snow on sea ice. From 1998 to 2004, just 37 percent gave birth on sea ice. The rest instead dug snow dens on land, according to the study by three U.S. Geological Survey researchers. Bears that continued to den on ice moved east in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast, away from ice that was thinner or unstable. "We hypothesized that the sea ice changes may have reduced the availability or degraded the quality of offshore denning habits and altered the spatial distribution of denning," said wildlife biologist Anthony Fischbach, lead author of the study. "In recent years, Arctic pack ice has formed progressively later, melted earlier, and lost much of its older and thicker multiyear component."....
Attendance, revenue falling at Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park has long been known as a place with stunning waterfalls, dramatic rock formations and frustrating weekend crowds. But all that is changing. The waterfalls and rocks are still there. A lot of the people aren't. Fewer people visited Yosemite last year than at any time in the past 16 years, according to park attendance statistics made public this week. The trend has been under way for a decade — and nobody knows exactly why, although park officials point to busy families, video games and a series of natural disasters. With 3.36 million visitors in 2006, Yosemite drew nearly 20 percent fewer people than its peak in attendance 10 years ago, despite the state adding 5 million people — equivalent to the populations of Chicago and Houston — in that span. "The traffic is less. I'm not seeing the backups that we used to see," said Scott Gediman, a ranger who has worked in Yosemite since 1996. "You don't see crowds of people as much." Reasons for the decline have been difficult to pinpoint, but park officials and business leaders from neighboring counties have plenty of theories....
Road plans come to fork A National Park Service study has found that a long-debated road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park would not put the park in violation of air quality standards. Park Service officials say they are still not sure which alternative to pursue. "All it means is all the decisions are still possible," said Smokies spokesman Bob Miller. Because poor air quality in the Smokies sometimes triggers health alerts, projects must meet federal standards. But the National Park Service study found that although the road would increase the volume of emissions in the future, cleaner vehicles will keep down pollutants. Opponents said the road would harm one of the wildest areas in the Eastern United States. An environmental impact statement released by the park service last year estimated that finishing the road could cost up to $600 million. The so-called "Road to Nowhere" would replace a state highway flooded by construction of Fontana Dam in the 1940s and was part of a 1943 agreement between North Carolina and the federal government. Only seven miles of the proposed 42 miles were built before high costs and environmental concerns halted work in 1972....
PETA foes salivate at cruelty trial All around this struggling farm town, chicken houses stand in the fields as a testament to the way many here earn their living -- raising, slaughtering and processing chickens. It is an unlikely locale for an unlikely criminal case. Today, two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a radical animal-rights group that opposes meat-eating, are on trial for the strangest of charges: killing animals. PETA is based in Norfolk, Va., but its work has international scope. The group, which raises more than $25 million a year from 1.6 million supporters, opposes any human use of animals, whether for food, fashion or research. In the more than two decades since its founding, it has become a major threat to medical researchers, meatpackers, fur sellers and others. Now, two of its employees stand accused of tossing garbage bags full of euthanized cats and dogs into a Dumpster behind a Piggly Wiggly in Hertford County, 130 miles northeast of Raleigh. Adria J. Hinkle and Andrew B. Cook, both of whom work in PETA's Norfolk office, are charged with 21 counts each of animal cruelty, a felony that can carry prison time, along with littering and obtaining property by false pretenses....
On Snowbound Plains, Grim Fight to Save Calves The temperature outside was 10 degrees and falling as calf No. 207, just one hour old, lay on the floor of the warming shed, wheezing and fighting for life. Born underweight and premature to a cow stressed by successive blizzards and brutal cold over the last month here in southeast Colorado, the baby Black Angus might yet live if it could clear its lungs of fluid and get to its feet by morning. If not, No. 207 would take its place in the dead pile, the grim place in the barn on the Butler ranch where many of the 25 or so calves already lost this winter lay frozen and twisted. Calving season on the High Plains will be harder and more costly than any year in at least a decade, ranchers and agricultural officials say. More than 3,000 adult animals have been confirmed dead so far in Colorado alone, and ranchers say many more remain uncounted, buried under drifts four feet to six feet deep. Thousands of other farm and ranch animals across the state remain unaccounted for....
Seoul Wants to Keep Beef Off FTA Table A senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Tuesday that the beef issue between South Korea and the United States will not be handled by the bilateral high-level talks. The issue about whether to allow import of U.S. beef with ``bone fragments’’ may be settled down through discussions among quarantine experts, a ministry director general told The Korea Times. ``It is no use holding meetings between high-level government officials in connection with the free trade agreement (FTA) talks,’’ he said. The high-ranking officials include trade ministers and chief FTA negotiators. His remarks came after Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. Trade Representative and chief U.S. negotiator for an FTA with Korea, told reporters on Monday (local time) in Washington, D.C. that a successful FTA would not be possible unless the beef issue is solved....
Immigration Reform for Agriculture Workers Bill Reintroduced in Congress A bill that would create immigration reform specifically for agriculture workers was reintroduced in Congress by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho. The "Agriculture Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007," known as the AgJobs bill, would amend the current application process and replace it with an expedited process to hire foreign workers in the H-2A category, which is where agricultural workers in the horse industry fall. The AgJobs bill would also create a pilot "blue card" program for undocumented agriculture workers, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate previous employment in American agriculture and achieve temporary legal resident status. "The issue of comprehensive immigration and guest worker reform is very important to all segments of the horse industry," said Jay Hickey, president of the American Horse Council (AHC). "Horse breeders, ranchers and farms depend on seasonal foreign workers to fill labor demands not met by American workers. This bill would solve a lot of the problems our industry has in employing legal foreign workers." This AgJobs bill is the same bill that the Senate passed in the last Congress as part of the comprehensive immigration reform bill....
Farm bill must balance land needs, Harkin says A federal conservation program that pays farmers to leave cropland idle drew bipartisan support Saturday in Des Moines from two congressional leaders who will help form agriculture policy. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., and U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chairmen of the Senate and House agriculture committees, said critics who want to cut back the Conservation Reserve Program will have a fight on their hands. The CRP was first included in the 1985 farm bill. It pays landowners about $1.8 billion a year to take land out of production in favor of grass, trees or other soil-conserving practices. There are 36.7 million acres in the CRP, an area slightly larger than the state of Iowa. Critics say the program should be cut back so more land can be used to grow corn for ethanol production. They also say it hurts young farmers because it removes land from the rental market and cuts income for farm supply businesses....
Carson's tale one of Manifest Destiny Sitting in the spare, chilly front room of the house that Kit Carson bought for his 14-year-old bride, writer Hampton Sides pondered the complexity of one of the American West's most famous frontiersmen. At once hero and villain, Carson was, by all accounts, modest and kindly - and a cold-blooded killer. He couldn't read or write, but was fluent in Spanish and French and spoke multiple Indian languages. He lived among Indians for his whole life and twice was married Indian women, yet he led the United States military's brutal scorched- earth campaign against the Navajos. He was a devoted husband and father but was rarely around this three-room adobe home - now a museum - that he bought for Josefa Jaramillo when she became his third wife, in 1843. "There's a lot of moral ambiguity in his life story. . . . Trying to reconcile the different parts of his personality was very frustrating for me," said Sides, author of the recently published Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West....
It's All Trew: Tough to predict a hard winter Each year as fall arrives, especially after a couple of cold mornings, the conversation at the Alanreed coffee shop turns to predicting just how bad the weather will be in the upcoming winter. Though we all know it's a long time until winter proper and many hot days could still occur, somehow thoughts turn to fall and cold weather. Predicting Panhandle of Texas weather is a safe occupation because no matter the facts, anyone can be right or wrong and not be held responsible, otherwise the weathermen on TV or radio could not hold a steady job. One old reliable indicator of weather to come is, "The moss on the north side of the trees is thicker so it's gonna be a hard winter." This was not true at the ranch this year as the range fires burned both the moss and many trees to the ground. Someone is always seeing "wollie-worms" acting up and start predicting a bad winter. No one really challenges the statement as it is impossible to know what a wollie-worm has on its mind. If a tourist or another innocent is listening, the gang goes into its routine of telling how the length and thickness of the cows' and horses' hair predicts a hard winter coming. Eventually, the statement will be made, "When the hair is longer on the north side of an animal than the south, it means a hard winter is on the way."....

Domenici Statement on Doña Ana County Land Use Plan


WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking Republican of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today issued the following statement regarding efforts in Doña Ana County to reach consensus on a wilderness land use plan:

“There is definitely no deadline to submit a proposal to me and Senator Bingaman. The 110th Congress just recently started its two-year session, which means that we have plenty of time to draft legislation and seek its approval. I urge the members of the land use group to continue working to find reasonable consensus on these important land management issues.

“I appreciate the discussions that have been held so far regarding a land use plan for Doña Ana County. While I recognize that not everyone can be in total agreement, it is important that the local community reach a workable solution on the type of plan that they would like to see enacted."

NEWS ROUNDUP

Column - Forest plans that do nothing Inevitably, many citizens' groups are going to protest the U.S. Forest Service's recent decision to not write draft and final environmental impact statements for its revisions of national forest plans. But the truth is that the forest planning process is a failure, and the best thing we can do is let it die a natural death. In the 1980s, the Forest Service spent well over $1 billion trying to write plans for each of the 120 or so national forests. The plans took so long to write that by the time they were done, they were obsolete. Some forests rewrote their draft plans as many as three different times in response to new events, such as a forest fire or the listing of the spotted owl as a threatened species. But before they were finished, something else would happen that would render the new plan useless. When forest managers finally got the plans, they quickly discovered they were worthless and pretty much ignored them. National forest management in the 1990s bore little resemblance to what the plans had said. Of course, environmental groups challenged some of the plans in court. After spending all this time and money, the Forest Service made the curious argument that the plans actually made no decisions, and so there was nothing to challenge. The Supreme Court agreed, and so we spent $1 billion and 10 years doing nothing. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Congress that the process was a failure. So, Congress did not change the law requiring that forest plans be revised every 10 to 15 years. Now the Forest Service has sensibly said, since the plans make no decisions, let's not waste more years and dollars writing environmental-impact statements for the revisions of those non-decisions....
Climate scientists feeling the heat Scientists long have issued the warnings: The modern world's appetite for cars, air conditioning and cheap, fossil-fuel energy spews billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, unnaturally warming the world. Yet, it took the dramatic images of a hurricane overtaking New Orleans and searing heat last summer to finally trigger widespread public concern on the issue of global warming. Climate scientists might be expected to bask in the spotlight after their decades of toil. The general public now cares about greenhouse gases, and with a new Democratic-led Congress, federal action on climate change may be at hand. Problem is, global warming may not have caused Hurricane Katrina, and last summer's heat waves were equaled and, in many cases, surpassed by heat in the 1930s. In their efforts to capture the public's attention, then, have climate scientists oversold global warming? It's probably not a majority view, but a few climate scientists are beginning to question whether some dire predictions push the science too far. "Some of us are wondering if we have created a monster," says Kevin Vranes, a climate scientist at the University of Colorado....
Wilderness plan lacks agreement A land-use group has wrapped up discussions about wilderness for Doña Ana County, but it didn't reach the consensus federal lawmakers were hoping for. Time constraints kept the committee from reaching a single proposal for wilderness, said Las Cruces associate planner Carol McCall. "There's some agreement on some things," she said. "There's some disagreement on other things, and that's what we'll report." Two U.S. senators backing a wilderness bill in Congress last year had asked community members to reach a consensus by this month. Rather than a single proposal outlining how much land should be placed into wilderness and how much land should be developed, McCall said she'll compile a report with feedback from each of the eight stakeholder groups that have participated. She said she'll point out matters on which groups didn't reach a consensus....
Dexter couple chosen to manage Valles Caldera livestock program A Dexter couple has been chosen to manage a livestock program this summer on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. A proposal by Jack and Pat Hagelstein was chosen over three others submitted to the preserve's board of trustees. Trust officials said the Hagelstein's proposal did not offer the greatest profits or graze the largest number of cattle on the land, but was rated first in having a comprehensive, ecologically sound program that would guarantee a modest return to the trust. The Hagelsteins, who own and operate Comanche Hill Ranch, propose to spend most of the summer on the northern New Mexico preserve, managing 500 steers. When Congress purchased the former Baca Ranch in 2000 and formed the preserve, it mandated that the preserve remain a working ranch and become financially self-sustaining by 2015. The preserve includes mountain vistas, miles of trout waters and forest trails, elk herds and an ancient collapsed volcano known as the Valle Grande. The Hagelsteins will be assisted by Guy Glosson, who does workshops on low-stress animal handling techniques, and Craig Conley, who has expertise in planned grazing for ecological benefits and is assistant director of the Quivira Coalition. The grazing program also will support a coalition project to train and place professional range riders in northern New Mexico....
Prairie dog limits upheld on Pawnee grassland Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests supervisor Glenn Casamassa has upheld a controversial decision on the number of black-trailed prairie dogs that will be allowed on the Pawnee National Grassland northeast of Greeley. District Ranger Steve Currey made the original decision last October after environmental analysis and public involvement concerning the number of rodents that should be maintained on the 193,000-acre national grassland — a checkerboard of public and private lands in Weld County, the Forest Service reported in a release today. The decision was to manage for a minimum of 1,000 acres of black-tailed prairie dog colonies in a minimum of 30 towns, and a maximum of 8,500-acre prairie dog colonies with no upper limit on the number of towns. Various tools, including shooting, were included in the decision to conserve and control prairie dogs....
No rule changes for now Members of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to deny three petitions to change elk-ranching rules for the state. The consensus was that the issues surrounding the commercial ranching of elk need more discussion before such petitions could be considered. "We are fortunate in Oregon to have clean wild and farmed populations as far as elk are concerned," said Zane Smith, a commission member from Springfield. "There are a number of issues that I feel need more consideration before we trigger rule-making." The seven members asked biologists and other officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to come back at the February commission meeting with recommendations. Among the issues they were told to consider are the affects of any rule changes, the groups affected by any changes, and a time frame for them to draft and present any recommended rules. Those who commented about the petitions at the January commission meeting in Salem ranged from elk ranchers, who filed a last-minute petition of their own, to members of the group that submitted the two positions opposed to elk ranching. That group, the MAD-Elk Coalition, includes Oregon Hunters Association, Humane Society U.S., and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation....
Wyoming group argues to keep Sylvan Pass open Wyoming brought out its firepower Monday against a proposal to shut down Sylvan Pass in Yellowstone National Park during the winter. State legislators, congressional representatives, county commissioners, a tourism chief, a governor's representative and others spent more than two hours trying to persuade the National Park Service to drop the idea. Those who live and work outside Yellowstone's East Entrance near Cody, Wyo., depend on winter business to drive the economy, they said. But in recent years, uncertainties over snowmobile use, court decisions and policy changes have nearly eliminated winter business into the park from that entrance, they said. Closing Sylvan Pass in the winter, they said, would be a devastating blow and one they vowed to fight....
Shield for raptors stirs rancor The U.S. Forest Service aims to limit access to four well-known hiking and rock-climbing areas in San Diego County's backcountry in an effort to restore dwindling populations of golden eagles and prairie falcons. It proposes to ban such activities in Corte Madera, Rock Mountain and Eagle Peak during the birds' nesting season, which lasts from December to May. These areas are parts of the Cleveland National Forest. The agency also is encouraging landowners at El Cajon Mountain to adopt similar access restrictions. The plan is drawing fire from recreation enthusiasts locally and nationally, who contend the agency is going overboard to safeguard species that aren't imperiled....
Forest Service Wins RAT Appeal The Forest Service’s aggressive fee-charging policy, called the Recreation Access Tax (RAT), was threatened last September by a judge in Tucson, Arizona. The judge ruled that the FS was illegally implementing the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) by charging for entering the Mount Lemmon area and for roadside parking, but the federal agency immediately appealed the case, and continued to charge the fee in question during the appeal. On January 16, FS has won its appeal, and the RAT is back in force. But fee opponents insist the legal battle is far from over. In September 2005, a Forest Service employee issued Christine Wallace two citations for parking along the Catalina Highway and going for day hikes in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson. She refused to pay the tickets, and the FS took her to court. “The judge totally disregarded the language in the FLREA, saying it was difficult to enforce,” notes Robert Funkhouser, president of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition. “FLREA clearly prohibits the FS from charging for disbursed backcountry use, but the agency wants to charge for everything. We contend that the agency is still operating outside of the law.”....Go here to read the opinion.
Court rules in favor of forest service employee in lawsuit The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of the federal government and a U.S. Forest Service employee sued for allegedly influencing a contractor to fire one of its workers. In a 6-3 decision, the court upheld the transfer of the lawsuit from state court in Kentucky to the federal courts and the substitution of the U.S. government in place of the forest service employee as the defendant. Pat Osborn, a fired employee working for a private contractor to the forest service, sued forest service employee Barry Haley in Trigg County, Ky., Circuit Court, alleging Haley influenced Osborn's company to fire her. The U.S. attorney general certified that Haley had acted within the scope of his employment and therefore had absolute immunity under the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act, known as the Westfall Act. Haley denied having any advance of knowledge of Osborn's dismissal and said he did not try to influence the contractor to fire Osborn. In her majority opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the United States must remain the defendant unless the federal court determines that the forest service employee engaged in conduct beyond the scope of his employment....Go here(pdf) to read the opinion.
Judge revisits land-use plan suit The federal government and environmental groups got a do-over Monday in their bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Kane and Garfield counties that seeks to overturn the Grand Stair- case-Escalante National Monument's land-use plan. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart originally heard arguments to dismiss the suit last fall, then recused himself. Judge Bruce Jenkins replaced Stewart, and opted to hear the arguments for a second time at the Moss Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. But where Stewart seemed skeptical of the government's contention that the counties could show no harm from the monument plan - and thus had no standing to bring the suit - Jenkins appeared dubious that the counties could make their claims stick without laying out more specifics. Jenkins also challenged the counties' argument that they have been permanently tied to the decisions made by the Bureau of Land Management in 1999 that regulated travel, water diversions and other land uses in the monument....
Strengthening Energy Supplies and Security At the same time, American energy production and its infrastructure are hamstrung by federal policies that consciously limit access to known energy resources. Such restrictions have had a chilling effect on developing, production, exploration and infrastructure and foster uncertainty among investors. Even the most severe critics of these anti-energy policies were aghast to learn the full extent of our self-inflicted wounds. Last month, the federal Bureau of Land Management released its much-anticipated inventory of oil and natural gas deposits on federal lands. The report estimates that Uncle Sam’s onshore holdings amount to an astounding 187 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 21 billion barrels of oil. But our energy inventory doesn’t stop at the shoreline. A companion federal study calculates that an additional 83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 19.1 billion barrels of oil lie beneath federally-controlled territorial waters. But experts note that, because estimates of offshore energy deposits are notoriously low and tend to increase significantly over time, our real energy inventory is likely much larger. Unfortunately, the government goes on to note, regulatory constraints make it next to impossible to recover the overwhelming majority of these sorely-needed resources. Just 3% of onshore federal oil and 13% of onshore federal gas are accessible under standard leasing terms. Debilitating restrictions, such as a ban on surface occupancy, tie up 46% of the onshore federal oil and 60% of the onshore federal gas. The rest -- 51% of the oil and 27% of the gas -- are completely off-limits to development....
World Bank Close To Approving Amazon Beef, Other Projects The International Financial Corporation, the private lending arm of the World Bank, is close to making a final decision on a $90 million loan that would help one of Brazil’s top beef exporters double beef production capacity at its facilities in the Amazon region of Para state. For the IFC, this is a controversial and unprecedented investment, according to the bank’s own assessment. The loan, if approved, would go to the Bertin Group, Brazil’s second-largest meat exporter behind competitor, Friboi. In 2006, Bertin sold $2.2 billion worth of beef and cattle byproducts domestically and internationally such as leather and animal fat for biodiesel production. Exports totaled $505 million, most of it paid for by European Union and U.S. meat importers. Bertin will invest over $140 million in upgrades in 2007, and has been expanding and modernizing over the last three years to compete in Brazil’s lucrative beef export market. Brazil is the world’s No. 1 beef exporter, shipping over $3 billion worth of beef in 2006....
With ranch tool, artist creates a style At first, it looks like finger-painting - raw, swift swirls of yellow and green. Zipping and curling across the 8-by-10-inch canvas. Or splotching and stabbing the remaining blank space to give it a rough colorful texture. A big letter "C" slightly off-center. Then the first childlike strokes evolve into something more sophisticated, but more emotional than intellectual. The artwork sort of flows from Kelly Apgar's hands and heart, not her brain, as her fingers grasp a cattle marker - think of a crayon on steroids - that smoothly improvises whatever vibe she feels. It doesn't matter what Apgar may or may not have in mind. What matters is what a viewer's mind and heart sees and feels. Cattle markers are used to draw numbers on cattle. They're maybe 4 or 5 inches long, maybe an inch thick. They come in several colors, of which Apgar uses 13. The ingredients are pigments and linseed oil, essentially creating a type of thickish oil paint. "It's like painting with a tube of lipstick" Apgar said....
On the Edge of Common Sense: 'Offset' detriments with cash Why do the names "The Conservation Fund" and "Natural Resource Defense Council" send a chill down my spine? I guess because they routinely seem to be against drilling our own oil, cutting our own trees and raising our own beef. I've always contended that if they wanted to reduce pollution, save endangered species and regenerate wetlands, they should start in their own backyard - in the middle of New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. "What!" you say? Why, they'd be laughed out of the Kingdom if they sued to prevent the rebuilding of the Twin Towers because it used to be duck habitat. Suburbia, I suspect, is the biggest source of their donations; they wouldn't dare offend their donors. The biggest new hypocrisy on the horizon is their "carbon offsets," if you have three cars, two homes, your own espresso maker, weed trimmer, pool heater, electric blanket, child with wire braces, redwood deck, Evinrude motor, or fly to Minneapolis regularly to visit your folks (i.e., consume lots of "carbon-based" electricity, gas, oil, coal, cement, diamonds, wood or plastic), you can "offset" their negative effect on the planet by - guess how? That's right. Send them money. They will plant trees....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Column - An attack on ranch water rights If you have a well, or if you draw water from a river, what would your land be worth without the water rights? I know at my place, we’d be hard-pressed to survive. The system governing water rights in the West has been in place for over a century in order to help conserve and allocate scarce water resources. But that system is under attack right now and it could create a big mess for all Montanans. Western water law was developed to clarify who had a right to use water, and how much. Just as important, water law prevents the wasting of water by requiring that water rights only be granted when the water is put to a beneficial use. But today, the “beneficial use” doctrine is under attack here in Montana, and this attack threatens to create a dangerous precedent that could stand Western water law on its head. Coal bed methane drilling removes huge volumes of water in the process of extracting the methane gas. That extracted water contains enough sodium products to create serious impacts to soil. Although much of this groundwater has too much sodium to use it for irrigation, local people rely on it for livestock watering. Dewatering aquifers through large-scale drilling will create long-term lowering of water tables....
Water rule decision nears They get it. What they'll do about it, no one knows. But the wait may not be long. Rules guiding the regulation of water pumped from coal-bed methane wells in the Powder River Basin could be modified by the Environmental Quality Council as early as February. Kate Fox, an attorney representing the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said the seven-member citizen council seems to understand and appreciate the complexity of the issue -- and the need to modify the state's current regulatory framework that has failed to protect some ranchers from being flooded with highly saline coal-bed methane water. The council heard some 12 hours of testimony over two days last week on the proposed rule changes, including testimony from industry representatives who argue that placing more stringent stipulations on the industry could render some operations uneconomical. Based on questions that the council asked during the two-day hearing, Fox said it seemed to her that they understand there's room for more protection without bankrupting Wyoming's coal-bed methane industry....
Calaveras mountain lion sightings spur calls to law enforcement An unusual spate of mountain lion sightings were reported last week in Calaveras County, where ranchers steadily struggle to keep livestock protected from wildlife. The Calaveras County Sheriff's Department received two calls reporting the cats: one with a cub in a front yard on John Eaph Trail in West Point on Monday, the other lazing under a tree in the Payless Market parking lot in Copperopolis on Tuesday. A Mountain Ranch resident said she saw another cougar crossing Jesus Maria Road over the weekend. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, all but the far western border of Calaveras County is prime lion habitat, though sheriff dispatchers say three sightings in one week is unusual. The department said the animals prefer to hunt deer, but given the chance, some also eat pets and livestock. Attacks on humans are extremely rare....
New Forest Service director wants more discussion Gail Kimbell hopes she can take some of the things she's learned managing national forests in the northern Rockies and make them work nationwide. As the incoming director of the U.S. Forest Service, Kimbell said she wants to get people with an interest in public lands - loggers, environmentalists and ranchers among them - to start talking instead of always ending up in court. She's seen it happen more and more while serving as regional forester for the Northern Region out of Missoula. "I'm just really encouraged by what I've seen in North Dakota, Idaho and Montana, with folks coming together instead of swinging at one another," she told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in a recent telephone interview. "People on all sides of an issue are very interested in resolving things at a local level so that folks will have a say about what goes on on their national forests."....
Timber industry focuses on biomass projects After nearly 90 years of sawing pine and Douglas fir logs into lumber, Rough & Ready Lumber Co. is branching into the energy business, building a $5 million plant to burn logging debris and to produce electricity that it can sell at a "green tag" premium to the regional power grid. "It's ripe," said Rough & Ready President Link Phillippi, who hopes to have a 1.5-megawatt plant up and running by the fall. "There are the economic benefits, the benefits of healthy forests, and the benefit of a country needing renewable energy -- clean energy." The idea of burning wood waste -- known as hog fuel -- to produce energy at wood products and pulp mills is an old one that was going nowhere as long as fossil fuels were cheap, and logging was cut back to protect fish and wildlife habitat. But leaders in the timber industry realize that energy production can help finance widespread thinning of national forests to combat wildfires and insect infestations. And the concept has a newer, catchier name -- biomass energy -- that helps align it with the wider movement linking economic and environmental concerns, including reducing dependence on fossil fuels....
Gov: Federal wolf stance won't fly in Wyo Gov. Dave Freudenthal says Wyoming can't agree to a pending U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal for managing wolves in the state unless the federal agency gives the state a better way to stop wolves from savaging elk herds over the next several years. In an interview on Friday, Freudenthal said he's reviewed a proposal that the federal agency submitted to the state this week detailing the agency's plan to create a permanent wolf-management area in northwestern Wyoming. If the state accepts the federal proposal, there likely would be a period of several years between the time the federal government takes formal action to remove wolves from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act and the time when litigation over that action is completed in the courts. Mitch King, regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, told Freudenthal's office this week his agency expects that landowners and the federal wildlife managers would continue to address wolves that prey on livestock while litigation is pending....
A burning question Inside the cavernous sawmill, a big log thundered across a metallic platform. Bam! It crashed into position on a cutting track. Shriek! A band saw sliced it into thick, cream-colored slabs. Another log rolled into place. The result: more noise, more boards and more conifer-scented sawdust that hung like a woodsy perfume in the air. The pace of the action was frantic. But it was also misleading. For by June, the Sierra Forest Products mill here may be out of business, stilled by years of dogged environmental opposition that have throttled the flow of national forest timber from the southern Sierra Nevada. If that happens, something more may disappear than the last sawmill south of the Tuolumne River. With it could go the best hope of managing the forest by thinning the dense stands of smaller trees sapping the health from the Sierra Nevada and fueling massive wildfires....
Editorial - The Thirtymile fire burns on and on T his is the offseason for the nation's wildland firefighters, yet from Oregon to Montana to New Mexico there is a palpable fear and anxiety among the men and women responsible for quelling Western forest fires. Federal prosecutors have filed manslaughter and other criminal charges against a former fire commander, Ellreese Daniels, the fire boss in the 2001 Thirtymile fire in north-central Washington that claimed the lives of four firefighters. The criminal charges signal a dramatic change in the way the U.S. government responds to deaths of wildland firefighters. Throughout history, investigations into wildland firefighter deaths have centered on only one goal: Learn from every tragic mistake so it is never repeated. But the charges against Daniels, on the heels of the criminal prosecution of a commander in the 2003 Cramer fire in Idaho, in which two firefighters died, suggests that the government now intends to hold fire commanders personally and criminally liable for fatal misjudgments....
Wyo's cloud-seeding gamble Weather modification has come a long way since the Dust Bowl days when charming hucksters, like Burt Lancaster’s "Bill Starbuck" in the 1956 movie “The Rainmaker,” conned desperate farmers with a few fancy fireworks and a mishmash of science and faith. Since those days, there have been growing advances in weather modification -- and a growing number of small-scale, short-term experiments that have shown that cloud-seeding can make a difference. Today, something much more scientific and long range is under way in Wyoming's Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges. A scientific consortium is using $8.8 million and a five-year project to definitively prove that cloud seeding can build up the snowpack reservoirs in Wyoming’s mountains -- the source of most surface water used by irrigators, industry and municipalities. This program involves ground-based and aerial cloud-seeding operations, to be implemented by {M3Weather Modification Inc. based in Fargo, N.D. Supporters of the project hope it will increase snowpack and runoff within Wyoming's Green River, Wind River and Platte River basins....
Off-road battle revs up in Utah Some call Swing Arm City, near southern Utah’s Factory Butte, God’s gift to motor bikers. Others call it ugly, desolate and good for nothing but a great time with dirt and a throttle. It’s “the baddest badlands in America,” said Caineville business owner Randy Ramsley. A popular riding spot for western Colorado off-roaders, Swing Arm City is the unofficial name of a 2,600-acre motor sports playground riddled with Mancos shale hills, bike-tracked, knife-edge ridges and rutted ravines. The badland is part of a 144,000-acre tract of public land in Wayne County between Utah Highway 24 and Capitol Reef National Park, known all over the West as one of the greatest cross-country riding areas on the Colorado Plateau. But when the Bureau of Land Management told off-roaders to stay on trails last September to protect two endangered cacti, it angered Wayne County officials so much that they’re proposing to allow motor bikers to ignore the BLM’s closure and ratchet up the vitriol in the off-highway vehicle community that already is hopping mad about all-terrain-vehicle trail closures throughout the San Rafael Swell region of central Utah....
Scientists: Climate change could be 'catastrophic' The January wind whips down from the peaks that ring the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe, the snapping cold and snow-covered grandeur of the mountains providing a somewhat misleading backdrop to Brant Allen's task. While all around him are the certain signs of winter, the marine biologist is reading other signs that tell him winters in the Sierra Nevada aren't what they used to be. At the end of a wooden pier, he checks a metal box filled with wires and computer chips that gauge the temperature in the nation's deepest glacial lake. The data recorded at this pier and at four buoys tell an alarming story of a lake that has been warming gradually over the past three decades, due at least in part to global climate change that scientists say has led to shorter winters in the Sierra. The potential consequences of those changing winters are profound, for Lake Tahoe and all of California, especially as temperatures are predicted to rise markedly over the next century. "It's not a place where we would be comfortable," said Connie Millar, a historic scientist for the U.S. Forest Service. "If we don't lasso this thing, it could ramp up into catastrophic conditions."....A "historic scientist"? What the hell is that?
Beef Row Threatens Free Trade Pact A potential free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea hinges on something not even officially part of the intense negotiations: the complete resumption of American beef imports into the world's 10th-largest economy. "These are separate discussions from the FTA," Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler said Friday, referring to so far unsuccessful efforts to get U.S. beef back onto the plates of South Korean consumers. "But as the United States has made clear from day one of these negotiations, in order for the FTA to happen we're gonna need to see a full reopening of Korea's beef market," she told a press conference. Cutler, besides being Washington's chief negotiator in the effort to forge a free trade deal with South Korea, is also responsible for bilateral trade issues with the country, the United States' seventh-largest trading partner....
USDA investigating cattle sale The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating whether Canadian cattle were bought in a South Dakota sale barn and sold to a packer in Nebraska. The USDA does not allow selling Canadian cattle on the open market, such as at a livestock sale barn. Jim Rogers, a USDA spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Friday that the agency is looking into the situation but could not provide details. According to a news release from the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, a South Dakota rancher purchased the cattle at an auction barn in South Dakota and sold them to a slaughter plant in Nebraska. The packers would not pay him for seven head of cattle because, they said, the cattle were from Canada. Seven head of the 87 sold to the packer had Canadian ear tags. The innards of all 43 head in the same semi, including the disputed seven, were condemned for an estimated loss of $11,000, according to officials with the Stockgrowers Association and the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund....
Sheriff puzzled by cattle-country shootout that left 2 dead It was an old-West-style shootout, with saddled horses and cattle standing in the snow nearby. And when the smoke cleared, a northeastern Oregon rancher and cowhand were dead. Two other people were injured, although not by gunfire, in the deadly confrontation Thursday afternoon at a cattle ranch north of Enterprise. "This was a real tragedy; it was senseless," said Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen of Enterprise, who was still trying Saturday to sort out what happened and why. Allegations of cattle theft might have caused an argument to turn violent between Dennis Alan Beach, 55, and Shane Howard Huntsman, 40, the sheriff speculated. Rustling has been reported recently in the north end of the county, although there is no evidence cattle rustling took place in this instance, he said. "It is a possibility that is what triggered this," Steen said. "This is a complicated situation." The gunplay occurred near the snow-covered old settlement of Flora, half of which is abandoned buildings at an elevation of 4,330 feet on a broad mountain plateau 35 miles north of Enterprise. Beach and his son Travis, 28, apparently had gone to a ranch nearby to retrieve some cows and got into an argument with Huntsman, Steen said....
Sales searing for brand book Brand Wilma Kite a delighted woman, basking in the contentment of having finished a seven-year project that reaped immediate rewards. In 1999, the rancher from south Redding began pulling hundreds of pieces of leather and rawhide from some dusty boxes at the Shasta Historical Society with the hopes of researching old cattle brands. The result was "Shasta County Brands," a publication of livestock brands used by pioneering families of early Shasta County. The 50 copies she had printed sold out so quickly that she's now looking for sponsors to print more, and she's taking names of those who want to buy a book. The book, which is still available on CD-ROM, identifies 1,643 brands used in the county between 1850 and 1936. During that period, the owners of cattle, horses, mules, goats and other animals seared the brands into scraps of hide, which were registered and kept at the county records office. Since 1936, brands have been registered on paper in Sacramento....
Sculptor exhibits love of the West When sculptor D. Michael Thomas opens the door of his studio, a newcomer could easily assume the tall, lanky Wyoming native to be a rancher. His studio a few miles east of town looks like a horse barn, and the mustached Thomas in his denim shirt, well-worn jeans and cowboy boots fits the profile of a Western man. Thomas's main focus now is to complete a bronze of LeDoux "large enough to stand as a monument to him" in his hometown of Kaycee. His initial piece will serve as a pattern for the finished monument, which will be life-and-a-half sized. LeDoux stood a little over 6 feet tall, so the completed monument piece will be massive. In order to add additional character to the bronze, Thomas has placed the bucking horse LeDoux is riding on a guitar-shaped stand. “The horse and guitar together just seem to honor Chris’s notoriety," Thomas said. With a slight tremor in his voice, Thomas speaks about the warm, caring personality of his late friend. Then he adds that 200 smaller-sized bronzes will be for sale to help in raising money for the Chris LeDoux Memorial Trust to be placed just off Kaycee’s Main Street....
Riding into the next century Hulda Mahnke's eyes met those of her great-granddaughter Kady's horse, Ginger, as she stretched out her hand and stroked her face. She made the human-equine communion as only a country girl can. Friends and family members then hoisted the former rancher from her wheelchair and guided her right leg over the saddle with straps embossed with Kady's name. With reins in hand and freedom from mens' touch, Hulda Mahnke's countenance shined as she rode Ginger back in time around the yard of the Poplar Living Center to celebrate her 100th birthday on Sunday. "When she was a kid, all she talked about was her and her brothers getting the horses and riding bareback," her daughter Frances Park said. "And no one could catch her." Scores of family members, friends and members of Mount Hope Lutheran Church gathered at the Poplar Living Center to celebrate her centenary, and coincidentally the 79th birthday of her son Don who also lives there. They cheered, clapped and waved at her, and she waved back....

The new face of ranching

By Julie Carter

So ya wanna be a cowboy. The reality of genuine cowboying in today's world it isn't a pretty picture and the future of it is changing fast.

Ranches that actually need hired cowboys are dropping in numbers faster than the temperatures in January.

Pressures of government regulation, environmental restrictions, high costs of doing business and high dollar opportunity from land developers are just a few of the factors working against the longevity of the ranching industry.

Cowboy dreams

Still, almost every little boy at one time or another had cowboy dreams. Memories of their favorite stick horse, a set of plastic six-shooters and a hat trimmed in red with a stampede string on it are planted firmly in the imaginations that pinned on a badge, chased the bad guys until sunset and roped wild cows until suppertime.

And those little boys? Many of them grew up to be big boys who still want to be cowboys. They've gotten college degrees, work in big business, hold down suit-and-tie jobs and manage a portfolio that may or may not let them afford to be cowboys in one form or another.

New owners of the West

It is those "cowboys" that are buying up the West and fantasizing over their new-found careers.

While they are warm and safe in their southern climates waiting to sign the papers on their dream in the West, they have no idea it is taking snowmobiles to reach their new ranch headquarters.

Their mental image is the same as they day they looked at the place on a summer day - green pastures, summer Aspens and trickling brooks full of trout.

Their first move will be to buy some cows to stock their ranchette. Observation will see them overstocking with cows that forgot what it was to chew with teeth or young heifers new to the business of birthing babies.

And of course to have calves, you need bulls. Even a pilgrim knows that.

So they will buy the biggest one they can find because he's "so pretty" and partner him up with a fence-jumping longhorn bull to do the job.

They have no idea the hell they have just put into the business of cattle reproduction - for them and their neighbors.

When the grass is "sheeped-off" and the cows go back to the sale barn, the ranchette will be fully stocked with one paint mule and an emu.

In addition, of course, is the ranch remuda consisting of an ill-tempered Tennessee Walker, a very old, very fat mare and one idiot Appaloosa, all with plaited tails and fancy horse blankets.

A wide assortment of hats will be seen along with boots of every nature from mukluks to combat types.

The new "guys" will have a cowboy vocabulary no one ever heard but can be traced to old Randolph Scott films.

The end of an era

For many, ranching through the generations is coming to an end that sounds much like a slamming door on an empty tin building.

The echo resonates over the land with a hollow ring to it and fades on the horizon.

The ache in the heart and the grip in the gut make no noise as the last generation pulls down his hat and walks away from the land that wore his name for a hundred years.

That, sadly, is the new face of ranching.

© Julie Carter 2007